I’ve been meaning to replay Hades for such a long time now. I played Hades a little bit after it first released back in 2020, and after nearly 100%ing it (there’s 2 achievements that I don’t feel like completing), I hadn’t touched it since. But with Hades 2 supposedly releasing in early access this year, I grew motivated to play Hades again, on a new save file. And I still absolutely adore Hades, from the gameplay, music, art, characters, everything, Hades is undoubtedly a perfect game. And I’m so glad I finally got around to playing it again.
Now before anything else I should preface this here, I’m not really a roguelike person. I’ve played a small handful of them, and while most of them are ridiculously fun, I still get a bit apprehensive while playing them. Something about having to start over from the beginning with nothing does not really appeal to me, and obviously, that’s a major characteristic of roguelikes. I mention this all to preface that I’m not the most knowledgeable about roguelikes as a genre, and I may get things incorrect, but I’ll try my best not to.
Still though, Hades is such a fun game to play. My end goal for the game was to get to the credits, that was when I decided I “beat” the game, and I tried to see how much I was able to do before then. To get to the credits you need to clear 10 runs, and in total I had 19 runs, 10 successful, 9 not. With those 19 runs, I feel like I was able to really understand a lot about Hades’ gameplay and mechanics, and I was able to unlock a large number of things as well. The more I unlocked and the more I experimented, the more I felt like I was actually getting good at the game, which is really nice.
When it comes to the weapons in Hades, I absolutely adore how unique they are. Though without a doubt, I think some are better than others. The starting weapon, the Sword, I feel to be the best weapon in the game. It’s a real jack-of-all-trades, with the only thing missing being a ranged attack of some kind. But even then, it’s powerful, the special has good range, and it arguably has one of the best modifiers that any weapon can gain, being Cursed Slash. While yes, it removes 60% of your total health, being able to restore 2 hp per attack of the sword is ridiculously good. Another amazing weapon is the Rail Gun, but it’s an interesting one. The Rail Gun has a bad start, needing to reload and all makes it difficult and really slow to use. But if you get the modifier that changes how it shoots but gives you infinite ammo, the Rail Gun is broken, as you can freely just dash about as the gun continues to shoot. The Spear and Shield were fun to use, and I love just how fast the Gauntlets are. The only weapon I’d say I don’t really care for would be the Bow, it typically requires you to sit and charge it up unless you get the modifier that removes the charge up. Even then, it’s not really all that powerful, and it’s rather slow still. I like being able to move quickly, and the Bow doesn’t really allow for that. Though I will mention that’s a good showcase of how Hades allows for different playstyles, some people may really like the Bow, and use it for their preferred playstyle.
And Zagreus’ movement feels so good to pull off. While he only starts out with one dash, you can eventually upgrade him to have 2, and it changes things exponentially. You can dash into attacks, dash to dodge, and sometimes you can completely avoid AoE attacks by dodging even if you’re still in the range of them. Dashing feels so good to pull off, I absolutely adore it.
Of course with Hades being a roguelike it has unique ways to alter Zagreus’ movement, combat, or other aspects while in individuals runs. A good majority of rooms give treasure which helps upgrade Zagreus in later runs. There’s gold which can be used for shops to buy upgrades. And of course, there’s the upgrades themselves. The big one here are the Boons, with 10 different possible Boon Types out there, based around specific Greek deities. Each Boon Type has specific themes to them, so you find a boon for a specific god, you have an idea of how they can impact Zagreus. Such examples include Artemis who improves Critical Hits, Dionysus who can improve health gain or inflict poison, or Athena who can grant reflection. There’s so many different ways to upgrade Zagreus in each run through boons alone. There’s also different rarities of boons, so sometimes some boons in one run will be better or worse than in other runs because they’re of different rarities. And ever so rarely, you can find Special Boons as well that require certain parameters, changing things even more. And on top of that, mentioned prior are the upgrades that the weapons can get in ever run. These can be done through the Daedalus Hammers, and each weapon has an entire unique array of upgrades that the hammer can give. There’s also other simple upgrades, such as health upgrades, or upgrades that level up boons to be a tad bit stronger. While some runs are similar because there’s certain boons and upgrades that I enjoy using more than others, it really does feel like every run I had, successful or not, was unique and I adore it.
And combat and the bosses are addicting. I’ve said prior multiple times, but I love how fast the game can be, and that is really shown in the game’s combat. I often found myself constantly moving through the environment, fighting enemies, moving on to the next, and somewhat destroying in my path. I’ll be honest, with how fast I was going, my hands hurt after each run which honestly is not a good thing. While some enemies (especially in Elysium) can be difficult, most aren’t but they can still hurt you. And as well, with how good the combat felt, clearing each room was fun. The mini-bosses were really fun challenges, though only somewhat frustrating when fighting ones that could disappear for some time. But they’re really fun to fight. Though of course nothing beats the bosses. There’s only really 4 bosses in the game, but they’re all so unique, and mostly really fun. When I was in the early couple of runs, the first 3 bosses were fun to figure out again, and they provided some great challenge because of it. I think the only boss I don’t absolutely love is the Theseus fight, and that’s mainly because of how his shield works, but even then it’s a good fight. But none of the 3 other bosses really compare to the fight against Hades himself. Even when I felt totally overpowered, Hades was still a tough fight. It felt like I was fighting someone who was on my level, but just much larger. And it felt so good beating him for the first time, I didn’t even unlock all of the death defiances yet, and I was close to death. The bosses in Hades are just so perfectly crafted I adore them.
And one completely spectacular thing about Hades is its narrative. Simply put, all of it is amazing. The story itself, the dynamics between Zagreus, Hades, and Persephone. The character writing of every other god, and the entire group of characters that call the House of Hades their home. The excellent voice cast that are able to bring these character to life. Everything about the narrative of Hades is downright amazing. But there’s one thing that still blows me away, just how much was written for Hades. There’s just so much, so many different lines of dialogue that can be heard, all based upon choices you made in each and every run. There’s a whole character that has unique dialogue for every single way you can die in a run, and there’s variations upon that as well depending on how many times you’ve died to that method. It’s utterly impressive for a game to have this much dialogue in it, and it’s still something that amazes me to this day.
And there’s still so much more I can gush about Hades. The excellent music, the ways you can permanently upgrade weapons or Zagreus. The modifiers that can impact runs, creating new difficult challenges for you to come, which increases replayability. The quests which challenge you to try out every single possible boon, or weapon upgrade. There’s so much that Hades as a game has to offer. I still love this game so much, and I’m glad I finally had the time to sit down and play it through all over again. Maybe next time it wont take over 3 years to replay it, but at the same time, I also can’t wait for Hades 2.

I still really love Portal. I played it for the first time probably three years ago at this point, and honestly I played Portal 2 first. Even then, I absolutely loved playing Portal for the first time, and replaying it, I still love it just the same. I’m just generally a sucker for puzzle games, and very few have the sort of creativity that Portal does. Being able to replay it was just a really nice experience.
I’ll be honest I can’t think of what all I can really describe about Portal. That’s primarily because of how simple Portal is on paper. Creating portals to solve puzzles, either by platforming, moving cubes onto buttons, or directing energy balls. While I describe the game’s mechanics as simple, their executed to such a high degree that it’s downright amazing. First off I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to even get the portals to work as they do, especially since they’re affected by momentum. And as well, gravity shifts depending on how you enter and exit a portal, which I can’t imagine how difficult that must’ve been to program. How the portals themselves function in the game are downright amazing, and even though I’ve played this game before, I’m still amazed by how they work.
As well, each puzzle in the game is really fun. If I have to take a stab in the dark, there’s 19 test chambers, but since the game goes on a little bit after, I think it’s safe to say the game has 20 levels totals. Aside from the last few, most are really short, and help introduce certain concepts to the player. And the game does so well to introduce them to you, I feel like I understand all of the ideas the game came up with with using portals. Some of the final levels of the game are amazing, they were a tad bit challenging to me, but I was able to figure them out after some time. I’m a sucker for when puzzle games make me think, and those last last test chambers did so, which is why I love them so.
And I can’t help but acknowledge how fun the writing is in Portal. I think Portal 2 definitely improved in this aspect, but Portal is still has some amazing writing regardless. I simply think GLaDOS is just that well written of a character. I love the sort of dynamic of a silent protagonist, and an antagonist who tries to ridicule you at every possible chance, though it’s hard to tell how much they actually hate the protagonist. Yet again I do think Portal 2 does better in this regard, but Portal still does it really well.
Yet again, I really adore Portal. Portal 2 definitely improved a lot on what Portal did, but even still, Portal itself is an amazing game. I think the only thing that I wish was that the game was a little bit longer, though that might be difficult, cause the game is paced really well. The puzzles are so well crafted, and I’m still amazed by just how the portals are able to function the way they do. I can’t wait to replay Portal 2 again.

It’s a little funny, really. I’ve played practically every major Pokemon game to ever exist, but only now did I play Pokemon Gold and Silver. Of course while I played specifically Silver, I think it fair to describe it as Gold and Silver, since the differences aren’t as noticeable as compared to other versions of Johto. Coming from someone who mainly played Crystal, the differences were really interesting seeing what the original version of Johto is like, especially since the remakes kept a lot of what Crystal changed. But as well, it’s interesting how Pokemon Gold and Silver really evolved Pokemon mechanically. Even though Gold and Silver especially are flawed games in their design, I still really enjoy them, though I don’t think I’d likely return to the original Gold and Silver.
Now, the first big notable change brought about in Gold and Silver are the new types first introduced. Dark and Steel are great types to add, though in this game especially, they’re rather flawed. Dark is meant to be a counter to psychic types, being immune to psychic types completely. The problems that arise though is that only 2 Dark types can be obtained before postgame, Umbreon and Sneasel. Both of these are physical attackers, while Dark is a special type. Steel is a primarily defensive typing and it’s solid overall, though there’s very few Steel type Pokemon possible to obtain. These types are great additions, and it does at least help somewhat in balancing things, but these types definitely become a lot better in later generations, especially once gen 4 rolls around.
There’s also two other additions that change the game mechanically in interesting ways. First, while there aren’t many options in gen 2 for this, this is the generation that introduced held items. Honestly, I didn’t really utilize held items at all, I know in later generations I do, but there’s not really many useful held items in gen 2 specifically. I’m unsure if this is an actual critique or just a personal preference but I think it’s important to note. The other slight mechanical change which is actually quite big is the change to the special stat. In gen 1, special was a singular stat, counting for both offense and defense, now we have 2 unique stats, Special Attack, and Special Defense. This really helps balance a lot of Pokemon, specifically the ones that were too powerful, since having high special would make them have high offense and defense. It’s a great change, really.
And of course the last big change brought about in gen 2 and one that probably had the largest impact on Pokemon as a series is the introduction of Shiny Pokemon. Rare Pokemon with different color palettes that sparkle upon entry to battle. While later, the odds were brought down to 1/4096, the original odds were 1/8192. Shiny Pokemon in general are really fun to find, and especially in later games when they brought methods to hunt shiny Pokemon easier is really fun. In this run of Pokemon Silver though I was ridiculously lucky, finding 3 shiny Pokemon completely naturally throughout the game. Particularly I found a Shiny Rattata, Nidoran Male, and Tentacool. It’s also nice that the game gives you a free shiny as a way to sort of introduce Shiny Pokemon to the player, and it’s nice that it’s a pretty solid Pokemon in Gyarados.
Now onto to the game itself, I really love the new Pokemon introduced in these games, but that comes with a big caveat. While I didn’t use a full team of Johto Pokemon, I had a really fun team for it. Particularly, my team was Typhlosion, Ledian, Ampharos, Quagsire, Bellossom, and Raticate. Honestly there were some great surprises with this team. With easy access to TMs like Ice Punch, Ledian was genuinely an amazing Pokemon, and it helped take out half of Lance’s team. I also found Bellossom to be a struggle to get to, Gloom is kind of bad until level 44, unless you get the TM for Sludge Bomb, which for me, is right before the 7th gym. And for a third note, Raticate with Shadow Ball, since this is pre-Physical Special split, and Ghost is physical, is a really good combination. But this all comes with the caveat that I mentioned prior. A majority of really cool Johto Pokemon are either tied to trading, or can only be caught in the postgame. This includes some Pokemon like Houndoom, Magcargo, Misdreavus, even this region’s pseudo-legendary, Tyranitar, are all locked behind postgame. It really sucks because these are some awesome Pokemon, and even though the remakes allow for certain Pokemon to be obtainable before postgame, some are still not, which sucks (I’m looking at you Houndoom). As well, I recognize it’s just a me-issue here, but I much prefer the encounter tables of Pokemon Crystal, as it allows you to obtain Pokemon like Teddiursa and Phanpy really early, and they’re super fun to use.
Now, when it comes to Johto, and this is an issue that occurs in every version of Johto, the biggest issue comes from the level scaling. Typically when I play the Johto games, I get to level 50 to beat the game, but of course that requires a lot of level grinding. The rate at which wild Pokemon levels scale is so minimal, and trainer battles have a similar issue as well. Even late into the game, the highest level of wild Pokemon, even trainer battles really peaks around mid-30s. It means that if you don’t level grind at all, you’re gonna be quite underleveled for certain fights if you have a full team. And as well since random encounters are very low level, it means level grinding takes a long time. I really do think that the Johto games would be so much better if the level scaling was improved, and I’m someone who has Crystal as one of their favorite games ever.
I didn’t do it for this version, but I remember it from Crystal, but it really is a nice thing that they had the entirety of Kanto in this game. They didn’t really need to in order to make gen 2 a great generation for me, but doing so really is the icing on the cake. Though being used to Heartgold and Soulsilver, going back to gen 2 Johto, the Kanto postgame is a lot emptier. Especially looking at Viridian Forest. As well, as someone who mainly played gen 2 through Crystal, it’s odd how certain things that are standard to me weren’t introduced until Crystal. The whole section with Dragon’s Den is first that comes to mind, the whole quiz and getting that special Dratini was only in Crystal, which I never knew of until finally playing Silver. These parts of the game, alongside the encounter tables I mentioned earlier are why I gravitate towards Crystal more than Gold and Silver personally.
Pokemon Gold and Silver aren’t games I’d typically come back to. I’m more likely to play Crystal or the Remakes, as I prefer the changes they’ve made to the originals, and they do help with certain aspects that the original Gold and Silver struggle with. Even then, Pokemon Gold and Silver are still great games, even with the flaws they have. I had a really fun time playing through this game, the gen 2 games are really pretty, and even though I don’t see myself replaying Gold or Silver anytime soon, I’m glad I finally got around to playing them.

I mean, what is there not to say about Baldur’s Gate 3? It won Game of the Year, and now having beaten it, I completely understand why. I had been interested in this game ever since it was released, though it winning the award is what ultimately pushed me into actually buying it. And what else can I say other than “this game is an absolute masterpiece”. Mechanically it’s amazing, but what truly pushes this game to the level of masterpiece is this game’s writing, no doubt about it. There’s so much to this game that I absolutely adore.
Now this game already appeals to me on a fundamental level. I’m a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons (though I’ve never had the chance of being in a good campaign), so I felt right at home with Baldur’s Gate 3. There was already so much I was familiar with, and playing it really did feel like I was playing an authentic DnD campaign. That as well is something I’ve always longed for, so Baldur’s Gate 3 was able to finally give something I had always wanted, even though it is not an actual tabletop campaign, which I find impressive. While this game supports multiplayer, it’s able to create an experience that emulates a DnD campaign for a single player game as well.
And must I say, I absolutely love the character customization in this game. Of course you have your classic DnD classes, a whole array of different playable races, and a ridiculous amount of ways to customize your characters appearance. I remember spending a good half hour or so making my character look the way I wanted her to, which yet again encapsulates an aspect of Dungeons and Dragons that I adore. There’s even more aspects to customization as well, particularly in the background of the character you play, though that only plays a role in getting inspiration more than anything else. I bring up how many options there are for customization for a point that will be brought up later down the line.
I’ll be honest here, combat is not my focus in tabletop settings, even I’ve played few. Combat can be fun and all, but to me I’m more of a narrative, roleplay, and story kind of person. That’s what ultimately appeals to me, but I don’t dislike combat. And that speaks true for Baldur’s Gate 3 as well, though I do enjoy the combat in this game. I love strategy and tactics and a game like this really speaks to me. And there’s so much that can really impact a battle. Sometimes there’s oil on the floor you can ignite with fire spells, you can push enemies off cliffs, and god do I love a good sneak attack. This game really made me think on what the most optimal move in a situation was, and I adore it for that. There were some really tense and really hard battles, and it felt super rewarding to figure out the winning strategy, especially when the odds were slim. And not only that, but I also really appreciate being able to control the companion characters. It allowed me to experience what it was like to play more than just the class I chose. Since I primarily had Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach in the party, I got the experience of not only Druids, but Clerics, Rogues, and Barbarians as well, which is so nice.
And yet, what makes this game as amazing as it is is the narrative and how the game delivers it. It’s by far the strongest aspect of this game, thinking of this game’s narrative not only impresses me, it overwhelms me. This game of course is your standard DnD fare, but this isn’t a tabletop campaign, this is a video game, so things are wildly different when analyzing them here.
I adore the companions characters with no shadow of a doubt. I almost had all of them, expect I accidently got Lae’Zel killed and couldn’t revive her. I also could’ve spent more time with Wyll and Gale, though I didn’t want to remove my main 3 companions, as I already grew too attached to them. But even still, I love how these characters are written, their backstories, their personalities, just everything. I love seeing them grow and change as the narrative evolves, and I grew to really care for them as well. My favorite companion though was easily Shadowheart. And outside of the companions, other major characters are amazing written as well. While I won’t say who they are as it would spoil things, the major villains of this game are amazing, and so many other major characters are so well written too, it’s so impressive. And this all is strengthened by the amazing voice cast of the game, they did an outstanding job and I adore it.
But what makes this story special, you may ask. With all I’ve described of it, I’ve described how great of a game Baldur’s Gate 3 is, but not why it’s story is special. Though, that’s what we’ve been leading up to all this time. I have no better way of putting this, but every playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 is personalized. Every choice you make, path you walk, even the character you create, everything comes together to create an experience that cannot be replicated by anyone else. The class you choose can impact dialogue options, change how story beats can go. That same is true of the race you play as, even at times, the subrace you choose can impact dialogue options. Sometimes having a unique combination of them can impact them as well! That on top of skill proficiencies, backgrounds, that stats you choose, and every other single decision you make, major, and minor, can change how your story goes. The path went down can be one that wildly differs from the one you chose, and there’s possible evil-aligned routes you can take that I avoided like the plague. Character outcomes could change, the ending of the game could change, and all of it is tied to the choices you make. I can’t even begin to fathom how many voice lines are in this game, how many possible outcomes there are, and most of all, how much I didn’t see. This game is a branching web of paths leading to an infinite number of conclusions, and it’s ridiculously impressive I adore it fully.
And I’ll be completely clear, I can’t ever imagine a review I have of Baldur’s Gate 3 being an absolute showcase of the game in full. While I did beat the game and see it to the end, it feels like my one singular playthrough nothing but a small percent of how big this game actually is. There’s so much I didn’t see, there’s a whole character that never appears unless you play as him at the start of the game, and so many routes and paths I chose not to take. I want to see more of Baldur’s Gate 3, see so many different paths that I could’ve taken. See what happens if I choose one path over another, and what thread of consequences that entails. What would it be like to play a villain? What would it be like to play, say, a monk instead? There’s so much that I want to try out and experiment, but I’ll say, imagining every possible option in this game overwhelms me, there’s just way too much. Though I do plan on replaying Baldur’s Gate 3 at some point though, multiple times I’ll say. I love experimenting, and I really like to experiment with new builds, or playing as one of the companions.
Though I’ll say Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t the best performing game, though it might be my laptop, I can’t say for certain. Especially in Act 3, it took a good while for everything to load in, and there were times where voice lines didn’t function properly, animations didn’t play properly, so on and so forth. Though yet, it might be laptop, so take that with a grain of salt. Even still, I can overlook these issues, not only are they minor and I’m very patient, but with how strong the narrative is, and how solid the game is mechanically, the performance issues are a bit of a small blip in the whole game.
And sitting here, now having beaten Baldur’s Gate 3 properly, I see clearly why this won so many awards. It’s through and through a masterpiece of storytelling, with a story so massive, I can completely believe this game requires the 130 GB download. So much love and care was put into this game, and it can be seen in every single corner from beginning to end. For me, Baldur’s Gate 3 was an experience unlike any other, and I’m glad I was able to experience this game firsthand.

I absolutely adore A Hat in Time, it’s probably one of my favorite 3D platformers ever. I first played the game probably some time in late 2019, but the version I played of it was the Switch port. I almost played the Switch port again for the replay, but thanks to the winter sale, I was able to buy the PC version. Now that I have the general reference for the Switch and PC versions of A Hat in Time, I’m so glad I didn’t play the Switch version again, genuinely. Playing the PC version of A Hat in Time really felt like I played the true version of the game, and it really rekindled my love for it. I was able to play the game’s DLC as well, which I absolutely loved. I obtained every Time Piece in the game, and at the end I did have 100% completion, and I still absolutely love it. Yet again, A Hat In Time is easily one of the best 3D platformers I’ve ever played.
Now, before I get into the actual contents of the game itself, since I talk about it in the prior paragraph, I should answer the question of “what’s wrong with the Switch port?”. And the best way I have of describing it is that there’s a lot of small issues that when combined, just ultimately feels like a lesser version of what the game is meant to be. The most obvious issue of the Switch port is the loading times. When entering a level of the PC version, it takes about 10-ish seconds for it to load. On the Switch port however, it takes easily over a minute, sometimes I worry that the game crashed while loading, that’s how long it takes. And while that in isolation is fine, there’s more issues as well. The Switch version of the game has lowered graphical quality, and the framerate can get noticeably low at times. All these issues combined make the Switch port just a lesser version of an amazing game. Playing the PC version of A Hat in Time makes me really appreciate what this game is and what it’s able to do.
I think what makes A Hat in Time so fun is the game’s movement. Hat Kid, even without the abilities the Hats give, has excellent movement options. I’m a sucker for double jumps in videogames, something about them feel really to pull off. And of course there’s more to Hat Kid’s movement as well. Hat Kid can dive both mid-air and on the ground which is amazing for horizontal movement. I could never perfect it, but I love how if you time it right, when Hat Kid lands on the ground during a dive, pressing jump or diving again boosts her forward even more. And there’s even more too, particularly wall running and wall jumping. If Hat Kid lands on a wall, she’ll run up it slightly, and if you’re close enough, she’ll climb up to the top of the wall. Wall jumping as the name implies is exactly what it does, Hat Kid can jump off walls, simple enough. But all of this comes together amazingly well, giving Hat Kid amazing movement with this alone. I love whenever I have to chain all these movement options together, they just feel so good to pull off.
And as the name of the game implies, another important aspect of A Hat in Time are well, the Hats. Each Hat that Hat Kid can equip grants her a unique ability. There’s 6 hat types in total and the abilities you get from them are all unique. The hat you start out with just points you to where you should go. But hats you unlock throughout the game have some really fun mechanics to them. There’s some simple ones like the Sprint Hat and the Brewing Hat, which allow you to dash and throw projectiles respectively. There’s also some more unique ones like the Ice Hat or the Dweller Mask which turn you into an ice statue, or allowing you to see hidden things respectively. While those later ones seem situational at best, the game does well to make you use all of the different hat types, and they often are in some of the best platforming sections. Another aspect of Hats that I really adore is how much customization the hats have, there’s so many different styles for each hat type, and it really allows you to have ones that you like the most. It’s just really nice.
The last major section of Hat Kid’s arsenal are badges that you can equip. At first you can only equip one badge, but as the game progresses you can buy upgrades that can bring the total up to three. Badges can alter gameplay in some form, though often in small ways. One of the ones that I found extremely useful was the No Bonk Badge, as instead of recoiling when diving into a wall, when the badge is equipped, Hat Kid immediately starts wallrunning. There’s also the likes of the Hover Badge, which removes fall damage, or the Compass Badge, which directs you towards treasure. One fun aspect that I really love about the badges is that not all of them are good. There’s some that are jokes, like putting visual filters on the game, making all the audio muffled, but there’s also ones that change the game’s difficulty, mirroring the whole game, or making you die in a single hit. The fact that the game actively gives you bad badges is really funny to me, and I really like it. Though I’ll say as well, there’s one badge that you basically have to have equipped for most of the game, though it’s also easily one of the best. The Hookshot Badge, which gives you a grappling hook, is necessary for Chapter 4, 5, and 7, which means that it’s easier to have it equipped just generally. While that innately isn’t bad, it is an amazing badge after all, I feel like it would be better if it was just a permanent upgrade, instead of a badge upgrade. That’s my opinion though, and it’s an extremely small critique if anything.
Now, I absolutely love almost every world in A Hat in Time. While some follow similar structures to each other, they all feel really unique in so many ways. Aesthetically, thematically, structurally, yet again I nearly love all of them. I’ll explain why I keep saying nearly when I get to the specific world I don’t particularly love, but I’ll say now that I still like it. Mafia Town is really fun as a starting world, it’s so open and I love exploring and finding new things in it. And each time piece in Mafia Town is really fun to obtain, I love how Mafia Town shifts for each level, crafting itself in a way that’s perfect for the Time Piece you’re looking for. Dead Bird Studio is another amazing world. I love the contrast of the two, Mafia Town is set in the same area for all of the levels, while Dead Bird Studio changes depending on the set. I really love the levels set on the train for Dead Bird Studio especially, they’re really fun. Subcon Forest is a bit like Mafia Town, an open setting that shifts depending on what Time Piece you’re hunting. But a thing that I love a lot about Subcon Forest is how a lot of it is locked off, and you have to explore and find how to unlock those sections of the map. Subcon Forest of course is where you unlock the Hookshot Badge, which is amazing already. And I’d say this world has one of the best levels in the entire game, especially presentation wise. If you were to ask me what my favorite world was back when I first played A Hat in Time, I would’ve answered Alpine Skyline. A completely free roam area, where you can any time piece in any order you want, and actively going through each area and finding each time piece felt amazing. If it wasn’t for the DLC, this would’ve been my favorite world, especially because of how strong the ending sequence of Alpine Skyline is to me. Then there’s the world I’m somewhat conflicted on, Arctic Cruise. Arctic Cruise is a fun world in concept, being on a large cruise ship, but with how short the world is in comparison to every other world, there just wasn’t enough time with it. I could never properly navigate Arctic Cruise, and I think if there were one or two more levels, I’d properly love it like every other world. Though as well it contains probably my least favorite level in the game, that’s because of how hectic that level is. Nyakuza Metro is easily my favorite world in the game. It’s another free roam area like Alpine Skyline, but on a much larger scale. There is so much to explore and look for, so many vendors that sell new cosmetics, and a bunch of time pieces to find. While this is all amazing, it also has my favorite finale level of any world in the game, I love escape sequences like this. And of course, Time’s End, the world that though not the game’s final chapter, is the game’s ending, is a fun and difficult gauntlet that really showcases how far you’ve gotten. It’s a great final level for a game. All of the world in A Hat in Time are amazing, and I absolutely adored finding every single time piece in them.
Of course this only really scratches the surface of the worlds of A Hat in Time. As you find time pieces in specific worlds, Time Rifts appear, which can be located in specific worlds, and lead you to new levels. You can also explore each world, finding Relic Pieces and Rift Tokens, and I nearly found every treasure in the game, only stopping when I got every single reward that I needed. Rift Tokens can be used to gain remixes to specific music tracks, new hat cosmetics, or new color palettes for Hat Kid. And if you have every piece of a relic and put it together, that unlocks new Time Rifts in certain worlds. You can also find Time Rifts in Hat Kid’s ship, which serves as the central hub for the game, which is really fun as well. There’s so much to see and explore throughout the entirety of A Hat in Time and I really adore it.
The boss fights are definitely an interesting case. Most of them aren’t too hard, though I definitely struggled on some. Some worlds don’t even have a boss fight at all. Funnily enough the boss that I’d say actually proved a challenge for me was the boss of Dead Bird Studio, it took a small handful of tries to win that one. But for the cases of every other boss, if I didn’t win on my first try, I won on my second. And while sure, something being a challenge is fun, I more prefer the presentation of the bosses in the game than them being difficult.
And of course I still haven’t talked about the story or the characters of A Hat in Time, and at this point, I’m 1900 words in. The story itself is simple, but it’s super charming which is why I love it so. The simple description of the story is that Hat Kid lost the Time Pieces and is hunting for them so that she can get home. While that’s simple, there’s just so much charm in this game seen through the characters. Having to go to all these different locations, and deal with people and their problems in order to get Time Pieces. That’s one aspect of Dead Bird Studio that I love particularly, in order to get the Time Pieces back, you’re forced into this rivalry between two film directors, and you get to determine who wins. And just hearing the voice actors for these characters, you can hear that they’re having fun with playing these characters, which makes it all the better.
There’s still a lot I haven’t tried out with A Hat in Time. There’s the Vanessa’s Curse DLC, which I don’t own because it didn’t come with the Ultimate Edition. And every single aspect of Online or Co-op is something that I haven’t tried out, as I played this completely in singleplayer. But the biggest part of the game that I didn’t touch was the Death Wishes. 38 remixed levels which unique challenges that make the levels harder, but give you a large number of unique rewards. While I tried one out, I don’t think I’d be able to do all of them, but maybe in the future I’ll give it an attempt.
And through it all I absolutely love A Hat in Time. It bears repeating that of the ones I’ve played, this is one of my favorite 3D platformers. There’s so much that I adore about it. Excellent movement, a ridiculous amount of cosmetics, great worlds and levels designed perfectly to fit player movement, and an enormous amount of charm and love put into this game. Not many 3D platformers make me want to complete every level, but this game surely does. And I’ll probably replay this game again in the future, since beating the game for the first time unlocks Bow Kid as a playable character, it’d be fun to do a playthrough as her. But that aside this probably will be the last game I beat this year, and what an amazing game to end the year off on. If you’re even reading this far down at this point, see you next year!

Azure Striker Gunvolt as a series is one that I have fond memories with. It was one of the first games I ever bought, and I remember spending countless hours playing through the demo before I had boughten it. I’ve played, and beaten this game numerous times before, I replayed both it and Gunvolt 2 some time last year. I’ve had Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 in my library for quite some time now, but since it’s been so long I feel the need to refresh myself on what Gunvolt 1 and 2 were like. And I’ll say, I still really like Azure Striker Gunvolt.
Now, obviously with the game’s structure and how you proceed through the game, it’s hard not to immediately compare it to Mega Man. Inti Creates has worked on Mega Man titles before, specifically Mega Man Zero, so it makes sense that they would eventually create a series that is like Mega Man. But in the case of Gunvolt, I really love how it doesn’t feel like I’m playing as Mega Man, I feel like I’m playing more like a Robot Master. Gunvolt’s abilities (aside from his guns) are all tied to electricity, and how the game mechanically, both in combat and level design expertly shows it off. In one level, you have to use electricity to see in a dark environment, in a different level, it’s used to pull magnetized objects toward you. In practically every level, you can use electricity to either deflect or destroy projectiles. While there’s a lot to be said about each level, I really think the best aspect of the game’s level design is how well it incorporates Gunvolt’s mechanics into them.
And further onto Gunvolt’s mechanics, I already briefly discussed the electricity, but I swear, it’s super fun. There’s so many options using electricity, particularly the flashfield alone. It does all of the items I previously listed, but it damages enemies if they’re inside of it, and it can also be used to slow your fall, which is definitely useful in some later levels. Though it is good that Gunvolt can only use his electricity as long as he has a charge, it’s a really good way of balancing it out. If you deplete your charge fully, Gunvolt overheats, and is unable to use electricity until the charge reaches 100%. And though it only lasts for a brief moment, that moment is very tense which I love. Gunvolt also has specials he can use as long as a special meter is filled, and this can be really helpful too. There’s offensive ones, defensive ones, and the ones that I find the most important, the healing ones. While they’re nice to have of course, I really only found myself using the offensive ones for style points, and healing ones whenever needed. There’s other aspects of Gunvolt’s move set that feel really well to pull off as well! They’re sort of basic movement options, but Gunvolt’s dash and wall jumping feel great the execute. Gunvolt’s movement overall is extremely satisfying, and combined with level layout, makes Azure Striker Gunvolt just an absolute blast to play.
I’m not even done talking about Gunvolt as well. I briefly mentioned it earlier, but Gunvolt has an assortment of guns he can use. You get more as you complete each level, but I found myself using only the starting one, and one that you get near the end of the game. I’m uncertain if that’s a critique of the game or not though, it may just be my playstyle being the reason here. And guns get into one of the major mechanics of the game, being tagging. Depending on the gun you equip, you have a certain number of tags you can use. The starting gun gives you 3 tags, some give you 1, and one gives you 8 tags total. Whenever you shoot an enemy, they get tagged, and they can get tagged up to 3 times maximum. If you use the flashfield while around a tagged enemy, the flashfield will send a bolt of electricity to the enemy, dealing damage rapidly to the enemy. And of course, you can tag multiple enemies at the same time, which can take say, 3 enemies out at the same time. The more tagged an enemy is, the faster the damage, of course. Yet again, I must say, this all combined with everything I listed prior makes Gunvolt such a fun character to play as. While it may sound a bit too much, especially with how wordy I am with things, these mechanics really blend well with each other.
And I’m almost done talking about Gunvolt himself here. Almost. Particularly, when you’re not in a level, you’ll be in Gunvolt’s apartment where you can have some options to do before starting the next level. The one I’m talking about here is the crafting mode, where, with items you find after the end of each level, you can craft equipment to put on Gunvolt. I’ll be honest here, the crafting system is quite lacking, and you’ll barely have to use it. While you barely have to use it, you will still find yourself having to use it slightly in order to unlock the true ending (I’ll get to that later). While most of what the crafting system gives you isn’t that important, the most important stuff comes from the Jump and Traction Rings. Depending on the level of them you craft, it gives Gunvolt additional jumps, or air dashes, which are just extremely useful. While the levels of the game aren’t crafted with them in mind, some levels definitely become more manageable once you have a double jump or air dashes. I think part of why the crafting system isn’t as useful is because Gunvolt already has useful equipment as is. The Prevasion Ring you get at the start of the game is too busted, allowing you to dodge most attacks as long as you have charge. While it does make the game a lot easier, I just find it makes more sense to have it on than off.
Now alright, I’m finally done talking about mechanics that tie to Gunvolt himself. And moving forward, I think it bears repeating how well crafted I think the game’s level design is. That too goes for how replayable they are as well. While in isolation, you only really need to play through a level once, but after you beat the level for the first time, you unlock challenges for it. And of course, these are super fun to try and do, getting a better rank, better time, or doing specific tasks within a level. It makes it all really fun to try and improve your abilities in each level, as well as getting rewards for clearing challenges. This does come with one small caveat though, as you can only equip three challenges at a time, so even if you would’ve cleared a challenge, if you don’t have it equipped, it wouldn’t be cleared. While it’s not the worse issue to ever exist in a game, I do find the design of it a bit flawed.
On a separate note however, rank and the game’s scoring system is really addicting. Every attack you do to an enemy is added up into a combo overtime. The further the combo grows, the larger the score modifier becomes, and the better the score you get at the end of the stage. At 1000 combo or higher, the song in the level changes to a special vocal track which I believe changes based on the level. Though, depending on what you do the combo isn’t permanent. If you use an offensive skill, activate a checkpoint, take damage (though this may not happen depending on the style you’re on), or resurrect (a mechanic I’ll touch on later), your combo will go down to zero. And this aspect of the combo is so cool, as things that would make levels easier must be avoided in order to get a better score. It means that combo isn’t just skill centric, but risk centric as well, as if you die in a level you’ll go back to the start of the level. But at the end of each stage, your score is multiplied depending on how quickly you beat a level. All in all the scoring system makes the game that much more fun to play, as you try to get a better score each time.
And with stuff that I mentioned earlier, I think it’s really interesting how the game can help the player still either beat a difficult level, or keep a score chain going. If you die in a level, there’s a chance that you get resurrected with a power boost, where your charge won’t deplete, and you can infinitely double jump and air dash. Though this of course comes with the factor that you can’t form a combo after resurrection. As well, you can choose a style option that changes how taking damage effects combos, either taking damage doesn’t effect combos (though the score multiplier is lessened), it removes the combo after taking damage immediately, or taking damage three times. It’s a nice way to accommodate for players who may not be as good at certain levels, or getting high scores, but still pushing them to try and improve.
I also really love the boss fights in the game as well. Though without a doubt I have to say part of it is nostalgia. When the bosses are fun, they’re really fun, though I do think one boss particularly isn’t as fun as the others to fight. Though that’s just because that one constantly teleports around, and isn’t around when their attacks are. Either way, another aspect I really like is how each of the 7 main bosses are themed after the seven deadly sins in some way. Though some are more on the nose than others. Another aspect I really love about each major boss is that once they drop to their final segment of health, they use their own special moves. I love the presentation of them, and how you deal with this is really fun too. Sometimes you can attack a boss, sometimes you can’t and sometimes you can but should you? All of the bosses are really unique because of this, and they’re super fun to fight.
One thing I mentioned a lot earlier and now finally getting to is that true ending which I mentioned prior. In order to unlock the true ending, you have to find jewels in each of the 7 main levels, which is honestly a lot easier than it sounds. The only problem is that one jewel requires the use of the crafting system, and another requires a very specific order of actions to be done, which isn’t easy to figure out. Though I will say, that’s only the first requirement of the true ending, however. You also have to equip an item before starting the final stage of the game, and I wish the game was more specific on when you were supposed to equip it. With this all though, the true ending is worth doing, though if you’re like me and used the Prevasion Ring through the rest of the game, that final stage is easily the hardest part of the game. Though the true final boss of the game is a lot easier than I remember when I first played this game back on the 3DS. I’m uncertain if that’s because the boss is actually easy, or if I’ve just improved.
And I’ll say, the rating of this game is in part due to certain flaws I’ve mentioned prior, but as well, I just wish there was more game here. Either longer levels, more levels, etc, I’m left wanting more and there just sort of isn’t any more. The game is really short, and due to that I feel like the game ends a tad bit too soon, as I was able to beat this game easily under four hours. While a good short game is definitely fine, I’m still left just wanting more.
With that in mind though I still really enjoy Azure Striker Gunvolt. I know I like the sequel more, and I definitely can’t wait to play it, but I’m not going to jump into it immediately. Gunvolt plays amazingly well, and the levels and bosses both help to support that. While some mechanics could be better fleshed out such as crafting, and I still wish the game was maybe an hour or so longer, what’s given here is still a fun game. I know I’ll be replaying it again sometime in the future.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are interesting games to examine. They’re flawed, noticeably bug ridden, and the game’s performance can take extreme dips. The open world of the game is fun to explore at times, but at others it felt like the environment was lacking. There’s a whole section of the map that you cannot access, and has no reason to even be there. And even though the game is this severely flawed, I’d still say that I enjoyed playing through the game. The story is one of the best that Pokemon has to offer, and being able to freely explore the world and do things in any order you wish is amazing. It’s interesting in this regard, if it wasn’t for all of the issues that Scarlet and Violet have, these games probably would’ve been the best Pokemon titles on the Switch.
And then they got DLC. I thought the first DLC expansion, the Teal Mask, was charming, but it left me desiring more. Kitakami as a region was rather small, I believe a good half of the region was empty space. The new characters were fun, and I really like the Ogerpon storyline, but there was very little afterwards that kept me wanting to explore this new region. On top of this all, this DLC suffered from the exact same performance issues that the original Scarlet and Violet did, which didn’t really help in its favor.
This large preamble leads me into what the actual topic of this review is about, the (presumably) final DLC for Scarlet and Violet, the Indigo Disk. This DLC may be the best that Scarlet and Violet will ever be. But with saying that, I think the performance issues in the Indigo Disk may be worse than in base game. When I explored Blueberry Academy, specifically the Savannah Biome, the game did more than just drop frames, it actively froze for a second or two. This though I would say is probably the biggest criticism I have for this DLC, especially as it has been an issue that persisted since the game’s original release. But yet again, there’s so much better here than in any other part of Scarlet and Violet that I just appreciate.
First, and most noticeably, is the difficulty in this DLC. As this is meant to be after the main story of Scarlet and Violet, the levels of wild and trainer Pokemon are extremely high. It was rare to see a wild Pokemon below level 60, and some Pokemon I caught were all the way to level 75. And nearly every important battle in the DLC have Pokemon above level 80. It was honestly the first time in the entire game that I felt challenged at all, especially since outside of this DLC, the game is ridiculously easy. Not only that, but every major battle in this DLC is also a double battle, which innately just makes them harder than single battles. One of the particular fun challenges I put myself to was creating a team with Pokemon caught exclusively in the DLC, which was absolutely fun to do, especially since I tried to devise strategies when using them as well. It felt super refreshing to feel challenged again in a Pokemon game, especially since most modern Pokemon games just aren’t difficult in the slightest.
And I’ll say as well, the Blueberry Academy environment is probably the best in the game as well. Of course it’s split into 4 different thematic environments, but because it is, it’s able to fill that space with enough things to feel really alive. Both Paldea and Kitakami had a good number of flat area, either grasslands, or deserts, with just nothing in them. But something about Blueberry Academy just makes it so much better. The Polar Biome especially is so much better than the snow area in Paldea itself, as it’s more than just a mountain, it also features glaciers and water areas too. This all doesn’t even mention that Blueberry Academy also has the best cave system in the entire game as well, I was in awe just seeing how massive it was, and it’s something that I was hoping for for so long.
Another aspect of the Indigo Disk DLC are the Blueberry Quests, also known as BBQs. When it comes to them, in moderation they’re fun. They’re simple little tasks you can do as you explore Blueberry Academy, and allow you to accumulate BP which can be used to improve aspects of the area, or just buy things. Why I say in moderation though is because depending on how you go about things, you may spend hours grinding exclusively for BP. Most single-player Blueberry Quests grant between 20-40 BP, and the special Blueberry Quests typically range between 100-200 BP. One of the upgrades you can get through spending BP are biodiversity upgrades, which allow starter Pokemon to spawn in specific biomes. Each biodiversity upgrades costs 3000 BP, which means to get all of them, you need to obtain 12000 BP total. Now, I chose to get them all at once, which honestly was not a good decision on my part, but I needed to do it at some point. I really think they shouldn’t be this expensive, most upgrades you can buy are 300 BP or under typically, so I feel like 1000 BP for a single biodiversity upgrade feels more reasonable.
And speaking of unlocking the starters and grinding BP, where I’m most conflicted on this DLC comes from the additional side missions that you can get in the game. The side missions themselves are fine, but the requirements to get them are just extremely tedious I feel. The more noticeable one is Perrin’s side mission, which you can only do if you register 200 Pokemon in the Blueberry Pokedex. Now that doesn’t sound too bad, but that’s until you realize that excluding Pokémon obtainable only through biodiversity upgrades, the maximum total of Pokémon you can have for the Blueberry Pokedex is 169 (this number accounts the Sinnoh starter you get in The Teal Mask, and the raid event exclusive Paradox Pokemon). That’s still a total of 31 Pokémon you would need to obtain, which then necessitates that you get at minimum, 2 biodiversity upgrades, which requires 6000 BP. And once you do, and once you get the 200 Pokemon registered, you don’t really get all that much. You basically get told “hey there’s new Pokémon in area zero, go catch them”, and that’s really it. In The Teal Mask, there was fun sequence that you did with Perrin that lead to you catching Bloodmoon Ursaluna, but nothing of the sort is here. And because of that, it just doesn’t feel as worth it as it did in The Teal Mask. And in a similar situation (though particularly my fault on this), there’s a small storyline after the events of the Indigo Disk where you can tutor the Team Star Admins. But to get this, you have to do all of the classes at Paldea’s Academy, rematch all of the gym leaders, do the Academy Ace Tournament, and then lastly interact with Penny enough to be invited into her dorm room. All this work just to get to what is ultimately a cute little segment that looks at the Team Star Admins after the events of the main story, alongside getting Team Star outfits. And while it is my fault that I just haven’t done the main game’s postgame yet, it didn’t feel worth it, and I feel like it would’ve been a lot nicer just to only require beating the game in order to see this small moment.
But yet again one aspect of the entirety of Scarlet and Violet that I always thought was strong was the game’s story. And the Indigo Disk is no exception to the matter. It was great to see the characters from the Teal Mask return, and the new role Kieran plays in the Indigo Disk story is really interesting to see. He sort of feels like that jerk-ish rival that I wish Pokemon brought back a bit more often. The new characters, particularly the Elite 4 of Blueberry Academy are also really fun characters to interact with. And I really love the ending sequence that occurs after beating the Blueberry Academy section of the DLC, when you finally get to see the depths of Area Zero for the first time.
And really its odd. While I enjoyed a lot of what Scarlet and Violet did, I’ve also found myself extremely critical to it. Because of the work environment placed onto Game Freak by The Pokemon Company, Pokemon as a series isn’t as able to be as good as it should be. Yearly releases have been extremely detrimental, and we’ve seen that for the entirety of Pokemon lifetime on the Switch. But with all this in mind, there’s an odd sense of closure having beaten this DLC. It’s an odd warm feeling in me that’s happy to see this game through to the end. It’s definitely been a rough journey for sure, but it’s one that I can’t help but appreciate. Yet again, I feel like The Indigo Disk is probably the best that Pokemon Scarlet will ever be. It still doesn’t fix the issues that pervade this game since the beginning, but it has the best explorable world, with also the most fun challenges the game has to offer. And, I don’t know, I just feel happy about this DLC. But regardless of that, if trends continue, I’ll be reviewing another new Pokémon November of 2024, so see you then if that’s the case.

I forgot how much I loved Ori and the Blind Forest. It’s a game I’ve been meaning to replay for a long time now, almost 3 years ago to be exact. The variety of games I’ve played have changed drastically, so I wanted to see if I still adore this game, and I absolutely do. I mean, I was willing to go through and 100% the game for what would be my third time now, so that means something. But through it all I’m still glad that I love this game as much as I do.
Ori and the Blind Forest is of course a Metroidvania, and one aspect I think is integral to Metroidvanias is movement. How you explore through the world, get from point A to point B, and finding areas you weren’t able to go to before, all these factors are integral to look at when making a Metroidvania, and I’d say that Ori and the Blind Forest does this extremely well. Ori’s movement is amazing, and feels so fluid, even from the beginning when you don’t have any upgrades. And when you do get upgrades, the movement gets so much better. There’s certain classic Metroidvania upgrades like a double jump, or jump, but Ori has some fun upgrades to his abilities as well. My favorite of the bunch is easily the Bash, being able to use enemies or enemy projectiles to leap higher into the air feels so good to do. Especially as you can also use the enemy projectiles to destroy barriers you couldn’t otherwise destroy. There’s also additional other abilities that are fun to use as well. The Charge Jump, though I definitely had trouble at times using it, felt super good to pull off, especially when you have to use it multiple times in a row. Ori’s movement options just feel amazing, he’s easily one of my favorite playable characters in a Metroidvania because of this.
And the environment of the game’s world is also made in a way that really shows how good Ori’s movement is. There’s so many areas that are perfectly crafted for you to utilize Ori’s abilities, and I really do feel like I utilized them all. Each environment as well also has some really great ideas to them that make them unique to each other. One of my favorite areas in the game is the Black Root Burrows, an area that you’re hinted at existing very early in the game, but can’t go into until somewhat later. And when you are able to go into it, it’s completely shrouded in darkness, and you have to find your way. It’s a really good challenge that I adore. And this talk about how well crafted the game’s environments are doesn’t even acknowledge just how gorgeous they are as well. This game in general is just super pretty.
I also love how the game doesn’t exclusively open up through the movement options you get. While yes, most of it does open up through movement options, it doesn’t always. After clearing specific story markers, you’ll unlock new areas that you weren’t able to go to prior. Particularly the main one I think of is that until you clear the first dungeon, you’re unable to swim as the water is toxic. Once you clear that dungeon, the water is cleansed, and you’re able to explore so many new areas. It’s just such a nice way to unlock areas naturally through story events, and I absolutely adore it.
And while it’s obvious from my talk about Ori’s movement and the environment of the game, I think this game excels extremely well with platforming. It’s why I love this game as much as I do I think, the platforming is just that good. While most of the game’s platforming is still amazing, easily the best sections of the game are the escape sequences. Specifically, after each major dungeon you have to go through, you have to escape as the environment puts you in danger, and they’re easily the best sections in the game. It’s a true and proper test of your platforming abilities, and the general presentation of it all is immaculate. And alongside the talk of presentation, it feels so good properly clearing it, it really does give an amazing sense of relief, especially since there’s no checkpoints in the escape sequences.
While I mention that I think Ori and the Blind Forest excels excellently well in platforming, I really wish this game didn’t have combat. The full appeal of this game to me is the platforming, and it’s where I have the most fun, but I feel the combat doesn’t really add anything. While the enemies that shoot projectiles and can be used for Bash are fine, encounters that are strictly combat are just kind of boring to me. The reason why I would be fine if combat was just not in the game is because I just simply imagine my opinion of the game would not change if combat was not a part of it.
I also really adore the story. It’s not anything too complex, but how it’s executed is something I find amazing. I don’t really want to speak of it too much in detail, even though it is a simple story, I do think it’s one that should be experienced firsthand. But I love how you can clearly see how the characters are feeling, even though there’s very little dialogue, especially when it comes to Ori himself. I also love how the music of the game really builds in important scenes as well, especially in the final section of the game.
Yet again, I forgot how much I adore Ori and the Blind Forest. Platforming, Environment, Music, it’s all immaculate. It’s so fun just to move around the world, and take in everything that the game has to offer, and it’s still easily one of my favorite Metroidvanias. I would like to replay Ori and the Will of the Wisps at some point, but I remember not liking it as much as the original game. That being said though, we’ll have to see if that’s still true.

Secret of Mana is a game that I’ve been meaning to get to for a long time now. I’ve always heard it regarded as one of the classic SNES RPGs, so I knew I would want to play it at some point. Now that I have beaten the game proper, I just find myself conflicted. I found the game really fun to play, and I enjoyed my time while playing it, but there were so many issues that prevent me from enjoying it any more than I already did. I don’t hate Secret of Mana, far from it, but I’m far from loving it.
When it comes to the combat of Secret of Mana, it’s… well it’s odd. When I’m in the natural flow of combat, it’s really fun, especially after the 2 other party members join. Sometimes it feels like you’re absolutely bullying the enemy, not allowing them to attack, which is kind of funny. Though this comes with a sort of caveat. Particularly, it’s really hard to tell when you can or can’t hit an enemy, and for some enemies (particularly bosses) it’s hard to tell where you’re even supposed to hit them. For some enemies, you’re able to hit them while they’re knocked down, while for others you can’t, and it’s just hard to tell when you can and can’t hit something. There were some noticeable jumps in difficulty, but they weren’t too hard to deal with, especially since the game is mostly forgiving in giving you methods of healing up. One personal pet peeve I had though is that sometimes it feels like enemies appear behind you, from places you’ve already been. While it might be a purposeful surprise attack, it felt more annoying than anything else. Though there’s more to the combat than the enemies you have to fight.
The first major aspect of combat itself are the weapons your characters can wield, and from what I remember you have 8 different weapons to choose from. This creates a fun sense of customization, not only in the weapon you, the player uses, but the weapons of your party members can impact combat as well. Though some weapons just end up more useful then others, particularly the Sword, the Axe, and the Whip. Throughout the game, and especially in dungeons, there are obstacles that require specific weapons to clear. Cutting down grass with the sword, breaking rocks with the axe, or crossing gaps with the whip. It just ends up being that these 3 weapons end up being the most useful, and with factors that’ll explain in a later section, I see it best to have the party members use those 3 weapons and nothing else.
To explain what the other major aspect of combat is, I want to paint a picture of the early game. In the early game, all you have to attack is using your weapons, and there’s some enemies with high defenses. There was an enemy encounter I had to fight that I died at more times than any other part of the game, and a boss fight that I found harder than any boss in the game’s final dungeon. So, you may ask, why was the early game so difficult? The answer couldn’t be simpler, you don’t have magic yet. Magic utterly breaks any balance this game once had, and every boss once you have magic is an absolute joke. Most bosses in the game range between 1800 – 3000 health, and if you train your magic properly, it can easily do about 500 damage. Boss fights can be done in less than a minute thanks to magic, making fights that sound scary into complete jokes. Though you can only get the spells as you progress through the story, and you have to train up your magic in order for it to be good, which is a different can of worms.
This game is extremely grindy. There’s of course the standard player level, but that doesn’t immediately improve weapon proficiency or spell proficiency. You have to grind levels for those too. If you play through the game in full only giving each party member a specific weapon to use, they’ll probably be at the max level for that weapon at the end of the game. And that’s fine if you’re doing that, that means they can fully charge their weapon to the strongest they can be. This as well is why I stuck the only the sword, axe, and whip, grinding out the weapon levels of other weapons would be a waste. On the other hand, you should grind out magic, the stronger it is, the easier the game becomes. But from having grinded out the characters to max, I can say with confidence it’s super tedious. Probably about a third of my playtime overall was grinding to max out the magic levels, and I don’t think I would’ve beaten the game as quickly if I didn’t do that. When it comes to the 2 characters who have magic, they have 7 different magic types they can cast, and each magic type has 8 levels, which means you would need to gain 102 levels for magic total. While I do enjoy level grinding from time to time, I do really wish that grinding magic levels was at least a little bit easier.
Though I did mention prior how magic makes boss fights an absolute joke, I still find them really fun. There’s a level of presentation, and even though you can cast magic quickly, you still have to avoid enemy attacks. This all leads me to say that I despise this game’s final boss. You can only hurt it with one kind of weapon that’s fully charged and only when the boss allows you to hit it. It’s extremely repetitive, slow, and because the final boss may target the one character who can attack, making it so that you have to wait for the next cycle, annoying as well. It ended up being the only boss I ended up hating out of the numerous bosses you have to fight during the entire game.
Finally done with talk of the game’s combat, the story of Secret of Mana is rather simple. There’s a noticeable amount of ambition I can see, but it feels like it’s unable to do what it really wants to do. While characters are fun, they’re rather simple, and the general plot isn’t anything to write home about. Even through all of this, I think the game’s opening and endings sequences are amazing. There was a great sense in closure seeing the end screen, even the the road getting there was quite rough.
One last thing I want to mention about Secret of Mana is that I had absolutely no clue where I was supposed to go for a lot of the game. I ended up using a guide (and especially a map) for the majority of the game, to know where I needed to go. For the later half of the game, the game tells you a location you need to go, but not exactly how to get there, or in what exact order you’re supposed to go to. Without the guides I used for this game, I probably would’ve still been playing this game even now, still probably lost somewhere. Though since I did use the guide, I can’t really say for certain.
Yet again, I’ll repeat, I had a lot of fun playing through Secret of Mana. While I mention many of the flaws that appear in the game, the general gameplay of the game is still fun. It just has a lot of issues that I find to prevent me from enjoying it more. I can easily see why this game is as beloved as it is, but I can’t help but notice the flaws. With that in mind though, I still want to play later Mana games, and hope that maybe they improve upon where this game falters.

Over a year ago now, I first played the original Silent Hill, and I absolutely loved it. Then last month (at the time of writing this), I played Silent Hill 2 which is an absolute masterpiece. When it comes to horror franchises, Silent Hill may be my favorite overall. No matter which game I play, I find myself adoring them, finding them to be masterclass in dread, paranoia, and just general horror. This of course leads me into the topic of this review, and the game I just beat, Silent Hill 3. While Silent Hill 2 as I earlier described is easily a masterpiece, so too do I think the same of Silent Hill 3, and dare I say, it may just be my favorite of the series thus far.
Much like with Silent Hill 2, I played the PC Abandonware version of Silent Hill 3, though unlike Silent Hill 2, there weren’t any graphical upgrades to the game. I don’t exactly know why only Silent Hill 2 was granted a graphical update mod, I’d love to see Silent Hill 3 get the same treatment. Especially because the Abandonware version of Silent Hill 3 has issues with settings, particularly you can only play the game in a set resolution, and only in full-screen. Another similar issue is that the Abandonware version had issues with my controller, it didn’t recognize some of my buttons, particular the triggers, and both L3 and R3. It made me have to sacrifice the strafe buttons, though since I played in 2D mode, I didn’t have to worry about it too much. Though with this in mind, these are probably issues with the abandonware version of the game, not necessarily the game itself, so I can’t really be upset at the actual game for this. Just know that if you plan to use the Abandonware version of the game, these issues may occur.
Onto Silent Hill 3 proper, I will limit myself here on talking about the game’s story. I absolutely love it, but this is a game that I think deserves being experienced for yourself, it’s not one that I want to spoil. But with what I can say, I absolutely love it. Heather Mason is probably my favorite of the Silent Hill 3 protagonists, there’s a lot I can’t explain to why that is, but with what I can, I like how she’s relatively a normal person going through all of this. Seeing Heather react normally and realistically while every other character acts extremely off-putting is something really cool to see. There’s also so many themes that can be seen within Silent Hill 3, though yet again, that’s not for me to tell you, it’s for you to experience. There’s some themes that are more obvious than others, but there’s one theme that I’ve read that’s extremely personal to me, which is why I love it so.
And I’m going to repeat myself here in the same way I talked about Silent Hill 2. Yet again, my absolute favorite part of these games is the general atmosphere. The suffocating fog and darkness that constantly surrounds you, and the numerous noises that just keep playing, playing and playing. Oftentimes, they were just completely out of bounds, and not something that can actually be seen. Continuously I found myself opening a door, hearing an unsettling noise, and just immediately exiting the room through the door I had just used. The sounds made me so paranoid, that noises that occurred in real life (I live in a multi-storied building, so noises above or below me are common) scared me as well, as it felt like they were part of the game. And to me that feels like an excellent showcase of how well Silent Hill’s atmosphere is extremely effective, and yet again, it’s one that I absolutely love. The environments are also really well done in Silent Hill 3 as well. It’s nice to see somewhat new locations in the game as well, I really love the mall as a starting point, it’s completely different to Silent Hill locations of the past, but still features the same atmosphere and all around vibes that can be seen in a Silent Hill game. And as well, seeing the environment deteriorate around you is amazing, it’s both terrifying, and awe inspiring. It really well shows how wrong Silent Hill as a location is, it’s as if it can’t handle the weight of existing, and it’s both alive, and breaking apart at the same time.
And as I played through Silent Hill 3, I found myself absolutely amazed by the horror found in the game. There were genuine segments that caught me off guard, but once they ended, I thought “that was genius”. One moment, relatively early on in the game had you jump down onto a Subway Track, to try and enter a door with a glowing red light on it. The game actively attracts you to that door, thinking that the door is where you need to go to. But when you try to open the door, it’s locked, and suddenly you hear the noise of the Subway Train, barreling towards you. But as you try to get back onto the Subway Platform, enemies appear, and start attacking you. It’s one of the few times the game actively deceives you in a way like this, and it’s downright genius. I found myself taking a moment to sit back and just be in awe of that, I love it.
As I go further, I absolutely love the puzzles of Silent Hill 3 as well, I’m a sucker for puzzles that require me to write things down in a notebook to remember things. It happens in a lot of games, but no matter what I find myself loving it. If I were to describe my favorite puzzle in particular, it was a puzzle to find the code to a locked door, but the game only tells you how each number relates to each other, and where they are not. A math kid like myself absolutely loves a puzzle like this, and figuring it out felt so great, I felt proud of myself for figuring it out. Though in other cases, I definitely wasn’t the brightest, and I had to pull up a guide, though it’s typically cause I missed a specific item, or I just wasn’t close enough to interact with objects. Regardless of that, I still absolutely adore puzzles in Silent Hill games, and Silent Hill 3 is no exception.
Yet again as I said at the beginning of this review, Silent Hill 3 is most assuredly my favorite Silent Hill game (of the ones I’ve played thus far). There’s much I wish I could talk about it, especially in themes, and the theme that is particular to me, but Silent Hill 3, much like its predecessors is one that should be played for itself, before I describe my thoughts on its themes and story. Silent Hill 3 is absolutely terrifying, and there’s so much I haven’t described that instilled fear in me. And yet again, Silent Hill as series, Silent Hill 3 included has outstanding atmosphere. I swear, I can’t recommend this series enough, each game I’ve played has just been amazing. While Silent Hill 2 is easily a masterpiece, I also think Silent Hill 3 is a must play as well.

Now, before I start anything, let me acknowledge that I’m absolutely going to be biased here. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl (which is how I’ll be referring to the game, even though I only played Pearl) were the first ever games I played. Things that may be flaws for some, either I really like, or I can overlook. Diamond and Pearl do have flaws to them that I can understand, but my nostalgia and love for these games let me overlook that. And it was really nice to finally replay Diamond and Pearl after this long, I absolutely adore the Sinnoh games, and in my plan to play through all of the mainline Pokemon titles, I had to save the Sinnoh games until near the end. I’m glad that even after all this time, and after having played countless other Pokemon titles, I still adore Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.
Of course talking about Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, we can’t ignore the best change that it brought about in Pokemon overall. That being the Physical/Special Split. A move being Physical or Special no longer was tied to what type the move was, now each move was individually determined as Physical or Special. This noticeably allows Pokemon that were once terrible to now become amazing, Dark Type Pokemon could now utilize their often powerful Physical Attack Stat, and Ghost Type Pokemon could utilize their Special Attack Stat. Grass Types could be physical attackers, Poison Types could be special attackers, and the list just goes on and on. The Physical/Special Split frees so much that was once so limited. While Gen 3 introduced abilities, Gens 2 and 6 introduced whole new types, and Gen 6 onwards introduced new gimmick mechanics for each generation, I think that Generation 4’s Physical/Special Split is the best mechanical change that has ever occurred in a Pokemon game.
And in a similar vein, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl also add so many new evolutions to Pokemon that really needed it. It introduced some of my favorite Pokemon, like Honchkrow, Weavile, and Roserade to name just a few. And it’s so nice to see a large batch of Pokemon that needed something, as only recently have we seen old Pokemon gain new evolutions, even though it’s only a small few now, instead of the large batches. One unfortunate aspect though is a lot of new evolutions can only be obtained after beating the game, as many of the Pokemon they gave evolutions to can’t be caught until them. It’s just somewhat unfortunate.
Now, to continue my bias as mentioned from earlier, the Sinnoh region is honestly my favorite region in all of Pokemon. There’s so many different areas to explore, and places that are completely fleshed out, but you can entirely miss out on. One of my favorite areas in the game is Fuego Ironworks, and you’d only know of it if you think to go back to Floraroma Town, and Surf on the route east of it. And while I understand why people would be upset by the massive requirement of HM use, I’m not. It makes Sinnoh feel a lot more unexplored of a region, which then in turn, makes me want to explore it more. And areas like Victory Road needing 5 HMs total to get through feels like a true test of what you’ve had to do beforehand, which I really love. Even though I wish it had more use, the more I played Diamond and Pearl overtime, the more I found Defog as an HM to be useful, though only once during the game I’ll admit. Fog is just an annoying weather condition. And in a similar case, while it is a little tedious to go through, I love the snow routes. They’re just too pretty to me to really be bothered by how slow it is to move through them.
I absolutely had a blast playing through the whole game. My team was just really fun. For reference, I had an Infernape, Roserade, Manaphy, Mismagius, Lopunny, and Weavile. A mix of some of my favorite Pokemon, some I don’t use often, and one I’ve never had the chance of using before. I still can’t believe I was able to do the Pokemon Ranger event and have an actual Manaphy in a Pokemon game, I only got that chance once, and that was probably a decade ago. My team was so well crafted that I barely struggled with most of the game. While I did grind here and there (I did a lot in Iron Island, so I didn’t have to do much afterwards), I surprisingly found myself grinding very little. And a great thing about early Pokemon is that I find myself really getting attached to my party members, I feel like I really got to know how each Pokemon played, their strengths, and their weaknesses. It’s something that only recently have I noticed is sort of lacking in the modern games.
And even though I this go of the game probably had my easiest fight against Cynthia, I really have to acknowledge just how memorable Cynthia is. Cynthia still, all in all, is one of the hardest Champions in a Pokemon game, and for good reason. She has noticeably higher levels than any other trainer you’ve fought so far, and her ace of Garchomp is terrifying. Dragon and Ground are generally some of the best offensive types, especially in Gen 4. Starting out with Spiritomb, also having a Milotic and a Lucario. Her team is built to adapt to possibly anything, and that means you have to as well. It took me years before I was able to first beat Cynthia without trading any legendary Pokemon from other games, and I’m proud to see how I’ve grown to where I’m able to properly plan and now easily beat Cynthia. And this all hasn’t even acknowledged the iconic music that plays before and during the Cynthia fight, which makes her all more memorable.
Now of course, while I have a lot of love for Diamond and Pearl, I can also acknowledge that they aren’t perfect games. As it’s been constantly been joked about, Diamond and Pearl have a noticeable lack in Fire Type Pokemon, only having the starter Chimchar, and Ponyta. Though, while Fire is a really useful type for a lot of battles throughout Diamond and Pearl, it’s a very minimal criticism, as you can easily just use other types. I think there’s only one Pokemon in the entirety of Diamond and Pearl that’s exclusively weak to Fire, though I may be wrong. Another notable flaw is that Diamond and Pearl are really slow, and that’s true. I’m used to it of course, but it is one that I can’t ignore. It’s especially noticeable when surfing, and this ties to something that I think is important to reference. Pokemon Platinum improves so much that Diamond and Pearl falters with, so many more Pokemon in the region to catch, altered graphics that better fit Sinnoh’s general aesthetics, and faster speeds all around, both during battle, and while moving through the overworld. It just fixes a lot, so if the flaws of Diamond and Pearl are a turn off for someone, I think Platinum can still be a strong recommendation.
And this goes all to repeat that I will always love Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. There’s a lot I never acknowledged as well. It was (I believe) the first mainline game to feature Wi-Fi Connection, Wi-Fi battles, and Wi-Fi trading through the GTS. Team Galactic is my favorite villain team, and I hardly mentioned them because I plan to mention them further when I get to Pokemon Platinum. The music is amazing, I love the gym leader designs, and generation 4 introduced just so many amazing Pokemon. There’s so much I want to talk about the generation 4 games, though I see myself saving them for when I review Platinum, as it’s just the better game all around. Even still, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were the first games I ever played, so even if they’re not perfect, I love them either way.

Before I start out my review, I want to admit something here. That being that I’ve never played a proper 2D Mario before Wonder. As it would imply, that means that I don’t have the frame of reference that would come from playing past 2D Marios. That’s definitely on me, I’ll admit. I was planning to play at least the first Super Mario Bros before I got around to Wonder, but that never happened. I spent a lot of time before and during my classes playing Wonder, since most of the time, I had nothing to do. For a good frame of reference, I started Wonder back in October, around when the game released, and I just beat it the day as I type this (December 4th). The game is not long by any means, it just took me a long time to beat it. But god was it an absolute blast to play through this game, honestly it made me excited to go to classes because that meant I could play more Wonder.
Now, since I’ve played Wonder, I can’t really compare the movement of these games to older titles. I wish I could, it’s an interesting idea to examine, but since I lack the knowledge, I simply can’t. But what I can say is that the game’s movement is amazing. The level of momentum found while running feels really nice, though at the same time I do struggle with it. That’s a skill issue on my part though, not a fault of the game.
Now obviously since it’s one of Mario Wonder’s biggest selling points, I makes complete sense to examine The Wonder Effects. I’m pretty confident that I experienced all of the Wonder Effects that the game has to offer, aside from a super-secret bonus level, I cleared every level in the game, and obtained every Wonder Seed. With that in mind, I absolutely adore the Wonder Effects. It gives so many levels unique identities that they wouldn’t have otherwise. But at the same time, there’s moments where it’s absolutely great to see certain Wonder Effects return. I was worried that one of my personal favorite Wonder Effects, the one found in Piranha Plants on Parade would never return again, but in certain levels, similar wonder effects appear. Finding the Wonder Flowers is usually easy, though I noticed at times I had to play a couple levels over multiple times in order to find the actual Wonder Flower.
Also I want to take a moment here to talk about the Special World. And by that, I just to acknowledge how tough it was for me. Oddly enough, not every level was all that difficult, some were noticeably harder, some noticeably easier. In one special case, I found that the Special World version of a stage was actually easier than the normal version of a stage, I think that was particularly World 2’s Special World Stage. I really like how there’s unique entrances to each Special World Stage throughout the worlds of Mario Wonder, as that helped motivate me to try and find even more in each world than I would otherwise. I will say on that topic though, I do wish there was a bit more of a direction in finding the Special World Stage Entrances for Worlds 3 and 5, as the game doesn’t really clue you in to going back to certain levels once you finish a world. And I’ll say, while from what I hear it’s not the hardest level in the game, “The Final Test Wonder Gauntlet” was such a difficult level, though it was fun seeing everything that occurred in it.
Another absolute fun aspect of the game comes from the Badges. While you can wear only 1 Badge at a time, badges can really impact the difficulty of a level in certain ways. Some only just help, either by giving you a mushroom at the start of the level, or adding question blocks to help you. Others change or grant you new movement options, which are the most fun. I also like the ones that make me ask “why would I use this?” but also make for fun challenges, the first one I think of in this regard is the badge that makes you completely invisible. For the majority of the game, I used the Wall Kick Badge because I just found it absolutely useful, though I switched to the Grappling Vine once it became available. What’s great as well is that while I did use one for the majority of the game, I did actually need to switch around badges to help in the levels I was in, which isn’t something that happens to me in most games. I also adore that there’s levels in the game built as sort of tutorials to teach you how to use each badge, and then later on, advanced versions of those tutorials, to see how well you’ve mastered them. Not only are they great levels in their own right, but they’re excellent ways of teaching the player how to use each badge properly.
One thing I’d say I was nervous about going into Mario Wonder was the online. I was a bit disappointed there wasn’t a similar Online Multi-Player to the ones I saw in the New Super Mario games, but the more I played of it, the more I grew to really like it. It’s honestly really fun to play with people all across the globe, only slightly interacting with them, and helping them when they need it. I will say though, oftentimes I found the online multi-player to make certain difficult levels far easier than they would otherwise be. It definitely carried me through a good number of levels, though honestly most of those levels wouldn’t have been too difficult. It was mainly the Special World Stages where I had the most difficult. I also adore that there’s certain levels that somewhat necessitate the use of Online Multi-Player, though it’s also nice that you’re realistically able to beat most of them without it. Those levels were absolutely great to play, though I did a couple offline.
I will say the one general negative I hold with Mario Wonder was the boss variety, or well, the general lack thereof. I would say there’s 4 major bosses throughout the game, and 3 mini-bosses. Of those, the 3 mini-bosses are all the same with slight alterations to how you get to the weak point, and 3 of the 4 bosses are the same, with different wonder effects that impact the environment. While I absolutely adore the final boss and that whole stage is one of my highlights for the entire game, the other bosses felt too similar, and I was wishing for something more. While the changes were noticeable, they didn’t feel too distinct enough.
All in all, I absolutely loved my time with Super Mario Bros Wonder. It may not be the best choice as a “first-entry” to 2D Mario games, since it’s the newest release, and there’s a large history of games behind it, it’s still an absolutely amazing game. I can definitely see myself coming back to the game in the future, I think it’d be fun if I tried to get all of the flower coins in each level, since I didn’t try too hard to get all of them. I really hope we get to see another Wonder-like game in the future, the Wonder Effects in each level felt so fun, and I really want more of it.

Now, I want to acknowledge my bias going into this review. While this is my first time playing this version of Final Fantasy IV, this was not my first time with Final Fantasy IV. I played the DS remake of the game years ago, and this is where my bias comes in. Final Fantasy IV was the first Final Fantasy I ever played, and I absolutely loved it. At the current moment, with the Final Fantasies I’ve played (I, III, IV, VI, and VII), Final Fantasy IV is my favorite Final Fantasy. I had the urge to finally go and replay Final Fantasy IV, especially cause I really wanted to give it a proper review. Instead of the DS version, I was given a patched version of the SNES version, which is meant to make it more like the original Japanese release, from what I hear, the western release of Final Fantasy IV is ridiculously easier in comparison. Even though my original experience with Final Fantasy IV is the DS version, I’d say with confidence that I love the SNES version just as much.
Now, before I get into the actual content of Final Fantasy IV itself, I really want to compare a certain aspect of my experience with the DS version, and the experience I had with the SNES version. Particularly, and most obviously, the difficulty. I don’t know how best to describe why this is the case, even with the patch that made the SNES Final Fantasy IV have the original difficulty, the DS version of the game was noticeably much harder. This can best be seen when comparing the hours it took me to beat the game. When I played Final Fantasy IV DS, it took me a total of around 45 hours to beat the game, while the Final Fantasy IV SNES took me only about 21 hours, less than half of the time total. I think that may be in part to Final Fantasy IV DS being a somewhat slower game, but I also remember long bouts of grinding, sometimes all my time in a day was spent level grinding. When it comes to this, I can see myself more likely replaying the SNES version than the DS version, the difficulty is more manageable, and I can beat the game in less than half the time. Another minor thing that differentiates Final Fantasy IV DS and Final Fantasy IV SNES is that the inventory in the DS version is unlimited, while the SNES version isn’t. While that is, of course, limiting, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, the inventory was generally manageable throughout the entire game. I know there’s a way to store items, but I never needed it.
Now onto the actual game proper, god I absolutely love Final Fantasy IV. To what I know, Final Fantasy IV was the first Final Fantasy game to introduce the Active Time Battle system. An alteration to turned based combat where enemies and the characters you play as all have a set amount of time before they can act, instead of acting specifically in turns. Especially in the case of Final Fantasy IV, there’s a really good sense of tension with Active Time Battle. You can do your best to prepare for attacks that enemies can throw at you, but since you don’t know when enemies are going to attack, you don’t know how much time you have to prepare. And for harder battles, it can be really tense. The one thing I miss when comparing Final Fantasy IV SNES to the DS version is the lack of a noticeable meter to know when your characters can act. It seems like there is one in the game, as pressing a certain button (I’m honestly not confident to which button it is) switches showing the health to a meter that fills to 100%. While that itself would be a “noticeable meter”, I can’t see myself ever using it specifically as seeing the health is so much more important.
Final Fantasy IV is also the first Final Fantasy to really try and focus on its story. I mean, prior Final Fantasies did have stories, but none have properly focused on them as much as Final Fantasy IV did. It truly feels like I’m playing a proper cast of characters, and especially due to Final Fantasy IV being the first I’ve played of the series, I find the all rather memorable. I really love the sort of underdog story that Final Fantasy IV has, as the villains always seem to be ten steps ahead of the main cast. I love Cecil’s journey as the main character, and how that is impacted in the actual gameplay of the game itself. Even further, while it may frustrate some, I love how party composition is constantly changing throughout the game. Characters join and leave the party over and over, and many sacrifice themselves in order to allow the party a way forward. There’s a powerful struggle in the story of Final Fantasy IV, which I really adore. Final Fantasy IV is not too unique of a story, but it’s executed amazingly, I feel.
On top of it all, I really love the differences that come with each playable character. To me at least, Final Fantasy IV is where a lot of the major RPG classes really get solidified. Rydia has always been one of my favorite characters in the game. Searching for all her summons, and fighting powerful bosses to obtain them, it’s really fun. It really allows to make Rydia particularly one of the most powerful characters. From what I remember, Final Fantasy IV is the first of the Final Fantasy games to use a proper MP system, instead of spell slots, and as well, characters learn spells through level up instead of buying them in stores. With how party composition changes over time, it really allows you to try out all of the major characters throughout the game, which I really appreciate. In later titles like Final Fantasies VI and VII, while I love the main cast of both games, I never utilized all of them and stuck with the ones I like. Final Fantasy IV on the other made me feel like I properly tried out every single playable character, especially since many have noticeably different playstyles.
Yet again, while the first version of Final Fantasy IV that I did play was the DS version, I still love this version of Final Fantasy IV just the same. It’s still the first Final Fantasy I ever played, so even though it’s noticeably easier, and it has a different art style, it’s still the game that I love to bits. It’s hard to imagine that any future Final Fantasy game that I play will ever beat my love for Final Fantasy IV, it’s definitely a nostalgia bias for sure, but that’s fine. I can definitely see myself replaying this version of Final Fantasy IV multiple times in the future, it’s just that good to me.

While I knew that God of War 2018 was an amazing game before getting into it, I didn’t know to what extent I would enjoy God of War 2018. I had played both God of War 1 and 2 earlier this year, and I absolutely despised them. Iffy storytelling, clunky platforming, and terrible puzzles littered those two games and made my time playing them horrible. I chose to skip God of War 3 because of this, alongside concerns about PS3 emulation quality. So believe me that even though I heard only great things about God of War 2018, I was still a little apprehensive, due to frustrations that came from the earlier titles. I bring all this up to exemplify how amazed I am with God of War 2018, it’s far better than I even imagined it was. It’s a wonder my PC was able to run it too, though I did have to fiddle with a lot of settings.
First off, the combat. Now, the basic idea of the game’s combat is still somewhat the same as the previous titles. X is a light attack, Y is a heavy attack, and sometimes the order of buttons you press can create combos. But unlike the previous titles, I feel like 2018’s combat is far more nuanced, granting so many unique possibilities and combinations that really fit a person’s playstyle. You have 3 different weapons you can choose from, being your fists, the Leviathan Axe, and a weapon that cannot be named due to story importance. You can freely switch to each weapon on the fly, and for the case of the Leviathan Axe, and the third weapon, you can throw them towards enemies. Some enemies are immune to certain weapons, so you’ll have to try them all out at certain points, which I find particularly nice. Each weapon can be attuned with special attacks that can be used in battle, and if you have one weapon’s special attacks charging, you can switch to another to use its special attacks. The all doesn’t even mention the skill tree that you can upgrade to give each weapon new abilities. Enemies as well now have a stun meter, and once its filled up, you can pull a finisher on them. And it’s so much nicer doing it here than in the previous games, as QTEs are never necessary for them. Spartan Rage is another mechanic that returns, and I actually loved using it here. It felt so good that it was used for story specific segments, and actually using it in battle felt worthwhile and fulfilling to use. And this all doesn’t even take into account what Atreus can do during combat as well. Most of the time, Atreus will act on his own, which is helpful in case of large swarms of enemies, or in case an enemy needs to be stunned. But you can also command him to shoot at enemies your targeting, as long as he has arrows for it. All of this, alongside being able to block, parry, dodge, and dash, create an extremely satisfying set of abilities for Kratos, and it provided a game where I fully enjoyed fighting enemies as Kratos.
And surprising to say, but compared to the puzzles of God of War 1 and 2, God of War 2018’s puzzles were actually really good. One big thing I like is how the weapons, particularly the elements they’re attuned to, are incorporated into puzzles. One of the most common puzzles I encountered were ones where you had to hold a gear in place by freezing it with the Leviathan Axe. As well, I love how Atreus is able to help with puzzles as well, primarily with gaining elemental arrows that can solve puzzles that you couldn’t solve earlier in the game. One of the big problems that came with the puzzles in God of War 1 and 2 is that they felt rather directionless, I had no idea what I was supposed to really be doing. In 2018 however, while the game does throw helpful hints every so often, I found myself just scanning the environment, and instinctively figuring things out. There were definitely some puzzles that I didn’t fully comprehend, and there were some that took me a while. But unlike the previous titles, I actually enjoyed figuring it out, which really shows how far improved this game is.
And I rarely do this, but I really want to express how gorgeous God of War 2018 looks. I don’t play many modern AAA games, mainly due to price, and concern that might PC would explode. I’ll reiterate here that I’m surprised my PC could even handle running the game at low settings. But even at low settings, I found myself in awe of the environments that this game had to offer. They were so visually stunning, as well as diverse in design it was just extremely beautiful. The snowy environments of Midgard, The lush forests of Alfheim, even the icy wastelands of Helheim. I also noticed that I had barely even touched all of the areas found in the game. There was so much to explore, and maybe in the future I’d try to clear out the remainder of the game. And who knows, maybe there’ll be even more amazing sights that I haven’t seen before. The realms of God of War 2018 are so beautifully crafted, there were many times that I just had to gaze in awe of what this game was able to accomplish.
This then leads ultimately into what I think may just be the strongest aspect in the entirety of this game, being its story. And because of how great God of War 2018’s story is, I’ll try to speak minimally on it. I find that the best way to experience a story is to experience it firsthand, and I don’t want to rob people of it. Now when it came to prior God of War titles, my reviews often mentioned how conflicted I was by their stories. Particularly, it felt like they didn’t know what they were trying to be, flip-flopping between wanting to say something, or say nothing at all. But for the case of God of War 2018, It’s so clear that this game’s story knows what it wants to be, and does it so expertly well. Kratos and Atreus have such an amazing dynamic through the game, and seeing them both grow because of each other is amazing. And it’s so nice to see Kratos interact with other characters, have conversations and back-and-forths with characters he wasn’t immediately trying to kill. God of War 2018 was not only able to craft an amazing story, but it was able to create one that I ended up actually loving.
I’m sorry if I spent too much of this review comparing and contrasting my experience with God of War 2018 and the previous God of War titles. I felt like it was important to compare my experiences, to show the issues with had with the prior titles, and just how noticeably improved 2018 is. God of War 2018 improves upon every single aspect of the prior games, and creates a game that in every single aspect, really blew me away. The game’s last two chapters especially, though I wont say what they contain particularly, are excellent storytelling. I feel really happy saying that God of War 2018 is a game that I wholeheartedly love. I don’t know if it will ever come to PC, but if it does, and I can run it, you know I’ll be getting God of War: Ragnarök.