Say what you want about this game as a product, as it's totally fair to say it's nickel and diming it's players while not providing enough to warrant the cost. However as a art piece I feel this game surpasses Fallout 4 in everyway. With it's radio station's commercials, radio shows, locations throughout the map, and overall aesthetic. The development team were clearly passionate about this franchise and wanted to make something worth looking at. It's a shame that it's horrible launch still damage's people's opinion, as the devs have worked hard to make it stable. Hopefully much like Dark Souls 2, where people are giving it a try now, people will consider doing the same. Maybe you'll like it.

I try to look at this like the Zelda franchise, I don't think the current developers are capable of making something as good as their early works (I.e Fallout 1, 2, & NV). Those people are long gone and this is what's left, if you don't like that's ok! But you have to accept that the franchise has changed course and that's their choice as developers, let them make what they want.

As an art piece, this game is amazing. It's grungy style feels reminiscent of Gorillaz's music videos and early new grounds art. The atmosphere in this game is really good and as the game progresses it only gets better. However where the world design evolves throughout the game, the bosses become a mixed bag as it go on. There's bosses that require a mastery of dodging and stamina management while others are a straight up punching bag. But they are carried by the amazing map structure of this game, which I feel surpasses the souls-like moniker and moves more toward Castlevania's design. I can't wait to have someone to play this with! One of the best games to come out of this souls-like trend.

What to even say about this, I played this two years ago and still dream of the ancient city. Playing this after Demon souls and Dark souls 2 really made me appreciate what those games where trying to do. Both were an attempt to make something like this a 3rd person adventure game. The weapon system isn't perfect and once I got the moonlight blade I felt like god, basically killing everything with no chance of dying. Much like shadow tower, the slow build from peasant who can't even kill a slime to battle mage that can kill even a hell hound within seconds is great! I hope Fromsoft leaves this series in the past as I don't think they know how to make games like this anymore. The closet we've gotten is Sekiro but that's not an rpg nor does it have great level design

I played this as a wee lad and needless to say I gave me nightmares for a while. As a dumb little child I couldn't beat the pirate camp and so the game became this other worldly place I visited now and again to play something that aligned with my emotions. At the time I had just moved for the first time to a horrible place where I was bullied everyday. In a way I saw a relationship between this world and my own. My Great Grandfather, who lived next door, died while I played through this and that greatly effected my experience. All the themes of death hit hard after watching my Great Grandfather get carted out of their house, but in a way this game really helped me process that death. I knew I had to move on, every time I heard the song of healing it hurt. I felt like I aged five years while playing this, even though I was a dumb kid that couldn't beat it I still helped me grow up and understand how death effects our lives.

I was play Hotline Miami 2 during the day and this at night, while I know the pacing of this game is heavily flawed but I think playing this while I was spiraling really helped. Playing HLM 2 made me very afraid of the Klansmen at my school, but escaping to DD made it so much less scary. This and HLM 2 gave me a place to feel like I had control and power when I didn't. When I killed Grigori and finished Hotline Miami 2 I kind of fell apart as I couldn't really cope through these narratives anymore but that pushed me to look at the themes of their story and empower myself through thinking through both games themes.

I was basically addicted to this for 2 and a half years, it's all I played and all I read about from 2016 to 2019. Focusing on this while trump was president really fed this depressing cycle I was in and it takes a special work of art to get me that attached to it. Now looking back I think it was a especially volatile time, for the devs and for the fans. Kind of like the pressure that created Majora's mask, I think the external factors surrounding this game pushed the narrative to be even more personal and effective. I later lost my save that beat hard mode in junior year and spent 60 hours replaying through the whole game again in a week, needless to say I was obsessed and getting quite pretentious about it.