This is a perfect example of a game that isn't meant to be fun and is outright unfair but is still a good experience to go through. Everything in this game fits, so to speak. The artstyle, the sound effects, the humor, the gameplay, the characters. It's wacky, it's serious, it's funny, it's grim, it's unfun, it's an experience. It's also one of the games that truly use its medium to tell a story. Gameplay affects story and story affects gameplay in a way that's interactive. One of the most telling moments of the story is when, after you've been put through hell by one of the characters, the game punishes you for not accepting that this game is unfair. One moment that stuck with me when I replayed the game is when I purposefully didn't finish a character's questline because I knew they would leave the party and he was too useful to leave behind, which ties wonderfully to the playable character's themes. Made me feel so selfish and egocentric.

Going around this small yet dense part of a destroyed city, all you see is misery and how people cope with it. You, who should be one of the people that bring order into this mess, are yourself a broken man. You were broken and as soon as you wake up the world demands you to stand up and recover and do your fucking job. There are awful people in this world but none of them are like that without reason, not even you. Every character has depth, some try to hide it in order to keep up a facade, and they all try to take advantage of you, not because they hate you, but because they have to. All this chaos is also represented by the staggering amount of quests you get that often need a long time to complete. But one by one you solve each loose thread, slowly you start to understand why people are the way they are, and one thought at a time you start piecing together who you were and why you are. The end of the game, despite all this, is the most hopeful message I've seen in media, all the more powerful thanks to everything that came before it. Life in Martinaise is about failure, but success, despite how low the chances may be, is always possible.

First, the bad:
The combat is a meh. It has a lot of options, but I've found that I would mostly do the same 2-3 combos every fight. It never forced me to learn it properly. Getting hit isn't avoidable so my instinct to outlast the enemy kicks in.
The portrayal of women is a bit tasteless. It definitely has a male-centric view. It's not too terrible and I'm ashamed to say I can ignore it to enjoy the good parts.
Speaking of! The side quests are fun and over the top and the main story is engaging and grabs your attention. One of the things this game does best is being able to handle both serious and comical sides of the game very well.
It's extremely fun to go around the city and just do whatever the fuck you want. I love it. The same dichotomy is found in how masculinity is portrayed. It has both the macho serious and toxic side of masculinity but it also isn't shamed but embraces the non-traditional, "fruity", fun side. It's a very simple thing that many people get wrong: if a man is doing something, anything, it's masculine.

I can't wrap my head around this game, honestly. Starting off with things I am sure about:
The gameplay is okay, it's rather simple and doesn't pretend to be more than what it is. It feels a bit of a chore most of the time and it's a bit all samey.
I really like the setting and the premise, I could feel the sadness and heartache between the dream and irl sections, it was well crafted.
The ending is... somewhat peculiar? There's a twist that changes the story completely and I'm not too much of a fan of it. It's not a bad ending per se, it might just be something I have to mull over. It definitely didn't go with the easiest and straightforward way and, although it's less satisfying to me, it tells a darker and more unique story that makes this game special, which is something that I can't argue with.

How do you judge a game where bullshit is intended and a core part of the gameplay? Darkest Dungeon is fun, I like it, it looks great, the combat is fun and engaging and it's great to learn how it works. The "problem" is that the game does not play fairly. This is not necessarily an issue, I do think bullshit has a place in gaming and can be used well effectively gameplay-wise. One example that comes to mind is LISA: The Painful. The idea of this game is that even if you are extremely prepared, you can still lose one of your characters permanently (except a rare event). Losing a character is a HUGE gut punch and I know many people love this part of the game; the fact that the game isn't afraid to inconvenience the player in order to keep the atmosphere tense. I don't like it, it makes it a miserable experience. The most fun I've had in this game is breaking it, which is funny to think about because if it weren't this unfair, I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. There are many exploits that are very easy to do and they trivialize the vast majority of the game. I wouldn't be as negative on this game if it didn't take a ton of hours to finish the campaign, it feels like padding. A more condensed experience with bullshit elements sounds good to me, which again reminds me of LISA. Despite all this, I've had a good time with this game and spent a lot of hours in it. It's one of those games that comes to mind when I see those meme templates that say "Worst game you like".

A perfect combination of Dark Souls, Elden Ring and Sekiro combat. It feels extremely good to play and it makes Dark Souls/Elden Ring combat feel neutered. You get a lot of customization and change of progression of your basekit. It takes some stuff from Souls games, such as elemental buffs, and makes them part of your kit, without consumables, it takes weapon durability and makes it engaging and dynamic, and it also takes weapon arts and makes them not dependent on having to manage a different type of flask or whatever. The bosses are fun and a good challenge; I've had a lot of fun fighting them switching from a Souls playstyle to a Sekiro playstyle or back depending on how comfortable I was with a certain attack. The maybe most interesting thing I can say about this game is that it's fairer than FromSoft games, meaning that, while the game does expect you to learn and master your kit, it meets you halfway, it's more forgiving. I know it's extremely subjective and honestly a terrible way to put it but the best way I can describe it is that there's very little "artificial" difficulty. One thing I really like about this game is that if you finish your healing, you can earn back one at a time if you do enough damage, it's not a straight up "Well, good luck buddy". The few bad things I can say about this game are: there's too much of a gap between low hp fodder enemies and high hp bigger enemies (not necessarily a bad thing but it didn't feel right); the respawning takes too long; the exploration looting is underwhelming; and the one instance where the game helps you too much: very frequent shortcuts. Ending on a list of bad things doesn't give the right idea so I'll say this last thing: I think in many ways this game is better than the Souls trilogy and Elden Ring, and if you enjoy these games, you'll probably love this one. It's an incredible achievement.

The first 3/4 of the game are immaculate. It's a beautiful world with lots of stuff to do and see and explore. The combat is an even more fleshed out version of Dark Souls 3. Walking around this game felt like magic... the first time around. As Joseph Anderson said, this game's world loses its charm and awe after you've finished the game, it doesn't have replayability because of the scope of this game. Elden Ring's goal was so high they had to sacrifice some crucial part of the game. Reusing enemies and bosses, samey dungeons, too much padding. The game outlasts its welcome with the last 1/4 of the game: by then I had already explored almost everything of the previous areas and it really felt like the game was about to end. Then it kept going with a barebone area with bad bosses. Though the worst bone I have to pick with this game is how hard they are trying to make the bosses. Most of the bosses are fine, I'd say almost all of them, except maybe the minibosses or wandering bosses, which are just boring. The biggest issue I have is that boss and more specifically that attack. It seems like FromSoft is trying so hard to keep up with the increasing skill of gamers nowadays that they had to make something UNFAIR to top it. It's hard to judge this boss or even this single attack because it's so jarring that it ends up defining the game. I do think that is a good thing. However, the Souls format has been a thing for like a decade now and it's no surprise that they thought they had to come up with something even harder. I believe it's time to either make drastic changes to the basekit or retire it and try something new. Sekiro shows this very well: they tried something different and it was a stellar achievement. Elden Ring is an amazing game, it deserved the GOTY award, but I hope they try something else next time.

After Bloodborne Souls games went through a drastic change. The combat and overall feel of the game is much faster and much smoother. This makes it a better and more fun action game, but it does lose a bit of its charm. The bosses are great, they are fun to fight and very flashy, which I love. The areas are a bit stale, they use the same color palette for most of the areas, it also doesn't help that it's the third entry in the series and it has the same ideas as the other games. Though I do miss the atmosphere of the other games, I still really enjoyed my time with this game.