I didn't expect to functionally "finish" World of Horror as fast as I did - The modular rogue-lite experience is something that's fairly cool and the visually stimulating presentation makes it worth playing, but I can't help but wonder if a single, hand-crafted experience wouldn't be strictly more engaging.

Some of the mysteries aren't the most interesting, and grasping all of the mechanics and UI on the initial playthrough isn't the easiest thing in the world - After the initial playthrough, immediately starting a new run isn't the most exciting prospect once you know you may have to replay some of the same mysteries.

Probably worth checking out on the prospect of being inspired by Junji Ito alone if you're a fan of those works, but I still enjoyed it enough without any prior experience with the mangaka.

A very funny RPG with some ambition and vision - I love the ugly face models and whacky dialogue a lot.

I don't mind the more "generic" high fantasy setting on-paper, but for how big the world of Oblivion is, a lot of it feels same-y and lacks character. The main quest is mediocre at best, and some of the DLC, like Knights of the Nine, are even worse.

The best questline is da Dark Brotherhood, and any RPG gets points in my book for having a duel arena.
A neat game with ultimately a unique stank to it, though I don't think it does a whole lot that it's 2011 follow-up doesn't do strictly better.

ODST experiments with a moody hubworld to varying degrees of success, and goes for a smooth jazz, almost noire cyberpunk style of vibe. The vehicle sections don't land quite as hard as most Halo titles, but the thrilling and short segments of vulnerable ground combat make up for it.

Ironically, despite the shift to more deliberate firefights with smaller quantities of enemies and the player character's physical traits being weakened, ODST is probably the easiest of the franchise, even on Legendary difficulty - Which is to say the encounters are thoughtfully designed around the player's stats to create a tense, but not frustrating campaign that can be briskly ran through in a few sessions. ODST cuts down on the Halo sandbox in an effort to focus on the core of what makes Halo tick, and refreshingly focuses more on small scale, close and intimate combat encounters over the mid-to-long-range "Connect the Dots"-fest later games would trend toward starting with Reach.

The story is technically there, the voice cast is solid, and the story-telling methods are novel, but the real heart and soul of ODST that makes for a convincing world is the best in class soundtrack - Arguably Halo's best.

With Firefight finally being included in the Master Chief Collection, and it getting matchmaking support 11 years later than it should have, ODST is a complete Halo package. It's hard for me to pick many nits with this game, other than pining for a sequel to flesh out the ideas presented here.