There is something in the air- that something is an undying extension of #FucKonami, the movement that coloured the end of the 2010s in regards to the ever controversial company, as they seemingly abandoned everything they had built up in the plane of home video games, pursuing the golden goose of gambling machines.

Obviously, things have changed, but unless your name is Metal Gear, people don't seem to be forgiving. That is especially true for Silent Hill, a series I'm sure very few people here have truly played, but many know of. Many know of the botched HD Collection. Many know of the low quality games made in the afterglow of its glory years. Yet, despite this knowledge, many lack a proper context, a proper grounding to it all, and it results in the pit of thinking any new Silent Hill project must be bad, they almost have to be.

This lacking context rears its head further- people will call this game "western" or made by people who have nothing to do with the IP, yet when the credits roll I see the exact names I expected- Ito Masahiro and Yamaoka Akira. This game bleeds with their clear intent, especially Ito's, yet this goes unnoticed by many who have seemingly played this entry.

The game takes Ito Masahiro's concept of 'sakura horror', one he has talked about in the past, and rides it out for as much mileage as it can get, starting with the rather mundane notes that vaguely resemble the sakura, until eventually you're rushing down a nightmare, the walls peeling away into petals and the sakura monster following close behind. It's very effective imagery, especially amidst all the environments littered with decay, falling apart at the seams.

Its elements like these that mark Short Message as one of the first Silent Hill games in well over a decade to truly get the nightmare. It manages to deftly mix aspects of Alessa's nightmare from 1 and Claudia's from 3, alongside its own flavor- of a world constantly falling apart or in rapid decline, one that loops in on itself where it will only ever change for the worse, where the only escape is to break past the barriers placed on us that prevent us from moving forward. Acknowledgement of the past and remembering who your loved ones truly are, in a deftly Silent Hill move, one adjusted for a modern perspective.

I have to admit, I may be over praising this game at times, though it is satisfying to finally witness the series put out a single cohesive vision, for the first time since Silent Hill 4. It's a jolt to the system and only adds to my current optimism that yes, these new Silent Hill games can be great. They have the potential, and Ito has shown he has not fallen off over the years.

I suppose then I'll end this review on a criticism, and then some light praise. I do believe the main character, Anita, speaks far too often. She constantly comments on every event, and leaves minimal room at times to truly figure out what's going on. This leaves my highlights being the moments of exploration, detail hunting in the background, and of course the school section (which is one massive echo of Silent Hill's first entry). But, as a bit of praise, I quite loved the ending- people are like plants, in that they do need attention. They can't live solely off of themselves, we weren't made for that. So, the ending has the two friends, both wandering the same, lonely path, reach out to one another. With that, the sun destroys the nightmare.

It's a simple scene, but I found myself enjoying it.

What an absolute experience I just had with this game. This being my first Resident Evil game, and also my first ever horror game in general, I had no idea what expectations to be had for getting into this. I am simply astonished. Who knew that video games can give such a brilliant cinematic yet interactive experience? Who knew that there could be such perfect harmony between narrative, presentation, and gameplay? Resident Evil 4 has completely changed the way I look at video games from now on. I will admit, I am not much of a gamer at all besides my investment in franchises I’m already deeply connected to so what and how I gush about this game might not seem that all that new or impressive to most people.

Firstly, I have to talk about its presentation. It perfectly captures this livable setting in the countryside of Spain and the locations like the village, castle and island are all so distinct from one another yet they blend so well as a cohesive visual identity to Resident Evil 4. Despite how dark the game gets due to its setting being at night at times, there is just clarity in everything I can do, see, and interact with. It is easily distinguishable from what's just background and what I can interact with yet somehow it never looks out of place in keeping my immersion with the game. Though the immersion doesn’t just end at the visuals because what strikes me even more is the chilling sound design. The creeping atmosphere with the haunting sound effects makes every walk through a corridor or road so daunting. What’s even scarier is when I know there’s enemies ahead with the whispers and weapon sounds making the inevitability of combat all the more tense. Everytime I boot up this game I am just drenched in cold sweat with how engaged I am in playing as Leon with how real it makes me feel being in the world.

But I wish I knew more about this world. Being the 4th entry in the franchise, it definitely seems connected with the previous games with characters like Ada Wong and Krausser seeming to mention events from past games. It is okay though, the bottom line of Leon investigating and trying to recover Ashley is an intriguing enough hook with what seems to be some political struggle going on in the background which interests me enough to definitely check out the other games. These characters are fun to follow though, Leon has this cool no-nonsense behavior that of an actual military personnel but can also goof off if the situation allows it. My kinda guy. I was incredibly worried that since the game is essentially one giant escort mission that Ashley was going to be super insufferable but turns out she is alright. Yea she cries out for Leon a lot when she’s captured, but she’s helpful in her own right and can banter well with Leon in the more light-hearted scenes. The villains in this game are so menacing, and the way in taking down each one of them is just so satisfying both narratively and in the gameplay with how much they’re built up only for eventually to be taken down.

And that leads to the gameplay. The glue that sticks all these stellar aspects together. The haunting atmosphere of the presentation really adds to the gameplay since it affects the player with how tense they can get from the sounds and what's on screen, not to mention the superb model layout and background of the presentation helps the gameplay a lot in distinguishing your actions and interactables as previously mentioned. Then there is also the story giving enough context clues of what to do next especially helped with the notes left by various people providing hints on what's up ahead. What really blows my mind though is how well Resident Evil 4 has so many gameplay mechanics I usually despise, yet it works so well here. Tank controls, limited inventory, scarce resources, damage sponge enemies are also stuff I hate in most games but it just works really well for this game as it serves the narrative so well. Tank controls make the game more tense since you can’t just run away quickly. Limited inventory and scarce resources further cranks up the tension of being stranded. It is just amazing to me how so many of Resident Evil 4’s design choices are just meticulously chosen to work well with each other.

Overall, this game is going to the all time favorites list. It completely hooked me and I just couldn’t stop playing it even until the late nights. So glad I’m committing to this halloween theme of binging horror games that I have found a gem so many have praised but only now I am seeing. I will definitely be playing the extra content now especially since I want to see more of the one character I really liked being Ada Wong. 9.5/10, video games are great.

I am a clever bear. I do not like water.

Oh this game is such a gem. Truly it is. The presentation is impecable along with the voice work. The graphical style is one I've not seen used really in any other game. The music is so atmospheric and well done. The puzzles are well made with some really well done visual design. My only gripes are around sometimes gameplay feeling a bit clunky and not being able to get past my questions around how these 3 characters who spend so much time SEPARATE can immediately share all of their inventories.

Sweet VR rhythm game that's clearly inspired by the likes of Beat Saber, but the form of physical activity it asks you to participate in I found to be pretty remarkable.

While Beat Saber, from what I played, mostly involves palm and hand movement with occasional obstacles dodging, in Pistol Whip you have to constantly juggle aiming, shooting, reloading, bullets dodging, obstacles dodging and melee attacks (titular pistol whipping) which makes it the most sweaty and intensive acyclical aerobic game I played in VR. I also appreciate that the game doesn't neccesarily force you abide to the rhythm, but awards more points to shots aligning. This approach smoothes out difficulty and learning curve (as the game is quite intensive as it is) and prepares you for high score runs once you come to sport the base activity and ready to incorporate the rhythm in your gameplay.

It's only really held back by a short track list and pretty low variety of EDM genres represented, but devs has shown the willingness to add more content with updates.

Overall? Heck of a good time, and you come a bit healthier from it.

I will never be able to properly convey how I feel about this game.

The gameplay, strategy, and general gameplay loop is among some of the best I've ever played. The simplicity of "go into raid, find loot, survive" is obvious, and yet the challenge of the game still exists. The challenge is created with not only the PvPvE aspect, but also the challenge of a world that isn't on your side.

It's probably the most hardcore and serious shooter I've ever played, yet the fun and enjoyment you can have solo and with friends rivals some of the most laidback fun games too.

The star of the gameplay loop is the gear and loot. I have never found more satisfaction in a game than finding something worth a pricey sum in Tarkov. And this is where the PvP shines, everyone wants the best stuff, people find themselves at the same location, and all out havoc occurs.

While the game doesn't aim at being realistic to an unfun degree, it's seriousness lends itself to success. Bullets can and will ricochet inside your body, destroying your limbs and making you wobble to an exfil, or a safe place to fight back. The quality of bullets you bring is nothing less than the choice between life and death in many scenarios.

I could go through all the mechanics of this game, but you should just play it yourself if you're after a serious shooter.

Paradise Killer is like, almost there, but as a mystery story I find myself wanting in the execution and structure of the mystery.

I feel like the main issue with Paradise Killer is in it's open world nature, at the very beginning you're given a million leads and the complete freedom to pursue it, while giving a good opportunity to explore the island, it doesn't work as well with any other melding of a genre to an open world as the overabundance of leads tends to lead to a very fatiguing few opening hours as you run through lists of dialogue trees, maybe a few more when accidentally stumbling upon evidence in your trials, leading to more dialogue trees than you had expected prior and having to double back to re-question suspects on what you just learned and it all feels very padded as a result, most of my time was spent running around getting collectibles, or finding vending machines because I needed the currency to find evidence, and the vending machines lead to an extremely vital tool. This is where I think the open world nature of the game betrays its pacing since it never feels like you're really getting anywhere even when you're crushing your leads because of a few main aspects.

Firstly, interrogating suspects in this game is pretty flawed, I dunno how you made going through a list of talking points tedious but it becomes so with the world design, having to walk back and forth, or even if you fast travel its still a significant amount of time spent on commute, on top of all of this though the main issue is that suspects are generally pretty unresponsive, they deflect any accusation thrown at them, even with all the evidence in the world pointing at them doing even a step in someone else's crime, or even if the suspects are friends with you all of them reject and deflect any claim you make resulting in really poor feedback about the progress of the investigation, combine this with social mechanics of all things, requiring you to periodically check in on suspects to get extra clues and dialogue that are essential to finding the whole truth causes a really janky feedback loop, something that a mystery game pretty much requires to be satisfying.

The open world format I suspect was to give way to the fact that you can commence the trial at any time and lay your case down from the minute you touch down, with complete freedom on who you want to accuse, and the Judge's support if you have the evidence for it, which is a really cool concept in theory but in execution it doesn't manage to achieve it's goals because the investigation is extremely backloaded, by the time you get the evidence that I believe will make the story produce any satisfaction you've probably solved almost every lead by that point, so you're probably gonna be doing the trial only at the end anyway unless you really want to see what happens when the guy you suspect isn't the culprit gets executed for every charge anyway.

Paradise Killer is a super stylish game, a treat for the eyes and ears, with clear inspirations to games and works that I really like but forgoes the actual mystery aspect in terms of gameplay and pacing that I'm left a bit mixed on the final experience, the game just kinda ends abruptly. It's almost there though, the real execution and details of the crime are great and it was really satisfying to figure it out ahead of time, even if I feel the characters didn't really acknowledge that I had pretty much figured out most of the answers by a certain point.

Between the bleak dystopian setting, the need to rely on your wits more than your brawn to survive in a hostile world, and the complete lack of a UI that helps things feel more immersive, Abe's Oddysee wears the "Another World" influence proudly on its sleeve. It does have much stronger puzzle elements compared to Another World's largely trial-and-error gameplay, and that mostly works in this game's favor.

The puzzle elements largely revolve around manipulating the various hazards and hostile creatures in order to make it through the levels in one piece, whether it be sneaking past two fiercely territorial scrabs as they fight to the death, luring an enemy into a land mine, or 'possessing' a slig to have him take out some of the threats ahead. While some of the puzzles do get quite difficult, the AI is remarkably consistent and the various enemy types will always behave in a very predictable way which means you will actually get better and better at the game mechanics the more you play (as opposed to the rote memorization of 'gotcha' moments that plague many similar games).

The puzzle mechanics are greatly enhanced by the game's great sense of atmosphere, and in how much personality they infused into the enslaved Mudokons (who you spend most of the game trying to rescue). These ugly adorable flatulent dudes with the minion voices retain their spirit and sense of humor even in the face of frankly horrific treatment, and it gives the setting a very distinct and somehow very effective fusion of humor and tragedy. More importantly, it enhances the gameplay by giving you 'puzzle pieces' that you actually care about. Sure, you can get to the next area by using the other slaves as human mudokon shields but it'll also make you feel like a dick; conversely, when you find the perfect solution to set all the slaves free and (often barely) just survive yourself, it's doubly satisfying.

This ties in very well with how the game cleverly sidesteps my frequent gripe with puzzle games: the difficulty. Puzzle games have it tough because unlike other genres, you either know the solution or you don't, and there's no in-between; this makes it difficult for games to find the tiny middle ground between "braindead easy" and "so difficult that you get stuck and consult a guide". Abe's Oddysee has its share of difficult puzzles, but the majority of those are optional and just lead to you being able to rescue more Mudokon slaves (who as we've established, you tend to feel honor-bound to try to save). What this means is that you will want to save as many slaves as possible, but if you find yourself really stuck you can just continue with the main game without having to consult a guide.

Abe's Oddysee unfortunately also suffers from a common issue with similar games: the stiff controls. For the most part they don't spoil the experience, but there are just a few too many time-sensitive situations that you need to rush through and demand near frame-perfect timing that I can't also give the game a free pass on that.

In the end, the frustrating moments were far outweighed by the game's strengths. When I used the experience gained in my first playthrough to save more Mudokons the second time through and was rewarded with a different better ending, it gave me a real sense of accomplishment (and guilt about the two guys I allowed to get beaten to death). I'm looking forward to playing its sequels!