When I first put together this list of games I wanted to replay at some point, I thought of tossing in Portal 2 as well, I mean, it had been over 10 years (god I'm fucking old...) since I had last played through it. At this point, I must have forgotten how to solve at least a big part of it... right...? RIGHT...?

Well, in the first 2 hours or so I realized that, when it comes to hyperfixations I had in the past, my brain is better at preserving information about them better than I actually thought, because I found myself going from puzzle to puzzle with relative swiftness, with only a couple of them in the late game giving me trouble. So, why did I stay?

Because if there's something I didn't quite remember as well, was the humor being so phenomenal, it's great to see that after all these years, the comedy of this game still stands up to this day. Specially since this time around I caught on some jokes that as a kid pretty much flew over my head, like think about it for a moment, working for someone like Cave Johnson is like talking to a friend that always replies to you with the nerd emoji when you tell them something, the guy was a walking PR nightmare.

To anyone going for their first playthrough, you are in for a delightful experience, and I hope you enjoy solving these amazing puzzles while breathing in the amazing atmosphere of the game... unless you are breathing the asbestos of underground Aperture, in that case... I'm sorry about your lungs lol

Right after beating Echoes of the Fallen, I went straight for the follow up with The Rising Tide. At long last, the DLC featuring Leviathan the Lost is finally here, just like its predecessor it takes place before the finale of the base game and leads the party towards the hidden region of Mysidia, where its clear skies are a sight for sore eyes after having to deal with a gloomy purple filter for the later bits of the main story, specially when you first see how visually stunning the sights in this new zone are.

TRT takes its more self contained story as an advantage as it serves to do some very well received complementary worldbuilding through a story that is quite easy to follow and stays true to the themes of the base main quest and doesn't overstay its welcome. As usual, Sidequests can be very hit or miss but they are still as brief as ever.

But enough of that yapping, lets talk about what everyone was looking forward to about this particular DLC: Leviathan himself. It turns out you actually get his powers quite early into the new story, with his playstyle focusing on projectiles that pack way more of a punch than the standard ones, while giving Clive much more improved mobility when it comes to dodging.

Leviathan himself is a phenomenal fight with phenomenal music that reaches the same peaks of Hype that both Titan and Bahamut do, with the extra bonus that not only he hits hard, but he can fuck you up if you let your guard down for a moment, the hype really paid off with this one.

Oh and if you have already beat both the game and the dlc, pay the Arete Stone at the hideaway a visit. You won’t regret it

With this DLC, my time with FFXVI has officially come to an end, until I feel the need of revisiting it once again. However I am glad to have been part of this journey from the moment of its announcement to the point where I got to meet the amazing cast of characters and fall in love with the world, story and music, however flawed they might be.

By the way CBU3 you bastards you still owe Jill (my beloved) more screentime, like, give her a solo game at this point now 😤