After enjoying Until Dawn and hearing good things about this, I was excited for another cinematic horror experience. What I got was a good effort that felt a little underbaked. I believe the production of this game may have been stifled by the COVID pandemic, so I certainly understand that, but it does seem to lack a real conclusion. Also, it felt like some of the choices really forced the characters to do dumb things no matter what you did, which feels antithetical to the concept of the game. Enjoyable, but somewhat lackluster!

I remember the very first time I saw the opening screen of this game, and it honestly astounded me. Even having been born into the 16-bit era, I loved the simple 8-bit introduction of this game, with the visual of the title over the waterfall backdrop and the credits that lay out the premise, coupled with the epic opening theme. From there, the ensuing game is pretty good! It certainly laid the groundwork for one of the great franchises in gaming. As I've said for a lot of these first installments, it's not flawless, and future games made some major improvements, but the solid road map is there!

It's not often that I play something and think... "I've never seen this before!" Enter Return of the Obra Dinn. Sure, it has elements of classic point-and-click mysteries, but the execution feels so incredibly unique. The way you discover new information and have to make inferences from the limits on that information was so compelling to me. It's definitely challenging, and you really have to pay attention to some of the slightest details to fully uncover the mystery at the center. And the fact that all of this is presented in reverse chronological order makes it that much cooler. Absolutely brilliant game!

I was completely caught off guard by this game. I knew of it, but never really paid attention to what it was. Once I got around to playing it, though, it turned out to be a thrilling experience! You really feel like you take on the role of Morgan Yu and are experiencing the horror through their eyes. The space station Talos I is both a fascinating and frightening environment, and traversing it via a sort of Metroidvania style progression allows you to gradually uncover its secrets. The Typhon are also among the most frightening enemies I've come up against in recent games. On top of all this, a compelling story takes shape the deeper you get!

I'd argue that FFIX is the most Final Fantasy of the Final Fantasies. It embodies so much of what gives the franchise its identity, with callbacks to the very earliest entries and plenty of new elements that give the whole thing a unique spin. It has a compelling, deeply moving story, a beautiful setting, and perhaps Uematsu's best work as a composer. It is slower paced than the games that came just before it, but this is a game worth taking your time with. I consider this the last truly great Final Fantasy game.

I'll start by saying that this game is a lot of fun. Weapon customizing, settlement building, and the V.A.T.S. combat are all done well. The story? It's a little thin, and none of the factions are particularly interesting to me. The biggest problem, though, is how shallow the dialogue system became. That may be due to limitations of a fully-voiced protagonist, but one of the great aspects of Fallout is its dialogue and the interesting outcomes conversations can have. I think this game lost a little bit of that. It's certainly not awful, and I'll replay this game again, I'm sure... but compared to the heights this series has reached before, it's somewhat disappointing.

The idea of a Grand Theft Auto western was interesting on its surface, but as you delve deeper, there are so many layers to the story of John Marston that Rockstar hadn't really done with previous games. Like many of the great western films from the latter half of the 20th century, this is an exploration of the end of the "Wild West" and the way of life that fictitious cowboys embodied. Couple that with satisfying gameplay that draws from familiar GTA tropes, and you've got a ready-made classic on your hands.

Using a bow and arrow to fight robot animals was already a cool concept, and adding a really satisfying narrative to that made Horizon Zero Dawn one of my favorite games of 2017. Aloy is a great new protagonist in the video game pantheon, and following her journey to uncover the mystery of her origins was an excellent introduction. The bow combat is a lot of fun, and you have all manner of tools to take down the diverse array of enemies that take on many shapes and sizes. The setting is another highlight, with a fascinating world to explore and all kinds of interesting characters.

After the promise of Mass Effect, Bioware decided it was time to really flex some muscle. This game is one of the best sequels ever made. I know the ammo changes are controversial for some, but I think this game did just about everything right as a follow-up to the first. It expanded the universe, brought in great new and old characters, and offered more interesting missions that deepened the personal relationships that made the first game so great. The one big knock I have against it is personal, and it relates to one of the companions who doesn't get as much playtime as the others. Otherwise, a game with few flaws.