In a direct comparison to other roguelites, Side Order comes out looking pretty weak, lacking the variety in levels and modifiers that keeps better entries in the genre feeling fresh right up to the hundred-hour mark. What saves Side Order is that, at the end of the day, it's still Splatoon. And Splatoon is very, very fun to play.

My favorite thing about any of the single-player campaigns in the Splatoon franchise is that they give me the chance to fool around with weapons I would never have given the time of day otherwise. On this axis, Side Order succeeds more than anything before it, as the right combination of color chips can outright invalidate whatever weaknesses a weapon is supposed to have. I wouldn't be caught dead using a charger in multiplayer (well, technically, I would be caught dead - several times), but here I can turn it into a tap-firing homing laser, and there's power in that. In general, I actually quite like the color-chip system: on their face, most of the upgrades aren't very creative (damage, fire rate, ink efficiency, etc.), but the numbers stack to such ridiculous degrees that they end up feeling transformative anyway. Maybe too transformative, at times - the Lucky upgrades pop so often in the late game that you only need one or two before you're drowning in more powerups than you'll ever need.

I hate to say I'm a tad disappointed with the story, though. Splatoon isn't exactly a franchise that needs to be taken seriously, but previous campaigns were worth paying attention to just to see what kind of out-of-pocket madness they'd decided to throw into the mix. Here, we don't really get that - everything's set up by the end of the tutorial, and though you do continue to get new dialogue as you clear the real game multiple times, nothing ever really surprises. That said, as someone who lost in Splatoon 2's final Splatfest, it's nice to see an excuse to have the Order aesthetic brought to life anyway (and, in retrospect, it definitely fits a DLC more than it would have the main hub).

--Memento Mori--
When I was young, I became aware of death pretty quickly. Growing up in various poor parts of Los Angeles, I was exposed to a lot of the harshest aspects of life. Many people I knew fell in with the wrong crowds—were at the wrong place at the wrong time—weren’t given a chance to live. Up until I was about 19, nearly all of my dreams at night were about my own end. Death was all around me. But being aware of death and understanding it are two very different things. Persona 3 acknowledges this and does its best to teach you the difference.

“The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed… The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate... Entrusting his future to the cards, he clings to a dim hope. Attaining one's dream requires a stern will and unfailing determination."

Originally released back in 2006, Persona 3 was the game to create and cement the modern Persona formula made more popular by Persona 4 and exploding into the mainstream with overnight acclaim in Persona 5. As an architect of its own genre, Persona 3 lacked many elements that later fans would come to love and expect from the series. Far from as alienating as the three games preceding it, Persona 3 still found itself in this space of “outdated” design by many people. While I strongly disagree with that mentality, it is ultimately what lead to Persona 3 Reload—released only a month prior to this review.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... The silent voice within one's heart whispers the most profound wisdom."

My journey into the realm of Persona, and by extension, the greater Megami Tensei franchise is a bit odd. Rather than starting with one of the more popular RPG titles, I was exposed to what would later become my favorite series through Persona 4 Arena—a 2D fighting game spin-off of Persona 3’s successor. After struggling to find a character I truly resonated with, I researched the series a bit and found Persona 3. I was immediately enticed by its protagonist’s design, the blue color scheme, and most notably—Thanatos.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Celebrate life's grandeur...It's brilliance...It's magnificence..."

I immediately found a way to… acquire the game and played it start to finish in a matter of days. I was hooked. The core gameplay, the music, the presentation was all right up my alley. But more than that, its theme and its characters resonated with me immensely. Persona 3 came to me at the perfect time. In 2012, I was in my final year of high school about to enter the real world at 17 with no sense of direction and no vision of the future. Completely aimless—lost, even.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Only courage in the face of doubt can lead one to the answer..."

Each of P Studios’ titles follow a theme based on a major arcana tarot card starting with Persona 3: Arcana XIII—Death. While each title under their belt carries their themes with conviction, Persona 3’s commitment to death stands out even amongst its brethren. Everyone will and must confront mortality in their life. Death will befall our friends, our family, our pets, and ourselves. There is no exception. Persona 3 highlights this with each core character (and most of its side cast) having experienced a major death in their life, leading them onto the path they currently walk. As a necessary hard stop in our lives, death changes us in different ways. Some lash out in anger, others may retreat into themselves, and some may sever all ties as a means to prevent that familiar pain from returning. But eventually, you will have to face it, one way or another.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... It is indeed a precious gift to understand the forces that guide oneself..."

I was an apathetic teenager. I had no sense of self-worth, and I often found myself drifting off into daydreams about the end and how it would come. What the world would be like afterward. What would change. I wasn’t suicidal—far from it, really. I was simply carrying on each day without direction or meaning. I had friends, and I was relatively popular with most people… but I felt empty. People came and went from my life, and it was just something to be expected. Nothing to be mourned or understood—it simply was.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... There is both joy and wonder in coming to understand the hearts of others..."

This all changed when I met the love of my life. As cliché as it may sound, she breathed life into me. And not in some quirky, fantasy woman way. Over time, on my own accord, I found myself wanting to do things. Wanting to be with people. Wanting to create memories and cherish them. Treating people with kindness over dismissive nonchalance. Opening up to people, and creating meaningful bonds. Understanding death means understanding life, and while I met her a few months prior… this was also 2012.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... One of the greatest blessings attained from the gift of life is the freedom to pursue one's personal goals..."

What is there new to say about the Persona formula known the world over through Persona 5? Not much, I imagine, so I’ll keep it brief. As Makoto Yuki, you return to Tatsumi Port Island ten years after a world-changing incident that brought about the Dark Hour—a hidden 25th hour in each day unbeknownst to those without Potential—the ability to manifest your inner psyche as a weapon known as Persona. Together with your comrades, you battle Shadows—amalgamations of the darkness within people given form—in an attempt to return the world to a state of normalcy. The game follows a hybrid formula of dungeon-crawling with turn-based JRPG battles and life simulation visual novel-type character moments. The two aspects support one another brilliantly and flow together in a cocktail of satisfying gameplay and memorable writing.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... To find the one true path, one must seek guidance amidst uncertainty..."

So, what’s different in Reload? Besides the visual updates, many quality of life changes have been made for modern audiences to get into and not get so filtered. Tartarus by nature will continue to do that to some degree, but the pain newcomers will feel has been heavily subdued. Battles are lightning quick now and every minor aspect has a neat little flourish to it not present in the original. The game’s balancing has had tweaks to make boss fights less of a pushover as well.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... It requires great courage to look within oneself, and forge one's own path..."

While that’s all well and good, the real meat of Reload for me are the story additions and full voice acting for all Social Links. In the original Persona 3, Makoto could not spend time with male party members outside of combat. They did not have Social Links in any form, and as such, did not get fleshed out to the same degree as the female cast members. This has been rectified with the addition of new Link Episodes—optional events with each character that provide just as much if not more memorable scenes for these characters than Social Links ever have. Without exaggeration, these are my favorite moments of Persona 3 Reload outside of its main story.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Ever-present alongside time is fortune, cruel and unflinching."

In addition to the party member Link Episodes are new scenes involving Strega that make them feel more like people inhabiting the same world and less like laughable obstacles to trounce with a single auto-attack. Ryoji Mochizuki—a prominent character in the late game—also receives this treatment and the game shines brilliantly when these moments arise.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... One needs strength to endure, and rise above suffering and torment."

The voice acting in Reload is superb nearly all around. While I have some issues with Yukari’s new voice actress, she’s far from detrimental. The rest of the cast really crush it the whole way through with extra shout outs to Zeno Robinson as Junpei Iori and Alejandro Saab as Akihiko Sanada. The former was perfect in every moment, happy and sad, and the latter proved me wrong after my first impressions. That said, the music is unfortunately a mixed bag. Many of the remixes fall short compared to the original (“Burn My Dread -Final Battle-“) but all of the original tracks made for this title are incredible. Special mentions to “Color Your Night” and “It’s Going Down” for two of my new favorites in the series.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... In the face of unavoidable disaster lies the opportunity to search for redemption."

Persona 3 Reload is by no means a perfect game. Hell, if you asked me, it doesn’t need to exist in the first place. But even through all my doubts, I am glad it does. While at the time of writing this review, it does not have The Answer in any capacity, there have been rumors and leaks aplenty pointing to that inevitability. Even without that, however, I feel confident in saying that Reload is the best way to experience The Journey, and I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys this series, JRPGs, or memorable storytelling.

"The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate... Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope. Yet, the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Beyond the journey you have taken lies the absolute end. It matters not who you are... One thing is always certain: Death awaits all."

FINAL FANTASY VII is my childhood game—the one that shaped who I would become through my adolescence. Similarly, Persona 3 was the game that began my adulthood. It was a game that came to me at just the right time and showed me why life is important and why we should get out there and live it. Persona 3 Reload is a fantastic, faithful remake that I now cherish alongside the original. Playing Reload was like revisiting an old friend that you’ve longed to see again after all these years. As soon as I picked it up, and even know after clearing it 100% through two playthroughs, I still feel sad to let it go. This game—whether it’s the original release, FES, or Reload—will forever have a place with me.

"No one can escape time; it delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes."

Back in 2018, Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion was one of my favourite releases of that year. It turned Splatoon’s core singleplayer gameplay and weapon system on its head, in a way the campaigns only vaguely hinted at - providing ingenious puzzle rooms and a surprisingly steep difficulty curve that finally demonstrated that Nintendo understood & could capitalise on the series’ potential. Leaned into the strengths of Splatoon’s setting too, exploring its bizarre underbelly and fugged vibes. One for the fans of the ‘Rock Bottom’ episode of Spongebob. Seeing Agent 8 in the trailers for this had me a little excited, as Splatoon 3’s campaign was solid but didn’t feel as if it pushed the envelope much, I’ve come to see Agent 8 as Splatoon’s Harbinger of Difficulty and it turns out I wasn’t wrong.

Side Order is cool!! I love the setting (even if it’s basically just something of a play on the Copied City). I found it pretty easy to be excited by the prospect of delving into whatever Nintendo’s idea of a roguelite would be, and it’s a solid foundation but there’s so little variety here I can’t help but find the tower loop a little dry. There are only four mission types, FEELS LIKE there’s only enough individual level layouts for you to see every available one in a single run, and the upgrades you collect as you ascend the floors are merely statistical buffs; “+15% shot speed” type beat. It’s very hard, I like the risk:reward option of choosing harder rooms for better upgrades on top of other chaotic modifiers that can shoehorn you into making rough decisions. As with all roguelites with vertical character progression though, it’s only hard for a while until you power creep your way over roadblocks with permanent character upgrades and such. Numerically overcoming odds always feels cheap to me and I knew my completing the DLC would only be a matter of time investment. Eventually you get the option to retract your upgrades for a prestige reward boost, but I’ll be one hundred percent with you, I don’t like the majority of the weapons in this game and I can not bring myself to be a completionist about this if it means I have to suffer the fucking umbrella. It's all a little undercooked and doesn't have enough to really justify playing over and over for.

Anyway the story is great lol, albeit that there's not a lot of it. The lengths they go to show how much Marina loves Pearl is endlessly cute. She made the currency in her gamedev project “Prlz” maan 🙏🥹. Recalling who won the FinalFest of Splatoon 2 gave me something of a pop-off moment and I’m dying to see how this DLC would have looked if Order won. Endgame is the strongest finale of all of these games yet and that’s honestly a ridiculously high bar. Remix Ebb & Flow forever I will cry every time. Personal favourite soundtrack in the series, too! I love how heavily it leans into its dark ethereal sleep paralysis ambiance. LOVE how the hub/training areas have little environmental tells for the instrumentation in the bgm.

12 years ago I experienced what I’d consider one of the highest points of gaming for me. I opened my Christmas present under the tree and it was Cave Story 3D. My auntie has been more like an older sister to me. The gifts she’s given to me felt like some of the most major events in my life. That may seem like a stretch, but one of the many gifts before and after this was the gameboy advance SP, which was the first system I, myself, owned that was truly mine and mine alone. It’s been so long that I don’t even know if I asked for it, I have no idea how she knew but she knew to find the game I never knew would be one of the greatest immersive experiences for me. The disconnect between generations is a huge gap within a lot of variables so it’s hard to truly understand what the other is feeling. I never really felt this with her because no matter what, she understood. Gaming and music has been a huge part of my identity. This is a gaming site, so obviously I’m not here to talk about music. Playing Donkey Kong jr on a strange controller that was essentially a compact emulator with 200+ games is the second most vivid memory I have as a child, so nobody can tell me different on what the first game I truly played was. I was young, but I remember it like it was yesterday. My first playthrough of cave story will never be erased from my mind. I was so engrossed with it I felt true passion for the first time. I’m not into too many things, the typical “nerd” shit that people used to consider a couple years ago. Gaming, anime, manga, comics, reading, listening to any and every genre, etc. Thats who I am, and that’s who I’ll always be. Cave story hit a deep spot for me. The music, the aesthetic, the story, the characters, the art style, the gameplay.. everything was what I ever could’ve asked for and then some. Undeniably it’s one of, if not the biggest, milestones for indie games. It set a precedent for everything that followed it. A solo dev that did pretty much everything on its own. Nowadays Toby fox, the creator of undertale, is what the general public of gaming know that as.. but no pixel did it first and he will always be a legend to me and many others that cave story has reached. I’m not here to talk about the game or the story or the characters. I usually do that but I have no intentions or desires to. If you read up until this point I want you to experience it for yourself. It may not hit you nearly as hard as it hit me but I hope you at least enjoy it. To me it’s fun, immersive, and completely sets itself apart from any other game. Not because it really did anything creatively first in a breakthrough type of way.. but because it clearly has its own identity. It’s something to me, that you’ll never forget, and it sets itself apart from any other game ever made. Something that is meant to be played blind multiple times. You will discover things you never seen before if you do things differently, and if you play the newest version of it? You’ll be greeted with so many bells and whistles compared to the original freeware release. I can go on and on and on about the history of this game, but maybe you already know that. What you don’t know is that me and a bunch of other people have felt what I’d like to think is the vision pixel wanted players to see. I hope you give this game a chance and have fun with it, I’ll keep playing forever until I’m 6 feet under, and I hope I can get more to enjoy it even a fraction as much as I have.