In a surprising twist, Square gave us a sleeper hit in March. A horror visual novel with a huge emphasis on Japanese folklore and character designs from Gen Kobayashi of TWEWY fame. There's light gameplay elements that honestly reminded me of Ace Attorney or even Danganronpa. Music was also a banger, as well. Great plot developments and twists that honestly made me have sudden realizations where the story was going. It was actually pretty meta at times. Can be beaten in about 9-11 hrs if you're a fast reader. Heavy recommend!

Resident Evil 4 Remake, as someone who has experienced most, but not all of the original, was a sight to behold. Each version feels distinct from one another and have their own charms. The atmosphere, pacing, and world building were a masterclass of its form. RE Engine once again raising the bar for the most stunning visuals to be put out by an engine. Everything is so much darker and goes for way more of a horror feel, which I really appreciate. Another thing I really appreciate is the punch weapons give off. They're so satisfying to use and listen to in combat. Leon's and Ashley's performances were fantastic as well. Ada's and Saddler's were passable. A truly worthy successor to the original masterpiece. Definitely up there for one of my favorites this year.

Octopath Traveler 2 is one of the greatest JRPGS Square Enix has ever created. 101 hrs later, and doing nearly everything, I am reminded of just how phenomenal Square's turn-based RPG's are. Team Asano nails it every single time with every game they've developed, and Octopath 2 is the crown jewel. It's the greatest pixel art I've ever seen, and legitimately, it's one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. You fall in love with each character on their journeys, and no character is overlooked. Voice acting is superb, overall as well. The battle system is even more developed and fun, and the menus are even more manageable. I could go on and on about the game, but I'll say this is my favorite Square Enix game next to DQ11S and The World Ends With You.

Gba replay through NSO
Fusion holds up as a short and sweet metroid experience. On replay, I found myself preferring the streamlined guided aspect of it a tad less than I do the open-ended games in the series. It doesn't detract from the overall experience, but it is my preference. Bosses are still really cool with unique designs and fights. It's not my favorite soundtrack, it doesn't beat super's for me, but it's still good. Overall, it's still metroid, and anyone who hasn't played it, I heavily recommend!

Return to dreamland still remains my 3rd favorite kirby game after playing the remaster, but man it was a fun romp to revisit and explore all the new additions. Magolor remains one of my favorite kirby characters, too. The remaster's aesthetic and art design is super pleasing to look at, and is a huge update to the original wii game. They added so many modes such as Magolor's epilogue, subgames and more. Ultra abilities remain awesome, and the addition of sand and mecha were really fun. A great kirby game for all fans, and a great remaster filled with tons of content. A kirby game that should be on everyone's switch library!

I've only played Metroid Prime once on my gamecube when I was really young, renting it from a video store because it looked cool. I only knew Samus from smash 64, so I found out "holy crap, she has her own game?" I didn't like it when I played it. I was super into mascot platformers and rpgs at the time, never played a shooter, much less a metroidvania. After all this time, playing more metroid as I got older, now playing prime fully for the first time makes me realize how much of a masterpiece this game is. Completely redefining metroid in a 3D space, and making the entire series as a whole work in this format is an amazing feat. The remaster, which imo goes above and beyond the definition of a remaster enhances literally everything. It looks beautiful on the switch, and they added so many effects they didn't need to. Metroid is one of my favorite first party nintendo series, and prime is an amazing game on top of that. Here's hoping prime 2 and 3 get the same treatment, and that prime 4 is just as amazing.

Dead Space is my favorite horror game series of all time. I will flat out say this is the greatest remake since Resident Evil 1, and what all remakes should strive to be and look back on. The best thing about this remake, is that you can tell the passion the team had for the whole series. There are nods and references to every game, all wrapped up in a neat bow. As for gameplay, this is the most survival horror the series has ever seen. Darker, way more ambiance, cohesion, and really scary, even for someone like me who knows the game front to back. There's way more to do than the original with the addition of side quests that are all worth your time to check out, and slight changes to certain events even to keep veterans on their toes. I also can't understate how happy I am to hear the original voices of Isaac and Nicole. All in all, I'm so damn happy this series has seen a return and hope it has a bright future ahead of it again. Anyone who's even slightly interested in the remake, pick it up. It's an S+++ remake of one of the greatest horror games of all time.

Pizza Tower is Wario Land unhinged in the best way possible. It is, no joke, one of the most satisfying and unique score attack platformers I have ever played. Banger music, some of these tracks are amazing. Peppino feels buttery smooth to control in an easy to learn but hard to master moveset. The animation is so fluid, and reminds me of an old nick cartoon. They really went out with the gross/ugly but charming in its own way art style wario land was known for and I wouldn't have it any other way. If wario land was shelved, I hope this is the start of the rise of wario-likes, because they are quite unlike anything I've ever played before.

Engage is an S- tier fire emblem.
This game in particular, being a series celebration, did what it needed to do to create a phenomenal experience. The core story is a fun romp! It kept me invested in seeing what's gonna happen. Reminded me of the gba games! I honestly dig how they simplified it. The characters aren't as complex compared to other games but I adore how stupid affectionate they are. You get so many great moments in their interactions tiers. The map design feels straight out of the gba games which I love, and the fast paced hub area is so nice between battles. Wonderful character designs from one of my favorite artists, Mika Pikazo, and the game runs much better and looks more visually appealing than 3H did to me. Music was also stellar from the series composer, as always. Some don't have any right to be as good as they are, like the main theme, battle prep track or the desert theme. There's so much replayability when it comes to ring distribution and more, very good gimmick. It's so nice to see my favorite characters from the past. I'm going to be coming back to this one for a long time, and what a great way to start off 2023 for gaming.

Signalis is a phenomenal game that wears it's inspirations on its sleeve. Heavily inspired by classic tank control Resi gameplay, with even some silent hill elements sprinkled in. The game was actually scary too! The story kept me heavily invested, theorizing where it's all going, and by the end I was extremely satisfied with the ending I got. Also, shoutout to the phenomenal character designs and art direction. I can see myself replaying the game down the line for the other endings and speed running many times. Super looking forward to whatever comes next from Rose-Engine.

I went into Sonic Frontiers not having played much 3D Sonic in the past, mainly 2D. I feel like this game marked the most... consistent time I've had with a 3D Sonic, but it's a low bar for me personally. I feel like after the first island, the map design took a sharp nosedive in getting around, and constantly overshooting myself and dying really became a pain. Why is the fast travel feature not available at all times if it's offered to begin with? The cyberspace levels felt really repetetive, and felt like a slog to constantly have to go back to. I gave the game a fair shot, and I can see hints of greatness in it, but it personally just didn't do it for me. Maybe the next Sonic game!

Crisis Core on PSP was my very first Final Fantasy experience. Reunion, is the best version of the game, bar none. In terms of gameplay, literally everything has been refined to a T from the original experience. Combat is so much smoother and faster, and looks gorgeous on PS5. Missions are what you'd come to expect from a psp game, very simplistic, but fun to go through due to the combat. My only negative is that nobody can replace Rick Gomez as Zack from PSP. The new VA is talented, for sure, but he just isn't "Zack" to me. Sephiroth's new voice was also fairly underwhelming too. Aside from that, crisis core, all in all, is a great experience everyone can enjoy. While FF VII itself may not be my personal fave FF overall, the impact it had can't be understated, and crisis core is a huge part of it.

What a way to start off the year in gaming. Cursed to Golf was an immensely satisfying rogue-lite adventure. Everything from the course design, to hazard placement was perfect. Some great customization with many skins that are references to other games. The ability cards were very unique, and it was super fun experimenting with everything. The MUSIC, the soundtrack has been on loop for the past couple days, I can't get enough of it, especially Scotty's theme. Huge kudos to the composer. I won the game in a contest from the director, and I couldn't be happier! Heck, I'm gonna buy the game on switch myself to support it. Play it!