It's cute, it's charming, it's challenging without being overly frustrating, it's wonderfully designed, Celeste is genuinely one of the best platformers of all time. Restricting it to just 2D would undermine how amazing it truly is. For how few controls it has, it does a lot with them; you really only have a jump, dash and climbing maneuver, yet the developers add so many new ideas in that keep the individual chapters fresh, culminating in The Summit which is straight up one of the best levels in anything. The music is mostly relaxing but knows when to get you pumped up for a difficult section, the sprite-work is gorgeous, and I could spend so, so long talking to Theo and the Granny - I've come to absolutely adore the "voice-acting". The side-content is ingrained into the main levels so well, and obtaining the strawberries isn't some ridiculous challenge, it's mostly just being smart - which I am not - with your moves. The bossfights (especially Chapter 3 [actually all of Chapter 3 sucks, fuck you Oshiro]) kind of suck for the most part, but some of my favourite moments also occurred during one later on, and it gives the game a large sense of identity so I'm conflicted about them. Other than that well... I love the story, I love the music, I love Madeline (and Badeline) - I fucking love this game.

For 2004 this game is absolutely spectacular and super ambitious and gorgeous, even 20 years later I was amazed at how beautiful some of the environments were, and the physics and interactivity is obviously incredible - without Half Life 2, it is pretty clear that most modern games would cease to exist. But unfortunately, this isn't the unrivaled masterpiece that I was expecting, in fact it's mostly a downgrade from the original. While some chapters are jaw-dropping even now like Ravenholm and the interior of the Citadel, a huge chunk of this game is driving around on gimmicky vehicles, or engaging in some of the most uninvolving, brain-dead combat ever put to the screen. While the original Half Life paced itself perfectly at upgrading your arsenal and introducing new enemies, HL2 stagnates nearly every step of the way. Instead of introducing new Combine enemies, it's mostly just the same guys but with increased health, which is incredibly lazy but also frustrating as it renders most of your weapons completely obsolete. While the gravity gun is obviously the coolest shit ever (second to only the Portal gun), the rest of the guns are just generic or never really needed to be used past their specific usage point in the game. What Half Life 2 does do better in, is probably the tension and dread that surrounds your movement. The introduction of the new headcrab/zombie variants in Ravenholm is perfectly executed, similar to how the antlions emerge from the ground in the chapter 'Sandtraps' and how you subsequently command them in 'Nova Prospekt' which is genius... but then you don't get to use them anymore past this point, which is also the case with the poison zombies - arguably the most terrifying enemy. The whole game feels really experimental and disjointed in it's treatment of weaponry and enemy usage, rather than being fully cohesive like the original. I still do think that Half Life 2 is a good game, and I'm annoyed that I didn't play it earlier so I could understand just how big of a deal it was, but I feel like people's love for it is chalked up more to nostalgia and it's influence on the industry, rather than assessing the overall experience.

Valve just gets game design. They fully understand how to get a player to keep pushing through their game - by cutting up chapters into short segments, they take you through different environments in quick succession, slowly building upon your arsenal while introducing new enemies or story tidbits. For the most part, this game is paced perfectly, it is almost always clear where to go (which is a pretty big deal for a game in the late 90’s), the gunplay is so satisfying yet challenging, there’s no real handicap to your weapons, and it makes certain encounters that much more tense. The storytelling is super impressive (especially the ending for me), I found that the story was quite deceptive, which other people don’t really point out, but I am pretty stupid. Some events are kind of ridiculous like the assassins, but for the most part the game does do well at replicating how an event like this would unfold in the real world - I love the whole idea to do with the marines, it kind of shocked me the first time. While there are moments of unrelenting tedium or just straight up boring chapters like “On a Rail” or the infamous “Xen”, the bigger problem for me was the steep difficulty spikes that randomly occured, which are not only frustrating, but fatal to the game’s overall pacing at times - say if you accidentally run out of ammo at a specific point you might have to restart that section from an old save - something which, as I pointed out, is crucial to what makes Valve games so good (and fun). But even with that, Half Life is still a brilliant experience, and a game that I feel everyone needs to play, to gain an understanding of how Valve continues to evolve with each new game they make.

Substantial improvement over Trigger Happy Havoc in nearly every way. The cast is so endearing and lovable, and much more consistently written. Even people who I disliked or didn't care for at the beginning ending up completely changing my perspective of them. When the murders eventually start happening, it genuinely hurts to see a character you've gotten to know so well either die or be found out as the culprit - there's some real emotional gut-punches to be found that just aren't there in the prequel. The gimmicks within investigation periods are also brilliant; the separate game to find out the culprit, the funhouse, the main idea of Case 5, it all feels really experimental and it definitely paid off, every case (excluding 3) is superbly written and so damn engaging. The trials are much more involving as well; attacking with the correct piece of evidence and figuring out the culprit is actually more challenging since you don't have someone like Kyoko giving away all the hints, the addition of agreeing with someone in Nonstop Debate is also a clever addition. The Run-2/3-esque Logic Dive is fun as hell to navigate. The truth blades... kind of fucking suck and feel redundant, I would much rather just play another Nonstop Debate, and well Hangman's Gambit will just always be complete shit - but somehow they made it worse here. Really the only other aspect that THH does better in, is the setting and atmopshere. For what it's worth, Goodbye Despair is a near perfect sequel.

Unlike Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow is a much more tightly constructed, wonderfully interconnected world. It plays it a lot safer in a lot of areas which for me acted as a bit of a detriment but it is still a great game.

The soul system is a sick idea but due to it being mainly luck-based, it leads to some areas being a bit more difficult due to not having a specific enemy's ability, and switching between movement abilities on the fly sometimes feels a bit redundant since you have to go to the menu every time, akin to some games on the N64 cough Ocarina of Time cough. The game understands the Metroid formula really well for the most part, usually whenever you obtain a new item or ability there will immediately be an area that will spring to the forefront of your mind where you can use your newfound powerup.

The difficulty for the most part is fine, there's never really a point in the game where you feel overwhelmed excluding sequence breaking and going to an area where you should obviously not be (which I did multiple times on accident). Now when I say for the most part I mean practically all of the game except for the absolutely bullshit fight which is with Death, and holy SHIT is this fight completely unfair, I spent around an hour trying to beat him - which is about 1/6th of how long it took me to complete the game - and that should put everything into perspective.

The story is a story, at least with the regular ending that is so abrupt that it genuinely made me laugh when I first got it, but the true ending is pretty damn cool. The characters all have amazing designs, and the animation is gorgeous but it's Konami so this should be expected. My main gripe is just that the characters aren't too interesting or memorable, and a lot of conversations feel rushed or pointless.

Compared to SotN the soundtrack pales in comparison, where Alucard's journey took pride in beautiful, haunting pieces that were each unique in their own way and extremely memorable, Aria of Sorrow's feels derivative and honestly I can't really remember any of the music.

Overall it's a solid game, textbook Metroidvania - short and fun as hell - but whoever thought the Death fight was balanced, fuck you.

Absolutely fucking immaculate. This game is far and away my favourite Ace Attorney experience so far and one of my favourite games ever, and I would be extremely surprised if something manages to top this.

For starters, almost everything is improved on from the original trilogy: The cases are more intriguing and there's hardly one that's not "good", the characters are so so much better (excluding maybe the prosecutor), the investigation periods are less tedious, it's funnier, and holy shit I thought Trials & Tribulations was well planned out, this game one-ups it in every single damn way, tying in practically every case in the outstanding culmination that is "The Resolve of Ryunosuke Naruhodo".

If that wasn't enough the plot twists are batshit crazy, genuinely stuff I'd never expect especially the one(s) in the final case that left me practically speechless. The time period allows for more insightful topics like Case 1 of TGAA2 although perhaps we could tone down on the slurs. For the characters, I LOVE Susato to death, she is so much more interesting than Maya (not to say that Maya is necessarily a bad character) and she doesn't explicitly give you answers and appear at the most random moments when you are about to lose (like a certain someone). Herlock Sholmes is the greatest character ever and there is no debate - I would honestly replay this game just to laugh at his antics and his stupid ass dialogue and faces. Barok Van Zieks is such a brilliant prosecutor, his reasoning for hating the Japanese is pretty ridiculous but putting that aside I love how he doesn't fuck around, he almost always has a reason to contradict what you might have found out during a summation examination or something and it feels so real, he doesn't pretend to get faked out like the prosecutors in the originals. I love Iris as well and the whole thing to do with her family is just so beautiful. The entire side cast is just so damn good it's honestly unreal that it obliterates the original trilogy, a game that already had a fantastic and endearing cast.

Ryunosuke is genuinely light years better than Phoenix as a character as well, his whole thing to do with resolve may come off as corny or uninspired at times but when it hits, it fucking HITS. When he just goes from being nervous to not giving a shit and doing anything possible to unravel the truth is so damn satisfying, especially with how quickly it tested his spirit and questioned a lawyer's morals in TGAA1.

For the gameplay it stays mostly the same although the new additions are mostly welcome, I do enjoy the summation examinations although sometimes the jury's reasonings are just complete bullshit like "Well he looks like a nice man"??? But obviously, the best addition here is the Logic and Deduction parts which are just so much fun, the music just gets you hyped up, and even though it's mostly simple it is so enjoyable to solve cases with Herlock.

The animations felt jarring at first, but once you get used to them they almost overshadow the goofy static ones from its predecessor, it allows for so much more expression from characters and makes certain parts a lot more memorable (Susato punching the air or Barok Van Zieks throwing a wine bottle for the 30th time). And god damn the music is such a banger, Kazuma's theme, Susato's, pursuing a contradiction, even indoors the music is so cozy, it's all so perfect.

It's so fitting that it's called the Great Ace Attorney since it truly is that, a game that just improves upon everything that made its predecessors so loveable.

The quintessential JRPG. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Chrono Trigger is one of the greatest games ever, it is mentioned literally anytime you look up a list of some sort of the best games ever. I was expecting an amazing game but I wasn’t expecting it to be as detailed and thoughtful as it is, especially for its time. First of all, it has pretty much everything you could want from a game: an endearing cast of characters, genius premise and execution - that could only work as a game, gorgeous and grandiose soundtrack, (sort of) fun and engaging gameplay, and a whole lot of heart put into the writing. Each time period oozes with style and atmosphere, bringing you backwards (or forwards) to a fictional time through the characters’ dialect or the general world’s state.

I struggle to name even a single flaw about Chrono Trigger, but I guess the least likeable part about it is the gameplay - even if it’s far better than a majority of JRPG’s. The general idea is interesting, enemies move around in battles and you must time your attacks to get them in a straight line or near one another, but this is completely nullified with the AOE magic attacks that attack everything. You can also really easily fuck up something crucial (at least on the SNES as the UI is extremely cluttered at times), picking a party member to throw a potion on before the enemy attacks is stressful and sometimes you might just pick the wrong person and hell breaks loose. Thankfully, unlike most JRPG’s, Chrono Trigger’s skill curve is excellently balanced. If you figure out how a boss counterattacks you should be able to defeat them even if it is close. I didn’t need to grind even a single time which is honestly quite remarkable, the game wants you to experience the story it has to tell and that’s it - something more games should have done.

There’s something so profound about the general story. At its core, Chrono Trigger’s writing is simple, the characters each have their wonderfully executed arcs and the story delves into some deep topics but that is generally about it. Yet, there is some beauty to this simplicity, where moments of deep impact may arise because of your thoughtful actions in another time. Even if you may not have gotten to know a particular character that well, the game still tugs at your heartstrings when you do something good, and wants to reward you for this. But it does so not through a gameplay element but through a short, sincere moment that you can keep tucked away in your memories.

But I think the most interesting part here is how much attention to detail and how much care has been put into creating this game. Characters react differently to certain situations, sometimes you’ll get to experience a scene that others may not because you put a certain member in your party. The multitude of endings that change depending on your actions, being able to fight the final boss practically whenever you want is genius, the clever “puzzles” used to further the story by utilising the insanely refined time travelling mechanic, it’s all just so god damn perfect.

Chrono Trigger is a game that was revolutionary when it released in 1995, it’s a revolutionary game now in the year 2024, and it will still be a revolutionary game when people play it down the line in the future. To put it simply, it’s timeless.

Pure magic. Breath of the Wild is a benchmark for the medium, and a masterclass in game design.

There isn’t a whole lot I can add to the praises or critiques of Breath of the Wild as it has been played by a majority of people (whether they are familiar with the franchise or not) and this is a game completely dependent on how much you, as the player, are willing to explore and toy around with the mechanics. I never really got around to this game earlier as I’m not too fond of open-world games, I feel that their worlds usually lack a purpose to be designed how they are and come off poorly executed, which often leads to me streamlining the story. The weird thing about BotW is that it severely underperforms in areas that other open world games excel in, yet this lack of story and other crucial parts of a game somehow lead to the most enjoyable experience I’ve had with a game.

There’s a lot of cases to be made about the flaws of this game and I certainly agree with most of them, but that still didn’t stop me from having fun during the 80-90 hours I put in. I honestly cannot name a single time where I got fed up or bored of the game, and that is something I can’t apply to any other game. Gliding down from snow-covered mountains, surfing on your shield down a steep hill, flying through the air by utilising stasis, killing bokoblins in a multitude of ways at their huts, getting brutally massacred by the sudden appearance of a guardian or two (or the other way around), climbing up rocky cliffs, walking or riding a horse through lush green plains, these should get repetitive and consequently boring after a while, but it never happened to me, even with the narrow range of enemies.

I find that the only way someone would not have fun with this game is if they limit themselves and their mind. This is a game where creativity takes centre stage, but unlike a typical sandbox game, this creativity is intertwined with the regular gameplay. If you can dream up a way to pass a certain shrine, kill an enemy, climb a tower or something else, put it into practice and you’ll find that it most likely works. Much like cooking up a meal in this game, by combining different ingredients you can either make something that is gourmet level, or garbage, and after all, that’s the fun of it, isn’t it?

Minor spoilers for the late-game

Hollow Knight is a game I’ve been wanting to play for a long time, commonly referred throughout the community as the best metroidvania (and sometimes one of the best games of all time), my expectations were, naturally, very high. After fully completing the game, I do think Hollow Knight is quite good, but not for the reasons I was initially expecting.

Hollow Knight’s main strengths for me lie in its atmosphere, story-telling and overall combat system. Each individual area is extremely detailed more often than not giving them their own identity and memorable designs, my favourite being Deepnest and The Abyss. However, there is a bit of a problem with the colour palettes, as sometimes the difference between certain areas blur the line making some parts feel similar. Another problem is that basically every area is large, causing backtracking for previous items (as expected of a metroidvania) to feel sluggish and tedious. Even later on with the addition of mechanics like the stag and the crystal heart, walking through massive rooms can get quite tiresome. Which brings me to my next complaint - there is a complete lack of direction/helping hand. A lot of what this game entails you to do is wander around its gargantuan map trying to find specific rooms to find a powerup/charm/pointless reward, and there is almost zero help whatsoever to find these, which can sometimes be crucial to your progression. The devs are practically intending that whatever you find is of your own volition, without searching anything on Google you could dump multiple hours into just finding an important spell to help fight the next boss, which leads to either a boss becoming incredibly fun (Mantis Lords) or complete fucking horseshit (Lost Kin - which I wasted almost 3 hours trying to beat). Due to rooms within areas having very little change between them, remembering specific rooms where you must return to is a challenge especially when the map also gives almost no hint and leads to random checking of rooms only to find a dead-end. The lack of risk vs reward is also surprising, multiple times I completed some difficult challenge which was usually tricky parkour and my reward would be something completely useless, perhaps a Wandering Journal that I can sell for barely any geo or a lore-tablet that I could understand practically nothing of in the beginning of the game. It all feels so badly designed for a first playthrough, which is why I believe Hollow Knight is a game that gets better on replays (although this shouldn’t be the case in the first place).

The world of Hallownest has a dark story behind it, as such the game is generally melancholic and has a lonely feel to it, but the game strives to not place you in a totally miserable and hopeless situation by brightening up the journey with memorable characters who usually lift your spirits. A majority of these characters only have a few lines, but their design and personality stick with you. As you progress further into the game, returning characters' respect for the Knight may grow, consequently giving further insight into the characters and how they came to be. I find what made me love these characters so much is the pacing at which Hollow Knight operates, occasionally it will stop time to give a bit of breathing space to let you have your final moments with some characters, akin to say a Ghibli movie.

The storytelling on show here is wonderful. At first, there’s a disturbing lack of emphasis on really anything to do with the plot, a myriad of cryptic messages may appear on so-called lore “tablets” that just seem like confusing gibberish at first, but towards the end of the game I was fully engaged in piecing together the story of a once great kingdom. The mystery surrounding the infection was interesting from the beginning and I especially loved how everything was revealed slowly, culminating in an epic final battle.

Speaking of battles, the fights here range from poor-mediocre to some of the best in the medium. The pantheons in the DLC do an excellent job at putting all the fights into perspective, I thought a lot of the bosses I enjoyed in the base game would be impacted by their appearance in a boss rush at a much easier difficulty but no, they were just as incredible. The Pure Vessel, Mantis Lords and Nightmare King Grimm are some of the conceptually brilliant and most exhilarating, perfectly designed fights ever, each making a lasting impact with how much of a joy they are to fight, there’s never really a point where the fight feels drastically unfair or poorly made, a lot of deaths come from the player’s mistakes and that is easy to recognise. There are a fair share of frustrating fights that are difficult just for the sake of it, or some that are just far too easy and effortless to defeat, but overall a majority of the fights are good. I think this is mainly chalked up to just how fantastic the combat and movement system, everything is so damn smooth and intuitive it feels difficult to return to some older metroidvanias. The mapping onto the controller is honestly unbelievable, it fits so well and makes the game fun as hell to play and experiment with a lot of the time. While the combat is just nail swings, spells and dashing, there is magic to the simplicity, it truly makes the fights feel like everything is dependent on your own skill, and nothing feels too complex or cluttered to figure out and use in battle.

While it might seem like I’ve spent a majority of the review tearing into Hollow Knight’s overall design, I actually had quite a lot of fun with the other parts of the game and how effectively it managed to replicate my love for the Metroid franchise. I feel like this is a game everyone should experience, it’s a testament to the creativeness that indie developers have and their vision that contradicts and challenges what the current blockbuster video game companies idealise. There’s not much that feels artificial here, just pure passion and soul for an ever growing medium, and a homage to the landmarks of the industry.

An amazing introduction to the Yakuza series for me, I’m really eager to play the rest as this was a strong prequel. The “dual-narrative” is executed really well, it’s pretty interesting to see the effects of your actions as a different character. The actual individual stories are great as well, both characters kicked out of the yakuza, both trying to find a way back in, Kiryu is framed for a murder and Majima is practically imprisoned. Makoto Makimura and Nishiki are 2 loveable characters who are thoroughly developed and even the rest of the side cast is endearing. What’s of note here though, is the villains. All of them are imposing and intimidating, heightened by the extraordinary voice acting, each have their own differing ideals and goals, and slowly unravelling these is done at the highest level. The areas of Kamurocho and Sotenburi are bustling and lively, lots of people walk about who you can interact with, there are many buildings with different activities like baseball and bowling, the actual environments are gorgeous as well, colourful street lights brighten every road. The soundtrack just straight up bangs, beating the shit out of everyone with the most badass music in the background just makes everything better, when the tension rises the music completely changes creating a completely different ambience, and especially towards the end when each fight has their own unique track it just doesn’t get much better than this.

However I do have a few gripes. First of all, what the fuck is the save system. It is so damn archaic and unnecessary, forcing you to save at at only telephone boxes is so constricting, you pretty much have to play the game through long segments (especially at areas like the Dojima HQ or other Yakuza buildings) and there is no chance to save anywhere which is frustrating. And on occassions the damn thing doesn’t even function properly, I had to repeat some segments because of this which was really lame. Another complaint is the combat system, it is really really rudimentary, the styles are so unbalanced that there’s really no point to using anything other than Beast for Kiryu and Breaker for Majima (but slugger is pretty awesome) and also fighting the same people on the street gets extremely boring at times - when you’re trying to get somewhere and some random idiots make you waste 5 minutes it’s annoying. I think the most wack flaw here though is the jarring transition between cutscenes and that weird phase of characters talking with text. It literally goes from high quality and gorgeously animated to static and hilarious. Sometimes it’s really funny, and other times it kind of breaks the immersion and tension, even the voice acting doesn’t save it sometimes, and some moments which should be great feel kind of ruined.

In spite of this, Yakuza 0 still manages to set a strong, solid foundation with a bold, edge of your seat story and a lovable cast who pulled me in for the entire duration, never letting go even in the final moments, cementing itself as a masterpiece.

The greatest game of all time? Yeah, the argument could easily be made. Ocarina of Time is a triumphant, ground-breaking masterpiece who's reverberations can still be felt today. It entwines masterful gameplay and strong environmental storytelling to create a transcendent experience. Dripping with subtext and lore, rich atmosphere throughout it's many incredible dungeons and perhaps the greatest soundtrack in a video game, there really is no rival. The gameplay has aged slightly - Link's roll is practically obsolete, and aiming is abhorrent, but the combat still controls well enough even now. I think what really sets this game apart though is the actual premise, the time travelling mechanic is not only a genius idea but it is also executed to the highest degree, resulting in what may be a timeless story that only seems to improve as you get older - the differences that Link witnesses eventually come to reflect our own lives; as we transition into adulthood, the world becomes a completely different place. Ocarina of Time is ultimately a game that is art - a showcase of what the medium looks like at it's true best, and a constant reminder to the modern day industry of the product of pure distilled passion and soul.

Ocarina of Time’s Hyrule and Majora’s Mask Termina are both technically “open” worlds - the individual areas are segmented and limited to one place but most importantly, you can go anywhere you want, yet they still feel limiting and almost like a “hub-world”. But with Wind Waker, Nintendo took this formula and went absolutely crazy with it: Vast open-seas that you can sail across - littered with secrets like mini-games, fairy islands, indimidating enemies and side quests - the “fake” freedom that was present in OoT and MM has vanished, you can go to any part of the map and more than likely find something to do there - sound like any other game?

What makes Wind Waker so special to me though is its characters. The iteration of Ganon is far and away my favourite, the impact he makes during his short time is incredible, and I love the route they took with him; a full contrast to the man we saw in OoT. The rest of the cast is also strong, I love Tetra and the Red Lion King, and regular npcs are fun to talk with. Even the combat and general movement is improved immensely - the clunkiness that was present in the prior games while in combat is gone, and your traversal is made better because rolling is actually useful and there is now a grappling hook and a more polished hookshot. And god damn the soundtrack, Zelda games never miss the target with it but that triumphant music as you glide across the seas with the wind pushing you forward is unrivalled. The upbeat tunes of Dragon Roost and Outset island are iconic, and the evil, villainous music that plays when you enter a fight is epic. Hell, even the title track is a hit. The art style is especially notable here, at first it was downplayed when the trailer was shown but then the game released and everyone loved it. In comparison to both OoT’s and MM’s murkiness and oppressive style, Wind Waker’s is a lot more childish and artsy, which I think fits perfectly.

My only real gripe with the game is the dungeons. While the actual boss fights are incredible, I can’t help but feel underwhelmed by the actual dungeons themselves, especially when comparing them to OoT’s. Really the only good one is Forsaken Fortress, and even then I’m unsure whether to call that a dungeon, but the rest feel generic and rushed. It feels like all of the time went in to creating the world (which is completely fair). My only other nitpick is from the original game, changing the wind direction is interesting at first, but it quickly gets stale and frustrating. The remaster completely fixes this via the fast sail, a perfect addition that is only able to be obtained at a specific time, which doesn’t fully nullify the wind mechanic, but also arrives just in time for when it may get boring - fantastic game design.

Wind Waker for me is a very important game. It’s the first Zelda I ever played, and introduced me to the wonderful franchise. While I think it is an incredible game that could easily be considered a masterpiece, it feels like a premature vision of Breath of the Wild in all its ways, yet it still stands out among its contemporaries with brilliant character writing, and a world that is a joy to discover.

Completely crumbles under any form of scrutiny. RE3R is not necessarily a bad game, but it is a bad remake. Unlike RE2R which implemented it's own sections while keeping most of the original content, RE3 cuts some of the best parts of the original game and makes the main villain pitiable. Instead of being this terrifying unstoppable force that tracks you down, Nemesis is instead made to be encountered at specific moments, undercutting any sense of tension throughout the game. Even excluding the focal point, the gameplay is fully action oriented and only really functions on expolosive setpieces, and the gameplay that the series is known for is just non-existant. Even the characters and the soundtrack aren't memorable at all as well and don't make any kind of impact, but it looks good graphically I guess. Overall, it just feels like a really cheap remake, and it's even more insulting that RE2R is so brilliant yet there's no effort put in here whatsoever.