If you were to ask me to pick a single game to represent each genre as a pillar of what that genre of game can accomplish, I’d hoist Outer Wilds up as the pillar of exploration games without an ounce of hesitation. Outer Wilds is a passionately made space-exploration game set in a fairly large solar system filled with several planets each with their own sets of secrets and mysteries that you are free to explore at your whim.

Outer Wilds is one of those games that you are best going in with as little knowledge as possible because ultimately this game is about the things that you learn in your journey exploring the solar system. However I think that I can still explain a little about the game's mechanics because as objectively good as this game is: the way it plays simply won’t be for everybody.

Outer Wilds does not contain any combat. It does not contain experience or skill trees. Hell, it doesn’t even have quests. Outer Wilds is entirely about exploration and 99% of your gameplay will be flying around to different planets, exploring on foot, reading logs and piecing together clues from environmental storytelling -all to further understand the mysteries that surround you.

So what even drives you in Outer Wilds? What are your goals? Well it’s simple: curiosity. Given a new spaceship and complete free reign to do whatever you want in the universe, it’s entirely up to you to decide what you want to do. There is no right path to take in Outer Wilds, no perfect guide or direction to follow. Just go wherever looks interesting and let yourself enjoy the journey.

There’s nothing else that I can really say and nothing else that you need to know. Outer Wilds is a love story to the mysteries of space and exploration. It is a love story to human curiosity and determination. It is the best exploration game I have ever played and perhaps ever will play. It is an absolute privilege to be able to experience this game, a privilege that you will only have once. This is an honest to god masterpiece and I couldn’t recommend it more if I tried.

5/5

A little ways in rebirth i'm given a job by a local woman who wants to send some money to her errant son, one who recently took off to another village across the map. She sends the moeny attached to a dog and wants me to escort it safely. it's a cute quest, but what strikes me is the music. this dog has a unique theme, a drum and bass track with a choir of children cheering him on. I don't hear this song again for 40 hours. This sticks with me for the rest of my playthrough. In the triple A space there's the constant feeling of games buckling under their budgets. the ever rising bar of fidelity increases the time needed to generate assets for a given area, which cascades as the game goes on, meaning while games take more time and money to develop, they often feel smaller, samey. Rebirth does not feel small or samey. It is the most ambitious game i've played in years.

Siempre he dicho que Final Fantasy VII me empezó a gustar cuando jugué al remake. No me pilló el original nunca en buena época y cuando lo jugué ya era adulto y había pasado el tiempo como para apreciar lo que hizo.

El remake me fascinó, pero Rebirth ha sido demasiado. No es un juego perfecto, pero como remake/continuación del juego del 97 me parece increíble.

Hay cosas que no me convencen, como el abuso de tareas repetitivas que no sirven para absolutamente nada o el exceso de minijuegos, algunos de ellos cortando el ritmo y mofándose de algunos momentos emotivos.

Pero bueno, más allá de eso es un juego de 10.

Much of what made FF7 so revered is not necessarily still applicable today. The visuals are no longer cutting edge, the camera angles are only dynamic when compared to what came before, and having an elaborate soundtrack is no longer a bragging right. That being said, however, FF7 still remains a masterpiece even in isolation from how it pushed video games forward as an art form. The story and characters have remained iconic, the soundtrack oozes atmosphere, and the pacing is perfected.

It may not be considered the best FF for many when it comes to individual taste, but the first 6-8 hours spent in Midgar are undoubtedly why FF7 in particular is considered a crown jewel of the franchise as a whole.

Neon White feels like a spiritual successor to Mirror’s Edge with the narrative sensibilities of a game like Catherine. As “sinners” you’ve been tasked with slaying demons to keep heaven safe for the true believers. If you slay enough of them, and quickly, you may even earn a space for yourself at the pearly gates.

The gameplay is a mixture between parkour simulator, FPS, and deck builder and it all works brilliantly. In a bid to raise your neon score, you are encouraged to beat each level as quickly as possible. At first, this is simply a matter of execution. Follow the obvious path (marked by brightly coloured platforms and don’t miss your shots. But, as you beat your score and earn yourself a medal, you’re tempted to try again… Upon returning, there is a gift hidden in the level, but it can only be found through thorough exploration. Now you can compete against your ghost and improve your score, then you see hints for alternate, faster routes through levels, then the leaderboards open up… The soul cards (which provide you with guns) function in much the same way. You begin with a handgun/double jump, but eventually graduate to a rocket launcher/zip line which requires much greater precision to handle.

This is a game about speedrunning and the mechanics take the daunting goal of being THE fastest and break it down into tiny, incremental steps. Without meaning to, you’ll find yourself thinking and performing like a speedrunner until you are the one driven to get a run that’s just a few milliseconds quicker than the last.

The backdrop for this frantic gameplay is a fantastic OST written by Machine Girl that is one of the best I’ve heard in years. It’s catchy, it matches the aesthetic of the game perfectly, and most of the tracks are great to listen to on their own. I think this is Machine Girl’s first game OST and I sincerely hope there are more to come.

The narrative of the game is often cringey, creepy, or weirdly kinky and I actively disliked most of these sections, but the setup for the game’s events was interesting enough to keep me engaged. Despite these negatives, the setting itself is pretty evocative and I found the interplay between the Angels and the Neons to be quite endearing. The narrative also feeds back into the gameplay by functioning as a way to unlock unique side missions for each of the main characters. Although this doesn’t excuse the dialogue, it’s no worse than the average JRPG most of the time.

If you enjoy precision platforming, have fond memories of Mirror’s Edge, or have even a passing interest in speedrunning, play this game! I can’t wait to see what this team does next because Neon White feels like one of the most unique gaming experiences I’ve had in recent memory.