Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is almost everything I ever wanted from a remake of FFVII. While 2020’s FFVII Remake served as the introductory installment to this remake project, providing a powerful foundation for this remake project to build off of, I still found myself leaving it with a sense of doubt over how they’d handle future installments. Remake was phenomenal in every way, it just ends right before the moment FFVII becomes… FFVII to me. The portion of FFVII that Rebirth covers was always going to be the most indicative of the overall direction the remake project was heading towards in terms of both adapting the original and the liberties taken to reimagine it.

Considering it also happens to cover my personal favorite portion of FFVII, Rebirth felt like the most important video game release in my lifetime before the game was even out. You’d think with all of these stakes at hand, I’ve made the game’s bed to either fulfill the impossible or be utterly disappointing. But honestly, I didn’t mind those odds because the original FFVII also felt impossible, it’s one of the aspects that makes the 1997 game so impressive to me to this day, so any attempt in remaking it had to recapture that feeling of the impossible.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth feels like a miracle. I can not believe that this game is real and is in this level of quality. There is a very strong palpable feeling of care and love stretching across all of Rebrith’s content. There is also this powerful sense of spirit when it comes to this game that I haven’t experienced from a piece of media in a long time. The team is so so passionate about FFVII that it feels like they wanted to go above and beyond to elevate every aspect of it. I’d say about 60% of the content in Rebirth is not ‘needed’ but the team still made sure to make it not to artificially bloat the game but out of sheer love for this project.

The soundtrack on its own is a behemoth of content. FFVII Rebirth features over 400 new tracks alongside returning tracks from Remake and all of these tracks are beautifully arranged and composed. The amount of variety and effort put into the music to have multiple versions of each track to react to what’s going on in your own personal game is revolutionary. It’s hard for me not to call this the greatest soundtrack of all time, it just has it all. The music goes from dramatic and emotional to whimsical and silly stretching across all kinds of genres from jazz to classical to the 90s pop power ballad in its vocal main theme song. Making a soundtrack is one thing but creating an entire soundscape the way that is done here is on another level that the team really didn’t need to make but only did so out of sheer love for FFVII.

Queen’s Blood, for example, is a fully-fledged meticulously-designed card game in the world of Rebirth that has you trading cards with NPCs and building your own deck to beat people all throughout its world that I found myself absolutely addicted to. This is a brand-new authentic card game with deep systems that is a part of FFVII Rebirth just because they wanted to include it. The game is chock full of things like this that are not “needed” per se but do so much to flesh out the variety in the game and its world.

It took me around 120 hours with FFVII Rebirth for me to feel like I can walk away from the game seeing a good amount of all of its content and I haven’t even come close to “completing” it. I didn’t even plan to “complete” it in the first place but all the side content is genuinely so fantastic and rewarding that I found myself taking every possible detour during my time with the game and I loved every bit of it. Using character relationships to incentivize side quests has got to be one of my favorite utilizations of side quests I’ve seen. Each party member gets their own set of side quests that feature a small fun adventure with them that will further connect them to Cloud. Either revealing a personal detail about themselves, exploring a specific aspect of their character, or just including banter that introduces new inside jokes between the characters.

My favorite thing about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is how character-driven it is. The FFVII story was always character-driven and 2020’s FFVII Remake did a fantastic job of recontextualizing the cast for this modern interpretation of the story but Rebirth takes leaps forward with them. The characterizations are absolutely stellar in this game, each member of the main cast is treated with a high level of care and respect. Continuing off of FFVII Remake, these are the definitive iterations of these characters by far. My favorite thing that Rebirth does is exploring the character dynamics in the group far better than the 1997 original did. Not only are the characters connected to Cloud but they are also connected to each other and Rebirth goes to show what connects each character pairing within the bigger group resulting in the group feeling tighter than they ever have in the past 27 years. The FFVII cast is one of the best main casts I’ve seen in any media and I’m not overselling it one bit.

The criticisms I do have of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth mostly circle around the story. The story itself is fine but my criticisms are of aspects related to the story. I’ll start with a major one that Rebirth shares with its older sister, Remake, which is the pacing of the story. This remake project is adapting a 35 hour long story from a singular game into a narrative spanning multiple entries each around 40 hours long so far. To put things into perspective, out of the 35 hour runtime of the original FFVII, the remake project has currently adapted the first 17 hours into 80 hours worth of content. That is, of course, if you skip any side activities and focus mainly on the story.

The extended runtime does give good opportunities for certain moments to breathe more and illicit deeper emotions but in contrast, moments where the story “ramps up” don’t deliver the fast pace intended from the original. If characters have to “rush” somewhere in the original it would take them around ten minutes but now it takes them three hours if I’m being generous. Some spots in the story are supposed to have a sense of urgency that is just not present anymore when it feels like the story is constantly taking multiple-hour detours to get to where it needs to. I feel like this all comes in an effort to pad out these entries to justify them being multiple games but I feel like there’s already enough work in both games that justifies that. On the bright side, Rebirth’s padding is a lot more palatable and less egregious than Remake’s in my opinion.

My next criticism involves some of the creative liberties they’ve taken with the narrative in Rebirth and how it differs from the original game. I want to state that, overall, there are several newly added scenarios in both Remake and Rebirth that I found myself absolutely adoring, specifically a sequence involving going to a character’s house in Remake and a pretty phenomenal sequence involving a visit to a run-down reactor in Rebirth. Everything that is handled like those two examples, I love and think the story is all the better for it.

There are two types of creative liberties they take that are iffy with me. The first is more mild which is added spectacle. Rebirth constantly delivers moments of high spectacle that are genuinely jaw-dropping. Most of them are quite phenomenal and really elevate the atmosphere of the story into being a lot more grand and epic. I want to use that word again: epic. My only gripe is that some moments that shined in the original because of their simplicity are now being overshadowed by this vision of turning them into grand-scale moments. It ends up making a pretty pivotal moment to one of the characters not nearly having the same impact it had in the original. As it has lost the simplicity that made that moment so poignant in the first place.

The other type of creative liberty that I have more of a problem with is what they are doing with the added narrative they teased at the end of FFVII Remake. I find the concept of that whole thing to be very intriguing and cool but I can only describe the way it’s been handled so far as — hokey. There still is a chance that that storyline will lead to a satisfying conclusion in the third part of this trilogy and have a payoff that makes this retelling of FFVII the definitive one but as it stands now, it has only made an already complex story become needlessly more contrived and convoluted.

This storyline has already generated some crucial moments into the FFVII mythos that unfortunately feel underbaked and unearned for the time being. This all culminates in the climax of the game which depicts the most iconic moment of FFVII if not the medium as a whole. How they handle that moment results, once again, in a pivotal moment to one of the characters not having nearly the same impact it had in the original. This time however it’s not just -a- pivotal moment but it’s -the- pivotal moment. Instead of invoking the emotion the original had, it now leaves you feeling confused more than anything.

To its defense, this type of direction for the narrative could’ve been made to create allure and intrigue for both newcomer and veteran players in-between installments and on that front, I would say that what they’ve done is pretty successful. I would like to think that these sacrifices were a “necessary evil” that pave the way for a satisfying payoff in the third part. For the time being though, these two installments have only served to puzzle me through Remake and passing the baton like a relay sport to Rebirth for it to completely baffle me and perplex me with these new narrative changes.

All in all, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth ends up delivering one of the most ambitious gaming experience I’ve had in recent years. The leap between Remake and Rebirth is so monumental that I can’t help looking back at Remake as if it was a proof of concept of what a modern remake of FFVII could be like while Rebirth feels like the actualization of a modern remake of FFVII. Rebirth not only feels like a renaissance of RPGs but also ends up feeling like a miracle. As it stands, this trilogy is shaping up to be an all-timer if they manage to stick the landing in the finale.

Life is Strange: True Colors feels like a return to form for the series in many ways and an evolution in some aspects but it’s bogged down by its mediocre narrative and questionable direction.

True Colors has a lot of the ingredients that made the first Life is Strange special, most notably on the amount of focus on the environmental storytelling to make the central location feel lived in. Life is Strange truly shines when it gets a central location that evolves with each chapter and is sprinkled with characters that progressively develop and react to what’s happening in the story. Every chapter in True Colors, minus the final one, opens the town of Haven Springs up for the player to free-roam through. Giving the player the chance to explore, find interesting information about the town and its inhabitants, and helping out said inhabitants through whatever they’re going through during that chapter. True Colors’ Haven Springs feels like the best evolution of what the team learned from the previous game to deliver a gripping setting.

An underrated aspect of Life is Strange that has always made the series stand out to me is that these games really make you live in the moment. They’re not trying to fill the playtime with plot progression, actually, most of the playtime is spent with the player just taking it all in whether it’s to appreciate beautiful scenery or to ponder over what’s happening in the main story. This has made way for the “Moment of Calm” spread across the games to become series staples and True Colors does them fantastically. Life is Strange uses music in very special ways and in True Colors, it seems like they’ve made the conscious decision to use save licensed music to be played during those Moment of Calm sections. Giving each Moment of Calm its own vibe based on how the characters are feeling and the type of monologue they’re giving. I especially love that they added Moments of Calm to be shared with other characters, giving you the choice to linger on whatever you’re doing with a character to make it more of an intimate moment. True Colors provides the set-piece and the player gets to choose if they want to extend their time in it or if they want to get to the next one faster, it provides a fantastic way for players to pace themselves.

Alex is up there with my favorite protagonists in the series, it feels like they took the best parts that made Max and Chloe work as characters and ended up creating a complex and dynamic main character that I wanted to see the story through with. Another return to form that hasn’t been present in the series since the very first Life is Strange is getting a protagonist that has superpowers again! This time, Alex has the power to visually see people’s emotions and if the emotion is particularly strong, she starts feeling it too. Much like Max’s rewind powers in the first Life is Strange, Alex’s set of abilities changes how you explore the world and how you interact with its characters. Emotions are visually represented as auras surrounding characters in a color that represents the emotion. Most NPCs have these auras which allows you to tap into their thoughts and help them out if they need to or just peek into what gossip or recent story development has been on their mind. This mechanic is used as a powerful tool for the environmental storytelling in True Colors.

When these emotions get too strong, they can completely shift a character’s view of what’s around them, giving Alex the ability to tap deep into their psyche to unravel what they’re going through. These moments are the highlight of True Colors for me, with some of them becoming some of my favorite moments in the series, especially a touching and heartbreaking one that happens in the second chapter that will live in my mind as a standout moment. What makes Alex such a fun protagonist to play as is that she eliminates the chance of the protagonist not understanding where a character is coming from and misjudging them. Alex can immediately put herself in other peoples’ shoes and understand them more deeply through their colorful auras. Stuff like this shape Alex’s abilities into becoming a very unique visual and literary tool.

My biggest gripe has to be with the story of the game though. I won’t be able to say much without getting into spoilers but what I can say is that the story keeps building the anticipation of the player through the return of having a mystery drive the narrative. However, the aftermath of that mystery ends up not being worth the anticipation, making True Colors have the most unsatisfying conclusion in the series for me. I spent most of the final chapter clicking my tongue and shaking my head in disappointment. I genuinely hated the conclusion to the story. However I don’t want to let that ruin the great time I had with the first three quarters of True Colors.

Life is Strange: True Colors does so much right that I can’t help but root for it. I had a really special time in Haven Springs and even though I didn’t leave it in the best note, I’m holding on to everything I liked from it. Fantastic setting, dynamic characters, indie music, and a questionable narrative? All the ingredients to a quintessential Life is Strange experience.

I really love me some Splatoon. I’ve been eagerly waiting for Side Order’s release since Splatoon 3 dropped as it was announced before the game’s initial release. I was immediately on board for another Off The Hook focused DLC campaign as Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion was easily my favorite piece of Splatoon content. Octo Expansion came with a brand new story that delves into aspects of the lore unexplored at that time, fantastic new music, a super interesting setting, and added a new playable species that fans have been begging to play as since the series’ inception. I’ll just rip the bandaid off and say that Side Order comes with none of that. In many ways, it doesn’t feel like it was worth the wait but nonetheless, it does come with its own unique merits that end up adding some value to it.

Splatoon always held a special place for me because it oozes a unique style and aesthetic that is contemporary, lively, full of personality, fashion-forward and deeply experimental, especially in its music. There’s a specific atmosphere to Inkling culture that has been present and ever-evolving in every iteration of the series. Octo Expansion immediately stood out as it was set in the deep underground that included the other creatures that aren’t on the surface with a focus on the titular Octarians and their struggle to break out of the historical oppression they’re in, cathartically culminating with the Octolings reaching the surface and assimilating to its culture. Now all of this is mere subtext as the games are still “you’re a kid that shoots ink” but there’s always something happening under the surface with these single-player campaigns that I always loved looking into.

Octo Expansion was a really tough act to follow, and unfortunately it has cast a giant shadow on Side Order and any future paid-content. Side Order takes place in a new version of Inkopolis Square that has been stripped of all of its life and colors. I won’t be spoiling anything other than what was shown in the initial reveal trailer so I’ll let you go through the thrill of figuring out what has lead things to become this way. Right off the bat, I can tell you my first issue with Side Order and that is its atmosphere and aesthetic, or should I say lack thereof. I understand this bleached-out look was the intention they were going for but it really left this expansion feeling lifeless, dull, and devoid of any personality. Even the music, which I’m used to being experimental and genre-defying, is now spacious and more ambient (in Splatoon standards I mean). I don’t know, I appreciate the drastic shift in atmosphere Side Order offers but it’s just not interesting to me by any means and honestly takes away my favorite aspect about the franchise which is the atmosphere and life.

My second biggest criticism of Sider Order is its story. With the somewhat intriguing premise, my mind kept coming up with theories about what was going on and what happened to everyone and I can say that everything I came up with was a lot more interesting than what was actually happening. I mentioned earlier how all the Splatoon campaigns have some deeper subtext or just something unexpected happening below the surface. That is absolutely not the case with Side Order. Granted, I’m writing this after rolling credits once and I’m aware that there is a completion bonus and I’ve been working towards that. So unless there’s a whole lot locked behind that 100% completion, this story is just whatever. I wish I can say it was predictable but it managed to do everything worse than every prediction I made. There’s really nothing interesting going on here.

This was just kind of crushing especially since it’s pretty much a sequel to Octo Expansion where you even get to play as Eight again but alas, Side Order is no Octo Expansion and doesn’t have so much of what made that special to me. I will say, Pearl and Marina are my favorite characters in the franchise and without getting into the nature of their involvement in Side Order, they are once again the heart of this. I love them with all of my heart and getting to see them again filled me with so much joy.

The gameplay of Side Order is the area where I at least have more positives to say. Side Order is a roguelite mode, my second attempt at the genre after last year’s God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla expansion. I can definitely say I enjoyed this attempt at a roguelite a lot more and I found myself to be having an actual good time with it. The unfortunate baggage that comes with the genre is the loss of meticulously designed levels to procedurally generated ones. I do miss the level design of the previous single-player campaigns, but there’s definitely a lot to appreciate here. They translated the roguelite gameplay loop in a great way actually. The levels have a good amount of variety; they do get repetitive but Splatoon is Splatoon and it feels like it was built for these bite-sized quick challenge type of levels. Especially when that’s ingrained in the identity of the game, just like how Turf Wars are quick matches that you should be able to get in and out of easily, and Side Order manages to fulfill that.

While Side Order feels lackluster as a new single-player campaign, its biggest strength is that it feels like a fun new mode. It can get quite addicting to play through and honestly I feel like it has added some incentive to jump back into Splatoon 3 when I want to get into an offline quick session. 100% completion does require 11 complete runs with different weapons and honestly I’m very compelled to give it a shot. I’ve been wanting a reason to get back into Splatoon 3 and I feel like Side Order provides my money’s worth by adding in a new mode with a fun level of challenge.

I want to preface this review by noting that there are many aspects and points of comparison that are lost on me as Reload serves as my first experience of Persona 3. I know that there’s an argument to be made about Reload not adhering to the original atmosphere and overall vision of P3 but since I’m not really familiar with how it’s “supposed” to feel, I don’t really have anything to say about that. Apart from bits and pieces here and there, I’m not aware of aspects that got lost in translation between all the different versions, I only know what I got with this particular version of Persona 3.

I’ve been wanting to experience Persona 3 for the longest time since Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal are among my favorite games of all time. There was just always the struggle of which version to play, the original and P3Fes are pretty much lost to time unless I use emulation and the only version available on modern consoles is Persona 3 Portable which offered the best version of the P3 gameplay at the time but heavily sacrificed the presentation of the game. Everything was telling me that P3P should not be the way I first experience Persona 3 so I decided to just sit and wait for an eventual remake to happen. I can’t begin to describe my excitement when Persona 3 Reload was announced as I would finally get to experience this monumental RPG that made the series what it is today.

Persona 3 Reload might not be the definitive version of Persona 3, as it lacks notable content from P3P and P3fes, but i think it’s definitely the best version to play Persona 3 in the current day. The game has a shiny new coat of paint that makes it graphically on par with Persona 5 but with a completely different design philosophy that gives it a unique, distinct identity. The presentation is absolutely stellar and the new ultra-stylish minimalistic design language modernize Persona 3 while still making it feel like P3 and not another P5.

This new aesthetic is absolutely beautiful in its simplicity and its modernity. Persona 3 Reload immediately throws it on you when it greets you with its new opening that features the best visuals of any opening in the series alongside its new song. Persona 3 Reload features a redone soundtrack, featuring remixes from the original game with new vocalist Azumi Takahashi coming in as the new lead vocalist. As someone that’s been listening to the Persona 3 soundtrack for years, this change did feel a bit jarring at first but I quickly got used to the new arrangements. Some of the new songs are stellar and instant series highlights, most notably the new night theme “Color Your Night” and the new battle theme “It’s Going Down Now”.

Persona 3 Reload brings the classic Persona battle system in its modern incarnation that was perfected in P5. You have never played a turn-based RPG like these two. The battles just flow so well and the new Shift and Theurgy mechanics borrow from the Baton Pass and Showtime mechanics from Persona 5 respectively to add a deep layer to the battle system that makes each battle feel exhilarating. This alongside the newly added character-specific All-Out-Attack splash screens make you and your team feel like absolute badasses as you decimate your way through Tartarus.

Tartarus is one thing I’m really excited to talk about. So Tartarus is the procedurally generated central dungeon of Persona 3 which you and your party tackle throughout the school year to reach the top and uncover its secret, think P5’s mementos. From an outsider listening in, Tartarus has been the topic of the biggest complaints I’ve been hearing of P3. How it’s so long and boring, and all the floors feel the same. Well I’m here to say that Tartarus in Persona 3 Reload has been absolutely great. It’s still very long but they did a good job diversifying it and shaking things up with each chunk of floors. There are just so many quality of life improvements here that ultimately make the gameplay loop of Tartarus extremely addicting. You had to beg me to stay out of Tartarus.

If you’re familiar with Persona, you know that the gameplay loop doesn’t only revolve around the dungeon crawling. There’s also a complete life sim waiting for you outside those dungeons where you get to live out a calendar-based school year getting part-time jobs, building your social relationships, and keeping up with your studies. I want to give credit where credit is due, this game did this iconic gameplay loop first and it has since become a staple of the series. it is an ambitious and revolutionary concept to seamlessly blend those two types of gameplay into one game and have it be as cohesive as it is, especially when it’s their first attempt with this concept!

There is a lot to do during the day but it doesn’t get overwhelming as it sometimes does with Persona 5 as the settings are a lot different between the two. P5’s hustling and bustling city was perfectly fit for the infinite amount of things you can do in that game while P3’s seaside town is a lot simpler both in terms of things to do and in its overall vibe much more similar to the setting of P4. This made the game have a much more chill and easy going feeling to it. The town just eases you into living in it and its small landmarks are instantly memorable so you won’t find yourself getting lost a lot. This makes Persona 3 Reload an excellent entry point to the modern Persona entries as it allows the player to learn the ropes with a lot less going on.

Social Links, or Confidants for those only familiar with P5, are my personal favorite aspect of the modern Persona games. During your day-to-day life, you’ll come across interesting people all throughout that you can hang out with and befriend. Doing so will have you cultivate a relationship with them that would directly benefit you in the dungeon-crawling side of the game. These were always my favorite parts as I’d get to hear the interesting stories of these people, help them with their problems, or share a good laugh over a bowl of ramen. These stories always feel like the heart of the games for me, each one pushing the theme of its respective game.

Since Persona 3 introduced the concept of Social Links, I’m not surprised that they’re pretty hit or miss in terms of quality. It’s clear that they were still figuring out how to handle that aspect and I appreciate Reload for preserving them flaws and all. The lows are pretty low but the highs are fantastic. I’m taking some of the best Social Links in the series are in this game with one of them turning out to be my absolute favorite from how raw and gripping the real-life consequences that character was going through. My absolute favorite thing about Persona 3 Reload that makes me struggle from going back is the fact they decided to have all the Social Links be fully voiced. This made me connect to these characters on a much different level and I really hope it becomes a standard moving forward.

Speaking of voices, once again Atlus remains top dog in English dubs. I know this is a topic of contention as the entire original Persona 3 voice cast got recast but coming in blind, these performances are all fantastic across the board. I haven’t heard any of these characters speak before but they all sounded exactly how I expected them to and delivered phenomenal performances across the board. I did think that one member of the main cast was a bit inconsistent with their performance but it didn’t stop me from falling in love with their character. Special shoutouts to: Aleks Lee, Zeno Robinson, Alejandro Saab, Allegra Clark, Dawn M. Bennet, Lucien Dodge, and mostly Shelby Young for breathing so much life into these characters and tugging at my heartstrings.

The main cast of characters have always been a highlight of the Persona games. I think they are the most important aspect of these games as these are the people you’ll be spending hundreds of hours with. P4 and P5’s casts genuinely feel like my best friends with the amount of memories I have with them and the level of attachment I have. I’m so pleased to say that P3’s cast is freaking phenomenal. This group definitely has my favorite dynamic out of the three modern Personas and include the most interesting relationships.

Going in with the expectations I had from P4 and P5 had me really shocked at the type of dynamic the P3 cast has. Some members have shared history, some just don’t vibe with each other, and you’re not the center of the group. While the P4 and P5 casts would rely on you as an active agent, P3’s casts all have their own agency. They have their own friends, plans, and motivations. Hell, they won’t accompany you on missions if they don’t feel like it. Aspects like that ground the cast and make you see them like real people because yeah my real-world friends are not always free for me, or they won’t always get along with my other friends. I only finished the game last night and I already miss them like crazy.

I look at the stories of Persona 4 and Persona 5 as stories that shaped me as a person. With both having messages and teaching me lessons I can immediately realize have impacted my life after playing through them. Persona stories are really really impactful and Persona 3 is no different. The story delivers such a powerful message and life lesson that really makes me feel like I’m going to tackle my life a lot differently moving forward. This especially becomes stronger when the game has one of the most cathartic and poignant endings that left me with a powerful final aftertaste.

I do have to say that the biggest gripe I have with Persona 3 is in its plot. While the story is fantastic, the plot and its pacing leaves a lot to be desired. The first half of the game feels pretty aimless to be honest. There really wasn’t anything going on in the main story until I reached the 40th hour which would be inexcusable if the gameplay loop wasn’t so fun. It felt like P4 and P5 had immediate hooks to keep playing the games that is definitely missing with P3. The back-half is outstanding but I really feel like it takes a tad too long for things to get going. These games are pretty freaking long and there really aren’t moments in P4 and P5 where absolutely nothing is happening but P3 feels like it has a huge chunk of that.

Overall, Persona 3 Reload is a phenomenal game with a strong visual identity, fantastic soundtrack, streamlined and addicting gameplay, top of the line voice acting, stellar characters, and a powerful story that will for sure leave a lasting impact. While it might not be the definitive release of the monumental RPG, it sure feels like the best way to experience it as of now.

It doesn't work.

3 is a game that has a lot of idiosyncracies and quirks to it that allow it to stand out among not just other entries in its series, but JRPGs in general. The limitations and frictive elements reinforce how finite the experience is and encourage engagement with its time management systems. Reload, as I vaguely riffed on with my one sentence review before, largely strips the game of most of the charm and leaves me with a product that is perfectly competent and yet feels deeply artless.

Persona 3 back in 2006 was designed as a fresh reboot with a fresh set of eyes on the series as whole. It's a monumental game for Hashino and Soejima -- while it wasn't their first work on Atlus' games, the duo created something distinctly... theirs. Something about the complete lack of involvement of the original creative names behind the game, including the no-brainer inclusion of Shoji Meguro at minimum, puts a bad taste in my mouth. It's not even that I'm drunk off auteur worship and think a loving product can't be made with new hands. It's that... Persona 3 is not a new product. It's an old one with a lot of significance to Atlus' history.

Reload manages to take a step back on almost every mechanic established in the original as a purposeful statement. One of the most immediately noticeable is the removal of a functional tactics/AI system. Others have highlighted the flaccid, restrictive and ineffective system in the remake and how it's largely not a replacement for the experience on the PS2. Without getting too into details, I'd rather highlight the logic behind its design from Hashino himself.

Hashino: There are a lot of RPGs out there where you can control every aspect of your party members, including what kind of underwear they are wearing… but because we wanted the player to relate to the Hero more than any other character in “Persona 3”, we wanted the other characters to feel like “other people”.

Soejima: It was important to make that distinction. It helped to emphasize the concept of Social Links, and it also allowed us to show off the improved AI. It would have been extra cool if the party members had been completely free of player control, but we knew that would be pushing it a bit too far, so we gave the player control over their equipment at least.

Hashino: It’s true that we got some feedback stating that the party system was “too difficult” to control effectively, but I’ll honestly say that I don’t regret doing what we did with it. I’m glad we stuck to our guns on that one.

You don't have to love the mechanic in the original, there's room for criticism in how it was implemented and established. However, it helps no one to not understand the very purposeful thematic statements Hashino wished to express -- the individuality and independence of your comrades in SEES. Reload does not even attempt to improve upon and evolve these systems, but does away with them as if they're just worthless cruft and "clunk" that needs to be stripped away.

Similar frictive elements have been gutted, such as the fatigue system, the maze-like structure of Tartarus being morphed into wide, open spaces with no intrigue or rat-brain navigation, and a myriad of other changes adjusted for "modern sensibilities". Reload is explicitly designed to model after 5 and the philosophies and approaches that game established.

I think the frustration here comes less from Reload being a bad video game in isolation and moreso how frustrating a precedent it sets. I do not want to live in a world where older properties and works are reheated and find themselves homogenized with recent best-sellers.

Sights & Sounds
- The art direction is fairly strong, but the execution leaves something to be desired. The town of Saint-et-Claire is scenic and the characters are charming, but it's a little hard to overlook some sloppiness in the geometry. The very first intro scene zooms way in on the mouse and shows how his fur is an overlapping mess of polygons. You can see similar clipping on other character models as well as the environment geometry
- The music is a really nice accompaniment to the gameplay, and I can't find much to complain about. The overall tone of the game is relaxed and cozy, and the various solo and accompanied piano tracks hit all the right notes (pun unashamedly intended)

Story & Vibes
- The plot in brief: You're a little street mouse wandering through the little (French? French-Canadian?) town of Sainte-et-Claire. Looking through the windows you pass, you notice that everyone seems pretty unhappy with their lot in life. A twist of fate sees you obtaining powerful abilities that help you eventually make the world just a little bit better
- The take-home message of "even if you don't feel like much, you can still help" is a well-worn trope, but the reminder is still nice every now and then
- As mentioned before, this is an extremely cozy game. Don't expect much stress, frustration, or challenges that can't be overcome through simple perseverence

Playability & Replayability
- As far as puzzle platformers go, The Spirit & the Mouse isn't breaking any new ground. You run and climb your way through the small open world and complete the tasks given to you by the spirits you encounter throughout the game, occasionally solving a puzzle. Neither the puzzles nor the platforming challenges will give the average player much difficulty. Notice how I said "climb", not "jump"? That has a lot to do with the lack of challenge
- In a way, it's a lot like Stray, but not nearly as interesting
- There is a shop for unlocking maps (handy until you learn the lay of the land) and various abilities (only one of which is necessary for progression). You buy them using the small sparks you can find hidden around the levels. These respawn each time you leave and re-enter an area, so getting the funds necessary to buy everything won't take you a terribly long time
- I suppose I could go back for the achievements I missed, but there's not much here that I'm eager to get back to. The ones I missed also pertained to grindy elements of the game (finding lightbulb collectibles, finding an arbitrary amount of sparks in each area, etc.), so those aren't really motivating either

Overall Impressions & Performance
- As much as I love a good puzzle platformer, The Spirit & the mouse doesn't really do much to challenge or impress the player. None of the puzzles are particularly clever, nor is any of the platforming very tricky
- It ran well on the Steam Deck

Final Verdict
- 5.5/10. I wouldn't call it a bad game, but I would suggest waiting for a sale even if the coziness is sufficient to reel you in. It doesn't have much going for it besides its cuteness, and the base price is a little steep for a 5-7 hour playthrough

I'm not gonna use this review to express my thoughts on Persona 3 in general, as I think that should be rather evident but instead I wanna talk about everything this remake does both right and wrong for me in comparison to FES.

More than anything, I really miss the ludonarrative harmony FES was indeed more often than not rather infamous for.
There's a lot of it gone that's probably for the best - like automatic romance links and the jealousy system that came with it, but man do I miss Tactics being the way they were before P4. I get that they didn't want to spend too much time implementing those in P4 and P5 (essentially making it a hassle to use because of how barebones it was) but it was such a ridiculously layered system with surprising amounts of personality that I'm genuinely sad to see it being nigh unusable in a Persona 3 remake.
Right off the bat, it's the exact same as it was in every game since P4; all tactics are unlocked from the start and they're not a lot. We've got Act Freely, Full Assault, Conserve SP, Heal/Support and ofcourse Direct Commands. And that's it.
Persona 3 placed great importance on portraying the other SEES members as seperate entities, going as far as making the tactics unlock over time the longer the group spent together and I don't know man, that stuff was genuinely magical to me.
It set P3 apart in such an unconventional way, and I get that it wasn't for everyone but once you got the hang of it I genuinely thought that system was fantastic. All of its quirks, like Yukari being programmed to be more selfish with her healing if necessary and what not really made them feel like their own characters.
Persona 3 and FES gave the player additional tactics after the second, fourth and fifth Full Moon - Knock Down, Same Target and Attack Fallen.
And Knock Down in my opinion, is the major loss here. Early on, I did my best to do what I could with the Tactics system as it is now but found myself having to use Minato's (I'm an oldhead and that character unironically saved my life so I'm not calling him anything else, bear with me here) SP far more often than I should. Junpei would trial-and-error a fire weakness, get it right, see the exact same enemy standing right next to the one he downed and just slash that same enemy again instead. It's not great, and it's definitely something that made me have to look for other things to appreciate in this game.
Of course, that's not all bad - especially for a game with as many revisions as Persona 3, I think it's good that each of them stands out in their own way.
In a way, I'm really glad to have that feeling of "Man, I wanna go back to FES and experience it like that again someday".
I just wish it wasn't through the game incentivizing me as to how I SHOULD be playing by making my preferred option far, far worse. I imagine they're completely incapable of shifting and using Theurgies as well - so yeah, that just further proves my point.
I've gotten quite used to the trend of Tactics being a husk of its former self, but I was certainly hoping that wouldn't be the case in a Persona 3 remake when that's the one game where it was purposefully designed around it, and that was done so well. It's a damn shame.

My other major gripe is the Rewind mechanic - because yes, I am gonna be that guy that says it goes entirely against its themes (because it does!).
In reality, it's not as ridiculous as it seems, because it is essentially just making autosaves of previous days anytime you save but like.. there's such a dichotomy between adding quality of life changes and actively popping up Hey Your Actions Have No Consequences By The Way in a game that literally starts up with Memento Mori.
They could've added this to the game as is without actively needing to tell you about it, and anyone who'd need to make use of it would still find it while people that wouldn't still think as hard about how they should spend their time as they should. Even if simply saving before any choice is always a possibility, popping up a feature like that genuinely makes a massive difference on your mentality approaching choices like that, in my opinion - and it certainly shouldn't have a place in Persona 3 of all things.

Apart from that, my issues are pretty nitpicky; I miss having a narrator for what is now inner dialogue. I liked not being able to read Minato's thoughts, as it set him further apart as his own character (which he absolutely is) and I think having that layer of seperation from him was good. It made moments like "Yesterday was a terrible tragedy.. however, you must still go to school today." all the more shocking in my opinion because even before you witnessed everything about him in December you had those clear signs that there's certainly something wrong about how apathetic he is to all of it. I feel like not hearing it from himself added to that, but again, nothing too major. Still a really nice detail that set him apart, though.
FeMC also isn't included in this which I personally don't care for but I can see why that'd disappoint people. I feel like the Portable remaster was basically their attempt at making up for the fact that they didn't want to make such a major overhaul to both routes but instead decided to focus more on the original P3 experience which is fair, honestly.
Especially after playing through the game you realize how much effort that took, and despite the fanbase she has it would've set the game's release date back a pretty major amount. (And I figure it wouldn't be too enticing from a business perspective either, we all know how scummy they get with day 1 DLC already so I think hell would freeze over before we could expect that much content from them in a single game)

All of this lines up pretty well what I expected from the game honestly - Tactics being fully implemented again would've been fantastic, but considering how it's been treated ever since FES I figured it wouldn't be the case.
So, all that's left is hoping it makes up for it. Like I said earlier, I had to look for other reasons to appreciate this game with most of the ludonarrative harmony that made FES so magical to me gone - and I'm really glad to say those definitely exist!
Because oh man, the new content sure is good.

I LOVE what they've done with Tartarus. Twilight Fragments, a new resource gained through Tartarus itself and ranking up Social Links are used to fully heal your party's HP and SP in Tartarus for a price of 8 fragments, something I was a bit disappointed to see pre-release - but it's actually a surprisingly fantastic system due to it having multiple uses - the other being Twilight Fragment chests, at the cost of 1-3 fragments with said cost deciding how good the reward from its chest is. And what's in these chests is easily the best rewards you'll find in Tartarus.
That decisionmaking, combined with the fact that it's yet another way of incentivizing maxing out Social Links and making the most of the limited time you've got is SO good. It's a fantastic high-risk/high-reward decision that has made me appreciate climbing the Tower of Demise even more.

Theurgies are a welcome sight aswell - although a bit overtuned in terms of damage numbers, it's great to have a system that switches up the monotomy of Persona's combat, especially in long boss battles.
With the fact that it charges faster in different personalized ways for each character, it really guides you to making the most of your party's strengths, and what a reward for doing that right it is.
Incredibly cool animations and an attack (or utility!) that makes a massive difference anytime you use it. They feel SO good to use.
These also combine with the new activities at the dorm - because if you do one of the two activities each character is assigned to 3 times with them, they'll unlock (or upgrade) a new passive skill unique to them alongside their Theurgy. And these make a massive difference too! Really potent stuff that sets each SEES member further apart from eachother and really has you think about which ones you like bringing with you most.

The dorm activities writing-wise are a pleasant surprise as well; I figured it'd make the SEES dynamic a bit too chummy early-on or feel too lighthearted after heavier events, but they nailed it.
Early-on, it's very much a give-and-take thing especially with studying, where characters are generally like "Oh this benefits us both, so yeah sure" and after events like 4/10 you can't escape the gravity of the situation in these either.
Pleasantly surprised at how a studying event with Akihiko and Mitsuru a few days after for example actively had them being too distracted to focus on studying and Minato being the one to attempt to shake them out of that slump. It was really bittersweet.

What I mostly appreciate in this game though, is the Link Events that kind of make up for the fact that the male party members didn't get any Social Links outside of FeMC's route in Portable.
Because oh man, even as someone who generally likes their Social Links there (we don't talk about Ken's one, though) these are easily the best content these characters have gotten since the original game. It's all so incredibly good.
I really hope these are the future ideal for party member links because they work so well - they don't have to stick to a 10-part structure that sets up some alternative arc for the character outside of the story, you simply get to see more of their perspective and how they're dealing with the current problems at hand.
They're all written so incredibly well and immediately stopped me from worrying about whether they'd get the character writing right after how dirty some of these have been done in spin-offs.
Not only that, they understand Minato really well too; showing off just how kind and selfless he is, but also addressing how much of an issue it can be if he continues to be such a yesman and gives him more room to make choices for himself aswell. It's.. just some genuinely perfect stuff honestly, exactly what I was hoping to see from them and then some. I didn't think it was possible to make me like Persona 3's cast even more but holy shit, they sure pulled that off.

So yeah, despite my gripes with it I think this game is absolutely fantastic.
It doesn't hit me in quite the same ways FES did, and due to that I think FES specifically will always be my favorite game because nothing quite clicks for me in gameplay and story integration like that game does - but I'm really glad this game manages to stand on its own two feet despite what it lacks in comparison by more than making up for it.
If you're a sceptical Persona 3 fan who wasn't sure Atlus could ever reach those heights again like I was, rest assured - it's still an absolutely incredible experience. Just in its own, fantastic way!

I can’t believe it took me this long to finally play Undertale and I’m so glad I avoided all conversations surrounding it for all these years and ended up going in completely blind.

This game is something special. It is so absurdly unique with its world and characters and oozes charm all throughout. It’s pretty hilarious, like laugh out loud hilarious and not exhale from nose hilarious.

The characters are so charming and the story has this really cool layer to it. There’s just so much palpable passion in Undertale that no one can deny. It’s such a simple game on the surface but its simplicity is what makes it so moving.

Also I can’t understate how cathartic the true ending felt. I haven’t experienced an ending like that in a long time and I feel like I won’t be experiencing one like it again for a long time.

This was a masterpiece in every way. I loved it with all of my heart.

I: PREFACE

This is the second time I play through Final Fantasy VII Remake and boy have I had two completely different experiences. My first playthrough back in 2020 was actually my introduction to the Final Fantasy VII world. This was how I first met Cloud, Barret, Tifa, and the rest. This was how I experienced Midgar which at that point, I had only experienced as a Super Smash Bros. stage. Final Fantasy VII Remake was the big welcoming parade into the FFVII compilation for me and it was absolutely delightful. I had the freshest eyes with no point for comparison. I had a great time with it and really loved it, I found myself left with a lot of questions when I finished it and soon discovered that there was no space for me to discuss the game without getting spoiled over things that are coming up in the story, so I just decided to let it sit and wait for the next part’s release, whenever that may be.

Two years have passed since then, it was easy to just avoid the conversations around FFVII Remake until the sequel was revealed to be FFVII Rebirth, alongside an announcement of a remake of the prequel game Crisis Core. This was when the conversation started getting riled up and it was getting hard to avoid the discussions, especially in the circles I frequent online. I’ve been waiting for a couple of years to continue the story but it seemed like FFVII Rebirth is going to further rely on knowledge of the original game and the FFVII compilation for its moments to truly hit. Something I was lacking for my playthrough of FFVII Remake which resulted in really impactful moments leaving me kind of lost and confused.

I decided that that would not be the case with FFVII Rebirth as it seemed to be gearing up for some big stuff so I decided to finally play the original FFVII. It was freaking fantastic. Just as everyone has been saying for all those years. What started off as me wanting to know where the story goes after Midgar, turned into me being completely swooped into FFVII and falling in love with it. So much so, that while playing it I had realized that it was the best game I have ever played. After that, I went through the entire Compilation of FFVII, enjoying some of it and despising other parts of it. Making me now completely well-versed in FFVII. Here I am now, a little more than a year later, and FFVII Rebirth is right around the corner. With my newly founded love and appreciation over FFVII and the overwhelming excitement over FFVII Rebirth, it was finally time to revisit FVII Remake.

II: REUNION

At this point, it’s been almost 4 years since my first playthrough of FFVII Remake and here I was booting the game up again but this time it wasn’t to get introduced to the FFVII world but to be reunited with it. Even though this was the second time I play through it, this playthrough invoked such different emotions out of me that it felt like I was playing something new. Now that I had the chance to play through the compilation and fall in love with the original game so much that it became my favorite game of all time, FFVII Remake had something to live up to for me and boy did it live up.

FFVII Remake feels like a dream. It’s so crazy that even though I had played it before, I couldn’t believe I was playing a real video game and not a fan made unreal engine demo of what a potential remake of FFVII could look like. From the opening moments, to the soundtrack, to the world design. They absolutely nailed the FFVII feeling. I still can’t believe that this game exists and it’s not even a complete remake of the original! I can not believe that in a few years I would have the entirety of FFVII in this quality! It is absolutely insane.

What I love so so much about FFVII Remake is that it’s not just a graphical upgrade to FFVII. This is pretty much a complete reimagining. Everything is expanded upon in significant ways. You get to see all the layers of Midgar and the stories its people hold. This used to be just the opening area to the larger FFVII story but they masterfully made it the setting of a full entry. The politics are expanded upon, the way each sector lives is expanded upon just everything seems bigger. Taking what was roughly a 3-5 hour section in the original and turning it into a 35-40 hour game and doing it well is a huge ask but they managed to pull it off! Granted, there is a bunch of padding added and filler sections but they’re added in a pretty natural way into the story.

The characters are honestly all at their best here. After going through the compilation, some characters started to turn into things they’re not. Mainly Cloud turning into this stoic, cold guy that’s super serious. I was really worried that that would be the version of Cloud I’ll see here but I’m really really happy it isn’t. All of the characterizations are top tier in this game. Tifa and Barret are the best they’ve ever been. A controversial opinion but this Aerith is the first iteration of the character that I actually like. They made her so so lovable and quirky in all the cute right ways. She really has this magical feeling around her and is able to shift the air whenever she’s around. I appreciate that a lot. The Avalanche members were also given some great great characterizations too. They had maybe 30 minutes of screen time in the original game? They now have families, side jobs they like to do, character flaws. Ugh so so so so good.

I’m really happy that they didn’t shy away from all the quirky moments of the original FFVII. There are so many whimsical moments in FFVII Remake that reference those of the original but also newly added ones which gives me so much faith in this project. That’s pretty much the biggest thing about FFVII Remake to me, it feels like a fully polished, playable tech demo of a potential remake of FFVII that acts as a statement of “Have faith in us, we know what we’re doing and we can make this work.” I can’t understate this, they KNOW what they’re doing especially when they’re not being faithful to the original game. There’s a strong, palpable vision there and I just can not wait to see it become fully realized. I’m reminded of the monologue that was in the reveal trailer for this project and how it said “The reunion at hand may bring joy, it may bring fears but let us embrace whatever it brings” and that’s exactly how I feel. I am very happy about what’s there, kind of worried about the direction they’re taking but also reminded that they know what they’re doing and I’ll be here to see it through.

Twilight Princess is exactly the type of game you’d expect to follow up Ocarina of Time. The 6 games that released post Majora’s Mask featured a significant shift in the overall vibe of the series. Not a bad one per se but as someone that holds the vibes of the Ocarina of Time-Majora’s Mask duology near and dear to their heart, it wasn’t hard to notice that the series was trying to forge a new identity for itself. One that strays away from the occasionally creepy and dark vibes of Ocarina-Majora and leans towards a more light-hearted and cartoonish vibe like in The Wind Waker and The Minish Cap.

While I still I really like those games, I couldn’t help but feel like an ingredient of the Zelda recipe was missing from them. All the games pre-Majora’s Mask felt like they had a good balance of feel-good light-heartedness and serious, more mature undertones while the post-Majora’s Mask games seemed to lean more towards the prior. I really have no issues with this as I thoroughly enjoyed them but I can’t deny that they felt different.

This, of course, caused a lot of discourse within the fandom. Ocarina of Time was a cultural phenomenon widely regarded as a pioneer of not only 3D games but gaming as a medium. This departure in identity over the 8 following years cast a fair share of doubt on the series ever reaching the heights of Ocarina of Time again. The Wind Waker was ruthlessly scrutinized, The Minish Cap barely sold, and Four Swords Adventures came and went with no noise. Forcing Nintendo to be like “You want another Ocarina of Time? Fine, we’ll make one.”

Twilight Princess isn’t just a modern version of Ocarina of Time like some people like to say, it is a full blown spiritual successor. Everything from the art style, to the music, to the world and dungeon design feels like a proper evolution of Ocarina of Time. It just feels like the obvious direction they would’ve went with with the series. Twilight Princess relies on the foundations of Ocarina of Time while forging its own unique identity.

The game goes for a grounded and more mature vibe overall, completely contrasting The Wind Waker. I love The Wind Waker’s vibe a lot but playing it after what came before brings a feeling of unfamiliarity, I know most of us had to readjust ourselves for The Wind Waker in the beginning of it and said “oh okay this is different!” That readjustment wasn’t as present in Twilight Princess. As soon as you boot the game up you get an overwhelming “oh we are so back!” feeling as it exudes the same aura as the pre-Wind Waker games. That familiarity to me is very comforting which is why I find myself gravitating towards Twilight Princess more, even though I think The Wind Waker is the much bolder and more adventurous game.

Twilight Princess is often criticized for its linearity. While it sports a big map, it’s not really an open-world experience like The Wind Waker’s. Frankly, I don’t really care about that. A lot of people say that exploration is a huge standard of the Zelda series and it is often used as a tool to gauge how good some of these games are. I don’t really agree with that, Zelda isn’t a series that thrives on openness and exploration for me. Instead I think Zelda thrives on the sense of discovery more. You’re discovering new areas, overworld secrets, dungeons, towns, etc. Linearity doesn’t stop that sense of discovery, it just guides it. I can see how that can be a problem if you’re looking for a sense of unguided discovery, but that’s not what I play these games for. I’ll get into what I do play these games for later in the review. But for now I just really want to establish how I don’t have any issue with the linearity of Twilight Princess. I think it’s the reason why the game works, the linearity allows for a tighter and more planned out narrative-driven hero’s journey take place.

The overall story of Twilight Princess is alright. It’s nothing really revolutionary, I prefer the story of The Wind Waker as an overall narrative, but Twilight Princess shines through its fantastic story moments. It’s very cinematic in the sense that the scenes feel like they were directed like they’re for a movie. There’s a lot of framing techniques, musical cues, and moody lighting used. Characters are very grounded with their movements and express themselves like normal humans do in the real world. Scenes like the attack in Kakariko, the vision in Lanayru, Midna’s lament, and Illia’s memory are wonderfully directed and are some of my favorite scenes in the series. If Twilight Princess was a movie it would definitely be a big blockbuster. It’s just so grand and epic in every way with massive set pieces sprinkled throughout.

My first criticism about Twilight Princess is the pacing of the first half of the game. I know people usually complain about the opening hours of the game but I really have no problem with the opening. I feel like it’s a great tone-setter and shows you what normal life for Link look’s like before the main inciting incident happens. It’s a literary tool that is used in most movies, books, and other forms of narratives we see today. My issue actually starts after the inciting incident happens. The the world is now engulfed in twilight and every time you go to a new area you have to first go through the twilight realm version of that area and free it. This is the worst thing in the game for me and not because of the Tears of Light quest.

A lot of the previous Zelda games featured a dual-world mechanic with one being the normal world and the other being a distorted version of that world. Seeing the normal versions of those areas first and then seeing how the distortion makes them look is cool, but doing that order in reverse doesn’t work for me for several reasons. First, it's about the first impression you get of the new areas, the Twilight realm feels the same in every region of Hyrule, so having the excitement of going to a new location be met with an oppressive atmosphere that is shared by every other area in the game, even when that atmosphere is done masterfully, just doesn’t give a good first impression to any area in Hyrule. It doesn’t help that the most notable change that happens after freeing these areas from the twilight realm is that they’re now brighter and have their own musical theme. The areas just feel the same but with a different filter on now so it doesn’t feel that satisfying to free them.

My other big complaint about these sections is how they bring some of the narrative conflicts to a halt and ruin some story moments that would have otherwise been much better done. This comes with the fact that in the twilight realm, you can see what’s happening in the real world but you can’t really interact with anything from it. A big example is the kidnapped kids from Ordon Village. When you see them get kidnapped you naturally worry about where they’ve been taken and want to save them. What is the next thing the game does with that sub plot? Have you stumble on them while you’re in the twilight realm, finding out that they are safe with adults while not being able to interact with them until you finish releasing the area from the twilight. I don’t like these sections at all. I will say though that the sound design in the twilight realm is fantastic. As it is with the rest of the game.

What I love about Twilight Princess is that it’s very atmospheric and that comes in large part from the music. The music is spacious, triumphant, and nostalgic, even if you’re hearing these tracks for the first time. There are so many highlights including: Title Theme, Ordon Village, Midna’s theme, Twilight, Meeting Zelda, Light Spirit’s Elegy, Faron Woods, Forest Temple, Hyrule Field, Kakariko Village, King Bulblin Battle, Queen Rutela’s Theme, Lake Hylia, Zant’s Theme, Midna’s Lament, Sacred Grove, Arbiter’s Grounds, Snowpeak, Hidden Village, City in the Sky, and Final Battle. I didn’t realize how many favorites I had until I started listing them out. This might be one of my favorite soundtracks in the series. The only criticism I have with it is that I wish it wasn’t MIDI. These melodies are mesmerizing and deserve a lot better. I hope if the game gets another rerelease, they remake the soundtrack to be orchestral.

An area where Twilight Princess shines for me is through its characters. Not counting Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess takes a massive leap in terms of character writing. The people of this world feel real with real struggles, and complex motivations. Link himself is one of my favorite incarnations, he is just so expressive and responsive to what’s happening around him. He shows a wide range of emotions throughout the game: he gets passionately angry sometimes, remorseful, cheery, relieved, etc. He’s not as stoic and serious as all the promotional art of the game depict him. He’s just a simple farm guy with a big heart and wants to help out however he can and the game sells that through his characterization. He also works especially well with Midna, who is probably my favorite character in the franchise.

Midna’s the first character in the series that gets a proper arc. Midna is mischievous, sassy, charismatic, and just wants to use Link for her own selfish gains but as the game goes on, she grows a sense of admiration for Link and the sense of camaraderie that builds up between the two really carries the game. They are a great dynamic duo that really give the game its own sense of identity. Midna actually in many ways feels like the protagonist of the game with Link being the deuteragonist. She is the driving force behind the narrative, the stakes are much higher for her than they are for any other character, and she’s the one that has personal beef with main antagonist. This is Midna’s game and Link is just a vessel for her story to be told. The closest thing we got to a character this dynamic before was Tetra in the Wind Waker but the way she was handled in the back-half of that game kinda fizzled her out for me. God, I love Midna. Most of the emotional punches of the game for me come from her. There’s obviously the big Midna’s Lament sequence but that doesn’t come close to her agency and involvement during the final section of the game. All for it to lead to one of the most beautiful endings of the series which wouldn’t have hit at all if her character didn’t work.

Twilight Princess also has other characters that are really compelling! Zant and Colin come to mind as other stand out characters. Some characters do leave some to be desired though. Illia’s treatment is just weird to me, she’s Link’s childhood friend/potential love interest. I’m gonna go over minor spoilers Illia as a character so feel free to skip this paragraph if you haven’t played the game. I just don’t understand what they were even going for with Illia, she’s introduced in the beginning as someone that Link really cares about, then gets kidnapped and disappears for a while. At that point she’s used as a main motivator for Link to go through his journey. You don’t find her with the rest of the kidnapped kids, so you’d think they’re delaying that moment to do something interesting with her. Once you do end up finding her you find out she has amnesia? Interesting choice but nothing is done with that plot line at all. She just disappears for the rest of the game until close to the end where you help her get her memory back in a wonderful scene.. only for her to just stand there doing nothing for the remainder of the game. Just a very weird way to handle the character which is why she never worked for me.

Other characters that kind of fall short for me are Zelda and Ganondorf. Their designs do all of the heavy lifting for their characters, these two never looked this good before (or since to be honest). But other than that, they’re a bunch of nothing. Zelda gets a total of 3 minutes of screen time in the whole game and is only challenged by Ganondorf’s 3.5 minutes. Did these two really need to be in this game? Zelda and Ganondorf’s inclusion just feels like it happens out of necessity to the series traditions. Part of me wishes for a version of Twilight Princess that fully skips on including these two and instead makes Midna and Zant the Triforce wielders of the game. You could even change their names to Zelda and Ganondorf to offer a cute twist of expectations having the incarnations of those two be from the same tribe this time. I know the manga adaptation gives Zelda and Ganondorf some cool stuff so all I can hope for is for that to be added if we ever get a proper remake on the same level as Final Fantasy VII Remake. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening so I guess I have to live on with these incarnations that feel like nothing.

My favorite thing about Twilight Princess and what I think sets it apart from the rest of the series is its dungeons. This is the best dungeon lineup in any 3D Zelda game. Every single dungeon in the game ranges from great to fantastic. Forest Temple, Lakebed Temple, Arbiter’s Grounds, Snowpeak Ruins, City in the Sky, and Palace of Twilight are among my favorite dungeons in the entire series. Each dungeon has a visually and sonically distinct atmosphere that sets it apart from the others, some dungeons are spacious vistas of nature like the forest temple, some are ancient locations with cultural impact like the Arbiter’s Grounds and City in the Sky, and then there’s Snowpeak Ruins which is a fancy and sprawling mansion. I also love them all from a game design perspective, they serve a great balance of the simplicity of The Wind Waker’s dungeons and the labyrinthine design of Ocarina of Time’s dungeons. To me, these serve as the perfect level of challenge where they’re designed well enough for players to be able to figure out how the puzzles work without taking mental leaps to do so. They really are a highlight and the most fun part of the game for me, everytime I finish from a dungeon, I’d be so excited to get to the next one. Contrasting the sense of dread I get from some of the dungeons in some other Zelda games.

All of these dungeons are capped off with boss fights that I can’t describe in any word other than epic. Mechanically, they all function like regular Zelda bosses where you have to use the item you acquired in the dungeon to defeat them, but in every other way, these bosses are leagues above everything that came before. The sense of scale has been upped significantly, these bosses are big and they do a great job of making you feel like the most badass guy in Hyrule. I talked earlier about how Twilight Princess feels like a blockbuster movie with its set pieces, these bosses are what come to mind. Something really great is that each boss has their own distinct theme this time. Actually there are some really cool musical moments that happen with the bosses, mainly the triumphant tune that comes in as you get the upper hand on these bosses just fills you with so much adrenaline. Highlights for me are: Morpheel, Stallord, Blizzeta, Argarok, Zant, and of course Ganondorf.

Everything in Twilight Princess culminates in the climactic final part. Arguably the best final section of any Zelda game (only to be contested recently by Tears of the Kingdom). Only to be topped off by the best final boss fight of the series thus far, again only to be contested by Tears of the Kingdom. Ganondorf might only have 3.5 minutes of screen time but he makes them count! Fantastic final boss in every way and a fantastic ending to go along with it. I will never forget the first time I finished this game and how much I was in awe over this ending sequence. Top 3 favorite endings in the series by far.

Twilight Princess is not a perfect Zelda game but it sure comes close. It has every element that I look for in a Zelda game. I said earlier in the review that I will get into what I look for when I play Zelda games. What’s most important in a Zelda game for me is atmosphere, story, characters, music, dungeons, and bosses. Moving forward, I will be focusing on these 6 elements with each Zelda game I review as these categories are what’s most important to me. Twilight Princess excels in all of these categories which solidifies it as an S-Tier game for me and one of my favorite games in the series. I freaking love this game and I’m obsessed with it. I wasn’t planning on writing this much but I really love Twilight Princess so much that I just can’t stop talking about it.