Well... It's free, so your expectations should be very, very low (then again, so was P.T. and it's still considered a masterpiece, so yeah...). It's a really short walking simulator that tackles some very important and deep topics, has a very heavy and dark atmosphere, and a story that you need to put together yourself by collecting notes and articles. There's nothing original or unique here, to be honest, and I wouldn't even call it really scary. It's disturbing, sure, but there are no jumpscares, and the chase sequences are more annoying than frightening. Graphics were OK, I guess, but I experienced quite a few serious frame rate issues, especially during cutscenes. The DualSense support is quite nice, though.

The artistic value of this one is undeniable. This is one of the most unique games I’ve ever played, and it’s incredible how much work and love the developers put into all the handcrafted assets, with all the characters, props and sets genuinely sculpted and painted. Seriously, they have my deepest respect. But is it fun playing it?

Well… I definitely wouldn’t call this the revival of LucasArts-like adventure games, no matter how much charm it has. It’s more like a really long, interactive stop-motion movie, with only some minimal gameplay elements, like “go there, talk to this person, then come back here”, stuff like that, so expect lots and lots of running around and, of course, even more talking. There aren’t even any puzzles to solve, someone always points you in the right direction. The story is interesting, though, and so are all the eccentric characters the protagonist meets during his journey of self-discovery. Even though there are some really funny moments, I wouldn’t call this a comedy… Let’s go with dramedy, I’d say, with a heavier emphasis on drama.

Harold has quite a lot of psychological issues he has to work through, like how he feels detached from society, his inferiority complex, his recent break-up, and that, in general, he can’t find his place and purpose anywhere. He’s not just physically trapped in a spaceship, but also metaphorically, and thus, a kind of melancholic, bittersweet, sometimes even depressing mood hangs over the plot all the time. The underwater setting and the strange atmosphere reminded me of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, if you’re familiar with it, you can expect something like that with a bit less humour.

Anyway, if you don’t mind that you get hardly any gameplay beyond running around, and watching many, many lengthy cutscenes, give this one a try. As I mentioned, it’s a delight to look at it, no question about that.

This one is definitely a must-buy for all PS5 owners, even if you're not a fan of these friendly neighborhood heroes. Beautiful graphics, great voice acting, smooth gameplay, a huge map with lots of activities, and, most importantly, one of the best Spidey stories I've seen in years, maybe even decades, including all comic books and movies. The switch from one to two protagonists was also very well executed, both Peter and Miles have their own arcs, movesets and skills.

Why not five stars then? Well, to be honest, my expectations for this sequel were high - maybe too high, and, unfortunately, they weren't met. The whole thing felt really short, shorter than the first game, even with all the different side quests and collectibles. I don't know about you, but I would have gladly settled for less minigames or a smaller map in exchange for a few more hours of content in the main story... especially in the last act which, let's face it, is a bit rushed and could have been fleshed out more.

And all those bugs... Yikes. There were quite a few, unfortunately, and not just some small glitches, but serious game-breaking ones, too. Usually it was enough if I just reloaded the latest checkpoint, but there was also one time when the whole game crashed and closed. I'm sure most of these will be patched out eventually, but I'm reviewing the day 1 version here... In such a huge open-world adventure encountering a few bugs here and there is fine, I wouldn't mind that, but I ran into too many here to simply ignore them.

Still, all in all, this a great game full of fanservice for hardcore and new fans alike, one of the best of 2023. I'm a bit sad, though, because I know it could have been so much better, an Amazing Spider-Man. Instead, it's just Spider-Man.

I think this might be the biggest disappointment of the year for me... Well, to be fair, I don't think this is a bad game - as you can see, I gave it three stars, and that, by my definition, is definitely not bad. Not good, either, though. It's a fairly generic sci-fi horror story with astonishingly beautiful graphics, great DualSense support, and with sound effects and atmosphere that are all spot on. Shame that the whole gameplay is just a recycled and weaker version of Dead Space, and with insane difficulty even on the supposedly "easiest" mode, especially because switching weapons and healing take forever, which can pose quite a challenge when facing swarms of monsters.

Also, the campaign is excruciatingly short considering the pricetag on this one, so yeah, keep that in mind before buying (I believe it can be finished in around six hours). There are also quite a few glitches here and there, and a tragically low enemy variety. Ranged weapons were fine, at least, but I could never really get the hang of the dodging mechanics in melee combat... All in all, The Callisto Protocol in its current form is nothing more than mediocre, as far as I'm concerned.

I love turn-based RPGs with a good story, and one of my all-time favorites is the absolute classic Chrono Trigger, so it came as no surprise to me that I loved this game, too. The retro pixel graphics are beautiful, the plot is great (particularly the final third), the characters are fun (although the two protagonists could have been fleshed out a bit more), and the gameplay has a lot of fun elements, especially when it comes to traversal. After a while fighting standard enemies could become a bit tedious, but the boss battles are immensely fun in my opinion. I feel like we've only scratched the surface of the lore here, so maybe in a potential sequel we could get some more details about this rich, exciting world the developers created.

A captivating sci-fi horror experience, one of the most unique and atmospheric survival adventures I've played in a long time. Mixing together anime-style characters, retro pixel graphics, and an extremely dark plot with nightmarish creatures could have easily resulted in a chaotic mess but, surprisingly, it didn't, and somehow it all works. I, for one, loved the exploration and puzzle-solving parts, but the combat not so much. Controls felt a bit clunky here and there, and the small inventory space became quite annoying towards the end. There's also some replay value with the various endings and difficulty settings, so I might give it another go as I still don't really understand everything that happened...

So far, I’ve played three Tales games – Symphonia, Vesperia and Arise –, and I loved all of them. Unfortunately, compared to them, Zestiria, for me, was quite a letdown – but don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s a bad game, just not as strong as the other titles I’ve mentioned.

The scenery is beautiful (even if some locations feel a little empty here and there, I think making them just a bit smaller would have helped), and the character design and animations, and especially the anime cutscenes, are great, as always. I really loved the music, too, I believe the soundtrack is the strongest aspect of this installment. As for the battle system, if you ever played a Tales game before, you’ll get used to it pretty fast, it’s not too difficult at all. However, I, for one, wasn’t a fan of the skills and fusion system, I found them needlessly overcomplicated, but maybe that’s just me.

A much bigger problem I had was how bland and monotonous the story felt at times. For me, the twists were way too easy to figure out very early on (perhaps I watch too much anime…), and so the plot quickly became predictable. I couldn’t relate with any of the characters, either (apologies to all the fans, but I must say I simply hated the protagonist…), and there was only one party member who was fun to have around. Also, it would have been nice to add more variety to the dungeons (some are the same caves or stone corridors, just with different colors…) and maybe more post-game content (there are some collectibles, optional bosses, but only a few sidequests, and don’t expect any minigames, at least I didn’t find any).

So, yeah, all in all, this one’s a fine JRPG. Not great, not excellent, just fine, and as far as I’m concerned, finishing it once was enough.