When I started this, I was in the mood for some light-hearted, fun adventure, but what I got instead was something much, much deeper with very serious, even dark themes, and a tearjerker, coming-of-age plot – and I don’t mind it one bit. The 2D, pixel-art graphics reminded me of all the old point ‘n’ click games I played as a kid, so the nostalgia factor was definitely strong here, that’s already a huge plus for me. The characters were fun, the puzzles were OK (not that crazy difficult for adventure veterans, though), but the QTE battles felt a bit out of place, at least as far as I’m concerned. There are even a few optional objectives, and all in all, you can spend around 10 hours, maybe more, with the whole thing, which is quite a long playtime for this genre if you ask me. But not too long – just the right amount. Oh, and I got really interested in Indonesian cuisine now, thanks to all the tasty food they talk about! :D

Due to depictions of anxiety, depression, and suicide, I can’t recommend this to everyone, but if you’re old enough and OK with such content, give it a try (of course, don’t expect anything very realistic or gory). And be sure to have a few tissues at hand!

This was a pleasant surprise for me, I really enjoyed it, even though it’s really, really dark with an extremely heavy atmosphere. Let me warn you, it’s quite gory and grim, with depictions of suicide and extreme violence, so don’t let the cute children mislead you, this is recommended only for mature gamers!

The graphics are amazing, no complaints there, and the sound effects and music were great, too, especially those beautiful songs we can hear occasionally. As for the plot, it’s nothing special, we’ve seen it a few times (two siblings against the horrors of the world, if you played games like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Röki or A Plague Tale, you kind of know what to expect), but the Nordic folklore behind it is very interesting, at least it was for me. Unfortunately, I found the controls a bit clunky, I even experienced some small input lags here and there, and the camera angles are downright terrible in some cases. Sometimes I simply couldn’t see where I was supposed to go, and I walked into certain death…

All in all, a short but powerful and memorable title, that doesn’t do anything unique and new, but it’s still enjoyable if you like creepy action-adventures with a few puzzles thrown in. Give it a try.

We’re getting more and more remakes/remasters each year, and while some of them introduce more drastic changes compared to the originals, like Resident Evil 2 or Final Fantasy VII Remake, others follow the source material much more faithfully, like Dead Space. Persona 3 Reload falls into this latter category.

The most prominent change is, obviously, the graphics: the environments, the characters, the battles – everything looks beautiful (well, as beautiful as an anime-styled JRPG can get), and I especially loved the anime cutscenes (luckily, there are quite a few this time). The gameplay was also tweaked a bit here and there, but don’t expect anything huge, of course: the turn-based battle system is the same as it always has been in the franchise, focusing mainly on enemy weaknesses and teamwork. The Theurgy skills are a nice touch, though, they’re all quite spectacular. As for the social part, we get a few new scenes with some characters, but otherwise, the only real difference here is that almost every important scene is fully voiced now.

Moving on to the story: no surprises there if you played the original game, the plot and the dialogues are almost exactly the same, often word by word. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this is a problem, but… Well, I know I’m not going to be popular with this opinion, but I never really liked the ending of P3 (OK, OK, let’s not sugarcoat this, I hate it), so maybe they could have added at least an alternative route that you can somehow reach…? Without going into spoilers, expect a few tragic twists and a downright depressing atmosphere in the last act, with topics revolving mostly around the inevitability of death.

Another thing that was a bit disappointing for me was Tartarus, the place where you’ll spend most of your time. This seemingly never-ending tower is still as monotonous as I remembered it, at least that’s how it felt to me. The same corridors over and over, sometimes with new colors and a bit different layout as we’re moving up… Sure, occasionally we get a Monad Door with some optional mini-bosses, or a rare enemy, but still, reaching the top felt like an eternity. Was there really no way to shake things up a bit more here?

Nevertheless, the fun characters, the superb soundtrack, and all the activities you can do to improve your social stats and links, not to mention collecting/fusing all the Personas, were all still great. Even though we don’t get to play as a female protagonist, like we did in Persona 3 Portable, I’d still say this is the best version of this title yet. If you’ve never played any of the older iterations, then you’re in for a real treat – and if you have, then you can relive this bittersweet adventure, and maybe do things a bit differently this time around.

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.

I finally got around to playing this one, just in time before the remake is released, and boy, this was an incredibly short but extremely powerful emotional rollercoaster. It started out as a fairy tale with even some cheerful moments and funny characters - and then turned into a gory, heartbreaking and downright cruel dark fantasy. I was actually surprised how fast they changed the tone, and went from 'PG-13' to 'R' in a matter of minutes basically (and now I know where they got the inspiration from for A Plague Tale).

The two protagonists were great, and so was the whole world and atmosphere, and I liked the unique control system, although it definitely took some time to get used to it. Graphics and music were also amazing, but I ran into two game-breaking bugs, unfortunately. Reloading the last checkpoints solved those issues, though. Maybe they could add some properly voiced dialogues and a few more hours of playtime in the remake.

A better than average choice-based narrative game where most of your choices really matter, all your actions have consequences, sometimes quite long-lasting ones. The story was good, even if not that super original, and the characters were all very real, with complex personalities and problems. Nothing is black and white here, everyone in the cast has their own motives why they do what they do.

The gameplay is not that different from other titles of this same genre, but I liked how there is a sort of multiplayer option, too. The only thing I personally couldn't get used to was the art style, how the 2D characters are never fully animated in the 3D environments. It was like watching a strange slideshow or reading a comic book with audio... I mean, I like visual novels, but either go full VN, or don't, at least that's how I feel. Still, at least it was unique, I admit.

This one took quite some time for me to get through, which is strange, because I usually finish visual novels much faster than this. I felt that, out of the three main games I’ve played in the series so far (ChäoS;HEAd, Steins;Gate, Robotics;Notes), this third one was the weakest – and this does not mean I didn’t like it! However, I must admit there were some parts where I was a bit bored, and then I shelved the game for a few days or weeks before getting back to it.

The story starts slow, which is fine, that’s how it is in Science Adventure titles, but I think it might be too slow at the beginning… We have to wait quite a lot before it picks up, till about the last third of the plot – but oh boy, it picks up like crazy when you reach that point! I probably would have changed the pacing a little, put some more exciting, action-packed scenes in the first half between the many lengthy, detailed discussions regarding how to build robots. The anime cutscenes were cool, though, and I, for one, liked the 3D character models, as well. The cast was OK, in my opinion (especially Frau, easily the funniest character in the franchise so far, if you ask me), and we even got a few QTE-like gameplay elements just to shake things up a bit. Oh, and I was pleasantly surprised how often they referenced events from the previous entries – as a matter of fact, one of the important side characters is someone we first met in one of them, so this is starting to feel more and more like a universe rather than stand-alone games.

So yeah, all in all I wasn’t disappointed. Maybe just bear in mind that, compared to the gory, much darker ChäoS;HEAd and the tighter, faster paced Steins;Gate, this one is definitely a lighter story (but it still has lots of drama and deep, serious topics, don’t get me wrong). Give it a try if you’re a fan of the series or VNs in general.

Such a shame... I was really interested in this one. I was expecting something similar to Stray or Kena: Bridge of Spirits, but I was sorely disappointed.

Graphics and music were OK, I guess, and I liked the atmosphere and the lore of the world. Controls were abysmal, though. The poor little fox got stuck more often than I could count, and I sometimes experienced some serious input delays, too. And let me tell you, making precise jumps is like a game of roulette: very rarely you can get lucky and land where you wanted to, but most of the time you end up somewhere else. Also, I didn't get why some levels were so huge as they are mostly empty... Sometimes I was just running around for minutes in empty landscapes (especially in the last chapter).

I can't recommend this to anyone, unless you're really, really bored.

I haven't played the previous entries, but after finishing this one I might give them a try if I have the chance to do so. It's a fun action-adventure game, and quite story-oriented, which was a pleasant surprise for me (don't expect a complex plot full of twists, of course, but still, it's nice). The ghosts are really funny but not that difficult to defeat - however, some of the bosses were quite challenging for me, especially the last two. I have to mention, though, that most of the time it felt like I was fighting the controls not the enemies... Aiming vertically is a nightmare, believe me, especially if you only have a few seconds for it.

The puzzles are clever, they're not too annoying, in my opinion, and I liked the different floors, even if some of them were quite short. There are also collectibles, achievements, co-op and multiplayer modes, so yeah, good stuff, fun for the whole family. If we get a sequel, they need to do something about those controls, though.

I really, really wanted to love this game, and at first, everything was going well, at least for a few hours. The graphics are very unique and stunning, I loved the art style, and even the gameplay was fun and easy to master. The whole atmosphere and the lore are amazing in my opinion, they reminded me of games like Horizon, Outer Wilds, Journey and even Death Stranding a bit. The protagonist and in general the characters of the world were quite interesting, too. There's a surprisingly huge amount of quests you can finish, secrets and optional tasks scattered everywhere on the map, lots of collectibles and customization options, so if you want to do everything, you won't get bored for a while. The fact that Sable sticks to walls like Spider-Man is a nice gimmick, but unfortunately it can get a bit annoying in tight, closed spaces when she starts climbing even if you don't want her to. Anyway, that's not the main problem here...

I don't know about other platforms, but the PS5 version is riddled with performance issues and bugs. When I reached the actual open world part of the game, I started encountering serious lagging, sudden frame rate drops, controller input delays, Sable getting locked while doing something, and even some game-breaking glitches which forced me to restart the whole thing. Fishing is probably the most bugged of all, sometimes Sable won't do anything when you start this minigame. I can't even tell you how many times I had to save, quit and load again during the last few hours of my gameplay...

I simply can't ignore so many issues, no matter how much I loved everything else. Maybe play it on another platform for a better experience and avoid this on the PS5, that's all I can recommend.

We had some really great DLCs last year, like Burning Shores for Horizon: Forbidden West, or the absolutely fantastic Phantom Liberty for Cyberpunk 2077, just to name a few. I was really looking forward to this one, as well, as Arise is one of my favorite Tales titles, and all in all, I wasn't disappointed in it. I wasn't super impressed with it (maybe I shouldn't have played it right after the amazing Future Redeemed for Xenoblade Chronicles 3, because I kept comparing the two in my mind...), either, but I think it's a decent add-on, definitely one of the better ones.

It was nice to meet the gang again, I think the cast of heroes is just as strong as in the main game, but it would have been great to see more new main characters, not just one. The story was OK, I guess, but it really lacked a true villain, in my opinion. More new locations would have been nice, too, and, as far as I'm concerned, I would have gladly settled for less boring side-quests in exchange for a few more hours of content in the main story...

Still, the graphics are still beautiful, the lore is interesting, the gameplay is fun, and there's quite a lot of content here with collectibles, optional bosses and so on, so yeah, if you liked the main game, there's no reason not to try this one.

This is probably the most pleasant surprise of the year for me. I love mystery detective adventures like this one, and I also enjoyed the hell out of the Danganronpa series – and yes, this is, by all means, a Danganronpa game through and through, even if it has a different title.

Unnecessarily complex, convoluted murder cases? Check.
Crazy, over the top characters? Check.
A thrilling, super exciting plot full of mysteries and plot twists? Check.
Amnesiac protagonist? Check.
Pink blood? Check.

By the way, I loved how they made this into a full 3D adventure game instead of a visual novel, with side-quests, collectibles and lots of exploration, and how the investigation minigames were implemented in the Persona-inspired second halves of each chapter. Maybe some more forgiving QTEs would be appreciated next time, though.

And don't be fooled by the colorful, neon-filled visuals and sometimes childish humor: there are some pretty dark story elements here, especially in the last third of the game...

We also have some great voice acting and a solid score, so yeah, if you, too, love Danganronpa or crime thrillers in general, don't hesitate, give this one a try! I really, really hope we'll get a sequel, there's a huge potential for this to become a great series. (Would be nice if they released the next one on a next-gen console, though, Switch had some issues keeping up with the graphics here already...)

Oh, and there are also some short DLC substories, I played them through but they're kinda weak compared to the main game... Hardly any interactivity in them, not much to talk about.

Honestly, this has got to be the weirdest game I've ever played... I mean, I think I sort of understand the plot (after reading the Wikipedia page...), but most of the time I had no idea what was happening. Still, the visuals were really unique, for that alone I don't regret playing this. I feel like using a mouse instead of a controller would have made most of the puzzles much easier, and they aren't that challenging for veteran gamers, so... I guess it's an OK title. Not much replay value, though.

I really love mystery/detective adventures, and I'm perfectly fine with the visual novel format, as long as the story is engaging with fun, interesting characters. Unfortunately, we don't have any of those here...

I'm not familiar with this franchise, this is the only installment I've played, but it didn't convince me I should try the rest. The puzzles are quite boring, the cases are extremely easy to solve, and all the back and forths between the same locations almost drove me crazy. The first chapter was sort of OK, I guess, but I almost fell asleep during the others. And the English localization... Wow, I don't know what went wrong there, but many of the dialogues don't make sense at all, there are typos and mistranslations, even some grammar issues (and you know it's bad if even a non-native speaker notices them). The music is bland and repetitive, and I wasn't a huge fan of the strange, semi-realistic backgrounds which looked like extremely blurred photos.

But at least it's short.