Although this game tries pretty hard to be a tight RPG with an interesting skill based system it fails at establishing a punishment for those who abuse certain mechanics, which probably everyone had fun with. And while there's nothing wrong with a broken game it kinda defines Dark Messiah in the "kicking" game that it kind of is, there's more to it but kicking is just way too strong. The story is also somewhat unbearable at times, the two women who fall for you are completely obsessed in many non subtle ways and it kind of builds up something that doesn't exist. Overall though it's pretty tongue in cheek and cheesy so I guess it gets a pass. It's still very fun so I'd recommend it but don't expect anything too deep

This game is everything I ever wanted from this series. Movement is sublime here, the complete opposite of Super, and considering you do a lot of running around from place to place you'll really appreciate how smooth it is.

Combat is greatly approved from its predecessors with the parry returning from Samus Returns and little QoL things like making missiles upgrade to super missiles rather than their own weapon type. The real reason why combat is improved is in level/enemy/boss design. This game is happy to deal shitloads of damage to Samus and facetanking is not a good option unlike previous games. Using your fantastic movement to avoid damage while looking for parry opportunities to regain tons of health/ammo is how you'll succeed and it feels so dang good.

The E.M.M.I stuff is cool too. I really do like how the encounters are designed to make you sprint through areas so then you can explore further after you take them out. The high risk/high reward stuff with parrying an E.M.M.I is cool too where it's satisfying to do so due to its difficulty but the difficulty is also a deterrent from getting caught in the first place.

So yeah game's cool. I'm happy with it. Remake Super with this engine and these controls and I'll be a happy camper.