The fact that a port, sequel, remaster, or remake does not exist is a terrible tragedy.

I love the narrative structure of the story. Centering around Alexandra Roivas in her grandfather's puzzle-filled, Metroidvania-style mansion, you gradually unlock new parts of the building and new chapters to play.

There's only 4-5 settings, but multiple revisits with different protagonists. They cleverly wrap around eachother throughout time, even encountering previous characters. The puzzle-solving works in tandem with your spellcraft a lot of the time, doubling up as tutorial. Discovering new spells is almost always useful and sequence-breaking to find more early is immensely satisfying.

Of course what everyone remembers is the sanity meter. It's such a brilliant idea that I wish had freer copyright limitations so I could see it implemented in new titles. The hallucinations, feints, and red herrings you and your hero encounter are always entertaining and baffling. My favorite is when a fly starts crawling across your HUD.

There are some shortcomings. The hacking combat and simplistic shooting wears a little thin. I also hate that they added a mechanic where your character runs out of breath after jogging for a while. The fatter characters run out nearly immediately and it really taxes the patience.

Fantastic voice-acting, sound design, and writing. It's not afraid to take bold twists and seep crawling, ancient, arcane fear into your psyche. It's not perfect, but I do love it.

Ever been interested in the Persona series? Start with this one!

As a big fan of Persona 3, Reload was the game I was looking forward to the most in 2024 alongside Infinite Wealth, so I did the same as with IW and held off on watching trailers past the announcement one entirely to experience the changes for myself. When the release date came closer, I began to see more and more doomposting for Reload and even considered holding off on buying it because of how negatively this game was treated by others. I'm glad that didn't get to me in the end and I could form my own opinion of the remake of one of my favorite games.

First off, the presentation in Reload is amazing right off the bat, ranging from the upgraded artstyle to the dynamic menus and improved character models, it's just so very pleasant to look at. This also includes animations - the Ultimate moves of the characters look super cool. As someone who only ever really played Portable before, the upgrade in presentation was a huge point for me. Sure, the updated environmental design of the overworld is great, but the cherry on top are the revamped Tartarus blocks. The floors are no longer mere reskins with the same layout, now every block has a detailed new look and a different pattern. Tartarus changes don't stop here though, like the previous top-down camera has been turned into a proper third-person one, which I believe adds to the immersion a lot, despite being so seemingly insignificant at first. Furthermore, exploration is incentivized with mini-bosses being accessible in ordinary floors now alongside the addition of lucrative floor-specific events like locked or special chests. Can't forget the revamped Golden Hands in Reload either, as they provide a large amount of XP now (like in Persona 4) instead of dropping items. A great change for everyone who hated grinding and the new Great Clock random event can boost two of your teammates' levels on a whim, so no one has to fall behind! I believe the new Tartarus has something in store for everyone, so even if you were turned off by the gameplay in the original, giving it a second look might be worth it...

Voice acting in Reload is top notch. I don't share the somewhat popular sentiment of Yukari and Aigis sounding worse than their original counterparts at all, they're probably even my favorite new castings. That being said, personally I wouldn't say there's a single bad casting within the new voice actors, I enjoyed all of their performances. Emotional scenes got me tearing up several times, I got shivers during others. Not to disregard some of the original actors, but Reload really elevated some characters for me, just with their new performances (Yuko, Chidori and Fuuka are great examples). Also love how every social link is completely voiced now, it's a huge boost in immersion. As for social links in general, I'm glad the new Link Episodes exist, they're basically mini social links for the male party members and give you some insight into their life. A great way to add some interaction with them to the game without replacing the already existing social links! The SEES hangouts during nighttime also fulfill a similar role in giving your teammates more screentime without taking up meaningful time (considering the abundance of free time at night in P3), this also includes new events like several study sessions with the team. Those activities aren't just for fun though, you gain new passive abilities for the other members or gain extra knowledge points while studying with the others, the integration is seamless.

The new soundtrack is... good! Not much to say here, I like the remixes of the original songs and the new songs are bangers. Color Your Night is one of the very best vocal tracks in the series and It's Going Down Now still stays hype after listening to it over and over. Shoutout to the new remix of Changing Seasons.

There's a whole lot more to unpack about this game, but for the time being I have said everything that was on my mind. My thoughts are still pretty hazy, despite completing Reload hours ago, but I hope you could get something useful out of my review either way. As always, thanks for reading!

One of the most beautiful and well-written games I've played in my life. Genuine tears were streaming down my face when I finished the epilogue. I haven't played many point-and-click adventure games: only the ones by Humongous Entertainment and Sam & Max, so randomly picking up this game that was super cheap during the steam sale and having it be one of the best pieces of media I've experienced in my life was an insanely pleasant surprise.

The Longest Journey, without going into too many spoilers, is a story about April Ryan, and her connection between the two worlds: Stark (the world of science and law) and Arcadia (the world of magic and chaos). Throughout the story, through April, you travel and experience the struggles of abuse, political censorship, and if war can ever truly be "just". You meet strange people, animals, and mystical creatures that help you along your journey to help reconnect the seperated worlds. Every character is so well thought-out and truly personal, it feels like you're properly meeting someone who has gone through so much in life, their skin moist with the sweat of real fears and missed dreams. Something personal to me that I really enjoyed was the crazy amount of strongly written female characters, ranging from our relatable but brave girl protag, to the realistic and openly accepted lesbian couple, to the old women whose tales we must trust more than our own self. I appreciate that the serious times of the game are allowed their moments, while also having many silly moments that know when to be separate. I went in expecting to hate Crow, as an example, but you don't see him too often for him to become annoying, and when you do see him, it feels like a breath of fresh air to hear his dumb, silly banter. The story is set up perfectly, and clearly had a lot of time and love put into it, with it being absolutely perfectly paced, and one of the better examples of using the Chekhov's Gun trope that I can think of.

My compliants are small, and just involve stuff that old point-and-clicks almost always do, such as having a couple confusing puzzles or actions to continue the story, but for a point-and-click as long and complicated as The Longest Journey I was pretty shocked how few "dead-ends" I ran into. The game also crashed a bit, but I guess it's to be expected when running an older PC game on a modern computer, and I mostly only really had issues with crashes when it didn't mix well with OBS.

The Longest Journey is $3 during the Steam sale - I've already bought and gifted it to 5 of my friends, begging them to put time aside and play this game. It's not going to be a game that touches everyone as emotionally as it touched me, but if you have $3 lying around and 25+ hours to spend, please please give it a chance...

This is the story of the Longest Journey, and I told it in my own words, as told to me by my teacher. As we will continue to tell for many, many years.

5/5

Great and creative platformer for the NES. I have no idea how I would have beaten the game without the holy water (or the "fire bomb" as the manual calls it lmfao) being super fucking broken, but I'm happy to say I beat it nonetheless! I love the variety in additional weapons you can use, and feel as though the whip has to be one of the best things I've gotten to arm myself with in a NES game yet. I would take Simon Belmont's whip over a gun any day!

I just came off of playing a bunch of NES Mario games with Castlevania, so the platforming parts were a bit annoying in comparison, but it's still a good platformer don't get me wrong! I'm just too used to how fluidly Mario can move and even change direction while in air. Come on, Simon! The stairs are overblown in being hated in this game, and I actually found them to be a last minute life-saver from the REAL enemy in the game... how Simon always gets knocked back when hit... UNLESS you're on the stairs, which just gets you some health depleted vs falling off the edge.

I actually don't know if I'm supposed to be playing as Simon Belmont in this game... I just assumed lol. His name isn't dropped in the manual anywhere, and the Nintendo Player guide book I looked at for tips just calls him the "Hero". It's probably brought up later, or I just missed a detail, oh well lol. He is my random muscle man, and I shall call him Simon.

Overall, Castlevania is a fun time, with a satisfying challenge. I probably cheesed it with depending on the holy water too much, but it was still a fairly difficult game! Bless whoever decided to allow players to continue right outside Dracula's final boss area after dying; I probably would have rage quit broke the cartridge if not for that.

3.5/5

It’s a nice bonus that the intricate and politically charged murder mystery plot is as thoroughly intriguing as it is; but for you, the protagonist of Disco Elysium, the main villain is yourself, specifically your (Ancient Reptilian) brain.
It’s an RPG in which the biggest obstacles can be just not saying the stupidest thing to a suspect, done through chance-based engagement with corners of your mind - logic, empathy, authority, volition, ‘inland empire’ (one of many Lynchian influences throughout) and many more.

Alongside the gorgeous painterly art style, the game’s key strength is its impeccable writing: the funny parts are funny, the narrator’s vivid descriptions are stirring, the characters and relationships feel incredibly real. It’s a game for people who love a really really really good book. Fuck it, Disco Elysium is literature.

Lastly, it’s just a gripping detective game in which piecing information together bares deeply satisfying results, and taking risks are, more often than not, met with rewards. A must play.

If Elden Ring was the most brutal gameplay experience I had this year, then A Plague Tale: Requiem is the most brutal story in games I have experienced this year. Requiem does exactly what a good sequel should do: improve what was iffy in its predecessor, turn the dial up to 11, and showcase just how much the developers have grown since the last entry. While it isn't perfect, A Plague Tale: Requiem is pretty damn close, and is one of the most brutal and intense experiences you can have with a game in 2022.

The story is pretty much near flawless from a narrative standpoint. We once again follow Amicia and Hugo, a brother-sister duo, as Amicia tries everything she can to save Hugo from the Macula, a disease that not only is taking Hugo's life, but the lives of millions of others around the world through diseased rats. The first game was certainly not a jolly walk through the park, but Requiem goes to even darker places than its predecessor. This makes moments of levity all the more special in this title, whether its finding flowers and feathers to collect, or sharing a more light-hearted moment to break the tension.

Characters are fantastically realized and acted. I loved everyone in the main cast, from returning to new. Every character has a great amount of depth to them. You understand why they're taking each and every action, why their emotions are heightened in certain moments, and how their relationships with each other get to the points where they do. Requiem's biggest strength is absolutely its writing. It is some of the best of this last year.

Onto the gameplay. Those who have played Innocence (which is a must before playing this game, honestly) will feel right at home in the opening hours of the game. Requiem still has a great amount of sneaking, rock-slinging combat, and rat-avoiding puzzle solving. All of that returns, but is also further expanded upon. Amicia will gain new ways to take out guards both in her inventory and with new skills.

Speaking of skills, the skill tree in this game kinda rocks. There are three different lines that you progress through: one focusing on sneaking, one focusing on aggressive combat, and one focusing on alchemy skills. So for example, the more you utilize your sneaking options, the more that skill line will go up. I absolutely love this. Instead of pouring points into a way that you WANT to play, the game allows you to showcase your own style of play and gives you more options and skills based on that. Its difficult to play just one way in particular, but its awesome that the game tracks how you like to play and gives you the skills accordingly.

Combat feels nice here, especially with Amicia's new abilities and tools. The game is at it's best when you're in these more open areas avoiding guards, seeking out every resource and hiding spot in order to find the exit without being seen. There are sections of pure combat in Requiem, but honestly, most of them fall flat for me. They operate fine, but the game feels super "video gamey" in these moments, as you usually fight two guards at a time, wait for two more to spawn, rinse and repeat until the game decides its over. The combat itself still does feel nice though, and these sections can be a bit intense to get through.

Let me also take a second to say that this game looks absolutely incredible. I had hardly any visual glitches at all, though I did occasionally have some framerate dips. These weren't horrible though, probably just went from 60 to 45 in a couple of cutscenes. During gameplay, unless there was a huge amount of human NPCs on screen, there was never any frame drops. This game is an absolute graphical powerhouse though, with so many jaw-dropping scenes and scenery that you won't forget.

My only big complaint here is that the game tries to utilize quicktime events for some of its more action heavy scenes. I didn't hate them perse, but there are several big moments in the story that I feel would've been fine as either a regular fight or as just a cutscene. In an age where quicktime events aren't really seen much anymore, it was surprising to see them used a decent amount here.

Despite my complaints with some of the combat sections and quicktime events, A Plague Tale: Requiem is an absolutely perfect sequel that sent me through a flurry of emotions from beginning to end. Its direction and storytelling is top notch, the characters were all fantastically written, the gameplay is a further improvement on Innocence, and it takes everything up to a higher level of quality. With this being free on GamePass, you have no reason to not delve into this great duology of games.

If the impressionistic eroticism of Ocarina of Time meets a conclusion upon which desire is stabilized to a point of no foreseeable fluctuations, then where can Nintendo continue or branch off to create a sequel? The answer lies with the non-eponymous protagonist Link, whose selfless regard for others epitomizes the orgasm's loss of self, its incidental death, and who becomes the central force upon which a land separate from Hyrule can survive when it lacks any such eroticism found in Ocarina of Time. Majora's Mask represents the existential crisis upon which the quotidian life, bound by the masks of subsistence which characterize the individuals wearing them, crumbles under expected annihilation with an explicit danger represented by an approaching malevolent moon. There is little want; there is little hope. Sustenance and subsistence breach with decreasing worth the living each following day of the three Link journeys until the cycle must repeat by his playing of the Ocarina of Time. Link's journey to Termina is "in search of a beloved and invaluable friend," and while its likely subject is Navi, the ambiguity leaves Link's want, distanced from a want for Zelda in the previous game, as a implicit motive to his deeds throughout the game beyond the survival instinct. His involvement prompted by the Skull Kid is no less fatalistic than any of Link's prior or future adventures, but the ties of past friendship—however negligible they may seem—instigate the nonlinear trajectory distinct among any other game in the series. This point is important because it cements the collective ties Link can (and should, if the player satisfies what amounts to a 100% playthrough of the game) build as he solves Termina's dilemma.

Returning to the game's rejection of the erotic, for the dismal prospects of life in this world cannot sustain the necessary requirements of want where it has little importance, Link's purpose in returning Majora's Mask to the Mask Collector, saving the Skull Kid, reverting the four outer areas to their natural states, awakening the Four Giants so they can be called upon, and assisting those who continue to live until their possible demise, marks a similar function as in Ocarina of Time where the perversion of the natural, the status quo, must be thwarted, yet, unlike Ocarina of Time, this is the not the fault of male dominance but the dissolution of social bonds which in turn see the likewise dissolution of the eroticism between bodies no longer capable of desire. No compatibility can maintain itself when collapse lingers before souls lost in purpose, lost in physical or emotional stagnation, lost in histories of regret. Glimmers of possibility and progress remain, but it is Link who makes them tenable. An unlikely wedding in what few minutes remain, a reunion between father and his dead son, voices found and eggs incubated, environments protected, a friend satisfied that he is still remembered by those who may have forgotten him, and the cohabitation of the dead through masks for the purpose of the living—only a few of the many deeds Link accomplishes—integrate into Nintendo's unique three days cycle as the wonderful highs of a game drenched in sorrow and depression. Expectations are refuted time and time again by Link, no matter how many cycles he must repeat, so that another day beyond this cycle can return Termina and its citizens to its prior state of existence.

The eroticism of Hyrule cannot be maintained in a Termina plagued by external crisis. The incomplete phallic tower of Clock Town is perhaps a representation of flaccid to erect in a form similar to the disruption of the Master Sword within the vaginal Triforce in Ocarina of Time; however, Link is the sole source of these comparisons since the player cannot remain in Termina once it is saved except through an end credits epilogue. It is the distinction in which eroticism can return which makes Majora's Mask a fantastic and, in many ways, a superior mirror to Ocarina of Time. The archetypal structure is only maintained insofar as the expectations of what Link must do; Termina is left to its own fate, its own disparate futures, unconnected to Hyrule. From nonexistence to possible revivification, eroticism becomes not the subject but the goal in which Link's actions and self(lessness) can flourish in land renewed with life.

Gears 5 is the best looking, best playing, most compelling game with the best story in the series to date.

Growing up, I was an Xbox gamer. Sure I had a DS and my family had a Wii because so did everyone, but the majority of my gaming time was spent on Xbox. Naturally because of this I ended up playing a good amount of the Gears series. Despite that, I actually never beat a single one of them. Eventually I moved on to Playstation and hadn't looked back since. That was, until this year. Seeing the great value of gamepass and how the future of exclusives was really starting to look up (barring the Redfall setback), I decided it was finally time to return to my gaming roots. As much as I was excited to be able to play things like Hi Fi Rush or Starfield, honestly one of the biggest incentives to get one was to play a series I had always liked but never given the treatment it deserved.

And that brings us here, now. A few days past a month of owning an Xbox, and I have played through all 5 numbered entries and Judgement. The original trilogy is not without its flaws but were all a very fun time, with 3 feeling like a fitting conclusion. Of course its a mega popular series though, so obviously things weren't gonna end there. First was Judgement which, well, its not very good. Its not bad either, I liked it. But... the gameplay changes are very clearly a step down from the trilogy and the story wasn't particularly interesting at all. As a spinoff being developed with a different studio, it was understandable that it was significantly weaker than the main games. The new control scheme meant to be more like Call of Duty didn't help.

But then there was 4. Looking amazing, feeling great to play, absolutely awesome set-pieces. But wow. As a setup for the future of the series, it does a piss poor job. The story feels both padded and incomplete. There's a long stretch in the middle that feels entirely designed to make the game longer, but my jaw dropped when the credits rolled because it felt like half a game worth of plot. It introduces three new main characters in JD, Kait and Del but does barely anything with JD and Del is literally a nothing burger of a character. Combined with how the new characters in 3 and Judgement are treated (Jace, the most useless man to ever exist?), the series seemed to have a serious issue with providing anything interesting for the characters beyond the core 4 (That being Marcus, Dom, Baird and Cole). I still enjoyed 4 but it was hard to feel anything but disappointed coming off from the end.

Now its finally time to talk about the actual one that I'm reviewing! Gears 5 fixed just about every issue I had with the series. JD's character is genuinely interesting, Del turned from a complete nobody to such a bro that he's top 3 characters in the series for me. They finally start to treat their female characters with a little more respect by not killing them offscreen or doing nothing with them by putting Kait front in center as the new protagonist. They finally make the gameplay more interesting by having two big areas with optional objectives, as well as upgrades you can work for. The open areas are really great, and even if the side locations aren't anything amazing what they do do is give great room for character development and by the end of the game I really liked and cared for the whole cast, something that hadn't happened for me since 2. Another thing I really liked was the game letting you make a story effecting choice near the end. It doesn't really effect things much for now as obviously by that point the game is almost over, but assuming Gears 6 doesn't discard this altogether - it really makes me even more excited to see how the series continues to evolve with more choice and options.

All this is to say is that Gears 5 is by far the best in the series, and after Judgement and 4 I'm very happy that my binge has ended on a high note. This year is absolutely stacked so I need to focus on other things for now, but I do look forward to trying out Tactics in the future. Gears 6 can take all the time it needs, but I'm more excited for it than just about any other Xbox property. Not to mention finally being able to play a multiplayer mode that isnt completely dead <3

Also, couldn't figure out where to fit his in my review but even though all games in the series have plenty of funny moments, this made me laugh out loud several times without betraying the darker tone and I really appreciated that.

Nancymeter - 90/100
Achievement Completion - 8% (20/181 - ffs lol)
Time Played - 12-13 hours
Completion #29 of August
Completion #161 of 2023