Feeling pretty conflicted on this since The Rising Tide was positioned as the more significant DLC package of the two in the season pass, but it ends up being more like two Echoes of the Fallens in a trenchcoat.

This DLC has almost exactly the same structure as its predecessor down to the same number of major bosses (I don't count the Egi since it's recurring and is more a glorified ability tutorial) but stretched out to maybe twice the runtime. It also includes a handful of new sidequests that really do nothing but pad out its length and unlock features you already have in the main game. Gameplay-wise the new options are a good enough time, but everything else around it I found pretty uninspired, aside from the yet again best-in-class difficult boss fights. Other than that... Tonberries were cool, I guess? I was also somewhat disappointed that the proportion of interesting gameplay-altering accessories seemed lesser than Echoes.

While the story here is a little better and more pertinent to the main plotline than its predecessor, I still found it mostly pretty uninteresting give or take a couple small high points, and the ending really feels like they ran out of budget or time as the characters basically turn to the camera and say "this is why we're not doing this obvious thing" and then you randomly get granted a new ability that feels meant for when you would have possibly done that thing. I dunno!

Just... Man. I really do wish I liked it more. My heart says go lower but at worst its about at the same level as Echoes so... There it is.

I'm left mixed on this one. It has some cool concepts and aesthetics, finally some interesting accessories, more much needed party banter, and is host to a couple of the better (maybe even best?) boss fights in the game, but everything inbetween is pretty tepid and forgettable. This DLC screams "bonus" rather than another proper paid chunk of FFXVI. The story is conceptually cool, but it feels so far removed from the rest of the game and bereft of any stakes I may as well have forgotten it immediately after playing.

Wildly exceeded my expectations, especially for a game that's been in development this long.
The gameplay is absolutely stellar, and the exciting story missions and excellent presentation raise the spectacle and strongly elevate this to a fantastic worthwhile action RPG. I loved the large selection of characters, each with unique traits and playstyles to change things up just when things start feeling a little stale. The story in itself is kinda average, it feels like it's missing a mission or two in the middle, characters get a bit overly-verbose explaining things near to the end, and... that's about the worst I can say about it, honestly!
I can see the meaty postgame keeping me coming back for a long time to come, and I sincerely hope they keep the game well-updated. Perhaps even do a "Rising"-adjacent version on top of that. I'll play as much as they put out for this game.

A faithful remake that's tweaked and added to just enough to make it feel fresh, snappy, modern, and approachable. I loved the improved Tartarus a lot, and it made struggling up its many blocks much more captivating in the moment to moment. Heck, the stellar new dub that covers much more of the game elevates the already great story and makes this version worth a look on its own.

The vibes are a bit different in a couple areas (mostly at the beginning and end) and your mileage may vary when it comes to those changes; I personally enjoyed them as a different take on familiar scenes. The rebalancing is also mostly a positive I feel, but it tends to lean a bit on the easy side, so I would recommend starting on a harder difficulty especially for veterans of the series.

I think they could have even been a bit more liberal with the tweaks even, maybe remix/rewrite/punch-up some of the weaker social links, perhaps alleviate the later months where they won't let you do a whole lot with more new events or more opportunities to do things. These aren't huge make-or-break things though, I respect that they wanted to go mostly as faithful as possible.

Good game, my new favorite version of Persona 3, and the one I would recommend to most people.

These are definitely the best one(s) of the DLC bunch, and really the only ones I feel are worth playing. They're still a bit short (Yakou's especially feels like something they just threw in as an extra to tie up his story better) and they're both short story visual novel segments with zero mystery or traditional gameplay, but the stories they chose to tell are actually quite good and build on their titular characters, honestly better than some parts of the main story. Solid note to end their season pass on.

I've inflated my score a tad, but all-in-all I think this DLC cycle kinda dinged my already middling/high-middling opinion on the game. Still, I think there's a solid enough foundation here and I hope that now with everything released they can move on and eventually build upon Rain Code with something much more ambitious and interesting.

It's... aggressively fine? Maybe a little under that? To the game's credit, I like that it's a little more involved and interesting than the pretty bland but also "fine" original game, and some of the subject matter they chose to touch does give it some flavor. But I find it difficult to muster any thoughts of substance about it because, well... it's just kinda boring. It's not aggressively bad, it's definitely not good, it just. Exists.

Really the thing that stands out most is that this game is SLOW. Dialogue drags, and most cutscenes have these awkward pauses that accentuate their mostly bland direction. If they tightened it up into a snappy, breezy experience I think that would have gone a long way, but over the course of the game that was definitely the thing that wore me down.

Just... man. I think the concept is great, so it bums me out to see it simply exist at best and kinda fumble (the movie sequel) at worst. Even the cute little short they released with Tim having a little bit of friction with Pikachu over stolen dessert is more interesting than a lot of what they do with it in these games... I dunno.

Yet another good game! Definitely enjoyed it a lot more having experienced Halo 1 and 2 now and I think it's about as solid as the others, but probably my least favorite of the original trilogy personally.

The biggest thing is that it just feels like a long finale for Halo 2, which isn't inherently bad, but it's not the best as a story on its own merit. Setpieces are constantly kicking in and things are always moving which has its own appeal, but it made me miss some of the slower moments and solid pacing of the originals. The gameplay is the best it's ever been at this point, but I felt it traded off for somewhat lacking enemy design and less balanced harder difficulties. I also really enjoyed that your AI companions have a lot more fun things to say and are generally more competent, and the shift back to more Halo 1-adjacent open levels was appreciated, even if there is still a bit of backtracking and design reuse.

And of course, the multiplayer is forever great. Wonderful memories doing custom games with buddies.

As with Frontiers proper, this makes me more excited for what Sonic Team does next instead of what I just played, just exacerbated to extremes. There are glimmers of promise here, I think the playable characters are solid or will be with a bit of tweaking, a lot of the levels are some of the best stuff in the game and magnify what's great about it, the revamped final boss is great, and some of the challenges are quite welcome compared to the main game. Then you have the tower climbs that don't respawn pieces for progression, awkward little "puzzles" and strange use of mechanics that don't feel particularly well-thought out or fun, 300% speed enemies, the awkward boss rush, I could go on... It's hard to know how to feel when I have whiplash from how often I went from "This is cool!" straight into "Oh, this is roooough...". Glad it was free at least.

Great game. The weapon variety, vehicles, and moment to moment combat in general are an enormous improvement from Combat Evolved, there is significantly less backtracking, and the story was a lot more enjoyable for me. I didn't expect how Arbiter focused it ended up being and I really quite enjoyed how they put his story into perspective with Chief's.

On the flipside, the level and encounter design is mostly "just okay" with a couple standout areas, ending with 4 chapters that drag quite a bit and a fairly sudden and "eh" cliffhanger. But a really impressive sequel overall, you can absolutely see why this one was influential as well going back.

And the Anniversary updates were also improved! The art direction is kept much more intact in the updated version, and the new terminals actually give info that's interesting in the moment rather than talking lore and teasing sequels at you. I think either version of this one is worth experiencing!

The start is a bit rocky as it doesn't ease you back into the story whatsoever and the first area is probably among the weakest in the game at large, but once things get going this is the perfect reminder of why the RE4 remake is so excellent, all in one neat snappy little package. The original Separate Ways just kinda exists in a mildly positive manner compared to its base game in my brain, so the fact that the remake's spin on it is nearly as incredible as the 2023 version is a huge achievement in itself. Not to mention it offers some of the best value you can get for a DLC that I've seen in a hot minute; it basically adds a whole quarter onto the game. Loved it, absolute condensed perfection.

To be blunt, I never had a whole lot of interest in coming back to Halo 1, but having decided to do so anyways, it holds up surprisingly well! I had a good time with it, you can really see why it was influential. It does start running out of steam after the big flood reveal, but everything that leads up to that and the excellent final setpiece do a lot to make up for it.

I actually think the anniversary visuals are a fun novelty, but obviously the original version is absolutely the way to play. The terminals however feel like a weak afterthought, and do nothing but muddy up a solid story. They might be worth experiencing just to say you did, hell maybe they sparked something for hardcore fans, but I'd say save them for a second playthrough if at all.