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.

I had accepted that the "survivors" genre (for lack of a better descriptor; someone get on that) simply isn't for me despite having a lot there that really should appeal to my tastes, but Holocure is the first of its kind that actually sorta-kinda has hooks in me. While it still doesn't really push back as much as I'd like and some of the upgrades can still be pretty flaccid, the variety of content (especially the amount of playstyles!) here really go a long way towards making the game feel fuller. And I'm not even a huge Hololive guy, but this thing is absolutely swimming in personality compared to most games in the genre. Not to mention it's free! Definitely worth a try just for that.

Even the worst Trails game is one of the more solid modern JRPGs out there. That said, as many have said before me, this is a game of high peaks and low valleys.

Off the top of my head, I quite liked the first arc putting Juna and New Class 7 in the leadership position (even if the content itself isn't the best), I liked that this game actually does make an effort to make it feel as though there is a conflict happening around Zemuria, and most of the finale is really solid. The gameplay also remains quite fun.

I won't bore anyone with yet another series of complaints about the curse, the mechanics of the plot, or even the fanservice, but I will say I was particularly disappointed with how much this game treads the same ground structurally as Trails of Cold Steel II. More than any other title in the series I was awash for most of the game with a huge "been there done that" feel, and that made it difficult to hit those points that made it all worth it. It's also just way too long for no particular reason.

Even with my gripes, I had a solid time overall. But definitely ready and excited to move on to Reverie.

Pikmin 4 is an excellent game, and yet another solid game of the year contender in 2023. The middle third of the game or so might be the most well-balanced enjoyable Pikmin content period, and the third area of the game was one of the peaks of the series for me, really incredible stuff there. I quite loved the return to the structure of Pikmin 2. It also has maybe the best postgame content of any of these? I’m definitely gonna go for the 100% here and can’t wait to play more.

Most of the new stuff is pretty great; the new creatures are neat, I liked the Dandori trials and battles, and I thought the nighttime expeditions and Glow Pikmin were a nice brief change of pace. I’m a little more mixed on Ice Pikmin since I think they tend to upset the general flow of the game at times, but they’re fine overall and lend to some cool puzzles and moments.

Auto-lock seems to be the hot button topic and I feel pretty neutral about it, it was mostly fine especially using gyro to micro-adjust throws, even if it does occasionally freak out if you happen to swing your chair or move a little too much. In general I love all of Pikmin’s rough edges so seeing them mostly gone in favor of higher quality of life gives me a tiny bit of mixed feelings, but overall it makes the game feel a lot more efficient and cuts down a lot of unnecessary babysitting and micromanaging (they really shouldnt have made it so Pikmin carrying objects can bump into each other though lol).

It is fairly overwrought, starts off slow, it’s a little on the easy side, and ends up feeling a tad bloated at times, but that’s the worst I could possibly say about the game. It really makes up for it in sheer fun, tons of heart, and an incredible reverence for the history of the series. Yet another Switch banger.

I was intrigued by the idea of four individual episodes giving the master detectives a little more screen time and interaction, perhaps with a short mystery involving their fortes but... even by my low standards, this is just not good. And for $4 it's practically criminal.

There's no real mystery here, no real gameplay, just a short linear quest with some visual novel segments and cutscenes. The whole thing is done in under an hour and really offers nothing particularly interesting or appealing outside of a couple fun lines of dialogue and a quirky "interview" sequence.

I also felt the main game did a decent enough job balancing Desuhiko's annoying traits without making him too unbearable, but he is truly in full force here with nothing to bounce off of and nobody to stop him. It's all not great (outside of the moments where he interacts with Yakou, who consistently remains one of the best parts of the game), but there is one interaction in particular during this DLC that is the absolute pits of his character.

The best thing I can say is that it retains the production values of the main game, featuring a couple fully mocapped cutscenes, and it is mostly voiced. I hope they really step it up for Fubuki's episode.

By the end of Rain Code, I thought the game was pretty solid, with a ton of spectacle, a couple neat mysteries, fun characters, visual flair for days, and the music to match. That said, it’s far from perfect. Some scattered thoughts:

Up until the last two chapters the game is heavily hindered by strange pacing. I’ve always felt that of all things, DR did a great job of lacing intrigue through its episodic chapters, but here it feels very stop and start, either nothing is happening or they’re dumping EVERYTHING on you. The game starts fine, but chapters 2 and 3 in particular also feel very separate from the plot, with 3 maybe being one of the worst cases in any of Kodaka’s games despite an interesting premise. I saw a coke can on the side of the road, the culprit just really wanted a coke!

The full timeline of the game also feels strangely quick (unless I missed something that established it otherwise) and never really gives you the opportunity to bond with the characters in a significant way (I still liked them a lot though). I also think it’s weird that they place the Gumshoe Gab segments between Yuma arriving and the first proper case, I kept thinking that might be something plot-related but it never goes any further than that. Generally there is a lot less “this character needs to have funny input on the situation” and “I am going to be shocking and/or punch down for the bit” which is an improvement, but it still feels a bit overwrought and the balance isn’t quite perfect yet.

Thankfully the aforementioned last two chapters do a lot of the heavy lifting and tie the experience together well, though they kinda have the opposite problem that they start and don’t really stop. The last chapter in particular, while enjoyable, effective, and full of crazy setpieces, just kinda talks its mystery at you rather than providing you an interesting mystery to solve.

I think it's interesting that Kodaka wants us not to think about this as connected to Danganronpa, yet it feels very beholden to being an evolution of DR, and I can’t help but feel like I might be a bit more positive if it set itself apart a bit more. I’ve thought a lot about how this game could have been really interesting as a simple action game with proper camera control and maybe even a little platforming instead of the minigame format and constantly having to fight the awful angle that Reasoning Deathmatch puts you in. Maybe in a future game? Also dear god please drop the walk and talk segments or let me fast forward all of them. A general quality of life pass would be great. PLEASE.

Overall an enjoyable experience, not without its flaws but decent as a foundation for future titles should they choose to go that route. I hope they do.

(also please let uchikoshi have even a fraction of the budget they put into this, i think this is probably the most production spike chunsoft has ever put into a title lol)

The journey gave me mixed feelings, but by the end, I looked back fondly on my adventure with Clive Rosfield . When Final Fantasy XVI is good, it’s REALLY good, with some of the best action game battles I’ve seen in a minute and story beats that hit just right. I think Clive’s arc is one of the most complete-feeling ones in the series and I enjoyed him quite a lot. Most of the cast is likable and good; I was especially surprised by Gav, who I figured would be kind of a throwaway but ended up one of my favorites of the extended crew. The cutscene direction is also a step above most of the current gaming market, with plenty of great visually interesting bits.

I can see how the battle system would get old for some, but with frequent Eikon switching and finding ways to incorporate new tech I heartily enjoyed it, though I definitely would have been happier with like 5+ more enemy types for how long the game is. I would have also liked a couple more fast travel points at the more well-traveled locations. Maybe a button to trigger the sprint in areas where you can’t use the chocobo? In a future update?

It’s a bit of a shame that it derails itself so often with main quests that are somehow so markedly worse than the side ones. It is some sort of cruelty that you are required to engage in monotony like gathering mats for engine shieldings for an hour or do some meandering adventure in every location to build the world when there are optional quests that give you extra main plot beats and wrap up characters’ whole arcs.

It really does feel like they had a handful of sidequests and didn’t know what to do with them, so they randomly sprinkled the worst ones throughout as main quests irregardless of placement, got tired of doing so, then dumped the remaining as actual sidequests throughout, with an absolutely ridiculous third (or so) of the game’s total side quests dropping literally right before you fight final boss. I won’t hold side content against them too hard, even if the quest design could use a tune-up, but the bland mandatory bits are extremely weird and it ultimately dilute what could have been a tight contender for game of the year.

I also have to make a point of just how criminally underutilized Jill is and how much I disliked how her story went, especially in the bottom third or so is just.... Yeah lmao. If any DLC happens, it really should be her own playable adventure that lets her have some sort of moment. Go sit in time-out Maehiro.

In those final moments though, I was really struck with how a lot of the imagery and visuals really gave me that feeling of playing a Final Fantasy game back in the day. A feeling I haven’t felt for a minute. That feeling of a flawed masterpiece, like many Final Fantasies of their time… just maybe a little more flawed than most.

8.5/10 (I don’t usually post sub-ratings but 8 feels too low and 9 too high so there it is for absolute clarity, please forgive me)

Desperately wanted to like this game more, but ended up quite mixed on it. To its credit, I think this game has a neat spin on history that's fun for series fans, and some of its peaks are legit great, I'm glad we finally got this one in the west. But this is the most I have ever dragged my feet on a RGG title. The substories are probably the weakest in the series and I feel similarly about the other side content offerings, the story feels even more stop-and-start than usual, I wasn't huge on the grind or extra systems... I dunno, it never really clicked the way most of the series did. I enjoyed it overall, but it's low-middle of the pack for me; definitely made me appreciate how far we've come with the Dragon Engine games, flaws and all.

It's hard to be too upset about something that's free. That said: this prologue is also like 10ish minutes in length IF you're scraping the edges for every small crumb of content, and it really doesn't give you anywhere near enough in its short runtime to whet your appetite for the full thing. Don't bother playing it multiple times assuming that there are secrets to be uncovered via the order you do things, or more specifically, keys for the locked doors you come across. There really isn't much there, just a (being extremely reductive) long story hallway with a quick time event in it.

It's a pretty good tone-setter as intended... but especially given the file size of this thing, the new "Spotlight" video worked perfectly fine too. Still excited for the full game later this year.

I liked Breath of the Wild a fair bit, but it’s kinda slid down my ranks over time. I think it had a really amazing first 10 hours filled with experimentation and discovery… then past that I somewhat felt like I’d seen everything and the game felt a little “solved”. Still a great game, just not my favorite.

Tears of the Kingdom alleviates any issues I had with it, elevates what was already good, and then some.

One of those once-in-a-generation games that feels so wildly ambitious I feel like it’ll be awhile before I play anything that even attempts to match it. The ability to bend puzzles to your single brain cell desires with the game's surprisingly functional building features is an absolute treat on its own, but everything surrounding it is somehow comparably excellent. I loved the increased difficulty, which forces you to engage the game’s interesting systems more fully. The music, while still a little sparse for my taste, was also more plentiful and great when used. The sidequests are a huge area of improvement as well, I fully enjoyed almost all of the ones I did and felt adequately rewarded for doing them. So many times I would try to end a late-night session but end up in a string of quests leading into each other. Absolutely everything here is just a treat. Not to mention the main story is even more of a treat than before, with memorable locales and gameplay segments. I loved it.

I do think Link’s stats are a little funky in this game; even with many upgrades under my belt I rarely ever felt completely comfortable. The game is also still a bit low on QOL and clunky in areas, some new and some familiar. I’m not huge on the zonaite economy either, I think too many things rely on it and the way they did the crystallized charge system is kinda baffling. Finally, I think the fact that half the story content here seems to be optional is really weird, and even weirder when they seem to have realized it and try to catch you up near the end. There must have been a better way, right?

But most of my issues are just small gripes, I loved this game. A true masterpiece, maybe my new favorite Zelda and yet another strong GOTY contender in 2023.

Star Rail benefits significantly from great production values and entering a genre where its contemporaries don't outclass it so severely as to make it less worth playing.

The music is unique, the visuals are great, and the systems are solid enough (if a bit simple). It also remains snappy while still having excellent animations, the game is fairly high QOL when not making you grind excessively at the current endgame. The Simulated Universe content in particular might be some of the best content in a gacha game I've played; while it's balanced a little wonky I think it’s a fun mode with a decent amount of variety. I also have enjoyed the story enough; I think near the end of the Belobog content up until what’s current it gets a bit weaker and mostly stays there, but it’s fine and still has some fun characters to bump elbows with.

Most of the rest here is a mixed bag. I like the main plot and cast, but it is surrounded with so much lore fluff and excessive exposition for any given idea that it ends up decreasing the impact of the whole thing. I hate to bag too much on it for this because people tend to get a bit hyperbolic about similar points, but even as a seasoned JRPG enjoyer, the amount of nonsensical proper nouns here really is a bit much, as is the amount of supertext that explains absolutely nothing and compounds that effect. The game has a love for its own universe, which is occasionally a blessing, but often it just dilutes the pertinent text with lengthy optional lore dump after lore dump together, even moreso when it decides to be a hit-and-miss Funny And Quirky game in tandem.

Gacha mechanics here are also everything you’d expect, it rewards you constantly for every little thing to make you think that it’s more giving or “fair” than most gacha when in reality it’s about as manipulative and awful as any other in that regard. That said F2P has been viable enough in my experience.

In the end, I’m feeling mildly positive on it. I’ve enjoyed it like I enjoy a bit of junk food from time to time. I periodically have the desire to play it when I have some time to burn and don't wanna play something more engaged, and that's more love than I've ever had for Genshin. A nice little run through dailies and Simulated Universe, maybe a little bit of grinding. I guess that’s all that matters in the end.

(Updated 5/25 after clearing all the current story content)

When people say that a game is completely broken or unplayable, I usually take it with a huge grain of salt. It's not as if I'm blind to the problems or in denial about them, but that I tend to have a higher tolerance for these issues than most, especially if the game underneath it is great. When I saw Jedi Survivor being panned, I decided to hedge my bets and play it anyways, as I saw promise in the first game that it couldn't quite fulfill and I was itching to see it if they had made good on it. And I was fairly impressed with what I played! It seems as though they cleaned up a reasonable amount of the first game's jank and that everything comes together much more nicely. I love the story and writing, all the visual customization, the more open levels, and it generally feels like a better execution of the concept so far.

Unfortunately the technical state of this game is simply unforgivable at the time of posting. I'm shocked that console is supposed to be the more tolerable option here, because I experienced the full gamut of problems on PS5, from unplayable sickness-inducing framerate fluctuations to outright crashes at random points. I swapped between performance and resolution modes, looking for something that might alleviate things, and both had unacceptable amounts of issues. I dunno if I just got unlucky or what, but past a point I got completely exhausted of it. I may suck it up and continue the game, but more than likely I'll set it down and wait a couple months til its in a better state (and I would ultimately advise most people to do the same).

Perfection. Not a single dull or uninteresting moment, this is exactly what I want out of an action-RE game. I love how they ratcheted up the horror and general pressure you feel during gameplay from the original. Adored almost every single change. Have a couple small nitpicks and I found myself wishing for just a tad bit more of Leon shit-talking the villains, but it's all just a footnote in an incredible 15-20 hour experience. Also shout-outs to the writers/localization team for this remakes, they clearly have a deep love for and understanding of the series at large. Possibly a new favorite of all time.