When I first booted this game up I never anticipated myself shedding tears by the end of it. I mean this truly when I say this is one of the beautiful pieces of art I’ve experienced ever, or at least in a very long time. If this has piqued any unknowing person’s interest let me elaborate. ‘Outer Wilds’, not to be confused with ‘The Outer Worlds’, is an exploration-based sci-fi game where you traverse a small solar system to unravel its mysteries. If it sounds vague it’s because it kind of is at first. In the beginning, you get a small set of tutorials on how to use your tools and control your ship. Even these can be missed or remain incomplete, which represents the nature of this game perfectly. Once you have access to your ship you are free to explore any planet you see. There are environmental hazards that may trip you up and rogue notes that hint towards a larger narrative but it’s up to you to seek out the solutions and answers. Just like with tackling planets you can tackle any mystery at your own pace. It truly is as open as I describe it. I’ve never played a game that has held on to my attention throughout its entirety. Boredom was rare, only ever peeking when I had to wait for certain environmental shifts to be complete. Even then they patched in the ability to rest at camps to skip to the specific time you want. Beyond that there is so little wrong with this game it blows my mind. Spoiling anything would be a huge disservice to this game. I went in blind and hearing the music for the first time, solving each mystery on my own, taking on this journey was unlike anything I have played before. It’s funny how I just randomly decided to play this. You just never know when you might come across one of your favorite games of all time.

As much as I enjoy DS3, I have conflicted feelings about it overall. I find it’s combat system, animations, and general gameplay to be the most refined of the trilogy. This led to plenty of awesome enemy and boss encounters that were exhilarating and fun. The game wasn’t very hard, but I may have to chalk that up to my experience with the series. But what I’m conflicted on was the experience as a whole. Many of the locations the game has you explore felt like rehashes of previous concepts, such as the poison swamp and maze-like catacombs. They don’t build on them or twist them in a surprising way, they just recycled areas that weren’t even that great, to begin with. And that’s my largest problem with DS3, it feels like it’s identity hinges on DS1 with all its fan service and call-backs. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed seeing past locations plunged into complete ruin, it’s really cool to see. But I just wished there were more cool ideas and memorable areas. That doesn’t mean the areas were poorly designed, I enjoyed how a few areas integrated the DS1 approach to connecting areas together with shortcuts. Although I do miss having that larger interconnected world, but this new approach isn’t bad, just not my personal favorite. I’m glad I replayed this game, I had a lot of fun and the combat is my favorite of the three. I’ll still find DS1 to be superior with its impressively interwoven world, but DS3 is my go-to for bosses and combat. Still great.

'Inscryption' is a difficult game to come to a conclusion on. If I were to have stopped playing after Act 1 I would have considered it my game of the year easily. The nature in which the deck-building gameplay was built was so distinctive with its emphasis on sacrifice and how those sacrifices affected each battle and overall run. It was so integral in the experience that it constantly surprised me with how the theme reared its head in with some truly grotesque moments. I really don't want to spoil much since that was why I fell hopelessly addicted to Act 1 despite a few issues with how bosses acted with reruns. That being said there are things that occur later in the game that really did not mesh well with me. Without going too deep into it what follows Act 1 the rest of the game was either painfully easy or remixed things in less compelling ways. I know that's vague but this game is one that requires a blind eye to fully enjoy. That beginning act alone made this game so special and the main reason why I'd consider this as one of the better games of the year, just a shame the rest didn't follow suit.

MINOR GAMEPLAY SPOILERS

My initial opinions on 'Skyward Sword' were very positive when I was slashing my way through the first three dungeons. I wasn't too hot on the handholding (though it seemed way more manageable compared to the Wii version) but I was able to move past it. Dungeons weren't difficult really but they moved from one interesting gameplay idea to the next at a brisk pace.

It was all good...until I had to go through the three areas again. This was when the cracks began to form, the objectives started to feel artificial, simply there to inflate the game's runtime. Ideas were still bouncing around keeping things moderately enjoyable but less so than before.

It was all okay...until I had to go through the three areas a third time and this is when I genuinely broke down laughing. I felt like the game was TRYING to get me to dislike it more and more. The ideas became stale with the game resorting to underdeveloped stealth sections and swimming collectathons that made me want to gauge my eyes out. The story was basically all I had in the last third of the game to keep me going. The motion combat and controls in general were a novel idea that I enjoyed at first, but the game never pushed them further than simple flicks towards certain directions. Environments were derivative of the typical wooded, desert, and volcano locations always seen in 3D Zelda titles leaving very little room for interesting areas to explore. So again, the narrative was the only thing that trailed me along until it's, luckily, satisfying conclusion.

It's just so sad to me, I enjoyed a decent amount at first. But it just goes to show that padding out your game for the sake of having content doesn't lead to a better game, just a more frustrating experience knowing it could have been a lot better if they just cut it down a few pegs.

There is one universal praise I have for both Halo Infinite's campaign and multiplayer; the combat is exceptional. There are so many tools in your arsenal to be expressive with, so many moments where I got so hyped from the mini set pieces I crafted. The fluidity on display was so seamless and controlled so well that going back to previous Halo's and even other FPS' is going to be slightly offputting. It's also an example of why grapple hooks make any shooter instantly 10x more enjoyable. With that out of the way, both the campaign and multiplayer also share a big problem, that being content.

On the multiplayer side of things, it's mostly a lack of content like playlists, forge, game modes, etc. This will all come in due time but for now, it feels very light and is starting to lose my interest because of it. The campaign on the other hand is actually quite rich in content. Its foundation is that of an open world so there are plenty of side activities to get lost in. There are bases to claim for the UNSC, high profile targets to wipe out, and collectibles to find. Luckily the core gameplay on display was so refined in order to mask how generic the actual open world is in terms of content. But even with such a great core the more it's repeated the less impactful it becomes. This is by no means a long game, but the campaign missions, in particular, did a lot to accelerate that repetitious feeling. The side content was able to remain fun due to how open the environments were, which cannot be said for the linear story missions. Every damn mission repeats the same objectives of unlocking doors, duplicating dull interiors that copy and paste mission to mission, and harboring exposition that eventually turned to gibberish as I pursued. I feel if they had taken the open-ended nature of the open world and shrunk it down to a linear set of missions that took place over several terrains this would have been the best Halo game. Maybe that's the plan for the next game but for now, 343 have created a great foundation, now they just need to bring it home.

After playing the demo I was incredibly psyched to see how "Pepper Grinder's" core mechanic would be explored. But after a few hours, every collectible and outfit nabbed, I can say that, although very exciting at first, "Pepper Grinder" did not live up to its potential by the end. Based on the constant gimmicky levels focusing on not drilling, I could tell the devs didn't know where to take the core mechanic. It just kinda ended before it truly got going. But hey, the stuff that was here was solid, just lacking.

Skip to the very last line if you want to know if the game is good...or you can just look at the score so never mind.

I feel like I've been sleeping on this era of gaming for far too long. Although DMC isn't perfect, especially it's the first game to strive for this type of action-orientated combat, I can't help but respect the hell out of it. Luckily my praises don't stop at respecting it, but I had a great time with it. I'll admit I am not an expert in the way of executing insane combos and the such. But no matter your playstyle you'll feel comfortable here since the game is easy to learn but hard as fuck to master. However, the combat is the main course here since the rest of the game centers around it which gave presented plenty of encounters to test out new abilities and practice. The locations you fight in and the arenas the bosses take place in are claustrophobic, which ideally would be an issue for an action game of this caliber...and it kind of is. Most of the time it worked because the camera utilizes a fixed system. But when the worst possible storm of weird camera angles and cramped spaces destroy your sense of anything then it's hard not to get frustrated. I have other praises and flaws such as how hilariously campy the story is (which is a great thing) but I don't want to keep rambling. It's really really really really really good.

Before I properly delved into this game I had started it and shut it off more times than I can remember. The stiff combat and bland look to everything I guess deterred me, but due to boredom, I decided to give a fair shake. All these years and I had been putting off, now, one of my favorite RPGs ever. My feeling towards combat hasn’t changed much though. As I clocked in hours with it my feelings on the combat did become more favorable. With VATs being a satisfying mechanic, and the various builds involving combat I found it to be fairly dynamic. Melee and gun combat was still stiff (mainly due to how static enemies are when normally hit) but the extra layers helped it become more enjoyable. The other aspect that bugged me originally was the bleak visuals. Somehow this playthrough I found them to be slightly more vibrant. It may have been the somewhat expressive lighting that helped, but visually it wasn't a complete eyesore. Not that good still, but bearable enough. Now the one aspect that completely swiped me off my feet was its narrative and quests. Not every what was a winner, such as most fetch quests and exterminate tasks. Those missions, though, weaved into building meaningful and complicated relationships with the various factions stationed in the world. These connections would feed into the main quest line of figuring out why the mysterious man named Benny shot you for the package you were delivering. With how many different paths available to take I was constantly enthralled because was fully in control of my story. This also gave plenty I incentive to explore since there was a chance I would find a new faction to delve into or just random characters to interact with. Every conversation has variables with character building playing a direct role in speech as well as many other facets. It’s aided further with the surprisingly well-written dialogue and complex characters. With just this along the game is highly replayable. I will have to experience this several times over to actually give my perspective on everything. It’s a dense game, but one that rewards exploration and any build that suits you most.

Truly fucking abysmal. I went into it expecting it to be bad, but I was not prepared for how terrible it actually was. I don't even know what to say, it's just plain awful. I mean if you want to know why let me quickly explain. They stripped down the combat system, erasing all of the unique moves that came with each weapon. Enemy variety was limited severely and most bosses require long-ranged attacks plus being butt-fucking easy. I used my sword so little in this game because guns were buffed so much making them one of if not the most viable weapon. I can go on and on but I won't...I endured enough.

I’m still kind of mixed on this one. Ultimately I found the overarching plot and cast to be intriguing and enjoyable (despite how depressing the game is). However, a few months lack any story significance leaving the pacing to feel sluggish at times. During those times, though, I would continue forming bonds and leveling up social links with random people around the world. Most of the social links were actually compelling. Though the fact that most of the main cast don’t have links or they unlock late-game left me feeling somewhat disconnected from them up until the second half of the game. But hot damn was the conclusion to their journey not only bitter-sweet but wrapped up the themes so nicely. The only aspect left that was consistent throughout the game was Tartarus, the dungeon tower. Traversing this dungeon eventually grew tiresome with how repetitive the layouts of each floor was and the countless random encounters Once in combat though the game was enjoyable, if not frustrating since you can’t take control of your party members. In the end, I had a fun time with the combat and grew to enjoy the story, despite a few underdeveloped situations and characters leaving scenes feeling hollow. Probably my least favorite game in the series so far from a character perspective (might change with a replay), but it’s presentation and gameplay loop was still impressive and addictive.

I don't remember my experience with the prior titles in this series, but I can tell you that they were a lot more enjoyable than this drivel. Because my pea brain cannot fathom dropping a game without completing it I dragged my feet all the way to the end and god my brain gave up on its goal. Metro prides itself on pacing and combat that's sluggish in order to draw you into the world. That's fine in a linear setting, but for a game touting its semi-open world landscapes, it dragged a shit ton. Not only would you have to trek your way across decently sized areas with the slowest movement possible, but many times the game gated progression behind waiting for NPCs to take their sweet fucking time to get going. Towards the end, it got so bad that it felt like a self-parody. On the other hand, the game threw you into many scenarios where tens of enemies would swarm you. The hilarious part is that since gunplay is slow the enemy AI was dumbed down as a compromise making each firefight effortless. Now I don't have evidence of that, but I don't care; my point still stands. To summarize my frustrations here I would describe 'Metro Exodus' as a game that maintains the stilted gameplay of its predecessors but expands far out where it can't keep up with itself. I guess that's what happens when you follow trends that huh.