Silent Hill is a game brought to us by Konami in their golden age. The game sees protagonist Harry Mason, and his young daughter Cheryl heading into a wooded resort town for vacation when they get into a car wreck. Harry wakes up to discover Cheryl is gone and is thrust into the mysterious town of Silent Hill where he must find not only his daughter but also the secrets of this isolated town. The game is a survival horror classic where ammo can be sparse, and tank controls and fixed camera angles are the name of the game. This game takes a while to get used to in terms of controls from a modern perspective but once you do it should get easier as you go on. The game has you exploring the misty and dark streets of Silent Hill solving puzzles, reading memos, and fighting for your life as you look for your daughter. There isn't much to say without spoiling the game but I highly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of horror games and a great mystery.

Episode Gladiolus is the first piece of DLC content for FFXV, and it really shows. It is a DLC that has big ambitions, but is just too short to really see those ideas shine. The DLC follows Gladio as he briefly leaves the main part in the middle of XV's story. He leaves with an older royal guard named Cor, and together they go into the lair of the ancient Royal Guard of the first king of Lucis, Gilgamesh. The main content of the game is just a couple of action set pieces where you fight a couple waves of enemies and descend further into the cave to challenge Gilgamesh and prove yourself as a worthy shield to King Noctis. Gladio himself plays really well all things considered as he is slower than Noctis, so his combat focuses on pacing yourself and parrying at the right time. When you master Gladio's play style the DLC really shines, and it's put on full display during the battle against Gilgamesh himself and the bonus fight with Cor. Sadly like I mentioned outside of those two instances the DLC doesn't really take the time to challenge the player in any meaningful way which is truly a shame. Luckily as the DLC kept coming out the content got better as the development team were willing to experiment... for the most part.

Episode Prompto is the second piece of DLC for FFXV and takes place towards the end of the story when Prompto is briefly ejected from the party. The story follows Prompto as he comes to terms with his true identity and origins as he fears it may cause a rift between him and his best friends. Prompto traverses through the Nifilheim base, and a frozen tundra with the help of Aranea Highwind, using his various gun techniques which work surprisingly well for an engine which wasn't built for third person shooting gameplay. Unfortunately this DLC starts to overstay it's welcome towards the end and I was just itching to get it over with. The main thrust of Prompto's side story is mostly explored early on in the DLC and instead of approaching his inner turmoil in an interesting way I feel like Prompto is left pouting a little too much which I felt was a little out of character for him. I understand what he was going through was extremely difficult, but how the writers approached his response to this information felt a little weird to me which really killed the main vibe. Despite this I think the expansion is a must play if you are going for the complete FFXV story.

Episode Ignis is the fourth piece of DLC for FFXV if you include Comrades, and follows Ignis during Noctis' attempt to complete the rites with Leviathan during the 3/4 part of the main story. There isn't a lot to say about the story as it would spoil a ton of interesting things that I think are very cool to experience on your own. All I will say is that this DLC adds an alternate ending which attempts to set up a new story line that would've continued in Episode Ardyn if it wasn't scrapped, and while I heard a ton of people saying it was a really good alternate ending, I feel like I have to respectfully disagree as it kind of contradicts the entire theming and messaging of the original base game as a cheap attempt to give fans what they think they want. Thankfully there is a true main ending which in my opinion is just as if not more epic than the alternate ending which gives you more appreciation for Ignis as a character than any other part of the story. The combat sees you use Ignis' daggers as they are imbued with elemental magic, each one allowing for different play styles such as speed, strength and balance. You are able to pull of some crazy combos if you switch between styles during the middle of battle which felt insanely satisfying. And for a considerable portion of the DLC you are able to zip around the city of Altissia with a grapple hook. It almost feels like Spider-Man which I really enjoyed. Overall Episode Ignis is the best DLC of the original line up and is an absolute must play if you revisit FFXV, or are playing for the first time.

Sonic Adventure DX is a remaster of the first truly full 3D Sonic game originally on Dreamcast. The game sees our titular hedgehog find himself facing off a mysterious liquid foe named Chaos who is tied into Eggman's newest scheme. Sonic and his friends will discover the secrets of the Chaos Emeralds, and the Master Emerald while simultaneously saving the world. The gameplay sees you take on the shoes of several Sonic characters old and new such as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big the Cat, and Gamma. Each character has their own unique play styles with sonic focusing on speed and platforming, Tails focuses on flying and racing, Knuckles focuses on finding and collecting pieces of the shattered Master Emerald, Amy focusing on puzzle solving and platforming, Gamma on shooting and platforming, and Big the Cat on... fishing. The game certainly isn't the most polished platformer by today's standard, and there were definitely mechanically superior platformers around the same time like Mario 64 despite this the game still functions as intended and there is clearly a lot of soul and vision put into this title. It's not the most deep game from a narrative and gameplay standpoint but for Sonic's first full 3D outing it could've been a lot worse. Due to this game's heart, and genuinely fun moments this game will stick with me for a while.

Ichiban Kasuga had big shoes to fill taking the place of Kazuma Kiryu as series protagonist, and he does it with flying colors. Ichiban is a more goofy, and rambunctious character than Kiryu but his morals, and beliefs align in a way that feels natural and non invasive to long time fans of franchise. The game play takes a huge shift into turn based combat as a series first, as opposed to it's action game roots, and it pulls it off with flying colors. The way Ichiban's love of Dragon Quest and desire to become a fantasy like hero as an explanation for the game play shift is genius, and fits the tone of the game well. And while this game definitely takes the goofy angle to the next extreme, it doesn't take away from the series staple heartfelt and dramatic moments. My major complaints with this game is that it takes a while to truly get started. It feels like it meanders a little bit too much in the middle, but once it picks back up you're in for a ride. Also there is a really high difficulty spike towards the end of the game which is a little ridiculous, even for an JRPG vet such as myself. The level pacing could've been a lot better, but at the end of the day the grinding wasn't the worst i've ever experiences. All together, Yakuza 7 (Like a Dragon) is a perfect start to a new beginning, and I can't wait to see what zany adventures lie ahead for Kasuga.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is a great follow up to the Curious Village that improves upon some of the issues I had it. Firstly I feel like the story is a lot more engaging in many ways than it's predecessor, especially when it comes to the big twist at the end which was my biggest issue with Curious Village. There is also a lot more variety in the puzzle selection with this entry which allows for a more interesting game play session every time you boot up a save. This game is not without it's flaws however, as the start of the story felt incredibly slow, especially when in comparison to the previous entry. Despite this once the story gets going, you are in for a great time full of mystery, intrigue and heartbreak. I can't wait to see what the next entry holds as I can only see it going up from here!

Lost Judgement is the second installment in the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios' Judgement series, and it follows the adventures of the Yagami Detective Agency as they try to get to the bottom of a suspicious murder that is way more complex than meets the eye. This game takes place two years after the events of the first, and a couple months after the events of Yakuza 7 (Like a Dragon) where Yagami and Kaito are left solving small mysteries and crimes within their town of Kamurocho when they get a mysterious call from Sugiura, an ally from the previous game who has now set up his own detective agency in Yokohama. Sugiura asks for Yagami's help as a mysterious string of bullying cases have been plaguing the locals, quickly the bullying case unravels into something bigger as a dead body has turned up of a former student teacher of the local high school. The identity of the corpse is revealed in a seemingly unrelated battery case via a court room hearing. It is up to Yagami and his friends to solve the mystery of the dead body and how the plot goes way deeper than he initially imagined. This game's story has plenty of twists and turns as fans of the first Judgement game and greater Yakuza series as a whole have come to expect. The game will seemingly have you on the edge of your seat all the way to it's conclusion having you wonder where it will go. That is when you hit about Chapter 4-5 as the beginning of this game felt oddly slow to me especially compared to it's predecessor. It's not due to bad writing or anything, as the beginning of this game is to set up most of the key players and the greater mystery but it takes it's time a little too long which had me wondering when things were going to pick up, but rest assured when things do pick up, they pick up hard. The story over all is very satisfying as every primary character goes through their own arcs and experience growth in ways that I didn't see coming. One worry I had while playing the game is that Yagami seemingly uncovers most of the secrets of the enemies at almost a little past the halfway point which left me thinking that there would be no revelations or plot twists to keep me engaged until the end. But this game takes advantage of revealing most of it's secrets early to allow the antagonists to be involved in the plot in very interesting ways I didn't see coming. That said while the story was good it didn't leave me with that strong impact feeling I had completing the first one. The gameplay on the other hand feels super smooth and easy to control, and allowed for tons of fun as is usual for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios. The developers really have learned the ins and outs of their proprietary dragon engine by this point so any hiccups or growing pains they experienced when making games like Yakuza 6 or Yakuza Kiwami 2 have been mostly ironed out. The open world of Kamurocho and Yokohama both are still fun to explore, and traverse through as you are now able to skateboard and have some limited parkour in certain segments to help you get around. There is also a ton of engaging side content to keep you occupied for hours on end. Overall Lost Judgement is a worthy successor to the first game, and hopefully there will be a third game to continue to the momentum, even though it maybe unlikely at the time of this review due to some internal politics involving Yagami's actor's management team. Regardless this game is satisfying from beginning to end, and if you love any of RGG Studio's offerings you'll certainly love this one.

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is the port of the original Sonic Adventure 2 from the Dreamcast, and follow-up to the original Sonic Adventure. The game follows Sonic and friends as they try to uncover the secrets of Eggman's new scheme involving a new mysterious hedgehog named Shadow. The game no longer has the openworld aspect that the first game had, but instead focuses on a predominately level based structure. This game is divided into 3 seperate game styles with Running/Platforming with Shadow and Sonic, Running/Gunning with Tails and Eggman, and Treasure hunting with Rouge, and Knuckles. This game is considerably more difficult and refined to it's predecessor but even saying that there are still plenty of rough edges that make the game not hold up incredibly well, but despite that the game still has a fun and interesting story, and a great (mostly) set of levels that will have you coming back for more.

A competent sequel to the brilliant Persona 5. This game from a story perspective does little new, and is rather predictable. Despite this it is still an enjoyable time listening to the cast of characters go through fun scenarios, especially with the new characters that join the Phantom Thieves. From a gameplay standpoint it feels less like a warriors game and more of a regular action game ala DMC, and Bayonetta (with less depth of course.) If you were a fan of Persona 5, and Persona 5 Royal this game still provides more than enough entertainment value for the price of entry.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter is the first game in the prequel trilogy for the series and it wastes no time letting you know how much more expansive and immersive the world has gotten since it's inception. This map and it's characters feel incredibly lived in, and full of personality. That's the first thing I noticed starting this game and it's what hooked me immediately, and that's what I must really applaud this game for. Out of all the Layton entries, this game has one of the most interesting and engaging introduction chapters out of the series thus far, and quickly it became my favorite entries. HOWEVER, this changed over the course of the game's story. As the game creeped closer and closer to it's conclusion I quickly realized that the ending felt incredibly rushed. It felt like it moved a breakneck pace from Layton and crew not clear on what was going on in the town to having it all pretty much figured out in the span of like a chapter which felt kinda off considering the mysteries felt more gradually revealed in previous games. Despite this it didn't hamper my experience at all as I still found the origin story of Luke and Layton's friendship to be incredibly compelling as watching Luke start off as a weary and cynical shut in, blossom into an excited and cheerful boy felt natural, and heartwarming. The gameplay remained mostly the same however I felt there was slightly less puzzle variety out of previous entries, but that could just be me. The focus seemed to be mostly on math puzzles and less on logic puzzles which sucked for me considering I'm not good at math, like at all. Despite this I really enjoyed my time with Last Specter, and I'm excited to see the overarching mystery of Descole play out for the remaining 2 games in the main series.

NieR Replicant is definitely a worthy re-release of the original in just about every way. When It was initially announced two things made me nervous, the lack of the Father Protagonist and it seemingly being Automata wearing the original game's skin. Thankfully I can say that it is neither of those. Firstly I was hesitant on the Brother Protagonist because, despite it being the original main character, I had come to love the Father Protagonist due to his relationship with his daughter being more relatable to me than an older brother and a younger sister. I had also come to love Jamieson Price's voice work in the original release as the protagonist so having a whole new dynamic, and a whole new voice for the main character made me nervous. Thankfully I can say despite the minor characterization differences between the two protagonists, the Brother's story is still very engaging and as a character is very enjoyable. And if you were curious the core of the story is completely unchanged as well so it made me glad to see all the story beats still present and then some. The second concern came from my fear that they were going to try and Automata-fy the original game, because if you know me I really did not enjoy Automata, but I am glad to say after completing the game there was nothing to worry about. The game play is certainly more refined and quicker paced than the original release but still retains that level of simplicity and easiness to master that I really enjoy, and I wouldn't want it any other way. This re-release is not perfect however as the some of the re-recordings of the soundtrack's music feels a little lacking in some places with songs such as Shadowlord. I also wish there was at least an option to play the father, but that's just a minor nitpick to say the very least. The new content added to this re-release also had me concerned but I can say with confidence that I am left satisfied with all the additions that the team made to the story, to not get into spoilers. I see this as a true return to form for the series, and I hope that if and when NieR 3 happens they approach it the same way they approached the new content and gameplay for this rerelease.