I'm home man. The gameplay was crisp, the customization was clean. Stagger seemed iffy, but turned out to be a satisfying inclusion. This was nearly everything I wanted it to be and more. Even after all these years, Fromsoft still got it.

Now here's a surprise. I initially wrote the game off because it wasn't ZeroRanger's Black Onion, but after hearing others talk about it I couldn't help but acquiesce and give it a shot. And I'm glad I did; I never thought I'd be so enamored by a puzzle game.

Now here's an even BIGGER surprise. As much as I like Granblue, I hated fighting games and getting my ass beat by my buddies in the open beta didn't help. It was only after trying the... "free" version and genuinely locking in that I started really enjoying the game. The de-emphasizing of motion inputs did WONDERS for lowering the barrier of entry and I honestly hope more fighting games do it moving forward. Can't wait to try UNI2!

Despite all the negative reviews, this one being really good wasn't much of a surprise because we all know how 3 Houses fans are. The game is BRUTAL yet mostly fair on Maddening/Classic. Every turn was a fight for your life, and figuring everything out inch by inch was satisfying. Messing around with the Emblems was fun, and the game heavily encourages aggression with how reinforcements were used.

It's no Rabi-Ribi but it's still a great metroidvania. They put a little too much emphasis on the story (which was pretty bad), to the point where it often tanked the pacing and resulted in a very linear game, which was disappointing compared to RR's massive openness.

Another game I wasn't planning to play. Pretty cool, had fun messing around with building.

Cute little classicvania. I should play Gal gun proper.

The only game on this list I'd call mid. I just don't get the Mario hype. Yeah the Wonder flowers are cool I guess but man this shit is NOT engaging.