Peak Suda writing, just like MGS2 the themes from this game are still prevalent today. Gameplay is a rail shooter with some light puzzles like go from point a to b with a key item or something on a note (The guitar riff that plays when near a puzzle and kikazaru will make sure you're never lost on where the puzzles are), however that's just stripping it down to it's basics. Heaven smiles change up a bit from hidden weak spots to requiring a different smith to tackle them on (great example are the protectors killed by Mask deSMith) and the need to switch around to different personalities to reach high places, destroy barriers, run fast, zoom in and clean up kept the gameplay fresh until I got critical lock on. The remnant psyches as a device to tell the story was great, all the pieces were there the whole time with Travis knowing what you are and referring to you as such. Finding out that remnant psyches are those who have been killed by the killer7 and assimilated into Harman was a great twist as well.

With the basics of the game aside, the writing is some of the best I've ever seen in a game. The game is about the east and the wests constant battle symbolized by Harman Smith (the west) and Kun lan( the east). These two are immortal and will always return as the war between the east and the west will never die out even if you nuked the east and stopped the heaven smiles, or destroyed the west it all ends up fanning the flames of war and ends with a battle between Harman and Kunlan again shown by the Shanghai epilogue. The smiths are some of my favorite characters of all time, especially Garcian a pawn of the east and the west his whole life and forced to kill the killer7 which makes the reveal at the end heartbreaking as he killed those who were a part of him this whole Journey which explains his reaction. The smiths powers are heartbreaking as the powers they gained are what would've saved them from Emir, like Kevin gaining invisibility as his disguise failed, Dan Smith being able to back up his words as he died as a dog with all bark no bite, Con having enhanced hearing as Emir snuck up on him and Coyote gaining the cunning skills that would've saved him. Reading up on their backstories made me love them more especially Coyote being of Puerto Rican descent like me, like Kevin killing his lover before being assimilated into harman, Kaede being betrayed by her brother, and Dan disposed of by Blackburn his mentor because of a plan by montana to get rid of him. Emir's backstory himself is horrible, being raped by his mother, used as a pawn y the west and east and killing himself shortly after before being assimilated. Emir however became the dominant personality even if Harman still runs the show. I found myself reading every characters wiki page after finishing, because I was so invested. Some may hate interrupting the terrorist plot to go over Emirs backstory, but that ending scene more than makes up for it, it can't be described what looking at that for the first time is. Before wrapping it up I'd like to talk about my favorite stage Cloudman. Ulmeyda's city was based on a real military town, the level itself is littered with propaganda on Umeyda's Utopia and Has Humans for what seems to be the first time as Ulmeyda had his followers drink his blood and created vaccines as he had infected himself with every virus. The leadup to it all being a front and his perfect city being just as front which I chose to interpret as a way to show politicians making these promises on their campaigns, posing infront of kids and spreading propaganda for ultimately nothing in the end, just used the Yakumo to make his cult. The scenes with Ulmeyda and his follower at the end of the chapter was genuinely chilling with clemence driving himself to death as Ulmeyda narrates it. The military coming to cover everything up and making Ulmeyda a Heaven Smile was a great way to end my favorite chapter.

To give some final thoughts here as discussing the whole thing would take hours, I hope I was able to further spark anyones love for the game. This is my favorite game of all time with some fun gameplay, abstract storytelling and a great satire of War and the west vs the east. The alter ego chapter was a great way to express problems with the comic industry and the Handsome 7 ending up in the hands of the west and outliving its creator. Masafumi Takada did an excellent Job with the ost and has many classics such as Rave on, Blackburn, Dissociative identity and Angels Despair. I find this game hard to recommend as the on the rails gameplay and abstract storytelling may drive away some, but I wholeheartedly recommend this game and invite some discussion on it. Let's end it off with my favorite quote: "Harnman, the world won't change, all it does is turn."