One time during an intense match, my friend hits me with the Makoto super art 2 double fukiage into round win. We were screaming our asses off when that happened. 10/10 the game is super hype.

I cannot believe a 2D fighter like this exists, how the hell have I not played it for so long? This was my first foray into the KoF franchise after my SNK obsessed friend wouldn't shut up about it and by god I get it now. Fantastic movement, the coolest combo systems I've seen, badass designs for characters in terms of aesthetics and gameplay, and a 3v3 format that allows for some of the most varied and unique battles all wrapped up by a neat rollback bow, what's there not to love?

Hard sci-fi? Check
Badass mecha? Check
Intense love story? Check
Lovable characters? Check
In-depth politics? Check
Gripping battles? Check
Cry-inducing? Check
Made me salute? Check

Yep, this is peak fiction o7.

I'm a sucker for good melodramatic love stories and by god this has to be the best one in any media I've consumed. As much as I love Muv Luv Alternative's portrayal of love, it doesn't even hold a candle to this.

It's my first soulsborne and therefore must also be my favourite. That magical first experience where I was thrust into this entirely new world with some of the most impressive level designs I've ever played in a game and a combat system that forced me to slow down and think was nothing short of wondrous.

Why must the hecking wholesome cat person make me cry

I have a lot of history with this game from learning about its existence after playing Sm4sh to launching up 20XX to grind out level 9 CPUs because nobody in my country played this game to the launch of Slippi and finding a community of players within South East Asia.

From my teenage years onward, this game has been present within my life and honestly, it's still one of the most mechanically fulfilling games I've ever played and I can't help but love it as one of my favourite games ever. The movement is just way too fun to play around with and the cast has so many great aspects to their design to allow for such fluid and dynamic gameplay.

Alexa, play Travelers, it's crying time

Multiplayer may be just alright to me but that campaign is something else entirely

This review contains spoilers

Not gonna lie, Ending E kinda killed my enthusiasm for this game.

Everything else was stellar though.