Tem spoilers, de momentos, músicas, chefes, mecânicas. Não necessariamente de história.

Já que isso foi minha primeira run, vou considerar como “primeiras impressões” e por ser um action game, provável que eu mude de opinião (não necessariamente sobre a qualidade) ao longo que vou dissecando melhor o jogo e suas mecânicas (não esperava acompanhar tech labbing de um jogo novo tão cedo pós-Bayonetta 3 lol)

Queria primeiro agradecer ao John Johanas (diretor do jogo) por descrever o cerne do jogo como “acessibilidade para todo mundo se sentir bem jogando”, pois muito do que as pessoas discutem na internet sobre acessibilidade envolve Hidetaka Miyazaki, Souls e “a visão artística ao integrar o desafio como substância de seus jogos (ou qualquer merda que soe inteligente)” e, analisando bem, não invalido totalmente essas ideias ao mesmo tempo que não veria problema em oferecer mais opções pro player. É mais sobre qualidade de vida do que qualquer outra coisa. Trouxe esse exemplo porque é engraçado pensar de que, em contrapartida, exista um jogo, recente, com um budget não tão alto, sendo lançado de forma shadow drop e colaborando com o ecossistema do Xbox cujo o maior objetivo artístico é… ser acessível? E ser acessível pra que? Pra fazer qualquer tipo de jogador se sentir bem jogando.

E o que significa se sentir bem jogando? Game feel, em inglês. A sensação palpável de interagir com a virtualidade do videogame. Não é se sentir necessariamente bem, mas se sentir. Bom, no fim das contas, o “se sentir bem” acaba resultando da introspecção do próprio jogador, e assim, há jogos com controles propositalmente truncados pra passar o exato oposto do que é se sentir bem, mas, no caso de Hi-Fi Rush, a positividade do som, do ritmo, da música, tudo através da interação, é o que define esse jogo.

Ter tantas opções de acessibilidade, dificuldade, parâmetros adaptáveis e tudo sendo instruído da forma mais diegética e divertida possível, é o que provavelmente John Johanas tava falando sobre ao descrever esse jogo. A mecânica principal é “bater no ritmo”, mas na prática é “apertar” no ritmo, e, apesar de ter isso como seu maior diferencial no combate, o ritmo da música SEMPRE vai acompanhar os inputs do player, mesmo que ele erre o timing das coisas. É surreal como até em termos de proximidade entre as duas linguagens (música e game design) esse jogo é bem construído pra todo mundo jogar. Ninguém se sente diferente, de fora, menosprezado pelo jogo, é um game que consegue produzir dopamina a um nível em que a autoestima exploda de tão alta.

E mesmo com tantas preferências e controle sobre o jogo a ponto de automatizá-lo, ele é tão, tão bem construído que consegue manter o desafio em dia, rechear o design de inimigos com propriedades únicas, diferentes, criativas, a ponto de que praticamente o toolkit inteiro de Chai é viável pra maioria das situações. Faz o jogador compreender e querer aquilo, se sentir encorajado a testar várias ideias, setups, desafios autoimpostos, coisas do tipo. Me lembra até Devil May Cry 3 nesse sentido que, ironicamente, é o maior divisor de águas do gênero e compara-lo com um lançamento surpresa de 2023 é um elogio e tanto. Pra resumir, DMC1 era suco de resident evil, abordava algo mais básico com algumas nuances bem exponenciais, enquanto DMC2 era desbalanceado a ponto da pistola ter dano maior que a espada, DMC3 reformulou completamente o sistema de combate da franquia, adicionando estilos, um style meter refinado, inimigos mais reativos, etc. Com isso, DMC3 mecaniza a abordagem “estilosa” da série e acaba estimulando a expressão do jogador dentro dos parâmetros do jogo, o que também encoraja a criação e consequentemente aumenta a autoestima. Você se sentir parte daquele sistema através de combos, estratégias ou qualquer outro tipo de unidade na expressão do combate, elevou o gênero (hack and slash e posteriormente character action por hippies como eu) e cá estamos em Hi-Fi Rush se expressando não só através do lado mecânico da coisa mas também de forma musical e rítmica, e, pela comparação que eu fiz, Hi-Fi Rush é tão bom em ensinar o player a ritmar suas ações quanto DMC3 é em ensinar o player a criar e variar combos. Expressão -> Criação -> Autoestima.

E caralho, o jogo imprime essa ideia de “ritmo” de uma forma tão alastradora que até os OBJETOS NÃO-DESTRUÍVEIS DO MAPA DANÇAM CONFORME O RITMO DA MÚSICA QUE TÁ TOCANDO. Os passos do Chai também, o beat ao redor da 808, os inimigos, tudo. Repetindo um comentário que li do SetnaroX, esse jogo é um vídeo de combo jogável: tudo sincronizando com a música em prol do estilo e do… ritmo.

Dito isso, não sei até que ponto esse jogo é legal pra se jogar com essa mentalidade. Numa próxima run vou tentar me aprofundar melhor no jogo, mas gosto que os INPUTS são o que entram em sincronia com a batida das músicas, e não a animação do move em si. Isso cria uma dinâmica interessante, já que a maioria dos golpes podem ser cancelados com o dash (em qualquer frame) e pulo (não dá pra cancelar no frame ativo).

Talvez os youtubers criem uma nova vertente? HI-FI RUSH COMBO MAD: OFF BEAT. Também li a ideia de moddarem o jogo pros players inserirem QUALQUER música no jogo. Seria praticamente um Beat Saber character action. O tempo dirá, uma run não é o suficiente pra apontar “do que esse jogo é capaz” e “do que ele não é”. Ao menos não em sua totalidade, mas já posso citar alguns nitpicks que tenho com o combate:

-> Limite de 1 dash no ar por vez. Tu só pode dar dash denovo ao tocar no solo. Isso me incomodou mais do que eu gostaria de admitir
-> Dash extra caso tu acerte o timing no ritmo da música, tendo como máximo, 2 dashes por vez. Isso é bem legal, mas essa regra não funciona no meio do ar e acho que um pulo extra seria legal também nesse caso. Assim como o Dante só consegue dar triple jump com o Devil Trigger ativado, o Chai só poderia fazer isso se pegasse o timing da música.
-> Limites no próprio sistema de ritmo: o ímã e o parry não são considerados e o batidão só pode ser executado com ataques e ataques sincronizados. Oportunidade perdida pra colocar até o botão de PAUSE como input de ritmo. É exagero meu, mas o lance do batidão é uma reclamação verdadeira, já que o jogo considera que tu errou o beat se usar o dash no lugar do ataque, o que é realmente uma oportunidade perdida.

De qualidade eu acho que já falei bastante. O combate desse jogo é catártico pra caralho, no sentido mecânico e musical, e fico feliz de poder escrever esse tipo de coisa de forma séria. Gosto que pegaram um “sistema de prioridades” parecido com Ninja Gaiden aqui: pela falta de direcionais e pela câmera ser super intuitiva, decidiram não colocar lock-on no jogo. Não tem nem com o analógico, nem o “soft lock-on” (que é só alterar a postura do personagem). O Chai bate de acordo com suas prioridades, sendo a principal delas: distância. Ele sempre vai atacar o inimigo mais próximo dele, mesmo se ele tiver de costas. As outras prioridades se baseiam em mecânicas do jogo: o ímã vai sempre focar nos inimigos que estiverem no ar, a Peppermint vai sempre atirar nos inimigos com o escudo circular azul, e por aí vai. Não cheguei a testar se tipo de inimigo/vida são determinantes, mas é isso por enquanto.

Curto muito como os inimigos se comportam nesse jogo e deve ser um dos jogos com o melhor uso de “inimigos com escudo/que bloqueiam/que dão parry” que eu já vi. Cada tipo de inimigo tem certo recurso defensivo diferente que pode ser contornado de acordo com tal companion. Inimigos que pegam fogo e ficam imunes, só podem ser rebatidos pela Korsica, por exemplo.

Deixá-los vulneráveis e meter a porrada é satisfatório porque a física do jogo também tá de acordo com o ritmo da música, fora que ele pega uma regra parecida com a de Bayonetta 1: se o inimigo perde o escudo, ele tá completamente vulnerável pra virar uma bolinha de ping pong. Os juggles com os batidões são extremamente satisfatórios e o relaunch é praticamente infinito caso tu saiba utilizar bem os ataques sincronizados dos companions. Utilizar todas essas mecânicas que o jogo te oferece pra brincar com diferentes situações e ainda sim manter o ritmo da música… é o tipo de sonho que eu tinha antes desse game lançar. Até onde meu conhecimento permite, sim, o jogo tem suas restrições na criação de combos, mas a forma em que os encontros fluem é tão divertida – e desafiadora, ao mesmo tempo – que tu sente que cada move do Chai tem sua relevância: dar dano, quebrar escudo, aparar ataques, fugir e se aproximar de inimigos com o ímã e utilizar as diferentes propriedades de cada companheiro ali é o que faz de Hi-Fi Rush ser surpreendentemente profundo em termos de mecânica.

O sistema de ranking é outra coisa que gostei muito do game. Nos encontros, ele não penaliza morte e itens usados (até porque nem tem item ativo no jogo), e a punição pelo dano que tu toma só é considerada no medidor de estilo, ou seja, tu não precisa se cuidar ao máximo pra não tomar dano nos encontros porque a nota S ainda é possível. Ele estimula o diferente uso de moves, combos, ataques especiais e sincronizados diferentes e ao mesmo tempo, a gimmick principal do jogo que é atacar conforme a música: tu causa mais dano (logo, o problema com o tempo de resolução diminui), teu multiplicador de estilo aumenta e ainda é considerado em porcentagem o quão bem você foi no timing naquele encontro. É legal que o jogo não demanda muito perfeccionismo (ao menos na dificuldade normal) e que tu não precisa de 100% de timing, tempo perfeito e estilo alto pra pegar um rank S. No final de cada track (capítulo), o jogo faz uma média de timing, dano recebido, mortes e todos os seus rankings, o que acaba formalizando algo bem menos frustrante pela falta de necessidade de ficar atualizando toda hora a tua nota em todos os encontros (tipo Bayonetta)

Apesar de ter elogiado muito os inimigos do jogo, os chefes são a atração principal aqui: é METAL GEAR RISING CARTUNIZADO e isso me deixa muito feliz. Todos eles são figuras importantes do jogo (exceto o primeiro) e integram muito bem as mecânicas do jogo na luta. Basicamente, o que um chefe deve fazer? Varia muito conforme as circunstâncias, o jogo, os objetivos, as ideias, as preferências, mas os chefes de Hi-Fi Rush sintetizam tudo o que tu aprendeu entre eles (de um chefe pro outro) nos levels de uma forma muito divertida. Talvez nem tudo seja sintetizado, mas vou falar de um por um:

QA-1MIL -> Primeiro boss do jogo, testa o timing do player, os reflexos com o dash, o posicionamento e o batidão. Basicamente o começo do jogo né
Rekka -> Primeira luta com o uso de um companion, faz bom uso de tudo o que teve na primeira bossfight + os ataques sincronizados da Peppermint
Korsica -> PARRY. PARRY. PARRY. Como tudo nesse jogo, o parry tá em sincronia com a música e certos inimigos (mini-bosses e bosses mesmo) atacam como uma forma de minigame em que você precisa aparar tudo no ritmo da batida. A luta inteira da Korsica é basicamente só esse minigame.
Mimosa e Roquefort -> Agora com parry e 3 companions, esses chefes (a Mimosa, principalmente) demandam o toolkit inteiro do Chai
Kale -> Boss final do jogo, a primeira fase é parry only, a segunda ele é completamente invulnerável até tu tirar o escudo com algum companion e a terceira é mano a mano. O final é clichê, mas é basicamente um minigame de ritmo em que todo o teu grupo de companions ajuda pra dar o final blow no chefe.

Todas as lutas são extremamente divertidas de jogar e também oferecem um espetáculo absurdo, tanto visual, quanto sonoro. O visual é autoexplicativo porque a equipe de direção visual e character design caprichou TANTO que nem preciso comentar muito, mas um destaque aí pra Mimosa que é provavelmente meu chefe favorito do jogo. E a parte sonora… bem, eu queria algo mais puxado pra Metal Gear Rising, onde o vocal da música estoura em determinado momento da batalha. Isso acontece na primeira bossfight do jogo, mas nas outras é menos perceptível. E apesar de ter ficado MUITO feliz com a música que escolheram pro boss final, a voz do Trent Reznor ter menos volume do que a dos personagens do jogo é sacanagem demais mané.

Combate a parte, muito do que fluiu os levels do jogo pra mim foi o quão divertido é atravessar as coisas. Pular, dar dash, usar o ímã, e a exploração num geral: aqueles momentos de “hm, qual será a sala certa pra progredir que eu quero deixar pra depois?” são resolvidos pelo quão intuitivo é a exploração desse jogo, e também o quão gostoso é a travessia. Mas acho que pra um mapa tão bem construído, cada canto investigado te recompensar só com loot é um pouco decepcionante, achei que teria encounters secretos/secundários por aí. E talvez tenha, mas só no pós-game, que eu não joguei ainda.

Questão de história, narrativa, personagens, estética visual e apresentação do jogo, pode-se dizer que o jogo atingiu todas as minhas expectativas e mais um pouco. Essa merda é um desenho da Cartoon Network jogável, cheio de referências a cultura pop, cutscenes estilizadas, brincando com as animações, imitando spider-verse, personagens contando piadas que eu já devo ter visto pior em algum desenho por aí e os vilões mais caricatos (e carismáticos!) da história. TEM UM VILÃO QUE FAZ JOJO POSE, CARA. O jogo é clichê, adolescente, o design do protagonista é genéricasso e a personalidade dele pode ser o negócio mais irritante do mundo pra alguns, mas são passos dados na direção certa, na medida certa, porque o game não tenta esconder em momento algum o que ele quer ser. Os momentos sérios são melodrama, e o bom humor do jogo é tonalizado de uma forma legal o suficiente pra entrar em harmonia com o resto – até mesmo na parte mecânica.


Eu diria que essas 5 estrelas que eu tô dando pra Hi-Fi Rush é porque nenhum outro jogo toca The Perfect Drug na porra do chefe final.


Provável que eu vá rejogar diversas vezes e volte aqui com um texto 5x maior!!! (ou não)

Uma melhora considerável do original, que já era incrível. Foi corrigido um dos maiores problemas de Persona 5, que era o rank 7 do Ryuji, agora é uma habilidade que você realmente quer ter, ao invés de ser uma que você quer evitar. Mementos recebeu uma repaginada merecida, há mais diálogo com todos os confidants, e os novos personagens são todos ótimos. Akechi recebeu a atenção que faltou no original e o novo semestre possui a melhor narrativa do jogo. Se você nunca jogou Persona 5, eu recomendo fortemente jogar o Royal no lugar dele.

I don’t want to talk TOO much about the part of Devil May Cry 5 where you PLAY it because, let’s be real here, you know, right? I’m late to this party. We all KNOW that this is simply one of the finest video game action achievements, the culmination of fifteen years of promise since DMC3 set us down this road. One of the few games with a modern AAA level of fidelity that by and large emulates the quick, snappy responsiveness of the PS2 era that grandfathered it. We’re all maybe a little sad to see the puzzle elements fully reduced to an aesthetic touch and the challenge dressing on levels discarded entirely (is this the first DMC without a stage where your health constantly reduces in the main progression path?), but we’re also all well aware that these things along with the discarding of all gimmick enemies betrays an absolute confidence in the core experience, a confidence well-earned. We all know this is Dante’s most perfectly tuned, well-balanced move set, without a chink in its armor; we all know that the addition of devil arms lends a feeling of completeness to Nero that finally makes him feel like he competes with the big boys in potential along with a truly unique layer of strategy that expands upon his already technical skill set; I’m sure you’re all as impressed as I am at how weirdly intuitive V is to play as, a stealth highlight of a campaign that was truly joyful, near frictionless.

Everybody KNOWS this stuff. We’ve all played DMC5, we’ve all talked about it, the game is simply sick as fuck. We all love Pull My Devil Trigger, it’s the best song ever made, this is just true! It’s Just True. So I don’t feel like writing about that stuff any more than I have, other people have surely done it better. I try not to read reviews before I’ve finished writing my own, but I’m sure people have done it better right here on Backloggd. I’d rather talk about the way this series has very organically transitioned from something I laugh along with, that’s maybe a lot smarter about its application of gothic theming than I would have expected, to something that’s emotionally invested me on the level I care about, like, I dunno, Naruto or whatever, to something that I think has, over time, crafted a genuinely touching story of a family wounded by trauma and their ability or inability to overcome a great social and generational violence. I don’t think this has been there the whole time, but by allowing the series’ now-regular main credited writer since DMC3, Bingo Morihashi, a consistent creative voice in the franchise, he’s taken characters who have been portrayed disparately across two decades and used these gaps and these disparities as a tool to demonstrate the ways that time and experience do and don’t change us, especially when we’re molded by intense experiences early in life. I think this has been happening for a long time in this series, but DMC5 gives the context necessary to fully solidify it as a feat of characterization.

I don’t think that either of the twists in this game are particularly shocking if you’re paying attention to anything anyone says or does in DMC4 or this game but I am gonna toss out that there are a couple of big bombs in this game and I’m gonna talk pretty openly about them, and as I’ve mentioned I think the writing in this is pretty fuckin sick so if you care about that, now’s the time to duck out!

Devil May Cry 5 is a game about The Boys. Everybody tends to take their turn in the limelight in this series but as is often the case in this genre of story a lot of the time they just kind of hang out after their story is done? Like, there’s not really a good reason for Trish and Lady to be in DMC4 and 5 from a narrative perspective and they don’t really grow as characters, we’re just happy to see them because they’re Cool, right? Vergil didn’t even get to like, BE in DMC4 he only got to be a bonus character in a RE-RELEASE of it seven years later lmao. DMC5 is unique in the series in that it’s the first time we get a story that gets to focus entirely on characters we already know and whose schtick we’ve already seen and, importantly, whose schticks have not changed in a meaningful way. And this is ultimately the problem, right? The crux of this story, and in some ways, ultimately, the crux of every Devil May Cry story, is that Dante and Vergil refuse to change. They’re unable to do it on their own, and they don’t have anyone willing to force them. But they have to change, or they’re going to die. They’re going to kill EACH OTHER, and Nero is probably going to kill like a million more people, but they’re going to kill each other too, and that’s like, that’s sad, right? It sucks. These are Our Boys. Let’s talk about them.

I’ve alluded earlier and in my DMC4 review that Dante is a character who is something of a chameleon in this series – he wears a lot of different hats. He can kind of be whatever he needs to be, symbolically. A romantic hero, a gothic one, a gay icon, a harlequin. And it works, he’s a complicated guy, aided by the fact that he’s the character who most often straddles the fourth wall, playing most directly to the audience. But no matter what Dante is in a given moment there’s something he always is, unerringly: closed off. Dante’s most consistent trait, more than loving pizza, more than being a loud mouth, more than thinking violence is sexy, is being unwilling to let other people in on his own turmoil. He doesn’t lack for it! When your dad is Cool Satan and your mom dies saving you from demons when you’re only a wee lad, right in front of your eyes, as your house burns around you, surely that would fuck you up. Dante is kind of an asshole but he IS an innately kind person; he’s made it his mission to hunt demons and he does it mostly altruistically (he is clearly not raking in the bucks at any point in the timeline we meet him on) and throughout the series he’s looking out for other people, trying to do right by them even if it’s often in a paternalistic, self-sacrificial way.

But while he’s happy to be there for other people, emotionally and more often physically, he’s loathe to let anyone be there for him. After Vergil rejects his offer of family Dante essentially shuts down and he’s on a downward path for the rest of his life. We see it at the end of the third game when he stoically rejects Lady’s attempt to comfort him in his obvious grief, physically turning away from her to hide the evidence of his tears as he verbally denies their existence; we see it in 1 where he only talks about his feelings for Trish after he thinks she’s dead, and when she’s back at the end he frames all of his tenderness towards her insecurities rather than as a projection of his feelings; 2 is perhaps his most obviously wooden state in all directions and gives him no obvious opportunities for connection; and in 4 he essentially fails to act normal towards Nero until the actual ending, when there are multiple points where large parts of the story could have been entirely averted or assuaged had he just taken a moment to let Nero in. I don’t JUST mean when he’s first meeting Nero and Nero tries to kill him either, I mean once Nero is suspicious of the church and Dante clearly knows what’s going on; just chat him up in the jungle bro! But he can’t, that’s his whole thing. Dante is like 40 years old in DMC4, and he’s had no reason to get better about his hangups and many reasons to get worse since Vergil amplified them twenty years prior. By the time of DMC5 it’s no wonder why he tries to forcibly remove all of his friends from a dangerous scenario even before he realizes how personal the conflict is to him, and why he works so much harder once he does connect the dots – he’s fully given up on trying. And after getting away with having people at arm’s length for so long, why not? It’s going fine. So in 5 he repeatedly tries to psych Nero out of hanging around, eventually starts telling him flat out to leave, and he refuses to talk to Trish about Vergil, again framing it as for her own benefit when she’s wounded as an excuse to avoid his own feelings.

I feel like Dante is largely a pretty classic variation on the post-war Japanese delinquent type of guy who exists explicitly in opposition to the conservative society that he largely was spawned from, or even the post-delinquent kind of scrappy hero you'd see in the post-Nikkatsu studio boom (thinking about early Imamura type protagonists - although Dante's sexuality is more implicit to his being), and oftentimes this character comes with a bleeding heart of gold that may be hidden to varying degrees, to further drive home his separation from the straight lace he opposes; except that Dante clearly sees his vulnerability as a weakness to be hidden, fully erecting his facade, which DMC5 offers the most cracks in. Throughout the game, especially in the last few missions as things become more dire and he’s starting to sweat, you can see Dante’s happy-go-luckiness slip. Not that it’s a mask all the time, but that in these moments he has to work for it. There’s a degree to which he would rather fake his normal personality than deal with his shit. I don’t think Dante’s totally putting it on or anything, like I think when Vergil is like “if I 1v1 nero and win it’s like I beat you okay” and Dante replies jokingly to it I think that’s a genuine response to the absolutely unhinged thing Vergil said, but I also think it’s an effort to enact a Nothing Is Wrong Tee Hee personality All The Time, and he loses it a lot at the end of the game.

Vergil, then, as ever, is Dante’s opposite. He didn’t get those last few moments of parental love before their mom died, because she died looking for him after she sheltered Dante, so the lesson Vergil took away from that night was that the only person he can ever rely on is himself, and he needs to become strong enough that no one can hurt him ever, ever again. That is, of course, a starting point, and a driving element of his personality that we were missing before DMC5 shows us those moments in detail. Crystallizing the moment of trauma also crystallizes these two as people rather than fun but shallow shonen protagonists. Vergil may ultimately be an enormous prick with no empathy but he’s not like that for no reason now and I do think that’s worth something.

So where Dante is a red-blooded rebellious asshole Vergil is prim and proper, clothes suggesting angular lines and rigid posture. His speech is formal, his sword is more classically elegant, an ornate katana vs. Dante’s gaudy hot topic ornament broadsword. He evokes classical samurai imagery in more than his sword – it’s in his cruel demeanor, his manufactured regality, the way that much of this is a facade, and the way he considers power a justification in itself. The strong dominate the weak – he has experienced this firsthand, as the weak, as a boy – and so in pursuit of becoming the strong, nothing is off the table, and more than once he does some intense mass murder to get to where he needs to be. He essentially has the same image of the ideal man in his head that modern Japanese fascists do but he at least has the justification of terrible childhood trauma driving his insecurities.

The thing about Dante and Vergil though isn’t just that they’re opposites - they’re also twins. They perceive themselves to have the same problem: they both think that to be vulnerable is their ultimate weakness, and to cope with that they’re both performing idealized images of masculinity, they just have different ideas of what that looks like. Dante’s is obviously less harmful to the world at large because he hasn’t murdered anyone over it and he never voted for Shinzo Abe, but he’s doing the same fundamental thing Vergil is doing in his own way. And sure, Dante is in a healthier place overall; he has friends who love him and whom he loves, and I think it’s telling that when he commits symbolic seppuku among their mother’s ashes he is empowered by absorbing the last earthly relic of their father where Vergil does the same thing and it intentionally separates all of his empathy into a separate guy while he becomes a buff, shitty monster dude. But at the same time, when we get like 90% of the way to a resolution and Vergil is back to himself and Dante is there with him for the first time as real equals in over twenty years, Dante does not recreate the events of DMC3. He doesn’t reach out to Vergil. He doesn’t even try to talk him down this time. He just wants to kill him and be done with it, or die. He’s been burned too many times. He simply can’t be that guy again.

It would be the setup for a genuine tragedy, two men trapped in a cycle of violence that reaches back (and as we will soon see, now forward as well) generations and leads them to destroy their family. It would be if not for the fact that there is a Third Boy at play. We gotta talk about Nero.

One of the most charming things about Nero is that in a series where everybody else is acting Like That all the time he is basically just a normal guy? Like yes he used to have a fucked up demon arm and yes he can rev his sword like a motorcycle but like, all this man wants to do in the world is hang out with his fuckin girlfriend bro. He’s just a nice little grumpy guy. He kind of tries to do banter with guys he fights but he’s not very good at it, and it’s VERY easy to rile him up. Really wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s pouty. I love this guy dude, I just want to make him an ice cream cone with like three scoops on it. I wanna put him in a little glass jar and shake it up. Great guy, Nero.

But he’s got his own shit, right! He was adopted by some important people in the cult church from DMC4, I forget if they had a name, it’s not important, kind of raised by his girlfriend’s brother, whom he will later kill in self-defense (5 brings this up in a pivotal moment as something that motivates Nero in the present, which I appreciate), and he has that fucked up demon arm, which he feels compelled to hide for his whole life because he assumes his church will not be cool about it, unaware that they are actually a demon cult. So when things do start popping off and the only institution that he’s known a tenuous sort of safety and family with turns on him and endangers his found family in his girlfriend Kyrie, it’s fucked up! Gets him all mad, gets him all sad! But Nero doesn’t bottle shit, he doesn’t hide it. Nero might give himself more responsibility than he’s liable for but he’s a guy who understands the value of what he’s got and sings about it loudly; we don’t know as much about his circumstances as we do Dante and Virgil’s so it’s hard to know for sure what his childhood was like or how he feels about it, but it seems that his support network and his experiences have given him perspective and the ability to deal with his feelings in a healthy way, even as he’s really put through the ringer.

So when he finds out that Vergil is his dad and everyone knew this but him he’s pissed, because Vergil DID cut off his arm and murder like a million people lol, but when he finds out that this ends in Dante and Vergil killing each other he’s confused, because Nero is a normal guy and this doesn’t make any sense from the outside. You get the vibe that Nero has always wanted a family, a place to unconditionally, belong, and now that he finds out he has one everybody’s just acting like it’s an inevitability that it has to destroy itself, and that’s fundamentally unacceptable to him. In a series where I think every single game is about people somehow killing people they consider family (except maybe 2? I don’t remember if that guy was Lucia’s dad I think he wasn’t), Nero, affirmed by a conversation with his found family in Kyrie insists that this cannot be the way. In a series where people hold their shit inside, where everyone is constantly posturing like sick badasses, Nero spends an entire boss fight yelling as his dad to knock it the fuck off and act like an adult. All it took was someone without context, with eyes unclouded by a lifetime of participation in the cycle they had created, to fight for the family instead of against it. This also activates his devil trigger for the first time in a direct inversion of how that happened for Dante in 3 – a powerful protective, loving impulse rather than the urges of despair.

And it works, mostly. Things are not fully repaired, and Dante and Vergil are not new men overnight, but they do work together to stop the apocalypse Vergil had triggered, and they do consign themselves to an indefinite co-solitude in hell where they can duel each other in a friendlier way than they have in the past, because on one hand this is truly the only way they know how to communicate and on the other, as half-demons it’s demonstrated throughout the series that violence is a form of positive communication for them. This is good, I think, to demonstrate that people so stuck in their ways can’t just fix their shit in one conversation, in one act. But Dante and possibly Vergil both wanted this, and they’re happy to have it.

This is what makes DMC5 so good; Morihashi has taken all of these disparate threads from twenty years of games, each of them with very different stories and very different ideas, and builds upon each of them to create a work that is thematically satisfying and narratively conclusive for characters who didn’t necessarily have distinct narrative arcs before this. I love these characters, they’re Cool Dudes and now they’re also compelling characters, more after this than ever before. I don’t know if this is the end of Devil May Cry but I think it very well could serve as one. I hope that’s not the case, though. Not only do I think it would simply be criminal to leave the world wanting another action game this fuuuuucking sick, but they keep proving there’s always more to mine from these characters and their world. I think it would be a shame not to take another shot at it.

My Child Lebensborn é um jogo/campanha que serve para divulgar a existência das crianças nascidas pós-guerra na década de 40 que acabaram em casas de adoção por não serem da ''raça ariana''. Bastante tocante e me fez chorar no final com relatos de pessoas reais.

A gameplay pode ser descrita basicamente como uma espécie de Tamagochi onde você precisa cuidar da criança adotiva (podendo escolher entre menino e menina) alimentando-a, dando banho, vestindo, brincando, etc.

Diversos eventos ocorrem ao longo do jogo que dificultam as atividades do cotidiano, te obrigando a lidar com a situação e procurando alternativas para remediar os problemas. Enquanto ao mesmo tempo precisa trabalhar para sustentar a casa.

Muitas coisas consideradas 'gatilhos emocionais' estão presentes no jogo de forma explícita (como racismo, abusos físicos, sexuais, e psicológicos), então não é recomendado para todos.

É um jogo consideravelmente curto e contém muito texto.

Duas vezes presenciei um bug que faz os botões da tela não funcionarem, apesar de ainda assim dar feedback visual (não ''congelava'' porém ficava travado na mesma tela). Pesquisei e aparentemente ninguém teve a mesma experiência. Apenas fechando e abrindo o jogo novamente pude continuar progredindo.

Recomendo fortemente o jogo para quem não se choca facilmente, e que leiam sobre a história de Crianças Lebensborn reais após terminarem de jogar.

Que nunca esqueçamos da história deles e dos horrores do Nazifascismo e suas consequências.

bland and paper-thin in almost every regard, stretched out to an absurd length making for an overall miserable experience in my opinion

from the very first moments of the game you're assaulted with walls and walls of just the most boring, repetitious dialogue, and it's always either banal exposition about the ancient evil corrupting the land, or a prophecy or other played out fluff like that, overbearing tutorialisng about stuff like don't like walk into fire or something, or incredibly tepid attempts at humour that almost never landed for me, your companion character issun's constant harassment towards like every woman you come across was particularly painful

i found none of the characters interesting or likeable, aside from amaterasu because she's really cute

it doesn't help that almost all of these long conversations are presented in the most boring 'A cam to B cam' kind of way, near the end of the game i realised i was reading the words, but i was retaining nothing, i found it tragically funny when near the end when all the characters you've met along the way were praying for me and giving me words of encouragement and all that, i didn't know who half of them were

the game has dungeons akin to ones you'd find in zelda games, but if you're hoping for some good puzzles like i was you'll be very disappointed, they're usually just a long series of rooms with puzzles i figured out in like a second without effort, turning them into a slog

this is partially due to the brush techniques, the main gimmick of the game. these allow you to manipulate the environment around you, but they're all pretty uninspired; draw a line from some fire and you can melt some ice, use some wind to make a thingy turn, use some ice to freeze something in place, slow down time so you can run past a fast guy, make specific parts of water go up, etc.

these are not only boring and kinda clunky to use but the way they're set up is part of what makes the puzzles so obvious, if a room has fire in it, you're probably going to use it, if you see a swirly bit of water, you're probably going to use it, and it rarely gets more complicated than that, you rarely have to like combine them together in an interesting way or anything like that, and you can't really give a 'wrong answer' to any of the puzzles if that makes sense, it's just drag this one thingy to this other thingy and a door opens more often than not

the slowing down time ability is also funny because once you get it, 99% of the combat encounters become just spamming it and mashing X, meaning most of the brush techniques are on par with bad zelda items; being glorified keys rather than tools for general use

if these were the only issues i would find okami to be merely mediocre, but it's so ridiculously long for how shallow it is that it crosses a line

the game is essentially JUST this, along with running back and forth across an oversized overworld, for over thirty hours, and i wanted it to be over after two

it never gets any better, i had to take breaks from it for days at a time and considered dropping it at multiple points, it was heartbreaking whenever i thought i'd killed the final boss and then like a dark cloud comes out of it and it goes somewhere else and the narrator lady is like 'wow their journey is FAR from over!!'

this happened multiple times, and it got even worse when the game started needlessly recycling content as well, making you re-fight a load of bosses you've already fought

i was kind of indifferent to the artstyle in all honesty, but that underwater area looked amazing. i felt similarly about the music, i mostly found it kinda dull but there were a handful of songs i really liked and enhanced some moments i otherwise wouldn't have cared about. i also liked feeding all the animals as well because they're cute and i like them :3

unfortunately that's the nicest i have to say, okami is just one of the most painfully boring games i've played in quite a while and the only thing i feel after finishing it is a sense of relief. i've literally just finished it, and have already forgotten most of it

Metal Gear Rising was my first Metal Gear game (if we don't count the demo for MGS3D on 3DS) and so far it has been by favorite in terms of combat and music, the combat is super fluid, kinetic, and over all just super badass! and when you've gotten good at it you feel like a master at it! being able to parry attacks left and right, and this game probably has my favorite bosses in any action game, from Mistral to the final boss Senator Steven Armstrong, all of these bosses, there themes hit me in the right spots, speaking of which I adored the music in this game, from tracks like Rules Of Nature, A Stranger I remain and Hot Wind Blowing all of these songs are bangers! I even listen to them separately when I'm doing unrelated stuff, I consider this to be my favorite Metal Gear game so far and I since I have no problems with this game I'd say it's deserving of a 5/5 stars, if you like action games I highly recommend giving this one a shot! (seriously fuck Konami for not allowing MGR2 to happen)

The acceptable shape of "hard games" has grown small. They have lock on, they have generous I-frames in the form of a big dodge roll, they have little 6 pixel platforms surrounded by spikes, they have big flashing symbols telling me the dangerous attack is about to hit, they have little 30 second checkpoint loops so that I don't have to waste my time replaying a section i beat, they present all information with absolute clarity, they make sure I have enough resources so that I don't need to think about it. These things are not bad but they are so common it becomes limiting. If a game breaks the formula, it's fake difficulty, fake difficulty is when the game is difficult in ways I don't like, making it fake.
Ninja Gaiden has enemies who will grab you for blocking too much, the grab has almost no tell, you simply need to be aware it's a risk. Ninja Gaiden has enemies who will pelt you with exploding knives for daring to be in the same room as them, that's not their only attack it's just a thing they'll do. Ninja Gaiden gives you a dozen attacks that'll insta kill just about any goon in the game if you know where to apply them. Ninja Gaiden does not have a lock on, it would simply cause problems. Ninja Gaiden remains thrilling even as your expertise grows because it demands you remain mindful of enemies that you understand perfectly. I forgot to make a punchline for this one.

I’m not good at writing long form reviews, but this game really spoke to me in a way where I feel like I have to write something. So, I guess let me start with a bold statement: Boku no Natsuyasumi is a masterpiece. I’m not exaggerating or sugar coating that, I think this game is perfect. I hope this review will express why I think this.

A major elephant in the room when discussing this game is the fact that it has never been localized in any capacity, whether official or a fan translation (although one is supposedly in the works). Therefore, I had to play this in a sort of archaic way. I wouldn’t really recommend that, I’d say wait for the fan translation. But regardless, I’m so glad I managed to play this.

Boku no Natsuyasumi is about the titular Boku, a boy from Tokyo who is going to stay with his Aunt, Uncle, and cousins in rural Japan while his mother is preparing to give birth during summer vacation. While in this unnamed part of rural Japan, you can explore the area around you, catch bugs, talk to locals, catch fish, fly kites, wrestle beetles. Y’know, the Summer Stuff. In the simplest terms, I’d describe this game as a “summer simulator” of sorts, but just that surface level description doesn’t go into the major depth this game has.

I think mood is a major part of this game's appeal. Of course, Boku no Natsuyasumi is a game about reliving your childhood, so you get some of that major childlike wonder at certain moments of the game. However, as this game is told from the perspective of an adult Boku, I think “bittersweet nostalgia” is the perfect way to describe this game’s mood. While this game is pure vibes and a joy to play, there is a hint of melancholy here. Post-war reconstruction, dealing with the loss of a family member, and teenage angst and depression are some of the topics that are dealt with here, and I think it handles this beautifully.

The characters are also delightful! The main family is lovely, with Moe’s heartbroken arc being the one that resonated with me the most. But I also love the other people you can run into, such as the vice principal, the delinquent boys, and the wolf girl.

By the time I finished this game, I was near tears. I didn’t want to leave, I didn’t want it to end. I truly felt like I stumbled into something magical. I wish I could put into words the depth and beauty of this game, but if you want a great (but long) explanation of why this game is so amazing, I’d highly recommend Tim Roger’s 6 hour review of the game. (although, if you’re interested in this game, I imagine you’ve already seen it)

I can’t wait until Boku no Natsuyasumi gets a fan translation. This game needs to be experienced by more people. I won’t make a sweeping statement and say it’ll appeal to everyone, but if this game sounds like it will appeal to you, I almost guarantee you it will. Absolute timeless, classic masterpiece.