Elden Ring is Huge, quite frankly massive. and It could be said, and will be said, by me, that it was TOO big for its own good.

Elden Ring is a good game, a damn good game and I absolutely can see why people think it is one of the best games of all time, but to me it's not. If anything I was disappointed because I've heard all of that and it didn't quite hit for me and It's a shame. However I will summarise it quickly before I go more in depth.

Elden Ring is Dark Souls 2 done right.

Gameplay - Elden Ring is the Gameplay of Dark Souls 3 but more refined and with more QoL features which allow for more fun and varied gameplay... If you don't like challenge. Elden Ring is one of the easiest games in this genre, if not the easiest aside from a few boss fights which were unfairly difficult like Malenia... which I have pure hatred and PTSD of "I AM MALENIA BLADE OF MIQUELLA" taunting on me with every death. Nontheless, if you're looking for a soulsborne game to start with ER is a perfect start for it. Alongside that, if You are a veteran you will absolutely adore the massive variety of playstyles and builds I don't believe many other games can say is possible.

Story - beautiful worldbuilding created by GRRM and built upon by Miyazaki. But other than its lore I believe it is Other than Dark souls 2) the weakest overall story of the catalogue. It is a shame as it had some really good building up but it never really hit. I must absolutely say, I love how I played through the game and found I missed so many people, forgot about others, and only finished a few stories. This is very well done and opens up for more playthroughs, which I will eventually get around to another year.

World - Other than my thoughts on it being maybe too large for it's own good, the most major positives of the game come from the first 2/3s of the game, absolutely beautifully paced until the mountaintops, stunning design with brilliant level design. This is always FromSoft in their element and here is no different. Even the mountaintops is only meh at worst and not even bad. What's been said by most reviews here I will have to say for this. Unbelievable world design.

Bosses - worst part of this game, while being extremely awesome to see and fight initially. most bosses turn out to be redone over and over and over through the game, on top of this I believe a lot of bosses were made unfairly and unfun, like Malenia, like Hourax Loux etc. they could've balanced these bosses so much better.

To summarise, this game is flawed but still great, not on the same level asmost FromSoft Games but far from bad, an unbelievable world, mazing score, great lore and incredibly done gameplay make this games positives really high, but it's bad enemy layouts, reused bosses, bad storytelling make the game unable to reach 5 Stars and thus

I give this game an 8.75/10

definitely buy it

I'll be playing the DLC and will make a separate review for it, I'm very excited

Sekiro is one of FromSoft's finest games ever, it is absolutely incredible and a definite masterpiece of gameplay blending with storytelling. It is truly amazing.

It is a game almost on par with Dark Souls 3 (However I slightly enjoyed 3 more than Sekiro, due to smaller things).

Gameplay - Sekiro is a smooth and crisp game with each piece of gameplay flowing and melding into each other. The fast and high action combat separates itself so heavily from souls combat with more of an emphasis on parrying, allowing fights to be visceral. On top of this, the lack of in depth gear systems streamlines the gameplay loop and makes you more attached to a playstyle so you can learn the skills of this game to an optimum level. However, the game does feature a weapon art system that absolutely blows away any other similar system in a soulsborne game, with the addition of this they compliment combat and change it up in spectacular ways.

World - absolutely stunning world with level design that compliments a mix of stealth and action. Each area felt unique and complimentary to every system and the environmental storytelling devices. The best areas especially come in the latter half of the game, the level design is mainly linear however it is presented in an open style with backtracking and the usual for a soulsborne game. All in all, this game is one of the best put worlds FromSoft have developed.

Story - The story again is presented less linearly than a souls game, filled with storytelling cutscenes and hard hitting revalations, the lore is well told mainly though fully told dialogue and storytelling devices, however they have also kept the item descriptions presenting lore. However, I believe this story, while it is still really good, it doesn't quite hit the levels of bloodborne and dark souls 3

Bosses - Incredibly well done, perfectly implemented with only very few bad bosses, almost all of the great bosses present the hardest challenge in any souls game, but beautifully transitioned into the new style of parry combat, they have excellent hitboxes, move sets and amazing boss arenas. Some of the greatest bosses in the series, most of chich being a surprise so I won't spoil any.

As stated, this game is absolutely marvellous and one of the best I've played, especially for fromsoft gmes, games should take lessons from this

and It deserves every one of this 9.5/10

amazing

Incredibly late to review, so I will sum it up to my best memory

One of the best Open Worlds to date, Night City Felt alive and breathing and was THE main character in this game

Story was Great in places and Meh in others, but overall was Mainly great and the DLC made it a whole lightyear ahead of the main game and added together they ebbed and flowed perfectly, resulting in a generally great story

Gameplay was rubbish... in 2020. Now that the Game fulfilled what was a really good backbone with updates, the gameplay is fixed and fun and resulted in an immersive and well flowing gameplay structure with great combat and great world interaction, driving too was especially enhanced. 2.0 and 2.1 really helped this game achieve what it was growing to. However, the game still had a lot of glitches and a few crashes so It isn't 100% perfectly fixed but really damn close

Overall this game is one of my favourite RPG's I've ever played, and deserves a 5 stars, barely scraping however, with a high 9/10, a really incredible game now, especially as It is almost 100% fixed and almost always on sale

a definite must buy. I spent 140 hours in it for a damn good reason.

Bloodborne is a game I went in with incredibly high expectations, "Miyazaki's magnum opus" is something I heard a lot. and I must say. It wasn't my favourite. But it is still incredibly great and holds up to that quote as I believ it is his best work yet in world, lore and Ideas. However, It suffered a little from me being so good at the game due to how much I played of the 3 prior souls games that I steamrolled the enemies. However, I say this through that lens, and I can definitely tell that had I struggled more and had that learning experience like I had through DS1 or 3 It could definitely be better than Dark souls 3.

Gameplay - To begin the game plays far more aggressive and promotes more increased activity in combat, in bosses mainly, thanks to their stagger meters which pomote breaking down to get stagger attacks. This change caused the opening hours to create some confusion to me, hwoever, once adapted and once tested this change is an incredible one, its use of hitting back to gain lost health is intuitive on a level I never expected. However, I must say that the Finite Blood Vials was an absolute pain for the majority of the tiem until deep into chalice dungeons where you gain so much Blood echoes that you can buy so many they become an non-issue. This however promotes a tedium of grinding and playing chalice dungeons if you don't want to (I did and really enjoyed them), which irks me quite a lot. The use of the 2 weapon styls was perfection and allows for incredible combos and creativity I haven't seen in a souls game yet. absolutely marvellous. 30FPS is the most glaring issue that can cause someone to quit if they can't get used to it, luckily I could but still, give us a remaster already.

World - The beautiful gothic gravitas open city mixed with the DS1 shortcut level system on a smller degree and multiple secret areas and bosses? Incredible. Best world in a soulsborne game ever, thanks to this. I absolutely love it, especially the way it changes time and looks as the game and your insight grow, showing you the true horrors, each district feeling unique and separate, as well as an absolutely superb DLC which just keeps this up. No flaws whatsoever, absolutely adore it.

Story - Arguably the most interesting single game story and deep lore, that even I can't completely wrap my head around despite countless YouTube videos I've watched dedicated to it. The beast slaying turning to eldritch horror was a perfect swivel and the vast knowledge in each area of the world makes DS1 look barebones, If this had a trilogy the world could be the Most interesting in video game history. The side ques/characters are all on Siegward/Solaire level consistently throughout with each choice having an impact on everything and most stories saw having a great start and ending. I saw a lot of stories play out and missed a lot, ahd a few prematurely ended but it still all felt like a mini narrative built in a grand narrative, including absolutely deep narrative for the damn chalice dungoens that I still can't wrap my head around, absolutely insanely good. Absolutely amazing.

Bosses - were consistently good with having generally no bad bosses aside from that damn Miccolash and Witches of Hemwic, which I understand were creative, but they were ultimately dreadful. however, when they had great bosses, they were impeccable, Lady Marie, the final boss, Martyr Logarius, Ludwig and the final DLC boss were impeccable. However, Like I said, I never really struggled, other than with logarius and I believe he was my favourite fight thanks to this, but that's not a game Issue as I know I am in an incredibly small minority thinking this.

Overall this game is absolutely impeccable and thanks to all of its Highs and really minor lows and a personal Low, this game is still one of the best Soulsborne games ever and deserves incredible praise and love. Give us the damn remaster and a sequel.

I am absolutely struggling between 9.25 and 9.5 for this rating, so I will air on the lower side at 9.25/10 but my god is it close

Buy this game now

This game... Is a true marvel, and honestly it deserves the greatest reverence and praise that a soulsborne game can get, of every soulsborne I've played (all beside ER) I can say it is my favourite of them all. and here is why.

Gameplay - Challenging and rewarding, most of these games have gotten progressively easier as I played, the more I played but this maintained its challenge, through its invigorating and creative boss design with incredible flowing combos and delays that I haven't seen in a soulsborne game, closest to accomplish was Sekiro, which to me is at its core is what makes these games. However, this game had the helping of 2 prior souls games to improve upon and it did, flowing combos as players, smooth animations, QoL changes (Like moving when using estus) and generally more creativity into how you want to play. This game is a major step up by learning and adapting. All in an absolutely crisp 60fps

World - While being vastly more linear than any souls game prior and without the awesome shortcuts that made DS1's level design so impeccable, this stands out as being something separate to that design. It's use of beautiful scenic vistas and incredible guidance to help avoid being lost was pivotal to this design. The game flowed in this way unlike any other souls game did it. It was a stunning game with marvellous graphics that feel incredible even now 8 years later. Boss Arenas felt perfect and I feel as though I never saw a singular bad arena and the memorable ones absolutely stick out in a way no others have done. the enemy placement was perfect, not many replaced bosses in the regular gameplay and generally feels again like it refined all it learnt. However, the use of poison swamps in this game and the short length of the first DLC weigh slightly against it in this regard, I don't know why Miyazaki enjoys poison swamps they are annoying as all hell. Further, irithryll dungeon may be one of the worst areas I've seen in a souls game and deserves heavy criticism thanks t its awful enemies and feel like a boring roadblock on the way to Yhorm which could genuinely be missing from the game and would make it eb much better

Story - this is a game that weighs heavily in its narrative laurels to its 2 prior games stories, which makes sense as it is the final game of the trilogy, if it didn't tie in the way it does to these stories, seeing what we see from the older games, it may as well just be another story in another game. I believe this story was much more coherent and deep in its lore compared to the priors, and builds strongly thanks to this. it takes a lot more from the first rather than the second which, is a shame, I would have loved to see more of that despite not liking the seconds story. The main games story in its "Darkness" ending is a perfect way to cap off the main story, and lead into the overall best narrative told through its story of Gael in its next 2 DLC's with them being the most perfect post story additions. The story of Gael and the Paintings, the Dark Soul creates a truly brilliant and beautiful cap to the trilogy and the story and I hope they never release a fourth.

Bosses - Impeccable generally. A wide step up from DS2 and 1 and slightly better than Bloodborne bosses and on par with Sekiro. A few generally meh bosses sprinkled but when you have bosses like The Nameless King, The Final Boss, Pontiff, Abyss watchers, Friede, Midir and the Final DLC boss and MORE of just impeccable quality the game is just wiping the loor, they are all a challenge through every level no matter what, no matter how levelled you are. You NEED to learn these bosses through trial and effort, and thanks to this they are marvellous.

All in all however, I must give my final thoughts on this true masterpiece, and If it wasn't clear enough, my thoughts are that it is just a few missteps away from being perfect but is the best Soulsborne game I've played to this point and deserves a HUGE 9.75!!! incredible and slides comfortably into my favourites ever.

A definite must play

I don't want to do too big of a review for this, you've heard it all before

Not a good game, Not a good story, Good worldbuilding though.

Level design was abhorrent with truly terrible runbacks, too many enemies to creat artificial difficulty and uniteresting worldspacs for the most parts

Bosses were a mixed bag, but i can't really think of any stand out ones but generally some good quality some bad quality.

Score as per usual was beautiful and highly rate it but not nearly as memorable as DS1 to me.

Story, I honestly didn't care about in the same way I did with 1, the final boss sorta came out of nowhere to me because I wasn't invested throught

I never even attempted the DLC because after 25 hours I was sick of the game and Just wanted it to be done

Not a shockingly dreadful game, but a very mediocre 5/10 and I doubtfully will play again

So where do I begin?

89 hours of the game, I started over a month ago, doesn't seem like much, but it was only until about 14 days ago where I put in 75% of my hours.

The beginning of my first run I felt alienated, the game was extremely tough obviously and I couldn't play for long bursts at a time, but then, about 2 weeks ago I found the rhythm, I found bliss and love and... PRAISE THE SUN

This game is a masterclass, so much so that I finished this game on the 21st for the first time, instantly made a new character, got until Christmas day where I got to Ornstein and Smough, figured out I made a shockingly bad build and made a new character the same day much better built and then 3 days later I completed the game, doing far more than I did in my first run

Have I got good yet?

to be perfectly candid, had the game not faltered when searching for the four lord souls this would be my highest thought game of 9.75, but due to that long stretch I can't give it that... so let's talk about this game and why It was so close to perfection.

Gameplay
Tough, but not impossible, when people say souls games are just too difficult to actually play, they're wrong and I thought the same as them until this game. This game, gives players everything without telling them anything, did I use some guides playing? yes I did because it certainly is a difficult to understand game but even without sparsely used guides this game gives players all the tools they need, from this point it's on us.

This game absolutely nails it's gameplay, A youtuber I watched (forgot the name now sorry) said " Dark Souls is either the slowest action game or the fastest strategy game ever" and he is absolutely correct, this game requires strategic thinking, each boss is like a puzzle, but if you are too quick and guns blazing or too slow to react and process you will fail, and this is what the game is learning, through each death you're learning the patterns and the mechanics and losing supplies, and that is why it's so infuriating especially dying on your way back to collect your souls and humanity, but on the opposite side, when you do beat the bosses and do these small celebrations they're so rewarding. When I beat Artorias for the second time after 10's of deaths, I screamed, it took so long and it was so amazing of a feeling, this is the intrinsic reward gained to you playing the game.

Al of this is warranted because of its incredible gameplay system, from the countless builds and strategies, from using a strength Zweihander build like my first or a faith build like my second, Using summons both NPC and Co-Op (which I can't recommend on a first playthrough as it absolutely ruined the Ornstein fight on my first playthrough). Each gameplay system flows off another so incredibly well the game is recommendable for its gameplay alone.

Story/Lore
Marvellous, if you read descriptions of items gathered, I can't even summarise here it's just amazingly done, watch lore retrospectives on YouTube!

World Design
1/2 of this game is the best level design I've ever seen, Anor Londo was absolutely angelic at first glance, or each of the interconnected shortcuts back To firelink shrine the home and safe spot of the game, the level design was so well thought up and a true masterpiece, hell the DLC's world was just as amazing as this and kept being a consistent banger.

The Other 1/2 was absolutely the worst level design I've ever seen, FromSoft were running out of budget and close to deadline and it ruined the last half of the game with shoddy, lazy level design, Tomb of Giants and Bed of Chaos especially, It is such a shame this let it down so heavily.

Bosses
Challenging, fair, fun, rewarding
Check, Check, Check, Check

For the most part the Bosses here are sublime (apart from you bed of chaos, four Kings and Capra) and should be heralded, and Apparently it only gets better from here, truly the most fun I had with this game was fighting Knight Artorias and Ornstein and Smough despite how many times I died!

With ALLLLL of this said...

where does this game land?

9/10

it is fantastic, but the failures of the last half would've took it below a 9 had it not been for how amazing the DLC is. The fact I have had 2 playthroughs in such quick succession when I NEVER do this is testament enough, absolute banger.

I have DS2 and 3 ordered and already own Bloodborne and ER but never got very far, going to get Sekiro too, FromSoft I can't wait!

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is the Batman Arkham City To Marvel's Spider-Man 1

This is a statement in which I do not say lightly, this is a near perfect video game superhero sequel, but it is not quite perfect, falls just short of reaching that perfection, simply because, no game is perfect, much like Arkham City.

Marvel's Spider-Man 1 is a masterpiece of superhero storytelling, writing a story that felt like it could have been perfectly fit on the pages of a comic, Insomniac knocked it out of the park, despite some pacing issues. This game as a result lived in the shadow of the first in regards to how it would always be compared. So how does it compare to its first and spin-off Miles Morales?

Really well, I'd say very similarly to be honest. I am very happy with how most of these systems turned out. So with this, lets start.

Story:
To begin is story, the crown jewel of the first game was absolutely its strong and empathetically emotional tale of grief and triumph.

Spider-Man 2 on the other hand writes a different style of narrative, that focuses less on the emotion and more on the character building and relationships between Peter, Miles, MJ and the newly added from a lot of build up in past 2 games, Harry Osborne. This was an utter triumph, it made us feel connections better than Spider-Man 1 had accomplished.

This story goes so heavy on go big or go home, every 2 hours in story there is something new going on, and I believe the game absolutely has the best intro in any superhero media. and it only goes bigger from there

On the other hand was the Villains of the game compared to the first do not reach the heights of Dr Octopus, but are better than Mr Negative, who himself was really great.

Kraven himself was absolutely incredible, shocked me just how they changed a one note villain who works only in comics and made him fit this Games story impressively, each of his boss fights were impeccable, especially the final boss fight of his. His entire character being someone who paralleled another character in this game in his own way was well executed. he was the villain for the majority of the game, much like Martin Li and this is very evident, and is amazing for it, however I believe he certainly missed a connection to the main characters that makes him empathetic like what Martin Li had accomplished in the first.

Venom... Wow. They were absolutely incredible. Do not go into this game thinking Venom will be comic accurate, he is not, he is instead a new take on the character from Insomniac and I am happy for it, best Venom outside of comics yet, however I know absolutely that A LOT of comic book fans are not enjoying this version, I must say I definitely do. From the bond the host had to peter, making it even closer than what Doc Oc had, to the incredible build up from Symbiote Spider-Man to venom making the suit feel personal to peter and even us, as we get to experience the suit and how it changes peter, but not even peter, It changed me, when I had the symbiote power I felt so strong and powerful and amazing, it's connection was perfect. There is a section, when we first see venom that introduces something we hadn't seen in nearly 20 years now, it was an amazing time and I was shocked all throughout. The Final Boss with Venom on top of that, as jaw dropping to put it plain and simple, the multiple stages and the sheer set piece of it, I would have personally switched the way it starts to the opposite to how it did in this, for a more personal fight, but otherwise this was amazing. Now I must mention this part will have SPOILERS just so I can comment on my main criticism of the final 25% ---------- So here we go, I believe that this game would absolutely have benefitted from having 3 more missions where we play as Venom, it doesn't make the game worse that it was only once, but it would have made the game better if we did, simply due to how strong this would've made Venom feel, even when he already did from the get go. overall this game can be seen that the final 25% felt rushed and I absolutely see the possibility, but this was the same in Spider-Man 1, I have no issue with this in both of these games.

The Side Quests, are easily a massive step up from the first and even Miles. Miles had better side quests too, with the building of community of Harlem, but this game built on the community of New York, of Kraven and of a returning wraith from spider-mans past.

Overall this story is roughly on par with the first if not just under, but very close, The first is a masterpiece in superhero storytelling

Gameplay

The gameplay here, is absolutely a 150% step up, even with it getting rid of gadgets, because what e do have, have absolutely more use in combat and are more fun than the first, with an everchanging skill tree for Miles, Peter, Both and the gadgets, which allows for a great showcase of progression.

The Games combat is vastly more difficult than the first with the implementation of parry, and thanks to this and updated boss fights create a more fast, fluid and engaging combat, rather than the button mashing first two games, alongside the absolutely fluent animations which improves upon even Miles Morales' animations. Combos are so much more fun, with more ways to get combat in air, implementation of the spider-arms, Symbiotes and Miles' Venom.

Traversal has been vastly updated with, web wings, loop-de-loop, turns and much faster swing speed and further jumps. This makes traversal a huge step ahead of the first. However at some points due to the wind tunnels, if you use web wings a lot you can definitely over rely on them, however, I fully believe that because these are optional free-roaming that it isn't a criticism, but something to be wary of.

Stealth is genuinely worse in this game due to how easy it becomes with the web lines, I love the idea but it wasn't balanced well, I would rather have had that as a gadget that can have an upgradable amount, further the lack of gadgets like trip mines for stealth really weakens the gameplay in this regard

The suits are absolutely beautiful and have a mix of great an terrible suits, although I am sure people will love the suits I hate, especially with the suit variations. Although, they removed so many suits from the first game which definitely feels lame and lazy from the devs.

Replayability is a huge issue due to having no replayable missions and NG+ right now, although insomniac did say this will happen in an update by the end of this year, which for business reasons will drive Replayability so I understand, but I still find it very annoying.

To add, the game has some really bad bugs from really minor artifact culling issues to some genuinely atrocius music muting for no reason and crashes, which happened to me onlh once but more people very often

World

Spider-Man 1 but bigger and better, yet still more concise as you are not forced to defeat 5 crimes for each faction in every district.

Queens and Brooklyn are such a great and thankful addition that just fits perfect and seamlessly into the game perfectly, they both feel different, especially queens with its bungalows and regular houses.

Genuinely absolutely beautiful with its Ray Tracing, Its fully redone traffic and pedestrians. on top of how the world changes times and weather and the overall setting throughout the game, feels a lot more impactful than the first games looks, it definitely is a HUGE upgrade for what it is. However, a huge minus to this game is how there is no changing weather and time post launch, it is quite frankly a joke it is not in the game when it was in the firs and Miles Morales.

I love the side activities in the game, from finding bots that lead to an awesome secret ending to taking photos for Robbie Robertson, the bases as their is not too many that it overtakes the gameplay and makes it a slog like Spider-Man 1 and not too little like Miles Morales, it is a perfect sweet spot, they even continued how Spider-Man 1 added more things to do as you progress. There is so many side quests, from combat challenges, to a story one based on a cult, they are marvellous and set up hopefully DLC or Spin-offs.

Finding Miles Morales, and other heroes throughout the city doing crimes or coming to help you do a crime is a huge point in making this game feel much more alive.

Finally, I feel the removal of taking photos of easter eggs in the cities from Spider-Man 1 in place of pictures ruins the immersion and fun of the city, why couldn't they do this again, with new easter egg locations?

Overall, This game, is far from perfect, much like the original Spider-Man, and like the other best series of superhero games in the Arkham Tetralogy.

However, this game takes most of what Spider-Man 1 introduced, condences what was needed in great ways, and generally improves everything else, other than stealth and perhaps story (only in a small way, they're very close). So with this in mind, I must absolutely note that The trilogy of games here are all marvellous, with Spider-Man 1 being a masterpiece for its story, despite Miles being the same score and not a masterpiece. This game IS a masterpiece, alongside the first for its sheer improvements to the formula whilst keeping an amazing story. Although its flaws of not including things that the other 2 did have, really definitely takes away points that could have been awarded had they been there right now, alongside some other issues like not being able changing the colour of a certain unlock post launch.

With all of this in mind I will give this game a 9/10 like the prior 2 games, however a high 9 5 starts out of 5 as I believe it is Just a little better than Spider-Man 1.

A definite must buy if you have a PS5!!

Quick review for this one As generally most of what I said about remastered applies here.

Story
Generally an okay story, nothing major really, worse than remastered by a mile but not bad, very short and concise, maybe too short to form bonds needed as part of the narrative beats, but a fun and heart warming story nontheless

Gameplay
A much smoother playing version of the original with more things to do, better traversal, better combat and smoother more fluid animations, everything you like about the original has ben improved here, and it is no surprise to hear Spider-Man 2 feels more like Miles Morales. My only gripe with this is that suits no longer have their own powers, but even then the choice to change into more attribute based makes combat still just as fun, I wish it could have utilised both.

World
What I said about the original stands here, the world is lively and immersive, however with an upgraded harlem and a pretty winter coating, I must say this world is a definite improvement over the original, aside from the side content which makes the world feel a lot more ubisoft like in its collectathon.

Overall, Like I said with the original, Miles Morales is a definite must play for superhero and video game fans alike.

A 9/10 for a much much shorter and concise game that fills narratives needed for Spider-Man 2, which I am extremely excited to play this coming Friday by when this review is published

EXCELSIOR

"Return to Roots" was the marketing tagline of this new Assassin's Creed Experience, developed by a Ubisoft team with no past releases in the series. Much like Ubisoft Sophia (who released rogue) this was always going to be a title that received little budget in development and a much smaller team of Around 400 (Compared to the thousands who work in Montreal and Quebec Studios). But Bordeaux fought heart and soul to make this a game, a standalone game instead of a DLC, they itched and ached for this to be a return to roots, an Assassin's Creed game, the first one to play as an Assassin (Hidden One is the same thing) since Bayek in Origins, and the first game to have the core gameplay loop of a classic AC since syndicate. So how did this hold up?

Very Good, I will say off the bat. Bordeaux were left to use systems from the prior 3 AC titles, mainly Valhalla and due to budget and engine limitations couldn't change too much of what they had, but what they could change, was absolutely for the better.

Story.
Firstly, Let's get the elephant out of the room, the story is mediocre, it starts of really strong, ends really strong and overall maintains the classic Assassin's Creed philosophy and guidance and understands it well, however the middle majority of the game, hardly had a story, and what was there was plagud by inconsistent writing and campy Movie Dialogue, however Basim and Roshan definitely stole the show in the game, the majority of other characters were either hit or miss, or just unmemorable.
The Story in the majority was mainly done to serve the core gameplay Loop of Investigating and assassinating The Order of The Ancients, who, for the first time since origins felt at least that they had some story instead of being masked people just to pad out run time, even if they weren't written well, it was serviceable and helped me not get bored.
A solid 20 hour story with side content that takes another 10-20 hours if you rush, this is a much smaller project and it is so so much better for it, as it does not overstay its welcome like Valhalla and odyssey had done prior.

Missions.
The Missions of the game are what reminds me the most of the original Assassin's Creed 1, just with the elements of Blackbox missions, which were underwhelming to some extent as there was multiple routes to achieve them, but they'd all end the same way, However, this core mission loop was extremely fun and engaging for me, the occasional tailing mission, eavesdropping, fighting, stealing and Assassinating was a perfect decision to modernise the loop and changed what made AC1 repetitive into a fun task that never felt repetitive.
I also enjoyed that you can do these targets in any order you'd like, I went clockwise only staying in the district that was assigned to me at the time, made a really enjoyable and immersive experience to the AC games, something they can do rather well, but mirage did especially well.
On top of this, is a variety of side-content like finding incredible gear along the world such s the Abbasid knight (not a spoiler was in pre release gameplay) alongside unlockable costumes and talismans which add no stats but increase the customisation of the game, The only way this can be improved is by adding an option to like in origins go in the menu, take down Hood and even choose if you want a beard or not.
Tales of Baghdad were short side missions found in the world that enhance the immersion of the world and provide easter eggs, my only issue is there is not many at all of these.
Assassin Contracts are missions that you take from the bureaus that are side content, they have short storylines with them that add more flavour and fun to the world as they are well designed.
This game sorely lacks NG+ and a repayable mission and contracts option, it makes replayability weak for the game without it and is definitely a slight on the game for it.

World.
Arguably the greatest world design that Ubisoft has ever produced, especially with AC, A city on par with unity's paris or Brotherhoods Rome. Mirage is a city that can be traversed entirely on rooftop, utilising excellent parkour tools like the new beams to jump across gaps and returning ziplines, each roof you are on has at least 2 routes you can take from here, if not more to traverse the cityscape, I myself have found even after finishing the story that I was finding new parkour routes I have never seen before. The city feels alive, with bustling streets, the absolutely stunning bazaar which immediately became one of my favourite landmarks in any AC, The variety in every district, each feeling unique, from the slums of Sharqiyah to the rich inner-city and the Beautiful and visually stunning Caliphates palace which towers over everywhere in the city. Baghdad is one of, if not the best cities in the series.
a wilderness that evokes Origins Egypt in its design and its secrets and places to find, without the overabundance of Question marks and bandit forts, making the exploration fun due to its use of unmarked moments or thrilling use of Negative space to make the outside feel immersive.

Stealth.
Arguably the best stealth the series has had to offer yet, on par with unity and syndicates loop, it took what could have been a great foundation of stealth from origins, expanded the social stealth from Valhalla and made it more akin to AC2 - Syndicate as we now have crowd blending back and hiring groups, which made this experience feel even more like classic AC. The detection system was fixed from the absolutely broken System in Valhalla which made stealth not only actually doable, but also challenging and made players want to use it.
The use of tools in this game, brought the variety from older games to a head and makes each stealth situation have many many different ways to go about, do you parkour through, use your smoke bombs and eliminate 4 targets in a go, do you take them all out with a well placed throwing knife, track their route with Enkidu your eagle and place traps along?
I must say however, the AI in this game is bad, arguably the worst part of this game, guards hardly react seeing a dead comrade, there are chases if caught but they will never catch you or pose a threat like the original games, and they don't have the excellent routine feature that only origins featured which would have made this AI go from bad to good in and of itself.

Combat.
This section varies from opinion to opinion, some thinking it is bad, some good. Me, I thought it was serviceable, It used the foundation parts of RPG with The essence of the Ezio trilogy games, including counter kills. Alongside this, combat is tough, you can only take around 4 hits and you will die, you are not a warrior in this game, but you can use skills like an unlockable roll over enemies, dodges and even tools in combat to aid this.
However combat doesn't feel good to use, it feels barebones and an afterthought, it isn't too fun to do. but as weird as this sounds, I believe it was done this way so that combat is not incentivised in game, much like how Mario kart makes driving not fun if you're on grass, combat isn't fun if you are caught because this is a stealth game. Although I wish it was more in depth including more skills or tools like the harpoon that was in Valhalla.

Parkour.
Mediocre but a definite improvement over the RPG trilogy. Not much difference from the RPG Trilogy Parkour, however the animations and overall parkour is sped up and feels more fluid; on top of what I have already said about the city, The parkour is easily aided so much by the level design that it actually feels amazing, and if you don't believe me, watch youtubers like AltairStealth who showcases the brilliance of the level designs aiding of the parkour, this parkour while not being the best in the series, feels better than the RPG trilogy and even the Colonial trilogy because of its level design.

Overall, this is not my favourite game, but it is certainly great, on the same A tier with Black flag, but there is 4 games, it simply can't beat for me, Origins and the Ezio Trilogy.
It does so well in so many areas but not so well in others, and despite that I do love this game and I am so happy for everything it has done to rejuvenate the AC franchise. Seriously give Bordeaux a fully funded AC project that is back to roots and it will arguably become the best AC ever.
Despite all of this, I cannot Give it the 5 stars, however it comes so close.
an 8.25/10 seriously it is great and for releasing at £44 I can safely recommend getting this now

Disco is a pure masterpiece of video game design and art. My first CRPG and I am blown away in each and every aspect from story to gameplay, I have honestly seen absolutely no flaws when I played the game, No pertinent glitches, no bad story beats and no bad game design.

Story - This kept coming, each slow moment comes with a booming surprise of extraordinary proportions, for the most part this game has no action, it is a deep dark delve into the psyche of a broken middle aged man who begins his life anew and solves a mysterious case with U-Turns everywhere.

Gameplay - The Core loop of this game is dialogue and how each choice has a Major or minor impact in the story, and this is not a fake choice system, each one has an affect unless told so. There is a skill system that is based on actual mental functions, skills are built by investing skill points or wearing suitable clothing. skills, clothing and tools help give dialogue and action checks a chance of succeeding.

Art - The entire Art Direction from style to substance, from visual to audio is immaculate and a true work of art, Video games are an art form and if anyone argues against this I will and you should show them this game as an example of your point.

Before I give my score, I want to give my absolute thanks and most sincere apologies to Designer Robert Kurvitz and Artist Aleksander Rostov for creating this masterpiece, and for what has come out of your company ZA/UM. I Hope you all get back on your feet and make another incredible Game.

All in all, this game, gets a full 10/10 for me, this has slid its way into my top 3 games I have ever played, only beaten by Red Dead Redemption 2 and God Of War.

BUY IT!

Addition after a second playthrough - How can a 10/10 game get better? well it did, impeccable.

Ghost Of Tsushima is a Game full of incredible Highs and no Low Lows, however with a good chunk of mediocrity. It is as great as I remembered it being and I loved my entire time playing and Platinuming it as my First PS5 Platinum.

To start on a downer I must say that After playing so much of it's repetitive Collectables which are greatly implemented in its open world, doing these even in between the story bored me over time and thus a month long hiatus I took unrelated to the game was actually a blessing in disguise as It gave me a brand new wanting to play. I found the same complaints through coming back however it was still a fun enough experience with it's collectables.

Being A platinum you know I love this game in all aspects, so Here is my list as to my pro's to this masterpiece of a game.

Story - With no Spoilers, This is a story of heartbreak, revenge and growth/Change. Jin's Growth from Samurai subservient to his code and his struggle finding ways to defeat his enemy, The Mongols, to embracing the change and becoming The Ghost. This inner turmoil is the principle of the story with each other beat like regaining the island and helping his allies and civilians working alongside this, each quest and side quest has Jin learning some new mentality, from quoting Sun Tzu to creating his own Quotes, Jin is always growing. Tragedy too is huge, loss of friends and civilians you don't know but love as you feel you are Jin, so many areas of this story is a Tragedy, this helping you more and more hate the threat, leading to a final showdown with so much depth into it. In summary this story is a dark tragedy with a story of growth, a true mastery of video game storytelling which can hold up to the better story based games of the same ilk.

Style - From environment to audio this game Oozes Art in each o it's pores, on a first look it is gritty and realistic but taken a better look you see it doesn't try to look as good as red dead 2 or The Last of Us, but instead goes stylised and fits by looking beautiful in its masterful use of colour theory and world design, Further the level design, while in areas like towns can be annoying is generally impeccable with the world grabbing your attention all the time, is perfectly guided with scenic vistas and paths, and Using Nature evokes the themes of rebirth, growth and renewal with Jin's connection to each facet of it brings an emotional connection.

Travel - Not much to say except the Mechanic of the guiding wind is a game changer from the standardised and boring waypoint and/or compass, the standout feature of the game and helps the Horse mechanic feel much more fun whilst being rudimentary.

Combat - The swordplay is absolutely impeccable, especially on Lethal which is what I played, it makes each strike deadly to both you and enemies creating a hard but not soulsborne Combat, interesting and engaging with a robe=ust toolkit which is completely optional, The stance system is beautiful and if pulled of correct can lead to beautiful combos, The duels especially is where this system is in full force, Incredible side content wholly worth seeking out.

Stealth - The Stealth in this game is nothing new, and in fact I would compare it most to the system of a game from 5 Years prior to this games release - Batman Arkham Knight. This is seen in each core pillar of the strength; A vast array of tools, A fear system which causes enemies to get scared if they witness a move in stealth or combat, Multi takedown and basic Stealth Features like crouch, line walk, Jumping Takedowns etc. A fun but basic stealth system

Overall I give this game...

8.75/10 - an absolutely incredibel game with some premier mechanics and some basic mechanics, Repetitive content but fun gameplay and amazing storytelling and a masterpiece of world design and style.

A must buy at any Price.

An utter masterpiece of a game and storytelling that encapsulates what video game can be as an art, a top 10 game of all time for me, the best stealth game ever, despite controls being bad and playing on RSPC3 due to limited availability however I have played at least 5 times on other consoles including Xbox one and PS Vita.

This game has great game and level design which allws varied areas which are generally allowed to be taken in any route by any player, with incredibly varied and immersive game mechanics.

I love the game even though I am not all that good at it and though I played on hard and in my one playthrough I played 40 hours because i'd keep quitting and leaving when I fail, that's my own fault but would take less time if I adapted and went guns blazing whcih is just as fun as the stealth.

The only thing that I really hate is the controls, they're annoying and not very accessible at all; Further the game does get a bit boring to me at the mountain levels, however that is it.

The story, a prequel to the four prior metal gear games and origin story to big boss is perfect, we see the beginnings of why he became as he is but still not teh full story which was expanded in MGS PO, PW, GZ and V.

Supporting cast of The Fox group, EVA, Ocelot, The Boss an Volgin are also incredible parts of the game, and I could watch the cutscenes and codex 1000s of times

honestly a masterpiece. I can't ait for the remake with better graphics and hopefully more of the mgsV gameplay

A true masterclass

9.5/10

A Definite Buy when the Collection releases

It was a great first Foray into their own games, The Witcher 1 is a beautiful but now outdated RPG, now 16 years post launch. I played this game and it definitly has outdated game design annd graphics but for what it did it was still fun, an enjoyable story, good cast of characters who will grow in future games and an intriguing gameplay loop if not basic.

I have major nostalgia for this, being a kid playing this on my uncle's PC, playing it now as an adult I can see where the game would have shone back then through the eyes of an adult.

I highly recommend this to Witcher books and Witcher 2/3 fans who haven't played this.

The Story is a direct continuation from the end of The Lady of the Lake and continues Geralts story whilst hinting at other major characters, however instead of Yennefer we have triss and instead of Ciri we have Alvin. The story presents twists and turns and each side quests are genuinely interesting and all aids geralt's preset character dynamics despite his ailment told in the game

Highly recommend for a fun classic RPG experience
7/10