On a random day in 2005, after binging a few Quentin Tarantino flicks and a couple of Fist of the North Star chapters, Shinji Mikami looked at his masterpiece that was Resident Evil 4 and said "What if RE4 but Kenshiro and Tarrantino fr" and God Hand was born (This is my headcannon).

God Hand was a game I was ready to drop in the first 2 - 3 hours of playing as I was struggling with some of the earlier bosses and didn't wanna give myself an aneurysm while barely making it out of every fight that I've died to multiple times. But then I looked at the huge following this game had and saw all the singing praises, and I wanted to be a part of that camp too. So I decided I wasn't gonna be a little bitch boy and try to properly figure out how this game works.

When the game clicks, it finally CLICKS and you feel like a boxing god (intentional with the title?), but at the same time no matter how good you get the game will just get harder thanks to it's dyanamic difficulty system, just one of the mechanics borrowed from RE4. Unless you spend a good chunk of your life playing this game, it will remain challening no matter what. This is honestly, quite one of the hardest games I have ever played. Keep in mind though the game is also one of the fairest games I have ever played. I don't think I've ever died once thinking it was the games fault. Everything done by the enemy is clearly telegraphed and you are given a window to deal with it in multiple ways. And when you die, the checkpoints are mostly frequent bar a few exceptions, and it's generous enough to give you all of your health back when you die.

In regards to fairness and difficulty, the way it's hanlded here makes you not wanna put the controller down because as opposed to other what is considered to be "hard" games like Souls games, while challenging, are pretty punishing usually sending you back a bit if you die at a bossfight, and at the risk of losing some of the experience you gained. God Hand is hard hard in the sense where you need good reflexes and awareness for every single fight, but also very fair because of it's generous checkpoints. In a souls game, there are plenty of ways to cheese things if you're at a wall, but here you cannot cheese at all. It's just you and your skill, and you aren't getting past a point until you get better. Best way to put it, this is a discipline simulator.

When this game was initially released, the game was mostly overlooked by critics due to the criticism of the combat not being robust. This is far from the truth about the combat and to put it, God Hand's combat was way ahead of this time. What we have now as modern God Of War over the shoulder combat, which has endless praise from critics, was clearly inspired by God Hand. Similar to Resident Evil 4, God Hand employs the same control scheme where it is an over the shoulder tank controlling game, with not much control over the camera. This was highly ambitious for an action game back in the day, where action games were mostly 3rd camera-pulled-away types of games. It works really well in God Hand as the right stick is now used as it's dodging system, which is implemented insanley well.

God Hand is not an offensive based game where it's about pulling the best combos you can. In fact, there really aren't much button combos here.. 90% of the time you will be just mashing the square button to the tune of your preset combo. God Hand's gameplay is mainly defense and crowd control focused. 1 on 1 fights are pretty straight forward and purley defense focused. In these fights you are dodging attacks and retaliating when there is a window of opportunity, wheras if you put more than one enemy in a fight, the strategy has suddenly changed and it's about positioning yourself in a way where you don't get blindsided or stockpiled. Crowd fights are more about putting yourself in a position where you can get into a 1 on 1 with a enemy for a moment, before going back to controlliing the crowd again. Once the game systems click, you will be dodging and taking out baddies one by one like a champ.

The game isn't perfect, there were moments that kinda sucked for me, like that one section with the big claw machine. Moments like these are few and far between, but when they come it kills the momentum you have.

Apart from the gameplay, the setting and style reminds you of a Quentin Tarantino movie which brings immesne charm to the whole package. There are so many goofy cheeky moments that bring a laugh out of you in between all the chaos, it makes getting through the hard moments so much more worth it just to see these goofy scenes.

By the end of the game I felt like I had just conquered a mountain. Despite at the beggining feeling like this is game I probably couldn't finish, I made it to the end and had so much fun while doing it. I am now apart of the God Hand cult and "I love it".

Most definitely most personal game for me this year.

For me 2023 was supposed to be a year of furthering nurturing what I started but in the end it was a year of dealing with truths and realities I didn't believe with full convinction or where ones I didn't confront. I wasn't honest to people I loved and I wasn't truthful to myself. stuff like "Never lose your honesty Naichi." , "Be truthful to your feelings Naichi." during the most pivotal moments of the game those sentences lingered in my head.

So allot of moments in the game felt like they were genuinely meant for me and only me. Like the game has those 4th wall breaking moments yea. But for me it was like I was apart of their fiction rather than they of mine reality.

Which is why I love Raiden so much and even more than I did playing MGR. Raiden a character where his beliefs of what he thinks is reality and fiction are constantly being challenged and confronted. His soul is so rough and unpolished but one thing remains what no one thought but what he just is compassionate. While from a young age never being greeted by sympathy nor empathy. Raiden his character truly does not depict him as the cold blooded killer he and the game make u wanna believe he is. So seeing a character being confronted to stuff I relate heavy too ( not in the experience sense ofcourse ) get thru it or just humanely express himself during them. Was such a unique and soothing journey for me with a character. During the game it genuinely made me reflect on myself, making sure me in the past and me in the present walk hand in hand to myself in the future. I love this game so much about making sure we preserve the past and present that the link between doesn't get lost. That it's humanity duty to do so.

"Building the future and keeping the past alive are one and the same thing.

Live your truth and never lose conviction in why u believed it in the first place because the chose to believe what we want too is men's greatest form of free will.

this game is just pure style to me

i kinda pity this game for clearly not having a bigger budget and being short and limited, but i personally loved it's style and everything about it and it's a pretty sweet and unique experience and game on its own

vanessa serves so much cunt

For me this game is the best game ever made, but i will be brutally honest about how game really is after i replayed it many many times. There are way too many enemies that are just pain in the ass. Not being hard but just being really annoying. for example, i was losing my temper several times when i encountered the fallen, soul eaters and dullahans. When it comes to bosses i think every boss except gigapede is good, f*ck gigapede. Also combat system was really good for its time. Endless fun and so many combo variations. The game isn't really outdated when it comes to its mechanics and how much fun a person can get out of it even after this time. I suggest this game to anyone who is reading this.

WANNA KNOW THE NAME? DEVIL MAY CRY.

CAPCOM!!! 2005!!!!

How the fuck do you make Devil May Cry 2, and then go and make Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening?

Capcom coming in with the bomb-ass cutscenes. Some of my favorite cutscenes. Inspired my whole being.

People who play this game on Yellow are satan.

But why does the map system have to get worse with every game? I didn't even like how it was in the first one, but I'll gladly take that over this. Literally, the only mission where I even look at the map is the one where you're spinning the castle.