Trailer videos and suda fans will make Killer7 seem pretty cool! Then you play it. It's first impression is a gnarly one. Everything feels stiff, lots of going back and forth to get the fire ring and gate keys, game systems and mechanics are bizarre- as are the cutscenes. Nothing wrong with a little intrigue but this game drowns in confusion.

It's hard to think "Whoa, these Killer7 guys are COOL!!!" when you are reading slow NPC dialog or the awkward in-game cutscenes. Everyone talks like an insane rambler. Sometimes interesting, but mostly boring. Hard to latch on-to what the character is saying when it's just nonsense. It's almost comical but it's not even funny.

The game is just UGLY, I'm sorry. Cell shading should help the game from aging too bad, but it does the opposite I fear. The menus and UI look way better than the stone faced character models.

The element rings. What a boring and needless addition. As you gather more rings, you never need to collect them again. So you'll run into an "Obstacle" that requires a ring you'll already have. By the second half of the game you'll have them all! At that point it's just "press the action button to press a switch" with extra steps. You can either trial and error all the rings if it isn't obvious enough or save yourself some time and use the map.
The map. The map is so good for just telling you what character skill or element ring is the solution for any puzzle. The fact there isn't any "You are here!" indicators on the map tells me that was their way of balancing it. While it turns "puzzles" into mush, the player could use the extra help so I'm still glad it's in.

The blood system is kinda wack. I get the idea, right. Make killing enemies worth a damn else the player just runs through the level as invisible Kevin. But what they came up with are "Character specific environment actions cost blood" "puzzle hints cost blood" "Healing costs blood" "leveling up character stats cost blood" "Combat specials cost blood" "waking up certain personalities requires a minimum kill count to awaken, varying per stage." The game is pretty linear though and enemies respawn frequently. Some levels you don't even need to think about how much blood you have, you're overflowing with it or you'll be looping a few same rooms to get by. It's not the worst thing ever but it just feels unnecessary... certainly wish the game explained it better.

The combat is kinda fun? There's a few enemy types that go beyond "a fun challenge" and go into "annoying as hell just turn invisible and run through them" territory, the biggest offenders are the boss fights. Parry timing is fun to pull off and I'm glad there's infinite ammo. Landing consecutive weakpoint shots feels pretty nice!

This game was rushed to save the gamecube, I get that. grasshopper had a way bigger vision for the game than this. Unfortunately, what we got is just not good.

Silent Hill 2 creates a beautiful and awe-inspiring world out of rust, decay, and soundscapes. It drew me in, captivated me and urged me to continue exploring its grimy halls and bloody streets. My three play sessions went long into the night. What fascinated me most about this game was the use of sound. Sounds dominated my experience and I would often react to those more than the visuals. There were many, many points where I would stop somewhere and just listen to the incredible cacophony and revel in it.

The huge variety of sounds and how they are triggered in the game has me concerned about the upcoming remake. Are they really going to put in the attention to detail to capture that same feeling? Does a game like this need to be remade in the first place when it's basically perfection? It's a shame that something like 'artistic expression' is seen as something that needs to be updated and re-sold for modern audiences.
I only bring this up because Silent Hill 2 isn't just a game. It's Art.

Easily the best puzzle game I've ever played, it's not even close.

The sound design and OST are beautiful. The intro left a really strong impression, the sound that plays when you pick up the staff sets an ominous tone for the rest of the game as hype music slowly kicks in to egg you on.

The story is intriguing and the characters are a lot of fun. The story itself feels like another puzzle to put together, even after finishing I feel like I barely understand how it fits together. The dialogue can be a little stiff sometimes, not sure if that's just a translation issue though.

The game is absolutely loaded with content. I got about 40 hours out of it and I feel like there's still plenty of things I haven't discovered. The game is filled to the brim with secrets. My friends and I kept accidentally spoiling eachother, it's so easy to stumble onto some crazy shit.

Oh and I guess the puzzles are cool too.

You have two types of players. One side loves to play this like Rainbow Six, the others love funny haha banana and ragdolls.
I can be both!

If I start getting tired of one playstyle, I try another route, another gadget. It's got a really nice balance of slow moments and heart pumping stress moments. Pulling off the perfect heist without damaging anyone feels amazing.

Some of the platforming is kinda BS wonky though. Requiring a jump and prone maneuver at almost the same time to squeeze through certain gaps. If you fall from a great height, bam. Game over. So the punishment for getting a tricky jump wrong is sometimes pretty painful and feels a tad unfair.

The game just requires a minimum of 6 players before getting really fun. That's a tall ask, so I don't see playing this one as often as I'd like.