"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

When I first started the journey, I wept when the grandmother recognized me for what she no longer had, but still loved. I didn't think too deeply on how much that would mean as the game continued, but I still accepted that love.

"Love is patient, love is kind."

When the feral kittens I cared for died, I wept when I found closure in saving the animals of the world of Moon. I saved every single one, not leaving a single life to chance to the "Hero". And a lot of it was waiting, patience is a virtue when it comes to understanding the lives of a world that walks on without you. Stories and people do not just come when called, they come around
to those who empathize and seek them out on their own time. And many of these moments are minor, small simple things that add on to something much bigger. Something that really encapsulates that feeling the adventure will call back to time and time again.

"But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away."

When I finally did what accounted as a final homecoming to areas I had been, people I had touched, I wept once more. I may not remember every single individual moment, but I'll remember what I felt towards them, and they'll live on with me.

"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face."

When I walked into technopolis, and so many of the earnest areas capturing the real mirrored reflections of our mundanity, I wept realizing that even in these hollowed out moments love still exists. People reflect on dystopian hells and find sorrow but there's light underneath those tunnels too. Even in its hilarious critiques of people it does not treat any of it maliciously or callously. Moon understands why we are the way we are sitting at the couch watching TV every evening.

"But the greatest of these is love."

When the game asked me to open the door, the one that mattered. With love in my heart, I went through.

(From the words of 1 Corinthians 13, thank you to a friend who showed a brighter way to see life. I hope you found love too!)

It's surprising to me that this really quite excellent cyberpunk-noir title sold so poorly outside of Japan, but I think there were two factors behind this: its potent cocktail of gore, violence, and mature themes significantly reduced the demographic of gamers who would buy it, and it seemingly is one of the first (if not the first) visual novels to be released outside of Japan, into a playerbase that is more accustomed to point-and-click adventure games.

In a way, my initial experience with this game probably mirrored that of the West in general - this might be my first visual novel, and I was baffled at first by the linearity, the lack of difficulty, and the lack of... gameplay, really. But I warmed up to it quickly enough - the genre's laserlike focus on telling a story made the experience like reading a book but with extra interactivity, and the ability to take things at my own pace. Gillian Seed, who was investigating the menace of the Snatchers (humanoid robots who kill people and take their place), could either be played as a no-nonsense straight-laced agent, or a talented goof-off who flirts with anything that moves and drinks booze on the government's dime, or anything in-between. With each new area and next stage of the investigation, I could either rush through with urgency or spend time interacting with everything and soaking up the impressive tapestry of lore, and I enjoyed the freedom that this genre afforded me. And, of course, Hideo Kojima being Hideo Kojima, the game made very clever use of the medium to pull of some clever tricks that books can't; in a very early example of this, your companion hears a faint noise and rather than outright telling you what it is, prompts you to turn the volume up so you can hear it yourself.

Of course, an interactive book is only any good if the story itself is good, and Snatcher definitely delivers on that! A lot of the plot elements seem derivative, especially today, but that doesn't take away from how well-crafted the world is, how cool some of the plot twists are, and how this story about synthetic life forms replacing people contains a heart and humanity that I associate with Kojima's best works. The pacing and storytelling is generally good too, though it suffers slightly from a need to over-recap key plot points, and several jumpscares or genuinely tense moments lose some of that thrill due to being overly-telegraphed.

This is an easy recommend to anyone - a patchwork of cinematic influences and inspirations that contains the seeds of Kojima's later work, easy enough to play to completion, both streamlined and compelling enough to never wear out its welcome.

Im so mad I wasnt there for you when you were new...

I love this game, bitch.

Rollerdrome is a 3d rollerskating 3rd person shooter and this is such a specific genre combination that i feel like coulda gone wrong so hard but they nailed it. I love the cel shaded style, there's pretty light story happening in the background of this yearly dystopian championship sport, and everything is so satisfying to pull off. If you're like me and you're familiar with Tony Hawk Pro Skater or THUG then youre gonna get a nice taste for whats cooking with this quick
It's refreshing playing a game centering on skating after playing one that had it more as a side activity/traversal option

Thoughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Rollerdrome is NOT really like Tony Hawk! You're up and shooting robot dudes that are practically always breathing down your neck if able, snipers and tanks and guys with mines will be constantly flung at youuuu and you better respect that shit especially when youre watching your health.
In a way I guess you could say this comes together more as a 'character action game' than it does somethin like a regular third person shooter game or a sport game. Pullin off stylish 900 degree Coffins, prowler grinds and mambas- they pretty much got you covered with every possible combination.

You have a nice arsenal of weapons to make use of too! I think my favorite will always be the grenade launcher because of how much distance you get with managing the arc, goes crazy
the dual pistols still have their uses but honestly apart from a couple moments beyond the starting levels, i found them dwindling fuuuurther and further out of the spotlight and the Z-11 and Shotgun were the most reliable ones to fallback on

the Z-11 itself never really felt like I MASTERED that shit though, it was fun but i feel like i still didnt really have it all on lock! yk! But thats one of the best parts about this game, progression is tied to you finishing the levels but u aint going no where if u cant also fulfill an objectives quota. Youll be circling back to earlier levels, and this SOUNDS tedious yea

but i actually liked this because this game already has a handful of similar Looks for each lvl anyways, and youre gonna wanna test your skills and read up on that Tricktionary and will some shit cause you cannot be mindless in this game.

Infact i think this game is one of the best ive ever seen in regards to seamlessly mixing complete chaos and also you doin tricks and dodges in the air and flips to keep that combo no matter what's hurdling at you. It also does that type of acceleration where its stacking n not something where you gotta hold forward to keep yourself skating forward. This rules but if you lose your mental rhythm on whats going on, you can absolutely spiral outta control and fly head first into complete nuclear arms shit popping off LMFAO

There's also a thing where if youre pressed to a wall you can bounce off of it but it feels so awkward like the wall is just dejecting your model in the mirrored shot you came at it from, but otherwise there wasnt much in the way for clunkiness
The super reflex time shit is really what brings it all together too oh my godddd, for repositioning or getting multiple shots off and watching 'em all fall, its sick. Every time you think youre done the loop gets you back in it again cause you Know you can do better you Know those highscores aint worth shit when you master shit, its HARD but very rewarding

some side notes

my heart sank when i saw how low the player rates for the xbox trophies were for this game </3 when i got halfway in the game it was basically saying less than half of all ppl tht played it on xbox even made it there
and a whole like 3% even actually finished the game fully
Aint that SAD? i know this game dropped on other consoles including PC but, jesus

on a lighter note i saw a really funny bug where i was going real fast up and when i was coming back down i was mid trick and going into the voidddd buuuuuuuuuuuuut... i didn really.. go out into the void and respawn.. i just glitched through the stage and the enemies were trying their hardest to kill me but couldnt do it LMFAO and they tried their asses off, the tanks even getting some cheap shots in on me. I was trying to do a highscore objective challenge too and I totally did it EVEN W I T H the par time penalty and losing time from that little hiccup which was pretty cool

but yeah its a game that has a structuring and cel shaded look that i just drool over, it kindof gives me graphic novel vibes if anything, and the story isnt rlly why you play this but just something neat to chew on a little in thought while youre doing these levels. It honestly FEELS like a game that didnt even come out in this console generation, like in thought process for somethin like this it seems like smthin thatd get executed in the ps3/xbox/wii era or late ps2/gamecube/xbox era of things. And i mean that in a compliment in the same way as me sayin that with Hi-Fi-Rush. though the two are incomparable in nearly every way

so yea thats all i got, play it on gamepass if you got it or hop on steam to do it(between you and me, i think the game is fine on controller when you crank the sensitivity up.. but its most def a lot easier to sink your head in with a mouse to look around with i bet. thats how ive always been with shooters though).

also there's like two bosses.. and i dont really think theyre show stealers here LMAO like not a selling point, liked them but really funny how theres only two and they kinda flow the same for the main campaign
Kara Hassan, youll always be famous to me <3...

The gunplay is amazing. In my first couple of hours I tweeted that this was the best FPS of 2023, period. Sadly, the roguelite elements do not work as intended, I guess. I'm currently grinding the first two levels to see if, empowered by all the possible upgrades, I can beat the last half of this game.

I recommend it because the gunplay really feels very good, frantic in a good way. Both the soundtrack and visuals are cool. I like how you have to be active marking enemies in order to replenish your shield. I like how upgrades are tied in with trigger actions, so you're also taking this factor in account while deciding how to proceed in battle.

It's dead cheap, though. For what they're charging, this is very good. I hope they balance it, as this game has the potential to be, hands down, the very best FPS roguelite.

As the proud owner of a VW bug myself, this is essentially the perfect game for me. It fulfills my ultimate fantasy; what if my car could fly 200 feet into the air and had an explosive rocket launcher? Really though this game is super fun. You can pick from a few magnificent colours for your bug and play by yourself or against friends in a few different styles of races, or take them on in this game's best mode; beetle battle. Imagine the mariokart battle modes but on crack and you have a beetle battle. All of the items (yes, this game has mariokart style items.) are super fun and perfect for causing large amounts of chaos. Your car can shoot rockets, achieve super speed, and plant land mines among a few other things. Also this game has some surprisingly decent music, which adds a lot to its charm. I’m not kidding when I say Beetle Adventure Racing is one of the most fun promotional/licensed games ever made.