A solid game that gets dragged down by clunky controls that just don't feel tight enough for this kind of game.

Very simple on face value but incredibly deep under the surface in many ways you don't really expect. The ever-evolving gameplay loop keeps you on your toes and overall, it does a great job of expanding while staying true to the very basic core. If puzzles games are your thing and you want something a little deeper, this game is an easy recommendation.

The Ito vibes and sound are great but the gameplay loop is not good enough to stick around

Yeah, this rules. Tears of the Kingdom takes the foundation of BotW and improves on it in really fun and creative ways.

The building aspects and the new power ups are both bulls-eye level additions. These both give you so much freedom to just try and figure out the hurdles and puzzles in the game.

On top of it, the additions these bring in combat are all great. Being able to fuse weapons to make them more powerful is great and makes weapon's breaking a little less frustrating. The sages also bring a nice addition to the combat in this game.

At its core, there are still issues I have with how this game feels and plays but it's still a positive step compared BotW.

The shrines and temples are also an improvement from the original game. Shrines don't feel as repetitive with less frustration overall. The temples and the bosses inside are also more fun and less repetitive.

The story is better, exploration is much more fun, especially with various levels of the world to explore. Again, its nearly across the board with improvements.

Really, the game's only faults are minimal. It's way too long and given how free this game is, there are times I really wished I was given better direction. Especially near the end of the game after already putting so much time into the game. Some of the new enemy types are also a miss for me as well. The weather system is also unchanged and something that's more annoying and in the way than anything else.

It's still incredible despite some of these bigger flaws. There so many awe-inspiring moments, the score is one of the best of the year and one of the best in a franchise filled with great music. It's a home run of a game.

Combat in this game is garbage but outside of this, the game is near perfect. Wildly ambitious, creative, and strange in ways that only Remedy can. It's really, really great.

Ultimately not as good as the first but the eerieness is still fantastic and a killer ending does enough to make up for some of the issues I have with the issues I have.

An improvement over the first but a half-step forward at best. Voice acting is better, still rough at times. Combat and gameplay has improved but is still not great. The game has flashes but ultimately, there are just so many better games in a similar vein that are worth your time over Figment.

The vibes are great but some lackluster gameplay and heavy-handed story beats drag the experience down. If you like narrative based games, results may vary, but Under the Waves is a decent experience.

Oddly charming, interesting and super creative, Thirsty Suitors throws a lot of ideas at the wall. Part skateboarding, part turn based RPG, part rhythm based game, part cooking game, Thirsty Suitors does a lot with its relatively short experience and I'm not sure it was worth it.

All these ideas don't really mix well. While none are outright bad, I don't think I can say I enjoyed any that much. The combat/RPG mechanics are probably the closest to being really good.

Thirsty Suitors' silly energy and creativity shines in this area which is the game's biggest pro, mostly because of all the weird special attacks the game gives you.

Fighting overall is fairly straightforward. You've got a health bar, a MP/WP bar as well, you can do normal attacks, special attacks that consume WP/MP, and items to help boost your stats, your health, etc. Normal attacks will help fill up your WP bar slowly so there is some strategy to the attacks you do.

The fighting also features a taunt ability that is key to combat. Most enemies feature a weakness that you can exploit for bigger damage. Figuring out what their weakness is can be done through taunting. You can flirt with someone and get them thirsty for you to the point they can't attack you properly, you can shock them by saying something so brash and out of left field that they aren't able to attack you for a few turns, etc. etc.

Using these taunts and finding the weaknesses of your enemies will open them up to your special attacks as well. The taunt's ability will last for a few turns so you'll be able to do bigger special attacks that correspond to these types of taunts for bigger damage.

The combat itself is pretty by the book and over time, the crazy attacks and rhythm based button timing sections get old really fast since all special attacks require you to do these button timing sections.

When you're not in battle, you're skating around the two sections of this game. The skating sections are maybe the worst part of the game sadly. Skateboarding is forced upon you in certain sections of the game. This is aggravating because you just don't go fast on the skateboard. It's just way too slow. There are a few areas where you can walk instead. This is equally annoying because you can actually run and seemingly go faster on foot.

On top of that, the game is very kind with how easy you attach to grinding/trick sections, so its difficult to take shortcuts without getting stuck doing a line and getting stuck going in a direction you don't want to actually go towards, taking more time to get back on the right path and making the shortcut feel like a longer route.

You can kinda do tricks but the trick system is incredibly limited, making that section get real old pretty quickly.

There's also a cooking section that helps you make items that you can use in battle. This section isn't too bad but it's just a different rhythm based input section similar to what you get in battles with your skill based attacks.

Outside of this and a few technical issues I ran into, the game isn't all bad. The story is a bit messy, but overall a nice story. The story along with the wild creativity surrounding the ex battles and other over-the-top characters was fun enough to stick through some of the gameplay flaws. Results may vary in this but overall, Thirsty Suitors is worth giving a try if any of the trailers/clips/pictures have piqued your interest. You might not stick with it to completion, but the overall charm, story and creativity is worth a trial run at the very least. Especially since it's currently on Game Pass (as of this writing).

A very solid follow up to the original 2018 game. The swinging still feels great, the amount of costumes is insane, the upgrades and gadgets all feel nice but overall it doesn't feel as exciting of a sequel as I was hoping.

Story is just alright, the new additions are nice but nothing great. The additional MJ sequences are just straight up bad as well. It's a bit of a disappointment from where my expectations were but overall, the game is so polished and still fun. If you like the 2018 game or Miles Morales, this game is worth playing for sure. Just don't expect that much of a different experience.

Wildly fun, creative, funny, weird. Dave the Diver is all the darts just thrown at the board. What sticks will differ for the player but the ability to be a bit picky with what you focus on is nice and makes it easier to avoid some of the gameplay mechanics if you're not a fan (to some degree at least). Overall though, Dave the Diver is a charming, funny and enjoyable experience.

Great look with some solid music. Unfortunately, the absolutely brutal gameplay is just not worth it.

They've managed to make a bite-sized Like a Dragon/Yakuza experience (relatively speaking). Still lots to do for those that want to experience all the extra that this franchise has to offer but with a shorter story and less side quests.

The one real negative to this game is the side quests. Usually a very incredible dynamic to this series, the ones featured in Gaiden feel pretty paint by number.

The main component to this game is doing things for Akame and her network. The main story runs through this for the most part and the side stories do as well. Because of the structure of this, many of the side stories are pretty small tasks lacking a lot of the depth usually found in these stories.

There are still some fun side stories to do in this but with the amount scaled back and not a ton of memorable ones, a lot of these just feel like time killers so you're not completely blitzing through the main story.

With a smaller amount of story in this game it does feel like it freed up room for some fighting improvements. Whether coincidental or not, the groups of enemies you encounter increase across the board.

The general packs found around Sotenbori are larger, with many big sized battles where it feels like you're dealing with 50 guys all at once.

The combos for your fighting styles also feel more in depth. You're able to chain together more attacks within a combo as well. They have scaled down the amount of heat attacks featured in this game (least it certainly feels like that). With these additions, including all the tools added to your Agent fighting style, the general street fights you'll find yourself in constantly still feel good. If this beat em up style isn't for you though, I don't think these new additions will change your opinion.

The story is also pretty great here as well. It definitely gets Like a Dragon weird and over the top still but the ending to this game in general is incredible if you're a fan of the franchise and played the majority of these games. Not sure how well it works for those without the attachment to this franchise though so results may vary.

At the end of the day, Like a Dragon: Gaiden manages to make Kiryu even cooler, a feat I didn't think possible. The tools in battle, the bigger combos, the bigger waves of enemies, even some of the small stuff they've added like a new weapon pickup animation for some weapons just adds so much cooooooolness to a legendary cool dude. That feat alone, mixed with that incredible end makes this one of the better games in this franchise and well worth a play if you're a fan of the franchise.

Nothing new from a gameplay mechanics standpoint. If you've played a game like Limbo before, you know how this game will play. But Bramble: The Mountain's Nordic inspiration is so wild and uniquely dark, I still really enjoyed my time with this game and think its sets itself apart from the other dark puzzle platformers out there.

Boss battles are relatively creative, the music is fantastic, especially the final boss music. It's not great to look at but it's nothing that holds it back too much.

Overall, if you liked games like Inside and Little Nightmares and are looking for a weekend game to play, this is a solid option. It's on Game Pass too (as of this writing at least). It's a little slow to get moving but once it really jumps into its Nordic tales, it gets quite good.