A game that takes two completely unpopular genres right now (souls-like and Metroidvanias) that manages, through a completely bizarre and mostly incoherent story mixed with one of the best parrying mechanics ever, to set itself apart from some of the standard and unremarkable games that have been churned out from these genres.

Moonscars.......is about things. You are the clay clone of someone......and some really dark and unsettling things have taken place within this kingdom. That's as much as I really got from the story for this near 30 hour playthrough. Maybe there is a deep and interesting story buried underneath but the game does not make following along with it that easy, using a lot of lingo that just does not make much sense on the surface.

The gameplay mechanics (especially the parry mechanic) does enough to make up for that though (plus, the game as a neat style to it that I kinda dug).

Like many Souls-like games, Moonscars relies on dodging and parrying mechanics. Bad guys of all shapes and sizes will be coming at you from time to time and the easiest way to start mowing them down is to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge. Dodging won't do much but get you out of harms way and a way to avoid attack damage but parrying is where its at.

Parrying will counter the attack of course and with it, a parrying attack that just feels really, really good to use. It's a simple one button timing thing, nothing that fancy, but it just feels incredible to counter attack enemies with it.

That being said, as you progress through the game, the parry will start to become a bit less important. One of the more annoying aspects of the game while moving forward is how the game "powers" up enemies as you progress and enter new and harder areas of the game.

Basically the game starts to introduce more and more creatures that are immune to physical attacks. Luckily you have a slew of magic spells to help but with magic/mana/whatever you want to call it (this game calls it ichor, because it's weird) being limited, spells won't always kill your enemies with one fell swoop. If you don't have enough, you'll have to get the gauges back up by using physical attacks, that won't actually do damage but will help you get back your ichor so that you can do damage. It stretches a lot of late game stuff out further in a really unnecessary way. If you miss your ichor attack, too bad, if you get hit while performing a spell, also too bad, it's just kind of annoying and tedious when you're in the end game.

The game has some difficulty to it, though your skills with dodging/parrying will probably vary that to some degree, but it never felt completely unbeatable which was nice. Finally figuring out the behavior of a boss and having some luck on your side to get through someone you've died at a handful of times is quite satisfying but never frustrating.

Despite my fondness for Moonscars, it does feel like a game that could be very hit or miss for people, especially in two genres that have really great games already made. It won't be for everyone but it is currently a Game Pass game as of this writing and well worth giving a shot to at the very least.

A nice improvement from the first. Overall, the developers do a great job of improving on the core idea, making the game more fun, less tedious, and in general, making the levels and areas more interesting.

The game does still come with faults and some of those improvements feel more like half measures than full steps but I definitely enjoyed this more than the first.

Being able to move around and not locked into your decision until after attacking is such a great improvement over the first. The camera is still not the greatest in regards to determining attack angles and what not. Now that you're able to freely move around, even after taking steps, you can better line things up and not feel like you've completely wasted a turn.

There are still some weird hiccups with the game's use of cover but besides that and the game not clearly letting you see enemy resistances/weaknesses when using special abilities, the actual gameplay is top notch in this game. The general attacks all are really unique and provide nice pros and cons that are useful in certain situations.

The leveling up and abilities that you can increase all do feel bigger and more powerful as you progress which is nice. My only problem with the leveling though is it does become a chore to gain levels near the end game. This also ties into another bigger issue I had with the game.

It's wayy too long. I put in nearly 70 into this game, and that's with a lot of side quests being ignored. Would leveling up near the end been easier if I had done these side quests? I'm sure they would've helped but the game just gets tiresome after a while. The enemy variety isn't all that unique, so the planets start to get filled with elemental swap type enemies. Remember that big snow bear from the first stage? Well, here's that same bear but now he's a fire bear.

The stages themselves also get more tedious to move around in as well. The game does a good job on improving the levels and the blandness they mostly felt like in the first game. The later stages though feel a bit too busy and annoying to move around in. So these all start to compound near the end of the game in just making me want to rush towards the finish line and move on.

It's a bit of a bummer near the end given how into it I was at the start of the game but the changes are clear and present and worthwhile. If you enjoyed the first game, this is definitely worth your time.

The vibes are still in tact for the most part but Somerville is definitely a bit of a step down from what you'd expect from ex-Playdead devs. There are some crazy scenes and the scale can be impressive at times but everything top to bottom is just a little less interesting than Inside and Limbo.

Visual esthetic especially is pretty lacking here compared to some of these other games.

There are also some tough to explore, tough to control areas as well that can be a tad frustrating to deal with. If you liked the Playdead type games though, Somerville will still hit the spot for the most part, given it's short run time as well, it's still a game that can be a chill and harmless weekend playthrough.

Man, what a let down. A great idea on paper, let's take the Yakuza/Like a Dragon universe and move it into a new time period. There are some differences here and there of course, but the general idea should be a slam dunk and unfortunately, it comes up quite short and becomes maybe the worst Yakuza/LaD game in the franchise (excluding Dead Souls).

This game just feels incredibly scaled down from LaD's normal over-the-top nature. I never found much of the heat moves that you normally see to be that impressive. Most of the items around you that are normally grabbable and usable are pretty generic as well. Luckily this game features sword and gun (and a combo of both) fighting styles to help make up some of that.

Unfortunately, these aren't all that fun to play with either. All four fighting styles feature pros and cons to them but quickly you'll realize that the hand to hand is kinda pointless. You do get a weapon you can swap to in this fight style, some of which can be interesting and fun to use but to me, it just never made up for some of the limitations this game felt like it possessed.

The enemies feature a lot of the Yakuza 3 issues of just constant blocking. All four fighting styles do have a guard break attack but some of those had range issues. It also happens so frequently too that some of these moves get so old because you are constantly having to use it to break through for damage.

The gun had moments of being OP which was satisfying and the sword/gun style had some fun crowd control uses. I just wish they went over-the-top with these styles, though I didn't unlock every heat action or move so there might be some I missed out on that are silly and over the top. If they do, I wish they would've better spread those out to make the combat more fun, I might've stuck it out more if I was getting these fun moves, would've probably made the monotony of the combat decrease as well.

The new feature in this game where some of the over-the-top attacks resided was the army/card system. Think Majima Construction type card setup but in Ishin you are able to set these cards up for use in battle. There are a few over the top attacks found here, you can have a Tiger or Bear help you for instance. You can add 3-4 cards to each fighting style all that have different powerups. Some will heal you, some are stat buffs, general attacks, etc. If they are the General in your squad, those also lead to various powerups as well, so placement can be important as well.

In order to use these attacks you'll have to attack in that fighting style in order to build up bars that, when filled, will allow you those abilities during a fight. If you aren't using those styles though, they will stay at the level they were at when you last used that fighting style. I found some of these pretty useful and fun to use but there seemed to be a lot less 'rare' or story character cards then in previous games so rarely strayed from the cards I selected fairly early into using it (this card based thing is not unlocked right away in the game).

I found crafting and upgrading your weapons a bigger grind than in previous Yakuza games and more annoying to deal with. There aren't a ton of super powerful weapons that can easily be found in this game, so you'll be tasked with focusing on crafting to help keep your attacks doing damage as you progress. The weapons are so pricey to make though. You can 'level up' your crafting abilities to help cheapen prices but I always felt like it was barely knocking them down. Since you're having to craft basically everything too, from weapons to armor, you're still spending a good amount.

You can get money in various ways, many that should be familiar to people who have played other games in the franchise. If you like some of the money making ways of other games, you'll probably be able to still go through those means in order to make money. I did grind through my normal ways of making money but because so much was going to crafting, it just felt like a bigger grind in those ways.

The farming side game is kinda neat and easy to use. You can use these items to make food as well, and those cooking games are pretty standard but a nice addition as well. Think Cooking Mama style mini games. The biggest pain with this cooking game though is you have to make every item one by one, there is no ability to cook multiple dishes at the same time. I wouldn't even mind having to do these mini games over and over and over if I could at least choose to make more than one of a dish at one time. These dishes I found were a huge lifesaver too since they provide a good amount of health recovery. The normal medicine and items you can buy in this game always felt pretty underpowered too so I was constantly going back and making dishes.

The other big problem with this game is just traversing in it. If you want to go farm and make dishes, there is only one point on the map that will take you there. You can't even use a taxi to go there directly. So if you're on the other side of the map, you'll have to either walk all the way down to that one singular location or fast travel to it, and the fast travel areas that are set in the game are spread out way too far. So even when you fast travel to the nearest point, you're still having to walk a good amount after that.

The side quests, another Yakuza staple are all a pretty big let down. Another area that feels scaled back from its normal silly and over-the-top nature. You can also make connections/relationships with various people around town, something that has been featured before. These connections though are not all that different from each other. So you'll be constantly giving people dishes or junk or vegetables to slowly build up these meters.

Overall, Like a Dragon: Ishin just feels like a missed opportunity. This setting and the LaD style should be great, but the grind, the lackluster side quests and main story, the slog of battle, and overall lackluster location just made me want to get through this game as quickly as I could. Besides all of this, it looks pretty nice, seeing some of these familiar character in newly imagined ways is neat, seeing some characters that only were featured in one Yakuza game from ages ago was a nice treat as well, it's not all doom and gloom when it comes to this game. It's just that the bar for Like a Dragon games is pretty damn high for me and Like a Dragon: Ishin just doesn't come close to hitting that bar and being as silly and satisfying as the other games in this franchise.

The game ends with a song from Zwan, what more could you ask for?

Hi-Fi Rush is a dope concept in a sea of devs playing it safe. It doesn't all work for me but the creativity, the fun, and the high concept that never stops does enough to overshadow a lot of those flaws.

If you've been living under a rock, Hi-Fi Rush is a game that is in a constant rhythm. Everything moves to that distinct beat, enemies attack at that beat, you can attack at that beat (for better scores of course, the character even walks in the same rhythm. It's incredibly impressive to have all these things work in tandem with each other.

I found combat to be a bit annoying and tedious at times though, with many enemies being incredibly frustrating to deal with. When everything is weighed in this rhythm, I found there were times when I would be trying to line up that rhythm with my attacks, only for the enemy to run or get out of the way. Sometimes this would result in me constantly having to pull myself back into close range over and over because I would only get a hit or two in before they ran back off.

Some of the platforming aspects didn't quite work for me either, the camera being the main culprit to the issue. I found it difficult to gauge range or when I was underneath things. Since some of the platforming is timed, like when platforms disappear and you have to start over, it would get really annoying to have to try and line things up sloooowly so that I didn't die and have to restart, but since i was going slower, I was still running into the time issue. Some enemy attacks were harder to catch in rhythm too since I'd have a tough time gauging when a range attack was actually hitting me or still a little bit off still.

Again though, the charm of the characters, the music (ZWAN!), the styyyyyyle, the concept, the creativity with bosses and boss battles (even through the frustration) was all a fun time for the most part. It's well worth giving a shot to this game.

God, what a mess. This joyless, soul sucking game is abysmal to play. None of the gun types are fun to use (though headshot kills in this game do feel nice from time to time), none of the enemies are fun to fight, the area is not very fun to explore (mostly because of the enemies and gun play not being good), I never found any of the special attacks all that particularly useful or helpful, and on top of it, this game is still pretty buggy.

The game's story I guess exists? I never really found any great through line to follow. Basically, I really found nothing that redeemable about Redfall. Minor things maybe, like stake killing a vampire for the first time is kinda satisfying.

But God, what a huge disappointment. This concept and this developer should equal a really incredible experience, but this is the exact opposite.

Do not play this game. It is bad.

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.

A pretty good game that has me worried about the future in more ways than one. Starfield has the unenviable task of living up to a mountain of hype that I think really hurts this game more than the loading times and stale open world mechanics do.

The first 20 or so hours really had me worried because of these two major issues but once the main story starts to unwrap, as you upgrade things, get a new ship, and you start messing around with some of the deeper side quests, there's a lot to like from a writing standpoint.

This mixed with some creative end game design does a good job of hiding some of the flaws this game possesses.

There are other issues I find with this game of course. The maps are awful, the menus are not great, companions are aggravating a lot of the time, detrimental at other points. The game is definitely not for everyone and if these mechanics aren't fun, it's a tough ask to sit through 20+ hours to get to good story moments that makes sticking with it feel worth it.

The biggest issue with this game, really isn't even a problem with the game. It's just the realization after playing through this that the Bethesda style game is really feeling dated, and that's honestly a bigger bummer more than anything. Like I've said previously, there is a lot of story and side quests that make up for it.......this time. But without some changes to the mechanics, I'm not sure how another one of these kinds of Bethesda games will feel 8+ years from now, (or whenever the next open world game from the team actually sees the light of day) and if another well written game can make up for that datedness.