Alright, fuck. I was wrong. Sometimes you do get it perfect on your first try.

Of course, this is pretty far removed from the original release of Resident Evil; it’s a remaster of a remake of Resident Evil with plenty of bits shuffled around and new mechanics stretched overtop. Still, though, these new trappings are just a couple extra layers of flesh. This is Resident Evil deep in the marrow of its bones. Slow, shuffling zombies taking up just too much space in cramped corridors, creaky floors, doors that fall apart, giant man-eating plants and a very silly conspiracy centered around the most obviously evil man alive that nobody suspects until he reveals himself at the end; this is what you ought to be thinking of when someone says the phrase “survival horror” around you.

It’s been an open secret for quite a while (even if Shinji Mikami refused to acknowledge it for decades) that this game is more-or-less a Japanese take on 1992’s Alone in the Dark; same creepy mansion, same spooky monsters, same arcane puzzles, same unconventional camera angles that obscure the action to throw the player off. It’s all present here, just as it was about four years before the original Resident Evil dropped; what sets (and continues to set) Resident Evil apart, however, is entirely in how it constructs an atmosphere. Unlike how Alone in the Dark had Edward Carnby slapping the shit out of every zombie he came across like that one Sonic video, Resident Evil plays the whole thing much more reservedly. This game is tense, and deep, and fucking scary. I sat awake late in bed one night after playing, trying to come up with a safe route through the mansion, and getting progressively more and more panicked when I realized just how few options I actually had. This was after I had stopped playing for the night. Resident Evil sticks to your insides. It goes down hard and it refuses to digest easily. You will play on its terms, and it will kill you anyway.

I wasn’t especially hot on the game by the time I’d finished Jill Mansion 1. I was constantly getting lost, constantly getting bogged down by too many inventory items, constantly failing to figure out what I even needed to do to make any progress. I kept drawing unfavorable comparisons to my beloved Silent Hill: why can’t I carry all this ammo at once? Why can’t I have unlimited slots for key items? Why can’t the map give me some information as to what the rooms actually are instead of just giving me unlabelled floor plans? I knew it was all intentional, but there was something about the execution that felt sloppy. I understood it, but I didn’t really get it, if that makes any sense.

The minute I gained access to the courtyard, though, I felt something click. Maybe it was just getting a moment outside on the most linear path imaginable that gave me a much-needed break to clear my head. I cleaned out the area, blitzed through the puzzles, broke Lisa Trevor’s ankles like she was Wesley Johnson screening Harden, and walked right back into the mansion like I owned the place. The hunters spawned in, giving me more than enough incentive to start spending all of the ammo I’d been hoarding, and I realized just how much easier I could have made the early game on myself once I killed every single one of them and still had buckets of grenades and shotgun shells to spare. Don’t let the speedrunning, invisible-enemies, knife-only people trick you; you’ve gotta play this game carefully, but you really don’t need to be that careful.

The big trick of it all was that I’d fallen entirely for the brutal design of the mansion and allowed my nerves to muck up my decision-making. Every zombie I’d encountered took so many bullets to go down, and other zombies would stumble in from the other rooms, and some of them would even get back up stronger than ever if I forgot to burn the bodies. I put my pistol away and sprinted through the rooms and just prayed I wouldn’t get grabbed around a corner. That was all a part of the trick, though; it’s actually shockingly easy and reliable to kill just about every zombie in the game so long as you’re careful about how you budget your resources. It’s the layout of the mansion on your first go that fucks you up; all of the obfuscatory angles and hallways that lead to locked doors and dead ends that loop around on themselves with a zombie blocking the only way back. The architect must have been an axe murderer. It’s an evil fucking residence, hence the title. When you finally have your Kevin McCallister “I’m not afraid anymore!” moment, you realize that the zombies can only hurt you if you let them. The second half of the Kevin McCallister moment where he runs and screams and hides under the covers comes when a hunter pounces on you from behind and you remember that you are, in fact, still incredibly afraid.

I beat the game with newfound confidence, immediately booted it back up as Chris, and breezed through the first part of the mansion in a fraction of the time it had originally taken me. I cleared out all of the rooms, stuffed my pockets with items, burned every corpse I left, and found myself with more green herbs sitting in my item box within the first hour than I could ever possibly use before credits rolled. The design wasn't sloppy, I was just playing it wrong. I wasn't engaging with enough of the game's systems; I had all of these tools that were provided to me, and I cowered against Resident Evil's glare. What I should have done was square my shoulders and fight back, and never once did that click for me on my first trip through the mansion. Going back through it as Chris proved that idea: all I needed to do was not be so afraid.

Horror as a genre has something of an inherent problem to it, where that sense of fear is often wholly dependent on surprise. This isn't to imply that it's all reliant on jump scares, but a scary movie is always going to be the same every time you go through it. You can be shit-your-pants terrified on your first watch, but pop the same film in again and you'll start anticipating the moments that got you the last time around. This is a big part of the reason why a lot of people like to "beat" horror media; they laugh, they rewatch, they dissect it and break it down, because horror is a lot less scary once we understand it. Rather than passively accept this, though, the Resident Evil team leans into it. You stumble through the game once, groping at the walls and frantically checking every doorknob in the hopes that you accidentally discover progression. You boot it up for the second time, and you turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know where the zombies are, you know where the items are, you know how many you can afford to kill in a given moment, you know how to juke around zombies and make them grab air instead of you. People lament the loss of this type of survival horror game and how something like Resident Evil 4 completely actionized the franchise, but that wasn't a move that came out of nowhere.

It starts here. It's genius.

Chris in this looks kind of like a very sad monkey with a bad haircut and I laugh a little whenever he gets a dramatic close-up.

perfection! i cant stay anything more than that ♡

as stated by everyone else on the internet ever, i think ocarina of time is the best zelda experience. i love the world and exploring different locations (kokiri forest, castle town night vs day, and zoras domain to name my favourites), the characters are all wonderful and really lovely to interact with (one of my favourite zeldas, princess ruto and saria as honourable mentions), and the story flows so nicely. i also love all of the dungeons and bosses, bongo bongo is a silly guy (creature?) and i love him ♡

this game really is just a full package, it excels in every area and is always worthwhile to replay! ♡

i played this non-stop from the moment I began it, after the initial tanker mission with snake I haven't been this enthralled in a story for a long time but holy shit this blew my expectations even though they were HIGH and I was spoiled on a few things.

I gotta say I love everything about the game even down to what most people told me was annoying I enjoyed the swimming parts honestly the vibe and sound design was sick , I honestly cannot fucking tell if I like this or 3 more dude the themes of both hit me hard and got me emotional.

also thank christ I played it right off the heels of beating 1 that legitimately added so much appreciation. Also Raiden is a favorite vg protag along with snake dude their dynamic in this game works perfectly especially with that ending twist.

That is to say this game isn't w/o it's problems ofc but to me I wouldn't have it any other way.

yo this might be my favorite game series.

Ok, I got so much in love with this game that after beating it on my 3DS, it only left me craving for more. It is, sadly, too short.
So, I just got the Vita original and finished it in a single sitting, platinum trophy and everything. :P
Well, since I’d already gave my general opinions on this little gem of a game, this review will simply be a comparison between both gameplay experiences.

First of all, the striking difference lies in the presentation.
The game looks phenomenal on the Vita, and combined with the OLED screen displaying beautifully saturated colours and the device’s piano black finish (in the case of my model, at least), it provides a much more immersive experience, especially considering that the game is always being displayed on a 16:9 aspect ratio.
The 3DS version gives you the option to display the gameplay on the wider top screen, but since the gameplay will mostly take place at the bottom one, I felt little incentive to do so, especially since it mirrors both screens at the same time, which felt weird and less optimal. Although the graphics didn’t take much of a hit when converting the game for the 3DS hardware, they are much more vibrant here, even having more particles and slight lighting effects.
Also, as I mentioned in my previous review, having the full map on the top screen of the 3DS at all times is much more convenient, but it’s easy enough to adjust to the original minimap on the top right corner of the screen on the Vita, which actually makes it easier to focus on the details of the game’s environments.

All of that makes the visual presentation much more seamless and appealing on the original version, really immersing yourself in the world of Severed.

Still, on the gameplay department, I still give the edge to the 3DS version.
I can’t describe how much I HATE touching my Vita’s screen. I absolutely despise leaving fingerprints on the thing. Because of that, my Vita’s screen is relatively “virgin”, giving it a bit more friction when swiping through stuff with my fingers. Because of that, slashing through enemies in this game felt quite uncomfortable to me, and I played the entire thing wearing a thin cotton glove on my right hand just to make the gameplay more fluid. Also, I felt it super clumsy to hit certain angles of movement without feeling the need to move my entire right arm or change the angle in which I was holding the device with my left hand. Couple all of that with the fact that the Vita isn’t necessarily a light device, and you’ll may have a bit uncomfortable experience with longer gameplay sessions (which will probably be your case since, again, the game is short and super hard to put down).

Not only playing the game with the stylus on the 3DS feels more comfortable, but extremely more precise.
In the same situations where I felt the need to twist my entire arm on the Vita, it was simply a matter of easily moving my wrist on the 3DS. Also, there are penalties in combat when you accidentally hit something you’re not supposed to, and that actually gave me a hard time on the Vita where on the 3DS it was much easier to hit smaller objects and such.

So, despite rating this Vita version half a star less, my verdict is, basically, hugely inconclusive.
Whilst the visual presentation is much nicer on the Vita original, I simply feel that this game deserves to be played with a stylus. For that reason, I much preferred my time with Severed on the 3DS, but I don’t feel confident enough to recommend it over the Vita/other platforms’ versions for its less striking visual presentation (although, as I said, it’s not really that big of a deal in the case of this game).

The Wii U version might be the best candidate for that, combining 1) an actual gamepad, in contrast to mobile versions; 2) the gorgeous graphics of the original and 3) a stylus.
But, well, I don’t have a Wii U, so I’m just speculating. :P

Maybe I’ll get the game on my iPad at some point and play it with my Apple Pencil to check how it feels.

All in all, despite enjoying it more on the 3DS, Severed is a great game on any platform, and has easily become my favourite DrinkBox Studios title. Play it in any way you can.

Words can’t describe how pleasantly surprised I was by Severed.

My previous experience with Drinkbox games came from the two Guacamelee! games, which I absolutely love. However, I remember seeing this one when it released and giving it little attention - it looked a bit boring.
However, a few days before the closure of the 3DS’ eShop, it was on sale, and very cheap. I decided to grab it, since I had some money left on my wallet.
And, boy, I’m glad that I did it. My initial impressions were proven wrong.
Once I started playing it, I simply couldn’t put my 3DS down.

Severed combines the visual presentation of Guacamelee! with first person dungeon crawling. It has a sort of metroidvania-esque vibe to it too, so exploring and backtracking through these dungeons is always a rewarding experience.
The cherry on the top is the gameplay, though. You move the character with the D-pad, but you have to use the touchscreen to interact with everything else.

The cherry on top of that cherry is the combat. Whilst simple enough to understand, it will require some serious skills to go through the game’s most challenging moments.
Super addictive exploration with super addictive gameplay. Severed proves that touchscreen-based games can be fun.

Also, despite being probably the worst looking version, this 3DS release may just as well be one of the better choices for playing this game. Having a full map on the top screen is already super useful, but slashing through enemies with the stylus feels super precise, and it even feels more like you’re actually holding a sword.
I can’t imagine myself slashing through stuff with my fingertips. I also HATE leaving fingerprints on my Vita’s screen, so it wasn’t difficult to cope with the less impressive presentation of the 3DS version.

Combine everything I said above with a minimalist and emotional plot, and we have an absolute gem of a game.
I only wished it was longer.

The game isn’t perfect, of course, and once you’re fully upgraded, there’s little incentive to fight enemies for severed body parts; however, the biggest flaw of Severed is, by far, it’s length.
As I said, and I kid you not: it’s extremely hard to put this down once you get the hang of it. It was, at least for me, one of those games you never wish to end, and once it does (especially as fast as this one), you’ll only be wishing for more.

After beating it, I could only think that if this came out on the original DS, it would easily be one of the very best titles in its library.

It's kind of the "Free Bird" of video games. It's thematically thin, but just fatalitic enough to feel poetic. It's a cornerstone of modern American AAA games the way Free Bird is a cornerstone of 70s rock. Both a very much for Your Dad. And its legacy is ultimately tied to its vastness.

Just as Free Bird goes on and on and crescendos with a long guitar solo, so does Red Dead Redemption go on and on and then crescendos spectacularly... although crescendo is the wrong word. This isn't a game that leads to a big, violent set piece, but rather leads a series of quiet domestic chores as you reacclimate to life around the family farm. But in contrast to how loud much of the preceding game is, it feels a bit like a crescendo, like an inverted guitar solo.

I do wish this game wasn't so cartoonish. It feels like a game that could easily bare more of its soul. Red Dead Redemption 2 certainly comes closer to doing that. But here, just about every mission from after you leave Bonnie's ranch until you get back to Blackwater is filled with nonsense comic characters, with a few exceptions (Marshal, Landon, Luisa). Nothing wrong with having a sense of humour but in a game that's attempting to be as sombre and "authentic" as this is, the stereotypes just feel lazy and insecure.

Anyway. Good ending. I liked riding around the old west. And when I first played this I wasn't a very big gamer and it spurred 16 year old me on. I still have a poster of Bonnie on the wall of my old room. I don't know that I'll ever be able to NOT see through all of this game's warts.