As someone who owned and actively played on a Wii U back during what might've been the absolute worst time to be a Nintendo fan, I'm surprised at just how many games I didn't bother picking up while the console was still being supported, with one of my bigger regrets being me not playing either of the two Bayonetta games that were on there. Years later, I've still wanted to give this franchise a shot, and since I've been playing quite a few character action games recently, I figured I might as well throw the first Bayonetta into the mix for good measure. This was one of those games that I've heard practically nothing but good things about from both general internet discourse and my actual friends who've played through it, and I think that this general excitement and acclaim towards it might've contributed to just how disappointing of an experience Bayonetta was for me, even if I wouldn't call it a bad game by any means.

For the first few hours of my 10 hour playthrough, I was having an absolute blast with Bayonetta, and most of my enjoyment can be found in the excellent combat system. The vast amount of flashy moves, lengthy combos, and dynamic upgrades made controlling the titular Umbra Witch feel fast, fluid, and buttery-smooth, and activating Witch Time by dodging an attack at the last second was satisfying pretty much every time I pulled it off successfully. Unlike the ranking systems you'd find in something like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta ranks how well you've done in each of the level's individual combat encounters rather than just the level as a whole, and while that didn't really change my approach to fighting enemies all that much (mostly because it was so harsh and required absolute perfection that I just ignored it and did what I wanted), it was still an interesting choice. Although the plot verges on the incomprehensible (especially with how the sound mixing in the cutscenes is so bad that you can't even hear the characters under the sound effects and music), the stylish presentation had me look forward to each cutscene, with the detailed artstyle and gleefully over-the-top choreography working well alongside the lead character's charming personality and the great voice performance from Hellena Taylor. The soundtrack of Bayonetta also greatly added to the game as a whole, and its eclectic mix of genres fit pretty much every scene that the music was used in.

Bayonetta is one of those rare cases where, despite how great the core mechanics are, it feels like every other element of this game is trying to drag that gameplay down to the point where you can't even appreciate it, and a lot of that can be felt with just how bloated this game is with gimmicky nonsense. Whether it comes in the form of clunky vehicle sections, bad platforming, or annoying bosses and enemies that can only be killed using one or two techniques, Bayonetta constantly interrupts you from just getting to the fun parts of the game, and the sheer amount of repeated encounters makes this problem even worse. Even at its best, the gameplay of Bayonetta still manages to get held back, as the genuinely awful camera moves around so much that you can't even see who or what you're supposed to be fighting and dodging (a trend among these character action games that I'm starting to get sick of) and the frame rate can drop so low that it actively ruins your timing for combos and last-second dodges. Bayonetta also has some really irritating quicktime events that occasionally result in an instant death, and since this game decreases your rewards at the end of each level if you die even once, these can end up being straight-up frustrating. The heights that Bayonetta reaches were enough to make me say that I liked it overall, but I won't pretend like I wasn't let down by it or that it wasn't a deeply flawed game, and I hope that Bayonetta 2 makes up for it.

CHEATER IS ME

It's so hard, it made me feel so stupid, so many times. I always had my suspicions I was dumb, thank you for proving it to me for good finally.

So, I finished the game but ONLY because after a third of the game I started looking up stuff on the "Baba is Hint" site (they are great, because you get nudges and vague hints, no solutions). But then near the end I needed full on video-walkthroughs. Even just following those step by step turned out to be tricky at times!!

The thing is, it is probably the best puzzle game of all times, BUT the "game" part of it (enjoyability and playful learning curve) remains a moving target here or is just non-existent in some levels. Maybe it's just because I feel so embarrassed but the rules and verb-dependencies often felt off, confusing and retro-designed, so cracking them asked endless trial and error and sometimes just dumb luck. Some puzzles I solved without really knowing how I did it. Some levels were so impossible and specific, that I became scared of those mighty intelligent brainiac-geniuses who actually managed to play through this game. They are close to some Prof Xavier or singularity or some sht.

Bye Baba, you humbled and broke me.

Seeing that there's not even a single review for this game makes me sad. I bet there's several hundred for Tribes 2 or Ascend, both of which are direly inferior games. Tribes was in many ways too pure for this world, a game of modest tech and huge ambition strung together in a way that no one had seen before and dropped in front of an uncaring public. This was Battlefield before Battlefield, except with Quake movement and everyone being airplanes and people at the same time. You can't begin to understand what you've missed.

The first time that I had heard of the Deus Ex series was through the middling reviews of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided that were being written around the time that game first came out, and while I had no interest in playing that game (or most of the games in the series, for that matter), the amount of praise that went towards the very first game in the series made me curious about eventually giving it a shot. As my tastes in games began to form with age and my love for Western RPGs began to blossom, Deus Ex ended up being one of those games that I wanted to play as soon as I possibly could, and because playing video games on a Mac is an absolute nightmare, it ended up being easier for me to emulate the PS2 port of this game than it was to actually play the original release due to the former option having significantly less hoops I'd need to go through just to get the game to work. Despite me playing it on a technically worse version of the game than around 99% of the population, Deus Ex was able to blow me away in every aspect, and I knew that this deserved its status as one of the best games ever made long before I was finished with it.

One problem that a lot of WRPGs face is that the gameplay ends up being a lot less interesting than the story or characters, but that thankfully isn't the case here at all. Deus Ex is an absolute blast to play thanks to how much freedom of choice the game gives you right from the very beginning, and your options only increase as the game goes on. The sheer amount of vents to crawl through, systems to hack into, and people to talk to in each of the game's 13 missions end up making Deus Ex feel like it's constantly rewarding your curiosity, and having all of the game's interactable elements work alongside each other (i.e. helping a character out so that they can give you useful information or avoiding confrontation by climbing through some vents that you reached by building a stack of boxes) makes exploration feel natural. The dystopian cyberpunk setting was another aspect of why each level was so engaging to traverse, as seeing the grimy, moody, and hellish depictions of New York, Hong Kong, and Paris (as well as the amazing and eclectic music that they were paired with) not only made me want to see what these areas had in store for me, but also what was going on behind the scenes. Deus Ex is a stealth game at its heart (and an immensely fun one at that), but it gives you the tools to really carve out your build and play any way you want, as the limited nano-augmentations, weapon modifications, and skill points always made me careful about choosing what to upgrade and how to take advantage of my new abilities with my current roster of weapons.

From a gameplay standpoint, Deus Ex was already an absolute knockout that was designed in such a way where no two people's playthroughs are the same, but this game also features some of the most enthralling, fascinating, and thought-provoking writing I have ever experienced in a video game. Before the game even starts laying its twists and turns on you, Deus Ex gives you a sense of how bad the world's gotten through the propagandistic newspapers and terminals that are scattered around the levels, and even with the answers that the characters and various organizations give you throughout your playthrough, the atmosphere of mystery and secrecy still manages to linger all the way to the end. The game strikes an excellent balance between riveting gameplay and philosophical food for thought, and it ends up posing a lot of interesting questions regarding morality, politics, capitalism, and human nature whose answers are still being debated by fans to this day. By the time the credits of Deus Ex rolled, I had a giant smile on my face, because while I was admittedly a bit let down that I wasn't able to play the original PC version of the game, I'm still glad that I got to experience what is easily one of the very best games of all time.

A really simple, but immensely fun and cozy experience with a subtle, beautiful meaning. I can't imagine any complaints about it apart from its simplicity. With such a short length, it manages to create a charming world that I really didn't want to leave. And I can honestly imagine booting up the game once in a while to fly or interact with other characters that I missed. Fantastic art style and interactive soundtrack, and simple but solid progression and traversal mechanics. Some nice and short wholesome fun. Great game to recommend to the little one in your family.

★★★★ – Excellent ✅

Because of the huge fringe fandom behind this game, never shutting up about it, I as expected played a incredibly well crafted title... how it controls, the art.
And it's big. There was a point in the first third, when I thought I had seen all the areas. Far from it, I probably underestimated that little ghost faced fellow and his indie game with it. Just as I did the difficulty. I also had to complain and go cry about it early on to the friend who recommended it to me. "Tell me a good load-out for the notches, it's so hard". Too old? We don't have the reaction capabilities anymore? Oh boy...

Well I beat (the) Hollow Knight and feel pretty cool about it. Great game!

No Mans Sky was probably the game, that I was hyped the most for - like ever. The fact that this was going to be a sci-fi game with the feel and look of early science fiction cinema, with a huge universe with procedurally generated planets, plants, animals and all that, seemed just to good to be true. When I heard then, that one of my favorite bands of all time was scoring this, I was sure, this is going to be the best game out there. (seriously, go check out 65dos)
Upon release I was enjoying the game, even though everyone hated on it and probably rightly so. The game was already special on release day, but it just too often felt like something, that wasn't finished. The amount of hatred the developer received was disproportional however, considering steams most popular games are mostly far from finished.
It was obvious who the culprit in this was: the publisher Sony, who pressured the developers to an early release and had horrible marketing going on, promising just to much. The game, the developers, everything that was connected to this game, fell from grace.
What happened since then, is my favorite video game industry story ever. Sean Murray and his team from 'hello games' stuck through all of the bad wishes, the hatred, the death threats and continued to work on their dream game. They did not tell anyone about it, there were no trailers, no announcements. They did so with brilliance and dedication. Because what they achieved with the game in the past two years is amazing. It is probably what I expected in the first place, or it is at least getting there with huge steps. The game is absolutely unique in my opinion. I am full of excitement thinking about the developers releasing even more content. This is going to be my favorite go-to game up until the day the developers declare it finished.
Do yourself and me a favor though, please. Get into it with the right expectations. Don't expect an MMO multiplayer game with a lot of action or narrative. Don't expect to be hooked for 500 hours.
Expect a game where a big chunk of what makes it so special, is you. If you like to explore, if you like space, if you can embrace the colors, the music, the atmosphere and the sense of wonder, than you will find great pleasure in this game.
I'm a huge sci-fi fan. I love the sci fi classic movies and books. And what those pieces of art, like 2001, a childhoods end, neuromancer, interstellar etc. set off in me, this game is capable of as well. It'd be a pity if you missed it.

Update: and the Devs are still at it, as they are adding cool new content every month or so. If they keep this pace up and add one or two major late-game milestones or "real multiplayer", this game is finally what we all expected it to be. Please keep going hello games.

Update2: 'Beyond' marks the point, where Hello Games and No Man's Sky turn into gaming's greatest redemption story. The game at this point is everything I wanted it to be, when it first came out. I am forever thankful for the developers to not give up on this dream we have in common. And I'm excited to see in which direction the game will develop in the future.