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2024
In the never ending pursuit to make a rogue-like out of everything you can think of, here is Balatro which has turned Poker (kind of) into one. The basic premise is, each round you draw a pool of 8 cards and you have (typically) 4 hands and 3 discards to make as many high-scoring Poker hands as you can and reach the Blind value. Each hand has an associated point value and multiplier, and each card that contributes to the hand also adds its own card value to the points. Once you defeat the current blind, you go to a shop where you can use your hard-earned cash to buy various upgrades.
Celestial cards upgrade the value of a particular hand, spectral and arcana cards have various abilities to manipulate your deck by adding, removing, or modifying cards, and then there are Jokers. Jokers are where the real meat of the game comes from, as their varying abilities and large selection allow you to build out your strategy. You can really stack your multipliers into insane values, and as you climb through the increasing antes (and boss antes with often annoying effects), you try to ultimately defeat Ante level 8 for a "completed" run (although there is an endless option after you make it there).
There's a handful of decks as well to choose from with their own unique effects, and as you beat the game with each one you can choose to increase the difficulty with that respective deck for more and more challenge. All that is to say, I really don't have much else to say about Balatro other than it is damn addicting. Easy to pick up and play a few hands, try out different combos, and build out your collection as the game keeps track of which cards you've picked up before. Definitely recommend if you want a nice, chill time-killer that you will also slowly grow to hate.
Celestial cards upgrade the value of a particular hand, spectral and arcana cards have various abilities to manipulate your deck by adding, removing, or modifying cards, and then there are Jokers. Jokers are where the real meat of the game comes from, as their varying abilities and large selection allow you to build out your strategy. You can really stack your multipliers into insane values, and as you climb through the increasing antes (and boss antes with often annoying effects), you try to ultimately defeat Ante level 8 for a "completed" run (although there is an endless option after you make it there).
There's a handful of decks as well to choose from with their own unique effects, and as you beat the game with each one you can choose to increase the difficulty with that respective deck for more and more challenge. All that is to say, I really don't have much else to say about Balatro other than it is damn addicting. Easy to pick up and play a few hands, try out different combos, and build out your collection as the game keeps track of which cards you've picked up before. Definitely recommend if you want a nice, chill time-killer that you will also slowly grow to hate.
2024
In a similar vein to Lethal Company, you and up to three friends journey into a washed-out, dark facility. The gimmick here though is instead of scrounging for loot while avoiding monsters, you have a camera and have to record up to 90 seconds of footage of things you see or do down there, and then haul ass back to the pod. If you manage to bring back the footage, you will upload it to Spooktube to try and reach viewer milestones every 3 days. Views lead to cash to buy items, and better items lead to better views.
You also can save the footage to your desktop if you like what you've recorded. It's a decent gameplay loop and makes for some good laughs, just a bit lacking in environment variety as it is not randomly generated like Lethal Company. Still, it was good fun for a few hours so I would recommend trying it at least once if you can grab it for cheap (or did when it was free!).
You also can save the footage to your desktop if you like what you've recorded. It's a decent gameplay loop and makes for some good laughs, just a bit lacking in environment variety as it is not randomly generated like Lethal Company. Still, it was good fun for a few hours so I would recommend trying it at least once if you can grab it for cheap (or did when it was free!).
You wouldn't think it, but there are a surprising number of conventions and tropes in the Monster Hunter franchise that fit well in a turn-based RPG, especially when you include monster catching/training. While I mostly enjoyed my time with Stories 2, the game often felt like it was having an identity crisis and was doing things that it felt like it had to do because that's how Monster Hunter does it, even when it did not make a modicum of sense.
To start off with, the plot is solid (especially for one rooted in the MH universe). You journey across several different major areas with your newly hatched Rathalos (who may never leave the party, this is Capcom's Charizard after all) in hopes of learning more about the prophecy that ruin will be brought to the land. Each new zone you journey to partners you up with a new buddy character, and you hear their Stories as you progress that arc in the plot with them. It gets a little formulaic, but all of the buddy characters are lovely and have compelling motivations. There is but one truly poor character in the game, and unfortunately it is Navirou; the Palico-turned-Funko-Pop who serves as the silent protagonist's mouthpiece for the duration of the story. He is genuinely grating and I don't even think I would mind so much if his design wasn't so out of place (just have him look like a normal palico!).
The combat system however, is quite good. You sort of have a layered RPS system where different monsters will either be focused on Power, Speed, or Technical attacks and you'll want to align both yours and your monster partner to use the attacks that beat it. You'll also want to pick the right type of weapon (Slash, Pierce, or Strike) that is strong against the part of the Monster you want to break. Each of the 6 available weapon types have their own quirks, and as you win more head-to-heads and occasional QTE sequences, you will build up your kinship gauge allowing you to get on your monster and unleash flashy, powerful attacks. While monster parts you've hit in the past will display their weaknesses in battle, the type of attacks the enemy monster has an affinity for will not. This turns it into purely a game of memory, especially when monsters enrage and switch up their tactics. It reminded me a lot of Fate/Extra in this way and is maybe one of my favourite parts about playing the game. There's a surprising amount of depth and nuance if you really want to dig into it.
Sadly, exploring the open world is sadly what drives me up the wall the most about the game. In the main Monster Hunter series, you set off on missions that are usually anywhere from 8 minutes to 40 minutes. All is quiet as you track your target, and when the battle begins is when the music flares up and really enhances the whole experience. For some insane reason, Capcom has decided that the open world in Stories 2 must also be silent at all times outside of battle. It is especially baffling when most of the music in the game is fantastic, but you just don't get to hear any of it for more than 50% of your time in the main story. There are lots of little caves and paths to explore and retrieve eggs to hatch into new Monsties to join you, but it is all silent during this time unless you get in a fight.
There's a pretty large selection of monsters in the game locking in at a little over 120, most of which are hatchable and can join your party, although they are spread out rather strangely and many of them are bizarrely absent for most of the game when there was plenty of room to introduce them sooner. As you might expect from a Monster Hunter title, this is because the game has a pretty sizable and in-depth High Rank post-game, but after 60 hours to get through the main story I really do not feel all that motivated to re-fight and catch all those Monsties again just to see a handful of new ones.
Despite all my gripes, I did genuinely enjoy much of my time with Stories 2. You can really see the potential for this series as a companion to the mainline action games, and I think if they made a Stories 3 after Wilds comes out, they could really have a banger. But for now Stories 2 is awkward, if not earnest, in its attempt to blend the popular action series with a turn-based RPG.
To start off with, the plot is solid (especially for one rooted in the MH universe). You journey across several different major areas with your newly hatched Rathalos (who may never leave the party, this is Capcom's Charizard after all) in hopes of learning more about the prophecy that ruin will be brought to the land. Each new zone you journey to partners you up with a new buddy character, and you hear their Stories as you progress that arc in the plot with them. It gets a little formulaic, but all of the buddy characters are lovely and have compelling motivations. There is but one truly poor character in the game, and unfortunately it is Navirou; the Palico-turned-Funko-Pop who serves as the silent protagonist's mouthpiece for the duration of the story. He is genuinely grating and I don't even think I would mind so much if his design wasn't so out of place (just have him look like a normal palico!).
The combat system however, is quite good. You sort of have a layered RPS system where different monsters will either be focused on Power, Speed, or Technical attacks and you'll want to align both yours and your monster partner to use the attacks that beat it. You'll also want to pick the right type of weapon (Slash, Pierce, or Strike) that is strong against the part of the Monster you want to break. Each of the 6 available weapon types have their own quirks, and as you win more head-to-heads and occasional QTE sequences, you will build up your kinship gauge allowing you to get on your monster and unleash flashy, powerful attacks. While monster parts you've hit in the past will display their weaknesses in battle, the type of attacks the enemy monster has an affinity for will not. This turns it into purely a game of memory, especially when monsters enrage and switch up their tactics. It reminded me a lot of Fate/Extra in this way and is maybe one of my favourite parts about playing the game. There's a surprising amount of depth and nuance if you really want to dig into it.
Sadly, exploring the open world is sadly what drives me up the wall the most about the game. In the main Monster Hunter series, you set off on missions that are usually anywhere from 8 minutes to 40 minutes. All is quiet as you track your target, and when the battle begins is when the music flares up and really enhances the whole experience. For some insane reason, Capcom has decided that the open world in Stories 2 must also be silent at all times outside of battle. It is especially baffling when most of the music in the game is fantastic, but you just don't get to hear any of it for more than 50% of your time in the main story. There are lots of little caves and paths to explore and retrieve eggs to hatch into new Monsties to join you, but it is all silent during this time unless you get in a fight.
There's a pretty large selection of monsters in the game locking in at a little over 120, most of which are hatchable and can join your party, although they are spread out rather strangely and many of them are bizarrely absent for most of the game when there was plenty of room to introduce them sooner. As you might expect from a Monster Hunter title, this is because the game has a pretty sizable and in-depth High Rank post-game, but after 60 hours to get through the main story I really do not feel all that motivated to re-fight and catch all those Monsties again just to see a handful of new ones.
Despite all my gripes, I did genuinely enjoy much of my time with Stories 2. You can really see the potential for this series as a companion to the mainline action games, and I think if they made a Stories 3 after Wilds comes out, they could really have a banger. But for now Stories 2 is awkward, if not earnest, in its attempt to blend the popular action series with a turn-based RPG.
2024
Adventure games are an extremely popular genre, but when you really get right down to the specifics of what makes a game feel like a real adventure, I don't think any game comes nearly as close as Dragon's Dogma and its sequel. Every venture out of town is considered and planned, and those plans are subsequently broken in different ways on each excursion. For me, Dragon's Dogma II is a series of hits of the same high that Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom or even Death Stranding provides.
Dragon's Dogma II puts you in control once again of the Arisen, a character of your own making who is selected by the dragon to control Pawns. In addition to a Pawn who is also of your own making, you can have up to two Pawns created by other players to form your party of four. Pawns can be any of 6 vocations while the Arisen has access to a few more specialized ones, and your team composition determines your approach to battles. Combat is largely the same as the first game, where you pick your four weapon skills based on your vocation on top of a couple of other baked-in unique abilities. You can also pick up and throw smaller enemies (or friends), as well as climb all over bigger ones a la Shadow of the Colossus. There's a little something for everyone with each vocation, and I am a big fan of both the new ones (special shoutout to Mystic Spearhand) and the slight reworks to the old ones. While admittedly there isn't a great variety of smaller enemies (mostly the same as the first game with some slight variations on Harpies and Saurians) and the large monsters could be spread out a lot more evenly through the world, but I personally never got tired of fighting cyclopes' or minotaurs whether it was my first time or my tenth time. You definitely feel a good sense of getting stronger as you and your Pawns chunk through those health bars faster and faster.
For fans of the first game, you'll also find the plot structure is pretty similar. A mostly straight-forward fantasy adventure with very light political intrigue that gets a bit weird with it as you go on. Above most other games, I highly recommend playing DD2 without a guide because the plot is counting on both the player's (and their Pawn's) ability to figure out the right direction and even beyond that, make mistakes. I can't count on two hands the number of major quests I royally screwed up, and yet still stumbled my way through the story. Some quest lines will even straight up drop if you don't make your own effort to pick them up and continue them, and many side quests aren't even presented to you unless you happen to talk to the right people. Whether you are in or out of town, curiosity is at the forefront of DD2's design philosophy. While still a bit on the barebones side, the main plot does have a few cool set piece moments, and the last few hours especially were stellar.
As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, the real draw of this game for me was the moment-to-moment. The exploration, the adventure. I took the same route out of Vermund countless times as I explored the Western side of the country, and by the time I eventually reached my intended destination, something different always happened. Maybe I found a new cave I hadn't spotted before with a new Pawn's help. Maybe I was ambushed by a Minotaur and knocked across a river. Maybe a Drake landed and utterly destroyed my party. The term 'friction' has been thrown around a lot to describe this game and its become a bit of a buzzword, but it is absolutely true. Traditional fast travel is (mostly) discouraged so that the player can experience lots of moments like this. It's a constant battle of tradeoffs, is it worth picking a fight with that Cyclops while the party needs a rest? Oh no, a Gryphon just landed on us and it's time to find out if we are prepared to fight it, or lead it back to the city where a good number of people will probably perish (but can be revived if you've got the item to do so). I could go on and on about all the cool moments I encountered, and suffice to say I thoroughly explored the map as best I could in doing so. It's been so refreshing just playing an open-world game like this where I can open my map and point at a spot and think okay, I want to go there because I want to. There's no icon there (yet) so maybe I'll find something cool. It is the antithesis of guided checklist open-worlds.
To be absolutely clear, it is not a game for everyone. I am not trying to gate keep or be pretentious about it, but the focuses and game design philosophies behind Dragon's Dogma II (and Dragon's Dogma for that matter) are very specific. It is more often about the journey than the destination, and the lack of fast travel and direction will probably cause a lot of people to bounce off. But for me, this is exactly the type of game I have been craving and as a follow up to the first game, I am happy to say that Dragon's Dogma II is just more Dragon's Dogma. At least at the time of writing, it's my GOTY of 2024.
Dragon's Dogma II puts you in control once again of the Arisen, a character of your own making who is selected by the dragon to control Pawns. In addition to a Pawn who is also of your own making, you can have up to two Pawns created by other players to form your party of four. Pawns can be any of 6 vocations while the Arisen has access to a few more specialized ones, and your team composition determines your approach to battles. Combat is largely the same as the first game, where you pick your four weapon skills based on your vocation on top of a couple of other baked-in unique abilities. You can also pick up and throw smaller enemies (or friends), as well as climb all over bigger ones a la Shadow of the Colossus. There's a little something for everyone with each vocation, and I am a big fan of both the new ones (special shoutout to Mystic Spearhand) and the slight reworks to the old ones. While admittedly there isn't a great variety of smaller enemies (mostly the same as the first game with some slight variations on Harpies and Saurians) and the large monsters could be spread out a lot more evenly through the world, but I personally never got tired of fighting cyclopes' or minotaurs whether it was my first time or my tenth time. You definitely feel a good sense of getting stronger as you and your Pawns chunk through those health bars faster and faster.
For fans of the first game, you'll also find the plot structure is pretty similar. A mostly straight-forward fantasy adventure with very light political intrigue that gets a bit weird with it as you go on. Above most other games, I highly recommend playing DD2 without a guide because the plot is counting on both the player's (and their Pawn's) ability to figure out the right direction and even beyond that, make mistakes. I can't count on two hands the number of major quests I royally screwed up, and yet still stumbled my way through the story. Some quest lines will even straight up drop if you don't make your own effort to pick them up and continue them, and many side quests aren't even presented to you unless you happen to talk to the right people. Whether you are in or out of town, curiosity is at the forefront of DD2's design philosophy. While still a bit on the barebones side, the main plot does have a few cool set piece moments, and the last few hours especially were stellar.
As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, the real draw of this game for me was the moment-to-moment. The exploration, the adventure. I took the same route out of Vermund countless times as I explored the Western side of the country, and by the time I eventually reached my intended destination, something different always happened. Maybe I found a new cave I hadn't spotted before with a new Pawn's help. Maybe I was ambushed by a Minotaur and knocked across a river. Maybe a Drake landed and utterly destroyed my party. The term 'friction' has been thrown around a lot to describe this game and its become a bit of a buzzword, but it is absolutely true. Traditional fast travel is (mostly) discouraged so that the player can experience lots of moments like this. It's a constant battle of tradeoffs, is it worth picking a fight with that Cyclops while the party needs a rest? Oh no, a Gryphon just landed on us and it's time to find out if we are prepared to fight it, or lead it back to the city where a good number of people will probably perish (but can be revived if you've got the item to do so). I could go on and on about all the cool moments I encountered, and suffice to say I thoroughly explored the map as best I could in doing so. It's been so refreshing just playing an open-world game like this where I can open my map and point at a spot and think okay, I want to go there because I want to. There's no icon there (yet) so maybe I'll find something cool. It is the antithesis of guided checklist open-worlds.
To be absolutely clear, it is not a game for everyone. I am not trying to gate keep or be pretentious about it, but the focuses and game design philosophies behind Dragon's Dogma II (and Dragon's Dogma for that matter) are very specific. It is more often about the journey than the destination, and the lack of fast travel and direction will probably cause a lot of people to bounce off. But for me, this is exactly the type of game I have been craving and as a follow up to the first game, I am happy to say that Dragon's Dogma II is just more Dragon's Dogma. At least at the time of writing, it's my GOTY of 2024.
While it had its own fair share of pacing issues, overall I was pretty jazzed about FFVII Remake. Midgar is blown up into its own game, new characters are introduced, and beloved characters and pivotal moments were expertly executed on. The general idea seemed to be to take things in a new direction while still maintaining those critical aspects of the story and characters, and I was absolutely on board for this. While Rebirth continues this same philosophy, it still ended up falling short in a lot of ways.
Rebirth begins more or less with the iconic flashback before thrusting the players into the world beyond Midgar. There are several regions throughout the game with their own towns and checklists of open-world activities. Side quests and minigames are USUALLY pretty good, but everything else is a lot of filler. Towers to climb, special battles to fight, lifesprings to visit, and so on. It's novel in the first couple of regions, but then gets to become tedious when you are doing the same stuff over and over. They're gorgeous locations to look at for sure, but I can't help but feel like the slowest paced part of the original game did not need more padding. If you liked Chadley in Remake (like me!) you will be tired of him going through this game. If you hated him, good luck. On that note as well, if you are making an open world game that demands to have a coliseum, you get to have one. Not two, not three, definitely not 5+!
Combat is fairly similar to the first game with two new party members you get to control with their own unique styles and focuses. You can make up to three different combat parties, and most dungeons in the game will force you to play everyone so no one ever really feels benched. The complaints about aerial enemies from the first game was taken to heart, and now most characters do not struggle with flying enemies. Cloud can both shoot projectiles and straight up launch into the air for those sweet air combos, and Tifa can use the new synergy skills to have another party member launch her into the air to do the same. Overall it still feels good, and a lot of the late-game optional harder fights feel really satisfying.
Overall, the narrative is alright. I mentioned that this is the slowest part of the original game as it tended to focus more on individual character development (especially for Barrett, Red, and Cait Sith) so I can't fault it too much for that. Whoever was in charge of writing the characters really understands them and why they are so beloved; I cannot say enough nice things about the cast, especially Barrett and Cloud. But at the same time, they have utterly demystified and abandoned all subtlety in regards to Sephiroth. It's a bit of a bummer because that's really the only thing I felt he had going for him in the original (and a cool sword), but I guess that's just how it is now. Maybe this is a harsh comparison, but it's almost like how they did Vicious in the Netflix adaptation of Cowboy Bebop. Sometimes less is a lot more.
Maybe 3.5 stars is a little generous for how harsh this review is, but I genuinely do love all that they've done with the main cast in this game. At this point I am committed to slog through another 100 hour RPG to see where this journey leads, but while I left Remake feeling optimistic, I leave this one feeling very wary. Both in terms of the narrative and open-world, they really need to focus in and commit. Either be bold and commit to the new, or keep it faithful to the original plot. Either go more linear because there's still a lot of ground to cover, or let the player truly go on an adventure - because Rebirth felt a lot more like a guided tour.
Rebirth begins more or less with the iconic flashback before thrusting the players into the world beyond Midgar. There are several regions throughout the game with their own towns and checklists of open-world activities. Side quests and minigames are USUALLY pretty good, but everything else is a lot of filler. Towers to climb, special battles to fight, lifesprings to visit, and so on. It's novel in the first couple of regions, but then gets to become tedious when you are doing the same stuff over and over. They're gorgeous locations to look at for sure, but I can't help but feel like the slowest paced part of the original game did not need more padding. If you liked Chadley in Remake (like me!) you will be tired of him going through this game. If you hated him, good luck. On that note as well, if you are making an open world game that demands to have a coliseum, you get to have one. Not two, not three, definitely not 5+!
Combat is fairly similar to the first game with two new party members you get to control with their own unique styles and focuses. You can make up to three different combat parties, and most dungeons in the game will force you to play everyone so no one ever really feels benched. The complaints about aerial enemies from the first game was taken to heart, and now most characters do not struggle with flying enemies. Cloud can both shoot projectiles and straight up launch into the air for those sweet air combos, and Tifa can use the new synergy skills to have another party member launch her into the air to do the same. Overall it still feels good, and a lot of the late-game optional harder fights feel really satisfying.
Overall, the narrative is alright. I mentioned that this is the slowest part of the original game as it tended to focus more on individual character development (especially for Barrett, Red, and Cait Sith) so I can't fault it too much for that. Whoever was in charge of writing the characters really understands them and why they are so beloved; I cannot say enough nice things about the cast, especially Barrett and Cloud. But at the same time, they have utterly demystified and abandoned all subtlety in regards to Sephiroth. It's a bit of a bummer because that's really the only thing I felt he had going for him in the original (and a cool sword), but I guess that's just how it is now. Maybe this is a harsh comparison, but it's almost like how they did Vicious in the Netflix adaptation of Cowboy Bebop. Sometimes less is a lot more.
Maybe 3.5 stars is a little generous for how harsh this review is, but I genuinely do love all that they've done with the main cast in this game. At this point I am committed to slog through another 100 hour RPG to see where this journey leads, but while I left Remake feeling optimistic, I leave this one feeling very wary. Both in terms of the narrative and open-world, they really need to focus in and commit. Either be bold and commit to the new, or keep it faithful to the original plot. Either go more linear because there's still a lot of ground to cover, or let the player truly go on an adventure - because Rebirth felt a lot more like a guided tour.
2024
When I try to think of notable examples of games in the space of co-op mission-based PvE, it's kind of crazy how the only big ones that come to mind are Left4Dead, Deep Rock Galactic, and PAYDAY because (for the most part), these are all really successful and fun when they work. Helldivers 2 most certainly joins the company of these aforementioned titles, and one I can see myself coming back to (friends-willing) over and over.
In the galactic effort to spread democracy for Super Earth, as a Helldiver you pick a planet on the galactic map (currently inhabited by either giant bugs or terminator-style robots) and from there, choose an operation. Depending on your difficulty setting, your operations will consist of varying numbers of missions and objective types. Drop in and run around to launch an ICBM, defend an outpost from a swarm, collect planetary samples, and so on. Depending on the mission type (and how thorough you can afford to be), missions usually range from 12-30 minutes and you are rewarded extra for completing an operation, making it very easy to play for long periods of time as it's just that fun.
After you return from a mission, you can use your hard-earned currencies to unlock new strategems (airstrikes or weapon drops called in by performing a DDR string on the D-Pad), as well as progress in the battle passes and modules to upgrade your ship. There's much to choose from and each player gets 4 strategem slots per mission, so there's plenty of room for synergy and customization.
Overall, it's a pretty good combat loop and the movement and shooting feel very reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid V. If I had something negative to say about it, I would say certain currencies being hard locked to higher difficulties is a bit unfortunate because 1) Communication and Cooperation is absolutely mandatory the higher you go (playing with randoms rules this out), and 2) The difficulty level really starts to feel less about spreading Democracy and more about running for your life from every encounter in the name of efficiency. Getting stomped doesn't feel great, getting stomped after 40 minutes of commitment just sends me into Dota 2 PTSD. While I also don't normally factor this sort of thing into my reviews unless it was a real detriment, but there have been a litany of bugs and glitches hampering the experience since launch, and each patched introduced something new and frustrating. I'm sure this sort of thing will work itself out as the devs chip away at it, but for now simply playing with friends has been a hassle.
Still, if you are looking for a really solid shooter to co-op with, this is definitely a great new offering. There's a ton of unlocks to keep the gameplay loop feel engaging, and if they keep their current cadence up I'm sure there will be lots more crazy new things to try out or shoot at within the next year.
In the galactic effort to spread democracy for Super Earth, as a Helldiver you pick a planet on the galactic map (currently inhabited by either giant bugs or terminator-style robots) and from there, choose an operation. Depending on your difficulty setting, your operations will consist of varying numbers of missions and objective types. Drop in and run around to launch an ICBM, defend an outpost from a swarm, collect planetary samples, and so on. Depending on the mission type (and how thorough you can afford to be), missions usually range from 12-30 minutes and you are rewarded extra for completing an operation, making it very easy to play for long periods of time as it's just that fun.
After you return from a mission, you can use your hard-earned currencies to unlock new strategems (airstrikes or weapon drops called in by performing a DDR string on the D-Pad), as well as progress in the battle passes and modules to upgrade your ship. There's much to choose from and each player gets 4 strategem slots per mission, so there's plenty of room for synergy and customization.
Overall, it's a pretty good combat loop and the movement and shooting feel very reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid V. If I had something negative to say about it, I would say certain currencies being hard locked to higher difficulties is a bit unfortunate because 1) Communication and Cooperation is absolutely mandatory the higher you go (playing with randoms rules this out), and 2) The difficulty level really starts to feel less about spreading Democracy and more about running for your life from every encounter in the name of efficiency. Getting stomped doesn't feel great, getting stomped after 40 minutes of commitment just sends me into Dota 2 PTSD. While I also don't normally factor this sort of thing into my reviews unless it was a real detriment, but there have been a litany of bugs and glitches hampering the experience since launch, and each patched introduced something new and frustrating. I'm sure this sort of thing will work itself out as the devs chip away at it, but for now simply playing with friends has been a hassle.
Still, if you are looking for a really solid shooter to co-op with, this is definitely a great new offering. There's a ton of unlocks to keep the gameplay loop feel engaging, and if they keep their current cadence up I'm sure there will be lots more crazy new things to try out or shoot at within the next year.
2024
Between 3, 4, and 5, Persona 3 was always my least favourite. Tartarus was a tedious slog, you didn't get to delve very far into your relationships with the people you were closest to, there were bizarrely no option to just be friends with any of the love interests meaning you just didn't get to finish Social Links, and above all there was simply no definitive version of the game with FES and Portable both having features the others lacked. But what Persona 3 did always have was a strong story, a well-defined message, a great main party, and of course, a tremendous soundtrack. While Persona 3 Reload disappointingly lacks a FeMC route, I am happy to say that it features everything else I could want from the game and more, and (unless you want to experience the better main character), the easiest version of the game to point to and say yes, you should play Persona 3.
For the most part, visually it is a stunning upgrade. There are new mo-capped(?) 3D cutscenes for certain moments that feel incredible, and in general the game is also a lot more vibrant while still retaining the colour palette of the original game with lots of blues and greys. You can tell they wanted to adapt a sort of similar style to Persona 5 and it works, with the exception of losing some of the personality in the old character portraits for a more "clean" look.
The soundtrack as expected is fantastic. While many of the less prominent songs are retained in their original version, there are a ton of new remixes. Lotus Juice returns on many of the vocal tracks this time with Azumi Takahashi in place of Yumi Kawamura. It's Going Down Now is introduced as the new advantage battle theme in Tartarus, and Colour Your Night is the new night time theme as Moon's Reaching Out to the Stars is shifted to be only in the day. Colour Your Night in particular is one of my new favourite Persona tracks, I ran around outside at night a bit just to hear it more. While long time fans of P3 might find the new remixes a little hard to adjust to, by the end of the game I definitely loved all of them. Takahashi's voice brings a softer vibe in contrast to Kawamura's, but it is in no way a replacement - they both fit just right.
Similarly, perhaps the thing I was most excited to hear going in was the new voice cast. Many of them feel very similar to their old actors and actresses, while others feel entirely new. Junpei and Akihiko in particular really killed it for me, with the former elevating the character far above what they were previously in my mind. All of the other social links are fully voiced now too, with Yuko and Bebe being big standouts.
P3 Reload also introduces a number of new ways to interact with your party members with new Link Episodes where you spend time with and get to know your male party members better. There's also new activities in the dorm at night that not only are fun little events, but also contribute to their capabilities in battle via their Characteristics. As an example, you can cook or watch DVDs with Yukari enough times, and SP costs of her healing spells are halved, then quartered. These events ALSO will increase your social stats or give you an extra useful consumable, so they do not feel like a struggle to fit into a game with an already tight schedule. It really goes a long way to help them feel like a group of friends who live and fight together, which was sorely missing in the original games.
And finally, we come to Tartarus. It's really hard to make a 200+ floor dungeon feel engaging, and admittedly it still felt a bit rough going in the home stretch, but the new improvements made a world of difference. First off is the visual style. Each block feels wildly different with striking aesthetics so it really feels more like 5-6 different dungeons at times instead of one big tower. Party members have a new theurgy meter which functions as a super and you gain meter for doing something particular to that character (Akihiko having buffs on, Mitsuru inflicting debuffs/ailments, etc.). They are absolutely overpowered and can invalidate a lot of fights, but they look flashy and damn cool so all is forgiven (such is the way in Persona). The Monad depths that used to serve as an end game optional dungeon are now sprinked throughout Tartarus via random doors and fixed passages, offering harder boss fights for reliable major tarot cards in shuffle time and greater rewards/chests. The major tarot cards you can now draw offer a lot of one-time or same-night bonuses in Tartarus such as greater fusion bonuses or getting to draw extra in Shuffle Time. They also even added a catch-up mechanic, where once per-excursion (or maybe Tartarus segment?) you have a chance of having a clock show up after opening special chests. When you touch the clock, you pick two party members that will level up to the MC's current level in the next battle. Something like this is SORELY needed in Persona where most of the time party members will just stay on the bench once they are placed there to avoid grinding. By the end of my playthrough, every single party member was in the mid-70s and I could freely select them as I saw fit for each battle. I remember one full moon fight in particular, I screwed up my team composition and died but that was cool, because I had the freedom to pick a different set of characters in the same night without feeling under-leveled. I really hope we continue to get mechanics like this, because for games with such a good cast as these, it's such a shame to not use more than 3 of them in battle.
There's a lot more I didn't talk about in this massive review of Persona 3 Reload, but above all I can now happily say I consider it one of my favourite Persona experiences alongside Golden and Royal. I'm sure it'll still get a re-release down the road as is the way with Atlus, but for now anyone looking to try out Persona 3 - this is the one to go for. You won't be disappointed.
For the most part, visually it is a stunning upgrade. There are new mo-capped(?) 3D cutscenes for certain moments that feel incredible, and in general the game is also a lot more vibrant while still retaining the colour palette of the original game with lots of blues and greys. You can tell they wanted to adapt a sort of similar style to Persona 5 and it works, with the exception of losing some of the personality in the old character portraits for a more "clean" look.
The soundtrack as expected is fantastic. While many of the less prominent songs are retained in their original version, there are a ton of new remixes. Lotus Juice returns on many of the vocal tracks this time with Azumi Takahashi in place of Yumi Kawamura. It's Going Down Now is introduced as the new advantage battle theme in Tartarus, and Colour Your Night is the new night time theme as Moon's Reaching Out to the Stars is shifted to be only in the day. Colour Your Night in particular is one of my new favourite Persona tracks, I ran around outside at night a bit just to hear it more. While long time fans of P3 might find the new remixes a little hard to adjust to, by the end of the game I definitely loved all of them. Takahashi's voice brings a softer vibe in contrast to Kawamura's, but it is in no way a replacement - they both fit just right.
Similarly, perhaps the thing I was most excited to hear going in was the new voice cast. Many of them feel very similar to their old actors and actresses, while others feel entirely new. Junpei and Akihiko in particular really killed it for me, with the former elevating the character far above what they were previously in my mind. All of the other social links are fully voiced now too, with Yuko and Bebe being big standouts.
P3 Reload also introduces a number of new ways to interact with your party members with new Link Episodes where you spend time with and get to know your male party members better. There's also new activities in the dorm at night that not only are fun little events, but also contribute to their capabilities in battle via their Characteristics. As an example, you can cook or watch DVDs with Yukari enough times, and SP costs of her healing spells are halved, then quartered. These events ALSO will increase your social stats or give you an extra useful consumable, so they do not feel like a struggle to fit into a game with an already tight schedule. It really goes a long way to help them feel like a group of friends who live and fight together, which was sorely missing in the original games.
And finally, we come to Tartarus. It's really hard to make a 200+ floor dungeon feel engaging, and admittedly it still felt a bit rough going in the home stretch, but the new improvements made a world of difference. First off is the visual style. Each block feels wildly different with striking aesthetics so it really feels more like 5-6 different dungeons at times instead of one big tower. Party members have a new theurgy meter which functions as a super and you gain meter for doing something particular to that character (Akihiko having buffs on, Mitsuru inflicting debuffs/ailments, etc.). They are absolutely overpowered and can invalidate a lot of fights, but they look flashy and damn cool so all is forgiven (such is the way in Persona). The Monad depths that used to serve as an end game optional dungeon are now sprinked throughout Tartarus via random doors and fixed passages, offering harder boss fights for reliable major tarot cards in shuffle time and greater rewards/chests. The major tarot cards you can now draw offer a lot of one-time or same-night bonuses in Tartarus such as greater fusion bonuses or getting to draw extra in Shuffle Time. They also even added a catch-up mechanic, where once per-excursion (or maybe Tartarus segment?) you have a chance of having a clock show up after opening special chests. When you touch the clock, you pick two party members that will level up to the MC's current level in the next battle. Something like this is SORELY needed in Persona where most of the time party members will just stay on the bench once they are placed there to avoid grinding. By the end of my playthrough, every single party member was in the mid-70s and I could freely select them as I saw fit for each battle. I remember one full moon fight in particular, I screwed up my team composition and died but that was cool, because I had the freedom to pick a different set of characters in the same night without feeling under-leveled. I really hope we continue to get mechanics like this, because for games with such a good cast as these, it's such a shame to not use more than 3 of them in battle.
There's a lot more I didn't talk about in this massive review of Persona 3 Reload, but above all I can now happily say I consider it one of my favourite Persona experiences alongside Golden and Royal. I'm sure it'll still get a re-release down the road as is the way with Atlus, but for now anyone looking to try out Persona 3 - this is the one to go for. You won't be disappointed.
After seeing a fair bit of the promo materials for Infinite Wealth, and especially after playing 'The Man Who Erased His Name', I had a single great fear going into this one. Yakuza: Like a Dragon had claimed the title of my favourite RGG studios game due in no small part to the new protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga. It is no exaggeration for me to say he is my favourite all-time RPG protagonist, and with how things were shaping up my fear was that he would have to relinquish that spotlight back to the long-time series favourite, Kazuma Kiryu. I am more than happy to report that these fears were unfounded and Infinite Wealth simply allows both these protagonists to breathe by simply jamming two massive games together in one.
To elaborate further, the scope of this game is insane. I have that same feeling I did when I first played Yakuza 5. A whole new map to explore in Hawaii on top of Yokohama and Kamurocho, and there are a massive amount of minigames (and even a proper ass game in Dondoko Island) to go with it. Want to play a Pokemon Snap-like where you take pictures of perverts wreaking havock across Hawaii? There's Sicko Snap at three of the bus stops around town. How about a dating app where you build Kasuga's profile and do rhythm game-like inputs to score a funny date? There's Miss Match. How about straight-up Crazy Taxi x Uber Eats where you race around picking up food, doing tricks, and stopping by citizens? There's Crazy Eats. All of these are pretty fun and have a respectable amount of content and incentive to replay them, and there are plenty of other reasons to manually explore around town like Aloha Links, the Photo Rally, and the Sujimon League rather than just fast travelling from destination to destination. Having a dedicated button to wave to the people you meet, a playlist full of collectible SEGA songs, and a segway really make it comfy to explore.
Diving further in, Dondoko Island is the new 'main' minigame in Infinite Wealth as the counterpart to the Company Management in Like a Dragon. Essentially Animal Crossing, you clear out trash on your island to make room for all sorts of buildings and decorations of your own creation as you invite various people to come stay for a few days and enjoy what you've built. Once you have the requisite resources and recipes (which you gain both actively and passively), you can build it right there on the spot and place it and move it around as you see fit. Create your own paths around each area to fit the style you want, and even redecorating isn't much of a hassle. A day on Dondoko Island takes about thirty minutes or so, and each day has daily tasks to help you rake in the Dokobucks which can be used to purchase upgrades, buy special decorations, or even just convert into straight cash. It was very addicting to push my island rank all the way up to 5 stars and I ended up putting the plot on hold for a long time just for how fun it was.
Now back to talking about the real game itself, there are a handful of improvements to the combat system. The big one here is the expanded movement during battle. You have a circle which you can freely move around in, and many of the moves and attacks for each job allow you to knock enemies into each other for extra damage. It becomes a fun little game on each turn of battle how to take best advantage of the positioning of your team. There are also new tag team attacks with each party member as you level up your bonds. There are still follow-up attacks and the ability to tag-out when you have more than 4 party members, as well as new Poundmates to summon in battle. Of course, there are also a whole host of creative new jobs in addition to many of the previous ones, which you can use to customize your playstyle and team composition. It's not a dramatic change over the previous game, but it is just enough to make the combat even more enjoyable. If the level difference is high enough, you can also just start a fight with a beatdown to skip the battle for slightly less exp gains. Doing absolutely everything I could, I felt like I outpaced the plot's enemies around the halfway mark, but managed to be on par for the finale which is the important thing. Unfortunately (and maybe this is my fault for hitting too many bad guys), there weren't really any battles that felt like a stiff challenge. The previous game had (IMO) two notorious fights that hit like a truck and one of which was especially awesome for it - but there has been no such equivalent in this game. Still, the combat and job customization has been fun enough for me to really care too much about that.
As I mentioned, the story is really doing both Ichiban and Kiryu justice. They both have a personal stake in the plot, and my attachment to both characters could not be greater. I won't sugar coat it, there are a LOT of cutscenes. This is not the game for you if you thought MGS4 was excessive, because you will often (especially in the first few chapters) just be sitting your ass down to watch a movie; but god damn if it isn't an engrossing one most of the time. In fact, one other thing I noticed is that the first and last scenes of all substories are also fully voiced. There are also a ton of conversations out while wandering the world that are also fully voiced. In general, there is a lot of audio dialogue in this game! Maybe more than I have ever heard in an RPG before! Unfortunately, the overarching plot and central conflict is also the weakest aspect of the game. It feels a little bit unfocused and even occasionally just sloppy with all the key players and motivations and many feeling under-utilized, and if I were to make a comparison it actually reminds me a lot of FFXIV: Stormblood in this regard. It isn't like it's terrible, there are genuinely wonderful character moments and the themes of reflecting on your past, regrets, atonement, and forgiveness are well established and executed. I also like that they are continuing to blend fantasy elements (such as boss fights) into the """""realism""""" of the RGG series. Just overall I would not rate it amongst the highs of the series like 0 and 7.
Qualms about the central conflict aside, it's a tremendously impactful and relatable journey. Even a certain collectible that unlocks about halfway through the game moved me with each one I picked up. There are certainly a number of over-the-top ridiculous moments in the plot, but such is par for the course with RGG. At its core, you can tell a lot of love and care was put into this game, the quality and amount of content is staggering. Only time will tell if this is the recency bias talking, but I strongly feel this is one of the best turn-based RPGs ever made, and I could not be happier with how they have pulled it off. My completion time was just shy of 100 hours, and I certainly want to go back and polish off the few things I did not get to. As always, RGG fans will not want to miss this entry and it still stands among the best. I really look forward to how they will continue this series (and go back to Waikiki, because it'd be a waste to use that city after only one game!).
To elaborate further, the scope of this game is insane. I have that same feeling I did when I first played Yakuza 5. A whole new map to explore in Hawaii on top of Yokohama and Kamurocho, and there are a massive amount of minigames (and even a proper ass game in Dondoko Island) to go with it. Want to play a Pokemon Snap-like where you take pictures of perverts wreaking havock across Hawaii? There's Sicko Snap at three of the bus stops around town. How about a dating app where you build Kasuga's profile and do rhythm game-like inputs to score a funny date? There's Miss Match. How about straight-up Crazy Taxi x Uber Eats where you race around picking up food, doing tricks, and stopping by citizens? There's Crazy Eats. All of these are pretty fun and have a respectable amount of content and incentive to replay them, and there are plenty of other reasons to manually explore around town like Aloha Links, the Photo Rally, and the Sujimon League rather than just fast travelling from destination to destination. Having a dedicated button to wave to the people you meet, a playlist full of collectible SEGA songs, and a segway really make it comfy to explore.
Diving further in, Dondoko Island is the new 'main' minigame in Infinite Wealth as the counterpart to the Company Management in Like a Dragon. Essentially Animal Crossing, you clear out trash on your island to make room for all sorts of buildings and decorations of your own creation as you invite various people to come stay for a few days and enjoy what you've built. Once you have the requisite resources and recipes (which you gain both actively and passively), you can build it right there on the spot and place it and move it around as you see fit. Create your own paths around each area to fit the style you want, and even redecorating isn't much of a hassle. A day on Dondoko Island takes about thirty minutes or so, and each day has daily tasks to help you rake in the Dokobucks which can be used to purchase upgrades, buy special decorations, or even just convert into straight cash. It was very addicting to push my island rank all the way up to 5 stars and I ended up putting the plot on hold for a long time just for how fun it was.
Now back to talking about the real game itself, there are a handful of improvements to the combat system. The big one here is the expanded movement during battle. You have a circle which you can freely move around in, and many of the moves and attacks for each job allow you to knock enemies into each other for extra damage. It becomes a fun little game on each turn of battle how to take best advantage of the positioning of your team. There are also new tag team attacks with each party member as you level up your bonds. There are still follow-up attacks and the ability to tag-out when you have more than 4 party members, as well as new Poundmates to summon in battle. Of course, there are also a whole host of creative new jobs in addition to many of the previous ones, which you can use to customize your playstyle and team composition. It's not a dramatic change over the previous game, but it is just enough to make the combat even more enjoyable. If the level difference is high enough, you can also just start a fight with a beatdown to skip the battle for slightly less exp gains. Doing absolutely everything I could, I felt like I outpaced the plot's enemies around the halfway mark, but managed to be on par for the finale which is the important thing. Unfortunately (and maybe this is my fault for hitting too many bad guys), there weren't really any battles that felt like a stiff challenge. The previous game had (IMO) two notorious fights that hit like a truck and one of which was especially awesome for it - but there has been no such equivalent in this game. Still, the combat and job customization has been fun enough for me to really care too much about that.
As I mentioned, the story is really doing both Ichiban and Kiryu justice. They both have a personal stake in the plot, and my attachment to both characters could not be greater. I won't sugar coat it, there are a LOT of cutscenes. This is not the game for you if you thought MGS4 was excessive, because you will often (especially in the first few chapters) just be sitting your ass down to watch a movie; but god damn if it isn't an engrossing one most of the time. In fact, one other thing I noticed is that the first and last scenes of all substories are also fully voiced. There are also a ton of conversations out while wandering the world that are also fully voiced. In general, there is a lot of audio dialogue in this game! Maybe more than I have ever heard in an RPG before! Unfortunately, the overarching plot and central conflict is also the weakest aspect of the game. It feels a little bit unfocused and even occasionally just sloppy with all the key players and motivations and many feeling under-utilized, and if I were to make a comparison it actually reminds me a lot of FFXIV: Stormblood in this regard. It isn't like it's terrible, there are genuinely wonderful character moments and the themes of reflecting on your past, regrets, atonement, and forgiveness are well established and executed. I also like that they are continuing to blend fantasy elements (such as boss fights) into the """""realism""""" of the RGG series. Just overall I would not rate it amongst the highs of the series like 0 and 7.
Qualms about the central conflict aside, it's a tremendously impactful and relatable journey. Even a certain collectible that unlocks about halfway through the game moved me with each one I picked up. There are certainly a number of over-the-top ridiculous moments in the plot, but such is par for the course with RGG. At its core, you can tell a lot of love and care was put into this game, the quality and amount of content is staggering. Only time will tell if this is the recency bias talking, but I strongly feel this is one of the best turn-based RPGs ever made, and I could not be happier with how they have pulled it off. My completion time was just shy of 100 hours, and I certainly want to go back and polish off the few things I did not get to. As always, RGG fans will not want to miss this entry and it still stands among the best. I really look forward to how they will continue this series (and go back to Waikiki, because it'd be a waste to use that city after only one game!).
1997
To be honest, I always thought this was originally a Dreamcast game but it totally makes sense as an arcade game. Pretty ingenious really, because getting prompted to insert more coins while a fish is on the line would've totally got me. Regardless, it's a solid fishing game with different lures and strategies to catch as much bass as possible and move onto the next stage as fast as you can in the time limit.
2023
Omega Force continues their trend of successfully adapting the musou combat style to the quirks of other franchises, and Samurai Remnant is no exception.
Set in 1600s Edo, Japan, Samurai Remnant follows Miyamoto Iori as he is drawn into the Waxing Moon Ritual, an off-shoot of the series' Holy Grail war. Masters are selected and servants are summoned, and they must fight for the Waxing Moon to grant their wish. For being a musou game, the game actually is fairly text heavy (as is known for the series). Battles are smaller scale than you might expect too (usually no more than 30-40 at a time) as you hack, slash, and use magic as both Iori and a wide range of servants who have their own playable moments.
Overall, as a fan of Omega Force the combat is pretty fun. Iori has numerous different blade styles to choose from for different situations and a huge skill tree to improve them. He can also tag in his servant when the meter is full to temporarily play as them and dish out big damage. To compensate for the smaller enemy counts, some magical enemies have a 'shell gauge' that must be broken which prolongs fights to last more than ten seconds. It works well enough, and reinforces how strong certain foes are.
Instead of traipsing across large battlefields, the game consists of a huge number of districts across Edo. Visit shops/food stalls, complete little trials for the townspeople, and pet animals. Enemy encounters (outside of the plot) are clearly marked on the map, so the player really can go at their own pace and decide how much extra combat they want to engage in. There are also periodic 'Font Battles', which are tactical territory capture battles that take place across the map. Try to capture all the spirit fonts you can while routing enemies and going into mini-encounters. It's fun, if a little bit easy to outsmart the AI.
My main detractors however unfortunately come from the narrative. There are certain aspects I love (Iori's dynamic with his servant is certainly the highlight), but a lot of stuff just feels undercooked. There are a couple choices you can make during the game to change the outcome pretty significantly, but depending on which route you are on, some characters are inexplicably absent. This feels more like an excuse to add more replay value than there should be, but I guess I really just wish the character development (of characters who aren't the main pair) could be on the same level as Stay Night or even Extra.
Still, if you are into the Fate series or even just like musou games, this is a solid entry for both fans and newcomers alike. No prior knowledge of the franchise is needed to jump in, and if you DO like it, I highly recommend checking out the aforementioned Fate games. This is as good a place as any to start.
Set in 1600s Edo, Japan, Samurai Remnant follows Miyamoto Iori as he is drawn into the Waxing Moon Ritual, an off-shoot of the series' Holy Grail war. Masters are selected and servants are summoned, and they must fight for the Waxing Moon to grant their wish. For being a musou game, the game actually is fairly text heavy (as is known for the series). Battles are smaller scale than you might expect too (usually no more than 30-40 at a time) as you hack, slash, and use magic as both Iori and a wide range of servants who have their own playable moments.
Overall, as a fan of Omega Force the combat is pretty fun. Iori has numerous different blade styles to choose from for different situations and a huge skill tree to improve them. He can also tag in his servant when the meter is full to temporarily play as them and dish out big damage. To compensate for the smaller enemy counts, some magical enemies have a 'shell gauge' that must be broken which prolongs fights to last more than ten seconds. It works well enough, and reinforces how strong certain foes are.
Instead of traipsing across large battlefields, the game consists of a huge number of districts across Edo. Visit shops/food stalls, complete little trials for the townspeople, and pet animals. Enemy encounters (outside of the plot) are clearly marked on the map, so the player really can go at their own pace and decide how much extra combat they want to engage in. There are also periodic 'Font Battles', which are tactical territory capture battles that take place across the map. Try to capture all the spirit fonts you can while routing enemies and going into mini-encounters. It's fun, if a little bit easy to outsmart the AI.
My main detractors however unfortunately come from the narrative. There are certain aspects I love (Iori's dynamic with his servant is certainly the highlight), but a lot of stuff just feels undercooked. There are a couple choices you can make during the game to change the outcome pretty significantly, but depending on which route you are on, some characters are inexplicably absent. This feels more like an excuse to add more replay value than there should be, but I guess I really just wish the character development (of characters who aren't the main pair) could be on the same level as Stay Night or even Extra.
Still, if you are into the Fate series or even just like musou games, this is a solid entry for both fans and newcomers alike. No prior knowledge of the franchise is needed to jump in, and if you DO like it, I highly recommend checking out the aforementioned Fate games. This is as good a place as any to start.
2023
A beautiful and quaint little fishing adventure where you sail around a group of islands, fish up fish, and get to know a bunch of quirky (and maybe a little stir-crazy) islanders. In theory it should've been a slam dunk for my tastes, but I think I would've jived with it a lot more if it committed harder on the type of game it wanted to be.
Starting out, you have your boat, map, and encyclopedia of fish that you can catch. Characters will give you some light quests and point you in general directions to explore, but really you can go wherever you like. Time moves when you do, and you very quickly will understand the value of better engines and rods as things get dangerous (and a bit spooky) at night.
To catch fish, you play a handful of different mini-games depending on a catch, which then goes into your RE4-like cargo hold to try and fit all the weird and different shaped creatures/objects in. Hitting a rock (or being hit by other things) can take out a square of inventory and cause you to drop your fish, or knock out a critical component. You can repair that square back at the dock, but lose too many at once and... well I'm not really sure, I never got close; it always ended up as more of an annoyance than anything else. As you progress, you can make upgrades to your vessel to have more cargo space, carry bigger engines, etc. as well as research new parts. Pretty much all the research points I found went into rods and engines because those had the most value, but there are also crab pots and nets you can invest in if those are more your speed.
Ultimately, why the game fell so short for me was that I think I would've preferred a lot more if it was played as a straight, casual, roam around and fish and different things come out at day and night. Instead, it forces the player to retreat at night or risk going crazy/being attacked, all in service of a pretty middling over-arching narrative. I appreciate the game for what it is, and I would still recommend it to people looking for this sort of game, I just really wish there was more here to love.
Starting out, you have your boat, map, and encyclopedia of fish that you can catch. Characters will give you some light quests and point you in general directions to explore, but really you can go wherever you like. Time moves when you do, and you very quickly will understand the value of better engines and rods as things get dangerous (and a bit spooky) at night.
To catch fish, you play a handful of different mini-games depending on a catch, which then goes into your RE4-like cargo hold to try and fit all the weird and different shaped creatures/objects in. Hitting a rock (or being hit by other things) can take out a square of inventory and cause you to drop your fish, or knock out a critical component. You can repair that square back at the dock, but lose too many at once and... well I'm not really sure, I never got close; it always ended up as more of an annoyance than anything else. As you progress, you can make upgrades to your vessel to have more cargo space, carry bigger engines, etc. as well as research new parts. Pretty much all the research points I found went into rods and engines because those had the most value, but there are also crab pots and nets you can invest in if those are more your speed.
Ultimately, why the game fell so short for me was that I think I would've preferred a lot more if it was played as a straight, casual, roam around and fish and different things come out at day and night. Instead, it forces the player to retreat at night or risk going crazy/being attacked, all in service of a pretty middling over-arching narrative. I appreciate the game for what it is, and I would still recommend it to people looking for this sort of game, I just really wish there was more here to love.
Same great game with some touch ups. Matchmaking/online play on PC is a lot more usable than the GFWL/original Steam multiplayer days, including the ability to use passwords like in the later games. Framerate is also now consistent in all areas (most notably Blighttown). Some other quality of life is also included, like being able to use multiple consumables at once if you have a stack, an extra bonfire at an important location, and covenant management from any bonfire.
All in all, it's pretty much everything you could need from a remaster of this game on modern platforms and a straight improvement over Prepare to Die edition. If you are looking to play DaS1 for the first time, this is the one to get.
All in all, it's pretty much everything you could need from a remaster of this game on modern platforms and a straight improvement over Prepare to Die edition. If you are looking to play DaS1 for the first time, this is the one to get.
Playing through this at the same time as the base game, I really did not anticipate the main story being just as good (if not better in some respects). Phantom Liberty features a spy thriller-esque plot in the world of 2077 and really slams it home.
Taking place (mostly) in a new district of Night City called Dogtown, it is cordoned off from the rest of the city by a private military force. You must enter heavily guarded checkpoints to get in or out, and though small, it feels like a bit of a wasteland. There's a lot of verticality to it thanks to the sand, dirt, and construction which is a nice contrast from the rest of the city - a sort of middleground between it and the badlands.
As mentioned previously, the plot of the DLC is more of a spy-thriller, revolving around Space Force One going down in the volatile district with the president of the NUSA on board. V gets pulled into it with promises of a resolution to his problems, and you go from there. Along the way you'll meet Solomon Reed (Idris Elba) who serves as a fantastic ally through your adventure. In general, the main quests feel a lot longer and more cinematic than the ones in the base game, with more than a couple of them being highlights for me, base-game included.
The expansion also has 10 new gigs too for the district's fixer, and these ones are significantly more involved than the ones in the base game (they're a lot closer to side jobs so I do recommend doing them if you weren't before).
Installing the DLC adds 10 levels to your cap bringing it up to 60, as well as a new "Relic Tree". There are 15 points that can be gathered around Dogtown that you can use to invest in the tree for some unique abilities, although it's a bit awkward. Due to differences in builds, most players are only going to really have a use for 1/3 of the abilities at any given time, and it takes a little bit of the immersion away when this special tree is only tied into this special district. Anyone playing the complete edition would probably know right away what the DLC is because of it. A better integration would've probably been to just roll these new abilities into the existing skill tree, but this is really a minor complaint.
Overall, I can't say enough about how cool this expansion is. It starts and finishes within the scope of 2077's main story, and has some of the best writing and moments in a game that is already full of them. Certainly worth a pickup if the game has grabbed you and reason enough to jump in with the Complete Edition if you're a newcomer to Night City.
Taking place (mostly) in a new district of Night City called Dogtown, it is cordoned off from the rest of the city by a private military force. You must enter heavily guarded checkpoints to get in or out, and though small, it feels like a bit of a wasteland. There's a lot of verticality to it thanks to the sand, dirt, and construction which is a nice contrast from the rest of the city - a sort of middleground between it and the badlands.
As mentioned previously, the plot of the DLC is more of a spy-thriller, revolving around Space Force One going down in the volatile district with the president of the NUSA on board. V gets pulled into it with promises of a resolution to his problems, and you go from there. Along the way you'll meet Solomon Reed (Idris Elba) who serves as a fantastic ally through your adventure. In general, the main quests feel a lot longer and more cinematic than the ones in the base game, with more than a couple of them being highlights for me, base-game included.
The expansion also has 10 new gigs too for the district's fixer, and these ones are significantly more involved than the ones in the base game (they're a lot closer to side jobs so I do recommend doing them if you weren't before).
Installing the DLC adds 10 levels to your cap bringing it up to 60, as well as a new "Relic Tree". There are 15 points that can be gathered around Dogtown that you can use to invest in the tree for some unique abilities, although it's a bit awkward. Due to differences in builds, most players are only going to really have a use for 1/3 of the abilities at any given time, and it takes a little bit of the immersion away when this special tree is only tied into this special district. Anyone playing the complete edition would probably know right away what the DLC is because of it. A better integration would've probably been to just roll these new abilities into the existing skill tree, but this is really a minor complaint.
Overall, I can't say enough about how cool this expansion is. It starts and finishes within the scope of 2077's main story, and has some of the best writing and moments in a game that is already full of them. Certainly worth a pickup if the game has grabbed you and reason enough to jump in with the Complete Edition if you're a newcomer to Night City.
2020
Y'know even before I had even considered playing The Witcher 3, I had heard about the plans for Cyberpunk 2077. The few paragraphs of text that were featured in those interviews a decade(?) ago made it seem like the dream RPG. Ultimately I decided to dodge the launch bullet thanks to the lack of actual gameplay footage leading up to release, but I am happy I finally did pick it up in 2023 because (now), it is a hell of an RPG.
As much as I adore the gameplay (I'll get to that in a bit), the thing that truly kept me going all the way through the game is the world-building, writing, and performances. I suppose having seen Edgerunners prior helped to introduce the world, but the way people talk, the slang, the environmental story-telling through broadcasts, logs, etc. all paint a very vivid picture. Night City feels like a real place in the not-to-far-off future where corporate power and influence are stretched to the absolute limit.
It's a bleak world, and as you play as V and carve your way through it, you get to know a lot of interesting characters and play a role in their fate. The main story itself is quite short, and more to serve as a vehicle to introduce the player to different characters/factions, who you can then choose to continue on with in their own side quest arcs. Many of these also lead to romance options and what endings you have available to you once you reach the climax. It all feels very seamless, though I did only commit to one playthrough so I have not fully seen behind the curtain of what matters and what doesn't. Still, I felt pretty convinced that the conclusions I saw was pretty unique to how I went through the game.
I previously mentioned character performances as well, and I really do have to applaud the performances of Gavin Drea (Male V) and Keanue Reeves (Johnny Silverhand). They truly kept me invested in the plot all on their own, and they have a fascinating dynamic. Johnny in particular has a presence in most of the game's plot and even some side quests, and it's really impressive how much he added to the experience.
As for the gameplay, there are two main components that let you build out your character. The first is the skill tree with your 5 main stats (Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence, and Cool). Each stat governs a major playstyle as well as a couple of weapon types. By the end of the (base) game, you'll have enough of a spread to have 3 of these stats maxed. I had the DLC installed and I went for Body/Reflexes/Tech as my main 3 with Cool most of the way. It's a pretty good system, there are a lot of satisfying abilities to choose from in each. Maybe one little gripe I have however is that the game feels borderline unplayable without heavy investment into Reflexes. This tree makes movement more fluid, a dash (and subsequent air-dash), and just makes the game feel like a joy to play on top of the already pretty-good shooting. On one hand, I respect tying something so vital to be an option you have to invest in. On the other, the experience without that investment really isn't much fun.
The other component for character builds is your cyberware tree. Pick your augments a-la Deus Ex. Many of them are more passive (e.g. do more damage vs. robots, better armor) but some of them are key features like double-jump, the ability to use "Smart" weapons effectively that can track and see through walls, what comes out of your arms when it's time to put up your fists, what your eyes can see, and most importantly your OS. Do you want to be able to upload hacks to enemies or cameras? Or do you want a Sandevistan that lets you slow time (this is the correct answer)? They heavily govern your abilities in (and out) of combat, and you will be upgrading them and swapping them out all game as you see fit. It's pretty satisfying and can allow for some wicked set-ups that allow you to never die or be in slow-motion constantly.
I mentioned previously, but the game isn't focused all around the main story. There are some set-piece missions, but a lot of the meat actually comes from the side quests. These can be story arcs for major characters, or some one-offs that can lead to some quirky R*-like encounters with weirdos. These can feature just as many choices, and even have some bearing on the plot. Beyond that, there are also gigs (smaller scale where you will have a quick chat with that area's fixer and clear out a building), and NCPD scanner calls (usually just go kill 5-10 dudes). I ended up doing all of it because I enjoyed the gunplay and driving around that much, so the variety is there for those who crave it.
Speaking also of driving, it feels better than I was expecting (most of the time). It's pretty arcadey, and some cars slide around like pinballs, but some feel really good as contrast. There are a ton you can buy and call to your position aside from being able to pull people out of any car on the street. As you might expect, running over civilians (and sometimes even fender benders!) can lead to wanted ratings just like in GTA, but unfortunately the police AI falls apart the moment you step out of the car and off the main road. They don't/can't seem to be able to follow you very well, so most of the time it winds up as a minor inconvenience. Still, it adds to the immersion I suppose.
I would also take a moment to talk about the soundtrack, besides the radio which has a good mix of electronic, EDM, rock, and jazz stations, the actual original score is outstanding. The battle themes in general really got me fired up for each encounter. One of the ambient tracks while driving around got on my nerves, but the rest of them totally set the tone.
Performance-wise, at least in it's current state on the PS5 it feels pretty good. I think I saw a frame drop one time, and only a handful of technical glitches/bugs (cars spawning in the ground, stuck animations, that sort of thing). They seem to have really cleaned it up in the 3 years since launch.
2077 really has it all. A good sci-fi/cyberpunk setting, some respectable RPG elements, a great story, and fun FPS gameplay, this is absolutely worth a pick-up now (at least on modern systems/PC). I highly recommend, especially the complete edition if you can as Phantom Liberty is also excellent.
As much as I adore the gameplay (I'll get to that in a bit), the thing that truly kept me going all the way through the game is the world-building, writing, and performances. I suppose having seen Edgerunners prior helped to introduce the world, but the way people talk, the slang, the environmental story-telling through broadcasts, logs, etc. all paint a very vivid picture. Night City feels like a real place in the not-to-far-off future where corporate power and influence are stretched to the absolute limit.
It's a bleak world, and as you play as V and carve your way through it, you get to know a lot of interesting characters and play a role in their fate. The main story itself is quite short, and more to serve as a vehicle to introduce the player to different characters/factions, who you can then choose to continue on with in their own side quest arcs. Many of these also lead to romance options and what endings you have available to you once you reach the climax. It all feels very seamless, though I did only commit to one playthrough so I have not fully seen behind the curtain of what matters and what doesn't. Still, I felt pretty convinced that the conclusions I saw was pretty unique to how I went through the game.
I previously mentioned character performances as well, and I really do have to applaud the performances of Gavin Drea (Male V) and Keanue Reeves (Johnny Silverhand). They truly kept me invested in the plot all on their own, and they have a fascinating dynamic. Johnny in particular has a presence in most of the game's plot and even some side quests, and it's really impressive how much he added to the experience.
As for the gameplay, there are two main components that let you build out your character. The first is the skill tree with your 5 main stats (Body, Reflexes, Technical Ability, Intelligence, and Cool). Each stat governs a major playstyle as well as a couple of weapon types. By the end of the (base) game, you'll have enough of a spread to have 3 of these stats maxed. I had the DLC installed and I went for Body/Reflexes/Tech as my main 3 with Cool most of the way. It's a pretty good system, there are a lot of satisfying abilities to choose from in each. Maybe one little gripe I have however is that the game feels borderline unplayable without heavy investment into Reflexes. This tree makes movement more fluid, a dash (and subsequent air-dash), and just makes the game feel like a joy to play on top of the already pretty-good shooting. On one hand, I respect tying something so vital to be an option you have to invest in. On the other, the experience without that investment really isn't much fun.
The other component for character builds is your cyberware tree. Pick your augments a-la Deus Ex. Many of them are more passive (e.g. do more damage vs. robots, better armor) but some of them are key features like double-jump, the ability to use "Smart" weapons effectively that can track and see through walls, what comes out of your arms when it's time to put up your fists, what your eyes can see, and most importantly your OS. Do you want to be able to upload hacks to enemies or cameras? Or do you want a Sandevistan that lets you slow time (this is the correct answer)? They heavily govern your abilities in (and out) of combat, and you will be upgrading them and swapping them out all game as you see fit. It's pretty satisfying and can allow for some wicked set-ups that allow you to never die or be in slow-motion constantly.
I mentioned previously, but the game isn't focused all around the main story. There are some set-piece missions, but a lot of the meat actually comes from the side quests. These can be story arcs for major characters, or some one-offs that can lead to some quirky R*-like encounters with weirdos. These can feature just as many choices, and even have some bearing on the plot. Beyond that, there are also gigs (smaller scale where you will have a quick chat with that area's fixer and clear out a building), and NCPD scanner calls (usually just go kill 5-10 dudes). I ended up doing all of it because I enjoyed the gunplay and driving around that much, so the variety is there for those who crave it.
Speaking also of driving, it feels better than I was expecting (most of the time). It's pretty arcadey, and some cars slide around like pinballs, but some feel really good as contrast. There are a ton you can buy and call to your position aside from being able to pull people out of any car on the street. As you might expect, running over civilians (and sometimes even fender benders!) can lead to wanted ratings just like in GTA, but unfortunately the police AI falls apart the moment you step out of the car and off the main road. They don't/can't seem to be able to follow you very well, so most of the time it winds up as a minor inconvenience. Still, it adds to the immersion I suppose.
I would also take a moment to talk about the soundtrack, besides the radio which has a good mix of electronic, EDM, rock, and jazz stations, the actual original score is outstanding. The battle themes in general really got me fired up for each encounter. One of the ambient tracks while driving around got on my nerves, but the rest of them totally set the tone.
Performance-wise, at least in it's current state on the PS5 it feels pretty good. I think I saw a frame drop one time, and only a handful of technical glitches/bugs (cars spawning in the ground, stuck animations, that sort of thing). They seem to have really cleaned it up in the 3 years since launch.
2077 really has it all. A good sci-fi/cyberpunk setting, some respectable RPG elements, a great story, and fun FPS gameplay, this is absolutely worth a pick-up now (at least on modern systems/PC). I highly recommend, especially the complete edition if you can as Phantom Liberty is also excellent.
Currently in Early Access, Stonks-9800 serves as a fairly realistic 80's-style stock market simulator. Buy and sell stocks as you watch the charts for various made-up companies. Feel the rush of seeing the prices for your invested companies skyrocket, only for you to have a medical emergency and get stuck in the hospital for 1-2 weeks as the prices plummet back to normal levels.
Bitterness aside, there's a fair amount to manage outside of your investment goals. Balance your stress and health using daily spending that you can scale up and down, go out to bars or gamble with new friends. Form strong enough relationships, and they may even let you in on insider trading tips! You can also use your new-found gains to buy cars and better places to live in.
Currently, there is only "Free Mode" and "CEO Mode" to choose from, but a "Story Mode" seems to be in the works based on the menus. I'd like to see some better QoL such as more easily accessible information on each company without going to multiple seperate menus, as well as more companies to invest in at a time (there's only 7 or 8 on the ticker at any given time, but other companies are constantly getting updates and the ones you can actually invest in vary on different save files). It'd be cool to get a bigger list to work with and manage. Still, the game is in a great state so far if this seems like your kind of thing! Satisfying aesthetic and music to match it too.
Bitterness aside, there's a fair amount to manage outside of your investment goals. Balance your stress and health using daily spending that you can scale up and down, go out to bars or gamble with new friends. Form strong enough relationships, and they may even let you in on insider trading tips! You can also use your new-found gains to buy cars and better places to live in.
Currently, there is only "Free Mode" and "CEO Mode" to choose from, but a "Story Mode" seems to be in the works based on the menus. I'd like to see some better QoL such as more easily accessible information on each company without going to multiple seperate menus, as well as more companies to invest in at a time (there's only 7 or 8 on the ticker at any given time, but other companies are constantly getting updates and the ones you can actually invest in vary on different save files). It'd be cool to get a bigger list to work with and manage. Still, the game is in a great state so far if this seems like your kind of thing! Satisfying aesthetic and music to match it too.