There is honestly a lot to love about this game, and it really does have some excellent pacing and level design. The art is also absolutely phenomenal and is a real standout for the genre. My issues mainly boil down to a lack of polish in certain areas, and a very tedious and unintuitive mess when going for 100%, which I ultimately abandoned.

I'm still glad I played it, but I just wish I loved it is as much as other people. I guess I am just not the biggest fan of how Souls inspired games handle their sidequests in design, which is honestly what held it back for me.

This was a game I had on my actual NES as a kid and for years could never beat. Finally beat it without save states, and it surprised me how actually well thought out and ingenious the design of this game is for the time of release. A lot of levels that were excruciatingly hard actually had solutions built into the item drops and level design that took me a while to figure out, which made it a lot more satisfying to complete. In my opinion, its better than any of the classic NES MegaMan games including MegaMan 2.

I'm not really a big Star Wars guy, but I was interested hearing this was a metroidvania/soulslike type game. Sadly, those were the weakest parts of the game. While I really loved the core lightsaber fighting, all of the backtracking and other souls elements were really poorly handled and not that fun. It REALLY needed a fast travel system. Also, one of the worst maps I have used in a game in my opinion. I did love the characters and production values of this game, with a lot of really great moments. This crew is really fun, and one of the strongest aspects of the game. The set pieces were fun and exciting, and a lot of the story beats surprisingly resonated with me more than I thought they would. Even with all the flaws, I did enjoy my time and I am very excited to play the sequel in a year once all the performance issues are fixed.

An incredibly enjoyable 2D platformer that is a love letter to the NES, SNES, and even Genesis. Little to no complaints with combat, but story was just missed potential. Unfunny meta jokes and an abrupt ending made the entire story feel muddled and lame. The first impressions of the story were so unfunny and bad, but as it went on the writing started to get better (except for the AWFUL meta jokes) and I was becoming more interested. Sadly the ending was too abrupt and I felt like it was missing one more fight. Excited to play the DLC, and really want to see more from this development team. After playing this, I feel confident that their next game Sea of Stars is gonna rule.

Just an all-around improvement from the first game. Its surprisingly creepy with its themes and story, and at times even a bit scary. The atmosphere and vibe of this game are its strongest aspects, however some of the puzzles rely a bit too much on hiding a small button somewhere random. I prefer to not use the hint system for games like these, but from what I've heard this game's version of a hint system is really well done. I do just hope the future games focus more on the addicting logic puzzles, rather than just hiding buttons and levers.

An absolute classic for a reason. Has a few issues with awful platforming and some obtuse side puzzles, but other than that its pure bliss from beginning to end. The combat is exceptional, and continues to make me wish more games used the "minigame" style of turn based battles that the Mario RPGs use. The Culex fight was also exceptionally good, and maybe one of my new favorite secret bosses in the JRPG genre. Outside of the combat, the standout element of the game was the writing and characters. Almost every new character is a slam dunk, and the fact that we have not seen more Mallow and Geno is downright criminal. The writing mixed with Yoko Shimomura's phenomenal music, just makes this game the purest form of joy condensed down into a game.

The ending legit made me tear up.

Talk about aiming for the fucking moon in scope. After the uninspired, generic, and frankly aimless first mod, I honestly did not expect to have such an amazing time as I did with its sequel.

This HL2 mod is one of the most ambitious that I've seen since Black Mesa, and its a delight from start to finish. Everything from the combat, music, and visuals is an absolute treat and is a triumph of the modding community. However, the main element that really hooked me was the story and characters. Never have I ever been as attached to the characters in any mod before as I was in this one, and the narrative was a really fun fanfiction of a post Episode 2 world.

My only issues is that the middle of the mod drags a bit with the final Mossman chase, and I feel the Wilson plotline at times felt like it could have been expanded on a bit more. Also, some of the voice acting and jokes can be pretty distracting (the rebel on the radio's voice.....), but Im willing to be a bit more lenient about that stuff since its by such a small development team. Either way, I would die for Wilson and the true ending post scene made me almost cry.

The definition of "fine." I really loved Joe and I thought the melee focused combat was fun, but like the base game I thought it really didn't reach the potential it had. The final act is fun, but it feels way too short. I feel like it needed at least one more good setpiece for me to really consider it a campy fun time.

This DLC sadly did not change the fact that I still find RE7 to be one of the most disappointing entries for me. Its place in Resident Evil importance can not be understated, as its the only reason we are getting good RE games again. But honestly, the potential that the actual game had was just never reached imo. Still love Ethan tho.

"The most PS2 game of all time that is NOT on the PS2."

Blew me the fuck away. I was honestly going to skip this game, as I have no prior experience with mecha games or Armored Core, but I ended up caving and buying it anyways.

Completely fell in love with this game. The gameplay was absolutely top notch, with a highlight of bossfights that are some of FromSoft's absolute best (ICE Worm is From's best setpiece fight ever). You know you have a good game on your hand when the actual act of just moving around and shooting feels so good.

The story was also a massive shock to me, as I was honestly expecting something a lot more barebones and basic. But I ended up falling in love with almost all of the characters, and it made a lot of the choices in the game have a lot more impact on me than I expected.

The only real complaint I have with it is that some missions were a real drag, and I feel could have been cut for an overall tighter experience. But honestly....the forced stealth sections and other jank missions add to the PS2 esque charm that this game has.

It's a game with a lot of soul poured into it, and the result is FromSoftware at its absolute best.