(hey, i wrote about this game for my blog. it wasn't really a review so i've written one of those here instead, but i think it's still a good read so check it out if you wanna!)

You know, I think this game has left a bigger impact on me than I'd realised. Going in, I had certain expectations; I knew it was going to depict psychosis, and I knew the story was about the protagonist looking to revive her dead lover, but that was about it. I had no idea the directions it would go, or how the game would develop its concepts.

It's a masterpiece, simply put. An exceptional melding of compelling narrative, arresting visuals, and gameplay that, while light, facilitates the core of the story through the emotions it evokes. Combat is oftentimes gruelling and frustrating and scary, like it realistically should be. It isn't fun in the traditional video-gamey sense, but it is effective.

Senua's Sacrifice is full of these strange but impactful stylistic choices which I adore. It makes for a very unique play experience. There are certain moments, like the first time Senua stares directly into the camera, or the moment I learned how to use the mechanic which slows time during fights because a voice in my head told me to "focus". The game uses live-action video of actors rather than in-game models, presumably due to budgetary issues, but it makes for a game whose look is entirely its own.

I don't think I'm going to play a game like Hellblade again. Even the sequel will likely never capture the specific vibes of its predecessor. That's okay though; this game is just one step in the journey that is the rest of our lives.

Marking this replay down as finished for now since I just needed to get the DLC-essential boss fights - Radahn and Mohg - done, and I managed that so I'm happy.

I didn't have that many brand new revelations about this game while I was playing it, to be honest. I thought I would have more to say but I ended up just relearning how good Elden Ring is, and that's about it.

I suppose I summoned more this time around. Actually, in my original playthrough of the game, I wasn't really able to summon at all due to my university wi-fi being dogshit, so it was a feature I got to enjoy for the first time and I like it! It made certain fights, especially duo battles, a lot less frustrating, and I wasn't required nearly as much to dedicate an entire day of my life to learning the ins and outs of a fight in order to beat it, which was a relief. Don't get me wrong, I love the dick-flattening carousel as much as the next girl, but I have a full time job now and nowhere near the same kind of free time to play it that way. I appreciated the extra support. It didn't even make the fights less engaging; it simply shifted the balance a little.

On top of that, I've gotten to play certain parts of the game with my flatmate using the multiplayer, which has been a treat. I'm not someone who plays multiplayer games particularly often, but I can quite easily get into a game like Elden Ring in this way. It's been so fun to basically breeze through the experience and help each other out where we can. We managed to beat Mohg together which was a trip, because that fight is insanely difficult and we ended up winning by killing him before he could activate his second phase. Absolute scenes were had in our little Glasgow flat at 2am on a Monday lol.

Elden Ring is just a really special game. It's a delight to play a game so willing - and eager - to be mean to you. It speaks to an untainted vision that the game expects you to meet it on its terms, rather than bend to yours. That being said, the many methods of approach to any given situation certainly make this a really accessible game, so I hope more people continue to play it into the future. It's a peach!

I want to give this game a 5/5 so badly. I love the feel of combat and the atmosphere. The story is engaging and dark. The gear randomization is varied and exciting, the bosses are very well designed and interesting. There are some design decisions keeping me from loving this game though. The "fog of war" respawn system is really cool but that combined with the very limited travel options and lack of flexibility with stat building led to frustrating roadblocks for me. I was stuck at the Riven Twins for a while because I was underlevelled and had chosen a poor weapon. I couldn't backtrack to level or try to find better gear because nothing had respawned around my whisper at all. Going back to town just had underlevelled enemies everywhere. So I just beat my head against the boss with what I had until I beat it. I didn't feel accomplished or anything for this victory. I felt like I had been put into a corner with no good options because of these systems. I know I could have fully explored another area or something but I still felt limited by undercooked design elements in my opinion. Despite this I love this game and I'm excited to play more, I love the attention they're paying to feedback and I am confident that the final product will be a gem.

I was not expecting to love this as much as I did. It's not perfect for sure, but what it did right was more than enough to push it to 5 stars for me!

The combat felt THE best I've experienced in a soulslike outside of Fromsoft, even surpassing Dark Souls 2 or Lies of P for me. Aggro Crab just gets it somehow! My only gripe with the combat is just that the game got a little bit too easy towards the end. I think this is because you can unlock so many powerups that you get to a point where you can just mow enemies down without much trouble. I fought the final boss with full upgrades and took almost no damage (I didn't use assist mode a single time except to get the gun achievement post game). I would've loved to see a NG+ mode or boss rush to address this or just better scaling at least.

The platforming and movement were an absolute joy. Rolling around in one of the many incredibly creative shells and using the grappling hook had a great sense of speed. Sure some platforming sections could be janky but it never bothered me to the point of frustration. I wasn't even expecting the platforming going in so the level of quality it's at was a pleasant surprise. It also sounds like the team is hard at work on fixing bugs as well. Speaking of bugs, most of the ones I experienced just had to do with me getting launched after using certain moves. This also didn't happen often enough to frustrate me either.

The story is the other part that was a huge surprise. I was fully expecting the story to just be goofy crab shenanigans and there's for sure a lot of crab/ocean related humor that was mostly just fine and sometimes fell flat, but the main character actually goes through a lot of meaningful growth, the story gets pretty dark and serious, and it even had me on the verge of tears a few times. It wasn't a life changing story by any means, but it felt way more epic and meaningful than I could've anticipated.

The game also has a lot of references to other games which were kind of fun to discover though it felt like there were a little too many references at times. Now and then the attempts at humor even went a bit too far imo. Still, it was a great experience.

HIGHLY recommend this game to anyone who enjoys soulslike games or is looking for a challenge/different experience. I have heard about more bugs on other platforms so it could be worth waiting a while for more bug fixes. I'm feeling pretty strongly that this'll be my GOTY this year.

Simply brilliant. My first soulslike, and it's a damn good one at that. With this being my first one, I dunno exactly what makes this genre click, but it was clicking for me, and that's what matters. The combat is fun, weighty, and constantly varied due to the shell mechanic. And the presentation of it all really makes it stand out.

I have a few gripes with the platforming and camera being occasionally clunky, and some story beats being fumbled. However, the rest of the package comes together in such a satisfying way that I can forgive those things.

Another Crab's Treasure is a lovely, crazy-inspired game that's chock full of charm and heart. Whether you're a fan of soulslikes, or if this would be your first one, I'd say it's definitely worth checking out.