More than 13 Sentinels: Aegis Pacific Rim is an enthralling visual novel that will take the player through a proverbial and literal loop in its phenomenal take on the science fiction and artificial intelligence.

For those familiar with my writeups, they'll know I don't really touch on story spoilers and that holds especially true with visual novels such as this. I will say, this story had me interested the whole way throughout even if my retention of said story was questionable at best. It gets rather convoluted, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The entire game being voice acted helped an astronomic amount with being able to parse the story's intricate narrative and keep me awake through its north of fourty hour (for me) runtime. Even reading a synopsis right now of what I couldn't fully understand/missed out on has helped me pull together what an awesome story this is. If you're a sucker for time travel in science fiction, 13 Sentinels is the game for you.

Previously I had been very adverse to Vanillaware's trademark character art style, but it really showed through in their most recent bout. Characters are all unique and varied from one another, realistic, and easy to remember... but the real hero is the drop-dead gorgeous environment/background art. Colours shine through and help breathe air into making the living parts of the game feel real. Trees have a beautiful green/red sheen to them, the sun shines on the school and cityscape with an artistic flare, and the actual city itself is strikingly detailed.

Gameplay in the RTS segment was funadmentally basic but also quite enjoyable. It's the right level of difficulty in a game like this where you have to think a little bit as to not destroy your party, but don't have to sweat it out in thirty minute long battles like you would in an Advance Wars. The visuals here were like eye candy for me though, lots of awesome bright colors, explosions, and lasers... what more could you ask for!

I'd strongly recommend 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim for any fans of science fiction and/or visual novels.

Fuga 2 took everything about Fuga 1 that I disliked and kept it while making other elements of the game worse. The story in Fuga 1 wasn't great but it was servicable, it may be non-existant in 2. The miserable mechanics in the first such as: no manual saves, no healing to full after chapter complete, characters stay injured and depressed until intermissions, and overwhelming combat encounters way early in the game so that you never feel adequately powerful all return.

The thing that got me to stop, a trooper as I usually am, was when I was hit for massive damage by the boss of chapter five and was forced to load a character into the Soul Cannon to be used as a win condition. Knowing what I know about the first game, this is how you gimp yourself of the true ending. In Fuga 2 if you go below a certain HP threshold, this happens automatically. I really, really, really, REALLY dislike this mechanic and after it happening I immediately alt f4'd and moved on. I consider myself patient, but I didn't want to have to micro-manage my HP as hard as I was going to going forward. Part of the JRPG/Tactics charm is hedging your HP against the enemy, that doesn't exist in this game. I was hit for a massive amount of damage by the boss with no indicator, and boom, sacrifice of a party member that significantly dampers my chances for success going through the game. That's bad game design... IMO.

Maybe I'm a stick in the mud or "too young" to understand how unforgiving older games were, but this is a new game, this is a new generation of gamers. It's not fun to the player to penalize them to the degree this game does with its lack of save states and frustrating Soul Cannon mechanics. I enjoy Souls games, I beat my face against a wall playing Sekiro... but I knew that I could lose and get back up again. Here lies Fuga 2, frustrating and a complete unimprovement from its oddly refreshing predecessor.

The sad thing is I liked the risk this game takes with one of its characters early on and there is some serious sauce to the art, the music, and the Slay-The-Spire esque presentation of its routes, but to quote Boygenius: "The way I am, I'm not strong enough to be your man."

I guess if you're into it... play Fuga 2, however I just couldn't keep going on. There are games out there that have me interested far more. Space for the Unbound, Okami, and Street Fighter 6 on my radar to tinker around with until FFXVI.

I'm real glad this was on Game Pass again.

A Space for the Pleasant Surprise.

I'm a little bit apprehensive about pixel games, because there's a lot of titles out there with charming visuals and music to match but no bite to meet their bark. Couple that with a developer I'm not familiar with (though I do know the producer Toge,) and A Space for the Unbound by all means should have been a game that escaped my radar. The reception to this title is what set it apart for me, it seems like everywhere I looked be it Steam, Backloggd, or my insular JRPG Youtube space that this game had been getting rave reviews. A consumer none the wiser I jumped in... and honestly I'm glad I did.

Since it's practically a VN, I can't speak too much about the story but to say that it is touching, however missed the mark in its early-mid game delivery to me. When I got to the end, I felt the emotional spark the game set out to hit, though I personally wasn't as Affected as I was in games like the To the Moon franchise of which Space for the Unbound reminded me quite a bit of. A Space for the Unbound touches on depression, anxiety, and familial abuse and the way it affects those around us, and to that I think the team did a very good job from not shying away from said actions while also not making the story too dark.

Gameplay here was a bigger part of the miss for me, and that feels a bit unfair in a game as story heavy as this is, but I came away with the conclusion as I was playing that each elementary puzzle was taking my enjoyment away more and more as I played. None of them are particularly difficult, just tedious and plentiful. The Spacedive mechanic is alright, however it didn't captivate me as a primary gameplay loop since you're using it over and over to do these light puzzles. Whether its making cakes or hiding from wolves... I could have done without the attempted intricacy.

Visuals are beautiful and the music is quite nice. Writing is also well done in making these characters feel like actual friends in a real place. Speaking of the setting, it's absolutely awesome that I got to play a title based in 1990's Indonesia, a country and time that are woefully under-represented in media. I spent some time this weekend at a museum learning about the instruments of Southeast Asia and Indonesia specifically... it's pretty neat to play a game set in that location by an Indonesian team as well!

Overall I had a good time... some nitpicks and this game is definitely not perfect, however I'd recommend this to people looking for a neat medium length pixel adventure that deals with heavy topics.

Okay-mi

Okami is one of those titles that was impossible to avoid if you were present in soaking in games media in the early-mid 2000's. Everywhere it was, that cool new Capcom title starring that adorable dog Amaterasu that featured some beautiful stylized cell shading and took place in Japan of yore. I never had a PS2 so I didn't play the initial release, and I had a Wii but was admittably too stupid to play a game like it back then. Why am I finally playing it? A friend recommended I play it and I figured I had some time to kill before FFXVI releases, and thus into the world of Okami and old Nippon I journeyed, once into the breach to defeat the big bad evil as gaming's most beloved pup. I figured this would be a fun title going into it as Hideki Kamiya's works have had a tremendous influence on my enjoyment of games and even though I'm mostly a newbie, I've come to like my experiences with the Legend of Zelda series (of which Okami effectively is.) What I got after nearly fourty hours of trotting and barking my way through Japan was decisively not a good time... but as they say: "No Regrets."

The good of Okami is the most apparent material if you take a look at gameplay or anyone streaming it, it's absolutely gorgeous. The art team over at Capcom/Clover Studio did a bang up job making this game feel unique from its Nintendo/Zelda influence in its visual style, a graphical tone that I hadn't seen and still haven't seen replicated in any way. Each zone was a gorgeous watercolour, the characters all distinctly different in composition and away from gaming norm. I enjoyed the conversations with the characters all over Japan, from the valleys that you start in to the snowy mountains you discover later. Outside of the design, there was a very Kamiya silly charm to the characters in which humor was always present and whitty remarks were oft in conversation. Even though there were a plethora of interactions/cutscenes that dragged on a little too long, I frequently chuckled at the bits and gags. Issun having the hots for every girl Amaterasu came across was funny in the way they treated the interactions, even if its a tired trope. As one of those kids who grew up reading mythos from various cultures, I enjoyed the way Okami treated the criminally under-represented Japanese pantheon and mythology from ages prior. Amaterasu herself being the main character is neat, so is the existence of characters like Yamata no Orochi, Susano, Princess Kaguya, and Issun.

Unfortunately my praise for Okami pretty much ends there... it's at the end of the day nearly fourty hours that I won't be able to get back... which is alright because I played the entierty of it while talking and streaming to my pals. Starting with combat, this is definitely Kamiya's weakest journey and while that makes sense given the material, is a little much for as long as the game is. Fighting is effectively one button (X) to attack and using your brush strokes to side swipe during weak points, plant bombs that do massive damage, and occasionally slow down time. For how much time you spend, the brush gimmick never really feels old or over reliant, but the x to attack being your best bet of DPS for most of the game is a little lackluster... especially after playing a DMC or Bayonetta which you do a lot of the same but at a pace meant to match the gameplay. Okami plays pretty slow and these fights tend to drag, even learning the dodge mechanic at the dojo doesn't feel like a great improvement. The final boss did its best Kingdom Hearts impression as well, consisting of a boss rush just beforehand and a five phase battle of some sandpaper-esque combat. I couldn't even muster up an emotion after completing it, I was simply indifferent.

My next point of contention is something I've already touched on quite a few times: the runtime. The way the story is setup portrays the game as if it will end somewhere around the fifteen hour mark, which is the perfect length for a game like this. You don't have a sense of scope like you do in its Zelda influencers, you don't know that Ganon is waiting for you over at Hyrule Castle or whatnot, you have no real scope of what the ending of Okami is meant to bring. Okami builds it up for you though, a resounding battle agains the foe that nearly brought upon the end of the world 100 years prior. The result of this battle would have a player who didn't know any better thinking that they had purged Japan of its agressor and could move on to the next title, but alas that would be very wrong. In the most Wonderful 101 way, this game just keeps on going...and going... and going... and going. Each Mcguffin leads to another Mcguffin, the dungeons are alright in practice but have the most minute and lackluster reason for existence. If you need one item to penetrate a spiritual barrier that hampers your progression, it is gated behind another dungeon. If you need a brush technique to progress the story, it is gated behind a dungeon. I have a lot of Zelda left to play but my experience with the series thus far has been a lot more kind to dungeons in advancement of the plot. Even recently with Breath of the Wild, I understood why the Divine Beasts needed to be activated from the get go. In Okami you learn of all these items as the story progresses, and that each new one you need requires another hour long jaunt through platformer/action slog. I spent fourty hours (some of that being AFK time) trudging through a gameplay experience not really meant for me, and once I got past that first battle that felt like it should have been the end point... the rest of it felt like it was eating at my enjoyment overall.

Amaterasu is adorable, I mean everybody likes a cute dog but man... this game did not have the charm it seems like it has for everybody else I know. I genuinely feel bad about the way I received this game, my good friends I think thought I would really enjoy it, and I really wanted to! Okami is a cool game on the eyes, but with its poor narrative construction, Mcguffin reliant plot, lackluster combat, and lack of direction in questing, I can't recommend it.

Final Fantasy XVI: Once More Into the Peak

When words came around that Square Enix had intended to release a sixteenth main title in what is probably the most acclaimed and storied JRPG franchise of all time, the gaming world was put on notice. Outside of FFXIV the series had been in creative freefall for the better part of two decades, with the last unanimously "good" title (FFXII) coming out in 2006. Mishap after mishap, poor writing decisions combined with development issues meant that the legendary series was spiraling towards creative mediocrity. What began in the late 1980's as a dream to keep a fledgling gaming company alive had morphed into a worldwide phenomenon quicker than one could anticipate. Some of the greatest moments, songs, and stories were born by Squaresoft in the 90's and early 2000's. Final Fantasy VI through XII are universally individually respected as some of the greatest titles of all time across any genre. With XVI there were questions, how would the series evolve past XV? XV has its fanbase and their opinions are to be respected, but largely it was panned and unappreciated as it fell victim to a nightmare development cycle and DLC was required to fulfill the true ambitions of the story.

Here comes Final Fantasy XVI, I remember hearing the initial rumors revolving around it and I almost couldn't believe it. I don't remember the exact verbage as some serious time has passed, but the word on the street was that its production was to be helmed by none other than Naoki Yoshida of Square Enix' Creative Business Unit III, and combat was to be done by the man in charge of Devil May Cry 5's action, the most silky smooth the character action genre had ever seen. As a longtime fan and subscriber of the MMO Final Fantasy XIV I was almost in shock, how would Yoshi-P have time to develop an acclaimed and incredible adventure in XIV and then have the time and energy to resurrect the mainline series from its effective grave? I purchased a Playstation 5 in anticipation of this, after the initial trailer rollout and website were released for the game, because I knew of all people that I could trust Yoshida in making a lasting memory out of the FF series. He is a man, with the rest of CBU3 (Koji-Fox and Soken included,) who I trusted more than anything to create a well rounded Final Fantasy experience.

Now for the game itself... though I had initial reservations about playing the demo because I wanted to avoid spoilers, I loaded in and embarked on the two or so hour adventure that serves as the beginning of the game. Initially weary about audio issues and performance on the PS5, my concerns were very quickly waned as I met Clive, Joshua, and Lord Rosfeld. The Game of Thrones influence clear very early on in FFXVI, not only just in the aesthetics and world that Valisthea exists in, but in the approach to quality of realizing a believable and livable low fantasy setting. WIth the demo completed, and my mind absolutely melted at the way it ended, I laid in anticipation of the full game arriving just a few days later... and arrived it did.

What I got in Final Fantasy XVI was genuienly the greatest meld of action, storytelling, music, environmental presentation, and character writing that I could have ever asked for. Beginning with the world, Valisthea is a masterfully constructed dual-continent with its histories carefully created to give each and every nation-state and their peoples their own culture and approach to political and social goings-ons. Reading the FFXVI website before the game actually had come out was a tremendous help to the rich lore within the title, as it lays out the political makeup of Rosaria, Waloed, The Republic of Dhalmekia, the Crystalline Dominion, and most importantly the Holy Republic. Each of these powers are wildly different in the way that they are run administratively, some as a Duchy, others as a loosely allied Republic, and another as a Holy Empire. While these countries are also vastly different in size and makeup, they are privy to a state of Mutually Assured Destruction as a result of beings called Dominants. These Dominants are individuals in the royal families who posses the ability to call upon Eikons, mythical figures of immense size and power who can effectively end conflict in a fell swoop. This is also the fire that begins the conflict of the game as our protagonist Clive Rosfeld does not possess the Dominant of Fire, the Phoenix as the eldest sibling in Rosaria is meant to do. Each of these Dominants are powerful in different ways that bring nuance to their interactions with other nations and combat maneuvers. Surely Titan is the largest and strongest eikon in the Twin Realms... but he is not mobile and deploying him requires a large amount of care. Surely Bahamut is immensely powerful, but can his destructive magicks match the agility of Ifrit? It's with these questions and interactions between the nations of Final Fantasy XVI that such an interesting world is created. These powers differ in how large they are, in how strong their ground millitaries are, but they are at a stand still in their perpetual conflicts because of the power at the fingertips of their royal families. This is what felt so Game of Thrones to me, each country so unique (and a lot of these mirror those in GoT,) but so fragile in the manner of which they combat and invade... I could go on and on about how good of a job CBU3 did in setting this world up, but its already so late and I have more to write about!

The world itself that Clive finds himself is a grim one, and it's here that I would call upon another title that gave me the stark depressing feeling that FFXVI did in its traversal: The Witcher. Now, much of what Clive is doing is trying to restore a hope to a people that are oppressed (more to come on that later,) but the impetus of much of the conflict of the game between the nation states is that a remarkable blight is moving upon their continents, killing their crops and the destroying the homes of those within the affected areas. Like the world that Geralt calls home, much of FFXVI is dark tonally, the medieval setting is already grim as slavery is abundant and there is a remarkably large amount of displaced peoples and families affected by the violence of the heads of state. You are a man who is not respected by much of the world you are interacting with, many of the ruling classes look upon Clive as an outlaw beneath the common man. As he grows and matures, he embarks on a quest with Cidolfus to free the bottom class from their chains of malice that have been placed upon them by the ruling classes. In the world of FFXVI, the oppressed lower class that you spend much of the game assisting and freeing are called bearers, as they naturally have the ability to cast magicks without using crystals for assistance. Its with this prejudice that they are abused, mistreated, tortured, and killed, as the bearers are viewed as freaks and not worthy of being considered as human. Clive, a bearer himself leads a ragtag group of ambitious rebels, along with his ally Cid, to create a world in with the bearers can live as people amongst those not blessed with magic. Thus the conflict within Final Fantasy XVI's story is born, Clive now abandoned from his former state and people by his wretched mother, must unite the world of the Twins under a common banner, as humans. His quest is simple, to remove all from the shackles of class and culture that bind them to hatred. A world in which the bearer is not subhuman.

The writing in FFXVI is careful and deliberate. I've already touched upon the way the world is set up, but the avenue that the story goes through it's extensive runtime is constructed such a way that few games of recent can hold a candle to. I don't like to divulge spoilers are per usual, but I everyday that I wrapped up playing the game I would message my friends who were of similar progress about the twists and turns that the narrative had left us with. This game will make you angry at its villains, tear up with its heroes, and feel general angst at the suffocating world at large. Game of Thrones did a superb job in creating despicable characters from the get go who were easy to hate, and FFXVI picks up on that to the T. You have a general disgust for Anabella, for Hugo, for Barnabas, their motives laid bare for the player to pick apart and challenge. Clive is an impressive protagonist, and a refreshing one in the realm of Final Fantasy as he's finally an adult character. Sure you spend the initial sequence as an adolescent, and it's hard to truly drive home, but it was SO refreshing to have a character this mature in a JRPG that is willling to express love and hate to such a degree. He's a grizzled himbo, a true boy-toy, but he's not willing to depart from nuanced discussions with his foes and turn them into bouts of true malice. There is an eloquence in writing protagonists to be more diplomatic in their dialogue with the antagonists (Cloud in FFVII for example,) but it was marvelous to hear Clive conscious of his guilt, of his actions of violence. In a world as dark as the one in Valisthea, it's not possible to take the road that appeases all. Clive is aware of the blood that was required to be spilled to realize his dream of uniting the land under a common social norm. It is here that my comparisons with the Witcher continue, in true Geraltian fashion Clive doesn't shy away from the tough decisions he has to make, there is no "happy ending" and he is aware of that. There are moments in which he bursts into a fit of rage (one early on in the demo for example,) and you as the player cannot help but empathize with the amount of anger you would likely have in that situation as well. This is unique in my now storied history with Final Fantasy as a franchise, this was the first time I could see a protagonist truly come to terms with the tragedies of the dark reality their world was now engrossed in. Clive does what he can to help those in need, but he's not afraid to combat those who are actively bringing the world down. He is compassionate and respected amongst his peers and friends like Jill, Gav, Cid, and Charon, but a nightmare in waiting to his enemies.

The cast outside of Clive were crafted into a resounding success, beginning with the Archduke of Rosaria, Elwin Rosfeld himself who is one of the first characters you meet, all the way to the minor characters you meet and leave right before the game ends. There are a plethora of NPC's both in the villages you pass through (Martha and Lu'bor for example) that will stick with you and interact with Clive multiple times throughout the story, as well as his own group of outlaws that journey with him and share the same hideout. These characters like Tarja, Midadol, Otto, Charon, Gav, Jill, and Harpocrates to name a few will stick with you throughout a treacherous and longform journey. These aren't just people that stick around you and interact with you for their various gimmicks (Charon is the shoplady, Harpocrates the loremaster etc,) but occasional party members and frequent requestors of Clive's aid. They don't all just have one sidequest either, often multiple through the long journey which helps make them feel a real member of the family. Much like Mass Effect and its loyalty mission in ME2, FFXVI has a questline for seemingly every NPC Ally that Clive has, which can seem like it simply just inflates the runtime, but rather produces a believable relationship between player character and his constituents. I felt an actual connection to everybody that calls the hub home and helps Clive along on his mission, and for a game this long and in the weeds, that is a huge +1 to its overall composition. Without going into it too much, it's revitalizing to have a character like Jill in a Final Fantasy game. Their "romance" is written so well, and in true Final Fantasy fashion she is FAR from a damsel in distress. She quickly became one of my favorite female characters in a video game that I've played, and the emotional maturity and power in her story had me clutching my tear strings at a few points.

Now that I've covered the story, world, and characters, I would like to get into the fun parts! Oh my GOSH is this game beautiful. Unfortunately brought down a peg by its jail sentence on the PS5 30 FPS, this game in its entirety is eye candy... from the characters to the fights to the environment itself. Now with the investment that this game probably gets from Sony and Square Enix, a budget to make all this possible isn't too surprising, but this game contains a vast amount of cutscene time done in the legendary Square visual fidelity fashion. Characters are downright beautiful, portrayed in a way (much like FF7R) that they feel and look real. Anytiime I got a closeup of Jill, Clive, or Cid I held my hand on the screenshot button waiting to take a visual imprint of their beautiful faces. I don't know if this habit will ever die, but I'm still shocked by games nowadays and how far they've come in their portrayal of characters. Not only did they look good from a clarity standpoint, but the design choices in making each character stand out from one another was a resounding success. I loved Dr. Castlevania Clive, and the azure clothing that Jill wears. Cid dons a regal outfit befit of a Chad, Gav a orange/grey shirt that works great for a mysterious rogue, Dion a beautifully piece of armor and long robe to match his suave and regality. Outside of the characters, the fights were a thing of beauty. Multiple times during the eikon battles and Clive 1 on 1s I had to pause and let out an audible "Holy S***" at what I was looking at. Games have come so far, but Square realized this to the best extent in FFXVI. The world, grim as it may be, was visually striking as well. In the cities and the hub world, I found myself just simply strolling along with no end quite a few times to the world and beautiful Masayoshi Soken soundtrack. Be it Uematsu, Hamauzu, Shimomura, or Soken, this series has been blessed to have such a rich group of talented composers. Again as a fan of FFXIV, I knew Soken would do a good job scoring XVI, but I was blown out of the water by his soundtrack at multiple times... all the way to the end credits. This title is a home run and a half for so many reasons.

The day has finally come, from the evolutions begun in FFXII, into making Final Fantasy a series with a pure action game. From 2006's beloved entry on, Square has toyed and shifted more and more into making Final Fantasy no longer a turn based ATB action series, but one where the fighting got faster and faster with each title. FFXIII was a vast mis-step, effectively able to be played by only pressing the space bar, FFXV another step toward action with some unfortunate funk to it, and FF7R even more action intensive with a cool pause menu to select spells and items. All this considered, the series had never completely made the leap until it tapped DMCV combat director Ryota Suzuki to be in charge of crafting a captivating combat system for the sixteenth game in the Final Fantasy franchise... and lo and behold he did it to an absolute success. This game plays a lot like a DMC or Bayonetta, but with even more tools at your disposal that fit that of the FF Intellectual property. You need to make use of parries, perfect dodges, and quick attack windows to stagger your opponents and rack the damage up when you can. Clive not only has his sword and trusty pup Torgal in every encounter, but is able to utilize the power of the eikons he claims along his journey. Beginning with that of the Phoenix, Clive can use fire spells as part of his combos. This never gets old, even after playing north of seventy hours of the game. I loved mixind and matching the eikons I used, the spells that come with said eikons, and the combos you can craft by simply feeling out the game. I would love to go into greater detail about which eikons make for the best combat experience, but that would include spoiling the story content. I will say, in most titles that have them I don't find myself going outside of my general wheelhouse to fight super bosses or optionial hunt targets, however I managed to clear every single one in FFXVI. I didn't care if I was twelve levels down, I was having such a fun time with the combat system of this game that I wanted to play with it as much as I could. I would scream in joy after defeating the S Rank hunts with how far removed from the recommended level I was. This game just feels so smooth and the tough battles are beyond rewarding when you are done with them. Combat was so DMC down to the Devil Trigger button, that I could simply not give it up.

As a fan of Devil May Cry, as a Game of Thrones, as a fan of the Witcher, as a fan of Final Fantasy XIV, as a fan of Final Fantasy, and lastly as a fan of good video games... Final Fantasy XVI is one of the greatest video games I've ever played. A frontrunner for GOTY of 2023 quite easily for me, and an instant inclusion into my personal Top 10, I am still in disbelief that it is over. For anyone with a PS5, and anyone with a PC when it inevitably launches there, I strongly recommend Final Fantasy XVI.

PS: I apologize at the likely high amount of syntax and diction errors in writing this review. I almost always do my writeups immediately after completing the game and this one was long and it's very late at night here! This is probably one of my weaker writing jobs from a skill standpoint, but I have so much to talk about and so little patience to wait to do it!

Ghost Tricked.

I don't know where I went wrong but Ghost Trick is the first game in a long time where I can say I'm completely indifferent to the experience I just had. There will be no longform writeup on my end other than to commend the updated visuals from the DS original and witty humor that graces this beloved puzzle game along with some slight negations. I lost myself in the story and couldn't really be asked to care about any of the characters as I didn't find them compelling or interesting in any real sense. I'm glad others had fun with Ghost Trick but it's a game I'll probably forget, and unfortunately makes me less willing to ever place Ace Attorney.

My immersion was greatly shattered when I realized how arbitrary the four minute time allowance was on the cases, because it's not anything you have control over but rather sequence timing set by the game.

Star Wars Jedi: Survived

Like many who have graced this earth with their astral presence since the inaugural release of Star Wars: Episode IV in 1977, I grew up a fan of the multi-media giant in its games, novels, and movies. As time went on that interest only rose, growing up with Phantom Menace and then the Clone Wars into a golden era of Star Wars games, I felt and still do feel so lucky to be alive in a world where that universe is realized to its fullest extent. Come 2015 with the release of the new trilogy and the Force Awakens, I remember my eyes lighting up seeing the X-Wings first roll in. Come Episode VIII, IX, the Battlefront reboots, and the general Disnefication of the series, my interest greatly waned... resembling something of a galactic nosedive from Pluto into the Sun. One thing managed to refurbish my enjoyment for Star Wars and that jubilant youth we all eternally chase: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. While imperfect, it felt like it did the nature and magic of Star Wars correctly. The story beats were tropey in nature, as are many Star Wars origin stories, but the gameplay was fresh and Cal Kestis + his crew were a great group to experience this IP with. I came out of Fallen Order with great expectations toward its inevitable sequel, hoping Respawn could keep the ball rolling on an enjoyable, actual Jedi-Like Star Wars experience. I unfortunately didn't feel that way in the exit interview.

Survivor's PC release was marred with technical difficulty, and I figured as a later buyer that I would bypass these problems on a higher end rig. Unfortunately, performance was far below what should be considered acceptable in 2023. I had AMD's FSR feature turned on to "quality" on medium graphics for the majority of my runtime, peaking at around 70 FPS though on Koboh and certain locations dipping down into 40 or lower. When I said I wanted more Bloodborne after playing it last year, I meant I wanted more well executed Souls-likes with captivating settings, not more Souls-likes that run at sub 30 fps when movement timing is paramount. The world, the characters, the gameplay was beautiful and mostly fluid, but being able to see it at an archaic performance level was miserable. Thankfully I only crashed once and that was fittingly when adjusting settings to turn the FSR into "performance" based. I only did this for the last level or so which made the game feel like I was playing without my glasses on... just blurry all over and the lack of texturing was very offputting.

The gameplay itself was mostly the same as it was in Fallen Order, but I'm a few years and many games removed from playing that so my memory may be a tad bit foggy. You have a set of stances attached to you as Cal Kestis, only being able to use two at a time. I opted for the single saber as it felt the most "jedi" and versatile, along with the gun-saber combo you get later on because again... I'm always chasing that Bloodborne dragon. One on One combat in Survivor is a ton of fun, the lightsaber Cal uses lends itself to a mostly fluid parry and dodge based experience, and there is a plethora of encounters in which this dual fighting occurs. Where my largest issue with the combat of this game happens is in its group battles... and for every one on one, it feels like there are ten larger scale fights. This isn't the worst in theory, as most of the droids and basic stormtroopers go down in a single swing, but when special enemies and distance is added into the equation, it feels like you're being slapped one second after the next. Pretty much everything stutters Cal and I don't think there are any I-frames for being hit, at least the final boss fight proved that to be true. If you get hit/staggered by an enemy with a staff/saber, you'll sputter about for a second and get hit by another person doing the same. If you try to take one of these blade wielder's on, you'll get hit by an off-screen laser and it will stagger you again. In an event to not cry the sour grapes excuse, I don't think this is a skill issue but rather an effort of poor game design. You are greatly punished for trying to feel cool in this game when it comes to fighting more than one enemy. Jedi's are cool, I want to feel cool. Successful Souls games greatly limit such encounters as a result, you will get those multi-enemy fights, but often they allow for the duel to take place first before everybody tries to swing at you. In Survivor, I felt like I was the guy with a pack of gum and everybody wanted a piece. I will say though, the battles against non humanoids felt pretty good in this game and mostly muted in length, which is a nice touch.

The world as one would expect is beautiful and rich in detail. Respawn did a great job yet again in fulfilling one of the key tennants of Star Wars media: making it feel alive. Beginning with a cold open on the population heavy Coruscant and then cascading into the more desolate Koboh and Jedha, the world of Jedi: Survivor is colorful and teeming with flora & fauna. This was the part I expected Survivor to excel in the most and I'm glad it lived up to the billing. Traversal through these locations is again extremely Uncharted-esque and I won't say it was actively problematic or lead to a negative score, but running around felt mostly menial and like a chore.

Cal Kestis is a great protagonist but his arc in this game felt so predictable and kinda... mediocre? I think mediocre is a great way to describe a lot of the characters and their interactions with the villains in Jedi: Survivor. You meet new friends and foes, and reunite with old ones, and none of them managed to do a great job for me at creating new interesting memories. Merrin is a great character, Greez is great, Cere is Cere, but I didn't feel the magic of any of them being a fun crew like I did in Fallen Order. They join you on your mission and help you toward your end goal, but its just more of the same. I get that this journey overall is meant to be a lot more personal to Cal and his experience as a Jedi and the personal turmoil that comes with it, but part of the greatness in Star Wars stems from the interaction with the characters in the world. Maybe this is Star Wars fatigue striking me once more, but I just didn't find any reason to care for the characters of Survivor. The story just kinda happens as it happens, I had to ask myself multiple times after stopping and picking it back up about "What am I actually doing? What is my goal? Why is the villain doing this?" and having no real answer. The villains of this game also just felt weak and lacking of both clear motive and decent writing. Fallen Order didn't necessarily have a Pullitzer narrative either but I felt like the story of Survivor was generally listless.

If you're starved for Star Wars content or want a game where there's a lot of content to clear, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is your game. If you're like me and fatigued by Star Wars, don't wish to encounter sub-optimal performance, or would feel tarnished by the above, then it would probably be a title to avoid. I do not recommend Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Dark Souls II: Problems with the Second Game

I began my Souls journey many a moons ago in 2011 after the release of the original Dark Souls, playing on a friends PS3 and watching them toil and struggle with what was a new formidable experience. Just over a decade later and I've made serious leeway into Fromsoft's renaissance repertoire, completing Demon Souls, Dark Souls 1, Elden Ring, Sekiro, Bloodborne, and now Dark Souls 2. The experience itself has been hit or miss, but I'm afraid I've already played the best effort that they've put forth in Elden Ring, and with each title that go and black from a chronologically retroactive standpoint, they just don't feel good. While I am glad I played Dark Souls 2 and eventually will play 3, I let out an audible "this sucks man" too many times to warrant a higher rating.

The good of DS2 as I'll abbreviate it begins with Fromsoft's legendary level design. Scale isn't the same as it was in the first Dark Souls game, which felt more top to bottom filled with locations and interesting happenings, but rather a more level oriented approach like Demon Souls had. You have your hub world in Majula, which has one of the most beautiful ambient themes you'll find in a video game, but outside of that you're travelling via bonfire or mysterious teleportation to areas far outside the reaches of your central hub. These areas weren't all sunshine and rainbows (The Lost Bastille, The Gutter etc) but were varied and quite seperate from one another in atmosphere and vibe. I liked the Land of the Fallen Giants as an initial area as it felt distinctly Dark Souls with its luscious greenery and decayed medieval architecture. As the game goes on you get more fantasy with the Dragon's Aerie, Shrine of Amala, and DLC areas. It's this intricacy and care that Fromsoft puts into creating its levels that are always a captivating part of their games, and with DS2 this was no different.

I once again was a fan of the enemy/boss design throughout the game from an artistic standpoint. The way these enemies are designed to fit in with the mysteriously rich lore of the series as well as their degree of difficulty is pretty dang cool. Though I had issues with a large number of boss battles in this game (more to come later,) I enjoyed a few of the one on one battles I had with humanoid bosses... that much like the last DLC boss from DS1 felt like a true duel of skill and vigor.

Where I start to depart from liking Dark Souls 2 is when I actually sit back and ponder about the "Dark Souls" elements of the game, aka the stuff that sends your brain into a fritz upon contact. The first issue I had with DS2 that I rectified almost immediately was the forced HP % Cutoff on death as a part of the hollowing. I understand that hollowing is a key piece of Dark Souls lore and a major aspect of the first game, but I think they did it well enough in DS1 in that it just gated you off from some content like NPC Summons. I didn't love it, but I guess that was a compromise I just said "yeah okay" with, much better than the HP Halving of Demon Souls upon death. Unlike Demon Souls though, Dark Souls 2 doesn't alleviate your HP issues when you kill the area boss, but rather if you burn an item. The issue with this concept is the eternal "phoenix down" conundrum, you'll be dying quiiiiiite a bit (it's a Fromsoft game after all,) so what is the best time to burn your human effigy? You can make a list of rules for yourself to use it after a certain % of HP Loss but man, there were times where I'd die over and over again in runbacks to a boss or item and DID NOT want to mess with that. If you want to disregard my review because I used a script that removed this mechanic, then feel free, but I liked to call it "DS1 Mode" and it saved my remaining enjoyment for the game.

Souls games have a notoriety for being "difficult" and wherein does that difficulty lie? In my experience its usually not with the bosses, who do prove to be an issue from time to time (and especially as the series ages,) but rather in the frustrating set of hallways, crevaces, paths, and ramps one must conquer on route ot their next bonfire or boss are absolutely brutal. There were a few moments where I was in genuine disbelief, particularly in the Sunken King DLC's first forray into the tower and then also in the area that houses the Smelter Demon. I get there being a reason to punish the player for playing in a manner that is overtly aggressive and non-patient but man... having to patiently wait through encounters one by one by one by one forever to get to a boss who may kill you in two hits because of some errant mistake you made all to have to do it again is simply bad design.

Speaking of getting hit, another one of my chief complaints... why are i-frames in a roll tied to a stat??? I was shocked when I attempted to roll out of combat against an enemy early in the game, leading me to frustratingly google "does rolling suck in DS2" only to be met with commenters providing the answer: it's tied to your adaptability stat. This is just puzzling, and I'm quite confused as to why it's even a mechanic at all? it feels like a pointless stat to level just to get your character to feel slightly good moving in a series where rolling is as important as it is. Combat otherwise was... okay, I went my typical strength build and didn't have too hard of a time against normal enemies or bosses but there were some moments of frustration later on in the game (those crystal porcupine enemies in the Ivory King dlc for example.) I had a +10 Great Club and Broadsword, and I liked having to swap them for certain encounters. Humanoid bosses that I had to react fast against, I'd use my quick sword... for larger bosses and world enemies, my great club. That was neat. What wasn't neat was when I was fighting a few bosses (Sunken King DLC especially) and was slapped with a hastened weapon degredation mechanic... literally why? Why reveal this to the player midway through a fight? I had a backup weapon but because the series doesn't allow for pausing, I'd perish trying to make the quick inventory swap in between boss moves. Other issues I had with combat include not being able to move while using estus flasks (and the general length of doing so,) and the upgraded difficulty in summoning NPC's (felt a little too high of an HP buff to bosses.)

In all, Dark Souls 2 was simply one of the games I've beaten. I'd recommend it to any Souls player who is making their way through Fromsoft's catalog but wouldn't necessarily advise series newcomers to jump straight to it.

Moon Fantasy IV is a sizable step up from Final Fantasy III in regards to narrative and character ambition. Giving each playable character you come across a name, class, and history in part of a larger story outside of simply collecting the crystals to save the world is what the series needed to keep itself fresh in the early 1990's. While the story pails in comparison to what the series would later have in FFVI/VII and beyond, I was shocked at the amount of effort put into making this piece of antiquity a memorable experience. Cecil as a protagonist was actually pretty alright, having a simple hero's journey from dark to light and a responsibility to protect those around him that he held so dear. Kaine's evolution as his sidekick was well done, Rosa as Cecil's effectively betrothed was a good inclusion for overall character depth, Rydia having a background of her own with the summoners is a great way to give a character out of the initial limelight some depth, and Edward despite not being playable for much of the latter half acted as a great voice of valor and motive. For a game that came out when it did, this was a much better plot experience than I initially thought after knocking out the Pixel Remaster of FFIII however many years ago. The overall story isn't too in depth, there is a big bad that has a sinister motive that uses other big bads to do his bidding, but it was enough to keep me going from one destination to the other. Outside of the improvement to the story, the music (as per usual with FF) was top notch and the pixel remastering of the sprites and world was again well done.

Where the experience waned for me occurred in a few places. One major issue being that the frequent party switches interrupted a lot of ryhthm and preferential party makeups throughout the game. There were times where I felt like I didn't have enough melee options, then not enough magic options, and had to constantly equip and re-equip party members that would be leaving and coming back. While I liked this story more than FFIII, I felt like the ability to level in III towards the end game made more sense and was overall easier. I got my jobs in III all to the level I needed and pretty much waltzed through to the final boss. In FFIV I spent a decent bit grinding just to be at an acceptable level for the game's final dungeon, which was adequate but made me sweat a little more than I'd like. Outside of those slightly minute detractions, the world was pretty bland across the main map, underworld, and moon. I know this is partially evidence of the system and time, but man it's hard to run around these towns and areas and have any sense of belonging or want to spend any extra time in this fantasy world. FFVI came out just three years later and greatly improved upon making these areas mildly enjoyable. The world in FFIV was devoid of flavour and greatly bland. In relation to that, making it from point a to point b in dungeons and on the overworld was a grand chore because of the annoyingly high random encounter rate.

Overall I'd recommend Final Fantasy IV as a necessary stepping stone for fans of the Final Fantasy series. It's a good time generally speaking and has some memorable moments, sounds, and characters held within.

Dark Souls Peak

Far and away the best of the trilogy, Dark Souls III seems like a complete F-U to the two games before it. A polished experience from start to finish, the third entry into the series feels like the best moments of Elden Ring at times with some of the annoying trepidation of the previous two entries.

The first thing that I have to salute DS3 about and it's almost a little sad that I am, is the fact that it ran at a glorious 60 FPS with a nice graphic sheen to it that reminded me of last year's GOTY: Elden Ring. The visual fidelity didn't just do the environments of this title justice, but made movement and boss fights much more manageable and approachable throughout the ~30 hour experience. From the moment I loaded in to completion of the game I was in awe at how fluid it was, and there were many times that I felt like I was in the world of Elden Ring.

Gameplay took a tremendous leap between the previous title and this one, dropping silly things like I-Frames that are tied to a stat and accelerated weapon degradation against bosses in favor of a smoother and more enjoyable experience. I went with my Fromsoft staple oonga boonga melee build, swapping great club and a giant axe until I found Dragon's Tooth (my Dark Souls 1 go to) later on. There were moments where I felt I was a little cheated, but it was never at a point where I thought it was overbearing or simply bad game design as it was in DS1 & DS2. Upgrading weapons felt vindicating as you could fully tune them to your playstyle, and were giving ample resources to do so. Gear didn't have to be upgraded as it was in DS2 either, making for a playthrough where you could worry moreso about the actual "game" of Dark Souls rather than material management.

Bosses were a tremendous leap between the titles too, clearly taking a page from the improvements Fromsoft made with Bloodborne the year prior. From the moment you fight Iudex Gundyr all the way until the final boss of the DLC, you are matched against bosses who will not just test your raw stats but also your ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome. That was my favorite part of playing all of Dark Souls III, the fact that bosses weren't gimmicks to be understood and passed by, but actually difficult opponents that could be beaten by learning their patterns and how to react appropriately. Again, very Bloodborne and a clear pattern they would replicate with Elden Ring many moons later. I don't want to give spoilers because the lore and sequencing is rightfully important to many players, but there were some bosses later on I would jump up after beating and say "I hated that, it was one of the best boss fights I've ever done." My favorite part of Bloodborne was how each match against each boss felt like a dance to the death because of how fluid and integral constant movement was to that game. Now, Dark Souls III is notably slower but you still feel like you're in an honest duel with these bosses, in which pure skill will reign supreme.

Like I touched on with comments on visual fidelity above, the game is absolutely gorgeous and filled with those "Fromsoft Moments" where you enter a new area atop a cliffside and pause just to gaze at the incredible vistas in front of you. Beauty is abound throughout the entire game, however I found myself most in awe when I played the ultimate "Ringed City" DLC. Such rich use of colour and scale is utilized to craft a believable environment of dilapidated buildings and past socieities.

While it wasn't perfect (it was too short!) Dark Souls 3 is a jaw dropping experience that engages the player from their first moments all the way into its conclusion. A massive improvement from Dark Souls 1 & 2, it improves on just about everything to make it clear how great of a job Fromsoft has done in gameplay innovation and creativity. I would absolutely recommend Dark Souls III.

Hypnagogia: Boundless Dreams is a short but tight surrealist trip through a series of dreams in a hip PS1-ish aesthetic vaporwave worldscape that kept me interested from start to finish. While the platforming is light and puzzling extremely rudimentary, the gameplay and vague philosophy about the world at large was very well done when coupled with an elite visual and audio pallette. I don't think the narrative itself is meant to be a hallmark work of fiction, but I found the mystery of the worlds at hand and the doomed denizens within to be both humorous and captivating.

I'd recommend Hypnagogia: Boundless Dreams to anyone who might think that a quick thought provoking platformer with a unique creative element attached could be up their alley.

Wake up Jet Set Radio Future, there's a new CEO of funky fresh beats in town.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is the spiritual successor that everyone hoped it would be, bringing that beautiful combination of rollerblading, graffiti, bombastic soundtracking, and nonsense storytelling to the modern gen after a significant hiatus from the Sega cult hit JSRF.

What I thought would be a decent game turned into something I recommended to multiple friends and family members as I spent more time in New Amsterdam with the elite OST and generally fun (and not difficult!) parkour/movement along rails, billboards, and light poles. It's easy to get around and is fun to do so on your chosen method of transport depending on which character you like to play as. I preferred Gel's rollerblades so I stuck to her most of the game, skating around in style as Hideki Naganuma and company guided my path forward. The plot, while not entierly important is completely nonsensical which adds to the ridiculuous nature & ambience of the game. I like the crew you get to know, I enjoyed the turf battles you entertain with each crew on your quest to go all city, and as a hip-hop afficianado, I LOVED the inclusion of the oldheads as the judicators of all inter-crew combat.

My points of detraction come in two main ways. The first being that I felt like the police mechanic was a little too wonky and unecessary for general enjoyment of exploring the cities zones. The more rep you got and the further you got into the game, the police became more aggressive and annoying. I didn't feel like they added much and just made exploration an awkward amount more annoying. My second "issue" was that I think the creativity and ease of exploration waned significantly in Bomb Rush Cyberfunk's last two chapters. I wasn't a fan of the Pyramid's verticality and long winded nature of the last area that sort of... abruptly ended.

In all, BRCF is an eclectic game made for the patient. Fans of Jet Set Radio Future and the old Sega style should absolutely pick this up. I recommend Bomb Rush Cyberfunk for those who want a tight sub ten hour experience of block rockin' beats and dope graphics.

Armored Core VI: Possible Game of the Year

I've written a few times about my introduction to From Software and how despite playing Dark Souls way back in 2011, the company's trademark difficulty and cryptic narratives didn't grasp me until Elden Ring in 2022. I, like a lot of people in the zeitgeist know Fromsoft as the "Souls" guys, but therein lies a deeper origin, one that involves Armored Core.

I never was a Playstation kid, we had a way to play PS1 games on our Emac growing up, but it wasn't until Final Fantasy 7 Remake that I used my hard earned adult money to buy my first Playstation, a PS4. As a result I missed out on a lot of pivotal games and moments in the history of 3D gaming. One of these titles was the seminal cult classic mech franchise: Armored Core. Coincidentally outside of being really into Zoids as a wee lad and taking part in the Transformers media wave in the late 00's, I wasn't really into Mechs or Mech related media until I got into Code Geass in 2019. I knew that Japanese gaming, anime, and film loved the mecha genre but wasn't cognizant about the when's, where's, and why's. There were two names that stuck out through time and the aforementioned Armored Core was one of them, the other Zone of the Enders. Through conversation with my friends over time I learned about the importance of these two and how they diferred. Kojima's ZoE was balls to the wall action that utilized speed to create immersion, whereas Armored Core was the nerdy stat reliant customization game for those who were into the minutiae of mech creation. I decided that with the announcement of Armored Core VI, off the heels of From's insane post Dark Souls 2 run, that I should embark into the legendary mecha franchises. Earlier this year I sat down and hooked up my Xbox 360 to finally play ZoE and it was... alright, so I then set my eyes on Armored Core VI.

I watched quite literally one gameplay trailer before the game dropped and decided it would be something I was into, it was the one featuring the smelter demon, wait wrong game. It was the one featuring the Cleaner Robot with the furnace on top of it, acting like a Blowhole. The richly detailed factory landscape coupled with crisply quick movement was an immediate sell for me, and thus I anxiously waited for the release of Fires of Rubicon. What I got on release was the exact kind of game I'd wanted, Fromsoft's punishing combat with a richly customizable path through completion. I had a grand time comparing my progress with friends and family and how we approached each fight. While some of my buddies went with the grounded tank approach, others went with a speedy in and out build. I waxed poetic about the glory of the double Songbird (mounted Howitzer-esque cannons) and its ability to stagger bosses with ease. This approach to gameplay, where everybody has their own build that works for them is awesome and I heavily commend From for making a game that is so uniquely accessible in its player agency, because I'm all about player agency. The fights are hard, and the bosses are extremely punishing in places, but there are so many avenues for you the player to bypass them.

I struggled with one of the games first real bosses for anywhere from five to six hours (Balteus for the experienced,) because I wasn't respecting the multiple avenues of approach to defeat him. I was getting greedy, thinking I could brute force my way through the encounter like it was Dark Souls, but no I had to strip apart my oonga boonga playstyle and approach it with a Bloodborne attitude, dancing with the boss to learn and react to its every move. Once I got the patterns down on Balteus, I felt like I understood the game much better. You can create a build that allows you to take more hits, but ultimately you'll have to respect what the encounters do to you, and the limitations that ammunition and only having three repair kits has in store. With my double songbird, double gatling gun build with a heavier mech body, I created a mech that hit like a bruiser. I dealt heavy stagger damage with the cannons, and could melt damage during said stagger state with the barrage of gatling rounds. Creating a strategy that worked without the assistance of looking online through my own determination was greatly rewarding. I more or less used this with some slight variations all the way to the end game and again would like to shout out the devs for allowing this to work.

Fights in Armored Core VI were unique in the fact that they were so wildly different in terms of mechanics but generally the same degree of difficulty that prevented anything from being a cakewalk. From the first main boss to the ultimate encounter, I felt greatly engaged to study boss patterns and timings in my immediate introduction to each fight. Whether it was AC on AC action in which you were in a duel with an enemy that could heal and mimic your own actions like expansion and shoulder firing, set piece bosses in which you had to utilize a specific item to succeed, or just a good old fashion Fromsoft rumble in the jungle against a larger menacing foe, nothing came easy and battles could only be won through hard work. Outside of the one I mentioned above, I don't want to give anything away as to remain spoiler-free, but the boss at the end of chapter four was really dang cool and reminiscient of some of the fun I had in Dark Souls 3. Fittingly enough, the last boss of the game also felt like a callback to some of From's most glorious moments. Outside of bosses, the world fights were the exact right amount of difficulty. You are plopped into a world with a finite amount of ammo and often tasked to take out jobbers and tougher enemies alike, but rarely did I feel like it was unfair. Armored Core VI is checkpointed well enough that should you be stressing your limits on resource, you'll be reimbursed for your efforts upon completion of an area. There were occasionally moments where I felt like the standard zone enemies werew winning against me simply because of a war of attrition, particularly in a "protect the objective" battle near the end of the game, but everything felt manageable as I reassessed my strategies and approached with a new state of mind.

The real unsung hero of this game was the environmental design and oh man was it absolutely incredible. From the moment you step foot on Rubicon, Fromsoft wasted no time in demonstrating the innate talent of their art teams and their ability to craft unforgettable and jawdropping vistas every chance they could. Numerous moments throughout my playthrough did I exclaim "this is really f* cool" to the friends I was streaming it to, stopping to stare at the great expanse of the delapidated world at large. Fromsoft have been the kings of ambience for quite some time now, with each title that I've enjoyed since DS1 in 2011 having that "Fromsoft Moment" where the landscape appears after entering an area and speaks volumes about the world and story at large without saying a single word. As chapter four wraps up and chapter five is introduced, there is a moment in which this happens that had my jaw near the floor, a significant factor in my remembrance of this game. Science Fiction often lives and dies upon the world it exists in, where effectively translating the nuances of the diverse locations is imperative to helping the titles stick out amongst the plethora of others within the genre. You remember the diverse locations of Star Wars, of Mass Effect, of Cowboy Bebop because of the way they are communicated to the audience. Armored Core VI with its Fromsoft DNA follows suit in offering enriching and memorable moments throughout the entire twenty hour runtime via optimal enemy placement, gorgeous vistas, and intricate cityscapes.

While Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is surely not for everybody, it checked the fast paced and difficult action game box for me in the absolute best way possible. Engaging fights, a rewarding customization system, and incredible environmental design all are elements that make this one of the best new games I've played in recent memory, and a hallmark of the mecha genre. I strongly recommend Armored Core VI to anyone who is a fan of Fromsoft, science fiction, and/or action games that require intense focus from the player.