If I paid money for this thing I'd be furious with how short it is. My first go around the novelty lasted about 4 minutes before I just got frustrated and annoyed. I powered through begrudgingly, pretty much hating it all the way to the end.

The post game content (optional challenges and level speed runs) is where I actually found myself enjoying it some. Less banging your head against a wall figuring out what the game wants from you, more knowing what you have to do and devising a plan for how you're going to go about it.

Nice of them to be constantly throwing the suicide hotline number in your face because wasting time on this will make you want to kill yourself.

Legitimately probably the worst thing I've ever played. Powered through the first 2 chapters then got to the part of chapter 3 where it turns into the Slenderman game and I said fuck it.

The "deep" depressed girl dialogue is unintentionally hilarious with how absolutely stupid it is. The terrible voice acting doesn't help either. Not scary whatsoever, the little bit of gameplay other than walking is abysmal, the story was entirely predictable (in addition to just dumb). Can't believe this game hasn't been given the Forspoken treatment with the dialogue being meme'd to death. Any day now.

It feels shitty to criticize this at all given that it is easily the best free DLC ever, it easily offers more content than the majority of paid single player DLC.

But Valhalla isn't great. It focuses on combat (which was certainly the best part of the disappointing Ragnarok), it has great callbacks to the original trilogy, and it offers touching story beats that feel like a definitive conclusion to this chapter of Kratos. But more than anything else, it's boring and fails as a rogue-lite. I can't fathom why anyone would continue to play this after finishing its story, and even then completing the story itself is just frustrating with how often your success is rewarded by having to start all the way over because Kratos "needs to think."

I went in with low expectations, ready to be ambivalent towards it just like I mostly was for Fallen Order, but Survivor definitely excels as a sequel and does most things better than its predecessor.

The combat is much improved with the variance between different stances being really cool, the newfound customization options are great, and the variance in environments coupled with expansive open areas and solid enemy variety is a welcome combo.

But while it may be a big step in the right direction, I still wouldn't consider the game anything too great. The glitches and just overall jank are the most glaring issue - Why are all the NPCs T-posing during takeoff every single time, 9 months after launch? Why does the protagonists default hair style become a writhing mass of tentacles while sprinting? Sometimes characters would be visible in their usual default location lurking in the background of a cutscene that they're already in.

Beyond glitches, the plot is really lacking in a lot of areas. Characters' motivations are just so poorly explained and/or don't make sense. I don't give a fuck about Tanalorr. And I am so god damn sick of protagonists who kill hundreds upon hundreds of regular enemies yet become big babies when it comes to killing much worse characters who happen to be a part of the plot.

By far the worst game NetherRealm Studios has put out since rebranding. I'm not sure what happened in development that caused this to be such a train wreck, whether it being the publisher forcing microtransaction-heavy modes or if there was truth to the rumors about it originally being Injustice 3. But on a macro and micro level, the game is completely flawed.

Story Mode is where the small bit of good in the game is. The story is certainly absolute nonsense with nonstop plot holes and dumb decisions, but it was refreshing to get a more grounded and sometimes reimagined take on many characters. If anything they didn't take this far enough and could've switched up a lot more. The graphics and especially facial animations are some of the best I've ever seen in a video game. Top notches performances all around... Except for the hilariously bad Megan Fox as Nitara. Were they scared to ask her to do a second take?

Invasions mode is pushed as the driving force behind the game and is basically the only thing to do in single player once you finish the main story. And unless you care about unlocking costumes in 35 different shades of the same exact ugly color, there is 0 reason to do so. Nonstop boring grindy content, no fun to be had.

Even the classic towers are somehow ruined. Each character's ending, rather than being the story of what would happen if they were the one to beat the big bad boss as it is traditionally, instead shows what they do after the main story of the game. Not only is this boring, but it causes multiple characters' ending to be the exact same thing due to being involved in each other's epilogues. And speaking of the big bad boss at the end of the tower? It's literally just Shang Tsung in a dumb looking outfit, he doesn't even get a buff. There is no challenge whatsoever. He's literally just a regular character in the game.

I've seen people say that despite the game's flaws this is the best Mortal Kombat gameplay-wise. I get it, but personally I despise the whole Kameo system, so the gameplay is a major bust for me.

The whole thing feels like a giant step down from Mortal Kombat 11 (Which wasn't exactly amazing, but is great next to this garbage). The fatalities are totally uninspired. Even the character interactions before each match seem so cold - most of them don't even make sense, 2 characters who are friends agreeing on a point or something rather than explaining why it is that they're about to fight.

Mature themes with a cute art style and tongue in cheek humor - My kind of game. Was very surprised that there was a ton of blood splatter in it. I'm not complaining, just didn't see it coming given the overall cartoony-ness of it all.

The combat is barebones but not simplistic, found myself really enjoying it the more I experimented. Bosses are varied, areas are memorable, difficulty is balanced. An all round pleasant experience, would recommend.

Mushroom Dungeon theme is a masterpiece.