As a FromSoft stan, I have played through every game in the soulsborne series. When Sekiro was released I was ready to dive in, but goddamn did this game hand my ass to me for the first little while.

The fluidity of the combat in Sekiro is truly a feat of game design. The amount of decisions your brain needs to subconsciously make while managing each battle is daunting, but when it clicks it clicks and your will be chopping through men, monsters, and monkeys like the sword saint himself. It truly feels like an accomplishment when you finally beat a tough boss, and feels even better when you stomp them first try on your second playthrough.

The story is par for the course for a Miyazaki game, with lots to dig into and a slew of memorable areas and monsters. Miyazaki don't miss, and this is the best action game I have played in years

Hot Take Time: Mario Odyssey is good but has some big problems. It's a blast to play and controls great (as every 3d mario title does) but I have some issues with the way the game is structured. I much prefer the old way of doing things when it came to level design, with the one star objective at a time and found I was inundated with a constant flow of moons. This is a pure collectathon, and I think it dulls the experience when there are so many moons available. The post-game content is great, truly challenging, and I love a lot of the levels (while a couple I could do without). The hat possession mechanic is great, and seeing marios little mustache on all the enemies brings me pure joy. This game is great, but I wish it was structured a little differently. That being said, Nintendo hasn't missed on the switch and this game is essential playing.

This is the best sonic the hedgehog game. I have played all of the 2d entries, and as a child of the 90's I fully bought into the "sonic is the coolest thing of all time" marketing as a kid. The games all hold a special place in my heart, but I know deep down that they are far from perfect; this is the closest they have come to making an untouchable sonic game, and I am very happy it exists. It looks amazing, the songs are great, and every new stage is amazing. I wish they didnt lean on the remixed classic stages so much, but besides that I cannot recommend this game enough.

Charming, memorable, and well designed, Luigis Mansion 3 is a return to form for the series. Fusing the character of 1 with the tighter level based design and mechanics of Dark Moon, I was really impressed with the way this game had me hooked. Every level is a perfect sit down session, with each clocking in at about 45 minutes to an hour and a half.

All of the gooigi stuff is really charming and fun, and I would easily play this game again with a friend. Glad to see this series is back on track.

Links Awakening holds a special place in my heart, as the first game I ever owned (along with Pokemon Yellow). I was excited when this remake got announced, as I had not played this game since I was young but in my mind I have the whole thing mapped out. I was interested to see how much I knew, and what my perception of this strange game that existed in memory actually existed and what was weird shit I just made up.

I turns out that I did have this game pretty much committed to some internal part of my brain, and that all the weird shit I thought I must have been misremembering does in fact exist. A surreal masterpiece, this game is emanates joy in its weird dungeon design and interesting setting. The "twist" was truly jarring to me as a kid, and it still hits years later.

Hours and Hours and Hours of fun. It's amazing to see what the community can do with the tools provided, and the game allows you to create pretty robust levels built around the best platforming physics of all time. I love this series, and that nintendo has passed off the reigns to the fans to create the levels they want, and find myself going back to this game constantly. I do wish some of the search features/online ui was better, but Nintendo is bad at making online user friendly. it would be so easy to fix!

I went into this really wanting to like it. I have an issue with the newer mario platformers, and I have a really hard time putting my finger on what it is about them that doesn't quite do it for me. The platforming physics are exceptional and the level design is well thought out and interesting enough, but there is something about these games that just feel a little hollow? I think it all boils down to aesthetics; everything is to prim and clean, and it doesn't have the pixelated charm of the classics or the interesting settings of other new nintendo platformers like the (impeccable) donkey kong returns series.

This game was fun and I enjoyed playing it, but at this point the mario maker series has made the new mario bros series obsolete. Grab mario maker 2 if you are hankering for some platforming action

This is how you do a remake the right way. Immaculately designed environments with brilliant ui choices (I love the map and how it shows you exactly what rooms you have cleared and where items are, saving you the hassle of having to run around aimlessly looking for ammo and key items). The mood is perfect, with the lighting really creating a sense of dread as you wander down dark hallways or rush through the mansion trying to escape the Tyrant.

Speaking of Tyrant, the way they introduce him is perfect. Letting you learn the layout of the map before throwing your sense of comfort out the window by introducing someone who will chase you down is a good way to shake things up, and I was genuinely scared of mr x througout the game.

I have been a resident evil fan my whole life, and I love the last few games they have put out. Happy to see them pulling out of their nose dive after the atrocity that was resi 6.

Horribly paced and poorly plotted, Resident Evil 5 is a perfect example of a series that has lost the pulse on what its fans loved about it in the first place. Ditching the horror elements of previous titles for a focus on action would have been fine if they committed fully to the concept, but holding onto old series tropes like limited inventory space and relatively rare ammo make the game a slog at points, with a number of frustrating ui decisions that continued to hamper my good time.

Things are passable for the first 3 chapters, but the back half of the game turns into a real slog once it becomes a cover based shooter. I understand that the Gears franchise was huge when this game came out but aping mechanics from others franchises that do it better leave large chunks of the game feeling dated.

The plot is atrocious, even for resident evil standards; I had no real motivation to care about any of these characters. Chris is one dimensional, Sheva is barely introduced, Sheva's friend is just there to show up when you need a third character in the mix, the villains motives are vague and the characters themselves are cartoonish. The ending string of fights are truly atrocious to play, with me and my friend who I co-oped the game with left wondering if we were even doing any damage to the bosses due to a lack of feedback from getting hit. Overall, I would not really recommend this game unless you are a fan of the series and looking to play something with a friend. If you are looking for a single player action horror experience, stick with Resident Evil 4!