boczkuss
2020
This was the lesser of Control's two DLCS for me, but it's still just more Control so it's solid by default
I kind of went into this expecting more of a full on set up for Alan Wake II than is presented here, so I was little surprised by how little Alan Wake involvement there really is.
The strongest part of the DLC for me was the first 20-30 minutes or so of it where the more emphasized horror tone of it sticks out. Once you get into the actual meat of what you're doing that sorta dies out, which I guess is kind of a given in a game where you play as a character as strong as Jesse
Incorporation of the light mechanic here was also pretty cool and creative but not much is done with it
I kind of went into this expecting more of a full on set up for Alan Wake II than is presented here, so I was little surprised by how little Alan Wake involvement there really is.
The strongest part of the DLC for me was the first 20-30 minutes or so of it where the more emphasized horror tone of it sticks out. Once you get into the actual meat of what you're doing that sorta dies out, which I guess is kind of a given in a game where you play as a character as strong as Jesse
Incorporation of the light mechanic here was also pretty cool and creative but not much is done with it
Don’t really have all that much to say about this without just repeating most of what I said in my review of the main game.
It’s more Control, it’s good!
Liked the new powers and thought the level design was pretty good, story doesn’t really make the ending of the original game feel less rushed or abrupt but there’s some interesting enough sequel bait stuff here involving The Board & The Former that I liked. Final boss was fun too
It’s more Control, it’s good!
Liked the new powers and thought the level design was pretty good, story doesn’t really make the ending of the original game feel less rushed or abrupt but there’s some interesting enough sequel bait stuff here involving The Board & The Former that I liked. Final boss was fun too
Definitely the better of the two DLCs
More creativity here in the level design which doesn’t mostly consist of reused areas from the main game this time. The exploding words mechanic is a much bigger and more fleshed out aspect of the gameplay, enemy spam isn’t as bad, and there’s more interesting stuff going on story wise. Alan’s VA also gives a much better performance in these DLCs than in the main game too which is nice
More creativity here in the level design which doesn’t mostly consist of reused areas from the main game this time. The exploding words mechanic is a much bigger and more fleshed out aspect of the gameplay, enemy spam isn’t as bad, and there’s more interesting stuff going on story wise. Alan’s VA also gives a much better performance in these DLCs than in the main game too which is nice
This was a fine but mostly pointless feeling DLC, very 2010 vibes.
I don’t hate the combat of Alan Wake like a lot of people seem to beyond thinking that it gets kind of boring, so didn’t mind the fact that this was a bit more challenging than the main game at least. Exploding words mechanic is kinda neat
The Signal only being around an hour and a half long and about an hour and a half of that being recycled areas and assets, and the story only ever progressing in the opening minutes and at the very end is pretty bleh
Didn’t have a bad time with this but not something anyone needs to go out of their way for
I don’t hate the combat of Alan Wake like a lot of people seem to beyond thinking that it gets kind of boring, so didn’t mind the fact that this was a bit more challenging than the main game at least. Exploding words mechanic is kinda neat
The Signal only being around an hour and a half long and about an hour and a half of that being recycled areas and assets, and the story only ever progressing in the opening minutes and at the very end is pretty bleh
Didn’t have a bad time with this but not something anyone needs to go out of their way for
2021
Alan Wake is kind of like the Lebron James of falling down hills and losing his gun & flashlight
2019
This is one of those games I’ve had sitting around for years but for some reason never actually played until recently. Bad choice on my part to wait this long, because it’s really good!
Remedy does a lot of great things here. The core gameplay is one of the funnest 3rd person shooters I’ve played in forever, and i think this is actually one of the best superhero games I’ve ever played despite it not being a superhero game. The pace at which the game gives you new powers keeps things feeling fresh and gives you a good sense of progression, and by the time you unlock all of them the amount of choices & dynamics that open up in each combat encounter is sick. Every game in this genre should let you fly and dash around spamming telekinesis while you use a shotgun. There’s so much verticality available here at all times and the HP system forces you to take risks mid combat which is great!
The atmosphere and sound design are fucking incredible here, the sound design specifically might be the best I’ve ever seen in a game the more I think about it. This isn’t a horror game by any means, but the incoherent design of the old house, the brutalist aesthetic, the constant sounds and whispers of the hiss that feel like they’re all around you at all times, the faint echoes you can hear in all the abandoned rooms, just a master class in nailing a vibe. Perfectly creepy the whole way through
Control’s biggest weakness to me is easily its cast of characters, none of whom are really interesting or compelling at all. In the early portions there’s an intentional disconnect between Jesse & the player as you don’t know anything she knows as far as her motive, story, or the entity she’s talking to, which seems like a setup for a good character, but that never comes and she ends up just being a very generic interchangeable video game protagonist.
The world built in this game is interesting enough that I was actually reading all the collectibles I found which is high praise, and there’s a bunch of cool ideas here. Genuinely really like how they just throw you into this understanding almost nothing that’s happening for the first few missions, and how that want to be clued in pushes you forward. I do think the story is stronger in the first half though, as unfortunately the more you get answers and the more the story becomes personally tied to Jesse the less interesting it becomes as a result
Definitely gonna get back to this for the DLCS after playing Alan Wake for context
Remedy does a lot of great things here. The core gameplay is one of the funnest 3rd person shooters I’ve played in forever, and i think this is actually one of the best superhero games I’ve ever played despite it not being a superhero game. The pace at which the game gives you new powers keeps things feeling fresh and gives you a good sense of progression, and by the time you unlock all of them the amount of choices & dynamics that open up in each combat encounter is sick. Every game in this genre should let you fly and dash around spamming telekinesis while you use a shotgun. There’s so much verticality available here at all times and the HP system forces you to take risks mid combat which is great!
The atmosphere and sound design are fucking incredible here, the sound design specifically might be the best I’ve ever seen in a game the more I think about it. This isn’t a horror game by any means, but the incoherent design of the old house, the brutalist aesthetic, the constant sounds and whispers of the hiss that feel like they’re all around you at all times, the faint echoes you can hear in all the abandoned rooms, just a master class in nailing a vibe. Perfectly creepy the whole way through
Control’s biggest weakness to me is easily its cast of characters, none of whom are really interesting or compelling at all. In the early portions there’s an intentional disconnect between Jesse & the player as you don’t know anything she knows as far as her motive, story, or the entity she’s talking to, which seems like a setup for a good character, but that never comes and she ends up just being a very generic interchangeable video game protagonist.
The world built in this game is interesting enough that I was actually reading all the collectibles I found which is high praise, and there’s a bunch of cool ideas here. Genuinely really like how they just throw you into this understanding almost nothing that’s happening for the first few missions, and how that want to be clued in pushes you forward. I do think the story is stronger in the first half though, as unfortunately the more you get answers and the more the story becomes personally tied to Jesse the less interesting it becomes as a result
Definitely gonna get back to this for the DLCS after playing Alan Wake for context
I mean, it’s better than the first half
Pros:
BB E4 battles are probably the best in the series with the switch to doubles and actually semi solid competitive teams, was actually very surprised by these
Gen 5 remix themes slap
Big Pokédex
Cons:
Game somehow runs worse than ever, had to have dropped to like 5fps at multiple points
Post game content is there but all locked behind huge amounts of grinding
For a dlc with this name, there’s basically no attempt to do anything with the plot threads from SV base. The whole last Area Zero portion of this felt like they went “oh shit” at the last minute and put together the most low effort thing they could. They built the whole base game story around your box legendary, the whole first DLC story around Ogerpon, and here where it should be the most interesting it’s just “here’s a neopets turtle” without any lore. sick
Pros:
BB E4 battles are probably the best in the series with the switch to doubles and actually semi solid competitive teams, was actually very surprised by these
Gen 5 remix themes slap
Big Pokédex
Cons:
Game somehow runs worse than ever, had to have dropped to like 5fps at multiple points
Post game content is there but all locked behind huge amounts of grinding
For a dlc with this name, there’s basically no attempt to do anything with the plot threads from SV base. The whole last Area Zero portion of this felt like they went “oh shit” at the last minute and put together the most low effort thing they could. They built the whole base game story around your box legendary, the whole first DLC story around Ogerpon, and here where it should be the most interesting it’s just “here’s a neopets turtle” without any lore. sick
This review contains spoilers
One of the DLCs of all time
I liked SV despite them being extremely broken & embarrassing unpolished technical messes because their strengths were in areas that generations like 6 & 8 didn’t even try with (characters, story, an attempt to innovate in gameplay). This felt like a lot of the not so good aspects of gen 9 condensed down to a 3-4 hour experience
The story is fine I guess, I think the idea of legendaries assuming the story villain role is actually a cool concept but the royal three are so lame (and also some of my least favorite Pokemon designs ever) and have no actual role in this besides being generic catch encounters with underwhelming music. Carmine is on the better end of Pokemon characters and actually has a fun personality, but I thought Kieran’s character and story in this was extremely melodramatic and annoying, and yes I realize it’s Pokemon but things like the last few hours of SV show that they can do better than this if they actually feel like bothering to. Ogerpon was kinda cute ig
Kitakami feels very bland as an area, and doesn’t really have much personality going for it. Something that should be cool like the mask festival is just a generic badly rendered 2 minute walk with nothing in it except a bad mini game. Most of the main story just has you going back and forth between the same maybe 1/4th of the overall map area which doesn’t really help
Decent amount of old pokemon added back which is nice for competitive, but feels like a weird thing to be giving them praise for.
Idk maybe part 2 will be better
I liked SV despite them being extremely broken & embarrassing unpolished technical messes because their strengths were in areas that generations like 6 & 8 didn’t even try with (characters, story, an attempt to innovate in gameplay). This felt like a lot of the not so good aspects of gen 9 condensed down to a 3-4 hour experience
The story is fine I guess, I think the idea of legendaries assuming the story villain role is actually a cool concept but the royal three are so lame (and also some of my least favorite Pokemon designs ever) and have no actual role in this besides being generic catch encounters with underwhelming music. Carmine is on the better end of Pokemon characters and actually has a fun personality, but I thought Kieran’s character and story in this was extremely melodramatic and annoying, and yes I realize it’s Pokemon but things like the last few hours of SV show that they can do better than this if they actually feel like bothering to. Ogerpon was kinda cute ig
Kitakami feels very bland as an area, and doesn’t really have much personality going for it. Something that should be cool like the mask festival is just a generic badly rendered 2 minute walk with nothing in it except a bad mini game. Most of the main story just has you going back and forth between the same maybe 1/4th of the overall map area which doesn’t really help
Decent amount of old pokemon added back which is nice for competitive, but feels like a weird thing to be giving them praise for.
Idk maybe part 2 will be better
2016
My girlfriend almost broke up with me several times and then we killed a giant meatball
Fun game!
Fun game!
2017
Another Yakuza banger
The most obvious huge improvement gameplay wise here is Kamorocho and Sotenbori now being seamless fully connected open world areas with zero loading whenever you want to go in/out of shops, arcades, etc and the ability to carry your fights into those areas which just makes the whole experience feel a lot more fluid and like less of a chore.
Graphically the switch to dragon engine means a huge leap in the visuals of 0/K1 to K2, everything looks great here despite the drop from 60fps to 30. I guess the dragon engine combat is on the polarizing side, but coming off of Y0/K1 which have identical combat, I found it refreshing and this to be the most fun I've ever had with Kiryu in combat + the ragdoll physics are very funny. Kiwami 2 also has by far the best upgrade system of the three games I've played up until now, making it feel like less of a grind while still incentivizing you to try and dip into a bit of all the side content the game has since you're directly awared with exp from everything
Story wise this game didnt hit the same level as Y0 for me, but it's a huge jump in improvement from K1 and I thought it was great overall. The performances from the VAs here is tremendous as always, and the cast of characters is much stronger than in K1, at least as far as their presence in the main story goes. Ryuji is an awesome villain and is handled a lot better than Nishiki was, and I thought Sayama was cool and didn't mind the romance despite it not being the most fleshed out aspect here. The last two hours of plot twists and drama are absolutely insane and ridiculous (so is the rest of the game but it ramps up here) but it all worked for me and I thought the climax to this game was the strongest in the series to date. do wish Haruka wasn''t MIA for 95% of the game but I guess there's only so much you can do with a child character in games like this
The most obvious huge improvement gameplay wise here is Kamorocho and Sotenbori now being seamless fully connected open world areas with zero loading whenever you want to go in/out of shops, arcades, etc and the ability to carry your fights into those areas which just makes the whole experience feel a lot more fluid and like less of a chore.
Graphically the switch to dragon engine means a huge leap in the visuals of 0/K1 to K2, everything looks great here despite the drop from 60fps to 30. I guess the dragon engine combat is on the polarizing side, but coming off of Y0/K1 which have identical combat, I found it refreshing and this to be the most fun I've ever had with Kiryu in combat + the ragdoll physics are very funny. Kiwami 2 also has by far the best upgrade system of the three games I've played up until now, making it feel like less of a grind while still incentivizing you to try and dip into a bit of all the side content the game has since you're directly awared with exp from everything
Story wise this game didnt hit the same level as Y0 for me, but it's a huge jump in improvement from K1 and I thought it was great overall. The performances from the VAs here is tremendous as always, and the cast of characters is much stronger than in K1, at least as far as their presence in the main story goes. Ryuji is an awesome villain and is handled a lot better than Nishiki was, and I thought Sayama was cool and didn't mind the romance despite it not being the most fleshed out aspect here. The last two hours of plot twists and drama are absolutely insane and ridiculous (so is the rest of the game but it ramps up here) but it all worked for me and I thought the climax to this game was the strongest in the series to date. do wish Haruka wasn''t MIA for 95% of the game but I guess there's only so much you can do with a child character in games like this
2020
This was a bit of a disappointment for me
On the positive side, this game is absolutely gorgeous visually. The environments and colors are so vibrant and stylistic that they made me interested in playing this in the first place.
They nail the atmosphere and sound design, even during the earlier chapters of the game where things are more light there’s a small sense of uncomfortableness that hangs over everything.
The basic story premise here and plot advancements you find searching around the camps & island are all pretty standard for this genre, and I felt like the game never leaned into the lovecraftian or horror elements enough to really grip me even when things become weirder towards the end
The absolute #1 problem in this game that drags it down is just how mind numbingly slow everything is, specifically the walking speed. Why in a puzzle solving walking simulator, where the story involves the MC feeling healthier in this environment, would you make even her “run” speed about 1/2 of any other similar games default walk speed. I assume the idea was that it would make people pay more attention to the environments and areas, but it had the complete opposite effect on me. The total sluggish feeling of just getting from one end of a room to the other, just had me trying to rush towards the end to escape it. Brutal decision
As far as the actual puzzles, I thought they were mostly alright but found very few of them actually satisfying to try and solve
overall an okay walking sim style game and not a bad way to kill like four hours, but also not something I’d say anyone should go out of their way for either
On the positive side, this game is absolutely gorgeous visually. The environments and colors are so vibrant and stylistic that they made me interested in playing this in the first place.
They nail the atmosphere and sound design, even during the earlier chapters of the game where things are more light there’s a small sense of uncomfortableness that hangs over everything.
The basic story premise here and plot advancements you find searching around the camps & island are all pretty standard for this genre, and I felt like the game never leaned into the lovecraftian or horror elements enough to really grip me even when things become weirder towards the end
The absolute #1 problem in this game that drags it down is just how mind numbingly slow everything is, specifically the walking speed. Why in a puzzle solving walking simulator, where the story involves the MC feeling healthier in this environment, would you make even her “run” speed about 1/2 of any other similar games default walk speed. I assume the idea was that it would make people pay more attention to the environments and areas, but it had the complete opposite effect on me. The total sluggish feeling of just getting from one end of a room to the other, just had me trying to rush towards the end to escape it. Brutal decision
As far as the actual puzzles, I thought they were mostly alright but found very few of them actually satisfying to try and solve
overall an okay walking sim style game and not a bad way to kill like four hours, but also not something I’d say anyone should go out of their way for either
2022
Tabby cat faces the consequences of capitalism
Put off playing this game for years and years, since I’m usually not big on stealth games not named MGS but finally got around to it and it is in fact very good!
The level design, the amount of verticality, creativity of the powers (blink alone makes everything fun), and amount of choices available to you in every mission & objective are all great.
Knowing that killing leads to a bad ending was off putting to me at first as it restricts a lot of the tools you’re going to use, but as the game went on I realized most of the non lethal routes are more creative and fun anyway, and I’ll definitely get around to a high chaos playthrough eventually.
Story is very simple and standard but the world itself is cool and there’s some interesting lore and world-building. DLCS are also just as good as the main game
The level design, the amount of verticality, creativity of the powers (blink alone makes everything fun), and amount of choices available to you in every mission & objective are all great.
Knowing that killing leads to a bad ending was off putting to me at first as it restricts a lot of the tools you’re going to use, but as the game went on I realized most of the non lethal routes are more creative and fun anyway, and I’ll definitely get around to a high chaos playthrough eventually.
Story is very simple and standard but the world itself is cool and there’s some interesting lore and world-building. DLCS are also just as good as the main game
2016
Pretty enjoyable game that's definietly weighed down by not really being able to fix/change some flaws with the original Y1.
Combat is still fun, going from Y0 to Kiwami you've gotta get used to only having 4 fighting styles instead of 8 since you lose all of Majima's (who's styles were more fun than Kiryu's), but a major improvement in this game over Y0 is the upgrade system. Getting all your fighting upgrades through exp and the side content feels way more balanced and fun than the Y0 system that required such insane amounts of money that I don't think I ever got half of them in 90 hours and while doing every piece of side content. Main story still has some great action set pieces and the OST battle themes in this game rules
The story is still strong and there's some real standout moments, but there's also some obvious lulls with pacing, and one of the big twists is kinda goofy and I think almost anyone would call it about 40 hours before it's revealed. You can really tell they didn't expect a sequel/franchise to spawn out of the original game with how fast things start moving towards the end, and if you're coming from Y0 it feels both a bit jarring and messy, but also exciting and unpredictable at least. Stuff with Haruka is very cute! Voice acting is still top tier
The added content of Nishiki's flashbacks are great and do a lot for his character, but since they had to keep the actual main plot untouched from the original he still seems completely underdeveloped and underutilized in the game outside of that which is a real shame. Even with the great flashbacks, I still couldn't fully buy the character change from Y0 to this game simply because he has soooo little interaction with Kiryu here
Substories aren't all as unique as the ones in Y0, there's a lot of ones that boil down to "guy bumps into Kiryu, Kiryu beats the shit out of them, substory ends", but there's also some improvements like having substories that majorly tie into the main plot which I thought was really cool! The substories that tie in to characters from side content in Y0 are also really nice, and the Amon fight in this game is way better than the ones in Y0. Still enjoyed the side stuff quite a bit!
Majima Everywhere is also a pretty fun system, and as someone who liked Majima more than Kiryu in Y0 I was glad to still see him around in this game a lot although by about the 80th time I had fought him I was definietly a bit tired of it. Yes, there's a pretty stark contrast in how Majima is portrayed in the main plot vs the ME stuff but I can go on a hostess date with him so who cares!
Combat is still fun, going from Y0 to Kiwami you've gotta get used to only having 4 fighting styles instead of 8 since you lose all of Majima's (who's styles were more fun than Kiryu's), but a major improvement in this game over Y0 is the upgrade system. Getting all your fighting upgrades through exp and the side content feels way more balanced and fun than the Y0 system that required such insane amounts of money that I don't think I ever got half of them in 90 hours and while doing every piece of side content. Main story still has some great action set pieces and the OST battle themes in this game rules
The story is still strong and there's some real standout moments, but there's also some obvious lulls with pacing, and one of the big twists is kinda goofy and I think almost anyone would call it about 40 hours before it's revealed. You can really tell they didn't expect a sequel/franchise to spawn out of the original game with how fast things start moving towards the end, and if you're coming from Y0 it feels both a bit jarring and messy, but also exciting and unpredictable at least. Stuff with Haruka is very cute! Voice acting is still top tier
The added content of Nishiki's flashbacks are great and do a lot for his character, but since they had to keep the actual main plot untouched from the original he still seems completely underdeveloped and underutilized in the game outside of that which is a real shame. Even with the great flashbacks, I still couldn't fully buy the character change from Y0 to this game simply because he has soooo little interaction with Kiryu here
Substories aren't all as unique as the ones in Y0, there's a lot of ones that boil down to "guy bumps into Kiryu, Kiryu beats the shit out of them, substory ends", but there's also some improvements like having substories that majorly tie into the main plot which I thought was really cool! The substories that tie in to characters from side content in Y0 are also really nice, and the Amon fight in this game is way better than the ones in Y0. Still enjoyed the side stuff quite a bit!
Majima Everywhere is also a pretty fun system, and as someone who liked Majima more than Kiryu in Y0 I was glad to still see him around in this game a lot although by about the 80th time I had fought him I was definietly a bit tired of it. Yes, there's a pretty stark contrast in how Majima is portrayed in the main plot vs the ME stuff but I can go on a hostess date with him so who cares!
2015
First played this game way back in 2018 and loved it but never got around to playing the rest of the series like I had planned. Recently decided I'd replay 0 first to get reimmersed and remember all the details better, and loved it just as much on a second playthrough.
Incredibly good voice acting, fantastic characters and story, great action set pieces for the main story segments, and the greatest dumb side content you can find. Combat isn't the most interesting or complex out there, but it's perfectly solid and the game gets bonus points for breaker style. Biggest complaint with the entire game is the So Amon fight sucking major balls
Came in at a little under 90 hours doing the main game, all substories, and real estate/cabaret stories, and it flew by.
Incredibly good voice acting, fantastic characters and story, great action set pieces for the main story segments, and the greatest dumb side content you can find. Combat isn't the most interesting or complex out there, but it's perfectly solid and the game gets bonus points for breaker style. Biggest complaint with the entire game is the So Amon fight sucking major balls
Came in at a little under 90 hours doing the main game, all substories, and real estate/cabaret stories, and it flew by.