"But will anything change? You expect some revolution? Well, a dog can't do shit. Has a dying country ever created anything worth its salt?"

You open the door and hear the telltale giggle of Heaven Smile off in the distance.

Take aim.

Shoot.

Reload.

Turn the corner.

Another Heaven Smile.

Take aim. Rinse. Repeat.

Killer7 is a 2005 railshooter/adventure game about the titular Killer7, a group of assassins hired by the U.S. Government to foil a plot by the UN to place the world under Japanese rule; while also dealing with a rouge terrorist faction of mutant suicide bombers known as the Heaven Smiles. What ensues is a political drama the likes of which defies all explanation honestly. In between discussions about Japan's lack of autonomy as a nation, the long-lasting ramifications American imperialism has had on it's allies, and the cyclical nature of conflict, there's shootouts with an anime girl cosplayer, bullet headbutting, and a chapter dedicated to a super sentai hitsquad. It's this delicate balancing act between the absurd and the profound that makes Killer7 so inherently compelling.

The on-rails control scheme is somewhat obtuse but once you can get used to it you will find one of the most audibly rewarding games you will ever play. The sound design in Killer7 is top-notch: guns sound incredible to fire, the ambient background noises in each level really sell the mood of each location, the telltale laugh of a Heaven Smile is masterfully mixed, letting you know exactly where and how close they are to your location. That little guitar lick that plays every time a puzzle is solved? It's better than sex! It's an utterly engrossing experience that must be played to be believed. Every single sound has been hand-crafted to feel incredibly satisfying to hear, it's insane!

Killer7 is a game that I know I'll still be thinking about for a while. It's a culturally relevant game that burns with indignant anger at the world and it's ways, at the constant empty promises of change, and at the lingering, faceless, agency-lacking shadow of a nation left behind due to the actions of men who do not know how to curb their excess.

"Harman, the world won't change. All it does is turn."

More like NieR: Auto[play]a.
Desolate in every sense! Combat is purely numerical and exists solely as power gates - simply upgrade your units, weapons and companions, then breeze through this battery vampire of a .apk for a few more missions before you need to upgrade again. OR u can Pay a humble fee for a chance to win epic units for you to also waste upgrade resources on :)
I just feel so wise and numb to the Twisted Mind of Yoko Taro. Grim "tragedy first" writing that passionlessly beelines towards an arc's desired sad outcome, a soundtrack that is essentially just spacy yoga music, vast post-post-magical-apoc environments that serve absolutely nothing. Sad to see Akihiko Yoshida designs wasted on this.

Off to the distance, in a cliff in Blighttown with a drop leading to certain death, a corpse rests. You approach it and pick up an item from it: "Soul of a Brave Hero"

This is how Dark Souls communicates that you are to persevere through its challenge and conquer its world by your might alone. The game is filled with moments and allusions to giving up. It by no means shames those who have given up, it honors them and uses their bravery to push you forward and help you reach your goal. This game is about persevering through pain and overcoming a challenge. It is also valid to say this game alludes to depression and suicide, with going hollow representing one giving up and losing the fight.

This game helped me cope with depression, at a time in which I had no one but myself to push through sadness, grief and guilt, I escaped to Lordran in a vague quest to ring the Bell of Awakening. Discovering the deeply connected world of Lordran and overcoming impossible odds gave me a sense of purpose in life. It helped me realize that my victories were mine alone and that by pure hope, bravery and patience I could triumph. Riding that elevator in Undead Parish to discover it leading into Firelink Shrine is one of the moments I will never forget.

With all the sentimental, thematic things aside, this game is a technical masterpiece. It has mechanics so deeply connected and complementary to one another it feels seamless everytime you play. The amount of choices a player has over their journey is what every role-playing game should aspire to. The world is beautiful, with hands down some of the greatest level design of all time. The lack of music throughout most of the game, with only the sound of your armor crashing against the floor before you encounter a boss and it erupts into an epic battle theme. The combat is fluid, dependant entirely on skill and can be enjoyed by everyone.

It's hard to say what Dark Souls' greatest achievement is, when almost everything in the game is refined to perfection. It would be more fitting for me to say Dark Souls as a whole is an achievement in itself. This is a game everyone can pick up, enjoy and master. This is a game which anyone can find purpose in and venture into a world that, just like real life, is scary and full of challenges, but you must unlock that potential within yourself to prevail. Even though sometimes it may be hard as nails, what matters is you try again... and again until you finally triumph, and when you do there's a chance you'll agree when I say Dark Souls is the greatest videogame of all time.

Don't go hollow... Praise the Sun!

After finishing Seiken no Densetsu 3 on the SNES, I was excited to examine what the next entry in the Mana series would entail. Up to this point, I was blessed by a series that seemed to strive to make drastic improvements and changes with each entry. SnD3 expanded on the combat of its predecessor as well as explored how the characters you choose for your party can affect the trajectory of the story, as well as battle dynamics.

Legend of Mana did not let me down, it's wild, something I've sincerely never seen a JRPG pull off before. Rather than having a world map that the player progresses through in whatever line the story dictates, you are instead free to sculpt the world for yourself. Cities, dungeons, fields, landmarks - their locations are all up to the player, and you're tasked with making your own adventure through them. It's insanely cool.

Problems do arise. It leaves nearly everything to your imagination. No quest is given more importance than the next, it seems almost random which ones turn out to be inconsequential side-events, and which are absolutely critical. If you do not enjoy visiting, revisiting, and re-revisiting old areas under different variables (time of the week/characters in the party/different quests completed) you're going to be HARD PRESSED to know what the hell you're supposed to do. Poor signposting all around that really comes to a head at the two-thirds point of the game, where even the guides I found online left me totally lost. A progress roadblock that I found so frustrating I very nearly dropped the game entirely.

Thankfully, I managed to pull through. Much of the game once I finally found my momentum was wonderful, a truly imaginative world that thankfully begs to be explored. The spritework, environments........ It scratches the same itch for me as Final Fantasy 9, in how there are astoundingly few human characters in the overall cast. That level of overt fantasy where much of the cast you can speak to and invite into your party are completely alien to one another - Flying lamp makers with venus fly traps for tails, bartenders made out of puzzle blocks, scholars with snake-like features bursting out of their bandages, a straight up giant teapot. This is the stuff that died the moment gaming entered 3D, and I'd like to make it known I think that's a FUCKING SHAME.

The combat is a revised version of the one introduced to SnD3, veering more towards some very standard JRPG action that I am honestly bored to death of. Once you polish slow and clunky combat enough you start to realise you're removing a level of careful deliberateness to the way you think about your inputs. It's buttery smooth, very easy, completely cheeseable. I like how you can customise what action every button does, but why would you ever not use the counterattacks - they're so gamebreaking they make every encounter a joke.

This game is intensely charming, and clearly made with a lot of love. It shows in almost every corner of its design, but not necessarily where it counts. Some more overt signposting would have made this an out and out classic for me.