Resident Evil: Village has maybe, my favorite environments in the series as a whole. I was astounded by how diverse and beautiful each area felt compared to each other. It all made sense in the story of why these areas were so different as well I thought. At one point you're at the grand Castle Dimetrescu, then going to an underground mine/swamp area.

Capcom took the criticism of the variety of enemies in RE7 and incorporated many different types of enemies in Village. You fight Lycans, Zombies, Werewolves, Bat-like humans, etc. All of them give you enough challenges to mix up what weapons to use in that specific situation. Speaking of weapons, this game might have my favorite looking Magnum, but that's just a tidbit.

The backtracking in the game isn't too unnecessary or pointless, when you do backtrack, you are rewarded with an object that is worth a lot of value, or just even great lore! One of my favorite moments of the game, was backtracking to an area after getting an item and discovering things that were linked to previous games. Great lore expansion stuff at times.

The story itself is interesting enough to unravel as the game goes on. Some characters I wish were more developed, but the dynamic of Ethan Winters in this Village leads to some really grand moments of discovery.

Overall, I really did enjoy my time with playing Resident Evil: Village. It was a fun action/survival horror game mixing elements of RE4 and RE7 into this grand mixture.

(Review from 2021)

I did enjoy Concrete Genie as a whole! I enjoyed the messaging, the simplicity of it at times, and the artistic freedom it gives the player! Though, it did feel clunky at times and was difficult to control the brush with the DualSense to get some things just right.

The environments were interesting in terms of telling a story of how the town of Denska has evolved from a beautiful place, to a place of gloom.

I am torn between a 3.5 and a 4, but I enjoyed Concrete Genie overall! Just some polish could've been done, or implementing the Move controller, but that is a difficult requirement for one game. The inclusion of the VR Mode I'm sure helps this, but then I would imagine you lose the connection you have to Ash, the main character.

(Review from 2021)

I really sucked at this game, like I did with Tropical Freeze. However, I enjoyed the views and the music more in Tropical Freeze I believe. The music was sort of just there. Returns did lay a good foundation for the future of the 2D Donkey Kong series though. I also don't like the aspect of rolling in Returns with using a motion instead of it linked to a specific button. I don't recall using the B button once, so I can see how that would have been a better option for rolling. Though I definitely did enjoy myself with Returns and enjoyed the details that were hard to notice in general!

(Review from 2021)

After I was tired of waiting for Nintendo to release the Prime Trilogy on the Switch, it was time to fix a gaming hole in my life. I ended up embracing it on the Wii.

Metroid Prime is basically a perfect Metroidvania alongside Super Metroid. Super Metroid might be better in some parts. However, the amount of challenge the idea of a 3D Metroid was prior to this game's creation and the amount of excellence Prime is astounding.

The shooting mechanics for the Wii itself was definitely something to get used to. Whenever I got used to them though, they were very easy to use and easy to aim with the lock-on.

I love the scanning mechanics of the game to get you knowledgable about Tallon IV and the various areas of Tallon IV. Also its grand to get you knowledgable about the various enemies you face. Some of the bosses I faced, I needed to scan them to figure out how to beat them, which is great game design to help you understand your enemy as this bounty hunter.

The world and music are encroaching and so amazing to flow through analyzing puzzles you come across, and intertwining power-ups you need to unlock doors. When the music hits in Magmoor Caverns, it is fantastic. Everywhere else? Fantastic.

If you want to play a great Metroidvania, play this!

(Review from 2021, before Metroid Prime: Remastered)

The Ratchet & Clank series is one of my favorite in my lifetime. The only one that rivals it, is Kingdom Hearts. Rift Apart continues the glorious wonder of the series its had since the very beginning, but this time just bringing that glory to a whole other level, in the expanse of its planet designs such as Corson V and Cordelion. They all seem to feel heavily lived in and have their own atmosphere.

Along with the planets, adding great gameplay with various great weapons, like the Topiary Sprinkler, Mr. Fungi, and the Ricochet. One of the classic weapon lines has returned though with the RYNO 8. In all of its glory, its a beautiful weapon of mass dimensional destruction. When you get all 10 Spybots within the game, you get the RYNO 8, which makes it feel worth getting, and the traversal to get the Spybots is rewarding because it's making you feel like you are getting better in traversal in the game. The traversal feels like a great evolution from Insomniac's history with Sunset Overdrive and Spider-Man.

The story of Rift Apart was quite grand and enjoyable. Just pure Ratchet & Clank bliss. After a hiatus, Ratchet & Clank venture into their roles of being heroes again. It brings in a new dimension of where Ratchet is a lombax named Rivet. She is a really likable character that has had hardships that Ratchet hasn't really faced. That leads into various things of trust and doubt as themes of her arc, but also the arcs of Ratchet & Clank who have been on a heroic pause for awhile. The thought of "can they do this?" crosses their mind in various ways which brings an element of empathy to each main character.

Overall, Rift Apart is a fantastic entry into the Ratchet & Clank series. Right now it is tied with A Crack in Time. Both are equally peaks in the franchise, in various ways.

Revelations 2 was fun! It was great to be Claire Redfield again. The overarching story between the two stories for each episode was rather interesting and had some fun campy stuff in it! The lore was a fun addition which is always nice. I think the environments don't have the variety that Revelations 1 has. You're in a prison, with areas being different, but the color palette can be the same: dark grays, rustic green, and lots of beige. Some of the later areas were great in bringing that change up, but it still is an issue in the beginning stages of the game.

Barry Burton's campaign section was fun to play as him after his absence around this game's time. His last appearance was in RE5, but before that it was RE1. So very glad he was back here.

The weapon management is definitely an improvement over Revelations! While also the enemy variety is better in my memory than Revelations!

Overall, Revelations 2 improves on Revelations 1 in some ways, but also degrades in some ways. But it is a fun game overall and I enjoyed myself killing zombies and learning about crazy bioweapons again!

So, if this was a ten-point scale, this would be an 8.5. So just for clarification in my heart.
Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is a pretty good sequel to one of my favorite adventure games, Oxenfree. It utilizes the same formula for adventuring; move and talk while solving a radio signals mystery.

You play as Riley Poverly who returned to her hometown, Camena, after moving away to work this position. She's joined by Jacob Summers who happened to go to the same high school while Riley was there. He's also working the same position as Riley. To plant transmittors to figure out what is going on with these radio signals happening near Edward's Island.

Camena is a pretty wide area in which you can explore and have different conversations with Jacob in. The areas are really grand artistic wise. Lots of great and different views to take in. But, some of the time, its a bit too obtuse of where to go to reach your destination in a given screen. Which way reaches one way and such. Mixing in caves isn't helpful to this problem as well. But I mainly only experienced this problem when trying to find the collectibles of the game.

Mechanics of the game have been rather stable from the previous game, but the newest addition is a Walkie-Talkie to communicate with various characters in the world. These give you various reasons to explore, but also get more engaging with characters besides the main cast of you and Jacob.

The conversations that you and Jacob have can vary in seriousness and emotional weight, while also mixing in some goofy things like following rituals when crossing bridges by spitting down the bridge. Some choices within those conversations don't really impact the main narrative though which is a downer. It might impact how Jacob interacts with you in a replay, but on the first time around, its not too impactful. These conversations though does make me appreciate the dynamic that he and Riley have during this adventure of theirs. Guarded at first, but more friendship-like towards the end. The 3AM Food Friends!

The mystery itself, thats important for this game, so I guess I should mention that.

Its a good mystery overall trying to showcase why you are doing a certain thing and what that would do to others. It does connect pretty well to the previous game and really builds off the ideas and narratives of the first Oxenfree. The ending decision felt a bit too simple to choose, even the percentages of players who did the same, suggest this as well. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but having more of a moral quandry could be nice like the first game.

Overall though, Oxenfree builds pretty well off what Oxenfree did seven years ago, while still having a gripping mystery to be attached with. Would recommend not just jumping into this first though! Play Oxenfree before playing this!

The world of Dishonored 2 is masterful at times. The environments tell a great story of Karnaca's society as a whole. You explore one area that is home to miners, whose actions are causing that area to be called the Dust District. The characters are charming in their expanse of self. Truly embracing their personality. An example is Jindosh, a target who is so brilliant that his mansion is an elaborate mechanism that twists and turns to unveil new sections. So, the world-building is a character in itself too!

The story itself is intriguing enough to carry the player through the game,
a story about avenging your family's heritage. Some good story moments that can definitely keep ya intrigued!

I love the addition of customizing your difficulty at first because I was awful at Dishonored 1. So the difficulty customization was a very welcome addition for me personally. With Dishonored 2, I was more comfortable using stealth to navigate the various areas. The different abilities like having a decoy for yourself definitely helped in that regard! Overall, the gameplay added some great new abilities and ways to traverse around the world.

Dishonored 2 is a grand time that I would recommend for world-building and stealth-action combat!

Mortal Kombat X’s story mode was a fun, short time. Enjoyable chapters mixed in with a few difficult fights.

I liked the mix of characters between lineage, entirely new, and old. The roster evolved well enough from MK9 I would say to derive from its past, while thinking a bit towards the future as well.

Not the person to compare the fighting mechanics between this and MK9. So I won’t waste my typing. But it’s a fun fighting game!

Overall a fun time that I would recommend to a Mortal Kombat fan!

Survival Horror games are not my forte, but as I've played through the Resident Evil series, I have enjoyed the fun lore and campiness of the series even with its Survival Horror aesthetic. Resident Evil 7 really shines in the feeling of tension with the camera changing to a first-person perspective and the closed, tight areas.

The boss fights in this game are really top-notch. RE7 might have seen some of my favorite boss encounters of the entire series, they mix in with the story excellently but also just feel very Resident Evil. Freaky and weird.

The puzzle aspects of the houses you encounter are intricately crafted to fit in the aesthetic and make it a believable environment that was designed to encompass these well-crafted areas that are puzzle, but also creepy based.

So, overall I love Resident Evil 7. It might not be my favorite Resident Evil in some regards. One criticism I come back to is Ethan Winters as a character himself, isn't all that interesting. The surrounding characters around him are great, but it's Ethan's first game so I'll be ready for Village to give him another shot.

(Review from 2021, BEFORE Village)

Ultimate Spider-Man was one of my favorite games as a child. So trying to suppress my nostalgic love for it while playing it in 2021 was a bit difficult. However! The game is still really good today. The story stays true to the source material but still mixes in a few things, so bless them for that. Since that can be difficult a lot of times in comic book adaptations in general. The gameplay was good and can still throw a bit of challenge in, sometimes due to the controls themselves. The challenge is welcome though for sure! The end pace was a bit mentally tiring with how many bosses the end gives you though.

BUT! Overall, I did enjoy finally rolling credits for the first time on Ultimate Spider-Man! It was a fun game that was definitely a good time!