Loved the first 10 or so minutes, this game has to be a new personal record for quickest sob in any video game. The rest of the game is polarising, apparently, which I can understand. It's not very gamey, and would maybe fit harder as a film, sure, but I do appreciate the immersion and atmosphere of exploring the wilderness by yourself. It's true that there isn't actually a lot of exploring to be done, and I would never say that this game tested my abilities or engaged my brain on a strategic level, but it still left an impression with its stylised visuals and clever narrative. Definitely worth an evening of your time.

Death Stranding is a breath of fresh air in the AAA open-world genre whether it clicks with you or not. Me personally, I loved planning out how to get from point A to B, focusing on traversal and inventory management, as there were so many ways that any delivery could go wrong. Rough terrain, massive amounts of cargo, enemy placement, all the focus of the gameplay is on getting to a new place. I especially loved the asynchronous multiplayer of this world, where once you've gotten to a new place and hooked it up to the 'chiral network,' you can now see a lot of other players' structures, decreasing a lot of stress in future trips.

The story isn't as focused or sensical as it could be, but I still found myself tearing up towards the end, especially with the exceptional performances by Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen. Troy Baker's performance was the stand out for me though, he chewed the scenery as the campy yet still scary terrorist. It's also just a beautiful game, especially on PS5.

Death Stranding isn't going to work for everyone, which is fair enough, but I do think it is a game that everyone should play. Far more interesting to think about than the universally loved open-world games like Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring, Death Stranding doesn't make the open-world feel exciting and filled with content like those games, but instead turns the genre inside out by making the very act of walking the focus. Give it a try, stick it out until chapter 3 when the world really opens up, and experience a game truly unlike anything before it.

Outer Wilds is a special game. Never before has a game so fully captivated me and left me speechless. It's quite a simple premise. Explore the solar system and find clues about an ancient species. Who were they, and how did they disappear? Each planet gives a lot of clues, but only by going to each of them and thoroughly exploring can you piece together the whole story. It's a game that respects the player's intelligence - not once is anything spelled out or overexplained, but it still provides an excellent resource to retain all the key information.

Whilst on my interstellar journey to learn everything about the past, I was constantly reminded of the importance of the here and now. Each planet hosts a fellow explorer, and the first thing I did when I landed was seek them out to chat. While these moments of respite certainly aren't as tense and exhilarating as other parts of this game, I found being reminded of my connections to these people became the backbone of my experience. Where learning about the universe made me feel small and insignificant, these connections made me feel loved.

Outer Wilds is a game that just happened to come around at the right time. I have been craving a good exploration and puzzle-based game for a while, but it also serves as a reminder that endings just leave the door open for new beginnings. That the end of something isn't to be feared, but embraced.

Also the OST is the best for any game ever holy shit

Definitely the weakest Zelda I've played yet. I love this game's charm and personality, the characters and music are fantastic, and the combat is really fun and fluid. Unfortunately that is all brought down by the series's weakest dungeons, emptiest overworld, and most tedious sidequests. Everything about this game just feels so rushed, it's ripe for a proper open world concept with bigger islands that have full dungeons on them, but instead we get only two sages and a majority of the islands are specks. Would've loved for the world to properly open up after the Tower of the Gods, going through dungeons and getting triforce shards, but instead the two late-game dungeons have to be done in order for some reason, even through the game presents it as an open choice. It's just so frustrating bc this could've been great. Also it didn't use the pirates nearly as much as it should have.