Rating this game and then discussing said ratings for this game always feels like an intensely difficult thing to talk about without anyone from any side of the scale looking at you like you're batshit insane.

Personally, I really loved this game as of finishing my first playthrough. I was able to confidently say it was a 5/5 without doubt. Seeing the sights, completing shrines, fulfilling NPC quests, and overall just appreciating what goes into the game all around. It was quite the experience. Opening that map for the first time and getting hit with a wave of sheer excitement, wonder, and intrigue. For me, imagination has always been my driving factor for finding interest and gleaning enjoyment from the game. How could I not? This is the first truly open-world Zelda, for crying out loud, this shit was ground-breaking. Unlocking towers and scouting out the area looking for as much stuff to do before setting off and envisioning what crazy adventures await me next was definitely a HUGE motivation.

Unfortunately, this is where my enjoyment with the game staggers a bit.

Once I had completed the game, I sat on my thoughts of it being perfect for a LONG time. I had no reason to revisit for any reason, and I never really paid it much thought to think of the game in its totality. That is, until, Tears of The Kingdom's release date drew near. I immediately hit the game up and created a new save file to start all over again. As I progressed through the game, it became blatantly obvious just how much of the game relied upon my own imagination to theory craft about what could possibly come next. Knowing the limited enemy variety, tiny boss variety, and limited combat ability left me a bit perplexed as to WHY I enjoyed the game as much as I did. All of this, in conjunction with the sheer scope of the world and other various mechanics, it became obvious that the game is—for the most part—a one and done deal for me. Exploration is a key part of the game, to its own detriment, and I see it as a main source of enjoyment when I put the pieces together. All other aspects of the game pale in comparison. The story is cool, the combat is alright, etc. etc. but I truly think none of it compares to the feeling of exploration on a blind playthrough. When the learning phase finally reaches its conclusion, all that you're left is with a set of OK mechanics that aren't quite exactly shitty, but they aren't the cream of the crop either.

Don't misunderstand, I love this game. But it's hard to say that without a plethora of problems spawning in my mind. I am proud to say that I still regard my first playthrough of the game to have been a 5/5 experience. Unfortunately, I am unable to say the same when it comes to revisiting the game or looking at it as a whole retrospectively. I'm still able to appreciate this game for what it manages to accomplish as it is the first truly open world for the Zelda series, and I can definitely understand why others are able to regard it so highly. I am unable to say the same on retrospection.

“You can't expect to be surprised by a mystery novel twice.”

Although I am not at the finish line of P3R just yet, I figured it would be best for me to put out something representative of my love for this game in between sessions, as my thoughts are more thoroughly collected. I am damn near close to 2 consecutive weeks of playing (12/14) and have just breached 60 hours of gameplay. On track to obtain a platinum trophy on my first playthrough, it feels good to be reminded of why I loved an older title I have played, and it feels even better to be reminded that the people behind said game still "get it."

Persona 3 Reload sits comfortably well above the other remakes and remasters of any game I have ever played, and it will continue to do so either for a long while, or forever.

For the longest time, integration of styles and gameplay similar to that of Persona 5 never rubbed me the right way. I was anticipating this game to be a massive stinker. Something in the vein of Atlus trying to cobble together something to milk even more money off of their best selling game. I am sure most people are aware of Persona 5 Tactica, Scramble, and X. I am in not any type of position to commentate on their quality, but the reception of these games amongst my peers has led me to a train of thought to be quite weary of what Atlus decides to output next. But their continuations of an aesthetic spawned from their best selling title into something that is seemingly absolutely unlike it reeked of creative bankruptcy. That being said, I was wrong.

And I couldn not be happier about it.

Everything from the reestablished visuals, voice acting, to the gameplay and even the music. I have not the slightest hint of a complaint or grievance. P3R's UI is an absolute gem to witness, it is fluid, intuitive, and has an identity of its own. The new cast of voices are out of this world, Yuko's especially. All of the voice actors put on a spectacular performance and their ability to encapsulate you in the world of the game is unreal. Having finished P5R's merciless mode and not having that great of an experience, I decided to go into my P3R playthrough with merciless mode, and I am having an absolutely great time with it. Theurgies add much to the strategizing and in addition with keeping the "1 more" system, I enjoy the gameplay so much more for the depth it brings. All of the remixed tracks are wonderful in their own regards, at first stuff like "Mass Destruction" did not rub me too well, but over time I broke in and I love it much like the original track, likewise the others. Truly a remake that lives up to and, in some instances, surpasses the existence of its source. I can not wait to play through P3P and watch the films and whatever extra content there is to finish up the whole complete Persona 3 experience.

Persona 3/FES and Persona 3 Reload will atmospherically provide different experiences (assuming people care about that) but otherwise I honestly can not see a reason to not play this game. It feels so good to be in love with a Persona game again.

100% achievements.

November 6th, 2023, marks the day I would begin my journey of playing Hellsinker. 5 months and a day to be exact. With interest spawning from a stray suggestion by a friend of mine, this would quickly result in an obsessive play-through which then graduated to an obsessive achievement hunt which would THEN go on infiltrate my personal life via absolutely wreaking havoc on my sleep schedule, even hijacking my dreams.

And I couldn't be more thankful.

Quite honestly, I'm not sure where to take this review, I'll let my fingers glide along the keyboard and post whatever crops up.

At 89.1 hours, Hellsinker sits comfortably at my #5 most played game on Steam. Despite this, I've only gone on to engage with the game in its entirety through the lens of 1 character. The game features 4 characters, 1 of which has 4 "Ordinance Packages" which change up their loadout. Essentially, this 1 character is 4 though their endings remain the same between loadouts. This leaves me with a staggering 1/7 true completion. In addition to this, each character does have a unique ending depending on their TLB progression, not viewable within the game's text sequence viewer. Though I've already gone ahead and watched a video showing their contents (SPOILERS (DUH!)), I'd still love to play the game to experience them firsthand.

Alright, what more is there left for me do? Surely after that I would have completed EVERYTHING there is to this game... right?

WRONG! THERE'S SO MUCH! THERE'S QUITE FRANKLY TOO MUCH! AND I THINK THE FUNNIEST PART HAS TO BE HOW ABSOLUTELY UNINTENDED MOST OF THE EXTRA STUFF IS!

I'll start by introducing this game's older sibling, Radio Zonde. Yes, I have played the game before, but I haven't really completed in a manner I find acceptable, so there's still this entire game for me to play. Much of the ideas regarding design both graphics and gameplay are very much seen within Hellsinker. 1CC for Radio Zonde TBD.

Following this game would then come Hellsinker but in the form of a demo, kinda? Colloquially the build is known as Hellsinker 0.95. This build is quite.... special. There's a bajillion changes from this version of the game to the Doujin and Steam releases and although I'd like to talk about them all day I'll spare this "review" the word count and cut to the main thing. This game, although presenting itself as a demo, actually holds within itself the entire game but more importantly the final stage(SPOILERS(AGAIN(DUH!))) accessible through dropping in some files graciously provided by the original poster. In a non-patched version, only stages 1-4 are playable. The cut special stages also feature 2 versions from what I understand looking at the channel. One version would then go on to become the Shrine seen in the Doujin and Steam release. The other version cut from the final releases feature something adjacent to a dungeon crawler style level (not spoilers).

Okay so. That's it right? Nothing more? There couldn't possibly be more?

But there is! All of these are from the game's Doujin release era (so like 2007-2011?) I'll tally up everything here:
>Doujin release (PURCHASED)
>Completion of said Doujin release (unsure if I'll do all characters TLB but I'll cross that bridge when I get there)
>Buying the fanzines (warning the page probably has some Not Safe For Work Ads so please use an adblocker <3 ) and then reading said fanzines (currently studying Japanese primarily for that)
>A 3D Hellsinker Railshooter fangame (Completed)
>A Puyo Puyo styled Hellsinker puzzle game (Completed)
>Another Hellsinker fangame though I don't really know what to compare this one to, check the IGDB page for more info (Completed)

...and that's it. At that point, I'll have fully exhausted myself on every possible official and unofficial expression of love for this game. Have I made it obvious enough how much I love this game?

I'm currently in ownership of pretty much every version of the game out there with their fan-patches in addition to the fan-games so if you'd like any of that please contact my either on Twitter or Discord @strawhatcanti. Thank you for reading. Until the next "review" goes up,

Keep your dignity.

Excellent sprite work, wonderfully crafted world building, impeccable voice acting. All of this is let down by the quite frankly frustratingly shitty combat, which leaves a sour taste in its wake.

This review contains some minor spoilers.

1. Bosses
It's very clear that this game draws an astronomic amount of inspiration from Dark Souls in every nook and cranny of the game, all the way down to the design philosophy of the bosses. Unfortunately, it fails to recognize what makes the bosses of the Soulsborne games any good. As a result of the 2D plane this game utilizes, the combat suffers heavily from bosses that use moves which necessitate an eagle eye to determine what course of action to take. Many bosses have moves that use the same animation as a startup for different attacks. Many of your deaths will be purely through RNG and the inability to telegraph what move the boss will use to strike you. It's a majority of guessing until the last frames of the startup, where you can actually determine the attack to be used.
Another facet of the boss that leaves behind a feeling of discontent is the lack of awe they bring. Consistently, vanquishing a boss in most of the bosses featured within the Soulsborne franchise will leave you feeling like you've overcome an insurmountable foe. That triumphant feeling of overcoming a boss is absolutely not present in this game. On every single one I fought, I audibly groaned at my victories. Displeased with the revelation that none of the bosses I encountered were interesting or captivating in any way at all. Beating them just had me feeling like “that's it?” it was upon my 3rd hour playing the game where I came to this realization, regardless, pressing on another 13 hours to actually beat the game. The final boss being the worst offender of this, I won the fight in less than a minute on my first attempt.

1.5. Mobs
Mobs and enemies encountered in the over world are an absolute joke. Genuinely futile. The only difficulty comes from the occasional abominable platform placement. Many times, the platforming will be your enemy more so than actual enemies. More on this later.

2. Combat
The upgrades are absolutely inconsequential, and I wholeheartedly believe you could beat the game without upgrading your weapons at all. The extra moves you get are so trivial, the best of the worst being the ranged weapon or the dash slice. Plunge attack, charge slash, and either of the combo finishers are completely unnecessary and have very few use cases during gameplay. You have to actively look for a scenario to use these because their usefulness depends on your determination to actually find a way to utilize them properly. The plunge attack especially is terrible because your vertical vision is so reduced and isn't helped much by the fact that changing your camera doesn't give much leeway for faraway vision.

3. Exploration
One of the few things about the game I actually enjoyed. Inevitably leading to its detriment. For some inexplicable reason, the entire upper half of the map has no waypoints whatsoever. Once you start truly exploring the lower half of the map, the devs decided to start hurling all the necessary waypoints, entirely neglecting the lack of northern waypoints until the midpoint of the game. Traversing elevators gets especially tiring when you have to run through the elevators with no way to simply teleport up to either of the important northwestern regions. Exploration as a whole is COOL!!! As stated earlier, this is one of the few parts of the game I found enjoyment in. Entering new areas fills you with a sense of awe. The backgrounds are wonderfully crafted. Musical references to its culture are beautifully incorporated. Many areas are eloquently made in reference to Spanish Gothic architecture and design. When you're able to pay no mind to the awful gameplay, it's truly a beautiful experience.

4. Platforming
Platforming in this game is quite honestly one of the BIGGEST fumbles this game makes. Throughout the entire exploration experience, I can absolutely safely say that one area of many gave me an actual challenge with its platforming. The rest of it is piss easy. Often times, the devs opt to use terrible enemy placement or bad obstacle placement to make platforming difficult and a chore to traverse. Namely, the swinging axes of the “Sleeping Canvases” area. Their inclusion is so extraneous and makes 0 sense for being present. Not much else to say other than what has been said. Bugs are also prevalent in quite literally only the platforming. Countless times, I have grabbed ledges from a noticeable distance above or below, failed to grab a ledge my character was pressed right up against, and teleported through floors. Bugs impact purely the platforming throughout my playthrough.

5. Music
Incredibly graceful.The use of Spanish instrumentals paired with the Christian symbology is unquestionably the best part about the game. Cantes de Confesión, Entregarás Tu Rostro a La Señora, and Coplas de Incienso are by far my favorite tracks the OST offers. Simply beautiful work.

6. Story & Sidequests
Not delving into the story/lore because the way that it is handled, it's pretty removed from the actual progression of the game outside the content that is spoon-fed to you through required interactions. That being said, it was okay, I suppose. I feel that too much information is packed into the “lore” button for items and weapons, which is quite annoying. Talking with the dead is a pretty cool mechanic, and some side quests provided a very cool dive into the world of Blasphemous.

CONCLUSION
Unfortunately, this is a game that doesn't stand up to the expectations that are set by the promotional content. I'm overall displeased with the game and moreover disappointed with the juxtaposition of eloquent visuals & music alongside terrible buggy gameplay. It manages to rope you in and keep you hooked until you realize that it's disappointing overall.

The Fullmetal Alchemist of JRPG's

Now, what exactly does this mean? This isn't some attack at Chrono Trigger or anything meant negatively towards the game. But rather an analogy I accidentally created. Do keep in mind that I absolutely love this game. Over the course of the past week and then some, my time playing games has mostly been dedicated towards playing this game.

My analogy to Fullmetal Alchemist comes rather as an overall reflection of the game. It's nearly flawless but, as a result it lacks in any areas where it really shines. This is not to say that the gameplay, story, music, etc are bad, but rather that they're all at such a level in which none of them stand out in any special sense. Far from average in fact. The game features a really good story, ost, (debatable) gameplay, and they all are amazing. Given the large 4-5 star reception of the game, I believe that comparing it to something like Fullmetal Alchemist is a fair and easily digestible comparison.

This game manages to perfectly sew together all aspects of what makes a video game good. While not being profound, it's perfect. The culmination of numerous JRPG developer minds at the time, those behind Xenogears, Final Fantasy, and more. Chrono Trigger also had so many new and quite honestly insane ideas at the time which now can be found all across gaming. New Game+ or even multiple endings (even crazier, they're all based on the players moral compass). This game rightfully sits atop many top 10 videogames lists because of how flawless it is.

My only real complaint with this game is that the bosses are just ass, for every good boss there's like 4 or 5 shitty stupid bosses which are just an absolute chore to beat and FUCK the Golem Twins I hate those absolute shitters. Stupid ass boss.

Analysis video that I think is worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiaMl3yN5io 23 minutes (spoilers)

HellSinker. is and probably will continue to be my favorite shmup I've ever played.

At its core, HellSinker is a seriously convoluted mesh of tight mechanics and even tighter gameplay that has kept me glued to my chair for numerous hour long sessions of excitement, anger, disappointment, humiliation, and awe.

Everything about the game is so engrossing. Music, aesthetics, gameplay, lore, you name it. Throwing bits and pieces of lore at the player for overcoming the impossible and, even in unlikely cases, tossing something your way for ragequitting.

Reaching new areas kept my heart pumping in anxiety for what challenges could possibly come next, with each completed stage seeing a measureable improvement to my skill.

It's hard to recommend this game to anyone who's a newcomer to the genre of shmups but for those already familiar with the gameplay of shmup titles, more specifically those who are fans of the ZeroRanger game, I implore you to drop what you're doing and play this game. You won't regret it.

Over the course of about 2 weeks and then some days I couldn't think of any other game. Genuinely keeping me up at night for having not completed the 1cc.

But in the end, on the 16th of November, my journey had come to a close...

... or so I thought.

See, in addition to the innumerous mingling of mechanics and systems, the game actually has one more oddity to throw at you for the ending. And after concluding my 3 hour session which I believed to be the ending of the game, I don't think words could relay the humiliation I felt for what I had thought was the ending of the game.

It was not until after a 2 day hiatus from the game where I had actually gone on to 1cc the game, start another hiatus, and then complete the post-game content (relatively) far thereafter.

In spite of its cruel difficulty, discouraging gameplay, and brutal mockery it makes of your failures, I have persevered and completed it. And I couldn't be more proud of myself for doing so.

I have a lot to thank this game for, first and foremost as the beacon which brought me back into the world of shmuping. Reigniting a flame which I assumed had spewed its last embers long ago. And second for kindling and sparking conversations with an aquantiance turned friend of mine.

Please play HellSinker. please. I think it's criminally underloved and I'm seriously so surprised how little fanworks I can find online. If you HAVE played HellSinker. I'd suggest playing the only known fangame SHAFTDIVER, it's an interesting experience to say the least.

Ain't no damn mystery here except for who thought adding horror was a good idea.

I'll give the game credit where credit's due and say that it does successfully establish a chill & peaceful environment for fishing. Does it go much further than that? Not really! Gameplay is OK, progression is ALRIGHT, and all attempts at horror fail in an unbelievable magnitude.

The day & night cycle quite nicely establish a change in mood and tone as your worries start to slowly creep in as darkness arrives and perish when morning comes. Funnily enough, this immediately stops having any and all effect on the player once you realize that this system has 0 actual impact on the player aside from existing to respawn fish. The only NPC in the game makes note of entities that supposedly exist but are actually nothing but shallow attempts to cram in the horror aspect of the game. Creatures in the woods? Nothing comes of them. Figures that are said to be lurking about? Nowhere to be found. His dialogue subtly coerces the player into believing the existence of such creatures that are preying upon them, but truthfully, they never have any impact on the game in the first place.

None of that quite compares to the absolute snooze fest that is the story, rather, the ending. The cited “mysteries” in the title don't actually exist, and the only mystery is found at the game's ending. It's an incredibly vapid attempt to appeal to people with boners for VHS style horror. The use of trypophobia bears no real relevance to anything whatsoever, and is incorporated for the sake of shoehorned horror once again. Truthfully, removing all appearances and attempts at horror that this game has, and you've successfully created an exponentially better game.

It's an ok fishing sim that ends up falling very short on the horror aspect, both in content and execution, while simultaneously somehow managing to shoehorning it in for the sake of having it exist. If the fishing aspect was further developed, I honestly believe that this could have been a truly magnificent fishing game.

I went into this game knowing absolutely nothing other than the existence of a couple characters and needless to say I am so fucking thrilled I went in blind. This game absolutely enveloped my time for a solid period of 5 days, I adore everything about the game. Upon completion I couldn't help but smile like a moron while tears silently hit my desk. I felt so much for the characters and was so engaged. A brief breeze of sadness hit as I realized I had reached the end. Needless to say this is one of my favorite video games of all time.

"Time to mix drinks and change lives."

I finished the game it's awesome my thoughts down below remain

Ikaruga, a game though I am not quite finished with yet, I find so unbelievably fascinating. At this point in time, I have only completed chapters 1 and 2, and I'm currently going through hell and back to beat chapter 3. My thoughts are most definitely going to change as I progress further, thus I'd like to consider this a "snapshot" of my thoughts with where I'm currently at.

In my eyes, I believe it's more or less a game about what it means to be human and/or the sheer determination of being human. Upon starting the game and entering arcade mode, you're placed right into the action. After getting your ass handed to you a couple of times and learning the mechanics, it's at that point whether you've passed the developer's subtle test. You can either forge on, oblivious to what your true goal is other than “beat the level,” or you can just quit. The game's atmosphere is so powerful to the point where you either quit or you can press onwards with nothing more than the occasional quote to motivate you further. That I find quite beautiful. A game which keeps you playing utilizing the player's determination.

Largely unrelated to the rest of my thoughts; I believe part of the reason I am so gone on with this game is because I think it motivates the player in a manner loosely similar to Dark Souls (I love that game).

Moving on, many aspects of this game are truly timeless and aren't really lost between platforms, which is just incredible. Gameplay being a core part of this, the controls and mechanics are so unique and still hold up well 22 years after its release on arcade. Atmosphere and graphics are also another important avenue which stands the test of time. Though the graphics aren't necessarily heavily stylized and, if anything, are more “realistic” they still hold up surprisingly well charmingly. This in addition to the music sets quite the tone for the game in my eyes. Above all else, I personally think the translation team did an excellent job moving this overseas. Though I cannot possibly fathom the initial weight of the poetry, it still carries quite a heavy and impactful message when moving in between chapters and whatever segments of the game. Thanks localization team!

I can definitely see in some sense how this game has inspired another shmup I've played (ZeroRanger) and I cannot wait to explore more of the shmup genre for this reason.

The music OH MY GOD it's so fucking good man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAn6XxsDDTI