Whoever said this game was 70 hours lied to my face this was way shorter than I thought it would be. Honestly probably my favorite cast in a Persona game so far (haven't touched 5 yet) for the sole reason that everyone is an idiot and stupid and I love them for that. Fun story but that true ending twist honestly got on my nerves pretty bad. Still! I love the murder mystery aspects of the plot and honestly didn't hate a single member in my party... except Teddie obviously.

Gameplay... well it's not great to be honest. It's my fault for playing P3R and then starting the older game, but point still stands. Some enemies and bosses are like the easiest thing ever, and then you can come across a group of enemies that manage to get the jump on Yu and instakill him forcing you to restart the whole floor again. It's super annoying! And man do I miss having the shift mechanic.

Overall I recommend, the 50 hours go by pretty quick if you ask me.

I was genuinely impressed, having seen this game as a kid, how much they use the PS1's limited processing power to create a world that is so dripping with atmosphere and dread. Yes the camera, controls and combat feels dated but I got surprisingly used to it pretty quickly. I also genuinely enjoyed seeing what this demented game was going to throw my way next as I played through this game.

I also miss this era of games with little hand-holding and trusting that the player is smart enough to figure out what's next. Yes, some of them are super obtuse (and might require looking it up) but I genuinely think its part of the charm.

I think some of the sequels does more interesting stuff with the narrative with this one but I was very satisfied with the ending I got. The OG Silent Hill made me appreciate seeing the background on how we have the horror games we have today and I love games like Signalis and Crow Country is giving homage while providing its own twists / modernizing some elements. Loved it!

The speedy, rail-grinding and double jumping gameplay of Solar Ash kept me glued to the TV from start to end. With each area climaxing with a huge boss, I was constantly awed by the scale, the score and visuals of this game. The main downsides include performance issues (a lot of frame drops on PS5), wonky camera (This can create frustration with certain bosses as you can't easily see the next needle) and the (in my opinion) unnecessary voice acting. I'm continually amazed by the unique game Heart Machine creates and cannot wait to see the next one.