A solid series of puzzle boxes. Strangely felt a little long in the tooth despite being pretty short. I do have a few criticisms, such as on the limited controls and waiting between transitions could be tedious when you're working a puzzle that requires a lot of back and forth. It's quite possible the camera swing takes more time than the action you'll take. Also how much of the game is reduced to just clicking around. MYST was a long long time ago and while this is clearly influenced by it, I don't think it has to succumb to the same problems of inane fiddling. Just a cursor highlight on things that can be interacted with is good enough.
Anyway if they improve on this things in further entries I'll be a lot happier with them.

Yeah I said it. 5 stars.
Judging by the difficulty I encountered trying to wrap up quests and achievements, this game never hit a true stride in interest, which is absolutely insane because it's one of the strongest Soulslikes out there. It's definitely on the more accessible end, but a lot of that is a clear knowledge of what makes these games work. The combat is very well balanced, despite a few cheap deaths, and the level design is the perfect balance of secrets and exploration.
The story? I like it. Takes some incredibly dark turns even with the cartoonish art style. The Greek and Roman influences are unambiguous, but they were aggressively adapted to fit a From Software style story that you don't have to go digging for.
Listen, if anyone wants another one of these, but doesn't want to beat their head off a game that spends far to much effort doing its own thing and failing, this is easily top of the list.

Frictional know how to make a great game what can I say?

Coming into this as a huge Dark Descent and SOMA fan, I was obviously curious what lessons they learned from the latter to apply to the former. The answer is subverting horror tropes about motherhood, but not quite as thought provoking as SOMA. Granted I can not bear children and wonder how someone who could would view this game, but while the gameplay carried me on a cruise to the end, the story hit its peak when you get to The Factory.
Anyway, one day it will get a proper assessment, but I'll need to wait.

For this being the first time I've finished the game after buying it 3 times, I had better like it a lot. I did.
Back during a time when Resi was a more action oriented series without the old limited space, ammo conservation or labyrinthine level design, Resident Evil Revelations decided to thread the needle, and on the 3DS of all things. It unfortunately still has some action focused set pieces, but they are few and short, the rest of the game is spent exploring a ship called the Queen Zenobia. You've got puzzles, weirdly shaped keys, and even though it's framed as episodic, you return to Jill with the same equipment and same parts of the maze unlocked for re-exploration further down the line. It's good. Just play this and Rev 2 instead when you think you want to play 5 and 6. It is arguably a more appropriate step for the series after 4 anyway.

I will say I've never played the 3DS version. That's a whole different story, but I genuinely can't believe it was on it, because it looks so good in basically all of its later iterations.

This is a strange game to come out these days. licensed shovelware games have almost vanished, and now we have games that try to emulate the popular games of the time. In comes Terminator: Resistance, released close to the film Terminator: Dark Fate, but literally nothing to do with it. In fact it seems the only two Terminator films with any impact on this game were the first two. Anyway, none of that's important, because this game features ideas from 15 years ago. From a binary morality system, to mechanics lifted entirely from Fallout 3 (and on). Graphics on the lower end. All in all, this feels like a PS3/Xbox 360 era title, and honestly, that's what's so great about it. It feels weirdly nostalgic and just satisfying to play. It would be almost ambitious if it hadn't relied entirely on a cavalcade of old systems that were all pretty safe bets.

I know that description so far doesn't sound like it warrants a 4 star review, but as old as it looks and feels, it does it all well. The pacing is excellent, the world is already built so it's easy to engage with, it never gets too overwhelming and often treads into immersive sim territory. It's a good time I don't know what to tell you. It's never been necessary for a game to have great graphics or new ideas to be great. Execution is everything.

I could sit here and write an extensive review of the three games, but in the end it all came down to three things. Impeccable sound design, the cases unfolding with such a masterclass of drip feed information as you figure it out along with Phoenix is likely only matched by follow up games in the series and when I played Ace Attorney 1 the first time, I didn't do the additional case for the DS. I thought it was just touch screen gimmicks. Years later as I replayed the game, someone told me it was the best case. They were right.

Often the biggest criticism I hear of these games is the puzzle solving is stilted and you should be able to present evidence when you know an answer but Phoenix doesn't, but that's the problem isn't it? Phoenix always comes to his own conclusions, rather than being a blank slate. You need to guide him to those conclusions. Not that there weren't times when I felt Phoenix should be at a certain point when I felt I had a case, it's just hardly egregious or game breaking from that perspective.

Here's to 8 more games.

Marking this finished now I've finished all racing series currently available.

I like it! I don't know man. I watched some analysis videos about how bad it is and I just don't see it. I particularly don't think it was a fraction as broken as Cyberpunk 2077 was at launch... Sure, the penalty system is absolutely broken, but It has only affected my driving in a single online race when I was trying to keep a second ahead and went obscenely wide on a corner. All my fault in the end, but the driving is pretty solid. I don't think the levelling system gets in the way, as I always found the cash based upgrade system in Gran Turismo entirely more difficult to deal with. A lot more grinding for one car to win a single race in GT when you enter a series in FM on the same level as your competition. Most of the high end cars don't even have upgrade paths.

I'm rambling. Look. I took a Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 with an Initial D livery all the way through the open class series, making it as fast as a hypercar at Le Mans by the end of it and I wouldn't change it for the world.

It took me too many years to finish a game that seems like it would be short. In the end, this adventure game takes up a surprising amount of time for being entirely free.
You play as a pregnant woman wandering around a collapsing facility stuffed to the brim with gory contraptions, hideous creatures and horrible people. There's a strange sense of being transported back to the 90s, with janky character models and a distinct influence from Sanitarium and I Have No Mouth carrying my fascination. I struggled with a lot of puzzles too.