It seems insane that a game that has been hyped up for my entire life as "the best game of all time" not only lived up to those impossibly high expectations, but completely surpassed them. I never thought I would ever actually get around to playing this game, it was always one of those ones that were perpetually on my backlog. But when i saw it on sale I decided to just sit down and play through it no matter how old or outdated it felt. As soon as I pressed start I was hooked and was unable to pry myself away from the screen until the credits rolled.

I don't want to be that guy, especially since this game came out a year before I was born, but man they really don't make games like this anymore. Ever single prerendered background feels like it cost a million dollars to make. I can now see why this game originally came on three discs, the idea that this could be played on a ps1 is mindbending. I could not stop looking at this game even the blocky characters that walk around the overworld are just so charming and practically bleed personality. That coupled with the outstanding music created an atmosphere I just wanted to be in.

The story also completely owns. Every character; even the missable ones; have motivations, quirks, and personalities that are indivisible from each other. The dialogue was funny, the main plot was epic, and the side quests gave me a reason to care about them during the in game apocalypse, there's not much more you could ask from an rpg.

It turns out everybody was right about this one.

Like Metroid but with more Catholic guilt.

I absolutely adored this game. The art direction is what's going to grab most people first and for good reason. I haven't played a game where I was so motivated by seeing what kind of insane environment was just around the corner since Hollow Knight (which this game will no doubt receive endless comparisons too). The pixel art is truly perfect, incredibly detailed backgrounds mixed with creative enemy design.

The gameplay is also probably perfect. It's always a good sign when a couple hours into the game you're sliding and dashing around like a speed runner. The movement is so comfortable and the combat is as satisfying as any 2D game I've ever played. Boss fights never felt unfair (except for some of the optional DLC ones but those don't count), every enemy had to be dispatched in its own unique way, and the customization through perks and spells are by far the best in any metroidvania I've ever played.

The narrative is also fantastic, I was so drawn into the lore through item descriptions, NPC interactions, or the rare cutscenes. Dark without being edgy or overbearing, much like the rest of this game it just fit in a way that felt natural.

This game just makes sense, everything it tries works and after beating it a couple times to unlock the secret endings I never once got bored. Nearly perfect!!

I hate gamers so much man. The amount of shit they give any game that doesn't fall under their predetermined idea of "fun" is pathetic. God forbid a developer has different artistic intentions for their game than the average shooter/platformer/rpg/etc.

If you want to say that Everybody's Gone to the Rapture has a disappointing story thats fine, if you want to say the walking speed is too slow thats completely valid, but if you take one look at and say it sucks because its a "walking simulator" then you need to seriously reconsider how you consume art.

Again I'm not saying this game is perfect, or even great, I think it has a good amount of things wrong with it. What I am saying is that it, and games like it, get unfairly criticized by the general public. It just bums me out that so many people have such limited views when it comes to games, and I hope that doesn't hamstring the medium and cause less experimentation in the future.

Yeah this is probably the best one in the series. I know it's shallow to talk about, but the visuals are just absurd, it's so fucked up that games can look this good now. Not only the technical presentation but the design of everything is so good. I love the way muzzle flares look and how colorful the explosions are. The environments are still the best I have ever seen in a video game, four years later.

The combat is also the best its ever been. In all the other games (with the exception of 3) the arenas have been super bog standard and obviously designed with functionality in mind. In this game though the arenas are huge and feel like actual places that would exist in the real world. This allows for much more creativity on the part of the player. Now you don't have to go in guns blazing every single time, you can stealth around and flank and try new things if something isn't working.

You can really tell they made this after The Last of Us. Not only do the environments carry that same "nature reclaiming the earth" vibe, but the stealth in this game was cranked to 11 holy shit. There is so much sneaking around in this game, and honestly I'm not crazy about it. There's nothing wrong with the stealth here but it just doesn't mesh well with the rest of the game, in my opinion. Now that might be because I played this one right after finishing the third one, in which there is hardly any stealth but eh it doesn't ruin the game by any means.

The pacing gets kind of predictable at times, which can make the game drag at when you start to see the pattern. Like "Oh ok I'm going to a new area I'm gonna walk around for a bit then I'll get in a firefight, then I'll find some ruins, I'll do a puzzle, watch a cutscene, then oh no! an ambush, firefight" and so on ad nauseam.

The story I also think is probably the best one so far. I was really enjoying it for the first half, then there was a super predictable twist that nothing really comes from, then the villains start to feel lame, and by the end I can't help but feel a bit disappointed that the story didn't live up to the stakes it set up in the beginning. With that being said the performances are all amazing I loved the relationship between Nathan and his brother and as the credits rolled I had a nice warm feeling in my stomach so ya know it's not like it was bad or anything.

Overall this is a really good game. It is only really being held back by the limitations of it being a AAA blockbuster that needs to make all of its money back and then some, so risks are going to be kept to a minimum. I loved it and it's a fitting end to one of Playstation's most beloved series.

Sometimes style can more important that substance. Oxenfree is a delightful enough adventure game, with interesting enough characters, an intriguing enough story, and satisfying enough gameplay. But where it goes above and beyond average is with everything else.

The visuals and music in this game are truly top notch. Everything, from the way you pick dialogue options, to the unique animations every character has, to the surprisingly fantastic voice acting elevates this game to something special.

It's not a perfect game by any means but does it justify its runtime/cost/etc? Yes, one hundred times over.

There is so much wrong with this game. The facial animations are wonky at best, the story makes no sense, the same boring areas are reused ad nauseam. Despite all this however, the game remains fun.

For whatever reason I just wanted to keep playing, it felt good to climb up a big tower and kill hundreds of enemies like it was nothing. The set pieces are cool, the environments are pretty (the first time you see them), and the voice acting is great.

It's so far from great but its an above average introduction to a staple series in gaming.

Superhot might just be the most "fair" game I've ever played. It's so rare to find a game where every mechanic works in lockstep with each other and actively makes the overall product better.

The "gimmick" of the game, where time only moves when you move is so addicting to master, and honestly they could have sold me on it if they just included that in an endless mode. But Superhot is so much more than the gimmick, for a game this visually sparse it is absolutely oozing in style. From the old school pc menus, to the crunchy audio files, to the hours of chat and randomly generated screensavers Superhot elevates itself to truly become something special.

I could play this game for hours (and I did, completing every optional challenge) comparing my gameplay when I first picked the game up to how I was playing only a day or two later was wild. For a game with no tutorial, Superhot makes it so easy to become fluent in its incredibly unique combat.

The metanarrative is also fun, and the hidden terminals do just enough to keep me intrigued without giving too much away. I would have liked a little bit more "story" in the main game but at the same time there's something really satisfying about piecing the story together yourself.

"Satisfying" is probably the word I would best use to describe this game. Finishing a tough level is satisfying, discovering a secret is satisfying, getting off a headshot from all the way across the map before an enemy even has time to fire a shot is satisfying. And after finishing the game I couldn't be more satisfied with my purchase.