LIFE
I lean my augmented head left of the corner and glance - three guards, submachine guns lowered, unaware of the infiltration. Three quick headshots later, ground splattered with pixelated blood and polygonal gore, I advance up the stairwell. Reload. Another headshot. Floor clear. First target in sight - pharma CEO - can't be caught embezzling funds like this, man. I kick him and he bounces, violently and comically, around the room. Next target marked, I run down the stairs again. I realize I missed one.

DEATH
A burst from around the corner catches me, and I explode, vision kaleidoscopic. Better luck next time.

REBIRTH
Body reconstructed for a nominal fee, I run the mission again. Saved up just enough for a scoped bionic eye, and this time around, I don't miss. Targets compromised to a permanent end. I extract.

Cycle repeats. New targets are always available: there's no shortage of financial criminals, cult leaders, and hedonistic executives in late-late-late-stage capitalism. I fashion a new intestine as a grappling hook, install ramjets into my feet. I invest in the stock market. I buy a house. I spend some time fishing.

TRANSCENDENCE
I am a financial deity. I see between the trend lines, I manipulate the markets. I change gravity. I erase my targets on a cellular level. I break the cycle: I die and am reborn when I choose. I sever and reestablish my link to the divine just for fun. No, despite all this, I'm not the god of this world - I'm the damn CEO, and the grind is just starting.

Every inch of this game screams that someone cared. Please go watch any of the making-of videos available on YouTube, and you’ll see just how much effort undergirds this visual and sonic treat.

Of course, I do not recommend this off effort alone. It’s a genuine joy to play, an experience that’ll push you and inspire you to push back. Don’t be intimidated: you can beat this. You should beat this. I still can’t really believe this got made. Don’t miss it, ‘cause who knows if we’ll ever get anything else like it.

Some great divergences from a formula that was previously feeling pretty stale. However, you basically see everything this game has to offer within the first few hours, and then the rest is just... more of that. You'll fight wild pokemon and throw pokeballs, sit through the occasional mind-numbingly easy trainer battle ... 20 hours later, I can't say it's even that much more difficult, let alone deep. The open world is a neat idea, but you don't have many ways to interact with your environment and end up simply running point-to-point over and over. It's a framework for a great game sometime in the unspecified future, but I don't know that there's enough here to keep me engaged.

UPDATE: Returned to the game months later and finished it. Frankly, not worth it. Ending was pretty flaccid. Will check out the postgame though, as I hear it's worth seeing.

[1ST PLAYTHROUGH: GOLDEN DEER]

This is almost a perfect Fire Emblem game and, at minimum, a great framework for whatever comes next. Monastery is a little less fleshed-out than the social hubs in comparable RPGs and does hurt the pacing at points. I loved all the customization this game allows- you can shape each unit in whatever direction you like (though they are nudged toward particular class paths to some extent). Story is among the best in the series and certainly worth pushing through to the end. Play on Hard, turn off battle animations, ignore any pressure to min-max that you might feel, and you'll have a great time.

A wonderful rhythm game - hell, a wonderful Zelda game. I could never get into the original Necrodancer, simply because I am bad. Cadence of Hyrule strikes the perfect difficulty level for bad gamers like me, and the remixed Zelda tunes go dumb. There's enough randomness that each room feels interesting, but there's also enough permanent progression that I never felt I got screwed over by RNG. Tons of replay value here, too - I started a new file the day after beating the game, this time with a new character. This is a great rainy-day game: Low stakes, easy to get into with enough depth to keep you going, comfy vibes on comfy vibes.

Every moment of this game is intentionally designed for two players. This isn’t the little-brother mode that other games will try to pawn off as co-op. Characters and environments are thoughtfully put together and keep each level feeling fresh. Each level is ridiculously detailed, far beyond what one could reasonably expect. I mean these mfs programmed in an entire chess game with multiple time settings that a lot of players might not even see. Pretty heartwarming story too, if you’re interested in that sorta thing.

This game has impeccable vibes, and I can't help but smile when I load into Delfino Plaza. Mario feels great to control, and I love how each level is integrated into the world design. But some of them are just poorly thought out, if not outright sadistic. Had to really push myself to finish this game, and I can't say the ending felt particularly gratifying. Apparently development was rushed, and you can certainly see that in a non-insignificant number of places. Still, this is a pretty solid experience and, on the whole, worth playing.

The moment-to-moment gameplay here is great. I loved making little objectives for myself: new orcs to recruit, old friends to train, schemes to plan. The thrill of being saved from death by a loyal bodyguard. A movie-quality raid on a towering fortress.

But then those stories lose their luster after you've completed the first zone or two. You start seeing the machinery behind the magic, and the moments that were amazing the first time around begin to feel less and less unique.

This is an unfortunate casualty of the Ubisoft philosophy, a game that would have benefited from a significant scale reduction. I loved what I played in the first 30-ish hours, but I'm stopping here while my feelings are still mostly positive.