Wow this was something.

I really wasn't expecting much when going into this game but man it really threw me for a loop. There is so much here that I wouldn't know where to begin. There is so much to love about this game.

I never understood those people who were hardcore morrowind fans, but I understand them now. It really is one of the best RPG's ever made and its bethesda's magnum opus. Hands down.

I was really going through the motions with this game. Compared to SoC and CS this game was a really boring and completely uninteresting affair. And the ending was so rushed and anticlimactic. I was pretty mixed on Clear sky but compared to this I was dying to play Clear Sky again. That game had a pretty good buildup at least and had a great finale. Whereas Call of Pripyat was so pathetic.

I really don't have many positives for this game except for the map. I am really glad we got to be in a new location rather than the map we saw in SoC and CS. But besides that this game doesn't have much else to offer.

Arguably D4 is definitely better than D3, it returns a lot of the stylistic choices that was missing from D3. And it incorporates a lot of the better mechanics from D3. But it is not the true successor to D2.

I feel like I might need to play this again to truly cement my thoughts on this, but I know that it lacks something that is really integral to Diablo as a whole.

Oh and fuck the shitty live service shit, only online nonsense and the awful battlepass/microtransactions crap. Leave that shit for the terrible free to play crap that gets shoveled out year after year and stop putting it in singleplayer/co-op games.

"Hey Vincent! I need A Way Out.........Of this game!"- Leo Caruso (probably).

While somewhat enjoyable purely for playing this with a friend, this game is pretty unimaginative and cliched as hell. Often times me and my friend will joke about what would happen only for it to actually happen. Nothing in this game surprises you.

So if you want a better co-op experience from hazelight go play It Takes Two.

At first glance it's easy to undermine and rub off the existence of requiem as a prequel without any value given that's its the same story told by jacopo in the final door of the original game, however requiem does so much more to the entire story and especially morgana and jacopo as characters. You can't truly claim you understand those characters without having read requiem
The story being told through the objective eyes of both morgana and jacopo unlike d6 and d8 gives in a new meaning to so much of their actions, Morgana's antagonistic role in the original game is fully defined in requiem. Jacopo's desire of making amends is shown here at its the most sincere once you understand the weight of his sins

The story although a retelling of previous events still keeps itself from not being repetitive by the addition of newer characters that fit perfectly in within the main story.

Jacopo's downfall created by his own actions is the main course the story takes, but it's the characterization he receives alongside morgana before it that makes it such a powerful story for me and it's shown beautifully within a single scene:

"You're allowed to yell at someone if you're upset with them
You're allowed to get in a fight if you're having a bad day
You're allowed to cry. You're allowed to feel whatever you feel"

The sunrise scene between morgana and jacopo after her having a panic attack because of her nightmares is easily my favorite scene in fiction, the words spoken by jacopo and their following conversation makes it clear morgana isn't the only character that had a traumatic past, and those words are of comfort to both of them. This scene is the one that made me realize how important as an installment requiem is to the entire story. The necessity of opening up, how through understanding others we can understand ourselves and the possibility of happiness even after so much pain, those 2 broken characters are the sole salvation of each other, but also the catalist of their destruction. The end of the main story is that of tragedy, but everything prior to it and the end through the revenants dream chapter is that one of salvation and understanding, the hopeful and yet tragic confrontation between those 2 characters at the end of the story taking place in their homeland ends in a simplistic note, they are no more bound up by their roles and fully open up to each other before moving on to a new future.

It's extremely heartbreaking seeing how undermined a beautiful story about hope and salvation is by people who claim its not needed or doesn't add anything to the overall story, but it's a complete misconception of the purpose it creates and the impact it carries

"Ori and the Will of the Wisps" is a very delightful game.

Personally I didn't really know what to expect here. I played the first game rather easily and quickly. But I still enjoyed the overall experience that "Ori and the Blind Forest" offered.

So last week after I finished the hilarious and absurd game "Postal 2" I was looking for something a bit less crass and ridiculous that was Postal. So while looking through my endless backlog on steam I spotted the Ori sequel. And I really didn't give it a second thought of downloading it because of how good that first game was. And I feel bad that I didn't play this sequel sooner.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps not only improves on Ori and the Blind Forests gameplay it also amps up a lot of the emotional aspects of the characters and setting of this game. It was very interesting seeing how this game juggles the energetic combat, platforming and puzzle solving with these deep sentimental and quiet moments. Which is pretty different for a metroidvania because usually when you have a game with interesting characters and story they tend to ditch any form of interesting gameplay in service for a more compelling narrative. But the studio decided to give us both, which is always welcomed. Before anything else I have to mention the game's visual design because it is just gorgeous! A beautiful combination of these 2d/3d backgrounds, superep animations and the detailed character models. Most games nowadays tend to be quite bland looking so seeing this game use the entire color wheel was very nice.

After all that gushing about the game I gotta at least state one minor complaint I have with it. I wasn't really fond of the boss battles. Most of the time I really hated how button mashy it got and how absurdly tanky they were, which made them all kind feel the same despite them being quite different visually.

Anyways besides that one complaint I wholeheartedly recommend the game. I will absolutely keep an eye out for whatever this studio will do next.