Great core ideas that stand at odds with what have now become cliche indie-game-narrative tropes.

Still a saturday-morning-cartoon PS2 series at heart, thank god.
They keep makin' em, I'll keep gettin' em, cause they keep gettin' better every time.

Tactile, fast, complex action with genuinely interesting storytelling. Less intimidating than it looks. The best implementation of "dualsense" HD rumble I've felt.

Comfort-food RPG tropes surround this focused, buttery action game with killer bossfights. Now to play the rest of the series...

I miss the combat from the first game.

Remarkably focused Rogue-ish dungeon crawling with warm-blanket atmosphere. The resources you have, and the movements you make, all carry enough meaning to make each input something to agonize over. Got repetitive for me towards the end of my time with it, but mostly 'cause I did a lot of dying.

Playing a true MegaTen game after a lifetime of Final Fantasy is like emerging from Plato's cave.

Game's too damn long, though.

A classroom-worthy example of Video Game Cutscene writing.

A post-irony-poisoned gag reflex manifesting as a pointed, challenging stealth shooter which appears at first as a strange, clunky, misshapen beast. Climb into its jaws, and lose your fucking mind.

A gorgeous, luxurious visual novel/interactive fiction hybrid bundled with some of Vanillaware's sexiest number-flying combat since Odin Sphere. The tower defense stuff is so slick, I didn't even realize the post-game missions were infinitely generated until I played nearly thirty of them.

A DOOM megawad with the exploration of Unreal and genuinely inspired art direction.

Combat errs easy, and most bosses get circlestrafed to death without a second thought, but I still had a good time taking them out. Doesn't overstay its welcome, either, partially 'cause the actual metroid-like progression is much simpler than its inspirations.

Even more hangout-itude than the first!

The best PS2 game to play on your PS5.
Replaying this a couple months ago gave me a new appreciation for this thing: just flyin' around this gorgeous city with Kat is a wonderful experience.

Low-complexity shmup, great for zoning out to (if you pick up a console port).

Catch me at the back of the Williamsburg Barcade feeding quarters into this beautiful cab.

The best couch co-op action-puzzle experience since Portal 2, hamstrung by truly mind-boggling writing.