I am very much the kind of gamer who gets discouraged when games are long as hell, especially modern AAA games where the length is mostly grind and not new gameplay mechanics. The fact that Nioh 2 made me want to keep coming back to it over and over despite how many hours I had dumped into it (and the fact I'm considering a second playthrough with a new weapon) is definitely a testament to its quality.

Nioh 2 is a game that doesn't really serve much on a platter to you, keeping it true to the Soulslike root of its gameplay and the Ninja Gaiden roots of its developer. There are like a million mechanics which are not really explained and you just kind have to figure them out, which makes this game seem incredibly daunting at first. After watching some Youtube videos and good ol fashioned trial and error, however, it clicked. The stances, the burst counters, the grapple, the Yokai abilities, its all absolutely nuts when you figure out how to use them properly. If you showed me how I would be playing this game for the final boss to me when I beat the first level, I would have been convinced I somehow became a god gamer in that time.

However, the game does have flaws that can't be made up over time. One, this game is too fucking long and drags like crazy before the last few missions. 80 hours just to beat the game when the gameplay isn't that diverse is a tough pill to swallow, and I recommend to skip the side missions even if they feel like the only way to get to the "recommended level" for the main missions. Secondly, I found that the navigation got a little annoying sometimes where there were like 900 paths and finding the correct one never felt as satisfying as other games with this design.

Otherwise, I loved this. I called this "Monster Hunter for Soulslikes" to a friend and I can see the way I come back to this as similar to how I come back to MH.

I played the OG Resident Evil 4 back over a decade ago, when I was really starting to get into games as a medium. I could clearly see the impact it had on gaming and actually beat the game, but I never became a favourite due to its somewhat clunky controls. I understood that was on purpose, but it never made me feel disempowered like Silent Hill 2, instead just like Leon was like an automaton.

Flash forward a friend highly recommended this game to me as he had never played the original RE4, and I figured it would be worth a shot. Wow, he was right. The controls are a marked improvement, while avoiding the pitfall of making the game a cakewalk. The combat is a perfect balance of "you will easily die if you are reckless" and "if you know how to use it correctly, you can become Jesus Christ re-incarnate". Watch really good players play this game, and you will see the insane shit they can do.

The writing and pacing is better in my eyes as well, as most of the characters feel more fleshed out and it goes quite fast for a 14+ hour game. Ashley is the big ticket improvement, as I hated her character in the original and now she feels like a real person with real flaws instead of a snooty 15 year old who you would rather just leave behind.

Overall, this is an incredible game. I know it was good because I would be day-dreaming about it at work and would just wait until I could get home and hop back into it. For my first game on PS5, this was an amazing introduction.

Finally beat this one after putting it on the backburner for over a year.

Super Metroid is the kind of game that shocks me regarding its polish for when it was released. This truly feels like an indie from the 2010's, but that's partly the case because indies have been using this as the template the whole time.

Exploration wise, it is one of the best I've played. There is so much just waiting for you - it almost makes you paranoid with how many little things could be hiding in the walls, in the floor, behind enemies, etc. There are times where I felt that the things were hidden too well, and especially with how important having these energy cells and missiles becomes in the late game. You don't want to be having to backtrack and scan every wall just because you are hard stuck at one spot.

The combat and controls feel really good sans the screw attack which is way too temperamental. I felt that I could circumnavigate my way around the areas with ease and that the enemies were legitimately tense to fight.

Overall, I enjoyed the game a lot and have a lot of respect for it, just can't say it is my favourite in the series.