wow! this DLC single-handedly fixes most of my problems with BioShock Infinite's boring gameplay and manages to have neat level design, fun stealth, meaningful gameplay choices, and the sense of fear/horror the game needed! I sure do hope the ending doesn't act as a slap in the face to anyone who liked Infinite's story and doesn't accidentally make BioShock 1's plot worse, over-complicated, and filled with jarring plot hole-

oh. oh no.

imma just consider Burial at Sea to be poorly written fanfiction connecting 1 and Infinite because that's ultimately what it is.
#BioShock2Sweep

I am NOT kidding in the slightest when I argue that this is the most creative game I've EVER played in my life. It starts out as a little Zelda Dark Souls thing, but you don't know how to play? It just drops you in? What? And you can't understand the language? huh?? And then slowly but surely, Tunic reveals its hand to you, leading you inch by inch deeper into its secrets.

Every level and dungeon is so intricately designed. THE GAME MANUAL that you slowly find page-by-page is SOOO MIND-BLOWINGLY COOL. The fact that the developers created an ENTIRE FICTIONAL LANGUAGE just to recreate the feeling of playing NES Zelda as a child and not knowing how to read is INSANE. Slowly learning about features or mechanics that have been available the entire time genuinely made me FLIP OUT AT THE SCREEN.

And that's not even mentioning the crazy difficult but immensely satisfying bosses, the mind-boggling meta endgame puzzles, the LUDICROUS puzzles and hints and secrets that the community took years to track down, the GORGEOUS soundtrack I'm going to constantly be playing on loop, the (i am being fully serious right now) disturbing and shocking story revelations, the WILD speedrunning skips, or how even things like the CAMERA PERSPECTIVE get turned into a puzzle. THE CAMERA. THE. CAMERA.

I adore Zelda, but this game single-handedly goes out of its way to push more creative boundaries than Zelda has done in its ENTIRE existence. The only thing holding it back for me are a few stupidly hard puzzles and basically everything in the "true ending" path being obtuse as hell...I felt so guilty using a guide for some of that. BUT DESPITE THAT! It's so endlessly imaginative and EXACTLY the kind of thing I want developers to make. I'm probably gonna be thinking about this title for the rest of my life! And I played this for free?? FOR FREE? ON GAME PASS???

PLEASE PLAY THIS GAME. IT'S SO GOOD. I AM NOT THE SAME PERSON I WAS BEFORE TUNIC.

I do not envy the position of Metroid's developers after Super Metroid's release. How the hell do you possibly follow up one of the greatest video games of all time, a title so monumentally original and smart that it kickstarted an entire genre of games unto itself? With Fusion, they sook to flip Metroid on its head, creating a linear, cinematic, and railroaded experience. It was a little clunky but for the GBA it was easily the best solution. But how about the Nintendo Switch? What do you do when it's been 20 years since the last purely original title in the 2D entries and you have to bring this relatively obscure series to the limelight? Why, you simply mix the best of Super and Fusion.

The perfect balance of massively labyrinthine while linear to a T. The purification of the Dread (heh) and fear of Fusion's chase segments. The always-rewarding sense of item collection and expansive movement sandbox that Super had. Plus, to top it all off, the most BADASS presentation of Samus we've EVER had. OH AND ALSO, easily the hardest game in the series so far, because why not :P

Samus Returns wasn't anything to write home about but Mercury Steam COMPLETELY blew me away with this love letter to the franchise. They not only successfully showed that 2D AAA games CAN and SHOULD remain relevant this far into the 3D game sphere, but they also created the perfect end to this five-game narrative that Samus Aran has journeyed through. Sure, the level theming is kinda boring and the music genuinely sounds AI-generated, but does that even matter when the rest of the game goes so hard?? I'm so happy I played through these five titles and finally experienced this series that I've been SLEEPING ON for so long. MOVE OVER XENOBLADE, METROID IS MY NEW FAVORITE NINTENDO SERIES. LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Edit: ok fine i brought it down half a star because the areas' visual designs stink, the soundtrack is a complete joke, and i can't remember a single area from this game a few months later. it still ROCKS to play, tho.

Before the finale, I thought this campaign was tediously slow, bloated with exposition, and had an awful problem with pacing / padding with regards to the Community feature. But after the finale...I don't think any of those critiques matter anymore.

It's kind of crazy how much Torna improves upon the base game:
- it streamlines and focuses the battle system, always ensuring you have the tools available to its systems without requiring knowledge of proper builds.
- the driver + blade duo is actually emphasized in battle, making their bonds way more explicit, fun to use, and makes the themes' execution within the story better too.
- gorgeous music as always, but now JAZZY
- massive + fun titans to explore without any odd roadblocks

But they couldn't stop there. They also retroactively made certain characters and ESPECIALLY certain moments from the base game so much more powerful or emotional. They created one of the most devastating final 30 minutes a JRPG like this could pull off. Hell, I even think that the decision to do all those sidequests was accidentally genius, because it led to so many more small character moments...along with giving you more things it can take away from you with its ending.

And honestly, it just makes Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as a whole better thanks to this context & backstory existing! WHAT AN EXPANSION. If only more DLC could be like this.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S, SAMUS

I'm 100% convinced everyone who considers this one of the best games of all times forgot to play the Phazon Mines. THOSE WERE TERRIBLE. OH, and the bosses too.

But otherwise a very great game :). I honestly can't believe I waited from freshman year of high school to play this!...but 6 & 1/2 years later it still was a banger so oh well

I love cinema. I love games! I don't love overtly cinematic games! I think a decent chunk of the AAA game industry, particularly Sony's studios these days, has leaned so far into this style that it's really limited their potential. Games shouldn't try to copy film; they should take advantage of games as a medium and use their interactive nature to enhance an experience rather than copying an existing format. With all that said, surely I'd think this is an overrated albeit good game, right? It's not exactly filled with depth, it has tons of slow walking and ladder "puzzles", and the exploration isn't exactly thrilling either. But, despite ALL of my feelings about this, I can't deny one essential fact.

This was an emotional experience that I have never felt before within the medium of games.

As much as the Uncharted series can pull off balls-to-the-walls action and make sure you have a blast, The Last of Us barrels into the far opposite direction. Games are "supposed" to be fun, but I'd argue this is the most powerful example of how games as a medium can explore other areas of your psyche. The tension, fear, and eventually calm relief you feel before and after every enemy encounter never ends. The bond you grow with your new daughter only grows stronger with every narrow escape or cute moment that can somehow come out of this desolate hellscape. The overwhelming peace as you and her look out into the landscape ahead of you, beautiful and serene despite the dangers you both know lie hiding.

There isn't anything super special about The Last of Us 10 years after it released. In 2013 I could easily see an argument made for it being one of the greatest games of all time, but the landscape has changed a bit since then, and its downsides have started to reveal themselves more too. But even then...does any of that matter? There are so many nitpicks and problems I can have but none of that even matters when my experience with this title was so unique. I think this might be experienced best as a story in the HBO show (which I haven't seen yet) but there's something not even Pedro Pascal can provide: Ellie is in YOUR care. It's YOUR job to keep her safe. The remaining scraps of humanity in this broken world, the last of US, need her to save us all. But in the end...who needs her more? The world...or you?

HOT TAKE OF THE CENTURY - METROID PRIME 2 IS JUST AS GOOD AS THE FIRST ONE.

Now granted - this is assuming some stuff about the way you're playing. There's three pretty massive issues that can stop plenty of people from enjoying this one.

1) AWFUL save placement in Agon Wastes - I just used save states during that part, but if you don't use them this is probably so much more painful.
2) Dark World draining your health - Don't wait until your health is all the way back up!! There's health pickups everywhere!! Don't be a coward!!
3) Both starting areas are pretty gray - If you can't have me at my Temple Grounds, you don't deserve me at my Sanctuary Fortress. 😙

But aside from the above? My GOD I loved this game. There's so many little improvements from the first.

Big open rooms that make the planet feel less claustrophobic, while still keeping things tight and tense when the devs want to mix things up. Dramatically more unique area theming, meaning you get way more than just the "ice area" or "lava area" of Prime 1. World design that uses ESPECIALLY creative vertical and interconnected maps compared to the "hallway" approach of the first game. Different beams that actually require some on-the-fly strategy to mess with. World progression that's convenient to navigate AND avoids having the solution be a room you forgot about on the opposite side of the planet (most of the time). Tons more focus on kinetic movement! Making Samus feel so much more powerful at the end compared to the start!! The Dark World genuinely making you feel powerless and spooked!! Actually fun bosses!!! (most of the time).

Even the ability to use mouse and keyboard on PrimeHack was such an improvement for my overall immersion...I wish I could use this control scheme for the first game's remaster. It's SO good.

I think there's some totally fair points against Echoes, like the Dark World's areas totally blending together, dimension hopping being fairly underbaked, the love-it-or-hate-it implementation of Zelda elements, and some pretty tanky enemies here and there. I also can't ignore the fact that emulation and some minor cheats - like automatically skipping the world transition cutscenes - definitely impacted my time with it, and in a more "vanilla" play-through I probably would be much more annoyed.

But even with those in mind...I still think Echoes deserves way more love. It's easily the most underrated entry in the Metroid series, and with some minor fixes, it's JUST as fun as the first Prime entry. IMAGINE what this game could look like with an official remaster!!

I'm eating SO good as a new-ish Metroid fan wowwww.