This is like if Danganronpa and Zero Escape had a weird love child, where it has a lot of the charm of Danganronpa and the mystery plot of Zero Escape. But on top of that, it also have the most childish humor of all those games and for me that was fine and right up my alley but I can see it grating for some people.
The main thing stopping the game from being rated higher is I wasn't a fan of the dialogue options at times, it just felt very drawn out, and I wasn't the biggest fan of Somniums, compared to Danganronpa trials and Zero Escape puzzles, its easily the weakest gameplay mechanic of the three.

Hilarious end credits scene lmao

Just finished playing on the moral route and really really enjoyed playing. I do have a few nitpicks I want to get out of the way as I'd like to end the review with the good stuff as its sometimes easy to focus on negatives.

Cons:
So for the stuff I didn't like, its not a long list but its a list nonetheless. My first grip is while it is a visual novel and marketed as such, it does feel a bit excessive at times. The writers must be a big fan of "the rule of 3" because a lot of stuff happens in threes, meaning you kinda go through the same motions back to back to back and that can get a bit stale after a while.
Another gripe is I do wish there was a bit more difficulty in the combat sections, I didn't lose a fight until the first time you fight a Mega level boss and even then I was more so just caught off guard because until that point I was just on auto pilot, and to my knowledge NG+ does not increase boss difficulty so thats kinda disappointing.
Minor nitpick as this stuff doesn't really bother me but I know it will for some, but as the game progresses it does get a bit sloppy with some mistranslation issues. Nothing game-breaking but you'll definitely notice it a few times.

Pros:
Probably the best looking visual novel I have played, its very comparable to Danganronpa v3 for me as to which looks better, V3 has more sense of style but Survive just looks so clean and crisp.
While the plot can be somewhat predictable at times, thats not always a bad thing as often times it did what I expected it to do, but in a very extreme/unexpected way and that lead to some jaw drop moments. It also parallels the original Digimon Adventure anime a bit so thats nice nostalgia for old fans and something new for new fans.
I liked pretty much every character and they all have enough personality that anyone playing will surely be able to have a favorite and two and be able to dig into their backstory. I also really loved how the digimon partners were also given distinct personalities, excellent touch that can often be overlooked in Digimon games.

Will I play NG+? I'm not sure, as of right now I am leaning towards no, I was happy enough with my ending and playthrough and from what I have heard, NG+ doesn't do enough for me to justify playing it but I think that will depend on what ending you get on your first playthrough and how much you want to see the true ending.

Overall thoughts: If you aren't put off by visual novels and enjoy digimon in any sense or want to give digimon a try, I definitely recommend Digimon Survive. It looks good, has an interesting plot with fun characters and has very accessible, if slightly easy, SRPG gameplay to break up the sometimes heavy plot.

Breath of the wild is a fun open world game that if it manages to charm you and engage you with its world I can see why you would absolutely adore this game. If you become invested in the game there is a lot of different content to keep you busy and occupied while you explore Hyrule.

However, this only applies if you become invested. If you are one of the seemingly few people not memorised by the game, the flaws start to show and unfortunately that's what happened to me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my time with the game and I'm glad I gave it another chance, because now I understand a bit better why so many people love this game. Did I end up loving it? No but that's ok, I don't have to love it to understand why others do. There are merits to the game that just didn't click for me. I think a large part of it was the hype, when so many people and outlets praise this as almost the holy grail of modern gaming, that's a high bar to surpass and it's why I am fairly nitpicky in my gripe list as I expected a much more polished and refined game due to this unfair hype.
Gripes/QoL requests:
-Back flip dodge is bad with camera controls, a dodge roll would work better
-Exploration isn't as rewarding as it should be due to most rewards being a sword or a bow that will just break if you use it or collect dust if you don't.
-Not all shrines are created equal, I think rather than having health/stamina tied to shrine completion, you can cut back on shrines and have the upgrading orbs just littered around the map as rewards for exploring
-A lot of the side quests are woefully uninspired and just generic fetch quests
-Fuck the stealth segments and also the blue fire torch segments
-I understand you are supposed to feel weak starting off and progressively get stronger but it didn't feel as well done as I would have liked, maybe Elden Ring spoiled me with that
-Better instructions on some aspects of cooking would be nice as I'm still clueless as what some items were supposed to be used for
-Stop weapons from breaking. If you don't want people using the same stuff over and over then add stats and stat decay. Weapons not breaking also fixes part of the issue with lack of good exploration rewards.
-Test of strength shrines should have had different enemies rather than just the robots
-Going off the beaten path to get to an area rather than follow the "normal" path is punished at times because you miss out on how to get a required item or other info until you backtrack.
-Rain can fuck off
-I think some of the guardians are a bit too aggressive in terms of chasing you down, a bit fucking annoying for something that can one shot you if it hits
- I personally did not enjoy how the story/lore is told through the fragmented memories. It doesn't exactly flow well for me when they can be found in any order.
- I know it's a switch but come on fam, I didn't expect a launch title game to be lagging if I'm in a forest or using statis/magnet power in the rain. Definitely had more lag in areas than it should have and I have concerns for an ambitious sequel running on the same hardware
For me, a lot of that list is what stopped me from truly engaging with the world and the game as I do think it's a game you are meant to soak in for a while, rather than beating it to move onto something else like myself. If you can manage to get invested, I'm sure a majority of the list is something you'll overlook and that's fine also, just not me.

Temtem is a game that has some very good aspects but does not focus enough on them and instead spreads itself too thin trying to be something its not.

The battle system in this game and the tems themselves are very interesting, no battle is a cakewalk but rarely do they ever feel too difficult. This is helped a lot by an excellent level curve and islands being broken up by type to help players learn the new type matchups if coming from other games like Pokemon. The game is also visually pleasing with its simple but effective art style and 3d world.

Unfortunately temtem also tries to be an MMO and this is where it starts to fall apart for me. Firstly I am not a fan of MMOs to begin with so perhaps I am a bit biased but it really does feel like temtem has the worst aspects of MMOs, being poor/uninteresting side quests and overly wordy dialogue, without any of the benefits of a true MMO. The single player campaign also goes on far too long, it took me 50 hours to beat, a monster catching game does not need to be that long imo.

I am interested to see what this team can do next with a bit more focus and clarity on their project and goal. There are no plans to add more temtems/story updates to the game, which is not very MMO like but there is plenty of post game content at the moment for people who are enjoying the game.

If you like previous Arkane studio games, then you will probably enjoy this. I personally don't love how combat feels in their games. The plot for deathloop also didnt grip me much. Honestly the thing that kept me coming back to finish this game was the personal sense of satisfaction from slowly solving the loop and making progress towards lining up all the pieces to break the loop.

Its got a few bugs on pc which caused it to crash twice for me and needed to be alt f4'd two to three times. Overall middle of the road game thats mileage varies on your interest in the combat and story.

Pokemon Infinity is a roughly 8-10 hour playthrough. It's fun, simple, and enjoyable. The plot is nothing special but it's good enough for the short runtime and honestly not a bad premise.

I really liked a lot of the new Mons and forms, but I wish some of them weren't as obscure to get and also that it was better informed in the game what pokemon got new evolutions etc.

The game has various difficulty settings, I played on Normal, which I think is perfect for if you want to nuzlocke. If you don't like nuzlockes but still want a moderate challenge, I'd probably go up a difficulty level.

I think the only "big" downside I can point out for the game is the last 10 minutes. It decides to get weird with the plot and pulls out some questionable tropes and cliches, with the last one being the most questionable and definitely going to annoy a lot of players, but it wasn't a big deal to me, it's just a pokemon game lmao

Glad I replayed this before Ragnorok to get the plot fresh in my mind as I have not played since release and I could only play it once a week back then, so this was a much better experience.

Honestly not much to say here that hasn't already been said by others, its a really good fucking game with engaging combat, interesting characters that grow and evolve as the story progresses, and it still looks visually stunning 5 years later. I only refrain from giving it a 5/5 because I think it lacked diversity in its boss fights, it meanders around in the plot at small periods, and I think the content outside of the main plot is a bit weak and almost filler, might have served better as a more focused narrative experience.

So with that being said, I hope Ragnorok can just improve on those few pieces and so long as its not held back by being cross platform, it'll be a fantastic experience.

Santa Monica studios had probably some of the biggest expectations on their shoulders for this game in recent video game history, and I am delighted to say they have absolutely matched and exceeded all my expectations.

This game is a step up in every sense from its 2018 predecessor. The combats improved and refined, enemy types and boss battles are varied, the story has bigger beats and more emotional moment, the graphics are pristine and it all runs with hardly a hiccup.

There is so much more detail about this game that I could go into but I don't think its really needed. I think the only thing I want to touch on is the story, but I will remain spoiler free. This games story obviously has to be on a much larger scale than the original, in order to wrap up the duology story. I think that hurts this game just a smidge in the story department compared to 2018 as that had such a small but consistent and tight plot thread of spreading the ashes, that sometimes Ragnarok gets a bit lost in its grand epic realm spanning adventure. However, where Ragnaroks story shines over 2018 in my opinion, is its emotional beats and overall theme and message. I nearly cried twice during this game, one of them is a bit of a cheap cry but still, I can count on one hand the amount of games that made me tear up. And there are moments of complete shock that are not in the first game bar maybe the reveal of its ending. So while Ragnaroks plot might have slightly lower lows than 2018, I think its highs are much higher.

Is it a flawless game? No, but I don't think any games truly are, it still has far too many chests and random tidbit collectables laying around, its story does feel like it has some minor padding at times, and some of the combat challenges (which are optional) are repetitive and redundant to 100%. But in the grand scheme of things, these are very minor nitpicks of an otherwise masterpiece game and perfect bookend to the Norse story of Kratos and Atreus.

Don't let the 2.5 throw you off, that's a 5/10 and for me, that's a bang average score, not good, not bad, and that's how I feel about Frontiers, it's not good, but it's not bad either. Well, it has aspects that are really good, like a fun core gameplay experience of running fast, but some parts are really bad, like the very repetitive nature of the gameplay, how the story is told, the beta feeling of the game.

Probably worth keeping in mind I'm not a sonic fan, this is my first game so when Sonic references something like his human girlfriend from 06, idk what that means lmao. So those callbacks and fanservice moments didn't do anything for me but that's ok.

I personally didn't really like how the story was told. I think there's an interesting story buried within this game but the amount of cutscenes and how often they happen, just didn't click for me. I also don't like how coy they try to play out the plot for so long and then just expect you to connect all the dots at the every end. I will say though the one story aspect I did like, even though it was underused and not fleshed out enough imo, is the Sage and Eggman connection and how that works out in the ending, I think that could have been a much more interesting payoff if more time was spent on it during the game.

Tbh overall, a lot of my dislike is just that it felt repetitive at times so even if I initially liked the gameplay, after an hour or so I'd be bored cause it's just a loop of finding gears to get keys to get emeralds to fight bosses to move to the next island and do it all over again with little variation in-between. All islands are the exact same, they may visually look a bit different but the grass, sand, and volcanic terrain all plays the exact same. I hate saying this and I hate even more that the developers are open about it, but it really does feel like a beta game that was sent for playtesting and still needs to be tweaked a bit and arrange the pieces better.
Tldr: its a mixed bag that feels like a beta for a potentially really good game. Story is told badly even though it has interesting aspects. Open world is better than cyberspace but it was nice to have a mix even if some cyberspace levels were hell. I don't regret playing it, but I'm glad I got it 50% off.
Weirdly, a lot of thoughts for a 2.5/5 lol

I really wanted this to be good but unfortunately I ended up getting a game that was clearly going to be a game as a service but pivoted once Marvels Avengers bombed.

Theres a lot wrong with the game, the level system, messy UI, crafting materials out the ass, lazy missions, repeated locations, boring story. I think the things that annoy me most are the levels, location, and story. The game is set up on a leveling system, complete missions to get xp to level up. Missions will generally give you a recommended rough estimate on what level to be to tackle that mission, which sounds useful so you don't end up fighting a damage sponge boss, but YOU DO. Boss fights are nearly always 1-3 levels higher than you, regardless of the recommended level for the mission. Then there are the locations in the game. A lot of the game is spent in Gothams map doing general side quests as they pop up but they just repeat the same locations each time. Idk how many times I went to the 8 bit bar or the dock up north. Then theres the plot and oml, I can't believe how dirty they did the Court of Owls. Without getting into specifics, the game has 8 main missions, most of which are split into 2 parts. The Court of Owls stuff mostly happens from mission 2 to mission 6. You could legitimately remove those missions and the overall plot does not change since only the first and last mission seem to actually matter. It wouldn't be so bad if that middle section with the Court was good but its just so generic and bland.

That all being said, the game isn't completely god awful. Its not very long, probably around 15 hours or so depending how much side content you do, and while not as pleasing as Gotham in the Arkham games, I grew to like this design of Gotham City more than I initially did. I don't think the game uses Batman's rouges gallery nearly enough as it should, but the few villains we did get I liked this games take on most of them. I also didn't hate the knights themselves, I only really played as 2 of them but they were fine. Combat itself overall isn't great, it does improve as you get more abilities but not having a counter mechanic really starts to hurt towards the end of the game as you just have to spam dodge roll against so many enemy types. Speaking of, it does also do a decent job of introducing different enemy types throughout the game.

Overall, unless you plan to play this co-op or something, I'd just advise you play one of the Arkham games, they are all better than this.

Idk how to really format my thoughts on midnight suns, I think my brain is a bit mushed rn but I'll try. Basically it boils down to a fun enough card strategy system that's surrounded by bloat.

The characters are all fairly one dimensional, any sort of development most of them get isn't actually development and is just a reference to a comic run they were in. Out of the cast of like 15 or so
heroes, I'd argue at most that 3 get any sort of relevant development, and even then it's mostly just plot relevant rather than character based.

It also has just so much bloated dialogue. I know a lot of reviews talk about how cringe or quippy it is but eventually you can look past that, it's the fact that it takes them 10 sentences to say something they could have said in 2. So often I'd find myself just skipping through the social stuff cause 1) the personalities are nearly all the same or just a rehash of a select few, and 2) it just fucking drags, it's the bulk of the 60 hour playthrough, it's legitimately like 20 in combat, 40 listening to dialogue.

The combat is what holds the game together and seeing it's the xcom team maybe I shouldn't be surprised. While there's little personality to the heroes in their dialogue, their moves and abilities in battle actually do match their skillsets. Spiderman can string together web attacks, Captain Marvel can go Binary for a boost, Blade can bleed enemies to weaken over time etc. It is genuinely quite fun to just do some missions and listen to a podcast in the background.

Overall, it's fine. If you like marvel and strategy games, get this on a discount and just skip through the dialogue. You can pay attention to the plot cutscenes if you want but tbh it's just set pieces strung together, and the ending made no sense to me, maybe I was too focused on a podcast lol.

Disco Elysium is a political satire murder mystery visual novel with strong writing, excellent voice acting, rpg elements, and some minor flaws.

I'll start with the positives. As mentioned, the game is very well written, which is great because there is a lot of text in this game lol. Characters are given distinct personalities through their dialogue and their voice acting, even those that are cliches are still implemented well and feel at home in this games fictional war torn city. If I had any critique of the writing it would be that at times, it felt a bit prone to over explaining various historical events and the various fictional races and locations of this games world. This may be due to my build skewing towards an intellectual so my encyclopedia stat was quite high.

While on the topic of stats, the game differs itself from other visual novel experiences by having an rpg element, where as you level up through completing task for the locals and for your overall case, you can invest points into various elements such as Intellect, Psyche, Physique and Motorics, and each of those has six different skills you can increase. These skills will impact your ability to pass various rng checks to help discover more about the world and the case at hand. At first this system can seem overwhelming and you will worry about your build but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't change the end result, just the journey of how you got there, which I like as it doesn't punish you for a "bad" build.

Finally, my only other main gripe that prevents this from getting a higher score would be the reveal of the killer. Without going into any specifics or spoilers, it personally did not satisfy me and thats a let down in a murder solving game. Also I hate that they implemented fast travel but made it so awkward to use in a game that can involve a lot of back and forth walking for various side quests grrr

I played this ahead of the upcoming remake and honestly, I think this game has aged fine. The camera is a bit wonky but it doesn't take long to adapt to. I think the best way to describe re4 is just "cool". Its a cool game, Leon is a cool dude, doing cool shit like kneecapping zombies to them roundhouse kick them into someone else, or surplex them and burst open their head. The game also gives you plenty of tools from handguns to shotguns to smgs etc. It definitely leans more towards action than survival horror compared to its predecessors but it hasn't jumped the shark totally yet.

The plot is fairly simple, you could probably have ripped the plot and villains from a B tier 90s action movie but it works here. Also, anyone who complains about Ashley has to just be bad at the game. I expected an awful time with her due to the hate I had see online prior to playing, but its legitimately just a skill issue lmao