Cyberpunk suffers from having ambition that shoots higher than it achieves, but it's still quite impressive in a lot of respects and shows a promising blueprint for what future titles in the franchise could easily capitalize on if they so desire. I achieved 100% (or, rather, as close to 100% as you can get with a singular lifepath, I chose Nomad), and I had fun with almost all of the 140 hours that I played, only having a small dip in enjoyment near the middle of the game that a few months of break did much to alleviate. I got every ending, including a secret ending, and really enjoyed myself.

Fans of modern immersive sim games such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution will find much to enjoy here, and honestly most of the complaint about this game is just a frustration with it not having more, which is a bizarre thing to feel after a single playthrough took me about 130 hours, and then another 10 to grab every ending and do a few other lingering tasks. I'm hoping that they use Night City in the same way that the Yakuza series used Kamurocho, giving us content built on top of this as a base. Everything this game does well, it does so exceptionally well that it's absolutely incredible. This game got well-deserved backlash upon release and probably could have used another year or two in the oven, but similarly to MGSV, once you get over the annoyance with the game not delivering on a specific set of hype-based expectations, what you'll find is a very rewarding open world action game with some light RPG elements, fantastic characterization, and pretty solid writing and world-building that will suck you right in for its entire duration. I can't wait to see what the future of Cyberpunk holds. I just hope that CDPR realizes that what they have here is gold and that it's worth continuing to go. I think Cyberpunk 2078, or whatever it ends up being called, has the potential to be one of the greats.

Very worth playing in the middle of Echo, but I'm writing this review considering it as a standalone pilot, and from that perspective, this is nice in that it shows off the characterization and setting, but there's not much to chew on here. As a completionist, I ran through this multiple times even though much of it is just repeating the same content ad nauseum, and that was kind of a grating experience, but it is definitely worth it if you have decided to take the plunge into Echo. Having foreknowledge of the characters and who they become, and questions I was asking myself about how they came to be that way, is what made this worth playing.

I should preface this by explaining that I am a latecomer to this franchise. I picked a copy of the first game with the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion included up in 2006 or so, but I never really played it because the disc I had gotten had a scratch, so my first experience with Baldur's Gate has been with the Enhanced Editions. I started a game about three years ago on my laptop at work (graveyard shift at a hotel), and very recently finished it off and decided I'd follow the road by including this, even though many seem to dislike it.

Coming from Baldur's Gate 1, Siege of Dragonspear feels like a really high quality continuation with a lot of setpieces and moments of charming writing, which wasn't at all what I expected from all of the backlash I've seen. It isn't perfect by any means, but it's a really fun time, and I don't regret having played it whatsoever. I don't have the experience of Baldur's Gate 2 to compare it to, either.

So, that leads me to say that anyone who is coming to the franchise completely fresh: you probably won't hate this. It's a worthy pit stop in your Baldur's Gate journey. Now, onward to 2!

Although it improves upon its predecessor tremendously, the amateur nature of Garten of Banban II's development still overshadows just about everything the game does well despite an ambitious desire clearly poking through the seams. This series is begging for someone with a better directorial sense to take over and really bring it to the fullest potential. That all being said, certain scenes in this are super promising and show that perhaps this could get somewhere if it really wanted to, at least as a spooky experience somewhat like a nightmare.

Naughty Dog's most superb game, with memorable, complex characters in a somewhat basic but still fleshed out post-apocalyptic world that also happens to be pure eyecandy, dazzlingly beautiful is an understatement. This is just about everything I would want a sequel to the first game to be, taking a few gambles that ultimately pay off, but unfortunately is hindered by a feeling of long-windedness through excruciating combat encounters that eventually begin to feel grating despite excellent and very thoughtful game design.