Loved the haunting aesthetic, made more terrifying by the adoption of the PS1 art style which just added an integral layer to what makes this game so frightening. It reminded me quite a bit of the old "haunted" video game essays that used to come out of Nexpo.

It can be a little janky, but I feel like it adds to the charm, staying true to form given what the game is trying to go for in terms of being inspired by the fifth generation of gaming. Solid direction, very eerie and macabre in it's execution. One of the better walking simulators I've played and a very solid indie game I'm surprised hasn't been talked about as much. Would like to see more from this studio.

One of the sequels in gaming I was pretty eager to get into, it initially looked miles better than the first and seemed as if it's writing was a lot more competent, too and people seem to praise this one over it's predecessor.

Going into it, I definitely felt as if I enjoyed it more. The gameplay was an improvement and in certain aspects it graphically surpassed Fallen Order and I also felt as if I enjoyed Cal Kestis as a character a little bit more. Unfortunately, the game would start to slowly lose it's touch and it ended up almost feeling like a chore to finish.

I think a persisting problem remains with these games and it's the tedious platforming and often times lackluster navigation. I probably got lost in areas more time than I did doing much with the combat. The navigation also drips into tedious platforming which more times than not would lead to me dying under stupid conditions. And while in bursts, the combat is much better, I also felt like it was a little too easy in comparison to Fallen Order. A lot of the bosses here were just way too piss easy save for maybe three in a 30 hour game. While they were still fun, it just felt like the game had lost it's difficulty edge. And while, yes, the platforming was tedious at times I still felt some sort of enjoyment out of it regardless. There was a specific sequence on Jedha with Merrin that was really fun, but I also felt had been let down a little by the fact that there was not much control over Cal using a certain ability that felt more like it was half cinematic and half gameplay, which was a little jarring.

Performance wise, I did not have the greatest time. The game is still very unpolished on the PS5 port. There were so many texture issues no matter whether I used quality or performance mode. Tons of immersion breaking bugs still persist, such as Greez / Bode / Merrin t-posing in the Mantis cockpit, falling through the map on Fractured Endurance, textures popping in too late resulting in low poly environments, cutscenes jarringly running at 30fps opposed to the gameplay and not even looking good enough to justify such a change and even just generally what looked like weird chromatic aberration at times that affected Assassin's Creed Mirage as well. A tad bit of nitpicking at this point, but the hair effects were also pretty goofy at times, specifically on Cal. Albeit these issues do arise for me at a time where my brain is kind of in a fight or flight mode because of certain personal issues that makes me judge things a little unfairly and harshly, I still feel as if I'd have the same issues if that were not the case.

Now, for me, I didn't really see the first game as some masterpiece-like, crafted narrative that did as much innovative things as the Metal Gear series, The Last of Us or even Alan Wake, but it was mildly pretty solid for what it was. It was a solid Star Wars story, one of the few (especially in recent years) that felt like it did justice to the universe's lore and worldbuilding thereafter. Going into Survivor for the first time, it felt as if this trend persisted but after a short while, personally, it started to feel a little bland. I felt as if Dagan wasn't nearly as large of a threat as he could have been, the story hinged on the same idea for too long and it definitely overstayed it's welcome for me. I kept expecting some big twist to happen, akin to Fallen Order, which would up the stakes a little bit more but that didn't really seem to happen. Although, I give credit to the twist that occured on Jedha and the consequences that befall the characters because of it, but it maybe felt just a tad bit... shoehorned in? When it comes to Boda, I kind of already deducted from the get-go, literally as soon as he is introduced to the player, that this guy wasn't good news. I saw the twist coming about 20 hours before it did and so when it actually happened it felt very weightless to me and as if it was done just to give the story actual stakes and consequences that it wasn't presenting before which in turn also made it feel like a very rushed ending. So, structurally, I wasn't a fan of the narrative, even if there were moments I did mildly enjoy, I feel like it could have been polished and fleshed out a lot better than it was, unfortunately.

That's not to say I think that this is a bad game by any means. It was enjoyable and was, for a time, a nice escape and change of pace. Some sequels aren't always going to top what came before and very few of them end up being even good. What I can say about this one was that it was decent at best and that I really wish I had enjoyed it more. I suspect on another playthrough, with a clearer mind, this might be the case but, for now... I think I'll give the Star Wars franchise another rest on the top shelf.

Peak DLC, peak remake of a DLC and great extended gameplay. Focuses more on the combat than it does narrative, but it's really satisfying. Pretty much as great as the base game but with added mechanics such as the grapple hook adding another layer of perfection to the gameplay. Loved Ada here more than in the base game, Luis was also really great, too. Awesome boss fights and it includes the bits of the original game that were removed from the base game in the remake, though I don't think I enjoyed the Pesanta boss fight as much as I did in the original.

Also, RIP to my boy the Merchant, hope he made it off the island. 😔

A superb revisit to a timeless classic, made even better in it's gameplay and story execution, albeit both versions of the games having their fair share of pros and cons.

This remake effortlessly dethrones Resident Evil 2 (2019) and became my favourite game in the series by itself. Everything is so well crafted and paid attention to in it's faithfulness to the original at the same time, it was a priceless experience and I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it.

The gameplay is such a dopamine trip, it never gets old and left me wanting even more (thank god for The Mercenaries and Separate Ways), the memes about this game making you feel like John Wick definitely are not baseless at all because Leon is an absolute fucking-quipping tank, every weapon feels as if it packs a punch with the DualSense in your hands, it's pure satisfaction. What elevates this over the original even more is the shedding of unnecessary jank that made the original a little bit less than perfect for me, obviously excusable for the time it was released, but not at all excusable by today's standards, it makes sense to remove certain sections and mechanics. Ashley's AI was also improved on to the point where for the first time in a game since maybe The Last of Us series (and RE5) I wasn't spending half of the game stressing and being completely pissed off over how braindead the companion AI was. I think 95% of my game over screens in the original was because of tedious AI and unfair timeframe windows that made Ashley constantly get kidnapped. I think my overall favourite addition to the remake was the extended ability to parry. Sure, this was possible in the original, but not nearly to the extent it was used here. The Krauser boss fights were super entertaining because of the parry mechanic, feeling like a boss fight straight out of the Metal Gear series. Parrying ganados' attacks, chainsaws and flying axes was super satisfying and even cooler when you got to roundhouse kick the fuck out of some poor motherfucker who had the misfortune of not catching me off guard.

Resident Evil has never really been a series strong on it's storytelling, at least in my opinion. With every Resident Evil so far with the very, very close exception of the OG RE4 and RE5, the stories were basically nothing and the gameplay always reigned supreme (I've only played up to Revelations at this point.) They really left more to be desired given how intricate the worldbuilding itself is, almost screaming for some complex Metal Gear level storytelling, but it was always missing. Basically what I'm saying is, this specific version of Resident Evil 4 broke that trend. While not as heavy as Metal Gear or maybe most games with heavy narratives, such as Alan Wake II, it definitely brought to the table what I felt this series was missing. I really enjoyed the story, of course despite already knowing how it played out, but I felt as if it was just written so much better. So many of the characters, including Leon himself, were instantly more likable, relatable and easy to symapthise with. I absolutely loved this game's version of Ashley, Luis and Ramon Salazar, even if I felt like a large portion of the radio calls between Leon and the baddies was missing. The conflict between Leon and Krauser was a lot easier for me to get into, something about their story felt very similar to certain Metal Gear characters.

Really, my only issue with this game was the yellow paint on almost everything. I'm sure you can turn it off, I wish it wasn't on by default though. I didn't really bother to configure the settings too much outside of enabling hair strands and experimenting with the OG and remake SFX for a bit. I'm not really against the trend, I think accessibility for games is absolutely an overdue aspect that is gladly getting more attention as of recent, but it felt a bit ridiculous at times.

if I were to give this a direct comparison to the original, I would say the pros outweigh the cons. This game proves itself to be the definitive, modern experience of Resident Evil 4, but it's very hard for me to just dismiss the original. I think in ways this is a better game, for sure, but it also feels like I am doing a mild disservice to what came before, so I'll just say that I love both versions of this game, with a lean towards this one. It's a great game, perhaps the best remake ever, and I keep saying this with certain remakes, but this one definitely takes the cake.

Almost awful gameplay accompanied by a less than interesting narrative that makes the first game look like an undisputed masterpiece. While I had my issues with Road 96, I overly enjoyed it's narrative, concept and atmosphere, which this game almost completely takes a giant dump on.

I think the conceptual approach is what really breaks this game. The first wasn't that heavy in the gameplay department, whilst taking place mostly in it, it was the almost episodic feel of each new and different adventure that made it feel refreshing and didn't overstay it's welcome. Road 96: Mile 0 completely looses that substance and feels like a single journey stretched out for 7 hours too long. Digixart tries something almost drastically different with tedious platforming that does not bode well for the game overall and serves as an episodic ending to the structure that is not that satisfying at all, hence the tediousness.

Narratively, it didn't gripe me as much as the first at all. What sold me on the original game was the intrigue of mystery, which is obviously completely lost here. If I cared about Zoe in the first game, maybe I would have cared about the narrative here, but Zoe kind of annoyed me initially and annoyed be doubly so here. As for Kaito, I am not familiar with this character at all so there wasn't much to work with. Adam unironically was my favourite character throughout the whole thing, that was how dull everyone else felt to me.

A definite fall from grace, even if the first game wasn't the best either. I honestly have a newfound appreciation for Road 96, though, so I guess this game had at least one positive thing to say about it.

As a New Zealander, I was pretty ecstatic to play this game, there aren't too many games that I know of that are developed in my country aside from Ashen, Path of Exile and apparently the Bloons series, so my enjoyment of this had a little bit of patriotic bias.

Aside from that, it's a very relaxing, slow game that is nice to just chill to. The world isn't too big, it basically is what it says it is, but the atmosphere it presents is quite unique and eerie in it's own way. It definitely has a type of Lovecraftian feel about it whilst also feeling original to itself. It's essentially a fishing game, but with a twist, and probably one of the better ones in the genre. A great debut for an indie developer too, the soundtrack itself was very well done and added to the tone exceptionally well.

Whilst the gameplay can be simplistic, it has a certain level of depth as well. Very few games motivate me to grind, Dredge being the rare exception. Searching for different species of fish to upgrade your boat or even just doing random side quests was often at times more engaging than the overarching questline, which itself was very short, but with the added side content, feels like a complete experience regardless. The art style also constantly draws you back.

Praise for independent kiwi developers aside, on it's own it's a good experience and definitely worth the while.

Master Collection version

Still an amazing experience, even better with an opened third eye and a better understanding of the mechanics. Absolutely deserving of it's praise and it has actually aged pretty well for it's time. I think that there are still some rough edges that needed polishing, and I'm quite excited to see how that is done in the remake. There are a lot of sections of this game that intrigue me to see with fresh eyes in the remake in general, this game is so great that I'm eager to see whether they improve on or fuck it up.

In any case, one of my favourite games of all time. I feel like, even if the story isn't as complex or as much of a mindfuck as Metal Gear Solid 2, it's still pretty solid for what it sets out to be. The narrative does it's job and it's still very emotional, Naked Snake is the best protagonist in the series, better than even Solid Snake, so that also gives this one an edge over it's predecessors and it's successors. For me, it's the best in the series, pending revision once I replay the others.

This was a really solid experience pretty much all-around and was insanely good for the genre of game it comes from.

Going into this, I was pretty skeptical. I'm not that familiar with card games, or even turn-based ones for that matter, so I really wasn't sure at all whether I'd enjoy it or not. Almost pretty much instantly though as soon as I got my hands on the characters and gained control, I was having a really good time. It's actually, surprisingly, a very complex strategy game that combines the turn-based, card elements of the gameplay with a simplified RPG aspect that makes pretty much every faucet of the game really fresh. You can either grind encounters, grind encounters for resources to upgrade your abilities or the currency to tailor your heroes' appearances to your liking or, perhaps one of my favourite parts of the game, literally sit and chat with the roster of heroes.

I really enjoyed trying to get onto the good side of some of my favourite characters and getting to know them (Wolverine, Deadpool, Iron Man, Captain America) as well as doing the most random as fuck activities with them to make them even more powerful in combat. The game has a very unique way of approaching encounters given which heroes you use and certain combinations are a lot better than others, so it's not really just mindlessly picking whoever to take with you nor does the game reward you for not putting effort into upgrades or tools used to give you an advantage. All of those factors actually make the gameplay a lot more satisfying than you'd think, so grinding in this game isn't nearly as draining especially given most of the grinding really is the core of the gameplay outside of the story missions, it didn't feel repetitive at all.

The narrative, although, is pretty subpar. It's not great but it has it's moments and in the end was pretty enjoyable for the most part, I think it was honestly leagues better than Square Enix's attempt at an Avengers game, (I even preferred some of the voice acting.) It get's the job done, basically, as Magik would say. It doesn't outstay it's welcome nor does it try to take itself too seriously, though given whether you have the DLC addition of Deadpool or not, that probably changes things, but overall I think it does a really good job of utilising each character to their fullest, despite Hulk not getting as much screen time as a Midnight Sun at the end.

As said, it's a really solid experience, even more so if you're into Marvel. It's a very fresh, unique take on the franchise in darker waters that has such a great atmosphere and ambience, it's nice seeing the characters in a different light and I'm interested to see where the series goes next with who I can assume to be is Dr. Doom (and the addition of the Fantastic Four.)

Thought this was gonna be mindless fun like it's predecessor, ended up being mindless sludge. Really bad bosses that are basically just glorified button smashers, spamming square is the only mechanic, no puzzles at all required to defeat them like in the previous game. The characters talk to you like an idiot, constantly telling you where to go and what to do, how to solve puzzles and what the mission task is. I get these games are catered towards a younger audience but it drove me absolutely insane.

Basically mindless fun. Classic game in the lego video game franchise, at one point, my favourite, which was dethroned by PotC and Skywalker Saga. The open world isn't too much to froth at the mouth over but it's interesting, especially if you're a fan of the source material. There's a lot of reward to be had in unlocking your favourite characters (Daredevil in my case.)

Overall it's a very relaxing experience with simplistic puzzles and gameplay, a really nice game to just bury your head in and switch off to reality into.

Coming back to this game after so many years was a nostalgic treat and I was surprised how well certain aspects of this game still held up very well, from the visuals to the gameplay and even to the open world itself, it's definitely one of the better games from the 7th generation and a great "remaster" of a timeless classic. However, there were some drawbacks...

Structurally, Red Dead Redemption falls victim to the age old Rockstar syndrome of occasional repetitive mission/story structure pertaining to doing chores endlessly for different characters. Although not as tedious as certain predecessors such as Bully or the classic GTA trilogy, the age still slightly shows in the game design. As to be expected with a 2010 game, too, there were still a bit of jankiness in some of the gameplay control/mechanics. While the horse mechanics are honestly better and more arcadey than Red Dead Redemption II, there was also a sense of tediousness as well, or maybe just RDR2 spoiling me on the responsiveness specifically of being able to u-turn on horseback without my horse constantly heading straightforward and not even slowing down. But, making up for it is the gunplay, which utilised dead eye a little bit more than the sequel in the sense that it almost feels like an absolute necessity in pretty much every gunfight encounter you'll have, which really was a good thing. A nice, fresh, innovative approach to third person shooters, which felt like it took some inspiration from the Max Payne series.

Narratively, first time around, it's really great. The approach of not knowing anything about John Marston or his past or even the general world really sold the story, it kept things mysterious and often the repetitive mission structure reaped rewards of pieces of knowledge you really wanted to get your hands on to better understand John as a character. First playthroughs without any knowledge of the series prior would really make this game and it really did back when it was fresh. Unfortunately for me, I've already played this game and in specific, I've played the sequel at least three times over. The sense of mystery as you can imagine isn't there for me anymore, I'm not really as awestruck about the story as I used to be, it felt a little bit more hollow than anything. I feel like if you played this series in chronological order, went from RDR2 to RDR1, you probably would not enjoy this game as much. The answers would already be there, so a lot of the twists in the story would have zero weight to them so I really beg anyone NOT to play the sequel first because it will most definitely ruin the experience a little. In any case, there were still some really cool moments and some really funny ones too. John Marston is still a great protagonist and a complete badass, I really enjoyed being able to play as him again.

But, what I loved about this game the most wasn't it's gameplay or the narrative but rather the atmosphere and the world in general. For a 7th generation title, I was surprised just how well the open world still holds up. NPCs reacting to things was something I had become so accustomed to with PS4-PS5 titles that I completely forgot that RDR1 was one of the first games to implement this kind of thing. It feels just like real life, it's really immersive. One moment that really got me was not long after I had cheated and been caught in a poker game, I dueled the guy that caught me and won. Few days later, some random NPC said to me "Good to see you're still in one piece after that poker game" and I was really surprised the NPCs were even able to remember what had happened. I also thought in the right light, the game looks visually stunning for it's time, unless I'm mistaking some remaster magic happening.

Red Dead Redemption is still a solid 7th generation game and I think it'll still hold up well for a few more years to come as it does now. Extremely well aged, especially for first timers to the series and it's really interesting seeing how different certain aspects of both games in the series are and how far it has come since 2010. Definitely play this one first.

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast. We can be better."

An insane follow-up to Deliver Us the Moon, excelling above it and having some really interesting, rich storytelling compared to the first.

I think this game blows it's predecessor out of the water. I really enjoyed the first one, I didn't expect much out of this when I heard it was coming out and even getting ready to go into it, but it really put into perspective how far this indie developer has come since the first. It's visually stunning, the puzzles aren't as tedious and the story is really well done. It could've been an amazing game if everything was as well executed as these aspects were, but unfortunately I think there's still some things to be improved upon.

While, yes, the puzzles are less tedious, they are also too watered down and a little too far and in-between what was standard in the first. I think they sacrificed a lot of the puzzles for other things, which is fine. Stuff like traversal and the like, which wasn't that bad either, or even exploration which I felt unfortunately wasn't as grandiose as the moon, but still looked visually stunning in comparison. But regardless, given puzzles being somewhat the main precipice of the gameplay in this series, it under delivered and felt a little lazy. They were good puzzles, but there's only two puzzle mechanics and one of them (encrypted holograms) were kind of a chore after awhile, but the holograms themselves were worth it at least.

Which brings me to the narrative, something I surprisingly really enjoyed. The first was presented well, but there just wasn't much going on in the way of stuff like voice acting or even character moments, there were holograms still where the story was told, but I didn't feel connected to the actual character you were playing as until the end. Here, I really enjoyed the voice acting and how the story developed, I almost didn't want it to end because how could I ever want to leave space? 😭 Without spoiling though, there were some really wholesome, depressing and heartfelt moments, so the story was really worth the while, even if the character models looked a bit off at times (excusable given the caliber of game this is.)

Overall, a really solid sequel, a step up from it's predecessor in almost everyway and I'm really interested to see if the story gets a continuation or not.

"The trouble with wanting something is the fear of losing it, or never getting it. The thought makes you weak."

God, this turned out to be such a relatable game and also a great follow up to the original Max Payne. It had been years that I had been familiar with the first game, it was the first game I ever played as a kid and I eventually went back to it, enjoyed it and had a sense of nostalgic bias for it. It made me fall in love with Sam Lake as a writer and an industry icon. I had heard from certain corners of the internet that it's sequel was a "fall from grace" and quite literally "the fall of Max Payne," but having played it now... where were they even coming from?

It goes above and beyond what the first did, the narrative is much more hard-hitting, the gameplay is an insane improvement over the first and the style is so refined that it's very easy to notice the birth of Remedy's signature in gaming. Fragmented answers, mind fuckery and some ambitious level design that would go on to solidify Remedy's identity.

I think that, overall, this is a very important shooter, a milestone in the third-person shooter genre. While sometimes bullet time can be a broken mechanic and some of the design choices are a bit questionable, I think that for it's time it was ahead of it's time. The ragdoll physics are really good, Max Payne feels even more unstoppable than in the first, the weapon selection is pretty good and the atmosphere is genuinely amazing. The world feels so lived in, the NPCs have these long conversations that seem never ending that really adds depth to the world and the dialogue is genuinely really good when it comes to the NPCs and of course, the overall writing. Payne is still as dark, gritty and serious as he was in the first, reciting things in metaphors never gets old. I don't know if I can even go back to the original Max Payne, even when I had nostalgic bias for it, Max Payne 2 just completely dethroned it in every aspect.

A great sequel, something Sam Lake seems to have a knack for considering how good Alan Wake II turned out to be, and this marks probably the last Remedy game I will be able to play for awhile so I'm really hoping that Control 2 holds out this insane trend of Sam Lake and sequels.

A really nice callback to classic Doom while also being it's own thing and incredibly artistic with it's retro art style. It's a little bit hard to follow what's happening sometimes, narratively, and the ending was very anti-climatic literally ending with a shortly paragraphed text, but this is how most of the story is explained to the best of it's ability anyways.

I really enjoyed the first half of this game, it was a little repetitive in areas I guess, but the enemy types weren't all that bad. I got annoyed in the second half, it felt like the game should have ended already and was really dragging out pulling me into a different dimension with the worst bits of the game but I liked how it kind of went back to form at the end and the final level was like a test of your ability which was really fun.

I liked it, but I don't have much to say about it, because it is what it is from start to finish. It tries to make things feel different and becomes more of an annoyance than a breath of fresh air.