Exploring in this game is a painful and wonderful memory at the same time.

Although the main theme of the game seems a bit dated these days, I really appreciate what the creator was trying to say.

Next move to chulip

I've seen a lot of reviews refer to The Pathless as a 'Journey like' title. I can certainly see the connection as the game's developer Giant Squid was initially formed by ex-ThatGameCompany staff. Their debut title Abzu certainly didn't stray too far from that initial vision creating a short beautiful underwater fantasy title. The Pathless is more than that though, it takes aspects of those types of games and expands it into a much bigger adventure game. In my opinion for both better and worse.

You control a nameless archer trying to end a curse put on an island by the Godslayer corrupting the former animal gods that resided there. Each has it's own domain it rules over you have to cleanse section by section by exploring ruins and solving puzzles before culminating in a fight against the corrupted god at the end.

Exploring around, at least for me was extremely satisfying, though not at first. It has a unique mechanic where you use your bow to shoot at floating talismans by holding R2 which give you a burst of speed and an energy bar allowing you to keep running until it drains. These talismans are everywhere so if you continuously chain your shots you can smoothly sprint across the plains, fields and forests. The talismans when aiming have a bar themselves with two points, a full charge and a half charge. If you let go at the right time at the half way point you perform a 'skill shot' which means you fire faster and get a bigger speed boost. The game doesn't tell you this that I saw though and I found out by looking up trophies. with practice this can become second nature allowing a really smooth movement from location to location.

When not on a flat surface you can jump and grab onto your pet eagle to glide. shooting talismans gliding gives the same speed boost in mid air and a slight lift to keep your momentum going. The eagle can also flap to lift you a set amount up. You only have a certain amount of flaps which grow as you explore. Much of the environment has puzzles that as rewards give gold gems. Collect enough of these gives you another flap which allow you to explore and travel higher faster, getting to more puzzles to unlock more flaps. Though the flaps can take some time to unlock requiring a lot of gems I did enjoy the exploration and reward loop where they tie into each other.

The puzzles are going to be hit and miss depending on how you like your puzzling. I like mine simple enough I don't get frustrated and can work out what to do relatively quickly then spend time actioning which is what you get here. The mechanics are limited though, using your bow to light torches, or bounce arrows from mirrors mixed with using your eagle to carry pots of pull some items is your entire repertoire.

The simple puzzles and smooth traversal is exactly what I wanted. The gorgeous art design of ruins, statues, mountains and skylines accompanied by a stellar soundtrack by Austin Wintery makes playing the Pathless is a beautiful and relaxing experience.

Until it isn't.

Where my enjoyment of The Pathless comes to a screeching halt is everything related to the story. The story itself isn't very good. The Godslayer is just comically evil for no reason I can fathom. He wants to kill the gods and reforge the world for an incredibly vague reason about a path to truth and even hunting through the lore whilst exploring I couldn't see a more in depth reason then he's just a tosser. I can live with this though, it's an established trope to give an antagonist I've seen many times before. Where it really grates me though is the game actively gets in my way of enjoying it by having each corrupted animal god have a red storm in it's area until cleansed. the corrupted god is inside it and the storm moves around sometimes especially when you first enter their domain seems to home in on you. If you go into it you have to do a stealth sequence where it searches for you whilst you try to get to your eagle. If you're caught you can permanently lose some gold gems.

It's awful.

whilst exploring an area I would sometimes have to wait until the storm moved away to avoid it so I could carry on exploring. It actively gets in the way of me enjoying it. Unfortunately the boss fights aren't really much better and just feel like they get in the way as something I had to do. Each one starts with a chase through fields of fire before fighting in an arena with a specific mechanic. The final boss and slight spoilers here, turns into a giant doom demon towering above you like something out of Devil May Cry that's so out of place I couldn't work out if I'd changed games by accident. It was actively comical.

A bit of a shame as the core exploration loop, wonderful vistas and music make for a great experience. Overall it's a fun game and it plays super smooth on the Playstation 5 with an easy platinum to boot. I had a good time with it, I'd recommend it but where the game veers into more adventure territory away from it's origins is where my enjoyment wobbled. Still pretty excited for their next title Swords of the Sea, now that is a Journey like!

+ Movement mechanic is fun and unique.
+ Beautiful art design and use of colours.
+ Wonderful soundtrack with a focus on drums, string and wind instruments.

- Storm sections get in the way of the game being fun.
- Boss fights are intrusive and feel out of place, especially the final boss.
- Story is uninspired.

Sunbreak refines Rise's mechanics with some nice quality-of-life improvements, and swapping out Anime Feudal Japan for Anime Western Fantasy is a nice change-up. There's a bit more emphasis and effort put into the writing, which makes it disappointing that it ultimately takes no risks. Also disappointing that all of the new, interesting mechanics are basically all superfluous because of how damn easy the game is. Still, the monster designs are broadly fantastic, the new areas are fun to explore, and the slight extra emphasis on environmental interactions is sorely appreciated.

The Man Who Erased His Name is about the adventures of...somebody, and of his becoming an agent in the Daidoji group. He even gets a new Agent moveset, which is designed for mob encounters. It feels a little too whacky for this guy's fighting style, summoning like 20 drones at once, gaining jetshoes, explosive cigs...it's a new and unique moveset but it doesn't feel like himself, if you know what I mean. The Agent style will be used a lot, as many fights like to try and put as many grunts that the game can handle in with the boss (or bosses) whenever the story allows it. One other issue I have with the combat are the enemy heat attacks, which are all addressed in the same exact way (RB+A even if you are lightyears away) and prevents them from standing out. Probably just a personal thing though, it's still a fun style to use, as is the Yakuza style. Landing an uppercut and then juggling some poor mook into oblivion is always satisfying.

Sotenbori's the main hub this time and they condensed a lot of little missions into this map, so there's always something at every turn! There's also your usual cast of side activities (Karoake, Arcade+Master System, Golf, Pocket Circuit) to do, and even a second area called The Castle for an additional host of them, so even in the shorter story, there's still plenty to do.

The story aims to explain what happened after Kiryu died in Yakuza 6 up until he somehow reappears in Yakuza 7, even though Kiryu doesn't show up at all in this story because he's still dead. It's its own strange little plot that has some pacing issues, going really fast at the start but then slowing down at the middle. It even has some padding that insists you to rank up the Akame Network while waiting for the main plot to get back to you. At the very least, the conclusion is a very powerful one so it's worth the small pacing bumps to get to the end.

The original protagonist of the Yakuza series has had a rough life, and just when you think he is finally free with the introduction of Ichiban as the next face of the franchise, SEGA gets cold feet about changing protags and puts the OG right back front and center. While it was an unnecessary game and I would have rather they dedicated to moving on, I still had a nice time with this title.

feels like i played this alongside my six year old self. we did it lil' buddy, we finally beat the one game we had no chance in hell of finishing without a gamecube memory card

as with sa1, there's really no point in arguing about this series since the detractors have long made up their shitty minds. sa2's an interesting beast though because it manages to excel just as much as its predecessor... in very different ways!

the speed stages are great, albeit nothing like sa1's. maybe you prefer these more linearly driven, setpiece-focused levels, but i might be partial to having a spindash that can blaze me across entire courses in a matter of seconds. i like going places i shouldn't and being rewarded for it. there's some of that here, but it's not nearly the same. that said, there's no city escape or final rush in sa1 so we'll call it a draw

treasure hunting is improved tenfold. i definitely prefer the newly limited radar system (it makes finding shards early super satisfying) and the overall increased difficulty. especially after knuckles' previous story was an absolute cakewalk. rouge is basically knuckles on hard mode and i generally prefer her side more for that. love her music too, though i wish it was more lyrically driven to better contrast knuckles

shooting's a more mixed bag. tails reps one of the best stages but also most of the worst. eggman on the other hand for the most part lives up to gamma's gameplay well enough - especially once he gets his booster. there's def a sense of flow to these that i feel a solid chunk of people don't give deserved credit because they just wanna go fast and grind rails

...which is a sentiment i don't completely identify with because i feel sa2 is more than the sum of its parts. the narrative is genuinely great and actively shifts moods and gameplay styles accordingly. you're always listening to a banger, you're never on the same sort of stage for more than a few minutes at a time - and you're always pushing closer to one of the greatest fuckin' finales you'll ever find in video games. the quality of direction really skyrocketed here. the last episode's preview alone completely solos every single scene in sa1

one strange oddity though: there's a surprising lack of shadow gameplay here. maybe the devs weren't so confident in him as a newcomer and didn't expect him to be such a hit?

if they knew what was good for them, sonic team would've just made a whole ass game where you play as shadow the hedgehog...

EDIT: after careful deliberation (replaying the shit out of everything) i've decided that i have 0 significant issues with this game. i'm not even standing by what i said about the speed stages before. they're all fuckin' fantastic and i think i might actually prefer these to sa1's (granted i need to spend some more time with that game too for confirmation)

on top of all of what i've said - i've still barely scratched the surface of the chao world content and that on its own is pretty impressive for being in an already tightly-packed game to begin with. how the fuck did this get made in two years?

i also learned last night via the extra video that city escape was inspired by sonic team constantly receiving parking tickets while living in san francisco. that's worthy of some merit on its own

and maybe this is cheating to mention since it's largely battle rerelease content, but i don't care: the multiplayer is some of the most fun i've ever had with a 2-player game

you know what - fuck it, 10/10

EDIT 2: got all 180 emblems. basically a perfect game

Persona 3 Reload nails the delicate balance between preserving the essence of the original game while making significant improvements. Atlus succeeded in addressing issues without sacrificing the soul of the game, resulting in an experience that feels fresh yet familiar. While not everything is flawless – the new OST and lighting occasionally fall short compared to the original – the game's visual modernization and gameplay enhancements are commendable. The addition of Linked Episodes enriches character development, making the cast even more endearing. The storytelling, exploring themes of life and death, is poignant and beautifully executed. Despite minor flaws, Persona 3 Reload is a masterpiece that captivates with its engaging gameplay, unforgettable characters, and profound narrative, leaving a lasting impact that few games achieve.

Obviously it's the highest selling Mario Kart, hell, the highest selling Mario game at all, so they must've done something right. Totaling a solid 96 tracks and 50 characters, some even crossing over from different games entirely, there should be a little something for anybody and everybody. I dunno know, though, I just can't get into it as much as I feel like I should.

This is a very clean feeling Mario Kart, almost a little too clean. I guess it's the Double Dash fan in me, but Mario Kart 8 has always felt just a little too smooth for my liking, which sounds like it should be a good thing, but I definitely prefer the more chaotic gameplay of Mario Kart. Although, I can give them credit for this, 200cc does do a pretty good job of fulfilling that wish. Custom items as well to an extent, though that's a bit more on the ridiculous side than hectic. Big difference.

I digress, chaotic or not, MK8D still has some beautiful and vibrant tracks. Electrodrome was, and to this day still is, easily in my top 3 tracks out of the entire series. Mt. Wario is another really fun design and concept, which I'm sure has had its praises sung relentlessly by now. Even the retro selection is pretty damn strong, some remarkable glow-ups given to tracks such as GBA Mario Circuit, GBA Ribbon Road, N64 Rainbow Road, though I do understand the grievances to be had on that last one. Outside of the first page of cups, 8 Deluxe also introduced the Booster Course Pass line of DLCs, which, ah...

Sorry, I hate this concept in its entirety. I understand you have your sweet little mobile game and you need to preserve all of its tracks for when that inevitably shuts down, but I really don't think the way to do it was by adding paid DLC to your Deluxe rendition of your 8 year old game. Yes, I see why they did it, I get it, highest selling game on the Switch, it still just feels stupidly counterintuitive. Not to mention how wildly inconsistent the quality can be. For every GBA Boo Lake, there's a 3DS Toad Circuit. For every Yoshi's Story, there's a GBA Sunset Wilds/Sky Garden sorry i'm a super circuit fan and i will NOT sit idly by and let them curse my beloved tracks.

I won't call it bad, it's very clearly not bad. Good, even. I just don't like the feeling it evokes, which is, uh. Not much. Online works surprisingly well, battle mode is easily better than base MK8. Shoutout Reyn and Quent for the fun times and look forward to their reviews as well, assuming they both write one. If not, then at least look forward to Reyn's.

Ah, another game from my childhood that i forgot ive done everything in! My family went on a lot of ski trips, and while I definitely liked the vibes of going down snowy mountain courses, I certainly wasn't a fan of the actual activity of skiing very much (especially when all my brother and dad wanted to do was go on the fucking-kill-you black diamond courses, those are NOT vibes)

Wii WE ski is a game that seeks to provide the vibe of going on a fun ski trip without any of the actual annoyances of actually skiing, and honestly, the vibe works. There's really no overarching objective outside of various little side missions and unlockables and whatnot, just explore the resort and go down the different ski runs. It's a good time for folks that have a lot of free time to just explore the resort freely and just vibe, and that's definitely the kind of game kid me was hella into. There are even fun little secrets, like the ultra-perilous secret course that can only be accessed by going off the beaten path into the unknown mountainy wilderness. (Which is a lot more fun than actual perilous ski runs since who cares it you die in the virtual world!) It's certainly a good time! Though I guess it's absolutely surpassed by its sequels at this point.

Oh and the ski resort plays music from various namco games like katamari and ridge racer diagetically through the resort speakers, real ski resorts take note