Psychonauts 2 is a flawless sequel in almost every way. It is actually astounding how much this game improves on an interesting but shaky foundation found in the first game.

Sequels in games have the benefit of knowing what works and what doesn't in a concept and can focus on honing in on polish and extension of already established systems and ideas. Now, Psychonauts 2 is a special case where the first one wasn't a hit out of the gate and funding for the sequel was coming in through crowdfunding, which isn't necessarily the best starting position. Now, cut to Microsoft coming in with the big bags and you can really tell how much it must have helped with this game.

The amount of super polished, completely unique spaces in this game is staggering and not only that but even one of my biggest gripes with the first one - the weird, disconnected structure is not only fixed but stands now as an absolute highlight. The story and writing now has tons of mostly new characters to rely on and really flesh out, delivering a surprisingly gripping and incredibly witty narrative full of heart and newlyfound respect to the themes it uses throughout. In comparison the first game really felt superficial and juvenile in its handling of the psychological aspects of the concept, mostly using it for interesting gameplay scenarios, whereas Psychonauts 2 really goes all in committing to telling stories about mental health and trauma that come up naturally with the concept of traversing people's psyches. And it manages this while keeping a sharp sense of humor that projects an aura of almost naive sincerity I have come to appreciate a lot in media.

Now, I said this was an almost flawless sequel and the one big flaw is unfortunately the combat. Even with new upgrades, augmentation pins and general variety of abilities the combat just feels hollow. From the first fight to the last there was never any true feeling of control and satisfaction derived from beating up enemies. The combat system is plagued by awkward cooldowns, annoying ability rebinding, lackluster feedback and a general lack of impact. This is not a combat game, therefore this issue is never elevated to being really problematic, it is just an unfortunate thorn in the side of an otherwise almost perfect adventure.

Norco absolutely rules. One of the best written games I have ever played, feauturing a gorgeously realized and mesmerizing setting so confident in every step that you can't help but be sucked into the fever dream it is presenting. I stopped playing the demo after 10 minutes because I knew immediately that this would be amazing and I am glad I was right. Feels right at home next to a Kentucky Route Zero and Disco Elysium, which completes an interesting trifecta of games to recommend if you have played any one of these.

This was one of my favorite games growing up and upon replaying it, I noticed that it probably played a big part in inspiring me to pursue game development. However, I also came to realize that it didn't age all that well for me apart from the art style, which is still absolutely impeccable. The biggest issue is the combat/the enemies, absolutely draining the flow and feeling completely antithetical to the world building, core gameplay and aesthetic.

The first person freerunning gameplay was absolutely revolutionary at the time but now, 13 years later as many games have taken the template to new directions, feels clunky and way slower than I remembered.

I will still always cherish this game for the nostalgia, vibes and aesthetic, though.

Tales of Arise is a complete JRPG package polished from start to finish unlike many others. The battle system is carried by incredibly varied and fluid animations and playstyles while being hindered by finicky menu management of loadouts of your AI companions, the story is interesting throughout even if it played it a bit too safe in the end and the characters are lovable and have great dynamics... Okay this out of the way, I wanted to talk about something weirdly specific that stood out to me about this game:

The economy of ressources and rewards is amazing. On Normal difficulty I always felt like I was just scraping by in terms of money, right until the point where I was mentally getting ready to wrap up, at which point the tight grip loosened, which was remarkable to me and felt perfectly balanced.
Another aspect of that are the skill points. So you unlock a lot of small skill trees by doing side quests, achieving certain milestones with a character or progressing the main story, but by default regular fights really don't give you that many points to invest. This is where side quests come in, which almost always have a hefty skill point reward in addition to other rewards, which made them absolutely addictive to me, since you could essentially choose your reward and the balance being such that it always felt great to be able to finally afford a new attack or stat bonus or complete a skill tree for the completion bonus. Even when mostly clearing out all the side quests in the game available in the first playthrough I still didn't finish all the skill trees but ended up at a point where I was satisfied with my characters. All that with barely any grinding required. That is honestly an incredible feat and something to be studied for its game design balance and a hook that drew me deeper into the systems of Arise. And this is not even mentioning other rewards like recipes or cosmetics, which I also really enjoyed.

Tales of Arise was my first Tales game as you could probably tell if any of the systems I described are series staples refined over decades, but this game certainly made a great impression and while other entries in the franchise never looked appealing to me, I am definitely keeping an eye out on the future of the series.

The atmosphere, soundtrack, artstyle and world building are all absolutely superb and the combination of gliding and climbing with the BOTW stamina system creates a surprisingly fun loop of just figuring out how to reach certain areas. So why did I stop playing this?

Well, as fun as the climbing is, too often I encountered collision issues where invisible walls would appear in thin air while clearly defined geometry had wrong collision making it not passable. This unfortunately is a pretty big deal in a game build on the promise of allowing you to go anywhere, breaking valuable trust in that regard. The other, almost even bigger issue is the hoverbike. It is super fun to ride around and customize your bike and with a dedicated whistle button you would expect to be able to call your bike to any location you need it in, even if it means that it will teleport in off-screen or something. This is not the case. The whistle basically doesn't work at all unless you essentially already see your bike and even then it is hit or miss due to technical issues. This really broke the experience for me at this point, creating a need to use fast travel to reset the bike, defeating the purpose of soaking in the atmosphere on the rides to different locations.

These are all technical issues, though. I like the underlying game very much. I really hope these issues can be ironed out in the future but until then I wouldn't really recommend the game unless you can put up with these issues.

This is a big leap from Yakuza 3 and for the series as a whole, expanding the cast to four playable characters. It mostly works incredibly well, the characters play and feel distinct and the plot takes away the focus from at this point repetitive clan infighting or foreign threats and instead shines light on different, fresh new players in Kamurocho. It ties back to older entries in the series ambitiously but unfortunately drops the ball hard with incredibly stupid twists and fake outs resulting in a mess of betrayals and feuds that I couldn't care to keep up with in the end. Still, this game has some of my favorite music and combat in the series so far and feels so much better to play than Yakuza 3.

This is a deeply flawed game that doesn't have the game design finesse to truly stick the landing on many of its ambitious goals. It is endlessly repetitive, clunky in its progression and inventory systems and uninspired in its quest design. This version doesn't fix these issues, although the more polished combat certainly helps.

At the end, after Ending E, I have to look back, though, and realize that these 'flaws' and repetition add unique qualities to the experience that are difficult to truly put into words. It is a vibe. It is the familiarity of knowing every corner of every area. Knowing every story beat that follows and mowing through boss fights comfortably. You are forced to linger in these spaces sometimes longer than is comfortable, burning them into your memory. Entering Facade for the first time in Replicant flooded me with nostalgia and comfort for the experience I had with the original.

Time will smooth the rough edges and leave a truly remarkable gaming experience in my memory that shines brightly through its fantastic characters and legendary score.

What a banger. This feels like a blockbuster Metroid game, which sounds weird considering its traditional 2D nature. The perspective is the only thing traditional about this game, though. The controls are buttery smooth, the use of 3D in cinematics and general gameplay adds massive value in cinematography and visual flourishes. This feels like a truly modern Metroid game that finds its place neatly in a genre that has grown many entries surpassing its origins. The cinematic focus and streamlined gameplay suffer one minor casualty, though. The exploration. Metroid Dread is a weirdly linear game that wants you to believe that it is totally open. Once you gain new abilities you obviously want to explore previous areas to make use of them, which almost never works out due to newly placed artificial boundaries like temperature changes, random physical blockades or totally sectioned off areas only accessible from one direction. I was waiting for a fast travel system or something similar to have this issue remedied after finally having some major upgrades, but it never came just like the drive to explore old areas quickly died off because the game clearly wanted to funnel me into a linear experience that still takes you back and forth across all areas, just not on your own terms, which stings a bit. The game makes up for it, though, if you let it and embrace the kind of game it is, which is why I still hold this game in the highest regards. It isn't the best metroidvania, but it might be the best (at least 2D) Metroid.

Really pleasant all around, beautiful environments and a dope soundtrack. This is ultimately a simple platformer with Simon Says mechanics attached if you wanted to break it down.
What elevates this concept though, apart from the aesthetic qualities are the opportunities for player expression which seem subtle in that you can time your notes however you want, but feel actually really nice and the developers did an amazing job at making everything sound and feel great even with mashing of the buttons or super delayed inputs conveying the fantasy of jamming out in these psychedelic space concerts beautifully. Apart from this there are tons of options in character customization, from outlandish hyper-pop inspired outfits to flavour dialogue options that are respected throughout. Normally, this kind of player expression would be a minor detail but here it plays out to be a vital part of the whole package, tying into every aspect of the game.

Still just as exhilarating as it was when I first played it as a teenager on release. With this replay I could finally remedy a big regret of my gaming career: Actually beating the final boss and finishing the game on hard difficulty, which I just couldn't do in 2013, as the difficulty spike was just too brutal.

In the years after its release Rising became a cult classic and with good reason - the game is not only a phenomenal action game with some of the best uses of music in combat but is also infinitely quotable through the narrative in between that doesn't overstay its welcome.

There are definitely some rough edges where the game pulls you away from what the fun part is by introducing various stealth sections to somehow prove that it is a Metal Gear game, I guess. And the weapons and items you get are really not that interesting at the best and annoyingly clunky and useless at the worst, providing some unnecessary fat in an otherwise remarkably lean experience. At the end I don't feel like faulting the game for anything, though. It is so full of character and charm, that it just gets away with it, cementing itself as one of my favorite games of all time.