A bit tough to rate compared to Uncharted 2. I think I had a much better and consistent experience playing this one, and the story was far superior. We actually had some themes going on, and it was nice to see them resolved. But there's such amazing stand out moments in Uncharted 2 that it feels larger in my memory.

I think they managed to get the representation right in this one, the foreign people aren't othered, and there's not really mystical things happening aside from a very advanced early civilisation. The main dynamic between Sully and Nate is fantastic, but the Cutter/Nate relationship was extremely bizarre and cut short. I get he was supposed to be a foil, but what the hell? Why were they so close and then post-hypnosis hated each other. Really felt like a missed opportunity there.

Also, this has been the buggiest experience I've had with the games so far. There were endless bugs whenever Nate or an enemy were on stairs. The AI pathing often got caught. About a dozen times a glitch led to a game over. This is all a shame because the gunplay felt more polished and actually fun. The approach to combat still feels restrictive, like the game wants me to do the sandbox in their own way. Also, the puzzles were actually kind of good.

Absurd improvement on the original Uncharted, in basically every area. The writing, level design, gunplay, all far superior here. All in all, it's a fun adventure. The chauvinism feels like more of a choice and less awful to each other.

There are still a lot of frustrating parts, where Nathan just refuses to do what you expect him to do. Puzzles aren't really puzzles, you can figure them out in about three seconds but takes three minutes to put in the answers. The ending couple of chapters are a huge slog, for not a lot of payoff. I enjoyed this game, but I hope it's not the peak of the series that others say it is.

Really incredible game. Can't believe that I've put it off until now.

I remember bouncing off it a couple of years ago, frustrated by the first couple of sections. Later I was vindicated by the Joseph Anderson review which suggested that it could have just been a movie. Having played through it, this is completely wrong. I don't think I would have understood the relationship between the characters watching someone else play it, the linking of gameplay and narrative is amazing.

I increasingly don't really like ultraviolence in games, and this is a beautiful deconstruction of our bloodthirst. The tense action scenes are exhilarating, but what will stick with me is Ellie slowly copying Joel's breathing. The guilt of giving Ellie a gun for the first time. Giraffes.

Returnal is a very polished roguelite which is different, so many in the genre are low-budget indie gems. Though, I think it doesn't work to its favour, it takes away from the charm and simplicity of games like TBOI.

The gameplay is very frenetic and has some nice flow moments, but overall I felt let down. There are a lot of interesting weapons that I wanted to use, but they were all out-performed by the standard assault rifle, even when it was four weapon levels below. The difficulty levels fluctuate pretty wildly, once I beat the first area I beat the rest of act 1 in one play through, and the same thing happened for act 2.

The story was the most disappointing aspect. I love cyclical narratives and a story you can piece together, but there has to be a reason in presenting something in a misleading way. With something like Alan Wake 2, complicated story concepts and themes are revealed in an interesting way and something that could only work in a complex way told. Returnal has a very simple story that is told in a very complex way, so there's no moments of catharsis at the plot reveals. By the end, you keep expecting more but its ancient Greek symbolism falls flat.

Returnal promises a lot with its gameplay and story beats, but doesn't quite follow through it. Still, it is a very playable polished game with inventive sci-fi dressing.