"Krauser... What happened to you? You used to be a good guy..."

I've played through this maybe eight times in my life, and I still find it miraculous how well Mikami and co. transferred Resident Evil's 'stop-and-pop' shooting into the 21st century. This is one of the rare games that gives me that indescribable feeling of synergy between player character and controller. It feels so... right to hold down R, aim with the left stick, line up a shot, and press the face button to shoot. They figured out a way to make every bullet matter in a traditional survival-horror sense, while also empowering you with total, tactical control.

But with so many hours put into a game there's a sense of comfortable familiarity here, practically to the point where I found this run mostly non-challenging. I think I died like, three times. This fortunately led to some new insight, though. I used to dread the Ashley escort missions, but this time I found that her sequences added some hectic unpredictability to my regular, breezy encounters. Contrarily, the environmental variety feels stiffer than I recall. The castle is a little long in the tooth, and the island is mostly a miss: an odd mish-mash of half-puzzles and ideas.

The shooting mechanics ultimately overrule it all. Throw in Leon quips, funny-scary antagonists and an inventory management system that massages the OCD-tendencies in my brain, and I'll probably play this another eight times in my life.

Voyeuristic thrills flat-line once you start digging into the actual conversations here. The characters text as if they know their messages will be read by a stranger, and almost every piece of software on this lost phone is perfectly placed to guide you through somewhat contrived puzzles. My main complaint is that the phone could stand to feel a little more real: one-word reminders in a notes app, embarrassing twitter drafts, inside jokes between friends that you simply won't understand because you shouldn't, homepage screenshots taken by accident. There's so much potential here for the 'phone' to feel genuine and this person's story more meaningful because of it.

But it still kinda works. You discover this person's truth, empathize with them, and even contribute to their story. It's all mostly touching, and there's probably a larger statement being made here about how our phones slowly become tiny versions of ourselves. I'd love to see an extension of this idea executed more organically, but I'd still recommend this as a 90-minute palette cleanser.

I AM DEAD is a game about ‘slicing’ through the belongings of the deceased in order to understand their lives. Imagine a point-n-click with x-ray analysis.

There is quite a bit to love here: the art and music are cute, the memories of the dead are personal and touching, and the musings on how we leave behind a part of ourselves in the objects we choose to carry are powerful.

The game simply meandered too much for me to be properly moved by it, though. The short runtime prevents the formula from stagnating too much, but after examining one person’s life, I knew exactly what to expect for the rest of the game. It almost feels like a ‘spot the difference’ examination over and over again, which I could forgive if the overarching narrative landed with a stronger message. Instead, you’re left with some sickly sweet dialogue that doesn’t say anything nearly as interesting as the super interpersonal stories and memories of the dead you encounter throughout.