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DLC: The Ancient Gods Part 1 + 2 (8/10 Hellraiser): Doom Eternal’s DLC provides more of the same great combat with some neat enemy/weapon additions. Both chapters expand the game’s narrative with part two ending the series with the big bad himself, The Dark Lord. I was never the biggest fan of Doom’s storyline, so the expanded universe here was not hugely interesting. I was mainly looking forward to more weapons and enemies to slaughter. Luckily, the DLC pair adds a few new enemies, a new rune addition, and a new sentinel hammer weapon. I will also note that the last two levels in chapter two are fantastic. My most memorable moment has to be witnessing Doom Slayer’s invasion of the capitol of hell itself.

Doom Eternal (10/10 Apocalyptic Masterpiece): Doom Eternal is a masterclass in first person shooting games and a fantastic continuation of 2016’s Doom. Here, the gameplay is elevated to near insanity with constant movement and strategic foresight becoming a necessity in nearly every demonic engagement. My most memorable moment is battling a demonic titan with scores of demons hounding my every move. The demons in Doom have one mission, killing the Doom Slayer. The A.I. is relentless and the action feels hectic and blood pounding. One must use every tool at their disposal to survive and doing so feels rewarding. The gunplay combo system developed for Doom Eternal is excellent. Every weapon has a place, and some are more effective in taking out certain demons. Most demons have specific weaknesses that can be exploited to gain the upper hand in chaotic battles. The dash and climbing/swinging vertical movement abilities are also great and feel necessary. The Doom Slayer can hook shot into a dangerous demon, shoot, double dash out, and double jump up to avoid an otherwise devastating counterattack. The game's levels are massive and gorgeous. Each level contains cinematic set pieces like corpses of massive demons or otherworldly castles and vistas. Further, each level contains challenges like superb slayer gates (a subzone full of demons to slaughter), or purple combat zones (timed kill demon challenges), or hidden secrets, and upgrades. These make the levels even more fun by adding depth in level exploration. Secret hunting is aided by a fantastic map layout that is readable and easy to use. Another great addition is the ability to teleport to any level subzone once one has neared the end of a level. I often cleared an entire level and would teleport around picking up any secrets I missed or fighting any demons I accidently spared. Doom Eternal is riddled with multiple systems that are not overly complex but a bit overwhelming initially. The Doom Slayer can burn enemies to gain armor, chainsaw them to gain ammo, and glory kill (activate a cinematic kill when a demon is close to death) to gain health. The Doom Slayer is allowed one of two mods per weapon unlocking unique firing modes. These mods are found off little robots in the game’s levels. Each mod can be upgraded through arsenal points obtained through clearing demons in levels. The Slayer’s armor can be upgraded with tokens found throughout levels. The Slayer’s health, ammo count, and armor can be upgraded by finding crystals hidden in different levels. The Doom Slayer can equip three runes that provide different perks such as faster glory kills or more control while airborne. The Doom Slayer is also equipped with ice, explosive grenades, and later a crucible blade that can slice through demons. The Doom Slayer also has a massive ship called the Citadel of Doom. Power nodes collected in levels can power up the ship allowing the Doom Slayer access to mod upgrades, armor tokens, and crystals. Initially, I thought these systems felt unnecessary and detracted from the fun gameplay, but in the end every system provides a helpful benefit that was not overly complicated to employ. The game's narrative is not the most interesting thing in the world but honestly it does not matter when the gameplay is so engrossing. Doom Eternal is chaos, blood, and awesome rolled into a first-person shooter.

FF7 Intergrade Review (8/10 Yuffie’s Awesome): This review solely covers the Yuffie DLC. Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade (FF7) includes a 4-5 hour DLC tale covering the Wutai ninja Yuffie Kisagari’s mission in Midgar against the Shinra Corporation. This DLC is fantastic and an excellent extenuation of the gameplay in the base game. The FF7 remake combat overhaul was the best part of the FF7 remake and is the best part of its DLC as well. Combat is smooth, combos are bombastic and powerful, and tactical decision-making is free flowing and fun. Materia slotting and weapon upgrading also work well here. The system allows the player to focus on whatever play style they prefer, whether that be melee combat or magic use. The game’s narrative is broken up in two chapters. Chapter 1 involves Yuffie arriving at Midgar and joining up with the local Wutai affiliated Avalanche branch. Basically, the organization works to undermine the Shinra Corporation that rules over Midgar. This chapter uses many of the same locations and set pieces from the base game. The sector 7 slums are copy and pasted but do include some new fun mini activities. These include the Fort Condor mini game, Ramuh battle, and turtle poster collecting. Initially, I thought I would skip the Fort Condor card game style mini game, but I played through the entire challenge and quite enjoyed it. I also appreciate the fact that the mini game is an homage to the original Final Fantasy 7’s Fort Condor area. The turtle poster collecting is also mindless fun. Chapter 2 involves infiltrating Shinra headquarters, taking on Shinra’s head of weapons development, Scarlet, and fighting the SOLDIER Nero the Sable. I enjoyed facing off against Scarlet and Nero in intense boss battles. Chapter 2 also contains a fun crate destruction based mini game. Achieving the highest score in this mini game requires almost perfect play from Yuffie and is very fun. The DLC’s ending includes an emotional send off with Yuffie suffering loss in the final moments. The emotional beats did not really land for me, but I can appreciate the narrative tale for what it is. Ultimately, FF7 Intergrade is a fantastic DLC that continues much of the base remake’s improvements with some added fun. A good story for Yuffie Kisagari.

Daughters (3/10 Obtuse and Punishing): RE7 Daughters recites the events that occurred the night the Bakers became infected. I did not enjoy this DLC very much. The solutions to almost every scenario are one dimensional. The player must follow a specific path or complete a specific sequence to move on to the next section. Most solutions are obtuse and failure results in a large loading segment while needing to repeat previous steps. My most memorable moment here involved Evaline’s creepy interactions with Zoe. 21 (7/10 Fun and Unfair): RE7 21 is an interesting mini DLC involving a SAW inspired card game with the Baker’s sadistic son Lucas. The game itself is easy to understand and the stakes become increasingly dire as Lucas ups the ante. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. The gameplay has good pacing with an extremely simple gameplay mechanic becoming a little more complex later on with trump cards. Lucas cheating later in the game, initially extremely annoying, adds to the fun. My most memorable moment was calculating ways to win seemingly impossible hands.

Bedroom (8/10 Great): RE7 Bedroom is a fantastic extension of the base game’s puzzle-based Birthday section. The player is desperately trying to find a means of escape while locked in the Baker family’s master bedroom. Bedroom is a challenging puzzle but well worth playing through. My most memorable moment is finally discovering the solution to a three-combination lock after being stuck for over 20 minutes.

Resident Evil 7 (8/10 Terrifying Wife Finding Adventure): Resident Evil 7 (RE7) is a terrifying trek through a decrepit Louisiana property hounded by the psychotic Baker family. The game nails atmosphere and dread as the player slowly advances through the sprawling Baker mansion. I was surprised at how creepy and unsettling multiple sections throughout the game had me feeling. I was constantly checking corners and looking behind to make sure I was alone and safe. The game is full of interesting puzzles and worthwhile exploration. I enjoyed nabbing new guns and discovering hidden secrets. Later sections in the game do slow down the pacing, but I did appreciate the variety in setting. The game's story is interesting and worth experiencing. The Baker family’s descent into madness is well explained and the antagonists are all compelling and interesting. Staples of Resident Evil games such as crafting and limited resources make a return here. Both do an excellent job of allowing the player freedom in ammo choice and amplifying the need for resource conservation and exploration. The worst aspect of RE7 has to be the actual gunplay. Aiming feels unresponsive and clunky. This can largely be explained by the fact that RE7 was made for VR. The VR aiming and shooting is actually extremely precise. The boss battles are hit or miss with some being extremely fun and cinematic and others being cinematic but not very engaging. My most memorable moment has to be using a car to run down a boss in a climactic battle. Overall, RE7 succeeds in everything important and left me excited for the future of the franchise.

The Frozen Wilds DLC (8/10 Great): The Frozen Wilds DLC is more of the base game but adds a new objective type, control towers, and some new weapons. The DLC also adds some new enemy mechanical beasts: the Fire Claw and Ice Claw. Both of these additions are excellent. The DLC hunter’s lodge offers harder challenges than the base game’s. I would say it was a bit too hard, but I did have fun completing what I could. The story here also feels remarkably similar to the base game’s, but I enjoyed it more because the interactions with the Banuk tribe feel more personable. My most memorable moment involved observing a complicated ritual performed by the tribe to open a sealed facility door. The ritual performed with complete seriousness turns comical when combined with the players knowledge of how modern facilities operate i.e., fire alarms. The main problems I had with the DLC are an extenuation of the main problems I had with the base game. Inventory management is not improved, and unfortunately additional problems are added. The new weapons require a ton of craftable materials for ammo. I quickly ran out of ammo for all three new guns and did not bother using them anymore as a result. Ultimately, The Frozen Wilds is an excellent addition to an already fantastic experience.

Not a Hero (6/10 Action Molasses): Not a Hero is the narrative end to Resident Evil 7. The DLC completely takes place in the last area of the base game, the mine. This DLC is much more action focused with Chris’ journey involving a variety of guns, explosives, and tools. The DLC is not extremely long but does have some interesting sections where proper use of one’s environment and careful ammo conservation are key. I felt that Not a Hero’s story was not very compelling and much less interesting than the base game’s. My most memorable moment has to be a trap section with wave upon wave of enemies forcing me to use every piece of equipment and ammo I had just to survive.

End of Zoe (5/10 Fist Molasses): End of Zoe is the conclusion to Zoe’s story from the base game. The player moves through Louisiana Bayous playing as Zoe’s uncle Joe following his quest to save her from the infection. This DLC is much less serious than the base game. The gameplay is almost comical with Joe using his bare fists to punch out enemies. The game's setting provides an interesting look into the aftermath of the events of RE7. The game’s weakest point has to be the boss battles. The punching does not feel particularly good and mirrors the clunky gun play of the base game. This can likely be explained by the fact that RE7 was made for VR, so it is possible that punching in VR feels much better. My most memorable moment has to be being eaten alive by an infected crocodile while trying to pick up a small straw boxing statue.

Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes (2/10 Discount Hitman): Ground Zeroes is an extremely short prequel to Metal Gear Solid 5. While the actual gameplay is fine, everything else is extremely lacking. The entire game consists of one level with multiple selectable mission objectives. The primary story mission involves rescuing two targets from confinement and extracting them via helicopter. The game also includes a long ending cutscene that does not convey an understandable narrative but does provide entertaining and bombastic ridiculousness. My most memorable moment with Ground Zeroes has to be escaping an explosion only to be exploded.

Until Dawn (8/10 Surprisingly Great): Until Dawn surprised me on how enjoyable the experience became. The game employs a variety of cool systems that enrich the gameplay and story. The totem system allows the player glimpses of possible outcomes as rewards for thorough level exploration. The butterfly effect premise is well executed although its presence is a bit too over emphasized at the start of the game. The story is interesting, engaging, and has some good twists. Some of the story beats are predictable, but the game contains multiple threads each interesting on their own. My most memorable moment involved choosing to save a friend with the option picked actually killing them. The clues system can be hit or miss with some clues providing a wealth of information expending the players knowledge of events and others providing useless information. While the story and gameplay systems are great, Until Dawn does contain flaws. Object interaction, the game’s camera, and walking around to discover items is not great. The camera angles are often obscuring and controlling the character feels jagged and clumsy. Some of the player choice prompts are not intuitive. Some prompts result in the character saying something completely different and some directional movement prompts are inaccurate. Game intermission sections with a psychiatrist interestingly play on the player’s preferences but also take the player out of the story and creates a disjointed feeling between chapters. The game also suffers some minor bugs resulting in a character’s torch to spin widely or light sources stick statically in one area. Until Dawn provides a player-controlled window into a 90’s slasher film, and surprisingly, it does a great job.

Resident Evil 3 (8/10 Great): Resident Evil 3 delivers a cinematic tale of Jill Valentine's desperate attempts to first save and later escape from Racoon City, while being relentlessly hunted by the seemingly unkillable monster Nemesis. Gameplay is great and most levels are well designed and fraught with threats. The levels feel more linear than previous installment Resident Evil 2. I seldom had to go out of my way to find hidden items or secret areas. RE3 also provides an abundance of items and ammo to get through presented challenges; a stark contrast to RE2. RE3's crafting system is identical to RE2 and works extremely well. The player has full control over what types of ammo they want to prioritize crafting. RE3 also switches between two playable characters: Jill and Carlos. The swaps do not feel out of place in the story, and each character plays differently because of their different weapons. The character swap also resets some of the urgency in scouring the world for items. While playing Jill, I knew I had quantitative reserves of healing materials and ammo in my storage. Some of the early boss encounters with Nemesis are obtuse in design but climatic battles with it later in the game are well done. My most memorable moment has to be the final showdown with Nemesis and Jill’s on point one-liner. Overall, Resident Evil 3 provides a short but succinct, well-presented story with great gameplay.

Lost on Mars – Mars (7/10 Average): Lost on Mars is a short but fun experience that takes some of the best activities from the base game and removes many of the chores. I had a lot of fun blasting crab aliens with the new arsenal of laser themed weaponry. Taking down alien queens and playing through some of the wacky tailored quests had me chuckling most of the way through. The playable character Nick and companion Robot Hurk have great dialogue and keep things lighthearted and entertaining the entire way through. The story, although predictable, is fun and does not take itself too seriously. My most memorable moment has to be fighting an escaped test Yeti in a bovine testing laboratory. A testament to the zany experience that is Lost on Mars. Unfortunately, the DLC definitely has some issues holding it back. Lack of enemy diversity, gun restrictions for certain scenarios, and lack of vehicles detract from an otherwise great DLC.

Chicory A Colorful Tale (6/10 Zelda Light): Chicory a Colorful Quest provides an interesting brush/coloring use gameplay mechanic that doesn’t ever really get a chance to shine. The brush is typically used in one or two specific ways per zone to solve various area puzzles. I found the game worked best when traversing through these multiple puzzle based mini zones involved in progressing the main story. My most memorable moment was realizing that a connect the line-based zone puzzle was more complicated than I originally thought. The bosses typically located at the end of these puzzle zones were all bland and mostly unfun. Use of the brush mechanic to fight bosses always devolved into spamming color on the boss to do damage while dodging area hazards until you achieved victory. Outside of these puzzle areas, the game is packed full of mini activities most of which are not very fun. These include furniture collection and decoration, mail delivery, clothes hunting, kid finding, and art school drawing classes. The story itself is forgettable, but the characters that inhabit the world are for the most part interesting and worth interacting with. Although, a few instances with jarring, out of place conversations drawing real world parallelism brought me out of Chicory’s world. Overall, I wish the game used the brush/coloring mechanics in more interesting ways both in the world puzzles and the boss encounters.

Hours of Darkness (3/10 Dud): I enjoyed this much less than the base game. The DLC is very short and not really worth the effort. It focuses on the in-game stealth mechanics which honestly are not that good. The few fun mechanics thrown in such as airstrikes are hamstrung by restrictions such as needing to clear anti air camps to use them, being unable to use them for fear of killing rescue targets, and limited uses. I often remarked that I was playing a walking simulator as the map has long stretches of terrain with no vehicles available until about halfway through the entire DLC.

Far Cry 5 (7/10 Average): Overall the game was fun, and the ending was great. The main story beats turned out being quite repetitive with a constant loop of filling an area meter, being kidnapped, and playing through some main story scenarios. Side missions varied with some really funny/interesting characters, such as Hurk’s dad and a movie director, with some duds, like kill animal/fetch quests. I ignored most of the side collectable activities because I did not find them very fun. These involved finding ways to get into underground bunkers to collect magazines for perk points and map exploration destruction targets (shrines and beacons). I did enjoy assaulting and taking control of cult outposts and the stunt devil activities. The companion system was a bit lackluster with active companions randomly disappearing. Instead of automatically re-appearing when their death/random disappearance timer expired you need to actively re-slot them which ended up just being annoying. Also, the companions control options were very bare bones and sometimes nonfunctional (example: controls of the helicopter companion involving landing). One constant annoyance I ran across was the number of interruptions by cultist aircraft. No matter where you are or what you are doing, the cult air force will make it their mission to interrupt quest progression activities (primarily interrupting turning in a quest or progressing NPC dialogue). My most memorable moment has to be the games’ ending. The game concludes on an interesting twist and provides a nice contrast to an otherwise mediocre tale of generic story villains.

Hollow Knight (9/10 Almost Perfect): Hollow Knight is the best Metroidvania style game I have ever played. The smooth game play and expansive map exploration is rivaled only by its extremely interesting story. The gripping tale of a forgotten kingdom rotted with a mysterious sickness pushed me to discover and reach every corner of the map. The games’ map is clear and multiple systems make exploration even easier (map pins, the bug tram, dream gates). The gameplay itself is responsive. Discovering/learning to conquer difficult bosses and challenges felt rewarding. Hollow Knight offers various builds through the charm system, and I often swapped my playstyle to match whatever challenge I was facing. My most memorable moment has to be discovering and fighting the final boss. A perfect climax to game with great gameplay and a great narrative. My only critique of Hollow Knight would be the stacking difficulty added to multiple optional dream bosses. As fun and responsive as the games’ combat is, I found myself asking why some repetitive bosses multiplied damage to the extreme resulting in every mechanic chunking for almost the entire players health pool. These few optional encounters drained some of the fun out of an otherwise fantastic combat experience. DLC: - The Grimm Troupe (6/10 Nightmare Chores): Most of the Grimm Troupe DLC is not very fun. The DLC offers a needed currency dump for a couple upgraded charms and a long fetch quest chain that results in a decent charm addition. The added Grimm boss fight is one of the best in the game and the dream version is difficult but does not feel unfair like some of the base game stacked damage dream bosses. - Godmaster (4/10 Slog Gauntlet): I can see why Godhome may be a welcome addition for some players, but the repetitive and damage multiplier nature of the boss gauntlet was not very fun for me. Godhome consists of multiple boss gauntlets made up of previously seen encounters and a library of the same individual boss fights with stacking difficulty in both mechanics and damage multipliers. I do appreciate a few new bosses thrown into the mix but other than those, I found most of the gameplay here repetitive and not fun.

Elden Ring (10/10 Masterpiece): The perfect game for a Souls Borne fan. Elden Ring delivered exactly what I was looking for in a new IP open world Souls Borne game. An interesting story, a great setting, and most importantly, kick ass combat. Souls Borne combat has never been better with a massive amount of build variety and varying combat options with the addition of horseback battle, spirit ash summons, and weapon arts. The game is absolutely massive with hours and hours of interesting exploration and punishing but fair boss battles. In terms of critiques, Elden Ring does suffer from a large, unexpected difficulty spike in the last couple areas and multiple repeat bosses, but these minor gripes pale in comparison to the sheer amount of content and hours of fun offered in this game. My most memorable moment has to be finally pushing through an extremely difficult optional boss’s health pool only to discover an equally punishing second phase. This is one of the best games I have ever played and one of the few that I had a hard time putting down to get some needed sleep.