DS2 is in a lot of ways a stronger game. It has much better pacing for its story and personally a better narrative this time around. It has some truly insane over the top crazy moments which blew me away. Plus there are a lot of cool new additions like some nifty weather effects. Playing it, at times it felt like they'd captured some of the feeling of being in the upside down in stranger things. I do have a couple of complaints though. One, they've added more combat and while the combat is solid the gameplay just isn't designed around gunplay. Getting knocked over, it takes ages to get back up. This makes perfect sense when navigating uneven terrain to deliver something but in combat scenarios it feels bad. My biggest complaint is around the completionist approach though. It took me 95 hours to finish Death Stranding 1 Director's cut and get all steam achievements. To do the same with DS2 it took 109 hours and I think the main reason is that levelling up a number of preppers is super grindy. The adventurer in particular was awful for this but there are a number of them. If you go in with the goal of getting all achievements you have to understand this game does not respect your time at all. By the end I was resting in shelters and filling my time... literal hours.. with pointless busywork just to kill time while i waited for orders to reappear which could be completed so I could level up the last few preppers. This really feels like something they desperately need to patch and fix. So in short the game is fantastic but a bit of a nightmare to do a 100% run
I appreciate retro trying something new with this one but honestly the new elements mostly fall flat. I think the bike is cool, feels great to use it and it's easy to summon. it's mostly used for getting from point a to point b but it's fun to ride around. the companions though... they're ok. I didn't feel any attachment to any of them though and as a result the story fell pretty flat. The new areas are visually excellent and super cool to look at but far too much of the game involved kill rooms. with limited enemy variety and a fun but not amazing combat system encounters get stale after a while. The best moments are when you figure out a puzzle or use a new ability in an interesting way. I think that happened a lot less in the second half of the game though. also there's a repeat boss throughout the game which is kind of dull. some of the hunt quests like the green crystals were fine. I collected those as I went so didn't have any issues there. all in all I had a lot of fun with this game. I enjoyed exploring new areas, tackling cool bosses and finding upgrades more samus but I hope companions don't become a regular thing in future games. without them and a stronger villain and fewer kill rooms/more puzzle rooms i'm hopeful the next game could be great. odds are prime 4 suffered a bit from the whole rebooted development and switching teams.
As a switch off your brain and listen to a podcast while you shoot stuff game it's solid. Unfortunately it hasn't pulled me in further than that. I think the environments are a bit bland if I'm honest and the writing just isn't that great. I don't really find any of the characters interesting or the main story. The gunplay is pretty fun though, definitely an improvement over the first game. Beyond that it's just ok. I'd probably play something else normally but I want to finish it before my gamepass expires. Also it's kind of buggy. Not sure why but I have to press the menu button like five times before it works.
Out of the three ninja gaiden games released this year i'm surprised to say it's the weakest. It just doesn't feel like ninja gaiden. a new character, futuristic setting and cyborgs... it doesn't really feel like the past games which isn't necessarily a bad thing but in this case... ninja gaiden 2 black wipes the floor with this.
I really enjoyed the blasphemous games, particularly 2 and i've been a fan of the 3d ninja gaiden games for years so this one caught my eye. I really got into it, the bosses are a lot of fun. A couple were pretty tough towards the end but overall it had a good level of challenge to it and never got too frustrating. I think towards the end the difficulty of some of the levels ramped up a bit too much and I found myself mostly just jumping through levels but all in all I don't really have any complaints. Just a fun video game
All in all there's a lot to love with this one. Making it much more open with multiple territories in comparison to something like persona or smt really adds a lot. I think the archetype system was a nice change of pace from capturing monsters in other games. I think the social link system felt much better in terms of how you progress with characters and I like that some links included sidequests. I appreciate they came up with a ton of new monster designs without reusing some of the legacy demons who appear in every game. On top of that the music and art are truly incredible. However there are some negatives. Mostly around the story and characters which is the most subjective part of the experience. I just didn't love any of the characters. They all felt like extremely standard fantasy tropes. So one dimensional. Just honor this and family that. Compared to the persona games that was surprising. The villain too, he looks great in his design. Tall, beautiful, long flowing hair, genius strategist. Felt very much like they were channelling griffith from berserk but in terms of his backstory and motivations... also very generic stuff. All in all the game is very well made with a lot of great systems working together well. But I got to the end and just didn't care at all about the story which is a real shame.
This one caught me by surprise. I've tried the first one a few times but always bounce off as the world feels so small and the adventure aimless. Playing the sequel though... everything clicked. It's a massive upgrade on the first in terms of its world. Setting out with a destination, tackling enemies, suddenly a massive gryphon swoops down to attack, you make a run for it and endup in a network of caves... the game systems come together in some really cool ways making the world feel alive. The story was mostly a bit underwhelming. Characters appear and then disappear. Quest objectives can be confusing or hard so my progress with certain story threads seemed to hit walls quite often. Plus the run up to the final boss seemed very short and sudden. The last section of the game though is where the story picked up for me and became much more interesting. I think what really stands out about this game though is that it doesn't talk down to you, hold your hand or play it safe. Characters don't go on an on about the story infinitely repeating themselves to make sure you know what's happening. The content isn't spoonfed to players in a super obvious way so it's entirely possible to miss a quite a lot of stuff. Dragon's dogma 2 feels like a weird rpg from a previous generation and it'll rub some people the wrong way I imagine. But if you want something different it's a must play.
This game really is something quite special. I've never seen anything quite like it. It feels much more like a siren game than a silent hill one but stands apart from those two franchises. The combat is really fun. It's great switching characters the moment when an enemy is about to hit you and then attacking it from behind with someone new. The range of main characters are quite varied in terms of their special abilities too. All in all gameplay is fun but some parts of it like stealth sequences could be better. It's weird that when I need to enter a restricted area, if I body hop into a guard then for some reason I still need to crouch and hide from other guards. I think this was probably just down to the limitations faced by developers. Visually the game does look pretty old, more like a ps3 game. I love the environmental design but the environments aren't that big. Characters look cool but not super detailed and the lack of lip synching and voice acting can be immersion breaking. There are some very cool monster designs, a couple of awesome action scenes and some good art direction though. Enemy variety is probably the biggest con, although i was still having fun from beginning to end. The story is surprisingly great, I didn't get the impression from the trailers it would be good but there were actually moments where my jaw hit the floor. All in all this game is a true gem. It's imperfect but has a lot going for it nonetheless. If you're on the fence then maybe wait for a sale but if the trailer looked cool then do yourself a favor and check this game out.
Such a pleasant surprise. I really like the art style, the combat, the experiementing with different villagers and those frenzied moments when enemies are closing in and you just need to hold out a few moments longer for daylight.Kunitsu-gami offers something pretty different and it's definitely worth checking out
I wasn't sure what to expect with this one. I've played all of bloober team's games and while I usually enjoy them I haven't really loved any. They really nailed it with this remake though. I've played the original several times and while i've always loved the story I'm not a huge fan of the gameplay. With the remake I found combat encounters were much more enjoyable and the new camera much easier to work with. The environments look pretty incredible too. It was such a memorable descent into madness. I really couldn't recommend this enough. 16 hours across two sittings. I was just completely hooked. I have to give a shout out to the puzzles as well, I really enjoyed working through them. All in all this was the nicest surprise of the year and an easy recommendation. Great work from bloober team, hopefully you guys remake some of the other titles in this series but either way I'm excited to see what they release next.
All in all one of the strongest entries in the series. I really enjoyed the previous game's transition to turn based combat but here it seems they've improved it massively. Being able to pinball characters into each other and move your character around adds a new level of strategy to encounters. I also really appreciate that enemies no longer give you cheapshots when you try to attack a different enemy next to them. I think the new location works great. Hawaii is much more open so it's a lot easier to navigate without bumping into enemies and it adds a real sense of variety. Enemies are weirder than ever with a lot of variety as well and there are a lot of interesting new job types added. I also need to praise the sub stories as they were phenomenal. A great mix of hilarious and actually touching storylines. I also appreciate how over the top and insane some encounters can get as is often the case in these games. All in all a fantastic game that's very much worth playing.
This was surprisingly fun. The traversal is pretty cool. Instead of the usual souls approach to opening shortcuts e.g pull a lever to open a gate instead you open rifts which allow you to traverse areas super quick.
The combat is pretty solid and the world design is interesting. It's also quite short so it doesn't outstay it's welcome. The main downside is that while the premise of going on a big quest to kill all of the gods sounds cool and epic.. in practice the story just feels quite basic and the characters aren't that interesting. All in all though it's a solid AA title that's well worth a look.
All in all it's an excellent game. It recaptures a lot of the magic from the original with excellent casting and a clear love for the source material. The combat is truly excellent and I had a fantastic time with it. I don't think it works overly well as a remake if i'm honest. It feels more like a theme park for people who grew up playing and loving the game. The story is now so padded out that I wonder if it's actually that interesting or even all that comprehensible anymore. It has some other flaws for too. It has some of the worst open world bloat I've seen in some time. Towers to be activated, quick time event minigames scattered around which add little and after a few chapters quite a lot of the side content was starting to feel repetitive. Also while they nailed almost every character... Cid is pretty different. I hope his character arc gets covered in the last game. Some side stuff like queens blood is excellent though. I really hope the developers stream line things for the final entry. All in all though it's a fantastic game, so far the 7 remake trilogy is the most interesting entry in Final Fantasy in many years.
This was such a pleasant surprise. It's impressive how varied the different sections of the bunker are and how each seemed to contain some different messed up idea.
I found the gameplay was generally tense and gripping. The stakes feel high when you're evading the monster and dodging rats. Areas are small enough that it's not too frustrating when you die and have to restart from the save point but you find yourself cowering in the dark praying the monster doesn't find you so you can make it back with some important item needed to escape.
I also thought the story was really good although hard to piece together without referring to the wiki.
My only real critique is that sometimes while hiding from the monster it felt like it took too much time before he gave up searching for me.
Overall Spiderman 2 is excellent. There are some nice gameplay improvements over the first title and some standout setpiece moments sprinkled throughout the campaign. Some of the later boss fights do feel a bit drawn out though in my opinion and there are parts of the game which get kind of repetitive. I'd also say some of the story is rather predictable. Those complaints are fairly minor though as I really enjoyed the game. What dragged it down for me though is the bugs. Audio glitching out, characters disappearing in cutscenes, weird glitches which were kind of body horroresque and some hard crashes... this game wasn't ready for release. I'd recommend waiting a few months personally.
This feels like a big step up from the first. Navigating the world is more interesting this time around and the way the map opens up over time is pretty cool. The new weapons help add a good bit of variety as well. My only real complaint would be the last area was a headache to navigate, more frustrating than fun and the second last boss represents a massive unexpected difficulty spike. Outside of that it's a really well made, beautiful, creepy, dark, fun game which I found super addictive.
It's pretty rare a game succeeds on all fronts like this one does. The characters, story and overall writing are excellent. This is a game world I love to feel immersed in. Additionally the combat while challenging is fun due to its open nature. It feels like I have a lot of control over how I interact with people, tackle different situations and approach fights. Most games feel pretty handholdy and linear these days so this is a breath of fresh air and I can see why it's getting so much attention.
Long time fan of the series, I've finished every mainline entry except 11 plus many spinoffs. Personally found 16 to be a mixed bag. The combat is fun but does get repetitive and lacks any strategy. It's mostly a case of waiting for cooldown timers. Very surprised there's no elemental damage, you can literally fight fire enemies with fire and it works fine. Personally didn't like the characters, they seemed kinda tropey and dull. 15 had its flaws but that was a charming crew. I did quite like the new Cid though. The story also felt a bit generic. I had high hopes for this one with YoshiP leading the project but it wasn't for me. Looking forward to the next ff7 remake game though.
Wo Long is a really fun well made game. The environments aren't the most exciting and the story didn't pull me in but I really enjoyed working through its challenges and learning how to overcome the bosses. I think the morale system is a fun way of lessening the challenge of different encounters. Although it does become a hindrance at points. Trying to boost my morale level before a tough boss could be time consuming. It reminded me of dark souls 1, running to get from a bonfire to a boss that's ages away.
It was quite fun in a braindead sort of run around killing enemies while listening to podcasts sort of way and there were some boss battles which kept me on my toes and were quite fun. There were however some boss battles.. particularly the second last one.. which just drag on wayyy too long. So for the gameplay it was solid but not amazing. The part where it fell down for me was the story. It's great when it's something from FF7 but that makes up about 5% of the story. Mostly it centers around new characters and some of the dialogue... oh boy... it's bad.. it's real bad. The story just kind of ****. If you haven't played FF7 i'd stay well clear because this is not a good way to experience Cloud's backstory. Wait for remake part 2 or play the original ff7!
This game is such a pleasant surprise. There have been a few marvel team up games but most have been kind of mixed. Things like marvel vs capcom infinite, marvel ultimate alliance 3 and the avengers game were all just.. ok at best... but with midnight suns the card system firaxis have developed really captures the power and style of each of these heroes. The fights are really fun, the story is entertaining and the extra stuff like exploring the abbey and building friendships might be a bit weaker but adds some variety. All in all it's a great package and well worth checking out for both Marvel fans and strategy fans.
This game was one of my most anticipated this year but honestly felt like a massive chore to play through despite only taking around 7 hours. Limited enemy variety, one mid boss that's reused three or four times, cool but long and unskippable death animations, uninteresting level design, very little character development or story and a strong focus on melee combat despite the the melee system being very basic and uninteresting. Honestly makes me way more excited for dead space remake because the callisto protocol doesn't even come close to that series.
I'm between a 7 and an 8 on this one. The story is good but they desperately needed an editor to come in and cut it down. By the end the cutscenes were starting to feel like a chore because they could be so long and so frequent. That said I did enjoy the story and loved the ending but just found the pacing to be kind of awful. The gameplay is fun but can get repetitive. Some of the new systems like interlinking work well but personally I think the 2nd game had much more variety as you could get so many different creatures to fight alongside you. I think there are definitely some areas the series continues to struggle with. The sidequests often feel a little boring as they're mostly boring fetch quests and what's worse is when critical path missions also turn into fetch quests. Find the 6 doodads so we can go to the place where the story will actually progress. Some of the repeating dialogue continues to be a chore... yelling about doodads repeatedly does get tiresome. Also, I found the last stretch to be a bit of a hassle. The final dungeon is just quite long with lots of enemies and you need to fight them all as the bosses will be quite a lot higher than your level when you first enter that place. Plus it seems like the final boss doesn't have checkpoints. I beat it first time thankfully but if I hadn't i'm not sure i'd have the energy to repeat that one hour encounter. All in all it's a good game but also a mixed bag. Definitely one of the better jrpg series around but I hope some of these problems get addressed in future titles.
I enjoyed GOW 2018 but had some issues with it. There wasn't enough enemy or environmental variety and although the character writing was insanely good the overall story wasn't that interesting. Ragnarok fixed all of that. The journey spans a much wider range of places, there are a ton of cool enemies and bosses and the story is unpredictable. I was pleasantly surprised by this game. The team at Santa Monica should be very proud indeed.
I'm more positive on Gotham Knights than most. I enjoyed my time with it and was really into it at points but the repetition did eventually start to wear me down. The rpg system doesn't really add much to the experience and although I quite enjoyed going around completing side objectives to level up I can definitely see how that could feel grindy to some. The combat system is fun but I found the reuse of mini bosses quite annoying especially towards the end. Some enemies and bosses also started feeling spongy so I found myself turning the difficulty down not because it was too hard but because fights were taking too long. The story was fun and pretty solid. Not amazing or overly memorable but enjoyable. The characters were mostly solid as well in terms of dialogue and appearance. Although nightwing and red hood were a bit too beefy looking in my opinion. I'm a massive fan of the arkham games. Gotham Knights is honestly a worse version of them but playing as new characters in a new Gotham with a new combat system did offer some fun times. I don't think i'll revisit this the way I keep coming back to the arkham games but it was all in all quite solid.
Immortality is really something special. It took some time to grab me but piecing together the narrative of each film was so much fun. I particularly enjoyed ambrosio. On top of that the darker more mysterious narrative underneath could really hit quite hard at times. At this point I've watched every scene and gotten every achievement. Easily one of my top five games for the year. A must play for fans of films and story driven games.
Repetitive and padded. This feels like a big step back from odyssey. The removal of sidequests makes levelling harder and the leap in recommended level just keeps growing from section to section. On top of that the characters and story are quite dull. It's a 20 hour game that's been painfully stretched over 60 hours. Content for the sake of content.
As dusk falls is pretty solid. Good acting and some nice moments throughout its story. The gameplay elements are pretty limited and there isn't much puzzle solving or anything. Mostly it's just about making choices. All in all while the story is good I didn't feel it really built towards anything too spectacular. It also left it on a cliffhanger which I didn't appreciate. Overall it kind of just feels like a less interesting version of life is strange.
It's some incredible dlc. The artwork is very impressive, in particular the little castle where you can do extra challenges. Each of the bosses were well thought out and fun to fight. Challenging but not annoying. I found the dlc super addictive and really like the new character a lot. All in all for such a low price point I couldn't recommend it enough.
My hopes were pretty high with this one as it seemed so unique in the trailers and I really enjoyed the evil within games. Overall I think ghostwire is a very good game but has a lot of issues. The art design is phenomenal. I've never seen such an authentic recreation of Tokyo in a game. I felt like I was there. The convenience stores, bathhouses, the buildings, the way businesses stack on top of each other... it's incredibly impressive. And this extends to the monster design and animations as well. It all looks very impressive. However, I had to switch it to performance mode as it was a bit jarring in the pre selected quality mode. I needed the higher framerate. The combat is fun but a lot of that is down to the incredible looking animations. Typically fights involve me backing away and pressing R2 to shoot my finger guns. It's a little too basic. You have a bow and talismans but ammo for each is rarer so odds are you're just going to shoot your finger guns for most of the game... it gets kind of old around the midway point but I never dreaded combat though so that's a plus. The bosses mostly **** though... like you end up in a very cool arena with an amazing looking monster but... then I just end up shooting at them like any old enemy. They were kind of boring to fight. I enjoyed a lot of the sidequests. I loved how they dived into different urban legends or aspects of Japanese culture. I think they could have used a few more unique fights at the end though. The open world design is probably the weakest aspect. The map is just littered with collectibles. There's no real incentive to explore. The trophy list was kind of offputting as well. I initially figured I'd go for the platinum but later realized it would be too much of a hassle. Collect 240,000 spirits, get 20 headshots with a bow, find all of the many many collectibles etc... it just felt like a lot of busywork. Overall a really interesting game and a fun one overall but at the same time kind of a letdown. Hopefully the next game from tango is better.
Tunic is really something special. I think the combat isn't quite good enough to justify its high difficulty but the world is very well designed. I loved finding pages of an instruction booklet and piecing together what I was supposed to do next. I also found the lore and story to be quite compelling (although too mysterious to fully understand). Overall this is an extremely cool game and one of the most enjoyable indies I've seen for quite some time. Definitely pick it up or check it out on gamepass :)
One of the best open world games in years. Instead of giving the player a map filled with icons and repetitive tasks the world is just full of things you want to see. It encourages exploration in a way that very few games do. It's the cure for open world fatigue and something I'd recommend to anyone.
I really expected a lot more from this... I mean it's been five years and it feels like all they improved were the graphics plus they added the glider from botw... one of the biggest diappointments of 2022.
I really enjoyed Bravely Default 2. It's such a fun throwback to older ps1 era turn based rpgs. It has a fun combat system, excellent range of jobs and a great pace. There are issues sure, like the story isn't going to blow you away and the art style isn't fantastic but this was just a lot of fun to play. In a year of huge jrpgs this smaller title ended up being my favorite surprisingly.
Really something unique and special. It's a dialogue heavy game with a good bit of reading and investigation. It's not for everyone but once it hooks you it's excellent. I ended up getting very attached to its characters, the areas I visited and pulled into a lot of the sidequests as well as the main investigation. It took some time to get hooked and i'm sure a good few people will bounce off this one at first but my advice is to stick with it. This game absolutely deserves all of the hype!
This game is really quite unique. I'm not a fan of roguelikes at all generally but this one is actually very addictive and well structured. I'd heard a lot about the difficulty going in but I actually found it wasn't that bad at all. You do indeed lose your weapons and most of your abilities when you die but each area will have different objectives which typically involve unlocking the path to a boss. So if you unlock that path and die then the next time you try you can just go straight for the boss. Plus if you make it to the third area of the game then you can quite easily skip the first two areas. So I actually found this game was much much better than most roguelikes when it comes to making progress. Also luck can play a big role as well as learning how to deal with enemies. You might get annihilated in one run but in another you find a great weapon and some very helpful skills. The story can be hard to follow and it's a little cryptic but it has some moments which are really really cool. I was surprised with how engaged I was with Selene's storyline. The gameplay is just straight up phenomenal as well and the environments are so cool I really enjoy just running around exploring. I think i'll go for the platinum now that i've finished the story. I think there were a few bugs around launch but that seems to be fixed now for the most part. I didn't have a single crash the entire time I played. I don't think Returnal is for everyone because it's kind of dark, atmospheric and challenging but it's one of the most interesting games I've ever played. Highly recommend it.
I went in to this one with low expectations as discussion around the game seemed kind of mixed but just ended up loving it. It starts slow as the first few missions are on rails but after it opens up things definitely improve. It also takes some time to build up your arsenal but there are some really cool weapons and abilities. I think if you're looking for a stealth game.. this is a bad pick. The A.I is fine for combat encounters but way too jumpy for sneaking and since you can't save during a level and there are no checkpoints it's too easy for it all to go wrong. Instead it's just way more fun to think of it as an action game with stealth elements. I generally carried a rifle with explosive rounds and used an ability to link enemies so I could take a bunch out at once. I had a ton of fun leaping across rooftops too and feeling like a badass. There are a few negatives though. The story just isn't very good. Really cool concept but there aren't any proper cutscenes after the opening mission. So most of the story is delivered through dialogue over a radio at the start of a mission or through notes scattered around maps. There's one big thing we learn about some of the characters later on which is revealed in some notes you read and it just didn't leave much of an impact. Plus Colt never justifies his reasons for breaking the loop. He's clearly a talented killer and if i'm having fun then surely he is too. He doesn't seem to have any reason to give up his immortal life as a hunter. Aside from that there are a couple of glitchy trophies and I think the game could use a mission restart so when you're trying to get different achievements and you mess up then you can easily try the mission again from the start. A checklist would be really cool for keeping track of completionist stuff too. Overall this game was just a ton of fun. The dishonored series never clicked for me. Prey was incredibly atmospheric and fun but I wasn't in love with the combat. Deathloop is probably my favoritie arkane game now and I'm really excited to see what they release next.
I enjoyed my time with arise. This is a series I could never quite get into but the new art style really impressed me. I think the combat, beautiful environments and excellent story/characters/voice acting made this a good rpg for sure. The biggest drawback though is that while the dialogue is often great, sometimes there's an insane amount of it and you're stuck watching cutscenes for far too long. You'll get a cutscene when you get to a bridge, watch it, cross the bridge and then boom.. another cutscene. They should have edited this down for sure. The last section of the game is just horrendous for dialogue. Hours and hours of dialogue and cutscenes without that much gameplay to balance it out. I like the story but it's hard to really care when they keep throwing so much of it at the player. Aside from that... day one dlc including level boosters... that **** big time.
I enjoyed smt 5 but it's definitely a missed opportunity. Visually the areas you explore are pretty bland. There are a few cool dungeons with interesting mechanics though. The story is pretty weak. The transition into post apocalyptic tokyo was much more interesting in smt 3 and 4. In 5 it's kinda dull. The characters and voice acting are mostly just ok as well. I also thought it **** that one of the bosses mispronounced its name. You just need to google cú chulainn to find how its said correctly. The weakest aspect is probably the structure. At one point I fought a boss that was level 58 and I was level 57... then I was put into a new area with three bosses all level 73... so at that point I needed to grind 16 levels... it really felt like they needed to pad them main quest out and that was the laziest way they could do it. I know this game was in development for a long time and it's such a cool series so I had very high hopes for it. I thought this was guaranteed to be my rpg of the year but both tales of arise and monster hunter rise have a lot more to offer.
I'd really prefer to own the original versions. The 'enhancements' actually make the game look and feel much worse in some key areas. Rain effects which make it difficult to drive, awful facial hair which just makes cutscenes less engaging, removal of many great songs and it's surprisingly buggy. Far from the definitive version... please put the original games back on storefronts rockstar. This version ****.
Although I really enjoyed the combat of the game there's an extremely strong focus on the story and honestly the story is an absolute mess... it's just cluttered with every sci-fi/anime trope you can think of
I'm surprised to say it but wow... this is the best metroid game... they actually did it. The boss fights are phenomenal, the areas are large, varied and filled with secrets to discover, the emmi sections are tense and a little different depending on which emmi you're facing. The ending is also straight up badass. Game of the year 2021... couldn't recommend it enough.
There's just nothing like death stranding. I love the gameplay, the shared world elements and the characters. The scenery is just a joy to explore as well. One of the most interesting games in years. I couldn't recommend it enough.
Although I've played all of bloober teams since layers of fear I haven't been a big fan of their work. Generally I find their games get a little repetitive after a while and I encounter issues like annoying chase scenes. I went in to the medium with low expectations but I have to say this is a big improvement. It's visually their most impressive game. The story and performances are quite strong and the mix of real world and spirit world keeps things interesting throughout. The biggest weakness is that it's just not very scary but it's a well made story driven game with a solid tale to tell. I'd definitely recommend checking it out.
Unfortunately ports are a target for review bombing so the user score probably won't be that reliable as people who haven't played the game will just give it a 0. I'm a few hours in and really enjoying the game though. The art style really holds up and this is such a great version of Zelda (the character I mean). I love her design and she's quite funny. The quality of life features make the experience noticeably better. I also really appreciate that I can use a gamepad. Joycon drift is a big headache so I just couldn't handle playing with joycons. Having tried the original version on wii just a few months ago I can definitely say this is hands down the best version of the game. Better control options, less annoying tutorials/pop up messages, visually it's far nicer (the old wii version looks awful on modern tvs), autosaves, camera controls etc. It really is a massive improvement. Is it better than breath of the wild? personally not at all. botw has a lot more to offer but skyward sword is full of charm and it's a fun adventure. I'd definitely recommend it.
I played the original a few years back and it was a real treat getting to revisit this masterpiece :). The world is really quite unique as are the characters. It's the charm of conversations between the cast that often makes it so compelling. The world itself looks quite beautiful as well so it's a treat exploring and seeing it all. The story is also full of heart and only grows more impressive in the B path. There are a few issues worth noting though. The combat while fun isn't as good as automata's and enemy variety is a bit lacking. The side quests are a bit dull and loading screens are a tad too long when moving between areas. Probably the biggest issue is that while pursuing the C and D endings you will get some new information... it's just not enough to really warrant replaying content. This is a flaw in the original game so it's not surprising to see it in the remaster. Overall despite these issues nier replicant is a pheneomenal game well worth checking out. It's probably not as good as automata but it's still fantastic.
Deadly premonition 2 is a very odd game. I was a big fan of the first game and played through it twice. The characters were full of charm in a twin peaks way which I really appreciated. The sequel manages to keep a lot of that charm. I think the narrative is a bit weaker and becomes a little convoluted at points but it has a solid ending which helps make up for that. In terms of technical issues I experienced none so I think the game has been patched and runs much better now than it did at launch. After roughly 15 to 16 hours I had zero crashes and zero framerate drops. I found the game played well both docked and in handheld mode so if you're worried about technical trouble I don't think that's an issue anymore. Visually I quite like the art style but the lack of lip synching and stiff animations mean this isn't a game you play because it's pretty. In terms of gameplay I thought the first felt like an xbox game but seeing as it was released on xbox 360, just one generation later, that wasn't so bad. The sequel plays like a good xbox game but even so... it feels like it's two generations behind. There is a lack of enemy variety, the inventory system is a mess, the gunplay is fine, the shooting sections drag out heavily, guns should just have infinite ammo as I ended up running out of bullets and punching enemies and even the final boss, melee fighting feels bad and there's no lock on, there are some long fetch questions or follow this person quests etc. The game ultimately feels quite padded out and the story sections can throw a lot of dialogue at you. Overall I'd say if you're a fan of the first game and you can get this on a sale it's worth checking out but it's ultimately a very mixed bag and a bit of a disappointment. I loved the first game and quite enjoyed the missing as well so I hope swery's next project is better.
While it's pretty short this game packs a lot of punch. It's fun exploring environments and trying to photograph everything I need to, fitting a lot in with the right angle and frame. This game also nails environmental storytelling and I found myself very curious to learn more about the state of the world. If you're ok with something that will just last a couple of hours and you're interested in something different then umurangi generation is definitely worth a look! Edit : Turned out there were extra levels left. I think it's a dlc pack that came as part of the game. It adds a couple of extra hours and some really cool environments to explore! definitely adds to the value of the game in my opinion. Would strongly recommend checking this one out :)
