SethGrey

The more I think about Resident Evil Requiem, the more I realise how deep the writing is. Capcom didn't only write the main plot that's easy to follow for newcomers but the universe of the franchise has been so deeply enriched with layers upon layers of lore with call backs, easter eggs, deeper than most GOTY winners.Capcom hit it out of the park with this one. The voice actors, especially Nick playing Leon in 3 games back to back now, has visibly evolved with Leon as the veteran badass as we know and love. Resident Evil has been one of my most favourite franchises since the original RE4 (I was too young to play the earlier games and now the earlier game controls are too janky for the modern age) and Requiem may very well be the best entry in the entire franchise.When it comes to combining layered story & lore, gameplay balanced between horror and action, excellent vocal performance, and tense and atmospheric soundtrack, Requiem is very well the best in the franchise so far. The more I discover the Easter egg and watch lore videos, the more and more I respect the team's **** problem with the release window of Resident Evil is that by the time it's the awards season, the titles released near the end of the year get the benefit of recency bias. Whether or not RER gets nomination or wins the GOTY, it remains a worthy GOTY contender in my book. By the way I own all consoles (except the Switch), I happened to play this on the Xbox X/S because the missus was busy with the PS5 Pro) Apart from minor performance difference between the two platforms, the game is essentially the same. So I'm leaving my review here as well.

The more I think about Resident Evil Requiem, the more I realise how deep the writing is. Capcom didn't only write the main plot that's easy to follow for newcomers but the universe of the franchise has been so deeply enriched with layers upon layers of lore with call backs, easter eggs, deeper than most GOTY winners. Capcom hit it out of the park with this one. The voice actors, especially Nick playing Leon in 3 games back to back now, has visibly evolved with Leon as the veteran badass as we know and love. Resident Evil has been one of my most favourite franchises since the original RE4 (I was too young to play the earlier games and now the earlier game controls are too janky for the modern age) and Requiem may very well be the best entry in the entire franchise. When it comes to combining layered story & lore, gameplay balanced between horror and action, excellent vocal performance, and tense and atmospheric soundtrack, Requiem is very well the best in the franchise so far. The more I discover the Easter egg and watch lore videos, the more and more I respect the team's efforts. The problem with the release window of Resident Evil is that by the time it's the awards season, the titles released near the end of the year get the benefit of recency bias. Whether or not RER gets nomination or wins the GOTY, it remains a worthy GOTY contender in my book.

I can't remember the last time I was so obsessed with a game that I would think about it 24/7 and even dream about it. Occasional performance hiccups aside (which have gotten ironed out since launch), Remnant II is a satisfying and intense looter-shooter without the baggage of live service model. The game is visually artistic and gorgeous to look at, the level design is incredible, the sound effects are excellent with pitch perfect audio cues, the soundtrack is fitting for the combat and exploration, the gameplay is utter perfection with a very addictive loot driven system, the main story provides enough motivation for the players to travel across the multiverse with side quests and lore creating an intriguing world. This game isn't perfect, nothing that exists ever truly is but it comes really close given the sheer entertainment value it provides. Despite loving Baldur's Gate 3, Resident Evil 4 and enjoying Starfield, Remnant II is my personal game of the year.

Ghost of Tsushima Graphics & Presentation: 10 One of the best looking opening world games ever made. Sound Effects, Voice Acting & Music : 7 Sound effects are beautiful, the sound of thunder, the rain...very immersive. Voice acting and soundtrack was fine, nothing memorable. Story & Dialogues: 7 The story was quite unexceptional but dialogues were fitting for the era. Gameplay: 9 Very intuitive combat, parlour although not perfect is mostly excellent. Performance: 8 Very stable, very rare bugs or glitches that caused the main character to get stuck inside rocks etc, nothing game breaking as the game will teleport you if the issue persists for too long. Overall: 8.2 Ghost of Tsushima is one of the best open world games out there. On top of that the Legends mode is an excellent free multiplayer mode that only adds to the greatness of the game.

The Sinking City Visuals & Presentation: 4 There is often discourse amongst gamers whether a game has bad graphics or it's just an art-style. In my opinion, art-style is often used to conceal graphical limitations and other times it's just an artistic choice. The Sinking City is the former. However its art-style entirely fails to cloak its graphical shortcomings. The human character models are mostly hideous. There are constant frame drops. There monsters, non-human NPCs and the environment are well designed and earns whatever points for Frogwares in this department. Sound effects, Voice Acting & Music: 6 The sound effects are more of less generic although the monsters do make intriguingly eerie noises, voice acting is flat most of the time. There's practically no soundtrack but the background noises are appropriate for the grim atmosphere. Story: 6 Speaking of dialogue choices, almost every choice is a bad one. The game even rewards you for deplorable behaviour with trophies/achievements. The story itself is rather interesting but the endings have been very poorly executed. Dialogues are written capably. Gameplay: 6 Combat is ordinary, the RPG elements, although unexceptional, is probably the most interesting thing about this game. Traversal through the boat is inaccurate and occasionally frustrating. Dialogue choices with branching narrative paths is the probably the only interesting thing about the gameplay. Performance: 5 The game is very poorly optimised. You can get stuck in places with no escape. There are constant performance hiccups and frame drops where the character teleports to places whilst the screen is frozen. Overall: 5.4 I was in love with the idea of The Sinking City. Although it looked rough I had hoped that the game will reward me with a great story but sadly, in spite of the great ideas the game is as bleak and hopeless as its story. I still hope the developers learn from its mistakes and make better games in the future with more success.

Acid Nerve has done an incredible job with this Zelda and Metroidvania inspired isometric action adventure game. The game's art-style, soundtrack, story, gameplay...everything is just top tier. Cannot recommend it enough!

HAUNTING, IMMERSIVE BUT DEEPLY FLAWED You can't talk about Scorn without talking about its inspiration for its art style. The level design and enemy design of Scorn are heavily inspired by the art of H.R. Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński. The entire allure of Scorn is its haunting and disturbing atmosphere that is unlike anything else in video games. The soundtrack and sound effects are atmospheric and haunting. Perfect for keeping you on the edge. In regards of gameplay, it's a puzzle based exploration game. The main draw of the game is exploring the environment and the puzzles are just a means to an end. The combat is its weakest element but it's mostly skippable and the encounters are sparse. EBB Software was clearly aware of their strengths and weaknesses. They actively chose to highlight their strengths i.e. the visuals whilst keeping the combat to a minimum. The combat exists just enough to separate itself from the run in the mill walking simulators. In my playthrough there was one bug right before the ending that clipped me off the level and no matter how much I restarted the game, it'd spawn me in the same place. Sadly that brings me to another negative aspect of the game, the lack of frequent auto-saving or checkpoints. I had to reload my last auto-save from 2 hours ago and replay the entire final chapter. Luckily this time I was done sightseeing and rushed to the objective and finished the final chapter in under an hour. Scorn is a haunting and immersive experience that wears its inspirations on its sleeve but due to flawed combat, lack of dialogue and minimalistic storytelling it is certainly not for everyone.

It's not often I don't finish a game I start. The game looks charming enough. There's a central mystery that is quite interesting, plus a murder mystery that really had me intrigued, but the excessive fetch quests were so overbearing that I just couldn't take it anymore and I had to delete it.

A Plague Tale: Innocence was one of 2019's biggest surprises mainly because it was a great game from a small studio with a team of 40 people working under a small budget. Enter 2022, Asobo Studio's team has grown with a bigger budget but I was not prepared for the sheer spectacle that awaited me. In every category Requeim is not only an upgrade to its predecessors but it rivals the greatest narrative experiences out there. Visually it's stunning starting from vast landscapes to festive markets to the open sea. The architecture of the middle age buildings are detailed and gorgeous. The level designs were exceptional! The soundtrack is sometimes haunting, other times emotional or festive and at all times fitting for the atmosphere. The voice acting is incredible! Charlotte McBurney deserves all the accolades for her role as Amicia. The way her voice shakes or quivers in moments of turmoil or desperation makes you feel her pain and trauma in your bones. The gameplay is excellent. It's still a stealth game at its heart given the relatively fragile nature of the protagonist but this time you have more options in your arsenal to fight back. Amicia is tougher than ever! The story is emotional. It's deeply moving. It's one of the few video games that made me shed tears. The bond between the siblings and their companions will keep you engaged or stay on your toes from start to finish. Performance-wise I've only faced two noticeable stutters (for a total of less than 2 seconds combined) and by the time you're reading this they might be gone entirely. The smaller AA budget of the studio is only noticeable in facial animations. There were no major bugs and whatever minor bugs that doea exist, I didn't experience them or did not affect my enjoyment of the game. I expected a great time when I started playing. What I did not expect was to be hit with emotions that will stay with me for years to come. A Plague Tale: Requiem is a masterpiece. It is a modern day classic and I look forward to see what Asobo Studio does next because the future seems limitless!

Lake is a relaxing slice of life experience where the developers at Gamious understand the need for a quiet get-away from the hectic city life. Video games originated as leisurely activities but as time goes by they're becoming more time-consuming and attention-demanding, so Lake is a nice break from the usual grind fest with picturesque scenary, a nuanced romance albeit with surface level characterisations and a nice but very limited and repetitive soundtrack playlist. If you're stressed out whether from work, life or just some other video game, Lake is the perfect getaway that you can pause or pick up whenever you want. The gameplay is very simple, you drive around a small town delivering mail and parcels whilst occasionally having conversations with the recipients and getting to know them. Personally I prefer it much more than that other overhyped courier simulator. Personal Ratings: Graphics & Art-Style: 10 Sound, Voice & Music: 7 Gameplay: 8 Story: 7 Performance: 8 Average Score: 8 Play Lake if you're looking for a relaxing experience. It's affordable and it's also on Game Pass!

Mini Review Thread: Raji: An Ancient Epic by Nodding Heads is stylish, polished & breathtaking. The soundtrack is beautiful and the voice acting & narration are excellent. On the flip side, the gameplay is serviceable at best, the story is unexceptional and the ending was especially abrupt but the mythos explored is intriguing. Raji is clearly made with a lot of love and passion. My score: Graphics & Art Style: 8 Sound, Voice & Music: 9 Gameplay: 7 Story: 5 Performance: 9 Overall: 7.6 Recommended for fans of Prince of Persia, Journey, artistic single players and platformers. It's on Xbox Game Pass right now so there's absolutely no excuse not to try it.

I finished Yuito's campaign in 59 hours 45 minutes. Here's my spoiler-free Scarlet Nexus review (ratings first): Visuals & Presentation: 7 Sound Effects, Voice & Music: 7 Gameplay: 10 Story & Dialogue: 8 Performance: 10 Overall: 8.4 Visuals & Presentation: 7 Frame rates were smooth on the PS4 although it did come at the cost of low draw distances. Art Style is beautiful & top tier JRPGs level but the presentation is at weakest of the game. Cutscenes range from in-game animation to mostly visual novel style screenshots with minimal lip movement during dialogues. The worst offenders are all the button prompts in the middle of cutscenes and the lack of an option to turn off subtitles. Sound Effects, Voice & Music: 7 Sound's fitting for sci-fi action with helpful audio combat cues, English voice acting is top-tier anime level but music is forgettable. Gameplay: 10 Combat is the best aspect of Scarlet Nexus. It is button mashy in the most satisfying ways. There is plenty of variety in combat thanks to weapon combos, Psychokinesis throws, borrowed powers from companions (the SAS abilities and combo visions). The Brain Map skill tree unlocks make notable changes in the gameplay. Story & Dialogue: 8 Frankly from all the reviews I've seen, I can genuinely say that the story doesn't get enough credit. Apart from one minor gripe, I found the overall story and lore intriguing. The dialogues (and localisation) are excellent. Performance: 10 Spectacular performance with almost no bugs and zero crashes. Overall: 8.4 Scarlet Nexus needs plenty of quality of life improvements, its music is forgettable but the intriguing story, stunning art style and incredibly satisfying combat make it a must play for all action/anime/JRPG fans. I can't wait to go back to the game and experience it all again with the fresh eyes of Kasane, the other protagonist of the game. The developers at Bandai Namco have outdone themselves. P.S. It took 60 hours to finish Yuito's campaign because I did every available side quest (28 of of 34), farmed ingredients for every gift for companions and hunted every trophy possible with one character. I reckon you can **** off 15-20 hours if you mostly stick to the main story but I highly recommend you do the second campaign with the other protagonist and experience every bond episode.

An Underrated Gem Graphics & Presentation: 8 This is a pixel art style game so there of much graphics to talk about, however, the art style of the environment is intriguing and very atmospheric. The enemies are very well-designed Lovecraftian monsters. Sound Effects, Voice & Music: 7 The sound effects and music are fitting for the dark theme. There is no voice. Writing: 8 The world of Morbid has very intriguing lore I felt compelled to read and take in. The story is said in a very Souls-like fashion through lore tabs earned through exploration and combat. Gameplay: 10 Combat and exploration is exquisite. Combat is challenging but fair. The RPG elements and weapon unlocks make the game more fun and engaging. Performance: 10 Exceptionally well balanced game with minimum load times even on the base PS4. Overall: 8.6 Morbid: The Seven Acolytes is an exceptional indie souls-like that manages to find the perfect balance between challenging, fair and fun gameplay with intriguing story and presentation. I highly recommend it to both fans of Souls-likes and casual players alike.

Marvel's Spider-man Graphics & Presentation: 9 Visually it's beautiful, character models and lighting are excellent. No noticeable frame rate drops. Sound Effects, Voice Acting & Music : 7 Sound effects felt natural and that's the best kind of sound you can immerse into, voice acting was pitch perfect but soundtrack is somewhat forgettable. Gameplay: 7 The combat is fun but combos felt limited. Traversal did not feel intuitive and I kept landing on places I never meant to. Story & Dialogues: 8 Interesting story with great character development, touching ending and well written dialogues. Doc Oc was very well written for the most part but his turn into the dark side was not properly explored. The writers did a great job introducing Miles Morales, others should take note into how to introduce legacy characters or even POCs into their stories that do not feel forced. Performance: 10 Incredibly stable, no noticeable bugs or glitches. Overall: 8.2 Spider-Man is a must play for superhero and/or open world games.

AC Odyssey Graphics 9 Stunning for the most part. No noticeable frame rate drop. Only complaint is the lighting in the final episode of the Fate of Atlantis was terrible. Sound 9 Voice acting is pitch perfect, especially by Melissanthi Mahut who plays the role of Kassandra. Soundtrack of fitting too. Gameplay 6 Whilst combat and traversal are fun, the repetitive grind was what made me quit after 60 hours of game time when it was released. Only recently did I go back to it to finish the campaign. Story 7 Flawed but interesting story. Performance 9 Some minor hiccups aside, it performed very well. Overall 8

I wasted 2 hours trying to get the platinum trophy on this garbage. The controls are janky, the gameplay is infuriating and what's worse, after a death it completely lost my progress in Act 3 requiring me to redo all the frustrating platforming I had to do for the last half hour. I've deleted this hame right away. Even on PS Now, it's not worth your time.

(The ratings are based on my experience at launch. I have heard that the game has improved significantly performance wise) Graphics: 10 Sound Effects, Music & Voice Acting: 10 Gameplay: 10 Story: 7 Performance: 0 Overall: 7.4 I absolutely loved this experience. However the game was very poorly optimised at launch. Frame rate drops are the least of my worries as this game completely shut down my PS4 three times. That's 3x more than any game ever.

Doom: Mad Max Reloaded. Graphics & Presentation: 8 The game is visually stunning. The character models aren't particularly memorable but you barely spend any time talking to the NPCs anyway. Sound: 5 Solid sound effects with lazy voice acting and forgettable soundtrack. Gameplay: 10 Combat feels satisfying similar to Doom, driving and vehicular combat feels great, car physics is excellent. Story: 2 The sole purpose of the story is to give the players a reason to do something. There's no deep plot in there. The dialogue is lazy. Performance: 7 Can't complain about the performance during gameplay but the menus are frustratingly sluggish. Overall: 6.4 Rage 2 is a fun single player experience as long as you're not expecting a deep story with long scripts.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Graphics & Presentation: 10 Graphics, art style and presentation is excellent for what it is. The 2.5D style really works for the game. Sound Effects, Voice Acting & Music: 8 Soundtrack works for the game. Sound Effects and voice acting are both competent. Gameplay: 10 Combat and gameplay loop is very engaging and has a lot of variety through shards and weapons. There are plenty of secrets to keep you engaged as well. Story: 4 Serviceable but nothing to write home about. Performance: 10 I noticed no noticeable frame rate drops and didn't have any crashes. Overall: 8.4

A Messy Work of Art Graphics, World Design & Presentation: 8 Visually stunning and intriguing world design. One of the best looking open world games of the modern era. The post-apocalyptic world design with lush green environment with oily-dirty substance and structures make for a unique sight. The presentation is a bit problematic at times, there are sometimes too many cut scenes that slows down an already slow game. Some skipable with one button, others require different buttons. Soundtrack & Voice Acting: 10 Music is transcendent, it's up there at the top of video game soundtrack Hall of Fame with Nier: Automata and The Last of Us. Voice acting is excellent. Writing & Story: 7 We're getting into controversial territory here. The main plot is unique and unlike anything I've experienced before. The story is built around original concepts only capable of coming out of the mind **** or a man man. The plot deserves a perfect score for creativity. Sadly, you can't talk about the story without the writing. The dialogue is questionable at times, the fourth wall breaking regularly **** the immersion of an otherwise serious storytelling experience. The protagonist's oedipal relationship with his mother/sister/lover also is jarring and everything is too much on the nose starting from the names of the locations (Knot this, Knot that) to names of the characters (Bridges, Strand, Die-Hardman etc). There are too many eye-rolling moments to take the story seriously at times. Gameplay & Fun Factor: 0 This is where things get interesting. As I attempt to get the platinum trophy on hard difficulty, this has been easily one of the most frustrating gaming experiences of my life. The core gameplay of Death Stranding is intentionally tedious, which is ironic since gameplay is the foundation and heart and soul of every video game. The constantly mandatory opening of menus interrupt the moments of auditory bliss provided by the otherworldly soundtrack. Gameplay requires a lot of precision get imprecise controls worsened by realistic physics make traversal a real nightmare. Whilst zip-lines can be fun to use, most everything isn't. Combat mechanics aren't engaging, most of the enemies provide distraction from the real enemy of the game - the controls. Moreover the excessive slow motion slows down the cripplingly slow gameplay even further. I'd recommend playing on the Easy mode, disregard the stealth and quickly chop through the enemies to get to the good part, the story. Overall the gameplay is intended to realistically reflect the hardships of carrying inhumane amount of weight and travelling across rough terrains. This is a textbook example of how too much realism can actually hurt a game. Performance & Stability: 7 Game plays like a dream. Apart from sudden loading pauses when you're zip-lining through the map (which I imagine can be fixed with an SSD) there's no frame rate drops or no crashes to talk about. Incredibly stable! Overall: 6.4 Death Stranding is a unique blend of intriguing and emotional story, sublime music, spectacular visuals and intentionally frustrating and tedious gameplay which makea it an inconsistent work of art that's difficult to recommend to everyone. It's cripplingly slow and takes a little too long to unlock the more engaging elements of the gameplay. One could argue that it should've been a movie or a TV show instead **** but it's hard to argue that it's an incredible and unique experience should you suffer through the boring slog **** for 50+ hours.

Although tad predictable, the story's enjoyable. It's visually beautiful but with subpar facial animations and couple of visual glitches but nothing game breaking. It sometimes looks like Control in some scenes, which is the only notable thing about it. Voice acting is forgettable. Soundtrack is unexceptional unlike Life is Strange by the same developer which is one of the things that elevated the franchise from good to great. Overall it's not their best work and you can get better interactive games for similar price (Dark Picture Anthology), I'd recommend waiting for a sale. 6.5/10.

One of the best shooters to come out in recent years, Overwatch is a team-based shooter full of potential and colourful characters. The matches are intense and it can be very addictive. The graphics, music and sound effects create a great feel for this new world created by blizzard and some of the random interactions between players give the impression of history between the characters. Speaking of which, the characters are also very well balanced. This game is most fun when played with friends but playing with random players can be fun too. Teams require balancing roles such as one healer and one tank, if you're a team player you can fill one of these roles yourself. Players who have a tendency to stick to one favourite character will not shine here. Overwatch is all about changing characters and adapting to the situation. When I first read about Overwatch it was not in my wishlist. The animated shorts raised my curiosity but the beta access was when I had made up my mind that this is a game I absolutely must have. This game is fun, intense with a good sense of humour. There is no microtransaction necessary for this game. There is nothing pay-to-win and only cosmetic things can be bought with real money. But fear not, you can also unlock them by playing the game. This game simply has no notable flaws and thus I give it a 10/10.

With beautiful visuals, haunting yet atmospheric music, excellent sound and voice acting and brilliant and heartfelt writing with incredible polish that rivals AAA titles, A Plague Tale: Innocence is every bit a game AAA titles should aspire to be. Yet a small team of 45 has done the unthinkable and has outdone most games far above its budget with pure love and passion. The gameplay provides a linear and streamlined experience with enough variety to keep players interested without giving too much to overwhelm or distract the player from the heart and soul of the game i.e. the tale of a journey of two innocent children through a medieval dark world full of death and chaos. This game brings the savagery of Game of Thrones, the heart of The Last of Us, the polish of Unchartered 4, the atmosphere of Bloodborne and a decent stealth-based mechanic that will appeal to casual players as well as satiate more hardcore players. If you've been repeatedly disappointed by the run in the mill AAA games that frequently fail to deliver to the hype, buy this game instead, you will not be disappointed. This game is easily a best game contender of 2019 with the likes of Resident Evil 2 Remake and Devil May Cry 5. 10/10.

How do you make the perfect game? I don't know, ask Naughty Dog. Uncharted 4 takes the best from its predecessors and delivers even more. A beautiful and emotional story coupled with breathtaking action that even the best of blockbuster hollywood films fail to offer. The graphics is easily the best on current generation consoles along with the likes of Star Wars Battlefront (if not better). The sound effects and the beautiful music is brilliant, leaving you to enjoy some of the quieter moments of the game. The voice actors' performances were so great that I really connected with the lead and the supporting characters. If you have played the previous three Uncharted games (not counting Golden Abyss), the story and character chemistry will resonate with you in such a way no other games ever have before. The ending is so satisfying that it has left me teary-eyed but also content in saying farewell to an old friend, knowing he'll be fine with his life. There have been very few video games that have left me truly content on an emotional level, Uncharted 4 is among those few.

A game with excellent gameplay that is completely overshadowed by a severe lack of content and plagued by network issues, Street Fighter V is an unfinished game that sets a terrible precedent for future fighting games to release unfinished products with promises for free dlcs we should feel "thankful for". As I am typing this I am waiting for almost six hours for a match online. The entire story mode can be finished roughly within 23 minutes and there is no arcade mode, leaving the players with playing survivor mode or training mode over and over again while waiting for online matches. I am a Street Fighter fan. If you say fighting game, I think of Street Fighter. I don't play Tekken, Mortal Kombat or whatever other fighting games are out there, Street Fighter HAS been my fighting game since I was a kid. And it pains me to say that Capcom has failed me and fans like me who have been anticipating this game even since it was announced. I preordered it the first week it became available on the PS store for Christ's sake! Despite having excellent gameplay I refuse to give this game even a 1, simply because this is not a game, it's a glorified demo. When the rest of the features arrive by June 2016 may be you can call it a full game. Capcom's Street Fighter V represents everything wrong with the cash-grab gaming industry today. And the people here who do not see that and vote tens and nines are obviously paid off by Capcom. It would not be a first by a game studio , it certainly will not be the last.