Shend

Blasphemous two has mostly highs with some small but tedious lows sprinkled throughout. It is a theoretically perfect game held back by unfortunate but still mounting flaws that end up degrading the experience. The combat and exploration are great, and a novel addition to the genre, with the unconventional progression routes determined by starting weapons, and the creative introduction of each weapon's unique abilities as the first taste of metroidvania powerups, before leading into more traditional upgrades. Puzzles in the platforming are great, the parry is satisfying, the dodge is great, the enemy variety and designs are awesome - when it comes to exploration and combat against standard enemies, its hard to think of anything the game does wrong. The boss fights are mostly great with some flaws seemingly in every single fight. Some attacks are too damaging, some are annoying, this game has a lot of projectile spam which I always hate, and a couple bosses that summon minions which in my book is always a bad choice. But overall they were enjoyable. But just like the bosses, the whole game is mostly enjoyable with a couple downsides in seemingly every category. The game looks and sounds amazing, but the visuals are a bit too committed to one aesthetic for my taste. This is a very dark and moody game, and while for some that might be perfect, and it certainly is a deliberate and perhaps necessary choice for this world, I have less enjoyment exploring worlds that feel overbearing and tonally consistent, especially if that tone is "dark" or "oppressive" or "dangerous". The platforming was fun, but some things just don't work properly or intuitively, like the wall grab sections forgetting to work if you activate them above where the grab part begins, or the cherub ledges not being grabbed even though you physically touch them, and worst of all the ledge grab in general, which always works when you don't want it to and never works when you do. On top of that getting up from a ledge by jumping doesn't work which is the strangest gameplay decision I've encountered in a long time; what context would you ever want to just jump up and down on a ledge? Combat is mostly good but some bosses have bad hitboxes, there should be an ounce of generosity but instead there is none, which adds frustration to the game for seemingly no purpose. The corpse run mechanic is cool from a lore perspective but is a newfound trope in metroidvanias that discourages exploring new paths when you die, and in this case the guilt mechanic actively discourages the use of prayers and chants since your fervour bar will be disabled if you don't have the cash to have it cleansed. Overall Blasphemous 2 has a lot of good things and some small bad things, but those bad things really distract from the good. Also the final boss is one of the most annoying in recent memory. Summons AND projectile spam, plus two-shotting you. Huge stain on the game at such a pivotal and important moment. Luckily the boss that came before was much better.

All I wanted was more Gris and they gave me new Gris with a deer dog and a dark souls roll. They had me at deer dog and they kept going. Unbelievable. Gris had a unique personality to it in terms of visuals that sadly was not revisited for this game, but Neva has its own aesthetic that borrows some of the conventions from its predecessor while not directly copying it. If Gris is traditional art, then Neva is digital. Neva succeeds in the same ways that Gris did, but with a more concrete and straightforward narrative than I was expecting. Coming from Gris, which was intensely symbolic and focused more on the story told through music and metaphor, I was expecting something similar here, but instead Neva truly is a Journey-style game which places you into a beautiful and imaginative fantasy world and tasks you with travelling across its picturesque landscapes, accompanied by a gorgeous soundtrack. On those grounds, Neva succeeds just as well as its contemporaries, but sets it apart is the fact that it actually tries to be a game. Neva has combat which is simple yet satisfying, and platforming which is interesting but not convoluted. Neva is careful to balance the atmosphere and presentation with the gameplay, and expertly uses the gameplay as a means to connect the player with the developments in the world they are exploring. Gris was a puzzle game that didn't let its puzzles distract from the world, and Neva is a combat platformer that doesn't let its combat or platforming distract from its world. Both worlds are amazing to explore, both sound like God, but for my money I like the gameplay and setting of Neva just a little bit more. And especially the deer dog.

The best Kart Racer ever created. This game wipes the floor with Mario Kart with its customizable tracks and carts, offering so much replay value and hundreds of hours of experimenting with crazy layouts and challenges. A Mario Kart ripoff with custom tracks already sounds like a neat idea, but this is not just another knock-off, it is an honest attempt at improving on a now ancient formula, and they definitely did improve it. The boost meter is the best inclusion of this game; do tricks, draft opponents, sideswipe, drift, and get air time, and you'll fill a meter that can be used to both speed past other racers and generate a forcefield to protect you from powerups. That one addition made the game perfectly skill-based, with the opportunity for good players to learn timings on attacks to block them at the right time, and to gain back their meter through tricks and advanced techniques. There is still an absurd amount of chaos, and if you are in first you will undeniably be hit with too many powerups to block them all, but the fact you have a skill-based reward that allows players to fight back against the odds is a gamechanger. I really hope Sony doesn't abandon this franchise forever, because a sequel could truly be something special.

This watercoloured world is painted with such artistry and imagination, that the moments of awe almost serve the game too well, in that they end up distracting from the subdued and surprisingly thought provoking symbolic themes of this game. Gris is a titan of the medium that deserves to stand among the greats like Journey and Abzu, and has unmistakeably carved its own identity out of the conventions of contemporaries that have come before it. Like those games, Gris is a visual and audio treat, but one that takes a refreshingly unique approach. Where Abzu and Journey give the impression of representing interactive paintings, Gris is the closest videogames have gotten to actually being one. The visual identity lends the game a level of intrigue and fascination that more direct and unambiguous worlds fail to capture; Gris is not a game that takes place in a world that follows our logic. It is very much an abstract-impressionist style of game, where the story behind the beauty matters less than what the beauty evokes. Gris' soundtrack is perhaps the most important in that regard; it is evocative and hauntingly beautiful, with Berlinist offering a rich contrast to the more orchestral, documentary-style melodies of Austin Wintory and others. I almost feel bad for not discussing the puzzle-platforming foundations of this game, because they are quite good, but the main draw is once again the visuals and the audio and both are supreme. Gris is a beautiful glossy gem that takes pride in what it delivers best, wastes no time splitting its personality between different pursuits, and stands as one of the most visually and musically enjoyable works in the medium.

Sometimes a game succeeds not as a result of overt perfection in combat or exploration or some other similar category, but rather due to the ineffable qualities it possesses, that pull on the player in ways that are difficult to explain and harder to forget. Dispatch succeeds in every mission it sets out to accomplish. It has immersive and satisfying team-management gameplay that fits well into the workplace dramedy story the developers have crafted, and is broken up by intricate choice driven cutscenes featuring excellent acting performances and animations. Dispatch’s gameplay is good, but not outstanding, and its story is great, but not phenomenal. Instead it is in the visuals, the soundtrack, and the presentation as a whole that the game lends so much metaphorical character to the literal characters, making them steal your attention and ignite your emotions in ways that linger and smolder long after you are done with them. It is in the subtlety and honesty of how the characters are written, and the intricacies related to the relationships you forge, that the game inspires big questions regarding connections, mentorship, destiny, and purpose, in a manner which is both humanising and intensely moral. The shiny and enticing veneer of humour and wit conceals a more subdued and interpersonal chemical combination that reacts with the player as they make choices and are forced to understand people and decisions they might not agree with, and care for others as they balance their own desires with their obligations. Grappling with the needs of multiple people and balancing relationships and responsibilities in differing directions is what lends the game such a fascinating and emotionally jolting personality that maintains the player’s enthusiasm on many playthroughs. There are few criticisms I can make of this game besides some lines of dialogue here and there. My initial score upon completing the game for the first time was a 4/5, but each time my mind wandered to the game and as I replayed it I grew more and more fond of the experience. Overall the story is great but the characters are what elevate it - In actuality, it is the soundtrack and visuals that do much of the work in raising the emotional impact and connections that the player forms with the characters on screen. When held up against the likes of the Last of Us or God of War, I do not think there is much of a competition, but Dispatch has a certain charm to it that no other game has ever captured, and even when another studio undoubtedly makes their own attempt, I doubt it will land as well as this one.

One of the best combat systems in any game. Without a doubt it is the best hand-to-hand combat system. If the next Batman game does not take inspiration from Sifu I will be thoroughly disappointed. There are few complaints I can name with regards to the gameplay, but maybe I would say that the way stuns are inflicted on the player is far too random (or at least it seems that way) and unpredictable that it ends up making some runs and encounters seem unfair. But this is rarely the case. The combat is the beating heart of this game, and it is outstanding. So satisfying and challenging while allowing the player to reach mastery organically. This game has a brilliant twist - each time you die, you can revive yourself. But you age by the number of deaths you have had thus far. This means that rather than being like most games, which boot you back to the last checkpoint or the beginning of an encounter when you die, Sifu lets you carry on right away, trying again with a fresh healthbar immediately. Its deceptive, especially at the start, since technically you could just spend 3 decades and tank any boss, but the trick is, if you make too many mistakes, you'll age too much, and wont be able to continue. Then its game over for real. This remixed roguelite DNA is the main hook of the game, and it makes for a truly unique difficulty curve and experience in general. Success in this game comes from mastering the various abilities, especially the dodges and parries, and the reward for master is tangible, since the better you are, the fewer times you die, which means the more chances you have to get further and further. This game does not demand mastery in an ordered, sequential manner like Furi (which is also excellent), instead mastery comes in the form of a more general improvement in skill, with learning enemy attacks and level layouts coming second. The checkpoints at the beginning of each section and the shortcuts throughout all the levels ensure that you are never losing too much progress or slowing the pacing down, but your deaths being recorded as the starting point for each level means that you are incentivised to retry each level to give yourself more chances in the later stages. This structure of permanent death after aging yourself to death and having to retry levels to finish them younger, would succeed fine in most games but it is especially enjoyable in this game thanks to the combat being so incredible. You run through a hideout, you die a bunch, you make it to the end, and you go back and try again, training and practicing until you make it through with fewer and fewer mistakes, and more years ahead of you. Beyond the gameplay, the presentation and story are beautiful and subtle. This game has such an evocative style, and each of the different levels have such vivid thematic ties that really distinguish them. The breaks in the realism of the game, to feature combat in a burning dojo or a jungle or an endless pool of water, add so much flavour to the game and visual variety. This game oozes with personality, and is unlike any other game I have played. The story is simple, and effective. It is a revenge narrative, where you track down the men who killed your father. Seems simple enough, but the real detail comes in learning these characters, learning your own motivations, and learning what it means to have true mastery of oneself. The true ending of this game is what made the story really click, and turn from a simple plot meant to give context for the combat, to a beautiful and poetic story of sympathy, mercy, restraint, vengeance, and the complexity of the human experience. What a beautiful game.

Ragnarok is a masterful return to the bombastic and epic traditions of the original God of War series, while embracing and advancing the new identity of growth and change of this new Saga. If this is truly the end of the Norse Saga, I would be greatly dissappointed considering all the loose ends they left, but for what the game is (especially including Valhalla) there are few things to complain about. This is a dramatic and emotional story which still manages to emphasize its raw and brutal combat without sacrificing tonal consistency. It takes the characters in these stories more seriously and lends them more personality than any game in the series prior, and few games in general can purport to have such a strong cast of talented actors portraying their many beloved characters. God of War 2018 was a bold reinvention of the series. For Ragnarok to succeed as a sequel, it needed to find its identity in 2 different ways, for 2 different aspects of its design: For the gameplay, it needed to add enough complexity and variety to surpass the original and not feel like a repeat, and for the story, it needed to offer a satisfying outcome for the very many plot threads that were tugged on and torn in the first game. Luckily, this game succeeded on both counts. First, the gameplay: The combat in this game is subtly tweaked from the first, offering new mechanics such as the triangle abilities, more environmental hazards and tools, death from above attacks, and even a brand new weapon. The entire skill tree was reworked, with brand new abilities and reimagined old ones. Runic attacks got switched around as well as having many new additions, greater shield variety dramatically changes the game, along with new spartan rage forms, a new enchantment system, new runic summons, new support characters, and even a completely separate playable character in the form of Atreus. The key word for this game is variety - in pretty much every category, the game expanded on every thing from the original by adding more and changing what remained. There are far more enemy types, status effects, bosses and minibosses, sidequests, collectibles, armors, puzzles, realms, and so on. This game is very much in the same vein as Elden Ring, where the content seems excessive to the point where the game can feel endless, but because the game itself is so excellent, the more there is the better it is enjoyed. While the combat never quite reaches the peaks of challenge that the original did mainly due to the inherent familiarity that most players will come into the game with, it does include some of the best designed and most challenging bosses in recent years. Once again, I think this game far surpasses contemporaries in the Souls-like genre in terms of how enjoyable and polished the combat system is. Few games can match up to the original, and now even fewer still can hold a candle to Ragnarok. When it comes to the story ****, many like to claim that a sequel's biggest responsibility is justifying its own existence. I think this is completely misguided and a harsh generalisation, and Ragnarok is a great proof of this. GOW 2018 needed a sequel, and so the responsibility of Ragnarok was to be the sequel that the original demanded. To reward those invested in the stories of the first with their continuation and culmination in the second. And they succeeded. In a general sense, the world has evolved and the stakes have risen exactly how you would expect. Ragnarok is coming, and the 9 realms are all affected. The world is bigger and the choices the characters make are more significant. This looming war juxtaposed by this dramatic dance between gods trying to get the better of one another and still maintain the peace for however long it lasts, is immensely captivating, and it gives the characters so much room to explore their motivations and relationships. This is important, because just like the first, Ragnarok is a game set in a fantastical world, but one that places its focus chiefly on a much more human and down to earth story. This is a game about fate, and challenging what is meant to be while not being determined by your own nature, but it is also a game about change, personal growth, and the relationship between a father and a son. God of war makes every unanswered question and every plot thread pay off, while never losing sight of the more human story it is trying to tell. It succeeds in every measure.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I thought Gwent was gonna be the only card videogame I ever found entertaining and yet here we are. Inscryption is a shockingly deep game, with a fascinating atmosphere, a cryptic and unexpected story filled with twists and surprises, and a rogue-like structure which stands out as one of the most replayable for all the varied builds possible in your deck. This game feels like someone who had so many great ideas for a complex card game that they could not fit all the ideas neatly into one game, so they split them apart into fragments and focused on polishing them individually more than they ever would have been separately. All 3 acts of this game are thoroughly entertaining from a mechanical perspective, and the story remains intriguing as well. This marriage between escape room time loop puzzles, and a strategic card game filled with luck and skill in equal measure, makes for a game that will engage you with the natural results of its systems as well as with its narrative. This is an unexpectedly good game, which at first glance seems to focus singularly on a simple concept, before revealing it is actually far more complex than meets the eye. I had no expectations for this game and now I have only the highest of praises to sing.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Abzu might not be the first of this genre, but it might be the best. These games have always succeeded first and foremost because of their atmosphere, and the watery ruins filled with intriguing aquatic life of Abzu's oceans succeed maybe even better than Journey's sandy and snowy peaks. Abzu's bursting and triumphant orchestral score clears out in quiet, somber moments to let the visuals do the talking, as the quiet sound design serenades the player. Every track from this game is beautiful, and every moment looks like a brilliant impressionist painting. The simple swimming mechanics are soothing and enjoyable, not wasting any time distracting from the presentation. These short and perfectly paced aesthetic-focused games are becoming more and more common, but few of them manage to be great. Abzu is not only great, it is endlessly enjoyable - the videogame equivalent to comfort food. An easy to play game that offers a lot of simple and profound pleasures. A work of art.

Hyper Light Drifter is a unique game with an exceptionally captivating style. The aesthetics are the most remarkable part of this charmingly simple game, but they are all in service of a core gameplay network that is one of the best interpretations of the Zelda formula. The combat is punchy, challenging, and based on a foundation of simple and satisfying mechanics, allowing for complexity without demanding it. The hoards of enemies and interesting bosses deliver twitchy gameplay that requires both learning enemy movements and improvising in difficult situations. The variety of enemies and bosses populate the 4 corners of the world without ever letting encounters get stale, and the speed of the combat helps similarly with the pacing of the game. The world itself is a joy to explore, offering linear dungeon-crawls beneath more open ended levels, filled with secrets and collectibles that function as meaningful rewards, encouraging the player to scan every room for hidden details. The hiddenness of these secrets never ventures to the extent of frustration, instead offering subtle ques like symbols on the ground, revealing invisible pathways and false walls, making every secret a result of careful observation rather than brute-forcing through every corner of the map. This makes discoveries feel like accomplishments, and the upgrades to your character make for great incentives. Secret zones and bosses are the cherry on top, allowing for more hidden paths through levels, additional challenges, and new inventive weapons as rewards. The game has a great variety of content while still sticking true to the core of the game: exploration and combat. The real reason this game resonates so strongly, is because of its aesthetics. The visuals are brilliant, with some of the most colourful and detailed pixel art of any game. The real crown jewel, however, is the soundtrack. Disasterpeace made an unforgettable score for this game that haunts the world with every step you take. Panacea is by far the most brilliantly melancholic song in any videogame I have ever played, and puts most indie games to shame with how much raw emotion it manages to evoke in the final moments of this game. Hyper Light Drifter does not have a story, it has an atmosphere. There are no words, no lines of dialogue, and the few encounters with friendly NPCs only serve as more opportunities to show rather than tell. The music and the visuals carry the presentation towards a story that means more and hits harder than 99% of AAA open world boilerplate slop. It hits hard because it has so little to say, so much to show, and leaves you with so much intrigue that all the important questions are asked by the player and answered all the same by their own discovery. This world and its history provide a brilliant layer of mystery which seeps into every inch of gameplay, making a game with a story worth uncovering. I love games that keep their mouths shut and let their stories be uncovered by the player, and this one does it better than most. Back to Panacea my mind wanders, as I think about the parts of this game that stick with me the most. That hauntingly beautiful melody is the perfect representation for this game, and will be the part of it I remember the best. What an exceptional and deceptively incredible game.

Outer Wilds is an outstanding work of art, and an unforgettable adventure - a bitter truth which becomes the final consolation of anyone lucky enough to have experienced it. There is nothing I can or should or wish to name in particular about this game - my only prevailing sentiments are just that this game is an exploration driven mystery that stands among no contemporaries, neither in quality nor scope. This is a fantastic experience from start to finish, and left me continually floored at how it pulled me into its abstracted world, only for me to wish I could do it all over again with a blank mind once the credits rolled. This game is a game that anyone can enjoy and one that I hope as many people as possible get to appreciate, for it truly is a work of art. One of the best games ever made, a serious contender for the best indie game ever made, and the most enthralling, intriguing, heartwarming, and perspective-shifting game I have ever played.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Its a shame how many good elements are in this game, that end up getting bogged down by some terribly cringe and gross anime writing. This game has moments that make you want to throw up and just stop playing, from the needlessly hypersexualised characters to the childish middle-schooler love triangles, the distracting and robotic voice acting and the annoyingly incessant battle call-outs. There is no shortage of dumb things in this game, and they all have to do with a story which just cannot maintain a consistent or well-crafted tone to save its life. Of course there are the disgusting parts where we have some random emotional speech from a character we are simultaneously viewing from a panty-shot, or any of the cutscenes featuring the fetish maid robot who calls the furby master, but there is also just a general air of inconsistent writing and performances which bring the quality of the game down. The shame really is that the broad-strokes story is really fun and interesting - the world is gorgeous and fascinating, the music is great, the whole journey they go on is very entertaining and the ending is such a surprising and fun twist that gets weirdly sci-fi and philosophical. So much imagination and personality was put into this game that I just wish the focus was on the world, or that the performances and tone of the rest of the game could match that core essence. But unfortunately nothing in this game is consistent. Beyond the story, I have mostly praises to sing for the combat and traversal. The only criticisms I do have would be that the combat can take a while to get interesting, and that the traversal can get confusing at times with how much verticality there is in the game. I had lots of fun journeying across these titanic creatures, but much of the combat was uninteresting in the first half of the game, and there were some occasional confusing waypoints and paths to the destination. Level gating is also a sore spot, since I didn't want to do many of the frankly boring sidequests, so my characters just hit a brick wall near last quarter of the game, and I was forced to grind. This is an issue that exists in many RPGs and is complete garbage, but at least it wasn't too bad in this game. The best part of this game is by far on the auxillary side of things; the music and environments are amazing. Lots of themes from this game are so catchy that I still listen to the to this day, and the design of the world is honestly better than a lot of other fantasy games. Overall, this game has good combat, amazing visuals and music, and a downright disappointing and cringe worthy story. Maybe if I was a troglodyte who watches anime and considers it high art I would feel right at home in this story aimed at creepy 12 year old's, but unfortunately it was only in the finale that I felt like my tastes were appealed to.

A frustratingly clever puzzle game. Many of its challenges might seem obtuse or unfair, especially since the game explains very little of its rules. But this also plays in its favour by building a sort of language which the player is learning to translate over the course of the game. For every confusing puzzle that leaves me bothered, there are 10 that make me feel like the smartest guy in the world, and the secret mysteries in this game more than make up for any annoyances. I would recommend this game to anyone who wants to seriously dive deep into some logic and spatial conundrums, and for the rest of you who find this sort of game too frustrating, I feel bad for you because I imagine you find many every day tasks frustrating as well.

A frustratingly great game, not only for how it makes you wonder if other developers are even trying, but also for how many annoying, tedious, frustrating, and unintuitive features are buried under an avalanche of insanely good moments. Elden Ring stands as one of the best open world games ever made for its uniquely brilliant and dark world, with so many memorable bosses and enemies populating it. It doesn't seem fair to compare it to other open world games like Zelda though - compared to BotW, Elden Ring is linear. This is instead more of a series of open zones, all with so many secrets and bosses to discover, and a lot of freedom in which areas you visit first. Ultimately, it is more restrictive than BotW, but it uses these restrictions to build a deliberate path through the world. There is nothing wrong with this sort of world design, but it is worth mentioning that it does not embody "freedom" as much as its contemporaries might. Elden Ring did borrow other elements from Zelda, however, including perhaps most importantly, freedom from hand-holding and explanation. You are truly left to discover this world, and it certainly has more content to uncover than a world like Hyrule. From the variety of different monsters and enemies, to the different items of a plethora of builds, the absurd array of weapons and spells, and countless interesting NPC's (with admittedly needlessly confusing and antiquated quests). There is always something to uncover in this game, and the settings are so brilliantly designed that you can't help but delve deep into all of them. The underground sections truly were some of the most insane moments I have had in any game, and the story that unravels as you venture through the regions left me genuinely fascinated. This game also borrows BotW's shrine dungeon approach, having many bite-sized challenges throughout the world, yet unlike BotW this game does not skip out on its legacy dungeons. Elden Ring has some of the most impressively designed cities and castles of any medium, which are all filled with a rich variety of enemies and bosses. The bosses really are the highlight of this game, with countless standouts and memorable moments. Radahn was frustrating as hell, Margit was a crazy realisation of how bad I was at the game, The Crucible Knights were infuriating until I mastered them and then I realised how good they were, and of course we have Malenia, who is in fact the blade of I think Miquella, i think thats what she was yeah. The bosses are fun and challenging, and I didn't mind the fact they were recycled, since the core combat system was so much fun that it didn't matter if I was fighting the same bosses again (except for Astel, that kind of ruined the original moment). The core combat of dodging and hitting is simple and serves as the core of all encounters, but the heavy and light attacks, ashes of war, parries, ranged attacks, consumables, jumps, and ripostes all add a heavy heap of variety. Not to mention the trillion and one build options from the unlimited number of weapons available. Every build is unique and every build is interesting. But that isn't necessarily a good thing. I prefer games with just one build, but the restrictive upgrade and leveling system makes experimentation hard anyways. Speaking of leveling, the different regions in this supposedly "open" world game have levels which soft lock areas for players until they gain more XP from fighting easier bosses on the critical path. Speaking of bosses, some of them are complete garbage and completely hopelessly unfair, or play by completely different rules than you. This is a frustrating 10/10, and much of that frustration is the result of actual frustration from a combat system and collection of bosses that desperately needed a bit more polish and balancing. In a challenging game, you want players to be frustrated but motivated, believing they can beat the difficult boss that is giving them trouble by simply getting better at the game and therefore being rewarded with the satisfaction of accomplishment. Elden Ring ventures too far into frustration for many of its bosses that it ends up costing the game that satisfation of overcoming difficulties, since many bosses are bested from luck, cheese, coming back when your character is stronger, or a combination of the 3. It doesn't help that you often die in only a few hits, and despite the stakes of Marika, the game still enjoys wasting your time before letting you try again. I could talk endlessly about how poorly balanced and unfair and frustrating and bothersome many of the bosses are, but in the face of what the game gets right, this is more of a momentary hiccup that discourages you for a time, until the world pulls you back in with some new enthusiasm. Still, if the game didn't have such a strong world to stand on, then much like BotW, it would never be a 10/10. Except in Elden Ring's case, this is due to things which are horrible, not just ok or good.

The best 3D platformer ever made. Mario Odyssey accomplishes so much with so little; offering a buffet of inventive and imaginative worlds to explore, with an insane amount of collectibles to gather. The music and visuals are top notch, with a story that does not get in the way while somehow managing to be interesting by the standards of the series. Odyssey places all its chips on Mario. His moveset is the core essence of this game, and is one of the most expressive and fun of any game period. All his various options of traversal weave together so seamlessly that they make the player feel like an acrobat, and encourage experimentation and mastery to skip sections and make it past obstacles even more efficiently. The cap is a brilliant addition, funcitoning as an augmentation of his movement and combat abilities, while also serving as the gateway to some of the coolest "powerups" in Mario history. The Captures in this game offer so many unique ways of approaching platforming and puzzles that it honestly cannot be compared to any previous Mario game. All these captures added to Mario's already vast moveset grant the player an enormous amount of freedom in how they want to tackle every objective. Unexpectedly, Mario Odyssey takes a different approach to collectibles, by opting for micro-challenges with more Moons spread throughout every corner of the map, rather than longer, lengthier challenges with fewer rewards. To my surprise it works outstandingly well - Odyssey keeps the momentum going in every level not only by letting players stay in the level after collecting moons, but especially by offering moons as a reward for so many micro challenges all throughout these stages, making for a game with persistent and satisfying forms of encouragement. These bite sized accomplishments might not be preferrable to all fans, but I found them immensely satisfying. What it means is not every challenge will be expertly crafted, but the sheer number of challenges there are means that there are that many opportunities for the player to show of their mastery of the movement mechanics. Nintendo really does place all their chips on Mario's moveset rather than level design (practically the complete opposite of Galaxy) and while it might not be strictly better, it certainly works for this experience. All the challenges in this game, no matter how short, simple, long or complicated, are equally fun because it is simply fun to move as Mario in general, and so as a result these micro challenges become seamless extensions to the jungle-gyms which are the levels, as you effortlessly leap and dive from one Moon to the next. The enemies and levels are of course, brilliant, and are perhaps the most inventive we've seen to date. The Pokios in Bowser's Kingdom, the Gusheons in Bubblaine, and the little onion sprouts I forgot the name of in Steam Gardens - both the captures and the levels have such wild and imaginative personalities that it is honestly impossible not to admire at least some of them. There is more creativity oozing out of the cracks of this game than there are creative ideas in all the games Ubisoft, Activision, and EA have made in the past 10 years. Mario Odyssey is a landmark in Nintendo's already monolithic series, and will stand as one of the best games ever made, until they inevitably dethrone it with the next one.

A brilliant trip into an interactive painting - Journey might just be the gold standard in this visual-audio focused genre of games short on words, but vast in their emotional resonance. This game has no low points across its short runtime, offering you only the best in atmosphere and music, while subtly intriguing you with its minimalist story. If there ever was a perfect game, Journey would be one of them. While it might not be lifechanging, it is life-affirming, offering many of the core elements that resonate deeply with your emotions, giving you a memorable experience you'll want to revisit whenever you need to relax. Games like these succeed both because and in spite of their simplicity, and Journey succeeds better than most.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Revelations seems like the end of the more interesting portion of the AC series, and returning to it years after playing it originally reveals that much of the magic of what made the game so interesting at launch remains in the present, while much of what made the game frustrating or monotonous has become exacerbated now that there are more, better games to compare it to. Revelations succeeds in its setting, environments, story, music, and general gameplay loop of exploration, confrontation with enemies, and fleeing the scene. The city of Constantinople has been etched into my memory and the mark it has left is indelible, such that I immediately knew how to orient myself upon returning. Climbing buildings and running across rooftops was fun and the animation system only got on my nerves a bit. While Ezio's movement is not as expressive as it could be, the simple inclusion of the hookblade made climbing just a bit more involved, and I appreciated it greatly. The densely packed city makes traversal fun, and the colour grading of the environment as the night rolls in and the sun sets over the water creates an ambience that many modern games cannot capture for me. While the visuals might look a little muddled by modern standards, as many games did at the time, the sparring use of colour now becomes a feature I appreciate for the tone it grants the world. The soundtrack is, like most in the series, a standout and an absolute classic. Every track in this game is hauntingly beautiful, and many of the melodies in the game stick with you even after you're finished playing. While there are highs and lows, the story is mostly fantastic. Its interesting, engaging, the characters are likeable and have personality, the villains are written surprisingly well since the whole Templar philosophy carries with it an air of legitimacy and believability, and the varied locales Ezio visits during the adventure make the game feel like a grand expedition across the world. The most surprising positive of the story was how little it dragged. While the pacing stutters in some areas, the main story is to the point and enjoyable, and usually sticks to action. Trailing and walking sections are more just interactive cutscenes, and thankfully Ezio can walk shoulder to shoulder with his companions automatically. When these boring sections are over, the game features a wide array of fun encounters both in stealth and action, and the the variety of tools at your disposal from the start make the combat enjoyable. While it is severely dated, the combat is satisfying enough to be serviceable and not get in the way of enjoying the rest of the game. The weapons are varied and the different enemies do sort of demand different tactics, but most encounters can be dealt with by just mashing the counter button. With that being said, the animations make combat satisfying enough to be mostly fun, if a bit basic. Performance issues are no surprise, and bugs and glitches were also common. While they weren't too distracting, they still hurt the experience. Nostalgia for many games of my childhood has been waning as I play more of the genre-defining works of art in the modern era, so childhood memories cannot help this game too much. Thankfully, Revelations still succeeds in delivering a fun experience steeped in historical atmosphere, that maintains a place in my heart.

This game exists in a special place in the video game medium. Very rarely do we get brand new ideas, new worlds, new IPs, and even more rarely do we see games take bold risks, doing things that maybe aren't popular, or aren't accessible to most. The scene for avant-garde games and experimental designs is usually the indies, and so seeing a huge studio with a lot of funding work so singularly on a vision that undoubtedly would not be appreciated by casual audiences is not only surprising, but incredibly refreshing. Death Stranding really is a game like no other. This premise has never been done this singularly before. You are a porter in a post apocalyse, where the extinction event that ended humanity in this world was the merging of the lands of the living and the dead. There are two halves to this story; the world, which tells a crazy and imaginative sci-fi tale of BT's and BB's and Ha's and Ka's, and on the other hand we have the people, who tell a tale of human connection, shared history, and the meaning of building relationships. This split approach to the story and plot grants Death Stranding the dual identity, where there is an entirely different game to appreciate depending on your viewpoint. To discuss either of these halves in detail would take an entire college dissertation, but the important takeaway is that the story succeeds not only as a thrilling drama of secrets, espionage, twists and illusions, but also as a grounded, humanistic story about the social constitution of humanity. While Kojima de-emphasised plot in The Phantom Pain, Death Stranding is a cautious, half step back towards story, as much of the game is focused on the journey, and becomes more dense with the narrative destination near the end. New characters are sprinkled througout, and each of their stories delivers a new wrinkle to the imaginative science-mysticism of the apocalyse, while also giving you another looking glass through which to see how humanity has gone on living and staying together after the end of the world. The eclectic cast of characters are creative and zaney, without detracting too much from the themes and tone of the game. Their interactions with Sam serve as a much needed reprieve from the loneliness of the world, in much the same way that a simple glance at BB or a visit from some wandering porters does. These little interactions and character quests constitute most of the middle of Death Stranding's story, while major story beats like the Supercells and boss fights are added sparingly. If this was a story-first game, I think it would still succeed. But the fact that it wasn't allowed the game to place more emphasis on the experience of the gameplay and stepping into Sam's well worn boots. What's crazy, is not only was this approach better, but it might have ended up becoming the most interesting and evocative game of the past decade. Death Stranding is a game about traversal, but in a grounded, realistic sense. The game is mostly about slowly trudging your way from point A to point B. The success of this game is in how it makes interacting with the world such a conscious process that this simple goal becomes an engaging one. You are granted few tools, and many obstacles, and as you reconnect the world, and travel further and longer, you get more tools to travel even further, and carry more cargo, and travel longer distances, and as you travel longer distances you repair more paths and build more structures for your fellow players, and repair more roads, which let you travel faster and farther and longer, and the feedback loop continues onward until you are zipping across the map on strings of light and driving at breakneck speeds across freshly paved roads. The slow progression makes every ounce of help feel rewarding and special, as this intense acrivity of depowering the player ends up making each step that much more meaningful. When you sneak through a timefall storm, holding your breath as you pass by a BT, and on the other side of the storm, your hood comes up, the clouds part, and the angelic sounds of Low Roar play as the camera pans out, you soak in the rocky fields of the gorgeous landscape infront of you - at times like these this game is untouchable. This is not a story driven game, but its a mistake to say it is focused on gameplay either. It is a very singular experience with a very particular set of emotions in mind, and all the content of the game reinforces that feeling. The feeling of being Sam, travelling across a vast, empty, unknown world, with just your thoughts to keep you company as you walk tirelessly, not for yourself, but for the betterment of others. Feeling disconnected from the world as you try to piece it back together. Guiding others to union while you look on from the outside. This noble, tragic journey is one that strikes at a set of emotions that I have never seen a game capture, or any work of art capture for that matter.

The best 2D Platformer ever made. Celeste succeeds in every category, big and small, and has no shortcomings. It has a beautiful soundtrack, clear and colourful 8-bit visuals and a concise and inoffensive story. The real star of the show is, of course, the platforming. Very few games can touch this one. Its an interesting flip on contemporaries like Mario, where instead of the player having a complex collection of abilities and powerups, the complexity is actually in the level design. Madeline has a small list of useful abilities: she can jump, dash, and climb. That's it. And yet it is in this simple set of tools that the player is tasked with mastering their movement, against some incredibly inventive and tough levels. And I mean very tough. You will die thousands of times on some of these levels. And yet, unlike other challenging games, Celeste avoids feeling frustrating. You respawn immediately, and lose very little progress when you die. You have infinite lives. Most of the challenging levels are optional, and there is even an assist mode if you need it. Celeste is one of those challenging games which does not overcomplicate things with a million different abilities and stats; instead it hands you a small collection of tools and demands perfection from you to see all the game has to offer. Overcoming these tough challenges is intensely satisfying, and makes for one of the most fun games in recent history. Maybe ever. If you are a fan of platformers, or just good games in general, play Celeste.

This is a game featuring one of the most enigmatic and awe-inspiring worlds, that you are forced to explore with some of the worst controls and animations in recent history. The shame of this game is that Shadow of the Colossus has what it takes to be one of the best games of all time, and for many it is, but for me the gameplay shortcomings add too much frustration that it ends up distracting from the beautiful environments, haunting ruins, angelic soundtrack, and genuinely interesting boss fights. Your character's animations and choppy. They take too long. You trip over stairs and small ledges. Walking too close to a ledge leads to a stumbling animation which can be cancelled with a jump, but somehow not by simply walking backwards. The jump animation is long and floaty, and you cannot grab ledges until the jump animation has completed, meaning you will sometimes be staring a ledge in the face only to have to wait until your character reaches the peak of his jump to finally grab the ledge. It also means that if you jump diagonally which often happens, you might jump past the ledge because, while you were close enough to it, your character hadn't finished the jump yet and was therefore unable to grab the ledge. The horse. It takes ages to start moving, and comes to a complete stop from the smallest pebble. It turns poorly, and sometimes decides to crawl along the ground at a snails pace. The camera. Do not get me started on the camera. It is never in the right place, it is constantly moving to reframe your view, fighting against your analog stick movements. There already is a function to focus on the boss, so I don't know why they felt the need to program a camera that actively forces a terrible perspective. All of this is frustrating on its own, but then there are the bosses. What should have been the highlight of the game ends up being a mixed bag. Most of the bosses are very fun, and there is a great sense of scale and wonder as you climb up the back of a colossus. But some of the puzzles to kill them are just too long, tedious, or inconsistent. Some are just obtuse. Some bosses take ages to do the correct animations, and some are just bugged. The frustration you will feel with some of these later bosses honestly makes you forget how fun the earlier ones were. And the last colossus is like Getting over it in boss form. The terrible camera and jumping controls come together to make a frustrating climb up a boss that should have been breathtaking. I enjoyed most of these fights, even if some were bothersome, but I think overall the colossi were more fun than frustrating. Just barely. The world ends up stealing the show in the end. The environments and the long, stretches of nothingness led to such a somber yet peaceful tone, that perfectly juxtaposed the battles against the giant enemies. After playing this game I feel like I could be transported to this world and be able to navigate without aid. The design is memorable, and the atmosphere is thick and beautiful. I loved exploring the vast world to find little secrets and pray at the shrines. The world ended up being a brilliant buffer between the action and the story, and it really made the game for me. I want to love this game, and in many ways I do. But in the end I am left wondering if I would have enjoyed it more simply watching it rather than playing. I love the world, I like the bosses, and I hate the controls. Overall, that leads to a positive score, but I think mixing these grading criteria is a mistake. Few works of art are perfect, and they don't succeed at everything. I think it is important to highlight the accomplishments of games, even when they might fail in other areas. This game set out to create an evocative setting, populated by mythical and imaginative beasts, and it succeeded. That is enough to earn it some respect in my eyes.

This game is another in a loosely defined genre, accompanied by the likes of games like Inside, Abzu, Journey, Flower, Gris, and others like them. These sorts of games always lean more heavily on their presentation, so its a good thing that FAR: Lone Sails has both beautiful visuals and sound design. The depiction of a ruined world in some unnamed apocalypse is intensely interesting, and the sparring use of colour made the game world feel even more desolate. In spite of that, you could take a screenshot at any point and it would probably look like a Monet. The music is also beautiful and the sound design of the weather and hazards in the world mix beautifully to make a memorable backdrop to every scene. While this game is more focused on presentation, the gameplay was surprisingly engaging as well. Micro-managing all the different controls on your vehicle was entertaining, and gave a great sense of urgency and stress whenever mutliple things would happen at once. This is a short, 3 hour game, that does not waste too much time belabouring some profound message, isntead its all about inviting you into an interesting world and hooking you on a fascinating premise. This isn't a life changing game, but it is consistently beautiful and worth the time and money.

This is one of those games that I feel is not for everyone, but those who enjoy it will find it to be one of the best games they've ever played. The story is amazing. I have to be honest, its not on par with something like The Last of Us or Uncharted in terms of animation, voice acting and performances, but that's mostly because this game is much longer than the usual story driven experience, so the reused animations are forgivable. In fact, this game is probably longer than the entire Uncharted series, not even including the two DLC's which individually are longer than most games. There is so much story in this game; so much content, and yet almost all of it is high quality. It's been said a lot, but some of the side quests in this game have better plots than most entire main stories of other games. The narrative is a major part of the game, and the deep and immersive lore and worldbuilding really contributes to that. This is a game that takes place in a world that has existed long before you, and there's so much history to discover. The rest of the game is just good or great. Ill be honest, it doesn't have the best combat, or the best puzzles, and I think the biggest problem I have is how terrible the movement controls are, but all these annoyances pretty much evaporate when you think back on the game. All you remember is exploring a huge and intricate open world, discovering things, making decisions, and OH. Did I not mention the decisions? This game is maybe the biggest argument for the novelty of videogames as a medium for storytelling. The player has a significant influence on the story, ranging from which romantic interest the protagonist ends up with, to your relationship with your child, what side characters live and die, and even who wins the war. The choices are really well represented as being gray in morality, and with complicated, unforeseeable consequences. Not only does this add a lot of replay value to the game, but it makes the story much more personal, and the consequences are much more weighty when you know that people died because of you, not because of the plot. Overall, this game is maybe a 4/5. But the story and world are so great that it completely overshadows any flaws with the gameplay. Its an easy 5/5.

The best Metroid-Vania ever made, which is ironic because it wasn't made by Nintendo or Capcom. This is a detailed, winding and intertwining world filled with secrets, lore, and amazing moments. It's the kind of game you keep playing because you just can't wait to unravel the entire world, and see what you'll find. The nonlinear nature of the game is truly remarkable, and adds so much value to the experience. It always feels like you're going in the right direction. The combat is simple, skill based, and very satisfying. There's a lot of challenge in this game, and the shade system is a bit annoying, but it teaches you to be cautious and gives a lot of weight to death. The charms allow for a lot of customization, the powerups are all awesome and useful in tons of contexts. The platforming is great, and often times infuriating. There's so much to love about the moment to moment gameplay. The world design and aesthetics deserves a mention. The art style is beautiful, the soundtrack is amazing, and the lore is surprisingly deep, and gives great context for the events in an otherwise understated story. If this was a full priced game, I would say you should only play this if you've enjoyed a Metroid-Vania before. But its like 15 bucks, and goes on sale often. Just play this game. You wont regret it.

This game is a masterpiece. I don't have to say much, because we already know this. It's not the best in any particular category, its just good and sometimes even great in realms like combat, enemies and level design, etc., but this game is best in one thing: Exploration. There is no game that is more fun to explore. To just get lost in the world. There are so many options for traversal, and so many unique locations with so much to discover. I love how the game lets you do whatever you want. It doesn't force you in any direction, or gate off access to some locations with overpowered enemies. Once you beat the tutorial, the game just says "go". And that's what you do. If you play games for story, this might not be your style. If you play games for varied and diverse boss and dungeon design, like previous games in the series had, then this might not be for you. But if you play games for the sense of adventure, for the feeling of pioneering a journey through an unforgettable world, if you've ever wanted to travel a vast and beautiful kingdom on your own; if you've EVER wanted to go on an adventure, there's no game that does it better than this. Do yourself a favor, and play this game.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This game is probably the worst platformer I’ve ever played. Visuals and music aside, both of which are unremarkable and basic, the gameplay is tedious and confusing. Your objective is to unchain a bunch of crystals all across the map, and each one you get, more platforms and structures pop up, leading to more crystals. But every time you die, you get sent back to the last crystal you unlocked. So you will frequently be travelling across the map on to die, then get sent back to the last crystal. It would be better if you could resent your checkpoint by revisiting a previous one, but you can’t. So you just end up wasting a ton of time backtracking all because the game sends you back. Besides the structure though, the gameplay is garbage. The movement is way to floaty and imprecise, so many frustratingly impossible jumps and some of the worst input lag I’ve ever seen in a game. There are also bugs; like when jumping off of a temporary platform, sometimes the game will just cancel your jump and you fall to your death, which like I said, in this game, means being sent to you other end of the map. Overall, this game is just garbage. I got it for a dollar though; and I did play through the hour long experience, so I guess it deserves some credit for keeping me playing until I beat it.