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Despite RPGs being my favorite game genre, I've never touched a Persona game before. I never really had any interest in the series until 5, and that point I had already sold my Vita, had the 3rd game totally spoiled for me, and didn't own a PS4. So when Persona 4 Golden was announced for PC, I was elated. It's the game I knew the least about of the 3 modern titles, and I finally had a chance to play one of these games! I bought it a few months later, played a hour or two on the first day, and liked it well enough. The week following that day was a blur. ~6 hours of playtime a day. I became totally engrossed in this JRPG-visual novel hybrid. And was it worth the insane amounts of time I put into it? Hell. Yes.


Visually, the game's just fine I think. It's probably the weakest part of the game, but not because it's actually bad. After seeing gameplay of Persona 5, the visuals here look pretty dated and uninteresting. Not taking P5 into account, I'd still say they didn't blow me away. The character designs were pretty solid, I liked some of the variety in the dungeon appearances, and that's really it. It's an upscaled version of an 8 year old handheld game, and in that regard, it looks pretty crisp on PC. Overall, it's fine. Not remarkable, but it transitioned to PC well enough so it works.


For those who have not played a Persona game, you're basically playing 2 different games. For the most part, it's more like a visual novel. You're bonding with characters, leveling up social stats, and reading lots of dialogue. It's more fun than it has any right to be, but that's more because of the story. The other chunk of the gameplay consists of dungeon crawling, fusing Personas, and grinding; typical JRPG stuff. This being my first Persona game, I don't know in what ways it improved over 3 or how 5 improved upon this, but I thought it played pretty well. The combat is Pokemon-esque, in that you collect creatures and swap them around to exploit enemy weaknesses, and I had a lot of fun experimenting with different Personas and party members. The game is pretty easy, but there's a few bosses and one dungeon that can absolutely wreck you if you're not prepared. My biggest complaint with this game, though, are the dungeons. They're randomly generated, and while they do a lot to stand out visually, they're all basically the same in terms of gameplay. They try to change things up by locking off certain areas until you find a key of some form, but that gets repetitive as well and feels more like padding than anything. Thankfully, the dungeon component doesn't take up a lot of the game, thanks to how balanced the VN and RPG elements are. By the time you get burnt out with one, the game switches it up and it's probably the biggest reason why I got so hooked. I also loved the day/night structure, although I do wish there were more nighttime activities since I ran out of stuff to do towards the end. Overall, the game's very enjoyable, and outside of the weak dungeon structure, I had a lot of fun playing it.


But of course, this being a JRPG, the most important part to these games are the story. And does it deliver? Absolutely! The game's biggest strength, by far, is the strength of its main cast of characters. My personal favorite was Kanji Tatsumi, as I LOVE the way they handled his problems, but they all have a lot of depth. Many people strongly dislike the totally-not-marketable-animal-character Teddie, and for good reason, but even then I felt he had enough good moments in the story that I can't say I loathed him. He's still my least favorite of the bunch, though. The chemistry between the characters also felt organic, and for a series that loves "the power of friendship", the theme especially fits in this game where your friends feel real. And thankfully, it's not just your friends that are very well-written. I really liked the villain (MASSIVE SPOILER: I'm referring to Adachi), and Nanako is probably the most adorable character I've ever seen and I would die for her. The overall plot was interesting, as it's a murder mystery that constantly keeps you on your toes, even if it wasn't totally airtight in a few spots. It loses a little steam towards the end, but not enough to where I'd say it was an issue. That's probably because the writing absolutely elevated this game. I felt actual emotions towards the story, which is pretty rare when I consume any form of media. It made me laugh, get teary-eyed, and psyched up, and it made the most mundane parts of the game far more exciting. Overall, this was one of my favorite stories of the year. It wasn't perfect, but its strengths greatly outweigh the weaknesses.


It's a Persona game. Of course this game rocks this category. The voice actors clearly had a ton of fun with their roles and did an excellent job of portraying their characters. Again, Kanji was my favorite here, but Nanako's voice actress deserves a lot more credit for absolutely NAILING the little girl voice in a way that doesn't feel obnoxious. Everyone sounded great, though. Teddie's voice was obnoxious, but it eventually mellows out later into the game and becomes far more tolerable, even if it still isn't great. I don't really need to talk about the music, because of course the soundtrack is great. A few tracks wore down on me as I progressed, but I still loved the music overall. I don't really need to elaborate any further here, because this game clearly lives up to the high standards the series has set.


I got over 60 hours of playtime and loved basically every second of it. For $20, you're getting a ton of value here. There's so much meat to the game that you likely will miss a TON of content in your first playthrough, and there's also a NG+ mode (which I have not tried) that adds some extra content of its own. As far as I'm concerned this is absolutely a safe buy at full price.


Persona 4 Golden was already a well-regarded game, but I can now confirm that it's still worth the hype 8 years later. This has been one of my favorite JRPG experiences of all time, in spite of all of its little imperfections. I look forward to the day I get the chance to play Persona 5 Royal or maybe even the 3rd title if I can forget everything that happens. This is 100% worth your time and money, and I highly recommend giving it a shot.

Graphics - 7.5/10
Gameplay - 8.5/10
Story - 10/10
Audio - 9.5/10
Content Value - 10/10

.:9.3/10:.
"Amazing"

**PERSONAL PICK**

+ Amazing cast of characters
+ Great soundtrack
+ Strong voice acting
+ Fun combat
+ Balanced VA/RPG elements
+ Insane content value

- Tedious dungeons

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DISCLAIMER: Outer Wilds is best experienced going in as blind as possible. This review doesn't mention major story spoilers, however minor spoilers like certain game mechanics and characters are discussed. If you want the ideal experience, get this game and DO NOT read any further.

Fresh off of the Obra Dinn, I decided to take my newfound interest in these so-called "information games" and take to the stars with 2019's indie darling: Outer Wilds. I had heard heaps of praise prior to playing, and I love games that emphasize that sense of discovery. It takes a little while for the story to properly take off (no pun intended) as you just aimlessly hop from planet to planet looking for leads, but it ramps up quickly and left me with one of the most unique and fascinating titles I've gotten to play this year.


Something about the visuals that doesn't seem to get mentioned is how brilliantly the game's atmosphere teeters between feelings of coziness and relaxation, as well as foreignness and anxiety. It helps contribute to the mysterious, yet alluring aura of the game's world, and keeps you hooked on the mysteries you're trying to unravel. The graphics aren't impressive on a technical level, but something about it gives a very distinct feeling of being in a Saturday morning cartoon, which reinforces the cozy feeling this game has. I love the diversity in the environments themselves, especially because it doesn't stick to the formula of just a forest planet, ice planet, and so on. I also love the character designs, as there's this wild west theme that I find really interesting and suits your species really well, and the tribal look of the Nomai also really sticks out to me. Overall, the game excels in style and atmosphere, and it gives Outer Wilds a very distinct identity.


This is where Outer Wilds tends to fall flat for many. The controls are strange and the game seemingly doesn't handle all that well, and this causes a lot of people to get frustrated and quit after a few hours of playing. However, part of the game is learning the controls and finding ways to optimize flying around in space since the game is a lot of trial and error already thanks to the time loop. I agree that the controls are strange initially and there's definitely a skill floor, but I got used to the controls over time as I discovered little tricks to help keep myself from flying into the sun or crashing somewhere I wasn't supposed to. It's not totally perfect, but it's definitely nowhere near as bad as, say, Red Dead Redemption 2 as an example. However, just keep in mind that you will absolutely need a controller to play this game, because it seems like you can't make smaller, more precise adjustments with keyboard and mouse. Going back to the time loop, I personally really enjoy it. Since there's no combat whatsoever and the gameplay loop just consists of flying around to different planets, solving puzzles, and gathering information, the time limit doesn't feel oppressive since there's no combat to stop you in your tracks. You'll generally know when you're close to running out of time, and the game has an audio cue to indicate that. You're given more than enough time to really dig into something on a loop, and even during your final loop, you can easily knock out your goals if you know what to do. I also love how dynamic the planets are, and how they change over a single loop, as your approach to finding something on a planet may change over your time there, making traversal far more exciting. While I love that the game doesn't hold your hand, one thing I didn't really like was how annoyingly obtuse some of the puzzles got towards the end. I can't specify which ones for spoiler reasons, but I had to refer to a guide to figure them out and while I felt guilty for doing so, I realized that multiple people had to do the same exact thing online because the hints were either really vague or outright didn't exist for a while. However, this flaw, while annoying, could definitely be ignored to some degree because of the game's incredible sense of discovery it provides. Few games have left my jaw on the ground upon discovering something quite like this one, and there is so much cool stuff to see that it really keeps you motivated to keep on exploring. That sense of discovery is this game's specialty, and it shows. Overall, the gameplay is better than it's made out to be, even though some of the late-game puzzles can squander the experience.


While there is so much I'd love to say about the story, I can't elaborate because you should walk into it as blind as possible. I will say that I loved the story once I found a lead, and it kept me engaged through to the end. I was worried the ending would be disappointing based off of how Return of the Obra Dinn played out, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well it was handled, and it became one of my favorite moments in the game. I do wish the beginning had just a bit more direction, though. You can get a few leads, but they were either too difficult at the time or not really all that intriguing once I found them. I also wish someone told me to stick to exploring the surface and hopping planets in the beginning, because I managed to figure out a planet's big puzzle through dumb luck, and found one of the most important things in the game in my first 3-5 hours, which killed a bit of the mystery. That sort of problem doesn't happen for most people, but I'm mentioning it so others don't make the same mistake I did. Don't focus on one planet. Outside of that, the story's great. Trust me.


The music in Outer Wilds is amazing. It perfectly fits the atmosphere and gets you immersed in the world. Plus, there's something very distinctly comforting about listening to the other explorers jam out when you're in space, even if you're being hurled right into the sun. The sound design is also stellar. The thud of landing on a planet is satisfying, the sounds of you being crushed to death in a cavern are gruesome, but incredibly fitting. It knows when to be loud and overwhelming, but also knows when to give you silence so you can appreciate your surroundings. I could go on, but that would go into spoiler territory. Overall, this is another category where Outer Wilds excels.


While I got 15 hours of playtime, your mileage will vary with this one. There's some people who have been able to finish it in 8 hours, while there's also people who played for 25-30 hours. Because of my early-game mistake, I finished this game earlier than I likely should've, but it still isn't especially long. You'll still likely take a while to play it though, because I find that you need to be in a specific mindset to make any progress. The game's designed for one playthrough, and relies more on lasting value, which it provides in spades, so it's definitely worth a look at full price.


To conclude, Outer Wilds is an excellent, unique experience that honestly doesn't do anything poorly. It's not perfect, and it's not for everyone, but I have nothing but respect for this game and the people who'd enjoy it will LOVE it. It's worth a buy, if only to encourage developers to make more cool, weird stuff like this. Get some marshmallows, grab your banjo, and savor this game because an experience like this is one-of-a-kind.

Graphics - 9.5/10
Gameplay - 8.0/10
Story - 9.5/10
Audio - 9.5/10
Content Value - 8.5/10

.:9.0/10:.
"Amazing"

**PERSONAL PICK**

+ Excellent visual design
+ Unparalleled exploration
+ Beautiful OST
+ Stellar sound design
+ Fair time-loop system
+ Satisfying ending

- Obtuse late-game puzzles
- Beginning lacks direction

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AA games are an interesting part to the industry that doesn't get talked about as much as it should. They have more resources than the average indie developer, so their games are generally higher quality when it comes to things like graphics, sound design, and voice acting, but they also have more creative autonomy to tackle more outlandish topics, for example Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice's focus on psychosis. And yet, they don't seem to get as much attention as they should most of the time. I stumbled across this game in a YouTube video shortly before it released, and the unique gameplay with the hordes of rats piqued my curiosity. So, how good is it exactly, then? I think it's about equal to Hellblade in quality, albeit for different reasons.


Visually, I believe it's one of the best-looking games of last year. The characters look amazing, and their expressions can tell you a lot about their personalities and struggles without saying a word. The environments are incredibly detailed and there were numerous times where I'd stop just to appreciate my surroundings. One of Plague Tale's biggest strengths, though, is easily its oppressive, dark atmosphere. It feels very The Last of Us-esque with that constantly macabre, somber vibe, which makes sense as that was one of the game's bigger inspirations. It helps elevate the story and gameplay to a point where it's almost carrying the entire game with how good it is. However, don't think that I'm downplaying the rest of the game graphically, because this is absolutely where the game shines its brightest.


Unfortunately, while the visuals are one of the biggest high points, the gameplay is not. I will give it credit where credit's due, though. The pacing and variety were definitely good, as the game would switch up different activities like rat puzzles, stealth segments, cinematic sequences, combat sequences, and standard puzzles to constantly keep you on your toes, and it made the game never feel boring, even during its slower chapters. However, the quality of these activities is where the game falls apart. For one, the AI is really bad. Like, to give you an example, there was a moment during a stealth segment early in the game where an enemy was staring RIGHT AT ME while I was in the open, in front of a doorway where I couldn't really lose the guy if I tried. This happened multiple times, and it trivialized some of the stealth portions as a result. But the friendly AI isn't much better. One character that tags along has the ability to sneak up on guards and kill them. However, there were multiple times where the character's pathing was really screwy and he'd walk right into a group of guards and get spotted. And for some reason, the game decides to forgo stealth for combat towards the end of the game, and the combat can be really janky. Sometimes, my character would miss for no apparent reason, or I'd get instantly eaten by a swarm of rats because I was somewhat close to them (shoutout to the final boss in particular for that). And the rat puzzles, while interesting, get pretty old pretty fast because it's extremely obvious how you're supposed to take care of them. Outside of the poor AI, the simplistic and unrefined gameplay can at least be somewhat alleviated by the variety of it all, and it's never cripplingly boring like Hellblade's gameplay loop, but Plague Tale definitely got held back by the quality of its gameplay and its AI regardless.


The story, for the most part, is pretty strong. Because of the tense atmosphere, there was never a dull moment in the story. It starts off horrifically well, and establishes a really interesting premise. I think the game is at its best in its first half, as its where the atmosphere is at its most bleak while also providing a mysterious vibe to it. The second half starts off fine, however it falls off towards the end because a lot of the things that provided the game's near-constant tension are just thrown out the window. The ending also wasn't great, as it really did not feel fitting in a game like this one. However, it didn't ruin the story for me, it just gave me a slight sense of disappointment. Outside of that though, the rest of the story is pretty rock solid. Amicia and Hugo are a great pair, and I was hooked by both characters. I also liked the alchemist's apprentice, Lucas, and the other characters, even if they remained mostly static (with one exception), were at least likable. Both of the villains were pretty terrifying in their own right, and even when the game began to lean on the side of being rather corny (Really? Ratnadoes?), the villains were still pretty scary and gave me a slight Resident Evil vibe. Overall though, I thought the story was pretty solid. It definitely lost some steam towards the end and not every character got the spotlight they should've, but it was still entertaining at the very least.


For a smaller budget title made by French developers, I was honestly impressed by the really high quality of the English voice acting, as their accents felt a lot more natural rather than going for something hilariously over the top and stereotype-y. Amicia and Hugo's performances in particular were extremely good, making both characters more likable and compelling in the process, and also doing a great job of showing the bond that they share. I also really liked the main antagonist's voice, who sounded really, really unnerving in a way that few video game villains have achieved. The music was also surprisingly good, and helped add to the depressing atmosphere. The sound design was fine, I liked some of the touches they made that I can't say because it's a major spoiler, but that's really it. Overall, the extremely good voice acting was one of the stars of the show here.


While I did enjoy the game, the value is a little lacking here for $45. I'm very glad they didn't try to sell the game at $60, but there isn't a lot of replay value since the magic of the atmosphere wears off over time, and the game itself isn't very long either. It's also incredibly railroaded, which is fine, but again, it can hurt the replay value since you'd just be doing the same exact thing. The story is very good, but I would not say that it will completely resonate with the player in comparison to something like Hellblade. However, I'd still stay it sticks with you at least for the premise and the atmosphere, so it's not all bad. You could still get it at full price if you really wanted to, but you might want to wait for a slight sale on this one.


Overall, A Plague Tale: Innocence is a solid AA title with impressive audio/visual design and an entertaining story, but issues with the AI, gameplay depth, and the story's end hold it back from being something truly great. It's definitely worth the time if you're interested, I'd say it was far more entertaining than Hellblade, but they're essentially equal in terms of quality if you want to make that comparison. They're both good games with some cool ideas, but neither of them are truly remarkable. Where Hellblade excels with its sound design, this game excels with its atmosphere. But comparisons aside, I was hooked from start to finish, and even with the game's flaws, I was still very happy with my time and would certainly recommend it.

Graphics - 10/10
Gameplay - 6.5/10
Story - 8.5/10
Audio - 9.5/10
Content Value - 6.5/10

.:7.5/10:.
"Good"

+ Incredible atmosphere
+ Stellar voice acting
+ Engaging story
+ Beautiful graphics
+ Lots of gameplay variety

- Atrocious AI
- Fairly out-of-place ending
- Gameplay lacks depth and polish

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As a fan of Lucas Pope's previous game, the excellent Papers, Please, I've been eager to play this game since it came out. I am by no means a fan of puzzle games, and outside of something like Portal or The Sexy Brutale, I've largely abstained from playing them because I'm not very good at them. However, Return of the Obra Dinn gripped me from start to finish, and I couldn't stop thinking about it when I wasn't playing. It's equal parts mind-boggling and satisfying, and has quickly become one of my favorite puzzle games of all time.


For the most part, I'd say the visuals are quite impressive. It's an incredibly unique 1-bit style that has a ton of subtle details in it, and it really helps add to the pseudo-sketchbook aesthetic of the game. It gives the game's numerous different scenes a distinct flair that there's no point where things look or feel dull, also providing some extra atmosphere that helps keep you hooked. Speaking of the atmosphere, it is absolutely stellar. I felt immersed from the second the game started, and it was so jarring when I took a break because of how hooked I was. There's a few drawbacks, though. While the game actually has some very subtle visual cues to help you find potential evidence, there can be points where the lack of color can make it very difficult to discern what is going on in some situations. However, this is a very small nitpick and only happened once or twice in my playthrough. It's moreso that the visuals physically hurt to look at after a while. Any time I took a break, it was because I would develop a headache from trying to look at every little thing I could, and considering how hooked I was on the game, I'd get flustered over having to pause to let my headache die down. Aside from that though, I thought the visuals were great, and had a lot more going for it than I originally thought.


I played through Astral Chain on the Switch a few months back, which is broken up into segments where you need to be a detective and action sequences. While I loved the action, the detective parts felt very railroaded and it felt more like I was just filling out a checklist more than anything. There aren't a lot of games that actually nail the feeling of being a detective and gathering the clues yourself, but Obra Dinn is one of them. You aren't punished for doing anything wrong, but this comes at the cost of you needing to manually find all the information you're looking for rather than having the important aspects spelled out to you automatically. It's a perfect balance that allows you to maintain a level of autonomy as you solve the mysteries, while also alleviating some of the stress that comes finding out the identities and fates of 60 different people since there's no consequence to making a mistake. Instead, the game will only validate your deductions when you have 3 people correct, which prevents you from completely relying on guesswork. However, you can work around this system a little bit if you get lucky with your guesses or can confirm two people and just need to figure out a third person. It keeps the game from being completely trivial, but gives you some room to guess when you're put in a situation where you need to do so. And when the game confirms your three deductions, it's super satisfying. However, the game provides more than enough subtle cues to reveal who's who. It does an excellent job of giving you just enough information to know you're on the right track (the game will tell you if there has been evidence to confirm a person's identity), but doesn't trivialize the experience in the process. It's an amazing detective experience overall. However, the end of the game is rather disappointing because it switches from being a puzzle game to just looking at the last few scenes which fill in some story blanks but nothing more, which shows how much the nonlinearity helps this game work. Speaking of the story...


Unfortunately, I need to keep this one brief because it's absolutely a game you need to abstain from seeing any specific information about online. I will say that the game starts from the end and you'll work in reverse chronological order, which I personally find very interesting. It hooks you with the chaotic events of the end and the slightly unnerving atmosphere, and I had a lot of fun figuring out how it got to that point in the first place. However, because you're sort of working from the end to figure out the beginning, there's a lack of a proper "aha moment" that detective stories generally use. It's ironic because the rest of the game felt so satisfying to play, only for the conclusion to be rather lukewarm because the "big reveal" isn't quite as big as it should've been. However, the game still makes sense and it's not like there's blatant plot holes or anything. It's still a great story, I just wish that the conclusion had some more oomph in it.


Like Papers, Please, there isn't a lot of music here. What's there is pretty good, if a bit repetitive, but its main job is to contribute to the atmosphere and it absolutely succeeds in that regard. The jingle that plays when you figure out three fates is particularly great because of how satisfying it is. The voice acting was also great in this game, which is very important because you will need to discern the accents and inflections of characters to help narrow down your options. It's not Red Dead Redemption 2 levels of good, but every voice needed to sound very distinct from one another and they absolutely are. If the voice acting wasn't great, then the game could fall apart somewhat so it's good that it succeeded here.


This isn't the kind of game you're going to play more than once, obviously. It's intended to be a one-time experience, but it also sticks with you in a way most games don't. It's absolutely worth it at full price just for the memorability alone, but you can still get a reasonable amount of time with the game. It took me almost 8 hours to complete, but that was mainly because I got lucky with my guesses. I've seen people get upwards of double that playtime and still have just as much fun with it as I did. Overall, for $20, it's definitely worth it despite the lack of actual replay value.


In conclusion, Return of the Obra Dinn is an absolutely stellar game that exceeded my fairly high expectations. It's incredibly complex, but it nails almost everything it sets out to do. There were issues that added up enough to where I wouldn't consider it a 10/10 game, especially the final part of the game, but I loved my time aboard the Obra Dinn and would easily recommend it to anyone who's willing to use their head and a notebook (you will take notes, trust me). I look forward to seeing what Lucas Pope does next.

Graphics - 8.5/10
Gameplay - 9.5/10
Story - 9.5/10
Audio - 9.0/10
Content Value - 8.5/10

.:9.1/10:.

**PERSONAL PICK**

+ Brilliant "rule of three" system
+ Gripping plot
+ Immersive atmosphere
+ Nonlinear structure creates flexibility in how you play
+ Lots of lasting value
+ Great visuals with a ton of detail...

- ...but hurts to look at after some time
- Railroaded, disappointing final act

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While all critically acclaimed games are well-regarded for a reason, I never really understood why Red Dead Redemption 2 was praised as much as it was. To me, it looked like your run-of-the-mill open world game. Once I realized I was stuck inside, I knew that I had to finally give this a game a shot. And I'm glad I did, because I was really missing out.


I don't think it's a stretch to say that Red Dead Redemption 2 is the best looking game on the market right now. While open world games, especially ones as densely packed as this one, are prone to having messy textures, everything in this game looks insanely crisp. It's a remarkable technical achievement, and I'd say it's one of the few games over the years that has left me genuinely awestruck in how beautiful it is. On top of this, RDR2's other big visual strength lies in its presentation. The story is compelling, but there's definitely some moments where the game doesn't have much going on, and while these parts should be boring, they're saved by the presentation. You really feel like you're in a western film, and the cinematic camera helps add to this feeling. A lot of games that lean on being realistic end up sacrificing style as a result, however Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the very rare examples of a game that still establishes its own style and identity while placing an emphasis on realism, and in that regard, makes the graphics arguably the game's biggest strength. But, thankfully, it isn't the only strength.


While this game has a lot of things going for it, unfortunately what holds this game back is definitely the gameplay. The first big criticism, of course, are the controls. They're messy, confusing, and outright unresponsive at certain points. While I did somewhat adjust to the controls as I played more of the game, there were points where the controls were so unbelievably janky that killed my immersion. However, this jank doesn't really affect the gunplay, which is a good thing because there are way too many massive shootouts in this game. I found the game was at its best when you had the smaller, mundane tasks with the occasional combat segment and full-town shootouts on rare occasions. However, as the story progressed, every mission began to follow the same structure of having you mow down hordes on top of hordes of enemies. The epilogue helped dial the game back a little bit, but even then it was still prone to having these massive shootouts a tad bit too frequently for my liking. But worst of all, these issues as well as the game being open-world create the game's biggest flaw in my eyes: the massive dissonance between story and gameplay. Just from exploring the world a little bit, I had around $4000 by the time the story ended, and that was after getting all of the camp upgrades and spending tons of money on new outfits, horse items, and customizing every single one of my weapons. Therefore, the constant stream of "WE NEED MONEY" and the desperation the story tries to create gets undermined when the answer to all of the gang's problems lies in my pocket. It got annoying and eventually I lost interest in exploring the open world, which sucks because the world is full of so many cool things to see and do that I'm considering starting a second playthrough just to find more of them. But the game wants to be linear, and so the game's incredible open world and compelling story collide into each other head-on, and both get tarnished as a result. Is the gameplay outright bad? No, because it's still quite fun to play and has plenty going for it. However, it still conflicts with the rest of the game, and ultimately does a lot of harm to the overall package.


But that's enough negativity. Like I've already said a few times now, the game's story is amazing. Arthur Morgan is one of gaming's best protagonists of all time, and how they handled him in this game was absolutely perfect. He has an incredible amount of depth and leaves plenty open to interpretation, and he grows right alongside the player. While John is also a great character in his own right, Arthur single-handedly bumps up the game a few notches for me. But he's not the only standout here, as characters like Dutch, Micah, and Charles all excel at their roles in the story as well. I do wish some of the characters like Javier, Mary-Beth, and Karen got more screentime, though, as they were enjoyable characters in their own right. Some people argue the main plot is too predictable, but I think the game actually used this in its favor. Especially when it came to a major reveal close to the game's end, I think the idea was to give you some extra motivation for the final mission, and fleshed out some of the characters in the process. I wasn't fond of one major segment of the game as it exemplified a lot of the game's main issues, but it ended quicker than I thought it would so it didn't bother me too much. Otherwise, it's a slow burn that hooks you more and more as it progresses, and the game's amazing presentation and world help keep you occupied during the moments that aren't as engaging. There's a lot more I could talk about here, but that's a discussion for another day. What's relevant here is that the story is amazing outside of some smaller issues, and is another high point for the game.


I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the music. Outside of some of the major vocal tracks (which are excellent), I wouldn't say most of them were particularly noteworthy, but they blended in with the game's world and tone perfectly. The sound design is also excellent here, as everything sounds incredibly crisp and satisfying. However, the real star of the show here is the voice acting. Roger Clark absolutely nails Arthur, and helps provide a subtle layer to the character that couldn't be conveyed through text. Another standout is Benjamin Byron Davis as Dutch, whose charisma really helped me understand how Dutch could be as revered of a figure as he was, and he manages to keep you hooked on every word that comes out of his mouth. The voice acting is some of the best in a very long time, if ever, and really helps sell the western feel of the game. And with the music and sound design blending together perfectly, the audio continues to prove the game's remarkably high quality.


Gameplay/story disconnect aside, the open world is absolutely phenomenal. There's a ton of different side activities, like fishing, hunting, and playing poker to keep things interesting in ways that aren't just shootouts. There's also lots of cool little interactions in the world, and while you don't get rewarded much in terms of loot, the experience of seeing them is worth it alone. On top of a densely-packed single-player, there's also an online mode. I have no intentions of playing it, but it's like eating a pizza with too many toppings on it. Even if you ignore eating some of the toppings, the pizza's still delicious. You'll get a ton of value just from the game's world alone, and the engaging story and additional online mode merely serve as supplements for the incredible world.


To conclude, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a remarkable achievement in almost every way. The gameplay does hold it back, but it's the only blemish on an otherwise incredible game. If you have the time and money, then I have to insist that you give it a shot.

Graphics - 10/10
Gameplay - 5.5/10
Story - 10/10
Audio - 9.5/10
Content Value - 10/10

.:9.0/10:.
"Amazing"

**PERSONAL PICK**

+ Amazing protagonist
+ Beautiful graphics
+ Engaging story
+ Strong presentation
+ Outstanding voice acting
+ Detailed open world

- Gameplay/story dissonance
- Messy controls
- Repetitive missions

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In an attempt to play through more short titles this year, I was recommended Valley by a friend. I looked into it, only recognizing the name, and knew that this was a game I had to try since I enjoyed A Story About My Uncle. Thanks to the Blue Isle Studios bundle, I managed to get this for a measly $1, and was it worth it? For $1, of course. But is it worth it for $15? Not quite, even if it is a solid game.


Visually, the game looks very pretty. I loved the surprising amount of variety in the environments, and I think it excelled both with its interior environments and the exterior ones, something I've taken greater note of after playing through Metro Exodus not too long ago. Considering I'm going from one of the best looking games you can get on PC right now to this, I was actually quite pleasantly surprised. It was very atmospheric, and the world took me in right away. The world created here is super interesting to go through, and I loved every second of it. The only gripe I had was the lighting, which was often either too bright or too dark, however I'm not going to say this is a major issue because it could definitely be something on my end, as I played this on a new monitor that I'm still trying to properly adjust the settings of. Overall, I wouldn't say it's a remarkable graphical achievement or anything, but it definitely looks great, and it's probably one of the game's biggest strengths.


Gameplay-wise, Valley is an interesting case. While some people consider it to be a walking simulator, I would say it is more akin to the aforementioned A Story About My Uncle, being a first person platformer. And strictly considering the platforming parts to this game, they're quite excellent. The game is definitely at its best in the open, outdoor areas, and it's quite exhilarating when you can gather momentum and fly around the area. It feels smooth, it plays well, and the numerous upgrades help give the platforming a lot of variety. The game is easily at its best when it hits these speeds, whether it's running on water or picking up speed on rails to go absurdly fast. It's so much fun being able to run around like that, and I wish there were more segments like that. However, there's also the combat segments, which unfortunately end up dominating the game more than I would've liked. They're not bad, far from it. But with a movement system as excellent as Valley's, I was baffled by the sheer amount of combat there was. It's boils down to "hit glowy thing three times", and the number of these combat encounters increases dramatically hitting the halfway point. which quickly makes the combat sequences, often times in smaller areas, incredibly repetitive and boring. On top of this, there's a life/death mechanic, in which you can determine what lives or dies by gaining energy through killing life or giving energy to sustain it. It's a cool idea on paper, but for some reason, all of the enemies are killed by using the life mechanic, rendering the death mechanic pointless. There's also no reason to try and siphon life from the valley because the game gives you so many orbs to replenish your energy. It's really disappointing to see such a cool idea wasted, with half of the mechanic basically being forgotten about. How can it easily be implemented? I think the DOOM Eternal approach could work, where you could have fodder enemies that you can easily harvest for energy using the death mechanic (or have a bunch of harmless daemons/animals roaming about that you can easily siphon to really get the morality gears turning), and then have tougher enemies that you need to focus on using the life mechanic. It gives the combat some form of depth, and allows both mechanics to be used. To conclude the gameplay portion of this review, it is in desperate need of more zooming segments, and a whole lot less of the magic shooty bang bang stuff. Or, if you want to keep that part, at least make it more interesting, and maybe even utilize the other part of the mechanic. When this game works, it works incredibly well, but those moments are few and far between.


The story is generally unremarkable, but I would say it leans more on the side of good than mediocre. It's pretty cliché, being a basic story about meddling with powers outside of your control in a lust for power, but it's still interesting enough. The ending was also fairly satisfying, and I felt like it did a good job of wrapping everything up without being too vague or too detailed. I think there were times that the game did get too vague, leaving certain plot points unclear unless you search around, I don't think it was too intrusive because you never really stray too far off the path to a point where collecting becomes a chore. The worldbuilding is excellent, though. Thanks to how atmospheric the game feels, the world I was presented with was really interesting, and even if the story didn't have anything new to offer, the quality of it was bolstered by the game's fascinating world.


But, while Valley pretty flawed game, the audio is where things really fell off for me. For one, the game is absurdly loud. Even after I adjusted my settings to make it quieter, everything was still obnoxiously loud. It made every sound so much more irritating to listen to, and there were multiple points where I took off my headphones and put them on my desk, only to still be able to listen to the game as if I was using speakers. It made my ears hurt. The voice acting is also pretty subpar, and did break the immersion a few times as basically every voice sounded very amateurish. It wasn't Metro Exodus levels of bad, thankfully, but considering how atmospheric this game can feel, I couldn't help but wish for something better here. The music is fine, but nothing particularly noteworthy. Overall, the voice acting isn't particularly good and the sound design is awful, so listening to this game was an experience I hope my ears don't have to go through again.


The game's length didn't really bother me all that much, as I felt done by the time the game was nearing its end. It didn't overstay its welcome, nor did it feel too short. There's quite a lot of collectibles, and they never felt too obtrusive to get, even rewarding you with new upgrades if you collect enough stuff. That being said, there isn't really much of a reason to go back to this game when you're done. Speedrunners would get more of a kick out of this one if it didn't feature so many boring combat segments and had more platforming, in my opinion. But overall, it's best bought on sale. Its length wasn't really an issue to me, but the lack of replay value does hurt it, because these movement mechanics absolutely deserve more time to be played with.


To sum up my thoughts, Valley is simply fine. It's got great movement, a solid story, and it's pleasing to the eye. However, it's not pleasing to the ears, and the game doesn't allow the movement systems to spread its wings like it should've. It's worth a try and will entertain you for an evening, but ultimately Valley is a little too rough around the edges for its own good. I recommend it, but only if it's on a deep sale.

Graphics - 8.5/10
Gameplay - 7.5/10
Story - 7.5/10
Audio - 6.0/10
Content Value - 6.5/10

.:6.4/10:.
"Satisfactory"

+ Fun traversal mechanics
+ Great atmosphere
+ Good, albeit clichéd story
+ Pretty environments
+ Solid worldbuilding

- Underused death mechanic
- Obnoxious sound design
- Too much combat
- Mediocre voice acting

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After powering through 2033 and Last Light, I have finally hopped aboard the Aurora for the latest title in the Metro series. While the game looked pretty good, most discussion of this game really vanished after its controversial PC release back in 2019. So to those of you out there that were like me up until playing this game and have no idea how good this game is supposed to be, allow me to answer that question: It's pretty damn good.


I don't this really needs to be mentioned, but obviously the graphics are absolutely gorgeous. The outdoor areas in the open world levels in particular aren't as up to par, but this is alleviated by the linear outdoor levels, one of which has some of the best graphics I've seen in a video game. It never felt too bright or dark, building interiors absolutely nail that claustrophobic, spooky feel that these games are known for, and it generally retains the classic atmosphere. The character models also look very good, and the game maintains its immersion throughout. One thing I also liked was the variety in the environments. It's cool to play the game in seasons outside of nuclear winter, and it really shows off how capable these games can be visually. Overall, this game is Metro at its best visually, and while there's some smaller hiccups, but overall this game lives up to the series standard in terms of graphical fidelity.


Now the gameplay is where things start getting interesting. Stealth is generally hit and miss, but it's not as awful as some other games I've played. The game doesn't offer as much variety in the weapon selection, but I personally don't mind because I liked the upgrade system. The combat is fine, too. It's still got the Metro jank, but it's nowhere near the same frequency as 2033. Where the game loses a bit of its edge, though, is its open world segments. I had no issue with the idea of an open world, but I think Exodus messed this up. There's a fair amount of things to do and there's some pretty neat rewards for exploring the areas, but my GOD, it's so tedious actually traversing through them. The first open world area has a boat, which is easily the more annoying one of the two. You're juggling a bunch of enemies that may try to leap onto your boat, a giant fish that will attack you, and floaty mechanics that just got increasingly frustrating. The second open world wasn't as bad because you didn't have to juggle all these things, but for some reason I kept having a problem where the game's camera would be stuck in a higher position if I pulled out my map and put it away, and while it was easily fixable, it was so annoying having to constantly do it because it slowed me down just enough to where it became a nuisance. Because this series is slower-paced, it works in a linear environment because levels are small and cramped, and when you expand the levels to a massive size, only to not increase the pacing, it makes exploring a worthwhile, but incredibly tedious task. Speaking of which, the linear segments are easily the highlight here, especially the last level, which might be my favorite level in the series. This game can absolutely nail the classic Metro feel in these linear levels, but I just wish there were more of them. I think, if there is another game and they intend to keep the open level approach, they can keep the level size but increase the pacing a little bit and have more small, cramped buildings to explore to strike that perfect balance. Other things I'd mention would be that I miss the bullet economy system, but it's not too much of a big deal. The game absolutely nails the immersion, and I love all of the little details that make the game feel a lot more realistic. I also love this game's morality system. It doesn't force you to play fully non-lethal, and ultimately just boils your actions down to "Pay attention to who you're killing", and the game does a good job of hinting at when you should try to avoid violence. But, while the game is pretty fun to play, there's a lot of technical issues which did make things a lot more frustrating, outright freezing in some cases. It took me out of the game just enough to be an issue to me. Ultimately, while the gameplay still retains some jank and the open world stumbled a bit, the rest of the game is fine and I had fun playing it.


In general, the story is solid. It was entertaining enough and I didn't think the writing was too bad. It just didn't blow me away either, for a big reason I will get into later. I like the more grounded take, placing a far greater emphasis on a small group of people struggling to survive in a nuclear wasteland, and there were some really interesting ideas being presented with some of the factions, like a cult that despises electricity and one group that into two clashing sides because they interpreted their leader's (well-intended) teachings differently, mirroring the many religious feuds humanity has had throughout history. It's a nice change of pace from the Nazis vs. Reds and whatnot. While some may not like the lack of a "supernatural" element, it's still there. It's not as obvious, but there's some subtle details that raise some questions about the story that I won't spoil. The world building is excellent, and having a lot more variety in the locations helps make the post-war world a lot more fascinating as people take on the new world in different ways. However, while the main story was just fine, the ending was amazing. It concluded the trilogy incredibly well, and while it was bittersweet, it was still immensely satisfying. Overall though, the game's story isn't too bad. What holds it back, then? Well, that can be found in the audio department.


While the story and characters are fine, the voice acting is not. My expectations weren't high because the voice acting has always been fairly cheesy, but it just does NOT work in this game. For one, Artyom is still a silent protagonist, and considering how much he interacts with other characters, keeping him silent in-game just breaks the immersion and totally bothered me. And because of how much human interaction is in this game, the poor voice acting kills some of the emotional weight that this story absolutely should have. The kid voices in general were pretty horrible, but everything was just so difficult to listen to. Anna and Miller are okay, and that's part of the reason why I like the ending so much, but the rest is just unbearable. The audio design isn't too bad, though. Everything sounds loud and crisp compared to how muffled everything was in Last Light. Overall, make Artyom talk in-game. Please.


You'll definitely get your money's worth here. It's the longest game in the series, and the DLC content is supposedly very good. The side content is enjoyable, but the slog of getting to it brings it down a little. The ending will definitely stick with you, though. Not much else to say.


Metro: Exodus is really just more of what you'd expect. I think it didn't fully achieve what it set out to do, but it's still an incredibly entertaining game anyway and I'd easily recommend it if you liked the other games. It's both a great conclusion and a solid blueprint for the future. I'm excited to see where these games go next, because even if it wasn't amazing, Exodus is still a strong step in the right direction.

Graphics - 9.5/10
Gameplay - 8.0/10
Story - 7.5/10
Audio - 6.0/10
Content Value - 8.0/10

.:8.2/10:.
"Great"

+ Strong world building
+ Great linear levels
+ Solid sound design
+ Gorgeous graphics
+ Good morality system

- Tedious open worlds
- Lots of technical issues
- Horrible voice acting

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NOTE: I played through the game on Ultra Violence and got all of the collectibles and upgrades (with the exception of the weapon mastery stuff).

March 20th, 2020 was a sacred day for me. As a massive fan of both DOOM 2016 and Animal Crossing: New Leaf (shoutout to Wild World as well), I spent the entire day switching between this and New Horizons for what ended up being one of the most satisfying days of gaming I've ever had. But as I played more of this game, I came to a realization that what I was playing was something special. And it absolutely was. It's going to be a game that either clicks with you or it doesn't, but if you take the time to understand what this game expects of you, it is easily one of the best FPS games of the generation, if not of all time.


For one, this game looks incredible. There's so much detail in the world, and I love the changes to the demon designs. While I felt like occasionally the game got a little too intense with the colors (for example having some demons glow bright orange as they take damage and the rainbow overload when ammo flies out of an enemy from using your chainsaw), it never took me out of the game and could be ignored. The game is absolutely gorgeous, though. Even when you're flying at 100mph, everything looks super crisp and detailed. Even by this generation's graphical standards, DOOM Eternal looks incredibly next-gen in terms of visual quality. Ultimately, this game's visuals are absolutely top-notch outside of the occasional color explosion, and ended up being one of the most surprising aspects of the game for me. And the icing on the cake? This game is incredibly well optimized, all I had were minor FPS drops in the second to last level. Otherwise, this game is a visual treat that runs remarkably well.


But the gameplay is what you care about, and I'm happy to report that it delivers tenfold. However, it demands a LOT from the player, and if you're looking for more mindless fun like DOOM 2016 (kind of) was, you may end up disappointed with this title. If you take the time to learn its systems, then you're left with some of the most satisfying and entertaining combat in a shooter. It takes a few hours to really pick up because the game is at its best when you have more upgrades, but once you get some upgrades, the game becomes nothing short of exhilarating. I was constantly on my toes and had to quickly plan out when to pull back and find health/ammo, or when to use my flamethrower and grenade. The game has been compared to chess in a way, and I would agree. You need to be paying attention to your every move, and you will be punished if you either stick to one weapon, don't keep an eye on your ammo, or make a wrong move. But it's so unbelievably satisfying to constantly fly around and absolutely slaughter everything, and while killing demons in DOOM 2016 was also satisfying, there is a distinct thrill in this game's combat loop that its predecessor, or really any other fast-paced shooter couldn't replicate. It's like Sekiro in a way, as it's obviously ridiculously fast and equal parts difficult, but it also expects you to play by its rules and rewards you for taking the time to understand the complexities of its combat. The levels are also incredibly fun, and are generally well designed, allowing you to really take advantage of this game's mobility. There's a few blemishes, namely the weirdly tedious platforming, as well as a certain enemy type (you'll know it when you see it, trust me), and the purple goo that restricts your movement, but all of these things are either discarded or lessened in severity as the game progresses and you understand its systems better. Overall, the gameplay is absolutely incredible and arguably the genre's best, but only if you take the time to understand it.


Well, it's DOOM. Obviously this part of the game is not the focus, but I feel like it's a step back from DOOM 2016 because it abandons the "show don't tell" mentality that worked so well for the previous game. I don't really have an issue with the cutscenes as they could be skipped, but I felt like this game was trying too hard to TELL us everything. Like, you don't need to tell us that the Doom Slayer is a badass by having a crowd shout "RIP AND TEAR", because anyone who plays these games obviously knows that already. And it bleeds into the game a little bit, as tutorials tell you how to defeat an enemy without actually letting us try it for ourselves. At least that could be turned off. But overall, I have no issue with the game not taking itself seriously or the cutscenes, but this game does not need to rely so much on words to get its point across. This was probably the only big complaint I had with this game, honestly.


Another big success for this game was how impressive its sound design was. Everything was loud, but not overwhelmingly so, and it added to the bombastic nature of the game, and the crunches from dismembering demons was just so, so satisfying. And the music is obviously top-notch as well. I think I prefer 2016's soundtrack, but only marginally so. The ambient tracks are particularly good and deserve a lot more love, and I'll always be a fan of "The Only Thing They Fear Is You". The voice acting was so-so (Doomguy really didn't need a voice), but it wasn't anything that took me out of the game. There isn't really much else to say, but just like last game, this game absolutely succeeds with its sound design outside of the voice acting being okay.


One of the biggest surprises for me was just how fun it was collecting everything in this game. The secrets were never intrusive or too vague, and if you're as methodical as I was, you'll be happy to hear that the game doesn't really slow down or lose its edge, because the combat pushes you so much that you're never not going to be tense when you're playing this. I also liked the optional challenges and thought they were some of the best parts of the game. Replaying levels is also incredibly fun, and while they're long the first time, subsequent playthroughs go by much quicker and you really get to appreciate the impressive level design of the game. The multiplayer isn't anything to write home about, but you'll definitely get your money's worth in the singleplayer content.


Overall, DOOM Eternal is nothing short of an incredible achievement for the FPS genre, as well as all sequels. It is by no means a perfect game, but it takes the fundamental concepts of its predecessor and masterfully cranks it up to 11, adding in an element of strategy to keep you constantly engaged. There's definitely a lot of smaller gripes that I had with my playthrough, but I was able to look past them as I played more of the game. And even the biggest flaw, the overuse of telling, could be disregarded because who plays DOOM for the story? It's a phenomenally well-made shooter with some of the best combat in a video game, period. It expects a lot out of the player, and isn't the same mindless fun of other shooters, but I think the increased difficulty makes the game far more stimulating and exciting as a result. If you take the time to understand this game's complexities, you will be left one of the best shooters in years.

Graphics - 10/10
Gameplay - 10/10
Story - 6.5/10
Audio - 9.5/10
Content Value - 9.0/10

.:9.4/10:.
"Amazing"

**PERSONAL PICK**

+ Incredible, fluid combat
+ Crisp visuals
+ Satisfying sound design
+ Awesome soundtrack
+ Solid level design
+ Tons of collectibles that are fun to get

- Too much "telling", not enough "showing"

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Wolfenstein 2 has had quite a bit of controversy surrounding it. It's a game about killing Nazis in America in the 1960's, one of the messiest decades in American history due to the counterculture movement, being released in the tense and divided period of the modern political climate we live in today. But also, the game itself is quite controversial, as no one really seems to agree on this game's level of quality. Upon playing this game, I decided to add some of my own fuel to this fire: It's just fine.


One of the few undisputed aspects to this game is just how impressive this game looks. There's a ton of variety in the environments, and each one feels distinct from one another. Locations in America are bright and colorful, which contrasts quite nicely with the oppressive grey, black, and red of the Nazi bases. The characters themselves all also pop out quite a bit and do an equally impressive job of feeling distinct from one another, even somewhat mimicking the visual flair of their original location. Overall, the visuals in this game are excellent, and it does a wonderful job of setting the background for the game.


Now, if only I could say the same about the gameplay. Some parts of the game do work. For example, the gunplay is quite good and weapons like the not-BFG and dual wield shotguns were incredibly fun to use. It feels satisfying to unload a clip into an armored enemy and watch them get shredded to pieces. There's different kinds of upgrades which helps make a playstyle that suits you. The upgrades are pretty scarce and the big one doesn't come until shortly before the end, but they're still nice to have. There's also a fair bit of variety in level mechanics. One level has an "air" system that you constantly need to watch and refill, while another has you riding a giant robot dog. And of course, we can't forget that the first level has you riding around killing Nazis in a wheelchair. If that isn't awesome, I don't know what is. The levels are fairly short, so none of these mechanics overstay their welcome and they're great at breaking the monotony of the standard combat, which is inconsistent to say the least. You're given plenty of mobility mechanics and you run insanely fast, and yet if you decide to play aggressively, you will likely die in a few seconds and you're forced to either rely on cover or use the game's dreadful stealth. When you are able to do a run and gun playstyle, it's a ton of fun and feels quite cathartic, but the game almost forces you to play with stealth and punishes you if you don't. And the stealth sucks. I've had multiple scenarios where I get spotted by an enemy that is incredibly far away and die instantly, and the level design is just as bad because it forces you into situations where you almost have to blow your cover in order to proceed. Towards the end of the game, once you get your "big" upgrade, you're pretty much railroaded into whatever playstyle your upgrade focuses on, which is annoying if you're someone likes me who likes to constantly change their approach. While one of the main themes is "catharsis", I never felt like I truly got that sense of freedom for more than few fleeting moments when the run and gun gameplay somehow worked. I felt like the game was constantly working against me, and while there are some parts to it that function fairly well, the game never gave me that satisfaction I was told I'd get. So is it bad? No, but it's messy. And above all else, disappointing.


Speaking of disappointments and a lack of consistency, the story is the same way! While the characters themselves were fine, I wish there was more done with 90% of the cast. Most of the characters are comedy relief, and while I did admittedly laugh at some of the many jokes, it feels annoying that there's such a diverse cast of characters that are mostly thrown to the wayside. While the writing was fine and I had no issue with it (nor do I have any issue with the more "sensitive" BJ that we've been introduced to with The New Order), this game has some serious tonal inconsistency. Most of the emotional weight of the game was nullified by the scenes that followed those impactful moments, as they throw in another gag or two or have the characters do something WaCkY or whatever. There's only one scene that had any level of impact, and that weight was mostly just tension (in reference to the Adolf Hitler scene). I wish the game had more moments like that, or at least made the moments already like it have more weight. And as far as BJ goes, it got quite annoying listening to him struggling to come to terms with the loss of his comrade while gunning down groups of Nazis by the dozen. They really could've benefited from just separating the gameplay from those internal conflict moments. But worst of all, the ending is just so, so bad. It's sequel-bait, which can be fine under the right circumstances, but it comes completely out of left field and feels incredibly rushed. The most exciting part of the game is told in the credits. The story could've been good if it had more time in the oven, but what's here is disappointing and rushed, mostly. At least they use the setting fairly well. It's quite interesting and they did a good job depicting 1960's America.


It's solid, I guess. The music was done by Mick Gordon, so of course it's good. Is it as good as his work on the DOOM games? No, but it's pretty good for the most part. I thought the voice acting was great, however. Outside of some minor technical issues, I felt like everyone did a great job as their characters, and my urge to kill the main antagonist went up tenfold as I heard their grating voice more and more, so good job to them for making me hate that character. But there isn't much else to say, it's good. Not noteworthy, but good.


While the game is quite short, I don't really mind the game's length because a few extra hours likely would've overstayed their welcome. However, there were way too many cutscenes. They were pretty fun to watch, but there were times where I felt like I was watching a movie rather than actually playing a game, and when your game is this short, you need to make all of that playtime count. One of the best things a game could do is leave you wanting more, and even with the lack of playtime, I felt done with the game after finishing it and didn't really feel any urge to do the side content. That being said, I do know that there are unique levels for certain missions, so it's not like they're rehashing content. While I did not have any personal drive to do the extra content, there is something outside of the main story if you want to do more.


Overall, while I have been quite critical of Wolfenstein 2, it's not a bad game. It's playable, mindless fun. There's some neat characters, great setpieces, and plenty of Nazis to shoot or dismember. But considering the potential that TNO left for a sequel, I'm very disappointed that this game feels like more of the same and did very little to evolve the prior formula. I still recommend it, and I don't hate it by any means, but it could've been so much more than what we got, so I'd only recommend the game if you can find it on a deep sale.

Graphics - 9.5/10
Gameplay - 6.5/10
Story - 6.5/10
Audio - 8.0/10
Content Value - 6.5/10

.:6.7/10:.
"Satisfactory"

+ Stunning visuals
+ Good gunplay
+ Interesting setting
+ Gameplay variety
+ Great voice acting

- Horrible, abrupt ending
- Over-reliance on poor stealth mechanics
- Bad level design
- Tonally inconsistent

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While I've been familiar with this series for ages, Devil May Cry V was the first game in the series I've played. While I like hack-n-slash games, I don't have much experience with them outside of loving Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and playing a bit of Bayonetta, so I didn't really know what to expect. What I initially started playing as a "side game" to lift my spirits whenever A Plague Tale: Innocence got too emotionally overwhelming, ended up taking over the majority of my gaming free time, and caused me to put Plague Tale on the backburner. It really leans into the "game" part of video games, feeling very reminiscent of DOOM 2016's mentality of "gameplay first, story later", and it ended up being an incredibly fun experience once things started to click.


The visuals are not the highlight by any stretch, but they're pretty solid for the most part. The characters look amazing obviously, with an incredible level of detail put into them. The same can be said about the environments, however I will say that I wish the game had more variety in the levels themselves. They all feel very similar, either going the route of being city ruins or the inside of the demons' domain. While it makes sense from a story perspective, as well as it being somewhat alleviated towards the end, I still wish they did more with the environments in this game considering how high quality the visuals themselves are. Surprisingly, I thought the game did a surprisingly good job of not overwhelming the player with visual effects, which I thought would get overbearing due to the emphasis on style and the general absurdity of these games. Overall, the visuals were good, although I wish they had some more variety.


Of course, if you're looking into buying this kind of game, the gameplay is the most crucial aspect to that. And thankfully, Devil May Cry V delivers in spades. There is an insane amount of depth and fluidity to the combat, which gets multiplied when considering that you're playing three different characters throughout the campaign. The quality of the combat alone makes the price of admission worthwhile, and the game knows this. Like DOOM, it focuses almost solely on combat, almost to a fault depending on who you ask. However, this didn't really bother me, because the game's focus on customization means that you can easily change your playstyle on the fly and still get rewarded for it, so while you're restricted to basically nothing but combat, the combat doesn't restrict you. The bosses were also quite enjoyable, and considering some of the horror stories I've heard about some of the bosses in this series, I felt they were almost all consistently good, and were simply mediocre at worst. As far as criticisms go, I will reiterate my wish that the levels had some more variety in them in terms of design (maybe different gimmicks in combat like hazards). I also felt like the parts of the game where you had to play as V weren't as interesting and also exponentially more painful due to the nature of his playstyle, but this is mostly alleviated considering that you're only required to play him for a few chapters. Overall, while I have my criticisms of the gameplay, I can set them aside considering just how incredibly smooth, deep, and plain entertaining the combat is.


The story isn't particularly good, but it didn't really take itself seriously so I had some fun with it at least. There were a few times where I felt like things just happened so the plot can move forward, and there were quite a few characters thrown to the wayside that I thought were pretty major figures in the series, namely Lady and Trish. I also wish some things were more coherently explained (like a certain turning point and major reveal towards the end of the game), but again, I didn't really have any level of expectation for the story. Could it have been a little more thorough in its story while still not taking itself seriously? I think so. And while I can forgive the story for being sort of weak considering how absurd it is, it still feels just a tad bit underdeveloped and could've benefited from an extra scene or two. However, this is not a dealbreaker by any stretch, and is more of a mild gripe than anything.


The music is fine. Some of it feels like a mess of aggressive noises to "pump you up" or whatever, but certain tunes were quite enjoyable. "Devil Trigger" alone brings this game's audio score up quite a bit, though. The voice acting's pretty good, with everyone doing a pretty good job of leaning into their stereotypical aspects of their character to add to the silliness of the story. There isn't much else to say. Everything that isn't "Devil Trigger" is just fine, I guess.


While the game is quite short and there isn't much you can do to make playthroughs different on a basic level, the addition of harder difficulties paired with the aforementioned incredible combat means that you can absolutely get some more out of this game than just a single playthrough. While I have not tested this myself, I believe that harder difficulties give enemies new attacks and do more than just bloat their health and damage, which could further incentivize you to play through the game multiple times. There's absolutely some replay value here that is more than just player-motivated if you enjoy the combat system enough.


In conclusion, there isn't a lot to say about Devil May Cry 5 outside of its gameplay. It's an extremely well-made hack-n-slash game that loves leaning in to its sillier side. It's absolutely worth it just for the combat alone, but it's a game that can be simply described as fun. And for a critic like me that often finds meaning in games deeper than just what level of entertainment do they provide, it's nice to have a game like this every so often. Definitely worth a try.

Graphics - 9.0/10
Gameplay - 10/10
Story - 6.5/10
Audio - 8.0/10
Content Value - 8.0/10

.:8.6/10:.
"Great"

+ Incredible combat system
+ Stunning graphics
+ Devil Trigger
+ Surprisingly high replay value
+ Lots of creativity and depth

- Lack of variety in level design
- Some underdeveloped story aspects