Recent reviews by Anuvvar

Persona 4 is a mesmerizing journey filled with incredible memories that stay with you—memories that become dear to your heart.
A journey in search of truth and acceptance of yourself (your dark side), and discovering what’s really important to you.

You’re a witness to great changes in others as time goes by, but the most beautiful part is that it’s YOU—the you behind the screen—who has to make the most important change!

I invite all seekers of the truth to this life-changing journey:
If you’re a bit hesitant and think the graphics are outdated—I’ll say that once you start playing, you’ll see the beauty of the game. It’s timeless, because it was made with such incredible artistic taste that Persona 4 Golden is more beautiful to me than a lot of modern games.

The dungeons aren’t as deep or complex as in more recent titles, but they’re decent and don’t ruin the experience at all. The bosses might not be interesting from a gameplay standpoint, but artistically, they look gorgeous.

But the main highlight is the story and the characters. You play as a high schooler in the beautiful rural town of Inaba, where you find your first true friends, your first love, and where mysterious events begin to unfold. It’s up to you to investigate them. Persona 4 is so funny, sometimes it’s sad, sometimes it’s despair but mostly hope, and all that makes the experience profound and deeply personal.

Beneath the fascinating and exciting story lie deep philosophical concepts—Jungian archetypes, mythological beings, and tons of cultural references. What could be better, right?

So, in short, Persona 4 is a masterpiece and an essential piece of art that I can’t recommend enough.

“Even if we’re separated, we’re still friends!”

It’s amazing that a group of enthusiasts have created this beautiful world for us to immerse ourselves in.
Yet another world that dissolves the boundary between the real and the fictional—because the emotions it evokes are no less real, and no less powerful.

Visually, the world is stunning for the most part. The story is touching and allows you to experience incredibly strong emotions.
Happy moments are followed by sadness and grief, humor gives way to drama—and what makes the experience especially powerful is the fantastic music, great characters with interesting stories and surprisingly deep, meaningful dialogue from seemingly unimportant NPCs.

So, it may seem like a perfect game—but actually, it’s not quite that perfect.

At first, exploration feels fine. But later, it becomes tiring. Without fast travel to previously visited locations, getting from one place to another takes far too much time.
For example, I once found a merchant but didn’t have enough chroma to buy the pictos I needed. Later, I couldn’t remember exactly where that merchant was, and traveling between each area became exhausting.
Even navigating within a single area is frustrating without some sort of mini-map—especially in places you’ve already been to. I understand the developers intended navigation to be difficult, but it just isn’t fun.

Combat was fun and refreshing on Expert difficulty. Once I got better with the parry system, I really enjoyed the late-game bosses.
But again, the lack of fast travel between continents made it exhausting to collect all the achievements.

Another frustrating aspect is the mini-games. At first, they were just mildly annoying, but some—like the volleyball game—feel downright excruciating. It's clearly not optimized for keyboard, and even though they’re optional, they’re still part of the game—and not well designed.

That said, the story is interesting and moving, exploring themes of grief and loss and our capacity to cope with them.
The music is incredible and elevates the experience. The boss fights are memorable, and the combat—while occasionally tiring—is immersive and well-designed.

So I’d give it a 9/10.

"We all have at least two sides. The world we live in is a world of opposites. And the trick is to reconcile those opposing things. I've always liked both sides. In order to appreciate one you have to know the other. The more darkness you can gather up, the more light you can see too."

Inspired by Sekiro's deflection-oriented combat, it may not have Miyazaki’s aesthetics, but it certainly inherits his principles and elevates them to an absolute level.
There is no easy way around.
No over-leveling.
No broken builds.
No running away!
Everything’s perfectly balanced.
So there’s only you and your weaknesses. You must confront them, overcome them, and master your skills to near perfection in order to triumph over the final challenge.
But this game never feels like too much (except maybe the final boss, and especially one attack in the final phase).
Just when you think, “Oh, this is too much,” it suddenly ends, and you realize it wasn’t really hard—and it’s always fair.

The bosses in Nine Sols are incredible: unique, challenging, and each with their own theme. But beyond the perfect combat system and unforgettable boss fights, Nine Sols explores profound questions:
What does it mean to be alive?
Can all of us say that we’re truly alive, or are most of us just living by algorithms?

Life may look simple for some of us. Games, movies, and books are just entertainment.
But maybe we don’t think at all—maybe we only react to certain things, never seeing the whole picture or what lies beyond it.
So how are we different from a poorly functioning AI?
Nine Sols explores this theme beautifully:
---
Yi
So you think only creatures with free will can be considered alive?

Chiyou
Indeed! He who is unable to live for himself is just a dead man walking.
---
Yi
You shouldn’t be too harsh. Artificial beings like you are a special case.

Chiyou
Ohoho! I understand. After all, I couldn’t think when I first opened my eye.
In the beginning, I was kept in the Jie family’s vault.

At the time, my senses were obscured. I could only see the objects displayed in that room.

Placed before me were the last written words of the great Jie patriarch.

The poem initially appeared to me as just a collection of symbols, but those ink strokes accompanied me year after year...

Until one day, I suddenly understood its meaning. A surge of emotions poured into my brain...

It was as if I woke up from a reverie. Everything in this world began to brim with meaning!
---
Yi
To think that a poem could create self-awareness... It’s nothing short of a miracle.

Chiyou
Ohoho! It is your choice whether to believe it or not, Sir Yi!
But the world is much too colorful to not listen to one’s heart and waste time on tasks assigned by others.

If I can’t grant this experience to my brother, then I’m afraid it will all have been in vain...
---
Nine Sols also explores themes of the lust for eternal life and the monstrosities it can lead to, or a perfectly happy life without any worries or pain—and its consequences.

The only drawbacks are that the form of the dialogues looks like comics, which makes it hard to take seriously despite the serious themes the game explores. As a result, the drama touches you—but not too deeply.

That said, I love the art style of Nine Sols. In fact, it was the reason I bought the game in the first place. Still, I think it lacks the kind of atmosphere that would make it truly distinct—something dreamy, fairy tale-like, or even grotesque to make it more immersive.

Aside from that, Nine Sols is an almost perfect game, and I’d give it a 9.5/10.

ps: Good luck, and may you all have a meaningful, wonderful experience!!

"It’s a pity that, for centuries, both of us gazed in the same direction, yet he never understood that poem..."