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Astral Ascent is an action 2D-roguelite that has a satisfying gameplay loop, nails the feeling of progression and offers a lot of variety over the course of the many runs one can have.
Only some small nitpicks add up that hold this game back from being an alltime classic.

Okay, let's start at the very basics of what makes an action roguelite good:
Engaging gameplay loop (you don’t want to zone out, it needs to be mechanically and theoretically engaging)
Runs have to feel different (roguelites are supposed to be replayed, they have to differ)
Steady feeling of progression (unlocking new stuff, options or possible opponents)
Consistency (a good player should be able to win every run consistently)
These I think are some of the main points, they are not exhaustive.
Astral Ascent basically nails all of them.
It is a skill based 2D action roguelike which has almost fully preventable damage, especially as Astral Ascent always shows danger zones of enemy attacks. The player can rely on mechanical skill, but does not need to.
Absurd and strong combos are not only encouraged but also rewarded. I want to stress that despite some combinations being forceable, flexibility is very important as brute forcing is rarely as optimal as going with the flow.
I don’t want to spoil the surprises, but there is a lot of variance, starting with the multiple playable characters even.
My favorite part of the game is the progression:
Astral Ascent offers permanent upgrades which are not necessarily just stat increases but often consistency boosters and new “gimmicks” that allow varied play.
Sometimes I don’t want just more damage, but to abuse a new technique to then earn myself high damage.
Just one spoiler for the challenge seekers:
the game offers content even after unlocking most upgrade, as a system akin to the heat system in Hades exists (as in you pick disadvantages to spice runs up and get more rewards). And it is VERY hard.

This is some sweet pixel art. Everything in Astral Ascent oozes lively energy. The sprites are very simple, but convey enough. While the playable characters are animated well, the bosses steal the show.
They are energetic, fast-paced, but still very comprehensible. It is hard to create good and varied patterns for bosses that still feel intuitive and fitting for the character.
An often used test is that a character should be recognizable by their silhouette.
Astral Ascent passed that test with flying colors.
Using this transition:
Especially, I want to stress how well the game uses colors.
Different elements use different key colors, but the game manages to make me understand what I am seeing despite dropping like 10 different colored projectiles because of my build.
The color coding helps a lot, even in menus. Memorizing that poison symbol? Nah, I just memorize purple, easy.

Through the use of a smart keyword system, everything gets explains fast and well, without having the player bored by superfluous tutorials.
Long gone are the times I am ready to invest an hour or two for something that I could learn within 10 minutes. Astral Ascent actually keeps it at 10 minutes and technically makes most of the information completely optional. It is absolutely possible to win runs and finish the story without ever really understanding most of the keywords and basic interactions.

The music of Astral Ascent is very competent, yet it lacks that certain oomph.
Especially the relaxing pieces are very well done and can be listened to endlessly.
The battle themes on the other hand are too short and loop a little too soon as a result.
Everything that is in the game is good. The problem is that the tracks needed to be a little longer to fit in the mood, and listening to the same battle track three times in 10 minutes does get tiring. I do not dislike the music, far from it. This is one of the few times I did not only want, but actually needed more music.

The lore of Astral Ascent is more than serviceable, despite being told in relatively short text segments. Especially, characters explicitly talking about what happened in the past and discussing their relations is very much interesting as relationships evolve over the course of the runs.
The problem I am having is that the actual story is too simplistic, even for its own sake. I think that the developers wanted to reduce overhead and create something very coherent (at which they succeeded), but could not formulate a more ambitious goal for the story as a result. If you care about genuinely good stories and want to invest in something like that, Astral Ascent is the wrong game for you.

I really liked my time playing Astral Ascent and I do see myself going for some more runs, despite being a person who hates having no concrete goals.
The runs were fun, the gameplay is engaging, and the consistency is good enough.
If the story and music were on par with the rest, I would call this a masterpiece.
At this point, I will still wait, but if Astral Ascent gets even more updates and gets even better, this game becomes a no-brainer to pick up.
If you are a gameplay first kinda guy, though, you can do nothing wrong with Astral Ascent.

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Lock’s Quest was one of my favorite DS games. This port butchered it, took the corpse, shredded the pieces and then realigned them to make it vaguely looking like Lock’s Quest.

Yeah, because the game bricked. And I mean bricked, that I could not reset it. It was actually more than hardlocked, even restarting my PC did not help. So I started another save file and this time the game died on me in the tutorial. Yep, this is utter garbage.

Let me tell you a story, young one. In the age of old, sometimes a developer risked something and tried to find something new in their creative vault. And Lock’s Quest was such a result.
A simple active tower defense game that lets the main char fight, but focuses on the tower building and resource management.
The story is a typical hero’s journey, but overall well done, the music was decent, and the sprites were beautiful and charming.
Additionally, Lock’s Quest was pretty challenging for the young chap I was back then.
Am I idolizing it?
Nope, because I still got the DS version and replayed it, and it holds up so well.
The waves are interesting, the mechanics are introduced well, and the balancing is good enough for the most part.

It does not work, the game got more bricks than the average house.
For some reason, the balancing does not work, or the game is bugged in some ways? Lock’s Quest on the DS had some decent balancing, yet the AI in this game is terrible, the speed and damage feels off and the controls were never really intended for PC.
The last one is excusable, everything else is not.
Next, I want to stress that a re-release removed content from this port that the DS version had. How do you make a product which can not compete with a game for a mobile console from the 2000s?
But what did it remove?
A great minigame which gave some much-needed variety, as defending the kingdom does get a little tiring. Sometimes a man wants to defend the kingdom with a big catapult.
And the final reward for beating the game, the hall of heroes in which the developers put their thoughts, eastereggs and dreams in. There is something so profoundly human, and it got scrubbed as it was not deemed essential for this money grab of a remake.

This is one of the worst remakes I have ever played. Play the DS version or another remake for a console that actually works. This garbage is not worth a buck.

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Hi-Fi RUSH dropped without any marketing, but it made an impact but instantly went platinum. Rhythmbased hack and slash gameplay that is solid, but added so much style that it is a completely unique experience, and nothing I have played comes close to it.

Just a short briefing: everything is on the beat.
It is a hack and slash game, but paced around the beat for actions. Not only you are on that beat, the whole world is.
Your movement is the only thing not on the beat, so you gotta realign most of the time.
Every defensive option is timed as well, so the player has to choose been defensive and aggression and got to rotate permanently, learn the enemy patterns and the game will literally tell you the rhythm needed.
Combos are very simple and easy to string together, but there is some resounding depth to it. Yet, do not worry about some DMC5 performance, just go with the flow.
Now about the next big thing, I have to announce:
Often while gaming I actively do something else, listen to a podcast, stuff like that. I got the attention span of a fly.
But Hi-Fi RUSH is different, permanently something happens and the beat forces that sick flow state riff. Flow state is one of my favorite things about gaming. Just being, experiencing something new, and taking aim at another goal.

The music has some variance, got some real classics under the belt which no guy of my age group knows anymore, but they still shine and even got readjusted to have a clearer beat for the player.
Who would have thought that the praised rhythm based game got a banger soundtrack?
Even the original slap hard, sometimes they even are more of the concussion granting percussion.

Hi-Fi RUSH is like a best of album which follows a general motive. The hack and slash connects, but it keeps introducing new concepts over the course of the whole game and makes them so damn likeable.
The characters are so mad expressive, everyone being able to take the stage and shine, even if they are solo. But when they align and full dynamic range is getting used, Hi-Fi RUSH is hilarious and fun.
There are some maybe somewhat deep concepts it references, but it is not the focus. Every part of the narrative is a framing device to get from sick set piece to another. Sometimes people are seeing mundane stuff and want the whole world and complicated analysis and everything. Nah, man, just shut up and feel, that is how Hi-Fi RUSH rocks.
Go with the smooth animation, absurdly good comic and anime mixed visual style, feel the beat and just enjoy the slightly surrealist humor.
Just have fun, it ain’t that difficult.

Microsoft gave up on Hi-Fi Rush, because art and even sales are not for corporate suits.
You can pour your heart out and guys will fire you, because the expectations they got are not enough. Consumers are no individuals, creativity is only allowed tolerated as long you push the numbers up so that the corporate suits are happy. And even if they are up, they need to be upper.
They ended Tango Gameworks, but maybe they can flourish under new management. Perhaps they went from bad to worse, but at least they made some true art and get another shot.
At least one thing remains:
The suits will end, forgotten and not missed. Maybe they cruised in life, but it is a pity they will never understand the human (heart)beat.

Hi-Fi RUSH rocks.

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Towaga Among Shadows is a decent variation of the twin stick shooter genre that slightly overstays its welcome and lacks variation, but is still enjoyable. It just misses the oomph for a full-blown PC game.

The review key was provided by Sunnyside Games themselves. I still try my best to remain impartial.

Sunnyside games is relatively young, having been founded in 2013 in Switzerland, which is certainly something. While Switzerland is certainly a well-developed country, it is not known for its strong gaming industry. Although they recently picked up the pace with titles like the Far series, it kinda ends there (for now). We have yet to see big projects out of Switzerland come to light.
Towaga does not necessarily step out of this shadow (pun intended) as the game first was developed for Apple Arcade, and it certainly nails the feel of an arcade game.
Arcade games generally have a simple gameplay loop, fast-paced gameplay and great replayability. While not every game on Apple Arcade is a regular arcade game (like “Fantasian” from Hironobu Sakaguchi or “World of Demons” from Platinum Games), Towaga firmly falls into this category.

Towaga Among Shadows is a play on the twin stick shooter genre, which (mostly) removes the ability to move.
Yes, you are stationary most of the time, but bear with me.
The game focuses on having different enemy types with different attack patterns which need to be rapidly analyzed. The player has two different skills to prove: good understanding in which enemies need to be prioritized and which ability (as you can only equip a single one) is the best for the current level (called phases in this game).
The game has three kinds of levels. Ground and temple, which are relatively similar to each other and follow the formula I have described above.
And then are the so-called sky levels, in which the main character actually becomes moveable and obtains an invincible dash. They are much needed for variation, and I think that Sunnyside games nailed the actual level design for both types of modes.
While the amount of enemy types is limited, the game does not become stale and the levels have distinctive identities and offer different enemy constellations which keep the player on their respective feet.
This is the main gameplay loop and will consume 95% of the game time, which is good in my opinion. Towaga is a modern arcade game, after all, and intended to be quick and fun.
Next to a short story (2-3 hours), the game also offers a survival mode, of which I do not know if the number of waves is limited.
There are some small other features which are not that relevant, and I skip out on in this review.
The best I can say for the main gameplay loop is that it is competent and entertaining for the time of the story.

Maybe I am expecting too much, but I have multiple small problems with the game. The first one being that waves seem to be semi random. For example: Enemies have some variation at which place they spawn. And if they spawn at the wrong place, damage becomes unpreventable.
Additionally, the upgrade mechanics of the game are basic stat adjustments which feel somewhat lackluster. It is as if the game expects you to have some upgrades, but can not decide how much it expects you to have and which ones, which leads to some levels being cakewalks and others being insanely hard.
This is circumvented in the last 20 challenge levels, which lock your bought upgrades, and they are challenging and more fun because of that.
Then there is the story: it feels like a very basic hero villain story with Mesoamerican visual influences and a half-baked world. The story is not the focus of the game, and the story unlocks mostly do not feel worth it too. As you can invest currency into upgrades and the average player will not unlock everything, if not for achievements, it just feels like an in game currency sink for the sake of being one.
Maybe I am expecting too much of a modern arcade game, but in my mind the questions persists why I should play this on PC, if there is so much competition on PC?
I think this game has a very specific niche and if you are the target audience, Towaga could be something for you.

While I am not sure about the purpose of the Mesoamerican theme beyond being a “gimmick”, the artistic quality is undeniable in the animations of the characters, enemies, and especially small cutscenes. Visually, Towaga Among Shadows does not need to hide behind big titles as they absolutely nailed the aesthetic and movement of everything, while keeping things visually very identifiable.
In my opinion, the game can be enjoyed for this artistic quality alone and is worth at least looking into it for this.

Towaga Among Shadows is a very visually appealing game with a competent gameplay loop. The game goes relatively consistent on sale for the price of less than a euro. And at that price point, if you are remotely interested in the game, it is worth testing out for yourself.
It will not be a great life experience, but it got me interested enough to at least play through it in one evening, and have a decent time.

Originally posted by author:

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Stranger of Paradise is a wild ride, the sort of dumb fun that's been missing from my gaming experience for a while. It gleefully embraces and exaggerates every stigmatized trope within the Final Fantasy series, creating a unique cocktail of hilarity, bewilderment, and awkwardness.

"I have to kill chaos." This sentence has become synonymous with Stranger of Paradise, and for good reason. It's the game's rallying cry, and the obsession with chaos permeates every aspect of the story. While the plot may initially appear paper-thin, it gains depth when you consider its connections to the original Final Fantasy. This revelation turns the narrative into something far more meaningful, providing long-term fans with a satisfying payoff. The squad may seem basic, but the protagonist, Jack, subverts every typical trope in a manner that's entertaining, albeit in a deconstructive way. Despite some dialogue hiccups, the game's B-movie vibe is intentional, enhancing its overall charm.

The gameplay is a relatively straightforward Hack and Slash. Directly resembling Nioh but with more impactful spells and a mana system. While the main game is generally easier than Nioh, the difficulty depends on your build. Weapon selection is tied to your job, so there is no real build variation.
Jobs need to be unlocked by leveling your already unlocked jobs. Later jobs being more potent, necessitating leveling up weaker ones. This progression system ensures variety and entertainment, even if not all jobs are equally balanced. Multiplayer is an option but isn't widely utilized, though NPCs with limited job selections are serviceable and offer enjoyable banter. The gear system is a sticking point, with a surplus of loot that makes organization needlessly arduous. Despite offering various effects, gear ultimately doesn't alter gameplay significantly and mostly only change numbers.

The audio design is competent. Remixes of old tracks pay homage to the series' history, while new compositions are less memorable, aside from some center themes. Sound effects shine, enhancing the overall satisfaction of combat with great weapon, magic, and skill sounds. Everything feels impactful and the sound of finishers does not get old over the course of the game. Which is noteworthy as this specific sound follows you over the course of the whole game.

The visual and level design is serviceable but lacks the creativity found in titles like Nioh. Stranger of Paradise recycles areas from the main series, resulting in a feeling akin to the Leonardo DiCaprio meme of him pointing at the TV. It's forgettable, with unremarkable gimmicks that fail to elevate the experience. The linear level design doesn't offer much depth, relying on straightforward interactions without clever puzzles or skill-based challenges. While character and monster design maintain their visual fidelity, they lack the allure of something truly innovative. Conceptually, the game does nothing wrong, but it just lacks outstanding qualities that make levels more than going from point a to point b.

Stranger of Paradise stands as the ultimate guilty pleasure within the Final Fantasy franchise. It brings forth commendable qualities and a bold ambition to reframe a classic that birthed the series. If you consider yourself a fan of Final Fantasy, and if you've enjoyed games by Team Ninja (even if you have a soft spot for Metroid: Other M), you'll discover much to savor in this daring title. It's a mix of nostalgia, absurdity, and ambition that defies the conventional and aims to entertain in its own quirky way.

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Bedman? is a robotic bed, beautifully animated and the girl, Delilah, reacting to its every move in terror, is perfection. But the actual strength of Bedman? is arguably very low and every Bedman? needs to work harder and smarter than the other player, if one wants to win.

Bedman is an assassin child who worked for the major antagonist of the Xrd games who wanted to eradicate all human life. Extremely smart and efficient, he helped to create a perfect world where waking up would not kill him and his sister and bring back everyone he killed.
That plan failed as he was betrayed and in his last moments he used magic beyond comprehension to at least let his sister be able to wake up and experience life. The bed was his base of operation that he piloted while he slept and was one hell of an opponent as it was meant to be able to kill anything while Bedman is in control.
Now the bed is breaking down and Delilah clings to the only memorial to her brothers' existence. Bedman seemingly given the bed, before his death, the directive to protect her.
In short: It is a motorized killer bed who will hunt anyone down until its absolute destruction, to keep Delilah safe.
What a metal backstory.

The bed is faulty and lacks the man in the bed which means that the commands do not work anymore and there is no Dejavu mechanic. “Dejavu” you may ask, where have I heard that one before? The answer is Guilty Gear Xrd. Bedman who could replay special moves under specific conditions which lead to Bedman being a setplay heavy character who will eventually lock you down or die trying.
Bedman? on the other hand replays them automatically in a buggy and glitchy way as the bed tries to use Dejavu. This being the reason for Strive simplification as the character was really hard in Xrd.
Bedman? has to work hard to get in, but his oki is some of the strongest in the game. This machine is relentless and will continue to keep attacking until you either call him out or die.
A good Bedman? never stops his relentless onslaught until your HP reaches 0, he will chain attacks and their automated follow-up to keep you on your toes and make you guess when your turn is.
Also, Bedman? is awful. I explained to you his win condition. When you get knocked down, he will be a monster to deal with. But to get someone down you need to win neutral which Bedman? just does not.
He has okayish normals at best and as a living piece of furniture his hitboxes are way too big. Punishing Bedman? for whiffing is easy as a result.
And Bedman? is the most countered character by wallbreak. In general oki characters are strong as the corner is the scariest place to be in a fighting game. But Strive letting you reset to neutral is counterproductive to the gameplan of Bedman? and puts you in a losing position as your neutral sucks.
Bedman? last season was not functional and the worst character in the game, now he is still bottom tier, but actually useable. Maybe some tech will be found or WA will continue to shake him up, but I think that Bedman? currently is not a tournament character and needs even more than some of the biggest buffs in the last patch. Yes, he was that bad.
He is bedder now, but not quite up to the level of the other characters in the game.

Do you want to rush headlong into your own destruction?
Do you like creative characters that are unique even in a series like Guilty Gear?
Do you like shutting your opponent down until they are completely mentally stacked?
Do you like eldritch robots that are accompanied by an emotionally damaged and emoting girl with a wholesome relationship?
Do you not care about tier lists?
Is the character for you Bedman??
Yes, he is.

So for Bedman we have to thank our lord and savior GcYoshi13 who is a monster at Bedman? in Xrd and also in Strive. Using the most modern bed tech imaginable, he will put anyone to sleep.
These videos are all the resources you need to learn the character:

https://youtu.be/AH7q5KFD48U

https://youtu.be/kLdlmVbsDlY

https://youtu.be/-aejRZfZQhU

https://youtu.be/VxJDSrZFIkc

That is all I can impart on you. Good luck, you will need it.

If this was a perfect world, the coolest character designs would not be low tier, but we truly live in the darkest timeline. At least he still somewhat functions. For now.

Originally posted by author:

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Yakuza 6, intended as the conclusion to the Kiryu saga, delivers a graceful and compelling story but falters in terms of gameplay.

Yakuza 6 boasts a colossal, intricately woven narrative that masterfully ties together established themes while occasionally subverting expectations. It's safe to say that Yakuza 6's story is the pinnacle of the Kiryu saga, free from notable plot holes and consistently engaging. This is the primary reason to dive into the game.

The Dragon Engine isn't terrible, but it displays some initial hiccups, which Yakuza 6, as the first game to utilize it, fully showcases. Players may encounter sluggish movement, imprecise controls, sponge-like enemies, and gimmicky combat mechanics that slow the pace. If you don't rely heavily on heat actions, which require a super state requiring built-up heat, you might fight for longer than you want.
Furthermore, the lack of inventory weapons and limited variety in heat actions result in repetition. Disappointingly, there's only one truly memorable boss fight in a game that spans 15 to 20 hours. While it's an improvement over Yakuza 3, it falls short of the high combat standards set by other mainline Yakuza titles. Yakuza 6 doesn't disappoint entirely, but given its role as Kiryu's final solo adventure, expectations were higher.

Yakuza games usually offer side content in proportion to their main story length. Yakuza 6 is relatively short, allowing players to experience 100% completion in under 40 hours (with a guide). It skips some typical gambling mini-games and classics like golf, though it does feature arcade games in the typical SEGA arcades. However, most players won't invest much time beyond earning achievements. This time, the game focuses on delivering a gripping, emotionally charged story, avoiding the excess side content that could detract from the narrative. It's possible that time and budget constraints led to this decision, resulting in fewer but exceptional mini-games.

Yakuza 6 references its predecessors frequently but omits the return of beloved characters like Shinada and Tanimura. Especially the latter one needed to be referenced which RGG did not do. Now keep in mind that Yakuza games tend to have no returning characters from the actual clans. This absence makes the Tojo clan seem disproportionately small, with only Daigo, Saejima, and Majima making appearances.
While executed reasonably well, it may not meet the expectations of fans longing for familiar faces. Yakuza 6 focuses on introducing new characters, reflecting scenes from earlier games in a new light.
The story paints Kiryu as an aging, wise legend, who, after experiencing everything, values his loving family and friends above all else.
It's a tale of the old clashing with the new, a senseless destruction passed down by those who found their purpose too late. Kiryu's legacy hangs in the balance, with new characters offering a glimmer of hope in this bleak world.
Yakuza 6 buries the past after a long look, a farewell which no more words.

Yakuza 6 is less than I expected and more of what I needed. The emotional intelligence and maturity of the Yakuza series is often in question, especially in the earlier games.
Although the series started from humble beginnings and relatively shallow, it grew into a breathing microcosm which tests ideologies on a personal level.
Song of Life took everything they learned and encapsulated it in a strong scenario that reframes the whole life of Kiryu Kazuma to end the legend and start something even greater.

Originally posted by author:

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Yakuza 5 is a game of scale and showcased RGG at their most ambitious. While relatively consistent in quality which is impressive considering the scale, it sometimes falls flat, yet always manages to stand up again. There is a dream joke I am too tired to make.

Yakuza 4 was originally supposed to drop Kiryu as a main character and do its own thing. And then they realized they could not make Yakuza games without Kiryu which is a statement that holds incredibly true. Because of Japanese social politics, they also needed to drop Tanimura for Yakuza 4, but it is unclear if they even intended to have him in the game.
Which leads to Yakuza 5 having a plot that needs to be logically consistent with its predecessors (which it absolutely is) and to be able to stand on its own legs (which it just almost does too).
The script was written parallel to developing the game which finally got two years for development. Double the time Yakuza titles got before. And additionally RGG used a new engine for Yakuya 5, if you have played Yakuza 0: welcome home.
The scale of Yakuza 5 is insane, it is on a level of its own. Arguably, words are not enough to explain how much it characterizes the game. RGG gave it their all, but at first the game found no real commercial success and the original release in the west was digital only. The Yakuza IP mostly laid dormant in the west until 0 turned it around. So is Yakuza 5 to blame?
Lol, no. It is great.

There is something to be said about Yakuza 5 and that is the sincerity it has. Every single protagonist has their own stake in the story and there are consistent themes that connect everything. Yakuza 5 slowly builds up the world and incorporates the consequences of the last games, but does so by respecting the intelligence of the players who cares for the plot and connect the dots.
The dialogue is on another level at times, although sometimes they repeat the word “yume” (dream) too often, yet it perfectly encapsulates the association of the word in different contexts. Ambition, hope, despair viewed through the lens of character who have already a solid worldview and fundamentally mature, but have to find a way to make these views compatible with their life.
Playing Yakuza 5 is realizing that your dreams sometimes are compromised without fault on your part, and sometimes the dreams we share a slippery slope, and we have to rethink what we really want from life.
Every single character has dreams of a future they would want to see, but the problems on their respective roads seem insurmountable. Yet at some points push comes to shove, and they finally leave their stagnation and start to move. Yakuza 5 showcases these larger than life figures try to turn it around and finding that flame worth carrying on.

Yakuza 5 is finally on a new engine. It also being used for Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami. Yakuza 5 was the first one though and as such is not on the same quality level as the rest.
It is close enough and so much of an improvement in terms of every single minigame, movement and gameplay over 3 and 4 that I never want to go back, despite me adoring these both games in their own ways.
4 different characters for combat that have mostly well-designed combat abilities, more heat actions than ever before and great bosses that are finally no aneurysms to fight.
Haruka is also playable this time around, but she does kick ass only verbally. Quite literally as her part in the game is a glorified karaoke game that is very fun, but still technically only a minigame. It does not overstay its welcome, so do not worry about it.
So combat is great, the game feels good, but how are the minigames?
Quite good. The staples are back again like poker, ufo catcher and MAHJONG (do not worry, the lucky tile finally exists for the first time in the story).
The real stuff are the sidestories (not substories). Every character has their own storyline to play and every single one is engaging, fun, and relatively well-thought-out and has the needed emotional weight to pull the player in.

Yakuza 5 went the philosophy that more quality content is better, and I somewhat agree. The scale is part of the game and especially the four explorable cities add a lot to the atmosphere and feeling of the game.
But then there is Kineicho. For some reason there is a city in Yakuza 5 that is the worst in terms of design as so much is not walkable. Combine that with the insane amount of random encounters (by far the highest encounter rate in Yakuza and near undodgeable at many situations) and the game feels too slow and terrible to play through. You clear random encounter after random encounter just to progress the main story.
At least I grew to appreciate how Kamarucho is actually a great place to traverse.
But if you ignore that, another problem is the oversanitation and lack of creativity in the world design. Yakuza 4 quite literally added depth to Kamarucho by adding the underground and the roofs which were (almost) completely cut out from the game and no city provides anything similar. Yakuza 5 went for scale, but no city is on the level of Kamarucho in Yakuza 0 or Yakuza 4.

Yakuza 5 is very strong in terms of music, but not quite on the level of Yakuza 4 which is more memorable. Contrary to 5 it is not afraid to just let a scene breath, at least more than Yakuza 5.
5 is focussed on dialogue, exposition and strong themes that most tracks are just another facet, but never take a stronger role. This leads to most tracks in 5 feeling forgettable, despite being great. But sometimes the tracks just hit your emotions and then Yakuza 5 grabs your heart and squeezes it. A really strange situation to be in, but a worthwhile one.
The sound design remains top-notch and a masterclass on its own. Everything sounds just perfect for an immersive experience and one can not say more about perfection.
Now for the visual part: Yakuza 5 is gorgeous for a PS3 game that only got touched up a little. While the game is no the Last of Us, it is comparable in its own quirky way. The cities are actually well-designed places that feel lived in and provide sensible architecture that are carbon copies of real cities as far as I am informed.
Heat actions are more extreme than ever and some at first made me physically recoil and the animations on character movement are an insane improvement over the Yakuza 3 days.
There is a reason for Famitsu gave the game 40/40, a legendary rating and something more than 99% of games fall short.

Yakuza 5 is just awesome. Playing through the main game is the blast and while the story sometimes misses its mark, it counteracts every weak scene with a masterwork of direction and understanding of how players perceive the happenings. You can not make a game of this scale perfect, but RGG tried really hard and nailed so many things, that it falls just short of being a masterpiece.
A must for every Yakuza fan.

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This collection has no value for most people. The games are classics, but the netcode is subpar, there is no crossplay and the singleplayer content is not good by modern standards.
It is nothing but a cash grab which was made for an anniversary.

Let us talk about the content of the game. If there was much to talk about. A casual player could only be interested in the online playable titles and the older version of games are only interesting for historical analysis.
Which games would the average player play then?
Street Fighter 2 Super Turbo (the iconic one)
Super Turbo was faster, had a great cast, and many people think of it as the best Street Fighter. High damage, fast rounds and for many the platonic ideal of a fighting game.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (the forgotten child)
Really cool looking, intriguing and classic roaster and somewhat broken mechanics that add to the fun (like infinites).
Street Fighter 3: Third Impact (the rising one)
You buy this collection most likely for this game. All new cast at the time except for Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li, but makes up for in quality and has become for many the best Street Fighter, despite its relatively poor reception on release.
Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting (the vanilla one)
No supers, all footsies and still fast enough to not feel clunky. But Super Turbo has more character and is newer which leads to Hyper Fighting being in its shadow.
Every other game does not matter.
And do not get me started on the single player, it is broken and a cheese simulator.
Here is the thing: It is not ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ in an old Guilty Gear game where you can just add more ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ to the pile. No, you have to actually play the game, but the AI will cheat, and just 1 frame react a lot in every single one of these games.

It is not terrible, but Fightcade exists. It is a fan made matchmaking service and emulator which is better in every way. Better netcode, more players and easy to set up. I do not want to encourage piracy, but if you ever get your hands on a copy and can create your own ROM, then Fightcade is the way to go, and it is not possible to beat.^^
Capcom knows that and the target audience were casuals on different consoles that just wanted to try these games out.
But the PC already had a better version and as such it is not an upgrade for anyone who is interested. The best thing about this collection is the training mode which is harder to set up in Fightcade, but still relatively easy and in the long run will work better.
That makes the collection pretty much worthless as it is worse than a free product, but does cost more. A bad deal in my opinion.

A collection which may has purpose for people that are not on PC, yet completely pointless as the only larger active community for these games is on PC.
It is like McDonald's competing with homemade burgers: You can not beat passion and homemade ingredients.

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Ender Lilies is a decent metroidvania in concept and executes very well on its premise and the basics of the genre. It took the fundamentals, gave it a Nier and Dark Souls coat, but did not call it a day.

The first thing that normally caught one's eye are the visuals, and they are extremely important for Ender Lilies. It takes the innocence and typical barrier maiden tropes for the main character, clothes her in white and combines it by her standing with these monsters which embody different tropes in a zombified state.
Ender Lilies has this 90s comic book charm of these overexaggerated works that want to be edgy, yet contrasts it with at times beautiful backgrounds which make in terms of world building less sense than they should. Although one arguably will never care as the atmosphere captures the individual while playing and only in retrospective such questions may be asked.
The post-apocalyptic look creates a visual style which is known from games like the Dark Souls series and executes well on how a world breaks down over time and which elements may remain and even stay beautiful. It is difficult to stress how well Ender Lilies does that, especially in its (rare) mostly monochrome and simple cutscenes with a great sense of direction to back up the substance which the game has.

Now we are getting to the game part. Ender Lilies is a very basic metroidvania with the staples of the genre. Dash, double jump, wall climb and so on.
The movement feels a little weighty, but it makes sense in the context of the game as the main character is only a little girl. Who gets progressively weaker as her body breaks down, and your spirits quite literally have to do the heavy lifting. This dichotomy of how physically vulnerable you are and how much they need your willpower to even have conscience is quite beautiful and works well in the game.
Ender Lilies has three distinctive gameplay loops in the most essential metroidvania fashion imaginable.
The first one is to traverse the area, and loot what you can get.
After that it is about slaying the boss.
Finally, you collect the stuff to power up with the upgrade you obtained.
Very basic, still satisfying.
The boss fights embody different archetypes of enemies already fought in the game, but their move sets are pushed to the boundaries of what the game allows which makes for good fights.
Bosses are by far the best part of the game as they perfectly hover between being not too easy, but also not being frustrating.
Especially the early game is relatively unforgiving in typical metroidvania fashion, and it is important if one wants to enjoy the game, that a certain focus or mindset is needed to push through this early game. Keep in mind that not every enemy needs to be fought. Just reach the next bench.
There are times when the game takes its concepts and uses them creatively, especially with its platforming that can be quite challenging in the endgame, if you want to find every lootable object. These are relatively rare though, and it marks the biggest “problem” with Ender Lilies.
The game has no really original ideas or gameplay mechanics that make it stand out.

There is some clear inspiration from the metroidvania influx after Hollow Knight revived the genre. The level design, areas, relic system and so on are all carbon copies. Even some narrative beats are shared between these two games.
There is some clear inspiration and Ender Lilies does not hide in any game, but executes it well enough that it is not too obvious. Yet, there is this unfavorable comparison to be made:
Ender Lilies is weaker than its biggest inspiration in every way, except for the music and maybe the story.
If you want to play a masterpiece, then Hollow Knight is your best pick. But after that?
Maybe Bloodstained. And when you compare Bloodstained and Ender Lilies, I think Ender Lilies is going to make the cut, depending on your preferences of course.

Now this is where the game shines. The downtrodden world with these masses of zombified enemies which showcase the different life circumstances of the inhabitants and how they got hit with the plague of this game.
There are many small touches to areas, and it showcases that the developers tried to make the game dense, despite not having limitless resources. And they absolutely succeeded. Even enemy repetition is never a problem as they are being used in different scenarios. As such it never becomes a slog to play through and keeps the player focussed and immersed.
The exposition dumps via collectibles or after clearing a boss are quite good and ask as many questions as they answer. Lore-wise Ender Lilies is not overly complicated, and every set piece gets exactly as explained as it needs to be.
All of these elements peaks, when the music hits just right. Ender Lilies soundtrack is phenomenal and used to great effect to characterize your surroundings and give them distinctive identities.
The music is nothing less than masterpiece quality and will definitely be the most memorable part of the game of anyone who starts it.

Ender Lilies is not going to change your world or revolutionize what you understand under the word metroidvania. But it will offer you a great gameplay experience after an admittedly hard early game. Keep at it, and you will see some pure metroidvania essence, polished to a great degree.

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