Recent reviews by Parakeet

Pros

• +Good weapon variety and a good amount of techniques to find
  
• +Quite a few different shards to use
  
• +Several different characters to play as

Cons

• -Combat itself is somewhat clunky and does not feel great, especially with certain weapons
  
• -Movement system feels stiff at first, but feels better as you unlock more abilities
  
• -Running speed is kind of slow
  
• -Story is not interesting

Comments
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a metroidvania that is considered a spiritual successor to Castlevania. When I first started playing the game, I found it to be a decent game. There is a good variety of weapons to choose from and you can get more shards, or abilities, to choose from. Unfortunately, as time went on, I found myself enjoying the game less and less. Miriam, the character you play, runs slowly and maneuvering her feels clunky. There are some abilities that help with this, but it still feels somewhat clunky. The combat itself got repetitive since your regular attacks cannot hit in all eight main directions. Some weapons don’t really have an issue with this, but others can have a difficult time without using an ability.

Overall, I cannot recommend picking this game up since I eventually became bored with the game’s combat and movement systems. I enjoyed other aspects of the game, such as the gear, crafting and shard systems, but I still stopped playing the game after a while. If you are a fan of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, it may be worth taking a look at this game. However, if you are not, I am not sure if you will like this game, even if you enjoy other metroidvania games.

Pros

• +Solid combat system that gets better as you unlock more skills
  
• +Good storyline. It’s a bit slow after the initial area, but it picks up again not longer after.
  
• +Platforming and navigating through the various areas was interesting

Cons

• -Occasional stuttering issues
  
• -No fast travel within a planet. This made exploring previously discovered areas tedious.

Comments
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order takes place after Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. If you have not watched any of the Star Wars movies, you may be a little lost at first, but you might be able to pick up on what happened. The combat reminds me of Sekiro with being able to parry and dodge attacks. It felt alright at first, but as I got more abilities (including force abilities), the combat got better and better. The only major complaint I have is that there is no fast travel available within the planets themselves. I wanted to explore previous areas and find collectibles that I missed, but having no fast travel available made this tedious and I ended up not going for all of the collectibles.

Overall, if you are a Star Wars fan, I highly recommend checking this game out, especially if it’s on sale. If you are not a Star Wars fan, but like Sekiro or Metroidvania games, I still recommend taking a look at this game.

Pros

• +Amazing graphics
  
• +A large world to explore with plenty of side content to experience
  
• +Random events can occur while free roaming, helping the world feel alive
  
• +A lengthy, interesting storyline
  
• +Decent weapon and wildlife variety
  
• +Red Dead Online is also included

Cons

• -The game can feel a bit too slow at times
  
• -Character movement controls can get wonky once in a while

Comments
When I first started playing Red Dead Redemption 2, the first thing I noticed was how good the graphics are. This game is one of the best looking games I have played so far. Some of the weather effects are really well done. The story itself was very interesting. You play as Arthur Morgan and ride with his gang. If you have played the first Red Dead Redemption, note that this game takes place before that game. The gameplay was good, but I didn’t feel like it was exceptional. However, the Deadeye ability was fun to use.

I only have a few small complaints about that game. There were times when I tried to walk forward, but Arthur or my horse would start walking in circles. I was able to fix this by stopping and walking again, but it was strange that this happened from time to time. The game also felt a bit too slow at times. The game has a slow pace overall, but there are some parts that could have been sped up, such as looting multiple bodies.

Overall, if you are looking for a game with a great story and a nice world to explore, I highly recommend checking out Red Dead Redemption 2. Just be aware that the game has a slow pace. If you are okay with this, then definitely pick up this game, especially when it’s on sale.

Pros

• +Great gameplay
  
• +Four different classes to choose from, each with their own skill trees
  
• +Lots of loot and ways to build your characters
  
• +Decent enemy variety
  
• +Quite a bit of content
  
• +Nice crafting system that lets you further enhance your gear and create new items

Cons

• -No online multiplayer (there is Remote Play Together, but other people’s characters will be on your pc)
  
• -Some areas can have a maze-like layout with multiple dead ends when exploring
  
• -Can feel repetitive after a while

Comments
Chronicon is a good action RPG with lots of loot to collect and ways to build your character. There are four different classes (five if you get The Mechanist DLC), each with their own skill trees and ways to play. Once you get through the five story acts, there is an endgame system that has you go through random dungeons and fight various bosses with multiple difficulty levels. However, I did not explore the endgame content that much. Overall, if you enjoy games with lots of loot or like action RPGs, I recommend taking a look at Chronicon.

Pros

• +Great gameplay. Cars feel nice to drive.
  
• +Interesting day and night mechanic. You make money during the day, but you gain reputation and get chased by the police at night.
  
• +A variety of cars to buy
  
• +Each car is customizable, both in appearance and performance
  
• +A decent amount of activities

Cons

• -The main story felt too short
  
• -It feels too difficult to lose the police without using a jump or using a super fast car at higher heat levels
  
• -It can be difficult to avoid traffic at times during night races
  
• -Soundtrack could use more variety, especially since some songs only play during the day while other songs only play at night

Comments
Need for Speed: Heat is a solid racing game with an interesting day and night mechanic. During the day, you race for money, but at night, you race to build reputation. However, the police chase you at night, meaning that racing for a longer period of time at night is risky. There are a decent amount of races to complete, but the main story felt too short. I was a bit surprised when the story ended because it felt like there was more. Furthermore, it can be difficult to lose the police at night without a really fast car. I often had to use ramps to lose the police at higher heat levels.

Overall, if you are looking for a racing game, I recommend taking a look at this game when it is on sale.

The Delicious Last Course introduces Ms. Chalice as a new playable character. She has unique abilities and there are also new weapons and charms added as well. A new isle is added with a number of new bosses to fight against. Overall, if you enjoyed the base game, I highly recommend getting this DLC as well.

Pros

• +Excellent presentation and solid soundtrack
  
• +A variety of bosses to fight against, each with a variety of attacks
  
• +A good amount of shot types and charms to help you customize your play style
  
• +Fair amount of replayability with expert mode and going for the best grade

Cons

• -A few of the bosses felt like they had a bit too much RNG in one or more of their mechanics
  
• -There are times when there’s a lot going on on the screen at once, making it hard to keep track of all of the attacks

Comments
Cuphead is a game that is more focused on boss fights. There are a good number of bosses to fight and each boss has unique attacks. The gameplay is good, but the presentation is what makes the game really stand out. It has a unique art style that makes each of the bosses expressive with their attacks. The game is difficult and some of the bosses took a while to beat, especially the ones that had a decent amount of RNG involved, such as a boss with platforms that appear in a random order. Overall, if you are into games that concentrate more on boss fights and the art style looks interesting to you, I recommend checking Cuphead out.

Pros

• +Excellent card-based combat system with a variety of characters to use
  
• +Plenty of cards to choose from for each hero and multiple ways to upgrade your cards and heroes
  
• +Decent number of mission types that you can endlessly do in-between main story missions
  
• +Able to learn more about and become friends with multiple heroes
  
• +Each hero plays in a unique way

Cons

• -Some of the dialogue options come out differently than what is written
  
• -Minor performance issues, including stuttering and fps drops
  
• -Inventory management could be better

Comments
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a great game that has quite a bit of content. You create your own character, the Hunter, and control them in the Abbey. The Hunter builds a relationship with the heroes that join the Abbey and gets to learn more about them. If you are a Marvel fan or are interested in learning more about Marvel characters, this part of the game is great. However, if you are not interested in Marvel, the Abbey part of the game may not appeal to you since you will be talking with the other heroes a lot. Be aware the Abbey plays a large part of the game. It also serves as a place for upgrades, including abilities, items and cards.

The combat is excellent. You bring three heroes into every mission and each hero has eight cards in their deck. Depending on which heroes you bring, their decks can synergize well and the battle can be more manageable. You can do general missions in-between story missions, which allow you to level up your heroes and gather resources for upgrades. The combat plays well with different card effects and the ability to use the environment to attack your enemy.

Overall, if you are a Marvel fan and like card-based or turn-based combat, this game is definitely worth taking a look at. If you are not really interested in Marvel or in building friendships with the heroes, you may want to skip this game. The Abbey plays an important role in the game and there is a lot of dialogue. Personally, I will be revisiting this game in the future once more DLC releases.

Pros

• +Nice graphics and decent soundtrack
  
• +Fun combat system with plenty of upgrades to go for
  
• +An interesting main story, though some parts of it could have been played out in a more sensible manner
  
• +A variety of side content to play through
  
• +The ragdoll effect can be funny at times
  
• +The Majima Saga is an interesting addition that takes place between Yakuza Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2, though it is short

Cons

• -Unable to run while out of combat. You can either walk or sprint.
  
• -The combat can feel repetitive at times, especially if you frequently fight against random enemies in free roam
  
• -When an enemy blocks your attack, you jump back a bit instead of continuing your attack. This sometimes breaks the flow of combat.

Comments
Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a remake of the original Yakuza 2. It was made after Yakuza 6 and it uses the Dragon Engine that was first used in Yakuza 6. The graphics look quite good and when you enter a store, there usually is no loading screen. Overall, the movement and exploration felt better than Yakuza Kiwami 1 due to the new engine.

The combat felt good since your attacks can hit more than one enemy. Kiryu only has one style now compared to four styles in Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 1, but I still found the combat fun. However, when an enemy blocks your attack, your attack bounces off of them and Kiryu jumps back a bit. I was not a fan of this since it felt like it broke the flow of combat at times.

The story was interesting. Some parts felt a bit over the top and some other parts would have been better if it played out differently. However, the original Yakuza 2 was released on Playstation 2. Since this is a remake of that game, the developers probably could not change the story too much. Overall, I enjoyed the story. I also liked the new Majima Saga story that was added. It takes place between Yakuza Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2, showing what happens with Majima between the two games. It also gives some closure to a certain storyline from Yakuza 0.

Overall, if you played through and enjoyed playing Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami 1, I highly recommend picking up this game. If you have not played those games, I recommend playing those first since Yakuza Kiwami 2 takes place after those two games.

Pros

• +Solid gameplay, though it is a little floaty
  
• +A good number of unique characters to play as
  
• +The perk system lets you slightly change how you want to play your character
  
• +Able to play against bots

Cons

• -It can take a while to unlock a new character. This is especially noticeable for expert characters since they cost 3000 gold instead of 2000.
  
• -Not much content at the moment
  
• -Battle Pass progression feels slow since it mainly comes from daily and weekly missions
  
• -Leveling your character for new perks feels slow, especially since they halved the xp rate for your character in season one
  
• -Some items on the shop seem overpriced

Comments
Multiversus is a platform fighter game like Super Smash Bros, but focuses on 2v2 instead of 1v1. It currently has characters from various Warner Brothers properties and will likely have plenty of characters added in the future. The gameplay itself is solid and each character plays quite differently from one another. However, there is not much content in the game. The arcade mode is fairly basic so far and there are about three other main game modes when fighting against other players or bots. It also takes a while to unlock new characters since you get around 15 to 20 gold per match. If you mainly play only several characters, this problem is not too bad.

However, I cannot recommend the game due to how the game is seemingly designed to try to get you to play as long as possible. The xp rate for character leveling was halved and completing the battle pass takes longer this season. Furthermore, battle pass progress mainly comes from daily and weekly missions. You get little xp from completing a match. A recent event also took quite some time to get all of the free items. Personally, I did not like this and stopped playing the game since it felt like the game either wants to play a lot or start paying for characters or event progression. In the recent event, if you bought an event skin (only two were free), you would get a higher rate of event progression.

Overall, I do not recommend playing Multiversus at this time. The game is still in open beta and I will revisit this game in the future. Hopefully, there will be more game modes and the progression will feel better.