This was my first jump into the Metro Universe and I didn't know exactly what to expect here. The game starts slow. VERY slow, and by about the halfway point, I was considering dropping as I wasn't super into it, but I'm glad I stuck with it as the back half gets a lot more exciting with some genuinely great moments (and some stuff that rivals some of the best survivor horror games).

The atmosphere for the game is fantastic, and easily does most of the heavy lifting here. Some of the sim elements are great (I love the idea of wiping down your visor, pumping up your guns) and the gunplay while not great, is certainly satisfying. Now, my biggest complaint here is the story and the characters. They are certainly solid, just nothing to write home about, and I do wish I cared more about the narrative that was being presented to me, but obviously they went more for the atmospheric route.

Overall I did enjoy this game, and I look forward to trying Last Light at some point, and hopefully get a stronger narrative experience out of it.

The final (for now) installment for me in The Sci;Fi Adventure series ends unfortunately with a whimper and not a bang. There are parts of this game I really do like, and it does set itself up for success really early on. The chill awesome cast of Robotics Note, and one of my favorite characters from Steins;Gate Daru? What could possibly go wrong? Unfortunately, they focus on all the worst tendencies of Daru early on, the writing is sloppy and all over the place and very hit or miss the most of the game. The "common" route is perhaps the worst out of any of Sci Fi adventure game yet. Thankfully, Aki's ending and the true ending do some heavy lifting to save this game from being a complete waste of time, and you do get some strong character moments from some fo the other side cast as well.

Techincally this game is a mess. It ran horribly on steam deck with constant crashes and even when switching to laptop I had issues on occasion, and was frustrating enough to make me consider dropping the game at a couple points.

Overall I do think it's worth playing, and clearly has some important stuff to set up for the future of this series, it's just unfortunately the weakest entry in a pretty great series overall. Bring on Anonymous;Code.

For reference my final rankings:

Steins;Gate>Chaos;Child>Robotics;Note>Steins;Gate 0> Chaos;Head> Robotics;Note Dash

I had put off playing this game for a while for a multitude of reasons. First of all, While I did play and enjoy 999 and VLR, I wasn't quite in love with them like a lot of people. I discovered Uchikoski through Somnium Files and much preferred those games and that series. Second, I had heard this game was a huge step down in the franchise, and, while it was a miracle it even got made, certainly showed that. I did try to go into this with an open mind, but by the end I was just desperately wanting it to be over.

The game starts off very slow, and very uninteresting. The way it's fragmented out, so you can do it in any order you want, and it throws the timeline all over the place is a bold move that certainly does not pay off here for me. The Q team, and in particular, Eric, is one of the more unlikeable characters I've played in a video game in a while, and he's just pure comedy gold with how bad he is (especially with the awful English dub). By the end of the game, it does get a little bit better, Sigma and Phi are the only characters that I was semi invested in and wanted to see what happened to them.

I understand the game was made for 10 dollars and a 2 for 1 baconator coupon, but the game is shockingly bad from a visual/ animation perspective. Why they wouldn't just do a more simplified VN and do this awful budget-looking telltale game is beyond me. It took emotion out of some of the few moments I did like, and really just doesn't work for me at all.

The gameplay, like the other ones did nothing for me. I'm just not a fan of the escape room style puzzle mini games.

I understand how hardcore fans might like this more, and the closure they get from this, but as someone who liked but not love the other games this was just torture for me, and one of the worst "visual novels" I've personally ever played. A huge shame and a massive miss for me.

Oh, and the ending is horrible too. Couldn't even end it well.

Going into this game, I had heard a lot of mixed things. People not really liking this game cause i'ts not a "true" DmC game. It's existence is weird, I have to admit, and even Capcom has really admitted so going right back to DMC V after (and the one I'll play next one of the most critically acclaimed in the series). All that being said, what's here is a fantastic game, with the best story out of any DmC game, some epic boss fights and my second favorite DMC game to date.

I am relatively new to the series, so that might be a big part of it, but besides DMC 3 I think this is the best one. It's ending is a bit anti climactic, and probably the thing that makes 3 edge this one out for me, but Ninja Theory has crafted an awesome game that deserves some love here.

I do understand some of the complaints about it, but I feel a lot of that is just jaded and upset DMC fans that this game exists, and I do get it, but if you look past it, what's here is pretty damn awesome and a fantastic game.

When I first saw the trailer for this game I kind of enjoyed it in a memish sort of way, but didn't ever really expect to grab it on day one. However the more I saw from it, and kinda just being annoyed over the unfair attacks and shit being taken out of this game, I decided to give it a shot day one, as, despite a slightly unsettling art style at first, it did look gorgeously drawn/animated, and I'm a fan of story based "vn" style of games like this, and honestly I'm glad I did.

The game is really if Life is Strange was about Dinosaurs, and had the extra teenage anxiety of the world ending soon. Yes, there is some cringe dialogue at times, and not everything works for me here from a story perspective (I wish the ending was a smidge more impactful) but I still had a good time overall.

All of the characters were mostly enjoyable, and it was fun getting to know them. I do wish some of the game didn't feel quite so "budget". The animations at time kind of cut off awkwardly. The voice acting is hit or miss, with some of it being really good, but then some lines randomly getting cut off early that would break the immersion for me. It's clear this probably could have used a little more time in the oven/more budget.

Overall though, I'm glad I got it and was able to support a small studios vision. If you can get past the slightly off putting character design (which will be a hurdle for some people) there's a great story to be had here.

Well this was something that was unexpected for me this year. I've been on a massive JRPG kick recently, and I really did want to get to this game eventually, but I didn't have time, didn't want to buy it day one, and planned to hopefully play this at some point in 2024. However, thanks to my wonderful friend Poot, who gifted me this game for my birthday I was able to give this game a shot much sooner, and I'm really glad I did as it's easily one of my favorites I've played this year.

First of all, from a visual/art style perspective this game is absolutely gorgeous, and everything you'd want a throwback JRPG to be. The art style is stunning, the combat is some of the best I've ever played in a JRPG style game (why don't more games rip off the super Mario RPG style it's SO GOOD). I loved the characters here, grew to really enjoy them all (Serai is a stand out) and the story while it gets off to a very slow start ends up cooking by the end.

Most of my complaints with the game are nitpicks, some more valid then others. Fast travel is something sorely needed much much earlier in this game, and back tracking can be a miserable time. A better map system would have been awesome too.

I would have LOVED to do the true ending stuff, but I feel that collecting 50 shells is a brutal requirement, and something that I'm not committed to do right now, but in the future, when I have more free time between these gauntlet of releases I'll try and get back to it to complete. The ending we get here though, is quite nice. A bit rushed at the end, but sombre, and a perfect throwback to FF endings.

I really adore this game, and it's about as close to a 4.5/5 for me without being able to give it that due to some minor complaints. But this game is outstanding and 100% worth your time.

So this one was suggested to me by someone, otherwise I probably would have never paid this game any attention. As someone who is a fan of roguelikes, and also a fan of narrative choice based stuff like Life is Strange, I figured this might end up being a match made in heaven.

Early on I was really intrigued with how the game works. Everything felt very fresh, and random, and you never knew how things quite were going to work. Some interactions were heartfelt, some unique, and some genuinely terrifying. As the game goes on I do feel like it loses a bit of its luster, as you kind of learn what the game has up its sleeve, and a lot of the challenge becomes easier when you get items that carry over with you.

The characters that you meet along the way range from really good, to forgettable.

This concept is so unique and such an interesting idea, I had good time based off of that alone. I think there's something really here to this concept, and I would love to see another dev (or maybe a sequel?) take a crack at this idea and see if they could fix some of my issues, maybe expand on things, or make characters that I just end up caring more about.

Overall though, something unique, and worth playing. Enjoyed my time with it.

And here we are. It has been a long read to make it to the end of the Sci;Fi Adventure series for me (well mostly, I still plan to play My Darlings Embrace at some point, but the main line ones have all been crushed now).

A series with so many highs, and some very low lows, and it feels fitting that this game kind of encompasses that perfectly. What a wild adventure though, and the highs in this game are just so damn high that I can't help but love it.

This game is insanely paced. When you look at a game like Robotics;Note which is basically all character development until chapter 8 or 9, and then compare it to this, which is so so plot heavy, and story based, and basically starts in chapter 1 and never lets its foot off the gas, it's a pretty giant difference. And in fact that is my biggest complaint about this game. I loved every single character in this game. Pollion and Momo are probably both my second favorite pair of this entire franchise, but GOD I just wish there was a few extra hours of character building in this. My total clocktime for this game was around 15 hours (fast reader) and by far the quickest in the sci;fi adv series for me. Most of these games normally took 25-30 hours for me.

Still though, the actual plot is great, and what this game hints at, and sort of does for the entire universe is nothing short of insane. I know a lot of people had said you're fine to play this without any of the others one, and at a base level, sure? But having played through all of them (but ESPECIALLY Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0) made this so so much more rewarding for me.

This game is meta, it's awesome, I just wish it had a little more room to breathe at times, but it's still an adventure worth taking.

Hack into god!!!

First of all a very special thanks to a buddy of mine Moo for gifting me this game! As a fan of old school point and click adventure games, I figured I might vibe with this one, and I certainly did. It's a fun game, with a lot to like, although I do have some complaints that truly hold it back from being great to me.

The first half of this game, I was really really into it. The vibes were fantastic, the story was interesting and carried my attention, and there was a lot of cool stuff going on. I found closer to the end my attention slipping away a bit, the game turned into more of a Quick time event, story driven then just the pure point and click adventure goodness I so love. I really wish there was a way to speed up your walking speed in the game, as so many times it would me stumbling around trying to find the right place to go (a map also would have been quite useful)

The story by the end is touching, and is resolved well. Raya and Atma are very interesting and well made lead characters, but everyone else is mostly forgettable for me.

Overall, a solid experience and one I had a good time with despite my complaints. Worth playing for sure, especially if you're a fan of adventure games and want a little bit more of those in your life.

As someone who has never quite conneceted with BGS games, I might not be the intended audience for this game, in a good way. This certainly is different then what Bethesda has done in the past.

This game feels like Mass Effect and Deus ex had a baby, and I'm all here for that. The immersive sim stuff is great, this feels like a true role playing game, I truly felt like my character (a beautiful man if I do say so myself). Which is really nice considering other RPGS recently like Cyberpunk and FFXVI (which I both really liked) I did not feel like the main character, but more that I was watching a really good story unfold.

I do have a lot of minor complaints about the game. Some of the stuff near the very end of the game is rather frustrating. I wish the game had a map. It takes a couple hours to fully get cooking. But what's here is pretty magical and pretty damn awesome.

The main storyline is so interesting, and a fascinating concept all the way to the end, that really needs to be seen to believed what they cooked up.

The gunplay felt good here, much better than fallout (see ya vats rest in piss) and the different amount of loot you got, I always felt like keeping my eyes open for a better reward which was great compared to some games earlier in the year (looking at you hogwarts legacy).

Overall just a fantastic experience, and a game that truly feels like an honest to god roleplaying game, one where I got to live out my dreams of being a space cowboy. I hope this isn't the last we've seen of this awesome universe.

First of all I'd like to thank my buddy Mokey for generously gifting me this game so I could finally play it. Truth be told I HAD tried around an hour of this on game pass, when it first came out, but it wasn't hitting at that time, so I decided to shelve and I am glad I came back and got a chance to complete this really interesting unique game.

First of all, if we're scoring on vibes this game is a 10/10. Just wonderful vibes, insanely spooky feeling, some great tension and atmosphere, and a killer soundtrack (I love me some classical music, and this game filled that love for me hard.)

I think the story is very interesting, and I won't fully to pretend to understand it (even after looking some stuff up). It's not my favorite, but I really do appreciate them not spoon feeding you everything and letting you kind of discover things for yourself here and make your own assumptions.

I have a couple of pretty big complaints about the game. I think the gameplay itself is just fine at best, and really annoying at others. Aiming just never seemed to consistently go where I wanted it too, where in a survival horror game you really need to make every shot count.

I also really hate the incredibly limited inventory system. I'm not wanting 20 slots or anything to make it trival, but an upgrade to go from 6 to 8 would have gone a LONG way at some point in this game (I'm fine making tough choices, but there's a lot of time that the game just became me entering a room, picking up items, running back to a save room and then progressing).

Finally, there's a section later in the game that is downright rage inducing, making it difficult to travel around, and some rooms that are just filled with an insane amount of enemies. There's already enough tension in the game, this pulled it to far.

I do wish they game had a bit of a bigger budget, I think there's a really special idea here, that if a bit more money could have been put into this you could have ended up with something TRULY special. That being said, I still really enjoyed my time with it overall, and it's cool to see some unique fresh survival horror out there. Definitely check it out if that seems appealing.

What a fantastic game, that truly is an underrated little gem, and something that has never been attempted again.

There's so many cool little things about this game, I could type about it for hours. It's not without its issues which I'll get too, but the positives totally outweigh the negatives here.

First of all the atmosphere is great, the story is interesting, and the fact that you play as 11 different characters is super unique and cool. Each characters section plays a little bit different, and you're always left with something fresh in this 10+ hour game. This unfortunately leads me to one of my biggest complaints, as cool as the story is, the voice acting is god awful. Which shouldn't be a surprise for 2002, but it's super campy and 100% takes me out of the game which is unfortunate for such a great game otherwise.

The sanity meter is the star of the show here, and although it becomes really easy to raise it back up late game, you almost don't want too to see what twisted stuff they throw at you, and I never had stuff repeat on my playthrough either. Such an original awesome idea for a horror game, that's truly wild no one else has tried.

The map in this game sucks, another one of my big complaints, its practically useless, but otherwise the gameplay holds up pretty darn well. It's got a little jank to it but all things considered, I think it plays pretty darn good.

This is just such an awesome game, and one of the better horror games I've played in sometime. If you want something truly unique, you could do much much worse than Eternal Darkness. What a BANGER.

Shout out to my buddy Parrott for gifting me this game. This game became kind of a meme in our community, like what the hell is spark the electric jester, and who the hell is playing this game. I had zero interest in this game (I'm not a big sonic fan) but to be honest, I walked out of this one pleasantly surprised and had more fun then I was expecting.

99% of this game was just balls to the wall super fun, keep running action. It felt like Sonic but a bit dumbed down which I appreciated, and a cross between kirby and megaman as well. Where the game really kinda fell off a bit for me was right at the end. I think the last stage just grinds everything to a hault, not only with its difficulty but with the precision platforming you're required to do (which was not working on the steam deck, unfortunately, this game runs awful on deck).

I think it was cute that they tried to have a story here, but it just made me cringe more than anything else. Hey though, game was far better than I was expecting. Will I ever play the sequels? Doubtful. But I had a good time.

So this was a game that for a while was on my "world famous" spite list, but thanks to my buddy Poot for gifting me Sea of Stars (which I loved) and motivation to listen to the episode on his wonderful podcast (Why You Should Play, check it out people) I decided to finally give this a shot, and for the most part, I'm certainly glad I did. While I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Sea of Stars, there was a lot to like about this game.

First of all, without delving into spoilers, let me say the first half of this game is definitely stronger in my opinion. If I was to rate this game, the first half would be a rock solid 4/5, while the back half would be a 3/5. It's certainly not bad, but I really like the vibes, and how simple but fun the opening half of this game is. It really does feel like an old school Ninja Gaiden throwback and it's a joy to play.

Some of the mechanics in the second half bother me, which I'll save talking about cause I find it a spoiler, but overall, you do get a pretty satisfying conclusion.

The writing in the game is great, it's very funny, and well written. The music is great too, a nice retro throwback that's hard not to jam out too.

Overall glad I played it. Really cool to see this studio make (three) really totally different type of games. Wonder what they will do next.

Spiderman 2 is a game that if I'm being totally honest I wasn't super looking forward too. Let me explain, I've always held the thought that Insomniac made good games, but not great games. The OG spiderman was a fun game for sure, but at the end of the day the story was a little too inconsistent for me overall, and besides Doc Oc the bad guys didn't do much for me. I had avoided most trailers for this game thankfully, and I almost skipped buying the game day one.

However, I'm happy to report, not only did I really end up loving this game, I think it's pretty easily my favorite game Insomniac has made. This game is just more spiderman at it's core, something I see being hurled towards it as an insult a lot, but it's more than that to me. It's the best possible version of Spiderman one. The combat is more fun, the swinging and traversal is even better, and the biggest upgrade is in the story in my opinion. The opening few hours can be a little slower, but I was invested when Kraven made his first appearance and everything that followed in this game.

There's so many little easter eggs, and setup for possible future games/DLC in here, and it's clear Insomniac loves Spiderman with the love they've put into a lot of this game.

Also, the reports of bugs and crashes in this game is RAPANT, but funny enough, I had one bug the entire game, where the audio stopped working and a restart fixed. Not one crash otherwise. Perhaps I have a golden PS5, but nothing effected me here.

I think my biggest complaint with the game, is some of the pacing in the story seems almost a little TOO quick paced, and I will say I wished for a little more risk/consquence in the story especially with the ending. But overall, this was a fantastic game, one of the very best in a stacked year. Can't wait to see what they cook up next!