There is barely a game here. It's just a long tech demo. Every gaming trope that you can think of is here; The "puzzles" (for lack of a better word) are dumb and just there to pad the length of the game. Everything in this title is a slog. Everything takes a loooong time to do, and it feels like a complete disregard of player's time (even more so when the game is so short, that everything needs to be padded so it doesn't end in 2 hours). It also has a big identity crisis. Is not a walking simulator, as there isn't really anything to explore other than 4k textures; It's neither an action game, as combat is a glorified quick time event (you can finish every combat encounter the game just pressing A and X, not even need directions).

There is a complete lack of player agency here, so much that it really doesn't fit into the medium that they chose. Why make an interactive medium when interaction is left to the bare minimum? There really isn't much to "do", just walk forward, uninspired puzzly section, scripted combat sequence, repeat.

Story-wise it's all over the place. First Senua was focused and knew what it wanted to tell, but this one doesn't tell anything interesting that we didn't heard before, just lots of exposition and same old tiresome tropes.

This are just fireworks, something pretty to watch, but pretty boring and uninspired overall.

Naw I'm done with this trash. I will start off by saying I've never played a tactics game that I've actually liked but I thought I'd give this a chance considering how much I like persona and I will try to keep my criticisms off the tactics genre as much as possible.

The designs are butt ugly. The music has way less energy than it does in any other persona game I've played. The story is forgettable and uninteresting and the characters are basically just devolved to their most basic character traits. I was hoping for some interesting development or fun evolution to the persona/smt combat/monster collecting systems (which is what I got in droves from P5S) but in the 3-4 hours I gave this a shot I got pretty much nothing out of it but boredom and frustration with the dragged out wordy cutscenes.

oh, man. it's a miracle this even came out at all, but this isn't a fate i'd wish on a series i liked even half as much. the basic formula is there under all the muck, but there is SO much muck: the game runs like shit despite its low frame rate, low-res textures, and wooden models; the character writing has regressed back to the beginning of the series, and nearly all the female bachelors come off as children; the combat is much slower, marred by the lock-on system, and has poorly-tuned damage formula behind it that leads to odd breakpoints; going anywhere takes forever between how big and empty the game world is and the loading screens that pop up everywhere, making the fast travel a misnomer. such a letdown

I've been thinking of the LIS games more in terms of the locations than the characters. Obviously the characters are the focus and are almost universally compelling but the towns they exist in are the critical backdrop that make them pop. Max and Chloe need Arcadia Bay for their story to work. Sean and Daniel are sculpted by every place they pass through on their journey.

Haven Springs doesn't exist. Yeah, I've seen photos of the place it's based on, it's kinda similar, but visual similarity only goes so far. It's a town "where everyone knows your name" to such an extreme that it has a dedicated social media app. Leisure activities include city-wide LARPs and going to the record store. It's a fantasy, I suspect a particularly generational fantasy, and it's taken for granted that you will love this place, because you, dear Life is Strange player, fall over for mountain aesthetics and alternative music, we know this. And, look, they're right. I'm not immune. I want to live here.

Also taken for granted: Typhon's motivations. We understand they are evil with little more setup than the words "corporation" and "mining." I finished episode 5 still trying to puzzle out if the grand conspiracy was actually worthwhile to any party involved, and at that point the game had long left me behind.

Those complaints aside, what kept me invested was the same thing that's kept me invested for the other 3 or 4 games. I liked spending time with Alex. And Duckie. And Steph and Ryan and the ice cream shop owners and that guy who lost his cat. Disappointing as the plot may be, the crew that guides you through it almost make it work. If anything I'm bummed we didn't get more time with the supporting cast. (The game runs short compared to the previous entries.) Charlotte seems like she has a lot going on, should I do another playthrough and see what happens if I choose other options for her?

I probably won't, because I'm too satisfied with the route and ending I got. I thought a lot of the decisions were fairly obvious, but the end-of-chapter stats screens tell me the masses were surprisingly split.

Part of me is worried what I'm actually describing is growing up. The other part of me is booking a flight to Colorado.

For 2023, my game of the year never felt solid. I liked Baldur's Gate 3, but I never finished it, and I didn't really connect to the combat. Since I haven't finished Alan Wake, I tried to steer away from Alan Wake 2. And because it's such a rehash of Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom doesn't truly deserve it in my opinion.

Anyway, I was ok with 2023 just not being my kind of year in terms of "the best game", but nope, I was dead wrong.

God of War Valhalla, swept down the chimney a week late and stole Santa's cookies and milk. At the 90th minute, this game won me over completely.

Essentially a game that DARES to ask (seriously (no actually (for real and completely unironically))) :

What if Kratos went to therapy?

GOTY 2023, HANDS DOWN WITHOUT A DOUBT

How the fuck is this free???????