I'm not usually into the base building survival genre but wow what an experience this game was. All of the different biomes had a unique feel and tone to them and as you get deeper things take a turn for the horrific.

I'm not sure whether it was the the darkness, the fear of the unknown, the freakish noises of alien fish in the distance, or the sheer depth and the knowledge that if your seamoth were to get lost or destroyed you would be totally screwed with no chance of swimming to the surface before your untimely death that freaked me out the most. This game did something that no horror game has done to me and that is fill me with dread. It wasn't just being scared, or making me jump (though it did manage this a few times) but that existential dread that rarely is successfully touched on. The only thing that comes close to this feeling that I can think of is Outer Wilds and some HP Lovecraft stories. And for reference this is coming from a person who has scuba dived a few times and really enjoyed it.

I would recommend this game strongly for anyone looking for a fresh, unique, and at times terrifying experience. Had to subtract a half star for all the visual pop in that can be emersion breaking at times but other than that it was an excellent game.

What a disappointment this game was. After the success of the first game the sequel failed to improve on any of what made it's predecessor so good. For a start the writing was amateurish and even laughable at times. The decision to make a significant chunk of the game on land was a bad one considering they didn't update any of the out of water mechanics so the land sections feel tacked on and low quality. The map is way smaller, way less deep, and way more empty. It's almost like someone at Unknown Worlds wrote a list of all the things that made the first game good, and then decided to reduce all those elements for the sequel. I just don't get it.

Probably an unpopular opinion but I personally enjoyed this game much more than the first. I found the story and environment so compelling and actually preferred the more toned down horror elements. It had some really tense parts but it gave you more time in between scares for you to breath. This decision worked well because it created rising and falling action which made for very good pacing. Also, in my opinion freaky pig/man hybrids are way more scary than the little gooby shambling monsters in the dark decent. Lastly, the ending is simply magnificent, expert level writing there.

PS. Jessica Curry created a masterful score for this game especially the music that plays during the climax of the game.

one of my favorite games of all time. Simply put this game is a masterpiece. No game or movie has been able to pull off cosmic horror close to how well bloodborne masterfully explores the genre. Gameplay is spectacularly designed to promote aggression which plays perfectly into the themes of the game. The way the world evolves as you gain insight and progress through the game is amazing. I could keep singing this games praises all day, if you haven't played this game yet a.) I'm jealous, wish I could play it for the first time again. and b.) what are you waiting for?

Probably the best puzzle game ever made. What made this game special to me was how steeped in mystery the world is. The environment asks so many questions and doesn't really give any answers, instead allowing you to come up with your own interpretations. Why are there statues of people all around the world? Are they statues or are they real people somehow turned into stone? What does the dot and line mean? Why does it appear everywhere in nature? Who are these people on the voice recordings? Trying to figure this game out touches on what I believe the allure of certain conspiracy theories have for some people -- you are so close to figuring out some unknown truth, just a few more puzzles, just a few more voice recordings, just dig a little deeper and you'll have the answer.

I will preface this section by saying I choose to ignore the secret ending as it seems somewhat tacked on almost like a meta joke. To me the game is an exploration of the human tendency to look for meaning and for pattern recognition like seeing faces in clouds, or constellations in the stars, or numerology. This can be a blessing and a curse as it primes us to be great problem solvers, but also opens the door to seeing patterns that aren't there: people who listen to records backwards and think there is hidden satanic messages for example. This theme is explored masterfully in this game. You are constantly trying to make connections not only to dots and lines in the environment, but also to the voice recordings, video clips, environments, and statues you find in the world. Is there some concrete meaning to them? I don't think there is an answer to that question... At least not one that everyone can agree on. But that is what makes this game special. Keep searching for the pattern.

I love all the directions they take this. There are faces in tree branches, shadows that make you look like you have angel wings, perspectives where water reflects something off it to make a complete image and so much more. It is simply mesmerizing. These occurrences help to play into the religious themes as well. Are all these seemingly perfectly designed patterns simply random acts of nature or did some creator purposefully put them there. Well this is a video game so obviously a creator purposefully put it there, but you get the point.

Simply put I loved everything about this games world and themes. The one complaint is that some sections do get a bit tedious with the large number of difficult puzzles back to back but this aspect is easily outshined by the gorgeously crafted world.

A teenage girl coming of age story masquerading as a horror game sounds like something that wouldn't work but somehow this game pulls it off really well. I would actually go as far as to say that without the scary, haunted house vibe the game portrays this game wouldn't work nearly as well.

Some people might be turned off by the gameplay which is essentially just walking around a house picking up objects and looking at them. Hopefully you are okay with that style of game because there is truly a deep emotional story here with a couple of twists and turns that will seriously tug at your heart strings.

Dark Souls 2 is the red-headed step child of the souls franchise and seems to be either loved or hated with no middle ground. I think this is because Dark Souls 2 has some really high highs, and some really low lows.

Some of the environments are superb and the sheer size of the game is deserving of praise. This also speaks to its shortcomings though, there seems to have been a quantity over quality approach by the designers. There are so many different environments and some clearly received more love than others. Same with the items, there are way to many different weapons and most of them feel identical to others like it. Some people might like this aspect as more content can be a good thing but a lot of things in this game just feel thrown in.

This isn't to say I didn't enjoy the game, I am actually on the love side of the fanbase. I'm not blind to it's flaws, I just enjoy so much about the game. I found the Vendrick/Giants storyline to be tragic and enthralling, there are also some really interesting and unique areas in the game, and holy shit the music in Majula!

One of those games that I grew up on and had a formative effect on my taste in video games. Diablo II will always have a special place in my heart, I still remember the first time I went to the secret cow level, the first time I got a SoJ drop, the first time I got a torch, the first time I got an Anni, and the first time I made an enigma (also the first time I screwed up the order and wasted high runes). People who didn't grow up with this game might find it overly grindy and repetitive which are definitely valid criticisms but man there is something special about this game. D2 is the game that most seasoned gamers compare any new ARPG to and it sits forever in the pantheon of all time great video games.

One of those rare transcendent pieces of media that has the gravity to pull in people who usually wouldn't be interested in that type of thing. World of Warcraft is up there with the likes of Harry Potter and Game of Thrones in terms of cultural impact. I can't tell you the number of people I met during my time with the game who didn't play video games at all before deciding to play WoW. What was a pretty geeky fantasy game that you expect to be populated by 99% teen boys and men in their 20s ended up drawing in peoples parents, peoples wives, even some peoples grandparents played it. I can't think of many games that had this type of wide spread appeal to non gamers and that has to count for something.