How do you even review a game like Elden Ring? A collaboration by Hidetaka Miyazaki of FromSoft fame and one of the biggest and best High Fantasy novelists since Tolkien AKA George R.R. Martin known for his world famous A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones series in the form of a massive open-world action RPG? No amount of words or arbitrary scores and ratings will ever do this game justice. Elden Ring is the kind of game that comes around once in a generation. A rare game that has an immense amount of hype and expectations behind it and yet lives up to and even exceeds everything it promises, this must be a dream right? How is this game even real? I truly believe people will be playing and talking about this game for years to come.

The story premise is simple and very much in line with other works from Miyazaki. Elden Ring takes place in a world known as the Lands Between sometime after the Elden Ring has been shattered, there are various demigods, the children of Queen Marika the Eternal who each hold a piece of the shattered Elden Ring in the form of Great Runes that taint and corrupts them. All these demigods are locked in a constant struggle to take all the shards of the Ring so they can reforge it and become the next Elden Lord. The player character, the Tarnished are exiles from the Lands Between who lost the Ring's grace, but are summoned back after the Shattering and now hope to claim the Great Runes, repair the Ring and become Elden Lord themselves.

Simple story premise aside what makes the Lands Between so special and unique, much like any other Souls is the world-building, character back-stories and lore itself. This is where George R.R. Martin's influence in the game shines. The Souls games have always had great detailed world-building if you dig into it by reading weapon descriptions, wikis and videos on YouTube. Elden Ring however is a bit more straightforward and easier to connect with for the average player and I can only imagine that was partially due to GRRM's involvement. NPC dialogue tells more about an NPC and their personality than ever before, item descriptions aren't nearly as vague and even some cut-scenes are much more descriptive now. The Lands Between is dense when it comes to lore, maybe even more so than any past Souls game and despite being less vague than past Souls games, there is still a lot of mystery to it still. This world is also an incredibly unique combination of various mythologies and legends like Celtic, Arthurian and Norse alongside obvious influence from Martin's own A Song of Ice and Fire series, Eastern mysticism and some Lovecraftian themes of occultism and cosmicism especially how the concept of sorcery fits into the world. The Lands Between is one of the most creative and immersive worlds I've had the pleasure of exploring in years and I just can't get enough of it.

Speaking of the world, let's talk about the actual open world design and levels now because Elden Ring is already being called one of the greatest open world games of all time and I have to say I agree wholeheartedly. The sheer sense of adventure and exploration Elden Ring gives is simply unparalleled. The entire game feels like one grand, epic fantastical journey that takes you all over an amazing, detailed world with so much gorgeous (and sometimes grotesque) scenery. Every single one of Elden Ring's 13 different regions from the grassy fields of Limgrave to the swamps of Liurnia or the volcanic rocky mountains of Mt Gelmir feels completely unique and distinct from the rest so they're all an absolute joy to explore and never feel boring. Elden Ring is open world in the purest sense, much like Breath of the Wild (Though I think Elden Ring is even better personally) as soon as you get out of the tutorial you can go anywhere and do anything you want to do. There's no map markers until you start discovering Lost Grace Sites (the Bonfires of this game) and dungeons. The game let's you discover things at your own pace and it feels so natural and authentic unlike most open world games which tend to overwhelm with map markers and make you feel like you're just checking things off a list. Elden Ring also has an insane amount of side content from optional dungeons (that remind me of Bloodborne's Chalice Dungeons, but even better), NPC quest-lines which you'll randomly stumble across in the open world in true Dark Souls fashion and whole secret areas with plenty of optional side bosses. I would honestly say 80-90% of Elden Ring IS optional content. You can explore as little or as much as you want, but I would recommend exploring as much because you get rewarded for it since some of the best content in the game is optional or hidden in secret areas. I also can't praise the topography of the map enough, the way it plays with elevation is unlike anything I can recall seeing in a video game before and there are areas that are obviously designed that way because the developers gave the player a horse that has the ability to double jump and they want you to utilize the feature. Elden Ring is the new benchmark standard for open world games as far as I'm concerned and I truly hope more games follow suit with its design philosophy because we need more Elden Ring's and less of the typical Ubisoft formula.

However the open world isn't all Elden Ring is. No, there's plenty of secular levels which are called 'Legacy Dungeons'. These are in the form of castles, ruins, cities etc. These are smaller more intimate areas us Souls fans have grown to love over the past decade which typically lead to a main story boss and right alongside the open world, these Legacy Dungeons are also some of the best levels FromSoft has ever designed and how all of these flawlessly connect to the open world is simply a master-class in level design. What makes Elden Ring's design philosophy work so well is because it never compromises what the Souls games have always done. Excellent handcrafted levels with tons of hidden secrets and items to find. This is just now done on a much bigger scale than ever before. I like to think of Elden Ring as a bunch of little Dark Souls areas that combine to make one massive Dark Souls area. Oh and if you're worried there isn't a hub area like our Firelink Shrine or Nexus of the past, there is one and you can upgrade weapons and talk to various NPCs there as well. This game legit has everything.

I could talk about the lore and world for days, but let's be honest, Souls fans are mainly here for one thing and that's the combat. So let's talk about the meat of the game and boy is it meaty. This is the culmination of everything FromSoft has learned in the past decade. This is the absolute best Souls combat has ever been. The pacing of the game is in a sweet spot between Bloodborne and Dark Souls III. Not quite as fast as Bloodborne, but not as slow as Dark Souls III either. You have your ol' reliable light attack and heavy attack as always, but now there's new mechanics like Sekiro's stealth and jump attacks (which deal heavy poise damage and help break your enemy's stance quicker) and the Elden Ring specific guard counter (immediately after blocking you hit the heavy attack button for an instant counter attack which makes defensive play styles more viable than ever) and of course even mounted combat. All these features add so much more depth and flexibility than you'd ever imagine. There's a joke that the Souls fan's favorite button is R1 because we tend to just spam and rely on the light attack as it's the most useful option, but there was a point in Elden Ring where I realized I was just naturally always using my entire moveset because the game is designed to make you do so, nothing feels like a useless addition and to make matters even better Weapon Arts which were powerful skills from Dark Souls III come back in the form of Ashes of War, but now these can be changed and experimented on with new weapons whenever you want and they can even change your weapon's status effect too. This isn't even mentioning how many cool and fun spells and incantations there are for magic or faith users to use, the insane variety of weapons and armor or the return of dual wielding power stances from Dark Souls II. Elden Ring is without a doubt the pinnacle of Souls style combat with the most variety in build options and playstyles than any other Souls style game and since you unlock a way to respec your character fairly early on (you can do this multiple times just in one playthrough too) and you find ample materials to upgrade weapons, the game encourages you to experiment and try new weapons and builds.

Difficulty will always be a major talking point when it comes to Souls games and Elden Ring is no exception. Here's my take on it. Elden Ring is simultaneously one of the hardest and most punishing FromSoft games, but also one of the most forgiving and newcomer friendly. How could that be you might ask? It's because of the open world. All other Souls games are linear. If you want to get past a specific area and progress you either have to 'git gud' or farm/grind in the same spot to level up more. Elden Ring isn't like this though because if you're having trouble in a specific area or find a boss you aren't strong enough for yet, just come back to it later. Go explore some more, get new gear, maybe level up a bit and you'll find that the boss won't be nearly as impossible. If you're a Souls veteran you probably won't have to do this as often, however the game does expect you to do this and certain areas are naturally going to have stronger enemies and bosses so you could get punished a bit for lack of exploration. This isn't Dark Souls 4, so don't play it like it is. Elden Ring also gives Spirit Ashes which are helpful NPC summons you can call on for boss fights even when in single player mode. This could range from a pack of wolves to a jellyfish or even a dragon knight, these help a LOT. There are definitely areas of the game that were designed with this mechanic in mind and if you don't utilize it, that's not the game designer's fault or poor balance. There is also a very useful quality of life feature called 'Stakes of Marika' which act as spawn points before boss fog gates. Some people might say this makes the game more 'causalized', but let's be honest here, speaking as a decade long FromSoft fan spending 3 minutes running back to the boss was never a highlight of these games. Having spawn points incentivizes trying things you might not have before and gets you to fighting the boss quicker which makes it more fun than ever before. You've been given all the tools necessary to succeed, you need only use them to overcome your adversaries now.

Another very crucial aspect of Souls games is the bosses themselves. Demons Souls, Dark Souls I-III, Bloodborne and Sekiro all have some of my absolute favorite boss fights in all of gaming and now I happily add Elden Ring to that list as well. Due to the sheer size and scope of the game Elden Ring has the most bosses of any Souls game yet with a whopping 80+ bosses. Yeah there's a handful that are reused, but I feel some people make that seem like a bigger deal than it actually is because the fights are still fun and with a game this size I can't fault them for reusing a handful of bosses. I'd say at least 50 of those bosses are still unique encounters, that's still more than any other Souls game yet none of them feel forgettable, even mini-bosses in dungeons are awesome. They're all incredibly designed with amazing move-sets, designs and memorable locations you fight them in too, as always you feel rewarded for your patience and determination to win when you memorize a bosses move set through trial and error and beat them afterwards. A few bosses also have fun puzzle/gimmicks as well which really make the fights stand out even more. The end-game areas especially have some of the absolute coolest and most fun bosses FromSoft have ever made in my opinion.

I have to mention that I'm hardly a graphics guy, but there were multiple times my jaw dropped because of the indescribable beauty of Elden Ring. I was playing on PS5 and this has to be one of the best looking games I've ever played. I think that's due to two reasons, 1), FromSoft stepping the graphical quality up a good bit because they didn't want to be outdone by the Demons Souls Remake and 2), an absolutely impeccable art design. This game truly shows how far an amazing art design can go to improving the visual look of a game. Every single area of the open world, the characters, the dungeons, the weapons and armor and most importantly the enemies and bosses, it is all peak art design. This is the absolute best visualized dark high fantasy game setting I've ever seen bar none.

Last but not least I have to mention the immaculate OST by master composer Yuka Kitamura. She helped compose the OST for both Bloodborne and Dark Souls III alongside Motoi Sakuraba and she composed the Sekiro OST by herself. However Elden Ring might be her best work yet. From the calm ambient tracks which add to the atmosphere of the open world to the various distinct bombastic epic orchestral boss themes Elden Ring's OST is a treat to the ears and one you'll remember and still be hearing melodies from long after your playthrough.

All in all Elden Ring deserves every single bit of praise its gotten, it has fully lived up to the hype and even far exceeded my astronomically high expectations in every way possible. I never could've imagined I would end up loving it nearly as much as I did or that it would become my all time favorite game. Whether it be masterclass level design and the greatest open world ever made with an unfathomable amount of side content, the pinnacle of Souls style combat, the most build variety and options yet, a one-of-a-kind and unique world and lore, cool, creative and memorable boss fights, some of the best art design and graphical capabilities in gaming or masterfully composed OST, Elden Ring truly has it all. I struggle to find a flaw in the game because it is as close to a flawless, perfect game as you can possibly get aside from some minor performance issues that I'm sure will get patched anyways. Simply put Elden Ring is the culmination of everything FromSoft has done since Demons Souls, it is FromSoft and Miyazaki's magnum opus, a true evolution of the Souls formula, a groundbreaking, genre-defining masterpiece that everyone deserves to experience in their lifetime.

Wanted: Dead is a great game and I'll die on that hill, it's just super fun and entertaining above all else. I won't pretend the game isn't rough around the edges and the gameplay isn't pretty janky because it is for sure and there's no denying that, but many miss the fact that is also kinda the point considering the game is trying to emulate the sixth gen of consoles (in every way, even the ones most would consider outdated) where a lot of the games were exactly that, rough around the edges and janky though there's also so much creativity, charm and passion put into every inch of the product that it is simply impossible for me to not love it.

I will tolerate no slander or hate against the devs and especially the creative director and writer Sergei Kolobashkin because he never lied nor did he ever give false promises and the game is exactly what he said it would be. A passionate love letter to the sixth gen of consoles back when devs weren't afraid to do different and unique things and put out games that simply weren't going to be for everyone and wouldn't get critical praise, but they put these games out because they had a vision and they wanted to make it a reality. That's exactly what Wanted: Dead is for better or for worse because I have never played anything else quite like Wanted: Dead which reminds me heavily of many things like Deadly Premonition, Ninja Gaiden, Yakuza, Metal Gear Rising and basically anything with Suda51's name attached to it all rolled into one insane hybrid fever dream of a game.

Wanted: Dead is unapologetic about its influences down to its core and everything from the unique blend of gory, flashy melee hack and slash and 3rd person cover shooter combat (Which just gets better the more you play as you unlock more skills and abilities) to the over-the-top and slightly convoluted B-movie plot about a group of former war-criminal inmates who get a second chance at freedom and become an elite team of police officers that also happen to get tangled up into a corporate conspiracy complete with eccentric archetypal characters (Like the loose canon katana wielding badass cop who plays by her own rules Hannah Stone, the awkward pop culture referencing, cat loving genius gunsmith Viviane or the ramen connoisseur and ladies man Herzog) and influenced by Hong Kong action cinema and 80s/90s Cyberpunk anime like Ghost in the Shell or the purposefully amateurish voice acting done by the devs themselves, the awkwardly lip-synched cut-scenes, self-aware goofy dialogue, weird mini-games and especially the linear to a fault level design and punishing difficulty with checkpoints few and far between (I would go as far to say that your enjoyment of the game could hinge upon how good you are at action games with nuanced controls) was all deliberately added to further fully encapsulate that PS2 era charm in every way possible.

Wanted: Dead feels like a long-lost classic PS2 game in the best (and some of the worst) ways possible and while that isn't going to be for everyone, hell it won't even be for most people, but I personally adore it and respect the creator for sticking entirely to their creative vision and simply putting out a game for no other reason than it was something they were passionate about and wanted to release for the ones who will enjoy and truly "get" it and for the ones that do "get" it, you'll get an incredible retro throwback to a time when games weren't afraid to just be weird and fun.

P.S. I can already tell that much like games such as Deadly Premonition, NieR, God Hand, Killer7 or Killer is Dead this is the epitome of a truly misunderstood gem of a game that will be heralded as a cult classic 5 or 10 years from now, but for now it has already reached that status for me.

"We fight. We survive. We endure. We don't need a reason. We are imperfect creatures. When we stumble, we reach for a shoulder to lean on. When we fall, we stand back up. We see the horizon ever out of reach and still we march on...certain the answers lie just beyond it. Because that is our way."

Final Fantasy XVI is one of the most divisive games in the franchise to date, but is also one of the absolute best as well. A game that on the surface looks like it has almost nothing in common with Final Fantasy of old due to its "M" rating, graphic violence, Game of Thrones influenced dark fantasy setting and Devil May Cry styled action combat, but as you advance deeper into the game, peeling these layers away, you reach the heart of Final Fantasy XVI which is one of the purest Final Fantasy experiences in over 2 decades that in many ways captures the soul of the SNES era of Final Fantasy (Especially IV and VI) and feels like a massive love letter to the series roots while adding its own modern and mature flair to it as well.

Let's start with the narrative and while I can't go too in-depth because of spoilers, I'll just say there's a LOT here. FF XVI is arguably the most narrative driven and cinematic FF title yet (featuring over 20 hours of cut-scenes) and that says a lot when considering that narrative has been this series biggest strength for decades. XVI tells an epic, dark, mature and emotional tale of brotherhood and family bonds, of living up to and fulfilling a legacy, of betrayal and revenge, of love and loss and most importantly of the power of freewill and the insurmountable spirit of humanity and it's all drenched in philosophical, religious and sociopolitical commentary as well. One of the most thought-provoking games I've played in a good while and though many will consider the 3rd act lackluster, I personally love it because I'm the type who is just as big a fan of shounen anime as I am Game of Thrones styled dark fantasy. So I'll happily consider XVI's among one of the best narratives I've ever experienced while playing a video game.

The quality and scale of world-building in XVI is also not to be understated because it is insanely impressive. The world of Valisthea is so dense featuring two massive continents, one known as Ash to the east and one called Storm to the west. Valisthea has many nations and kingdoms with their own various cultures, histories, religious beliefs and governments and that isn't even mentioning all the fantastical elements of the world like the complex lore behind magick or the godlike beasts known as Eikons and the special people known as Dominants which are born with the power to host said Eikons or the ancient civilization known as the Fallen or the many secrets and mysteries this world has to uncover. One of the most detailed and immersive worlds I've experienced in years. Valisthea has so much more that there's even a loremaster character who's entire purpose is to keep track of all the lore of the world (which you can read key notes of at anytime). Hell, I would compare it to that of my fave video game series the Legend of Heroes: Trails series world of Zemuria and it's especially impressive FF XVI was able to achieve such a level of world-building with merely one game compared to Trails' 12 games.

And what would a compelling narrative and world be without equally compelling characters? Well, luckily XVI has one of the strongest casts in the series entire history from our protagonist Clive Rosfield who we watch slowly and subtly change, grow and develop as he goes on a life-changing journey that spans decades of his life. However Clive is far from the only incredible character because there's also the likes of the charming, roguish outlaw leader Cid to the leaders of various nations like prince Dion Lesage of the Holy Empire of Sanbreque or Barnabas Tharmr the king of Waloed. Even Clive's trusty wolf companion Torgal has amazing characterization. However I'd say the one character that felt much less developed was Clive's childhood friend Jill Warrick mostly due to her character arc ending much earlier in the game than everyone else's and her character stagnating a bit because of it. However even if Jill by herself is a bit lackluster, I adore every single interaction with Clive and Jill together.

I also have to mention another reason the cast of characters is so strong in my opinion is thanks to the incredible voice acting from both the main and supporting characters alike which all have such strong performances and truly breathe even more life into them. English was surprisingly the original language for the game and the one that the game was lip synced to as well and it shows because I think this game has some of the best voice acting performances both of legitimately any game I've ever played. Clive, Cid and Barnabas were the ones that stole every single scene they were in, but there wasn't a single week or lackluster voice to be found.

That's just some of the main cast too which isn't even mentioning the supporting cast like Byron, Mid, Gav or even the blacksmith Blackthorne, the shop keeper Charon, the physician Tarja and the tactician Vivian have so much realistic depth to the characters thanks to both interactions with them in the main story and completely optional side quests that help flesh their characters out even more.

Speaking of side quests XVI is the type of game that reminds why I am such a strong advocate for doing every single piece of side content and side quest that a game offers because the side quests in XVI add so much depth to both the world as a whole, but both the main and supporting characters revealing many details about their personalities, backstories and struggles which you would never learn otherwise. On top of that you can get valuable crafting materials to make better equipment and items to increase the capacity or potency of your potions. Even unlocking the ability to ride a Chocobo is tied to a side quest so while most side quests are typical "go here and fight x thing" or "go here and collect x item", the stories they tell and the rewards they offer are more than worth it.

So for the past 1000 words of this review I've just been going on about the story elements of this game and while I could easily do so for another 1000 words if I wanted to I figured it is time to talk about the gameplay now.

Combat of XVI can effectively be described as Devil May Cry V-lite which isn't a bad thing because even a more simplified version of the DMC V combat is still leagues beyond most action combat systems, but I would still call it the weakest part of the game. It's flashy, it's fast, it's fluid and most importantly it is fun and never gets boring. While Clive's basic sword combat is very limited with only a couple combos you can do the variation and diversity in the combat comes from all the different Eikon powers you slowly unlock (Nearly 40) and there's all kinds of combinations you can try with them since the game allows you the ability to refund any skill you purchase at any given time and you can have a total of 3 Eikons with 2 powers each equipped, even being able to master said powers and equip them to other Eikons besides the main Eikon they are originally attached to adding even more versatility and variety to the combat. The combat might not have the depth of DMC V, but it still kept me fully entertained for over 70 hours.

However as fun as the base combat system of XVI is, where the combat truly shines is in the Eikon fights. These fights have so much build-up behind them and there's only a handful of them across the whole game, but when they happen they're heavens shattering battles between two godlike titans and they're some of the most grandiose spectacles I've seen in any game ever basically being the equivalent to if something like Asura's Wrath or God of War III came out nowadays. These Eikon fights are more than just cut-scenes and QTEs as well. There is always a legitimate boss fight alongside the over-the-top cinematics and it's all so perfectly executed and somehow every single one of these fights and their set-pieces just manage to get even more insane being more grandiose and bigger spectacles than the last even when you think there's no way that could possibly happen, it somehow does. I would happily consider at least 3 of these fights among some of my all time favorite boss fights now.

As a matter of fact all the production values of FF XVI are just phenomenal from the crisp, beautiful graphics to the remarkable sound design just adds so much more to the sheer godlike scale of the game making all the environments that much more vibrant and detailed and the battles even more intense and epic. Speaking of the environments it's so nice to have legitimate towns with NPCs and shops back in Final Fantasy again.

Finally what would a Final Fantasy title be without its music? I've never played FF XIV so I had no real opinion on Masayoshi Soken until playing this game, but after experiencing his musical talents in XVI I'll say this man is a genius. XVI's music has so much variety to it which really enhances every single scene just as much as the visuals and voice acting does. Each individual Eikon fight has their own unique theme from bombastic choral music or heroic swashbuckling adventurous themes to industrial electronic music, there's plenty of calming ambient music as you're exploring the forests and caves of Valisathea alongside some more folky music in towns and somber piano music during more emotional scenes, among many other musical styles as well and plenty of nods to classic Final Fantasy music pieces including a bombastic chanting version of the iconic FF Fanfare when beating a tough battle which is perfectly composed to fit the setting. With the score of FF XVI Soken proved to me that he deserves to be heralded right up there with the greats of J-RPG composers like Uematsu, Sakuraba and Falcom Sound Team JDK.

I essentially just typed up an essay on why this game is a masterpiece however I won't pretend like it is flawless because I do have some (minor) problems with it, granted they're all very minor nitpicks that don't detract from the overall experience, but they do still exist and maybe they'll bother other people more than they bother me personally.

First and foremost the game is kind of a technical mess right now having trouble keeping stable frame rates and resolutions on PS5 even on performance mode. I'm far from a framerate guy and that usually doesn't bother me, but even I noticed it in certain areas. Thankfully it is mostly stable during combat though. The game is also apparently making PS5s overheat and shutdown especially during the Eikon boss fights, but I personally never had that experience (Remember to clean your PS5 regularly and you too won't have this problem)

Now maybe I'm just too old fashioned, but the itemization in XVI is just very limited. I miss when it was common in J-RPGs for you to find new equipment like weapons or armor in chests in dungeons and on the over-world because in Final Fantasy XVI (and many other modern games as well) you can only obtain new gear by crafting and 99% of the chests you find in the world just contain crafting materials. So the loop is basically "do main story mission, go back to hub area, unlock new crafting recipe and make new sword and armor, use said equipment for a few hours. Rinse and repeat" and there's really no other way to obtain new gear aside from a couple special side quests.

When all is said and done Final Fantasy XVI is truly an epic journey from start to finish in every sense of the word, excelling in every single possible element the game has to offer providing one of the best narratives I've ever experienced in a video game with an incredibly detailed and immersive world to learn about starring a rich cast of well written and realistic characters in no small part thanks to its incredible side quests and masterclass voice acting performances. All topped off with an enjoyable combat system and mind-blowing boss fights which is all only enhanced thanks to the truly next-gen visuals, sound and production values overall alongside a masterfully composed OST too. Some people say XVI isn't a true Final Fantasy and to that I will just say that Final Fantasy XVI reminded me what a mainline Final Fantasy at its best has always been about. A mind-blowing, generation defining experience that will stick with you for life.

The equivalent of a cheesy 80s action movie in game format, to this day this game still has some of the greatest action scenes in a game and some of the best and most memorable dialogue and one-liners.

That said, under all that over-the-top style it does have a very profound underlying message of learning how to deal with grief and it's also a great coming of age story.

The gameplay is immaculate too with an awesome arsenal of weapons to choose from and chain together crazy combos with. Amazing industrial rock OST too.

The only reason I won't call this the best character action game is because we live in a world where Devil May Cry 5 exists.

DMC 3 still deserves every bit of praise it gets though and is definitely an iconic masterpiece.

"I can already tell, looks like this is going to be one hell of a party!"

I could type up 6 paragraphs about why the story is ambitious and (mostly) well written, with great world-building, very interesting characters that all have incredibly different and unique, realistic and relatable personalities, emotions and goals they strive towards and how there's a strong sense of grey morality or how the gameplay is refined and fun with a new Langrisser style battalion mechanic that makes you feel like you're fighting full scale epic wars, the battle animations are stylish and smooth, the maps are well designed and have tons of variety or how the Persona-like school social/time management system adds an extra dimension to the tactical gameplay...

Or I could just tell you Edelgard is one of the best written, relatable and most realistic characters I've seen in a long time and best girl and you should honestly play the game for her and her story alone. Long live the emperor and hail to the Black Eagles.

"Show me the Champion of Light
I'll show you the Herald of Darkness"

How do you even review a game like Alan Wake II? This is a game that has been 13 years in the making. A game that many (including me) never thought we'd actually see in our lifetime. The fact it exists at all, let alone in its current state is a miracle in itself. However I ask this question for more reasons than just that. Yes, how do you even review a game like Alan Wake II because simply put there's absolutely nothing else like it in the medium of video games.

You can call Alan Wake II a postmodern detective murder mystery, an atmospheric psychological horror fever dream and a meta 4th wall shattering narrative with enough mind-bending twists, turns and revelations and layers upon layers of metaphors, meta commentary and cryptic symbolic messages to make even David Lynch, Ari Aster, Robert Eggers and Christopher Nolan proud. You can also clearly see influences and elements pulled from TV shows like Twin Peaks, True Detective and The Twilight Zone or movies like Inception, Se7ven, Hereditary, Midsommar and The VVitch, alongside games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill and even theater and rock opera, but even saying all this still doesn't do Alan Wake II justice because nothing else has ever blended all these various elements together in the same kind of way that Sam Lake and Remedy have done here and it's something you can't truly explain and just need to experience for yourself because that's what Alan Wake II is. An experience like no other.

Hell, nothing else even has the same kind of visual presentation or tells its story in the same way Alan Wake II does either. The closest thing to it would be Remedy's other hit game Control, but even then that game is so vastly different from what Alan Wake II accomplishes. We're talking in-engine graphics and cutscenes mixed with pre-rendered cutscenes mixed with tons of entirely live action sequences as well. With plenty of times when all 3 of these techniques are utilized and blended together all at once flawlessly to create a truly unique experience that only the medium of video games could ever provide.

If I could describe Alan Wake II in a single word, it would be "love" because you'd have to be blind to not see how much love went into this game at every turn while making it. The mind-blowing, revolutionary audio and visual presentation alone are proof of that, but that's far from the only thing Alan Wake II should be praised for, every single aspect of this game is mind-blowing in its own way. The budget for the game was £70 million which makes it one of the most expensive cultural products in Finnish history and it clearly shows in the sheer scope of the game and the insane and creative set-pieces, but don't let this massive budget fool you because Alan Wake II is also clearly a passion project in every sense of the word as well. A massive AAA game with the level of passion, soul and love put into it that an indie developer just starting out would put into their game.

Remedy Entertainment as a developer however aren't just starting out, no, they've been around for 20+ years and Alan Wake II is a game that truly shows this feeling like a culmination of everything Remedy have learned and done in those past 20+ years. You can clearly see elements and shades of all their previous games from Max Payne, the OG Alan Wake, Quantum Break and of course Control, but it all pales in comparison to Alan Wake II which is Sam Lake and Remedy's magnum opus and best game to date in every way possible. It's also the most Remedy game that ever Remedied and if you're a fan of the studio you'll understand what that means. Especially since this is the first Remedy game since the Remedy Connected Universe has been officially established and it has so much in-depth world-building and lore for die-hard fans who have played Remedy's other titles like Max Payne, Quantum Break and Control.

And while Alan Wake II is much more than a game, it IS still a game at its core and just like every other aspect of this experience, the gameplay is top notch as well. From the level design to the atmosphere and tension to the incredible boss fights and mind-boggling puzzles and exciting exploration which always rewards you for going off the beaten path with much needed supplies or valuable manuscript pages for extra added lore or manuscript fragments to upgrade your weapons, Alan Wake II is a master class on how to make a true blue survival horror game and feels like the closest thing we'll ever get to a modern Silent Hill 2.

Ambitious is a word that's thrown around a lot nowadays. Everyone wants to release the next game changing piece of media, but few ever do reach that level. If there's one single game that was released this year and truly deserves to be described as ambitious, it's Alan Wake II. Not only is Alan Wake II a technological marvel and the best looking game I've ever seen from a graphical standpoint, but Alan Wake II is more than a game, it's a truly one-of-a-kind multimedia EXPERIENCE that blends together cinema, literature, music and gaming all into one package in a way never before seen in this medium, but also in a way that could only ever be done in THIS medium.

Alan Wake II is simply a boundary pushing, genre defying, tour de force of creativity and innovation that would take decades of time to ever fully replicate in this same way again by anyone other than Sam Lake and Remedy and even though it took 13 years to release, the wait was more than worth it because this is the best possible version of the game we could've gotten and it was only made possible because of Remedy's own experiences making games like Quantum Break and Control leading up to Alan Wake II, which is not only a game, but an EXPERIENCE unlike any other and one that I know will stick with me for as long as I live.

I might edit this and go more in-depth and detailed when I finish the game, but this is after about 25 hours of gameplay time and over halfway through the main story so I feel pretty confident in my opinions on the game right now.

The more I play Engage, the more I enjoy it and I honestly just don't understand the hate at all, this is not even close to being the worst FE title let alone the worst game ever in general. Even the story is nowhere near as bad or offensive as people make it out to be, it's just very dated and simplistic.

If you can get past the extremely flamboyant, V-tuber, modern anime character designs (Personally I like a lot of them as they're very vibrant and colorful, but I get why they're not everyone's cup of tea), this is the most "classic" feeling Fire Emblem game post-Awakening with the most polished and arguably the best gameplay the series has ever had.

I'm very happy to see the iconic weapons triangle return and I love the new additions with the break and smash mechanics and of course the whole gimmick of Engaging with Emblems which you'd think would be overly OP, but since the entire game was designed around it and even enemies can Engage as well it is pretty well balanced and the game will really give you a challenge even on normal, but the one thing I honestly do miss is weapon durability.

I think a lot of the disappointment just comes from people who were expecting this game to be like 3H and don't get me wrong, I love 3H, it's great in its own way, but it is a Persona game in disguise with a Langrisser combat system. Nearly nothing about that game feels like Fire Emblem. It was a cool experiment, but I wouldn't want every future Fire Emblem to be like that and I'm very happy Engage actually feels like a real Fire Emblem game.

Engage feels like a true love letter to the series past (Which makes sense considering it is an anniversary title), I especially see so much influence and inspiration from the GBA titles everything from the animations to the over-world map making a return to the stripped down and more simplistic support events (Note: Most of the characters don't have a lot of depth, but I still find them likable and charming enough, however Alear is the best protagonist Fire Emblem has had in years) and even the very old-school 90s-like narrative with a classic tale of good vs evil, a band of heroes traveling around various kingdoms to collect magical artifacts to stop an evil dragon complete with a very campy 4Kids sounding Saturday morning cartoon dub and that really makes me feel nostalgic.

Also want to mention how much I love the side mission Paralogues which let you re-live iconic battles and maps from the classic games even with remixes of that game's music as well.

I also want to say that I am not a fan of the Somniel. Glad they cut down the Monastery-like content (Despite actually enjoying it in 3H for the most part), but I would've been happier if they removed it all together because while raising the Guardian Spirit, adopting animals, working out and eating meals with your friends are all cute side activities they feel like inconsequential fluff that could easily be skipped entirely if you wanted to and I think it was developed like that on purpose due to the criticisms of many people saying the Monastery parts of Three Houses went on for too long. The main thing that your base offers which is mandatory is the shops and smithy where you can buy new equipment and upgrade it.

One last thing to note, the animations and cut-scenes are very smooth and look better than ever thanks to the improved graphical fidelity and I haven't had a problem with the performance overall yet which is a miracle considering most newer games run horribly on the Switch.

Overall if you got into the series with 3H or 3H is your favorite in the series you'll probably be disappointed because Engage is nothing like it and in a way kind of dated, but if you've been a long-time fan and prefer old-school FE compared to the more modern titles I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and satisfied with Engage.

This is it, this is peak RGG Studios and serves as a bittersweet swan-song for Nagoshi before leaving SEGA, who could've imagined his last game with the company would also be his best? This game took everything that made the first Judgment amazing and improved upon it in almost every way possible. This is peak fiction and easily one of my new all time favorite games. Also easily GOTY for me.

Lost Judgment is one of the best detective mystery, courtroom dramas I've ever seen in all of fiction. The way the main plot starts out with what seems to be a cut and dry case of sexual battery and just slowly builds into some crazy grand conspiracy as more details are gradually revealed is excellently written and cohesive. Also the central theming around bullying and its consequences is both relatable and realistic, it hits hard and is emotional as hell and the way the game tackles corruption in the justice system is also just as realistic and relatable as the bullying themes. Lost Judgment is a shining example of moral greyness and clashing ideals where even the 'villains' have well thought out sympathetic motives.

While Lost Judgment has no direct connection to the first in plot, it does have it in characters. This game expects you've played the first Judgment because it constantly brings back past characters and most main characters like Yagami, Kaito, Sugiura and Tsukumo already had their main arcs in the first game and don't get much development in this one, so I would implore anyone reading this to play the first Judgment before this one if you haven't already. With that said Takayuki Yagami is easily one of my new favorite protagonists in video games, I already liked him a lot in the first Judgment, but this game made me love him even more. A Former defense attorney turned detective, charismatic, witty, honorable with a strong sense of justice and desire to always search for the truth also an adept in kung-fu? Maybe I'm biased because I love detectives so much, but how can you not love him? On a side note new characters like Kuwana, Soma, and Sawa among others get efficient character arcs instead and Kuwana especially has become one of my all time favorite characters.

RGG games are known for having enormous amounts of side content and Lost Judgment is no different. Naturally you have all the classics RGG games are known for, your underground gambling halls, your batting cages and arcades (At the arcade you can plays darts, and games like Virtua Figther 5, Space Harrier and Super Hang-On among others) you also have the drone racing and VR board game introduced in the first Judgment, but one ​big new feature which adds a lot of side content and mini-games is the addition of School Stories. Since a big portion of the game takes place at a high school Yagami goes undercover as an outside advisor and counselor for the school, infiltrating various clubs, building bonds with the students and helping solve their problems, all the while Yagami is trying to investigate a grand mystery plaguing the halls of the school. A couple examples of these School Stories are the Dance Club where you play a DDR-like mini-game and try to coach the dance team to nationals or the Robotics Club where you build mini-robots and fight them on a grid training to win the robotics championship.

The smaller side cases are also very well written and memorable. Since a big portion of the game takes place at a high school many of the side cases involve problems the students and teachers are going through and this really made these stories stand out much more than a lot of previous RGG games side stories, nothing ever felt like filler or fluff and was always worth experiencing. Whether it be helping past grads find their time capsule or chasing UFO sightings all over town for the Supernatural Research Club there's tons of compelling stories that range from comedic to tragic waiting to be explored at Seriyo High. That said not every side case involves students and even the ones that don't are still great, like trying to stop a robber in a Metal Gear Solid like homage or hunting down bugged electronics all over town in an effort to stop a corrupt detective.

The combat is fast paced, fluid and stylish. You still get SP from fights and activities around town and use it to unlock new skills which help in battle. Yagami still has his Tiger stance , a power focused stance for one-on-one fights and his Crane stance, a speed focused stance utilized for fighting groups of enemies introduced in the first Judgment, but now he has a third stance known as the Snake stance which is primarily used for disarming opponents and scaring them to make them surrender. The addition of the third style gives it even more complexity than the first game. Also there's no more mortal wounds, but instead a mechanic called Mortal Reversal where enemies glow red and you have a chance to dodge and parry their attack with a QTE and another thing worth noting is no more constant, tedious gang boss fights anymore either. Overall this is the best the Dragon Engine has ever felt.

All the boss fights are just as epic and over-the-top as you'd expect from RGG and the ending fights left such an impact on me I know I'll remember them years to come, some of my fave boss fights of all time no doubt.

The detective aspects of the game are still very much on rails, but they amplified and enhanced them giving Yagami some new gadgets such as a bug detector, a sound amplifier and even a detective dog to help sniff out clues. There's far less tailing missions and they're more fairly balanced this time around as well. If I had one minor complaint (and it's far from a big one), just the smallest nitpick it would be there's a few too many chase sequences and they can drag on a bit at times, but the addition of pseudo MGS stealth sequences and parkour moments definitely made up for that and added some fresh and unique ideas for a RGG game.

When all is said and done Lost Judgment is not only the best RGG game I've played, but also just one of the best games I've played in general. From the compelling and well crafted detective narrative to the stylish and fluid combat and the massive amounts of side content, Lost Judgment is a true masterpiece in every sense of the word and if you're even somewhat a fan of detective mystery stories you'd be a fool to miss out on this one.

Wo Long is the Musoufication of the souls-like genre and as far as I'm concerned the game is all the better for it since it is right up there with Nioh as one of the best non-FromSoft souls-likes I've ever played.

The narrative takes place in a fictionalized dark fantasy version of China in the Later Han Dynasty (around 200AD). We follow the silent Nameless Warrior protagonist (who we the player ourselves create) as they get wrapped up in various political conflicts and wars while searching for an evil Taoist who is influencing events from the shadows with a forbidden medicine called "Elixir" that has the ability to unleash Demonic Qi in anyone who consumes it. The Nameless Warrior goes on a journey that spans nearly 20 years as they try to form strong bonds with legendary Chinese historical war generals across the nation with the hopes of taking down the evil Taoist before their goals can be fulfilled. The game really captures the Three Kingdoms mythology well and feels like a classic over-the-top martial arts fantasy movie in the best way possible. (The campy English dub enhances this feeling even more)

Wo Long is a very aggressive and fast-paced souls-like action game that feels like a more simplified, accessible and streamlined version of Nioh's RPG mechanics mixed with the combat of Sekiro and the fast-paced movement and morale centric gameplay of Dynasty Warriors.

The combat is very parry/deflection heavy much like Sekiro, but Wo Long also manages to incorporate its own unique spin on gameplay mechanics like removing the traditional stamina management bar that dictates how much you can attack before becoming exhausted (Meaning you can spam the basic attack all you want, but you will also get punished for doing this) for what is called the 'Spirit Gauge' which dictates how much you can block or dodge as well as using special Martial Arts abilities and Wizardry magic attacks. The Spirit Gauge has a positive and negative axis and starts out at the middle of it at 0. When you take damage, block, dodge or use special abilities you lose Spirit and the gauge fills up on the negative side, if your gauge maxes out the negative side a single hit from an enemy will stagger you leaving you vulnerable for a few seconds, however landing basic attack strikes or deflecting your enemy's attacks build up your Spirit Gauge on the positive side allowing you to use more special attacks and dodge more without penalty, so the game rewards you for playing aggressively along the lines of something like Bloodborne. All enemies have their own Spirit Gauge as well so when you attack them your Spirit increases while there's decreases and pushes them closer to being staggered so you can land a fatal execution attack for massive damage, but the same works for when an enemy lands strikes on you, you'll lose Spirit and they gain it making you closer to being staggered. So essentially combat becomes a tug-o-war match between you and the opponent to see who can stagger who first as you always keep a watchful eye on both you and your opponent's Spirit Gauge. I think this is a super interesting and creative way to advance the Souls style formula and the gameplay also syncs up perfectly with Wo Long's general theme and style of Chinese martial arts which are based around redirecting your opponent's force.

There's also a Morale Rank system which reminds me of something you'd see in a Dynasty Warriors musou game which plays into the tug-o-war metaphor I used earlier where both you and all enemies have a number that determines their morale, you can raise this by killing more enemies and when you do you basically get a power boost, the same can be said for enemies though where if they kill you their morale increases and yours lowers, the higher morale an enemy has the harder it'll be too take them down. The bonfire checkpoint Battle Flag system plays into this as well because every Battle Flag you raise increases your base morale so when you die it'll only go down to that number instead of losing all of your morale. The Battle Flag system also gives more incentive to explore all the levels as much as possible to find all the flags and raise your morale to max before fighting the boss. However the morale system can be a double-edge sword at times due to the fact if you get your morale too much higher than your enemy it can make the fights far too easy and if your enemy's morale is too much higher they'll have a clear advantage over you, so you really just need to get a sweet spot where you both have even morale to make the game the most enjoyable.

Wo Long also incorporates another cool feature with a multi-directional parrying system where you can tilt the joystick in the proper direction of the enemy's attack alongside pressing the parry button, it's another really unique mechanic that sets itself apart from most other games of this style (Though it is optional and you can just press the basic parry button if you want), the combat is super fun and stylish with all the martial art styled weapon arts and special abilities you can do which are tied to different weapons like the weapon arts from Dark Souls III and I haven't felt such satisfying swordplay in a game since the first time I played Sekiro.

Naturally the Nioh like RPG stat attributes play into the Chinese theme as well being based on the 5 elements of Chinese mythology, wood, fire, earth, metal and water all of these stats directly influence your health, attack and Spirit Gauge by things like using Martial Arts takes less Spirit or successfully deflecting attacks increases Spirit more etc. All equipment also changes your elemental affinity as well.

I also must commend Team Ninja for listening to the feedback about the Diablo styled loot system in Nioh being overbearing and severely toning that down here. This is easily Team Ninja's best and most varied level design as well making exploring every level much more fun and engaging than it ever was in Nioh. Wo Long basically has everything I loved about Nioh and none of the down-sides.

Wo Long was one of those rare games that from the moment I started playing it, I knew I'd love it and after finishing the game in 30 hours and even going out of my way to get the platinum trophy as well, I can confirm that I loved every minute of the game. After all when you combine the satisfying combat of Sekiro with the RPG mechanics of Nioh and the stylish flair of a Dynasty Warriors game and throw in some unique mechanics and systems to give it a sense of its own unique identity, how could that not be a recipe for success?

So in Atomic Heart you play as a sarcastic asshole who is constantly spouting off Duke Nukem style action hero one-liners while bantering back and forth with his talking glove that let's him telekinetically move objects and use elemental powers?

Bruh, this shit is just Forspoken for Men™

With that said. I honestly don't mind P3's personality or the one-liners that much. I actually like P3 and he gives off those 80s/90s action hero vibes well, it doesn't feel nearly as Marvel-y or Netflix teen drama as Forspoken and he's pretty entertaining and funny at times, but holy shit the bantering and dialogue is just NON-STOP and it is TOO much at times to where it just becomes annoying.

I was honestly relatively excited for this game, but after about 9 hours of playing the game it just feels like a boring slog to me and I don't want to suffer through it anymore. My time is too valuable to waste playing things I'm just not having fun with at this point in my life.

The combat itself is very Eurojank (And not in a good way), the enemies are overly bulletspongey and the story just isn't interesting to me. The world is pretty weird and unique, I'll give it that, but when enemies constantly re-spawn thanks to the awful detection and alert system, it never gives you any time to truly appreciate or explore your surroundings and the game would've been so much better if it was completely linear and didn't have a tacked on open world. The game has potential, but you can certainly tell it was the first game made by this developer because Atomic Heart is a game with an identity crisis, it doesn't know whether it wants to be a Bioshick style immersive sim or a DOOM style shooter and so many gameplay and design choices are just so weird and contradict others so it just isn't that fun to play for me and at the end of the day all I want from a game is something that is fun.

Atomic Heart is a game I wanted to like and a game I wish I liked, but I just don't and I don't care enough to keep trying. You're better off just playing Prey (2017), Bioshock or DOOM Eternal.

Played the game for the first time 2 years ago with a fan patch, but since it is now officially out in the west (After 12 long years nonetheless!) I figured I'd post a review here again.

What a ride Trails from Zero was. It started off probably slower than any other Trails game, but when it picks up, it REALLY picks up.

The main story of this game is great and mostly grounded in reality and pretty unique for a J-RPG. You play as Lloyd Bannings, a young detective who's goal is to help improve the image of the Crossbell Police Department in the eyes of the public due to them losing faith in the police and becoming more reliant on a peace keeping, civilian protection agency known as the Bracer Guild, so Lloyd and his team do odd-jobs while also taking on the corruption of Crossbell's shady criminal underground world, which revolves around an Italian mafia like organization, an organization similar to the Chinese triad and the war for power going on between the two organizations plus a grand conspiracy that lurks in the shadows, there's also 2 minor delinquent gangs that you interact with as well. Crossbell basically has a lot of parallels to real world New York or Hong Kong, which is pretty cool. Plus there's some returning characters from the Sky trilogy and getting to see them again and how their story tied into this game has some major payoff if you played the Trails in the Sky trilogy beforehand.

I didn't mind the slower almost 'slice-of-life' parts at all though because it served to flesh out and immerse me into the setting of Crossbell since even the most seemingly pointless side quest or NPC interaction helps give more depth to Crossbell, its citizens and all their interpersonal relationships and this also gave me time to get to know the Special Support Section squad very well. I really came to love the SSS by the end of the game because the 4 main characters and their diverse personalities have such great synergy with one another from the flirty jokester playboy Randy to the sarcastic super genius Tio to the sweet, but serious Elie and Lloyd the hot-blooded and confident leader with a strong sense of justice and the glue that holds the whole team together. Trails from Zero is set in a span of 4 months and the SSS really become like a family by the end of those 4 months, it is really heartwarming

Gameplay is basically the unique turn-based tactical hybrid system of Trails which we have all come to know and love with a couple extra gimmicks (Like Team Rush attacks and Combo Crafts) and QoL improvements thrown in, while the soundtrack was nothing short of a masterwork that you would expect from Falcom JDK Band with plenty guitar driven battle tracks to hype you up alongside beautiful and peaceful themes to help set the atmosphere of all the various locations both in and surrounding Crossbell and the dungeon design was always enjoyable to explore as well.

In short Trails from Zero deserves every bit of praise it gets. From the detailed and immersive setting to the masterful character development and sprawling interconnected narrative that becomes crucial to the story of later entries in the series. This is a game that no J-RPG fan is going to want to miss.