One of the most average and safe games I've played in recent memory which is beyond disappointing to me because I was very excited for this game and I absolutely love The Evil Within 1 & 2.

The story was very generic, main villain kidnaps the protagonist's sister, the protagonist, Akito goes on a revenge quest to save her and teams up with a wraith and former detective called KK who possesses him. The story does have some nice thematic elements of family bonds, love, learning to forgive yourself and finding a purpose for your life again, but it really just scratches the surface of these themes and just wasn't fleshed out enough to leave much of an impression on me.

The Ethereal Weaving magical based FPS combat while fun is simplistic and gets very repetitive the longer you play the game. There's only 3 different Ethereal Weaving powers which you unlock very early on, Gust which acts like fast wind bullets, Aqua which is more of a shotgun blast and is good for wide bursts that attack groups of enemies and Fire which acts like a powerful grenade launcher that has very limited ammo. You also get some various Talismans which stun and expose the enemies spirit cores so you can take them down fast, however these are expensive and I found myself rarely using them because using your base Ethereal Weaving powers is just more effective and cheaper. You also have a bow which you can use to snipe targets, but ultimately it still feels pointless and I hardly used it as well.

There are obligatory skill trees and level up systems which let you unlock abilities and strengthen your powers, but I feel like much like the combat or story these systems weren't deep enough and I had almost everything unlocked and at max level before even beating the game. Plus you hardly get experience just for fighting enemies or completing quests and most of your experience comes from finding Lost Souls through the city and transferring them through the phone lines. This is another part of the game that gets very repetitive seeing how you constantly have to do this just to level up.

The open world is very much the most typical overused Ubisoft checklist gaming formula down to a T (Hell, the protagonist even gets a damn 'Spectral Vision' Assassin vision power to show enemies and items on the map). Cleanse the Torri Gate, uncover more of the map, unlock a bunch of map markers for side objectives, find useless collectables, rinse and repeat. I will say some of the side quests are interesting because they highlight Japanese folklore, but at the end of the day a lot of encounters feel very samey and a few of them like cleansing corrupted Cherry Blossoms or capturing various Yokai you do multiple times so it cheapens the encounter and makes something cool at first feel repetitive the next 5 times you have to do it.

The devs went to great lengths to represent Japanese folklore, history and culture and there are tons of interesting database entries and things in the world that do achieve this goal, like collecting Tanuki, seeing Nekomata run convenience stores, using Tengu to grapple and glide etc, but at the end of the day you can only do so much to disguise the Ubisoft formula and this is one we've seen far too many times before and I'm personally beyond sick of it (I could at least tolerate it in a game like Ghost of Tsushima because the story was so compelling), especially even more so after just recently experiencing the peak of open world gaming that is Elden Ring.

I will say however one of the strongest elements of Ghostwire is its visuals and atmosphere. Tokyo looks great and really captures the bleak and isolate feeling of being one of the last people left in the city after everyone has been spirited away. You'll find remnants of the lost souls everywhere you look from clothing and phones to abandoned cars, which makes for good environmental storytelling. Tango primarily being known for horror games is evident by the creature design that's inspired by Japanese folklore and Yokai because though limited it's still very good and I also enjoyed the moments when the environment and world shifts around you in a psychological way which reminded me of The Evil Within or Silent Hill.

When all is said and done I think the best way to describe Ghostwire Tokyo is simplistic and repetitive. The devs put so much care into crafting a detailed beautiful supernatural version of Tokyo that represents Japanese folklore, culture and history, but if only they put that much care into crafting the gameplay mechanics and story. For games focusing on Japanese folklore, culture and history I'll just stick with Nioh.

Super Mario Bros: Wonder is appropriately titled because every single thing about this game will leave you in WONDER and awe at the sheer creativity. It's simply just a joy to play through.

We follow Mario and friends on a journey to stop Bowser's latest villainous scheme of taking over a neighboring kingdom to the Mushroom Kingdom known as the Flower Kingdom. To do this they have to collect enough Wonder Seeds and Royal Seeds across 6 distinct worlds in the Flower Kingdom.

I think when it comes to platformers level design is the most important thing and the level design in Mario Wonder is just unmatched in creativity and vibrancy. I mean this is the game that throws the singing Piranha Plants level at you as literally the 2nd level so you KNOW you're in for a good time and that's BEFORE you even add in the new Wonder Flower which completely changes the level and this is in EVERY SINGLE level and while a few effects do get reused, about 90% of them are entirely unique to their respective level.

From being turned into a Goomba and having to hide from enemies who can eat you to being turned into part of the level itself, I met every new level with excitement as I wondered what surprises were in store for me this time and that's just two simple examples you'll come across in the 126 stages of this game.

The creativity doesn't end on the level design though because there's 3 new power-ups as well which give so much variety on how to play through all the stages. Whether it be the Bubble Flower which lets you blow bubbles to jump on for platforming or the Drill mushroom that lets you drill under the ground or on the ceiling to reach areas you couldn't previously and of course we can't forget the iconic Elephant Fruit which allows you smack blocks and enemies with your trunk and store water to spray on dried out flowers. On top of the new power-ups there are also badges that give different special effects like a longer jump or a glide or making blocks appear for platforming which gives even more incentive to replay stages and try our new badges and power-ups to find new secrets hidden within every stage.

Music in Mario games has always been important, but it has never been as important as it is in Wonder with some stages and even bosses actually having the player platform in time and rhythm with the beat of the music, it makes me want a whole game like that. However that's not all that's good about the music in Wonder because the soundtrack itself is also phenomenal and arguably one of the best in the series with tons of fresh remixes of classic tracks and catchy new themes that are sure to become just as iconic as the classics.

Thanks to it being constantly creative and fresh with a plethora of unique ideas being thrown at you at every turn alongside incredible focus on music as well, my 15 hours with Super Mario Wonder is the most fun I've had with a platformer since Super Mario Odyssey first came out and it truly has me in WONDER of how even almost 40 years later Nintendo has managed to put out not only one of the most creatively innovative and fresh Mario games in the past 40 years, but also one that is simply bound to go down as one of the greatest of all time. If you're a Mario fan or just a fan of amazing platformers, you don't want to miss out on this one.

There's a reason why this game is often labeled as a masterpiece of Survival Horror.

This is a TRUE survival horror experience. You have to be smart with your ammo because it is very limited so it gives a very intense and terrifying atmosphere. The level design is incredible and super enjoyable to traverse, the puzzles are creative and fun and this is of course the start of the iconic Resident Evil saga, the story is really interesting, the dialogue is pure camp in the best way possible and getting to see the origins of characters like Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker is just awesome.

Masterpiece. There's nothing else like it. It's a mixture of visual novel and tower defense strategy.

Describing this game isn't easy especially since 90% of it is story and you'd have to be a damn mad scientist to even write a narrative like this, it's something better experienced for yourself than having described to you, but all I can say is if you're even slightly a fan of Sci-Fi mystery stories, you really owe it to yourself to experience this one.

You experience the narrative through the eyes of 13 individual protagonists who control these mechs called Sentinels and have to work together to stop a Kaiju invasion from their city and as you go through the story and past events of each protagonist you are constantly unveiling mysteries that will make you question what's real and what isn't, who can you trust and how can you survive the invasion? Sounds like a simple enough plot, but trust me...It's not.

The tower defense strategy Kaiju battle sections were a lot of fun too and definitely give the game variety from just being a pure visual novel, being able to playthrough both the protagonists story sections and the battles at your own pace was nice too. If you just want to do the story you can just focus on that, if you want to do that battles you can do that or you can alternate between the two for variety.

The 2D visuals are beautiful, the OST is awesome being a mix of hard electronic beats and more organic classical strings which really fits well for the Sentinel vs Kaiju battles and during the story segments the OST is a lot more calmer and atmospheric, setting the mood.

In the entire 40 hours I put into this game I never felt bored once due to the cast of characters being interesting and likeable and so many plot twists and revelations constantly being thrown in your face, even though most of it makes no sense for the first half of the story, you're always compelled to learn more and the way it all comes together in the end is truly something marvelous and ingenious.

I have no complaints and would easily consider this one of the best VNs I've ever played and among the best narratives I've seen in a video game and I firmly believe that everyone should experience it.

If you liked the first Nioh, you'll definitely like this one too and if you haven't played the first Nioh...What are you waiting for?

It's mostly more of the same with a bit of a revamped combat system giving you some new yokai powers to use, new weapon skills, a couple new weapons and a massive skill tree, there's tons of variety and you can really experiment and play around with tons of different builds. You're also playing as a custom created character in this game instead of a set protagonist like William in the first game and I have to say the character creator is pretty damn great and detailed.

The boss design is absolutely killer, all the main game bosses look really cool and have some great move-sets, especially the late game bosses really wowed me. Level design is a step up from the first game, but still kinda weak in some areas. The story is pretty basic and it is very slow in the beginning, but does pick up in the later chapters and gets more interesting and I did actually start to care about the characters, there's some fan service-y moments since it's a prequel and you do visit some areas you went to or worked with some people you fought in the first game, but I think it's pulled off very well. However if you decide to read all the lore entries for the different yokai and the character backgrounds, that stuff is arguably more interesting than the main story itself.

My biggest problem with the game is the side missions being very bland (much like the first game) and a lot of them you just fight waves of enemies or collect a specific item and to make it worse almost all the side mission level design is not original and just re-uses previous levels in the main game and previous bosses, so you might go through the same area like 5 different times or fight the same boss repeatedly and it gets boring quick. My biggest advice to anyone who picks up the game is just play through the main missions first and if you enjoy it enough go through the side missions afterwards, because I did most of the side missions as they appeared and it broke up the pacing for the main story pretty bad.

Anyways, if you liked the first Nioh or just want a great and challenging Soulslike I'd recommend grabbing it, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent on the game.

Bare with me, this is a very long review because this game is very special to me. If you take the time to read it all I greatly appreciate it, but if you don't that's fine too.

Over the last couple days I played through this game for the first time in almost 10 years since it is now available through PS NOW PS3 streaming. I'm probably one of the few hardcore Castlevania fans to have this opinion, but I have a deep love for Lords of Shadow (Just the first game, we don't talk about the sequels) and it has always been a personal favorite of mine so I wanted to see how well it holds up and even 12 years later it is still better than most games that come out nowadays as far as I'm concerned.

The setting of Lords of Shadow takes place in the year 1047 during an apocalyptic event known as "the end of days" where the Earth's alliance with the Heavens has been severed by a malevolent order known as the Lords of Shadow who have casted a dark spell which has trapped the souls of the dead in limbo and stopped them from reaching paradise while also conjuring evil creatures to lay waste to the Earth and its people.

We follow the story of Gabriel Belmont, a member of the Brotherhood of Light, a holy order of elite knights who protect and defend innocents against the supernatural creatures of the night. Guided on his journey by his recently murdered wife Marie who is trapped in Limbo and Zobek the oldest member of his order who acts as his mentor and friend, Gabriel sets off to defeat the Lords of Shadow to claim the God Mask, an ancient relic with unfathomable power said to even be able to resurrect the dead which Gabriel hopes to use to bring back his beloved Marie.

I can not express how much I love the story of Lords of Shadow into words, it is a tragic epic that really evokes classical literature in its timeless philosophical "balance between light and darkness" themes and its emotional core. This is a dark and mature story that is all about the sacrifices one is willing to make all in the name of love and the depths they will go to for the sake of revenge and if they can still be redeemed when all is said and done and I just think it's a very beautiful and relatable story.

A big part of what makes the narrative for Lords of Shadow so convincing and compelling is the incredible voice acting from an all star voice cast of big Hollywood actors which I still consider to be one of the absolute best among all video games to this day. From the one and only Sir Patrick Stewart as Zobek and the narrator to Jason Isaacs as the literal biblical fallen angel Lucifer himself and the show stealing performance from Robert Carlyle as Gabriel which really adds this extra layer of humanization to his character this is just some of the best voice acting around. The cast themselves even made their own contributions to the characters while recording due to their love of the script and it really shows in their performances.

When it comes to gameplay Lords of Shadow is well known for being a God of War-like and I won't deny it, it definitely has a lot in common with God of War. They're both third-person action-adventure games with fixed camera angles, focused around gory combo-based combat featuring a vast variety of upgradable weapons and skills, platforming, puzzles and cinematic boss fights that utilize a gratuitous amount of QTEs, but like...It does everything God of War does and it does it just as well so I really don't care that it is a copy.

However I will say Lords of Shadow adds in some unique flavor of its own with the Light and Dark Magic system which is both symbolic and fitting for the overall themes of the game, but also just an incredibly fun gameplay mechanic which adds an extra element of strategy to the fights since your primary healing source is your Light Magic and your Dark Magic is a damage buff and your main source of replenishing them is the focus meter which only increases if you don't get hit in combat. Therefore you have to learn when to use or when to save magic and this system constantly tests your reflexes, especially on the harder difficulties. One other thing Lords of Shadow differs in from God of War is how it is structured into a replayable mission based format much like Devil May Cry.

Visually Lords of Shadow is a breathtaking game with impeccable art direction that really captures the grandiose adventurous style the game goes for, from lush fairytale like forests to snowy mountains, gothic castles and deserted lands of the dead you'll visit a variety of unforgettable vistas on your journey which still look graphically impressive even 12 years later.

The bombastic cinematic score composed by Óscar Araujo utilizing a 120-piece orchestra really gives me vibes of Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings score and it perfectly captures the feeling of travelling across the world on an adventure. While Michiru Yamane is one of my fave composers in all of video games and her tracks are much more individually memorable I just can't picture her type of baroque/neoclassical music over this game due to its cinematic nature and I think the film score style OST fits much better and helps with the epic atmosphere Lords of Shadow conveys.

What Lords of Shadow lacks in originality it more than makes up for it with a truly beautiful story alongside a top notch voice cast, tight and addictive gameplay with tons of depth plus stunning visuals and a bombastic score that enhances the atmosphere and when all is said and done that makes it stand side-by-side with the best the action-adventure genre has to offer and it still outclasses most games made even 12 years later.

P.S. The only reason this game gets shit is because it did something from the norm of Castlevania, if this would've been a new IP and didn't have the Castlevania title attached to it, I think it would've been a massive success...Or it would've flopped because the whole reason the Castlevania name was even attached was for marketing reasons and it clearly worked since Lords of Shadow is the best selling game in the series regardless of the reception it got from fans.

"You're the gentle color of the night, just before the dawn breaks through the darkness"

Kuro no Kiseki is not only the 11th game in Nihon Falcom's Legend of Heroes: Kiseki (Localized as Trails) franchise, but also for the first time in nearly a decade, the start of a brand new arc in the series featuring a new protagonist and supporting cast of characters alongside a whole new nation to explore and learn about as well, this time being set in the Calvard Republic, the 2nd biggest nation in Zemuria nonetheless. Kuro is also the start of the official 2nd half of the Trails series beginning the Eastern Zemurian Arc after Trails Into Reverie finally brought a close to the 10 game long Western Zemurian Arc. Needless to say, Kuro had some massive shoes to fill and I'm here to tell you that it not only fills said shoes, but also casually runs a 100 yard dash in them as well becoming not only my favorite starting game in a new arc (even surpassing my previous favorite Trails from Zero), but also becoming arguably one of the absolute strongest Trails games in general across the entire series and that was just after experiencing it with a fan translated English patch and I know I'll love it even more once the official localization comes out.

Kuro no Kiseki follows the misadventures of Van Arkride, a 24 year-old young man who runs his own private "solutions office" and is known as a "Spriggan" which is essentially a cross between a bounty hunter and a private investigator. Compared to previous Trails protagonists who worked for the Bracer Guild or the police, Van and his solutions office are in a more grey area of the law, being the balance between the criminal underworld and regular society. Van and his personality help reflect this sense of moral greyness as well seeing as how he is not your typical goody-two-shoes who feels like he has to help everyone out and puts their needs above his own. No, Van is only in this for the money (And sweets and his car) and Van is generally willing to do jobs for anyone from the Bracer Guild to Heiyue and even Ouroboros themselves, as long as the price is right and he doesn't have to accept every single job that comes his way like the Bracer Guild or police either, but instead he only accepts the ones he wants to as long as he doesn't deem the job as something that goes against his own personal "code" of honor.

Our story begins when Van is contracted by a student named Agnes Claudel from the prestigious Calvardian high school Aramis Academy to find an antique Obrment known as the "Genesis". Agnes herself wants to find this orbment because it somehow pertains to her own family history. It's from here on that Van and Agnes' search for the Genesis takes them all over the nation of Calvard while slowly recruiting allies and new members of the Arkride Solutions Office and has the gang unintentionally get entangled in the schemes of a mafia-like terrorist group known as Almata who also want the Genesis for their own nefarious purposes.

Kuro, much like Reverie before it has a great sense of mystery and suspense and some really mind-bending plot twists as well. The game will always keep you guessing and just when you think you've figured it all out, there comes another twist to make you question everything you thought you knew! Mystery aside, the writing in Kuro surprised me in more ways than one considering this is also easily the darkest and most mature Trails game to date not being afraid to show blood and death on screen and have some very tragic and unforgettable events occur. Which was pretty refreshing after 10 games of mostly safe shounen tropes and Falcom being afraid to commit to deaths (Reminder that this is coming from someone who loves Cold Steel and considers Trails their fave series in general btw). Kuro also has better pacing than most Trails games as well with one of the shorter prologues and the game wasting little time getting the player into the thick of the action while constantly amping up the stakes every new chapter until the climatic conclusion in the finale chapter.

The cast of characters in Kuro is one of the most diverse since the Sky series. Considering how in Zero almost all the characters were in their late teens and in Cold Steel they were all teens at a military school (minus the occasional teacher or two), the ages in Kuro range from 13 to almost 70 and this mixed with all the character's eccentric and unique personalities really keeps all the interactions between the cast fresh and entertaining. Whether it be Van and his overprotective dad-like personality to all his younger part-timers or Aaron and his blunt, crude, delinquent attitude or Agnes and her polite and naive girl next door outlook and how she slowly changes as she learns more about the world around her and of course Judith and her comically aggressive passion for all things film and justice, I could honestly talk about all these characters, their chemistry between each other and their development for hours. Without a doubt the strongest cast chemistry in a Trails game to date for me (Besides maybe the Imperial Picknicking Front in Reverie)

Another important factor to talk about whenever Trails is involved is the world-building because being such a deeply interconnected series, that's the best thing about Trails and Kuro is no different either. In the beginning chapters of the game I was initially worried that Kuro was going to be a soft reset like the first Cold Steel was because there was very little connection to the rest of the games (Aside from a few cameos) and the over-arching plot and going from Reverie which is the game that relies on the series interconnected lore the most to Kuro was slightly jarring at first, but by the end of the game that is definitely NOT the case and I strongly do NOT recommend playing this game if you've never played older Trails games especially if you haven't played the Crossbell games. All that aside though, Kuro also adds its own new concepts into the world of Zemuria, like private military companies, a thriving film scene, new parts of the criminal underground, a new tech institute, new factions of the Septian Church and even Van's solution office itself are just some of the ways Kuro helps expand upon the world and lore of Zemuria and that's not even mentioning all the countless side-quests that truly help flesh out the Calvard Republic and all the people who live in it as well.

So if you're familiar with my reviews or review format a lot of games I play are RPGs so I tend to focus on the narrative, characters, world and whatnot first since I believe those to be the strongest reasons to play a game like this, but now we've reached the point in the review when it's time to talk about gameplay and boy is there a lot to say with Kuro no Kiseki since it introduces a LOT of new mechanics to the series.

Since Kuro no Kiseki is the first game to be entirely on Falcom's latest in-house engine they basically did a complete overhaul on the combat system of the Trails series after the gameplay was mostly the same since the first Cold Steel, but just with small additions for each new game. Kuro introduces what's called "field battle" and "shard battle", now you can play both real-time action combat similar to Falcom's Ys series or in the old-school Trails style of tactical turn-base. Field battles definitely need some polish because currently they are very barebones including one simplistic combo, a power attack to stun enemies and a dodge roll button, but it's still a lot of fun and the biggest change in "Shard battle" is now you can have your character freely move around (Given they have enough MOV stat) and not use a turn to do so. Kuro encourages the player to use both modes, which can be freely switched outside of boss fights, which are exclusively fought in Shard battle turn-based combat.

On top of the combat system itself being overhauled, the Obrment system has had major changes as well. Gone are the ARCUS Obrments of Erebonia, no now we have the latest tech with the XIPHA 6th gen battle Obrment of Calvard. No more equipping Quartz to cast specific spells, now besides increasing stats Quartz are solely meant for special Shard bonuses like dealing extra types of element damage, recovering HP out of fights, dealing extra damage with preemptive strikes etc and you get these bonuses by combining the right amount of properly colored Sepith value from each Quartz on the right lines in a similar way to how the combat Obrments were back in Liberl and Crossbell, but you might be wondering how do we change our artes if Sepith isn't tied to it? Well there's an all new mechanic called "Artes Drivers" which are something you install into your Orbment and they come with a set of pre-installed artes and some empty slots to unlock and equip new artes alongside the ones built into the driver. You mostly buy these, find them in the wild and get them for doing side quests. I'd say Kuro was the most challenging and balanced Trails game since the Crossbell games because in the early chapters there were fights where I made it by the skin of my teeth. However as you get stronger and find better gear for your builds, the 2nd half of the game becomes just as unbalanced and breakable as the Cold Steel games and I was mostly one-shotting groups enemies with Van's S-craft alone. Honestly though, that's part of the fun of this series to me. Oh and slightly unrelated, but FINALLY after 10 games we can FINALLY sell unneeded Quartz. It's the little QoL improvements that really matter.

So as I mentioned earlier Kuro is the first game on Falcom's brand new in-house engine and boy does it show! If you played Reverie you'll remember a particular scene which tested said engine, but that's the quality you can expect from this whole game and it truly improves everything from the background lighting and shading, to the character models having more defined details and especially the in-engine cut-scenes and animations looking more polished. The new engine is fantastic and makes Kuro the best looking and feeling Falcom game to date and it's not even close, the more polished animations gives the impeccable action scenes and fight choreography more room to shine even brighter as well.

And finally as always what would a Trails game or any Falcom game in general be without an incredible OST from the master composers on the Falcom Sound Team JDK and performances by the JDK band? Well considering Falcom were one of the first game studios to have a dedicated sound team way back in the day, it's one aspect the company has always prided themselves on and you can always count on a consistently quality soundtrack alongside their games. Kuro is no different whether it be the classy and sophisticated jazzy atmosphere of a track like "What is Ahead of You" which perfectly captures the entire vibe of Kuro as a whole or the bombastic Tokusatsu sounding theme of the Phantom Thief Grimcatz, the J-Rock vibes of the opening theme for the game "Namonaki Akumu no Hate", the Middle Eastern exotic sitar style of "Girl Dancing in an Oasis" and of course no Falcom game would be complete without blazing neoclassical and progressive electric guitar metal battle and boss themes like "Unmitigated Evil" or "Diabolic Howl", nearly every track is just as masterfully composed as you've come to expect from Sound Team JDK and this is by far one of their most diverse and experimental OSTs yet.

I honestly don't have many complains about Kuro really all I can say is I wish there was more in the way of side content because this is probably the most barebones Trails game since Sky FC, not even featuring fishing and going from Reverie which had the most side content of any game in the series to Kuro was certainly a change in pace, but since the main narrative and side quests are some of the best the series has to offer the lack of side content isn't that big a deal and I still got over 100 hours out of a single playthrough of Kuro.

Featuring one of the best narratives the Trails series has to offer with a darker and more mature tone to the writing alongside an incredible cast of characters with equally incredible chemistry between them and a fascinating setting that expands upon the already insanely detailed world of Zemuria, a masterfully composed, diverse musical soundtrack, a beautiful new engine breathing the most life into a Falcom game to date and a fully revamped combat system for the Trails series which might lack the depth of Reverie or the later Cold Steel games, but still remained thoroughly fun and entertaining for my whole 100+ hours of gameplay, all of these reasons and more make Kuro no Kiseki a true triumph and masterwork for not only the Trails series, but Falcom as developers as a whole showing just how far they've come in the past 40 years in the business and that they still show no signs of declining in both quality and quantity, but also aren't afraid to evolve with the times and experiment and Kuro no Kiseki is one such experiment that was a massive success in my book and certainly one hell of a way to open up the Calvard arc with a bang!

If you're a fan of SMT you'll love this game. If you're not a fan of SMT it probably won't do much to change your mind.

SMT V is basically Nocturne for the current gen, but with god-tier exploration that almost feels like it came out of a platformer or action game and the combat has been sharpened to the finest point possible. While there's some great concepts and an interesting battle of ideologies shown, the plot and characters are sadly kinda underdeveloped and also rely very heavily on typical SMT tropes that might have you saying 'Here we go again', but SMT has never been a story heavy series and its tropes are certainly unique among the J-RPG genre, so it's not that much of a problem to me. It's all about the gameplay and rocking music and those things are absolutely top notch in SMT V.

Also Idun's idle animation. I rest my case.

I loved everything about this game. I was honestly surprised as to how much I loved it, but to call it a masterpiece is not an exaggeration. Best cinematic movie game I've ever played even surpassing my old favorite in this style which was Uncharted 4.

It's one massive intergalactic adventure that has Star-Lord and the gang traverse multiple planets and exotic locations. All the scenery and set-pieces were amazing and part of that is due to the incredible graphics as well. I have to mention I adore how at certain moments throughout the story you have to make choices and for once in a game they legitimately do matter and can change a lot of different things from playthrough to playthrough! The plot, themes about finding family and coming to terms with grief, general dialogue and character development (Each individual character has a fleshed out arc) was honestly so much better than I ever expected from a comic book game (It's a lot more faithful to the comics than the movies as well), I only wish the MCU had the kind of quality writing this game has.

I also loved all the banter between each character and their interactions as well and unlike in Marvel movies where the comedy is often cringe-worthy, the comedy in this game is actually super funny and endearing, I was laughing so much while playing. The OST kicked ass too, everything from the licensed classic rock and pop tunes of the 80s to the original in game heavy metal band Star-Lord and even the whimsical, bombastic, heroic Marvel style orchestral score, it all fit the style and theme of the game and every moment was scored perfectly.

Speaking of style, the actual gameplay of the game has you only taking control of Star-Lord himself, but it's very fast paced and fluid and as you unlock new powers and abilities you can chain together DMC style (The game even has a DMC-like style meter, there's no way it wasn't influenced by DMC) combos alongside giving orders to the other Guardians via an abilities menu you pop open during battle. When outside of battle there's some platforming and puzzle solving ala Uncharted, but the puzzles are pretty cool and creative as each Guardian has a unique overworld ability that you can command them to do in order to solve the puzzles.

All in all Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a perfect mix of the over-the-top gameplay style of DMC and the cinematic movie-like experience of Uncharted topped off with impeccable writing, fun and memorable dialogue and character interactions, a killer OST and beautiful graphics. If you're someone who plays games and is even remotely interested in Marvel you'd be crazy to skip this adventure and even if you don't like comics I'd still say give the game a shot because it might end up surprising you with how impressive it is and how much better than the movies it is.

I never realized I was in such a minority of people who loved this game, but these reviews and ratings have shown me that.

Great combination of Silent Hill atmosphere and Resident Evil 4 gameplay.

Played through the game 3 times and had tons of fun with every playthrough. The story concept is pretty cool and while there isn't a whole lot of character writing Sebastian does have that 'cool' factor a protagonist should have. Ruvik, Juli and Joseph were cool characters too.

Level design was great and the game can be very punishing and I personally love how challenging it is and how you really need to learn strategies and conserve your ammo (Especially on the harder difficulties)

P.S. You don't know true pain until you attempt AKUMU mode. This is still my proudest platinum trophy.

Dishonored is a game that has been on my backlog for years and I wish I would've played it sooner because this was one of the best games I've ever played. Right up there with Arkane Studios' other masterpiece Prey.

Dishonored follows the story of Corvo Attano, bodyguard to the empress of the plague-ridden industrial city of Dunwall. Corvo is framed for the empress' murder and goes on a quest to save the princess Emily while seeking revenge against those who betrayed him. Corvo is provided aid by both a mysterious, god-like being known as The Ousider who imbues him with magical capabilities and a resistance group known as the Loyalists who are trying to reclaim Dunwall from its tyrannical overseer.

Dishonored has so many cool and interesting characters that feel very realistic thanks to the great voice acting work from a star studded cast. Corvo himself is a silent protagonist, but what really made me love him is the way the world and characters interact around with him and how his mission is to save princess Emily (Chloë Grace Moretz) who is practically his surrogate daughter who he'd go to any lengths for. Corvo aside, there's a former aristocrat turned mad woman named Granny Rags (Susan Sarandon), the genius inventor Anton Sokolov (Roger L. Jackson), Samuel (Ryan Cutrona) who's an old sailor commoner that acts as Corvo's boatman, and the no nonsense caretaker Callista (Lena Headey) to name a few.

The world-building of Dishonored is also quite fleshed out and fascinating. Dishonored is set in a dieselpunk dystopia, where both advanced technology and supernatural forces collide, where the world is suffering from a plague brought on by rats, the infected who are called 'Weepers' cry blood and become irrationally violent. After the death of the Empress, the corrupt oppressive government uses the plague as an excuse to purge citizens when they want. The design of Dunwall was modeled after London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland between the 1800s to the early 1900s. The city is powered by whale oil which is also used to develop all the advanced technology and that merely scratches the surface of the depth the world-building in Dishonored reaches.

Dishonored is primarily a first person action adventure game with heavy emphasis on stealth assassination combat, gadgets and magical powers. Dishonored also features role-playing elements such as upgrading abilities and equipment and making moral choices which effect the story and world around you. The game was designed in a way to where it is entirely possible for the player to do a completely nonlethal playthrough, not killing a single enemy including even key mission targets and boss enemies. However Dishonored takes heavy influence from the immersive sim genre and encourages the player to play their own way. Whether that be stealthy and nonlethal or chaotic and all guns blazing, Dishonored gives complete freedom to the player. There's so many various ways to tackle any individual mission or objective.

The movement and combat in Dishonored has to be someone of the best I've experienced. From your basic flintlock pistol and sword to a teleport dash, time-stop, possessing your enemies and even calling a swarm of rats to attack for you, there's so many fun and creative powers and abilities to try out and chain together and even just exploring the world is so much fun thanks to the fast and fluid movement. Using the Blink power to teleport and reach heights you couldn't previously or possessing a rat and going through sewer tunnel shortcuts are just a couple of the ways you can explore the world around you.

The level design is also a master-class in game design. Dishonored is broken into 9 individual missions, alongside a hub area and each secular level and set piece is thrilling taking Corvo to a number of locations including a military fortress, a noblewoman's ball and even a brothel. There is so much detail to the environments with many secrets to find and places to explore showing that your game doesn't have to be some massive open-world to be interesting and sometimes handcrafted missions are the better option.

Whether it be the fascinating plot full of political intrigue, the great world-building and interesting characters with fantastic voice acting or the fast, fluid combat and movement, detailed level design or the immersive gameplay that lets the player have complete control over how they want to play the game, Dishonored truly has it all and that makes it a game that I believe everyone should experience.