It's a decent game for sure and I really like all the religious thematic content and lore, but there's just something missing to really make it stand out from the rest of the Soulsvania styled games.

It's simply just not a fun game to explore because the level design is so bland and that's the last thing you want in a Metroidvania.

Also the platforming is seriously awful in some areas, I died by spikes far more times than by actual enemies because it feels so stiff and you have to be pixel precise.

It's Bioshock, it's a classic, it has fantastic shooting mechanics, great atmosphere, good level design and a thought-provoking story. If you haven't played it yet all I can ask is...Would you kindly?

"I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question.
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?

'No!' says the man in Washington, 'It belongs to the poor.'
'No!' says the man in the Vatican, 'It belongs to God.'
'No!' says the man in Moscow, 'It belongs to everyone.'

I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something
different. I chose the impossible. I chose...Rapture,
a city where the artist would not fear the censor,
where the scientist would not be bound by petty
morality, Where the great would not be constrained by
the small!

And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your
city as well."

A strong contender for my favorite game of all time alongside Bloodborne.

What do you get when you mix the SCP Foundation with X-Files and Twin Peaks add some Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror, a whole hell of a lot of Jungian philosophy (Archetypes, collective unconsciousness, synchronicity etc) and have David Lynch direct it? One of the most unique and ambitious games of not only last gen, but of all time AKA Control, that's what you get.

It's very rare, but every once in awhile comes an artistic vision so grand, so deep and so unique that it just leaves a massive impact on me months, even years later after I first experienced it. Control is one of those times. I played this game back on PS4 when it was first released, beat it multiple times and then when the first expansion was released I came back to it and played through it again and still it was just as amazing as the first time. Hell, I love the game so much that I bought it on Steam just so I could post a review of it and also bought multiple copies for friends as gifts.

The characters are great and super memorable especially the protagonist Jesse Faden (who is serious gf material) which has that kind of sarcastic wit that reminds me of Buffy Summers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the eccentric mad scientist type that Casper Darling is or the quirky Finnish janitor Ahti. The voice acting performances by Courtney Hope, Matthew Porretta and Martti Suosalo among others are all top notch and really help bring these characters to life.

While the core story itself is fairly simple, the themes, concepts and world around it is anything but and truly unlike anything else out there in video games. The world that Sam Lake and Remedy crafted with this game is just so genuinely fascinating I was always excited when I found another document or piece of flavor text that expanded upon it. It's rare I read all those documents in games, but I always find myself doing so with Remedy games because their worlds and characters are so interesting and well written they always leave me awestruck. Another fact to note is that Control is in a shared universe with Remedy's other classic Alan Wake (And there are many hints to it being in the same universe as Max Payne and Quantum Break as well) Remedy have basically made their own interconnected universe akin to Marvel and I'm all for it.

Also something I have to point out and I don't see many people mention is how Control is a pretty big love letter to H.P. Lovecraft and cosmic horror (however not in the conventional sense), due to it being modern and having its own unique lore and characters instead of using his I feel like most people don't pick up on this, but if you pay attention to the story, world and all the lore (Especially the videologs) it's easy to see this is a Lovecraftian game in every sense of the word and It's also got a very abstract, artsy vibe to the cut-scenes and special effects, not too far off from what you'd see David Lynch do and these two major components meld very well together I must say.

Despite being one of my fave games of all time, I won't say it's 100% perfect. Yeah the game has its fair share of technical problems and there are minor design issues like not much enemy variety, annoying RNG weapon mod drops, a couple weak boss fights etc, but I enjoy everything else so much that this doesn't bother me, the main combat system is incredible and lots of fun, especially when you get into a nice rhythm with it and start chaining together all your different powers for cool combos using all these awesome psychic powers from telekinesis, mind control, creating shields out of debris around you, levitation and air dashes and the gunplay is also quite different, seeing as how you only have one real weapon, but it can shapeshift into different forms. Even just exploring every inch of the FBC to uncover more of its history and unravel the mysteries it holds was always thrilling. I'm a sucker for that metroidvania style sense of progression, being able to backtrack when you get a new power that unlocks a new secret area or a whole new section of the map never gets old to me.

Even though the game itself is very short taking the average player about 10 hours to finish, I got more enjoyment out of those 10 hours I spent with Control than most games I spend 30-40 hours in. Also it's pretty rare I decide to replay a game right after beating it, but I always find myself doing this with Remedy's masterpieces, Control being no exception. I played through this game 5 times in full and never got bored of it.

Oh and I could gush about the scenery and art design for hours, it takes a LOT of artistic creativity to make a story take place entirely in one setting and do it well, but due to 'The Oldest House' being a building in constant quantum flux and shifting between different dimensional planes of reality Remedy really utilized that concept well.

All in all I highly recommend Control to anyone looking for a very interesting more modern take on the surreal, psychological, cosmic horror style with an incredibly well built world or for anyone who has always wanted to live out their fantasies as being an ESPer who fights inter-dimensional beings.

I have an extreme love/hate relationship with this game. On one hand I enjoy the challenging, tactical gameplay and love both the perma-death and character creator which adds a nice personal touch, but the RNG is notorious for a reason and missing your attacks point-blank with a 90% accuracy rate is only funny so many times before it just becomes annoying and obnoxious, plus as others have already mentioned the difficulty spikes in missions and endgame is ridiculous as well.

Overall still a great game and a lot of fun if you're a masochist, but too many annoying mechanics that keep it from being the masterpiece it could've been. Still the best XCOM game though as far as I am concerned.

Incredibly unique game being a mix of a bullet hell and metroidvania.

Great level design with lots of variety that's just super fun to explore. The bosses are very difficult like any Touhou styled bullet hell would be, but they're still a lot of fun to fight and they're quite creative too. There's a lot of dialogue, a bit too much and it can get annoying at times for a game like this, but it also has great moments where it can be pretty entertaining with some solid comedy and unexpected 4th wall breaks too. The character designs certainly aren't going to be for everyone, but they fit the style of the game so it doesn't bother me much honestly. Lots of little pop culture, anime and visual novel references in the game to enjoy too.

The best RGG story yet, but a few of the new gameplay elements like the tailing missions (Cool the first couple times, extremely annoying the next 50) and the threat meter keep the score from reach the 5/5 status, but without a doubt still a phenomenal game with tons of content, had about 60 hours in when I finished and I still had 5 side cases and a little extra content left to do too.

It does pain me not to be able to give the game a 5/5 because the story is one of the best detective/courtroom drama/serial killer thriller I've seen unfold on my TV screen, but those few gameplay flaws just got too damn tedious to ignore.

Still highly recommended to anyone who wants a great mystery story and some fantastic beat-em up action (This is the Dragon Engine at its absolute best) with amazing martial arts choreography though. If you're a fan of the Yakuza or the Phoenix Wright series this is definitely one you don't want to miss!

Igavania is back and better than ever! This is essentially Symphony of the Night part 2.

Let me start off by saying basically if you got a hundred Symphony of the Night fans in a room to make a checklist of all the things they ever wanted in a SOTN sequel, this game would check all the boxes and I could not be more proud to have backed this project.

It's got the tactical soul system from Aria/Dawn of Sorrow, the NPC quests from Order of Ecclesia, and all the gameplay gimmicks from SotN. By gimmicks I obviously mean special attacks for weapons, joke items, references to SotN (I.E. the Librarian/Alucard, etc). there's a pair of Toy Boots that squeak when you run around in them, for example. There's a pretty nice, not-too-complex crafting and cooking system which reminds me of Curse of Darkness and all of the food items give you a permanent stat boost upon your first time consuming it which is a cool mechanic.

All the different 'Shard'/Soul abilities are able to be leveled up by accumulating more than one and stacking them and they can be upgraded further through crafting. There's transformation abilities, I literally got this shard that lets you transform into a demon Playboy Bunny just recently. There's guns right off the bat and you can actually create a gun build with specific passive Shards and gun-buffing equipment. There's shields, sort of, and they're actually viable to use. Your character model is customizable with new gear cosmetics and haircuts to equip. The game also has some tongue-in-cheek elements, there's a giant horned demon cat called the "Nyabon" or something like that and a lot of the NPC quests like 'Avenge the death of Insert name here' say classic Castlevania character names like Richter, Simon, Trevor etc basically saying 'Konami killed them lol'

The story writing is classic cheesy and melodramatic Castlevania, but by no means does that make it bad and all the voice actors are super professional and kept me entertained the entire game truly nailing their performances.

Oh and Michiru Yamane's score is just as phenomenal as always. It's very stylistically similar to SOTN (for obvious reasons) with tons of piano, harpsichord and violin in most areas but there's some areas of the castle that have a bit more emphasis on metal/rock guitar melodies which have a very neo-classical power metal style about them and the sound quality is just simply fantastic seeing as how they got a real full orchestra to record and play her music this time.

Honestly if you're a fan of Symphony of the Night/Aria of Sorrow/Order of Eclessia you'd honestly be a fool to not pick this up especially considering its base price is only $40 USD.

IGA IS BACK, BABY!

I have over 80 hours in this game and have yet to actually complete a game of it.

On one hand I respect it a lot, it's a cool and unique concept with amazing aesthetics and some interesting mechanics

However despite a lot of the mechanics being cool like the sanity meter, the diseases, the permadeath etc. The game just isn't fun to play most of the time due to the severe reliance on RNG, especially the hit accuracy which could rival XCOM on how awful it is.