Daante_
50 Reviews liked by Daante_
Parasite Eve II
1999
Definitely takes a while to get going and definitely gets a pretty tedious by the end. But like the first game, the combat gets better the more you put into it. Props to them for trying to being a little more than just a Resident Evil clone.
Also while the story in the first game is definitely better, I liked the story in 2 more. Very up my alley.
Also while the story in the first game is definitely better, I liked the story in 2 more. Very up my alley.
Resident Evil
2014
the OG remake and one of the best to ever do it even today. The clever ways they found to expand the original game play and turn it on its head while also completely revamping the level design is just real genius stuff. It felt like a totally new game back on the GameCube and feels like a totally new game even today.
The Crimson Heads are a solid shakeup and I'm surprised they've never explored this idea since. And new rooms and puzzles are a delight. But I think what's interesting about RE1 and the remake compared to its sequels is just how much more intimate you end up getting with these locations. By the time you've finished the game, you've have backtracked through areas a million times and learned your favorite route and quirks to each room. This ends up making each playthrough even more adventurous and daring than the last. There's always been a secret action game hiding in RE's bones and REmake was a good way to showcase it. You'll know which zombies you want to skip, which bodies you wanna burn, and which rooms you'll never need to come back to and before you know it you're unlocking new weapons and getting faster and faster finish times. It's a speedrunning dream.
As for the HD edition of the remake, I think it's a very solid remaster. They didn't ruin the visuals of the original much, the new lighting on characters is fantastic, the new costumes are cute, and some very small QOL features are appreciated. My personal recommendation is playing the game in the original aspect ratio to soak in the full picture (the 16:9 aspect ratio ends up cropping the screens too much) and ideally learning to play with tank controls. The alternate movement style is nice, but in addition to some visual jank with sudden movements, it can lead to some awkward fumbling during camera transitions even when you've been holding down the direction properly. It also makes a lot of bosses super easy. The tank controls are tight and once you adjust you glide around rooms effortlessly. It just becomes second nature.
Also seriously, this game still looks and sounds beautiful. Each scene is framed with care. Maximizing the atmosphere and the spookiness of what's around the corner while stringing cameras along in a way that doesn't disorient the player. And the dark and gothic art style of the mansion is a visual feast. It just hasn't show as much age as you would expect for a 10 year old remaster based on a now 20 year old game. All this accented by some great sound design from the punchy weapons, the unique enemy sounds (so you always know what's in the room so you're not totally taken offguard), and the lonely, dark, spooky music.
If you're interested in classic RE, please give it a try.
The Crimson Heads are a solid shakeup and I'm surprised they've never explored this idea since. And new rooms and puzzles are a delight. But I think what's interesting about RE1 and the remake compared to its sequels is just how much more intimate you end up getting with these locations. By the time you've finished the game, you've have backtracked through areas a million times and learned your favorite route and quirks to each room. This ends up making each playthrough even more adventurous and daring than the last. There's always been a secret action game hiding in RE's bones and REmake was a good way to showcase it. You'll know which zombies you want to skip, which bodies you wanna burn, and which rooms you'll never need to come back to and before you know it you're unlocking new weapons and getting faster and faster finish times. It's a speedrunning dream.
As for the HD edition of the remake, I think it's a very solid remaster. They didn't ruin the visuals of the original much, the new lighting on characters is fantastic, the new costumes are cute, and some very small QOL features are appreciated. My personal recommendation is playing the game in the original aspect ratio to soak in the full picture (the 16:9 aspect ratio ends up cropping the screens too much) and ideally learning to play with tank controls. The alternate movement style is nice, but in addition to some visual jank with sudden movements, it can lead to some awkward fumbling during camera transitions even when you've been holding down the direction properly. It also makes a lot of bosses super easy. The tank controls are tight and once you adjust you glide around rooms effortlessly. It just becomes second nature.
Also seriously, this game still looks and sounds beautiful. Each scene is framed with care. Maximizing the atmosphere and the spookiness of what's around the corner while stringing cameras along in a way that doesn't disorient the player. And the dark and gothic art style of the mansion is a visual feast. It just hasn't show as much age as you would expect for a 10 year old remaster based on a now 20 year old game. All this accented by some great sound design from the punchy weapons, the unique enemy sounds (so you always know what's in the room so you're not totally taken offguard), and the lonely, dark, spooky music.
If you're interested in classic RE, please give it a try.
BioShock
2007
"I Chose More...I Chose The Impossible...I Chose Rapture."
It all began with a plane crash and a lighthouse... BioShock has one of the most marvellous openings of any recent video game. Taking the bathysphere down to the depths and witnessing Rapture in all its Art Deco glory is something that anyone who’s played it will remember. It’s a false promise of freedom and a threat of unimaginable violence.
Playing as Jack, this outsider, this mysterious figure, walks the streets of Rapture while Atlas whispers into your ears, asking you to kindly find the tyrannical Andrew Ryan.
The gameplay is slick, I’ve always enjoyed the way it plays, and I love that cutscenes are almost non-existent. It’s just you and Rapture, and although it’s a linear game, it feels so open. There are many standout moments, the mental and bizarre artistic savagery of Sander Cohen, the surgical violence and bedlam of J.S. Steinman, the lumbering hulks that are the big daddies, the quiet whispering of the little sisters, and many more wonderful locations, that will blow you away!
One of the best games ever made.
OneShot
2016
For a game titled after this very mechanic, it’s interesting how minor the fact that you can (theoretically) only play through OneShot the one time before it’s contents become permanently inaccessible feels, in the grand scheme of the entire experience. Perhaps it’s a leftover from its initial freeware release where merely closing the game would mean you’d (theoretically) never be able to play it again, but the two other games I know that share this idea often have it as the forefront mechanic, and one that goes line in line with the themes the game is trying to convey. While Awkwardsilencegame’s One Chance uses this core idea as a way to paint choice as irreversible and death as final, while Marcus Richert’s You Only Live Once mostly wants to poke fun and look at what would happen if platform game mechanics were applied to the real world, OneShot’s rendition of this mechanic… doesn’t even feel primary compared to the many different things it’s trying to do, and thematically… feels far more subtle about what it’s going for than other games of its ilk.
It’s… a bit difficult to talk about this game without delving into spoiler territory, but I’ll try my best. You play Niko, a cat creature who wakes up in a world far, far away from where they came from. They soon come to learn that the world they’re in has long past ended, and that they’re the only one who can hope to bring it back — sending Niko on a journey from the outer edge to the centre of the world, carrying the sun itself with them to try and fix what once was broken. Gameplay… feels typical for an RPGMaker adventure game: explore areas, solve puzzles, interact with a cast of quirky characters, but from the start it’s apparent that you’re dealing with something much more than what’s been placed in front of you, and the realms of narrative and ludonarrative aren’t so much layered but one and the same.
And it’s this level of ludonarrative — and how the game makes the player interact with the fourth wall — that provides this game with its defining strength. A lot of the stuff this game manages to pull off is unreal — especially for what’s ostensibly an RPGMaker game — and it’s super neat how these elements interact with the gameplay just as much as it does the story. Puzzles make you interact with things outside the game window just as much as within it, and there’s a real thrill to figuring out just what precisely the game is expecting you to do. It never feels gimmicky or unjustified by the narrative, either: near every time it happens it’s congruent with what’s going on in the story, and there’s a thematic throughline throughout which… I think seeks to examine the relationship between player and player character, and questioning where exactly the line between the two lies. It’s low-key, but it’s an interesting thing to think about, and even if I probably would’ve been into the meta elements regardless of how they intertwined with what was going on — mostly given how impressive it is that the game can do what it does — but having that extra layer where it almost parallels the diegetic narrative really does turn what… could’ve ended up being just a gimmick into a legitimate and strong part of the experience.
But the meta elements wouldn’t be as effective, I feel, if the writing and diegetic narrative weren’t. Luckily, they are! I’m especially fond of the character writing, and how that works in conjunction with what… honestly feels like a road trip plot in ways. Your quest is to head to the tower in the centre of the world, exploring and puzzling through each of the 3-5 major areas (depending on how you count them), and each one is filled with a bevy of fun, distinct characters that you get to interact with. You never see them again once you move on to the next area (with some exceptions), and there are generally no storylines or major arcs attached to them, but this works in the game’s favour: having people you meet, have fun with, get a little attached to, then never see again works well with this type of story and… actually kind of fits in with how you can only play the game once: you’re never going to be able to see these people again after leaving them behind just like how you (theoretically) can’t play the game again once you complete it. It’s neat, and once again even beyond anything thematic the writing works in its own right: it’s fun and the characters are distinct and likable and it does a lot to sell all the other elements of the game.
(As a sidenote to the above: I also really love Niko! There’s not much to exposit beyond how they’re super cute and how they’re really good at interfacing with the more complex elements of the plot and its themes but I think they’re one of the strongest parts of the game’s writing and I think it would be a mistake to not mention them in this review, so, like, yeah. Niko great.)
If there’s a thing I do have an issue with, it’s mostly the map design and how that interfaces with the non-meta puzzles. Unlike games of OneShot’s ilk like Ib or The Witch’s House, which typically keep to small rooms and areas — and where everything you need to get to the next room or area is right in the room you’re in — OneShot’s map is expansive, boasting large areas with landmarks far apart which you kind of need the fast-travel function if you wanna get from one end of the map to the other anytime soon. It’s a worthy experiment, and an interesting point of comparison, but in practice I feel it mostly proves why these sorts of games tend to keep things small. Areas are large enough that it’s easy to miss what you’re meant to find, and there are enough things and items to interact with located far apart that oftentimes it can be unclear what you can and are supposed to do. Maybe the problem is potentially me just being bad at adventure game puzzles but even then, I often felt like I had more of a clue on what I was doing whenever the puzzles were localized to a single room or left the game window. While it is cool, again, to see a more open world in an RPGMaker game, and while it’s cool to see conventions of genres played with or experimented on, the world exploration itself and how it futzes with the puzzle-solving aspect was one idea, in particular, I think didn’t really work in the game’s favour.
Though aside from that, I had a fun time! Again, it’s difficult to go into specific detail about what exact cool things this game does, but if you’re willing to take the game at its word you get something that… between the way its meta elements (which are super creative and fun even on their own) interface with a well written, fun diegetic narrative, you’re going to get something that sticks with you, even after everything’s done and gone. 8/10.
It’s… a bit difficult to talk about this game without delving into spoiler territory, but I’ll try my best. You play Niko, a cat creature who wakes up in a world far, far away from where they came from. They soon come to learn that the world they’re in has long past ended, and that they’re the only one who can hope to bring it back — sending Niko on a journey from the outer edge to the centre of the world, carrying the sun itself with them to try and fix what once was broken. Gameplay… feels typical for an RPGMaker adventure game: explore areas, solve puzzles, interact with a cast of quirky characters, but from the start it’s apparent that you’re dealing with something much more than what’s been placed in front of you, and the realms of narrative and ludonarrative aren’t so much layered but one and the same.
And it’s this level of ludonarrative — and how the game makes the player interact with the fourth wall — that provides this game with its defining strength. A lot of the stuff this game manages to pull off is unreal — especially for what’s ostensibly an RPGMaker game — and it’s super neat how these elements interact with the gameplay just as much as it does the story. Puzzles make you interact with things outside the game window just as much as within it, and there’s a real thrill to figuring out just what precisely the game is expecting you to do. It never feels gimmicky or unjustified by the narrative, either: near every time it happens it’s congruent with what’s going on in the story, and there’s a thematic throughline throughout which… I think seeks to examine the relationship between player and player character, and questioning where exactly the line between the two lies. It’s low-key, but it’s an interesting thing to think about, and even if I probably would’ve been into the meta elements regardless of how they intertwined with what was going on — mostly given how impressive it is that the game can do what it does — but having that extra layer where it almost parallels the diegetic narrative really does turn what… could’ve ended up being just a gimmick into a legitimate and strong part of the experience.
But the meta elements wouldn’t be as effective, I feel, if the writing and diegetic narrative weren’t. Luckily, they are! I’m especially fond of the character writing, and how that works in conjunction with what… honestly feels like a road trip plot in ways. Your quest is to head to the tower in the centre of the world, exploring and puzzling through each of the 3-5 major areas (depending on how you count them), and each one is filled with a bevy of fun, distinct characters that you get to interact with. You never see them again once you move on to the next area (with some exceptions), and there are generally no storylines or major arcs attached to them, but this works in the game’s favour: having people you meet, have fun with, get a little attached to, then never see again works well with this type of story and… actually kind of fits in with how you can only play the game once: you’re never going to be able to see these people again after leaving them behind just like how you (theoretically) can’t play the game again once you complete it. It’s neat, and once again even beyond anything thematic the writing works in its own right: it’s fun and the characters are distinct and likable and it does a lot to sell all the other elements of the game.
(As a sidenote to the above: I also really love Niko! There’s not much to exposit beyond how they’re super cute and how they’re really good at interfacing with the more complex elements of the plot and its themes but I think they’re one of the strongest parts of the game’s writing and I think it would be a mistake to not mention them in this review, so, like, yeah. Niko great.)
If there’s a thing I do have an issue with, it’s mostly the map design and how that interfaces with the non-meta puzzles. Unlike games of OneShot’s ilk like Ib or The Witch’s House, which typically keep to small rooms and areas — and where everything you need to get to the next room or area is right in the room you’re in — OneShot’s map is expansive, boasting large areas with landmarks far apart which you kind of need the fast-travel function if you wanna get from one end of the map to the other anytime soon. It’s a worthy experiment, and an interesting point of comparison, but in practice I feel it mostly proves why these sorts of games tend to keep things small. Areas are large enough that it’s easy to miss what you’re meant to find, and there are enough things and items to interact with located far apart that oftentimes it can be unclear what you can and are supposed to do. Maybe the problem is potentially me just being bad at adventure game puzzles but even then, I often felt like I had more of a clue on what I was doing whenever the puzzles were localized to a single room or left the game window. While it is cool, again, to see a more open world in an RPGMaker game, and while it’s cool to see conventions of genres played with or experimented on, the world exploration itself and how it futzes with the puzzle-solving aspect was one idea, in particular, I think didn’t really work in the game’s favour.
Though aside from that, I had a fun time! Again, it’s difficult to go into specific detail about what exact cool things this game does, but if you’re willing to take the game at its word you get something that… between the way its meta elements (which are super creative and fun even on their own) interface with a well written, fun diegetic narrative, you’re going to get something that sticks with you, even after everything’s done and gone. 8/10.
+Best gameplay in the series
-Worst story in the series
-The game's technically not finished
-Behind the scene's drama with Kojima and Konami
-The demo should have been free
-Konami proceeded to euthanise the franchise after firing Kojima and not letting him accept his award
-Konami doesn't respect their consumers
-Konami ruined their legacy with just 2 games
-Fuck Konami, seriously, holy shit I have never felt so bad for liking a game
-Konami is the devil
-Konami slept with my wife
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Did i mention that Konami is terrible?
-Worst story in the series
-The game's technically not finished
-Behind the scene's drama with Kojima and Konami
-The demo should have been free
-Konami proceeded to euthanise the franchise after firing Kojima and not letting him accept his award
-Konami doesn't respect their consumers
-Konami ruined their legacy with just 2 games
-Fuck Konami, seriously, holy shit I have never felt so bad for liking a game
-Konami is the devil
-Konami slept with my wife
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Konami
-Did i mention that Konami is terrible?
Ico
2001
Mother of God, you changed the cover art from the beautiful, hand painting by the director of Ico himself, to the North American abomination. What the hell is wrong with you backloggd?
Please bring back Ueda's painting https://i.imgur.com/azarEXL.jpg
Please bring back Ueda's painting https://i.imgur.com/azarEXL.jpg
Octopath Traveler II
2023
Octopath Traveler came out at the right time, It kickstarted the HD-2D genre.
That's about all I can say about Octopath Traveler. While the game was a commercial and critical success, It felt lacking in more aspects than one.
So here comes the long awaited sequel, how does it fare to the original?
As of writing this, I don't believe I've ever played a game that improves on every single part of the original game and rises to new heights in the entire genre. It's a magical little game that has managed to hook me in from the first minute of playing the game, every single character is interesting and are fun to be around, they each have their own storylines together. It feels like everything has finally clicked.
The original game simply feels like just a proof of concept compared to this.
Octopath Traveler as a game was an interesting idea, but it lacked the narrative hook and It didn't help that the characters weren't really interesting either, the interactions between them were minimal or even non existent at times, everything felt disconnected.
The game at its core felt like a short 20 hour long classic SNES JRPG about multiple protags of which all of them had their own storylines cough Live a Live cough but stretched over to 100 hours, it felt exhausting.
This resulted in the average person picking up the game for around 20-30 hours, having their fill and putting the game down.
However Octopath 2 feels like it deserves those 100 hours and ends up making every single minute of those 100 hours insanely fun and entertaining, be it the combat, the characters or the beautiful environments.
If you were someone who loved the original, were let down by it or absolutely despised it.
I desperately urge you to give the second game a chance, there is no doubt in my mind that this game will go down as one of the greats in the entire medium.
That's about all I can say about Octopath Traveler. While the game was a commercial and critical success, It felt lacking in more aspects than one.
So here comes the long awaited sequel, how does it fare to the original?
As of writing this, I don't believe I've ever played a game that improves on every single part of the original game and rises to new heights in the entire genre. It's a magical little game that has managed to hook me in from the first minute of playing the game, every single character is interesting and are fun to be around, they each have their own storylines together. It feels like everything has finally clicked.
The original game simply feels like just a proof of concept compared to this.
Octopath Traveler as a game was an interesting idea, but it lacked the narrative hook and It didn't help that the characters weren't really interesting either, the interactions between them were minimal or even non existent at times, everything felt disconnected.
The game at its core felt like a short 20 hour long classic SNES JRPG about multiple protags of which all of them had their own storylines cough Live a Live cough but stretched over to 100 hours, it felt exhausting.
This resulted in the average person picking up the game for around 20-30 hours, having their fill and putting the game down.
However Octopath 2 feels like it deserves those 100 hours and ends up making every single minute of those 100 hours insanely fun and entertaining, be it the combat, the characters or the beautiful environments.
If you were someone who loved the original, were let down by it or absolutely despised it.
I desperately urge you to give the second game a chance, there is no doubt in my mind that this game will go down as one of the greats in the entire medium.
The flavor text for Devil May Cry 5 on the PS5 reads, in all caps: "DEVIL MAY CRY IS BACK, BABY!!" which is probably the most accurate summation anyone can give this thing. It's more Devil May Cry, and the first in the series since everyone's favorite punching bag DmC got knocked right off the chain and exploded into a cloud of acrid dust.
I probably shouldn't need to explain what Devil May Cry is. It's the grandfather of the character-action genre, and although the series took an 11 year hiatus, its legacy has been kept alive thanks to games like Vanquished and Bayonetta. Even if you've never played a Devil May Cry game, you probably know exactly what to expect from it: over-the-top combo driven action, ridiculous movesets, and extremely campy stories.
Where Devil May Cry 5 sets itself apart is in its maturity. That isn't to say DMC has become more grounded or less wacky or anything like that, but rather that Devil May Cry 5 feels like a suitable evolution of a series that has been around since the Playsation 2. It's so affirmed in its identity and design that there's scarcely a single area where it falters. The most experimental thing 5 does is give you three characters to play as, each with their own playstyles that aren't so radically different that they require a complete readjustment. If you've played the last four Devil May Cry games (and by that I mean 1, 3, and 4. I think we can all agree 2 doesn't exist) and spend any amount of time in 5 it will quickly become apparent that the team behind this game knew exactly what made Devil May Cry work. So much so that Devil May Cry 5 is hands down my favorite entry in the series.
Of course this is another RE Engine game, so I do have to bring up how good it looks. Ray tracing makes the early levels stand out even more, though DMC5 still looks gorgeous in performance mode. Most importantly, it runs at a stable 30/60 depending on which mode you're in. I think a solid framerate is every bit as important to a character-action game as it is to a fighting game or Souls title. If you're bouncing between 40-50fps then the action is just going to be nauseating. Thankfully I didn't encounter any weird texture issues like I had in Resident Evil 3, and even if you forgo fidelity for performance, DMC5 still looks great.
The only thing I need from a new Devil May Cry is that it's a god damn Devil May Cry, and that's exactly what DMC5 is. It doesn't fuck with the formula or the characters, but rather pushes them ahead with a certain self-assuredness that speaks to the confidence and experience of the team behind it. Also, it has Devil Trigger, the best song in the whole series. I had a friend who wasn't into Devil May Cry listen to it once. He told me he hated it, said it was "cringe." You know, we're all like, god's creatures or whatever, but god also made dung beetles. Insects that literally roll big balls of shit around. Food for thought.
I probably shouldn't need to explain what Devil May Cry is. It's the grandfather of the character-action genre, and although the series took an 11 year hiatus, its legacy has been kept alive thanks to games like Vanquished and Bayonetta. Even if you've never played a Devil May Cry game, you probably know exactly what to expect from it: over-the-top combo driven action, ridiculous movesets, and extremely campy stories.
Where Devil May Cry 5 sets itself apart is in its maturity. That isn't to say DMC has become more grounded or less wacky or anything like that, but rather that Devil May Cry 5 feels like a suitable evolution of a series that has been around since the Playsation 2. It's so affirmed in its identity and design that there's scarcely a single area where it falters. The most experimental thing 5 does is give you three characters to play as, each with their own playstyles that aren't so radically different that they require a complete readjustment. If you've played the last four Devil May Cry games (and by that I mean 1, 3, and 4. I think we can all agree 2 doesn't exist) and spend any amount of time in 5 it will quickly become apparent that the team behind this game knew exactly what made Devil May Cry work. So much so that Devil May Cry 5 is hands down my favorite entry in the series.
Of course this is another RE Engine game, so I do have to bring up how good it looks. Ray tracing makes the early levels stand out even more, though DMC5 still looks gorgeous in performance mode. Most importantly, it runs at a stable 30/60 depending on which mode you're in. I think a solid framerate is every bit as important to a character-action game as it is to a fighting game or Souls title. If you're bouncing between 40-50fps then the action is just going to be nauseating. Thankfully I didn't encounter any weird texture issues like I had in Resident Evil 3, and even if you forgo fidelity for performance, DMC5 still looks great.
The only thing I need from a new Devil May Cry is that it's a god damn Devil May Cry, and that's exactly what DMC5 is. It doesn't fuck with the formula or the characters, but rather pushes them ahead with a certain self-assuredness that speaks to the confidence and experience of the team behind it. Also, it has Devil Trigger, the best song in the whole series. I had a friend who wasn't into Devil May Cry listen to it once. He told me he hated it, said it was "cringe." You know, we're all like, god's creatures or whatever, but god also made dung beetles. Insects that literally roll big balls of shit around. Food for thought.
I'm writing this review right after playing, so forgive me if my mind is still piecing itself back together.This isn't my first dive into Hideo Kojima and his work, but its the one that has shown off his ambition and artful storytelling skills the best. It makes me miss the days where AAA games could be this bold, daring, artful, and meaningful.
I'm wayyyyy late to this party, so I'm gonna assume that you most likely know MGS 2 and what makes it great. So I won't drone on about the incredible story, characters, dialogue, deep gameplay mechanics, and fantastic presentation.
Instead, I want to lament about the loss of projects like this in the AAA industry. This game reminded me of SH2 and Killer7 in a way. Not because it's similar to those games in terms of story or anything, but in how there is a clear voice and creator behind it with a vision. It's never afraid to do something bold and different, while still having relevant messages for today.
Play this game. Play more games that dare to be more than just a fun time. Play more games that have meaning, messages, heart, soul, and passion. There's always a place for simple, good, well designed fun. But the industry needs more games like this as well.
I'm wayyyyy late to this party, so I'm gonna assume that you most likely know MGS 2 and what makes it great. So I won't drone on about the incredible story, characters, dialogue, deep gameplay mechanics, and fantastic presentation.
Instead, I want to lament about the loss of projects like this in the AAA industry. This game reminded me of SH2 and Killer7 in a way. Not because it's similar to those games in terms of story or anything, but in how there is a clear voice and creator behind it with a vision. It's never afraid to do something bold and different, while still having relevant messages for today.
Play this game. Play more games that dare to be more than just a fun time. Play more games that have meaning, messages, heart, soul, and passion. There's always a place for simple, good, well designed fun. But the industry needs more games like this as well.
Resident Evil 4
2023
This review contains spoilers
Me and Resident Evil 4 have a long history, as it was one of the first games I've ever gotten from a family member and I was instantly blown away. I never saw anything like it and to this day it's my third favorite game of all time (Bloodborne and Fallout New Vegas surpass it but only slightly). When news came out that it was getting a remake I was somewhat cautious since the last REmake at the time sucked ass (though REmake and RE2make are superb) but after playing those fears are funny in hindsight. RE4make is absolutely one of the most respectful remakes I've played in recent time, with clear homage and new additions making the experience just different enough for old fans (and some pretty cheeky changes which is always hilarious). Some new changes also surpass the original imo, with my new favorite gameplay change being that of the knife. In OG 4 it was already a force to be reckoned with but they somehow made it BETTER in the remake, with so much utility offensively and defensively which makes it the first thing players should upgrade, with the only downside being durability that can only be repaired at Merchants which is a bit annoying. Another great addition is those of the script, with so much more character added to everyone (props to whoever voiced Ashley she fucking nailed the performance and keeping RE2make Leon was also an excellent decision). Some smaller changes also help the pacing through like treasures being easier and merchant requests making spinels much more important (though I didn't really care for how many were either the same objective or just fetch quests).
The two main things that keep this from being better compared to the original would be the Pacing and overall gameplay. Pacing wise the Remake does a great job with keeping momentum but at the same time feels a bit sluggish in some sections (mainly the middle). Gameplay is a weird one because the guns do feel really good (would absolutely recommend turning ballistic volume up in the audio) but is so much weaker compared to the original games excellent gun sound. That being said the new gore effects are so fucking good and make blasting ganados a bloody treat. Also felt escorting Ashley felt a lot worse compared to the original, with so much of the direct control from controlling her gone in place of weird ai shit that does a really bad job of not getting out of the way (though she is also much easier to maintain health wise which is appreciated). Last thing I'll say about the gameplay is fighting some of the new enemies/bosses felt worse, with Del Lago and Garrador being kinda nerfed in the transition but for differing reasons (Del Lagos fight takes away a lot of tension and Garrador is easily cheesed with the stealth system). Lastly there is some content from the original that sadly did not make it to the remake but at the same time the new stuff is really damn good (besides the red guys being really fucking annoying).
Resident Evil 4 is a quality game that should be experienced by anyone who calls themselves a horror fan or shooter fan in general. Whether its original or remake this game is one of the best in its genre and I can't wait to come back to it for years to come.
9.5/10
The two main things that keep this from being better compared to the original would be the Pacing and overall gameplay. Pacing wise the Remake does a great job with keeping momentum but at the same time feels a bit sluggish in some sections (mainly the middle). Gameplay is a weird one because the guns do feel really good (would absolutely recommend turning ballistic volume up in the audio) but is so much weaker compared to the original games excellent gun sound. That being said the new gore effects are so fucking good and make blasting ganados a bloody treat. Also felt escorting Ashley felt a lot worse compared to the original, with so much of the direct control from controlling her gone in place of weird ai shit that does a really bad job of not getting out of the way (though she is also much easier to maintain health wise which is appreciated). Last thing I'll say about the gameplay is fighting some of the new enemies/bosses felt worse, with Del Lago and Garrador being kinda nerfed in the transition but for differing reasons (Del Lagos fight takes away a lot of tension and Garrador is easily cheesed with the stealth system). Lastly there is some content from the original that sadly did not make it to the remake but at the same time the new stuff is really damn good (besides the red guys being really fucking annoying).
Resident Evil 4 is a quality game that should be experienced by anyone who calls themselves a horror fan or shooter fan in general. Whether its original or remake this game is one of the best in its genre and I can't wait to come back to it for years to come.
9.5/10
Resident Evil 4
2011
Wanted to do a quick replay before Mercs came out for the remake so went with a PRL/Handcannon Professional Mode.
Still the greatest third person shooter ever made with impeccable pacing and superb gunplay that has only been rivaled by Shinji Mikamis other magnum opus Vanquish. Crazy to me this game was 18 years ago and managed to capture the spirit of Resident Evil so well. Definitively one of my favorite games of all time and I can't recommend it enough.
10/10
Still the greatest third person shooter ever made with impeccable pacing and superb gunplay that has only been rivaled by Shinji Mikamis other magnum opus Vanquish. Crazy to me this game was 18 years ago and managed to capture the spirit of Resident Evil so well. Definitively one of my favorite games of all time and I can't recommend it enough.
10/10
A neat little addition but making us wait two weeks for it and having cut content is a bit ridiculous. Absolutely feels easier compared to OG4s Mercs and definitely not a fan of things like the hard limit of enemies. Still it's a fast and frantic mode that shows just how outstanding RE4makes gunplay is with tons of fun moments despite a shorter runtime. Can't wait for Ada and Wesker (also the harder mode).
7/10
7/10
I'm just going to copy my Steam review.
I decided to redo my review on New Vegas because the one I posted about a year ago now was just a haha funny and plus I finally got to play the DLC. Enjoy this unorganized mess that I am somehow calling a review that is actually just my insane ramblings on a very old game.
This game is amazing. This is the first game i've gotten over 100 hours in on steam, and there is very good reason for that. Even just vanilla there's so much depth and things to do but with the DLC it adds an extremely captivating narrative
Anything from its design philosophy to the execution of like 95% of things in the game is something that every RPG can learn something from, I believe this is the absolute gold standard of the genre, I cannot be convinced otherwise. simply from how you start in Goodsprings and how you're taught how the game is going to work to how it eases you into exploring this -not massive by any means for todays standards but still pretty large when everything has a story to it- unlike something like Skyrim where your exploration isn't rewarded by much other than a new opportunity to do the same random dungeon you just did 20 minutes ago, there is a story to most if not all locations in this map, inferred through the environment of it or told through terminals or anything, really. It's outstanding how no 1 place feels boring, for me at least. And sure, there are more than a few quests that are tedious or not engaging, but I would argue that is far from the majority.
another thing I love so much about New Vegas is that, your choices do matter. Not in the way that it's all but an illusion just to make you feel like that, no absolutely not. You will lose companions if you side with the faction they don't like, or you can be shot on sight if a faction doesn't like you, or you can decide the fate of an entire town and that will affect how that town works for the rest of the game, a lot of situations that you are presented with can and will have some sort of visible outcome.
As well as that I love New Vegas's characters. There are few characters in games or, hell, fiction at all that are as memorable or fun to interact with or listen to the lore of than the likes of Joshua Graham, Ulysses, Caesar, Dean Domino and Dog, Mr. House, and that's just the main characters I can think of off the top of my head. I don't know about you but they are sure as hell a lot more memorable than the Jarl of Whiterun or the Greybeards and even Paarthurnax in Skyrim or Nick valentine, Kellogg and whoever else was in fallout 4's cast (I actually just forgot lmao). Joshua Graham's story and character for instance is not one that I will be forgetting anytime soon, neither will Caesar, or Mr. House, or Ulysses and everyone else I mentioned. But even besides them, there are so many characters on the side that may not be just as interesting but still have so much value to them.
My one real gripe about New Vegas is how it handles its politics. Now, I am not saying in any stretch that it isn't also basically the gold standard for how it handles politics, I think it absolutely is. But I can't say that it isn't also a bit dangerous too. The only real drawback to not having an obvious good guy or bad guy from my point of view is that someone could very easily be influenced by, say the legion and suddenly think that under the right conditions, maybe r*ping and enslaving entire groups of people might be okay because of the safety of the overarching military or something. Now, I do also understand that a good counter-argument to that view is that most people who play this game will have somewhat of an ability to understand political theory. But, my response to that would be to simply point at the seemingly large group of 14-20 year old boys who seem infatuated with the idea that things like metal gear solid are just cool badass games and not political at all, because then that would be SJW propaganda, or something or other. Look, whatever the case may be, it's just a thought to consider i haven't seen it myself but I wouldn't be surprised if there's people who playedNnew Vegas and then had their ideals that closely align with the legion bolstered even more, and didn't actually take part in political analysis, like how the game strongly suggests you should.
Anyways, I could go on and on about this game forever but for now I think I'll stop there, this wasn't really long -I think- but if you read until here then thanks and have a good day, also play this if you haven't
I decided to redo my review on New Vegas because the one I posted about a year ago now was just a haha funny and plus I finally got to play the DLC. Enjoy this unorganized mess that I am somehow calling a review that is actually just my insane ramblings on a very old game.
This game is amazing. This is the first game i've gotten over 100 hours in on steam, and there is very good reason for that. Even just vanilla there's so much depth and things to do but with the DLC it adds an extremely captivating narrative
Anything from its design philosophy to the execution of like 95% of things in the game is something that every RPG can learn something from, I believe this is the absolute gold standard of the genre, I cannot be convinced otherwise. simply from how you start in Goodsprings and how you're taught how the game is going to work to how it eases you into exploring this -not massive by any means for todays standards but still pretty large when everything has a story to it- unlike something like Skyrim where your exploration isn't rewarded by much other than a new opportunity to do the same random dungeon you just did 20 minutes ago, there is a story to most if not all locations in this map, inferred through the environment of it or told through terminals or anything, really. It's outstanding how no 1 place feels boring, for me at least. And sure, there are more than a few quests that are tedious or not engaging, but I would argue that is far from the majority.
another thing I love so much about New Vegas is that, your choices do matter. Not in the way that it's all but an illusion just to make you feel like that, no absolutely not. You will lose companions if you side with the faction they don't like, or you can be shot on sight if a faction doesn't like you, or you can decide the fate of an entire town and that will affect how that town works for the rest of the game, a lot of situations that you are presented with can and will have some sort of visible outcome.
As well as that I love New Vegas's characters. There are few characters in games or, hell, fiction at all that are as memorable or fun to interact with or listen to the lore of than the likes of Joshua Graham, Ulysses, Caesar, Dean Domino and Dog, Mr. House, and that's just the main characters I can think of off the top of my head. I don't know about you but they are sure as hell a lot more memorable than the Jarl of Whiterun or the Greybeards and even Paarthurnax in Skyrim or Nick valentine, Kellogg and whoever else was in fallout 4's cast (I actually just forgot lmao). Joshua Graham's story and character for instance is not one that I will be forgetting anytime soon, neither will Caesar, or Mr. House, or Ulysses and everyone else I mentioned. But even besides them, there are so many characters on the side that may not be just as interesting but still have so much value to them.
My one real gripe about New Vegas is how it handles its politics. Now, I am not saying in any stretch that it isn't also basically the gold standard for how it handles politics, I think it absolutely is. But I can't say that it isn't also a bit dangerous too. The only real drawback to not having an obvious good guy or bad guy from my point of view is that someone could very easily be influenced by, say the legion and suddenly think that under the right conditions, maybe r*ping and enslaving entire groups of people might be okay because of the safety of the overarching military or something. Now, I do also understand that a good counter-argument to that view is that most people who play this game will have somewhat of an ability to understand political theory. But, my response to that would be to simply point at the seemingly large group of 14-20 year old boys who seem infatuated with the idea that things like metal gear solid are just cool badass games and not political at all, because then that would be SJW propaganda, or something or other. Look, whatever the case may be, it's just a thought to consider i haven't seen it myself but I wouldn't be surprised if there's people who playedNnew Vegas and then had their ideals that closely align with the legion bolstered even more, and didn't actually take part in political analysis, like how the game strongly suggests you should.
Anyways, I could go on and on about this game forever but for now I think I'll stop there, this wasn't really long -I think- but if you read until here then thanks and have a good day, also play this if you haven't
Forspoken
2023
This review was written before the game released
FFXV Episode Aranea died for this smh
Silent Hill 2
2001
Everything in this game works so well, the ambiance, the characters, the setting, the AMAZING soundtrack and sound design, and the meaning behind all of this is so exciting.
I played this in one shot in one night and dios mio this game will still beat me up for the next 40 years, take the Enhanced patch on PC and you'll have the best version available, this game is a unique experience
I played this in one shot in one night and dios mio this game will still beat me up for the next 40 years, take the Enhanced patch on PC and you'll have the best version available, this game is a unique experience