I've put about 50 hours into this and I just don't think open world Souls is for me! I admire the world design and sound design immensely, but the lack of direction and constant fear that I am going to get absolutely clobbered after entering an area completely overpowered compared to my build was too overwhelming. I really loved lots of it, but after going back to revisit it recently, I was completely lost and no longer could remember which way I should be going. Maybe I'll revisit one day! But after 50 hours I think I've experienced enough.

I bought Bloodborne back in 2019. I had heard so many great things about it and wanted to use Bloodborne as my entry point to the souls-like genre.

5 years later I finally beat it.

Now having several other souls games under my belt, I knew I wanted to come back to this. My first attempt all those years ago was horrible, I truly didn't know what I was in for. The blood vial system, the lamps, the horribly british Yharnamites, the RPG character creation and builds systems, it was all so new to me. Thankfully after returning to it in the last few days, it instantly hooked me and I lost the track of time. I essentially went through the entire game (minus cleric beast) in the span of two days.

Bloodborne is an all time classic playstation game and definitely my favorite game that Fromsoftware has put out. The Lovecraftian, Victoran era art direction and world kept me engaged in what the story had to offer, even if a lot of it flew over my head.

I could go on and on about the amazing combat system (with weapons splitting into two types) and the incredibly satisfying parrying and engaging enemy AI, but it has already been talked to death. I want to focus in on something more specific.

Something I've noticed throughout many souls games and especially Bloodborne is how the game presents itself to the player. Many gameplay moments have you coming across enemies and bosses with little to no fanfare; and I think this is what makes the worldbuilding so enveloping. If every enemy was given a brief tale before I fought them, or I learned about them through a text box, I seriously don't think the world would be as effective. Enemies will just appear in this game and you're learning more about the world through these enemies. What happened to these people? Why are there random little alien dudes? What's up with the birds who just chill on the ground? Why do I fight a big dumb spider in the same arena that Demise from Skyward Sword is fought in? All joking aside, you just come to accept the world and the beings that live within it. Every character design is appealing or at least interesting to look at. Every part of this world feels realized, and the level design emphasizes this. Every area weaves into and loops around each other in such a cramped but intriguing way that I feel is so unique compared to a lot of game maps.

The bosses in this game are incredibly fun and almost none of them felt cheap to me. I went for the true ending of the game, and fighting Gehrman truly felt like a battle I had to learn. Every time I died against him I knew it was my own fault. And what an epic battle! Moon Presence was a good battle, like a bonus for defeating probably the hardest boss in the game. But Moon Presence was kinda easy.

The music is also so good. I really need more classic, orchestral arrangements in my games. Like seriously a lot of these tracks sound so wonderfully haunting and fit the game atmosphere so well.

Already I'm finding myself starting up a New game plus. With the amount of incredibly fun weapons you can find in this game, I'm sure I'll do another playthrough sometime.

When I think of games that have enormous potential for deep thematic messages and social commentary for children, Psychonauts comes to mind. Psychonauts at times exceeds the original and presents more of what I loved about the first game. The unending quirkiness of the character designs, brilliant writing, and hilarious pun-like items and enemies create such a fun and cohesive art direction that I feel is some of the best in the game industry. This is elevated in Psychonauts 2 with beautiful graphics and serene landscapes. Every character model is very appealing to look at, at times reminding me of painted models. Much of this game has you going from mind to mind completing platforming or combat based goals, with a few puzzle solving elements. What I really loved about this game is how consistent it felt compared to the first game, where gameplay really feels like it comes together. The combat is still very basic, but any annoyance is alleviated by the dodge mechanic and the abilities you acquire. Grabbing something random and throwing it at an enemy felt satisfying and using psy blast and the "slow down" ability made enemies a breeze.

What I think falters a little bit is some of the minds. There's a lot of good here though, I really enjoyed Forsythe's mind, Lobotto's mind, Cassie's and Boole's, and Psi King's was great, but there seemed like what I could really only describe as "fluff" with Ford's fractured segments. The main minds they really knocked out of the park, but the in-between moments felt like I was just trying to advance and learn about the story. Which eventually paid off! But I think some of the minds don't live up to the most memorable and creative moments in the first game, which handles its social commentary a lot less obtusely.

I really dug the story. At points I was curious where they were going but it really plays out like a mystery. By the end, I was really satisfied with how they built up Raz and Lilli and their families. The lore and worldbuilding actually felt substantial to the conflict.

Psychonauts 2 succeeds in bringing more of the same while delivering a more grand story for those that have stayed on.