Make no mistake, Sekiro is not an easy game and admittedly it is one that I have struggled with when my only experience with other FromSoftware titles at the time came from completing Bloodborne. But the more I stuck with its combat system, it suddenly became much easier for me to get through and I fell in love with it almost instantaneously.

It does wonders when it comes to easing you into the difficulty curve, giving off a sense of satisfaction after taking on some of its most difficult bosses but I think what makes Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice such an astonishing accomplishment comes from how it's the Dark Souls team being willing to change up a familiar formula.

But also, it's such an engrossing narrative experience that only ever feels like you're made to be a part of history that will inevitably end in tragedy. And in that process, it makes you feel like a shinobi on the run.

I haven't played many other JRPGs quite like this - in that there's always a reason to look out for more to do with knowing how the chronology of this game's story flows but also in how it makes you want to change up the course of history as quickly as possible. Not like there's much else to say about the game's story as we'd expect from Square Enix during the 1990's, but the entire experience is one that mirrors just about what anyone could want from even the best Final Fantasy games.

And that'd only be scratching the surface, especially when you're looking back at how much it lifts from the Final Fantasy series in order to become its own thing. From the battle system, the way it utilizes the New Game Plus mechanic to allow its players to witness multiple endings wherever they please, and also its expansive lore, Chrono Trigger is far more than just one of the best video games ever made - it's just a beautiful work of art all around.

This is a bit better than I had given credit for in the past. I'm not sure how since the combat, fetch quest mission design, aesthetics, and map layout all leave a lot to be desired (that's pretty much a solid 80% of the game). Regardless there's a solid gameplay loop to be found in exploring the wasteland, doing quests, and becoming progressively more overpowered due to the perks, skills, and equipment you come across or receive. Miracles do happen, I guess.

I played this on game pass so I could snatch achievements for Microsoft Rewards so i didn't have access to any of the DLC. I'm looking forward to eventually giving this a third playthrough on PC with mods and all the DLC for the first time.

Although the neat concept of "hacking" into phones, security networks and powerlines to navigate through hostile environments in the modern world sounds like a good idea, Ubisoft have always had trouble applying the concept to an interesting story: Watch Dogs 1's overly serious plot made the hacking somewhat hard to take seriously, whilst 2's goofy characters and objectives was almost perfect, other than the tonal issues of providing the players with ready access to guns, which also makes the puzzle elements less difficult as you can just shoot yourway through.

Watch Dogs Legion also fails on a tonal level. The plot is roughly as follows: a string of terror attacks across London leads to the absent government providing a private security service with almost totally unrestricted powers to police the city, removing the London Metropolitan and installing an authoritarian regime in the city. Where this fails is that the game is never quite sure what it wants to comment on. At points, it begins to hew close to real life issues in Britain (such as funding issues for the NHS and a government which responds poorly to crises), but then is never sure whether this should be blamed on Albion (the private security company) or something else. I believe this to be a little to do with Ubisoft's trouble with their obsession with basing their stories around contemporary politics: they feel brave enough to point out issues but too cowardly to discuss how to deal with them or what to do after they're dealt with, so instead they just make you attack camps of guards instead. Additonally, the game retains some of Watch Dogs 2's goofiness, which really doesn't fit the tone.

Gameplay wise, the much-touted "play as anyone" feature falls flat. In theory, almost everyone in the city can be recruited, but in reality you will want very few of them. Most the people of London will have a small bonus and a flaw which you need to consider, but then you occasionally get Spies, Hitmen, Getaway Drivers, Drone Experts and Construction Workers (more on that later) who will be vital to your team and will do all your heavy lifting. In general, it's not worth recruiting 99.9% of the people you meet. The recruitment missions are generally awful and feel like a waste of time: you will have to travel across the whole map to achieve a single objective and then return to them, so in general you will find yourself not engaging with the system. The other problem is that there are no interesting characters on your team in the game. Some have interesting prefabbed backstories, but they have no real motives or personalities displayed. I can't help but feel that fixed team of unique personalities with their own abilities which you can switch through would be much better for the story.

In terms of what you will be doing in the game, chances are if you're not fighting or driving, you will be playing the Construction Worker: this is because they have access to construction drones, which you can ride on. These let you skip almost every stealth and traversal puzzle. The puzzles are never that hard either, as the developers were aware of the sheer number of approaches that players will have, so didn't spend much time making the puzzles too complex, making the game much easier.

The graphics are pretty nice and a lot of attention has been put into London, so that's a plus, but other than that, I would give it a miss.