I knew this game had a reputation when it came to life-sim pseudo-novels, but damn, still I was impressed.

Exocolonist is a game about tragedy, and subverting it. It's a game that requires you to run through it a myriad of times, similar to Signs of the Sojourner or Citizen Sleeper, but this game really does LEAN into the replay value by having run-based knowledge play into future runs. Oh you knew that dog was there? BAM, explosive trap.

This game does a lot in a short run and it's written beautifully, every character is unique and special in their own way, you get to see stupid kids you play ball with turn into militaristic turncoats, or isolationists bloom into explorers. There is a lot and I can't do justice to how well the characters are written and how well the development plays out. There are many mini-events, side-stories, side-quests, entire hidden areas and events. Each of my runs really felt unique each time, even if spamming tasks to raise scores became a bit of a chore.

The only complaints I really have are my not-too-much-love for the overworld design and some of the repetitive aspects of the game, but even if you do eerily-similar things, you still get massive sweeping changes you'd not have noticed before. I will warn you though, the first run is going to beat the ever-loving sh-t outta you, things will happen, you won't know how, and you'll need to learn how to get further. It's like the game sets you up to fail, to convince you to continue forward.

It's really a great game and deserves the praise it gets. While I'm unsure if it's systems work as well in-unison as some other titles like Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, or even Beacon Pines in some regards. It definitely plays it's hand well and got me addicted to keep running it over and over.

Simply great.

I love this game so much. I think the best way I can summarize my feelings about this game is to describe how magical it feels when I'm doing the most mundane things. Zooming in a random cupboard, seeing Ryo's early 3D robot-hands entering the view and awkwardly open it, and seeing whatever is in store inside; it feels me with child-like wonder, like seeing somebody pull off a successful magic trick for the first time. It's an absolute joy to simply exist in the game's world, and the game excels at making it so easy to immerse yourself in it. No other game feels quite like this. Not even Shenmue II, which has an entirely different kind of magic, at least to me. But we'll get to that game some other time.

Anyways, my only gripe from before is the controls. I didn't quite feel in tune with Ryo as a character in that sense. But replaying this now for the platinum trophy, I don't feel that way anymore. Maybe it's because I'm not playing it under duress of completing it ASAP, but all his moves and mannerisms just clicks to me. I knew exactly when he can move freely, and when he would need a bit more patience and deliberate inputs. It's great. I'm having the time of my life, being completely connected with this game I adore. I didn't feel comfortable giving this game a 10/10 before, but now it's the easiest thing in the world.

Also, I took some street photography style in-game screenshots. I don't normally plug my virtual photography stuff here but I think it would help to visualize how I personally see the world of Shenmue. A view with my rose-tinted lenses, if you will. You can check them out here.

I've been playing this game on and off for about 2 and a half years at this point. I played for a few days and then would drop it, time and time again. It really wasn't until near the end of Act 1 that the game really clicked for me, now I wish I'd played it sooner. FYI, I played all the way to the end. This is as spoiler free as I can make the review for the full story.

Dragon Quest 11 is a JRPG refined to its limits. It doesn't need to reinvent the wheel, especially since this series invented it. While this does mean that the combat can seem simple or even boring early on, once you start getting some of the better abilities and more party members, it becomes way more palatable.

Music is great, so many memorable tracks. Sure, lots of them are recycled from previous games, but Overture/Departure is such a banger that I wouldn't mind listening to it for 10 more games.

The story doesn't do anything revolutionary, but it ties back in to what I mentioned earlier about being as refined as the tropes of a JRPG can be. What kept me hooked was the main cast. These are loveable characters who I didn't want to say goodbye to, but eventually you must. The final act of the game does make some choices I don't agree with, but I was just happy to spend more time with these characters. Some moments even got me a little teary.

Overall, I loved this game. As my first dive into this series, I couldn't ask for more. Right now I'm debating whether to play 4, 5, 8, or 9 next. I wanted to play Monsters: The Dark Prince, but that ties into 4. I guess I'll see soon enough.

I can finally say I'm a Dragon Quest fan

The best feeling Metroid I've played so far, with also featuring some great bosses (the unique fights). Calling this fangame "impressive" leaves it short, but I'm not rating it as high as Super just by the fact that this is still a Metroid 2 remake. Inherently the story, repeat bosses (even more here actually), and level progression are still untouched from the original, so that brings it down a little. But if you enjoyed Zero Mission, you'll probably like AM2R even more, at least the gameplay side of it.

silent hill 2 is a game so un-apologetically driven by aesthetics and fucking with the players expectations. at many points in my playthrough i was shocked by how well team silent managed to unnerve me through pure atmosphere and the always insane environments (very awesome level design!!), with always good puzzles (a few too esoteric imo). Another shocking thing is that despite how inspired some titles are by silent hill theres still so many little things that make james sunderlands journey fresh and exciting.

A lot of people complain of SH2's bad combat system but i personally think its charming, and fits well for the title. Its so perfectly clunky and the animations are so smooth that they make up for any misgivings..

I think it is safe to say silent hill 2 could not be made at any other time period than when it released, the fmv cutscenes manage to look so uncannily beautiful paired along with an absolutely haunting industrial soundtrack; mixed with delightful ballads and guitar of course.
mary's undying love for her time spent with james resonates with me to a hurtful extent, all of the dialogue from this game sticks in my head for days at a time.

Maria is very t girl coded but dont tell anyone

I honestly don't understand how this game received so much praise back when it was released. I imagine it was probably because the graphics (for the time) were really cutting edge and the whole idea of a game being a playable movie was kind of a novelty.

That being said, a story-driven video game is supposed to, you know, actually have a good story, which this one most definitelly does not. Leaving all the problematic depictions and characterizations aside, you're still left with an uninspired, cookie cutter "thriller" with the kind of twist that makes the whole thing completelly fall apart and make no sense at all. I'm absolutelly convinced that, had this same story been released as a film or limited series, it would have been demolished by critics on account of how terrible and nonsensical it is. I guess that just shows how low game critics' standards for what defined a good story in a game used to be (still are?).