EmblemadiFuoco
10 Years. 10 years have passed since we first made contact with one of the best and most important universes of all time, full of Guardians, Ghosts and conflicts between Light and Darkness. After 10 years of expansions and DLC, celebrations and incredible moments lived inside the purest fictional world, finally the main narrative arch of Destiny universe arrives at his end. This has been a long journey, an incredible crossing through multiple plot twists and multiplayer epic moments: we have fought against Oryx and Crota, seeing the destiny of the Awokens, lived Seasons after Seasons of Events linked with real-life festivities, watching the death of iconic characters and seeking revenge only to love the murderers as new allies. 10 years of new classes and specials, new powers and discoveries, arriving at the everlasting question: what’s inside the Traveler?
Destiny 2 The Final Shape tries to give an answer, and I can immediately say that the clarifications are spin-chilling, observing one of the most emotional and incredible stories I have lived during my career as a gamer. The only problem in this whole moving ending is the excessive multiplayer contents it requires in order to be completely experienced.
Let’s start by saying that the incredible artistic work made by the developers is the most helpful element to deliver a nostalgic and summary telltale, all set inside the Traveler. Without doing spoilers about the locations, I can immediately applaud the great work in meta-narrative made for this expansion. In fact this eternal war we try to end is turned slowly in a love letter to what Destiny could be without all the difficult problems it had in the years. The Final Shape is in fact the necessary perfect form Bungie would like to give to its creature, an impossible objective for the chaotic nature of video game development. In this case, we find zones and locations all created with the purpose of showing the potential energy of every little content they would like to give us. The Traveler is nothing else than Destiny itself, it is the place in which everything of the world is created and given to players.
The Final Shape is also an enormous occasion to close all the little backstories the main characters were still trying to conclude. We have always thought that Zavala, Cayde-6 and Ikora were the main three heroes of a world in which the gray scale makes it so difficult to find a pure legend. Here the three icons for the classes of the guardians eliminate the remaining glimpse of NPCs they had to become the real members of a vanguard against the Witness, and all of them solve the remaining gaps among their characterization. If you wanted to finally obtain the glorification of the lost ones, or if you wanted to finally see the conclusions of every plot line, well, you will be satisfied, with a writing of great quality for intelligence in mixing up the cards, without ever flowing in an exaggerated fan-service.
As Destiny 2 The Final Shape approaches to the definitive storytelling for this universe, the same could not be said about the game design, and the nature of Game As A Service of the project. Let’s make one thing clear: the beautiness of Destiny has always been to follow a narrative with all the other players, giving everyone the occasion to feel the videogame as a container for events and ideas. My expectations about this new great moment for the saga were, however, a little different. I truly hoped that the entire new contents could be lived without the necessary intermission of other players, but yet the great ending of The Final Shape is locked behind a new Raid, as every other conclusion of every other expansion. The main difference, here, was the opportunity Destiny gave to every member of this community to live a great story even without thinking to all the extra online elements, forcing a narrative in which it is suggested to not do other activities until its completion. Obviously it’s all fun and captivating, with the new prismatic classes as a great way of summing up all the last 10 years of classes and abilities, turning the light score in a mere PVP thing and offering a varied list of different missions, but yet the low duration of the whole thing and some bad map designs and conceptual problems (please don’t make us repeat the same actions ever during Boss fights) turned the majestic and poetic Traveler into a bullet hellish nightmare, still full of entertainment and tears, but not perfect as the title would like to suggest.
Gameplay: 4
Game Design: 3
Technical Feature: 4
Narrative: 5
Protagonists: 5
Villains: 5
Multiplayer: 3
Score and Music: 4
Artistic Feature: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Emotional Impact: 4
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Destiny 2 The Final Shape tries to give an answer, and I can immediately say that the clarifications are spin-chilling, observing one of the most emotional and incredible stories I have lived during my career as a gamer. The only problem in this whole moving ending is the excessive multiplayer contents it requires in order to be completely experienced.
Let’s start by saying that the incredible artistic work made by the developers is the most helpful element to deliver a nostalgic and summary telltale, all set inside the Traveler. Without doing spoilers about the locations, I can immediately applaud the great work in meta-narrative made for this expansion. In fact this eternal war we try to end is turned slowly in a love letter to what Destiny could be without all the difficult problems it had in the years. The Final Shape is in fact the necessary perfect form Bungie would like to give to its creature, an impossible objective for the chaotic nature of video game development. In this case, we find zones and locations all created with the purpose of showing the potential energy of every little content they would like to give us. The Traveler is nothing else than Destiny itself, it is the place in which everything of the world is created and given to players.
The Final Shape is also an enormous occasion to close all the little backstories the main characters were still trying to conclude. We have always thought that Zavala, Cayde-6 and Ikora were the main three heroes of a world in which the gray scale makes it so difficult to find a pure legend. Here the three icons for the classes of the guardians eliminate the remaining glimpse of NPCs they had to become the real members of a vanguard against the Witness, and all of them solve the remaining gaps among their characterization. If you wanted to finally obtain the glorification of the lost ones, or if you wanted to finally see the conclusions of every plot line, well, you will be satisfied, with a writing of great quality for intelligence in mixing up the cards, without ever flowing in an exaggerated fan-service.
As Destiny 2 The Final Shape approaches to the definitive storytelling for this universe, the same could not be said about the game design, and the nature of Game As A Service of the project. Let’s make one thing clear: the beautiness of Destiny has always been to follow a narrative with all the other players, giving everyone the occasion to feel the videogame as a container for events and ideas. My expectations about this new great moment for the saga were, however, a little different. I truly hoped that the entire new contents could be lived without the necessary intermission of other players, but yet the great ending of The Final Shape is locked behind a new Raid, as every other conclusion of every other expansion. The main difference, here, was the opportunity Destiny gave to every member of this community to live a great story even without thinking to all the extra online elements, forcing a narrative in which it is suggested to not do other activities until its completion. Obviously it’s all fun and captivating, with the new prismatic classes as a great way of summing up all the last 10 years of classes and abilities, turning the light score in a mere PVP thing and offering a varied list of different missions, but yet the low duration of the whole thing and some bad map designs and conceptual problems (please don’t make us repeat the same actions ever during Boss fights) turned the majestic and poetic Traveler into a bullet hellish nightmare, still full of entertainment and tears, but not perfect as the title would like to suggest.
Gameplay: 4
Game Design: 3
Technical Feature: 4
Narrative: 5
Protagonists: 5
Villains: 5
Multiplayer: 3
Score and Music: 4
Artistic Feature: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Emotional Impact: 4
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2024
Helldivers 2 has represented, since its launch, a wonderful dream inside videogame medium. In a moment for games in which the most problematic element is the incredible amount of Live Services, here the incredible community of Arrowhead’s creation picks the testimony of Destiny 2 building up a real line of war. Entire social post about the fallens of imaginary planets’ battles. Direct bond with Apocalypse Now in the light of Starship Troopers. Obnoxious music in regards to the actions of Automaton and scary images on the Terminids missions. An amount of social comments capable of turning Helldivers 2 into a pure event, a new rising universe in which you could live one of the best atmospheres existing on PlayStation Platforms and PC. All of this…until the arrival of violent polemics. PlayStation Network issues, lack of attention for the category of players in nations in which the game is still unavailable, a decrease of epicness in favor of new contents are all the key factors for the ascent of the real face of Helldivers 2. My arrival inside this universe is part of this exact phase, gaining me the possibility of discovering what really the project could offer.
Helldivers 2 is nothing else than a co-op shooter game with one of the best asynchronous multiplayer I can recall inside this medium since Death Stranding. All the players are part of a galactic war in which every successful mission has a little contribution in the liberation/defense of a planet, or the achievement of a specific objective. The suggestions of the single order are awesome, in which every new narrative content is a fight between a single game master, called Joel, and the players themselves, with constant new theories and little easter eggs anticipating the new huge thing. A wonderful construction of a universe in which the story reduces itself to the destruction of the new creations of the enemies, giving us new potential stratagems, special attacks you should make with a specific combination of arrows. In this sense the great success of the whole setting is granted by the imaginary and the very original take on the player-based economy inside a game like this, mixed with the great amount of iconic soundtracks and loading screens which are pure legends of modern gaming. However, here lies the first shadows of the production. All the major orders the players receive are unclear on the impact they will have on the game mechanics and statistics, and the usage of the Dispatches gives the game both a wonderful flavor and confused grounds. Also, the sense of contribution to the cause is minimum. The sensation the game gives is linked with the necessity of spending so many hours that you should focus only on this project to see your actions have value inside this universe. This is linked with some Game Design issues, among an unbalanced difficulty of the single operations and the least amount of points every victory gives to the many percentage of completion.
Let’s talk about the gameplay. It is clear that Helldivers 2 doesn’t overthrow Destiny from its throne, the incredible shooting system of the Bungie project remains incredible. Yet, here we find some very cool ideas. Firstly, the necessity of stratagems turns lots of moments of the game into a sort of satisfying trial and error, learning all the combos like the best of the fighting experience. Do you need to clear a zone? Do you want to have more ammos and more powerful weapons? Do you want to ride a mech, obtain a zero particles riffle or place anti-tank mines? There are different enthusiastic stratagems waiting for you. At the same time, all the weapons are really interesting to use, with a sensible difference among their play style. We are not talking about anything exceptional, but the solid core of the combat system doesn’t annoy you so often. The boredom arrives instead as soon as you notice that all the missions are the same. We live in a period in which loop-gameplay is a huge reality in videogames, especially if we talk about japanese ones. The repetitive actions are always sustained, however, by a variety of events and activities capable of turning those same schemes of controls interesting to use over and over again. Helldivers 2 doesn’t fulfill this need. We have always the same enemies, and despite their AI being truly incredible they don’t change a bit in the disposition of bases or enemy placement, and even when something appears a little different, everything is threatened by a bullet hellish development of proceedings.
Helldivers 2 is a wonderful dream. It shows an interesting iconography whose cinematography and powerful presence turns every member of the community into a pure soldier of the galactic war, in a videogame event as I haven’t seen in a long time. A splendid patina for a project covered in shadows, all revealed thanks to the multiple polemics. A not so brilliant game design, among unclear development of events, lack of numbers quantifying the single dispatch effects, repetitive missions which lacks of surprises and an unbalanced difficulty turns one of the best and most iconic asynchronous multiplayer I can recall in a long time into a normal tiny co-op title, maybe a wannabe universe showing to the world all the problems it gives to its own fanbase.
Gameplay: 3,5
Game Design: 3,5
Technical Feature: 4
Narrative: 3
Protagonists: 3
Villains: 5
Multiplayer: 5
Score and Music: 4
Artistic Feature: 4
Atmosphere: 4
Emotional Impact: 3,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Helldivers 2 is nothing else than a co-op shooter game with one of the best asynchronous multiplayer I can recall inside this medium since Death Stranding. All the players are part of a galactic war in which every successful mission has a little contribution in the liberation/defense of a planet, or the achievement of a specific objective. The suggestions of the single order are awesome, in which every new narrative content is a fight between a single game master, called Joel, and the players themselves, with constant new theories and little easter eggs anticipating the new huge thing. A wonderful construction of a universe in which the story reduces itself to the destruction of the new creations of the enemies, giving us new potential stratagems, special attacks you should make with a specific combination of arrows. In this sense the great success of the whole setting is granted by the imaginary and the very original take on the player-based economy inside a game like this, mixed with the great amount of iconic soundtracks and loading screens which are pure legends of modern gaming. However, here lies the first shadows of the production. All the major orders the players receive are unclear on the impact they will have on the game mechanics and statistics, and the usage of the Dispatches gives the game both a wonderful flavor and confused grounds. Also, the sense of contribution to the cause is minimum. The sensation the game gives is linked with the necessity of spending so many hours that you should focus only on this project to see your actions have value inside this universe. This is linked with some Game Design issues, among an unbalanced difficulty of the single operations and the least amount of points every victory gives to the many percentage of completion.
Let’s talk about the gameplay. It is clear that Helldivers 2 doesn’t overthrow Destiny from its throne, the incredible shooting system of the Bungie project remains incredible. Yet, here we find some very cool ideas. Firstly, the necessity of stratagems turns lots of moments of the game into a sort of satisfying trial and error, learning all the combos like the best of the fighting experience. Do you need to clear a zone? Do you want to have more ammos and more powerful weapons? Do you want to ride a mech, obtain a zero particles riffle or place anti-tank mines? There are different enthusiastic stratagems waiting for you. At the same time, all the weapons are really interesting to use, with a sensible difference among their play style. We are not talking about anything exceptional, but the solid core of the combat system doesn’t annoy you so often. The boredom arrives instead as soon as you notice that all the missions are the same. We live in a period in which loop-gameplay is a huge reality in videogames, especially if we talk about japanese ones. The repetitive actions are always sustained, however, by a variety of events and activities capable of turning those same schemes of controls interesting to use over and over again. Helldivers 2 doesn’t fulfill this need. We have always the same enemies, and despite their AI being truly incredible they don’t change a bit in the disposition of bases or enemy placement, and even when something appears a little different, everything is threatened by a bullet hellish development of proceedings.
Helldivers 2 is a wonderful dream. It shows an interesting iconography whose cinematography and powerful presence turns every member of the community into a pure soldier of the galactic war, in a videogame event as I haven’t seen in a long time. A splendid patina for a project covered in shadows, all revealed thanks to the multiple polemics. A not so brilliant game design, among unclear development of events, lack of numbers quantifying the single dispatch effects, repetitive missions which lacks of surprises and an unbalanced difficulty turns one of the best and most iconic asynchronous multiplayer I can recall in a long time into a normal tiny co-op title, maybe a wannabe universe showing to the world all the problems it gives to its own fanbase.
Gameplay: 3,5
Game Design: 3,5
Technical Feature: 4
Narrative: 3
Protagonists: 3
Villains: 5
Multiplayer: 5
Score and Music: 4
Artistic Feature: 4
Atmosphere: 4
Emotional Impact: 3,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐1/2
The cozy game market is slowly becoming a huge thing inside the videogame medium. The necessity of relaxing experiences in a period of fear for the industry has created an entire sector dominated, years ago, only by Nintendo and its Animal Crossing franchise and little japanese/indie projects, like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley. As soon as Triple-A productions started to create delusions, lots of little heartwarming productions started to appear, with dedicated showcases and great global launches. The same thing could be said about those comedy products based on animals, such as Goat Simulator and Untitled Goose Game, where the lack of narrative is surpassed by some very fun moments and iconic experiences. Little Kitty, Big City mixes these two ideas trying to follow the path firstly opened by Stray, eliminating all the philosophical sci-fi contents in order to create great irony and great feline madness. The game has a simple effective story: a little cat jumps off its favorite nap spot on the balcony of its home and it is projected in a more complex and surprising world, arriving on the purest road. Here, between puddles and dogs, our cute creatures need a sort of guide, introducing an amount of interesting and really well-written characters: capitalistic crows, social-dependent mosquitoes, inventive tanuki arriving at sage ducks and stealth chameleons. The satire of these icons is so accessible to everyone to represent a fabulous idea and a huge incentive to arrive at the end of the game. In fact, Little Kitty, Big City shows poor gameplay, linked with a buggy amount of actions our cat can do. While it is incredible the amount of animations and little details in the movements of the protagonist, we will find ourselves stuck in a specific place or blocked between walls and zones, thinking the liberty granted to the players was excessive and the dimensions of the map were not builded up so well. A problem which also affects the technical feature, full of graphic glitch but yet a stable experience in its whole. The essence of cozy games, however, is the setting of the wonderful projects and games part of this genre. Little Kitty, Big City has, in this sense, a lot of personality. The ambiences and worldbuilding of the game, functionals for all the misdees of the fur ball, is a perfect mix of the most american inspirations set in the most japanese locations. Mini Games linked with soccer are set in oriental gardens. Electronic stores and greengrocers are part of big broadways in which the “conbinis” and the arcades are pure icons. Vertical construction sites full of swimming pools and english balconies are part of a melancholic and city pop background. This wonderful dichotomy is evident even in music, among funky urban toons and izakaya-like jazz. A work obviously derivative, full of glimpse from New York and new suggestions from the Rising Sun.
Little Kitty, Big City is a necessary breath for an entire sector. It is the representations of two rising new genres, both cozy and comedy games, with all the limitations and gameplay/technical problems of the exponents of this kind of titles. The imaginary and characters are turning this experience in a tiny object of cult, and I think this is the symbol of two different statements onto this medium: firstly the delusions brought recently by the blockbusters of the industry are bringing more people to smaller projects but capable of relaxing a tired public of players; secondly the deep love for Japan, which is crossing all kind of medias but in videogames finds it maximum exemple, in search of that kind of escape in Tokyo’s shapes which Little Kitty, Big City could absolutely give you.
Gameplay: 2,5
Game Design: 3,5
Technical Feature: 2,5
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 5
Villains: Absent
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 3,5
Artistic Feature: 4
Atmosphere: 4
Emotional Impact: 3,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Little Kitty, Big City is a necessary breath for an entire sector. It is the representations of two rising new genres, both cozy and comedy games, with all the limitations and gameplay/technical problems of the exponents of this kind of titles. The imaginary and characters are turning this experience in a tiny object of cult, and I think this is the symbol of two different statements onto this medium: firstly the delusions brought recently by the blockbusters of the industry are bringing more people to smaller projects but capable of relaxing a tired public of players; secondly the deep love for Japan, which is crossing all kind of medias but in videogames finds it maximum exemple, in search of that kind of escape in Tokyo’s shapes which Little Kitty, Big City could absolutely give you.
Gameplay: 2,5
Game Design: 3,5
Technical Feature: 2,5
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 5
Villains: Absent
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 3,5
Artistic Feature: 4
Atmosphere: 4
Emotional Impact: 3,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Destiny 2 is slowly arriving at its end, in a period for live-service games of deep transition. Today it is absolutely difficult to build up a product capable of making players return after a long period of time, giving them the last DLC or new experiences. Even the most revolutionary products, such as Helldivers 2, have demonstrated that a little error is sufficient to kill your entire success. A name which remains always at the top of this kind of productions is, without a doubt, Destiny. The creature of Bungie, despite all the problems and crises it faced in the few years behind us, continues to develop its narrative and lore, adding new co-op activities and showing players the return of iconic Esotics and Characters. The introduction to the last chapter of the war between Light and Dark, Into the Light is its name, is a wonderful preparation season whose narrative work mixes together nostalgic elements and new grounds granted by The Witness. Now, I know that the new PVE modes haven't been the most appreciated by the public, turning them into the only flaw I have noticed inside Into The Light, but I am not the kind of player which focuses on grinding and obtaining the best a period of contents could offer so it didn't affect my experience in a so deep way. I would prefer to highlight a return to the discovery of emergent narrative, with singular missions on every planet and new secrets whose Easter eggs reminded me of the most emotional and captivating moments of the first game of this universe. We are observing a new bond between real life expectations, theories, discoveries and community interaction with the events lived inside the game. If Destiny maintains this same philosophy also with The Final Shape, we will experience the best ending a videogame has offered in a long time.
Destiny 2 Into the Light is the return to that kind of interaction with the entire universe created by Bungie we have tried inside the first project. Secrets, Esotics, Theories and In-Game Events and communitarian cutscenes. All elements of a strong uprising of a waited ending, with even the less interesting activities as secondary things if put side by side with the enormous expectations set for The Final Shape.
Gameplay: 5
Game Design: 5
Technical Feature: 5
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 5
Villains: 3,5
Multiplayer: 4
Score and Music: 5
Artistic Feature: 5
Atmosphere: 4
Emotional Impact: 4,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Destiny 2 Into the Light is the return to that kind of interaction with the entire universe created by Bungie we have tried inside the first project. Secrets, Esotics, Theories and In-Game Events and communitarian cutscenes. All elements of a strong uprising of a waited ending, with even the less interesting activities as secondary things if put side by side with the enormous expectations set for The Final Shape.
Gameplay: 5
Game Design: 5
Technical Feature: 5
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 5
Villains: 3,5
Multiplayer: 4
Score and Music: 5
Artistic Feature: 5
Atmosphere: 4
Emotional Impact: 4,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Hellblade 2 Senua's Saga is a delusion, for me. You would immediately say: "how can this be?" Since I assign the game 4 stars. Well, the high quality of the production, which I remark using the stars, should not be confused with the emotions and sensations the game left on me. Let's start by saying that Hellblade 1 is one of the best games I have ever played, mainly for the ability of mixing together the creepy and realistic representation of mental illness and psychosis, and the construction of a hopeful story set in the viking age, all mutated by a game design constantly in contraposition with the player. A genius idea inspired by the work of authors like Hideo Kojima and Yoko Taro, the first who tried to actively involve the fanbase granting every little detail and every strange frustration a narrative sense of great prestige. If Hellblade 2 would have followed the same path, creating this sort of dark fantasy journey so personal to appear as a powerful hymn of hope, I would have loved it. But, instead, Hellblade 2 proposes an all-in in the technical achievement granting the narrative a larger yet disturbing breath. Inside Hellblade 2 we don't find this love for the Nordic world as the previous chapter showed, but the incredible technical department worked so hard to show Senua and the other characters at the maximum expression of their performance inside a photorealistic setting. Hellblade 2 is, in this sense, a new reference for technical feature in videogames, and I really wanted the same attention for the contents the game shows. Hellblade 2 tries in every way to explore furthermore the condition lived by the protagonist, talking about it in a so rational way to provoke pure terror in whoever plays the title. Instead of ancient myths and gods of hell, we find here gigantic creature with rotting bodies, sacrifices in which the attention is put on every flap of meat and a research for the past in which all the evolution seems turned into a worse treatment of the past of Senua, a creepier one for sure. This is a shame, really, because the choreographed fights with swords and powers, associated with the traditional rune puzzles of the franchise, were a strong bond with a past Hellblade 2 has completely forgotten.
Gameplay: 4
Game Design: 5
Technical Feature: 5
Narrative: 3,5
Protagonists: 5
Villains: 5
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 5
Artistic Feature: 3,5
Atmosphere: 5
Emotional Impact: 0,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Gameplay: 4
Game Design: 5
Technical Feature: 5
Narrative: 3,5
Protagonists: 5
Villains: 5
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 5
Artistic Feature: 3,5
Atmosphere: 5
Emotional Impact: 0,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ubisoft has been protagonist of a lot of delusion in recent times. The last two games of the Assassin's Creed franchise, Valhalla and Mirage, are absolutely problematic for excessive dimensions and contents, the first, and superficiality and emptiness for the second one. Lots of people hadn't so high expectations for Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, thinking it could truly be the grave for a group of developers recently involved in mediocre projects. Instead, what we have found in these first months of 2024 is one incredible metroidvania but, most importantly, the title capable of raising Ubisoft from the ground. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is an awesome action-adventure side-scroller in which we are going to save the iconic Prince as one of its Immortals. A betrayal shakes the grounds of the royal palace, forcing the court to go on a hunt for the traitors inside a lost city, whose past existence is a difficult burden for the entire Persian empire. Inside this wonderful setting, Sargon, our protagonist, discovers the powers of Time and does everything he can to avoid traps, enemies and to solve puzzles in order to deep down inside the secrets of obsessive rulers and fights for obtaining more Chakra, arriving at evil plans and great boss fights hidden in the shadows. The great success of Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is linked with an incredible worldbuilding, which takes inspiration from the best Persian myths building up a labyrinthic yet captivating location, and a solid gameplay, in which different combos and great feeling linked with the impact of every attack grant every fight a satisfying sensation. Even the narrative hypes up the players, with battles taken from the best shounen anime, and mischievous characters perfectly inserted inside the ambience. A thing helped by an artistic feature of great appearance, bright colors inside the splendid chambers of the palace while the obscure ones grant the slums a sensation of pure mystery, all helped by a fabulous character design.
Obviously a bit of that bland sensation is still present inside this production, located mainly in the main hero and inside the soundtracks, but this is an absolute new standard for Ubisoft games, hoping they maintain this quality and avoid what seen inside, for example, Skull & Bones.
Gameplay: 5
Game Design: 4
Technical Feature: 4
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 3,5
Villains: 4
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 3,5
Artistic Feature: 4
Atmosphere: 4
Emotional Impact: 4
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Obviously a bit of that bland sensation is still present inside this production, located mainly in the main hero and inside the soundtracks, but this is an absolute new standard for Ubisoft games, hoping they maintain this quality and avoid what seen inside, for example, Skull & Bones.
Gameplay: 5
Game Design: 4
Technical Feature: 4
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 3,5
Villains: 4
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 3,5
Artistic Feature: 4
Atmosphere: 4
Emotional Impact: 4
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Perfection in videogames is impossible. As well as it seems impossible to find a game in which there are only negative elements. In the middle of the paradox we find those kind of games whose only objective is to fight against the player, appearing as imprecise and frustrating for a narrative purpose. Games like Nier Automata or Drakengard, whose amount of endings is linked with the massive number of runs requiered to fully understand the story Yoko Taro has chosen to tell, are made in order to make people feel what some of the enemies of those stories were perceiving. Inside a medium as videogames, interactivity and storytelling moves both in the same direction. Expressions like "I would see a movie if I wanted to experience a story" doesn't work with the quoted productions, because the only way a person can really connect with the ideas of the creator, with the worldbuilding and all the iconic heroes, is playing that game, despite all the terrible and uncomfortable moments we will be forced to experience. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice follows this same direction, but fullfilling a different purpose.
Ninja Theory, with Hellblade, wanted to create a maximum expression of mental illness inside videogame medium. They wanted to grant us a way to comprehend what a person as Senua senses in her daily life, suffering from psychosis. We follow her journey through hell in order to save the love of her life, Dillion, with the help of the storyteller Druth while the shadows of the past of the protagonist seeks us in every moment. All this journey hides us more than what we see, because there are secrets we don't know and we notice this as soon as game mechaniques starts to repeat in a strange way, when a menancing annoucement of an hypotetical permadeath seems to never happens, when the obtainment of all the collectibles is essential to unlock a terrible secrets which changes our perspective of everything we have experienced and every character we have met. Hellblade tricks the gamer in a way not so different from what the northern myths has done to vikings. We discovers, going down inside this mad journey, that Hellblade wants to be a sort of encyclopedia of all the stories of vikings gods, ending to criticize them because they are nothing else than a way to calm fears and visions of those populations, justifing all the terrible and non-sensical acts they did, mostly for a cold search for power. Senua is a great warrior, and every fight is not so dangerous as it seems, also because she is helped by the voices she hears in her mind. At the same time what creates an unbalanced difficulty is the increasing amount of enemies and powerful figures we find, never truly defeating anyone. Because all the puzzles, all the mysterious dreams and memories we explore, every rune is nothing else than a way to escape from the past, with the final objective of making peace with it. Hellblade is an anti-game for all these reasons, but it is the strongest experience I have ever done in years of gaming.
Ninja Theory, with Hellblade, wanted to create a maximum expression of mental illness inside videogame medium. They wanted to grant us a way to comprehend what a person as Senua senses in her daily life, suffering from psychosis. We follow her journey through hell in order to save the love of her life, Dillion, with the help of the storyteller Druth while the shadows of the past of the protagonist seeks us in every moment. All this journey hides us more than what we see, because there are secrets we don't know and we notice this as soon as game mechaniques starts to repeat in a strange way, when a menancing annoucement of an hypotetical permadeath seems to never happens, when the obtainment of all the collectibles is essential to unlock a terrible secrets which changes our perspective of everything we have experienced and every character we have met. Hellblade tricks the gamer in a way not so different from what the northern myths has done to vikings. We discovers, going down inside this mad journey, that Hellblade wants to be a sort of encyclopedia of all the stories of vikings gods, ending to criticize them because they are nothing else than a way to calm fears and visions of those populations, justifing all the terrible and non-sensical acts they did, mostly for a cold search for power. Senua is a great warrior, and every fight is not so dangerous as it seems, also because she is helped by the voices she hears in her mind. At the same time what creates an unbalanced difficulty is the increasing amount of enemies and powerful figures we find, never truly defeating anyone. Because all the puzzles, all the mysterious dreams and memories we explore, every rune is nothing else than a way to escape from the past, with the final objective of making peace with it. Hellblade is an anti-game for all these reasons, but it is the strongest experience I have ever done in years of gaming.
The Forever Labyrinth is a point and click adventure with one of the best concepts you can find in videogame medium killed by a terrible technical feature. You immediately fell in love for exploring the rooms based on details in real paintings for discovering the truth behind the forever labyrinth and saving who is trapped inside, but at the same time you are constantly blocked by terrible controls and impossible interactions. In complex, it should be a great add inside the mystery genre, with the power of a Layton game or a Dan Brown novel, but it ends showing why Google should not return to videogame medium ever again.
Gameplay: 4
Game Design: 3
Technical Feature: 0,5
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 1
Villains: 4
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 2,5
Artistic Feature: 5
Atmosphere: 2,5
Emotional Impact: 2,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐1/2
Gameplay: 4
Game Design: 3
Technical Feature: 0,5
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 1
Villains: 4
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 2,5
Artistic Feature: 5
Atmosphere: 2,5
Emotional Impact: 2,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐1/2
Nintendo has always been a master of revenuing his fabulous brands with original ideas and innovative takes. Famous examples are represented by Animal Crossing, whose transformation into a sort of social metaverse despite his origin as life sim, The Legend of Zelda, with its sense of adventure inserted in a poetic and melancholic wild lands inspired by Studio Ghibli more than western fantasy settings, or Fire Emblem, which became a sort of mask theater tribute mixed with intrigues and wars between archetypical reigns obtaining an immense success. Obviously Super Mario Bros could not be missed in this list. After the great animated movie, a satisfying blockbuster for fans and people who grew up with the Japanese hydraulic, the other part of the franchise which broke up the entire platform genre is Super Mario Bros Wonder. Described as a revolutionary chapter of the saga, with the spectrum of a constant sense of marvel around the corner in every level. After ending it, I could certainly say that Super Mario Bros Wonder is the most mature game you can find inside this series.
Super Mario Bros Wonder tries constantly to create memorable moments granting every level a dose of replayability never seen before. The removal of the time was only the first step. In fact every level has more ways to complete it. We find mecaniques such as fake flags, verticality, interactions with the background and objects whose movement is linked with the player, without forgetting the wonder flowers and wonder seeds which modifies nature of the level with immense solutions. It is truly incredible to discover every little piece of game design, trying to make familiarity with the new powers, Elephant Mario which doesn't surprise at all, Bubble power up useful to kill in distance and the Drill one to interact directly with the scenery, and the new concept of badges, a sort of modification at gameplay inserted to grant a novelty to every try overturning the rules that were clear before. In this way lots of the new animations can be highlighted, from quotes to the movie to new ways to give emotions to the protagonists, in this sort of journey through a new world full of details. Super Mario Wonder is a pure experience. You can live it alone, enjoying the strong soundtracks and the peculiar ambiences, or connected to the entire world discovering the behavior of others in the levels and giving them help in a way very similar to the asynchronous multiplayer of Death Stranding. An experience whose search for unique memories sacrifices the precision made clear in the previous productions. Lots of flaws can be found inside the artistic feature, which eliminates completely the iconicity of the single proves Mario has to fight. Some of the most famous and traditional levels have been completely substituted to splendid representation of Wonder Flowers and Seeds which remains in our mind, but turning the levels into nothing else than containers for them. In this sense, Super Mario Bros Wonder has a deep debt with some of the newest additions to this genre, from Celeste to fan games like Mario Kaizo, without creating the kind of single challenges you could expect from this franchise. If we add to this equation some weak villains and a general atmosphere left to the adventure in complex more than the single moments, we understand how Super Mario Bros Wonder appear as something unique, fun and marvelously portrayed, the most complete game of the brand manufactured for everyone, but a title which doesn't represents the perfection.
Super Mario Bros Wonder tries to give the definitive potential of what this Nintendo platform could represent. In fact the entirety of this experience works with the strong intention of enhancing the memorable moments to sculpt them inside our brain: OST, Wonder Seeds and Flowers, new ideas in gameplay and game design and a new look of every single movement and expression. A type of grandeur which bares his side to flaws in the artistic feature and parterre of single levels and villains. What we discover in this way is that even a Mario Game can outline an epic journey, but at which cost?
Gameplay: 5
Game Design: 4
Technical Feature: 5
Narrative: 4,5
Protagonists: 5
Villains: 4
Multiplayer: 5
Score and Music: 5
Artistic Feature: 3,5
Atmosphere: 3,5
Emotional Impact: 4,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Super Mario Bros Wonder tries constantly to create memorable moments granting every level a dose of replayability never seen before. The removal of the time was only the first step. In fact every level has more ways to complete it. We find mecaniques such as fake flags, verticality, interactions with the background and objects whose movement is linked with the player, without forgetting the wonder flowers and wonder seeds which modifies nature of the level with immense solutions. It is truly incredible to discover every little piece of game design, trying to make familiarity with the new powers, Elephant Mario which doesn't surprise at all, Bubble power up useful to kill in distance and the Drill one to interact directly with the scenery, and the new concept of badges, a sort of modification at gameplay inserted to grant a novelty to every try overturning the rules that were clear before. In this way lots of the new animations can be highlighted, from quotes to the movie to new ways to give emotions to the protagonists, in this sort of journey through a new world full of details. Super Mario Wonder is a pure experience. You can live it alone, enjoying the strong soundtracks and the peculiar ambiences, or connected to the entire world discovering the behavior of others in the levels and giving them help in a way very similar to the asynchronous multiplayer of Death Stranding. An experience whose search for unique memories sacrifices the precision made clear in the previous productions. Lots of flaws can be found inside the artistic feature, which eliminates completely the iconicity of the single proves Mario has to fight. Some of the most famous and traditional levels have been completely substituted to splendid representation of Wonder Flowers and Seeds which remains in our mind, but turning the levels into nothing else than containers for them. In this sense, Super Mario Bros Wonder has a deep debt with some of the newest additions to this genre, from Celeste to fan games like Mario Kaizo, without creating the kind of single challenges you could expect from this franchise. If we add to this equation some weak villains and a general atmosphere left to the adventure in complex more than the single moments, we understand how Super Mario Bros Wonder appear as something unique, fun and marvelously portrayed, the most complete game of the brand manufactured for everyone, but a title which doesn't represents the perfection.
Super Mario Bros Wonder tries to give the definitive potential of what this Nintendo platform could represent. In fact the entirety of this experience works with the strong intention of enhancing the memorable moments to sculpt them inside our brain: OST, Wonder Seeds and Flowers, new ideas in gameplay and game design and a new look of every single movement and expression. A type of grandeur which bares his side to flaws in the artistic feature and parterre of single levels and villains. What we discover in this way is that even a Mario Game can outline an epic journey, but at which cost?
Gameplay: 5
Game Design: 4
Technical Feature: 5
Narrative: 4,5
Protagonists: 5
Villains: 4
Multiplayer: 5
Score and Music: 5
Artistic Feature: 3,5
Atmosphere: 3,5
Emotional Impact: 4,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
2023
Sometimes, inside the videogame medium, we can find productions created only with the purpose of projecting players to the future of the developers. Persona 5 Tactics, in the essence of another spin-off of P5 and also a sort of trial for Atlus in creating another Tactical JRPG since the Devil Survivors series, appears exactly as an introduction to what Persona fans should expect in this 2024. Urban soundtracks with the involvement of Lotus Juice, obscure artistic features so far from how the original game appeared and an abundance of blue tonalities. Persona 5 Tactica is, without a doubt, a way to prepare players for Persona 3 Reload, but despite this curious inspiration, is it a good game?
After the events of the story, in the moment described as the ending, Persona 5 Tactics sends the Phantom Thieves in a mysterious reign linked with the election of the new Prime Minister. There they meet Erina, an heroic representative of revolution, and Tojiro, a wimp politician, with whom they explore a world created by a mysterious enemy. In the first segment of the game, the impression is absolutely linked with an ironic take on all the events we lived inside the main game. You know, the situation inside the fanbase of Atlus titles swings between an enormous hype about the remake of the third chapter of Persona series or for Metaphor Re:Fantasio and a deep hate for the excessive amount of contents created about Persona 5, attacking the developers for not creating the sixth iteration of the franchise. Well, after playing this new production in the universe of Joker and company I have understood the rage of a part of the fandom. What we find inside this tactical experience is a frustrating amount of dialogues, events and characters we could find in the main title, despite being different for names or appearance. A screenplay full of comedy and a development of narrative which starts only at the middle of the game are the motivations why lots of fans had stayed far and far away from Persona 5 Tactics.
All I have said before is a way of describing this project from a superficial perspective. In fact, as soon as you enter inside the true nature of P5 Tactics, you understand how this game appears as a better sequel for the original story than Persona 5 Strikers represented. The main plot is a critique about politics and international management of conflicts. Wars and battles should not be acts of violence in which people lose their lives, but ways of changement for an entire society in which weapons are substituted by ideals and death is not an option while peace is the only objective. The central theme of the game seems to talk directly to the administration of Japan itself, but it talks about our past and the way we interact with it. We all have secrets, and we can try to forget them, despite seeing all we have lost in the past soon returning and fighting against our search for relaxation. The message of Persona 5 Tactics is to struggle with our past immediately, and avoid the transformation of it into a problem. This is possible thanks to a development of the main story inside the same visual novel mechanics we find in the JRPG masterpiece from which this game has been created. We read dialogues and dialogues, in which we ask ourselves if the way the government is treating the main problems of modern society is the correct one. We fight for a changement the modern world needs, and this is something Atlus has always tried to tell us.
Talking about the Gameplay of the game, we feel the simplicity of a sort of gameplay loop the game offers as both a good and a bad point. The tactical strategy proposes to sufficiently reduce all the contents we find inside Xcom or Mario+Rabbids. We find a cover, we shoot our enemies triggering a critical attack and then we kill them using a Triple Threat, a special move based on a triangular shape onto the map. The success of this combat system is possible thanks to a good map design and an interesting take on what Personae does inside this game. All the abilities are balanced, and repeating these same actions inside the game creates a fun effect of trying new missions before closing the game. This lack of depth is also what turns Persona 5 Tactics into an awful experience. Maybe because difficulty has some strong peaks going ahead inside the game, or maybe because the constant need of updating Personae and weapons for every member of the party reduces only to the creation/purchase of a better way for destroying the enemies. The construction of the builds for every character is not interesting, conversely of their characterization and interaction with the splendid villains, classical for concept but exceptional in design.
Persona 5 Tactics is a contradictory game. It seems a way to introduce the next chapters of Persona universe, with lots of quotes and easter eggs to the upcoming Persona 3 Reload, while acquiring a strong dignity of its own, but at the same time it suffers for its link with the heredity it brings. In a story in which Phantom Thieves should “educate” a politician to the right way of treating the issues of modern times, all the philosophical questions researched by the narratives of this brand aren’t touched, instead increased in power and feeling, thanks to the epic cutscenes and to the wonderful dialogues. On the other hand, an old irony and a heavy connection to Persona 5 creates the assumptions for hating this project. If we add inside the equation a swinging gameplay with moments of satisfaction and others of frustration, we understand how Persona 5 Tactics is the strangest take Atlus could make onto one of the genres it has touched the least.
Gameplay: 3,5
Game Design: 3,5
Technical Feature: 4
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 4
Villains: 4
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 5
Artistic Feature: 3,5
Atmosphere: 3
Emotional Impact: 3,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐1/2
After the events of the story, in the moment described as the ending, Persona 5 Tactics sends the Phantom Thieves in a mysterious reign linked with the election of the new Prime Minister. There they meet Erina, an heroic representative of revolution, and Tojiro, a wimp politician, with whom they explore a world created by a mysterious enemy. In the first segment of the game, the impression is absolutely linked with an ironic take on all the events we lived inside the main game. You know, the situation inside the fanbase of Atlus titles swings between an enormous hype about the remake of the third chapter of Persona series or for Metaphor Re:Fantasio and a deep hate for the excessive amount of contents created about Persona 5, attacking the developers for not creating the sixth iteration of the franchise. Well, after playing this new production in the universe of Joker and company I have understood the rage of a part of the fandom. What we find inside this tactical experience is a frustrating amount of dialogues, events and characters we could find in the main title, despite being different for names or appearance. A screenplay full of comedy and a development of narrative which starts only at the middle of the game are the motivations why lots of fans had stayed far and far away from Persona 5 Tactics.
All I have said before is a way of describing this project from a superficial perspective. In fact, as soon as you enter inside the true nature of P5 Tactics, you understand how this game appears as a better sequel for the original story than Persona 5 Strikers represented. The main plot is a critique about politics and international management of conflicts. Wars and battles should not be acts of violence in which people lose their lives, but ways of changement for an entire society in which weapons are substituted by ideals and death is not an option while peace is the only objective. The central theme of the game seems to talk directly to the administration of Japan itself, but it talks about our past and the way we interact with it. We all have secrets, and we can try to forget them, despite seeing all we have lost in the past soon returning and fighting against our search for relaxation. The message of Persona 5 Tactics is to struggle with our past immediately, and avoid the transformation of it into a problem. This is possible thanks to a development of the main story inside the same visual novel mechanics we find in the JRPG masterpiece from which this game has been created. We read dialogues and dialogues, in which we ask ourselves if the way the government is treating the main problems of modern society is the correct one. We fight for a changement the modern world needs, and this is something Atlus has always tried to tell us.
Talking about the Gameplay of the game, we feel the simplicity of a sort of gameplay loop the game offers as both a good and a bad point. The tactical strategy proposes to sufficiently reduce all the contents we find inside Xcom or Mario+Rabbids. We find a cover, we shoot our enemies triggering a critical attack and then we kill them using a Triple Threat, a special move based on a triangular shape onto the map. The success of this combat system is possible thanks to a good map design and an interesting take on what Personae does inside this game. All the abilities are balanced, and repeating these same actions inside the game creates a fun effect of trying new missions before closing the game. This lack of depth is also what turns Persona 5 Tactics into an awful experience. Maybe because difficulty has some strong peaks going ahead inside the game, or maybe because the constant need of updating Personae and weapons for every member of the party reduces only to the creation/purchase of a better way for destroying the enemies. The construction of the builds for every character is not interesting, conversely of their characterization and interaction with the splendid villains, classical for concept but exceptional in design.
Persona 5 Tactics is a contradictory game. It seems a way to introduce the next chapters of Persona universe, with lots of quotes and easter eggs to the upcoming Persona 3 Reload, while acquiring a strong dignity of its own, but at the same time it suffers for its link with the heredity it brings. In a story in which Phantom Thieves should “educate” a politician to the right way of treating the issues of modern times, all the philosophical questions researched by the narratives of this brand aren’t touched, instead increased in power and feeling, thanks to the epic cutscenes and to the wonderful dialogues. On the other hand, an old irony and a heavy connection to Persona 5 creates the assumptions for hating this project. If we add inside the equation a swinging gameplay with moments of satisfaction and others of frustration, we understand how Persona 5 Tactics is the strangest take Atlus could make onto one of the genres it has touched the least.
Gameplay: 3,5
Game Design: 3,5
Technical Feature: 4
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 4
Villains: 4
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 5
Artistic Feature: 3,5
Atmosphere: 3
Emotional Impact: 3,5
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Assassin's Creed Mirage is the worst swansong Ubisoft could ever create for his best-selling franchise. It is a boring return to the origin which tries to arrive at the peaks of his ancestors but it fails for a bad-developed gameplay, rigid in parkour and with a dumb AI of enemies. The lack of characterization of his protagonist, Basim, turns an origin story into a pack of overused themes with only little intriguing moments in the incipit. Obviously it has some good points, like the interesting art direction which tries to represent the beautiful majesty of the 9th Century Baghdad, showing the wonderful events around the real history of the location...but that's it. This is the best this game has to offer, and this is a shame. This brand has been killed by the intention of squeeze every piece of money from it.
Gameplay: 2,5
Game Design: 2,5
Technical Feature: 3
Narrative: 2
Protagonists: 2
Villains: 2
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 3
Artistic Feature: 3,5
Atmosphere: 3
Emotional Impact: 1
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐1/2
Gameplay: 2,5
Game Design: 2,5
Technical Feature: 3
Narrative: 2
Protagonists: 2
Villains: 2
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 3
Artistic Feature: 3,5
Atmosphere: 3
Emotional Impact: 1
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐1/2
2023
Don't Nod has always been a narrative-focused team, with little exceptions like Vampyr or the upcoming Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. The developers of Life is Strange love to play with all the little characteristics of their culture in order to create something completely new. If we talk about the strange way of seeing time made clear by Bergson, the obscured mysteries and high-tense intrigues of Alexandre Dumas or the fear of exotic superstitions coming from the colonies, Don't Nod had the brilliant ideas to create stories around them, always with swinging results. Obviously, these creatives couldn't let go the opportunity of portraying the vibrant world of high seas and maritime names, thinking about a period full of purposes in order to fight pollution.
Jusant is a puzzle game about climbing which talks about exactly these themes. We accompany our silent protagonist in a rise to the top of a mysterious mountain, hit in recent days by the so-called "Jusant", the withdrawal of all the water around the peak and which doesn't see rain since a long time. The entire adventure, small in length, tells us about the events and tragedies the inhabitants have experienced only using pieces of paper to read and poetic cutscenes without any dialogue. In this way, we find ourselves involved in a production which takes inspiration from Journey or Abzu, a sort of cozy ascent searching for answers to our multiple questions. We are followed by a wonderful artistic environment, similar to seafaring legends about translucent algae, plants which arrive at the top of the sky, or flying jellyfishes in ancient caves. Despite this atmosphere leading to a heartwarming ending, what Jusant fails stands in the grounds of this project. The core of the game, attaching ourselves to stable rocks or moving creatures to arrive in higher positions, is frustrating in some points for some imprecise controls and counterintuitive directions. We are always framed by problems from the game perspective, because Jusant is afflicted by bugs for which the playing character blocks itself in poorly refined parts of the scenario. Talking about the narrative, we find cute messages and hopeful diaries about the adventures of other climbers of the mountain. We discover the bad conditions of all the people living in the wild nature of this setting, seeing the world around them as a mother in some points, as an enemy in others, but most importantly as a powerful entity which grants human beings only astonishment and annihilation.
A good way of talking about our relationship with nature, similar to poetries of Italian authors like Giacomo Leopardi, but the entire story we live never explodes in wonderful plot-twists or surprising discoveries. All seems a secondary addition in a video game more focused on sensations and visuals, trying to create something freely interpretable by gamers.
Jusant is the interesting case of a team trying a new road but remaining themselves. It is a game about climbing this antagonistic peak, obstile with its citizens but wonderful in its environment. Because the new Don't Nod game gives us great feelings and a fulfilled opinion around nature, asking us to cure it and never betray his lessons. So, between a literature quote and a maritime word, here we find a rigid and inflexible gameplay with too many bugs around it, and a silent narrative always heartwarming but never arriving at its best. In the end, Jusant is a remarkable entrance in artistic productions, but besides his mere message it doesn't give anything else to the player, with the satisfaction or dissatisfaction left to the requests of who tries to arrive at its top.
Gameplay: 2
Game Design: 3
Technical Feature: 3,5
Narrative: 3
Protagonists: 4
Villains: 4
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 3,5
Artistic Feature: 5
Atmosphere: 3,5
Emotional Impact: 3
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐
Jusant is a puzzle game about climbing which talks about exactly these themes. We accompany our silent protagonist in a rise to the top of a mysterious mountain, hit in recent days by the so-called "Jusant", the withdrawal of all the water around the peak and which doesn't see rain since a long time. The entire adventure, small in length, tells us about the events and tragedies the inhabitants have experienced only using pieces of paper to read and poetic cutscenes without any dialogue. In this way, we find ourselves involved in a production which takes inspiration from Journey or Abzu, a sort of cozy ascent searching for answers to our multiple questions. We are followed by a wonderful artistic environment, similar to seafaring legends about translucent algae, plants which arrive at the top of the sky, or flying jellyfishes in ancient caves. Despite this atmosphere leading to a heartwarming ending, what Jusant fails stands in the grounds of this project. The core of the game, attaching ourselves to stable rocks or moving creatures to arrive in higher positions, is frustrating in some points for some imprecise controls and counterintuitive directions. We are always framed by problems from the game perspective, because Jusant is afflicted by bugs for which the playing character blocks itself in poorly refined parts of the scenario. Talking about the narrative, we find cute messages and hopeful diaries about the adventures of other climbers of the mountain. We discover the bad conditions of all the people living in the wild nature of this setting, seeing the world around them as a mother in some points, as an enemy in others, but most importantly as a powerful entity which grants human beings only astonishment and annihilation.
A good way of talking about our relationship with nature, similar to poetries of Italian authors like Giacomo Leopardi, but the entire story we live never explodes in wonderful plot-twists or surprising discoveries. All seems a secondary addition in a video game more focused on sensations and visuals, trying to create something freely interpretable by gamers.
Jusant is the interesting case of a team trying a new road but remaining themselves. It is a game about climbing this antagonistic peak, obstile with its citizens but wonderful in its environment. Because the new Don't Nod game gives us great feelings and a fulfilled opinion around nature, asking us to cure it and never betray his lessons. So, between a literature quote and a maritime word, here we find a rigid and inflexible gameplay with too many bugs around it, and a silent narrative always heartwarming but never arriving at its best. In the end, Jusant is a remarkable entrance in artistic productions, but besides his mere message it doesn't give anything else to the player, with the satisfaction or dissatisfaction left to the requests of who tries to arrive at its top.
Gameplay: 2
Game Design: 3
Technical Feature: 3,5
Narrative: 3
Protagonists: 4
Villains: 4
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 3,5
Artistic Feature: 5
Atmosphere: 3,5
Emotional Impact: 3
Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐