I get what people were saying when this game was touted to be more addictive than crack. But I haven't had that much of an urge to play it since the first 1-2 days.

It's a fun little game with good mechanics, but sometimes I feel the game is rigged against certain exploits on purpose. The excessive RNG and the fact that, to me, there seemed to be only 3-4 viable strategies put me off the whole thing.

Will still play occasionally on Deck, but that's it.

It's a great entry into the series. Sniping itself feels good, although the maps aren't too tailored to long range sniping unless you really force it. Lots of sneaking around and CQB. My main issue is with the Hitman-ification of Sniper Elite. Lots of levels are in massive buildings with lots of rooms and soldiers, and CQB seems to be a major focus, which is weird what with CQB being the worst aspect of a game series named "Sniper Elite". Hiding bodies etc all seemed pretty unnecessary. But some of the levels are great, like Levels 4, 5, 6 and 8, with 8 being my favourite of the lot. I particularly disliked the layout of level 3, as the central building of the map is massive with not many sniping opportunities inside. Played it on Gamepass so can't comment on DLC, but I've heard some of the DLC levels are quite good.

Quick note on Axis invasion: It's a nice idea and has potential, but in execution plays out pretty poorly.

I am personally not so into the series that I'd replay levels multiple times, but I played on Authentic difficulty throughout and got 3 stars on each mission, and it was reasonably challenging. Overall, a pretty good experience, but still doesn't recreate the magic of Sniper Elite V2 for me.

Was also weird to have all the stealth and lethality ratings. Why would I use non-lethal bullets? It's a game about killing Nazis, what gives?

It's a short and perfectly functional game, but not much else to show for it. The open world is actually what kept me hooked, purely from an aesthetic standpoint. It's got a lot of information on Japanese culture for those interested, lots of cool little sections, but overall not much variety in terms of gameplay. The powers felt nice to use, but most of the enemies go down easy once you have enough upgrades.

The game has some neat little parts. I like the Tanuki hunts, it's a nice fun thing to collect around the city. I like the flying around rooftops. I like how the game allows you to get a reward for collecting the hundred odd collectibles (I'm a bit of a crazed completionist at times so I end up collecting this stuff). There's a lot of nice little things, but it doesn't connect together.

Story wise it's alright, they seem to have tried something which is better than nothing. But lots of plotlines are left open, lots of little things that go nowhere. Would have liked to learn more about KK and the crew. Akito's story doesn't go anywhere at all until the very end, which is really amateurish.

Overall not terrible, but pretty forgettable. It's just visually stunning. The school level is a standout though, genuinely scary horror setting and a nice story to go with.

Probably the best horror games I have ever played. The best part of this game is that after a point, you are not scared of the Beast. The Beast is not meant to jumpscare you or just exist to give you a sense of fear, it is a known threat with telegraphed movements that you can predict and track. Gives you a real sense of progress when you find yourself not caring about the Beast anymore and just pushing on into new areas.

The ending areas are a bit of a dud, could have used an extra area with some ramped up challenge. But the game truly allows you to pursue objectives any way you see fit. A locked door? You can find the key, or you can find a nearby vent to get in, or you can just blow up stuff with grenades. True freedom of gameplay. Has a great story as well, that you can gather bit by bit through notes scattered around the environment.

I enjoyed this game much more than what I've rated it. All because of the terrible terrible final boss. It's honestly dumb on every level.

1. It needs you to do all 4 boss battles in the game every time you fail to even start the final boss. It's tiring and honestly mind numbing.

2. The final boss stage introduces completely new enemies and environmental obstacles. Never a good sign.

3. The bossfight mainly required precision in movement, which is not a strong point of this game.

4. There is no reall boss "fight". It's basically a glorified chase sequence.

Honestly, I love this game otherwise. It's a little package with a lot of love and a lot of quirky characters. The humour still works in most places. It's not too long, and doesn't have too much depth. The one other main problem I have with this game is that there are too many useless weapons, and most players would probably use only 30-40% of all weapons available.

Good sequel to a great game. I still prefer metroidvania over rogue lite.

Lack of story is the major thing that drags this game down. Love the concepts, love the puzzles.

Another gripe I had is the game kept locking me into smaller areas to ensure I didn't stray off path/get stuck/break the game, but sometimes I felt like I was getting railroaded into solutions.

Overall great game, great puzzles and art.