This is the best Fire Emblem game that has come out in a while. Echoes and Awakening, I believe were steps in the right direction for the series. Not to say that Fates and Three Houses were bad, I just believe that they are too bloated for their own good. Anyway, Engage hits that sweet spot in Fire Emblem where I can't really find anything bad about the game with out nitpicking. So to start off the nitpicks, the way that information is displayed before battles, is different from previous games in the series. It did take a little while to get used to, as a veteran of the series. That is all I can really think of when it comes to nitpicks at the game, so to keep this review short, here are somethings that I absolutely loved. The presentation is a major step-up from Three Houses (the FEH money being put to good use), animations, cutscenes, environments, and characters all have received a polished look and the game looks lovely. The music in the game is absolutely amazing, there is not a single piece that I did not dislike. The weapon triangle is back, along with a new break system that I think complements the weapon triangle very well, as it brings along with it a risk/reward for units that can be broken. The story is very simplistic for a Fire Emblem game, but that's okay. The characters are the meat and potatoes of this game, from the fitness focused Etie, to the merchant kid Anna, the onigiri loving swordsman Kagetsu and the emphasizing speech of Zelkov. The interactions between units is something that I always look forward to with a new Fire Emblem, and being able to have the emblems have supports with every character in the game is amazing (gotta give major props as that must of taken a long time to create). I love that the Somniel, is more or so an optional area that the player can go to, as most of the stuff that pertains to your army can be done from the world map menu. I think the only things left out are taking care of Sommie (sort of like a dog that players can feed), the bouquet, cooking, strength training, and wyvern riding. These aren't really needed to progress with the game (unless you wanna do more supports then cooking is your thing), there are some important things that are somniel locked, with that being the arena, skill inheriting, tempest trials, and the weapon refinery. While those are pretty important, I only went back to the somniel once every couple of chapters as I wasn't really pressured into going back, unlike with Three Houses and the quests that they gave you. Overall, though this game is really amazing, if you are long time Fire Emblem fan then you either already have it and are just looking at this to see what other people think. For the people on the fence or are looking to break into the series, I believe that this is the one to pick up. As the game play is really satisfying and rewarding for when your seemingly stupid strategies do just end up working.

With this being an other Marvelous game under my belt, I actually expected the combat to be more like Senran Kagura's where servants would fight one on one in closed off spaces and have cool looking combos with little sections between those one on one fights. What we got instead was a musou, a very bland musou at that. Having played, and really liked, the Fire Emblem and One Piece musous, I would have thought that I would have really liked this one too. The main problem with this game is that it is WAY too easy, even on hard difficulty. This is the definition of a button masher, and if you are not in the mood for one of those then I would stay far from this game. Stuff that this game did well though was the interactions between servants, with the main base, barracks and "my room" being great ways to see character interactions between the main character and other servants. Dialogue and music in the stages is sort of drowned out in the actual gameplay parts due to all of the weapon clashing and explosions going off during combat. But I would be lying if I didn't have a good time playing this game, maybe it was because I was in the right mood or that I finally got a chance to play a game with Nero in it that wasn't FGO. Either way, if you are interested in this game then give it a shot, if not then I would try some other musous as I'm sure they will deliver way better gameplay than this.

Ender Lilies is a game that I had my eye on since it had came out earlier this year. I finally got around to playing it, and I am glad that I finally did as this game was amazing from start to finish. Aesthetically, the games visuals, and music are outstanding. The visuals are amazing to look at, and the music works with the visuals to give it a dark, gloomy vibe along with being appealing to listen to. The game itself is very fun, giving the player a plethora of different weapons and abilities throughout the game to keep fresh. This also goes hand in hand with the new enemies that get introduced throughout the game. This game is a must play for fans of the Metroidvania genre.

Coming off of the original Dark Souls and Nioh 2, I honestly was not into the hype for this game as I didn't really like Dark Souls 1 and I knew that the combat was not going to be like Nioh 2. But what got me to buy this was the exploration of the game, as that was one of the main reasons as to why I liked Breath of the Wild, and other open world games. The open world of Elden Ring did not disappoint. First point of it is that the world of Elden Ring is MASSIVE, there is so much to explore and see and the world itself is very interesting to traverse and experience. Going off of the main road, is almost encouraged as most of the equipment pickups, spells and materials are on the side. Most of the games dungeons/bosses/NPC's/quests are also located within the over-world off of the main path. So please explore the world that is given, as it is a ton of fun to explore and discover different areas, and get equipment that can only be gotten from going off of the main path. The music in this game is very good is well, for the over world it is very atmospheric and fits the location that the player is currently in, and for boss fights it is very intense and amplifies the boss fight. This game is fantastic, I believe that people should at least try this game out to see if they'll like it. I was going to skip this game, till I saw my friends playing it and it looked super fun to play. You don't want to miss out on this one.

This game is just the original DDLC with an extra side stories mode. I make it sound bad by describing the game in that way but, the extra content in this game is well worth the asking price. Really like the short story approach for its extra content, as it really expands on the characters that could have possibly been glossed over in the main game. The side stories was also the perfect length taking about as long as DDLC takes on a first run through. The only fault I can give the game is not really explaining that when the game is initially started, that it is taking place in a VM and that the "Exit DDLC" button doesn't close the actual game but takes the player back to what is essentially the main menu. That is a very small complaint on the game overall, and I recommend this version of DDLC as it contains the main game (a great experience by itself) and side stories which make the already lovable characters even more so.

The direction that the campaigns done by Treyarch and Infinity Ward have been doing in has been very interesting. They both do different things that I like very much. For Infinity Ward, I love that they really focus on doing stuff with the gameplay that players would not be able to do during either other gamemodes that are present in MW2. For instance, crafting items and using have survival type levels to go along with it, levels with highly interactive environments such as the ship that has the crates on the deck rock back and forth or the car chase where you jump from car to car in order to catch the lead car. While I did not play MW 2019, the characters in this game feel so similar to the original trilogy while also feeling different. For instance, I feel as if though in the originals Price would seemingly go off the deep end in some scenes but the new Price seems very calculated and confident in his decisions (but who knows that could change when MW3 drops). To long time fans the ending is also very nice to see. Overall, I love the new directions that CoD campaigns are going in, allowing players to do things that they could not in other gamemodes, and giving a good narrative along with it.

Upon replaying the game, I have found that I do not like this game very much. While the gunplay/variety is very good this time around, it doesn't stop the fact that this game has other big problems. For one the characters, in the previous installments the antagonists were at least understandable and had a decent backstory to go along with it. The antagonists in this game came off as very annoying and not having an enough compelling backstory to warrant their goals and the acts they had committed throughout the story. But story is something that most people don't play Borderlands for, but I feel like it should be there for people to have something to look forward to while playing the game. This also goes hand in hand with the level design, which favors a more vehicle approach rather than using the new guns that they have. Levels are too big and could have been condensed to service multiple playstyles better. Overall, I feel like this game has so much potential but I feel like the writing and level design really let it down.

Coming off of playing both Ryza 1 and 2, the expectation was more of the good crafting gameplay that Ryza had. But the crafting system and the way that crafting recipes are gathered had changed enough for me to take notice. Having the crafting system be on a grid of different elements is a good idea but having so many different options and so many items to make, crafting in Sophie 2 can both seem and be time consuming. Using the auto-place feature is something that is offered but I recommend not using it as it doesn't take advantage of party skills that can be used during crafting. So I ended up doing a mixture of both throughout my playthrough. The plus side to this is that it is way easier to get certain traits on the different items that are crafted. The recipe discovery still leaves a little to be desired as almost every recipe had tasks attached to them to unlock them. From gathering/obtaining a certain material, to craft an item with a certain trait or fighting x amount of enemies, the problem in itself is not the fetch quest nature of these tasks. It's that none of anything that was done before hand does not count to the count, only when the player is working toward the recipe does anything count. This gets really annoying about mid way through the game, as most of the requirements are material requirements and the player would have most likely already found them, making them have to go back and look for the item. The battle system is turn-based this time around, and at first I did not really enjoy it. But as I got further into the game and got more party members/skills, chaining different moves and breaking auras and landing major damage never gets old. The story of the game takes a sort of back seat, but the character interactions (also goes for their side stories) and I will give it credit in not taking apart in a lot of the anime tropes that I see in these games, such as the hotspring scene where instead of the usual girls in the hotspring and the boys get branded as pervs for going near them, instead they all hang out and have a good time. It was refreshing to see something like that. The environments are very nice to look at, and seeing the areas have the weather change is very cool to see. Although, having the first half of the main areas be nothing but forest or a grassy plain makes it get really old, pretty fast. Music was a bit of shock this time around, as there are so many different battle themes that I have heard through out the game and they all sound really good. Overall, if a comfy game is what you are looking for, then you wouldn't be too hard pressed to give Sophie 2 a try.

The (maybe) conclusion of the Atelier Ryza Trilogy, and the new future of the Atelier series. This game serves as both a great conclusion to the first two Ryza games and a showcase as what the Atelier series is striving to be in its future titles. Much like with the first two Ryza games the crafting in this game is king, although there are a few things that I would change to make the process of getting new recipes a little more stream lined. They can keep the skill tree to unlock more recipes, that is not the issue with getting new recipes. About half way through the game there was an item that I had needed to make for a side story but I didn't have a recipe for one of the ingredients, so I spent about another fourth of the game working my way to that recipe I needed because I went I went in every direction on the tree other than the one that I needed to get that recipe. The easy solution to this would be to show the entire skill tree at the start of the game, so that players can gauge where they can put their skill points. Moving to the writing, it is great this time around as well. After having two games of watching these characters grow, it is amazing seeing how these characters interact with each other and the situations that they are put into. My personal favorites being Bos, Lent, Ryza, and Empel. The newcomers are also given plenty of screentime, and I ended up liking them just as much as the rest of the cast, as most of the original cast makes a return except for Clifford, and Serri from the second game (bring them back). One of the main points that the developers made in the initial trailer for this game was that the gameplay in this title was going to be the future of the Atelier series, and it was obvious that it was going open world, as oppose to the open level design. At first I was skeptical, could the team really make an interesting enough world to warrant exploring every nook and cranny? For the first attempt at this type of formula, it was a very good attempt, but there a couple of complaints that arise when playing the game. But before getting into the negatives, if what they were trying to do was translate the Atelier exploration gameplay to a seemless open world, they did a great job. These negatives are just mainly more on the polishing side of things, starting with getting rid of the need for invisible barriers in areas and when in higher elevations, to combat the higher elevation issue they could have a glider or wind shoes that allow for gliding as well, as there is already wind shoes that allow Ryza to slide down inclines at fast speed. Adding minigames to some of the gathering tools would also make the exploration more exciting in some areas, such as giving fishing a quick little minigame (kinda like the fishing present in Fire Emblem Three Houses or Sonic Frontiers), and give the player just a tiny bit more items for doing the minigame. Lastly is the size of some of these maps, while they aren't really all that big in comparison to other open world maps but some areas are not treated as well as others, with some being more barren than others. But as a whole package this game is great and an amazing send off to the Ryza trilogy. Much like with the others in the series, for those looking for a relaxing game to sink their teeth into, they should give this one a try.

ANNO: Mutationem is a game that I have had my eye on for a while. For both its cyberpunk aesthetic, and its beautiful pixel art/3-D asset mix. Going into the game I had no idea that this was going to be an open-world metriodvania. Characters in this game are at the forefront of the experience and they are all very well written. Ann, and Ayane being the highlights here. I also didn't expect this game to actually have voice acting, and it is also some pretty good acting on top of that. There are two different gameplay styles that this game has, the open world exploration and the metriodvania. The open world is very pretty to look at and interact in. While the metriodvania is mainly focused on exploring and combat. Combat is pretty basic at first but gets really intense later. Although, there are upgrades I never really found myself using them (other than stat upgrades) as they don't really add anything to the combat. Overall, a really good game to sink some time into, would highly recommend to at least try it out.

AI: nirvanA Initiative was a very welcome surprise when it was first announced, to a game that I thought would not get a sequel. Before the game had come out I was wondering what kind of direction that they would take the game as I feel like the original AI had a definitive ending to it. As to not potentially spoil the plot of the game, the major twist of the game is something that I did not see coming. Most of the returning cast of characters are all still great, although some of them do feel a bit tacked on such as Moma, Ota, and Hitomi. New characters such as Shoma and Gen are welcome and have some great moments throughout the game. The main appeal of the gameplay from the original AI, the Psyncs, make their return in this title as well having been much expanded upon in this title. Although I will admit that most of them are much easier than the original, although there are some puzzles that had me scratching my head trying to think of the solution. This also goes for the times where you would be out gathering intel for the case, some of these puzzles really had me thinking. In this title, there are two playable protagonists this time around, Ryuki (a new character) and Mizuki (from the first game). One complaint that I had while playing this was that I feel as if though they had taken Ryuki away from the spotlight a little too early, and I got the feeling that his arc was never really completed unlike every other character in the game (but maybe that is for another title?). Overall, great game if you are looking for a good murder mystery, with some great characters and great music to listen to.

Very fun co-op game. Was very laggy during the game, can't tell if it was sever side or our internet. Loved the extra games that they have tossed into the main game, such as darts, baseball, and arm wrestling. The relationship between both Vincent and Leo is great as one is the hothead and the other is levelheaded one, and they both have dialogue that bounces off each other. Although I wish that the prison break sequence was bit longer, the game is still a blast to playthrough. Just make sure to play with someone you can have a good time with.