Psychonauts 2 follows the adventure and platforming mix of the first game, but while in the first I consider the adventure roots stronger, in the new entry I'd say the platforming is a lot more robust and the adventure portion is brought back in the strong narrative and less in the gameplay.

Basically everything in your moveset is better this time around and the levels have a much more fluid pacing even with a lot of narrative going on. You can notice how they wanted to interrupt you less when even the emotional baggage animation was reduced for the sequel.

And even though it feels like the game interrupts you less, the narrative is still such a strong part of this experience, that I think playing the first game is a must to fully enjoy what is happening here. Also, I love how they kept the clairvoyance skill showing how people see you, because it is one of my favorite "hidden storytelling" points.

After so many years it is easy to imagine expectations for a sequel are insurmountable, but with levels that are a joy to play and a narrative that weaves such a big number of threads, Psychonauts 2 delivers a masterpiece that absolutely stuck the landing.

I love how not only Theatrhythm uses the excellent soundtrack from the Final Fantasy series, it also incorporates a bunch of the RPG stuff, making it a full celebration of the series with excellent rhythm gameplay.

I was apprehensive about the jump from touch to button controls, but even if it takes a few songs of practice it didn't end up being a problem for me, I love it just as much as Curtain Call.

Series Quest has some interesting challenges that make building a party and interacting with the RPG elements a lot of fun, and Endless World provides some extra challenge for the truly dedicated.

There are a few minor gripes, as the game builds mostly on All-Star Carnival it feels like there is a certain lack of new characters (please give me Jack from Stranger of Paradise and the Crystal Exarch from XIV), and as a huge FFXIV fan the Shadowbringers tracklist could certainly be better. But these are mostly "I want more" complaints, and I hope there is some they could remedy with DLC and updates.

Trying to organize my thoughts about the game is harder than organizing the puzzles in it.

In general I think the puzzles are fun to solve, and there are some good highlights around chapter 3, but it also has some big lows with puzzles with pixel perfect positioning (I'm looking at the tomato sauce cans) and just weird stuff when divining the developers intent becomes the bigger puzzle.

I could live without almost everything in chapter 5. But I guess if you really like cats the last sections works best, didn't do much for me though.

You could say the perfectionist inside me loves the concept of A Little to the Left, but then it also has trouble fitting everything neatly when there are some rough edges and extra bits that don't feel like they belong here.

Two new mechanics were introduced with this expansion. The first, Trailblazers, are a new activity which makes real good use of the open world nature in Horizon, you have a start and finish, but how you drive between them is completely up to you. The second, Treasure Hunts, are forgettable, but fun. In the end, both went on to become main features in the sequel.

The rough map is interesting but I feel that aside from trailblazers it doesn't play a large role. Dirt racing still feels like it could use more emphasis, some areas feel underexplored just because there are no roads.

The expansion delivers an extension of what the base game did with some added wilderness, and left an impact with substantial new experiences that went on to become the norm. In retrospect, Fortune Island is an important step in the Forza Horizon franchise.

Ever since early access one of the main points that sold me on Spin Rhythm is that motions add so much feeling to playing a song. When you are in the zone and everything flows, you feel the buttons, the slides, the spins, it is just fun.

While playing the songs with a controller always felt good for me, even after the 1.0 release and a brand new UI there are still some rough edges for actually navigating the menus, but it is much more friendly and should be mostly good after a few patches.

Personally, I think the tracklist could be better, but really everyone will have different opinions about this. What really is reflected in my score is how good I feel like this translates the music to movement and gameplay, a very unique and solid take on rhythm games.

I'm more of an old school Zelda fan, Breath of the Wild didn't win me over much, and I'm not sure I prefer this over classic, but Tears of the Kingdom has been an incredible experience, even if shrines and durability are still really not my thing.

I think with just a few tweaks, Tears managed to open so many possibilities on its sandbox that shrines don't carry the burden of being one of the few interesting things to pursue in the world. Caves and the sky islands provide other diversions with their own unique rewards, it feels like I have more to experiment and distract myself.

When it comes to items, fusing increases your stockpile of good weapons and make durability less of an issue. The same is true to arrows which are now more plentiful and can be charged with multiple functions through fusing simple items. Building with ultrahand provides a lot of interesting uses for puzzles, and allow for an even higher degree of player experimentation.

Without being too spoilery, I enjoy the main setpieces in this game better than the Divine Beasts, I still think they are far from rivaling good classic dungeons, but multiple factors certain elevate them in my perspective. As for the shrines they are really my main disappointment in this game, it feels like they never leave the "tutorial" territory. Exploration is by far the most interesting aspect in this new era of Zelda, these puzzles in shrines feel like a relic of a past that doesn't have a place here, not at this quantity and quality at least.

Tears of the Kingdom feels like an upgrade to Breath of the Wild ideas in most every front, from progression to gameplay systems. It is the new style of game Zelda is now, with a more robust understanding of what makes it interesting. It is an outstanding technical achievement not only for making this run on Switch, but for having so many complex systems interact with each other. I think for all these elements coming together, it certainly deserves to be called a masterpiece.

Starting this review by mentioning that I had finished the game and completed all the achievements prior to the update, you might say I had already gotten my fill, so it probably impacted my enjoyment of it.

First, the roguelite mode. It certainly adds some new ideas, but it didn't motivate me enough to keep replaying it just to get all my skills up to "endgame" status again. It is more challenge if you want it, but it doesn't reinvent the wheel.

The additions to the main campaign are great, but, they feel like they complement the base experience, and aside from the new side quest in the school, they are basically extras for people exploring the map. But as mentioned, I had already been to all these places, and it was hard for me to exactly place where a photo mission was trying to bring me after a long time away from the game too.

I think overall the update is great, but especially to people that are playing the game for the first time with the update. The new side mission is good and probably the scariest content in the game. Still love the game, and I think the new stuff only enhances it further, I just didn't exactly needed more at the moment, and maybe I'll give the roguelite mode more of a chance in the future to get that 100% achievement rate back someday.

After playing the game co-op and having some weird feelings about the game, I have now finished the campaign solo and have more solid impressions about my experience.

Overall I think the games does certain things better than the first, while also stumbling on new problems of its own. One clear example is how bosses on the first game were criticized for having too many adds, and this was particularly a criticism they said they would address, but now instead of having problems with adds, a number of bosses are just out of melee range, which hinders certain classes and builds.

One thing I noted in my first review was how I felt I didn't get as many interesting items in my run, and I think here the RNG of what areas you get can actually play a part. I got two sections with armors in this second run, while on the first I got none. I also got a Blood Moon naturally this time too, overall I felt my second run had way better side events, even without mentioning I was more familiarized with the structure of areas so I got more rings and stuff.

In the end, as I mentioned in the first review, the familiarity and the hunt for new loot on replays and adventure mode do feel more fun than playing for the first time anyway, I have a better impression of the game now than before, but I'd still probably say I liked the first one better. The gameplay is still very good and I'll certainly be excited for the DLC releases, I think the base experience could be better with some tweaks, and maybe these will come with updates too.

Playing for a second time, a more chill playthrough after coming in with more intense feelings to the changes on the first time. Unfortunately I decided to also do it on Master Mode which might have been a mistake.

Overall, my feelings haven't changed that much, I still really enjoy the traditional "Metroidvania" feeling of getting a new item, and go explore new areas and solve new puzzles of classic Zelda. And exploration which is the strongest factor here is somewhat diminished by systems working against the player (for example, rain), especially once you see how many "cheat codes" they give you in Tears of the Kingdom that remove a lot of the friction.

One thing I didn't enjoy the first time were the shrines, and while I still don't love them, Tears actually made me see it could be worse. Classic Zelda puzzles are also not that groundbreaking isolated like here, but the catch is that they are NOT isolated. In dungeons especially, a puzzle is usually one key to a major whole, you are getting a certain ray of light to shine in a certain way to on the next room solve a more intricate puzzle and this is what makes them feel interesting, which in these restricted scenarios make simple puzzles feel like just that, simple diversions. There is also not the sense of going through a room, not having the correct item and getting to come back later, the feeling of building up to a solution is also lost in a sense.

Durability is another feature I don't really vibe with, I think on normal mode it becomes way less of an issue over time, but on master mode it certainly feels bad to burn multiple weapons on a Bokoblin. I feel like master mode on Tears of the Kingdom has way more potential as each enemy will essentially give you a tier equivalent weapon that is its horn, while here it doesn't feel like enemies carry tier equivalent weapons, and it can be somewhat frustrating getting out of an encounter with what feels like less than what you spent.

I know it is unfair to compare it to Tears now, but I feel like, with the exception of Shrines, most features I felt dissatisfied with have received improvements in the sequel, and as my first impression were already not overly positive, it stays basically the same for me, but now it feels more like a first step to something greater, instead of a step in a direction I didn't like much before (but please make classic Zelda again someday).

After years of playing it on and off during a decent number of podcasts I finally consider my goals finished.

I love the look and the customization of my little town. The goals for each character are fun to pursue while decorating and finding the best place that fits your style and their preferences. I think the characters are also really charming and fun to interact with.

At some point I'd say things get a bit grindy, especially considering some of the RNG involved with rarer items, but I think every cozy-style game reaches the point sooner or later. My only real disappointment is that they do build up a background plot and never really conclude it, so reaching the final area left me with an empty feeling.

You just turned on this game and you are thrown into the best video game intro of all time, an intro that absolutely sets the tone: amazing, high action racing with wild stuff all around, this is the Horizon Festival.

The intro presents what is probably the best new feature, the seasons, and gives you a taste of road and dirt racing, and you can already feel how good it is to actually play, it really encapsulates the game, a game that also delivers on all the hype the intro creates.

I'm writing this after already playing Forza Horizon 5, so I feel it would be unfair to write all the stuff that is better in the sequel, I just want to highlight how it is even today a very fun game that stands on its own.

Chants of Sennaar is an incredibly well crafted puzzle game about deciphering languages. You encounter multiple cultures and you have to learn how each of them express themselves, be it through what they say or the environment, with signs, illustrations and other clues.

The game seems to strike the perfect balance in being challenging enough that it makes you feel good about getting things right and it never feels unfair or too obvious. Each language also feels unique, and figuring out the structure of a sentence is just as important as discovering what each symbol means.

I do feel like the middle ends up being the most challenging section, and the end feels a bit weird by shaking things up a little too much, but it is just a very small part that doesn't negatively impact my impressions too much.

With a curious world, portrayed in a beautiful art style, the game keeps pushing your observation and analysis skills, and it is extremely rewarding to feel the mystery unravel as your knowledge grows.

9 Years of Shadows strongest point is the instantly alluring style. Beautiful pixel art and during gameplay and cutscenes bring a unique world to life. Playing it is also really great with fluid motion and movement chains that combine your power seamlessly, it is a bit on the linear side though.

Metroidvanias have this sweet spot when you feel just lost enough to give you the sense of discovery and exploration, but not too lost that it is frustrating. I think this game doesn't quite reach the level of feeling lost that I would say is satisfying to explore, you'll mostly find roadblocks in a sector that you'll overcome with the power found in that sector, and move on to the next area.

Considering that, the game is still extremely compelling and the ideas here are just fresh enough to give you a great journey with a few surprises and amazing visuals.

Note: At release on PC the game crashed constantly, it is now at a mostly stable state. The dev team is still working on it and your experience may vary, but I could play and 100% it with mostly no problems at the moment.