GRAPHICS: Cute, consistent, and charming. The character designs are varied and fitting for their personalities. The town is lovely and I'd move there in a heartbeat if I wasn't too damn lazy to put up with countryside.
CHARACTERS: A broad range of personalities and outlooks -- they're all pretty likeable to me, including less popular characters like Demetrius and Clint. Personal favourite is Sebastian and his introversion, and I'll always have a soft spot for Leah who was my first romance route. Linus is endearing, too.
DIALOGUE: Can get pretty repetitive. As someone usually aiming to talk to characters every day to build my relationships with them, I run into repeated chunks of dialogue within an in-game week, which is a pretty big deal when you can only have one individual conversation with each character per day, and has me losing motivation to check in with everyone.
PLOT: Far more character-driven than story-driven. Each major NPC has their own sort of mini character arc, especially if you romance them, and there are small storylines such as the Joja Mart vs. Community Center struggle, but ultimately you won't be playing this for any in-depth story. It's a game about the characters and about building your farm up from the ground.
GAMEPLAY: Completely fine for what it is. I'm not a fan of the time limit, it feels like I barely have time to do anything before the day is over and I'm forced to sprint back to the house lest I want to collapse and pass out on the ground on the dot at 2AM and go into the next day with an energy level hit. It makes it hard to enjoy the game and its aesthetics as you play because you feel like you're rushing around and shoving all your objectives in before shops close and you get tired.
MULTIPLAYER: Has up to four-player co-op. I've played it with one other player, but I do want to try it with a full game sometime. The co-op is fun, everyone gets their own relationships with NPCs, can marry characters, do all the usual stuff around town, etc. You share a farm, but other players get their own little guest houses on the land.

As surprising as it might be with the high rating and the general praise, Stardew Valley really isn't subjectively for me. I'm not a fan of games where you have to live out every day doing tasks, where you're dropped into the game with little hand-holding and left to come up with your own objectives (you'll probably need to do some Googling first playthrough, because the game Will Not explain how to do anything to you), the time limit is stressful, the repetitive dialogue is tiring, and I've never been able to get past the second season in any solo game I've tried.

And yet it's so damn endearing and charming that I can't justify giving it any less. The fact that this game was made by one guy - yeah, I know, everyone harps on about that in their reviews, but that shit is MIND-blowing. I almost want to give it five stars for that fact alone, because one person creating everything in this game is such a struggle to comprehend.

As a side note, there's a great modding community for this game, including the well-known Stardew Valley Expanded which introduces entirely new characters, marriage candidates, and storylines.

Favourite Male Character: Sebastian
Favourite Female Character: Leah
First Character I Liked: Sebastian
Favourite Character Design: Caroline
Favourite OST: TBA
Least Favourite Character: Leah's ex

Keeping this one short, but this is the least scary FNAF game for me. Having only Springtrap as an antagonist was an alright move story-wise, but gameplay-wise it just means I found this a little too easy, especially once you work out that the Phantom animatronics can't harm you. The Phantoms just get annoying after a while, particularly because they can trigger one after the other, which means you're just kind of waiting with mild frustration for them to stop triggering so you can get back to gameplay after the ineffectual screams in your face.

Notable for it being the first physical appearance of William Afton, though, and as always I liked the additions to the lore.

I have pretty mixed feelings on this one. I still enjoy it, it was still fun to play through the first time, but by the end I was so burnt out on the repetitive missions. The character missions were fun, but to get to each one you have to first make your way through about 20 different "Go here and kill aliens", "Go here and kill aliens some more", "Go and hack something while killing aliens", "Go and protect your companion by killing aliens while they hack something". It was a serious chore.

Graphics aged fine, though they're not much better than Saints Row: The Third's already were. Soundtrack is good, but again a step down from The Third in my opinion.

The general tone is a little disconnected from what I like about the series. I liked that The Third was still somewhat grounded in reality and centering around gang wars and street crime etc., while IV is completely gone from all of that and is full sci-fi and aliens and spaceships and... it's fine, I can vibe with it, it's just not what I was into the series for.

Ultimately, it's decent fun to play through when I'm in the mood for it, but when I replay the series I tend to skip this one.

Favourite Male Character: Matt
Favourite Female Character: Asha
First Character I Liked: Pierce
Favourite Character Design: Matt
Favourite OST: TBA
Favourite Moment: Reuniting with Johnny
Least Favourite Character: Zinyak

It's hard to get a full, active lobby going online with strangers in 2023 -- the game's popularity has definitely died a lot. However, if you can get a group of friends going (a full lobby of 10-15 is best) this is SO much fun.

Always worth playing a bit regardless because of how memetically impactful this game was (not many games have fundamentally changed language and slang like this one has), but otherwise it probably won't be engaging for long if you're just playing alone with strangers via the in-game chat.

I always end up going back to this whenever I find people willing to play it with me - it's funny, addictive, and charming.

Guilty pleasure-ass game.

I've been playing this since I was... 14? Which you'd think would mean I'm pretty far into it, but you'd be wrong because I had zero commitment and kept getting a few chapters in and then abandoning it before coming back on a fresh account. A couple of years ago I decided to actually get stuck in and try to finish it so I could move onto the sequels (which look genuinely kinda interesting and have some really cool character designs going on), and the QoL updates it's gotten since I last played are great.

The sprites and art were all updated and animated, translation was improved, and the one I most appreciated - the Action Points have been changed so you no longer use up AP by moving room to room, but per dialogue choice. I've seen a lot of people complaining about that and asking them to bring back the previous system, which genuinely surprises me because this means I've been using up way less - before I'd find myself going from room to room and back again in repetitive cycles because the characters weren't appearing in locations until a few tries in, whereas now I can wander around as much as I want and not have to worry about unlucky RNG fucking me over and using up my points.

The first few episodes are really rough - immature writing, cliches, wonky dialogue - but it really improves the deeper into the game you get. I'm around Episode 31 now and I've been genuinely enjoying it. Having to log in to get the free daily APs and coins is a bit of a pain, but it takes a couple of minutes max and within a month you'll have about 600 AP which, along with the fact that most episodes give you a bonus amount at the start to keep you going, should be enough to clear a full episode or two each time which works for me.

Castiel is my favourite, predictably, and always has been, but I think once I get to the sequel I'll really like Priya's route too.

Favourite Male Character: Castiel
Favourite Female Character: Kim, though Priya might take it once I get to the sequel
First Character I Liked: Castiel - if I remember correctly he's why I became interested in the first place
Favourite Character Design: Kim
Least Favourite Character: Capucine

GRAPHICS: Gorgeous, obviously. Do these need to be commented on? It's well-known to be one of the most graphically beautiful and detailed games ever made, and it holds up as such to this day.
CHARACTERS: Arthur is widely regarded as one of the best video game characters of all time, and for the most part I have to concur. I'm a John Marston kind of guy myself, but I grew to love Arthur more than I ever could've expected, and he and his writing and development certainly deserve the love and praise they received. I could write you an essay on how vital and important it was for RDR2's protagonist to be a gentle, fundamentally kind-hearted and artistic man in a world of game protagonists who take pride in being violent and "gritty" and apathetic. I loved all of the other characters, too, with some obvious meant-to-be-hated exceptions -- personal favourites are Sean MacGuire and his Irish charm, Karen Jones and her shamelessness, Hosea Matthews and his wise wit, and (a less popular pick) Molly O'Shea and her very overlooked tragedy.
VOICE ACTING/DIALOGUE: Great, charming, witty -- can't think of any duds in the major cast.
PLOT: Takes a while to get going, but God when it does it blows you away. There's a reason this game had a lot of grown adult gamers crying.
GAMEPLAY: I had far fewer issues with this than others did. I'm accustomed to the sort of clunky RDR style of movement -- sure, sometimes I would try to turn and fall flat on my face over a small stone on the ground instead, but honestly that just added to the hilarity at times -- and I had no particular problem with the slow realism of looting, skinning, opening cupboards, etc. I found it appropriately weighted and immersive.
MULTIPLAYER: There is an online mode to the game, but I haven't dabbled in it much myself. I hear it's not as active or well-maintained as GTA online (obviously), but from what I've seen of others playing it in videos and such it seemed much the same as single-player, just with more chaos. I seem to recall there is something of an Online mode storyline/'campaign' as well for those interested.

Favourite Male Character: Sean
Favourite Female Character: Molly
First Character I Liked: John
Favourite Character Design: Molly
Favourite OST: That's The Way It Is
Favourite Scene: The gang approaching Braithwaite Manor
Least Favourite Character: Micah

Definite significant downgrade from the first game, and I have pretty mixed feelings looking back on it, but certainly not unenjoyable at the time or for my first run-through. It didn't single-handedly discourage me from continuing with the series afterwards, so it can't have been that bad.

I was genuinely attached to several of the characters here, and though I know others didn't struggle as much with it, I was completely torn on the Kenny vs. Jane choice. To this day, a decade later, whenever I replay this I have to have a save file for each of them, because I just can't figure out which one I like better or even which one I'd personally go with.

The 400 Days characters were utterly wasted, which is a shame. I recall Telltale hyping up that the DLC would be a bridge between Seasons One and Two and that the characters would be reappearing in the sequel's plot, and then... with the exception of Bonnie, who was my least favourite 400 Days character anyway, they make cursory two-second appearances to deliver one line of dialogue in the background (if that). They could've done a lot more.

I think one of the major reasons I'm not so big on this one is that I don't really like playing as child protagonists, and I never really had that intense attachment to Clementine in Season One that a lot of other players did - still like her, still actively protect her, but nowhere near the degree I see from the fanbase as a whole. If you felt differently or you don't mind a smaller/younger protagonist, then you'll probably enjoy it more than I did.

(Sidenote I include with all Telltale reviews: Telltale's games often get a bad rap for having your choices not influence the story, but to me this misses the point of what they do. Variant endings are a nice bonus in games, and I enjoy them when they do pop up in Telltale's stories, but for the most part your choices aren't here to change where you go. They're there to change how you get there, who you are when you get there, and often who you get there with. They influence and change your relationships with the characters around you. The joy of replaying these games is to experience the different dialogue, the different reactions to you, the different routes you can take on the way, the different bonds you can evolve with people - not to have a wildly different ending. I think this aspect is overhated and sadly misunderstood by a lot of players, so if huge, game-changing differences are what you're looking for, I'd temper your expectations.)

Favourite Male Character: Luke
Favourite Female Character: Sarah
First Character I Liked: If Omid doesn't count, Nick
Favourite Character Design: Luke
Favourite Moment: Reaching the cabin and reuniting with Kenny
Favourite OST: In the Pines
Least Favourite Character: Carver and Tavia

It's been a while, but I remember really loving this. There were a few points that I don't think were explained well, unless I really just wasn't paying attention - e.g. Cole's affair with Elsa being revealed, which I initially thought he was being framed for and was both confused and frustrated about why he was just accepting being fired over it. I also think it's silly to set that up as a reveal when the game never bothered to show us Cole's wife and family, or even really mention them, so there was zero investment in that relationship.

Aside from that, though, I loved the atmosphere, the characters were interesting, most of the twists were engaging, and I actually had a lot of fun with the gameplay and the cases themselves. Even when it did get repetitive, I found it a pretty enjoyable little routine to fall into until the next plot swerve occurred.

I'll need to replay this someday to get a clearer and more up-to-date impression of it, so watch this space.

It's a lot of fun with friends. I've virtually never been able to play a full 4-player game because our schedules are always clashing, but hopefully I'll be able to experience that soon because it seems like that would be where the peak fun is.

It's a bummer that the game only has 5 boards, less than even the games that came out 20 years ago, so they get a little repetitive if you play the game often, but fortunately I only hop on when playing with friends and it helps that no two rounds of Mario Party are exactly the same.

The minigames could be a little more spread out (if I remember correctly, there's 60-something from the N64 vs. 40-something from all 7 other games), but what is there is a good, pretty varied selection that I generally enjoy the majority of.

GRAPHICS: Perfectly fine. Nothing breathtaking (although the cityscapes at night with all the neon lights flashing are gorgeous), but there's nothing wrong with them. If you're the type of person who would get more enjoyment from more modernised graphics, then there's a remastered version I haven't tried yet but hope to get around to that I'd suggest going for.
CHARACTERS: A genuinely endearing and funny group. Most are returning characters from the previous games, but there are some new faces thrown in there that add some more variety too. Shaundi is very different from her SR2 counterpart, which is explained in-game, but some players still dislike that change.
DIALOGUE/VOICE ACTING: The voice acting is great. The protagonist's voice options are all varied and each of them has distinctly different responses and personality traits, which adds some pretty neat replay value. Pierce is also a stand-out for me. The game managed to make me genuinely connect with my custom character to the point I liked him more than the actual NPCs.
PLOT: Technically carrying on from the previous games, but it's pretty easy to jump into with this as your first and follow along, you'll just miss some references. It's still grounded in crime and gangs, which I vastly prefer to SR4's more bonkers sci-fi stuff. Some of the scripted moments are genuinely amazing, and the only mission I'd say sticks out as unengaging or annoying is the zombie horde one, which is unavoidable and something I dread getting to every time I replay.
GAMEPLAY: Holds up VERY well for a game from 2011. I found the combat and gunplay smooth and coherent, and movement works fine for me. I didn't experience any clunkiness or any mechanic that felt like it unfairly affected my chances at succeeding or winning encounters etc.
MULTIPLAYER: I've only briefly played it, but you can go through the campaign in co-op mode. Only the host's character will appear in cutscenes which is a bit of a bummer, but it works fine as some fun with friends.

Favourite Male Character: Aside from the Boss, Matt
Favourite Female Character: Kinzie
First Character I Liked: Pierce
Favourite Character Design: Matt
Favourite OST: TBA
Favourite Scene: It's gotta be the obvious one - parachuting onto the skyscraper into a big gang fight while Kanye West's POWER blasts. Genuinely some of the most fun I've ever had in a video game
Least Favourite Character: Killbane could've been a much more engaging villain - imo they should've done more with Loren and the Deckers in exchange for less Killbane

To get the negatives out of the way, the things that keep me from rating it higher would be:
- The tedious and drawn-out podcast ending; genuinely, who thought that was the way to go?
- The weird and abrupt halt to the Ryan romance plotline, where you can build up a relationship with Dylan or Kaitlyn (especially Dylan) and then suddenly no matter what your choices he says "maybe neither" in favour of having a weird flirtation with Laura, who already has a boyfriend serving as her entire motivation.
- Shooting could be a little janky at times, though it only caused me issues once; almost at the end, in the final confrontation in the cabin, Kaitlyn ended up dying because the game didn't register that I shot the werewolf even though I did. Wasn't a huge deal because I have the Deluxe Edition so I used a rewind, but for someone who doesn't have that available on first playthrough it could be super frustrating.
- Some characters didn't get enough screentime, particularly Nick and Max.
- The werewolves just looked like the wendigo from Until Dawn. No idea if that was a budget/reusing assets thing or what, but there's no way they didn't notice they were essentially using identical models. I want to see actual werewolves, damnit.

That said, I actually really enjoyed this. I connected with the characters much more in this than Until Dawn, where my strongest feelings towards any protagonist were "they're fine" ranging to "vague annoyance". I felt genuinely invested in keeping my favourites alive - hell, I actually had favourites! - and that made it so much more tense and high-stakes. The graphics are gorgeous, the story was fun and campy, and the soundtrack was enjoyable.

Favourite Male Character: Nick, Dylan
Favourite Female Character: Kaitlyn
First Character I Liked: Kaitlyn
Favourite Character Design: Ryan
Favourite OST: TBA
Favourite scene: I thought Dylan and Ryan's campfire kiss was genuinely sweet
Least Favourite Character: Constance

I think Until Dawn is overrated and I personally greatly prefer The Quarry both in terms of characters and gameplay, but it is still massively superior to all of the Dark Pictures Anthology installments.

The characters are shallow and stereotypical, but the game doesn't really pretend they're anything deeper than that - it's a campy B-movie "dumb teens stuck in a cabin" horror, and they all serve their purposes fine. You'll probably enjoy some and dislike others, which adds some nice stakes in who you're trying hardest to keep alive.

I think the "it has so many endings!" note is overblown considering all of those 'endings' are just the same ending with different combinations of characters alive at the end and thus slightly different people having lines to say in the police interview montage at the end. For that reason, I wouldn't really expend too much energy on trying to get multiple endings unless you want to 100% it or you messed up first run and want to try an 'everyone survives' playthrough for the sake of it.

Graphics are nice, and were very impressive at the time, but the facial expressions are janky to the point of unintentional hilarity (characters will smile and have it look more like a pained grimace, with Jess and Emily specifically coming to mind here).

Still, it's fun for what it is. Just don't take it too seriously.

Favourite Male Character: Josh
Favourite Female Character: Beth
First Character I Liked: Beth
Favourite Character Design: Beth (I'm seeing a pattern)
Favourite OST: TBA
Favourite Scene: The cabin explosion at the end with the helicopter flying over the survivors (especially in an 'everyone lives' playthrough)
Least Favourite Character: Ashley

Okay, keep in mind that this game is ridiculously expensive, and if I'd had to deal with that I'd never have gotten through it, but I... evaded that problem and would encourage you to do the same (the developers suck), so this is based on... not needing to acknowledge that.

I fucking love this game. The atmosphere and setting in this game is gorgeous, one of the most beautiful and engaging and - would it be weird to say delicious? - I've ever immersed myself in. I love the characters, both the major love interests and the surrounding background NPCs, protagonist and antagonist and somewhere in-between. Every route is magical and interesting and full of twists and turns, the world-building is fascinating, the tarot card implementation is incredibly interesting.

I created a character for each route and they're still some of my absolute favourite original characters I've ever come up with to this day. I go back through and replay this at least once every couple of years. Some route-specific thoughts:

Nadia: The first one I ever did, and I've played through both the Upright and Reversed endings. Her route was lovely, very romantic and well-paced, and I loved getting to know her sisters too (I really clicked with Nazali - I have their name as my username in some places!). The Upright ending left me with such a happy and light feeling, and the Reversed was deliciously twisted.
Asra: The second one I completed, and probably my least favourite. Asra never quite connected with me the way the other five did, and I have a lot of nitpicks about his character and the way he acts in certain routes, but a lot of people love this one so don't let me put you off it. Asra has the most history with the main character and it definitely shows through their deeper relationship from the beginning. His Upright ending was sweet and appropriately magical, and his Reversed ending was startlngly sinister (but oddly in-character; if I weren't so wimpy when it comes to less than happy endings, it might be my favourite version of his route).
Julian: My favourite of the original three routes. I cannot describe how much I love Julian's character, his backstory with the main character, the reveals that unfold in his route. His Upright is wonderful - I love some piratical found family - and God his Reversed is depressing. I could only bear to play through it once.
Lucio: My favourite after Julian, though I've only done his Reversed ending so far. I was absolutely delighted when he received a route, and it was my favourite thing while it was ongoing - it really clicked with my little autistic brain and I was incredibly excited every time a new update was released, I'd drop everything just to play through the chapter. His Reversed ending was everything I wanted - I'd written an entire fic that essentially hit every plot point beat-for-beat before it ever released and I was very proud of myself - and it's probably my favourite ending I've ever gotten in a visual novel.

I'll update this when I've played Lucio's Upright end and refreshed myself on Portia and Muriel's routes next replay.

Favourite Male Character: Lucio
Favourite Female Character: Nadia
First Character I LIked: Julian
Favourite Character Design: Julian or Nadia
Favourite Moment: Lucio's Reversed ending
Least Favourite Character: Valdemar, but I love them at the same time - they're an excellent character, they just scare the absolute bajeezus outta me

Honestly, this was shaping up to be a 3/5 - it's a step up from Man of Medan, and I like these games fine while I'm playing them. Just like MoM I felt no particular investment in any of the characters and it failed at creating that emotional connection (if I think about it no Supermassive game has ever done so until The Quarry), but this one had a pretty interesting concept, set partly during the Salem witch trials which isn't something I've seen delved into in a video game before despite its potential for horror. I was also pretty intrigued by the whole 'identical counterparts' and the intersection of Salem and modern-day plots going on.

And then the ending just... shits the bed so utterly. Like, so utterly that it retroactively brought my enjoyment of the game crashing to the ground and tainted every second that had come before it.

Why are we still doing this 'twist' in 2023? Why? It's tired, it's boring, it's uncreative, it's a cop-out, it's been done over and over and over. It's Cliche Twist #1. I genuinely didn't know anyone still did it unironically outside of edgy theories people think up about kids' media online.