Wow, I can’t believe it took me this long to play this game as a lifelong Mario fan.

The art style and pastel colour palette in this game is so beautiful, it’s easily the strongest out of any Mario game. There are some super cool levels, but overall, I definitely felt like they dragged on a bit at times. The gameplay switch-up from the regular 2D Mario gameplay was certainly interesting and added a new dynamic, but it made some gameplay moments super frustrating. Taking damage so easily and having the game sending you flying off the map and Baby Mario off-screen in another direction, happened too many times to count. But overall I really enjoyed it and the final boss was an all time favourite for me.

A very solid Mario game, and It’s awesome to see the newer games like Super Mario Bros. Wonder take a page from this game in terms of visual identity.

Animal Well kinda took me by surprise, what I thought would be a short little metroidvania turned into something more vast than I ever could have imagined. There are so many secrets and hidden areas to discover. Even after collecting all 64 eggs and getting all the secret bunnies, I find out there’s even more that I’ve missed. Plus, I’m sure there are still more hidden secrets out there yet to be discovered. It’s clear how much thought and time went into making this game and It’s hard to believe this game was made by only one person. That, plus the fact this whole game is a measly 30MB, absolutely blows my mind.

Off the rip, I appreciate that you’re immediately thrown into this world with no tutorial and forces you to figure out how this game works. It made exploration a blast and gave you a real sense of discoverability. The use of colour in this game is simply astonishing. Neon pixel art paired with dynamic lighting completely immerses you in this dark and mysterious world. Additionally, the fluid dynamics and physics are outstanding. As enemies disappear and blocks get blown away by TNT, the wisps of smoke left behind lingers ever so beautifully. I’ve never seen better smoke effects than in this game.

The puzzles in this game were super engaging and made good use of the tools you find along the way. Instead of the usual attack, bomb and double jump in your standard metroidvania; you are instead treated to the yoyo, slinky, and bubble wand. Each expanding your moveset and allowing you to unlock even more of the ever growing map. I never felt stuck as there was always somewhere else to explore and by the post-game, there were countless rooms that I felt I exhausted everything it had to offer until I found a new tool.

Slowly pulling back layer by layer, this truly is the lasagna of gaming.

Thank you Animal Well.

The only thing holding me back from giving this game a higher rating is due to this being in early access, so some features are obviously missing. But with that being said though, this is a fantastic follow up to Hades and the framework is definitely there.

As per usual, Supergiant has crushed both the character and world design. The soundtrack is stellar and even more incorporated into the game with the second boss and the combat is as buttery smooth as ever. Having not only one but two paths was also a welcome surprise and I absolutely love the environments they incorporated.

I am curious to see how the story will play out though because as is, It feels like it’s about 75% of the way there but sort of ends abruptly once clearing for the first time. So besides that and a few balancing issues, I know we’re in good hands. Overall, I’m excited to see how this game fully evolves as we get closer to a final build!

Had a lot of fun with Stellar Blade and I'm currently going through NG+ for the plat. The game has very clear strengths as well as weaknesses. Overall though I'm pretty surprised by how well made it is.

It goes without saying that the most fun part about Stellar Blade is its combat and while it falls short to something like Sekiro, it is still damn good. You get sick ass moves with Combo Attacks, Beta and Burst skills that will not only make you look cool but also do hella damage. Some of these can even cancel out annoying moves or strings, really useful against bosses. The defensive options like Perfect Parrying and Dodging feel very nice too even though I suck at dodging the yellow attacks. You also get access to follow-up attacks when you land these, making it even more satisfying. Also having a dash that basically teleports you to the enemy is convenient if you wanna close the gap and be aggressive.

The Naytiba's have great looking designs and there's a hefty amount of them so you never really get bored fighting these enemies. Boss fights are solid and I'm glad they were because I got hooked on the demo, fighting the Boss Challenge over and over again. Unfortunately didn't get a no damage run but the Stalker fight gave me hope for what's to come and majority of the bosses in the full game actually did deliver.

Paired with an exceptional soundtrack that could very well be the best one this year, it is a fire recipe they have here. Not a single bad track in the entire game and the list has a ton of range too, keeping it refreshing. It also made exploring so much more enjoyable especially since I was doing all the side content.

Oh yeah, the graphics are good.

And I almost forgot to mention but there wasn't enough sword surfing.. sad!

Now this is where it gets bad because while I really liked doing the side stuff, there are so many things that just drag down the experience. First of all, the fast travel and map. Why is it so annoying to get from Point A to Point B? There's just too many steps and when you have to backtrack constantly like it's a metroidvania or something but then you're also met with multiple loading screens, it's just terrible. You can't fast travel to every camp nor can you open the map and look at a different location, not to mention you only have an actual map for only half of the locations. Another thing I noticed when exploring is that there are lots of spots where it looks like you can make a jump or a climb but you literally can not. Is it designed this way to piss off the player? I don't know.

I haven't gotten to the story and characters yet but simply put, it is bland. The main trio of EVE, Adam and Lily have no synergy at all. I simply didn't care for any of them, or the rest of the cast but I guess at least Lily has some personality. EVE just has cool outfits and a ponytail so long it reaches her heel, so swag!

Despite all of that, majority of my time spent with Stellar Blade was fun and that's what matters the most in my humble opinion. Looking forward to the DLC with the Boss Rush mode so I can attempt some no damage runs. Anyways I'm giving it a 7.5/10.

Stellar Blade plays it pretty safe, it has taken inspiration from so many great things that it can be hard to be anything below mediocre (There will be many comparisons). But the things it does do right are amazing, resulting in a really enjoyable experience for me.

Combat is great and basically everything feels fast and satisfying. The parry system could do with a bit more work, but maybe this is just me wanting a clone of Sekiro's posture bar + deathblow system rather than the common mechanic of 'reach parry threshold for a critical blow to the health bar', which was also seen in Lies of P.

Beta skills and the other trees are very fun to use, The animation team at Shift Up cooked extremely hard. The downside is that Eve is so strong with her cool as fuck abilities that you can basically skip some bosses' combos, it can take away from the entire point of parrying in the first place since you can just wail on them instead.

Dodging is also really satisfying, theres such a dynamic feel to every blink you pull off. The game also encourages you to do square and triangle combos to deal extra damage, but this can sometimes lock you into an animation that leaves you vulnerable. Its a nice touch and keeps you thinking about your inputs, rather than spamming the same button like in Sekiro. I do appreciate what its trying to accomplish, if I had to compare the combat its kind of like a mix of the Jedi games (abilities/parries), Lies of P (souls styled encounters/parry criticals), and Nier Automata (combos).

The gun is also a cool aspect of combat, it spices up some of the enemy encounters and levels that remind me of experiences from The Last of Us or Dead Space.

Movement and platforming is similar to how it worked in Jedi Fallen Order, wall running, double jumping and mid air dashing is what you'll be doing for most of the map traversal. I don't mind it at all and it gets the job done, nothing too special here but at least it isnt unbearably slow.

Visuals are great, a bit too many desert areas for my liking but aside from that it was all eye candy. High quality 2D iconography and modelling for individual assets, incredible lighting, colour direction, super dynamic cinematics and QTEs that put you right into the action (insane camera work). Character designs are great, Raven, Tachy, Orcal and ESPECIALLY Eve (I lost) with her many crazy outfits. The Naytiba designs are very interesting too, some pure nightmare fuel in that shit. Loved the inspiration from oceanic animals like octopi, land insects and mecha.

Music is unbelievable and might be the highlight for me, its absolutely my pick for best score of the year so far. Okabe - the Nier series composer, has done it again alongside Monaca sound studio. So many tracks in this game are bangers, with multiple different genres ranging from piano pieces to full EDM dubstep tracks (favourites being: Buzzsaw Slide, Karakuri's Theme, The Song of the Sirens, Belial's Theme, Hypertube Slide, and Tachy's Theme). The large amount of vocals used in the score push the themes of this game which I think is nice, its something the Nier series also does which makes sense.

Story is where the somewhat small cracks start to show, for the most part its predictable, some small twists I was surprised with but for the most part it was average. In this aspect it will stay in Nier's shadow, Eve could do with more of a personality rather than a sympathetic stoic who just wants to get her mission done, other characters just seem pretty barebones too. The side lore is quite good but nothing that helps the game stand out. Dialogue and writing is pretty basic. Side Missions were average at best, but didn't feel like a chore since some banger music was blasting and I could appreciate Eve's design at the same time. The voice acting (KR) can be pretty good at times within tense moments, especially Eve, Lily, Tachy and Raven, but aside from these few everyone else sounded kind of uninteresting and void of emotion.

Needs more of the Sonic tunnel grinding levels because that shit was sick as fuck!!

Overall I enjoyed my time, don't listen to the braindead controversy and form your own opinions by playing :)

Just as impressive as the first game, but it didn't charm me as much as the original. With that being said, it was still a great experience.

This game is still haunting and disgusting as ever. There are some things my eyes cannot un-see. The pixel art is somehow even better than the first game and really pushes the limits of how painterly pixel art can be. The inclusion of two new weapons was fun to experiment with and adds some interesting platforming sequences, although I wish they explored the platforming even more because the new movement upgrades like Double Jump and Mid-Air Dash makes traversal much more satisfying than the first game. All the bosses were all fucking amazing (besides the final boss) and really made me go into nerd neck mode as I kept getting my ass beat.

The change from pixel art to animated cutscenes can be a little jarring at first but that's something that didn't bother me as much as I played the game more. This time around, I did try to 100% the game but it gets to a point where I'm not trying to refer to a guide for hours to find these little babies in floating capsules. I wish this game marked more things on the map after you discover them, maybe then I would go for the 100%.

Overall, great metroidvania. Highly recommend.

This game truly feels like a culmination and celebration of every single Yakuza game to come before it. I can’t express how much I love these characters. Ichiban and Kiryu are, quite simply, the perfect protagonists. Taking a trip down memory lane with Kiryu and seeing all of the people he’s affected throughout his life was such a special experience and had me on the verge of tears multiple times. Ichiban has once again proven how much of an amazing protagonist he is. The Like a Dragon series is in the right hands. As Kiryu said “I'll take on the Yakuza's past. But you... I want you to handle their future.”

I wasn’t as huge on the story in this game compared to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which felt way more personal. Overall, it had much better pacing and a more compelling villain. Everything else though? Unmatched. The combat in this game is spectacular. It takes what was built previously in Yakuza: Like a Dragon and expands on it tenfold. Simply being able to move opens so many more opportunities for dealing with different enemies. Whether it be combos, weapons, or lineups; it lets you be more tactical with your moves. The amount of jobs to choose from adds even more crazy and outlandish attacks that had me dying when I first used them. I literally cooked these Japanese men in a giant wok and then served them on a plate as a move. What other game is doing this? Also, being able to say “fuck this” and break free of the turn-based shackles as Kiryu with Dragons Resurgence is S-tier.

This series holds a special place in my heart and I know whatever RGG cooks up next is going to absolutely destroy me.

It has Koromaru, therefore it's peak. I haven't played any other versions of Persona 3 so I'm glad I finally got to experience it after all these years.

Loved the story overall, especially the ending.. it was beautiful and left me very satisfied. Everything else was also on par, from the characters, to the voice acting, to the visuals, to the music, to the combat. It's consistently great throughout the entire game. It is also worth mentioning the UI because they most definitely cooked.

I had the most fun in Tartarus, grinding away, searching every corner for chests and fighting EVERY shadow I spot. I tried using all the characters and everyone felt strong which was really nice because I often tend to use the same party members in these types of games. I played 99% of the game with Direct Commands on because the one time I changed it to Act Freely, I didn't like it. Having controls over your party is just convenient, especially with the addition of Theurgy, which is basically your ultimate ability that you charge up over time and does crazy damage, heals your party or sometimes even buff them.

I will be running it back with another playthrough so I can get all of the achievements and I can't wait to go through Tartarus all over again with the SEES squad.

KOROMARUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!