All of the mainline Metroid games are about self improvement and overcoming your environment in some form or another, but Fusion is the first to directly tie that into its theme in a meaningful way. Stripped bare of all abilities, you play a Samus robbed of agency, as the game literalizes its structural shift of closed off mini-missions into a story of reclaiming autonomy. You're unprotected and bare, unable to take hits as you used to, and enemies reform right before you eyes. Your worst enemy is a version of Samus who has the strength you once did. A relentless Metroid hunter (not like you yourself were in Metroid 2) coming after the final metroid, Samus herself.

Much has been said about this game being far more linear than all the others, and it's true, but I think also slightly overstated. Yes, the maps are both compulsory and come with objective markers, but you stray very far from them into massive hidden areas and entire pathways pretty often. It's less consistently linear and more as if the game starts hyper linear, but becomes more and more like a proper Metroid game as Samus becomes more like herself. The stripped down protagonist, more relentless enemies, and closed off areas leads to the most claustrophobic and dangerous moment to moment gameplay yet. No longer can you comfortably tank all incoming damage, as even normal enemies can kill you pretty quickly if you're not careful, let alone bosses. You're vulnerable to both heat and cold, and the freezing weapon is forced to be tied to an expendable resource instead of your normal weapon. There's nothing quite as satisfying in the other Metroid games as getting the varia suit so the fucking freezing X blobs can't hurt you anymore.

I only really have one big issue with this game. Every Metroid game has overly cryptic hidden secrets, but this feels like the only one where solving those hidden bits are actually necessary to progress sometimes. The sequence after beating Nightmare is the worst at this, sticking you into a maze extending across sections with multiple seeming dead ends and arbitrary progression paths. Speaking of which, Nightmare itself kinda sucks too. It's easy enough to forgive when literally every other boss here more or less surpasses any of the other ones in any Metroid game though.

𝓬𝓻𝓾𝓮𝓵𝓽𝔂 𝓼𝓺𝓾𝓪𝓭 𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀


𝓒𝓡𝓤𝓔𝓛𝓣𝓨 𝓢𝓠𝓤𝓐𝓓 by 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖘𝖚𝖒𝖊𝖗 𝖘𝖔𝖋𝖙𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖘 🄶🄴🅃🅂 🄰🅆🄰🅈 with 🄰 🅆🄷🄾🄻🄴 🄻🄾🅃 🄾🄵 ˢʰⁱᵗ 🄹🅄🅂🅃 🄱🅈 🅅🄸🅁🅃🅄🄴 🄾🄵 🄸🅃🅂 คєรՇђєՇเς รєภรเ๒เɭเՇเєร. ₛᵢₘₚₗy ₜₕᵣₒwᵢₙg ₒᵤₜ wₒᵣdₛ ₗᵢₖₑ 🅲🆁🆈🅿🆃🅾🅲🆄🆁🆁🅴🅽🅲🆈 and l̶̦͍̖̪̂̄a̸̧͖͍̠̤̜͇̮̯̅̈́̈́̔ͅt̷̳͈̔̀̑̓̌͝ȅ̵̛̥̠̯̖̯̮̹̃̅͛̓̂ͅͅ ̵̪̜̹̏̆̃̂s̸̭̙̱̰̓̎̋̇͋̿́́͝t̷̥͔̤̰̻̥̱̪̝̄̊̇̉̓̌͜a̴̡̨͔̙̦͓̮̠̦̮̾̉̎̈́̕͝g̵̰̻̥̊̎͗̂̈́ẹ̷͉̼͉̠̲̪̰͑̈́͆̉̀̔̄͜ ̷̼̩̣̪̺̎̏͋͊ͅç̴̭͕̹̼̓̎̽͛̆̈̚͝a̶̡̟͖̫̫͙͙̤͖̾͂̉̄͒͛̌̓͘p̸͚̖̰̓̓̓̈́͛͋̎̏͠͠i̵̧̮͓̎͛̕ͅͅt̷̠͇͊́̒̃̽̃͌͗̊͒ą̷̝̹̥͇͖̫͖̭̉́̀̄͋́̌̏̕͜͠l̴̺̈́͐͒͋̾͑͊̈́͊̿i̷̧̞̹͗͆̓̆s̵̡͙̝̖̳̳̭͕͚̣͊̌̀̓̕m̷̧̉ seems to be enough to ֆǟȶɨֆʄʏ (っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ online video game critics ♥ 【ｔｈｅｓｅ　ｄａｙｓ．．．】! "𝙀𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚" is the 𝓒𝓞𝓦𝓐𝓡𝓓'𝓢 𝓒𝓛𝓘𝓒𝓗𝓔 𝓒𝓡𝓘𝓣𝓘𝓠𝓤𝓔 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕚𝕥 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕠 V⃣ I⃣ D⃣ E⃣ O⃣ G⃣ A⃣ M⃣ E⃣ R⃣ E⃣ V⃣ I⃣ E⃣ W⃣ S⃣, but I think ｃｒｕｅｌｔｙ░ｓｑｕａｄ（ゅヮ桜）, by [̲̅v][̲̅i][̲̅r][̲̅t][̲̅u][̲̅e] of its ιⓝşίˢᵗ乇ᑎς𝐄 on 𝓃𝑜𝓃-𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓂𝒾𝓉𝒶𝓁 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓉-𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓉-𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓉-𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓉-𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓉-𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓉-𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓉-𝓂𝑜𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓃 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟢𝓈 𝒾𝓇𝑜𝓃𝓎. truly đỖ𝕖Ⓢ ʏᎸɘb ᴎɘƚᎸo 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦-𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦. . . . . . . . ᶜᴬᴺ ʸᴼᵁ ᴵᴹᴬᴳᴵᴺᴱ ᴼᴾᴱᴺᴵᴺᴳ ⒺⓁⒺⒸⓉⓇⓄⓃⒾⒸ ⒼⒶⓂⒾⓃⒼ ⓂⓄⓃⓉⒽⓁⓎ OR 🅶🅰🅼🅴🆂🅼🅰🆂🆃🅴🆁 🅼🅰🅶🅰🆉🅸🅽🅴 αɳԃ ｒｅａｄｉｎｇ 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 about c̴̢̹͔̦͍̯̮͙̜̓̕r̸̦̭̮̼͉̲̒̈́u̴̫͉̞̓̅͌̓̾̚͠e̵̡̠̹̩̱̓̄͂͆́̾͜ļ̷͉͇̱̈́͝ť̵̨̺̗̹̪̑̚ỵ̷̰̥̥̼̈́ ̶̪̙̘͇́̉̉͗̑̇͊̄͌̕ş̶̠͕̭̈́̄͌q̸̧̤͋̎̈̑̈́̆̐̈́͌̿u̸̼̞̟̬̪̻̰̖̇͝a̴̢̞̻̹̩͌̍̅̅d̵̨̨̳̖͔̈̓͠?


🄶🅁🄰🄿🄷🄸🄲🅂0/10
🄶🄰🄼🄴🄿🄻🄰🅈6/10
🅂🄾🅄🄽🄳4/10
🅁🄴🄿🄻🄰🅈🄰🄱🄸🄻🄸🅃🅈7/10
🄾🅅🄴🅁🄰🄻🄻8/10

Started eliciting words like 'beautiful', 'meaningful' and 'hopeful' from my brain, before sliding down the classic indie game trap door of ending things with a lot of aggressive glitch shite and death imagery that holds as much significance to me as a child doodling wee graves and skulls on their school textbooks. "Oooh, made you grapple with the concept of mortality, did I??? ;) ;)" - yeah, sure, whatever. It's a lot easier to remind someone that they're dying than it is to make them see something beautiful in the life around them. Alternate ending where Bubsy went to the James Turrell exhibit and then had a nice coffee and a sandwich at the museum cafe, please! Maybe let us choose out a nice fridge magnet in the gift shop, too…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09MzaJVH5b4

If there's one thing creator Jonathan Blow is good at, it's rubbing gamers up the wrong way. It's quite evident he's an intellectual, and boy does he want you to know it.
At the heart of his games are some impeccably crafted puzzles - a simple mechanic that builds and builds to baffling, but logical, levels of complexity.
His previous title, Braid, made inventive use of time manipulation and platforming. It had at least the pretense of a comprehensible narrative, as well as a 'fun' painterly art style.
Years in the making, The Witness feels colder in every way. Between bouts of walking around an island reminiscent of Proteus or something made in Dreams, you spend most of your time on grid sheets, connecting the dots - although only in the literal sense, as any notion of a story is deeply muddled.
The puzzles soon become vastly complex, often to the point of alienating the player with a lack of guidance. No one would blame you for digging up the walkthrough every now and then, but it seems to be a game designed to leave for a while and then revisit over several months.
Vague and frustrating as it is, all the way to the end, the game keeps you coming back. The most intriguing feature is arguably the way the island's strange geography and shape reveal new puzzles, alongside some thought provoking imagery found in reflections, shadows and pathways - there's the sense that Blow has meticulously crafted the island with similar precision to Kubrick's Overlook Hotel in The Shining, to almost the same subliminal effect.
Overall, The Witness seems to walk a thin line between a decent puzzle game and a confrontational piece of interactive art. I would say that Braid is more successful as the former; and while I'm not in a rush to declare this game the latter, some of its puzzles have had a lasting effect. I sometimes lay in my bed, still trying to draw those lines in my head.

Journey really was the conceptual apotheosis of ThatGameCompany and everything the alumni have made since has been more or less a total dead end huh :( The few new ideas here (mmo-esque interactions and gacha game purchases) feel totally confused or spiritually incongruous w/ the intended vibe of playful communalism. "journey but in the clouds and you're like a toddler maybe" does not make for a very compelling new identity. Pretty but unsurprising, and so slight.

also as someone who has vibed considerably with the "graphically-stylized culturally ambiguous traveler(s) tenderly exploring the ancient ruins and uncovering lost secrets in glowy wall frescoes" genre: can we pls do something the fuck else

If Bowser's Fury was the initial hint that Nintendo have struggled to keep their production line on-track during the panny d, Super Rush is the outright confirmation. Uniquely fascinating in the sense that it's probably the most unpolished, uncharming and unfinished game Nintendo have ever put their seal of approval on; the UI would looks like it came from a McDonalds self-service kiosk and the characters in the story mode keep referring to game mechanics that don't exist, like sleeping to restore stamina and eating to get buffs. With Birdo repeatedly forcing you to go to bed in the middle of the day for no apparent reason, the Golf Adventure mode makes for a surreal experience - it's almost as if one of those dodgy mobile game developers who make Pokemon knockoffs somehow managed to get their hands on the real Super Mario IP and are now sharing their Early Access build with Kickstarters.

So how in the heck is this a 3-star game, I hear you ask?? Well, the golfing is still absolutely rock solid. Aside from committing the cardinal sin of removing the third tap from the holy three-tap trinity, there's nothing here I'd really change when it comes to good old-fashioned arcade golfing gameplay - it's all mechanically on par with Everybody's Golf at this point, if not better in some cases. The addition of the range/elevation finder is a neat little feature for golf math nerds, and ironically it feels a whole lot more important and worthwhile to the experience than the Super Rush gameplay gimmick they chose to slap on the game's title.

Super Rushing isn't outright terrible (Yoshi turns into an egg! Toad bounces on his head!!), but it does often feel like you're punctuating your shots with those moments from Breath of the Wild where you had to make Link jog-sprint-jog across an open field for 10 minutes while mindlessly balancing a stamina wheel. That you can't combine rushing and jumping feels like a ridiculously constrictive oversight, and I'm surprised that a free-roaming golf game with Super Mario in the title doesn't encourage players to do some fun platforming. Being able to track, analyse and anticipate your shot in-flight is pretty fundamental to a golf game, too - so it's a little disappointing that the main mode pushes you to just forget about all that and book it to the fairway instead.

On the whole, this isn't really worth the ridiculous £50 price tag that's been slapped on it - Everybody's Golf was a budget title for the PS4, and I feel like it had a ton more content, polish and character. That Nintendo feel comfortable putting out a kneecapped title like this at full price just goes to show how hard they're now dominating the marketplace, perhaps even at the expense at their own reputation for quality. Like with Monster Hunter Rise, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the development team are going to use DLC to bring the game up to version 1.0. A real sad thing to have to type.

Almost 20 years have passed since Metroid Fusion took the niche Metroid series for a turn with its more linear and atomspheric take on a Samus Aran mission. The series has always been one of the lesser known Nintendo franchises, so when a game like Metroid Dread is teased and mentioned in passing for several years, it creates a thick fog of mystery. I'm honestly shocked Metroid Dread is a real game, even when I was not a fan of the franchise I knew that this elusive title had been in development for many many years and had for some, become merely a dream. Well, props to Nintendo for giving Metroid a chance to shine again, and what a shine it was...

To say Metroid Dread is excellent would be the understatement of the year. It combines every aspect that makes the series great into a sprawling canvas of world, with enough combat encounters, exploration and atmosphere to last dozens of hours. I marveled at the detailed backgrounds, that offer some of the most unique and memorable vistas in the Metroid series to date.

The tutorial area by itself is so extensive and filled with secrets, it only teases the player with how much they will be exploring and experimenting with the mechanics. And oh, how they have improved on these mechanics. Every upgrade feels substantial and opens up a multitude of paths that lead to even more upgrades. This cycle of exploration and reward does not get old and the escalating challenge of the combat.

Metroid Dread was so fun, challenging and suspenseful. The EMMI encounters are terrifying, tense and designed to fulfill multiple strategies This exact same design philosophy is applied to the whole world, with sequence breaks all over, shortcuts and obstacles to overcome. Metroid Dread is the best game in the series, I haven't had this much fun with a game for a long time.

This is the best game on the Switch since launch. Play this ASAP.