Really fantastic game in what I thought was the final of the trilogy. Strongest of the Dark Pictures anthology for sure, I felt the choices were a lot more dynamic and much harder to make this time around. Me and my co-op partner were separated for a much greater portion than other games also making the experiences really different. The twist near the end with the vampires actually being another alien race was super interesting and I did not see it coming at all. And then they hit you with the fake ending and eclipse sequence which was also great.

Has a strong message at the end of the true ending about creating your own happiness without having to rely on someone else that I really try to adhere to my own life. Lots can happen and I strongly believe at the end of the day you need to make yourself happy (not that others can't help obv). As someone who grew up on the internet a lot of this really hits its hard to find yourself and create an identity the world is really fast paced and sometimes feels like life is hitting you all at once. The internet poisoned and always online aspects this game portrays like toxic parasocial relationships streamers have w their audience and vice versa are uncomfortably accurate to present time (Drama surrounding a vtuber only days old as I write this could have been taken line for line from the game). Reminded me a lot of Serial Experiment Lain with one of the overall themes warning about to much internet exposure, this shows in some of my favorite endings, There are no Angels, Internet Overdose, and Welcome to my Religion. Overall the experience is worth it if you know what you're getting into.

Date I finished my platinum trophy for this game and what a damn ride. Playing this was experiencing the 'souls' universe in a whole new light. It was so damn cool to just go adventure and find things all over the map with all the secrets, npcs, and dungeons. A lot of people complained about how many things were reused and yeah it does tire a bit at some point but I still had the urge to look through every nook and cranny I could find. Some absolute amazing bosses are in this game and I had a lot more fun with alternate playstyles than I usually do sticking to just strength. Dex and bleed is much more fun in this game than previously for me and sorcery/faith both have crazy cool spells. Some of the most interesting npc and questlines in souls game are here and it made me delve into the story more personally than I usually do in these games. I think the online aspects got kind of mucked here invasions being basically removed unless you are looking for it is pretty lame and how the areas are sanctioned off for co op makes it seem like it would be a huge pain to play with another person. That said some of the best messages I've ever seen and probably the first time that they have actually helped me so often. Fantastic game

Honestly pretty disappointed by this didn't go in with any expectations outside of loving the companies previous series Evil Within. I also love any game incorporating yokai in any large manner so it had a lot going for it from the start. But the game really just feels like any other open world game with the need to reach a certain area to scout out other places like AC. Collectables that boost your stats by extremely thin margins spread all throughout the map. The interactions with the yokai all end up giving you the same item making the all feel very slight differences to getting the same thing. Combat is decent but never really changes throughout the game is seriously lacking some kind of mobility option to make it more free-form, as it is you basically just shoot and wait till enemies come up to you so you can block. Lastly and the thing that made me stick with it is the art direction which is phenomenal like Evil Within. Blend of supernatural and modern environments they make some seriously cool scenes happen.

I played this over a really long period of time I fell in and out of enjoying it. I enjoyed the characters and interactions but the headspace story wasn't my favorite and it felt hard to grasp everything that was going on. I could tell that the story was going towards themes of healing and moving past trauma and that Sunny/Basil were the ones suffering the most and I was looking forward to seeing how they moved past it. As the story goes on you see the troubles all the other characters have and their past bonds had all been lost because of the death of Mari and they all spiraled downward and drifted apart in their own way. So then you want to see all of the characters heal and in reality you see this happen a little with Kel/Aubrey/Hero but no one had fully moved on because they still needed to help Basil and Sunny. Then the ending comes with a crushing reveal of the truth of the accident that tore them apart and that by revealing this truth Basil and Sunny could move on and begin to heal. But none of that is shown you never see if the truth is accepted and if things look up so you just end on this soul crushing realization of what happened (which turned out to be worse than I thought) and it leaves off with such a depressing end. I enjoyed playing this game a lot throughout but feel the ending just destroys you and leaves you depressed with no positivity at all with this being the good route.