This improves on the first game in every conceivable way. The writing, characters, story, everything is better, leaving a much bigger impression than before. One handy addition is that your companions, outside of your little brother, each have a unique ability to help you navigate through the various puzzles and enemies. The puzzles and areas themselves have been improved upon, requiring more trial and error to figure out how to get through and survive. Although, I did have to resort to using the Photo Mode as a way to scout the area to figure out where I actually needed to aim towards in the first place.

Well, this was a weird experience. At its core, there are three elements to the game. First is the third-person shooter element where you use the powers of time to zip around the area, freezing enemies as you stack bullets into a satisfying collective shot. Second is the episodic nature with a single dilemma at the end of each, with a little preview of the consequences of each choice before making it. The third is the live-action TV show, where the content is based on how you chose to get through the previous dilemma while making a few minor tweaks if you got all the collectables in that section. While the live-action part is quite cool, seeing the character being played by their actual actors, they go on for far too long. So much so that there were times I had to remind myself that I was playing a game.

The art style is truly captivating, taking inspiration from Tim Burton to give a dark feel that looks hand-crafted. This is countered by the narrator's comedic flourishes sprinkled across the story. I enjoyed the premise of the world, where everything is decided by "random" chance, even where people live. The action-based combat is fun, with fluid action that's broken up by throwing Dicey, your dice companion. In doing so, time is stopped and you select random cards from your deck to help you in battle. My only gripe is that while there is an in-game map, it doesn't tell you your exact location, just the general area you're in. I was truly lost in the world of Random, and I loved it.

After my disappointment with the first game, I was hoping for the sequel to offer some redemption for the series. While it improves on the formula somewhat, it's largely the same experience. You still find yourself using stealth most of the time, but at least there's some good environment manipulation while doing the main story. The "open-world" aspect is fine but mostly just an extra chore to get around. One improvement I did like is having separate resources to upgrade the main character's abilities and weapons.

2022

While the game is very short, there are a lot of fun places to explore packed into it. Simply playing as a cat broadens your horizons on where you can go and what you can climb. However, because of all the options and everything looking very similar, it can be hard to know which way to go. You develop a bond with your robot companion, but it would have been nice if it had a voice, especially as all the dialogue is delivered through it.

You can feel that Square was trying out different things to find a formula that works for them. They've returned to a traditional levelling system but adopted a Job system. As you gradually unlock new Jobs, you can swap them out on the fly outside of combat. This can lead to some creative team compositions, but the game isn't equipped to allow you to roll with your favourites. Some dungeons and bosses require very specific jobs to make them possible without over-levelling, removing the freedom it's supposed to be giving you. Even then, you may find that you'll need to grind character and job levels to pass certain roadblocks. The characters have also taken a backstep, reverting to faceless heroes with no individuality or personality. Rather than using MP, the spells use a spell slot mechanic similar to Dungeons & Dragons where spells like Cure or Fire will use a limited but growing pool of Level 1 slots. However, unlike D&D, you can't use higher slots to cast lower spells. So you couldn't use a Level 2 slot to cast Cure because it's a Level 1 spell. Overall, it has some great ideas but poorly executes them, feeling like a backstep when compared to its predecessor.

It's a real shot of nostalgia when games were much simpler. The biggest shift between I & II is that rather than levelling up traditionally, the game adopts the Bethesda style. As such, the progression is where you get better at doing something the more you do it. For example, you'll do better with Swords the more you attack with a Sword, and your max HP goes up the more you are damaged. There are times when it's not super clear where you have to go and you'll be treading over old ground multiple times. It was because of this that I ended up always over-levelled for the bosses, so never struggled in a fight.

I must say, no game I have ever played has subverted my expectations as much as this has and that's despite its very short runtime. It's delightful and very chill. My only real complaint is that if you want to listen to everything the charming narrator has to say, you'll be standing around doing nothing for a long time. My takeaway from the whole experience is that I will never underappreciate buckets ever again.

While it borrows themes from the Persona and mainline SMT games, it never manages to get close to those heights. When the most interesting thing is the protagonist's jacket, you know you've got problems. One saving grace is that this protagonist speaks, and the party is old enough to drink a beer. While the main story is pretty good, you'll be forced to grind to stand a chance at progressing. The grind itself isn't fun, even with the 3 sets of side objectives to help. All in all, it will scratch that turn-based RPG itch if you've played through all the good ones.

Truly a celebration of all things PlayStation, showcasing a wide variety of hardware and games throughout the years. There's a lot of charm in the little robots, especially when they are re-enacting scenes from some popular games of old. This is what I imagine it would be like if there was a PlayStation theme park. On a technical level, this demonstrates in a major way what the DualSense controller is capable of when a developer puts their mind to it. Some have been utilised in games that came after but none have done it to this extent. Feeling every drop of rain hitting your character through the controller is a surreal feeling. What's not to love, it's free, cute, short and impressive.

Going into this I was expecting a lot of environment manipulation designed to make you question what's real or not and if you saw something in the corner of your eye. Instead what I got was a stealth-heavy game with "zombies". The story wasn't very compelling, which goes nicely with the bland, uninteresting characters. Far too much wasn't explained, leaving you to wonder if certain things were an afterthought. The main character has a serious case of "how did that not kill you?". In the end, I wanted more of the Horror and less of the Survival.

I enjoyed this way more than I expected to. The empty streets of Tokyo are very creepy, not to mention the headless schoolgirls and faceless suits that are oddly attached to their umbrellas. I was a bit worried going in that the hand movements would be jarring but I ended up ignoring them in favour of the action unfolding on screen. My biggest criticism is that there isn't much enemy variety, you'll largely face different versions of 3 base enemies. Boss encounters are slightly different but for a game that digs into the occult and demons, there's a lot of room for things to get weird. Speaking of stuff getting weird, I was also hoping there would be more situations where the environment would warp or shift to mess with your mind outside of the odd set piece here and there.

The brutal difficulty of SMTV cannot be understated. You can't simply grind yourself through the game as each boss requires you to organise your team of Demons to cater to them. This is due to the Press Turn System which rewards you with extra turns if you hit an enemy's weakness. However, this works both ways, so you can't be complacent otherwise you'll find you've been destroyed before you even get a chance to look at them funny. Due to the difficulty spike each boss presents, progress can take a lot longer than you may like as you have to go away to acquire & fuse your Demons to get the desired team and strengthen them to even stand a chance. If you love JRPGs but feel they are too easy, then this is one to try. You'll have a hell of a time playing it to credits.

I've been longing for one of these since I finished the second one all those years ago, and overall, I had a blast. While the graphical upgrade is welcome, you do feel how much the Switch holds back its potential. It looks decent in handheld mode, but as soon as it's docked, it's stretched so much you start to see the stitches. The story revolves around the Infinity Stones and Thanos, which at this point feels a bit tiring and limiting. Your mission is always some form of "Retrieve the Infinity Stone" and you don't even get to use them. Despite all of that though, it's still the game Marvel's Avengers wishes it was.

I'm such a D&D fanboy that this game had its teeth in me from the get-go. There's no beating around the bush, this is a Borderlands game through and through and functions as a sequel to the D&D DLC from Borderlands 2. The only real differences are that you can equip an actual melee weapon and your grenade is swapped out with a spell. At the start of the game, you select a class, which functions similar to picking a character in the other games but they only come with one skill tree. This is because, after a point in the game, you can select a skill tree from another class and use them at the same time, resulting in some inventive combinations. My favourite part of the game is that the overworld is set up like a physical D&D table, with real-world props like a bottlecap being punched over to form a bridge over a river of soda.