Damn, this was some trippy shit. People have made comparisons to Twin Peaks or The X-Files (I can only vouch for the latter currently). Despite this, I was still very engrossed in the story. Jesse is one of my favorite female protagonists in recent years. All the abilities you learn really add to the exploration and combat. I've always been a sucker for psychokinesis, and getting to pick up and destroy everything around you is so satisfying. I couldn't help thinking of Luigi's Mansion 3 in a way (though, it's arguably more impressive there since the Switch is less powerful). It's also extremely gorgeous to look at. It makes me hate that Sony removed Facebook functionality. I have a lot of pictures saved.

As you can tell by the rating, it's not perfect. The difficulty can be very cheap at times. Certain enemies can take out huge chunks of your health and you'll have little time to recover. You could just want to explore, then a barrage of them will spawn in a room. One boss fight was so annoying, I ended up turning on immortality. The final moments feel pretty anti-climactic compared to what came before, but it leave things open-ended for a possible sequel (plus, I still got the DLC to play). There are notable framerate issues either from all the action onscreen or simply un-pausing the game. I figured it was just on consoles, but even the PC version does it. I didn't think that was possible.

And my biggest gripe, the map sucks ASS!!! Sure, it will highlight your next location, but it doesn't take into account whether there's a locked door or some kind of debris in the way. I had to look up walkthroughs on occasion because of it. Metroid got it right in 1994, so what's the excuse here? Regardless, I really enjoyed this one. I look forward to more from Remedy. Praying that the next game is Alan Wake 2.

A near perfect gem! Unlike Breath of the Wild (which it's been compared to), its flaws are a little harder to ignore. Jumping and climbing never felt quite right, the character animations can be janky (at least in the base game. They were improved a bit in Frozen Wilds), some NPCs are rather flat, and the melee combat is...there. The option of overriding the machines was sadly undercooked as well.

Everything else was amazing though!! I love all the different ways you can kill your enemies. Your focus allowing you to scan for any weaknesses and also read up on people from the past. I was so caught up in the lore, I did just about everything. I only require five remaining Blazing Sun medals. I only did a little bit of Frozen Wilds, yet I still made sure to get every artifact. The environments are absolutely gorgeous. I learned from The Completionist that the areas were based on Colorado and Utah. Having visited the former, yeah that's about right. Finally, Aloy is one of my favorite protagonists in recent years. A great arc combined with a fantastic performance by Ashly Burch.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming sequel. The comic sounds promising too.