(9/10)

After years of waiting I’ve finally played Elden Ring. Was really curious to see how From would tackle its more ambitious direction, but given their track record I expected nothing but excellence from this. And as figured they nailed it

I was initially worried that the move to an open world meant they would have to compromise on level design, but that wasn’t really the case here. Despite its vast and seamless world, the majority of it still has the same level of varied intricacy as the rest of their games. Like sprawling castles with detailed interiors and immense verticality, random caves you may stumble across that lead to massive underground systems, and of course plenty of unique bosses to fight.

That’s its biggest strength for me, the exploration. What sets it apart from many others is the complete lack of endless map markers or quests to focus on, rather just letting you get lost in a world with so much to see on the horizon that you can’t help but want to explore. And it rewards this curiosity by always having something worthwhile to find, whether it be useful items, boss encounters, or even paths to entire new areas. This also makes approaching difficult bosses a bit more manageable, as you can always just go somewhere else if you’re stuck and try again when you’re stronger.

And as a setting I loved The Lands Between. I’m not sure how much influence GRRM had over the world-building, but its mysterious lore is ever present all over and it’s wonderfully realized. It’s still as somber as From games have always been, but it also felt more grand given how open it is in comparison.

The only real gripe I had was the smaller catacombs you can find felt a bit too repetitive. Most of them look the same and some bosses are reused for them, basically serving as ER’s version of chalice dungeons which is eh. But I still enjoyed going through them so didn’t mind too much. Performance also seems… not great on most platforms, but I played the BC version on PS5 so was pretty much locked 60 for me. Hopefully they can iron its issues out for everything else.

But overall it’s yet another masterful game by From and now among my favorites. I’m excited to see where they go from here, cause it really did feel like a culmination of all their work up to now.

(5/10)

Despite skipping over an entire console gen, Volition managed to put out a Saints Row reboot that’s nearly indistinguishable from its predecessor from 11 years ago. It has the same clunky controls that’s still without a cover system, lackluster visuals with constant pop-in and similar janky physics, Santo Lleso is barren with next to nothing ever happening in it and NPCs that lack any reactivity (arguably worse than before since basic features like mugging and hold ups are missing), it has the same old mission design and repetitive side jobs, the same animations, etc. It would honestly be easy to mistake this for another entry from the 360/PS3 era and not something that released in 2022, though I suppose for some that might not be a bad thing if that’s what they wanted from it

This one follows a new crew of younger Saints as they form the gang from the ground up and take over. I guess the writing’s about on par with the others past SR2, which is to say it’s not good but doesn’t take itself seriously. The new characters were more like normal college friends than criminals who constantly shoot down waves of enemies and their dialogue was generally awkward, but they weren’t unlikable. The worst thing about the story is how it tries to build up a betrayal twist at the start which in no way was surprising and just rushes straight through it in the last 3 missions, but otherwise it’s fine and doesn’t take much time to finish at least

Basically those who liked SR3 (less so SR4 since it tones down the zaniness) and would just be satisfied with more of the same will probably get decent enjoyment out of this. But those who figured it would do anything more to set itself apart after all this time, well… it doesn’t. And the lack of polish in most areas, notable amount of bugs, and sheer lifelessness of its world bring it down further for me

2022

(9/10)

A lovely homage to the early Zelda games that’s well polished, and has its own unique spin on the top-down adventure that makes it stand out despite its influence.

The best way to describe it is vague. It doesn’t tell much of anything about itself, and it just sets you off without direction with only a stick to fight with. Then you’ll see the game’s text isn’t actually readable, and any information you’ll want to know about its mechanics or hints on what to do is found through missing pages of an old school instruction manual.

The manual is a neat concept since it’s still cryptic and you’ll have to pay close attention to its drawings to understand it. The level of detail in its visual design is both cool to look at and essential to navigating through the game’s areas and finding obscure secrets.

The art and ambient music are also wonderful, and the level design is excellent. There’s so many clever shortcuts and paths hidden in plain sight that can actually bypass much of the game in hindsight. Most of it isn’t gated either, so progression can just depend on if you know it’s there or not which was awesome.

Though combat isn’t really a highlight since it’s simplistic and kinda floaty, which doesn’t really match with how aggressive the bosses can be. And the other gripe I had was its final puzzle felt excessively obtuse to me on a mechanical level compared to the rest of the game. But overall was super impressed with Tunic.

I’ll readily admit I’m biased when it comes to Persona 3. FES is a game I hold very dearly, still remember first playing it a decade ago now and having no idea about Atlus games at the time. In a way it was even transformative for me in how much it helped grow my interest for anime/JRPGs in general, and one of the rare few games I feel leaves an emotional impact. So Persona 3 Reload, a genuine from the ground up remake for it and not just a basic port (like Portable’s recent release), is like a dream game I didn’t think we’d ever actually get until it was really announced last year. It’s not perfect of course, but the nostalgia and how strongly it still hit me is the same as ever

What it does well

- The most immediately striking improvement from the PS2 original is the presentation overhaul to Persona 5’s standards, bringing with it full scale character models with the very stylish art and UI that made P5 so dazzling. Here P3’s aesthetics have been beautifully updated and the menus are especially immaculate, never getting tiring to look at and browse through. While it can be argued the original’s moody atmosphere is diminished a bit with the new vibrant style, it still wholly fits the game’s somber tone to me

- A big change with Reload that I appreciated actually has to do with the English voice acting, as compared to FES and Portable there’s been an entire recast for the characters (barring one exception with Elizabeth). It’s fair to be apprehensive over this after being used to the original voices for so long, but I felt Reload’s cast did a fantastic job bringing new life to the characters and really making them their own. I’d even go so far as to say this is one of the best dubs Atlus has done, as not only are pretty much all the performances consistently excellent, this is also the first Persona game where every single side character and their Social Link events are fully voice acted! Something that really made a huge difference in how invested I’ve always been on spending time with them. It’s an impressive effort and I hope that’ll be the case for future Atlus games also

- As far as story goes, it’s faithful to the original with the major beats being unchanged, but there’s many new scenes added with better opportunities to bond with the characters now. The dorm feels more like a true home in Reload where you can just hang out and it helps attach you to them in a way that wasn’t quite as fleshed out before. A big omission in FES (the lack of any Social Links for male party members) was also addressed with Link Episodes, which are similar in that it gives them further development but instead ties their events to the story as you progress. They’re not quite the same as full Social Links like with Portable, but it’s a very appreciated change that felt natural and added a lot to their growth

- Tartarus has always been a divisive like it or hate it kind of thing with P3, and it’s more or less the same dungeon with literally over 200 generated floors to climb in Reload. That said it’s been improved with much larger scaled floors and QoL additions, it looks a lot better design wise, and they did add some nice improvements that made it less of a bore to get through like Monad doors (challenges to fight stronger enemies throughout). Combat now also takes directly from P5’s battle system and is basically identical, which gets no complaints from me. There’s party control with new mechanics like Shift (similar to Baton Pass) and Theurgy, it’s really stylish, and it’s much breezier to fight shadows and fly through floors than before which is pretty much all I wanted there. Merciless difficulty was pretty fun too, not very hard but not a joke either which is better than how they had it for P5 Royal, would recommend trying it if used to the combat in these games

- The music is fairly different having been fully remixed with Lotus Juice and a new singer Azumi Takahashi doing vocals, while also adding some original tracks as well. I’ve seen mixed opinions about the OST changes, but personally I got used to it quickly and still think it’s an incredible soundtrack. The new songs “Full Moon, Full Life”, “It’s Going Down Now” and “Color Your Night” are easily among my favorites in the series now too

What could be better

- Obviously Atlus made it clear with Reload they were only focused on remaking P3’s main game with the male protagonist, which means it doesn’t include both The Answer (an expanded epilogue introduced in FES) and the extensive route for the female protagonist that Portable introduced. It does still include smaller additions from both those versions such as Aigis’s Social Link or missing persons to save in Tartarus, but I can understand why people are let down by the major exclusions especially for the price, as without them you might as well say P3 still doesn’t have a true edition that brings all its content together. However as of now The Answer’s currently rumored to be made for Reload as DLC at a later date, so have to see how that pans out I suppose

- While I adore the presentation, there are a few odd quirks to its visuals. Most areas look nice and it even supports 4K/60 with ray tracing on PS5 which was a surprise to say the least, but some areas look sorta… off. Either with its strangely flat lighting (the dorm being an example) or being static to the point of seeming unintentional honestly (calling out Club Escapade in particular). Perhaps it’s due to budget or just cause it’s using Unreal Engine instead of P5’s proprietary one, but feel there could’ve been a bit more polish there

- I’m a bit mixed on cutscenes compared to FES. As rough as they were, the anime scenes did have a very cool grungy 2000s direction to them that made up for the graphics at the time. Instead Reload uses both new anime and in-engine cutscenes throughout similar to P5, which for the most part are fine (I actually like the in-engine ones quite a bit with how nice the 3D visuals are now), but the quality of the anime scenes take a hit in my opinion, more up to date with them being done by Wit Studio but also looking kinda bland in comparison. How they decided between one or the other for story moments is inconsistent also, why is the awakening scene done in-engine and not as anime for instance

- For Social Links the writing is one thing I wish was touched up on more. There’s some notable differences here and there (and thankfully made it so you aren’t forced to romance every girl to complete them), but overall it’s mostly the same and you can easily tell they’re the earliest iteration on the formula with the weaker Social Links still sticking out (Kenji for one). But as mentioned the voice acting elevates them nonetheless, and I still love particular ones like Akinari’s

- You’ll easily max out your social stats and unlock all the extra skills for party members with plenty of time to spare, which means you’ll probably be lost on stuff to do at night in the late months with still only 2 social links available the whole game. There’s a new computer with software to use, but eventually you’ll make full use of that also which basically just leaves Tartarus or stat building for Personas at the arcade. This was an issue with the other versions too and was hoping they would try to adjust it, but guess not

Overall

Despite some gripes I have, really couldn’t be happier this remake was made. As someone who’s played FES, Portable, and watched all the movies (even owning the box set lol), Reload genuinely felt like I was able to experience P3 for the first time again. It doesn’t try to change the original experience at its core and can be said it’s faithful to a fault, but it still develops into a story that remains the most emotionally resonant among the Persona games for me. Where it succeeds is how well it carries over that story to current standards for both new and old fans, doing just enough to expand on it and modernize the gameplay while maintaining why it’s so beloved. Even knowing how it comes together after all these years I was still greatly affected, and given that it remains one of the most meaningful I’ve played

(8/10)

I’ve always heard a lot about Ghost Trick but never got around to playing, but luckily with this remaster I figured I’d give it a shot now

Loved it, it’s a really great adventure game with an interesting mystery and a ton of charm. The puzzle gameplay (ghost tricks) can have a bit too much trial and error for my liking, but the story and likable characters kept me hooked and it comes together with a very cool ending. The music’s awesome too, they did a great job with the arranged tracks for the remaster especially. Well worth checking out

2022

(8/10)

Pros:
- Gorgeous art direction
- Adored its cyberpunk atmosphere and detailed environments, they did a great job nailing the intrigue of this world for the short time you spend in it
- The music and audio design are exceptionally good and really sell the whole vibe of this game. For me it’s definitely a solid pick for best OST this year
- You play as a cat which is cute! Movement was fluid to control, it’s well animated, and seeing the world from a ground perspective was refreshing
- The more open areas are surprisingly dense, there’s a lot of rooms to explore even if there’s not much to find aside for a few collectables
- There’s a meow button, you can scratch things, and knock over important stuff like real cats

Cons:
- This is not really a platformer since there’s no jump button and all the climbing is automated, you can’t fall. While that may be an intentional design choice, it does make the game feel a bit shallow and restrictive to traverse outside of the cool perspective
- There are enemies (basically headcrabs from Half-Life) that chase you and you need to avoid. It’s fine, but not really a highlight either. And the stealth sections of the second half I could’ve done without
- Minor bugs like getting stuck in furniture and having to reload, though checkpoints are frequent so wasn’t a big deal
- No photo mode 😭

(9/10)

Ubisoft’s best game in years! I had hopes I’d enjoy it a lot given this is by the team that made the exceptional Rayman Legends (a decade ago now oof), but this managed to surpass expectations even and as a Metroidvania it genuinely stands next to Hollow Knight and Ori as my favorites in the genre. Having fantastic combat and boss fights with strong focus on combos/parrying attacks, very fluid platforming controls and traversal powers with razor sharp challenges throughout, and great level design as you explore the large and varied map of Mount Qaf

There’s some minor gripes, had a few crashes and felt like the story it was telling was fine but nothing very noteworthy either aside for the characters just making for cool bosses. Also since backtracking could be frequent, I kinda wish fast travel was a bit less limited and let you move between save trees. But otherwise this was a joy to play and the 25 hours it took me to finish flew by (still have plenty leftover for 100% too)

(5/10)

It’s better than whatever Silent Hill: Ascension was at least (as low a bar as that could be), but still just… exists I guess. Another short “PT” style thing but focused on mental health and bullying through social media. It’s a genuine topic to explore for SH to its credit, but the execution is extremely heavy handed, and its poor dialogue and voice acting let it down further. From a gameplay standpoint the chase sequences were more annoying than anything also, especially the last one. While it’s free and takes just about 2 hours, I’d still hesitate to say it’s worth the time

(7/10)

So Starfield… everyone knows what this is and everyone knows how Bethesda RPGs usually turn out, so will just give thoughts on what their new IP supposedly “25 years in the making” does well and what it falls short on compared to their other games. I’ve done all the main and faction quests in my playthrough, and pretty much got my fill of it aside for NG+

First off since it’s likely to be the biggest point of contention about it for most, this isn’t much of an exploration game despite Todd’s unsurprisingly exaggerated marketing claims. In fact I’d even say that despite being set in space with “unparalleled freedom” to explore, this felt like the most constrained and segmented game Bethesda’s made so far. As unlike their previous titles, the gravitation toward just going out on your own and getting lost in their open world was very limited to me for a few reasons

For one there’s no actual overworld like in Elder Scrolls or Fallout, and space itself is not seamless like say No Man’s Sky. Planets you land on and space stations are broken up into hub areas, with central attention clearly going toward the various cities in the game. It may technically be true that there are over 1000 planets, but that’s pretty much meaningless to me as I’ve had little reason to ever venture away from the main systems. If you do decide to land on any procedurally generated planets that aren’t connected to quests, you’ll likely find little of interest on them other than sticking around for outpost building or resource gathering (both of wish I didn’t care for much)

You do own and control a ship which is cool, but it’s only used for dogfighting in zoned areas or docking onto stations. Thus you can’t actually use it to travel directly to planets without going into your starmap and selecting it in the menu. On land you also aren’t able to venture too far from your ship without hitting a map boundary, and obviously this means there are no land vehicles of any kind. Though this honestly didn’t come up enough to matter in my opinion

And on the topic of not being seamless, Bethesda’s made no advancement on limiting how frequent load screens are in their games. They’re still pretty much everywhere, from going into your ship to landing to just opening random small stores in the cities. It’s thankfully just a few seconds at least cause of the SSD, but would probably be unbearable otherwise. So sufficed to say it’s still very dated in this regard, and probably isn’t going to change as long as they stick with their everlasting Creation Engine

I guess a more accurate comparison for how this game actually is would be The Outer Worlds (albeit with a much bigger budget). I don’t exactly think this is a bad thing, but it’s also not really what it was advertised as either. Starfield’s universe tries to give off an impression of how vast in scale it is, but compared to before it ironically doesn’t feel anywhere near as sprawling

Having said all that, that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy my time with it. What it actually does well is different than I expected, it’s kinda as if their focus flipped entirely from exploration to just taking quests. The majority of time I spent was just in dialogue talking to characters in the city areas, which are generally well done and surprisingly dense with a lot of side content. The game does make a pretty poor first impression (the intro especially is not good and jarring in how quickly it pushes you from being some random miner to a member of Constellation), but did get sucked into the game the longer I played once I started focusing on faction questlines or the smaller side ones

There are caveats to this, for one Bethesda’s writing can still be hit or miss and quest design itself is still behind the likes of other RPGs. The main story is… eh, the ideas it has are cool but feel it goes by too quickly to really leave much of an impression. For most of it though I think they’ve improved especially compared to Fallout 4 which bored me to tears with its quests. The Settled Systems is fairly interesting and while the lore isn’t quite as extensive next to Elder Scrolls, it’s solid enough as a sci-fi setting. In regard to companions there’s only 4 main ones, but they’re definitely better than before also. Especially since there’s an affinity system and how they can talk about your decisions often, I mostly stuck with Andreja in my playthrough and she had comments for basically every quest I’ve done which was cool

Starfield is still combat heavy of course, but it’s decent. If you were fine with Fallout 4 then this is pretty close to that with a few improvements in mobility. You get a boost pack and can actually climb ledges which is nice, plus combat slides if you unlock it. Few issues though, not sure if it’s just busted right now but stealth felt pretty worthless. Enemies always seem to detect you regardless of your stealth level or equipment, which got especially annoying when doing stealth focused missions and you can’t avoid getting caught. In those cases I just stopped trying after having to reload a bunch of times

Aside for that, third person combat remains supremely janky to control for me so I only used it just to look at my character. The enemy AI is also as you’d figure if you’ve played their other games (not good), little improvement’s been made there. I also didn’t like how clunky it was to browse the inventory and encumbrance which I’ll forever hate as a mechanic

In regard to visuals Starfield is… mixed? In general it’s a pretty great looking game, the art design for most locations is pronounced and lighting is strong especially with interiors. There are a lot of NPCs walking around in the cities which is cool, but they aren’t exactly detailed either. And when you look at faces (which is very often), it has Oblivion energy with the exact same close up zoom and dead stares when talking to NPCs. It’s an odd thing to still have when even Skyrim didn’t, but I guess has nostalgic charm somewhat

It was said that Starfield’s their most polished game and that’s mostly true in my case, though only relative to their standards. On Series X it’s only 30 FPS and there’s still a fair amount of minor bugs throughout with occasional slowdowns in the city areas. But for the most part it’s fine and not as bad as it could get before

I guess that’s about it for now (this review’s already super long). Ultimately I wouldn’t really say Starfield lives up to the hype it’s built all these years, as it still feels like not enough’s evolved with Bethesda’s formula compared to Fallout 4 almost a decade ago, which holds it back from impressing me more along with its general flaws. That said I did enjoy it more than F4 overall, and if you go in knowing what to expect it can still grab you if you let it, seeing as how I’ve managed to put in over 50 hours already lol

(7/10)

For me the allure of Zero Dawn as a new IP was the novelty of its world. Figuring out where the robot dinos came from, learning about Aloy and the tribal civilizations, the “Old Ones”, etc. Despite its flaws it effectively built up its sci-fi mysteries throughout and they were mostly given a satisfying answer by the end. Forbidden West continues from there and tries to expand more on Aloy herself and the people she encounters.

The gameplay is pretty much the same aside for some changes to combat and traversal. Fighting the machines is still really fun, and figuring out how to take on all the new variations is the best thing about the game. That said, combat with humans (which there’s a lot of) is still dull, and using melee isn’t much better than it was. They also claimed the climbing would be greatly improved and more free form in comparison, sort of? Honestly I thought it was somewhat worse since it could be really janky to control at times, though the addition of a glider was good.

I feel like the story in this one wasn’t as interesting without the intrigue of its world-building to push it forward. It does try to address Zero Dawn’s biggest flaw to me which was the characters, by making the cast more involved and giving you a base to interact with them between missions. But they still aren’t particularly memorable and the villains are especially boring here. At least the dialogue isn’t as stilted since the cutscene animations are far better than the first.

I did enjoy the side quests though. I don’t remember Zero Dawn’s standing out much at all, but these are more involving and have their own cutscenes akin to the main story, so actually wanted to do the majority of them. The other world activities aside for that (like errands and the generic outposts to clear) are still bland, though you can turn their map icons off and just ignore them at least.

Overall Forbidden West is a fine sequel. The visuals and music continue to be great and there’s better environmental variety. The ranged combat remains the highlight, and they improved on some of the first’s flaws like the side quests and animations pretty well. But it’s let down by how iterative it is, and it doesn’t really do much to justify its story imo.

(9/10)

Pros:
- It’s amazing how much more vast and full of content the game feels due to its verticality, essentially tripling the map size as you can now seamlessly transition from the surface, the sky and its floating islands, and deep underground in the Depths. There are full sized caves now, far more to explore and more enjoyable ways to get around with the addition of Zonai devices, more quests and lively areas, etc
- The new powers (Ultrahand/Recall/Ascend/Fuse) are brilliant and more interesting to use in general, going hand in hand with immensely impressive physics that I’m honestly unsure how they pulled off. Even enjoyed the shrines a lot here compared to what I remember in BotW
- Good story (keeping a similar structure to BotW pretty much). I adored the ending moments especially though, much improved over its predecessor there
- Towers shooting you into the air to scan instead of making you climb them is an excellent change and makes getting around the map much faster
- Actual dungeons (if fairly short and easy by the time I got to them)
- Fantastic music from start to finish

Cons:
- While visually TotK is held up by its art direction, the hardware unsurprisingly lets it down. Image quality is frankly poor, and there are numerous times where the frame rate drops from being decently stable to the 20s if not lower (mainly in denser areas). Load times are fairly quick though
- Combat is basically the same and just alright, Fuse makes it better but I’m still not a fan of durability and constantly scrolling through menus for items much
- Koroks and that guy holding the same Hudson sign everywhere

(9/10)

With something completely out of left field from their other titles, Tango decided to reveal and shadow drop a new game on the same day, with no indication on what it was beforehand aside for some misleading leaked concept art. As it turns out, they were quietly making a charming action platformer that stands out with a rhythm style where everything moves and syncs to the beat of the music. And it’s really good!

The cues of the animations, the environments, enemies, bosses, etc, all serve as the basis for the addicting combat where timing with the songs amplify your attacks, giving this a really uniquely executed system that gradually opens up with more mechanics and skills as you progress. The further you get, the more it clicks all the way up to its excellent final levels

And the cel-shaded art style looks amazing! Very well polished and the dynamic animations paired with the clean image quality makes it extremely impressive to look at. I’m honestly shocked Tango was able to make something like this cause I remember The Evil Within 1 and 2 being pretty rough technical wise. In comparison this ran like a dream with not a single slowdown or bug during my playthrough

I even liked the story and characters more than expected. It’s simple and while the dialogue initially didn’t inspire confidence, it’s paced well and the characters quickly become endearing, proving to be an over the top but joyful time

Honestly I don’t have much gripes, I suppose the platforming could be a bit tighter and fighting multiple enemies can get pretty chaotic to follow without lock on. Also this is actually a fairly sizable game and some of the levels can stretch a bit long, but those are minor to me. I really loved it, and for something that’s just $30 or on Game Pass it’s a complete steal for how much effort was clearly poured into it. Awesome start to the year!

(8/10)

Should’ve finished this months ago but got a bit burnt out and distracted with other games for a while. Overall I enjoyed it a lot and prefer it to FF15, but somewhat conflicted as a few things did keep it from being a favorite of mine by the end

The coolest thing about FF16’s definitely the sheer spectacle of its boss fights and set pieces, which is probably the best I’ve ever seen? It doesn’t really let up at all from start to finish either, would highly recommend it for that alone honestly. That said while those very high points are consistently spread throughout the main story, the moment to moment gameplay in between is… less impressive

The action combat’s really fun, but past a point it started to wear itself out for me with how much you fight the same mobs of enemies and not much variation with Clive’s weapons and Eikon abilities. And areas to explore are fairly empty save for the side quests which are just kinda there, mostly inoffensive and I didn’t mind how there were just a few at a time between main missions (at least til the end when they start dropping a lot at once), but not a highlight either

I did like the story for the most part, though it’s one where I feel it has an amazing start then kinda settles once it opens up, which wasn’t bad but wish it kept that kind of momentum for it. The darker world-building was interesting and Clive was a good character, but I think the last 1/4 of it stretched on a bit too long. And I also definitely felt the lack of more party members, there are temporary followers like Jill but most of the game is just Clive and Torgal on their own and felt they could’ve done more with the cast there

(8/10)

I haven’t actually heard of Undertale Yellow until it released this week, but finding out something like this was made over 7 whole years made me really curious. And since it’s free figured why not

It’s honestly very impressive, to start it emulates the original game really closely but very much tries to stand on its own. Aside for Flowey and Toriel (she’s only in for like 5 minutes), Yellow has entirely different characters and you explore both existing areas of the Underground like Snowdin and new places like a desert or western town. The music has a mix of remixes from Undertale and new songs, and the quality is really good too especially for the boss tracks. The art/sprite animations are actually nice too. Despite being a fan project, you can tell a lot of effort was poured into it as not much even gives an impression that it’s unofficial

The only gripe really is this uses the same combat system as Undertale but the addition of new mechanics to it sometimes felt janky. It’s also more difficult, so if you weren’t good at dodging before then oof. But honestly this is just coming from Deltarune which made more welcome changes on it as is (somehow Chapter 2 is already over 2 years old… 😭)

2017

(8/10)

Much like Supergiant’s other titles, Pyre’s biggest strength is the sheer quality of its presentation and distinct art direction. The backgrounds constantly burst with flair and color, and every single character is excellently designed. Visually it’s wonderful to look at, and the great music is a standout too.

Though as a game it’s quite a bit different, an odd cross between a text heavy visual novel and sports. Where you, the Reader, meet a group of characters who strive to free everyone from their prison by tossing a ball around in a series of matches against other teams. And by everyone that’s meant literally, each character will eventually have a chance to escape through final Liberation Rites, with the goal of slowly getting every last person out one by one.

Narratively this structure works in its favor, as most of the time is spent strengthening and learning more about your party members, so that when you do eventually set them free it feels more bittersweet. This also extends to your opponents, who all have their own stories for why they were sent to the Downside and what they want to reclaim. With each new match, they get stronger but also more sympathetic too. Losing a match never ends the game either, but continues on with the closer chance at freedom given to the opposing team instead.

It does result in a lengthier game than it probably could’ve been though, as the gameplay doesn’t really change much from start to finish. You complete a few rites (traveling to each one), tackle the Liberation Rite and release a party member, then repeat with a new phase until the end. While the matches gradually ramp up in difficulty to keep it interesting, I definitely felt the repetition after a while.

But overall the unique concept works very well. It’s an exceedingly polished game same as all the others from this dev, set in an interesting world with memorable characters, a gorgeous style, and a great soundtrack.