I'd say this is CDPR at their absolute best. It might be controversial to say because of how popular The Witcher 3 and of course Blood & Wine is... But I think Phantom Liberty is the best thing they've ever made.

The way this DLC weaves themes and character so elegantly is an absolute marvel of a dance they pull of effortlessly. At no point did I feel I could see the strings holding the game together, it just flowed, it was completely organic and had me hanging off of every word. From the set pieces, to the unique quest design, the narrative crux and the way it all ties back into V's personal journey as part of Cyberpunk 2077, this DLC nails it all. It's plain and simple, a masterpiece, in every way that counts.

I've played this before beating the main game for the first time, since this takes place before the ending I wanted to do this chronologically at the right point and it didn't feel wrong to do so, in-fact I think I'll be going into the base game's ending with a richer perception of both V and Johnny. Still speechless at just how good this was, utterly blown away.

Cyberpunk is impressive. The effort put into getting this game into not just a working state, but improving upon all it's foundations to built something that allows you into it's world to express it's concepts is a feat that goes against all odds. The team that worked on this game clearly cared deeply about their product and their message. What happened to this game in 2020 is a shame, but what remains now is nothing short of a victory.

There's a lot to say and the game is so very very big but it's also dense and so brilliantly focussed too. It has so much to say and it uses it's story, it's side content, it's characters and it's all important world to do that and always has you thinking, it's really quite beautiful.

The way it plays too, my god! I don't think I've had this much raw fun playing a video game in ages. The combat, the player agency, the way you can build up your playstyle and really customise all the intricate details of how you execute each fight, it's just tremendously detailed and offers so many possibilities.

All in all, this game is fantastic, it really truly is but also in CDPR fashion just like The Witcher 3, it's DLC, Phantom Liberty is superior, but that shouldn't diminish what the overall game does, in fact it's a testament to it. The main game is glorious, the DLC just improves upon it, as it should.

Cyberpunk 2077 is unforgettable.

Atmospherically and visually impactful yet narratively messy with inconsistent themes and nearly no connection to the original game. The story could've been told as a new IP, it being Senua adds nothing of value. The voices which added depth to her character in the original act only as narrative yellow paint to explain every inch of a story that could've had more subtext if it wasn't completely subtracted by the voices overexplaining and negating any depth.

The gameplay is somehow even more shallow than the original which was at least paced better and had a story worth experiencing to back it up. Here the fights last so long it's comical for a system as shallow as it is and the puzzles are not puzzles in any sense of the word.

no good.

I have no shame in admitting that I played this whole game one-shotting everything in my path with a gun attached to my butt, and I had a great time doing it. I still tried out a lot of the mechanics and abilities, but the combat wasn’t really compelling enough for me to suffer through the challenge when the game was offering up an easy mode on a silver platter. And I think it ultimately made my experience much more enjoyable because it felt like a fun and easy-going 3D platformer rather than a light-hearted soulslike with mediocre combat. And as a side note, I’d really love to see FromSoftware offer a “Give Player a Gun” mode in their games. Is that blasphemous?

My replay of AC2 naturally became a replay of the whole trilogy and man Brotherhood still is just one of the best to ever do it. The tone, the gameplay, the purpose to every piece of side content. It’s such a tremendous game that does a lot without having to do too much to get there. It’s just a strong Assassin fantasy, atmospherically stimulating and thematically a strong part of the Assassin’s Creed series. It’s such a strong development on Ezio’s journey but also a development on what Assassin’s Creed means to Ezio in a context that parallels Altair in a lot of ways. So good, so damn good.

Finished up my replay of the trilogy. Revelations is definitely the weakest overall game but my god it’s so special. What it lacks in its design or side content it makes up for in droves with its story. The character work, the theming, the philosophy, the conclusion of it all. I’m honestly still shocked an AC game with a story this good even exists. The fact they managed to tie up Ezio, Altair, 16 and answer so many questions while still having us on the edge of our seat for where it was going to go next is just so impressive, this game really is special.

Constantinople is also super immersive and well designed as a city to wander through. I think I believe in so many ways it’s the best city design since AC1. The tight streets, the dense environments, it makes a change from the often huge and empty piazzas and wide streets of Florence, Venice and especially Rome.

Assassin's Creed Mirage has been heralded as a "return to roots" for the franchise. Promising more focus on stealth and less bloat, they do manage to deliver in these areas but I can't help but look at this game and consider it a prototype of something else to come.

To start, stealth is back. There is a more focused variety of skills and tools that are directly helpful in stealth encounters and returning to a city environment also means more opportunites to use parkour and social stealth. Assassinations are, mostly, one-hit kills and enemy A.I. no longer alerts the hivemind when one single guard manages to catch you. This is all especially welcome when coming from Valhalla that actively provided all of these original issues just to push you into open combat. However it still feels like something is missing.

Assassination missions are set up like Hitman levels. You're given a relatively small space (usually a single building) and told to find opportunities to reach your target. But more often than not I still felt restricted and that the opportunities railroad you too much (as opposed to Hitman missions that still allow a bit of freedom)

Combat deserves only a brief mention as they've largely stripped it back. It's still a bit "hack-and-slash" like the last 3 entries but provides the necessary abilities to end fights much much quicker.

Parkour/freerunning is really my biggest issue. It just feels weightless and as disatisfying as the last 3 games. Each action in entries pre-Origins felt like they had weight, characters took a few moments to speed up and they had impact when climbing and jumping. But Mirage continues the feeling from Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla by having Basim dart about like a whippet. Each jump he takes feels more like a hop rather than a leap and climbing is incredibly buggy. Sometimes it's a gambit where you'll even end up when directing Basim in one direction, he might just go another. For example, each of these games since Origins have issues with climbing above water, ANY movement away from the direction of the wall causes your character to leap back into the water.

It's still mostly fun to run around on rooftops, but a random leap in the wrong direction or getting stuck between unclimbable objects can really ruin any momentum you have.

Finally, the story. It's fine? Admittedly I'm only around 2/3 through and I'm only really invested in 1 aspect. However due to the nature of Basim's previous appearances in the franchise, there's no real mystery as to where it is going. What's interesting/frustrating is the lack of the modern day story.

From day 1 I've been a staunch defender of the unique modern day story these games have told. Going as far as to even read the comics, books, and listen to the audio drama. I do recognise that each entry is inconsistent in their quality but I don't think that's been due to the nature of the story itself, just Ubisoft's poor execution. There are plenty of great ideas and I was quite interested in where Valhalla was potentially taking the series. Mirage looked as if it was the perfect opportunity to develop that direction further. But nothing came of it.

Overall, this game is worth it. If you're a fan of Assassin's Creed (especially classic Assassin's Creed) then this will bring back those feelings of playing pre-2017. But it aligns more to the Unity/Syndicate era rather than the AC1-ACIV era.