A very good new Persona experience (only played P5R and P4G before).

The start is slow and unappealing tbh and the Tartarus isn't engaging so everything had to rely on the writing.
While I didn't find the Dark-Hour related plot really interesting, I think new Personæ should take lessons from that one regarding character writing.
The characters embody really well the main thematic (finding a meaning to one's life) and I loved how some relationships progressively took a really nice shape. The duos are pretty good ; really liked MC and Aegis's Dynamic and Yukari and Mitsuru's development. Junpei and Chidori formed a really nice pair too ; i'm glad Junpei was a flawed character, with highs and lows, and not just best buddy.

I think this due to early recruitment of the party and I hope they'll come back to this.

Also the music and UI were neat as always (though I didn't like P4G's that much)

Omori is one of the game best I ever played. A perfectly executed masterpiece, a game that makes me remember what I love so much about art, that I wish I could experience again as if it was the first time everytime I think about it.

Omori deeply explores how a really traumatic experience can affect someone. I won't be more specific because everything revolves around a huge plot twist but every character's psychology is perfectly done. They're all really well written, touching and feel organic. I absolutely loved all the time I spent with Omori, Sunny, Hero, Kel, Mari and Basil and deeply love all of them.

This game broke my heart in the healthiest possible way and I'm more than thankful for that. It's a psychological horror game but it's not really scary (and trust me I can't stand horror at all). It's psycgological horror at its best; the scary elements aren't there for their shock value but to add something to the narration. And this sentence could apply to almost each aspect of the game!

This could sound contradictory but this game also perfectly knows when to be light-hearted and funny. You'll laugh with the main group of friends and discover how endearing each of them is as you'll grow fond of them.

It's also really gorgious (and was made with rpg maker!!!!) There are lots of hand-made drawings that give it a unique personnality. The artstyle is so charming that it became one of my favorite ever!

As if all of this wasn't enough, the soundtrack is also amazing, unique and always fits what's happening on screen.

As for the genre, it's a JRPG. Tough it's turn-based and not revolutionary, the gameplay is adapted to fit the thematics of the story. It's not hard, but you can use strategy to your advantage.

I could go on forever, because there is much to tell, so much to analyze but more importantly, there is so much to feel. If it's not done yet, the best advice I could give you is to feel it for yourself!

Ghost trick is a very refreshing game! It really felt like a breath of fresh air, yet it came out in 2010. I'm really glad I could discover it thanks to the switch remake.

You can really feel it was made by the man who did the first Ace Attorney trilogy, but it's important to not that Ghost trick has no problem to exist on its own and has something totally new and unique to offer. It's a detective story with a high color cast, an amazing soundtrack (like reallllly amazing), hilarious moments (and by moments I mean most of the time), creative animations that bring lots of life to the characters and give them a lot of charm, a unique gameplay and an engaging story.

This is the story of man, Sissel, who lost all his memories as he woke up as a soul near his dead body. His goal: recover his memories and discover who he is. For that, he only has few tools in his pockets: he can slightly manipulate objects in the real world, reach them through the ghost world, teleport through phone lines and, when interacting with a fresh corpse, go back in time (4 minutes before the person's death) and change the course of time. He only has a single little night to find the truth behind his death with these abilities.

The things he'll discover surely are unpredictable and surprising, but the most interesting aspect of the game is the path taken to find the truth. If you're looking for a sassy detective story with a charming cast, you have your game!

Dordogne is a nice indie game talking about the children of the people who left the countryside to join big cities. It has a peculiar appeal to me as I live in France and, as a child, spent lots of holidays in my family's region of birth.
In the game, Mimi comes back to her grandmother's home to find out about the origin of a fracture in her family.

If the gameplay isn't really interesting (and, let's say it, can even be unpleasant), the awesome watercolor art direction is a reason to play in itself. The game manages well to depict what living in a french rural space can be and makes it look stuningly beautiful. The sound direction also achieves very well this goal.

If the coming of age story is conventional and the third character under-exploited, the strengh of the narration lies, to me, in the writing of the grandmother. Dordogne, indeed, is really good to create a well written old woman (which is pretty rare in video games) who has to deal with her own struggles while taking care of a child and keeping up the front.

This character was a breath of fresh air and a good reason to play the game, as well as its artstyle (of course, it's overall a slow wholesome game and doesn't rely at all on the gameplay; don't play if you're looking for this kind of experience).

This game is not easy to rate at all. Should it be considered for itself or with BOTW in mind? Can I even base my review on my experience or I have been exposed to too many opinions to be free of influence?

It's hard to answer these questions but i'd say we can't take BOTW out of the équation so easily for now and I certainly noticed more things (or more quickly) because of other's reviews.

I have to admit that it has tons of flaws.
- The two new maps are under exploited. The sky (which could've been my favorite map) is almost totally optional (beside the tutorial and water temple), is small and only contains some shrines. The depths, on the other hand are way too big for nothing. It's almost a bonus area, artificially filled with bosses and pieces of equipment. The exploration is not worth it. I lit all the bulbs and then...left. Because there wasn't anything left for me to do here.
- The bestiary lacks variety, especially when you consider that most of the players played BOTW and already know most of the monsters.
- The shrines also lack variety. There are way too many Rauru's blessing and those don't feel like blessings at all but as a lazy way to not create more puzzles.
- The main quests are also in the same locations as BOTW's, but the temples aren't better. I found myself thinking that the path to access them was sort of funnier than the temples in themselves.
- The inventory is a pain to use. It was definitely possible to do better than that and it makes the combats unbearable (and I don't even like BOTW's combat system in the first place).

The story could be a strenght of the game. But even if they made an effort compared to other Zelda games, it can't rival with a real good story.

Even if all these this things had a negative impact on my experience (and made the game begin to feel boring after something like 100h), I enjoyed it a lot and prefered over BOTW.

I'm convinced that in five or ten years people won't play BOTW anymore and straight up start with TOTK to get the best experience.

To me, TOTK felt more engaging. There was always a thing to do, a cave to explore, a shrine to check, a weapon to make, a little line of quest to follow, etc. And it was addictive. BOTW didn't feel like that to me.

The new powers are neat and made the exploration feel unlimited.
People might have felt that with BOTW, but the magic didn't exactly worked for me before TOTK (I liked BOTW tough).

Everything was better executed than in BOTW and the feeling of freedom reach the maximal amount of its potential. I felt really happy when I discovered the 5th temple by myself, at the begining of the game, and completed if before the others. Others felt excited to find the master Sword on their own.
Everything encourages exploration and exploration is always rewarding. It made me realize that it was the reason why breakable weapons were so important; which BOTW didn't make me manage to understand.

It was also even more gorgeous and technically impressive than BOTW.

That's why even if the game has lots of flaws, i'm giving it a really good grade. It made me feel what BOTW couldn't, an unlimited sense of freedom.

Is it possible to give a game less than a five when it does what it's trying to do so well? The 30s artistic direction, the gameplay and the sound design are so well done that asking if it could be better is a reasonable question to ask.

As someone who enjoys animation a lot, i'm stunned by its visual quality. I'm almost ashamed I got used to it and stopped looking to closely to its animation. Every level is a gem in terms of technique, to think everything was drawn by hand makes it even better. It reproduces perfectly the 30s style that was taken as a source of inspiration.

In terms of gameplay, it's equally perfect. All the levels are challenging (some more or less than the others) but they're all fair too. They're fun, well-balanced and varied.
It's a game that rewards the learning process with increased skill. Beating a boss is really exciting and feels rewarding. Loosing is a just a step towards victory. That's what a challenging game should be.

I took a 2 years break between it's first half and it's last half and i'm glad that's the kind of game that allows these kinds of breaks. I got bored by the format but I knew i'd eventually go back to it (which I did last week). I still thought about it a lot during the break because it became an important reference and I know it's even more the case now. I'll probably come back to play all the bosses in expert mode (a difficulty that not only makes the bosses harder, but also adds new stages, it should be pointed out!) and the DLC. I'm glad to have a game like this, with which I'll have some memorable rendezvous from times to times.

If someone asked me to list my ten favorite games (a question i'll never be able to answer), Cuphead wouldn't appear there. Maybe not even is my twenty favorite games ever list.
However it's a game that changed my way to play, that does perfectly everything it does and that will ever be an important reference in my gaming life!

That's more than enough to give it the highest grade.

A short hike is...well...a short hike. The main character, Claire, discovers a small Island where she only stays one day (at least the player does).
The only thing you have to do is to reach the summit of the Island (and it can be done really fast). This is minimalistic open world where you experience the freedom an OW can give to the player (by that I'm talking about BOTW-like open-worlds) without feeling overwhelmed by the size of the map.

The gameplay is very smooth and can be enjoyed just for how relaxing it is.
But to me, the real strenght of the game lies within the interactions with the inhabitants. You won't just meet them once during you're ascension; they'll move with you and give you some pleasant side quests that'll encourage you to explore more of the Island. They fuel the game with it's relaxing aura and give more substance to it so I'd recommend doing the 100% (it won't be long but artificial length never made anything better).

I'm not convinced of the usefulness of giving it a grade, but i'll explain my 4. I can't give it more than a 4 because it's not a game that I'll carry close to my heart. I might even forget about it and I may give 3,5 to game I value more.
But it's a game that does perfectly what it's trying to do and can be really charming if you're playing it with the good mindset.
I may have been less positive in my review if I played it at another time, because wholesome games are sometimes hate-inducing and almost all the qualities lie in the mood it's trying to make.

So don't hesitate to try it. Buy it on sales if you're not sure to like it. Maybe you'll enjoy it, maybe not. It doesnt really matter ~