This is a tough one. I played roughly 30 hours but I can't get myself to like this game.
I was really looking forward to it, because I love the original and also enjoyed Remake. I really hope that I will enjoy it in a few months or maybe a year...

What I don't like about it:
- Open World activities just feel bland. I also feel like that traversing the world isn't fun.
- Crafting... just why do we need this in FF7, feels just unnecessary and annoying because you have to pick up all this random stuff
- Too many minigames. Some of these are really cool, like Queen's Blood, but a lot feels like a waste of time. The Original had a decent amount of minigames too, but it did not feel that oppressive
- Way too much recycling of side characters from the first game makes the world just feel unnatural. And also Chadley and his sister are the most annyoing characters I have encountered in a long time.
- Addition of weird high tech technology does not fit this world in my opinion and makes it totally unbelievable
- Sadly I have to say that I think this game is badly written. Remake had it's problems too, but this game is way worse

Amnesia: Rebirth in my eyes is a criminally underrated horror game. Sure, the puzzles and level design can be awkward and the story can feel a bit all over the place.

However, the core of this game is rock-solid and really engrossing. I was scared shitless at many points throughout and I always had the feeling of barely making it. I don't know how much of the tension was just an illusion but it absolutely worked - and using matchsticks for light that quickly burn away and can be hard to come by is a cruel but brilliant mechanic.

It doesn't just get the scares and atmosphere right though, no: Tasi Trianon, the protagonist of this story and its beating heart, is such a wonderful and fascinating character. I love how much the game grounds you in her experience both as a pregnant woman as well as someone who's suffered a terrifying loss. The actress absolutely nails the performance too.
So much of one's enjoyment hinges on whether or not you can empathize with her and I certainly did.

And honestly, even though the puzzles can feel awkward, I never felt like they were too obscure to solve - just requiring you to patiently experiment.

This was my first Amnesia game, and especially towards the end I was pleasantly surprised, baffled at the ratings too.

7,5/10

"HIgher beings, these words are for you alone..."

I've had one hell of a journey with Hollow Knight, dropping it after a first few hours because I just didn't feel it, only to give it another try years later and finally click with it. Despite my praise and my rating, I don't think I love it as much as everyone else does but it's a special experience nonetheless.

What I love most about Hollow Knight are not the bosses, its combat, lore or its level design: it's simply the atmosphere. Many of the game's areas provoke such a striking feeling - sometimes serene, sometimes somber and other times just unsettling. It's magnificent, and the soundtrack is ironed into my brain.

Hollow Knight also feels super refreshing in its pacing. The progression is slow but every step, every item, every ability feels meaningful. It's a chunky game with plenty of content but despite the relatively slow pacing, it's not bloated at all. I also felt that my playthrough ended just when it could have started to drag.

So now here I sit, the experience still marinating inside my head, and I want to urge anyone who dropped this game on a first attempt to pick it back up - it's worth it.

Jedi: Survivor carries over all of the strengths and weaknesses from the first game: the fantastic characters and memorable moments but also the messy combat that is still just as janky, unbalanced and buggy.

That's not to say that Survivor doesn't bring anything new to the table, it definitely does. There are more stances, more abilities, more customization options (thank god) and generally just more things to discover. The movement, while also still quite janky at its core, feels much more diverse and open thanks to some cool new moves and gadgets - don't go thinking the level design lets you experiment though, it still doesn't.
There are better animations in general but especially in combat they always seem to bug out unless you're extremely careful. For a game that tries so hard to be cinematic, that's a big problem.

Now what I actually want to talk about are the story, pacing and setpieces. The game starts out really strong in this regard but up until the last few hours the story doesn't seem very coherent - the middle of it definitely drags a bit.
But everything I've heard about the finale of Jedi: Survivor was true: this is not just perfect Star Wars, it's simply perfect, period.
Everything finally clicked, and I wish the game had felt as tight in its direction and structure before that. The twists, the boss fights, the setpieces....your honor, they cooked!

I think this game's finale outmatches even Fallen Order's but overall because of the unpolished gameplay and pacing issues, I like it about the same. Can't wait for the conclusion to this trilogy.

"No Promises Await at Journey’s End"

I've put 90 hours into Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and I absolutely loved 95% of it, from the world to the combat to the characters to the music, it all works so well and it's such a fun time to just be on this global adventure with this group of characters I've grown to love in Remake.

From gameplay perspective, Rebirth easily surpasses Remake, it may feel unfocused narratively a lot of the time but the variety in gameplay is on a different level. I was actually having the least amount of fun in the linear dungeons akin to Remake, while they have improved on their level design, they just feel like more of the same and usually drag on for a bit too long. Apart from the set piece and boss fight moments in the main story, the open world regions is where Rebirth shines most for me. Admittedly, it is a very Ubisoft-like repetitive checklist design but as a fan of the world and wanting to learn more about it, I loved exploring every inch. It works best when you don't activate any of the towers and just find stuff naturally. The variety of chocobos for each region also keeps it somewhat fresh. Most importantly, a lot of the side quests are finally good, fleshing out main as well as side characters. Another big part of Rebirth are the minigames, most of them are really fun and not just gimmicks, especially Queen's Blood, Chocobo races, and the piano. Do they sometimes get in the way? Yeah, but I honestly don't mind. Combat is as great as ever, I think I appreciated it a lot more this time, managing the party and materia, switching the characters in real time, combining different ATB moves and synergy abilities never gets old.

So then, what is the 5% that I didn't love? It's the entirety of the finale. In fact, I despised it. It's a few hours of terrible fan fiction. It genuinely pains me how bad it is and it's almost ruining the entire experience for me. The build up throughout both games was intriguing, I loved the idea of making the Remake trilogy basically a sequel, but the execution in Rebirth is absolutely terrible. Who tf let Nomura or whoever tf cook? Anyways my rating is still high because I'm clinging on to the experience I had for 80+ hours of this game, but I could honestly see myself liking it less with time because the ending leaves such a bad taste in my mouth...

The premise of a Doom-inspired shooter centered around rhythm and curated Metal songs is so cool and when I played the demo some years back, I was very much into it, even as someone who cannot get used to growling in Metal songs.

Unfortunately, even at a lean playtime of 3 hours, this became quite repetitive: there is hardly any signficant variety in enemies, levels or especially bosses. This a one-trick pony and the game doesn't mix things up - not even experimenting with any different time signatures like Metal is known for. Nothing except some different weapons, and they are just okay.

Stygia is where this game peaked for me, when the gameplay loop still feels fresh and exciting and where the music is, in my super biased opinion, by far the best. The song "This Devastation" from a later level is also good though.

I'm so conflicted on this one. I was immediately convinced by the reviews that this was a game I wanted to play. The art style, the gameplay, the mysterious story. It reminded me of a combination of Subnautica and Outer Wilds in all the right ways. This game has the makings of a fantastic game and for the most part it is. It's just let down by a pretty lackluster story and tedious endgame with an ending that left me seriously disappointed.

I still think this is worth playing just for the early/mid game alone but I do hope they update the story or something because man that kind of killed it for me.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time holds up astoundingly well. The platforming and accompanying level design is honestly still some of the best in the business, all these years later.

I was surprised how light the game is on storytelling; it's mostly just the beginning and end that double down on it. What's there is simple but really good - especially the ending.

Another thing I love is the music, which elevates an already enthralling atmosphere and makes even the most annoying fights feel epic.
Annoying is indeed sadly how I would describe the combat. There is some cool stuff you can do but the camera is an absolute pain to deal with and the game actually bombards you with enemies - who also delight in stun-locking you.
The camera issues extend to the platforming, though to a slightly lesser degree.

I won't lie, I got quite frustrated by these things but I could barely stop playing this game regardless. The vibe is immaculate, the platforming timeless (pun intended) and little things like drinking water from basins and streams to heal just cool.