Its very good, but it never changed my mind that it is a completely unecessary remake. After finishing multiple times on hardcore and professional, I ended up feeling that most changes made the game worse.

Just point a few that were the most significant:
- the change from laser sights to traditional crosshairs, although more realistic, exchange the 100% precise gunplay of the original with a luck factor due to the guns spread.
- the randomness of staggers during combat. Its very inconsistent and impossible to know when a headshot will stagger or not. It made melee combat less reliable.
- there is a lack of warning for enemy grabs, specially from behind. The "de tras de ti imbecile" line is much less frequent here
- a minor complaint, but not reloading guns automatically when empty is very annoying (and does not make sense, since Leon is much more experienced now)
- soundtrack became generic blockbuster orchestra.

Sam Barlow has been inovating in interactive narratives in amazing ways for a long time does not get enough credit. I think since Silent Hill Shattered Memories (which is masterpiece in storytelling) he has been introducing amazing ideas in new ways on how to tell a story.

Most of the end of the year awards always have a "narrative" category, but they always seem to award the experiences that try their hardest to be as close as possible to the cinematic language. Which is unfortunate, because video games can much more than that, exemplified by Immortality.

The game is excellent and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in interactive storytelling.

I still have some minor complaints that do not impact much the experience:
- there is bunch of scenes that are too long and dont add much
- the random aspect on how the interactive elements unlock new scenes makes for a lot of repetition (maybe the algorithm should prioritize new scenes)

Its hard to say this when its inspirations are such important and influential games, but honestly, I think Dusk is one of those rare cases where it improves and surpasses some of its FPS inspirations.

Aside from minor issues such as pitfalls in one or two stages (I think its very unfair in FPS' when you're supposed to look around and move in directions you're not looking directly, to put a hole in the ground where you're obviously not looking), navigation in dark environments without the flashlight and a disapointing grenade laucher/mortar weapon, I dont think I had many issues that impact significantly the experience.

The Switch version is very good. I know the game was designed with mouse and keyboards in mind, but the analog controls with gyro (and I think a little bit of aim assist) are very enjoyable. I only had issues with the first part of the final boss in terms of controls.

When it was first released in 2002, Prime was so ahead of its time, and it still remains. Its one of those games that does not need to be remade from the perspective of its mechanics, gameplay, design, sound. I'm always skeptical of remakes/remasters because most of the time the original art and feeling of the original is completely lost (e.g. Demons Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, Crash Trilogy), the game becomes another completely different thing (e. g. Resident Evil 2), or its totally unnecessary (e.g. Last of Us, Dead Space, Resident Evil 4).

At first I though Metroid would fall in the latter category because its such a masterpiece that it does not need to be remade, but they really nailed it. The new visuals are much improved, but respectful of the originals, the control options are modernized, but retain the original scheme as options. And most importantly, it is the same game mechanically and in its design. Additionally, it brings attention the Prime series, which is much needed.

In the end i got that feeling that its clearly much improved visually, but at the same time it looks the same as I remember. I guess thats the best compliment a remaster can get.

Great atmosphere and soundtrack, but I think it came out a few years too late. If this was released in a world before Hollow Knight and Metroid Dread it would have actually made an impact. As is, it does nothing new, it is too similar to what came before and does not do anything better than its inspirations.

Additionally, the Switch version is filled with technical problems that usually do not bother me much, but here are very severe. The input lag specially, makes some of the more dificult encounters very very frustrating.

They really nailed the most frustrating aspects of the original trilogy. Specially when trying to get all crates I always had the sensation that I was not being challenged, but being tricked by the designers. There is always crates placed in horrible angles that you only find by trial and error or by being lucky, not counting the absolute dreadful placement in some platforming challenges.

Levels are simply too long and by design you have to replay them to 100%. The feeling when you miss a single crate is amazing. Gave up on that really quickly.

I just kept playing thinking that perhaps they saved the best for last, but everything is just mediocre to bad from beginning to end. Honestly, I'm surprised by the positive reception or maybe I was just expecting too much but after finishing it I was left only with frustration and disappointment.

One positive thing to highlight would be the graphics, art-style and animations, they are all excellent.

There is an excellent game and story buried beneath 8000h of cut-scenes.

What draws me to the series is the exploration, and it remains excellent. Unfortunately every 200m you walk there will be a cutscene for the main quest that completely breaks most of the enjoyment. I was actively avoiding the main quest path as it completely breaks any immersion during exploration. Specially at the beginning all mechanics are introduced in these awkward cutscenes. I believe most of them could be left to the player to find by themselves.

Also, sometimes the side quests actively force to explore some hidden paths, and I'm not sure this is the best design decision. I think the best moments I had with any Xenoblade are when I just found out things by myself when exploring. In the end most of the side quests felt like filler content, where I was just completing a list of checkmarks without meaningful stories. I think maybe the best way here is to leave things open, especially for the simpler side quests. Instead of tracking the side quests in the menu and with waypoints, leave it open for the player. For example, when you talk to NPC, he will give a lead via dialogue, but the side quest is not tracked in the menu, and it is not pin pointed to you in the map. The removal of fetch quests was a step forward, but what remained is still not good enough mechanically or story-wise. I think maybe 95% of the side quests could be cut or simply left open without actively being tracked.

I was very surprised by the story and themes, but, it is simply filled with unnecessary exposition and an astronomical amount of cut-scenes that totally take away most of the good stuff. Throughout the game I was so disappointed by the amount of cut-scenes that I felt an editor should be hired for Monoliths next game.

The combat remains similar to the previous entries, which Im not very fond off... In XC3, due to the larger party I felt like enemies health's were given a boost and combined with the chain attacks, encounters with unique enemies and bosses take a long time. The chain attacks animations are so slow and get so repetitive that I ended up avoiding triggering them.

The music remains excellent and this time they took a more ambient approach I feel. But, i still think I prefer XC1 and 2 soundtracks.

In summary, it is more of the same where everything that was good before, remains good, and what was bad, got worse. Almost everything is too bloated. The amount of characters, cut-scenes, the combat, the party size, the enemies in the field. I think for the beautifully crafted world, the music and some parts of its story it deserves to be played, but hopefully for future sequels Monolith should shake the foundations the series a little more.

It is bizarre how Platinum manages to create new mechanics in the character action genre and most of then are usually pretty good. Such a talented group of people and Im glad that they keeps pushing the boundaries of the genre (unfortunately they seem to be the only ones doing it).

At first the Demon Slave summoning seem to go against to what the series is known for, but when I realized that there is a buffer on the slaves inputs allowing to Control Bayonetta between the inputs the combat really clicked.

I still think there is a lot of room for improvements with the goal of creating a better synergy between Bayonetta and the Demon, but the foundation is very solid. Some encounters are just very focused on using only the Demon and you are not penalized if you only rely on it.

Dont think they will keep pushing these new mechanics in Bayonetta sequels, but maybe some variant of this in Project GG? Also the game seems to take a bunch of mechanics that were planned for Scalebound (which is good because at least we have a glimpse of what it was suposed to be).

Some complaints:

-Still not feeling Viola. My best scores happen when I let Chechire do all the work. Dont like that he attacks automatically.

-The acessory that makes demons Slaves attack automatically should have some penalty... Why it even exists? It removes any complexity of the Demon Slaves.

-Even in encounters with small enemies, summoning the Demon Slaves seems to be the safer bet to pure platinums.

-Due to the focus on Demon Slaves and the scale of encounters, enemies seem to attack more often from offscreen compared to 1 and 2, and the warnings did not seem as clear to me.

-The genre shift levels, as usual, are hit and miss (mostly misses though).