Imagine LIMBO but with all the interesting parts removed. No but really, this is another take on the genre by a different studio that I think didn't work.

If you've played LIMBO or INSIDE before you'll be familiar with the much more grounded movement than you'd expect from a platformer, it goes for a more realistic approach to aid the immersion. Planet of Lana is even more slow-paced to the point where I'd call it tedious, however this does not benefit the game in any way because there is no immersion to be had. At least, not when comparing the game to its clear inspirations. I'd say this is my biggest complaint with the game, it might be the most tedious game I can remember playing.

The gameplay is mostly cycle-based stealth segments which are the most boring thing imaginable, along with environmental puzzles which are fine. The world is a bit lighter in tone but treads the common ground you've seen in the genre already. It's not truly bad, just extremely inoffensive and does nothing new.

After maybe one hour of playing I thought about quitting but ended up playing till the end since I knew it was short and figured the game might have more to show me. I wouldn't say I regret my time with it but if you aren't loving it after the first hour then it's probably not for you.

I don't think any other game has dared to go as far as this one does, and I mean that in multiple ways. Whether it's the level of detail in the characters, the writing, or the interactive systems (for a "shooter").

No other studio (outside of Santa Monica, perhaps) reaches the level Naughty Dog does in terms of production value.

Outside of that obvious praise, the game is really fun to play. They improved everything about the first game which was already great.

Going prone, stealthily moving around environments and slowly taking out your enemies is so satisfying. It's MGS levels of stealth, if not better.

The story here goes in some insane directions but it's okay - I'm willing to go through whatever it is they want to put me through LOL. They really want you to feel every emotion, and I think they pulled that off very well.

There was a time when "gamers" wanted to see video games being treated as an art form. Today, they just want them to be products made specifically to satisfy them. They want to feel happy and distracted for as long as possible.

I think this game is a failure because, as a product, it elicits too many conflicting emotions in its consumers. And no one wants to pay money to feel sad and angry for more than 20 hours.

I love it, though. It's one of the best video games ever made.

I finished the main campaign a while ago, but I wanted to wait for all extra content to come out before writing a review – so now that I’m finished with the last(?) DLC mission, it’s finally time.

Without further ado, I can say without a doubt that I haven’t enjoyed a Marvel game this much ever since Marvel’s Spider-Man was released (although Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy came very close). No wonder: Marvel's Midnight Suns combines turn-based tactical role-playing with Marvel characters, and I absolutely love both of those things. Oh, and it’s all sprinkled with dating sim elements (although you can’t actually romance any of the heroes), and a fully customizable, original protagonist that you create yourself. Between battles, you can have long discussions with all your team members, give them gifts, do various activities with them etc., and all these increase your friendship levels with them (if you played any recent Fire Emblem games, you know what I’m talking about). As for the battles, first I found the luck-based card system a bit frustrating, but I got used to it pretty fast, and in the end, I could even turn up the difficulty. It was really fun – however, I totally understand if this type of gameplay doesn’t appeal to everyone.

Unfortunately, the game was plagued with (mostly) minor bugs that are still not patched to this day. Most of them are simply annoying (framerate issues and lagging here and there, UI glitches, extremely long loading and saving times, achievements not unlocking), but I ran into a few game-breaking ones, as well. It’s a shame, because otherwise I have no complaints: the plot, in my opinion, is better than in any more recent MCU movies/shows or comics, the cast is superb (loved how they mixed widely popular, mainstream characters with lesser-known ones), there are many side activities, and even some replay value if you want to check all the outcomes in some situations, or take a different route while choosing between light and darkness. Graphics and music were OK, too, although nothing groundbreaking.

I, for one, find it terribly sad that we probably won’t get a sequel, I would have loved to see more of The Hunter’s story… Pity.

TLOU is the prime example of a triple-A game done right. It follows a clear artistic vision without taking too many compromises. Its biggest strength is clearly the storytelling and character design. It's seldom that I've been so emotionally invested during a game. Ellie and Joel feel so human and alive. The way they talk and act makes you almost forget that you're playing a video game. The power of attraction that these two exert is almost more scary than the many forms of the infected Cordyceps victims.

The writing comes without big pathos or a moral pointing finger, and with many subtle gestures. You always ask yourself, "What would I do in this situation?" and you constantly reflect on the state of decay and brutalization the world is in. Only a few games can make me do that.

The aesthetic of the post-apocalyptic USA is beautifully portrayed, from the towering skyscrapers to the abandoned suburbs and overgrown highways. The game's immersive environment engages all of your senses, which adds to the gripping and sometimes very dark atmosphere.

Only small issues hold me back from giving this 5 stars. Mostly, it's the time skips that occur throughout the playthrough. I would have loved to see more smaller interactions between Joel and Ellie, which often form a relationship more than some big key happenings. Maybe some bonfire dialogues here and there. Also, the gameplay can get repetitive for some, I guess, if you're not a fan of the genre, since mostly you do the same thing just in different surroundings.

All in all, TLOU tells a very moving story about humanity that will trigger all your empathy sensors and will probably stay with you way after the credits roll.

I was extremely excited to see this released unceremoniously, free of hype or expectation weighing down ankles to pitfalls of modern game discourse. Given the simplicity of West of Loathing's design, I thought that a genre switch with more of the same seasoning and core ingredients as before would be enough to carry this 'sequel', but unfortunately either the recipe worked despite itself with WoL or the team has lost their sense of taste. Nothing that worked in the first game really works here: the combat is fiddlier with less player expression, forcing builds to be simpler while also demanding more bland item use to simulate 'breadth' of combat; the writing is less cohesive around the Lovecraftian setting, causing both the sincere characterisation of its cast to be weakened (with nary a useful or interesting team member in sight) and the humour to hit weaker because its broadness accentuates less the setting or expectations of genre; the world design feels less like exploration is rewarded (which it wasn't really in WoL either, but the larger map evinced a world to be explored whereas SoL has hubs which must be Mass Effected through for story drips: a pain) and more like you're linearly being pushed from one non-cohesive beat to the next; the puzzle design, which was at times almost a joke itself in how difficult it was in WoL, is simplified to mush here - nothing is rewarding and every time I had to rub my two brain cells together for a fetch quest, it felt like a chore.

I wanted to love it, and I'll definitely be wary to see if WoL is worse in estimation after this has to be considered as where that game goes in hindsight, but the product is so bleh.

Incredible sequel. After the complete switch up that GoW 2018 was, playing Ragnarok definitely wasn't as much of a shock. But they polished up on what they built and made an amazing game. Very happy with the narrative, gameplay was exhilarating, and performances were all great. It did feel like some lines had some MCU-movie vibes though, and I could definitely use less of that going forward.
Felt like this game had more annoying enemies than 2018, but still appreciated the enemy variety. Fantastic game that lived up to the hype.