The presentation, visuals, and sound are all really good and a huge step up from Diablo 3. I was surprised the game even had consistent cutscenes for the main story.

But that alone doesn't make up for how easy it is. I never felt a sense of urgency in large crowds other than a couple of bosses where dodging was actually useful. Abilities feel pointless as they all evenly contribute to the chaos, so I never felt like I had to step outside of my comfort zone to try new ones. Then the sense of progression is lost when everything scales with your level, it only made finding loot / leveling up feel pointless when enemies are getting stronger with me.

Seeing I didn't enjoy either Diablo 3 or 4, I think the series just may not be for me.

Replaying the campaign about a year later made me realize how barebones the game actually is. The open world concept is not utilized at all really with most of the ring being empty and a single biome. The vehicles don't feel like they fit in either with them getting stuck on every little rock / shrub, which really feels like a missed opportunity being open world and all.

Then the story, man you can just feel the development hell leaking through as almost every cutscene is just exposition being dumped on you through a growling brute. I don't mind the direction of a more character driven story, it did have some nice moments, but you learn just about nothing by the of it end. So many questions are still left in the air seemingly for DLC that will never come. The overall lack of epic set pieces and little to no variety in levels makes it feel so shallow compared to the other games. Halo 5's story was much worse but at least it had its scarab-equivalent level.

I do admit the general gunplay and enemy variants are still really fun to fight, especially in co-op. The selection of weapons are pretty versatile and each of them feel pretty good to use. The visual style and audio design are also really nice, grounding their roots back into the original trilogy. Not the best technically looking game, especially when it comes to the facial animations, but the art design is there. Sadly that's about all Halo: Infinite has going for it.

I won't even go into the multiplayer side of things as that's its own conversation. It's exhausting being a fan of this franchise these days, don't even get me started on Master Cheeks over on Paramount...

Even though I'm not the best at rhythm games, Hi-fi Rush still manages to make you feel like you know what you're doing (most of the time).

Was not a fan of the record-scratch introduction from the trailer but the humor, style really ended up working in the context of the game. Always great to see unique, colorful art styles being used.

All in all a great surprise drop that makes a great use of gamepass.

God of War Ragnarök is a true successor to God of War (2018), it essentially is that game but with more. More enemies, environments, characters, game mechanics, and side content. Making the whole package a very enjoyable experience and really fun to play, so much so I couldn't help but go for 100% completion as I wanted to continue to kill things with my axe.

The story is also very good, as it continues to be character driven and explores the many different relationships between the cast. I think the only issue I have with Ragnarök is it can have trouble tying all of these smaller stories into the main, over-arching narrative without pacing issues and weird moments that don't make too much sense but need to happen for things to move along. Not a deal-breaker but stops it from being a perfect 10/10.

All-in-all I had a great time and can't wait to see what Santa Monica Studios does next.

People weren't kidding when they said it was hard, made it through on Ultra Violence only after 200 deaths but that's because I'm too stubborn on not changing the difficulty. I think it's a personal reminder I should try playing more for fun and not to kill myself over a challenge, as it only soured my experience with Doom Eternal.

I did enjoy all the new environments, they continue to go all out on the detail of these levels.

The only real bug I met was I couldn't get to the final secret encounter. That was frustrating after completing all the others and reading I would have to replay the entire level again just to get it to trigger. No thanks.

Borderlands 3 is pretty much what everyone has said at this point. Lackluster story and great gameplay but my god did the UI / UX take a hit. The menus feel more cumbersome than before and navigating maps is such a pain. Especially if you're trying to look at previous areas to figure out what you missed. Then the mission select is so barebones compared to Borderlands 2. I get they were probably trying to optimize for console but even then. I also felt the game to be on the easier side of things, didn't have any real struggles throughout the entire game.

With that out the way, the gunplay is really good this time. There are so many unique weapons and a lot more of them too. There's also more variety in terms of side-content, made exploring feel more rewarding. The Siren skill tree was a bit boring though as most abilities were stat boosts.

Then lastly the game tried to do customization like having a room to decorate, weapon charms, skins, etc.. but it barely offered more than what was available from the start. Like offer more than just 3 slots on a wall for decorations, give me more ways to show off. Just felt under-baked.

All-in-all I complain a lot but it's still a fun enough game to complete, especially in co-op.