A fun bullet-hell-esque rhythm game that delves pretty deep into themes of existentialism.

The gameplay loop was fun and by the time I thought it got stale, it managed to freshen things up again.

OST is a bop, definitely going to relisten like I did with Furi's OST.

I think the game dragged on a bit with its ending, but it was a bittersweet experience.

Overall a good time, don't play if you are prone to seizures tho.

When Persona 3's remake was announced I thought it was unnecessary, I thought the original still held up decently and just needed a port. Oh well, now that it's out, I can confidently say this is the best way to experience P3.

The story is pretty much untouched but improved with additional interactions with the cast. There's more depth to characters that are already well-beloved and add to the overall themes explored. I am glad there are also additional scenes with the antagonists and villains added in Reload, as I thought they were flat in the OG. I am glad people are rediscovering my favourite Persona story and cast dynamics again.

The gameplay is significantly better. Tartarus is less of a chore to grind with a variety in design, party members have new abilities and buffs, and shuffle times are revamped to provide even more benefits.

Theurgys are cool, they give ultimate attacks to your party and act as a replacement for fusion spells. Does make the gameplay easier but I think it's great to have.

That said, I think P5R's gameplay is still the best in the franchise, the grind is still felt towards endgame in Reload, and doesn't have gameplay mechanics that made combat in P5R real fun (Technicals, Baton pass improvement, combat benefits from Social Links). But I would rank Reload's just below this Royal's.

Social links have been improved too surprisingly, adding much-needed lines that delve deeper into their pasts and characters. You still have some duds but I'd say I enjoyed every SL consistently.

The soundtrack is great, despite a point of contention amongst many, the new voice does require getting used to if you played the OG beforehand. But the new tracks are lovely and she still does justice to Reload versions (especially THAT ONE).

The UI is gorgeous and loved the overall design of the game, just had to mention that.

For cons, I'd say I do miss the more suffocating atmosphere from the OG, as everything's a lot more bright.
Some story elements still do not hit for me, which couldn't be changed much, unfortunately.
The fusion system's simple but not as interesting as P5's, it does the job but I wish they tied it to the moon in some way, like how P4's was connected to the weather.
And for a remake of P3 it's kind of a bummer that The Answer is DLC, hopefully, The Answer is great this time around (and I have made peace with no FemC).

Easily recommended if you have never played P3, but if you love the OG and you haven't played Reload, give it a try, it's a refreshing experience.

Alan Wake 2 is a sequel that befits the original. Its mystery has been expanded upon, introducing new characters and concepts that further drive the themes of the game.

I loved the game's moments of wackiness, its mix of media, presentation and connection to the larger story of Remedy's universe.

A lot of the story, I'll admit, is going over my head, just when I had things figured out it threw me in for a loop, especially with that ending. But it doesn't bother me as much, as the story fits the genre. This story may work for you or it won't, but it's certainly something intriguing. (I know there's NG+ that provides a "true ending" but I am not gonna spend another 30 hours for mostly the same stuff).

Honestly, besides the vagueness of the story, my biggest problem is with gameplay. It's fine, but sluggish and the need for animation and realism makes the combat feel clunky and not satisfying, falls into a similar trap as RDR2 I'd say. I also encountered some bugs that caused me to restart the game.

Overall, this is a good game, and another step for the Alan Wake story, whether it is satisfying or not.

Infinite Wealth strongly reminds me of Yakuza 5. It's so full of content that's fun and will cost you a lot of hours, easily worth the price for that alone. But it comes with a story that starts strong but fizzles out with messy story writing and rushed chapters. The only difference is that Y5's final boss was amazing (gameplay-wise) but this game doesn't have a great final boss. A shame as I thought we left this writing behind with Yakuza 5 but the story is such a weak aspect of this terrific game which for a 50-hour story is disappointing. It's thematic storytelling hampering a long narrative that needed more room to flesh out and focus. Here's hoping that 9 is a return to that type of story.

I say all of that, but it's undeniable this game contains some of the franchise's best moments, especially the ones that call back to the series as a whole. It's fan service sure but you can't hate it, they feel amazing to witness.

Karaoke, Dondoko/Sujimon, characters, OST, and substories are all great.

If you are a Yakuza fan, then this recommendation is a no-brainer, but be wary that it does contain some flaws that may or may not irk you.

Also, fuck SEGA for the DLC bullshit, Big Swell should've come with the game instead of day 1 DLC.

For a game that's meant to be an appetizer, this shit was a near 5-star meal. A game that is definitely made for the long-term Yakuza/LaD fan with probably some of the franchise's best moments packed into this one.

The gameplay feels good, it's good to have Kiryu back and play in a beat 'em up format. While it's initially clunky it does improve with upgrades, it's definitely a step up from Kiwami 2, but overall combat doesn't hold a candle to Lost Judgement, which is RGG's magnum opus so far in terms of combat. That said, agent style is quite fun and be quite busted, enemies don't know how to react to that.

The game is actually packed with side content, Pocket Circuit is back, they brought in pool, the Akame Network offers some of the series' best substories and the Coliseum is a great way to earn a fuck ton of cash (which the game throws at you without care, which is great). Too bad near the end the Coliseum's challenges feel quite bullshit and unbalanced, couldn't complete one of the side stories because of it.

The story is pretty decent, with a satisfying finish. It probably has the best ending out of all the games (which says a lot), and it's pretty cool to experience the events leading up to Yakuza Like a Dragon's amazing moments. The characters were all interesting and loveable from Nishitani III to Akame. Part of me knows they'll never appear again but I really do want to see some of these characters return for Infinite Wealth.

The music's pretty good as usual, but man JID on the intro got me mad excited, and that ending song was perfect for this game's themes.

Overall, despite being a "short game" Gaiden is pretty much a full-fledged Yakuza game, just with a shorter story. I got so many hours out of this game it's an easy recommendation.

Bring on Like a Dragon 8!!!

This game was simply satisfying, a very intricate puzzle of figuring out the fates of the crew of the Obra Dinn turns into a tragic story that you figure out at your own pace.

I suck at puzzle games and I did look up hints here and there for this game but it never ruined my enjoyment, Obra Dinn succeeds at giving you enough tools to do your detective work without feeling overwhelming for the players, I felt really good whenever I managed to deduce fates of the crew, especially the trickier ones.

The presentation is really unique and while it initially felt like it got in my way (details getting muddy), it was done well and I got used to it quickly. Music is very fun too, bumbling along with you as if it's a companion to your detective work.

Easy recommend, one of the best puzzle games I have played and itches that detective game scratch that I had for a while now.

Quite a surprise, has the same charm as the films while still trying to build their own mythos. It honestly does feel like a sequel or a spin-off. I am not a comics guy but I enjoyed their banter and drama, you feel part of the band of fuck ups becoming family.

The story is linear, like, no side quests, just one straight storyline to follow, which is nice, the game is focused on the most important thing, the team. That said, the biggest thing about GotG is the galaxy, I do hope they can explore more options to expand the story and world (good, well-written sidequests for example) in a sequel.

The soundtrack is cool, just like the movies it uses popular 80's rock music, using to segway between scenes or to hype up gameplay.

Gameplay is eh, you can only control Star-Lord and give commands to others, you can't control them which is fine, but there's not much to their abilities or no creative control to change up the gameplay. You can upgrade and unlock skills but it's barebones.

In short, this definitely will fix my GotG needs now that the films are over (for now), and the game is fun. The character dynamics carry heavily, however, a lot of aspects of the game have potential which has not been fully realised yet. If there's a sequel I am looking forward to, it's for this game.

With triple-A titles, I always find quality to be mediocre to good, so it's no surprise that God of War is a very good game. It's my first GoW so I can't compare it to the previous titles, but I can find merit and flaws in its own game.

The story is good, a father and son tale with a Nordic myth twist, but it does feel like it's just one part of a greater story (which Ragnarok expands upon) so as the game gets closer to the end it does feel like there were more things they wanted to explore but couldn't (and some story aspects did feel rushed). Still despite that, the central journey is completed satisfyingly. The one-shot angle for the narrative is neat but man does it get obvious it tries to hide the loading at times with the spaces to crawl and long walls to climb. It may just be a me thing but the game dipped in frames every time I walked into areas even if I have been there before, I have a pretty good graphics card, might just be an AMD problem I don't know, certainly did sour my experience a little.

The soundtrack is gorgeous, and the world-building is fascinating, especially the conversations on the boat, which I wish carried on when I hopped off them instead of them going "I'll tell this shit later".

Combat is decent, but honestly, I do not care for the close-up camera on Kratos, especially when the game loves to chuck at you several goons at the same time every time (it gets easier with other weapons and skills but it does not feel good initially), the game knows this so that's why they give you those indicators. Also, why can't I jump and do aerial attacks, come on.
And the armor and crafting system is also meh, because I just craft whatever has the highest numbers onto Kratos, in a brawler/hack-n-slash I don't care about Luck or Runic I just want new moves and style on enemies, but that's my Devil May Cry bias.

TLDR; The game is a good time, a fun narrative with great character dynamics, a decent combat system with gimmicky RPG elements, a camera I do not care for, and a world that is probably one of my favourite places in games to date (that which Raganrok expands upon, dunno, haven't played it yet)