A very pleasant surprise. I barely followed this game since it was announced, and its release came as a surprise to me, but after reading lots of reviews and user opinions I decided to give it a try, and man was it worth it.

It may seem a bit storeotypical at first glance, but as the story progresses it really finds it own personalty. I'm very fond of narrative-driven games and Life is Strange is definitely a very good one. The story is interesting, the characters (although typical at first) are well written, and the time reversal mechanic gives the game the defining feature it needed not to be another "Telltale-esque" wannabe. Also, all the decisions you make really seem to impact a lot of variables (way deeper than Mass Effect's Red-Blue system), I am really interested on seeing how it all develops in the future.

On a bad note, the puzzles are really straight-forward and easy, but I guess that will change as the next Episodes keep coming. For now, the plot holds well and has my interest.

As someone who enjoyed BotW, I couldn't bring myself to buy and play TotK. Part of it is me missing the classic Zelda formula from the other 3D titles, but mostly because TotK just appears to be more of the same as BotW. I'm not sure if I'm ready to purchase this 60-70€ game and dive into another massive world that feels way too familiar. Instead, I decided to revisit one of my favorite franchises of all time and go back to its roots. I'm excited to finally explore the 2D classics I never had a chance to play as a kid!

It's fascinating to see how far the franchise has come. It has shaped countless childhoods and left a lasting mark on the history of video games. And to think, it all started here.

Having grown up with the beloved 3D titles and knowing how Zelda games have evolved over the decades, I think it's understandable not to be particularly impressed with this one. However, I can still appreciate it for what it is. Personally, I have severe fatigue from the BotW formula and wish Nintendo would reinvent it once more, as they have so many times before. Because Zelda deserves more than being just another bloated open world experience that seems to plague most modern adventure games.

Jawdroppingly amazing, this was honestly such a pleasant surprise. I had already high hopes going into this because I adore Survival Horror, I was imagining it as a 7.5 maybe 8/10, but this game really just blew me out of the water. This is such an aesthetically pleasing game with extremely fun puzzles with tons of variety, a gorgeous aesthetic (which was only helped by the CRT mode that I used), an amazing story with on par lore, a good soundtrack, interesting characters, cool survival horror mechanics and just phenomenal gameplay. I adore this game so much, it’s probably one of my favorite games of all time even. If you have this game just rotting in your game library like I have for a year, just try this game already trust me.

9.5/10

"Your friends...
What kind of... people are they?
I wonder...
Do those people...
think of you... as a friend?"

Majoras Mask is one of my favorite games of all time, but even though I say this, my opinion on it was very different at the start. When I first played the remake on my 3DS last summer, I completely hated it. To this day, I don't really understand why I didn't like it. Maybe it was the time limit or the confusing start, or maybe even the fact that to fully enjoy the game, I had to complete all the sidequests (I don't really like to 100% games), but after giving it another try in September 2023, again on the 3DS, I realized that all of these "negative sides" were actually the best part of the game, was when Majoras Mask became one of my favorite games oat.
But since i had always heard that the n64 version was better, i decided with the new recompilation project to get all the masks and finish the game for a second time, and i can say that it was one of the best decisions i made because this playthrough helped me fully realize how much i apreciate this game, so much that i even grabbed all the fairies in the temples!
The temples are one of my favorite parts about Majoras Mask, and I think that they are some of the best in the whole series. Even though Twilight Princess has the best ones, imo, if I had to rank them, I would say that:

-Snowhead was probably my favorite one since I love how it uses the goron's mask abilities and also how it looks, which, in my opinion, is the second most creepy after Stone Tower. The OST also sets a perfect tone for how it looks and feels while playing.

-my second favorite is the Stone Tower temple, the ost is amazing, i love how it reverses when the temple is turned around. Also, it's amazing how it combines all the things you learned in the previous temples in this sort of final test before the fight with the skull kid.

-Great bay temple was also amazing but kind of confusing in my opinion. I loved how the zora abilities were used since it was my favorite mask in the game.

-Woodfall temple was also very good for a first dungeon, I loved its ost but unfortunately, it is overshadowed by how good the others are.
Another thing that i love about Majoras Masks are the masks, they are all so cool, and i love all the different uses they have. My favorites are probably the zora mask, the bremen mask, the bunny hat, and the captain's mask. The ost was amazing, and it compliments the game's atmosphere and vibe so well. My favorite tracks were the Astral Observatory, the Song of Healing, and the Termina Field.
The most particular thing for me is that this game isn't afraid of talking about more mature themes like death, loss, grief, and most of all, the concept of masking your true identity, and I like how these themes are not forced into the game but instead are represented in a very natural way through its characters and their quests.
Majoras Mask is, in my opinion, one of the best games of all time, and even if its gameplay loop and mechanics may not be liked by everyone, I think that it's one of those games that needs to be played at least once in their lives since there will never be something like it again.




EDIT:i forgot to say that destroying Majora's with the fierce deity mask was one of the best feelings i've ever had while playing a videogame, imo getting all the masks is worth just for that alone.

Usually, I am not inclined towards superstitions and beliefs, but at the end of Ocarina of Time, Princess Zelda asked me to return to my time. Whether it's prophecy or sheer coincidence, we must admit that the princess’s exit is quite ironic when you’ve just spent several dozen hours on a game released over 25 years ago. What did she mean by returning to my time? Maybe I should simply enjoy current games? Like Baldur’s Gate 3 or Tears of the Kingdom? Stop stubbornly playing old games? I remain without an answer.

Anyway, we should normally keep quiet about never having played Ocarina of Time. It's the classic of classics. The "Citizen Kane" or "In Search of Lost Time" of gaming. If you skip this game, your gamer card gets revoked. Yet, like the aforementioned classics, I admit there's a strangely off-putting aspect to diving into the "genre's canons." As a critic, you find yourself in an uncomfortable position. Should you praise the game? Everyone has already done that (and better than you). Should you, on the contrary, bash it and make "hate content"? No, thank you. I have no desire to do either. I can only share my experience, which is the only "unique" thing that could be said about this game.

Ocarina of Time is not "just" the transition from 2D to 3D for a series; it's the "vanilla" experience of the 3D adventure game that remains the standard and, even today, an enjoyable experience. I find it crazy to think that this game is both the "universal tutorial" of 3D gaming while also being at the forefront of revolutionary mechanics: targeting, streamlined inventory management (compared to CRPGs of the time), dungeon level design, etc. I was impressed by how playable a 3D game controlled with a single stick remains without too many camera problems.

And yet, narratively, the game stays in a total classicism that I find, in this case, too "vanilla." I have trouble integrating into this world that lacks bizarreness. Everything is a bit too smooth for my taste. If the story didn't captivate me, it's the overall atmosphere of the dungeons that particularly stood out: the music, the enemies, the lighting effects, and the camera work, all are impressively mastered. The "open world" is very limited, and I admit I rushed through the dungeons without paying much attention to the side quests (I didn’t even get Epona). This didn't spoil my enjoyment.

Playing classics also raises the question of the platform on which to play them. After completing a third of the game on 3DS, I borrowed an N64 with an original cartridge. After spending a lot of time trying to get a decent image on my OLED screen, I eventually followed the path of reason by listening to @Katsono and @Armakeen and playing the version made by the Ship of Harkinian team with 4K textures added. I recommend anyone wanting to embark on this adventure to do the same: the game is beautiful, smooth, and you can assign the boots to the "C" button (which makes the Water Temple a bit less tedious). Hats off.

I look forward to diving into Majora’s Mask soon, probably in its "decompiled" version.

I'm writing this review after seeing all the reactions from the media and other people and I gotta say I think I feel more optimistic about the game than most people. Yes, the gameplay is very simple. The puzzles don't have much depth and neither does the combat. Sorry to say this but with all the time this game was in development, I tought we would get a game similar to the last two God of War games. I expected a much deeper combat, and I also expected side quests and much bigger areas to explore, then I realized Ninja Theory is a small studio and this would never happen, I laugh at how naive I am. This is not what we got, but I'm not exactly super let down by this. Obviously, the thing that impresses the most is the game's visuals. When I played through the game's intro I was like WOW! I can't believe I'm actually controlling this. And as I said in my replay review of the first Hellblade: I LOVE Senua! She's such a great character and I loved to spend time playing one more game with her. And this one's got other interesting characters too! I loved seeing Senua's interactions with them and I found the story fairly interesting, I mean, It's not like the first game but it doesn't need to be. And I gotta say not only the visuals but the audio design is still amazing. I'm gonna be real: I like to play 100+ hours RPGs but it's so good to play a 6-10 hour game. We need more games like this, so the developers have a chance to craft even better experiences. I hope I meet Senua again someday.

Buddhist philosophy intersecting Mesoamerican/African mythology (sort of shares a property with the Star Wars prequels in which some of these fictional cultures definitely feel racially undertoned but trying to place a finger on what specific race makes YOU the racist one. Current working theory is that the Zora are either Swedish or Korean.) in a game that's so good it doesn't make sense it exists. Escapes the humongous shadow OOT casts over the franchise by unashamedly bogarting every single asset that game had and becoming an unimpeachably weird, sombre but never maudlin, beautiful freak of a sequel. One sidequest of love and tragedy that spans 3 days and 3 nights ends a minute and a half before the moon crashes into the earth, forces you to rewind the clock, and 10 seconds later, it's like it never happened at all. Memento mori - remember you will die. You loop through Samsara, you do it all again.

Link becomes the de facto sin-eater of Termina, coming and going without a trace. You can't be everywhere. You can't save everyone. You loop through Samsara, you do it all again.

A beautiful puzzle adventure about linguistics, culture, and the benefits of understanding one another, inspired by The Tower of Babel.

Chants of Sennaar does a fantastic job with its ludonarrative; The goal is to decipher the languages of different civilizations, achieved by analysing environments and conversations. All the while, we learn about their ways of life and what led them to the current day and the lives they live. This dual purpose really resonated with me, and I personally think it struck an absolutely perfect balance between gameplay depth and narrative substance.

I adored the use of different linguistic mechanics that make you turn your head a little when it comes to certain puzzles (as well as the different script styles inspired by existing languages). It may not be as intricate as it could have been, but it’s enough to make you go “ahhh! cool!” when you notice certain things for the first time.
Thinking about it from the opposite perspective, it was clear that a lot of care was taken into simplifying certain aspects to make sure the puzzle solving felt smooth, accessible and rewarding. An example of how this is done is the removal of many “less interesting” words in the glyphs given to you, such as “the”, and “a”. We only have to focus on the parts that are meaningful to the purpose of the game and its world. The translation experience is finely crafted for that of a game player, and not that of a PhD student, which is what keeps it fun!

Many reviews complain about the stealth sections breaking up the pacing, I disagree with this, possibly due to me being a huge sucker for the narrative. I just found that these sections blended in with the journey so well, added in a unique feeling throughout the exploration that otherwise wouldn't have been felt, and did way more good than any harm they may have done by taking you away from puzzles. They don’t take up that much of the game anyway, and some of them had dialogue to analyse throughout! Keeps the brain thinking in both ways.

Great presentation, with an especially amazing soundtrack. Even though a fair bit of the game had me slowly backtracking, it was just too striking of a world to get very upset about it.

This is definitely up there as one of my favourite puzzle games and I recommend it to anyone who thinks it sounds remotely fun. The morals told are reflected greatly within the gameplay, which is also executed extremely well.