The setting and world building of Oddworld is so uniqe that I couldn't resist revisiting it through this "new and tasty" version of the game. But I probably should've left my fond memories of playing this on the PS1 alone, even though I can't get me to dislike this remake.

I think the world of Abe has come more alive here and the actually playing is more aligned with the cutscenes, and just for that this is worth revisiting, or experience if you haven't played the original version. It truly come off as a world that exist in it's own and you just happen to be able to be a part of it. Everything happens between the characters, from Abe's perspective and a lot of developers could learn a thing or two from this game on how to deliver context, story and dialogue without having to rely on "exposition talking".

What I had forgotten was how clunky Abe is to control, and that I downright hated the parts where you control Elum. After finishing those sequenses it didn't feel rewarding in a mastering kind of way, but more just lucky with the timing of the jumps. And I can't help but feel some of the puzzles are way harder because the enemies can now spot you from positions where they earlier was off-screen.

I don't regret playing this remake, but it would've benefitted from making Abe, and especially Elum, easier to control, maintained more of the originals "grittiness", make the visual cues on the maps more obvious and have a least one more directory later in the first stage.

Interesting concept which I would like to see more games implement. It is a detective/puzzle murder mystery where you actually have to spy on persons and use your deductive skill to figure out the solution.
It's not without weaknesses though, which lessens the enjoyment: collecting 52 card randomly places throughout is not fun; the isometric style is okay but the main character is sooo slow; some of the abilities comes too late and "fast travel" here is the most useless skill I've come across. The map is cool, but I wish the floors were layered on top of each other, not spread out beside each other.

A game I wish I liked more than I did, but still: if there ever is to be a sequel or spiritual successor I will check it out.

This has to be a somewhat hidden gem from recent year. If you love Tim Burton's stop motion movies you're going to love this game's artstyle because they wear their influence out in the open. And there's so much to look and marvel at that sometimes it feels like the gameplay gets in the way.

The world building and character gallery is absolutely amazing and the amount of creativity poured into this game is wild. The only negative thing regarding this, is that the game is VERY monologue heavy, as in at lot of the side characters are fleshed out with a lot of back story and boy to they want you to hear ALL of it. Sadly sometimes less is more, because after the first few worlds it starts to get a bit exposition-y.

The balance between exploring and figthing is okay, but towards the end the battles tends to be a bit on the repetitive side, and even though the mix between action and deck builder is fun to begin with it lacks the necessary depth or "fun" factor to last through the whole game.

Not much to add to the almost decade long praise this game has been subject to. But also an exhausting experience, so I didn't bother with the Nameless King at the 'peak before ending the final boss. Having played Sekiro and Bloodborne before any Dark Souls-games I did'nt feel like there was any benefit in skills aquired in those two games, but the general slower gameplay pacing in DS3 suited me better. Which is why the two other games are still unfinished and DS3 is completed.

In case you been on the fence because of hype (as I have, I admit), you're missing out.

Having finished Nioh 1 and wanting something different before going into Nioh 2, I quikly realized that wasn't the case at all, so Nioh 2 it was.

And finally getting comfortable with the combat system from the first game towards the end of that game, it was a somewhat jarring exeperience having to relearn the fundamentals because of some major changes to the combat in Nioh 2, which added even more complexity to something that was already challenging. And implementing the three different types of Yokai burst into the combat and the Yokai abilities took some time, but wether you find the game manageable or not depends of being able to implement these aspect into your fighthing.

There are alot of weapons in this game, and they are very varied in my experience and you really feel the difference in how you play regarding what weapons you use. Which is a good thing if you are like me: becoming a jack of all trades and master of none. Becase the weapons are meant to be used in three different stances (high, mid and low) depending on what you're doing in the fight and require fast motor skills in your finger and memorization, to get the moveset to become fluent. Where I mostly spend most of my time in one stance for longer periods of time. This can make the combat a bit samey, but hey then you can switch weapon and plebs like me get a different feel in the combat!

Nioh 2 is also mission based, which makes it a very focused game, and the hub world is like a advanced menu where you can do all types of upgrades and forging equipment. Still there's too much loot for my taste and the game lacks certain QoL improvements regarding upgrading and improving equipment and weapons, which make the process quite tedious late in the game.