Bloodborne (2015)

This game made me go through a process of love and hate and finally.. love.
I was very hyped to experience BB because it was the only souls game that I had left to play (hell, I even played the kings field games) and the aesthetic was so cool to me.

The gameplay was quite different from the rest of the soulslike games and I love it. The resource management with heals and bullet sounds really fun, but this led to the same problem that Sekiro has with the spirit emblems things; farming enemies is never fun.
Bloodborne suffers from this problem quite a lot, because it's a game that requires you to use these mechanics, Sekiro for the most part doesn't.
There are certain bosses and enemies that require you to parry with bullets, bullets that have a travel time, distance and speed, that sometimes can clip and go through enemies, that can be dodged, blocked, misstimed, etc. My issue doesn't come from them being limited like.. say, estus in dark souls, but rather because they're treated as consumables in dark souls which I always ended up never using until late game because they don't regenerate on death, but that was okay because they're small extra helps that you can indeed buy.

Silver Bullets not only don't regenerate on death, they are required for most enemies and bosses, and it's cool! It's cool that there's a skill factor to all this, but it sucks that if you run out of them, you're gonna have to just run past the enemies or look online for a place to farm those bullets and the problem with farming on a ps4 is the stupidly long load times.
You can always buy them, but they increase their cost with each boss killed and bloodborne doesn't have much "junk items" that you can sell unlike the rest of the games, so you're back to square one; do I farm for bullets or souls?

The exact same thing happens with vials.
I'm a souls veteran that played through all of them so I thought that healing wouldn't be much of an issue but I was wrong. Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 were developed pretty much at the same time, and we all know how hard enemies hit in ds3 late game/dlc areas, to the point you had to chug like 2 estus for a single hit from an enemy
Imagine that but your estus don't recover at the bornfire.
Sure, it isn't unfair or horrible, but it certainly didn't feel good. I ended up farming vials and bullets for like 2 hours while listening to a podcast just to end the thing I was preparing so much for 30 mins later so it felt... awkward.

The bosses in this game are pretty much like Dark Souls 1 bosses. They don't have much complexity, their hp is very low but their damage is high, making most of these a pretty unmemorable experience to me if it wasn't because of the cool looks and original designs (with some exceptions like Gascoine, Orphan of Kos and the Blood-Starved Beast). Bosses were never a selling point to me in souls games, but definitely something that I felt was worth to be considered.

The weapons are cool. There aren't much of them, but they all work. It's just a preference of playstyle and more into doing combos. Sadly, I have monkey brain so combo weren't my thing, but I still enjoyed the weapons as they went for quality over quantity (after googling what was the best option for my stats because I am dumb).
The armors on the other hand, they are full fashion souls or specific resistances. Hell, you can 100% the game with the starter armor with no issue and.. sure? I mean, it's okay. I'm not a big armor fan, but when you get all the weapons for your stat class, the rest of the loot is kind of.. I wasn't excited for it unlike other games. I felt as if every drop had the same weight in what value refers to but not in a cool way, but rather the entire opposite and it was a shame :( because the game puts it very clear that nothing you find will make fights easier, only more comfortable to deal with (which you can argue that = easier, but it's a different kind of easier)

Stats don't really feel like they make a difference either. Not on damage, not on health or stamina. Maybe because the game is really short so I was going through it very quickly; I honestly don't know.

So at this point I was quite dissapointed and I went "fuck it. Let's enjoy the game for the level design, combat and artistic choices" and I ended up enjoying it a lot, to the point where I was like "damn, I really wish they added stuff like this to every other game too" because Bloodborne feels so consistent and great.
One big comparison point I can give is Artorias of the Abyss DLC. You know how the Darkroot Garden shows the huge Abyss gap, Artoria's Cape trail towards the depths of the abyss and Oolacile, SIF Howls in the distance, etc? Bloodborne is not that exaggerated in visual terms, but it's definitely quite close. The lore though? it's so self centered that everything connects to everything in a very tight way and that's really cool! and you don't see that too much. Hell, it's why I love Sekiro, Demon Souls and the first Dark Souls.

The level design it's really well thought. There are three instances alone where I'm like "This shouldn't exist" but for a game like this, three parts alone (not even entire areas!) it's an achievement.

In conclusion; Bloodborne might be a bit harsh to play due to intended mechanics that are quite unforgiving, but the story, ambiance and setting is definitely worth the experience as a whole.

The most loved entry in the series by fans, sadly not by me. Reason? My first playthrough was on hard mode.
I completely forgot this is a 2001 game, when games had this fetish for making hard difficulties unfair for the sake of taking a screenshot and bragging that you beat it. It's cool for when it's your favorite game that you already beat, but for the love of god don't start your first playthrough on hard, it really made my experience hella worse.

Aside from this, Silent Hill 2 it's a very solid experience full of surprises and an incredible level design.

I have to start this review by saying I'm completely biased with this game. I'm a girl. A trans girl to be exact, so this game meant a lot for me.

I promise I won't delve a lot on gender outside this paragraph.
This game is focused on cisgender womanhood and puberty. Regardless, it's still womanhood. Societal norms and views of the gender are the same.
That awkward phase of being alone and shifting into adulthood as a girl it's always... well.. awkward-- and scary. Specially if you don't fully know who or what you are.
Many people consider this a "weak" entry, but I genuinely feel like it's a thing about gender. Not mysoginy, just.. different childhoods and societal norms. Silent Hill 2 clicks with guys a lot, Silent Hill 3 clicks with girls a lot, and for trans people it's usually both.

I used to think Silent Hill games won't get better visually (in terms of horror) after Silent Hill 1 due to the PSX aesthetics, but Silent Hill managed to do that while also keeping the beautiful character models of the PS2.

The soundtrack, the ambiance, the monster and level design is unnerving as fuck and I will never grow tired of it.

A lot of people bash SH4 for being different and while I understand it, I feel like it's unjustified.

The first half of Silent Hill 4 is amazing. Everything I could ask for. The Room being in first person allows you to see every little detail about Henry. He's not a great protagonist, but it's really cool that you're able to play an exploration game for a bit. The puzzles both in the apartment and the otherworld are very clever and fun! The level design is well thought and the story will easily get you hooked.

The second half is where most of the problems start, because they spike the difficulty in enemies, damage, resources, reducing safe spots and the worst of all; the hook is dead. You now know what the numbers meant, the rest of the game is trying to dissect and analyze a character which is something that I personally feel should be done after you're done with the game. Honestly, I feel like the devs also knew this? which is why they make you.. pretty much replay the entire game with a few differences.
The second half of SH2 feels more like a New Game+ and I don't think I really enjoy it, specially because now you get a follower with you that can and WILL take damage. Something that is really questionable given all these spike difficulties, where's the need to another one?

I feel like it's a really good game that was rushed by Konami because.. well, Konami. It makes me really sad that most people dislike it to the point they say Silent Hill is only a trilogy, as if The Room was as different and bad received as the other games, which is simply untrue.