que rayos fue eso?

yume nikki es el ejemplo perfecto de juegos que te ofrecen una experiencia única, sentimientos únicos y que te transporta a su mundo. juegos que suelo jugar de madrugada luego de venir de trabajar, con la luz apaga más que la de una lámpara de noche que da luz naranja mientras fumo o consumo sustancias. las interpretaciones que le podía dar mientras jugaba, su atmósfera y ost opresivo, pero a la vez reconfortante que me daba un sentimiento de nostalgia y familiaridad e incluso identificado...

este sentimiento solo lo he experimentado con muy pocos juegos y el cual solo me lo ha dado obras muy de nicho y japonesas que salieron en los 90s o 2000s, una época que para los que me conocen, significa demasiado para mí.

"House of Leaves inspired Doom mod" is one of the most esoteric concepts you could probably ever cook up, but man, it sure is an esoteric concept aimed specifically at me.

There's a lot to process and unpack, but I don't think the constant comparisons to Yume Nikki are off the mark here: Myhouse is one of those things best experienced rather than actively discussed, even if the (adorably obvious in its adoration for Danielewski's writing) actual "plot" and imagery around the house has a plenty to delve into, analyze and chew on.

On the technical side of things Myhouse is probably the single most impressive feat in the Zdoom engine to date, which is all the more impressive considering the community around that source port (and Doom as a whole) has become more and more defined by getting as much mileage as (im)possible out of a thirty-year-old engine. I don't have as many positive things to say about the actual Doom aspects of it - there's enemy spam at work here that would put Plutonia to shame - but that's not really what you're playing Myhouse for.

had a similar experience as ffxii in that no matter how dense, well-written and ideologically sound a game's themes and messages may be, i have a hard time getting invested enough in them to care if i'm not interested in the characters, setting or writing. with ffxii i was at least extremely invested in fran and balthier and charmed by the refreshing mediterranean/middle eastern/south asian setting of dalmasca, but i didn't feel any of that about tactics or its particular portrayal of ivalice.

i think it's really that i honestly just don't care for medieval fantasy

This review is largely outdated and doesn't wholly reflect my views on Persona 3 anymore, namely in the fact that Persona 3 is no longer my favorite game. Still, people seem to like it, and so it remains for posterity's sake.

My favorite game of all time – what makes Persona 3 truly special isn't its individual qualities but how they interplay and work together as a whole. There are games that surpass Persona 3's merits one by one, but as a single cohesive work of art there truly isn't anything else like it.

Persona 3 has the sort of message that's meant to be heard by certain people – coming hot off the dating sim and visual novel craze of the early 2000s and deconstructing some of their greatest cliches while also embracing exactly what makes them appealing to so many people, Persona 3's narrative and its protagonist's story of opening up to the world around him and embracing life while it lasts is incredibly resonant and continues to mean the world to me and many others some fifteen years on.

If you're looking for a mechanically tight JRPG experience you might best look elsewhere, as Persona 3 isn't a game that intends to impress by gameplay alone. However, if you want a JRPG that makes the most of its mechanical quirks to help convey its message and portrays a theme of hope and determination against a bleak cyberpunk backdrop, then this game is definitely worth its 80+ hour runtime.

EDIT: Per request I've elucidated a little bit on two of the major points of this review in the comments below.