Before I get started with this review, I'm giving a content warning for talks of: suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and abuse. Nothing overly heavy and explicit, but these things will be mentioned. Destiny is best reviewed anecdotally, and I want to properly explain why this game means so much to me.

I got into this series around June 2015 (I was about 17 years old), and it quickly became my go-to game on a daily basis. Around summer of that year, my primary friend group started experiencing a whole slew of problems. My closest friend at the time was experiencing some alarming suicidal thoughts and revealed that he had been self-harming, and had disappeared for about a month or so before returning. My other friends were fragmented and disjointed with a plethora of other problems (ranging from relationship issues, to problems with other friends, to problems at home, etc). I was the friend that had a lot of this dumped on them, aka, the mom/therapy friend. It was a massive drain on my mental health to the point where I couldn't function socially. The worst part is, my friends were so preoccupied with their own problems that nobody cared, and once their problems found a bit of resolution, they still didn't care (bad friends, trust me, I know now).

As a result of my friends Really Going Through It, on top of my parents being rather abusive, I practically retreated into playing Destiny. I played it every single day for years. I played when I got home, and I played until late at night. I played with my clanmates, and even though I didn't know them personally, they were always happy to have me, and I knew that the second I got home I could always expect a party and game invite to join them.

I understand my attachment to Destiny is unhealthy. I understand full-well that this is objectively not a 5-star game; however, I cannot rate this anything other than 5 stars. When a game and the people who play it with you do a better job of being your comfort and support than your IRL friend group, then you'd likely understand. I remember so many positive memories about this game, that I feel I need to share:

- I remember the person (who is no longer active online), helped me in the demo and later through the vanilla campaign (I hope you're doing well, Jaydee!)

- I remember when I was brand new to the game and my clanmates got a whole bunch of people together to help me run through Vault of Glass for the first time (with Plan C being my first exotic weapon)

- I remember when my clanmates asked me if I wanted to join them in their first ever run-through of King's Fall, and it being the quintessential moment that really solidified my place in our friend group

- I remember helping them figure out the mechanics of the raid, and I remember being in my menu when I heard my one clanmate go "Oh Sht!" as we all turned around to see Oryx towering over us, followed immediately by us panicking over what to do

- I remember being in the revamped Crota's End raid with my clanmates while the Deathsinger's song was counting down, and my bestfriend just barely made it in time and we all started screaming and crying over it and the loot we got

- I remember all of us nervously closing our fireteams while we tried to attempt (and later succeed) a Flawless Raid

- I remember 4-5 excruciating hours of Skolas (mind you this was after the burn modifiers were removed so you couldn't immediately kill him), and finally defeating him and getting the rewards and milestone I needed for my Moments of Triumph

- I remember when Xur finally* sold Gjallarhorn for the second time and it started trending on Twitter

- I remember doing the Outbreak Prime quest with my clanmates, being a bunch of confused nerds in the puzzle rooms

- I remember finding a bunch of new players out in the open and offering my help to all of them, letting them know they could ask me anything and I'd be happy to help them (and some of them accepted!)

- I remember getting trolled (and later trolling others) at the piston jumping puzzle in King's Fall

- I remember when Trials of Osiris glitched, put 2v1 me and my clanmate versus another clanmate, and then the next round pitched both clanmates against me (still have no idea what that was about, haha)

- I remember going Flawless in Trials and my one teammate literally quit the game right then and there, and he never came back (good riddance, honestly!)

- And I will never, ever forget booting up Destiny 2 for the very first time, late at night with a bunch of my clanmates, and all of us being incredibly sentimental over the legacy screen telling us who we completed activities with in Destiny 1

I have so many more memories I could list, but I'm sure you get the idea. Destiny is a 5 star game not because of all the technical nonsense that makes it what it is, but because it offers a unique and wholesome experience for everyone who plays it. I sincerely would not be here today if it weren't for this game, and the least I can do to show my eternal gratitude is to give it 5 stars and a heartwarming review on here.

Destiny is the game I call home, and I hope you all have a game that you can consider the same. ^_^

Hey you! Like Donkey Kong Country? The first game was a little bit archaic for my taste. But when Nintendo released Donkey Kong Country 2 in 95 I think the series really came into its own, commercially and artistically. The whole game has really challenging platforming, and an angelic ost that really gives the game a big boost. It's been compared to Super Mario World, but I think DKC2 has more satisfying platforming. I think this game is Rare's undisputed masterpiece. A game so good that most people don't even think about the level design. But they should! It's not just a game about monkeys, It's a personal statement about the developers themselves.

I’m always rather taken aback by those who argue that the original Destiny is preferable to the sequel. I suspect it’s nostalgia speaking, because it seems to me that the original game is merely a rough draft for what Destiny 2 would eventually become. The shooting is as satisfying and polished as ever, but that isn’t enough to make up for the endless grind and lack of things of do, especially prior to The Taken King expansion (which mercifully added bosses that did more than simply lumber around as massive bullet sponges). Levels like the moon and the cosmodrome are also rather bland and ugly compared with those of the sequel. The story content, which has clearly never been a huge focus for Bungie, is especially half-assed here. Since the story and lore are so perfunctory, no one should feel bad starting with the sequel.

The Halo Infinite campaign is something I was at first very fearful for back before they delayed the game, and then a lot less apprehensive about, but still a little.

First, the gameplay and game balance. This aspect far and away saves the playability of the campaign. They did a great job making everything feel crisp, the grappling hook is a seamless addition, and the guns are surprisingly well balanced to the point where I'd used all of them at least a handful of times by the end. The only real balance gripe I have is how eventually you can unlock most UNSC weapons to infinitely replenish at checkpoints, which makes battle rifle+sniper a little too much of a go-to loadout in the latter half of the game.

The biggest drawback of the campaign gameplay wise to me is the choice of open world as the basis. Now, don't get me wrong, I actually like open world games quite a bit; but the replay value of them is so low, and replay value is a big thing for the Halo campaigns to me. Knowing where all of the upgrades and weapons are and being forced to trek across long stretches of land you've already seen before is a huge slog. Also, the environments are not very dynamic at all, so it gets pretty boring to look at after a while, much unlike the other Halo games.

And finally, the story. I'm a pretty big fan of the Halo story. Read some of the more important books like Fall of Reach, played most of the games enough times to recite the dialogue per mission, that kind of thing. The expectations for a 343 story were not sky high anyhow, and Halo Infinite didn't really exceed any expectations. I will start by saying that Master Chief is excellent in this game and Steve Downes blew it out of the water again with his voice acting. But as for the story itself, we're kept in the dark about what's going on for pretty much the whole first half, so it takes a while to even really get going. They spend so much time catching you up on what happened in Halo 5 so that you don't have to play it that it just felt like it was wasting so much space that could have just had new content. And even when it does get going, the Banished frankly are not very interesting at all as antagonists. The only interesting Banished is only in the after credits legendary scene. Also really wasn't a fan of the Echo pilot or Weapon. They're fine, but nothing exceptional. Overall, not bad enough to be disappointed, but not good enough to be excited. Here's to the next section of the story, I guess.

Overall, I'm not really sure it's worth 60 dollars. The campaign takes about 25 hours at a leisurely pace if you do everything (freeing all the marines, taking back all the camps, getting all the audio logs) and probably much less than that if you just beeline for all of the actual mission parts, around 12 or 13 hours. If you love open world games and want a fresh experience with one, this is definitely for you, but I'd probably still wait for a sale.

Being a FROMsoft game, it's pretty much guaranteed to already get at least a 4.5. But Elden Ring definitely earns that last .5.

From the absolutely massive world, impressively balanced build variety, and incredible story, it really doesn't miss many marks all around. Most people in their reviews will tell you they were completely enthralled for a solid 100 hours, and they're not exaggerating in the slightest; as a pretty big souls fan, I did a full 100% (defeating all bosses, exploring all areas, getting all weapons, gear, upgrades, etc.) and I clocked in at 155 hours with just a single playthrough, no NG+ or anything.

Despite open world games often being known for having wide open spaces that are simply filler for running to your next main quest objective and calling it "freedom", Elden Ring completely kicks this stereotype to the curb and packs every nook and cranny of its world with mini dungeons and goodies to find. And the majority of loot isn't even bad to worthless either; so many unique spells, weapons and armor hidden in spots you wouldn't expect, and at the worst, loot might be a consumable item only useful in a specific situation, like a poison cure. But the best part, as with all Souls games, is they don't waste your time with the little stuff; it's all up to you to pick up those poison cures or not. The only thing for sure is that you have to kill bosses, no matter how you do it.

As for the bad? The problems with Elden Ring mostly stem from its similarities to Dark Souls 3. The stored inputs are crazy, sometimes taking button presses from up to 4 or 5 seconds in the past and playing them out at times you don't want them. Elden Ring also has the Dark Souls 3 problem of heavy armor falling off hard in lategame, where most enemy damage is simply a 2 or 3 hit kill regardless of being either built like a brick or wearing beggar rags.

But all in all, the problems are heavily outweighed by the insane experience that is Elden Ring. If you like video games, just do yourself a favor and play it.