I've always heard about the crazy shit and fourth wall breaking Kojima does in his games but it feels so surreal to actually experience it in first hand. I'm officially on the Hideo Kojima hype train now. This game fucking rocks.

Mind-blowing execution of every single one of its ambitious, ahead of its time concepts and it's such a perfectly paced and unforgettable journey. More realistic character depth and emotional cinematic storytelling than most games back then - and no other games do stealth as well as Metal Gear. It's peak.

I did 100%. The formula for Nintendo platformers is so perfected at this point that it almost doesn't even feel like it's worth talking about without repeating myself on how masterfully designed games like this and Forgotten Land are, but it's the endless creativity and charm and life and joy emanating from every single second of gameplay from the more recent big Nintendo Switch outings of this kind that has really been incredible to witness - and this game is absolutely no exception. This is good as fuck. It's the kind of 2D Mario platformer i've been craving for years now, it has never felt this lively and funny before. I'd still say World is my favorite 2D Mario because I like its ambition for level design a bit more, but this is a very close second. An indisputable must-play if you own a Switch.

Weirdly enough for a strange sort of reboot of the series, this really feels like the Mortal Kombat formula finally fully stagnating. I can't think of anything this game does that the other Netherrealm entries haven't already done far better and more memorably, and the Kameos and welcome attempts at appealing to fans of the 6th gen era of MK don't really save the game from feeling like it takes away more content and depth than it adds anything new or meaningful to the franchise. It feels like the creativity is going bankrupt and the franchise just reached a point where it's doing nothing beyond "doing the job" and going through a boring checklist for what makes up a functional Mortal Kombat game that will appease the fans for a short period of time before they feel like going back to the better games also available on the same modern consoles - or other better fighting games for that matter.

I enjoyed playing it enough - at the end of the day, it is the average Mortal Kombat gameplay and I think it's fun. I like the series. But it just feels barren and undercooked overall and I feel salty about it. Just made me wanna go back to Street Fighter 6 really.