I really good game that I can appreciate for being good, yet it never quite clicked with me. I have played it all the way through 3 times but I've never really understood why everyone calls it amazing. The art style is amazing, movement is tight and responsive, and the music is fantastic. However, the actual gameplay is where my problems are. The run and guns are all blend together despite their memorable details due to their game plan being the same the whole way through - never release fire, hold forward, and occasionally jump to platforms moving up and down. The bosses are very hit or miss, ranging from being unremarkable to iconic. Some bosses feel random while others are completely reliant on player skill. The one constant is how expressive each boss is. They all feel alive, popping off the screen. The story is lackluster but the game never focuses on it super hard. Overall, Cuphead is a game with high highs and mid mids that I can respect for what it is yet down find as much enjoyment from it as other people. I think its pretty fun and nothing more.

A really fun game with a great sense of progression until a brick wall comes out of nowhere stopping all forward progress. The game is challenging but manageable up until this point. This forces players to either grind a lot or pay up to roll for better characters. For a hard stage before this, it would be a very minor grind to overcome it. Past the brick wall, every level takes hours to grind for. Everything up until this point is phenomenal however with great pacing and decent gameplay. The gacha isn't too egregious either.

My 2nd favorite game of all time. There feels like an endless amount of things I can praise this game about. In every jump I make I can feel the love poured into this game. The level design is immaculate as every single screen is always challenging yet fair and very fun. The level themes all excellently build tension and ramp up difficulty in such a natural way. All levels have the theme of ascending upwards, both mental and physical (with exception of Reflection which purposefully reverses these two to represent Madeline's current state up until the end where the conflict is resolved and Madeline begins moving upwards again). The gameplay and level design also reflect the story in a beautiful way. The story takes a little and creates a lot - there are only a few Theo or Badeline encounters, yet the game feels brimming with a rich story and deep, realistic characters. That's one of the most immaculate things about the game - one one can read every line of dialogue and have a wonderful experience, and one can can skip the entire story and still have a wonderful experience. However, the story is excellent and feels real as Madeline struggles with mental issues. She has no idea who she is or who she wants to be, so she does whatever aimlessly hoping to find value in herself. She feels so real in this regard, a real human being uncertain about life. Despite this, she is committed and determined to discovering herself, not necessarily overcoming her fears but rather learning to move forward instead of staying stuck. Her story has helped so many people, including myself, in teaching them how to deal with your problems. It shows a healthy way to begin to heal. In addition to this, the music is absolutely phenomenal. Fantastic track after fantastic track that perfectly complements the levels, gameplay, and player's emotions. The base tracks make the levels feel so atmospheric, tense, or whatever emotion the level wants to make you feel. The B-sides are all charming remakes that are absolutely bangers, and the Farewell tracks all work in tandem to paint a larger picture.
Like I said at the start, Celeste is a game I could compliment for hours and hours, so go play it and replay it and replay it again.

One of the first games I have ever played and what an absolute gem. All the locations are extremely memorable and filled with such unique monsters and friends. The characters seem basic but the more I replay the game their depth increases to the point where I feel foolish for thinking they're so cut and dry. Characters have motivations, dreams, fears, have experienced great joys and terrible losses. Everyone wants to leave the area but leaving mean very different things for each character. The gameplay is floaty yet doesn't demand precision as weapons are designed around a looser control system. When the game does give you weapons that are more precise it is at a time where movement has advanced to match its demanded precision. All the bosses are challenging but never feel impossible; it feels like fighting against something way more powerful than you. The goliath bosses are extremely satisfying to overcome because of their size and difficulty. Masterpiece of a video game, play it if you haven't and, if you have, play it again.

Phenomenal first 2 acts of the game that is completely ruined by the combat-focused 3rd act. The game is so much fun and excellently made up until it switches from being a monster preying on the unsuspecting to being a game where you fight your way through every solution. It's especially worse because the combat in this game is the weakest part, so for the game to specialize in it for the last stretch of the game makes the whole thing fall apart. The first parts of the game are marvelous. Stealthily sneaking through labs and other unique areas is very fun. Acting as the hunter is such a unique take on gaming that it is unrivaled.