I am a much different person now than I was when I first played persona 3. I was a clueless freshman in high school, just going about my days, chilling with my friends, and being the massive nerd that I was, not knowing a pandemic was a month away from fucking everything up. Now I'm a freshman in college, and while I'm still a massive nerd, I've started feeling a little more detached from the persona series since graduating high school. I don't know, maybe I can't relate to it as much any more, or something like that. But no matter what happens to my opinions over time about the rest of the series, my feelings on Persona 3, and now Persona 3 Reload will never change.

Back then, it made me realize that, well, death is inevitable. Doesn't matter who you are, you will die. I mean, I knew that before I played the game, sorta, but Persona 3 just made me realize the full extent of it. It fucked me up, but in the best way possible. And now here I am, 4 years later, coming away with an entirely different message than before. It's kind of hard to even put into words really, especially with tears streaming down my face, but it goes something like this: I am so damn lucky to be where I am in life. All my friends, my family, all the memories I've made in high school and am making now in college. This game was sort of a wake up call for me to just stop for a second, stop worrying about the future, or the past, for just a moment and just look back at everything that's happened to me and appreciate it. Honestly, this might be the most I've ever emotionally connected to a video game, ever. I've gotten more invested in better stories that have gotten me more emotional over said stories and their characters, but I've never had a game just sit me down, slap me upside the head and tell me to just stop fucking worrying for a second, just a single damn second and realize what you have, and cherish it. So, thank you, Atlus. Thank you for creating this masterpiece.

OK. CHEESY STUFF DONE. So how's the actual game?

Yeah, the game itself is amazing too, though I do have my gripes. First of all, I need Atlus to please stop it with the oversexualization. Using it as a plot point, like with Ann in Persona 5, can work, but it gets really annoying having the characters show up to a hot spring and knowing that the next 5 minutes are about the be the cringiest thing you will ever witness. Got that? Thank you.

The gameplay here is easily the best in the series. Tartarus is actually fun to explore now, what with the monad doors and the switching up of the layouts of floors, and the actual turn based combat is the best one more style combat has ever been. Theurgies are awesome, and getting to oneshot the reaper with armageddon was immensely satisfying. The visual overhaul here is also unbelievable. Every new floor of tartarus I visited had my jaw on the floor from how good it looked, and of course the every day stuff is still very, very good looking. The social links here I think are at their best too. Everyone deserves to experience Akinari's social link at least once in their life. Also, of course, the soundtrack is still one of the best in gaming, and the new versions mostly do it justice, with some being insane improvements (CHANGING SEASONS -RELOAD- MY BELOVED)

Really, my gripes about this game are really minor stuff, like the pacing can be a bit slow at times, and this one shot after the final boss from the original wasn't in reload, or like, three of the new remixes are a little worse than their originals, and I do wish the script was altered less, but none of that is really enough to change my overall opinion on the game. It's good. It's really good. 105 hours to beat the game is a lot, though... maybe I should start saving games this long for summer. In high school I could blast through a game this long in a couple weeks, but this time it took me two full months. I just have way less time now than I did then. but eh, it is what it is.

anyways, yeah, my point is, if you have the time, play this game. It's one of the best dungeon crawlers out there, and just might change your life, like it has mine, twice over.

Expressiveness is the quality that defines roleplaying games: they’re judged by how freely players can assert themselves in a reactive space. Players want to convey their personality and make choices, but while these are the obvious core concepts of the genre, Baldur’s Gate 3 has proven to me that they’re not what makes an RPG great. Having the capacity to make decisions is certainly a necessity, but decisions only matter when players care about the outcomes. Choices surround us in every moment of our lives, but most vanish from our minds within seconds for that very reason; they’re so emotionally inconsequential as to be hardly worthy of notice. So, more fundamental than allowing for choice is providing a real adventure in which to make those choices, and defining a journey which has players encountering challenges, learning, changing, and overcoming. This is the critical component which Baldur’s Gate fails to establish, most glaringly from its narrative structure.

(Minor spoilers through act 2)
In the opening cutscene, your character has a mindflayer tadpole inserted into their head, so your call to adventure is getting it out. This is fine in itself, but the game is quick to tell you that there’s no urgency to this task, relieving you of the burden of care. Every quest you receive to accomplish this goal, across the first ~22 hours of gameplay, results in failure where your party just sorta gives up. It takes another ten hours before the main villains are established, a stale group of evil zealots of evil gods who just love being evil, pursuing an agenda which players can't feel meaningfully aligned against. The simplicity of the central narrative gives the impression it’s just supposed to be a foundation for a character-driven story, but the interpersonal aspect is similarly lacking. In what feels like a symptom of the game's long stay in early-access, your companions put their love and trust in you in act 1, before anyone’s had the chance to organically develop relationships or encounter life-changing struggles. Characters don’t have the time and space to have an arc, and you don’t get the chance to express yourself alongside them, you simply skip to the end for an immediate and vacuous payoff. There’s no journey here, you’re simply being presented with scenes from an adventure without actually going on one.

The same can be said for the mechanics, even when they’re lifted from the tabletop game, thanks to a design philosophy where every playstyle is thoroughly accommodated. This seems like a good strategy in a genre where players want to assert themselves, but the refusal to challenge players leaves unique approaches feeling irrelevant. Even with a party led by a Githyanki barbarian, with very little in the way of charisma, intelligence, or skill, there was never a time I couldn’t overcome a situation in an optimal way. I could pick whatever locks I wanted, disarm whatever traps I wanted, circumvent any barrier I wanted; the game never asked me to think ahead or prepare. I didn’t have to be ready with certain spells or proficiencies, it never demanded more than following a clear path. Even if it did, the cheap respecs mean that you’re a maximum of 400 gold away from having a team perfectly suited to the task at hand, and even if you don’t end up using that option, knowing that your choices are so impermanent is a detriment to any feeling of growth.

That’s the key here: growth. My characters leveled up, but I don't feel like they grew. I traveled, but I don’t feel like I went on a journey. I made choices, but I don’t feel like I went in new directions. After a fifty-hour playthrough, all I remember was that I chilled out, ran around some nice maps, and managed my inventory. I spent all that time relaxing well enough, but I didn’t overcome challenge, feel much, or learn anything. All I could confidently state that the game did for me is live up to its basic selling point, of being an adventure I could take at home, a journey where I go nowhere.

P3R was one of my favorite experiences in gaming. Despite knowing the large story beats and ending, I was still sobbing for the last hour of the game. P3R's darker tone is in stark contrast to the more recent installments and it's refreshing. For a game so focused on the pain of death and loss and struggling it brilliantly showcases characters struggling through life BECAUSE they can and want to see tomorrow. It's a truly inspiring game and message. Narrative aside, the game as a game is brilliant as well. The balance between Tartarus and social links is honestly addicting, the links are some of the best I've seen as well. Gameplay and Tartarus is awesome, Theurgies are such a cool mechanic that is cool every time they're used. Lastly, the music. Some of the best I've heard in a game. The battle themes are great, the theme of rap/pop is also pulled off beautifully. The voice actors also did a phenomenal job. Especially Aleks Le and Zeno Robinson. Stand out performances. Overall, this game is easily one of my favorite games of all time, I highly recommend it to anyone who likes turn based RPGs. I can't wait for The Answer.

Stardew Valley is an enjoyable and lovely RPG game that I have enjoyed very much for many, many years now; ever since 2016. Although there are many farming games on Steam, I have never found a farming/agricultural game that has had nearly as much diversity as Stardew Valley, and Stardew Valley is definitely the most fun one, in my opinion!

Stardew Valley's farming is peaceful and enjoyable, and I love it, but I also love that there's so much more that you can do besides farming! The game is chock-full of content and options, and lots of different activities to explore, as well as a lovely game world to explore, filled with charm, color, and personality. In the game, you can raise animals, build collections, build buildings on your farm, craft items, decorate your home, catch fish, mine minerals, fight creatures in the mines, build friendships with villagers, enjoy town festivals, get married, have children/adopt, cook, learn recipes, upgrade your tools, and find artifacts! I love every single aspect of these; the game is so much fun :D

The game has quite a few villagers and buildings, and the town is fun to explore, in my opinion. Pelican Town has a lot of personality, but you can tell that the town needs some TLC, and you can chime in and help!

The gameworld is lovely, and the town's events/festivals are quite charming, especially experiencing them for the first time. There is an in-game calendar that shows the villagers' birthdays, special events, and festivals. There are festivals for each season and crops and fish for each season, so each season brings fresh content to enjoy for a new player.

I also like the quality system the game has for its items. As you progress in the game, your produce increases in quality, allowing you to sell it for more money, or build your relationship with villagers more than a normal quality gift. I enjoy the satisfaction of helping my characters master their skills ^^

I also really enjoy building relationships with the villagers. You can progress in building their friendship, and eventually date any villager or marry any villager. Throughout the development of the relationship with them, you learn more about their personality. Each villager has a different personality and different hobbies, as well as different gifts that they like or dislike. It's fun learning more about what they like and seeing their personality shine when your characters know them better. I also like that the characters' personalities are realistic; each character has both positive and negative traits. A lot of the characters are quite relatable in this way.

Stardew Valley also has a delightfully charming and relaxing soundtrack that is very appropriate for the game, and very pleasant to listen to, as well as unique songs for each season and different songs for different locations in the game, and its visuals are also pleasing and saturated.

Overall, Stardew Valley is a really great game, and it's been a pleasure to play. It's a very good thing to play to relax and to enjoy, and progressing in the game is satisfying. The only complaint that I have is that, early on in the game, fishing can be quite difficult and it can be difficult to initially make money to afford new seeds, etc.

Also, the game has modding support, which is awesome! From things like QoL improvements to graphical overhauls that change the color palette of the game, the sprites, the avatars, etc., there's so much potential for customizing the game and enjoying it even more! ^^

Plus, it is still being updated, despite being almost a decade old! But the game doesn't feel dated at all. This game has always held a special place in my heart, and I would recommend Stardew Valley in a heartbeat to anyone who likes chill, calming, comforting, fun, and immersive games. ^^

"Just focus on tying up all your loose ends - then you and I are leaving this city once and for all." ~ Judy Álvarez

For many, Cyberpunk 2077 will always be remembered as the game with arguably the worst launch next to No Man's Sky. It was a bugfest and the console experience was so bad that refunds were provided from the developers themselves. But I'm not here to talk about the launch - instead I would like to share my personal experience after ~100 hours of playing and getting all available endings, entirely in patch 2.1 and right off the bat with Phantom Liberty (which I reviewed already).

Cyberpunk really shines in terms of presentation. The vibes are incredible, Night City nails the feeling of a dystopian and futuristic metropolis perfectly. You know, flashy neon lights and advertisements are plastered all over the city and the streets are always busy. Another thing that really helps the immersion here is the lighting. An often overlooked aspect, but it's probably the best ambient lighting I've ever seen in a game alongside Red Dead Redemption 2. Do yourself a favor and cruise through Night City on a rainy night, you'll see what I'm talking about. By the way, this is without Raytracing. RTX enabled is a whole different beast, but I didn't keep it on for long, because it was taking a serious toll on my frames and I'm a person who likes to enjoy games with a smooth framerate over graphical fidelity all day.

The main story is solid, albeit not very long. You could probably finish it under 20 hours in total if you're beelining the main quests and ignore the side content. Despite the short runtime, you'll find yourself in a lot of cool setpieces and get acquainted to many great characters, each with their own individual questline. I would definitely recommend playing those quests, since they're a lot more personal than the overarching narrative and really help understanding the struggles and personalities of V's friends better. Speaking of those friends, I think the fluff text messages you get every now and then are a great feature. Makes the world feel more alive and it's always nice to see characters being relevant outside of their own contained substories. Romance is also a neat little mechanic - I really like how CDPR provides extra text messages for your partner, so they ask about V's life every now and then. There's an unique quest where you can also hang out with them at your apartment and talk about stuff, this is repeatable, but unfortunately the dialogue repeats after the first time. Just use your imagination here and you're golden.

Cyberpunk's side content is mainly divided into two different mission types - gigs and side jobs. Gigs are one-time missions where you do a quick job for a fixer of choice, like breaking into an apartment to retrieve some data for a client. How you handle those missions is entirely up to you (unless there's an optional objective you'd like to complete), so you could opt for a stealthy approach or just shoot your way through the enemies. Combat in general is very diverse, you can have Mantis Blade implants inside your arms or blind enemies with hacks - there are so many possible builds. I went with a Netrunner/Gunslinger build, since not many games offer you the opportunity to weaken your opponents by just hacking them! And pistols just feel like the most comfy ranged option to me - a silenced one for stealth and another unsilenced one for loud combat. If you're still unsure on a build, I'd recommend testing some of the iconic weapons (basically the "legendary" weapons of this game), since they come with unique perks. There's a lot of them, so I'm sure some of them will appeal to you. Now, I didn't go in detail about the side jobs, but that's because they're more narrative-driven quests. Some of them feel like the Stranger quests in RDR2, while others have more complex tales to tell. So basically they are a great pastime if you're looking for more worldbuilding in Night City.

If you found yourself asking the whole time "But what about the bugs?", while reading this, then I'll gladly answer that for you. In my 97 hours of playtime I only had a single crash happen (right before writing this review ironically), but since the game autosaves often enough, it was a loss of like 3 minutes only. I haven't encountered a single game-breaking bug, just some small immersion-breakers every now and then, alongside two "real" bugs. This includes various items clipping into the hands of NPCs when they were supposed to put them away and NPCs in general teleporting on rooftops where they aren't supposed to be. The "real" bugs were my V glitching through a wall after a character crashed my car into that wall in a scripted cutscene (had to reload my save) and I've also had enemies walk through a closed garage door once - but that one was rather funny, despite being unfair. There's another problem I'd like to address, but I'm not entirely sure if it's a bug, so I'm not going to label it as one. It's related to quests starting through calls of certain characters. The game explicitly tells you "Wait a day until this character calls you back." and then sometime they just don't call at all, despite 24 hours having passed in-game. Worst offender was when I tried to start the follow-up mission to the companion mission "Off the Leash", the quest giver was supposed to call after one in-game day but it took me two real-time hours (after several virtual days passed already) for that character to call. For your own sanity I recommend doing other gigs or side jobs inbetween, because I'm very sure the calls will come on time if you don't just try to exploit the waiting feature to skip to those quests instantly. Try to let it play out naturally.

Are you a fan of the Edgerunners anime? Well, good news for you! The world of Cyberpunk 2077 also includes small nods to the series, like the graves of the deceased characters at the cemetery. There's also a side job where you can get David's iconic jacket and you can find Rebecca's famous shotgun out in the world too (if you remember the spot she left it in the anime).

The final point I'd like to address in this review is the soundtrack. (Yeah, there are other songs besides I Really Want To Stay At Your House.) While the OST in The Witcher 3 had a calmer, more comforting vibe, Cyberpunk's music fits the high octane combat accordingly, but some of the best tracks come from the sad and serious moments in the game. For car rides, the different radio stations allow you to listen to your music genre of choice. Speaking of the cars, I find it a lot more satisfying to drive to quest locations than to just quick travel there (which I regrettably did a lot in like the first 20 hours of my playthrough). It's just a lot more immersive and driving feels great if you have a car you like. (My personal favorite ride is the Outlaw, great speed and handles well.)

I have talked a lot about this game now. That's because I love it. So if you would ask me if Cyberpunk is worth it, I would definitely recommend you to pick up the base game on sale sometime and go for Phantom Liberty if you want to spend more time in this fantastic world. It's pretty much in a fixed state now and if what I described in this review seems interesting to you, why not give it a go? There were very few moments where I was actually bored, even the beginning is great and brings you pretty fast into the action (unlike a certain cowboy game I have named several times in this review already).

That's all I wanted to share - thanks for reading.

It's rare to find a good stealth game, but the Hitman trilogy does everything it strives to be in the right way.

Immersive locations, well structured level design and a ton of possibilities to execute your kills make the modern Hitman games really stand out amidst the crowd. There's just so much replayability by going for certain challenges or just goofing around doing sandbox things.

And if you ever find yourself bored from the normal missions, you can take on the roguelike Freelancer missions, sending you on randomly assigned missions across the world, with an own progression system and a safehouse to upgrade.

Overall just an amazing package and a must-play for everyone who's into stealth or sandbox games.

Ever been interested in the Persona series? Start with this one!

As a big fan of Persona 3, Reload was the game I was looking forward to the most in 2024 alongside Infinite Wealth, so I did the same as with IW and held off on watching trailers past the announcement one entirely to experience the changes for myself. When the release date came closer, I began to see more and more doomposting for Reload and even considered holding off on buying it because of how negatively this game was treated by others. I'm glad that didn't get to me in the end and I could form my own opinion of the remake of one of my favorite games.

First off, the presentation in Reload is amazing right off the bat, ranging from the upgraded artstyle to the dynamic menus and improved character models, it's just so very pleasant to look at. This also includes animations - the Ultimate moves of the characters look super cool. As someone who only ever really played Portable before, the upgrade in presentation was a huge point for me. Sure, the updated environmental design of the overworld is great, but the cherry on top are the revamped Tartarus blocks. The floors are no longer mere reskins with the same layout, now every block has a detailed new look and a different pattern. Tartarus changes don't stop here though, like the previous top-down camera has been turned into a proper third-person one, which I believe adds to the immersion a lot, despite being so seemingly insignificant at first. Furthermore, exploration is incentivized with mini-bosses being accessible in ordinary floors now alongside the addition of lucrative floor-specific events like locked or special chests. Can't forget the revamped Golden Hands in Reload either, as they provide a large amount of XP now (like in Persona 4) instead of dropping items. A great change for everyone who hated grinding and the new Great Clock random event can boost two of your teammates' levels on a whim, so no one has to fall behind! I believe the new Tartarus has something in store for everyone, so even if you were turned off by the gameplay in the original, giving it a second look might be worth it...

Voice acting in Reload is top notch. I don't share the somewhat popular sentiment of Yukari and Aigis sounding worse than their original counterparts at all, they're probably even my favorite new castings. That being said, personally I wouldn't say there's a single bad casting within the new voice actors, I enjoyed all of their performances. Emotional scenes got me tearing up several times, I got shivers during others. Not to disregard some of the original actors, but Reload really elevated some characters for me, just with their new performances (Yuko, Chidori and Fuuka are great examples). Also love how every social link is completely voiced now, it's a huge boost in immersion. As for social links in general, I'm glad the new Link Episodes exist, they're basically mini social links for the male party members and give you some insight into their life. A great way to add some interaction with them to the game without replacing the already existing social links! The SEES hangouts during nighttime also fulfill a similar role in giving your teammates more screentime without taking up meaningful time (considering the abundance of free time at night in P3), this also includes new events like several study sessions with the team. Those activities aren't just for fun though, you gain new passive abilities for the other members or gain extra knowledge points while studying with the others, the integration is seamless.

The new soundtrack is... good! Not much to say here, I like the remixes of the original songs and the new songs are bangers. Color Your Night is one of the very best vocal tracks in the series and It's Going Down Now still stays hype after listening to it over and over. Shoutout to the new remix of Changing Seasons.

There's a whole lot more to unpack about this game, but for the time being I have said everything that was on my mind. My thoughts are still pretty hazy, despite completing Reload hours ago, but I hope you could get something useful out of my review either way. As always, thanks for reading!