Dragon's Dogma 2 might be the first Remake that doesn't market itself as a remake, but a sequel instead.

This was a weird choice and the result is, well... a weird game. If I hadn't replayed Dark Arisen so much in the last decade I would say DD2 is the memory that my nostalgia creates of DD1. You know, how you're memory of something tend to make it seem a lot better than it was?

In some says, DD2 is a lot better than the first game, in others, not so much:

Starting with the combat, it's a lot better here. The fact that being on top of monsters now accounts for gravity physics is, in my opinion, the biggest upgrade in this game. In Dark Arisen climbing on monsters felt very exclusive to some classes or just something insanely non-optimal that you would do just for fun. And this is because of the stamina system. In DD1 you pretty much spent stamina to be on top of monsters the entire time but in DD2 you can just stop grabbing it and attack it with the same moveset as if you were on the ground. And that's HUGE. You can finally live the fantasy of being Legolas by climbing a monster, staying on top of it's head and use all your cool skills, even the ones with long cast time.

The world and exploration is also an improvement. The world is just bigger and more detailed but the exploration has some interesting nuances that I didn't felt in DD1. In some ways, going on journeys in DD2 reminds me of "slow paced/planning heavy" games like Death Stranding, Red Dead Redemption 2 and even Stalker with sandbox mods. Everywhere you go, you have to account for the fact that you have to walk there and then walk back. You have to consider the time it takes and the supplies you have, and that makes it a very immersive experience.

Side quests are great, some of them have cool, twisted stories, a lot of them embrace the "things are not as they seem" philosophy and surprise you a lot.

The main quest is... not good. I feel conflicted here because as a fan of the first game, for some reason I never expected it to be improved but judging the game as a sequel I gotta say that it's a big missed opportunity for DD to take the next step and become better.

Conclusion: I think everybody that played and loved the first game, perceive Dragon's Dogma as a "gameplay mechanics" kind of game instead of a true action RPG experience. Somehow, I never expected DD2 to become a game about it's story. To me it's a game about gameplay loops, about farming vocation levels, mixing and matching augments and equipment and all of that ties excellently with the combat system.

Now my two cents on "expectations". I think DD1's popularity and "cult classic" status was always a meme. Not a funny meme, but just something people started to replicate just to be part of it. I think few people truly like DD1 for what it was and decided to spread the word on it by calling it the "most underrated game ever" and while I do agree, I think a lot of people started echoing this sentiment without playing the game. When I saw videos titled "DD2 will be GOTY material", "DD2 is like Elden Ring mixed with Skyrim", I knew a huge wave of disappointment would come after. And most youtubers that loved the first game knew too, that's why they started pumping out videos telling people to keep their expectations in check and why "DD2 isn't what you think".

Final Thoughts: I think DD2 is a hell of a good time that it does feel like a lateral move from the first game. It feels as if this sequel came out a year later after the first game, instead of 12 years later. And that's a weird sentiment to have.

"What can change the nature of a man?"

What can I say about Planescape Torment that hasn't been said before? This game is like playing a Christopher Nolan/Jonathan Nolan movie (or book to be more precise) before they started making success with their movies.

See, this game released in 1999, Memento (movie), which is the closest thing I can compare to this game, was released in 2001. The Nameless One's story would be a hit as a novel, as a tv show, as a movie, as a comic book, anything. I think it's fair to say PS:T is one of the best "mystery" stories told in the gaming media. One that you should experience for yourself.

The gameplay is alright at best. I think it was serviceable for the genre and the time it came out. That said if you aren't able to play older games while "going back in time" with your expectations, it will be very hard to enjoy it's gameplay.

Death Stranding did something few other AAA games had the courage to do, bring one or more niche genres into the mainstream, and it suffered the consequences for it.

Luckily I absolutely adore both genres. I'm talking about the "trucking/space trucking" and the "logistics management" genres. If you give a chance and let these genres enter your life you might find them even more addicting than shooters, rpgs and many other more "conventional" genres.

Death Stranding starts out as a game about preparation and execution. You accept a delivery, you pick what you want to bring with you to survive the trip and you go. A lot of people have already said this but I'll defend DS from the "walking simulator" accusations by stating that it's not A walking smiulator, it's THE first actual walking "simulator". Walking in the game is mechanically "richer" than doing a lot of stuff in other genres, it's a "minigame" inside DS.

But then, the more you play it, the more you unlock cool new tech even after 30, 50, 60 hours of gameplay. This is something that Kojima started doing in Peace Walker, improved in MGSV and mastered here in Death Stranding. You unlock mechanics that don't just makes things easier or faster, they make things different, they "break" and completely change how you approach the deliveries. The game then becomes more about managing multiple deliveries at the same time and the most fun part about it is the optimization you will make to make your life easier. It's a problem solving game.

The story is amazing as usual in Kojima's games. It's also a bit convoluted and full of exposition moments... as usual in Kojima games.

If people stopped looking at Death Stranding as if it should've been the next step from Metal Gear Solid V and started looking at it as Euro Truck Simulator + Sci fi + Some minor action sequences, they would understand why Euro Truck has 500 thousand positive reviews on steam, then they would understand why the people that love Death Stranding REALLY love Death Stranding.