Just a great further refinement of Splatoon. I was admittedly apprehensive about picking this up, would a third game really change up enough to be a necessity over continuous support of the fantastic Splatoon 2? And it turns out, it does just enough.

Multiplayer is no longer a chore to play with friends. Create a lobby and your friends can just join you, no hassle. Similarly, Salmon Run is available at all times now making it a lot more accessible to just jump in. Gameplay is as tight as ever and the new weapons like the splatana are really cool, I just wish that motion aiming didn't disable the right stick entirely - this feels like a big mistake and a misunderstanding of why motion aim assist is such a boon for controllers in the first place.

The campaign is excellent as expected as well, with a satisfying number of fun levels to splat through and hubs to explore and dig up collectibles in. I'd say maybe the only disappointment here is that the boss fights aren't quite up to par with what I expect after the second game with only one and a half that really stood out to me.

Still, if you enjoyed Splatoon 1 or 2 this is certainly a no-brainer. I look forward to all the splatfests and the inevitable expansion that the game gets. Good on Nintendo to make one of the best shooters around right now.

I've been disappointed with the output of Platinum Games for far too long. Ever since Revengeance, it's been licensed games, the mediocre and soulless Bayonetta 2, and the alright Astral Chain. Automata was outstanding, but it felt like none of that was a result of Platinum's contribution to the combat. It is with the utmost pleasure that Bayonetta 3 has surpassed all expectations and delivered on a true return to form, style, creativity, and humour.

Where can I even start here? The plot is insane (but not too convoluted like the previous title). Viola is a really fun new character and she offers a different sort of challenge during the opportunities you have to play as her, with an emphasis on parrying vs. dodging. She might lack Bayonetta's arsenal but she makes up for it in a really cool sword/punch move set.

Bayonetta 3 also breaks the curse that I have found plaguing every single character action title - environment design. As the game takes you to a large multitude of unique vistas, there is a lot to look at. Exploration too is at its most rewarding with lots of collectibles to find (figures, music, alternative challenge levels, challenge portals, etc.), while still maintaining the linear structure of previous games.

The weapon selection is also by far its most creative with a lot of batshit insane tools to choose from. They all have really cool animations and unique transport methods that replace your dash. The game also introduces summons that you can call out very liberally in battle (such as Gomorrah, Madame Butterfly, etc.). They actually can make combat a little bit too easy just because of how long they last and how much damage they do, but you are certainly free to not use them if you wish.

It also runs surprisingly well too for a Switch action game. Unlike Astral Chain, there is a lot less being teleported to the framerate dimension for smooth combat to take place. In fact, there are very rarely any frame drops outside of the odd hiccup.

It is immediately clear why the game had taken so long to come out. There are so, so, so many instances of unique gameplay sequences/minigames that depart from the standard combat gameplay and it really pays off because every single one put a smile on my face.

Simply put, Bayonetta 3 is a labour of love. It is a testament to every strength that Platinum Games has as a studio and the best game they've made in a long time. I really hope to see them put out something like this again someday, but even if they don't - I'm already more than satisfied.

What a surprise this turned out to be. I bought Obra Dinn based solely on the fact that it was Lucas Pope’s next game and much like Papers, Please, it’s a very unique type of game. In Obra Dinn you are charged with investigating the mysterious return of a ship thought to be lost at sea, whose crew had all mysteriously perished or disappeared. You walk around looking for dead bodies of the crew, and using your magic compass you are able to view a tableau pinpointing the moment of their death. Using this information it’s your job to fill in the journal and figure out how each and every member of the 60-person crew died and who or what killed them. There’s a lot of guesswork involved since you aren’t given a lot of detailed information, but thanks to the fantastic audio cues it was one of the most satisfying and rewarding games I played from 2018.

I think the most critical thing I can say about Forgotten Land is that after having gotten 100%, I would greatly recommend that new players do not strive to do so. It by no means a time consuming task (clocked in between 15-20 hours) nor is it an overly challenging one (though post game does get tougher). The reason I make this recommendation is that overall, it makes what is otherwise a wonderfully pleasant experience a repetitive and tedious one.

The level design and gimmicks throughout each world are often fun and you have a nice variety of upgradable powers for Kirby to choose from. All of them feel good to use and have their own niche. For example, the ice ability allows Kirby to skate along any surface as if it were frozen, including water or sludge. Mouthful mode too is a cool gimmick on top of the copy abilities, even if still a little unsettling. I would even say that every boss encounter is well designed and I don't really have any complaints other than some of them dragging on a bit. Waddle Dee town is a tremendous idea and is host to a bunch of fun minigames, the colloseum, the sound test, and more.

All of that being said however, the problems come if you are trying to 100% the game. The objectives you need to fulfill to free each of the waddle dees (your main collectibles in each level) are hidden upon your first time through. Sometimes they're awarded for things you'll probably do through natural exploration (like find a secret room off the beaten path), but almost always each level has a curveball (like beat a boss using a specific weapon, or pose in a certain spot) which can and often will lead to most levels requiring two, three, or even four playthroughs as any objectives you don't complete are revealed one at a time. It greatly diminished the experience for me, because levels I initially came away from thinking they were nice, ended up with a feeling of "c'mon let's just get this over with" as I delved into multiple playthroughs. Speaking also of repetition, the game repeats boss encounters more often than Elden Ring. A lot of the design choices outside of moment to moment gameplay really feel like an effort to pad it out, like they wanted to make a Kirby game longer than 8 hours without actually making one longer than 8 hours.

All in all, there really is a lot to enjoy in Forgotten Land and it does capture everything great about Kirby - I just wish I didn't need to see it all three plus times.

I don’t even know where to begin. Prequels are often hard to write because you must account for a lot of details to get the story to fit in with pre-established material just right. This game has done everything right. I still think about how they introduce Majima at least once a week. Both Kiryu’s and Majima’s stories and the characters involved in them are nothing short of incredible, and the game does an excellent job of showing how these characters become who they are in the rest of the series. Yakuza 0 also really nails substories, with numerous ones for each character standing out as hilariously memorable, whereas in previous games they were often just goofy or fun diversions. New features and diversions like Mr. Shakedown, the Disco, and the Cabaret Club really add to the list of things you want to run off and go do, and the game really does a good job of pointing you in the direction of these things. The gameplay in this one is as great as ever, and they really do Majima justice by giving him the fight styles that character deserves. One thing I would recommend to newcomers is to play the game on hard, because you are going to breeze through the boss fights otherwise. For anyone with an interest in this series but doesn’t know where to start, I have no doubt that this is the game you should jump in with.