What a strange game to play in 2022.
First off, as a game it's aged dreadfully and I feel like it wasn't very good at the time.
The camera is DREADFUL. You can't rotate the camera (but you can temporarily look to the left or right... for some reason) and the only way to force it behind you is to block. But blocking mostly will focus on a random enemy. This makes blocking useless because attacks from the back will still hit you...

They saw it fit to include a dedicated jump button though, which only sees use during a single boss fight.

ASIDE from all the, the story is okay; it's classic Yoko Taro "what if everyone was a fucked up little guy?" story telling. The most interesting thing is the way the story evolves to different endings by allowing you to revisit previous scenarios with new knowledge/items to create new branches. This proto-Nier storytelling saw me through all the way to Ending E - for my sins.

On to Drakengard 3!

After getting it on the GameCube not long after its release, I finally sat down and put the time into Killer7 on the Steam release, and I'm glad I did!

It's a surreal and violent mystery that had me going "I have no idea what's going on" for basically the entirety of the game. It throws so many things at you that you're constantly trying to work out what's important and what isn't.
It really starts to come together toward the end (also raising even more questions) and hits a surprisingly emotional punch.

I think finally working through Twin Peaks (especially The Return) has really opened me up to just being carried through a mystery and trusting that it'll come to me in the end (or that some of it will come to nothing and that's okay).

I dunno man. It was really good. I think.

I've held off on Dead Cells for a long time, assuming that it's something I'll really enjoy.
Now that I finally got around to it, turns out it does basically nothing for me.

It's fun to play, it's snappy and some of the weapons are very satisfying... but the progression feels like a crawl, I'm already sick of running through the same areas which the proc gen does basically nothing to keep fresh and even when I feel like I've got a great build the bosses are like tanks.

Also, the DLC is in the game but you can't access it. So multiple times I've wasted time going one way only for it to tell me "You need this DLC" which results in wasted time and missed progression.

Also also, it has the same thing of all the indie games of this time where there's a million crossover items that I hate and just rips me out of the experience. Please let me turn it off. Thank you.

An absolutely incredible combat system that is undercut by all the story stuff at every turn.
The tone wildly veers and the jokes are often the most embarrassing shit.
Just make him an angry man who must rip & tear.

Combat:
The ballet between flamethrower, grenade, shoot, glory kill, chainsaw is just incredible and anyone who complains about the low ammo count is bad at the game.

The last boss is dreadful.

Singleplayer:
Excellent Halo, but a really weirdly executed story.
I'm not sure if the sort-of reverse story telling really worked, since apparently a bunch of shit happened off screen before the game.
The open world stuff doesn't really work, so here's hoping they sack it off, or improve it.
Multiplayer:
Cracking Halo.
Weird battlepass, with silly challenges.
I dunno how much longevity it has, but I'm having a great time right now.

Ach, man. What a disappointment in the end.
The combat is almost good, but every fight is the same loop and I'm either taking 0 damage or dying in one hit.
The world and all the wee side stories are so cool and the story is so interesting but just comes to a "this is it for now, buy the DLC" ending.
The game is really bloated by bad sidequests, which I recommend skipping, and a weird need to be a metroidvania... and that DREADFUL map.

I really wanted to love this.