The Pale Beyond falls short because of three main reasons. Firstly, while the way the game presents itself with markers scattered across the current map at the time is fine, navigating it is sooo cumbersome even though it shouldn't be. Secondly, the save tree system doesn't work in a narrative game, with no easy way to skip all the talking. Thirdly, there isn't any feedback on how you are managing the resources, meaning that you could have already lost the game in week 15 or something but only find out until you're at week 24 hours later. I think there is a good game underneath all the dirt (or should I say the ice?) with the great concept, art style and setting, but the whole "game" part seems very lackluster.

Nobody Saves the World is an Action RPG made by the same studio as Guacamelee, which is perfectly reflected in the strong art style this game features. The art style really is the standout feature, though, as everything else is much more mixed. Dungeon design is very boring because there are minimal differences between them; exploration is hindered by a lot of roadblocks on the overworld, and especially the beginning felt very slow because there aren't as many options to play with. The way you can customize each class is pretty unique and offers a lot of different styles to play the game. Overall, I enjoyed it but will probably never touch again.

The Hitman series is really something special because there isn't really any other game that does something like it. This was my first time with it and I had a blast! The game doesn't really take itself too serious, which makes it all the funnier. The level design is great with large maps that are basically impossible to explore to their fullest in the first playthrough, meaning that it has a lot of replayability. The story missions are awesome, with a lot of different scenarios to explore and enjoy. I would have liked to see more reaction from the world to what's happening around it. In one mission I found a guy talking over the phone with another guy that I already killed which shouldn't happen. Also, the always online "feature" and the poor monetization puts me a bit off. Other than that it's a unique game definitely worth experiencing!

Sooo Pokemon Scarlet/Violet is a really mixed bag if I'm being honest. First of all, Pokemon is literally what introduced me to gaming as whole, and since then I have played every mainline entry and most of the spinoffs. Pokemon is pretty important to me as a person, so keep that in mind as I explain why I'm conflicted about generation 9.

Let's get the obvious things out of the way first. The technical state in which this game launched and still is one year after release is absolutely unforgivable. I'm not even talking about the bugs here, I can ignore that pretty well as long as they aren't game breaking or something like that. The performance on the other hand is reaaally bad and very close to unplayable at times. This game needed a lot more time in the oven.

Then we have the character and creature designs. This is a very subjective topic, some people will like the more simplified design of older Pokemon and for others the new Pokemon are the highlight of the show. I consider myself in both camps as I love all the older designs, but when it comes to a new generation I prefer to explore the new Pokemon. Scarlet/Violet hit it out of the park when it comes to designs (including characters) as they pull heavily from both culture and history of the Iberian Peninsula, which is what Paldea as a region is based on.

And then there is the new shiny open world. Since Pokemon went 3D, the games have struggled extremely when it comes to level design. When the games used sprites the routes and caves were much more complex instead of straight ways with some branches here or there. With the addition of an open world, Gamefreak had the opportunity to go back to the drawing board and really think about how this world could come to life. Instead, it is literally one of the worst open worlds I have ever seen, with no interesting landmarks, secrets to explore or anything else of note. Most of it is boring grass lands, and the more interesting areas like the bamboo forest are small and struggle a lot with performance. Also, since there is no level scaling, if you even move one meter away from the predetermined path for the player you're immediately overleveled and therefore punished for exploring.

But then we have the story of Scarlet/Violet. Pokemon games never really focused on storytelling and used it more so as a way to flesh out the world of Pokemon and give you a motivation to progress. While the story of Generation 9 is of course nothing groundbreaking, I really enjoyed how they split the main story in three parts (Nemona/Arven/Penny) and by doing so telling a much smaller grounded character based story. All 3 parts lead to the finale in area zero, which is maybe one of my favourite moments in any Pokemon game ever? The build up, the atmosphere, the music and the mystery about it are so well done that I wondered if I'm playing the same game as before hitting area zero.

The DLCs are also out, and I think they are very much a continuation of the main game and how conflicting it is. Pretty much all the flaws and strengths of the main game apply to the DLC as well. They do not expand the game in any meaningful way, but instead focus on bringing more of the same to the table. While I don't think that is something bad, it really doesn't help me like this game more as would've liked.

This review is probably as mess, but that represents my feelings toward Scarlet/Violet pretty well. I want to like this game, but the game really makes me work for it. I hope I explained somewhat understandably why I feel the way I feel about this game.

The Gunk is a pretty chill adventure game in which you land on a foreign planet and discover its secrets. Nothing that it does is particularly special in any way, but it just felt like a good package overall that doesn't overstay its welcome. It just tries to tell a nice short story while giving me some satisfying gameplay in absorbing the gunk, sprinkled with some platforming or puzzling here and there. The visuals are also quite nice to look at, giving this ecosystem its own identity. The characters look a bit bland in comparison, and the flora can be a bit repetitive, but since it's a short game so it wasn't too big of an issue.

Dragon Quest Treasures is... all right but nothing special. It has the charm of Dragon Quest, it has the cool monster designs, it has some fun moments, but most of the time I found myself either bored with it or when there was a lot of combat actively disliking it. The core gameplay loop of going to a map collecting treasures and managing your team and then going back to base to get rewards works kind of but the bad menu navigation and the bad combat hold it back for me. I also didn't enjoy the game getting a bit grindy towards the end. For me, it was just a mediocre experience overall.

Chaos;Head Noah was just a miserable time for me from start to finish. It is ambitious in a way, and there are some enjoyable moments, but ultimately the game fails at just about everything. First of all, the main character is probably the worst protagonist I have ever seen in any media whatsoever. Not simply because he is an incel, but because the game never comments on anything he does or just in general, has anything meaningful to say about this type of personality disorder. Side characters are as bland as possible and most of the time they just serve to drive the plot forward. The story in itself is basically just pseudoscience that never establishes any rules on how this pseudoscience functions, meaning that the game can basically pull anything out of its ass if it wants to. Also, sexualizing minors is a fucking no-go, regardless of the country in which this game was developed.

In summary, I think that this is one of the better Assassin's Creed games. For the most people this won't be their first game in the franchise so you probably know what you're getting into. The game is very repetitive, variety in level and enemy design is non-existent and combat is pretty bad, so there is an incentive for you to get stealthy. The stealthy part can be fun at times, but is still very much superficial in comparison to other stealth games. The virtual tourism through London is fantastic as always, but the game doesn't have anything to say about the many problems of that time, which is best seen as how child labour is relegated to a random side activity. I think what made this game work more for me is the character dynamic between the Frye Twins, which I quite enjoyed, and also the main enemies that were more interesting as assassination targets.

Honestly kinda funny playing this game in 2023 and seeing the franchise turn from a level based, gameplay driven game to an open world, narratively driven game in later entries. Shockingly, I kinda liked it? The harsh difficulty seems to be what most people critique, but I enjoyed that since it led me to use every weapon in my arsenal and being careful while infiltrating camps. What is bad is the near infinite range of enemies, the AI and sometimes the level design. I do think it is worth experiencing just to see how it stands against later entries.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a weird entry in the franchise. On paper, everything that made the original trilogy so special is here, but it still feels so soulless. This obviously plays after the trilogy since events from it are referenced in the game, but all the development the prince has made during the adventures is gone. All the levels look like ones that I already beat in the first three games. Suddenly, combat is about defeating large groups of enemies instead of just one or two at a time. The platforming is the only redeeming quality of this game, but everything else... I don't know.

I feel like if Souldiers had like one more year of development time, it would have been a good metroidvania. It wouldn't be groundbreaking or something, but most people would have a good time. As it stands now, it's a mix of really bland features thrown together to create a cake that leaves a dull aftertaste in your mouth. There is the beautiful pixel art, some interesting combat mechanics such as the switching between elements or the charming story. But then there is also the levelling and item system that doesn't bring anything to the table, the pacing that is ruined by dungeons that overstay their welcome and the boring boss encounters. Let's hope the studio can learn from their mistakes and come back stronger.

Unpacking is a great cozy game about moving to different places. The way it uses this premise to tell a story without ever saying any dialogue is honestly phenomenal. The sound design is great too as it responds to your actions accordingly like moving a bowl on tiles and then on wood which makes entirely different but believable sounds. The only things that I disliked were that sometimes it's hard to identify an object, which lead to a lot of moving back and forth until I found the right spot for the object as well as the fixed camera perspective that made it hard to see and interact with things (especially smaller ones, that often just disappeared behind bigger objects).

Prodeus is a fantastic Boomer Shooter that excels at most of the things that make these types of games so addicting. It is fast-paced, has great weapon variety, good gunplay, and, most of the time, good level design. The best and worst part about it is that when you blast an enemy, their entire body blows up, leaving only their remains and a ton of blood everywhere. While that looks freaking amazing, I often found myself not seeing anything through all the VFX. This led to a little bit of frustration on higher difficulties.

Cassette Beasts proves that a game inspired by Pokemon can be its own thing with an original identity. I fundamentally enjoyed every part of this game such as the monster designs and the collecting, the story and characters as well as just exploring the world looking for the captains, train stations, new monsters, fusions or chests. If you're even remotely interested in the creature collecting sub-genre, I strongly recommend you to give this game a try. I'd have to write an essay to give this game the love that it deserves.