It's a real shame to say but I think this game is too well made for me to enjoy it properly 😔

That may sound off, but my score is personal to my experience and my enjoyment, which unfortunately both grew more strained the longer I played for. To be clear off the bat, this game being a fully explorable map was not something I expected at all, especially not anything so big and complete, it's wild really. That aside though, the investigating areas and interrogating characters is exactly what I wanted, and there's a lot of that which was perfect... Until there was a little too much of it.

It feels strange to say, but without spoiling anything there is so, so much more to this mystery than it first appears. I was 9 hours in and suddenly meeting new characters for the first time uncovering huge new parts of the story that I hadn't even considered to that point. To preface, this is largely because of how *I* played, and I'm sure most people would've found this much earlier than I did, but therein lies most of where this game feel short for me to be honest.

Paradise Killer is so unbelievably open that you're quite literally just sent out onto the island. The nature of investigating means you're constantly finding new clues, hearing testimonies from people and then checking out their stories to see if they hold up. Which in a single game mechanic, translates to backtracking. You will speak to the same people so many times throughout the game that just travelling across the map to get to them becomes a chore. You'll retrace the same paths so many times it may take you 9 hours to realise that there's a whole other area you've never been to because you were planning on exploring it after you'd expended all the clues to be found in this location first 😅

To further this issue, at least for someone as directionally challenged as myself, the map simply isn't very helpful. Some locations require specific routes to be reached and even by the end of the game there were places I'd been to a dozen times and could still only access by climbing up somewhere nearby and jumping down to it from above. And to make this problem sting just that bit more, the fast travel system costs in-game currency (crystals you find around the map) to both unlock each travel station and then costs again every single time you use it. So lazily skipping to that one guy who's miles away from everyone else and then doing it again to come back costs 2 crystals. Which are also used for other things on the island, and are in finite supply, so by the end i'd run out and was forced to run the entire length of the island multiple times bouncing between suspects and key locations 😭

Anyway I've rambled more than I wanted to already, I don't mean to knock this game per se but a couple of frustrating design choices paired with too much freedom for my personal liking made for an almost too realistic Investigative experience. I'm a big fan of a lot of what the game has and does, but the case files grew too great for me to keep up with and constantly running back and forth and getting lost just made it feel like a chore to get through by the end, sadly.

If the idea of investigating this way appeals to you by all means please go play and love it, just know in advance that you have total agency over the order you do things which can very easily bite you when you decide to speak to A before B only to learn that B gives you a new question for A :p

Didn't expect this to be my next review but just wanted to share those thoughts I s'pose. Two things I can't criticise at all for this game are the art style and the music, my god is the island a vibe to be on when you first start😌

That'll do it, thanks for reading y'all. I'm working through Elden Ring at the minute (it's great, I suck! :D) so my next completions will likely be smaller games I've picked up on steam recently. Getting pretty eager for Apollo Justice though so anticipate a potential review for that maybe.
Take it easy🙏

Some quick micro-reviews for anyone interested in stuff I haven't talked about--
- FF13 was fantastic, really loved the setting, story and characters. Combat was fun but the level design could've been more interesting.
- Knowledge or Know Lady was dumb as hell, had a lot of fun with that.
- Max Payne 3 is unquestionably a Rockstar game pretending to be Max Payne but the gunplay is unreal so its hard to care. Also I started listening to Health so that's neat.
- The World Ends With You was great too, really enjoyed the narrative and characters in that, looking forward to trying NEO and hopeful that the controls will be less awkward.

While I don't find it as charming as Tekken 2 nor do I think it has as good of an atmosphere, Tekken 3 is easily the best Tekken on PS1, still feels great to play, attacks have a satisfying weight to them and have some real oomph when they connect and it just feels way more responsive than the previous games.
I miss this era of fighting games when you had a bunch of bonus modes and unlockable characters, helped to keep people like me invested and actually put in the effort to play the game as everyone.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link FINISHED! 7/10 I had a total of 11:38 Hours of gameplay I prefer the second game than the first but it's down to personal taste.
I still consider this game a Zelda Roguelike to this day in my head, is this a Roguelike or maybe a Roguelite?

The reason I got to this point is that the game has a points system, these points would be how much level is left, like JRPG XP you accumulate when completing certain requirements and you level up.
Choose what you want to update, such as your Magic bar, or even attack life, but the update is permanent! but if the Game is over your points are reset!

Another factor is that the palace where Zelda is sleeping is the starting point, so if you had Game Over you will return to the same place where Princess Zelda is! There are times when you have advanced a lot in a Dungeon but having a Game Over and having to go back all over again is frustrating. Yes and a lot! If the game is over you go back to the beginning of the game, and by doing the whole journey again you don't lose the game's advanced items, much less the upgrades, but remember that your points will be reset!

Zelda II has a life system, something that doesn't make much sense to me, it just increased the difficulty a lot since in the game you only get 3 lives and even have extra lives but there's a problem there are only 6 throughout the GAME! which would be a Link doll.

The game has that system that is a nightmare for many players, where when hit your character is thrown back meters away, which will occasionally result in a Game Over due to falling into a cliff or lava.

About the enemies' collision box, this is a nightmare... 99% of the attacks that Link has to do on monsters are the head, the biggest problem is that the enemies' heads are small and Link's sword looks like a steak knife that you have in your kitchen, it's small so you're always very close to the monsters.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is a good game, it has good and pleasant music even for the time, but I wish it had better variations, for example many Dungeons have rooms that are literally identical to all the previous ones and only change the color palette, the numbers of monsters are not large but it gives variety with each dungeon and caves.

The verdict is this game for you? Yes! And not! First I have to say just Zelda fans like me or want to know all the games in the series I recommend playing, Zelda II is a very difficult game you might get frustrated I played the whole game without Save State, but if you want to use it use it! And I even recommend looking for Dungeon maps on the Internet to help. I did this because it would help me have less headaches.

It was interesting to play Zelda II again, it's been many years since the first time I beat this game, and in a way it was fun, especially beating the final boss with 1 life point

4/4 heart containers
Magic Containers 4/4
Link Figures 6/6
Spells 8/8

Game finished 100%