Diablo 4 definitely took me by surprise. I was expecting pretty much the same thing as Diablo 3, and from a gameplay perspective it definitely had a lot that could be easily compared, but what really stood out to me in this game was its focus on story. It didn't feel like I was aimlessly running around killing demons like it may have felt in past iterations. This game there was such a great focus on character development and really interesting themes that brought me into the world and made me engaged. The game itself is also a blast. I loved delving into its expansive combat and gearing system to make an overpowered elemental druid that mowed down enemies with his lightning bolts and stone. Ended up completing the campaign on the 2nd world tier (highest you can do from the start) and I had very little trouble. Might revisit this soon to try some of the postgame content on a higher world tier and see if it still draws me in.

I found the DLC to Outer Wilds to be just as intriguing and rewarding as the original game, with arguably a more compelling story. While Echoes of the Eye did feel a bit more linear and contained, I think that worked to its benefit with few exceptions, every discovery had a direct meaning that led to something else on the Stranger and before I knew it, all of the mechanics which initially felt foreign to me, felt like my second language. No other game does discovery and exploration like this which is why I really tried to beat this without any online assistance. I did obtain one hint after spending a third of my playthrough trying to figure out how to get into the music house without the owls catching me, but I think it would have taken me another few hours to finally figure out that one considering there are no direct hints about such in the game. Other than that, every puzzle felt super satisfying to accomplish, including that final sequence - putting together all the pieces that you've gathered along the way.

Two major standouts from this game - first, the story was told in a really compelling way through the voices in Senua's head, both the friendly and malicious ones. Particularly, Druth's stories of mythology that clearly latched on in Senua's head. Her disability is really on full display and playing the game you really feel a connection with her as being a part of herself. The story is so tragic, but filled with hope in processing grief. The mechanic that was a huge standout was the way they told us at the start of the game, you can pretty much only die a certain amount of times then your save gets deleted. That mechanic really made each life matter in a way I haven't experienced much before. I found myself sweating in fights or even between fights running from the beast or balancing on a beam. I think there were a few puzzle scenarios which weren't very apparant, but overall everything clicked and I would say this was a very immersive cinematic experience.

Tchia was a charming short little game. I did love the exploration of the slightly small world and the mechanics of hopping into creatures' bodies or calling upon them with the ukalele. Rhythm games were pretty fun and the music was definitely a standout. I played most of the game with my girlfriend beside me so every time I collected a handful of cosmetics, I asked her if she wanted to customize Tchia. Made it feel like there was actual progression and a point with some of the side activities. The part that really dragged was clearing out the factories. I found myself waiting 60 seconds every time I needed to summon the dudes that shoot fireballs instead of finding an object nearby to light the guards on fire. Story was unique and charming.

I remember playing this a long time ago when it first came out, but at that point I had no experience with 2D Zelda likes. This was such a calming, contained, and engaging gaming experience. I loved the atmosphere, the short little puzzles, and the exploration. Despite the story not being super easy to understand, it was still charming and I felt like there was a lot of depth and deeper meaning that could be found in talking to the world's inhabitants. I would say my favorite part of the game though, strictly from a stylistic angle is when you're sitting on top of the hotel talking to the boy that sees the lights in the cityscape as individual people that he loves. Really took me out of the action and caused me to sit back and take it all in.

The Talos Principle really surprised me. I knew a bit about what I was getting into - a stage based 3D puzzle game which I was actually excited to play from the offset, but what really impressed me was the story and philosophical themes. Yes, much of it is told through reading a console, but I kept finding myself drawn in reading the text files from those who came before, the historical, religious, and philosophical references, and of course having deep arguments with the archival system. While the game ends pretty soundly, I feel like I have so many more questions about existence and life itself. As for the gameplay, I actually thought the puzzles were a good balance. Easy to teach the mechanics, then challenging when they needed to be. I forced myself not to use any outside assistance and felt super gratified getting through every puzzle and climbing the tower on my own and I think that is a testament to just how good of a puzzle game this one is solely from that perspective. I understand this one isn't for everyone, but I think I ended up playing this at the perfect time.

Okay don't get me wrong, there are some really cool and unique mechanics here and the soundtrack/art style is sublime. However there's a big obstacle that brings this game so far down for me. I started this game saying I wouldn't look anywhere for online help and just take my time moving through and experiencing it. For a game like this, that throws so many different mechanics at you in cryptic language, doesn't take the time to explain or retain any sort of explanation I felt I heavily misunderstood a few key mechanics like feeding animals to create more gardens, using compost to make plants grow faster, etc. But for the first half of the game none of that is really necessary at all to understand. So during the first half I had a great time, treated it just like any other metroidvania. But then you unlock this "living network" mechanism and realize you can connect up the shamasal you've already killed. Now again, I'm not using any outside help here, so I figured that in order to beat the game I not only needed to kill every shamasal, but I also needed to link every one up to the network. So I spend hours trying and failing to link up these different pathways, trying to pick the right plant, get the right seed, return back to the original spot, etc. I spend hours doing all of this tedious work and only connected 2 shamasal after giving up. This part of the game (if you choose to engage with it) is ridiculous and so very not fun. And it's not very clear that this is entirely optional and the game leads you into believing it's necessary (by providing you with all these different tools for gardening specifically). For me this was a very middle of the road experience, with some very frustrating stretches because I chose to engage with exploration and the mechanics that the game lays out for you. Without the gardening, this would have honestly been a decent game for me.

When I started playing Dead Island 2, everything was screaming at me that I shouldn't like this game. They overhauled so much of the RPG and open worldness of the first game that made it so special, the story is uniquely unserious and cheesy, and there isn't too much depth to the combat. But once I committed to playing and beating this game, as well as taking my time moving through it, I was so surprised that I was actually enjoying it and having fun with it for a few reasons. First, the environments are so visually stunning and well detailed. As someone who lives in LA, I had a blast exploring all the nooks and crannies of notable LA locations. I would say this by far is the biggest standout for the game. Every house tells a story whether blatant or hidden and it's an aspect I don't see as much attention to detail in other games. Secondly, mowing your way through zombies is just... awesome. Modding all the weapons and slicing zombie heads, comboing with some drop-kicking, while not extremely complex it is actually a lot of fun and theraputic. I would also say that I was surprised of some of the story twists once I made my way through the end game. I'm glad I stuck with this one.

As I decided to make my entry into the Metal Gear Solid Series, I saw that Metal Gear 1 and 2 were optional, but as someone who loves worldbuilding and not missing out on any pieces of a story, I delved into Metal Gear. It was not the game I was expecting and for a while was really enjoying it and worked hard to navigate my way through screens unscathed, unlocking new rooms, saving prisoners, and gaining new tools to help me on my mission. The thing that really tripped me up is that at a certain point it is an absolute requirement that you start hitting random walls in order to find key equipment that help you progress. To me that is not great game design and very cheesy, at this point I needed to look up a walkthrough to make my way through the game which I did not like.

I don't think I've ever seen a choices matter game do a better job at user experience than in Goodbye Volcano High. Some options make you perform extra actions to choose them because Fang is anxious and it takes effort to be confident and put yourself out there, some options go away entirely if you're too indecisive, sometimes the options are shuffling around making them hard to pick because the MC is scatterbrained at the moment. I thought these creative decisions were really cool and want to see them implemented in other story/decision based games. On to the story - I found it extremely comforting and felt really satisfied with where I was at with my ending and I thought the story that they attempted to tell was super impactful. Goodbye Volcano High is a story about acceptance of the future, and that community matters the most in the face of dispair. Life is ever changing and where we are right now will never be where we are in the future, that's just how life functions. Whether your best friend moves, or you break up with your partner, or the world explodes, this story shows us that we should relish in the present no matter what comes after and never take that present for granted. So glad I decided to give this one a try considering it's not a typical gameplay heavy experience and encourage others to do the same despite any reservations they might have due to the presentation.

As a huge Binding of Isaac fan, people have been telling me to pick up Hades for a while now and I'm glad I did as I felt it was a very fun, intense, moving, and contained experience. I like how even when you lose a run, you still gain something in the form of permanent ability that carries over between runs. I also really liked how there was some sort of story and mystery to the game that is unfolded during and between runs. Once I finally beat Hades once, I thought the story would be finished, but when it is shown that there is more to uncover by winning ~ 10 or so times, that alone was the push I needed in order to really engage with some of the other aspects of the game. And to me rolling credits was very rewarding, but at a certain point it felt a little tedious. Most of the runs feel more or less the same after a certain point and once you have enough permanent abilities that carry over between runs, you're able to reach Hades with ease every time (whether you beat him or not is another story). Overall: fun roguelike, liked the story, but lacked a bit of variance between runs that a game like BoI really has that I was craving.

This game is the reason 3D platformers are the way they are. The first of it's kind, Super Mario 64, got so much right when there was no blueprint to work from. For that reason alone does it deserve legend status. The movement (for its time) is crazy for what you're able to do and chain together, let alone in a 3D space. The worlds all have such a unique feel to them making you want to go explore every corner for a red coin or a star. The puzzles are doable, yet when you get one you've been trying to figure out it fills you with accomplishment rather than facepalming that you missed it. The last 10 or so stars for me, I personally found very challenging to scrape together which added to the accomplishment of clearing the game. While the first half of the courses are indeed very iconic, the latter half are much more difficult and choosing to engage with the harder courses surprised me by how difficult and frustrating the ending of this game could be. I think it did reveal a few flaws in the movement towards the end for me. Trying to move the other direction often had Mario move in a circle to get to that direction, causing him to fall off many platforms a substantial amount of times. In a modern game, this probably wouldn't be an issue, but you also can't blame the clunky controls because it really was the first time something of this scale was done in a 3D space - they got it right for the most part. Hard to not give this one a 5 star rating from me, even if parts were frustrating due to the controls.