When I first saw gameplay of Sekiro around its announcement I remember being vaguely frustrated that From were making a game this different from the other outings in their modern catalogue- "this is going to be a more straightforward story with only one weapon type and no character customization? I'm not going to be able to dress my character up in fashionable clothes?? No!!! :(" After playing Bloodborne and loving its more fast, aggressive style of gameplay, though, I decided to check this out and I'm kind of embarrassed at how dismissive towards Sekiro in the first place. I expected to enjoy it going in, but coming out I genuinely might count it as my favorite of From's games that I've played.

I say "From's games that I've played" and not "Soulsborne games that I've played" because I think at this point pretty much everyone acknowledges that this is a totally different beast from that other genre of games. It's because of this that I can't really say whether I like it more than Dark Souls 1 or Bloodborne; what actually appeals to me here is just so, so different. Combat is a rhythmic, life or death dance on a level that none of those games captured; the clang of deflecting swords, the joy of stomping on an enemy's spear to perform a counter, the resonant sting as you execute a deathblow, all of it makes it so that encounters with individual enemies feel much, much more significant.

I think that's the reason why almost every boss here is a joy to fight; the unlockable Gauntlets of Strength you get post-game are a delight, purely because they let you fight these ultra-condescend tests of your mastery over Sekiro's movement, enemy attack patterns and toolkit. Playing through this made me realize exactly why "katana only combat" works so perfectly here when it would have been kind of a tough sell to 18 year old me. Your base moveset is pretty robust, sure, but each boss has so many intricacies to how they move, how you have to counter, the timing for each of their attacks. More in this than in any other game I've played recently, I felt a real joy not just at learning how to use my own tools, but how to respond to their own. I genuinely think this might be the best way to implement a "dueling" system in a game. I adore it. The art direction and music are downright beautiful, of course- there's a whole slew of reasons I love this game that I haven't even touched upon. But to me, Sekiro's biggest triumph is just in how viscerally thrilling it manages to make two swords clashing feel.

Doom is one of those games that will really change your perspective on this industry of games. They seem to stay true to their gameplay roots with this game and it came out amazing, Doom is exhilarating first person shooter that is simple at first but if you want to really master the combat and speedrun levels it can get very complicated in a fun way such as devilmay cry 3. They have many different types of enemies to keep you on your toes at all times as all of them have different gimmicks to make them easiers/faster to eliminate. They also contain very fun and short platforming sections that I enjoy going through often. I also enjoy how they take assets from the parkour sections and put them in enemy hoard sections, allowing you to traverse and get yourself some cool points while fighting hoards such as swinging off a bar and sniping enemies from the sky.

As for the story its just there. Nothing amazing about the story but nothing bad either, it just fits right for the gameplay missions similar to DMC, Sonic frontiers, and Sekiro(however these 3 still have their fair share of emotional driven moments). The Soundtrack in this game was so great and unique it really re sparked my love for metal core music and rock, I think they could have used better vocals in some tracks but overall it is done very well. If you are into or have played first person shooters in the past but felt it was repetitive and uncreative this is definitely a game worth considering.

As far as a Half-Life clone goes, it's... fffine?? It's atmospheric and the lighting is still pretty legitimately fantastic - they were doing shit with lighting rigs and shadows in 2004 that several other companies still haven't figured out. The landmarks, setting, and background textures really draw you into this dark, murky facility the game spends most of its time at, but... yyyeah, that's the thing, it's just Half-Life but spookier, less silly, and far less innovative and creative and interesting and generation-defining. Doom 3 is, funnily and decidedly enough, not an actual Doom game at all - it's only nominally similar to Doom, masquerading as the third entry to the series presumably because this middling Half-Life clone would have been forgotten about without the all-important 'Doom' tagline plastered on the front.

And yet, at the same time, that's exactly what (pardon the incoming pun) dooms this game from the get-go. It is so vastly different from the two boomer-shooter kings before it that Doom 3 might as well not even exist in the same universe as its predecessors. Doom 3 is slow and decisive where Doom 1 & 2 were fast-paced and chaotic. Doom 3 makes you feel like a fragile, pathetic meatbag; Doom 1 and 2 made you feel like a roided-up jock marine that chows down on demon ribs for breakfast and sucks on bullets for dessert. Doom 3's level design is linear, a stark contrast to the open-ended mazes of Doom 1 and 2 (not much of a net loss, though, the labyrinthine levels of the first two games were a chore more often than not). Doom 1 and 2 were often carried by their music, energetic slabs of MIDI rock and 1980's metal pastiches; Doom 3 barely has any music whatsoever, most of the background dominated by ambient noise. Doom 1 & 2 were light on dialogue, practically bereft of it. Doom 3, by comparison, is a much chattier game in spite of its overall darker and more subdued atmosphere. There's NPCs with actual names and motivations, audio logs you can pick up and listen to on the go. Doom 3's existence and overall tone is baffling when compared to its goofier and far more violent predecessors, but I guess it makes sense when you consider the time in which this was released. Action-based shooters were out, and atmospheric shooters were in. They were hot. Half-Life and Halo were financially kicking ass and taking names, and thus every other shooter at the time wound up following in the floatier, moodier, slower, and more tactical footsteps of those two FPS monoliths.

It makes sense. And yet, through the simple act of riding coattails and chasing trends, Doom 3 wound up being the black sheep weirdo of the family solely because of how that damning choice to "do what's popular" stood at such a stark contrast to the series' roots. This can hardly be considered 'Doom 3'; this feels more like a spinoff than the logical third entry to such an acclaimed series. It's not a bad game, it's just... hardly a Doom game at all, really. And the fact that this was basically the last original Doom product we got for a solid twelve years is a damn shame - it wasn't exactly the note that anyone wanted the series to (temporarily) end on.

At least when you finally get to hell, it's kinda cool. Also, the gun sound design is fucking atrocious, oh my god.

Abandoned: Aug 29 2021
Time: 4 Hours
Platform: Xbox Series X

When I started this game, I loved it. I've always heard it's the "bad" Doom game, with neither the labyrinthian energy of the classic first two nor the rapturous arena battles of the reboots. Instead, this one's a much slower paced game. Very nearly a horror game, especially in the original version where you couldn't hold your flashlight and gun at the same time. It's got elements from the original games, sure, such as some still rather twisty level designs and just amazing feeling guns. Regardless, it's a much different game, with much different design goals than the games it was following.

Lucky for me, I've never been able to get too into the original Doom games. They're fun enough, but really the only time I've loved them was when playing the first one co-op with my best friend, about 10 years ago. Last week I gave the first one another try, got through the first episode, but just lost all my motivation afterwards. I found that surprising, since I'd played Quake for the first time pretty recently as well and I LOVED Quake. Quake, however, is a much more straightforward game than Doom. Sure it's still got that lock and key level design, but you can feel the hand of the developers guiding you much more in Quake.

Doom 3's level design feels a lot like Quake's. Sometimes it's confusing, sometimes it's very straightforward, but it's never as much of a maze as its forebears. That, along with how much I liked the way the arsenal felt, got me really excited. An experimental Doom game? Even if it reached too high, at least it'd be interesting!!

And it really was, right up until the point where I didn't want to pick it up again. You see, a few hours into the game, there hadn't been a change in environment or mode of play. There were some new enemy types sure, and a new gun every once in a while, but the rhythm of combat never changed, the places you did combat never changed, and it really started to grate on me. Especially once I realized that I was less than halfway through the game.

So at that point I dropped it. Not a bad game per se, just an overly repetitive one. The gunplay is great and the horror is even pretty good, but it's one note, and the game stays on that one note for far too long, with not enough in there to break it up.

It's definitely worth a shot, but just know that the atmosphere it so dutifully curates might start grating on you after hours with no sign of letting up.