Oh, look at that! AC Valhalla got a sequel this quickly? Weird name for it though, "Hogwarts Legacy".

Sorry for the meanness, but this is pretty much everything I despise about triple A games nowadays. A successful time waster, barren of any substance whatsoever. Hitting the usual Ubisoft clone faults:

-Awkward pacing all around
-Bland ass dialogue
-Mediocre gameplay
-Over the top UI
-Mind numbing collectathons
-Side quests = fetch quests
-Bloated open-world
-Plays like it should've come out in 2014
Etc, etc.

To be honest, I can completely understand if you enjoy it as a hardcore HP fan, but I personally found it very silly. And I'm probably being too harsh with my rating, but I don't have any patience left for these types of games anymore.

★½ – Unplayable ❌

(And oh yeah, Rowling is an awful piece of shit of a human. And no, that's not reflected in my rating. The game's just that bad as it is.)

A really simple, but immensely fun and cozy experience with a subtle, beautiful meaning. I can't imagine any complaints about it apart from its simplicity. With such a short length, it manages to create a charming world that I really didn't want to leave. And I can honestly imagine booting up the game once in a while to fly or interact with other characters that I missed. Fantastic art style and interactive soundtrack, and simple but solid progression and traversal mechanics. Some nice and short wholesome fun. Great game to recommend to the little one in your family.

★★★★ – Excellent ✅

It's not perfect, but I enjoyed it. I was really in the mood for something like this. It's pretty much like a trippy mindfucky Portal with a gorgeous art style, packed with some cool visual tricks. Aaaand that's pretty much it. Story is basically null (you could say it doesn't really need one, though), and the puzzles are a little disappointing, specially considering how interesting the mechanics are. There were a few good ones, but it honestly felt like I was stumbling my way through most of them. But like I said, I enjoyed it anyway. If you want a short style-over-substance casual fun game, this will satisfy.

★★½ – Average ✅

Finally, a game to show your christian mom that she wouldn't get mad at… Maybe. Incredible and surprisingly scary trilogy that improves with each chapter, each full of subtle details and striking rotoscoping animations. Really recommended if you enjoy early 80s retro games, and are a fan of The Exorcist (and specially Exorcist III). It follows John Ward, a priest looking to regain his faith after a botched exorcism results fatal, that comes back to finish the job he started.

Chapter I - 6/10
+Great retro look, which it's allegedly very faithful to (sorry, pun not intended)
+Animations look fantastic, this goes for each chapter
+Subtle foreshadowing
+Challenging, but fun main boss fight. One of my favorites in the trilogy.
+Gary loves you
-Not really as scary compared to later chapters
-Checkpoints are very, VERY annoying
-Story is pretty bare-bones
-The least linear of the chapters, felt pretty lost for most of it

Chapter II - 7/10
+A more interesting story
+Linear, but with varied locations
+Improves on the spooks
+Features one of my favorite sequences. I won't spoil it, but pandemonium regnat satani vitae
+Gary loves you
-Bosses are okay-ish, but nothing as good as the one from the first chapter
-Checkpoints are still pretty bad
-Ending might disappoint some people. I don't really mind it that much, though.

Chapter III - 8/10
+The scariest of the three, by FAR. I was on my tiptoes for the whole duration
+Has one of the best jumpscares I experienced in gaming, and it wasn't cheap at all
+Still linear, but with some sense of exploration of the first chapter
+Checkpoints are better… mostly
+Lots of secrets
+Much better soundtrack
+A certain segment of the Apartments is GENIUS (the one clearly inspired by Saw and Rec)
+Decent bosses. True Ending final boss is fantastic, though
-Secret boss in the Apartments suuuucks big time
-Some sections could've been a tad shorter
-Gary hates you

★★★½ – Great ✅

If the broom closet wasn't riveting enough, now there's a bucket (!!!).

Always preferred the demo to the original Stanley Parable, but the additions here make it close in terms of enjoyment. Plenty of new clever/funny endings, specially the “New Content” one. That said though, unless you're completely new to this game, I'd recommend buying on sale. It's not really worth paying full price again if you experienced this game before.

★★★½ – Great ✅

Can't push myself to finish this one. Like previous reviews before me said, the game looks pretty good, even for a source game, mostly because of the inspired art style, but the level design sucks all the fun out of it. It feels like trial and error over and over again, and the dated gunplay of the source engine doesn't feel that fun for me anymore. The telekinesis/pyrokinesis mechanics aren't that well implemented, either. It feels pointless or too awkward to use. Also, there's a problem with the game's sound not working. If you're having trouble with that, you can use GCFScape to fix it. Kinda annoying, though.

★½ – Unplayable ❌

A messy end to the saga, but a decent conclusion.

A return to the slower pacing and minesweeper-like choices of the first game, it really improves as the game goes along, but still… kind of disappointing. And yes, most of the problems of the previous games are still here. Combat is the same, and the new additions are basically worthless to none.

The writing at times felt off, like for example Hakon and Fasolt getting mad for taking orders from Oddleif, because she's human. Kinda weird since the past games they only took orders from you, a human. I also noticed an inconsistency with the Horsebornes talking like humans during the fights, even though they don't speak the tongue. It was pretty funny, though.

Pretty good end to the story, nonetheless. Glad it didn't leave anything left to uncover, pretty much every question gets answered satisfyingly. I do wonder how this would've been if I didn't make the choices I made on the previous games, though. I can't imagine it been as good if I didn't keep some of the more interesting characters, but maybe it would be. Guess I won't know until I replay it.

A beautifully animated story-driven strategy game. The first of a trilogy.

Story is pretty good, albeit predictable, and the start not being that engaging until you get introduced to Rook and Alette. Through the game, you follow two separate groups, Vognir's and Rook's, each with their own caravan you have to manage. Each day costs you resources and morale, and random encounters can cost both resources but also your soldier's and clansmen's life. The game is filled with weighty choices, and some of them heavily impact the story, since the choices you made in the first game also carry over to the next one. Gameplay is pretty bare-bones, reminiscent of the Shadowrun games, but simpler. It's decent, and it had some intense battles, but I realized the game actually punishes you for killing enemies. An immersion killer, in my opinion. I wonder if it was an intentional choice, even. You'd think killing enemies as fast as possible sounds logical, but I guess not. The music is good, but most importantly the art style is FANTASTIC, clearly inspired by classic Disney movies. It really carries the game, sometimes I stopped just to admire it. Probably one of the prettiest animation styles I've seen in a video game.

Gameplay might not be much, but I think it's worth trying for the story and visuals alone. I'll probably go straight to the next one. I'm between a 6 and a 7, rating might change after playing the trilogy.