This review contains spoilers

Life is Strange: True Colors is a visually stunning and auditory masterpiece, and absolutely nails the vibe of a small town’s close-knit community. This game remedies a lot of the issues I had with its predecessors, where relationships between characters felt largely synthetic and impersonal save for the main character and their love interest. Here, these characters see each other every day and live in a town that they all help to maintain; therefore, so many of the relationships and attitudes felt natural and well-established. Probably my favorite part of the game was that I could not only feel but see how my choices mattered (and they mattered in the end)! It felt so rewarding watching everyone come to Alex’s defense in the end, and it was all because I took the time to interact with others and lend a shoulder where I could. Also, side note, Alex and Steph are SO cute together!

Speaking of her, Alex is also an incredible main character! Her story feels genuine, and she’s easy to empathize with. Though, on the subject of empathy, the fact that her super power is just her going “I’m an empath” is ridiculously funny. I really enjoyed the accompanying visuals whenever she tapped into an emotion, but part of me can’t help but wonder that if her “power” is just empathy, did they really need to give her a “power” in the first place? From a gameplay perspective, it’s hardly used and there are little if any puzzles attached to it (compared to something like Max’s time-rewind capabilities). I understand the game would be less aesthetically-pleasing without the emotional set-pieces, but sometimes I feel like her “power” is less of a power and more just her being a person.

Alex’s empath powers culminate in a showdown that’s unfortunately my least favorite part of the game: the confrontation with Jed. Look, I get what they were going for. I get the parallels to Alex and Gabe’s father. I get that one of the last things Gabe wanted to get right was to forgive their father. I get that this game wants us to part the clouds of emotions and embrace the human beneath it all. I get it. I do. But it does irritate me that forgiving Jed is not only an option, but is the popular option. Setting aside the fact that he’s directly responsible for the deaths of 7 people which he attempted to cover up, was hailed as a hero for the people he “saved,” got another person killed for attempting to cover up his previous murders, the fact that he LIED to Alex, attempted to KILL her, and then tried to MANIPULATE everyone to turn against her just feels unforgivable to me.

I feel like this game wants to teach you a lesson about forgiveness. That as we grow older, time moves on, and we change, and we learn, and we should forgive and move on. But honestly? Speaking from my own personal experience, I’ve spent my whole life forgiving, and forgiving, and forgiving and it has left me with so much grief. Grief for the person I could have been had I respected myself and my boundaries. Life has taught me that not everyone is deserving of forgiveness, and that’s ok. In place of forgiveness, I can offer empathy and understanding. I can take the time to understand why something was done, but it doesn’t mean I have to excuse it. So the fact that Jed’s redeemable at all well and truly baffles me.

Overall, though, this was a great game! It’s not without its flaws, but fortunately I went into this knowing it’d have its issues. Regardless, I enjoyed my time with it, and I’m excited to see what comes next in the series!

A soulless, corporate cash-grab that not only fails in every regard, but especially fails to take your money.

I won’t lie, the game’s aesthetics and its music are phenomenal, and were the two things that initially drew me to it (that, and receiving this game for free from PS+). Unfortunately, those are the only compliments I have for the game. The map design is boring, character designs are generic, gameplay is uninteresting and disengaging, and there is absolutely nothing to feel any attachment towards. The reason why games like Overwatch, Apex, Splatoon, and hell — even Fortnite — are all enjoyable, aside from their addictive gameplay loop, is that they all have stories and characters that people grow attached to. People engage with them beyond the confines of the game because they love the worlds and narratives built from the characters.

Foamstars has none of that.

Foamstars has a narcissistic main character with some of the worst voice acting I’ve heard in a minute, along with a basic cast of characters that have nothing going for them. Nada. Their depth is essentially “hey this is their gender and their style of clothes!” Cool, I guess. You know what Overwatch has? A cringefail gorilla scientist who’s best friend is a temporally-unstable British lesbian and several people who won’t call him back. I’m gonna go play that instead, thanks.

Anyways, moral of the story is you’d be better off playing anything else. Literally anything. Go outside and play with sticks and rocks and I can guarantee you that you’ll have more fun with that than with this game.

This review contains spoilers

The Prisoner’s apprehensive “and so a choice: are you certain you want to remember me?” foiling Solanum’s unashamedly appreciative “I’m glad you remembered me,” lives in my head completely and utterly rent-free. The shame and guilt the Prisoner is left to bear for their entire race contrasting Solanum’s unrivaled, stoic pride and determination as the last of her species as they both face the inevitable death and rebirth of the universe is something that only a game like Outer Wilds could accomplish.

Needless to say, this is one of my favorite video game experiences of all time.

For a season that should be utterly fantastic in every conceivable way, I’m severely disappointed with what we’ve received. I wanted to love this season from the bottom of my heart, but I just can’t. There’s many things Season of the Witch gets right, but its narrative and characters are so abysmally devoid of substance that the pros are unable to outweigh the staggering number of cons.

We’ll start with the pros, which consist of the seasonal activities and lore book. The Deck of Whispers and how its implemented in the Altars of Summoning and Savathun’s Spire is genuinely incredible. The buffs feel impactful, and it allows for a plethora of different builds to shine. Also, Altars being an activity that you can stay in and keep playing endlessly is a nice feature. Oh, and can we talk about the Imbaru Engine!? I adored all of the different designs and how each room had a challenging puzzle that corresponded with each sibling. It’s a fantastic way of showing instead of telling, and I loved each moment. Aside from that, the lore books are enriching as ever. Seeing a bit of Saint and Osiris’s domesticity, followed by Saint processing his anger and trauma against Savathun and eventually collapsing into Osiris’s arms was just chef’s kiss.

Now for the cons, and we’ll start with the narrative. Look, I’m speaking as someone who adores the lore, story, and characters (with Eris Morn being one of my all-time favorites), but this seasonal story is dreadfully uninteresting. Characters feel largely static and plot progression is minimal at best. The only person who had any meaningful development was Eris, with Xivu Arath of all characters coming in right behind her. Ikora, Immaru, and Savathun – while great characters in their own right, don’t get me wrong – have such stagnant writing. Trust me, as much as I love watching Ikora grapple with her friends’ mortality, Immaru’s hilarious jabs and low-blows, and Savathun’s brilliant schemes and trickery, there’s just not much there to keep me engaged. I loved watching how the Witch Queen had a plan for every possible scenario, but still it just feels kind of… eh? Like, so what? Oh wow, you predicted that Eris would abuse her power and murder everyone, well good thing I pre-ordered The Final Shape and already know that’s not gonna happen! It all feels so anticlimactic. It feels pointless. It feels like a waste of time. Every week is some variation of:

Eris: “Guardian! Give me tithes, aiat!”

Ikora: “Eris, I’m worried about you.”

Eris: “Fear not, Ikora. I’ve got this.”

Immaru: “She’s got a death wish, is what she’s got. [Cue 80’s laugh track]

Ikora and Eris: “Shut up, Immaru. [Cue 80’s laugh track again]

Xivu Arath: “MY NEW BABY SISTER I LOVE YOU! I CAN’T WAIT TO RINSE MY MOUTH WITH YOUR BLOOD!”

Savathun: “I’ve predicated this exact conversation verbatim. Fools, the lot of them. At this rate the Tower will be rubble in days. [Hot evil laughter goes here]

Aaaaand repeat.

Also, speaking of the story, where is Veil Containment? If you’re not going to make any sort of meaningful advancement in your main story, at least have side content prepared to help supplement it. This season starts with Osiris and Nimbus finding more logs, but needing an extenuating amount of time to decrypt them. When Osiris said he’d need months, I didn’t think it would be literal. It’s been actual months and not a single update. Nada. Nothing. Not even little bits of information. If we end up getting a lore dump at the end of this season, I’m going to be furious. I’m tired of being front-loaded information. That’s NOT good storytelling.

Also, can we talk about that ending? How laughable it was? How ridiculous? Stupid, even? The fact that they had to put a pin in the Xivu Arath storyline and pretty much outright say they’ll come back to it after they’ve confronted the Witness, like what!? I get that it deserves a proper resolution, but to basically be told “hey, come back in a future PAID episode to see how we handle this” is infuriating. This season feels more like bad sitcom filler than it does a serious continuation of a long-standing series, and that is so disappointing.

Overall, Lightfall and its seasons have been mediocre at best and painfully bad at worst. I’m tired of being drip-fed meaningless filler content. I’m hoping that Season 23 blows me away because at this rate I’m starting to lose hope in The Final Shape’s integrity. In the meantime, I’ll gladly update this review when the season officially wraps up and we figure out what the “Wish” card actually means (will probably have something to do with the Ahamkara), but for now this season is unfortunately “meh.”

This is what Mass Effect is all about.

I mean that with complete and utter sincerity. This is a series that relishes in every little moment. No character is too small and no narrative is too benign. Everyone and everything has a time and a place where they deserve to shine, and this DLC showcases that best. All of the callbacks, jokes, and references are perfect; it’s fan-service the way fan-service was intended to be, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

ME3’s ending left me a bit disappointed, but to go from a disheveled Shepard choosing how to save the entire galaxy by themselves, to temporarily setting aside the burden of war to enjoy the company of comrades, friends, and loved ones… that’s genuinely what this series is about. It’s love in its purest form. It’s letting your friend bend the truth ever so slightly to be the hero in his story, or standing by your friend’s side while they fight in a tournament against an old rival, or being your friend’s wingman to finally get a date, and so much more. There is love in every little moment, and in every smile and laugh shared together. That’s what this series is about, and I’m so happy to end this trilogy on such a good note.

This review contains spoilers

Mass Effect 3 is truly one of the games of all time.

An overwhelming majority of this game is fantastic. Damn near every moment and choice feels impactful, with Tuchanka and Rannoch being among the best experiences in a video game ever. “Had to be me: someone else might have gotten it wrong,” and “does this unit have a soul?” are moments that are forever engrained into my memory, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The issues I have with this game, however, are its treatment of Renegade options and, of course, the ending. Renegade options in the previous games — for the most part that is — are largely Shepard biting back at whomever they’re talking with. Typically it’s used to knock some sense into people, both figuratively and literally, which provides a perfect contrast to a Paragon Shepard’s sense of pride and selflessness. Some Renegade options in ME3, though, have extremely severe, sometimes genocidal consequences. I don’t fully understand why they decided that Renegade options are suddenly evil, when their primary purpose is to provide a more badass, unfiltered, “play by MY rules” sort of RP style. It just feels wildly out of character (which, while on the topic of out of character, a lot of characters feel that way throughout the story).

Now for the ending. Look, on the one hand I have to give them credit: a war on that scale is bound to have solutions that come with exceptions and stipulations. It’s just that none of the outcomes felt good. I know they’re not supposed to be, thematically anyway, but considering this is an end to a beloved trilogy you’d think it would be a little more satisfying; sadly, it’s not. The options are all bad. Anyone who says one ending is better than another is deluding themselves.

Control enslaves the Reapers, allowing Shepard to basically ascend to Godhood and become the next Catalyst. Given that a decent chunk of ME3 is witnessing organics and synthetics bond with one another, with organics coming to more willing rely on synthetic technology and the synthetics learning how to become more personable and develop their own individuality, enslaving an entire synthetic race seems like a major step in the wrong direction. Also Shepard looks like an idiot talking The Illusive Man out of Control, and then doing it themselves.

Synthesis is essentially indoctrinating every being in the galaxy without their consent — let alone knowledge. Even if you don’t believe it’s indoctrination (which it is: you’re doing exactly what the Reapers want), you’re still altering the genetic code of everyone and everything just because you can. Just because you think it’s the right thing to do.

Destroy is genociding all synthetic life, including the geth who you (depending on your choices) just saved from genocide. Even though it initially solves the problem, it’s technically a temporary solution. Unless organics learn their lesson when rebuilding synthetics, the cycle will continue again in several thousands of years.

Refusal is stupidity, as its essentially going “yeah nevermind I’m good,” and pretty much sacrificing everyone in the process.

I ultimately chose the Destroy ending, and no — I’m not happy about it. I don’t think it’s the right ending, even if my Shepard survived in the end. There is no right ending; there is only nonsense. I feel like, if anything, the ending is a clear indication that the writers needed more time (which is especially evident given that Synthesis was added later and is not an original ending).

Even with those issues, I still wholeheartedly enjoyed this game. Even if there were many moments that hurt (both from heartbreak and cringe), I still loved it.

I love watching how loss, after loss, after loss twists Shepard’s face — wearing them down. I love Shepard having the opportunity to admit that they’re truly not okay, and having a spare moment to confide in their companions.

I love joining Kolyat in prayer for Thane’s final moments, and realizing that his last prayer was not for himself, but for you.

I love Legion asking if he has a soul, and when you respond in the affirmative, he makes a decision for himself through his sacrifice, and I love that his soul is memorialized in the names of the fallen aboard the Normandy.

I love that when Shepard speaks with the Elcor Ambassador and asks how many civilians were evacuated, he takes a long pause before replying with “not enough.”

I love that when Shepard approaches EDI towards the end, and she is calculating the innumerable risks before them, they ask if she is afraid. I love that they’re able to recognize her fear even if she’s unable to comprehend it, and I love that in spite of that fear she’s resolute.

There is so much tragedy and joy in this game, and it’s a devastatingly beautiful blend of grief and hope. Entering the third floor of the Normandy and seeing the memorial wall increase in length will always hurt, but it only bolsters my determination. Hell, seeing it pay off by watching the entire fleet rush into the Sol system at the end gave me chills. This game isn’t without its problems, no, but they’re not glaring enough for me to ignore the near countless moments that forced me to pause and take a deep breath. Even with the ending feeling ultimately pointless, I still enjoyed the journey along the way, and for me that’s more than enough.

This DLC was basically:
“You doin’ the dishes bitch?”

“Yes of course Aria.”
and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Welp, that permanently altered my brain chemistry.

What an absolutely phenomenal DLC!

I held out on playing it for some time because I wasn’t exactly satisfied with the base game’s story. Not that it was bad, but it was a little too generic for my liking. What the original story for Engage did notably well, though, is firmly establish not only its characters and their personalities, but also its kingdoms and by extension its overall world-building.

The Fell Xenologue is genuinely riveting to read and play because it has an incredibly solid foundation to build upon. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the twins, but they grow on you fairly quickly, and the series of twists and turns do a fantastic job of appealing to pathos. The only real downside to the DLC is that the map designers clearly hate anyone who doesn’t play on Normal difficulty, but other than that it’s an amazing experience.

Oh! And the Four Winds are some of the best characters in the game if not the whole franchise. I adore them so much, and I can’t wait to read their supports back in the main game! For them alone this DLC is an easy 5/5 — the superb story and challenging combat are just the cherries on top!

Blue Reflection: Second Light is a beautiful, cozy game that gently grabs you by the hand and asks you to stay awhile. It’s a game that encourages you to not only discover new parts of yourself, but embrace the parts of you that have always been there. It’s a game that reassures you that sometimes we have to let go, move on, and let us as people grow apart, but to remember that we are always growing, and growing does not have to mean forgetting.

All you need to be is you, and you will always, always be enough.

Why play this game when you can go see the Barbie movie and enjoy a piece of media that actively uplifts women and not only celebrates, but fervently encourages their freedom of expression in a male-dominated society.

This season is just about over, with the main seasonal story already concluded, so I figured it was time to give this a proper review. Given how mediocre (at best) Season of Defiance was, it’s rather ironic that Season of Deep greatly surpasses it. If you want a TL;DR, severe server issues and community clambering aside, I thought this was an incredibly solid season, but nothing that really blew my mind.

Let’s get into it.

Narrative
Season of the Deep mostly focuses on the sudden return of Titan and Sloane with it; except, she’s not alone. She’s accompanied by Ahsa, a Proto-Worm who’s escaped the Witness’s corruption by fleeing to Titan’s depths; however, even several leagues under the sea, both she and Sloane are perpetually harassed by Xivu Arath and her legion of Wrathborn.

Personally, I really, really loved the story. I’ve always enjoyed Sloane as a character, but seeing her pushed far past her limits, and certainly past her breaking point, was something that captivated me. I also love that a bunch of Titans saved their Titan friend on Titan — how sweet is that!? And even the Drifter, with his seemingly endless sense of humor, had his moments of vulnerability and connected with Sloane in a way that others couldn’t. Not to mention the reveal that Savathûn’s resurrection is necessary in our fight against the Witness. Given the ending to The Witch Queen campaign, this was an inevitable plot point, but an exciting one nonetheless. What I love even more is that no one is exactly happy about needing to partner with her — especially Saint-14. All-in-all a rather productive, and especially character-driven batch of story-telling.

Another facet to the seasonal narrative is Veil Containment. As of writing this, this activity is still on-going with bits of lore added every week (and from my understanding, more will be added every week in future seasons as well). I have been greatly enjoying the much-needed info not only about the Veil, but also about some of the missing pieces in Destiny’s world-building. As of writing this, the latest log reveals that Maya Sundaresh implanted some of her memories into Lakshmi-2, the former Future War Cult leader. Maya’s involvement with FWC isn’t new information, but her direct relation and creation of Lakshmi is, and also begs the question if Lakshmi — or even Maya — is truly dead. Not only that, it also makes me curious of how much Lakshmi knew and held back in all of her conversations when she was still alive.

My main gripe with this activity, though, is that Bungie has done a rather poor job of advertising it. Lightfall was review-bombed and relentlessly berated for its subpar campaign, with a dull story and too many questions left unanswered. Veil Containment is the solution to this problem; however, the game doesn’t notify you to complete it beyond the initial mission. Nimbus and Osiris encourage you to come back weekly, but unfortunately never actively request your presence. A bunch of interesting lore tidbits, like how the Vex are drawn to the Veil, or how the Veil requires a “chorus” and “conductor,” or how Maya Sundaresh forgo all laws of ethics and morality and used several Exos to run tests on the Veil — resulting in mass brain-death, or how Lakshmi was inevitably “born” from the remnants of several dead Exos, etc. will continue to go un-read because of Bungie’s failure to advertise their own content. It’s depressing to see such genuinely fascinating lore go completely unnoticed — especially when such a problem is easily avoidable.

Needless to say though, the seasonal story was strong and I think it did a great job of progressing the overall plot forward. Season of Defiance set the bar pretty low in my opinion, so while I’m glad that Season of the Deep is much better, I also can’t say I’m too surprised (more relieved that Bungie’s getting back on track with its writing quality). We’ve two more seasons before The Final Shape, though, so I would really like to see the Xivu Arath storyline potentially wrapped up before our fight with the Witness.

Moving on from narrative, I wanna discuss the highly divisive server issues.

Look, I’m not going to pretend I know anything about the technical side of this game. I just don’t. I do, however, notice the giant “Contacting Destiny 2 Servers” notification flashing across my screen, and unfortunately I am well-aquatinted with several different types of error codes. Server instability has been an issue with this game for a while, though it seems to becoming progressively worse. While the emergency and extended maintenances suck, and the long load times and lag is infuriating, I also just… don’t care? Like I understand why people are upset, and sometimes I’m right there with them, but also when the game goes down I just go do something else. I don’t take my frustrations to social media, and I certainly don’t make threats to any of the Bungie employees. I just go do literally anything else and spend my energy on something more productive. There is no sense in spewing mindless vitriol on the internet, or regurgitating the same cynical criticism in echo-chambers on Twitter, Reddit, and YouTube comment sections. I really just don’t get it, and though I would love more communication and even compensation from Bungie, I know I’m not going to get it by such barbaric means.

Server issues and community negativity aside, let’s go over gameplay.

Salvage.
Honestly? Forgettable. I enjoy some of the dialogue, but wow… for a season all about the ocean, it has to be the driest activity they’ve ever made. Also I have NEVER come across a “treasure-laden combatant.” Ever. Their spawn rate must be worse than Ruffians from Season of Plunder. The only difference is that at least Ruffians had their spawn rates adjusted; whereas I don’t believe I’ve ever even seen someone speak about these “treasure-laden combatants.” The interactions between characters are cool, but they run dry fairly quickly, and unfortunately the activity is not engaging enough on its own for me to want to play it.

Deep Dives
Deep Dives are a fantastic addition to the game! I think the difficulty scaling feels just right. Rewards are great. Secrets are awesome. Enhancements feel genuinely beneficial. All of it culminates in an overall enjoyable experience! The only thing I’m not particularly fond of is the randomness of events. Getting the terminal hacking and Ogre pressure trial back-to-back on round 3 of your Tier 7 run is the equivalent of shoving shards of glass in your eyes, but other than that this activity is wonderful!

Fishing
I LOVE fishing! It’s great! The only thing is I wish Focused Fishing not only felt impactful, but progressed more quickly. No one should have to risk leaving their fish on the ground (especially with how unstable the servers have been) just to progress the meter, only for it to have a minuscule effect on the rate at which you catch fish. Would love to see fishing innovated on in the future, but for now I think its debut has done remarkably well!

Exotic Quest
I distinctly remember doing the final mission for the seasonal story and going “huh, why is there Pyramid architecture at the bottom of Titan?” Well, now we know why. Honestly I have no complaints about this quest other than the gun currently being a bit underwhelming. I still need to level up the catalyst and try out a few builds with it, but as of right now I think it’s a great quest with a somewhat underwhelming reward. The Xivu dialogue is amazing as always, though!

Ghosts of the Deep
Upon beating this for the first time, I proudly exclaimed that this was my favorite dungeon ever. After playing it several times afterwards, I’m not quite sure if I still believe in that statement. I adore the lore for it, the environments are positively stunning, and the armor sets are incredible, but is it really worth a minimum, mandatory 20 minute (honestly probably more depending on your team) slow, underwater section with bosses that have more health than raid bosses? Is it worth it? I’d almost argue no, and that’s a shame.

Conclusion
Overall, Season of the Deep is a step in the right direction. Generally-speaking, I think Bungie has produced better seasons, but that’s not to say that this one was bad in the slightest. It’s all-around good — sometimes even great — but it didn’t exactly “wow” me either. So far Lightfall and its seasons have been treading an unsteady path, and while this season has me hopeful for the future, I’m unfortunately still rather anxious.

I can finally call Destiny 2 a good game.

Not because of its incredible narrative, or its dense, intricate world-building. Not for its fun and creative sandbox or its satisfying gunplay. Not for its graphics, art, or sound design.

No, I can finally call Destiny 2 a good game because it has fishing in it.

Women want me.
Cabal fear me.
Fallen fear me.
Vex fear me.
Drifter wants me.
Scorn fear me.
Taken fear me.
Fish fear me.

Very early first impressions is that this game is pretty fun!

Gacha mechanics to the side, the gameplay is already leaps and bounds better than Hi3, and definitely better than Genshin. I think turn-based combat was what this series unironically needed, and I’m sincerely loving it so far! The characters are all relatively enjoyable as well. I’ve only met a fraction of the cast, but there hasn’t been a single character I’ve disliked, plus many that I already love. I’ve also really appreciated the easter eggs and references to Hi3 — especially when it comes to Himeko, and seeing a bit of Kiana in March 7th just fills me insurmountable joy ;w;.

I think the gacha aspect will ultimately be what makes-or-breaks this game for me, but for now I think this is undoubtedly a successful launch. I may update this review down the line, but for the time being I’d definitely recommend this game to anyone who’s wanted to play Honkai but disliked the gameplay, and/or anyone who’s wanted to play Genshin but disliked the tone/atmosphere. I think Star Rail takes a lot of the lovable aspects of both games and builds on them, all while innovating their systems and world-building in the process. What’s not to love about that? ^_^