i cannot fathom how anyone can play this all the way through and claim it’s the haters that are wrong. this isn’t silent hill, this isn’t even P.T.— this is a first person snoozefest that throws all subtlety out the window in favor of a poorly acted, milquetoast melodrama that claims to touch on the subject of suicide and depression but is so scattered and unsure of what it’s trying to say the end of the game is basically “uhh don’t kill yourself actually, here’s the suicide hotline”. there was an interesting segment that intelligently and creatively painted a picture regarding generational trauma and familial abuse, but is dropped just as quickly as it’s introduced.

the gameplay is abysmal, walking around the same corridor over and over barely interacting with anything before being thrown into a chase sequence that can only be described as lightly jogging from an enemy that is slower than you and making obvious turns less you turn into a dead end and experience a boring one-shot kill animation that does not change once throughout the whole game. every chase segment is poorly thought out especially the last one, none of them are challenging, but the monster will be on the other side of doors as you open them so it’s very unlikely you’ll be able to complete a nightmare segment without having to restart at least once.

the short message is lazy, dramatic, surface level, and entirely carried by its asset and lighting artists as well as what little Masahiro Ito contributed to the presentation. Konami is testing the waters to see what new gen fans are willing to accept from this defunct, creatively bankrupt franchise and this P.T. rip off walking sim is not what people should want or expect from Silent Hill.

The most narratively fascinating game of this console generation and perhaps one of the most interesting and groundbreaking narrative games of all time. Alan Wake II isn't a perfect story whatsoever, there's character writing and pacing issues that leave much to be desired but Remedy should be commended for their ability to step up their storytelling and twist and turn the story so remarkably so that you're left questioning everything-- it truly is a thinking man's game.

The genre and theme juggling is incredible as Alan Wake II is ultimately a survival horror game, but at its core is a beautiful mishmash of ideas and different forms of media (music, short film, gameplay), excelling at each one of these.

Remedy creates a unique brand of horror present in Alan Wake II which is so effective primarily because of the sequel's departure from the first game in both gameplay and mood. The Lynchian inspiration is there, but you can tell there lies a more sinister and intense undertone that rears its head to truly strike fear into the player.

My issues with the game don't lie in general gameplay but rather half baked elements of the game's central narrative. The storytelling of Alan Wake II for the most part is brilliant, there's no contention there. However, anyone sticking with this game for 20+ hours will find the ending fairly rushed including Saga's arc. This is my ONLY issue and I find the rest of the game to be a blast. The performances, gameplay, combat, puzzles, graphics, music, and horror are all a 10/10 and I'm overall satisfied with my most anticipated game of 2023.

only capcom could replace the contents of the original Separate Ways with content that should have been in the base game and make us pay $10 for it lol

i mean seriously? what the hell? i know it was only $10 but it’s still a massive disappointment when things like Ada vs Krauser or the battleship set piece aren’t present and the knowledge that some of Leon’s best moments could have been in the base campaign but were instead relegated to Ada’s expansion.

the first act is ridiculously lazy. not a single new area to be played, it’s not until the castle that things start to get interesting. the dialogue is really bad and half the cutscenes are just ones from the base game. the U3 bossfight- renamed the “Pesanta” is so much worse with a miserable first and second phase with no buildup like the original fight.

it’s not all doom and gloom, though. Lily Gao’s voice acting for Ada went from awful to slightly less awful so that’s a plus. the game also does still feel really smooth and looks incredible— and it is only $10, so even though you’re paying for something that was free in the original, at least you could argue it’s worth it since it plays better than the original.

if not the worst game ever made then definitely the antithesis of one. it's a good looking project and has a solid cast, with their performances easily being the best part, especially Roger Clark's— but this is actually so embarrassing. the gameplay is mind numbing-- slowly walking through corridor after corridor just to look at a handful of objects linked to commentary that contributes nothing to the story whatsoever, sure there's some cute banter here and there but it's incredibly frustrating to hear/see nothing happen for the first two hours of gameplay.

below are both real quotes from James Tinsdale, the writer and director of Fort Solis, at this year's GDC. which both dramatically highlight just what exactly fundamentally went wrong with complete and utter snoozefest.

"We wanted to aim, in terms of retention, at people who watch Netflix, Apple TV or Prime."

a failing strategy that has never worked,. right off the bat you should realize this is a team of out of touch developers who have no intention of actually making a game, and would rather create a meandering experience that boils down to an actionless, glorified cutscene with a lackluster story instead of something meaningful that you can come back to.

"We looked at that and we thought this game can't go over five hours, before the systems get boring."

Another cataclysmic red flag. there are thousands of games that exceed a 5 hour length that contain systems and gameplay that prevent it from becoming stale. what systems are they even talking about anyway? walking? because that's literally all you do in this game, walking and reading with one puzzle to try and make you remember you're supposed to be playing an actual game.

the story and writing is god awful, i won't really get into too much here but it really is just the worst. characters will ask questions they've literally just had answered moments before, nobody's motivations make any sense, and their actions less so. but the fundamental narrative is the most broken, as there’s not enough insight into the villain’s mind or origin to explain why what happens happens. It’s all a muddy blur that leaves you more confused and disgusted by the end rather than satisfied and ponderous.

the biggest, and most insulting problem with Fort Solis is the fact that it doesn’t respect the concept of choice in the slightest. i’m all for an on-rails story being told to me through cutscenes where i’m not able to change the outcome, but don’t pretend like i should pat you on the back for including a “bad ending” that you only achieve by nonsensically deciding not to progress forward during the final confrontation with the villain (which is just a quicktime event that makes you walk).if there’s one single puzzle in the entire game and the rest of it requires no thought to progress beyond that at least give me a decent story or some sort of enriching mechanic that i can use my brain for instead.

a dope, bite-sized experience with a very refreshing and entertaining combat system where you really gotta be top of your game to succeed, which makes the challenge and combat that much more rewarding. the dialogue is fantastic too, very quippy in a good way and legitimately hilarious at times, tying itself to the gameplay with unscripted and dynamic banter during combat, allowing for unpredictable and clever interactions that adapt to your decisions.

Adalia is a very endearing character as well, a Puss-in-Boots esq personality that is a blast to follow through the simplistic story. I'm sure if this game came out last year when The Last Wish released it would have been huge. the artstyle's nice, the soundtrack is incredible- if there's ever a sequel you best believe i'll preorder it.

wasn’t expecting to like this one as much as i did. when it came out i heard primarily negative things about it and the prospect of playing as someone other than clementine confused and frustrated me initially. but it turns out i love Javier and his relationship with his family and the group. though some characters are kinda iffy personality and writing wise the interactions and conflicts are interesting to take part in, and i felt invested in the decisions i was making along the way. the direction for a lot of scenes is impeccable and elicited plenty of verbal reactions from me and my buddies, the flashback scenes featuring the Garcia family were exceptionally notable imo. another thing i was a big fan of was the more grounded character complexities that closely mirror the ones that can be observed in our reality— Javier, a fuck up needing to step up and become involved with a family he wasn’t always around or attached to before. and David’s broken and hyper aggressive mind stemming from his time in the military. both very real and complex character elements that put a lot of personal stake in the story. it has its flaws, but seems overhated to me tbh. high 7 or a light 8.

super underrated! brilliant artstyle, music, and story. you’ll never guess where this one goes.

i've yet to see a game's cinematic direction achieve anything even remotely similar in quality to this one's aside from maybe RDR2. every cutscene will have you tensely at the edge of your seat, employing an incredibly effective use of long takes and music to shock you to your core and truly immerse yourself in the game's story and world.

the worldbuilding and map design is also absolutely spectacular, with lots of hidden nooks and secrets that house interesting sights and lore. in conjunction with the top tier NPC writing for all side character's and their individual quests and narratives i'd argue that this is one of the most immersive story games of all time, with an incredible atmosphere to seal the deal.

the combat is quite good as well. it's simple, yet fun and maintains a constant challenge while also being incredibly rewarding. there are a multitude of different upgrades and abilities to seamlessly use and enhance your combat experience and the game doesn't force you to use any one of them if you don't want to.

thematically the game is also very memorable. with very profound quotes and an absurd amount of moments that elicit feelings of despair or hope. all of it is directly tied to your actions in game, and the meaning of the story changes with the different endings you get.

i'm shocked to see this has an average of 2.9. this is legitimately one of my favorite games of all time.

I was generally put off by the idea of Dead Space receiving a remake but I'm pleasantly surprised. It's essentially the exact same with some extra side objectives that add a little more to the experience. The combat is a step up and feels like Dead Space 2, the graphics and scenery are breathtaking, and the it's solidly fun. I like it more than the original to be honest.

The only problems with this game is that it's a little too faithful, and keeps in a lot of the mediocre or downright shitty areas of the original. Another thing is the subpar objective markers, you'd think it'd be difficult to mess up a straight line that you're simply supposed to follow but it doesn't always work.

Overall a more or less perfect remake, very excited to hear Dead Space 2 might be receiving the same treatment.