Batman Arkham City is probably the greatest super hero game ever made and a staple of action video games. The world is dark and gritty while never being afraid to have fun with itself; the boss battles are really fun, Mr. Freeze and Clayface being standouts, the locations are detailed and filled with little things that will make any Batman fan happy (Old Gotham is absolutely amazing), the score is so good, the combat is simple but gratifying, and the stealth sections make you feel extremely cool. Despite how great most of this game is, I still have some issues. The side missions are very underwhelming, often just boiling down to doing the same thing like 4 or 5 times and then an actual encounter with the villain that's usually over far too quickly. The Catwoman sections that were added in after the fact through DLC, and mind you, can't be turned off, also just kinda ruin the pacing. Another problem is The Riddler. I have never and I will never fight that guy in any of the Arkham games. It's so lame having to go around the city, collecting trophies and solving riddles, and beyond that the trophies look fucking ugly and often ruin the feel of the world when you come across them. Lastly the story tries to do too many things. It crams in so many villains and characters that you spend very little time with any of them. It's a fun video game story, but put it in a movie and it won't do.

Overall, a pleasant experience despite some pacing issues and underutilized mechanics. Jusant basically fits every trope of the Journey-like (a solo pilgrimage from point A to B to C, heavy focus on atmospheric exploration with some environmental puzzles, rediscovering an abandoned/forgotten civilization, etc), but what separates it from most typical copycats is that the main moment-to-moment gameplay is actually pretty engaging this time around! The obvious example here is how the game forces you to tightly grip your controller’s triggers to climb and hang onto ledges for dear life, but most actions in-between such as placing pinons/swinging back and forth with your grapple/jumping across and between ledges keep the interaction flowing smoothly. Interestingly, I would say Jusant’s problem is also opposite to that of most Journey-likes, because it handles its micro well enough, but falters a bit in its execution of the macro. If I were to compare the climbing to say, that of Shadow of the Colossus, then the difference in sense of scale becomes more readily apparent. Shadow of the Colossus takes places in mostly connected and open environments (with a few in vast caverns), but a good chunk of Jusant’s climbing takes place indoors in often cramped spaces that left me wishing there was an FOV slider to compensate for the often uncomfortably close camera getting stuck on walls. I do think it’s a bit of a missed opportunity that Jusant didn’t get any opportunities to showcase its world in its entirety and instead cut off each area into its own isolated level. A part of me was hoping that it would execute this as a sort of mirror to Journey; whereas Journey tries to keep the final shining summit in view at all times outside to remind the player of their final destination, I think Jusant could have combined all the outside areas and given the player the opportunity to look back from increasing heights to remind themselves of just how far they’ve come.

Getting back to macro vs micro, I have a few quibbles and suggestions in regards to improving the overall pacing, as there were some elements that felt like occasional stumbling blocks. The environments are sometimes difficult to read (especially in indoor settings) because climbable rocks/edges often look similarly shaded to their non-interactable surroundings, which resulted in me getting lost a few times. The in-game guide (“Listen” via pressing right on the d-pad) could be improved in this aspect, since it gives you a general direction to move towards but doesn’t solve the issue of figuring out what background object is required to ascend. Speaking of background objects, the environments are often littered with so many differently-colored materials, which contributes to the above problem of figuring out the way forward and also makes the task of searching for collectibles more annoying unless you’re just focusing on the context-sensitive prompts. I sadly also have to agree with others here that the lore dumps via the letters/diary entries didn’t do much for me (resulting in a narrative that I mostly ignored), and I would have preferred emptying the surroundings somewhat to better establish a feeling of presence with a heavier emphasis on environmental storytelling. In addition, removing these excess objects would reduce the amount of 3D polygonal jank present in the game: I often found myself suddenly stagnating and getting stuck on the floor from bumpy geometry, and the same rung true while climbing because I once had to restart from the last checkpoint after getting trapped by some nearby vines.

I’m going to nitpick the climbing as well and concur regarding the lack of tension, as the game never forced me to fully leverage my capabilities: again, this is a key detail that separates this game’s climbing from the heights reached by Shadow of the Colossus. The game could have leaned more into tight timing segments that forced the player to quickly scale ledges before they crumbled; this is briefly explored in Chapter 3 with the sunlight burning off plant roots, but then gets replaced with more calculated climbing for the rest of the game. Similarly, the pinons feel underutilized: I can’t recall any instance where I felt obligated to place down more than one pinon at a time while climbing, and that was often due to needing the ability to swing back and forth rather than using it as a safety net. A possible solution here is reworking the resting mechanic so that it could only be used at a pinon: this would also solve the pacing issue of having to constantly pause to regain stamina, and force the player to more carefully place pinons to make the most out of the stamina gauge's capacity. Finally, I was surprised that I couldn’t alter the amount of slack/tension in the rope while climbing and hanging onto ledges. This ability would allow the player additional control over jumps and climbing capacity without needing to expend a pinon (since I rarely ever reached the full rope length as is), which in turn would give the player more freedom to create shortcuts by letting them go for riskier maneuvers that the restrictive mechanics would prohibit otherwise.

There’s a lot of room for improvement, but I nevertheless appreciate that Jusant doesn’t overstay its welcome. Despite being a bit rough around the edges, the core gameplay is a nice change of pace from its peers, and it further distinguishes itself from its competition with its restrained ending. Instead of going for a bombastic “victory-lap” finale, Jusant has the modesty to bring itself back to earth with a no frills back-to-basics climbing segment devoid of the previous level gimmicks and clutter. That's the game in a nutshell: it might not push the envelope of the medium, but it accomplishes its premise in the time given with solid peaks despite some shaky consistency. In a genre full of misguided and uncompelling carbon copies, I’ll gladly take it.

god i wish i could write something more formative about this, but like,, just.. everything is so perfect :(

i've never felt more appreciated by a developer for being a fan of a series than i was when playing this game, fanservice can be hit or miss a lot of times and i know a lot of people hate it when devs seemingly try to make you point at your screen by making a reference and a lot of the time i do as well, but holy shit it was just so perfect here. everything from small references to older games, to fight callbacks, to long dead locations being used again, to seemingly forgotten side characters showing up after so many games, and of course to huge plot lines finally(!!!) being covered after years of nothing, just, aaaaaaa it was so satisfying

since i dont think i have the right words for all i want to say about this, i think the most important thing over anything i could possibly say is how well they treat kiryu, a character who’s so incredibly important to so so so many people, a character a lot of people look up to & a character who often puts on a guise despite dealing with so fucking much, i can only speak for myself but the moments where kiryu breaks that guise and shows his tender side are always my favorites, and now i have this, which is 10-20 hours of kiryu showing that side of himself, but even though the whole game had that softer version of kiryu that i love & adore at the front of it, the last 20 minutes or so was the peak of that & was the most satisfying and heart wrenching moment i’ve ever experienced in media. sitting at my monitor at 4am crying into my shirt using all the strength that i have to not start wailing, failing that, & crying until my eyes were dry is something i don't think i'll experience again for a really long time, and is something i don’t think ill ever forget, even writing this days after finishing the game, i still tear up when i think of the finale, and that's something really rare & special to me

i can't express how happy i am through just a review that this series is still in such good hands, made by people who still very much care about these characters and this story that means so much to so many people. thank you rgg

It is pretty crazy how someway I managed to playthrough Zero without even knowing anything about Yakuza Kiwami/1 which was kinda cool how I got to experience it that way. However, when I jumped from Zero to Kiwami I felt really strange with it and obviously Zero was the better and more memorable experience. I have always wanted to go back and experience the Original installment that started it all and comparing it to Kiwami it was impressive to see how similar it was to Kiwami and the other games even to this day. Truly it felt ahead of its time and I enjoyed it with the English dub which was kind of bad in a good way. It oozed the PS2 style which I absolutely love with the console and very excited to play so many others from the PS2 library I have not got to yet.! My first time playing a Yakuza game for a second time as well and I enjoyed this one even more and makes me so happy I did manage to get the Kiwami Steelbook as this game made me love this one even more than before and now I need to just check out the Japanese live-action movie! Can't believe how many of the homeless people look like Charles Manson dude, and why is that one street hoodlum wearing a green basketball jersey that says "FART"! So many times I looked for a place for Karaoke, but I guess it's not in the original one. No Baka Mitai for meeee!!

One day I woke up and decided to scroll through my youtube activity on my phone and came across this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRIkWHo1SJY&t=262s

Needless to say, once I watched the first few minutes I was super invested and decided to shut the video off and play and experience this game for myself which cuts to this very point today when I finally jumped in. Even after getting ending E and realizing I still have so much more to dig into with this one and get the other endings it took me nearly 6 hours of playing nonstop to get to this point and im truly just lost in thought about this whole experience. The instantaneous feeling of dread and nervousness creeps in the moment you walk through the start of the dungeon before the rabid dogs come in to chew off your legs. I did not expect to have roguelike elements and before I knew it I was tortured, had my head bashed in, and my skin ripped completely off while still trying to crawl to escape. I kind of had this same feeling when I found out about horror rpg maker games like Corpse party that once you first experience it you really cant stop thinking about it for quite some time as the credits roll. I feel like even on the easiest difficulty it is very difficult and you really have to learn through trial and error to be able to get far in this game just to actually save! I kind of wanted to experience a game so grotesque and dark and its just as horrific as I imagined, surely I will have some nightmares tonight that's for damn sure. The art is so disgusting and each enemy and the sound effects they make combined with the creeping ambient music truly immerses you in the worst/best way. It reminds me also of those older point and click and NES games like uninvited where you just have to learn from experience and with a flip of a coin you will either live or die with it completely out of your control which is such a hopeless situation which makes you truly feel helpless as if you were there in the fear and hunger dungeon.

I may be a bit all over the place, but that is what this game can do to you lol I definitely would love more games like this and will definitely play more of this to learn and get better with it. One hell of an experience you surely won't forget and I am still reeling from the abhorrent events that have just transpired!

Also it says this game is Steamdeck verified, however everytime I would play for about 5-10 minutes the game would just give me a black screen and I could hear things, but not see anything which made it even more scary! Wish there was some way to fix that.

Ryu ga Gotoku Studio bringing a manga format to video games made them showcase how strong the series is.

The game was made in 6 months but it only works because there's one since 2005. It was made in 6 months but have one of the most strong final fights and segments in games because of how auto conscious RGGS is with their own unique style. It was made in 6 months with a small budget (probably the last one like that) but have the same care as any other game. It's a game about erasing the past to protect the future, about freedom, loneliness and with only 10 hours works very well with all that. It can't be compared with the most strong work of RGGS like Kurohyou, Ishin, 5 but it sure does deserve be at the same rank as them of being very very good. The only complaint I can think of is the skill three but at least is very easy to pick everything you need just a little bit boring.

One of the best games of 2023 easily

Initially I was hesitant about another Kiryu game, but I reserved my judgments since they said this game would serve as a bridge between Yakuza 6, Yakuza Like a Dragon, and Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth... And it's exactly what they said it would be. It's wonderful. It's impressive how they've managed to make such an impactful small entry to the series to clear up any confusion regarding Kiryu's involvement in Ichiban's story, and it's an ABSOLUTE WONDERFUL showcase of everything I've come to love and cherish about Kiryu himself. The ending was wonderful and left me full of love for the Dragon of Dojima and very curious and excited for seeing his future adventure with Ichiban in the next title. Gosh I love Kiryu. I love him so much. I just want him to be happy like he deserves after a life of so much pain. ;w;

When Like a Dragon Gaiden was announced I was a bit concerned that it would undercut the passing of the torch 1-2 punch that was LAD 6 and 7. Kiryu's character was sent off in such a final fashion, and the yakuza as a whole were set to fade into history, and yet here is a game that puts you back into Kiryu's shoes for one more adventure, with seemingly its only goal being to set up yet another game with Kiryu in it. I was surprised then at how utterly essential of a compliment this is to sending off both Kiryu and the yakuza, providing context and acknowledging truths about each party that are deeply necessary to understanding the evolving pathos of the franchise. This game is more than anything about what it means to move on from something while acknowledging the impact you've made, both good and bad. For Kiryu and the yakuza at large they have always kept the consequences of their actions at arms length, comfortably living as though their hands are clean, but Gaiden makes them directly confront those uncomfortable truths, which in a way seems metatextual for the direction the franchise is taking as well. The ending is a gut-wrenching reward to those of us who have followed Kiryu through his whole journey, but through the tears it forces you to acknowledge the things that we're leaving behind as we enter a new era.

This is maybe the best template for a survival horror I've played. Not only is the ammo count low, but the dinosaurs take a lot of bullets to kill and are more difficult to escape than standard survival horror enemies, making the risk vs reward of killing vs running away from a dinosaur a more difficult decision. In addition to this, some rooms include traps for the dinosaurs, introducing a layer of strategic thinking where you can trap a dinosaur safely behind some laser beams or use a blast of cold to temporarily disable them.

But I think the balance was hurt by two things 1. The dinosaurs respawning 2. The game not remembering the positions of any dinosaurs caught behind traps. Once I found out about both those things, I largely avoided engaging dinosaurs and would just run past them tanking hits every time. I think if the dinosaurs didn't respawn and stayed trapped behind lasers the experience would've been better, as it would've added another layer of strategy with the player having to more carefully choose which routes to take and which routes to avoid.

Still, I had a blast with Dino Crisis and I would love for the series to come back, as there's huge potential for a classic with this template.