For a free Silent Hill game featuring Akira Yamaoka's music, this isn't that bad. But if you really look at it, it kinda is, right?

A Short Message reminds me of that RE7 demo, which is great, but it didn't impact me as much.

Visuals look nice and the atmosphere is eery. The new monster that chases you helps in that regard, since its design is pretty unique. The pacing flows well, keeping you going through this very short experience. I like the delicate theme they've chosen to talk about, the location you're trapped at, and even its lore. The story is ok, I guess, but the soundtrack is what steals the show. As usual.

What's sad is that this experience feels a little empty. Voice acting sucks and it's not convincing at all. The story is fine, but I couldn't care much about the characters. Writing is to blame here, because it's too on the nose. The ending was good, but a bit obvious. One other thing that really bothered me was the chase sequences. The first one is intense, but all the other ones are very messy. ESPECIALLY THAT LAST ONE!

I also missed a bit more of... well, of Silent Hill, actually. RE7 comes to mind again. It's a quite differente from previous ones, but it does give you a Resident Evil experience. A Short Message slightly mentions SH, delivering a glimmer of its tone, thanks to the monster, art direction and the music.

I thought this was going to be a cool introduction to what was coming for the franchise, but it didn't really get me excited. But, hey... it's still free!

Atlus did it again! They reloaded the depression I felt after watching Persona's most melancholic ending ever. And I loved it all over again...

This might be one of the finest remakes I've ever played. Faithful to the core (too faithful, at times), and filled with accurate QOL improvements. Some of what I said about Persona 3 in my old review for the original still stands. But the whole game was refined.

You'll notice the difference right away. This game looks great! Not because its graphics are high-end, but because of how stylish and beautiful everything is. It contrasts a little to how FES looks, but it does its own thing. It feels like a very stunning saturated painting. Atlus is known for its stylish games, but this one, aesthetically, rivals P5.

After sorting through how good it looks, you'll get to how good it plays. And THANK GOD they polished it up! Did you play P3 or P4? Then you're home! But now you'll see how smoother it is. Grinding is not necessary, the challenge is more accessible, everything is faster, they filled Tartarus with new little details to make things a less sluggish, new small features to do while dungeon crawling, and even Shuffle Time is better.

ALSO, YOU CAN CONTROL ALL PARTY MEMBERS!!!!

And it's not just the meat of the gameplay that improved. The story got a small shine as well. The new translation sounds much better, writing flows well, there are new events with party members you couldn't interact much in the original, classic social links are all there and, plenty new stuff to do that helps the pacing and character motivation/backstory. They didn't change much, but improved upon it. I loved that characters like Aragaki, Chidori and even Aragaki gained a more screentime now. Made me appreciate the cast and story even more.

There are little things that FES did better, and some old flaws remain, but nothing terrible.

The tone, for example. Sure, the new artstyle is great, but the original feels much more moody and creepy. Even the anime scenes were more experimental then. It also took a bit of that mid-2000s feeling. Voice actors changed too. While they did a fantastic job, I still prefer how weird they most of them sounded back then. The music still sounds phenomenal, specially the new songs, like the new combat one, but some of the mixing in the original was better. It sounds cleaner now, which helps a few songs, like the school themes, but kinda takes the shine out of others, like the dorm theme.

And Tartarus is still... well, it still sucks. Much better now, for sure, since combat and traversing was improved. No more "fatigue", for example. But, like the original, just hurts the game's pacing. Even with everything new. But you'll get through that, for sure.

You'll get through because this game is fantastic! Feels like visiting old friends, but they all look better now. And if this is your first time here, well, lucky you! You'll get to experience my second favorite Persona game in its best shape.

Now they just HAVE to remake Persona 4...

I'll be honest, Yakuza 5 is the worst one I've played so far.

At first, it was a bit conflicting, because one thing I kept wishing for the series was variety. Well, I got variety right here, and let me tell you, I don't like it.

It was a bit conflicting to come to the realization that I don't like this. The game opens up very well and the whole Kiryu part was fine. Classic Yakuza, of course. I LOVED the taxi substory. Off to a solid start!

But then we get to Saejima part and that's the SLOWEST moment in the game. Even the minigames suck. Things don't shift much in the next part, which is Haruka's. Just... what were they thinking? I'm glad she shared her chapters with Akiyama, because he steals the whole game. His chapters are the best, his fighting style is great, his story fits just right. But then the game crashes hard when we come to Shinada. Everything about him just feels out of place, to be honest. Some new side characters, like the main villain, Saejima's prison gang, and Park-chan, ALMOST captivated me, but they weren't enough.

Yakuza 2 used to be my least favorite, however, the story/side content were its saving grace. But with 5, the story feels absolutely forced and kinda set apart from the others. It's a huge mess! It never amounts to anything meaningful! Akiyama is the only one that felt in-character. Haruka's idol fluff was extremely boring, Saejima's felt repetitive and fruitless, Shinada is absolutely useles, and Kiryu was... ok, I guess.

And while things do improve in the Finale, the ending is horrible. Abrupt, emotionless, with a few plot points left out in the open.

It's a shame, because this game looks and sounds beautiful! The main story is weak, but almost every sidequest is either fun as hell or very creative. I LOVED all the cities I got to visit and I wish I could just explore them forever. The atmosphere is great and, as usual, the soundtrack shines! The combat, on the other hand, was a bit of a hit or miss. I'm used to that, I guess. Yakuza's combat is usually iffy.

I know that people love this game, but I just couldn't. Playing with Haruka and Saejima was pure torture. And the game is very long too! That usually doesn't bother me, but the lack of fun factor just made me almost drop it.

I just hope Yakuza 6 picks it back up again.