I really, really like this game. You will too.
This game is (most of the time) the most mechanically simple I have ever seen and yet through lovely mixed media art and clever, silly characters and world's made from them, it really pulls off something I'm not sure I've ever seen and not sure how I can truly describe.
I played this game during one of the worst periods of dissociation in my life and it pulled me out real quick, it's such a labour of love and has such an essence of fun and creativity. It's one of the most surreal games I've played and is somewhat similar to Subway Midnight (although this came before) in it's mechanics and perspective switching and it has that same kind of clear creative exploration from the designer that makes the game feel really human.

I really can't provide too much I'm afraid y'all are gonna just have to play it lol

Mario Maker is freaking awesome. Mario Maker 2 makes it even more awesome. It's so amazing seeing what people can create with a simple Mario game editor, and my god is it astonishing to see how clever people have become in this game. The editor is still just as easy to use and the new additions were nice (though I simply wish they continued to further push the limits and add way more tools). The best part is by far the Mario challenge and seeing what people have created, but the addition of a story mode was nice as well. I can't say I had a good time with the multiplayer (lag was terrible every other match) but I also saw potential in the competitive aspect of that. This game really gives off that "innovative Nintendo" vibe.

This game is definitely not for everyone, if you dont like unfairness as a design feature i wouldnt recommend this game.
As someone who couldnt even finish a run of F&H1, i had a really good time with this game.
This really hits the spot for me. The fantasy + really gruesome horror combo with flavorful characters and interactions between them by its own is great for me. But the gameplay is also amazing to me, i would say at its core its about knowledge, about learning and managing information and i just love that, it keeps my head running and thinking about this game the whole day for weeks now. Trial and error, coming back each time stronger by your own merit, its a process than can be frustrating but the same amount of rewarding.
Even the writing has a similar approach, connecting the dots between the little snippets of info you get, the characters, their interactions, the lore, the environments, everything. It makes you a part of it, its great c:

Man, what a letdown. I beat Bayonetta 2 on Christmas Eve so naturally didn't have the time to write a review. But I thought it was an improvement on the original in basically every way. I loved it. So naturally I was really excited for this one even with all the dumb drama surrounding its release. Now that I've finally got to it... all I really feel is disappointment.

Before I start being too negative I'll say a few things I like about it. First of all I love how colorful this game is. My biggest complaint with the first game was how damn dreary it looked, and to see 2 and 3 be a lot more vibrant is pleasing. Plus the location variety is fun and helps keep things interesting (desperately needed). I also think there's a really fun selection of weapons to use, Tartarus and the yo-yo being my favorite. And! This game has a lot of dancing. I love dancing. I love Bayonetta dancing. But if this game thinks I'll forgive it for throwing a lot of dancing at the end after mostly boring me for 12 hours then its kinda wrong!

God this game was such a slog to get through for so much of it. The combat may be flashy and the weapons may be cool but it didn't feel fun. The new enemies are almost all just boring. And it feels entirely too reliant on the summoning which besides giving more dancing just makes the combat feel slow and sluggish. Then there is playing as Viola which is a whole other can of worms. You only play as her in three chapters and an epilogue but everything about her moveset is so basic that those three chapters end up feeling like some of the longest in the game. Besides the normal combat the game does switch things up a bit often. I do really like when games get funky with their genres so its appreciated here but even some things like the kaiju fights are just so helplessly boring. There is also Jeanne's side chapters (you don't get to call them Side Chapters and make them mandatory, fuck you) that shake things a bit too but its just.. I really don't know how else to put it. Its not fun.

All of this translates into the cutscenes too. I love the over the top cutscenes in the first two games and DMC but its just way too much here. Its almost all action with very little substance and they drag on and on. Multiple times I just found myself completely zoning out. It all felt mindless. So much creativity with so little love put into it. The story of course suffers from this. Theres very little plot but this game still has the most cutscenes in the series. The first games story was barely decipherable but still fun. 2's was quite enjoyable but still nothing amazing. But here in Bayo 3 its both hard to follow and not enjoyable. The whole multiverse thing is great potential that's handled spectacularly uninterestingly. Only does it really do cool things with it at the very end where its already too late. I actually didn't really mind the whole Viola-Bayo-Luka thing going on but the ending is just kinda bad. Viola is basically female Enzo and I don't hate him but we really did not need more of that. There are dozens of attempts at humor with her and they did not land for me a single time. And now with the game really heavily pushing that they want to continue the story with her as the new main character in Bayo 4? Yeah. My interest in this turning into a saga has almost entirely diminished.

Despite huge missteps with story and pacing, I didn't hate Bayonetta 3. It has cool colors and lots of dancing and Bayonetta is still one of my favorite video game characters. But, I just can't help but feel really disappointed having completed it. I was sure this could be an easy 4.5 for me but Im struggling to find enough reasons for why it deserves a 3/5. Its mostly just the dancing.

man :/

A few more things I wanted to add but didn't know where to fit in to the review. Jennifer Hale my queen does great as the new actress for Bayo. Having one voice line for being idle is annoying. New soundtrack is cool but Tomorrow is Mine still clears. The Switch needs a sequel desperately.

Thanks for reading <3

Nancymeter - 64/100
Game Completion #18 of April
Game Completion #88 of 2023

"You can't just shoot a hole into the surface of Mars!"

I don't need to tell you this. You already know. Doom Eternal is a badass game. One of the best first person shooters out there. There is so much variety and depth in the ways you deal with enemies and how you can use your tools, its almost like a puzzle game. But you're rarely forced to repeatedly fight with enemies the same specific way, the strategy is almost always up to you. This makes the combat feel very freeing and goes together well with how hectic it can get, fighting onslaught after onslaught of demons. The platforming is fun and fluid, the level design is amazing and the automap really incentivizes collecting things and exploring. The progression system is very well done and makes the game constantly feel rewarding. The cutscenes and dialogue are also very funny. Slayers actions and the way people react to him had me laughing constantly. Its just an awesome game all around.

My complaints are minor in the grand scheme of things. For one, as great as the music was, I could barely hear it for most fights. This might be a personal thing but I'm pretty sure I've had the problem with previous games. Having to turn down the sound effects so low to hear it was more distracting than anything. I also think the pacing of this could be a little better. Despite having so much fun in the beginning, I was definitely ready for it to be over by the end. I think it was probably just one level too long. My two final complaints don't effect my score or feelings on the game at all but I want to say them anyways. The trophy list is pretty terrible. I dont know why so many are focused on online mode. I did not bother to try it. And also, I'm really disappointed with how Mick Gordon was treated by higher ups while working on this. Its just pretty pathetic.

It has been quite a while since I played Doom 2016, so I don't really remember it much. But I thought it was good, not great. Doom Eternal really surprised me with how much I ended up enjoying it in comparison, and its definitely left me wanting to give 2016 another try. A few minor complaints hardly get in the way of how fun it is. If you haven't played this yet for some reason... stop procrastinating.

-----TLDR-----
+ fun varied gameplay
+ good level design
+ rewarding progression system
+ funny
- Could of been one or two levels shorter
- Couldn't really hear the music :(

Nancymeter - 91/100
Trophy Completion - 76%
Time Played - 17 hours
Completion #1 of May
Completion #90 of 2023

As someone who feels like they're in a constant game of tug of war with each Yakuza game they play, I was genuinely surprised with how much I ended up enjoying Ishin. As far as ones I've completed go, this very well may be my second favorite in the series.

Yakuza games are often funny and unique, with really entertaining characters. I really think Kiryu is one of the best protagonists of all time. But theres always some things that bring them down for me. Grueling pacing, terrible boss design and lackluster endings are what a lot of this series has left me with. Most of the games make up for this overall (besides Yakuza 4. Sorry I dont usually like to use reviews to insult other games but god I fucking despised playing that). But starting with 0 which does have some of the same issues but is by far the strongest I've beaten yet has made the entire series onwards feel a bit disappointing. Especially with my last two experiences, Yakuza 5 and 6. I never ended up reviewing them but they did so much that I wanted from the series and I really felt the Yakuza love again (much needed after 4), but then both of them completely dropped the ball for me with some of the most unsatisfying endings I've ever experienced.

So yeah, I made sure my expectations were tempered for this one. Which I think in the end made me enjoy it more. Its completely fair to expect the mainline series to be high quality but in most cases its understandable to expect a spinoff to be a little weaker. But damn, not this one.

I'm not really familiar with the history behind what inspired the story, but the small amount I do know tells me they definitely took some liberties. I can't really comment on if thats a good thing or not, but the way they play off of some of the real life events is pretty damn cool. Even without the history aspect, its just a badass story to begin with. And my god, characters are getting murdered every other chapter. I love that shit. And! Half of them aren't ridiculously stupid fake out deaths, hallelujah. I can't really get into too much detail because of spoilers but, for basically every Yakuza game there's a few chapters in the beginning or near the middle where I want to cry myself to sleep, but with Ishin I was hooked the entire time past the end of chapter 1.

The combat is already pretty fun. Yakuza needs more guns. Wild Dancer obv is the most entertaining but Swordsman and Gunman are both fun in their own right. Brawler is completely useless, barely touched it lol. The card system is fine, It wasn't implemented all that great and the best cards in the game are free DLC so I just used those the whole time, but It existing is neat. There's also the Another Life farming sim side mode that was cute and fun but for a reason I'm about to get to, I didn't get too far into it.

By 'about to get to', I mean we're going to talk about it right now. The only thing I really disliked about this game is how god damn grindy it is to interact with the side stuff. I usually skip a lot of the side content in this series but I like to do a bit of it when its one of them I particularly like, and it really felt like this one was fighting against me. The battle dungeons are absurdly long, everything in Another Life takes ages (also you can't pay off Haruka's debt with your own money normally for some dumb reason) and trying to upgrade weapons and make the blacksmith actually useful is a nightmare. The light rpg elements and how slow everything is really take away from wanting to interact with much of that.

But that rather large-but-not-really issue aside, this was definitely one of the most surprising games I've played in a minute. Very high contender for the most fun and best written game in the series.

We are now at the blog portion of this review. Skip to the bottom for a TLDR and my final score if you don't care about all that. Things have been going solid, this was one of 5 games I beat in a day (not in their entirety obv) the other day so I'm pretty proud of that. Found a sealed copy of Persona 4 Arena for PS3 so happy to get that. Been playing Breath of the Wild too. Not sure what my next review will be but a MGRR one is quite likely. Also been doing a lot more creative writing which made trying to do write this review harder than usual. I hope this turned out good enough and you enjoyed reading it. If you did, thank you <3

-----TLDR-----
+ Great story
+ Fun gameplay
+ sexy music
- Extremely grindy side content

Nancymeter - 89/100
Trophy Completion - 41%
Time Played - i forgor I'll add this in later
Completion #3 of May
Completion #92 of 2023