It's hard for me to put into exact words how this game made me feel but it's a truly special experience and I have not been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it.

Despite being from a genre I have minimal experience in (survival horror) I really loved every bit of it and solving puzzles made me feel like a genius. I've seen complaints about the minimal inventory but to me it only made the game feel more challenging, I really felt how important it was to think through my options and choose which items I wanted to carry and when.

As for the story itself, I feel so absorbed in it and all of its mystery. The game doesn't explicitly explain much to you but it feeds you plenty of hints, clues and details to help piece it together. I'm still unsure of some specifics of the story but when these pieces fit into place you can tell how much thought went into creating this game's world, and the story of Elster and Ariane. I can't recommend this game enough, it's only $20 and it's just so immaculately put together.

This game definitely has its fair share of issues with its pacing and pretty weak enemy design, and I really wish Jill had more of a spotlight considering she's Clive's love interest and main heroine but i think when this game shines it's truly great. The combat is a lot of fun even if most enemies felt way too weak but the hunts are really addicting and the eikon trials were also a lot of fun!! (why were they only available so late in the game though?!)

The actual big eikon battles were also always a pleasure, even during the more timid ones i found myself blown away by the sheer spectacle and scale of the battles. As I mentioned before the story has a lot of pacing issues, in between a lot of these big epic moments there's a lot of sort of just meandering and walking back and forth talking to random characters. This was annoying but not enough to ruin the game for me. Clive himself is a wonderful protagonist and I was truly endeared by how much love he has for not only his brother and Jill but just for all of the people he lends a hand to. It was hard for me not to love this guy, and Ben Starr's performance as him makes him especially great, particularly during the game's more dramatic scenes.

Overall I had a great time with the game even if it had some pretty annoying issues. I hope it gets some kind of DLC or updated version along the line that fixes some of the blights with the combat. Would also love to see Jill get more of a spotlight.

fantastic game, huge improvement from Yakuza 7 in terms of gameplay

story in this one felt pretty sloppy at times and i wish some characters were utilized a lot better but besides that it moved me

Ichiban is my GOAT forever