I’ll start this review by saying this is my third playthrough of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. It has gotten better each time I’ve played it; I’ve noticed more, had more context going into it this time having played Crisis Core Reunion, and it made me love it that much more. It differs from the original FF7, but more often than not, it’s a faithful rendition of Midgar and all its sectors we get to visit.

We start with Cloud, the merc, and his struggles within himself. Sephiroth feels like a horror villain in each cutscene he appears in. Barret, the loud, outspoken, huge man who loves his daughter and the planet. Tifa, who is simply a badass, and Aerith, the local flower girl forever running from the big bad, Shinra. These characters have evolved much from what they were in 1997. Hell, they even made me care about Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie.

The villains are great. The Turks, if we truly want to call them that, are agents who are simply following orders. President Shinra and his lieutenants, with Hojo being the worst of those, and the best-dressed man in the game, Rufus Shinra. Each time we see these characters in the game, they shock us with their lies, deceit, and propaganda. Square did a fantastic job of making the player despise them.

The combat is as satisfying as ever. The ATB, along with one of the best systems in gaming, the materia system. The combinations are endless, and seamlessly switching between characters has never felt so good. If I had a minor complaint about this game, it would be the unplayable Red XIII, albeit I understand the reasons why, and the motorcycle missions. They were too long, in my opinion.

Nobuo Uematsu outdid himself with this OST. Hollow Skies, Aerith’s Theme, and the Airbuster Theme. I could go on and on. Uematsu, along with Shimomura, are the best 1-2 punch in video game music.

The Intermission DLC is a nice bridge between Remake and its sequel. Yuffie is very anime, but she’s cute. It’s a good taste of different characters to come.

With all that said, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is easily one of my top 5 games of all time. I didn’t think they could pull it off; not only did they, it exceeded my expectations.

Early Access Impressions:

"How disappointing... Even your own history rejects you"

Happy to report Moon Studios follow up to the fantastic Ori games makes a strong first impression in what might just end up being their most valiant and ambitious effort to date. An isometric ARPG Soulslike with elements of life sims like Stardew and Animal Crossing in the beautifully strikingly dark and oppressive world that is Isola Sacra. There's a long road ahead before 1.0 but I've already put in 37 hours of playtime and can't get enough of the world and gameplay loop after already finishing the main story content that's available at the moment. I rarely jump in and gamble on early access releases and even right now I'm not sure if I could recommend this in the state its in as its only really a foundation and the performance issues that have plagued it for me. But the team at Moon has done a great job with player feedback and a number of things I had issue with on the first day have been improved or fixed. I really can't wait to see what's next for the characters of Sacrament and challenges that await me. Rarely do you see a studio take this much of a swing into new territory and still retain a lot of their identity. I can only hope from here on out that Moon delivers on their promise as this could end up being one for the ages.