This was one of my first Xbox 360 games, but a frustrating temperature-based level made me put it down for 16 years. “Maybe it won’t be as bad now that I’ve beaten the first two games and I'm better at Katamari,” I thought. Nope! Still an absolutely dogshit level. But also, turns out the whole game is only like two hours long if you don’t care about high scores and optional content lmao. It’s still Katamari, so it’s still fun - the final level in particular, which seamlessly takes you from ground level all the way to space, feels like a logical endpoint for the series - but beyond that this was clearly a series suffering from the departure of its creator. It just doesn’t have the same soul.

I am not a survival horror fan at all, and this game didn’t exactly do all that much to sell me on survival horror gameplay. I just don’t think it’s for me. I found it more tedious than scary, and before too long I turned the difficulty down to easy so I wouldn’t have to worry so much about the combat and resource management aspects.

With all that in mind: it should speak volumes about how much I like the story that I still managed to push through as a survival horror disliker and beat the game… twice.

Yes, immediately after beating the game once, I went right into new game+ to see the few scattered bits of extra story it added, as well as the somewhat altered ending. I never do that!! This game is a huge departure from the first, and it doesn’t quite have the same campy charm a lot of the time, and Saga’s side of the story in the real world wasn’t quite as interesting to me, but when it hits, it REALLY hits. Especially in Alan’s side of the story. The way the story keeps finding new ways to wrap back in on itself, layer after layer after layer of metatext, surreal blendings of both in-engine and live action material, all making you question how much is real and how much is a fabrication of one of a story within a story within a story, and if that distinction even matters in a world where fiction alters reality. What a blast. While I think Control was the more fun game overall, this is definitely Remedy’s storytelling at its best. They put everything they’ve learned into this game. This one’s gonna stick with me for a long time. Can’t wait for the DLCs.

Very clever little one button platformer that's really more of a puzzle game built around understanding the unconventional rules of your movement, the first of which is extremely aggressive fall damage that requires you to jump carefully. This could be considered a Metroidvania, though you never really gain any new abilities. Instead, the game keeps revealing new things you didn't realize you could always do, which in turn makes you look at the areas you've already been through in a new light. If I have one complaint, it's just the lack of checkpoints in one specific tricky area near the end, but the game is so short that it's not a huge issue.