There's definitely a bit of the Seinfeld Effect going on with this game. I'd always heard amazing things about it but the gameplay felt largely run-of-the-mill by today's standards, and that's because this game is what made these open world mechanics so common place.

With that said, the characters are phenomenal pretty much across the board. Vaas, Buck, Dennis, Citra, Sam -- it's almost unfair how many amazing characters are here. Props to the writing team. The story is very generic but the characters are so great it doesn't matter. I'm looking forward to checking out the newer games.

This game is straight out of the PS2 era, in all the best and worst ways. The art style is unique and the story is charmingly earnest. For the first 4 or so hours of gameplay, I found myself in a very relaxed flow state. Even though I abandoned making my paintings sensible early on, I still found the act of painting soothing. The final couple hours of the game, however, completely changes the formula and takes a hard turn into a poorly executed action game. Nevertheless, I appreciate indie developers bringing some variety and trying something new. I'm looking forward to what Pixelopus does next.

I tried playing Heavy Rain many years ago and could never get past the first hour or so. Naturally, I didn't have high hopes for David Cage's latest narrative game. Thankfully, I'm glad to report I was thoroughly impressed and gripped from the beginning to the end of this adventure. The characters are fantastic and the visuals are stunning. I may have gotten lucky with my version of the story but I felt the story was perfectly paced and put together. There are definitely some cheesy parts here and there but there's a noticeable level of care and polish in nearly every aspect of this game. Maybe it's time for me to give Heavy Rain another shot.

Days Gone is a criminally misunderstood game. It's not the most original premise, but it's a ton of fun and that's all that matters at the end of the day. Despite a rocky start, the story picks up steam the deeper you get into the game. What seemed like a generic zombie apocalypse plotline in the beginning turns out to be a memorable and grandiose adventure in which the zombies take a backseat to the excellent main cast. Characters like Boozer, Rikki, Sarah, Iron Mike, and Kouri have incredible depth and helped keep me invested the whole way through. The story takes itself a little too seriously at times, however, and some of the writing can come off as corny at times when it's intended to be profound.

Aside from the bone-chilling hordes that appear half-way through the game, there isn't anything particularly innovative about Days Gone's gameplay. Much of what you'd expect from a third-person open world shooter is here, and it's done well.

Days Gone's open world can feel same-y, and there isn't much in the way of rewarding exploration. In contrast, the incredibly detailed camps where Deacon can sleep, purchase weapons, and accept missions feel alive and remarkably lived-in.

For those with an extensive backlog, I can understand skipping Days Gone as a "been there done that" sort of game. However, those that have 50-or-so hours to spare will find a story with remarkable heart and a world that they won't regret having visited.

There are a handful of moments in Maquette that feel truly magical, but they are overshadowed by game-breakingly bad puzzle design and cumbersome controls. I wanted to like this game but the difficulty is incredibly inconsistent. Certain puzzles are borderline unsolvable without a guide, while others are so easy they left me second guessing myself. The "story" follows a couple through the various stages of their relationship, although the game itself takes place within an abstract representation of the main character's emotions and memories during key moments of this relationship. The story is undoubtedly cliche but the voice acting and visuals did a good job of placing me in the same headspace as the protagonist. The soundtrack is also stellar. If you are a fan of The Witness, it's worth a shot but don't feel guilty about looking up solutions when you're stuck.

The Witness is a brilliant game that I had a love-hate relationship with. It took me over a month to reach the end. After the initial confusion of having no written directions or goal markers went away, the game unfolded and allowed me free reign to conquer it. I won't forget the rush of adrenaline from learning a new puzzle mechanic that I needed to solve a puzzle seen earlier. Since the game is non-linear, it affords you the freedom to move on from puzzles that seem difficult and simply come back later. Puzzle mechanics are learned without any written instructions, but rather by doing simple versions of a puzzle that progressively gets harder. This works well for 90% of the game but there are a handful of times where the explanations crossed the line from difficult to unfair. After I had exhausted all of the possible routes to the end, I found myself stuck on 3-4 different puzzles simultaneously, blocking my process completely. I was reluctant to use a guide but I was glad I did at times. If it weren't for guides I would have never finished the game. Part of me thinks that this game is a masterpiece, but the frustration that I felt with it at times knocks it down a few notches. Also, I found the voice recordings to be corny and pretentious but I might be alone on that.

I hadn't kept up with the Tomb Raider franchise reboot and decided to give this a go since it was sitting in my PS+ library. How the HECK was this not on my radar until now? Semi-open world Uncharted? YES please. Lara feels great to control and the environments are stunning. I loved the puzzles and level designs especially in challenge tombs. The story is a little too similar to Uncharted 2 at times though. I wanted to connect with Lara more but I found her to be kind of...bland. In fact, most of the characters in this game feel pretty generic. My biggest complaint with the game, however, is that it's 3 hours longer than it needed to be. A lot of the middle portions felt like filler. Looking forward to checking out the other two games in the trilogy!

After the excitement of playing as one of your favorite UFC fighters wares off, you're left with a pretty shallow experience. The single-player mode is repetitive and boils down to a basic (pick opponent-> train -> fight) loop. The striking mechanics are pretty good and the new animations are welcome. Grappling + submissions are still just silly mini-games. To be fair, no game has been able to make MMA grappling fun yet. Some people love the online mode but I'm not quite good enough to have fun with that.