singuIarity
2024
Spooky, atmospheric, charming, and clever. Might be my GOTY.
I had a lot of fun with Ender Lilies as a game that helped fill that Hollow Knight hole. Exploring a ruined kingdom that slowly uncovered the lore and story through gorgeous artwork and journal entries developed the game's great atmosphere accompanied by a soothing soundtrack. Sections of the map such as Twin Spires were awesome in terms of level design as looping back around in circles around the dungeon gave a similar vibe to the fantastic areas in FromSoftware's catalog. I especially loved the variety of abilities given to you that are recycled from the enemies you fought throughout your journey. Each of the main spirits you would use as your primary damage source had clear pros and cons, and the rest of the abilities helped mold your skillset to any playstyle you wanted.
Unfortunately, this is not a perfect game as the leveling system, checkpoints, and enemy variety were some of the few things that kept me from giving this a higher score. This is less of a major issue and more of a nitpick, but leveling up in this game felt inconsequential and only helped to gatekeep tougher areas you might have accidentally stumbled upon in your exploration. I also did not find this game particularly difficult which is not normally an issue for a game unless it is due to an overreliance on rest areas; Checkpoints almost always being at most two levels away lessen the feeling of danger in a postapocalyptic world knowing that you respawn an area away. Enemies are also quite boring from start to finish. As the game progresses, blight-afflicted enemy designs start to wear down on you even if the attacks change. I would have been interested in seeing the monstrous direction taken further with some of the humanoid enemies.
Altogether, it was a complete package that had a satisfying conclusion to the story it told. The length and pacing felt right in the 14 hours I played, and I am interested in seeing what else the developers do in the future.
Unfortunately, this is not a perfect game as the leveling system, checkpoints, and enemy variety were some of the few things that kept me from giving this a higher score. This is less of a major issue and more of a nitpick, but leveling up in this game felt inconsequential and only helped to gatekeep tougher areas you might have accidentally stumbled upon in your exploration. I also did not find this game particularly difficult which is not normally an issue for a game unless it is due to an overreliance on rest areas; Checkpoints almost always being at most two levels away lessen the feeling of danger in a postapocalyptic world knowing that you respawn an area away. Enemies are also quite boring from start to finish. As the game progresses, blight-afflicted enemy designs start to wear down on you even if the attacks change. I would have been interested in seeing the monstrous direction taken further with some of the humanoid enemies.
Altogether, it was a complete package that had a satisfying conclusion to the story it told. The length and pacing felt right in the 14 hours I played, and I am interested in seeing what else the developers do in the future.
2023
A huge improvement in every single positive the first game had, and a JRPG that should be talked about more among the modern greats. Stories are much more fleshed out and rely less on a formula, party interactions are stressed more with dual side-missions, and the introduction of a ship to sail around the sea to get to different places and islands on the map to progress the story or get some loot added so much.
Just like Breath of the Wild and every other game in my favorites, there is so much I LOVE about this game that I can ignore the flaws and let the gameplay take me for a ride. TotK does a great job at feeling familiar enough to BotW (what a sequel should do) and diversifying gameplay options in the form of building and new power-ups.
Exploring Hyrule has always been the main draw to this game, and even if I was less attached to seeing everything it had to offer, traversing through the open world, sky, and underground in an electric pick-up truck, Gundam, Beyblade, upside-down helicopter, and whatever creative bullshit I could come up with was awesome. It is one of the greatest sandbox games for asking "Is this possible?" and finding out that the answer is yes.
Since power-ups do not stay the same from before, getting used to the new ones and finding out new ways for them to help you reinvigorated the gameplay for me and kept the same open world from feeling stale. Weapon fusion was also a smart way to breathe new life into a weak system from the previous game even if the UI/UX still sucks. Why do I have to continually enter a menu and enter out to spam bomb arrows? It just served to interrupt the flow of combat and created a problem that wasn't there in BotW.
A good amount of new bosses and enemies appear with the introduction of the sky and underground. Sure, the blockhead bosses got boring relatively quickly, but it was exciting to see interesting boss designs at the end of each dungeon instead of Purple and Black Monster 4.
Great game and an excellent sequel. Made me retroactively go and change my rating on BotW.
Exploring Hyrule has always been the main draw to this game, and even if I was less attached to seeing everything it had to offer, traversing through the open world, sky, and underground in an electric pick-up truck, Gundam, Beyblade, upside-down helicopter, and whatever creative bullshit I could come up with was awesome. It is one of the greatest sandbox games for asking "Is this possible?" and finding out that the answer is yes.
Since power-ups do not stay the same from before, getting used to the new ones and finding out new ways for them to help you reinvigorated the gameplay for me and kept the same open world from feeling stale. Weapon fusion was also a smart way to breathe new life into a weak system from the previous game even if the UI/UX still sucks. Why do I have to continually enter a menu and enter out to spam bomb arrows? It just served to interrupt the flow of combat and created a problem that wasn't there in BotW.
A good amount of new bosses and enemies appear with the introduction of the sky and underground. Sure, the blockhead bosses got boring relatively quickly, but it was exciting to see interesting boss designs at the end of each dungeon instead of Purple and Black Monster 4.
Great game and an excellent sequel. Made me retroactively go and change my rating on BotW.
2023
Nothing too groundbreaking about this game as it is a bit forgettable. Adequate combat and movement with bosses I enjoyed, and a linearity to the world that I wished was more interconnected. Might not be worth $15 full price, but it did scratch that Ori itch a little bit.
Build variety was pretty solid until I got comfortable with a chainsaw + shotgun + rocket launcher for every boss onward from Sea Spider to the end of NG++. This is due to the stagger system being heavily relied on to kill bosses as melee is super strong which might tick off veteran AC players, but as a newcomer to the franchise, I didn't mind.
One thing that surprised me was the engaging story between all of the corporate factions and characters within the main struggle. It's impressive how I never met a single face in the game and was left with a bigger impression of them than most story-driven games I've played in the past couple of years.
Sad that it took months for them to add a matchmaking queue after I'm done with the game, but that's okay. Mechas are fucking awesome, thank you daddy FromSoftware.
One thing that surprised me was the engaging story between all of the corporate factions and characters within the main struggle. It's impressive how I never met a single face in the game and was left with a bigger impression of them than most story-driven games I've played in the past couple of years.
Sad that it took months for them to add a matchmaking queue after I'm done with the game, but that's okay. Mechas are fucking awesome, thank you daddy FromSoftware.
2023
Starfield is a bland and uninspiring mess of loading screens and loading cutscenes that detract from the idea of space exploration. Too many loading screens hurt the pacing of this game in the 9 hours I gave it for me to get invested in Starfield. Gun combat felt dated not only with the shooting mechanics but with the horrible enemy AI that felt like slowly moving sponges. If the combat isn't fun and the loot I get from the procedurally generated planets I visit is underwhelming, then I have no desire to explore those bases.
I fully admit that 9 hours is not a fair chance for me to give it a 1/5, but it does represent the level of how much I enjoyed my time with it. I'd rather just play No Man's Sky.
I fully admit that 9 hours is not a fair chance for me to give it a 1/5, but it does represent the level of how much I enjoyed my time with it. I'd rather just play No Man's Sky.
2023
By far the best Soulslike I have ever played as it does good to excellent in every aspect of the game. Interesting story about godhood and humanity, a great upgrade system that rewards you with useful skills instead of a 1% increase in a stat you forget about, and solid level design in most of the areas.
The combat system rivals FromSoftware's greatest games in the sense that you use every tool available to you against the unique bosses in LoP. Dodging, parrying, and blocking (alongside Guard Regain like in Bloodborne) all help with the flow of combat, and the game expects you to know when to rely on one tool more than the others to succeed. More than anything, the animations and exact feel to movement and attacking are extremely clean. There are very few times when I thought an enemy, boss, or death was bullshit, and I really appreciated their direction for difficulty in this.
One small issue I thought could have been improved upon was the linearity of the world; I don't mind straightforward games, but an interconnected design might have enhanced traversing some of the areas I thought could have had links with one another. Impressive game nonetheless, and one of the best of 2023.
The combat system rivals FromSoftware's greatest games in the sense that you use every tool available to you against the unique bosses in LoP. Dodging, parrying, and blocking (alongside Guard Regain like in Bloodborne) all help with the flow of combat, and the game expects you to know when to rely on one tool more than the others to succeed. More than anything, the animations and exact feel to movement and attacking are extremely clean. There are very few times when I thought an enemy, boss, or death was bullshit, and I really appreciated their direction for difficulty in this.
One small issue I thought could have been improved upon was the linearity of the world; I don't mind straightforward games, but an interconnected design might have enhanced traversing some of the areas I thought could have had links with one another. Impressive game nonetheless, and one of the best of 2023.
More fun options to web-swing quicker and cooler, new combat abilities are fine, and a safe new story that is just okay. Sidequests are an improvement on the ones in the first game. Felt like there was more to explore with Venom gameplay. It's a Spider-Man sequel that feels familiar, and that's all I think about the game.