One of the sequels in gaming I was pretty eager to get into, it initially looked miles better than the first and seemed as if it's writing was a lot more competent, too and people seem to praise this one over it's predecessor.

Going into it, I definitely felt as if I enjoyed it more. The gameplay was an improvement and in certain aspects it graphically surpassed Fallen Order and I also felt as if I enjoyed Cal Kestis as a character a little bit more. Unfortunately, the game would start to slowly lose it's touch and it ended up almost feeling like a chore to finish.

I think a persisting problem remains with these games and it's the tedious platforming and often times lackluster navigation. I probably got lost in areas more time than I did doing much with the combat. The navigation also drips into tedious platforming which more times than not would lead to me dying under stupid conditions. And while in bursts, the combat is much better, I also felt like it was a little too easy in comparison to Fallen Order. A lot of the bosses here were just way too piss easy save for maybe three in a 30 hour game. While they were still fun, it just felt like the game had lost it's difficulty edge. And while, yes, the platforming was tedious at times I still felt some sort of enjoyment out of it regardless. There was a specific sequence on Jedha with Merrin that was really fun, but I also felt had been let down a little by the fact that there was not much control over Cal using a certain ability that felt more like it was half cinematic and half gameplay, which was a little jarring.

Performance wise, I did not have the greatest time. The game is still very unpolished on the PS5 port. There were so many texture issues no matter whether I used quality or performance mode. Tons of immersion breaking bugs still persist, such as Greez / Bode / Merrin t-posing in the Mantis cockpit, falling through the map on Fractured Endurance, textures popping in too late resulting in low poly environments, cutscenes jarringly running at 30fps opposed to the gameplay and not even looking good enough to justify such a change and even just generally what looked like weird chromatic aberration at times that affected Assassin's Creed Mirage as well. A tad bit of nitpicking at this point, but the hair effects were also pretty goofy at times, specifically on Cal. Albeit these issues do arise for me at a time where my brain is kind of in a fight or flight mode because of certain personal issues that makes me judge things a little unfairly and harshly, I still feel as if I'd have the same issues if that were not the case.

Now, for me, I didn't really see the first game as some masterpiece-like, crafted narrative that did as much innovative things as the Metal Gear series, The Last of Us or even Alan Wake, but it was mildly pretty solid for what it was. It was a solid Star Wars story, one of the few (especially in recent years) that felt like it did justice to the universe's lore and worldbuilding thereafter. Going into Survivor for the first time, it felt as if this trend persisted but after a short while, personally, it started to feel a little bland. I felt as if Dagan wasn't nearly as large of a threat as he could have been, the story hinged on the same idea for too long and it definitely overstayed it's welcome for me. I kept expecting some big twist to happen, akin to Fallen Order, which would up the stakes a little bit more but that didn't really seem to happen. Although, I give credit to the twist that occured on Jedha and the consequences that befall the characters because of it, but it maybe felt just a tad bit... shoehorned in? When it comes to Boda, I kind of already deducted from the get-go, literally as soon as he is introduced to the player, that this guy wasn't good news. I saw the twist coming about 20 hours before it did and so when it actually happened it felt very weightless to me and as if it was done just to give the story actual stakes and consequences that it wasn't presenting before which in turn also made it feel like a very rushed ending. So, structurally, I wasn't a fan of the narrative, even if there were moments I did mildly enjoy, I feel like it could have been polished and fleshed out a lot better than it was, unfortunately.

That's not to say I think that this is a bad game by any means. It was enjoyable and was, for a time, a nice escape and change of pace. Some sequels aren't always going to top what came before and very few of them end up being even good. What I can say about this one was that it was decent at best and that I really wish I had enjoyed it more. I suspect on another playthrough, with a clearer mind, this might be the case but, for now... I think I'll give the Star Wars franchise another rest on the top shelf.

Peak DLC, peak remake of a DLC and great extended gameplay. Focuses more on the combat than it does narrative, but it's really satisfying. Pretty much as great as the base game but with added mechanics such as the grapple hook adding another layer of perfection to the gameplay. Loved Ada here more than in the base game, Luis was also really great, too. Awesome boss fights and it includes the bits of the original game that were removed from the base game in the remake, though I don't think I enjoyed the Pesanta boss fight as much as I did in the original.

Also, RIP to my boy the Merchant, hope he made it off the island. 😔

A superb revisit to a timeless classic, made even better in it's gameplay and story execution, albeit both versions of the games having their fair share of pros and cons.

This remake effortlessly dethrones Resident Evil 2 (2019) and became my favourite game in the series by itself. Everything is so well crafted and paid attention to in it's faithfulness to the original at the same time, it was a priceless experience and I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it.

The gameplay is such a dopamine trip, it never gets old and left me wanting even more (thank god for The Mercenaries and Separate Ways), the memes about this game making you feel like John Wick definitely are not baseless at all because Leon is an absolute fucking-quipping tank, every weapon feels as if it packs a punch with the DualSense in your hands, it's pure satisfaction. What elevates this over the original even more is the shedding of unnecessary jank that made the original a little bit less than perfect for me, obviously excusable for the time it was released, but not at all excusable by today's standards, it makes sense to remove certain sections and mechanics. Ashley's AI was also improved on to the point where for the first time in a game since maybe The Last of Us series (and RE5) I wasn't spending half of the game stressing and being completely pissed off over how braindead the companion AI was. I think 95% of my game over screens in the original was because of tedious AI and unfair timeframe windows that made Ashley constantly get kidnapped. I think my overall favourite addition to the remake was the extended ability to parry. Sure, this was possible in the original, but not nearly to the extent it was used here. The Krauser boss fights were super entertaining because of the parry mechanic, feeling like a boss fight straight out of the Metal Gear series. Parrying ganados' attacks, chainsaws and flying axes was super satisfying and even cooler when you got to roundhouse kick the fuck out of some poor motherfucker who had the misfortune of not catching me off guard.

Resident Evil has never really been a series strong on it's storytelling, at least in my opinion. With every Resident Evil so far with the very, very close exception of the OG RE4 and RE5, the stories were basically nothing and the gameplay always reigned supreme (I've only played up to Revelations at this point.) They really left more to be desired given how intricate the worldbuilding itself is, almost screaming for some complex Metal Gear level storytelling, but it was always missing. Basically what I'm saying is, this specific version of Resident Evil 4 broke that trend. While not as heavy as Metal Gear or maybe most games with heavy narratives, such as Alan Wake II, it definitely brought to the table what I felt this series was missing. I really enjoyed the story, of course despite already knowing how it played out, but I felt as if it was just written so much better. So many of the characters, including Leon himself, were instantly more likable, relatable and easy to symapthise with. I absolutely loved this game's version of Ashley, Luis and Ramon Salazar, even if I felt like a large portion of the radio calls between Leon and the baddies was missing. The conflict between Leon and Krauser was a lot easier for me to get into, something about their story felt very similar to certain Metal Gear characters.

Really, my only issue with this game was the yellow paint on almost everything. I'm sure you can turn it off, I wish it wasn't on by default though. I didn't really bother to configure the settings too much outside of enabling hair strands and experimenting with the OG and remake SFX for a bit. I'm not really against the trend, I think accessibility for games is absolutely an overdue aspect that is gladly getting more attention as of recent, but it felt a bit ridiculous at times.

if I were to give this a direct comparison to the original, I would say the pros outweigh the cons. This game proves itself to be the definitive, modern experience of Resident Evil 4, but it's very hard for me to just dismiss the original. I think in ways this is a better game, for sure, but it also feels like I am doing a mild disservice to what came before, so I'll just say that I love both versions of this game, with a lean towards this one. It's a great game, perhaps the best remake ever, and I keep saying this with certain remakes, but this one definitely takes the cake.