The first game I’ve ever played in my life was Super Mario 64. As a kid not really aware of the significance of this title for many years to come, a lot still stuck with me like Mario’s seamless movement in 3D and the possibilities it hosted interacting with the worlds and environment in both intended and unintended means. The worlds, in particular the initial set on the first level of Peach’s castle, felt so lively and overwhelming at first in the possibilities that existed and what could be found or missed even after seemingly scoping out the entire world. Hearing the keys of Jolly Roger Bay now almost twenty years removed still shoots a pang in my heart thinking back to my 5 year old self trying to catch all the red coins, get the power star early in the jet stream or plunder the secrets of the grimy underwater cavern. It’s easy nowadays to look back at 64 and the more questionable parts like hit or miss levels of the game, constant interruption in getting the stars, and the god awful camera, but the sense of amazement and charm around each corner and crevice of the experience rode high so hard then for me and I’m actually playing it. A bygone era so deeply intertwined with my childhood nostalgia that shaped and informed how I approach this medium even today.

Banjo Kazooie unfortunately was not part of my childhood like many people have experienced and I arrived real late on this duo’s whole thing until sometime around 2008 where I saw a commercial of nuts and bolts and its box art and being transfixed by their designs, Banjo in particular. Still, I never got around to the first game for many years to come until I stumbled upon a copy of it and its sequel randomly in my local used games store. It’s hard recalling many specific things I felt regarding the game then since it’s more than ten years removed at this point and I only progressed about as far as Clanker’s Cavern, but I wasn’t as in love with it like the acclaim it attracted but it was still a pretty captivating and colorful time. Though now I can say I 100%’d the entire game and find it to be more enjoyable than I thought before, not in a masterpiece way but still so invigorating to experience fully.

For as welcoming as this game oozes with the very cutesy and theatre kid like intro, I was caught off guard initially with how strict the movement is and levels later on tend to get later on. Banjo and Kazooie’s starting moveset is limited but opens up with each passing level to be a very unique tool kit of methodical traversal and basic enemy smashing. It doesn’t compare to the level of momentum and speed that can be generated and exploited from Mario and Sonic’s 3D outings at the time, but it still strikes a strong and enthralling identity with levels tuned and tailor-made around it with satisfying puzzles that incorporate their skills like the numerous egg-related puzzles, target puzzles with the beak bomb ability, and basic platforming and scaling done with the feathery flap, flap flip, talon trot and other abilities, even a toggle invulnerability skill. The levels are crafted very much around verticality while offering a lot to distinguish them from one another in their environments, characters and enemies, avoiding the issue of heavy reuse or too abstract territory in their level design. They are scaled near perfectly to prevent tedium from kicking in next to just how appealing it is to collect the various number of trinkets littered around the zones. I appreciate Rare’s approach to the collectibles by having both good variety and theming with the Jinjos, music notes, Jiggies, Mumbo tokens, honeycombs and other items that make collecting them appetizing outside of an overarching achievement. Music note collecting can become painful in some of the later levels with losing all your progress if you end up dying but this only became an annoyance in the later few levels that pushed the difficulty up slightly from its usual coasting fare.

The starting area of the tutorialized Spiral Mountain to Mumbo's Mountain and Treasure Trove Cove as the first two levels ease in how the game will go before truly adding some escalation with the levels onwards starting with Clanker’s Cavern. I recall my first experience of this place being a particular stinker that stopped me in my tracks because of how unwieldy I found swimming to be compared to Mario 64’s more in control feel, especially in stopping and changing direction. Playing Clanker again I didn’t find it to be much frustrating outside of turning and angling Banjo while swimming but alternating between the kicking and wing stroke (and apparently using the right bumper for sharp turns) alleviated some of the unwieldy feel. For as bad of a rap I feel this level gets, it was surprisingly fair and dare I say fun to go through and see this rise in challenge that would continue for most of the rest of the levels. Bubblegloop is a bit less exciting exploration wise and the gator mini game being too high energy until I unlocked the running shoes, but it was still interesting to see where it went and collecting the jiggies was a fun breeze. Freezeezy peak similarly felt more pulled in with the main peak of the tall snow man being the most interesting of the stage though falling on the short side; it did introduce the aerial beak bomb skill though it feels that it is missing a very needed reticle or some soft lock on as aiming is a bit too guesswork next to turning and recovering while flying being funky with the camera. Gobi’s desert ups the escalation with more treacherous terrain and an array of major and mini puzzles available such as the pyramids and the various ways of opening them and excavating the secrets within.


Mad Monster Mansion is possibly the peak of the levels for me with how many pathways and areas are layered across the map, even the Mansion alone, that I ended up missing a few things when I first exited the level. Rusty Bucket Bay and Click Clack Wood are the ultimate tests of the experience; the former being very strict on platforming and traversal outside with the trap of oily water draining available air below and above the surface fast and inside the ship with the engine room as the most unruly part of the game, somewhat to a frustrating degree with how sensitive Banjo’s movement feels at least playing on switch when walking across smaller and narrower platforms and connecting pathways. It’s a miracle having the suspend points as I feel I wouldn’t have completed this level fully with how many times I’ve dived off the deep end from making one wrong step or overextending a leap in the engine room. Click Clack Wood is much less difficult but unfortunately falls on the tedious side with an ambitious four season structure encompassing the same level of scaling a big tree and its surrounding puzzles for all the collectables. Collecting everything in Rusty was painful but Click Clack Wood felt more exhausting even halfway through going through the mostly same menial tasks, though a few had diverging set ups that changed across the seasons to fully get the jiggies associated with them. It never reached the levels of a Rainbow Ride, Tick Tock Clock or any other of Mario 64’s less stellar levels, but it did feel more intriguing as a concept versus the execution this time around. Overall, this set of worlds are excellent across the board and do their job well in emphasizing and incentivizing exploring the zones even when collecting the 100 music notes without dying felt sometimes eye rolling with some aspects of bullshit ending my runs roughly.

I don’t have extensive comments on the music outside of it fitting very well the gorgeous and charming presentation of Banjo-Kazooie’s worlds and layout. Sound design similarly is charismatic as each character and enemy feel vividly themselves in what they sound like, even if a few bordered on annoying or eye rolling at times. I will say I have a soft spot for the power up jingle played when using the temporary power ups and the different versions played depending on which is being used. The final boss theme goes hard for a delightfully tense final encounter with Gruntilda that incorporates a good variety of the skills gained across the journey. Sure aiming the eggs and beak bombing Grunty in the air was a bit frustrating with the camera but seeing the Mighty Jinjonator bash the shit out of Grunty in the end after all the effort is such a satisfying finish that I can almost overlook the annoyance.

It’s hard to pick up anything significant I didn’t like from my experience outside of the awkward camera but that’s more a staple of the era than anything completely unique to Banjo Kazooie. This game has aged very well for how long ago it came out, especially as a Nintendo 64 title. The thought of collecting everything in Super Mario 64 is a headache with how finicky the levels and platforming can get but Banjo Kazooie was a fun ride through and through outside of some hiccups on the way.

After engaging with very long and intensive games recently, I’ve had a craving for something smaller and more focused and Banjo-Kazooie definitely fit that bill. In many ways it was pretty refreshing to revisit this more bite sized adventure after clocking in so much time with more recent, bigger and sometimes exhaustive AAA titles that are fun in their own right but have started to have some diminishing returns the more I spent with them. Nostalgia rearing around again but a part of me does yearn for this era where the scale of games even at the top weren’t too alarming yet and what’s next not too far or too cautious with the threat of studio closure or acquisition to drain their bodies; the outright tease of Banjo-Tooie in the end credits and delivery of the extra in-game secrets after getting all the collectibles is real cocky but feels so human and sweet over a little bling of an achievement saying I completed everything in the game or the usual credit roll at the end of titles. I can admit this is a bit of a too nihilistic view at times given that so much good shit is still coming out today and even in the 90s and early aughts game development and various wings of it weren’t exactly rosy, especially many things Sega like that blue hedgehog and his messy titles around the fifth generation and onwards. Even Rare couldn’t escape the more vicious parts of this industry then and exists as a shell compared to its status decades ago. Never change games industry.

Regardless, I’ve greatly enjoyed my time with Banjo-Kazooie. It’s satisfied and ignited my craving for 3D platformer collect-a-thons again that has been a bit quiet for some time with all the action and rpg titles I’ve given myself to. I’m curious how I’ll feel about Tooie now since I recall not having a fun time with it ten years back. It would be very convenient to jump into it if Nintendo’s shameless online service had it but I suppose it will be added at some point when they raise the price again, but it’s whatever and other means to play can’t be too much of a problem. Who knows, maybe I’ll power up Super Mario 64 now and actually complete all the power stars for once since I’m feeling early 3D platformers again (extreme doubt).

Kinda disappointing coming to this after experiencing the oracle titles. I initially was going to start with this game after coming off Banjo-Kazooie because of how charming MC's art style is and how much of a fan I am of Wind Waker's art direction and expressive animation. That said, I stopped in the middle of the first dungeon since I was vaguely interested in the Oracle titles and didn't want to experience too much whiplash going from this to the game boy titles, even if they weren't as primitive as I expected. Capcom's philosophy towards this series is interesting to engage with going from the initial duopoly as Minish Cap in all intensive purposes is a culmination of their own spin on the 2D Zelda formula while also wrapping in series elements to keep that Nintendo feel attached to it.

Much discussion around this game, and similar to the Oracle titles, is how underappreciated they are in the Zelda series and even Nintendo's lineup. Funny enough these games all released on the cusp of new successive tech being pushed that I feel overshadowed their releases. Oracle of Ages and Seasons released almost a month before the GBA made its debut in the states in June 2001 and Minish Cap dropped two months after the DS released in November 2004, so it’s not too surprising that these tiles went under the radar for a long time and still kinda are despite being re-released on Nintendo’s online service recently, though Four Swords is still missing. After playing across these titles these past two weeks, I find that there is a lot to appreciate regarding Capcom’s efforts in adding more eccentricties to the pot of 2D Zelda and where they wanted to go and experiment that I feel has at least some tangible influence on the contemporary 3D Zelda titles. The Gust Jar in this game predates the similar Gust Bellows in Skyward sword almost 7 years later so I’d be hard pressed to believe that Nintendo isn’t pulling from these titles for inspiration on where to go with Zelda going forward even if the 2D titles aren’t the ones on the menu now.

Still, Minish Cap continues the tradition of unique design in a few ways with the center piece of this being the shrinking gimmick via the Minish Portals. Link has the ability to shrink to the size of a spect of dust and explore existing areas but with new secrets, puzzles and a whole different scale of things that add depth to a beautifully dressed yet vanilla overworld. I love the detail and scale that this new mechanic brings and emphasizes in the dusty crevices, waterways, and other interconnected and out of the way paths as Minish Link as the world becomes even more alive and comical such as climbing up to the dusty support beams of houses littered with the Minish people taking residence in the cramped spaces and even going outside and walking through grass blades and puddles of water that are now treacherous oceans at this smaller size. Hyrule Town's level design in particular is even more intricate than on the surface once you can shrink down in size and explore the sewers, houses and other spaces not possible at regular size and the mechanic is incorporated to decent effect in the dungeons as well, though a part of me wanted a bit more in terms of how much you can explore as Minish Link since it is still limited and gated by obstacles like blocks of grass and even the pavement of Hyrule Town, along with the number of portals to transform; there isn't no harp of ages in the second half of Oracle of Ages.

The music and sound effects in the dungeons and across the board of MC are a huge step up from the Oracle titles. While most of the selection still contained great and memorable tracks like themes of Holocrum and Labyrnna, the selection is host to many grating sounds and repetitive themes that I turned off the sound of my 3ds at points and just kept playing; shout out to Crown Dungeon in Oracle of Ages for an especially egregious track. Minish Cap thankfully doesn’t have instances like this and the soundtrack smoothly fits the scenery of each setting pretty well and makes them vastly memorable in a good way. They revisit old sounds with tracks such as the Fairy Fountain, Hyrule Field and Dark Hyrule Castle remixing A Link to the Past’s Hyrule Castle theme that serves as a perfect final climax to the game. The soundtrack is also home to new, original tunes that elevate the regions such as the dreamy electro soundscape of the Minish Village, the Temple of Droplets’ air-y and eerie wintery mix of chains and bells, Palace of Winds’ atmospheric orchestral feel representing the tense sky traversal, and finally Hyrule Town’s jovial vibes that sounds classic to all Hyrule hubs but is very distinctive to what MC brings to the table. The mix of both classic tunes and new original material shine to make this my favorite out of the top 2D titles next to Link’s Awakening, maybe even higher.

I've teased this earlier but the overworld in MC is florissantly captivating and booming with life through the extensive animation and artwork in the settings, characters, and music that makes the Oracle titles feel dated. The area theming is very similar to what was done before but still feels new: the vast forestry and fields with familiar monsters and creatures encapsulating Hyrule Field, Hyrule Town’s festive and cozy energy with so much in motion, the rocky and enemy filled terrain of the Gorons' Mt. Crenel with falling boulders and debris, the sleepy atmosphere and haziness of the Minish Forest/Village and Lake Hylia, and the aerial bloom of the high up Cloud tops, a very unique setting for a 2D title that flexes this game’s strength and is impressive in scale for the time. Even the dungeons are sufficiently distinct in their aesthetic and don't feel too similarly visually that plagued many of the Oracle ones.

Speaking of the dungeons while I did praise the visual detail in differentiating the dungeons from one another, this collection is possibly the weakest of the 2D games in terms of puzzles and overall complexity. They emphasize more of seasons' approach with a gentle mix of combat sequences with very surface level puzzles compared to some natural ones that are found in the overworld. They never really ramp up across the small selection outside of the Palace of Winds and the Dark Hyrule Castle which feel appropriately expansive and complex in utilizing all the tools the game gives Link and hit some manner of Labyrinthine design but still more guided compared to what the best Ages had to offer. These last two exhibit an excellent sense of escalation of the game's closing hours but they feel a little too late in how middle of the road most of the journey felt. The shrinking mechanic is used to fun effect at least outside of some of the dungeon items, which I also felt were pretty forgettable, but it feels like it was the only fully fleshed of mechanic used in interesting ways as the dungeons and their puzzles really started to blend together and get a little repetitive. The simplicity itself isn’t a problem as seasons felt like this and I wouldn’t call any of these dungeons outright “bad”, but I was on autopilot for most of them and the dynamism shown visually stood in such sharp contrast to how one note the puzzle solving and exploration was. I didn’t expect this game to be pretty handhold-y as well with Ezlo spoiling some (easy) secrets and solutions to puzzles before I started engaging with them.

Exploration similarly takes a backseat in a way with Minish Cap though not completely as there is still much to find in the world with each new item unlocking new secrets and pathways if they aren’t locked behind the new coin fusion mechanic called the Kinestone to unlock the chests or other secrets in the world. Initially I was a lot more negative on this but I’ve cooled on it since it does provide a cute way of interacting with the NPCs and pets in the world and they generally are okay outside of the RNG needed to get specific pieces if going for 100% which I didn’t do. While I would have preferred that the secrets already existed on the overworld map instead of having to make them spawn by fusing together the coins, I’m fine with this compromise. What is a big disappointment is that the rewards themselves don’t amount to much outside of rupees, shells for figurines or more kinestone pieces and sometimes a piece of heart if lucky, which I ended up with a lot less of comparatively to the other games by the end game. The act of exploring is pretty milquetoast and annoying outside of how some of the dungeon items impact it like the classic flippers and new Cane of Pacci, but even Roc’s Cape is vastly underutilized outside of its dungeon use which is a far cry from the Oracle games using it for some time in the overworld for secret goodies.

For what a charming game this is, I truly feel at odds with the higher acclaim that gets attached to this game and struggle to see Minish Cap as a fundamental improvement over what the Oracle games were doing outside of the visual and music flourishes added with the jump to a whole new and powerful platform. I didn’t speak much on the narrative because while it is more involved than either of the Oracle games, it still is severely underwritten which sucks with how interesting Ezlo and Vaati both are along with the Minish and their whole civilization in Hyrule’s history. MC is representative of Capcom’s efforts on the game boy with a lot of good attached at the hip that I would kill to see the team do again on a new original 2D Zelda title, but it overall feels less inspired and interesting than what they executed before. Even then, Minish Cap can be a decent comfort game to blast through with the some of the most colorful worlds and enticing music of a 2D Zelda game that is criminally short but still sweet in dividends.

I feel like I wrote off Dragon’s Dogma for many years. I recall seeing mentions of it many years back around the switch release and Christmas sales of the game with people recommending it off the great gameplay, systems and world attached to it. That said, the presentation and a few gameplay videos didn’t do much on selling me the game and what makes it so special as an action RPG, a style with many games that didn’t really work for me despite liking the genre. Additionally, titles like Skyrim and the recent Fallout entries didn’t really click for me either and considering those games were direct influences and mentioned constantly in conjunction with Dragon’s Dogma in recommendations, I kept putting it off until a few months back when it came to playstation plus, and the footage of the sequel did look intriguing so why not. I really wished I got into Dragon’s Dogma sooner because damn...

The gameplay is so enthralling, and the influence of various games like Devil May Cry and Monster Hunter feel so familiar in the moment to moment action while still being its own thing. The starting vocations are pretty standard fare but open up to even more interesting advanced classes like a mystic knight and magick archer that mix two divergent classes in a shockingly satisfying way. I chose strider as my starter because of my love for quick, high octane action with a lot of movement variety, and found myself falling so comfortably into this role for a long while. It’s so seamless going back and forth between being a mid/long distance archer and then facing off in the frontlines in melee with daggers. Also adding to the experience are passive abilities within the class and others that crafted my unique build and kept progression interesting throughout the game; the other vocations feel just as exciting, fleshed out and varied from one another while still being integral to encounters. Even with my time being focused in melee combat through the strider/fighter/assassin vocations, I dedicated some time to being a sorcerer to set up a potential build for the magick archer and mystic knight and it was still such a blast being in this alternate role wiping off foes with miasma, fire and necromancy. What’s here is unique and satisfying in a way I struggle to find in many other action RPGs and it’s no surprise it comes from the mind of Hideaki Itsuno and the other developers at Capcom that worked on DMC and other titles that make the action feel in sync with the RPG mechanics without one or the other being siloed.

What further sets Dragon’s Dogma apart from many others in the genre is how interactive it is with giant monster encounters and how open it is to player freedom. The prologue smartly showcases the mechanical depth of these encounters in a final battle with the chimera. The chimera can be scaled by grabbing and climbing onto it, and specific parts can be damaged or torn off to weaken it such as the snake tail to stop poisonous attacks or the goat head to stop spell casting. Additionally, the chimera has elemental weaknesses that can be exploited by the mage/sorcerer or by picking up and throwing nearby explosive objects; other actions can be part of your play like dousing it in oil and setting it on fire, kicking it off edges if present, freezing it, stunning it, and various other means. These aspects carry on to other giant creatures like the cyclops, drakes, and griffins and they make battles feel very dynamic and fresh like Monster Hunter does with its own giant monsters. Scaling a cyclops blew me away the first time I did it because this kind of option was supported in fighting big enemies rather than being restricted to one part to whittle down or even having to ‘stagger’ them before pulling off cool moves, not to mention actually seeing enemies react to getting hit in specific ways rather than getting no feedback at all. It just feels so good having these avenues available and consciously being thought of by the developers.

The pawn system is possibly the most enticing hook of Dragon’s Dogma when first experiencing this game. It’s strange in a similar manner to the social, online features and interactions ushered in the Souls games through notes and bloodstains left in specific areas to give context to the space. The pawns are similarly a creation of other players with their knowledge and decisions wrapped up in them. They make encounters and excursions even more interesting based on not just their class/stats but also the quirks and characteristics they inherit from their Arisen such as staying long distance in battles or even confronting foes head on. It is fascinating how much influence the pawns take from the Arisen’s lived experience and the battles and quests checked off in the journey, and how remarkable the AI acts for the most part in tackling creatures or leading you to certain locations in quests based on their previous knowledge. It’s a job well done seeing my main pawn stand down against the enemy aggressively and call out to target specific parts as they took away from my previous actions of climbing and attacking a past creature.

I was also vastly surprised with how much I actually enjoyed the mechanic of weight and encumbrance for my character. The amount of stuff you carry on your person matters here and character creation even adapts this through the height and weight you select. The encumbrance of your character affects how fast they move and their stamina recovery rate. You can change this through running back to storage at save points to dump items, but also allocating materials between pawns. as well. It’s a similar play to Resident Evil in managing inventory and weighing decisions of whether you want to bring specific materials with you or not and how it affects your own character's movement in the world and battles, though a bit less tense than classic Resident Evil’s inventory management.

The open world of Gransys and its cities and dungeons are fulfilling with getting the sense of adventure across. Though unfortunately very few, the cities of Cassardis and Gran Soren feel alive and offer a good amount of rewards and secrets through exploring and platforming. This extends outside the cities and into the open fields, forests, and caverns in Gransys with a small number of landmarks overall but still impactful in their own right. The few caves in the game feel wholly unique from one another and involve different ways of traversing them with specific creatures appearing; the Soulflayer Canyon plays on verticality very well and pairs a cyclops on a small rock crossing over a cascading ravine that could mean you or your pawn's death or even the creature’s by knocking them off of it. Past this encounter are several pathways through water sliding that lead to valuable loot, rewarding you for that earlier encounter while also leading back to the main path of the cave to continue traveling. While it would have been cool to have some element of environmental storytelling in some spaces to fill in the emptiness, what’s here feels rewarding and meaningful with explicit choices that showcase the fun level design of specific caverns and forests and have benefits to clearing them out and even returning with chests respawning after a time.

I touched on tension earlier when talking about encumbrance and management, but this comes into play heavily in traversing the open world and its day-night cycle that shakes up the exploration. There’s various paths to follow that lead to major places around the region and they lead you there in mostly the safest way possibly, even the pawns themselves state that straying from the designated path could spell danger and this is very real for quite awhile in the game. Gransys isn’t overwhelming large, but the slow traversal and lack of fast travel options until later through portcrtystals gets that feeling across, next to the enemies you encounter by going off the beaten path, especially at night. Encountering an ogre during the nighttime in the open fields as a low level Arisen scared the shit out of me as I spammed for my pawns to run away with me, but I eventually came to love nighttime traversal as I got stronger and faced down with what awaits during the night, even with the pitch black landscape setting the ominous atmosphere.

The quests are the only aspect where I take some issue. Most of them, including the main quests, are pretty simple from a gameplay perspective and the stories and characters within are pretty alright and do their thing for the runtime, even with their signature speech style. The affinity system is similarly underdeveloped and obscure that I almost forgot about it until a pivotal story moment where the main villain steals a special person to the Arisen that surprised me with what the game chose for me since I didn't care much for anyone. The main traversal can be an tedious for some since the only way of getting across Gransys is by foot outside of placing portcrystals in specific spots for fast travel and using a limited number of ferry stones (or just using the eternal ferry stone in this version of the game), but I didn’t mind this much over other aspects. The half-baked nature could also be applied to the world and enemy variety, though I do feel what they have in the final game, with even more in the post game and Bitterblack Isle expansion, still manages to be fulfilling and interesting unlike the majority of the quest design and characters. I can’t fault these issues too much on the developers as these probably came from development and budgetary constraints and the higher ups wanting to get the game out there.

Even with the complaints, I do appreciate how the main quests don’t railroad you towards a specific path or limit exploring certain areas until you get to a specific quest that adds context and availability outside of one or two “end game” areas that make sense. The forgery mechanic comes into play in great and hilarious ways with certain quests such as being tasked with recovering a special ring for the Duke and giving back fake copy to keep the real one for stat bonuses; the developers even go out of their way to construct scenes and situations for this like with the aforementioned one showing the king try to open a chest with the fake ring but failing to do so, giving you the opportunity to sneak in the castle at night and take the reward in the chest yourself with the real ring in hand. Also thankfully, there are not a huge amount of side quests here and they are even missable too though specific choices you make during the game, something I feel many games and open world games in particular today shy away from for the player to know everything and all in the first play through. Even with the rote quests, they still offer an element of fun in the freedom found in some and the interesting lore that comes from completing the quests that further unravel the mysteries surrounding pawns, Gransys, the Arisen and many other details in the world. The Bitterblack Isle and postgame complements the lore of Dragon’s Dogma so well, but I’m still progressing through it as I write this.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 looks to be my most anticipated game releasing this year and in two months I cannot wait to unravel what the new world has in store. Even with this bigger budget and possibly even more ambitious sequel coming out, the original Dragon’s Dogma still and will continue to hold a special place for me in these months leading up to and beyond the sequel’s release in future new game plus runs and combing through more of the expansion. Maybe Action RPGs aren’t done with surprising me in great ways.

The presentation of Signalis is off the charts; very obviously drawing on the aesthetics and atmospheric feel of numerous survival horror games of the 5th and 6th generation and doing those styles in a committed and distinctive way. The environments, character design, sound design, animated cutscenes and occasional first person sequences work so well in producing a visual marvel that was executed so well by just two people. The title screen and menus alone are a strong show of confidence and style than most AAA games can barely muster today, outclassing even recent Resident Evil that is somehow still missing the iconic flare of the announcer saying "Resident EVIL" when booting up the new games. I guess it's just too campy nowadays to do something like that.

I just wish I liked Signalis even more on the gameplay front. It utilizes many great approaches from Resident Evil, in particular the first entry, but the execution felt off or even too derivative, the latter of which doesn't bother me that much. The 6 item limit felt too restrictive for the amount of puzzle solving and items the game gives out, which leads to a ton of backtracking through the same pathways to the same item box to stash items and run back through the same path to get the item(s) you left. Incorporating a way to expand to at least 8 slots like in RE1 or assigning specific items like the flashlight (not bad but bizarre to make that take an inventory slot) to key items would alleviate this issue without potentially undercutting the tension with decision-making of space for more resources to deal with enemies versus holding items for main and optional progression. (Also apparently there's been a patch for this that addresses this complaint but I didn't experience it on switch).

I was also surprised with how poor the shooting and lock on is here. Even classic RE has more accurate aiming and in Signalis there were many times where shots straight up missed opponents even while I was directly facing them. It's very wonky which's probably in service of the tension of encounters, but I felt frustrated more than tense when mess ups like that happened commonly. Not to mention many encounters can be cheesed easily by running past enemies or tanking damage rather than having to waste resources because of a missed shot or two. They were better alternatives for me than just downing enemies and this never really failed in my run of the game. This isn't much of a gripe for me, but it could've been addressed through introducing a new enemy type that challenged or punished running or even allowing enemies or certain ones to follow you into or walk through doors into different rooms. It would make encounters and traversal even more perilous and unexpected and be much better than recycling one of my least favorite mechanics from RE1 (burning bodies) and upping it by applying it to all enemies and making it way more frequent, thus making me less likely to want to use my weapons.

That said, the puzzles do make up for the lackluster survival horror gameplay. While they don't involve too much brain power to solve, most of them possess quite a bit of intriguing lore and detail to the world and made me even more curious about my surroundings. The signal based puzzles and few enemy encounters that used the radio were a sonic and visual treat respectively and added even more questions and intrigue to the setting than just only reading random notes that gesture to the going-ons of the place. I also love the textural differences across some puzzles that make it feel like you are operating or fumbling with some outdated or obtuse tech as it prevents them from being very simplistic in feel/look and solving. The puzzles overall work in part in crafting a strong story and world for many excellent survival horror games and Signalis carries on this tradition with its puzzles communicating a great sense of environmental design and storytelling, aside from the hilarious amount of puzzle solving prizes being more key cards.

Level design and exploration is probably the only other detriment I have with Signalis. While I love the amount of detail put into each of the rooms and spaces, it felt really straightforward much of the runtime. I definitely tried exploring around the rooms for anything interesting that would come up, but this usually didn't amount to much outside of the usual finds. Nothing much off the beaten path or even an alternate path or two that makes exploring more inviting. This isn't much of a huge thing, but it was a bit disappointing going down just one predetermined path for most of the time.

Could it have used less overt mentions to stuff like Evangelion, Silent Hill, Resident Evil and other horror and sci-fi media to cultivate more of its own storytelling? Yeah I agree and it is a bit grating in some moments of directly signaling said influences that did take me out of a good game Signalis is; the whole 'nowhere' section was very eye rolling given Silent Hill 1 is very fresh on my mind and I didn't care much for the take on it here. It isn't all overwhelming and the game still manages to carve out its own path with its lore, style and characters like Elster and Ariane and their cute relationship. I don't really agree with Signalis being the 'best' aspects of classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill like some people dub it, but it's still a strong and compelling effort in its own right. I enjoyed this sapphic ass tale and I'm interested in what the developers make next that will probably be even better than Signalis for me. Hopefully without a puzzle that is completely spoiled by a note sitting five feet away from it.

The way the camera shifts defines the space so much in Silent Hill. Even right off the bat in the dream sequence intro, the game's dynamic angles evoke much disorientation to further emphasize the oppressive mood. These sparks of unsettling creativity aren't limited to just the regular exploration but continue in the cutscenes that slowly piece together the cryptic narrative, world, and characters of the game. The merry-go-round sequence is striking where Harry reveals to Cybil that Cheryl isn’t his biological daughter as the text scrolls by with the obscured attraction in operation. The whole final act in general is so thoroughly cinematic and tense with its own stylish flourishes. Everything terrifying, tragic and so effective can be seen with the scene where Lisa comes to realize her fate as she begs Harry to stay, and he flees and shuts the door on her. It’s the peak of the game for me in communicating Silent Hill’s nightmarish tone and themes on the occult, trauma, and religious abuse and domination, and everything else across the short journey adds to that.

Also contributing to the foreboding atmosphere of Silent Hill is the stellar sound design. The densely fog world is eerily quiet with wind howls and Harry’s footsteps filling the zones until the radio static comes alive alerting of nearby fleshy monsters approaching to kill. The flapping, quick successive pattering, distorted laughing, distant creaks, and many other disembodied groans and moans; it's all very threatening as they chase Harry across the town until he reaches the various locales of Silent Hill. It's hard to pick a favorite out of the many as the brilliant sound design is just consistently great across the board; the hospital, elementary school, nowhere and the sewers are particularly oppressive and unnerving to walk and run through, the darkness obscuring the threat of what lurks beyond. Even silence is a powerful tool in raising anxiety on what happens next.

On less frightening things, the progression of main areas through puzzles felt very intriguing to solve. It's very Resident Evil 1 like but sometimes even more cryptic in a handful of puzzles. Outside of those is a good sense of exploration with extra items that can be collected around the areas and many, while still completely optional, can have fascinating effects on how Silent Hill wraps up in the various endings, upping the replayability of the game. How the game controls might be the only sticking point for those filtered by tank controls, but they never felt too unwieldy and are easy to adjust to. Not to mention the game is far easier and more forgiving than Resident Evil's early titles as a surplus of resources are always around the corner and shooting or hitting enemies connects as long as you’re facing them. This might undercut some tension since you can just mow down or run away from them with little risk to taking damage and ending up saving more resources, but this didn’t bother me. Additionally, the boss fights are pretty simple and short to kill, but again who plays these games for the riveting gameplay?

Very cute, bite-sized 2D Zelda game that strikes a balance from what came before and wasn’t as crusty as I anticipated, very Zelda 1- like in times especially with a thin plot and characters. I don’t have much knowledge of the original Link’s Awakening but the oracle titles separate themselves well in adding small twists on series conventions to give their own identity, especially since the duology wasn’t crafted by Nintendo themselves. The most surprising going through this and still Ages at this point is how much these games lean on adventuring and memorizing the terrain as a means of progression instead of a heavy hand guiding you most of the time. There’s still constraints on places and dungeon order but there isn’t much of a direct path spelling out what you need and have to do outside of what Din says after completing each dungeon; there’s more down time just roaming around and coming across puzzles almost organically and I feel that this is true across both titles, though I felt this a bit more with seasons with how streamlined and less puzzle-centric it is compared to my experience of Ages at this point.

The world design of Holodrum is small and very linear with obvious gated paths or obstacles requiring certain items preventing going forward, but it’s way more open than awakening and even most of the Zelda titles generally feels. Specifically anything revolving around the rod of seasons like puzzles or hidden paths do require added memorization of the world map and exploring the area. I like it more conceptually than in practice since the puzzle solving didn’t amount to much and weren’t as memorable as I expected; finding stumps were a touch annoying outside of using the map but nothing too trial and error-y like the time traveling mechanic with the Harp of Ages can end up being.

New items like the seeds, rings, roc’s cape and the magnetic glove add more weirdness to the journey. The former two add nice customization to combat encounters instead of mostly relying on the regular sword and shield tactic with a set amount of damage given and taken. The seeds have a decent variety of things going on outside of just combat, but the rings did feel somewhat underutilized and negligent outside of a small handful locked behind random chance in mini game challenges or from growing Gasha trees. The latter two were my outright favorites with how unique they are among returning items and the slight satisfaction they brought to some puzzles and late game traversal.

Dungeon wise there isn’t much to talk about as the theming for most are very similar to one another aesthetically and mechanically. I genuinely couldn’t tell you much about 70% of them outside of some shared frustrations with falling down pits. The sword and shield maze is no contest the strongest in its labyrinthine layout that involves many of the items and upgrades gained in the adventure and translating them into pretty meaty and layered puzzles and challenges. Given the developers had to put together 16 dungeons with 8 in each of these games, the results still serve their purpose fine and I liked how some of the dungeons utilized their dungeon specific items in cool ways like anything involving the magnetic glove to zip around and over gaps, but the diminishing returns is pretty obvious with how messy, repetitive and low challenge they fare, surprising in the more combat focused version.

Even though I left not feeling pretty high on this, I appreciate what Capcom did here as someone dying for more 2D Zelda games that Nintendo doesn’t want to do anymore. A remake akin to Link’s Awakening would be great in ironing out the smaller annoyances of menuing and the dizzying sound effects and music, and just bringing this game and its sibling off the dusty game boy color. Revamping how the linked secrets work would be interesting since most of them relied on simple codes rather than interesting discoveries, but the references to the first game played out of the two are cool. Between the two at this point, I’d probably say Ages is a bit more my speed compared to Seasons’ survival emphasis with so many enemy gauntlets and the more simple puzzles than what I’ve seen in Ages so far, but expect something on that soon.

It’s the same game for the most part so most of what I said regarding Seasons applies here except a few things. I mentioned liking Ages more the other day when speaking about how I felt about Seasons and after completing it the feeling is roughly still the same. While the issue of dungeons meshing together and lacking memorable theming is still prevalent, Ages’ selection was more striking with the emphasis on a puzzle box design rather than Seasons’ simpler approach with attention on enemy encounters and open feel with the various items and weapons gained in the journey; this isn’t to say the dungeon items in Ages didn’t have combat potential but the selection is very geared towards solving challenges, a decent amount that stumped me and were pretty satisfying when not recycling basic color matching puzzles. While not all of them are winners, at least half of them left a pretty good impression with some sprawling challenges across rooms and cool room-specific ones all distinctive to the levels; Mermaid’s Cave and the Ancient Tomb being my favorites with how meaty and complex at times they were structurally in unlocking everything within even with the systemic issue of lackluster bosses and dungeon identity.

Regarding time traveling versus seasonal control, my opinion on the former has grown with the harp of ages being a much better and interesting experience with the latter half of the game introducing a free transition between the past and present without needing to be at a specific tile unlike the rod of seasons still requiring it even after getting all of the seasons. It’s more fluid and less obvious like seeing a random stump on the screen nudging the use of mechanic which Ages eases off of later on. I can see complaints of this leading to time traveling puzzles being too obscure but given the kitchen sink approach that is already prevalent throughout both games’ designs, it didn’t feel like too much of a hassle and finding out these secrets were very thrilling rather than frustrating in most circumstances.

Even more surprising is how involved combat still is even with puzzles taking the spotlight. Several boss battles still relied on pretty simple solutions of sword striking weak points or bomb/seed throwing if the dungeon items aren’t relevant to damaging them. Enemies still litter the screen within the dungeons and a part of me wished there were less of these encounters as it does interrupt some of the flow in solving the puzzles and led to a lot of frustration. The Black tower and the final boss fight felt geared more towards Seasons’ combat gauntlet and survival design rather than Ages’ more puzzle-centric design and it would have been more interesting if Ages dug its nails deeper into own focus more, despite still enjoying what it did here coming out of the game.

Ages also weirdly feels more padded in getting to the dungeons with the aforementioned Mermaid’s Cave requiring a particularly heinous one. Seasons required only one dancing mini game in order to get an item and progress the story, while Ages throws four (six counting an earlier ones in a separate chapters) Goron-related mini games in a row to complete in order to receive specific key items for a needlessly long fetch quest to unlock the dungeon. These four mini games, especially the Goron Dance and Big Bang Game, were particularly headache-induing without save states and felt overkill in adding more length and ‘difficulty’ to the game. The path to the dungeons is a tradition in the series but they felt especially long and tedious in Ages, even unlocking Jabu Jabu’s Belly given the insane swimming control of the mermaid suit “upgrade”. People talk about Mario Party’s joystick rubbing with mini-games and yet I never hear about Ages’ mermaid suit, even in the fandom, requiring thumb spamming the D-pad to move an ounce in the water versus holding down a single direction before getting it and the suit can’t be removed with much of the rest of the game necessitating swimming.

While adventuring can still be done here, the world of Labrynna is immensely more clunky and less expansive by design compared to Holodrum. Holodrum’s roaming and adventuring isn’t as prominent with navigation being more railroaded and more of a chore, though this could be a side effect of burnout from playing them back to back rather than experiencing Ages as my first like Seasons. There are still pretty distinctive areas to Labrynna like the Yoll Graveyard, Zora Village, the Forest of Time, and Crescent Island with the version exclusive Tokay species; time traveling offers some nice differences in layout and puzzles even with the smaller scale and detail of the larger world. Additionally, underwater traversal is a unique component to Ages and it is way more fleshed out than the handful of times it popped up in Seasons; even with the complaint of how obtrusive it is to move, the mermaid suit opens up so much of the aquatic terrain, done very well in the trek to the Zora Village and the lead up to Jabu Jabu but it feels like more could have been done with having more of these opportunities and thus giving Labrynna more spice in a pretty whatever overworld where the dungeons were more the star of the show.

At the very least, Ages has much more going on narratively. It follows the same structure of Seasons but with Nayru needing rescuing but more screen time is given to plot development and some original characters. Veran, the main antagonist, is more memorable than Onox with the usage of time in causing harm and gaining control, though she ends up being as milquetoast as Onox with them both being a set up for Link’s final encounter with Twinova and Ganon as the linked game ending. Ralph, off and on hothead and protector of Nayru, has some funny encounters with Link along with a nice twist in the end but nothing to write home about. Overall there is a more of a story compared to Seasons but I’m grasping at straws for what is still pretty by-the-numbers, even worse with the secret final bosses of the linked game being a weak puzzle leading to two lengthy fights with Twinova and then Ganon to cap it off. It felt very out of place with Ages’ focus but this critique could still be applied to Seasons if I experienced it there rather than here.

Anyways, yeah yeah remake, pull it from the dusty tomb of the game boy color, Nintendo is never gonna make another 2D Zelda game again because they’re in their 3D 'open air' era, please don’t make the Goron mini games all mandatory for story progression if this does get remade or I will scream.

Not gonna mince words, Dino Crisis 1 was a very paint by the numbers survival horror, which is funny given the talent behind it. The corridors of Ibis Island were bland and sterile and the dinosaurs lacked much variety in action and how they attempt to scare and put you on edge; the puzzles similarly lacked in execution and mostly fell into same-y computer and moving box puzzles. At the very least there are some interesting threads in the world and the crafting and narrative branching systems lend to some interesting pathways, but those aspects were few and far between. I was very surprised that this was the game people kept going on about and begging for a remake, which it still fully deserves. Maybe a modern take could flesh out the missed potential and give Regina the respect she deserves, and I didn't have much confidence going into the second game and was ready to write it off like the first...and yet.

Dino Crisis 2 rules. Rather than expanding upon the c-tier survival horror approach of the first game, Dino Crisis 2 completely shifts away from that approach and becomes a full on arcade action game and I generally believe it is better off in this zone and way more mechanically satisfying. This change in style might ward off those that enjoyed the puzzles, narrative and the "panic horror", and even going in this change should be a complete mess, but it's not. Oh no, I really enjoyed Dino Crisis 2 in all its stupid dumb fun and glory of an 80s action flick.

Rather than planning out routes and approaching tight spaces with threatening creatures, it's all guns blazing and killing dinosaurs in much more open arenas with Regina and new playable partner Dylan. The potential monotony is addressed well with the introduction of several mechanics and systems: the new Extinction Points system to buy resources, weapons and upgrades, the incorporation of Combo points through killing dinosaurs in precise successive fashion, and even clearing out and progressing through areas without taking damage. There's vastly more weapons available to use and each new option are sick in design and feeling while mowing down enemies and they are pretty worthwhile to invest in. The introduction of different species spices up the lack of variety issue in DC1 and prevent the encounters from feeling too mindless for awhile at least.

While encounters generally felt fun to engage with through and through, some frustrations came up from time to time due to turning lag, leading to getting jumped by numerous enemies all at once when trying to avoid or run away. The game does throw a near endless spawn of enemies which makes combat a bit more intense, though it can be overbearing when playing as Dylan versus Regina with their different loadouts prioritizing close combat and medium/long distance respectively. Backtracking is a huge annoyance with how much the game wants you to run back and forth between the base and other areas of the map. I enjoy the expanded map and level design though outside of that primary issue and there's way more interesting locales offered here compared to the first like an underwater transport section with Regina later in the game.

The arcade-y approach overall is addictive and feels more distinctive compared to what the first entry was trying to accomplish and I feel more interested in completing multiple runs. A modern remake would be great with adding in the advancements made by Resident Evil 4 and onwards and giving more Regina screentime, but that obviously won't sell as much as a Resident Evil 5 Remake.

A few months back I made the sensible, at the time, but daunting decision that I would play through and complete all of the games I was interested in on ps plus all at once since my subscription ends at the end of December, and those renewal prices are hilariously bad than they already are for what's even been offered now. I've went through many and bounced off a lot including Returnal and Neo TWEWY, which I'll get back to at some point because they're both excellent and might become huge favorites once I dedicate even more time to them. Dragon Quest XI was one on my list to hopefully complete before this year ends. Unfortunately, alongside FF XII, this game has lost me after putting more than 30-35 hours into it these past two months. That's like ten more hours I put into FF XII before I peaced out despite the really intriguing job system attached to it, but this isn't about final fantasy, sort of.

XI isn't even my first dragon quest game; I vaguely recall having one of the DS remake entries in the mid 2000s at some point but...any memory of playing the starting hours of that is lost to the void of my mind somewhere that I won't recall anytime soon. Maybe my long forgotten childhood memory urged me to play this? Maybe me getting more into mainline final fantasy after years of putting it off led me here?

Beating around the bush but I really don't know what to write about in a comprehensive, compact way about Dragon Quest XI outside of riffing about it here. It's a solid jrpg with a narrative stuffed with the usual suspects of the genre, but the core of it is very, very charming and echoing of a bygone era of medieval fantasy classic rpgs, similar to a certain final fantasy game I completed in April/May to prepare for FF XVI. The main combat loop of XI is pretty basic, but what's there works and still gave me some enjoyment and even challenge with a few of the boss fights. The cast fills out to a fun bunch of people as well, Sylvando being a favorite of course. The landscapes are standard but full of life with the many charming beasts roaming around. The side quests blow, but the dialogue and detail that went into the text in every book, every npc, and every waking moment of this game more than make up for the absolutely bland quests and progression. Did I say this game is really charming? Well in addition to how funny this game can be, there's also this intriguing world fully in 2D and the-

So as much as I enjoy the coziness and general retro vibe that DQ XI brings, the tedium of this game, whenever I play or whenever I think of picking it up again, is unbearable. The world is fine with a crazy ambitious scale with decently good music populating many of the spaces, but it all collectively never grew on me with the many tasks and whatever directions the plot wants me to go. The story works with a compelling and appealing cast of characters where I enjoy every single one of them, but I feel so passive to it all outside of the few emotional beats I've encountered so far. The combat is...competent but encounters, especially the litany of random ones while sailing the seas, make me groan with how too familiar they've gotten at this point. DQ XI in general just wallows; it is very witty and enjoyable, but it's also so shallow.

None of what I said I liked before is untrue and I'm so sure there is something really special at the core of this game somewhere along the 90+ journey that this game most likely deserves since it is so well loved on this site and other spaces , and I can see a few of those things even like a third through XI. But real, I think I'll come back to it at some point in like a year or two and finish it and delete this ramble-y ass log with something more concrete and informed of the rest of the two-thirds that I haven't experienced yet. Wouldn't want the 30+ hours I committed to become a very vague memory like the last DQ I played.

Anyways, back to Dead Space until then.

While Final Fantasy 16 has so many moments of pure style and flair that still hit the second time, my overall feeling towards 16 after playing through Final Fantasy mode is just...it's fine. FF mode ups the very by-the-numbers initial difficulty, but this usually amounted to more frustrations/monotony and made the deeper flaws of the gameplay even more noticeable. The encounters are roughly the same but with higher health pools that drive tedium more than difficulty; even mixing up some encounters with a random mini boss thrown in more so pad the experience than fundamentally change it, just another Lvl 5 Zantetsuken to charge or two to move on fast. The narrative, while not without very obvious faults, felt engrossing the first time and I still love the cast, but the bloated quests and very slow pacing hurt a somewhat interesting tale of free will vs fate and freedom vs oppression, though the yikes execution of many story beats and politics makes the themes ring a little hollow. That said, the Eikon battles still feel like the most next-gen thing with so much focus and intensity wrapped in them that I can ignore the simplicity of their movesets unlike the rest of 16's braindead combat and encounters. The DLC release next year may pull me back in, but I'm not sure there's much to come back to with 16 for now.

Is it controversial to say this is the worst game of the year for me? Maybe not worst, but at the very least the most disappointing game of the year.

Bizarrely enough, my feelings towards the gameplay itself really took a turn. While it's still fun to combo and rip and tear through baddies, the Demon Masquerade system radically changes the combat from the other two games to an extent that the overall combat becomes real watered down and easy to wash enemies as long as you pay attention to enemy attacks when they actually attack you. Everything is big here, both levels overall and the enemies too, which makes trying to play as Bayonetta herself without using a demon a real chore. The demons aren't bad to use and some are enjoyable, but much of the complexity and charm to the combat in the previous games are lost for just more spectacle here. Doesn't help with the new skill tree system here with multiple new weapons available replacing the option to buy moves from Rodin and not having to buy them every single time with each new weapon. The diversity of the weapons available unfortunately doesn't amount to much difference in their toolkits at a real deep level. Also, the less I talk about Viola, the better because her combat is awful and underdeveloped compared to Bayo's, it reeks of leftovers from 2B's combat in Automata but even worse. Maybe Bayo 4 will make her toolkit actually interesting!

Speaking of, the story just got worse running through a second course of it. The multiverse concept was doomed from the start and becomes real redundant after the second or third time through. Significant plot events fly out of nowhere with as much of an explanation as a shrug. The vibes of the returning characters are off completely in an otherwise real "serious" story that falters hard in the execution and is desperately missing the campiness that is core and beneficial to the stories despite how messy they all are. The ending itself goes on for way too long on whether Bayo and the other characters can finally kill boring, yassified Jeff Bezos. It then concludes with very concerning plot decisions that honestly turn me off for the next entry of the series unless P* changes course drastically and that's if the studio even exists to release to hypothetical fourth entry of Bayonetta. At least Bayo 1 and 2 exist as a cool duology I guess?

The wrecked and bloodied corridors of the Ishimura are an unwelcoming space, with dread and anxiety coursing through my veins as I enter yet another unknown and seemingly empty room. Volumes of fog and gases envelope the area along with disembodied groans and noises that bang around the walls, unsure of if the source is failing machinery or nearby necromorphs sneaking behind or preparing to jump through vents, ready to kill in the flickering lights or complete darkness. The surprise jumps me as I rush for the cutter and back away, aiming and shooting their legs to slow their approach as they scream in agony. The plasma cutter cleanly cuts through both their jagged legs in the 3rd-4th shot, yet they still crawl in desperation towards me, and I rush to stomp them down and hope they offer any ammo for my near-empty weapon. Even after I know they're "dead", my body jolts from the sounds of their flesh and bodies creaking and squelching. The door is finally unlocked, and I can move on.

As a first time experience, I was pretty taken aback by the atmosphere of Dead Space from start to finish. The game looks phenomenal, but more impressive is the amount of detail that’s went into every space and crevice of the ship that fully showcase the aftermath of the attacks. The lighting, shadows and claustrophobic level design unsettle each proceeding corridor and make combat encounters even more risky, heightened especially with the game's commitment to limited (yet still decently available) resources and enemies that can tear through your life source hard. Encounters, and going through Dead Space in general, are stressful and I genuinely felt real paranoid entering a new unexplored place and even returning to old ones for now accessible goodies, and I can't say a recent horror game has really accomplished this consistently except maybe Resident Evil 2, though the anxiety there fell somewhere around the sewer section and never reached back to the heights of the Police Station for the rest of the game.

In addition to the incredible atmosphere and sound design/lighting, the gameplay is thoroughly enjoyable, seen strikingly in the weapons and their nice, crunchy feel. The plasma cutter is a main highlight that adds a unique twist to the usual starter handgun that every survival horror protag has; dismemberment is the name of the game here and ups the tension of encounters to aim for limbs rather than just filling necromorph faces with artillery, though you could still do that considering how powerful these weapons get. Speaking of, another mainstay was the force gun, which blows away and decimates crowds in glorious fashion with a sick secondary fire that crowds the aliens into one spot. While the flamethrower and pulse rifle got some time in the first half, the line gun quickly became my third weapon as a more souped up and punchier version of the plasma cutter and it got a ton of utility in slicing up groups of enemies at once and conserving ammo for the cutter. I can definitely see myself working through the ripper in a second run as the numerous amounts of upgrades and other extra content, in part, incentivize multiple runs like every good survival horror game should do.

The only sticking point I could mention regarding the gameplay is the way Isaac moves around in the space. He moves at a decent pace that puts some distance from the necromorphs, though the increased number of enemies in the second half does make things even more dicey. Avoiding projectiles from the lurkers and guardians while trying to kill them is probably the only part where I didn’t feel as engaged with the combat because of Isaac’s awkward maneuvering and a bit of spongy-ness I felt in some situations, along with some moments of hitstun. I felt similar feelings though worse whenever enemies spawned in zero gravity rooms as it always felt disorienting moving around and trying to find and kill the necros attacking Isaac, especially in near darkness. Fortunately, Isaac’s kinesis and stasis abilities, also uniquely engaging and another way of saving ammo, helped in situations like this to just throw flammable interactable objects at them. Though I won’t lie, I really forgot these abilities existed for half of the game and their integration with puzzles and combat don’t really lead to much such as leading or pulling the aliens into malfunctioning doors or traps.

While some details are a bit lost on me, the overall narrative and story progression paced decently well at a brisk speed, though some of the objectives and chapters did feel very fetch quest-y at times. In addition to the main objectives, the side content that's here adds even more intriguing lore and detail on the motivations of key players/organizations and the vicious experiments done aboard the ship. Reading final logs in text and voiced memos makes the world come more alive and even more terrifying and threatening. The mysteries themselves weren't completely new to me since I've watched videos on Dead Space before, but it was still appealing to see how they unravel and develop in real time across the campaign, even on Nicole's 'condition. The performances are genuinely good across the board, with a slight bit of goofiness under the hood of some moments; I know some people prefer how Isaac was in the og game as a silent protagonist but I kinda liked what EA Motive and Gunner Wright did here with making him a more active and voiced lead and delivering lines in a committed fashion albeit hilarious in a few points such as the initial face off against the Hive Mind (absolutely sick creature design) and the final scene of Nicole attacking Isaac in a hallucination. It really fits the vibe of "Resident Evil in Space" at points.

Dead Space is an incredible remake and an excellent survival horror game which I would argue succeeds even Resident Evil 2, and possibly Resident Evil 4 this year in some ways. I enjoy the unique spins it puts on a few core aspects of survival horror game design and can see myself getting even more enjoyment out of it in later new game plus runs. I’ll be seated for Dead Space 2 Remake whenever that comes out, though hopefully EA’s usual greedy, big bucks mentality doesn’t drive the series off a cliff again. They haven’t changed, but at least Isaac gets another chance to shine and not be in the dusted cobwebs of a dead and sabotaged franchise (for now).