30XX is an excellent action platformer game, and an excellent roguelike that's a straight improvement from the original in every way. Gorgeous pixel art graphics, new and rebalanced mechanics, a bigger set of features that differentiates the two characters, and the gameplay is just as tight and solid as it's always been. The level themes are interesting and fun both visually and mechanically, and the music is just as great. Each boss at the end is beautifully designed and fun to master, and defeating them rewards you with a similarly beautiful new ability. Between dashing, jumping, and shooting, everything plays exactly as you'd want it to, and this all just adds up to some delightful core gameplay that'll satisfy those looking for a real challenge.

While it does have clear MMX inspiration, it may be misleading to correlate the game and its philosophy to Mega Man X. It certainly has the same tight, reliable, controls and buttery smooth jump and shoot action, but even in Mega Mode (a static mode which removes permadeath and random runs in favor of a more traditional stage select and save file system), there's a greater "controlled chaos" that isn't present in its inspiration. In the end, 30XX isn't just about jumping and shooting - you'll be picking up all kinds of gear and upgrades over the course of a run to enhance your stats and get the firepower needed to tear apart bosses. The classic "power chase" of extreme stat-boosting items and crazy abilities that is present in other roguelikes is very much present here and deeply enjoyable, and is also encouraged through some more swamping design in the later half of the game, so if you don't enjoy that sort of thing, then its resemblance to Mega Man X otherwise won't be enough for you. It is arguably a roguelike firstly, and an action platformer secondly.

If you're willing to engage with it on its own terms, however, you'll find an excellent game for fans of action platformers and Mega Man who don't mind a little roguelike flavor in the mix. Though uncompromising in ways, it's satisfying, fluid, genuinely endlessly replayable, and just as well-designed as it gets.

Easily one of the best monster catchers I'd ever played. The game, in many ways, meaningfully iterates on long-standing issues people have had with Pokemon's systems. Yet at the same time, it is never truly content with mere "iteration" and embraces its own identity as a monster-catcher, with mechanically rich systems, a unique cast of creatures with a fun guiding design philosophy, and some very charming, earthy writing.

Your initial traversal in the open world feels a little awkward because of the stamina bar, but it doesn't take long before it's alleviated. The world is fun to explore, with lots of little secrets hidden in nooks and crannies. The battle system is nicely fleshed-out, and rewards you for a true understanding of its workings - it's good at discouraging complacency in the face of various challenges. The music is also utterly fantastic, with a host of pleasant field themes that suit the atmosphere- the highlight being the various battle themes, which are complimented by some great vocals. The narrative is simple, and focuses more on the characters and themes, which are very feel-good and earnestly depicted. I had a real feeling of fulfillment by the time I finished the game, and had grown thoroughly attached to my partner of choice.

For the price, the content is staggering. I think the game will take you roughly 20-30 hours to finish the main story, but there's plenty of diversions. Aside from filling out the bestiary, there's a lengthy (if somewhat grindy) postgame with new questlines and bosses - and though these aren't as substantial as the static designed quests, the postgame board gives you randomly generated quests, which both let you more easily take in the material to do things like go "shiny hunting", and also serve as incentive to check out everything the game has had to offer, such as collecting and leveling up all the monster tapes.

There's a few little QOL issues but nothing that bothers me too much - my personal biggest issue is that the sticker system, while astoundingly flexible, proves to be too flexible for its own good in the late game - by that point it doesn't take much work at all to start making builds that literally automatically oneshot bosses for you - it isn't hard to figure out that sort of thing on your own, either, so while you can just Not Use Them, I think it wouldn't hurt to take a look at balance on that end.

All in all, an excellent time and probably one of the best monster catchers I'd played to date.

An improvement on the original in every way possible. The game oozes polish, love and care all the way through. Gameplay has gone through a number of improvements to suit the chaos and give the characters more options - better defining itself as a mixture between high speed platforming and breakneck combat. Boss battles are as exciting as ever, and the levels are tons of fun to go through, with many unique gimmicks and pathways. Even the story mode, despite actually being longer than in the first game, is far better paced and is better at respecting the player's patience, on top of just generally having better written dialogue and dynamics. The one area lacking in polish is the voicework - not the voice actors themselves, which are fantastic across the board - but the audio editing and mixing still sounds a little like everyone's using different mics, and speaking at different volumes. Minor, but noticeable nonetheless.

This time around in the art department, Tyson Tan lends his distinctive art style and designwork to Freedom Planet's cast and world, and there's never been a better fit- it's clear they want to use his work to help define the visual identity of the series. This general design style combined with excellent spritework and beautiful environments has definitely given the series the firm, appealing look it deserves. Overall, Freedom Planet 2 just reeks of "we figured it out" energy across the board- this is a good thing. The first game felt 80% there - but this game feels like it has properly realized how to establish its identity as something truly unique and remarkable in its own right. Everything feels more purposeful, planned, and adds up to one of the most fulfilling gaming experiences I've played in a minute.

TL;DR - Sonic + Mega Man Zero for people who wear thigh highs and it fucking kicks.

Maybe I'll return to this in a few updates' time, but I just couldn't get into this one. I can feel how it has some deep systems for character customization and progression, but the core gameplay feels so unsatisfying. Fighting hordes of enemies isn't nearly as fun as its rivals in the genre. Sound effects, animations, the feedback in combat just feels awkward and unenjoyable. I didn't want to stick with the game in the hopes that the combat or content would get better at the "endgame" or something when games like Grim Dawn have been satisfying from level 1. Even aside from that, the aesthetic does absolutely nothing for me.

Genuinely one of my favorite games of all time. There isn't much to the gameplay itself, but what's there is polished to perfection and designed to feel as satisfying as possible. It's got a really cute and distinct art direction, and some surprisingly addictive action platformer stuff going on. Mixing powers and firing off attacks pretty much never gets old, and it has a ton of content to go around. Even after beating the (very packed) campaigns of content, I still regularly go back to Endless Mode to really push things. I think the lore and universe are extremely charming too, enough that I'd love to see more games that take place within it.

It also does the Kirby thing where the Hard Mode is actually just full of insane changes to the bosses and enemies, so it might as well be a second campaign. I think the developers took all the right influences for this charming little hidden gem of a game!

Fuck, I love this game to death. I'd been searching high and low for a game to fill the Diablo void, and this scratched the ARPG itch for me in every way possible. Love the world, the progression is satisfying, the lore is fun, god there's just so much here. Combat isn't as tight and polished as Diablo 3 but it's extremely crunchy and satisfying feeling. It's absolutely loaded with content and the gameplay systems make it very easy to build the kind of character you want to play. The options are staggering and i love getting a new piece of gear and thinking about how i can make a new character for it.

For all the praises I sing, only a few things that really bother me: the ending to the main campaign feels like something of an anticlimax, for starters, like they weren't entirely sure how to wrap the game up. The other thing is that pathfinding for movement is fairly awkward sometimes - this isn't too obtrusive, but Malmouth especially, a postgame area, is full of stairs, which seems to cause the pathfinder to go insane and makes you stop moving every 2 seconds. They're minor inconveniences in the end, though, and are easy to forget with the intoxicating amount of content for even the most passionate number-crunching loot collectors. Definitely my ARPG of choice, but that might change if the devs of Last Epoch figure out how to make it actually feel good to play.

An excellent monster-catcher that combines fun Metroidvania-esque exploration mechanics with surprisingly strong and deep tactical turn-based combat. Despite its clear inspiration, the constant, challenging squad-based battles and the emphasis on using buffs and debuffs to your advantage brings to mind Shin Megami Tensei. The monsters are well-balanced and all fun to use, and the game regularly encourages you to experiment when putting together your dream team. It isn't for the faint of heart, as later battles can ramp up in difficulty quick - this may bother some people, as depending on their playstyle it can become too hard. However, I personally loved the way the game didn't seem content with just letting you grind to win, or blindly slap a team together.

As someone who personally fell out of Pokemon largely due to its leniency and its simple combat no longer appealing to me, playing a monster collecting game where you fight a villain squad who actually causes you to struggle and sweat trying to beat them instead of them going down in maybe 2 hits max is immediately very refreshing and scratched my itch.

The game also has tons of extra content as well. The story is simple but gets the job done and is plenty charming. There's a lot for everyone, but if you are a diehard for "smart", challenging turn-based RPG gameplay and tactics, and want loads of great content with a monster-collecting mechanic, this is definitely your game.

A great introduction to FFXIV, if tedious at times. A lot of quests are filler and don't quite focus on the information that would actually be interesting to hear, and the plot itself is barebones with minimal character writing and actual narrative moves, albeit with an awesome finale. However, I was drawn in by the sum of its parts. The feeling of its expansive world, the satisfying leveling and combat, the dungeons, exciting boss battles, and I was a huge fan of the lore and worldbuilding established by the MSQ as well.

It's really hard for me to say "stick with it" to most people because the harsh reality is, even if Heavensward is good, this is still a game that requires you to enjoy 50 character levels of fairly so-so story content before you can get to what everyone else says is "better", and not everyone has that kind of patience. I personally enjoyed it largely in part because the game is good at not making you feel pressured to do anything in particular, so I took it easy as I went through the quests, but I'm not everyone. Despite the funky reception of ARR's main story, as someone who has a very hard time committing to MMOs, this is still easily the longest I've ever been hooked on an MMO EVER. I do recommend it, but only to patient players who are willing to relax and enjoy the gameflow without necessarily feeling like they need to "stick with it" in the promise of something better.

Though I was skeptical, NEO: The World Ends With You feels like a very worthy successor to the original. The combat is fun, tight, fluid, and challenging. The music is strong, and the graphics are gorgeous and convey the sense of the style beautifully. The presentation is slick, and the story and characters are powerfully engaging and enjoyable. This is everything that made the first game popular, but made for a console, to take advantage of the benefits afforded by such a thing. It's loaded with content and customizability, and knows exactly what you want out of the experience. The game doesn't feel as thematically cohesive or thorough as the first entry, and there are some issues regarding sloggish story pacing - but the pros more than outweigh the cons.

As someone without a lot of familiarity with Metroid, this is a gorgeous remake and a perfect entry point into the series. The map design is beautiful, with waypoints to ensure you don't get too lost while still leaning heavily into an open-ended, exploration-focused nature. Gorgeous, crisp spritework and detailed cutscenes really add to the immersion of traveling as a lone bounty hunter on a hostile alien world.

A notable weakpoint is the Mother Brain boss, which, while not impossible by any means, feels cheap, boring, and annoying in a way that only a remake of an NES game boss could be. There's also a strange "postgame" segment, consisting of a last-minute Metal Gear-esque stealth mission bit where your powerups are stripped from you. While not the ideal experience, it was a refreshing change of pace, and the reward for pushing through is well worth it. The segment itself feels very obviously tacked onto where the NES game ended, but it's a nice bit of extra content to help justify it as "more than" the original adventure.

Overall a fantastic experience with few flaws.

DMC5 was apparently created with the goal for it to be Itsuno's best work. All things considered, it absolutely shows, through both the new content and the plentiful improvements to the series' formula. I personally liked that they trimmed down the puzzle segments, though it does make the campaign feel far easier in a way I can't pinpoint. I love Nero's reworked moveset and how flexible it is now, as well. This also contains the best possible version sof Dante and Vergil's movesets as well, so that's even better. I liked V a lot too, but I don't find him as flexible and satisfying as other characters.

The narrative, complimented by the presentation, is also as explosive and enjoyable as previous titles, though compounded with a bit more depth than usual. People who did not like the immense focus on Nero in DMC4 will be delighted to find that this story is for the most part about 3 characters - Nero, Dante, and V all play important roles in the plot. While I thought the ending felt a little quick and poorly elaborated, it was undeniably epic and served as both a great wrap-up to the series and a good hook for a future title if they wanted to go there.

The best entry in the series yet, and an excellent sendoff.

To sum it up - great core combat mechanics that are unfortunately designed around some of my least favorite content.

Nero is a neat new addition who I love mechanically, but his gameplay doesn't quite give you as much to play with as Dante, and yet the game chooses to design what feels like almost every aspect of the game around him specifically. Several enemies are extra defensive or hard to hit, forcing you to grapple or pull them, and there's multiple segments based around using his arm to solve puzzles or sling yourself across sections. These bizarre gimmicks are also paired with some truly unfun, pacebreaking enemies - Dante's half is also largely recycled from Nero's, which adds to the frustration.

Writing-wise, the story is fun, but feels like it struggles a little too much in balancing its parts. DMC3 was a simple, action-packed, explosive tale of a fight between two brothers, which knew when to be serious but kept the fun going, and what helped was that its foundation was very simple. DMC4 tells a more complex story, pushing Dante to the side for a narrative based around a new hero, but the narrative elements feel squandered and underutilized, and Nero feels a little redundant as a personality.

Despite everything, though, the game manages to stay fun in part due to improving upon DMC3's already near-perfect mechanics, and introduces some new functions for Dante that make him his most satisfying to play. Not a bad experience, but definitely a bumpy one.

An exciting and engaging action gaming experience. Devil May Cry 3 combines an over-the-top and fun narrative, strong level and enemy design, and a tight, flexible combat system to create one of the most enjoyable games I've played in a good while.

I like the story a lot despite the simplicity. Vergil makes for an effective antagonist - we constantly see his POV, on top of fighting him multiple times throughout, creating a true sense of rivalry with him that connects with the player. The other additions are fun ways to shake things up, and Dante is at his craziest and most exciting, with a real sense of attitude that's fun to watch.

The combat is easy to grasp but there's an astounding amount of ways you can approach a fight and plenty of tools to get the job done. It's very much about creating your own ways to deal with a situation, and looking damn good in the process. Dante is able to switch between many different styles and weapons, affording him startling flexibility and customization in a fight, based on your needs. There's a lot of unlockables as well as a ranking system that encourages replayability, so the game is constantly pushing you to get the most out of its deep and enriching combat.

There are some minor gripes I had, such as the thankfully occasional camera issues, and a few enemy types which I feel messed with the flow of the game, but they hardly put a damper in the experience. All in all, recommended for any fan of intense action combat and over-the-top fun. If you're new to the DMC series, this is also a fantastic entry point.