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My favorite combat in... I was going to say a Souls game, but honestly any single player game ever, probably? It just feels so good, and the way you go from getting your shit kicked in, struggling to whittle down a boss's health to their attack patterns finally clicking for me and fucking them up in seconds is one of the most satisfying feelings I've ever had in a game. Not to mention the fact that it has a fantastic world and an actually comprehensible story, with real, fleshed out characters for the first time in a From game. Don't get me wrong, I've always loved the world building and lore of From games, and it's always fun to go watch an explainer on YouTube after finishing the game to learn what actually happened, but it was a nice change of pace to be able to understand what was going on at any point in time. I think From has a good way to go in terms of presenting a story, as some of the exposition dumps from Kuro and the other characters felt a little hamfisted due to lack of actual cutscenes and character animations during dialogue, but they've proven they can tell a compelling story with interesting characters that anyone can understand in their already incredibly well fleshed out worlds, and as always I'm excited to see where they go from here.
Holy shit, what an incredible thing. Some of the most genuine feelings of awe, discovery, and terror I've ever felt in a game. It's easy to try and nitpick little things here and there with this game, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I had to look some puzzle solutions up, but by the end you realize there really wasn't any other way they could have built the world. It's just an incredible thing to experience, all the way through. A few years ago, a couple of my friends got obsessed with the Witness, but I couldn't get into it because it didn't feel like I was actually exploring anything, it was just a cafefully curated theme park full of kiosks to walk to and solve. The way this game builds its puzzles and story into the world feels like what I wish the Witness had been, and I absolutely loved it.
I'm not sure I'm willing to say this is the best Resident Evil game ever quite yet, but it's damn close. The Hunk playthrough really cements how well considered the mechanics and level design is, and the way it builds on your knowledge of the maps and enemies to offer one final challenge is fantastic and I absolutely loved having to figure it out. Really makes for an awesome cherry on top of an otherwise already awesome experience.
This game made me feel what watching the GB crew play Hitman must have felt. It's so much fun to fuck with people and punctuate a prank with a well-timed honk. The mechanics are so well considered, they give you just enough different goose-like ways of interacting with your environment to make each new area feel fresh and feel like it's building on what came before, right up until the final challenge. This game really does an incredible job of building on its mechanics and making you feel like you're really becoming a stealth-goose master while also not overstaying its welcome whatsoever, which I think is an absolutely incredible accomplishment for a game that you can beat in an afternoon. I love being a horrible goose.
This game nails the feeling of being a kid running around outside playing a dumb game with friends and making up the rules as you go. It's goofy and unique, but it's not random for the sake of random. You play as a toilet and turn people into poop, but you also work hard to bring a family back together in what might be the most heartfelt, albeit simple, story I've experienced in a game in years. And while it does feel fresh, it has just enough of that Katamari-ness to it in its music (and obviously its look) to make it feel like a nice, warm blanket of nostalgia. This game really made me realize I don't just <3 Katamari, I <3 Keita Takahashi.
Good lord, how do you even rank this game in a list like this? I really enjoyed it, honestly, but it's just such a weird thing that placing it alongside stuff like Mario and Zelda feels so strange. I know it's a cliche to say this about Kojima stuff, but I'm so glad this game was made, and hopefully it means more studios and publishers will feel the confidence to make things that are this non-traditional. The thing that makes this game work to me is how polished it is. It really goes to show that with well-considered design, you can make anything enjoyable (or at least engaging) in a game. It's why I always hesitate to say anything like "I hate encumberance mechanics" or "Stamina bars are the worst thing ever" or "Item durability sucks", because some of my favorite games of the last few years have taken those concepts and reimagined and incorporated them in ways that make them central to the gameplay. I do wish they'd had more time/money to make the world a bit more unique from place to place, but I think that what's there is gorgeous. It is a bit discouraging to realize every structure in the game outside of some unique areas for boss fights and larger cities ends up being exactly the same, especially when you're expected to spend so much time in those areas. But again, at least what's there feels spectacularly polished, with animations and consideration into how every aspect of the locations would actually function that helps the world to feel real even despite these nitpicks. Also, can I just say how fucking god awful the box art for this game is? I know box art has been terrible forever, but Jesus Christ, could they have picked a more boring image from a game with all the insane-looking shit this game has? I understand they probably wanted a close-up of Norman Reedus to bank on the star power a bit, but it's such a bad picture of him too that I'm not sure I'd even be able to tell it was him if I didn't know it already.
Look, I mean, Symphony of the Night is my favorite game ever. How was I not going to enjoy this game? Iga tried his damnedest to put every possible mechanic, homage and callback he could into this game, and as a result it's a game I very much enjoyed in that comforting sort of, let's-not-think-too-much-about-how-rough-this-is-at-times-and-just-enjoy-a-new-game-in-that-style-you-love kinda way. I didn't think it would at first, but Bloodstained totally captures the feel of Symphony, and that feel to me is like a warm blanket. They really nailed the running around, is what I'm saying, and for me that's like, 3/4ths of what I want out of this type of game. Now I'm just hoping Iga and crew will get a chance to break out of the mold a little more and have some fun building on the formula he helped to create in whatever game they decide to make next.
Absolutely love the vibe and style of this game. I read every single text log in the game, listened to every audio log and watched every video log. Every one was fascinating and does a great job of fleshing out the world without over-explaining how the supernatural aspects work, which is so hard to do well and absolutely one of my favorite things to get to explore in a game. That being said, I had heard the ending left a lot to be desired, and even then I was pretty let down by how much of a non-conclusion it really is. I hope Remedy gets to continue to build on this world through the DLC and more games in this universe, because I would love to spend more time in this world (with maybe a little more ultimately satisfying story).
I've never been the biggest Mario fan in the world, and in fact, the only Mario games I've ever actually finished are New Super Mario Bros DS and Odyssey. But even someone like me could see what an incredibly special thing Mario Maker is, and Mario Maker 2 just adds more to the formula in super smart ways. 3D World is a great addition, and the levels people are creating with the added mechanics are absolutely insane. It's not the kind of game I'll ever sit down and play hours and hours of at a time, but I'm sure I'll enjoy checking in with it once every few months for a long, long time.
Really neat, but I feel like I never quite actually nailed down all the ins and outs of what counts as a beat and what doesn't and some enemies' movement patterns, which really kept me from loving this as much as I feel like I could. I eventually got it well enough to make it through the game without too much issue, but I really felt like a lot of mechanics weren't clearly explained. It wasn't till I was about halfway through that I found out that the other weapons you collect don't break when you die, and even then I found out by reading a FAQ online. Also worth mentioning that, after realizing how much of a Zelda-ass Zelda game this really is, I felt really weird about the fact that I was playing this without ever actually having beaten (or even really played more than a couple hours of) a Zelda game other than Breath of the Wild. And if Link to the Past or Wind Waker was on Switch I probably would have just played one of those instead.
