Showing 1-10 of 15 items
-the combat is not fun, I used infintie stamina for all of it and many later areas I just enabled invincibility mode -getting around the world/knowing what to do next can be a bit of a pain -the first 5+ hours I did not enjoy at all and kept getting very close to putting it down -but I kept going because I was under the impression/assumption that there was SOMETHING IN THERE that was weird and cool -slowly the game reveals more things to you (how to upgrade, how to use this or that) and the way it slowly gets you looking closer at everything is masterful -by the time they reveal the golden path to you and the game switches into a puzzle game of insane depth, you hardly even notice because of how seamlessly it has walked you down that road -what then occurs is the greatest, most satisfying puzzle madness I've had possibly ever in a game, exceeding maybe even The Witness -the loop I got into of staring at a puzzle, being perplexed, and then shutting the game off and thinking about it subconciously for a few days, forming a hypothesis of how something might work, and then coming back and solving the puzzle instantly EVERY SINGLE TIME was incredible -it so deeply understands how my brain works and what I want from secrets and puzzles. there are secrets everywhere, even in the music, and it's a game built for secrets that some may never find simply because the devs wanted to put the secrets in there and I love that so much -it fulfills the long wanted journey I missed with Fez. Here is a game that slowly unfolds into madness and I have always wanted to basically stumble into a puzzle game without knowing and this was that. Pages of notes, photoshop documents, video editing, music analysis, etc and I love it so much -the snowball morning of the MS E3 show where Joe and I discovered the hidden stuff on every single page of the manual -the manual mechanic is so brilliant, every page is a work of art and full of secrets that you miss for ages. I want a physical copy of the manual -finally opening the final mountain gate with a 100 digital code was the most satisfying thing I've done since late game Witness puzzles -having puzzles hiding in plain sight all that time the way the witness did but the puzzles were almost more satisfying to solve because of the variety of solutions and ways they hide the inputs in the environment. AT LEAST ON PAR WITH WITNESS -great visuals and an amazing OST
-the visuals, the music, the quiet, beautiful vibes of the world are still my favorite thing -main story has major issues but was a fun enough ride for me -side stories are hugely improved and CHARACTERS are what matter -it's a fucking Mass Effect game y'all, it's got a home base, it's got a squad that you come back to and talk to A LOT and all that chat is great, it's got loyalty missions. I want them to expand on the party elements and let me bring people along for 3 -I cannot believe how huge the world is and I so deeply love just walking around in it and soaking in their world building -main/present time world and storytelling is way improved with great factions and characters -side content still lacking and the addition of box puzzles SUCKS -the corny races and typical open world stuff is a disappointment -the climbing is a huge pain in the ass -The entire VEGAS mission is exceptional -the way the world evolves as you progress, towns being built, etc. -the sequencing of dialogue ALWAYS accounting for things -it does so many things that I love and it's the most a game has made me feel like I was experiencing The Witcher 3 again (or ME2). that hard to quantify FEELING of just wandering around and being in that world -It was the game that made me the most happy this year and specifically at a time when I was extremely unhappy -amazing OST
-one of the few true generational defining games. It's Skyrim, Witcher 3, and Elden Ring for the last 12 years I'd say -disappointed with the general familiarity of the world structure and ITS SO DARK SOULS -many frustrating moments of course and not fun last 20 hours -but man what a fucking journey, what a ride, the sheer scale and quality of the level design is staggering -the long 40 hour or so section of going underground and doing all these connected spots and bosses and cinematically framed weird huge environments -the scope of gameplay options is insane -none of the bosses stood out to me in terms of triumphing due to how broken easy the game got -amazing OST
-I don't give a shit about any of the story stuff -the gameplay is so fucking TIGHT -every level is so satisfying to master, though the 30sec or less ones are the best -the combination of platforming puzzle and shooterish thing and card disposal is so neat and weird -MOST FUN TO PLAY GAME OF THE YEAR!!!
-main story was a huge bummer - but the Kratos/Atreus character work was excellent -structure and side stuff was disappointing -combat didn't click for me but the few times it did it ruled, still withholding judgement -it's very easy to play, despite finding the side stuff dull at times I did all of it for a reason -AAA as fuck and that's nice -a ton of amazing moments -nidhogg, thor fight at the beginning, fighting the giant and her cauldron, Fenrir/Gnar, I AM RAGNAROK, bear atreus -still coming to terms with the whole thing though, my gut says it should be lower on the list but my brain says no so... -I look forward to a replay and being able to really figure out how I feel about it over the next year
-gameplay is not my jam, its exactly the type of gameplay I bitch about -I dropped it to easy after the first few hours because I was about to quit -eventually the gameplay became just fine and didn't get in my way at all -crossbow is fun -Fuck the gameplay the journey is a blast -I had such a good time with the decent into hell they go on, especially from the Island onwards -the catacombs section is nuts, the ending chunk is a bunch of nonsense -the characters were actually decent, even though Amecia is super obnoxious (but well done) -THE MUSIC OH MY GOD THE MUSIC creates such an amazing vibe of reference and religiosity and awe and spookiness -I love what it represents: -linear 15 hour action adventure games are still the best -smaller devs trying their absolute hearts out to be a AAA game is my favorite thing -reminds me of Metro in that way -it's such a weird thing. 14th centry southern france ratpocalypse children stealth game is just so weird -first game didn't really stand out to me at all but this one really landed for me - I will 100% replay the Island onwards -amazing OST
-the most memorable 3 hour game I've ever played because it's like someone's horrible fetish game run wild -the whole thing is perfectly evoking that Alien/SpaceJockey scene and they nail the Geiger look -but they also nail the Geiger philosophies of tech and flesh merging in bad ways -the Myst like elements are cool and surprising and make me happy -the puzzles are not very good, in fact I think I hated all the puzzles -the little combat stuff is bad too but very minimal especially if you just let things walk by you which I continue to think is what you're supposed to do -IDGAF about all the bad stuff in it, it was such a demented fucking nightmare hell game and I'll never forget it
-I am a cell shading fan apparently. This looks so much like Sable -the style and presentation rules, as does the music -love the little intersitial story telling moments in first person - very minimal but gets a lot done -I have enjoyed poking away at it infrequently and 100%-ing each level as I go -it triggers that great feeling in me of a need to play and perform to the best of my ability the way DOOM Eternal does -I SUCK AT IT and it's hard, I'll probably start from the beginning again and that'll be ok by me because it rules -very good OST
-has that same great sense of weird fun and humor. Rabbid Peach saying "hashtag healing vibes, literally" or rabbid mario saying "dis is da best moment of a my life-a" and all the Mario characters continuing to be slightly put off by the rabbids and their bullshit -the freedom of movement is insane but does cause occasional issues - mainly due to the clunky framerate and joycons and inputs being hard. learned to just move slower -combat is still very easy even on hard, wish it was substantially more challenging -but the vibes feel appropriately Nintendo and it's the best NIntendo game I've played in ages, thanks Ubisoft. Also the best Ubisoft game in ages -the changes to the world structure are fantastic, completely fixes all the issues the first game had. a handful of small open worlds to do little combat encounters, light puzzles, and exploration is all great -First game has a special place in my heart thanks to jet lag in a hotel + it just being so damn weird and the first game has stuck in my mind a lot (mario opera distrack) and I wanted to give Mario and Rabbids their due -I wish we would get more weird stuff with Nintendo IP
-what a hellish 2 week nightmare -very complex strategy that's tough to learn at first but the slow playtime counters it which is cool -the emphasis on role playing and the commitment everyone had to that stuff was a blast -most of the fun I had came from all the diplomacy fuckery and then the additional out of game nonsense in Discord HIGHLY MEMORABLE
