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Amber Isle is truly something special, and you don't even have to be a furry like me to enjoy it! LOL!

Don't get me wrong, it's a janky and buggy game, a stuttery mess with poor optimization... as per Unity and its issues. ( 32GB 4800mhz RAM, RTX 4070 12GB GPU, and Ryzen 7 7700X 4.5GHz CPU. Yeah there is no reason for it to run this badly. Rely on G-Sync, Fast Vertical Sync, or other NVIDIA options to help, perhaps FreeSync if you have an AMD GPU. Heck, I found out that Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling really works, especially for games like this with stuttering problems. )

It's adorable, satisfying, rewarding, and addictive. It's basically just Animal Crossing, but you get to be a critter yourself while everyone around you is a critter, and you get to manage a shop. You collect a variety of resources around the island to craft items, then you get to learn new items to craft and then sell. You steadily upgrade your harvesting tools over time, and it's a pretty satisfying mechanic. Some areas of the island can't be accessed until you can remove a particular resource node blocking your way, and you'll need these upgraded tools to do it.

You can use the money you earn to then invite one of MANY ABSURDLY WONDERFUL CHARACTERS ( huggable and kissable too... well no you can't do that in the game sadly, let alone date them ). Let's just say Marnie and Pepper are my favorite girls. These characters are a masterclass in design, you can tell who they are and what they like to do just at a glance. Once you invite someone to live on your island, you build their unique house in their preferred biome. You can build friendships, unlock quests to do for them, and just hangout with these impossibly adorable darlings.

Another use for money is customizing the island. You can place many items, with more you can unlock over time, and make it look better and better. I like to enhance what the devs already have and make it vanilla-friendly as possible, but you can probably go hogwild. You can even place the items you craft in your shop just out there all over the island, for some reason! You can customize your shop with the money you earn too.

Amber Isle, despite it's rough edges, is a cute delight that you'll struggle to put down. One of THE ultimate cozy games!

Dragon Age: The Veilguard starts off rather slow and linear, but then steadily opens up with gorgeous places you can freely explore and tons of decent sidequests. Some of it can be a slog, but it's enjoyable.

This is the best the series has ever looked and the character designs are great. I love the fidelity and color, creating a marriage of visual quality with style. It's definitely strayed from the dark realistic fantasy of the first game, which may or may not appeal to you. There are, however, dark and violent themes despite the visual style.

The combat has more depth than it seems with charge attacks, ability synergies ( like detonate ), and a big skill tree where you can experiment FREELY with builds. You can respec at any time. You must pay attention to item and ability descriptions to have the most fun with theorycrafting builds. You can't just level up or equip items willy-nilly and then complain the game has "no depth".

The game is semi-open, some of the main story missions are linear, but there are "exploration" areas which are fun to explore with solid puzzles to do, loot to find, enemies to fight, and paths you need to return to with certain party members to open. You can access locked paths without these party members once that party member is recruited.

The loot system is fun, I always enjoyed loot like this in games. Sure, maybe it's getting tired thanks to live service games ruining loot as a mechanic, but finding items has always been a core part of RPGs since Diablo or Baldur's Gate. The only major problem is that your gear doesn't change appearance as you increase the rarity level of them by finding duplicates, it makes upgrading your gear not as satisfying as it should be.

The story isn't going to be everybody's cup of tea, it's basically just The Avengers except a fantasy setting. It's even worse that none of the choices you made in the past games are carried over. The Veilguard feels disconnected from the other games in terms of story, but I personally enjoy the story here. I don't know, maybe it's just nice to be heroes going up against such odds?

As for The Discourse (TM). The Dragon Age series, and Mass Effect, has always had queer romances in them. This time around we get more powerful themes of identity which you can CHOOSE NOT TO DO. But apparently simply having the option to be transgender is too much for some people.

Is the combat and gameplay boring? No. I mean, maybe the combat is boring in the first 2 hours before you even get to the meat of the game and start experimenting with builds, character/item/ability synergies, and exploring places. The combat can get repetitive later on, and the enemy variety isn't exactly as good as it should be. The game reuses the same elite enemies way too often.

Is the writing and story bad? I mean, I don't know. I feel like I've heard this kind of dialogue and writing before in plenty of other games. The characters are just as varied and great as you'd expect from Bioware.

Is the game "woke"? I mean, sure it is, this is the most queer game in the series. If you play as a man or a woman, you have two or more options of people to romance of the same gender. I personally find this cool and unique.

Do your choices matter? I mean, the fact that a NPC literally told me that I'll be judged for being Qunari means there is reactive dialogue. There are some gameplay, character, and level alterations that can occur from your choices. These changes don't affect TOO MUCH, but it's more than I was expecting and I'm actually kind of impressed.

I love video games, period, and whether or not it's woke doesn't matter to me. Just make decent games like this one, the queer elements are just a nice and welcome bonus.

In my restless dreams, I see that town... Silent Hill!

A faithful remake of a classic I played to death when I was younger. I'm still partial to Silent Hill 3, which is my favorite one, but Silent Hill 2 is amazing.

This remake IMPROVES many things from the original. Here's a list of all the improvements over the original:

+ Stunning graphics! You'll need beefy hardware to run this, so be careful! This makes sense, because Silent Hill 2 on the PS2 pushed that hardware to its limit.

+ Vastly improved combat without making James feel like a commando. Simply press melee attack to use melee, and hold aim to pull out your gun. Dodging is fun, and enemies are designed nicely around evasion.

+ Better bossfights with more mechanics.

+ Levels improved with new mechanics, some new enemies, and slightly changed layouts. Mostly the same, but different enough. New locations are such a nice touch and make the replayability kind of high.

+ VASTLY improved voice performances! Holy crap!

Now, here's the flaws:

- Game is too generous with health items. I ended up with 15 Health Drinks and 15 Syringes at the final boss. Not sure if this gets better on higher combat difficulty. Maybe.

- Game spams the creepy mannequin enemy to an ungodly degree, to the point it gets ridiculous.

- Performance is highly variable on PC. Be wary if you have a high refresh rate monitor and are trying to go for higher than 60 frames. Use G-Sync or FreeSync and turn V-Sync off to get a good experience if you have a "RTX 4070 12GB/AMD Ryzen 7700X 4.50GHz/32GB RAM 4800Mhz" equivalent hardware. This is the hardware I have. Be prepared for massive frame drops in oddly specific locations, and amazing framerates in some areas if you have hardware like mine.

That's it. What else can I say? It's amazing and a lot of fun, and the kind of comeback Bloober Team needed!

Sonic Generations is as delightful as it was when it first launched, this is just a minor remaster of the game but at least it runs great and looks fine. I still don't like this insistence on 60 frames being the limit for so many games, but there's likely engine limitations with Sonic Generations preventing it from achieving frames as gloriously fast as our favorite blue blur. If you have a high refresh rate monitor that is G-Sync or FreeSync compatible, make sure it is on and the game will look and feel just fine at 60, turn off v-sync of course.

The addition of an entirely new campaign with Shadow is impressive and has much better PC options, it makes this a solid package. The Shadow campaign is next level in quality and fun. It makes me wonder why we can't just get more new Sonic games just like it.

One of my favorite things about Sonic Generations is just how addictive and fun it is to try to perfect all the challenge missions. Then there's the tight controls and exquisite level design. The levels have brisk pacing and you can't go wrong with that.

I was trying to figure out what was wrong with some other recent 3D Sonic games, like Sonic Colors, which I really disliked, and it was just floaty bad controls and bland level design that overstayed its welcome. Sonic is at its best when the levels are carefully crafted to reward speed, reaction time, and have great setpieces. The same for any 2D Sonic game, and the same for any 3D Sonic game.

Sonic is back and letting us know that... hey, he did, can, and will have good games!

Beyond Hanwell is an action horror FPS with a solid foundation. You get to explore an open world, search optional locations, and find hidden blueprints to craft cool weapons or items. The combat is quite fun, and it's the primary focus of the game rather than just traditional horror or tension. You get to fight a veritable carnival of wonderful horror tropes, from giant spiders, flesh abominations, to frickin' killer animatronics. This visually stunning game rich with ambience is VERY JANKY but ambitious and full of a clear love for horror tropes.

Now, I like this game as a casual fan of Warhammer 40K and I think it's great in a few ways. Visually stunning, visceral, authentic, and pretty satisfying when it needs to be. But there is something about it I really dislike. It feels very dated, like it's a game that came from the 2010-2012 period. Heck, it's definitely very faithful to the design of the original game which I also enjoyed... when I played it MANY years ago. But sadly it feels like I've grown out of this type of game, and I would rather play Rogue Trader or other more replayable games. I rather play Boltgun as a fan of boomer shooters or Doom 2016.

It's extremely linear, has no secrets and no exploration, with some annoying enemies. The main thing I enjoy about this game are the varied combat mechanics and the gunplay. But as you go on, it just starts becoming a slog that feels decidedly dated, and relies too heavily on the co-op or multiplayer carrying the game... for me, a person who prefers singleplayer games, I really don't care about co-op or multiplayer. I already have games I play for multiplayer. The game feels strange in singleplayer, because you have two bots constantly following you and it just reminds you that the game seems meant for multiplayer and designed around it. As I just said, I already have other games I play for multiplayer.

Hey, you don't need to listen to me if you disagree. If I could rate this game "meh" or "slightly above average" I would do that, it's not really a "bad" game in the slightest, it just feels too dated and I've grown passed this kind of game design. I definitely seem to be a fan of RPG mechanics, exploration, and open ended levels. The action in Space Marine 2 is top notch and is the strongest part of it, but it's not enough for me to recommend this game.

Visions of Mana! The long awaited next entry in the oft forgotten Mana series. As much as I love Final Fantasy and many other JRPGs, I can't forget the colorful high fantasy of the Mana games. Visions of Mana is like if you took a cozy blanket and turned it into a game.

There's a few things that are wrong, and it's ONCE AGAIN with the mixed english voiceacting and writing. You're either going to get sick of it fast, or get used to it. I got used to it in Trials of Mana, so of course I did for this game. It's not entirely bad, some of the voiceactors give it their all, and there is some heart to the story. The plot is pretty standard, but bursting at the seams with charm, and I definitely like the themes it tackles. There are a few surprises in the story that almost made me cry, so be prepared!

There's an extensive class system that has dizzying depth. You can learn abilities that can be used with any class, along different "elemental plots". But there are some abilities, like class abilities, that can only be used when a character becomes a class associated with an element, by equipping an "elemental vessel". The sheer number of classes is absurd, and I love it! No character shares the same class, and it's quite unusual to see this sort of variety, but it exceeds Trials of Mana's class system in every way. Unique and beautifully designed outfits for every class, and at least 2 to 3 kinds of unique weapons that each character can use depending on class. You can also get more abilities by equipping "ability seeds", They're spells, abilities, or passive bonuses. When you remove an ability seed, the ability is removed.

The locales are pretty huge, probably the largest in any Mana game to date. Well, besides Dawn of Mana. The places you go to are breathtaking in Visions of Mana, and I want to explore them as much as possible. You'll sometimes run into enemies that are too powerful to defeat, encouraging you to come back later, and they're often in ruins. Elite enemies keep you on your toes and up the challenge. "Elemental aeries" provide a timed combat challenge that will test your skills. There's tons of items and collectibles just laying around, even in towns. It just activates some kind of kleptomaniac gremlin within! I did hear that these areas "lack personality". Sometimes, there's plenty of fantastical landmarks and regional uniqueness, such as the windswept pine trees of the wind elemental region, to the gloomy fog and bizarre architecture of the dark elemental region. Your mileage may vary, but I find many of the towns gorgeous beyond belief and bursting with detail. The best looking and biggest Mana game to date! It's only hurt by one thing. You'll eventually find incomplete terrain and holes in terrain geometry, but it's rare and in out-of-the-way locations. I'm just surprised they even put in this much effort!

Side quests aren't good in this game and they're not interesting, involving collecting a certain amount of items, killing a certain amount of monsters, or finding an item/location/person. However, even if the side content is throwaway, they can be done QUICKLY making them an okay excuse to explore the breathtaking locations for awhile longer before leaving.

The combat isn't remotely sluggish. It was a concern I had during the demo. But it appears they have enhanced it, and attacks combo together more fluidly, and even into spells. The battles aren't as tight as the combat in Trials of Mana, but there is a lot of class and ability expression in Visions of Mana that keeps the action exciting. The bossfights are fantastic and present us with the same kind of MMORPG-style mechanics I enjoyed so much from Trials of Mana.

Once you beat the game, new game plus is unlocked and there's an entirely NEW endgame chapter unlocked with powerful gear to get, just the cherry on top of a pretty cozy JRPG!

Also, if you love dragons as much as I do, Visions of Mana will appeal to you with the dragonfolk, Ramcoh, and also Flammie. There's more than one sacred beast dragon?! Well, now I've seen everything and I love it! Ramcoh is a sweety after my own heart!

Visions of Mana is a fantastic return of a neglected JRPG series. People tend to focus a lot more on what else Square creates, such as Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts. So it's great to see this B series return in such a beautiful form! Adventure awaits!

Trials of Mana! Or as Charlotte says: "Twials of Mwana!"

Trials of Mana is a remake of a SNES classic that passed us by here in America. The old game holds up pretty well to this day, and this remake modernizes it perfectly. You never get lost, it's easy to explore, and it's pretty nice to look at albeit full of muddy textures, and bad PC options ( there seems to be no VSync ). The music is great as always, there are a few choice tracks I can think of. As a lover of dragons, and of Flammie, Flammie returns as your companion to ride on. You better believe I am excited to see him/her return for Visions of Mana, and Ramcoh the new dragon cutie to love.

As always, it is easy to get sucked into the tight and engaging progression, the dungeons are NEVER too long at just the right length. The game is quite addictive and difficult to put down once you really sink your teeth into it. Don't forget Lil' Cactus, a hidden collectible that gives some great rewards for exploring!

It's addictive to level up, get new gear, and experiment with the skills system. The skills are learned by leveling up various stat categories on top of the character's base stats: Strength Points, Stamina Points, Spirit Points, Luck Points, and Intelligence Points. Some skills are only available to certain characters and the classes they can become.

The class system is the star of the show in Trials of Mana. Each character can choose a Light path and a Dark path, which has no bearing on the story but it does give you access to a massive amount of total classes if you count all the characters. You have a choice of 2 unique classes per character, one Light, one Dark, then two more, until you reach the ultimate class that seems to be determined by the two major paths you can take down the class tree. There are a total of 4 different classes for each character, plus 2 ultimate classes it looks like.

The characters are... mixed. Their stories are actually pretty solid, and the main story is your standard "save the world from great evil" affair. The voiceacting is what really takes time to get used to. This is as cheesy as it comes, people, and you'll either get really sick of it fast, or you get used to it like I do then realize it isn't so bad and full of heart. Some of the performances they do give it their all, and sometimes it just seems like they phone it in so bad it is hilarious!

Also... Flammie Flammie Flammie. Flammie? Flammie! *Happy Flammie noises.*

Trials of Mana is pretty good, if it wasn't for the weird voiceacting and poor PC options this game would be perfect. But as it is, it's just great and after playing the demo for Visions of Mana I am certainly excited to see what they have in store for this venerable series!

Probably the first mascot horror game that didn't make me want to cringe at the very sight of it, or even the very knowledge of it. I love the characters, they are all so adorable, well designed, and bursting with personality. Rambley is probably the bestest boi in game history, and he must be protected at all cost!

I don't know about replayability, but there are collectibles, and I didn't find two of them. The gameplay is straightforward and pretty fun, there is a good sense of pacing and progression. There isn't an over reliance on loud jumpscares, which is a GODSEND, and there is some excellent tense atmosphere. I don't know about the game being "scary", but there was a least maybe one subtle scare that freaked me out early on in the game. It takes a lot to scare me, so it's no wonder this wasn't exactly the scariest experience to me.

I look forward to more from Indigo Park, I love these characters and want to see them again! Please keep Rambley happy, don't let him be alone!

Eiyuden Chronicle is an absolute delight so far, and bursting at the seams with nostalgic vibes. I really missed JRPGs like this, and even if I barely played the Suikoden series, I already enjoy games with lots of characters to play as or collect. The story, gameplay, music, and visuals are mostly on point here. There's a few glaring issues, such as text that doesn't display what the voiceovers say, annoying inventory limit, and an oldschool JRPG challenge that requires you to absolutely be prepared or you'll find yourself with no healing items. The latter isn't that much of an issue, because I enjoy that this game can be pretty challenging at times. But I really hate how you have a limit to the items you can carry, it is obnoxious! This issue with items also extends to MP items being rare and scarce... what is with these oldschool JRPGs and not wanting your spellcasters to have enough MP if you like to cast spells more liberally?

Despite Eiyuden Chronicle having a decidedly oldschool feel, there are some damn solid quality of life improvements. Grinding is almost not a thing, because if your characters get to a certain level threshold, they will earn less and less XP from enemies lower and lower levels than them. You will earn the inverse if you have characters lower and lower levels than your enemies, meaning even more XP for them. Yes, characters not in your party won't earn XP. You will also have an objective marker that will tell you where to go to progress the story, making knowing where to go a breeze, and checking out side content easier.

The biggest feature of the game is the massive roster of characters. Some can't fight alongside you in battle, but can help run things back at headquarters. Oh yeah, you manage a cool castle town and fortress, which is your HQ. You level it up, grow your population, gather resources during your adventures, build new facilities, and recruit characters to run said buildings. It's really quite a joy.

Eiyuden Chronicle is a fantastic return to a bygone era, one that I've been missing for awhile. Games like Octopath Traveler 1 and 2 also fit nicely into this growing collection of oldschool style JRPGs. More, please!