Recent reviews by ManualZion

The thing that was really missing from Elden Ring was your progress stopping completely because one other guy disconnected in a roughly 40 minute mission.

Hitman is quite possibly the best game to release in the last decade. That might sound crazy in a world of big standout games like BG3 and Astrobot, but Hitman just hits differently. The game and its environments are varied and all look amazing, the sound and world design is unmatched, and the game manages to be genuinely funny with its dark humor but have tense story beats and moments where you truly feel like a badass.
While the story is the weakest aspect, it's mainly a chance to take the player to various different locations all across the world, assassinating interesting targets. A simple premise, but one that the Hitman team managed to make four games out of.

The first 'game' in Hitman is the Mission Story game. A whole bunch of creative, well-written and interesting ways to get at your targets, from tricking them to go in a sauna and locking them in, to telling an old woman a horrific secret that gets her to self-terminate, or even firing a bunch of people in such a way that they accidentally kill someone as they air their frustrations. The mission stories in Hitman are amazing, and the challenge system provides a 'hint' of what is possible outside of that. I will never forget what is perhaps the coolest kill in the game - Turning into a music DJ wizard and blowing people up with the power of terrible electrical wiring and a bass drop.

The second 'game' in Hitman is the freeroaming assassinations. The world is incredibly reactive - You can shoot down chandeliers and overhanging bricks to perform accident kills, mess up electrical wiring to shock people who walk into puddles, mess with the AC to trick some guards into leaving themselves open so you can rob a bank... The systems in Hitman allow for insane kills that leave the world none the wiser, and the more you learn the more you can do. It's nearly infinitely rewarding.

The third game in 'Hitman' is the challenge run aspect. Not just elusive targets (Short duration targets that lock you out for 12 hours once you finish) but Suit Only, Silent Assassin and Sniper Assassin runs. Each level comes with a ton of challenges that really force you to think outside of the box, and with everything you've learned with the above two games, it starts to become almost like a heist, where instead of getting generalist equipment, you can use your knowledge to make the perfect run and pull off insane challenges.

And finally, there's the fourth game, which is an addictive as hell roguelike mode that remixes the maps with brand new targets and objectives to get money. You never realize how overpowered silenced pistols are until you're starting from scratch, slowly building up your ammo and arsenal. Normally in Hitman you reset once you go loud, but when you're carrying a Legendary Sniper Rifle? It's a tense finish to escape with your loot intact.

Genuinely one of the greatest games to have come out. The worst part of this game is buying it.

The original Elden Ring experience was a fantastic game for 80% of the runtime and a horrific slog for the final 20%. Everyone bought the DLC thinking it'd be $40 worth of the first, but as it turns out, the game falls into the trappings of lategame ER. Damage numbers are cranked absurdly high, to the point where several bosses can one-shot you with 60 Vig and defensive talismans. This is offset by the Scadutree Blessing system, which improves your resistance and damages as you find more. However, the absurd damage means you have to trawl around and scavenger hunt these blessings just to do decent damage. Bosses all bring in the worst traits from base game - unnatural delays that make enemies look jerky, as if puppeted around on strings. Extremely tanky health bars, dealing extreme damage, barely any recovery on even larger moves, several moves where bosses float up in the air for 30 seconds to drop a nearly unavoidable track... Every remembrance boss has these issues.

The world itself looks beautiful, but large parts of it are empty. The bottom half of the map contains some wonderful vistas but the content there is just a smattering of 4 recycled bosses (3 of which are maingame minibosses recycled for the umpteenth time) and a mini dungeon into a remembrance boss - and this is a sizeable chunk of the game world! It's vertical, yes, but so much of the game world is empty and devoid of content.

NPC questlines are as cryptic and easy to brick as ever, only now to complete them you're forced to summon and these summons are inside the arena so you have to sprint to them while trying not to click messages or else die horribly.

The lore and plot are complete flops. It's similar to Three Hopes from Fire Emblem - The previous entry set up a cool and interesting world but some fragments were annoying because not everything was answered - too much was shrouded in secrecy. Then, when a continuation comes, nothing gets answered, several more questions arise, and... Well, in Shadow of the Erdtree's case, even the 'surface level' plot you can read just by playing through and listening to dialogue, it makes very little sense and is a major letdown. Nothing is answered, more questions are raised...

Finally, there's a walk only forced stealth section. In a Fromsoft game.

No.

dank

This game is incredibly soothing to the soul. This should be offered to sick patients. Buy this game if you wish to achieve enlightenment or wish for healing.

As for the actual game? It's about 45 hours long for the first playthrough, NG+ goes by a lot quicker. A significant portion of the endgame content is locked behind the DLC's, but due to the cheap cost, that isn't a problem. The plot is cute and funny, you can tell that it doesn't take itself seriously at all. The game takes the lighthearted mood and runs with it.

Combat is better than most JRPGs. While you can game the system a bit with Neptune Break, the combo system allows for a lot of different attack chains, and the break system is pretty cool. Item crafting is fun, though I recommend using a guide for it to avoid frustration.

Only downside is heavily recycled assests and the horrendous English dub.

Overall, it's a great experience. You should buy this game. Please. Every sale means we get closer to RB3 on the PC.