Recent reviews by Nightmarian

Very classic, old-school open world game that feels like it's a remastered/modernized take of the games of the golden age, back when passion and creativity led game design and businessmen who hate video games hadn't gobbled the industry up yet.

The game isn't easy at the start, but feeling yourself slowly become a god (maybe literally the way things are going haha) is as satisfying as it's always been. Really cool armor design, a certain main character (well two of them) are chads and well-voiced, combat feels great and familiar, graphics aren't modern wannable-movie tier but atmospheric, magic is actually cool with some more unique variations of classic spells.

It's not perfect. Some of the side-side characters are voiced by amateurs and their side-side quests sometimes have some writing that matches, but overall it's amazing what a small team has managed in 1/10th the time of Bethesda.

Finally, and though this isn't something I thought I'd have to ever point out, the devs seem uninterested in politics. No "woke" or "anti-woke," they don't mention it at all. Game uses male/female, but they don't virtue signal it. There's some crude humor, like a drawing of a lewd elf and a lusty argonian maid book knockoff with the elf next to an assassinated guard. Made me laugh in delight, but I guess if you're already clutching pearls tightly as a norm they might snap.

Overall, IMO it's an indie darling so far, and clear proof that indies really are going to be the way forward. I think the top games this year are all indies (i.e. Expedition 33), and this one has immediately shot on the top 10 for me. Well worth it if you love indie RPGs and classics like Morrowind/Oblivion!

This is a great but highly flawed game, and after hearing they're former Ubisoft devs, it kind of makes sense. They must have been broken by their time there and forgot what it means to make a game for fans as passionate fans themselves. As a result, their UI is horrendous, likely due to them fighting Ubisoftication habits. Simple stuff like arranging your party, choosing your skills, equipping stuff, is way more jank and awkward that it needs to be. Nearly 30 year old RPGs do it better, but they couldn't be bothered to look at any them for inspiration lmao.

The timings for parries and dodges is also really jank and imperfect. You kind of just have to die learning them. Weirdly, this gets easier because most enemies midgame suddenly get the most telly attacks in the universe, while a lot of enemies don't, or have timings that don't match their animations. There are a still a few of those later (a parry/dodge timer that opens AFTER a swing... wtf?), but not nearly as many.

Then a lot of minigames are just jankingly thrown together, put to shame again by the minigames from RPG 30 years older. I don't think a single one of them has been fun or memoriable, and the later are just outright annoying. There's a knockoff tower climb similar to those dumb streamer climbing games that's absurdly idiotic. I could have done it but didn't have the patience, so I just cheated jumping height to just jump to the top, turned it in, farted, and then immediately forgot about the quest. The reward? A speedo for a character who should not have a speedo. Glad I didn't waste my time on that garbage lmao.

And then, finally, still making the classic sins old games used to do but new RPGs now know NOT to do, like breaking your party apart and then randomly jumble them together for a boss fight with zero chance to recollect yourself. Hope you use the 3 characters the game decides you have to use! This utterly sours what should have been a pivotal dungeon, as the game heavily encourages you to just rush through, especially since you're left with individual characters who you might not even use in areas with enemies meant to be fought by full teams.

So yeah... tons and tons of jank. Hearing they're ex-Uibsoft devs, I can 1000000% believe it. However, it's clear they're ex-Ubisoft devs in rehabilitation. Once you get by all the jank, what you're left with is a genuinely great core RPG, especialyl for a first attempt. Fantastic character work and voice acting, a super interesting fantasy world with a very strong French tilt, a mysterious story that grabs you by the jewels and keeps you actually wanting to know more, and a serviceable combat system that at least feels very fresh and is definitely stylish.

Even with its flaws, it definitely deserves its high score, and is a must-play for JRPG fans. My only hope for the future is that the devs finish their rehabilitation and leave their Ubisoft taint fully behind next time, actually bother to do some UX work, and maybe refine their minigames and think twice before throwing in lazy nods to meme games.

If this is their rock bottom however, then these devs are definitely going to go somewhere, and I'm happy to add them to the list of phenomenal crafters of RPGs. We need 'em, because Square Enix ain't it anymore.

I have a high end rig so I guess performance issues aren't something I need to worry about. I've actually played worse games. Dragon's Dogma 2 ran way worse for me.

The actual game itself is amazing though. I get being angry because your machine can't run it, but those reviews will decay over time especially if they refund and once the only people with recent reviews are people actually owning and playing the game, it will go back up.

So far, it's the MH you know and love, but improved and refined. Loving everything so far and it'll be another MH classic for the ages. Can't wait to see what they cook for the xpac.

Diet Fallout probably describes it best. I wouldn't call it a bad game, but it's definitely not a good game. The first few hours speak to the potential of what could have been and you WILL love them. Then you'll slowly realize the plane dropped you off at the peak, and everything is downhill from there. Moments later, you'll soon realize your very first major narrative conflict is else's the game's best, and it's not even close. You'll realize that the first few enemy, weapon, and armor models you come across is 90% of what's in the game.

And then you just spend the rest of the game is stark disbelief as you hope you're eventually proven wrong, but nope, game just fizzles some with one of the worst ending options i've ever seen and utterly forgettable companions bar Parvati.

It's rude to blame it on the fact that it's basically an indie game masquerading as a AA game--rude to other indie and AA games. Because they've all done much more without having Daddy Microsoft at their backs. This is just embarrassing and I refuse to let 'budget restraints' be a reason. That didn't stop BG3, which apparently cost a LOT less than most modern AAA games to make yet slapped them across all four cheeks.

The DLC is much better but rehashes too many of the game's themes, so the overall plots are boring but the moment to moment stuff is actually good.

Outer Worlds 2 will need to be everything this game was x 100 including the budget lol. Buy complete pack on a steep sale. It's worth a romp if you're bored and want to play what feels like amateur devs imperfectly trying to copy New Vegas and failing.

It's not quite the mindblowing masterpiece that Hollow Knight and Nine Sols are, but it still sits within their company. Very competent metrovania with a beautiful world and intriguing setting. Big world with great enemy variety, cool abilities, and pretty cool characters.

The game lacks slightly in the story, which was never the strength of metrovanias so not a huge negative, and the combat, which is. Combat is a little simplistic and some aspects of it (i.e. the new parry mechanics) are easy to abuse, especially coming off Nine Sols. Despite some great difficulty options and being much harder overall, it's still not quite at the level of HK or 9S, but that might not be a negative for some.

If you're new into metrovanias and want to try them, this is the perfect place to start. If you hate them, however, this game won't change your mind.

Dunno what else to say other than it's exactly what it seems, Fantasy Persona with actual evolution and iteration of the famous Atlus sauce and IMO that will help the next SMT and Persona games too.

Frankly though, Metaphor is now my favorite Atlus IP alongside Digital Devil Saga. It's such an interesting setting even without being a huge fantasy stan, and though their games have always been fantastical and crazy-leaning (Mind Palaces, a high school turning into Tartarus, demon multiverses, uh... the secret of what the Digital Devil Saga world really is), with the leeway from no longer needing to pretend their game has a believable modern world tied to something insane, Atlus just went full rabid pycho in the best way possible.

And boy is some of the stuff just out there lol. Overall, a super fun and beautiful game with a IMO better use of the PErsona calendar systems. Using the not-persona Archetypes as a job system is also extremely cool and fun, as I feel job systems are dying out and I really, really love them. This basically lets you choose your favorite characters yet build them into your own preferred team.

A lot of the general production value is also amazing. Great voice acting, glorious music, awesome menu style.

Unfortunately, not everything is perfect. The game looks like a remastered PS3 game and graphical options are sparse. That's not a deal breaker for me--I play a ton of retro games today still and adore them--but it is a fair point to criticize. This isn't a $40 AA game, but a $70 AAA game that is also ripping you off on dlc and special editions.

Performance can also be a bit spotty and you don't have a whole lot of options to tune graphical settings. Overall, a fantasy game if you're into RPGs and especially if you enjoy JRPGs.

This is definitely going to be the highlight RPG of the year, and alongside Nine Sols, so far it's my favorite game experience.

Holy flying ♥♥♥♥. What. A. Game. At first glance, I had dismissed it, but all the glowing reviews and comparisons to one of my favorite meterovanias, Hollow Knight, made me decide to buy it.

And ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. You need to play this game. NEED TO.

This game is not "like Hollow Knight." To me, it surpasses it, and it's the Silksong we're not getting this lifetime apparently for me. Comparing it as simply "like Hollow Knight" does this game a MASSIVE disservice.

The reason for that is that it plays very much like a sekiro-seasoned version of Hollow Knight (as opposed to dark souls-seasoned), but does an infinitely better job creating a enthralling setting and panel of characters. Some of the villains you will both hate and love, and far too many will break your heart. This is ultimately a depressing story about a species desperately clinging to life as they face extinction and slowly giving up hope as their final gamble falls apart. Some accept it. Some refuse to. Others pretend as if nothing had happened.

The main character, Yi, is also not a silent vessel. What originally seems to be a quest for revenge slowly becomes much much deeper, and you slowly start to understand the motivation driving him. In a lot of ways, Yi is no different than the people he accuses, and you see that clearly through the final messages sent to him by someone very close to him. This character is never truly present, yet is one of the most impactful emotionally speaking, and it was so well done I literally was left speechless. That kind of thing is not easy to do.

This is 10000000% a show not tell masterpiece with every piece fed to you having a high impact. This alone in my opinion shoots it far above Hollow Knight. You will remember almost every single one of these characters, and even though they're not human, their plight is far more human than that of Hollow Knight's bugs, and you really real feel the desperation.

As a game, it's also nearly perfect. Smooth movements, interesting set of skills, fluid gameplay, fantastic music, and good pacing for enemy upgrades and zones. The game also actually makes you use the tools/abilities you learn, unlike many other games.

This is easily my favorite game of the year at the moment, and it is literally a masterpiece.

My ONE complaint however is VERY significant, and that is that there are a lot of poorly designed enemy types and boss fights. To make matters worse, enemies have really tight homing, so if you're even a milisecond off with the timing, dodging behind them will just have the enemy instant-flip and fly to hit you anyway. This can be infuriating and makes some bosses far harder than they need to be.

This isn't a "git gud" situation, as they ARE beatable, it's just a lot less satisfying and enjoyable, and far more tedious, when the game punishes you arbitrarily. If you're behind an sword swing, it should simply miss, period. This cheapens a lot of fights and forces you to play by the devs' arbitrary rules. To make matters worse, they have some truly tedious enemy types that will waste your time. You will quickly learn to just ignore them unless forced to fight them. Mostly the ninja-types that free-dodge attacks and instantly retaliate and the teleporting samurai. They requite a high degree of precision and timing just for the right to hit them, and they're not even bosses. It's just not worth it while you're exploring and with them respawning after you heal.

This is their first souls/sekiro-like though, so I will give them a pass. Hopefully next time they loosen up on bullshiz like that, it's not fun even if you know how to deal with it and that's a lesson FromSoft learned very quickly too.

I know some people were having technical issues, but I was lucky and didn't have any prior to or after using the DVK fix. 120~ FPS average on max setting.

As for the game itself, it is literally Fantasy Persona. Social Links are replaced with I think it's called friendships. Archetypes are Persona and look awesome in their own way though I wished they had some color variety, but maybe we can customize them a little later, lol. Everything combat-related in the TB mode is persona-ified, from how auto attacks use your human while abilities/spells use the Persona-sorry Archetype. There's even an over-the-top awakening scene whenever someone awakens.

And yes, there's even a Velvet Room mirror with a better Igor called More. There are is no attendant but Gallicia the fairy seems to fill that role and after some thought I think this is for the best as she is with you in the normal world from the very start so her character actually gets developed more than attendants normally will and she's a social link as well. Everything else from menu art, turns, music and even enemy design if I'm honest are all very persona-esque. There's even a calendor just like the persona games and you have to manage your time between the political overgame and dungeon crawling!

So, what to say? Well, it's Fantasy Persona. If you like fantasy and you like persona like I do, you will love this game. If you hate fantasy, maybe not, but if you're indifferent and just want a Persona game before Persona 6, this should tide you over.

The world is an interesting mix of interesting worldbuilding and tropey fantasy. A ton of stuff is explained, but I do appreciate that they just mostly keep it in the journal for you to read at whim instead of drowning you in exposition, a common mistake for many first-time fantasy IPs.

Compared to other Persona games, there are some nice quality of life buffs like active combat in the overworld making you earn the advantage and punishing you (sometimes with the infamous instant-kill lockout due to them getting extra turns) if you screw it up. If the enemy is too weak they just die in the overworld unless you force turn-based, siving you a ton of time. Love to see it.

Artistically, everything should be familar to SMT fans. Beautiful music, alien vistas, and a hard lean on style over graphical fidelity. Story-wise, can't say much right now but dialogue is comptent, I've laughed a few times, and it isn't trying to be ridiculous and over-the-top with the fantasy tilt. It's no Final Fantasy level voice-acting and dialogue (wonky as FF stories are, they get their voice actors and the art of dialogue weirdly right a lot. Even badly written FF characters sound great and are a joy to hear talk).

As far as the story goes, I don't think it will be blowing any minds. I'm pretty sure there will be some world-ending event and some god we have to kill with the power of friendship.

For SMT games it's very often the journey that matters most and makes endings like Persona 3 and 4's hit so hard. When Dojima, who only has guesses as to what's going on, breaks down and desperately pleads with you to save his daughter, it is a memorable moment BECAUSE of all the carefree build up to it. And then you get hit with Nanako's dungeon lmao. Here's hoping it's the same. There are some intriguing plot hooks and I want to know more about the world, but so afr the story seems to be pretty generic JRPG in its roots, especially if you're a SMT stan like me and have seen it all.

Worth buying? Well, if they fix the technical issues (or you're not having them) and you are a fan of JRPGs or SMT games, definitely.

I literally don't know any better way to describe it than Fantasy Persona 5.5

Full review here on a steam post I made (it's long, too long to fit here): https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/2183900/discussions/0/4763207778568076906/

tl;dr: The game is objectively good. There's just not enough game. At all. You will be done with everything in a week or two, and yes that includes grinding out stuff. The PvP won't last you any longer since there's no real progression and only 3 super simple maps with barebones aesthetics and nothing new coming until 2025.



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Don't want to downplay the issues have been having, but seems to be the most common (and thus lower end) systems that have the biggest issues (which apparently consoles share). I have a 4080 and 5800x and have no issues. No crashes, game loads fine, been playing since it went live without issue and great performance on DLSS (a crutch for sure, but oh well...)

Will update with proper review after game launches so it's not a prelaunch review, should have the game finished by then.

So far it's a perfect 40k game if you want setting fantasy, the actual gameplay itself is pretty generic and so far the story is also generic, but hopefully they actually complete it without cliffhangers this time, lol. Be aware than I really don't think it's worth $60 if the game really is only 6-8 hours long, as it's obviously focused on the MP side, let alone $100. I only paid around $70 for the ultra so eh. Game really should be $40, $60 for ultra, no Gold edition, all preorders get this BS early access.

Do take note of the technical issues though, especially if you are med or low spec, as they seem to be universally commonplace. The COOP is also broken by many accounts. I haven't used it but even on consoles people are struggling to get it to work.

Young Man! Young Man! Young Man! Young Man! Young Man! Young Man!

I love this game. This is classic Atlus at their best with a no-frills traditional JRPG from the days of old. I've been waiting for it for a long time. Yes, I love Persona and this isn't anything like Persona, and I know the difficulty or lighter focus on storytelling isn't for everyone, but for people who missed the word dark pokemon vibes SMT has had for ages, this game comes back to form like a blazing star and offers an incredibly solid JRPG that looks good and feels even better to play.

Vengeance also adds a ton of quality of life features alongside just simply cool features, making it overall a better way to play through the game, and the story is still pretty fantastic. Top notch music as always too.

It lacks the bombastic style of Persona, but that's okay too.

Overall, a very "modernized" classic JRPG that will eat hours away. Highly recommend it if it's what you're looking for.