Games Completed 2021

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Simonsloth
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Simonsloth »

dezm0nd wrote: April 30th, 2021, 6:46 am Finished It Takes Two with Leon over the last fortnight and I absolutely loved it. The story didn't evolve beyond the opening much and I found the ending to be disappointing but each and every level is bursting with variety and creativity. The level of co-operation required is on par with Portal 2 and having the split screen enabled at all times really helped both of us communicate when the going got tough.

I'm keen to check out A Way Out one day and seeing as though it's constantly in and out of console sales for a fiver, I'm assuming it wont be long before I do.
It’s in EA play for free.

There’s good parts to it but it’s very different to it takes two.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Spoiler: show
8 Jan - Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PS4)
10 Jan - Donut County (Android)
20 Jan - Dark Souls Remastered (Switch)
23 Jan - Bastion (Switch)
30 Jan - Hitman 3 (PS4)
15 Feb - Loco Motive (Itch)
21 Feb - The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt (Switch)
26 Feb - The Witcher III: Hearts of Stone (Switch)
4 Mar - Quarantine Circular (Switch)
6 Mar - Bury Me, My Love (Android)
14 Mar - Dishonored Death of the Outsider (Steam)
15 Mar - The Witcher III: Blood and Wine (Switch)
18 Mar - Dishonored 2 (Steam)
26 Mar - Paradise Killer (Switch)
30 April - Monster Hunter Rise (Switch)

I've talked about this a lot on the dedicated thread. Honestly this is one of the most addictive games I've played. Capcom have made drastic changes to the formula to increase the pace of play and create a high octane edition of the monster slaying and armour crafting game loop. It's made me a fan of the series and I'm super on board for all the content they've got announced and (I imagine) quietly lined up through the year.

I actually saw the credits on 12th April, aka the end of the Village Quests storyline. Since then it's been all Gathering Hub stuff which is where the story continues, some of which I've partied up for and much of which I've done solo which is still an option. Decided to include it here now as I reached the final bit of story content included with the base game, although there's lots more high rank quests and as of a couple of days ago free DLC hunts yet to do.
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
05/01 - Brutal Legend
07/01 - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
13/01 - Sludge Life
17/01 - AER: Memories of Old
19/01 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Human - Nero/Dante)
05/03 - CrossCode: A New Home
14/03 - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
17/03 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (100cc)
02/04 - Drakengard (Endings A-D)
14/04 - Drakengard 2 (Ending A)
28/04 - Drakengard 3 (Endings A-D)
02/05 - Rain

After that whole ordeal with Drakengard 3, I decided to look in to PS3 emulation, and so this was my first time delving in to that. It seemed to work basically perfectly with this game as far as I could tell, apart from the occasional very minor stutter at some moments where I assume it was compiling shaders. So it wasn't even that the game itself was having trouble running, but it was simply loading in assets it needed. Pretty surprised it ran so well, and without any noticeable bugs or inaccuracies. Given how tricky PS2 emulation can be, and how the PS3's architecture is similarly idiosyncratic, as well as PS3 emulation being much younger and running more graphically demanding games, I was fully expecting this wouldn't be possible on my PC. Although I'm sure things won't be the same for every PS3 game.

As for the game itself, it's one I've had my eye on for a while. I always felt like it was something I should get around to but never managed to. Being a fan of stuff like Ico, SotC, and many of the indie games that take inspiration from them, this being another game from Sony in that vein seemed like it would be right up my alley. And sure enough, it was.

While I don't think it competes with the best of this style of game, it was still really enjoyable and stood out for having its own identity too. The concept of playing an invisible character who can be seen when the rain falls on them is really neat. In terms of the puzzles it facilitates, they are mostly pretty simple and not the most original, but there are some good moments. Usually they involve sneaking around to avoid some monster, who also follows the same invisibility rules as you. So there are situations where they can move in an out of visibility as well, or a large non-aggressive creature can be used as cover to hide from other enemies. It can lead to a little bit of fiddly navigation though, as it can be very hard to pick out where your character is in dry areas sometimes, only being able to see your tiny footprints. That is also not helped by the times when you are accompanied by an AI partner as well since it can be hard to pick out which footprints are yours. But for the most part, the mechanics do their job, and provide a very unique visual presentation to deliver them.

And speaking of visuals, this game is extremely pretty. The environments look very impressive. It's set in what appears to be an early 20th century French city of sorts, with all the old buildings and such, on a rainy night where the warm glow of the few street lights cut through the hazy dimness and reflect off the puddles below. The set design is great too, with the fixed camera angles always showing some really picturesque and atmospheric scene. The sound design of the calming rain backing the delicate and minimalist piano score just sets the mood of everything perfectly as well. The game uses Clair de Lune as its theme song, so that gives you an idea of the tone it's going for. Later on in the game it also transitions partially to a more surreal looking world, where the buildings change to be more abstract and brutalist, in and almost Escher-esque way, as it becomes clear the game takes place in some sort of dream world.

The story was very light, and sort of predictable for this sort of game, but still charming. It's clearly some sort of metaphor for confronting the fear of the unknown. There's a particular monster that stalks you throughout the game, literally called "The Unknown", and as you journey further in to the city away from places that your character would be familiar with, that is when the world starts changing to look odd and oppressive, with the narration stating that this is "the world of The Unknown". This creature is hurt by the light, which I took to mean the light of knowledge and familiarity. You know, shedding light on something makes it become known and not scary anymore. The story is also bookended by some watercolour styled slides that are really nice looking as well. They're the most colourful parts of the game, and the only bits that take place during the day, but the style is a really good way to create the impression of rain in an artistic way too.

As far as I can tell, the people who worked on this haven't done anything since, and a good chunk of them don't appear to have done anything else in games at all. Or maybe they've been hidden away uncredited on some stuff I don't know about. Either way it's a real shame, because some really talented people clearly worked on this, and it shows a lot of potential for hypothetical future projects, yet it looks like that just didn't happen. And even if these people did work on other things at Sony afterwards, given that they recently all but closed down their Japanese development studio completely, I bet that means the door is basically shut on that now. A real shame. Maybe a few of them followed Fumito Ueda or Keiichiro Toyama to their new studios.
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stvnorman
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by stvnorman »

Spoiler: show
9 January: Resident Evil 4 (GameCube)
12 January: Power Drift (ZX Spectrum)
15 January: Resident Evil 3 Remake (PS4)
16 January: Castlevania - Rondo of Blood (PC-Engine Mini)
17 January: Wonderful Dizzy (ZX Spectrum)
23 January: V-Rally 3 (Game Boy Advance)
30 January: Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (PS4)
6 February: White Jaguar (ZX Spectrum)
8 February: Alien Planet Underwater Research (ZX Spectrum)
13 February: Indiana Jones & the Fountain of Everlasting Life (ZX Spectrum)
15 February: Batman - The Video Game (Mega Drive)
16 February: Scooby Doo (ZX Spectrum)
17 February: World of Illusion (Mega Drive)
18 February: Akumajō Dracula - Castlevania (NES on Switch)
20 February: Super Star Wars (SNES)
28 February: Cyber Shadow (Xbox One)
3 March: Double Kick Heroes (Xbox One)
4 March: Battletoads (Xbox One)
4 March: Jaws (ZX Spectrum)
8 March: Shao-Lin’s Road (ZX Spectrum)
9 March: Shao-Lin’s Road (Arcade on PS1)
10 March: The Medium (Xbox Series X)
13 March: Donut County (Xbox Series X)
15 March: Gears 5 (Xbox Series X)
18 March: Frankenstein’s Monster (Atari 2600)
19 March: Star Fox 64 3D (3DS)
21 March: Undertale (Xbox Series X)
25 March: Dragon Quest (Switch)
28 March: Wreckfest (Xbox Series X)
2 April: Genesis Noir (Xbox Series X)
6 April: Narita Boy (Xbox Series X)
10 April: Commando (Arcade on Switch)
14 April: Outriders (Xbox Series X)
19 April: Dirt 5 (Xbox Series X)
30 April: Danterrifik III (ZX Spectrum)

Game Pass really delivering here, with three great games in the space of a week... Pointing, clicking and jazzing, and somehow I still didn’t hate Genesis Noir - quite the opposite, actually! Then Narita Boy was a brilliant metroidvania of sorts homage to the eighties, and Outriders got that shooting and looting thing spot on! Dirt 5’s lighting effects kept me going far longer than its fairly uninspiring career mode deserved. After that I lost myself in Final Fantasy VII Remake, but did make my way through new ZX Spectrum game Danterrifik III; plays like Super Meat Boy meets Manic Miner, looks like Downwell in a Nazi cathedral, and has the best music you’ve ever heard on there !
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Quiet Paul
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Quiet Paul »

New Pokemon Snap

It’s good! Some courses are definitely better than others but I’m still learning all the secrets of the levels and finding all the unique situations. Loving the online ranking system though! Bit too much exposition for me in the early stages but definitely worth a play if you enjoyed the original.
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Games Completed 2021

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Finished Ion Fury for PS4 tonight. Fun, really tough in certain places, a little bit too long for its own good.

Generally enjoyable and a fun throwback to an old style of FPS.
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Tolkientaters
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Re: Games Completed 2021

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Played Streets of Rage 4 because of the high reviews on the podcast. It's my first 2d brawler and I loved it. It's just pure video game game fun, I'm definitely gonna be replaying to unlock more characters.
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ironedflemming
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ironedflemming »

11 - Max Payne (PC)

Such a blast! had never actually finished this, got about half way through the PS2 version back in the day and gave up due to the difficulty. Persevered this time and was well rewarded, combat and atmosphere are still top notch and overall this is still a fantastic action game.
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Alex79
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Alex79 »

Alex79uk wrote: January 1st, 2021, 1:25 pmJAN - 80 Days (Android)
JAN - What Remains Of Edith Finch (PS4)
JAN - Judgment (PS4)
JAN - Donut County (Android)
FEB - Gorogoa (Android)
FEB - Horace (Switch)
FEB - Castlevania (NES on Switch)
FEB - Akumajō Dracula (Famicom on Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: Back To The Future (Switch)
MAR - Pinball FX3: E.T. (Switch)
APR - Fantasy Zone (1cc) (Arcade on Switch)
APR - Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4)
APR - There Is No Game: Game Jam Edition (Android)

I downloaded the 'full' game on my phone, but thought I'd play the prototype one first since it was free. It was fun, some clever puzzles, nice and short - you can finish it in about 15 minutes, but worth a play.

MAY - Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (Switch)

This ended up surprising me really. I didn't realise the combat was semi real time, and had no knowledge of the whole monster collecting mechanic, which ended up making for a game like a mashup between Pokemon and Persona or something. I enjoyed it, though. Looks gorgeous, sounds nice, combat was fun and training up your familiars was cool. The story was fairly rote and didn't throw up many surprises, and the side quests never amounted to much more than 'get mission, fix heart, get reward' but they were OK, I found myself skipping through the text for most of them as hearing about how some kid has lost his ambition for the 20th time became tedious. Took me about 70 hours, but I did a lot of grinding whilst watching TV. Glad I played it, and I did enjoy it, but not sure I'm interested in the sequel, think I've had my fill of this one.
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OneCreditBen
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by OneCreditBen »



Kid Dracula
NES
One Credit Clear

Nazi bosses, and an odd bonus round where you've got to guess the colour of a dancing girls pants aside, this was good clean family fun. Really enjoyable playthrough as well, I fancy a no death at this at some point.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Spoiler: show
8 Jan - Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PS4)
10 Jan - Donut County (Android)
20 Jan - Dark Souls Remastered (Switch)
23 Jan - Bastion (Switch)
30 Jan - Hitman 3 (PS4)
15 Feb - Loco Motive (Itch)
21 Feb - The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt (Switch)
26 Feb - The Witcher III: Hearts of Stone (Switch)
4 Mar - Quarantine Circular (Switch)
6 Mar - Bury Me, My Love (Android)
14 Mar - Dishonored Death of the Outsider (Steam)
15 Mar - The Witcher III: Blood and Wine (Switch)
18 Mar - Dishonored 2 (Steam)
26 Mar - Paradise Killer (Switch)
30 April - Monster Hunter Rise (Switch)
6 May - Monster Hunter World (PS4)

Went back to this after falling in love with Rise. I "get" the gameplay now, I understand how these games want to be played and in general I'm just in a frame of mind to enjoy them. I still think I needed Rise as the gateway, the tone of this remains an awkward mix of serious commanders and admirals grumping around tables with maps and battle plans on to appease western audiences, and the joviality and fun that's clearly inherent to the series.

The environments are incredible though, and although I'm used to having wirebugs to get around at lightning speed now, the lack of them here suits a console and telly experience as you're going around appreciating the level of detail and fidelity on show. Really enjoyed trekking around them, particularly the final region that gets unlocked for the last few hunts and the always gorgeous Coral Highlands.

I only had three elder dragons and the final boss still to do where I had left off, and they were all terrific fights. I connected with some friendly randoms from my timezone so predominantly Japan and we battered them. Been using the insect glaive since that still provides a lot of the mobility and mid-air maneuvring you get in Rise.

Vanilla campaign done. Now I'm off to the Icebourne content!
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Indiana747
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Indiana747 »

(Jan) Call of the Sea - Series X.
(Jan) Remember Me - PS3.
(Jan) Ghostbusters Remastered - Series X
(Feb) Disney Infinity 2.0 - PS4 Pro.
(Feb) Batman: Arkham Knight - PS4 Pro.
(Feb) Sacred 3 - PS3.
(Feb) The Darkness II - PS3.
(Feb) The Bureau: XCOM Declassified - PS3.
(Mar) Gears 5: Hivebusters - Series X.
(Mar) Silent Hill: Downpour - PS3.
(Mar) The Medium - Series X.
(Mar) Donut County - Series X.
(Mar) Astro's Playroom - PS5.
(Apr) Outriders - Series X.
(May) Lego City Undercover - Wii U.
(May) Ghost of Tsushima - PS5.
HaloFandango
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by HaloFandango »

ThirdDrawing wrote: May 4th, 2021, 5:18 am Finished Ion Fury for PS4 tonight. Fun, really tough in certain places, a little bit too long for its own good.

Generally enjoyable and a fun throwback to an old style of FPS.
I really need to pick this game up when it goes on sale! Shame it couldn't have been called Ion Maiden, but hey, that's lawyers for you!

Are there are ton of creative weapons like in the older Build Engine games?
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OneCreditBen
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by OneCreditBen »

Rocky - Sega Master System

Video out on Wednesday.
Nearly ripped a hole in my T Shirt trying to get the speedbag bonus round done properly.
Loads of fun overall though, and nice how it progresses through the main opponents in the first 4 films.
Decent.
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ThirdDrawing »

HaloFandango wrote: May 7th, 2021, 5:15 am I really need to pick this game up when it goes on sale! Shame it couldn't have been called Ion Maiden, but hey, that's lawyers for you!

Are there are ton of creative weapons like in the older Build Engine games?
I would say the weapons are fairly typical, there's nothing crazy like a BFG, though you do have a crossbow which is a neat change, and pretty useful at times.
HaloFandango
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by HaloFandango »

ThirdDrawing wrote: May 10th, 2021, 6:15 am
HaloFandango wrote: May 7th, 2021, 5:15 am I really need to pick this game up when it goes on sale! Shame it couldn't have been called Ion Maiden, but hey, that's lawyers for you!

Are there are ton of creative weapons like in the older Build Engine games?
I would say the weapons are fairly typical, there's nothing crazy like a BFG, though you do have a crossbow which is a neat change, and pretty useful at times.
Awesome, gotta love crossbows in games! That's definitely a recommendation ;)
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ironedflemming
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by ironedflemming »

12 - Ghost Recon Wildlands - PS5

Played this over 4 months dipping in and out which definitely helped as it is very repetitive in it's design and mission structure but had a good time with it, the world is beautiful and varied and had some fun times stealthy sniping my way into enemy bases. Played some co-op with a mate too which was a lot fun with everything descending into unplanned chaos. Some of the mechanics could have used work, shooting is just ok and the driving is pretty bad but the main fault is the tone being all over the place - one minute your in a serious military shooter and then the next a silly pulpy explosion fest. I wish they would go with a more Just Cause/ Mercenaries vibe with this series and just embrace the whole silly b-movieness of the premise.

13 - Alan Wake - PC

Really enjoyed, great atmosphere and story - simple but satisfying gameplay that didn't outstay it's welcome. Episode structure worked really well too, played one episode a day which was just the right amount to stop the gameplay from getting repetitive. Didn't play the two DLC episodes as i feel I've had my fill for now. PC port is great too, looked great and ran well. Leaves gamepass on May 15th so definitely worth checking out before it's gone!
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Scrustle
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Scrustle »

Spoiler: show
05/01 - Brutal Legend
07/01 - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
13/01 - Sludge Life
17/01 - AER: Memories of Old
19/01 - Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (Human - Nero/Dante)
05/03 - CrossCode: A New Home
14/03 - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
17/03 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (100cc)
02/04 - Drakengard (Endings A-D)
14/04 - Drakengard 2 (Ending A)
28/04 - Drakengard 3 (Endings A-D)
02/05 - Rain
10/05 - God of War: Chains of Olympus HD

This still stands up as a pretty good entry in the franchise, but unfortunately the second half pales in comparison to the first quite a bit. I still stand by what I said recently about this game, but it does end up kind of running out of fresh ideas in the latter half. The first half is set in a temple that is visually interesting since it takes place during a supernatural endless night, so there's some nice architecture and ethereal special effects going on. The latter half has you thrown down in to the Underworld, yet again, and so that mostly consists of caves and cliffs. As I was playing through I realised that I have a much stronger memory of the first half of this game than the second, and I think that is why.

The gameplay kind of goes off the rails a bit later on as well. They introduce a new melee weapon, a bit gauntlet, and that is pretty fun to use. But they tend to start throwing in excessive amounts of archer enemies in to fights with other tough opponents as well, and it's really annoying having them constantly staggering you while you're trying to focus on other stuff. It also ends with a pretty bad final boss as well. The first phase has an absurd amount of health, but can eat through yours very quickly. They can attack from off-screen, and can stun-lock you to a degree as well. Also the emulation seemed to have some problems here as well. In the first phase there was no music, and in the second half the lighting was broken.

Also who you fight as the final boss kind of comes out of nowhere and makes it feel unsatisfying as a final confrontation. The game sets up Morpheus as being the main antagonist, since he's the one who turned the world to eternal night, but he never actually appears in the game at all. Instead in the last few minutes Persephone shows up out of nowhere and is the final threat because she wants to take over the world for some reason.

I don't want to be too down on the game though. It's still good overall, and it never gets outright bad, except for maybe that last boss. But in general it's solid and enjoyable, and that first half is genuinely pretty good. Not sure what I'll do next though. For ages I've been thinking about replaying these PSP games and GoW2, but never decided on exactly the right order. On one hand I want to play them in semi-chronological order, so Ghost of Sparta would be next. But on the other hand I don't want to have the PSP games back-to-back, since that might risk them blending together too much, so maybe it's a better idea to split them up with GoW2.
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Tolkientaters
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by Tolkientaters »

I just finished Resident Evil Village, it's the 5th Resident Evil game I've played (REmake 2/3, RE4, and RE7 before). I liked it, it's got a good amount of variety in environments and it has some solid setpiece boss fights. It focuses more on action which it doesn't nail the same way RE4 did, but it does have more enemy and encounter variety than 7.

It also focused on a more serious story more which didn't work for me, I wish they would have toned it down or gone goofier like in 4. It did have one standout horror scene that managed to get under my skin and genuinely scare me in a section that was psychological horror.

It's certainly not a perfect game, but it's a little better than 7 for me since it stays fresh longer and never really drags on, but it didn't hit the heights of RE4 or the remakes for me. It's definitely worth seeking out if you liked RE7.
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Re: Games Completed 2021

Post by dezm0nd »

I too finished RE8 and I really enjoyed it. Found it to be more of a ghost train ride than RE7 as it definitely wants to entertain you rather than scare you.

I found some of it laugh out loud funny and I believe that's by design. The game feels more like Resident Evil again with its theatrical cut scenes and goofy enemies/bosses. I found the main characters who reside in the village to be a great balance of weird in very different ways and the game was never a slog to get through. It felt near perfectly paced, never out staying its welcome.

Think i'll be headed back in for some New Game+ action.
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