Malwren Ritter

I could go on all day about how amazing this game is but I’ll try to keep it as short as I can. WOW. I didn’t know how I’d feel about a game that didn’t have any crafting or leveling up at first.. or how that could even work for an open world game like this one. It became clear early on that the game uses the players own knowledge/discovery to progress them through the story which is such a unique gameplay dynamic. The more you learn the more places you’ll uncover, completely immersing you in the wonderfully written narrative of OW. Every planet functions almost like its own puzzle ready to be figured out. I found myself in awe at the game devs ability to turn each planets environment and landscape into masterfully done brain teaser in disguise. The satisfaction of unraveling part of the mystery every time you have a eureka moment is unmatched. The constant “ooohs” and “ahhhhs” and “what is THAT?” you experience truly makes you feel a childlike wonder. And the story… man… I can’t even hear the theme song without tearing up. Never have I had such a profound existential experience with an ending to a game before. I’ve also only seen my fiance cry 4 times in 7 years and OW did it to him if that tells you anything. Such a beautiful message, story, and journey with an amazing soundtrack to go along with it. The DLC also got me sobbing, despite the spookiness of it all. Base Game: 10/10 DLC: 9/10 Can’t recommend this game enough. It’s truly a game that will stick with you for a long time.

After playing Until Dawn i decided to try out the Dark Pictures Anthology, and in my opinion this is the best one by a long shot. I think what really impressed me with this one was the dialogue. I often find the writing a little corny in these types of games, but in House of Ashes I found it to be really well done. The characters were realistic and interesting, which had me at the edge of my seat trying to keep all of them alive. Seeing the unlikely friendships you can choose to form throughout the game put a smile on my face, coupled with some really cool action scenes. All of this put together made for a 10/10 game in my opinion, and if they turned House of Ashes into a movie I’d definitely buy a ticket. Highly recommend!

I can’t praise this game enough. The swimming part of video games have always been my least favorite, so i didn’t expect to enjoy this game as much as I did. The atmosphere was beautiful with a wide variety of biomes and aquatic alien life to explore. Crafting tools and building an underwater home for yourself is both challenging and rewarding. And the storyline was very well written, even bringing me to tears at the end. All that said: this game is equally as fascinating as it is terrifying. Venturing into deep caves, and wide open ocean full of dangerous creatures always had me scared enough to hesitate before swimming further. “WHAT IS THAT?” I found myself asking in both horror and awe countless times. Long story short: you won’t regret playing this game. It truly is a masterpiece.

I’m a big fan of choice narrative games and have played quite a few. I have to say this is by far the most beautifully done narrative game I’ve ever played. It’s completely blown me away. I never expected a game about domestic androids to be more gripping and emotional than most human character games. The writing is beautifully done and the choices heavily impact gameplay, especially considering main characters can actually die if you’re not careful. It adds so much realism and urgency to protecting yourself and those you love. One thing I will say, i played on PC using keybindings and it is a bit difficult, especially in situations where you need to hit keys fast to stay alive. If you have the option to play on console or on controller I’d recommend. Nothing is worse than almost accidentally killing a child because you couldn’t hit W fast enough.

when I found out the land map was the same map from botw I was worried I’d get bored easily. but i quickly realized this was not the case at all and this takes the cake as one of the best open world games Ive ever played. It’s not the “same old Hyrule” I was expecting. The map feels just familiar enough, yet completely new at the same time. Not to mention the two new maps that equal in size to Hyrule, making for an absolutely massive area to cover, each of the maps holds an important role in the overall story with a nice flow that has you diving off of sky islands one second and plunging into the the deep dark depths of the Hyrule underworld the next. The gameplay mechanics in totk are like nothing I’ve ever played before. Even with 150+ hours in you still find yourself stopping to say “wait I can do WHAT?” The endless combinations of things you can build, weapons you can craft etc is just phenomenal. Im not normally a fan of puzzles but they’re brilliantly done in totk, not just the shrines but even the subtle ones scattered around that you might miss if you’re not paying attention. They’re challenging yet interesting and satisfying. Overall, I think this game is fabulous. You can tell the game developers really put their heart and soul into creating it.