Christopher Gardiner

Silksong... Silksong is a masterpiece. The story, the lore, the art style, the environmental storytelling, the music, everything is polished to an insane degree. As someone who loved the original Hollow Knight when I played it this year, SIlksong blew all of my (and probably everyone else who's a fan of HK) insane expectations after about 7 years of waiting. My immersion and interest never waned, even when the game wanted me to do collecting item tasks, I was still engaged, and the same goes during some of the runbacks this game makes you do, maybe I just have more of a tolerance for it? But seriously, the runbacks aren't that bad (except for that one swamp area I will admit). The difficulty, while seemingly contentious, is exactly what I wanted from 'more Hollow Knight' It never beats you while your down, and it makes victory all the more sweeter. AND, at only 20$, this game is literally the best example of value, I've been playing for more than 80 hours and I STILL have not seen everything the game has to offer yet, I'm at 85% completion right now after seeing all the endings... As i said, for only 20$, this game only proves to AAA devs that a game with heart, soul, passion, will rise in an era of AAA slop. Seriously you owe it to yourself to get this game. My game of the year alongside the original Hollow Knight.

My game of the year for 2024, a fantastic, underrated masterpiece. Deserves to be talked about among the greats like Hollow Knight. Engaging gameplay and some of the best boss fights in gaming. Finally taking down every boss in this game after hours of attempts on each made me the most satisfied I've ever felt playing a video game. And on top of that, the final boss is on par with the final boss of Sekiro, it's a masterclass fight, really pushing you to master every single mechanic you've been taught over the course of the game if you want to succeed. The story is also amazing, which proceeded to rip my heart out and step on it. The story, on top of the gameplay and combat, is a core focus of Nine Sols. It's not like Hollow Knight where you have to go searching to understand the story. There is lore logs hidden throughout the map, and through character bios, but it's extra flavor rather than hiding the entire story away there like Hollow Knight does. And as I said before, the true ending made me cry. This is due a lot to the fact that this game isn't afraid to take things slow at points, letting you bond with the characters in the Four Seasons Pavilion. I loved that about it, a game with intentional downtime is something you rarely see. The music is also great. So please, if you haven't played this game yet, please do so. It's a masterpiece you will never forget.

By the end of the game (Solstice run included) I felt like Niko was my best friend that I had known for years, and I cried. Please play this game.

My first, and my favorite fighting game of all time. AMAZING SOUNDTRACK/OST. This OST will live in your head rent free for a long time. Excellent tutorial for fighting game newbies and veterans alike. Covers complex concepts in a way that's easy for newer players to understand. Better lobby system than 99% of the big budget AAA fighting games. No quening for a fight and then getting locked in a position with a sword, just find someone you want to fight, click on them, and you can choose to request a fight with them right from the menu. You will also be able to see your ping to the other player, how many hours they have, as well as be able to spectate their next lobby fight, or request training. You can also customize with a huge variety of lobby items that are purchased from the shop with salt. Salt is earned either by finding chests in the Overworld, or going for a salt mines run. If you and another player both contest a chest on the overworld, you will fight and the winner of the fight (best 2 rounds out of 3) will get the salt from the chest. The story mode is way better than most fighting games that have come out or are coming out too. No arcade mode fights with small comic book pages or 'cinematic' cutscenes. An actual story mode that's like a top down sprite pixel based RPG, with many different fights sprinkled in between. I won't spoil any of that stuff though. Only Arizona's chapter is currently available, but the rest of them are in development and will all be added in free updates in the future. For 15$, this game is remarkable gameplay and presentation wise. It's so shocking how much these guys have done better than the bigger guys. I would recommend it, EASILY! It's my favorite fighting game of all time.