General Gaming ~*D1P's Games of 2021*~

[SaysWho?]

Returnal -- Great, great game. A wonderful achievement from Housemarque.

 

The best way to put it is that it's a roguelike, and many compare it to Metroid as a third person Super Metroid they never got. There are some things I wondered going into Returnal -- are some of the reviews saying there aren't enough permanent upgrades true? Will progression feel good? How much content is there?

 

First, Returnal being a roguelike allows it to use the scifi "Groundhog's Day" trope effortlessly. You might as well be sci-fi for a gameplay loop like this. Second, there's plenty of progression. I don't remember as much about Dead Cells, which I think is the last roguelike I played, but I do remember permanent stat upgrades being a thing. While there isn't really any of that here, the upgrades work as follows:

 

1. New weapons -- you're going to find a bunch of weapons from chests and strong enemies in each biome. Finding new weapons allows them to enter that circulation.

2. Alt-fire modes -- Alt-fire modes are secondary fire on your weapons, and some of them in particular are crazy good. With them permanently unlocked, they'll also be available for weapons you pick up.

3. Weapon perks -- Weapon perks are probably underrated if you're just hearing about them. They'll shoot waves, they'll shoot homing missiles, they'll open up portals that home in on enemies, they'll increase the chance that an enemy will drop health, they'll explode on impact, they'll stagger enemies easier (crucial to get some of them in this colorful rave of enemy bullets to stop shooting at you), they'll greatly increase the rate of fire, etc. etc. etc. etc. Going into the game, even though I was looking forward to playing, weapon perks being "permanent" upgrades that'll randomly appear on weapons sounded a bit lacking, but it's really not. Those perks can transform some weapons into powerhouses.

4. Traversal -- Inaccessible places become accessible. Sometimes, this means you have an easy way to get to the next biome the next time you restart the cycle. Sometimes, that means you can get to places that have really helpful pickups to extend your health, or ether (more on that later), or suit augments. If you come across a place that's impossible to get through, it'll become possible once you get the permanent upgrade.

5. Consumable slot -- You'll get an extra consumable slot for items sometime in the game.

6. Ether -- Ether is a resource that stays with you when you die. You use it to exchange for suit upgrades that'll permanently unlock the chance of finding them in a level, to starting a cycle off with a suit artifact/augment, to exchanging for obolites that you'll use to buy temporary upgrades, to being able to resurrect yourself when you die in a biome. 

7. Suit artifacts and augments -- Whether it's a datacube or something found in a hidden place or at the middle/end of a path, once you find one, you'll be able to purchase/find them during your cycle.

 

So permanent stat upgrades aren't really a thing, and perhaps if they do another roguelike, they'll make it more of a thing. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel like I was progressing. Due to all of this, especially in Act 2, I felt I was way more prepared to handle enemies due to how good a new weapon was or how good a new upgrade was. The hollowseeker was all right early in the game but became a monster later with an upgrade that frequently comes with the weapon. 

 

The combat itself is riveting. It's fast, it controls great, it feels great, there are a few dips but it's a mostly 60fps colorful feast for the eyes, and beating a boss feels like an accomplishment. No better feeling than having a biome kick your ass several times and then finally beating the boss, knowing that you'll always be able to get to the next biome relatively quickly with the boss gone and over with.

 

Don't sit on the soundtrack either. Biome 4 has gotten raves for the music that plays on the leadup to the boss, and it's pretty good shit. Then the boss music itself is really cool. 

 

Give this game a chance; it's worth every penny.

 

 

2021 Games

 

Demon's Souls Remake (2nd playthrough)

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney -- Trials and Tribulations

Days Gone

Astro's Playroom

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time

Ratchet & Clank Future: Into The Nexus

Braid

Returnal

[SaysWho?]

Did RE Village, got the true ending to Returnal, and now finished ME1.

 

Why are we feasting on so many games?

 

2021 Games

 

Demon's Souls Remake (2nd playthrough)

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney -- Trials and Tribulations

Days Gone

Astro's Playroom

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time

Ratchet & Clank Future: Into The Nexus

Braid

Returnal

Resident Evil Village

Returnal (true ending)

Mass Effect 1

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Resident Evil VIIIage. That was really great. Rarely an I disappointed by a game in this series, or at least one of the main games.

 

RE VIII (PC)

Mafia: Definitive Edition (PC)

Assassin's Creed Valhalla (PC)

[dualhunter]

I finished Beyond Oasis. It wasn't bad but I feel bad for those poor kids who had a Genesis but no SNES and had to make do with this instead of Legend of Zelda.

[crispy4000]

Prince of Persia 2008
 

I beat Warrior Within and Two Thrones back to back a few years ago, so I needed a hiatus from the Prince even though I owned this game.  It’s different enough to hardly overlap with those games though.  The challenge is close to zilch with how much they automated, not even including the auto-save-you mechanic that makes death nothing.

 

But it’s also pretty relaxing to play as a result.  I bounced off Uncharted 4 earlier this year (will get back to it at some point), but all the sliding down ramps reminds me a ton of that game.  But here its consistently cakewalk.  The only thing you’ll be fighting outside of some dial-a-combo enemies are the controls for shifting around poles and turning levers.  They suck, so bad.

 

Best part of it, surprisingly, is the puzzles.  There’s some well crafted ones in there that wouldn’t be out of place in a decent Zelda dungeon.  I’d play a game more focused on that.

 

Presentation is also great for the time, though Nolan North as the prince was a mistake.  The plot has an incredible stroke of brilliance at the end, but it’s totally marred by the poor character development that led up to that point.

Overall, PoP 2008 is the most flawed game I’ve played recently.  But it’s still somehow very enjoyable in a mindless, relaxing way. I’d still recommend it.  But play the previous trilogy first.

 

7.5/10

I’ll give both versions of Forgotten Sands a go at some point later.

 

2021 games
Hades - 10
FFIX - 9  (8 without speed boosters)
Captain Toad - 8.5
Minit - 7.5

Yoku's Island Express - 8

Prince of Persia 2008 - 7.5

[Brick]

After a bit of hiatus I beat Bloodborne. Debating with myself to play through again and get the Platinum, or move on to Dark Souls III right away. 

[Bacon]

Yo, so has anyone heard of a game called Elex 

 

[Chris-]

I beat Diablo 3 for the fourth time.

[BloodyHell]

REVIII- Liked it, but didn't love it. I really prefer 3rd person RE (I guess I just prefer 3rd person, RE or not). It was certainly not a bad game, just less than I was expecting. I did like the antagonists, but Im not very fond of our hero. I really wish we had gotten Claire or Chris instead of more Ethan. 

 

Ratchet and Clank: absolutely incredible. A blast from start to finish. Rivet is a great new character who deserves her own game. Or even just DLC. Honestly, I think she's a better character than Ratchet. 

 

Curse of the Dead Gods: Probably the hardest game I've ever beaten, and I loved it. It took me months to finish it. I know people generally don't enjoy games that are too hard, but this game deserves way more love than it received. 

 

FF7R Intermission: I love Yuffie, and I did not love Yuffie before I played this. I thought she was ok, but bei.g an unnecessary part of FF7, she didn't get a ton of back story. They really made her a great character, and made a great story that we haven't gotten before. 

[SaysWho?]

Mass Effect 2 -

 

 

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart -

 

 

2021 Games

 

Demon's Souls Remake (2nd playthrough)

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney -- Trials and Tribulations

Days Gone

Astro's Playroom

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time

Ratchet & Clank Future: Into The Nexus

Braid

Returnal

Resident Evil Village

Returnal (true ending)

Mass Effect 1

Mass Effect 2

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

[Remarkableriots]

Maneater

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Days Gone (I got the Platinum but didn't want to do the added DLC but maybe later)

 

[crispy4000]

 

Glad I took people's recommendation with it.  The presentation of its 'tricks' and 'trials' is the best part of it.  Oxenfree is definitely a game that excels in how it tells its story.  That's what will stick with me.

 

Dialogue gets a little Life is Strange-y at times (which I'm not as partial to).  And the time twists with Michael felt a little forced perhaps.  But otherwise, nothing to critique here.  I'll be in for the sequel.

8 / 10
 

2021 games
Hades - 10
FFIX - 9  (8 without speed boosters)
Captain Toad - 8.5
Minit - 7.5

Yoku's Island Express - 8

Prince of Persia 2008 - 7.5

Oxenfree - 8

[Brick]

Crysis 2 is done after months of playing it on and off. I really don't care for this series.

[SaysWho?]

I'm always sad when ME3 ends, especially the Citadel DLC.  

 

2021 Games

 

Demon's Souls Remake (2nd playthrough)

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney -- Trials and Tribulations

Days Gone

Astro's Playroom

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time

Ratchet & Clank Future: Into The Nexus

Braid

Returnal

Resident Evil Village

Returnal (true ending)

Mass Effect 1

Mass Effect 2

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Mass Effect 3

[johnny]

in the last like 5 days i’ve finished the mass effect legendary edition, doki doki literature club plus, and shadow of the tomb raider (i started it a while ago and slowly chipped away at it)

[Remarkableriots]

Finished Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales!

[Phaseknox]

I finished Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, it took me roughly 100 hours primarily doing the main story quests and Wrath of the Druids expansion content. I did very little optional side stuff other than raids since the majority of it felt like filler to me.

 

While I enjoyed the story and characters for the most part, the core gameplay loop was repetitive and I basically had to force myself to finish it near the end since I grew tired of it. This was not the case with Odyssey which I enjoyed more overall, I preferred its colorful ancient Greece setting and gameplay/combat. And as much as I liked Eivor, I enjoyed playing as Kassandra more. She’s actually one of my favorite more recent game protagonists.

 

The Wrath of the Druids expansion content is pretty good, but is somewhat brief and not worth $25 IMO. But it felt like a natural part of the game instead of tacked-on content, and I’m glad that I experienced it since it offers a nice little side story with a satisfying conclusion.

 

2021 games

Cyberpunk 2077

The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors

Crossing Souls

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

[crispy4000]

 

Never played the original release or PS3 remaster, so the PS4 remake was my first experience with the game.

 

Overall, I enjoyed it, and can see why its regarded as a classic.  I played couple boss rush games that came out later, but its open world sections still make it feel very unique its own.  It’s padding, sure, but that downtime also makes it better paced than a straight up boss attack.

 

I’d also praise the controls schematics.  Holding R to grab onto ledges or keep your balance is extremely smart in a tactile sense.  I don’t understand why this hasn’t been adopted in more 3rd person action adventure games.  I’d credit the original Prince of Persia for this, but it’s just as good of an idea now.

 

I also found it refreshing not having the character totally tethered to the camera.  The horse gave me no problems either, I think BoTW’s are more unruly.  And climbing most of them is pretty cake, at least in the remaster.

 

The game’s biggest flaw is that the central puzzle/gimmick of each boss fight is too plain.  And for there being 15 of them, only ~3 are somewhat hard to execute.  It reminds me of how 3D Zelda Bosses got to be pre-Skyward Sword:  solve the simple riddle, then do the thing.  But Shadow pads it purely with scale.  It would be a much better game if each colossus changed up tactics more.  I was expecting multi-part epic showcases.  Only the the last one truly gets there.

 

As far as feeling like an old game, only the enemy collision detection feels super off.  Maybe the jumping is a bit floaty, but I didn’t mind.  It feels pretty modern to me otherwise, Bluepoint did a great job.

 

9/10

2021 games
Hades - 10
FFIX - 9  (8 without speed boosters)
Captain Toad - 8.5
Minit - 7.5

Yoku's Island Express - 8

Prince of Persia 2008 - 7.5

Oxenfree - 8

Shadow of the Colossus (remake) - 9

[SaysWho?]

On 7/17/2021 at 12:30 AM, crispy4000 said:

 

Never played the original release or PS3 remaster, so the PS4 remake was my first experience with the game.

 

Overall, I enjoyed it, and can see why its regarded as a classic.  I played couple boss rush games that came out later, but its open world sections still make it feel very unique its own.  It’s padding, sure, but that downtime also makes it better paced than a straight up boss attack.

 

I’d also praise the controls schematics.  Holding R to grab onto ledges or keep your balance is extremely smart in a tactile sense.  I don’t understand why this hasn’t been adopted in more 3rd person action adventure games.  I’d credit the original Prince of Persia for this, but it’s just as good of an idea now.

 

I also found it refreshing not having the character totally tethered to the camera.  The horse gave me no problems either, I think BoTW’s are more unruly.  And climbing most of them is pretty cake, at least in the remaster.

 

The game’s biggest flaw is that the central puzzle/gimmick of each boss fight is too plain.  And for there being 15 of them, only ~3 are somewhat hard to execute.  It reminds me of how 3D Bosses got to be pre-Skyward Sword:  solve the simple riddle, then do the thing.  But Shadow pads it purely with scale.  It would be a much better game if each colossus changed up tactics more.  I was expecting multi-part epic showcases.  Only the the last one truly gets there.

 

As far as feeling like an old game, only the enemy collision detection feels super off.  Maybe the jumping is a bit floaty, but I didn’t mind.  It feels pretty modern to me otherwise, Bluepoint did a great job.

 

9/10

 

 

2021 games
Hades - 10
FFIX - 9  (8 without speed boosters)
Captain Toad - 8.5
Minit - 7.5

Yoku's Island Express - 8

Prince of Persia 2008 - 7.5

Oxenfree - 8

Shadow of the Colossus (remake) - 9

 

I remember out of the 16 colossi, colossus 12 took me around two hours to beat because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to scale it. This was at launch when the original released, and looking back, I really don't understand how since it's not really that complicated. I think I was just afraid to 

Spoiler

go in the water, thinking the colossus was going to smash the hell out of me if I did.

 

[SaysWho?]

Two-Point Hospital is one addictive sumbitch.

 

2021 Games

 

Demon's Souls Remake (2nd playthrough)

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney -- Trials and Tribulations

Days Gone

Astro's Playroom

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time

Ratchet & Clank Future: Into The Nexus

Braid

Returnal

Resident Evil Village

Returnal (true ending)

Mass Effect 1

Mass Effect 2

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Mass Effect 3

Two-Point Hospital

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart NG+

[Brian]

RE Village - 8/10 - I liked it way more than 7. I definitely understand the comparison to 4 but it doesn’t top 4 for me.  I hope RE9 is Chris and full on action. Let’s go 

 

R&C Rift Apart - 9/10 - I didn’t necessarily love all the weapons but it is one of the better R&C games. The rifts while cool, didn’t add much. 
 

Persona 5 Strikers - 7/10 - Really fun action RPG that allows you to revisit the Persona world without the side stuff. Definitely drags on a bit too long. 

2021 Games

SackBoy a Big Adventure

Yakuza 7

Pikmin 3

[XxEvil AshxX]

This year's actually been a bit more productive than I realized. Mainly due to the little Backlog Bingo game I was playing on my blog. Too bad I never actually got a Bingo lol. 

 

Streets of Rage 4

Mass Effect Andromeda

Sea of Solitude

Nightmares of the Deep 3

The Touryst

Star Wars Republic Commando

The Evil Within 2

The Maid of Sker

Splinter Cell Double Agent (Xbox)

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy

The Medium

Bound By Flame

Fable III

Raji: An Ancient Epic

[TheLeon]

I had a hard time playing games the first half of this year, but in the last month or so I've been able to get back into it. I finished Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, and just now wrapped the pixel remake of FF1 (the first FF game I ever finished!). Now do I move on to another remaster, or actually play something new-ish? 

[Brian]

Finished 12 Minutes. Like most conceptually interesting games, it has a strong first half and weak second half. Oh it makes perfect sense that Kojima likes this game. That story. Oh boy

[gamer.tv]

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. B

Links Awakening (Switch). A

Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope. B

South Park: The Fractured But Whole. B-

Control B+
Undertale B+
Golf Story B
Resident Evil: Village A

[SaysWho?]

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

 

There's a lot I want to say about the game, and I'll probably save it for a thread sometime, but.... yeah, this was really, really fucking good. Talk about encouraging you to dick around anywhere. A few games have made me want to go anywhere and look for anything. God of War is one. Red Dead Redemption 2 is one. Ghost of Tsushima is one.

 

This is another. Open-world done in a really cool way.

 

2021 Games

 

Demon's Souls Remake (2nd playthrough)

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney -- Trials and Tribulations

Days Gone

Astro's Playroom

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time

Ratchet & Clank Future: Into The Nexus

Braid

Returnal

Resident Evil Village

Returnal (true ending)

Mass Effect 1

Mass Effect 2

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Mass Effect 3

Two-Point Hospital

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart NG+

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

[crispy4000]

@SaysWho? Now move on to Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade DE

[SaysWho?]

1 hour ago, crispy4000 said:

@SaysWho? Now move on to Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade DE

I do have Odyssey! I’m playing New Mario U and Great Ace right now. Might give Mario Sunshine a shot after this as well. 
 

But Hades is waiting for me, FUCK.

[crispy4000]

What a fun little game.  You control up to 4 squads on a tile grid in real time, moving them into position to fend of viking hordes invading your islands.  Progression plays out in rogue-like fashion, with you jumping from island to island.  There's an option to redo an island, which I recommend to take the pressure off.

There's only 3 unit types: archers, pike men and shielded units.  Archers are definitely the best since you can move and shoot simultaneously.  Pikemen are good at holding ground but will run around like headless chicken if their ranks break.  Shielded units protect you from enemy archers.  Enemy types get a bit more diverse, thankfully.  You can also heal a squad by moving it into a building, but they typically won't make it in time to defend the next wave.

Once you know how to properly position your squads, playing this game is so satisfying.  The dynamism of the way units move makes it more freeform than the movement grid implies.  I wish more RTSs or even turn based strategy games could take a cue from this.  It also makes the game perfectly suitable for a controller.  Even preferable on it.

I highly recommend giving this one a shot.  Especially if you already own it (Epic Games Store giveaway).  It's a bit one-note, and I wish there was more music, but there's not much else to complain about here.

 

8/10
 

2021 games
Hades - 10
FFIX - 9  (8 without speed boosters)
Captain Toad - 8.5
Minit - 7.5

Yoku's Island Express - 8

Prince of Persia 2008 - 7.5

Oxenfree - 8

Shadow of the Colossus (remake) - 9
Hat in Time Seal the Deal DLC - 7.5
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap - 7.5
Bad North - 8
 

[dualhunter]

Finished Crosscode including the New Home DLC. Great game but often frustrating. Bosses have segmented health bars so even if you're over-leveled they can still take a long time and they tend to spam attacks on the last segment which is particularly a pain with the way items work. It takes time to eat them and getting hit or dodging cancels them. If you do manage to successfully heal before getting killed there is a cooldown before you can use an item again and unless you guard well you might need to heal again right away. It's made worse by the fact that you tend to have to rely on weaker healing items since you can buy more whereas the better ones you have to collect trade item which is time consuming. In the DLC which start after the main game, they made the top healing items drop from some enemies so you can more easily stock up. There are lots of other items besides healing and regen items but because of the cooldown I rarely used them to make sure I could heal when needed. If you're over-leveled, the bosses can be a bit easy until the end and since you weren't being careful since your defense and HP regen were fine for most of the fight you can easily die and have to start the long fight over again.

 

There's are also some duels that I hated because the opponent keeps dodging away and there were some enemies and minigames that were annoying. But despite how frequently I found it frustrating I still really liked the game.

 

So I started a new game plus. I had all but 2 trophies/achievements and the way the new game plus works is the trophies give you points which you can use to activate various things like what carries over or modify things like 2x or 4x credits or EXP. Some of the options can make the game easier and some harder. I couldn't activate everything I wanted but was able to activate enough that I'm not too bothered. I didn't need to credit boost since I carried over my maxed out credits and I didn't need the EXP boost since I was level 96 (every level up is 1000 EXP, how much you get from enemies or quests scales but worst case, defeat 1000 of the weakest enemy and you'll gain a level). Besides the high level, one of the other options was a crazy damage boost. So most of the things I found frustrating the first time though won't be an issue either because I already know what to do or because of how OP I am. The best part of the high level and damage boost is that some NPCs and party members will comment on them and Lea (the character you play as) makes an evil face in response. That annoying character that wants to duel you a various points in the story initially complains that you are 1 level higher than you should be (the game is an offline RPG but in the game's story it's an MMO and your character fights a boss before warping into the MMO's intro area which levels her up so the annoying character accuses her of cheating) but this time I was level 96 (the text was a different color to highlight how crazy it was) and another character is like no big deal. At the first duel he makes a comment that it will be challenging for him since I was level 96 but not until I won the first round with a single hit did he know and complain about the damage boost.

[heydude93]

Hades feels like the best of oldschool Blizzard games but modernized and trimmed of all fat.

 

RE8 is pretty good so far, but difficult for me to connect to on a story/character level. That intro was unexpectedly gripping though.

 

Psychonauts is my GOTY so far. I've always been a fan of DF's output and it feels like a quantum leap forward of progress on everything that makes their games fun.

 

I'm pretty sure I've played that Ninja Gaiden remaster trilogy more than anything else this year. lol Been waiting on it even longer than a Psychonauts sequel, so glad to finally have it available, even if it's the lesser ninja versions.

 

Aside from these (Excluding NG:MNC and Hades of course) I think the new Oddworld is the only other 2021 release I've played, (I'm roughly thirty minutes in).

 

Kena, Battlefield, Yakuza:LAD, Demon's Souls, R&C are at the top on my play next queue right now.

[crispy4000]

What a great game.  As a remake, it's nowhere near redundant to the first thanks to all the puzzle bits and creative liberties they take with power-ups.  Only the general locations of some items and bosses stay the same.  So it's more along the lines of FF7 Remake in how it treats the source material.  And that's an especially good thing here, since the original NES Metroid is rough, to say the least.

 

It's still a bit strange going back to Zebes again.  The deja vu you get is often closer to Super Metroid  because of the visuals.  So when certain areas are bigger or smaller than you remember, it feels inconsistent.  Not that I'd change anything about Zero Mission's layout and progression, but it is somewhat jarring.

And that extra bit at the end, it's rare to see a game change up mechanics so significantly in the 11th hour.  Kudos.  But I also wish they didn't give you any doors in the world you couldn't unlock beforehand.  It clues you in on something else coming.

Zero Mission's biggest problem are the final few boss fights.  Ridley ramps up the difficult considerably.  Mother Brain is straight up bullshit, especially considering how easy she was in Super.    But the final last boss?  Stupidly easy.  Plus an unnecessary escape sequence that was much easier than the last.

Overall, a much better and less linear game than Fusion was.  Super is still more atmospheric and puzzling, so it's still my favorite of the 2D entries.  But this comes much closer than I expected, and controls better too.  I'll go back for the 25% of the power-ups I missed.

 

9.5/10
 

2021 games
Hades - 10
FFIX - 9  (8 without speed boosters)
Captain Toad - 8.5
Minit - 7.5

Yoku's Island Express - 8

Prince of Persia 2008 - 7.5

Oxenfree - 8

Shadow of the Colossus (remake) - 9
Hat in Time Seal the Deal DLC - 7.5
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap - 7.5
Bad North - 8
Metroid Zero Mission - 9.5/10

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Finished Dragon Quest VIII last night at 63 hours. 9/10

 

Assassin's Creed Valhalla (PC)

Mafia: Definitive Edition (PC)

Resident Evil VIIIlage (PC)

Dragon Quest VIII (3DS)

[dualhunter]

17 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Finished Dragon Quest VIII last night at 63 hours. 9/10

 

Now go fight Metal King Slimes for a 100 hours so that you can get the true ending 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

7 hours ago, dualhunter said:

 

Now go fight Metal King Slimes for a 100 hours so that you can get the true ending 

Fuuuuuck that. I only defeated on MKS the entire game and that was me getting lucky with a critical hit. I spammed Metal Slash to no avail.