The good

Let's start with the obvious. The game is stunning visually. The art and graphics are really awesome. I loved the combat phase, it felt really dynamic and satisfying once you master it. The story was somewhat interesting despite being a bit confusing at times. And the sound is insane! The game really shows a lot of great quality but...

The bad

The fighting gets boring after a while due to it being quite repetitive (but it's still the most fun nonetheless). The gameplay itself outside of fighting is about solving a few visual puzzles. And it gets boring as well after a while as there's barely anything entertaining in it. If the game wasn't as beautiful as it is I probably would have dropped it. And, personal feeling here but, I feel like the mental illness thingie was oversold by people. I mean the experience itself is interesting but overall I didn't learn much. We also never really saw the other "side", we're simply trapped in Hellblade's world 24/7. No background story (or barely). The psychosis was simply a tool to put the player under stress with those voices and to create Hellbalde's world (Helheim). I also remember being annoyed at the lack of guidance. Most of the time it's fairly easy to figure out the road but sometimes it's really painful and unless you play it in a short span of time, it's easy to get lost.

Conclusion

Overall it looks like a great game since it has a lot of good points on paper however in reality the game doesn't exactly translate into that sadly. At least for me. It's a nice experience, can't say I forced myself much to play it but overall I was a bit disappointed as I expected more.

The good

The most fun I had this summer so far. The map is gigantic and open. There are simply too many cars to even try them all without wasting an unimaginable amount of time. Lots of customisations for those interested in tinkering their cars to get the most out of them as well. There are enough activities, challenges and type of races to keep you entertained for a while. There are classic races, dirt racing, offroad and show case (some crazy races against various unusual opponents). Some of the activities involve stunt, drift, taxi driving, fastest rentals (basically a good way to drive some supercars) and you can explore the whole map to find some speed traps or zones, drift zones and danger signs (where you have to jump as far as possible on some ramp). Plus some signs to find and smash and roads to discover. Also it features all seasons on rotation and it changes the way to play obviously (snow in winter, rain in autumn, sunny in summer, etc...) making it a refreshing experience.

The bad

Honestly there's nothing much that comes to mind, except the fact that the seasons are timed and locked behind it. It's a bit annoying because sometimes you feel like playing with snow but can't because it just ended and now you have to wait 3 weeks again.

Conclusion

My favourite game this summer for sure, an easy recommendation and it totally made my sub to Xbox Game Pass PC worth it.

A quick word about Gacamelee! the first game first. It easily earned a 5/5 fun ratings for me. It's a great game, lots of fun, a polished gameplay, a progressive difficulty and a fine balance between exploration and fighting. An easy recommendation. Also, it's best to play it first since there's some sort of story and it continues in the 2. Also the best of the two is definitively the first game, by far (yep I've said it right at the start xD).

The good

The game is basically more of the same so if you enjoyed the first, you get more here to enjoy. The chicken sees a lot of improvement and is a lot more useful that it used to be. That's probably the best (and only?) improvement of this game. The rest is basically what Gacamelee! 1 was. With a few more downsides though.

The bad

The first annoying thing was the story. While I enjoyed the overall idea, too often did they force some dialogues out that I didn't care about. They tried too hard to be funny also. There's a nice easter egg though but as said, I felt the 1 did a better job with delivering its story to us in a simple but funny manner without forcing it too much like this one does.
The fighting was less challenging while the plateforming was a lot more challenging and less fun in some part. That is most likely due to the upgrades that gives you tons of power so outside of a few technical fights, fighting soon isn't really a particularly interesting part anymore sadly. And for the plateforming part, instead of adding new ideas they just made the whole thing harder. At least it felt like that for a good part of the game toward the end.
Also, it's worth noting that they weren't that inspired with this new game as you start stripped of all your powers and have to gain them back once more. All the same by the way as the first game. Only the chicken sees an improvement. And there's only very little addition to the gameplay here as I've stated already above.

Conclusion

Let's be honest, the 2nd game suffers hard from the comparison with the first one. To me, the first was an awesomely well done and crafted game. Finely polished in every details. For this second game, they tried, I think? Well, some parts were good (especially the chicken part) but then some felt unnecessary and some felt lazy. I'm particularly harsh here though. It's still a good game and I still had lots of fun. I just expected more new things and not a chicken DLC basically.
But it is still worth it as part of the Xbox Game Pass. Not sure I'd buy it though.

The good

The strong point of this game is definitively its atmosphere along with its pretty great and intriguing story. It takes a bit of time to get into it but it was very well worth it. It is more a walking sim than a regular game but it was well done, and thanks to its interesting and intriguing story, exploring was far from being a chore. If you're as curious as me at least. And the game looks quite beautiful, especially the underwater areas.

The bad

The horror was okayish, but only a few parts were really intense. Other than the few times I was in panic and under pressure, it's usually a bit more of a boring encounter. I would have enjoyed the game more without the horror also to be honest.

Conclusion

A great game that was very much worth playing. Easy recommendation if you have even just a slight interest in the game. Plus it's a great looking game!

The good

The game is a Dynasty Warriors style game, with lots of One Piece characters. The story seems to be following the manga though I haven't paid much attention to it, and I haven't checked the manga in a while but it seems true. Though I'll be honest, it wasn't as good as any other Dynasty Warriors like game I played (Hyrule Warriors or Fire Emblem Warriors).

The bad

The game is a true pain in the ass to setup. I had to install a third party program to use my Xbox One controller properly... And it crashed so frequently I lost all hope to finish it. I mean it's "okay" if it fails to load as I only wasted a few minutes but when I play the whole level (which may take up to an hour of game time) and the last video doesn't load and the game freeze or crash... Meaning I lost all my progress of this stage, then no thank you. If it happens one time I say okay this might be bad luck. But when it happens regularly and randomly, I soon reach my limit. I went up to chapter 4 last episode but it crashed twice so I decided I've seen enough. (basically I did 18 episodes out of 22 total) Also, most of the characters aren't really fun to play. And the game doesn't feel that great either. Outside of a few characters where you feel the impact of your hits.

Conclusion

This one was definitively not worth my time. The experience was kinda boring overall but I am not really a fan of One Piece. I do enjoy Dynasty Warriors like game, or so I thought until I played this one. As said, it wasn't really an engaging experience for me, coupled with its technical problem (configuring gamepad requiring a third party program, random crash in game) this means I can't recommend it. But you're free to try, if you love One Piece, maybe you could bear with all the bad things?

If you haven't played/read the first game, I urge you to give it a try. It's a really fun experience if you enjoy mystery (and despair). Also, this second game rely heavily on the first one so I wouldn't recommend reading anything about it before playing the first game. You've been warned.

The good

The character design and the art are just perfect! The writing and story overall is insane(ly good!). It was a very enjoyable and dark experience at the same time. The full cast was really great as well. At first, I missed the original cast from the first game but once I got acquainted with the new cast, I had forgotten the old one. The new setting (Jabberwock Island) is really awesome also, as well as that new mascot Monomi. And the story is really huge. It took me a lot of time to finish it but not once did I feel bored! And I still have the extra mode I just unlocked after beating the game to do!

The bad

Trials are still a bit tedious. Thankfully after I switched to the gentle difficulty it was a lot more okay. I still had to glance a few times at the answers because I didn't always get what I was supposed to do.

Conclusion

Danganronpa 2 is obviously the best of the two and it got me hyped again for Danganronpa 3. The game is massive but never got boring, it's well written with a cast full of intriguing and interesting characters. Definitively a must play if you enjoy the Visual Novel genre.

The good

The cast of Neptunia in an action (offline) MMO game sounds good to me. And with colourful graphics I was really tempted. But it was a very poor simulation of MMO sadly with lots of boring part.

The bad

Class are characters bound. You can't choose who your tank is or who your healer is. Neptunia is the tank and Blanc your priest, it's not exactly a bad point but a little freedom would have been welcomed. Especially considering there's only 8 or 10 skills total and half of them are useless on some character.... The story is also uninteresting. The combat feels weak and is pretty poor. Farming (like a real MMO) is to be expected but when you make the combat so bad it turns to be a really boring chore.

Conclusion

Overall, it was very far from my expectation. I've read a lot of positive reviews but I just couldn't enjoy the game that much. It was tedious and boring at times. Okayish at other times. But never was I really having a blast playing it. I wouldn't recommend the game, even to fans of the franchise. It's best to try it before buying it.

The good

To be honest, it's a great game on paper. It has huge maps, lots of way to go on with your missions with a fair variety in how to kill your targets and it's all around a really solid Hitman game. But it has many poor aspects as well that directly impacted my enjoyment.

The bad

The maps may be huge but there is only 8 maps in total. And not all of them are equally interesting. The first two real maps (Paris and Italy) were pretty interesting. And the map in Japan was also great. Other than that I didn't really have as much fun on any of the others. Which brings an other bad point, the game is based on replayability. And while 8 hours isn't too bad I guess to beat a game, I can't say I had 8 hours of fun since I only enjoyed half of the maps.
Obviously, if you have fun in them then you could spend a lot of time completing all challenge and whatnot increasing your game time. So yeah I could spend more time on the maps I liked but since I can't be bothered to complete challenges in half of the maps anyway, I didn't see a point. Then there's also the always online to save your progress that is pure shit. If for some reason you don't have internet, you can't save your progress for unlocks. Nice...

Conclusion

All in all, it's a solid Hitman game, if you already like the franchise it might be well worth it. However, I wouldn't recommend it due to its possible lack of content (unless you have fun in most of the stages) and I hate online DRM, it's just a pain. But since i got it with my humble monthly, it was sort of worth it still.

This game is a gift from Bangle for the Stealthy Santa event hosted by Ninglor. Thanks again! (yep I almost forgot about it xD)

The good

The game offers awesome graphics and has voice acting which was nice. The overall atmosphere was also pretty good.

The bad

The worst idea of the game probably was having a time limit for exploration through freezing. I mean, who thought that adding freezing to death was a good idea in a game where you're supposed to explore? Fortunately only half of the game or so is affected by it. The story ain't nothing much to write about either. But it will keep you busy for about two hours.

Conclusion

If you like walking sim, it might be worth giving it a shot. It was a decent experience for me and since I was curious about trying more games of that genre, I was happy with it, just not as impressed as I expected.

The good

So let's get this out first, the best part of the game was to have this final season completed. The graphics are also pretty great. I checked a few older Walking Dead games and it sure looks a lot more polished to me now. The cast of characters wasn't half bad and it wasn't as boring as the last game (New Frontier). But Clem, she is in a league of her own! I really enjoyed her character. Definitively one of the most memorable character I could play in a video game.
Now, as it was usual with Telltale Games, you still wonder if most (if not all?) choices have any meaning in the long run. Though the illusion here worked fairly well most of the time and there were many very hard choices to make as well. It turned out to be one really emotional game at times as well.

The bad

Some achievements are really stupid, some will require a second playthrough. I mean seriously, I checked what I missed and I was glad I stopped worrying about achievements. Also, being unable to skip dialogues can make this a pain to complete. And I won't even talk about checking all choices since you can't skip anything... Thankfully YouTube is there to satisfy my curiosity and I was able to see what I missed (or not most of the times). There are still a few plot holes left as well and questionable development. Some parts nearly made me hate the game also, especially some fighting or combat scenes. It's clunky and often fairly boring or badly executed. I really didn't enjoy these.

Conclusion

Being able to enjoy the conclusion of that series is definitively the best part. But that said, the game is far from perfect and if I wanted to be harsh I'd say it is a kinda mediocre game? But then I think that despite everything that happened to the staff at the time, they still managed to deliver this conclusion to us. So overall, yes I am left with mixed feelings. It could have been better, some things could have been different. But in the end, I chose to keep a positive outlook on the story. And I really am happy to have been able to play/watch this final season in its entirety and to have been able to reach the conclusion of this series. I may not have liked everything but I still really enjoyed this Final Season. Plus Clem is a badass.

The good

My first Valkyria games was the number one on PC. And I had a blast with it. So when I heard I could play some more on the Switch now, I went in blindly and I wasn't disappointed! It's as good as the first game I played. The art style is still great as well and the story was okayish. As usual with Japanese games, they usually like to go over the top sometimes with the drama. And it was a pretty simple good vs bad type of story but I still enjoyed following it. The squad members extra missions were a nice addition also (once you picked enough time some characters you will have access to an extra short story to add background to said characters). But overall, what makes Valkyria Chronicles great is definitively its gameplay for me. I just love these grand tactical battles!

The bad

The grind is what kills my fun lately and it is what made me stop playing here as well. Finishing the story is fine. Completing the game is a different story, as you'll have to level your units to the max, meaning you will need to farm for money, xp, etc... I tried to do some, and it was fun but once you have to play over and over some missions just to grind it's starting to be a pain. Sadly.

Conclusion

It was a good experience, very much worth my time. Simply beating the game should take you around 40 hours already. And if you liked Valkyria Chronicles, then you should give VC4 a try. It is a pretty great game!

The good

It's Splatoon2! Well, honestly the game is just a joy to play. The multiplayer is simple yet addictive (I avoided playing in ranked, I kept it casual). It's colourful. The DLC is a great addition of solo content for people wanting a new challenge (which was totally for me). Salmon Run is awesome! Playing in coop with three other people to defeat enemies proved to be fun as hell (and infuriating also at times). The Splatfest was always a time for festivities to take place in game. The game lacks online com for cooperation but you'd be surprised how easy it is still to understand some basic stuff to coordinate your actions! (won't work with everyone and everytime but it is still fun to try). Also, don't forget to booyah back!

The bad

Nintendo makes you now pay to play online. It's cheap but Splatoon2 was the last game I played online so it's a hard pill to swallow (I already dropped Mario Kart online). Having limited period to play Salmon Run mode was a pain in the ass. I mean seriously, why couldn't they make it a permanent mode? Also, the grind is real with this game. Meaning it's easy to sink in a lot of hours...

Conclusion

It's an awesome game. If you're okay with third person shooter and have a Switch, Splatoon2 is a game to try at least once! You might get addicted! But it's time to move on for me. I have other games to beat!

The good

I was curious about it mostly because of its crazy mechanics. You can use your own limbs to solve some puzzles of the game, and then regenerate as if nothing happened. It is also a game by Swery65, who seems to be pretty popular and I enjoyed D4 so why not give The MISSING a try? And... It was a slight disappointment at first. The controls feel a bit clunky, I didn't understand why or where I was really but the game is quite pretty visually and I was still curious so I kept going.
And honestly, the story was great and was what kept me going mostly. It is easily the best point of the game and it makes the game worth it for its story alone. Well, it's more about how the story is told to us and how we're made to experience it. That and its atmosphere and aesthetic are really awesome. I took a few screenshots but couldn't decide which to share and I wanted to avoid some spoilers so I decided to keep them to myself. But I really liked the art style.

The bad

The game is a bit clunky, there are some annoying part and getting dismembered, burned, broken or killed over and over can be a bit troubling due to how explicit it is shown despite being greyed out. Some animations also will feel annoying due to their repetitions (the broken bones one comes to mind).

Conclusion

Despite the game slightly lacking with its gameplay, it is easily one of the greatest surprise of the year already and I'm pretty sure this would have been my BLAEO GOTY if I had played it last year. And I definitively recommend everyone to experience the game if possible. It sure was a great experience to me despite its few flaws.

The good

It is a very good platformer with great control. Everything works flawlessly and obviously that's a great point for such a game. The level design is also pretty well done and you get enough new things going on to keep you on your toes as you advance in the game. The story was its strongest point to me, with a well told and illustrated story through lots of metaphor.

The bad

The game is brutal, very brutal even. There were a bunch of hard parts which will test your patience. The game however offers an assist mode to alleviate some of its difficulty and you can fine tune it, though the developer doesn't recommend using it. But I still used it a few times and I still ended up with well over 1k deaths... Also, if you're not super attentive, you might miss some point or message of the story since a lot of it is told through you experiencing the world around Madeline (the protagonist you play as). But if you're curious and feel like you missed stuff (like me) you can find a lot of information about Celeste's story on the Internet which is a good way to catch up on the great story.

Conclusion

It felt a bit overhyped to me. It is indeed a good game but I guess my enjoyment didn't reach the level of the mass. This is most likely due to the brutality of the game, something that I wasn't super fond of. But it's a great challenging platformer, if that's your thing, and the story is pretty well told with lots of metaphor to catch. The assist mode is a very welcomed feature and I would easily recommend the game, the experience was worth it. Just be prepared though, it is a very challenging game.

The good

It's a great throwback at the original Pokémon game on the Game Boy, specifically the Yellow version. At least that's what I thought right away. We can have a Pokémon walking by our side along with our favourite (the one we got on the box, Eevee or Pikachu). We can even ride on bigger Pokémon just for fun! It is set in Kanto, so with first gen Pokémon which is great for me.
They also made the experience very easy for casual players also. Which felt pretty great to me as there were a lot of convenience things they added. For example you don't need to lower a Pokémon's health to catch them, just throw some berries to increase your chances or you can try to catch it right away if you wish by throwing some Pokéballs. Also, we now see all the Pokémon physically around us in game, we no more need to aimlessly run around in the grass and hope that the RNG will show us this or that Pokémon. A great way also to (try to) avoid all these Rattata or Zubat.
The other good point of Pokémon is that it's super colourful. Exploring the world is a nice experience and seeing all the Pokémon around in the wild is a refreshing experience.

The bad

But almost all these good points come with an equal bad points. Since it's set on Kanto with the original 151 Pokémon, it's quite a limited number compared to other games recently, I think? My last was Pokémon X and it felt more complete. Though there was an easy trade center accessible for everyone, something that is not in Let's Go. The fact that they made it so easy makes the game sort of less exciting also, we can cherry pick which Pokémon to catch and it's a basically one button catch. It's not too bad but it can feel a bit bland at times.
There's also this, that happened due to my own personal uninformed action, but having picked the Eevee version and not being able to have Eevee evolve made me pretty sad. I was looking forward to evolve him and have a cute Flareon following me around. Didn't happen though and I wish I had picked the Pikachu game instead. And yeah I know it might have been obvious but I was just too excited and assumed things without checking...

Conclusion

Overall, it's an okay Pokemon game, very enjoyable for its beautiful and colourful graphics, lively world and if you're nostalgic about your first Pokémon game. It feels a bit lacking though so don't expect too much to avoid being disappointed but it is also a fairly relaxing experience. I believe that would be the best way to enjoy it for what it has to offer.

I have won this game on steamgifts!

The good

It is a simple hack and slash game where you mostly bash people and parry a few times in between (vs. Boss most of the time). But it's a great type of game to have mindless fun and it is a genre I enjoy so that is good. You have a fairly interesting story that is by no means anything grand or awesome, but it was entertaining to follow. The game shows a fair share of humour as well. And honestly it was pretty fun all around. There's 3 level of difficulty but you need to beat the previous one to unlock the next. So I only did normal and hard. There're lots of challenges also to do, like beating various kind of opponents or surviving xx seconds/minutes with non stop waves of enemies coming at you. Do note it is a kinda ecchi game with various outfits, lingeries and accessories to unlock and pick from. Which is a positive, to me at least haha.

The bad

It gets a bit repetitive after a while. There's barely any variation in fighting and only Bosses really require blocking. I spoiled myself as well by using money cheats. Which adds stats to your character (the more items you unlock the more stats you gain). So I was kinda OP from the start. The game is also fairly short (but has lots of content). I believe it is a niche game (ecchi stuff and everything), so definitively not for everyone.

Conclusion

All in all, as said, it makes for a fun game to play despite being rather short. It's still a bit expensive but at 75% it would be a fair buy to me. And as a gift I enjoyed it quite a lot! If you're into that kind of game at least. :D

The good

It is a rather fun and relaxing game. It is pretty simple since all you have to do is clean up but it is still rather satisfying to achieve. It is a pretty crazy idea for a game but it does work in turning itself into something not bad to play. Also, putting everything into fire was really enjoyable. Plus the game is quite pretty visually.

The bad

Cleaning can still feel like a chore after some time. And missing 1% for a full clean up is also rather frustrating. Especially since I tried my best to burn everything!

Conclusion

Anyway, it's a decent game. Might be funnier with other people though. But if you can get this one for cheap then it's worth a try. It might not be mega fun but it is rather satisfying to play.

The bad

So I'm pretty late to the party I suppose, and I finished Pyre quite recently so unfortunately I ended up a bit less enthusiastic than expected with Transistor. I had a hard time getting into the story. At first I was intrigued and wanted to learn more but in the end I couldn't really get it all and thus it was hard for me to really enjoy it much. Also, you will need a gamepad I guess to enjoy the game. At least I preferred that to playing using my keyboard. It is also kinda slow to start and can feel a bit repetitive. At first, you have so few abilities that it gets boring rather fast.

The good

But once you unlock more abilities and learn how to use and combine them, then it starts to get a lot more fun! The fighting system is pretty neat and quite unique to me. Slow time, plan all your actions and unleash everything in one go! The art and soundtrack is once again very nice. I enjoyed Pyre' soundtrack better still, but they did a very nice job here as well. Though to me, the highlight of the game really is its gameplay and artistic style. There's a NG+ also to restart the game with your level kept and all your previous abilities as well. This might be quite interesting but I need to beat more game so I won't be doing it. Still it's a good thing to have.

Conclusion

So, in the end I can say that it is a pretty solid game. I wasn't very much fond of the story but I am probably to blame as you had to piece things together and thus explore a fair bit I suppose to gather all the pieces. I still enjoyed its ending at least! Anyway, the gameplay was pretty neat and it was enough to keep me going. Coupled with nice art and music, that is enough to say I enjoyed a good game there! And if you haven't played it yet, try to play it before Pyre! You'd be doing yourself a favour I believe.

PS: Yay for beating one more game this month! Right on time xD

This game is a gift from Bangle for the Stealthy Santa event hosted by Ninglor. Thanks again!

The good

Let's get this out right away. This game is a masterpiece. It took me a bit of time to get into it yes, but time was needed to understand the world I was dropped in and to become acquainted with the characters around. So, the biggest part of the game already, the visual novel part, was really really great. Story wise, I really enjoyed my time, learning about the world, what happens here and there, everything in Pyre is really interesting.

The cast is fabulous as well, and you should easily get a few favourites out of all the characters at least. Personally, my favourites were Jodariel for being the way she is, Ti'zo because everyone needs a cute mascot and he was a really lovable one and Sandra because well, she is Sandra. I'm not going into any details here to avoid spoiler. By the way, I'm still a bit sad I made a quick decision without thinking properly about all its consequences. Which, to me, proves that they definitively worked hard on the story, with worthy and impactful decisions to take. Something that is always very nice to have!

The smaller part of the game, where you have to play some competitive matches, 3 vs 3, is also really solid and well-thought-out. The more I played it, the more it grew on me and after a few games, I was really enjoying it a lot. Surprisingly! Since at first I wasn't all that interested honestly. But even for that, they did a marvellous job!

The art is also incredibly beautiful. Colourful, unique and well, I just really enjoyed it. And then there's the soundtrack. And they totally nailed it. They recommend to play the game before listening to it, and I kinda think the same too. Because it could potentially spoils you I guess. And you might probably miss the context also (pretty sure some tracks feel a lot more powerful and impactful because of what I experienced as well). But anyway, if you're still curious and do not mind, I'll link you some cute and relaxing track, a catchy tune, a more "powerful" style, and its "Black Mandolin" version and my favourite one, I think? It's hard to choose! But I wanted to share some, for myself as well.

The bad

I don't really have any bad things to report, honestly. I could say that the game is best played with a gamepad. And I thought it was better to click through the dialogue and navigate using the mouse so having to switch between mouse and gamepad was a bit meh? Though nothing really that annoying. And that's pretty much all I can think of.

Conclusion

Pyre is a masterpiece. It might be a weird or unusual mash up for some, but for me, it worked flawlessly. And with that, my first steam game down this year is already a very serious contender into the best played game of 2019! And I highly recommend it to everyone. Play Pyre people! It is very much worth it.