Returnal

Reminds me of Metroidvania w/ Tense atmosphere and upgrades. But like any roguelike/lite, resetting your progress after dying is never fun. Repeating same areas. Grinding back to where you die. It's all a chore.

Punishingly difficult but the gameplay is so great you don't care.

Beautiful and tense and fuckin weird as shit. Definitely the most ‘next-gen’ feeling game to date (June 8th 2021), amazing use of the DualSense and 3D audio. The story is my favourite kind of surreal with boss 4 especially being just OHHHH MAN. I would not have been able to compete this game had I not bought the digital deluxe edition that lets you get the pylon gun early.

Difficult and unforgiving, yet fair with it, I struggled to make much headway at first before figuring out what worked for me. Great atmosphere and visuals, with an intriguing - if ultimately unresolved without heavily relying on interpretation - story.

a bill murray away from perfection