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Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (2025)

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Death Stranding has always been a bit of an odd duck in the gaming community. While many such as myself love the game for its bizarre world and unique gameplay, many players mock the “strand-type” game for sidelining action to focus on traversal. I fell in love with the isolated hikes interspersed with tense action, and the theme of connection was so masterfully woven into every aspect of the game. I spent dozens of hours making optional deliveries and building roads for other players to use. For my full thoughts on the original Death Stranding, read my review. When Death Stranding 2: On the Beach was announced, I was thrilled. I couldn’t wait to dive back into the world. 

Death Stranding 2 picks up with Sam and Lou surviving in hiding near the border of Mexico. After being tracked down by an old colleague, Sam gets roped into another grand mission to connect Mexico to the Chiral Network. During this expedition, a mysterious “plate-gate” opens up, acting as a portal between North America and Australia. Sam traverses the plate-gate and sets out to connect Australia to the network as well. 

Where the original game focused on connection, Death Stranding 2 asks whether it was worth connecting all. Connecting The United States together via the Chiral Network has destabilized other portions of the world, causing rivers of tar to swallow large swathes of the planet. Ghostly BTs have become more common, and terroristic organizations have been emboldened to threaten the last pockets of humanity. This theme of questioning connection extends into personal relationships. Sam was always a loner before the events of Death Stranding, but opened his heart as he connected the continent. Now, Sam has to grapple with the repercussions of connections: grief, loss, and betrayal. 

I really love the idea behind the story and themes of Death Stranding 2. It’s a sophisticated tale of interpersonal conflict and real adult feelings disguised within a wacky sci-fi setting. But I felt the execution was often lacking. Death Stranding 2 is a massive game, having the player traverse dozens of settlements, and it feels like the story often meanders without much purpose. The game falls into a formulaic pattern where you make a deliveries to non-important side characters, and important cutscenes are reserved for when you board your mobile base of operations: the DHV Magellan. But those moments of real narrative progression are excellent, filled with emotional turmoil and heartbreaking reveals.

Part of the reason why the cutscenes are so compelling is due to the state-of-the-art technology used for motion capture and visual spectacle. Kojima Productions is at the top of the industry when it comes to graphical fidelity and animation, only competing with other heavy hitters like Naughty Dog. The amount of emotion that can be read through facial expressions and minute movements is so critical to the game. And having accomplished actors such as Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux, and Elle Fanning playing these characters further brings them to life.

By now, everybody knows that Hideo Kojima has a penchant for the bizarre. The stories that he writes often have many moving parts and nonsensical elements. There’s a level of campiness that can often feel out of place in a serious story. But I’ve come to love the goofiness that comes with Kojima’s games. They don’t take themselves too seriously. One of the key deliveries in the mid game is to bring special yeast to a Pizza Chef and then deliver his pizzas to nearby survivors to get them to trust you. And the chef is a master of martial arts who teaches you to use pizza dough to incapacitate terrorists. 

When it comes to gameplay, Death Stranding 2 deemphasized the hiking traversal that its predecessor was known for. Making deliveries is still the core gameplay loop, but the sequel introduces vehicles very early on and features far more combat. I think for players that were skeptical about how little traditional gameplay was in the original game, these changes are probably a good thing. But personally, I was disappointed in how easy it was to always use a vehicle to reach your destination. Even when completing story missions, meaning there would be no roads or additional structures, there was never a place where I felt like I had to get on foot and navigate difficult terrain.

The reason I think this is a negative is because I really loved the unique aspect of being a human mule. Every package or piece of equipment you carried contributed to your weight and person. Carrying too much would slow you down, but more critically it shifts your center of balance, making it easier to fall over and damage the goods. You had to carefully consider which route you would take, streams and rivers were massive obstacles, and you always needed to bring ladders and climbing anchors to deal with sheer cliffs. This slow-paced, contemplative gameplay was utterly unique. Managing your inventory, planning a route, and then carefully trudging across the beautiful landscapes made the game almost meditative.

On paper, Death Stranding 2 still has all of the above aspects. It even adds new environmental obstacles such as floods, sandstorms, earthquakes, and landslides to increase the danger. I was really looking forward to these new threats, as my biggest issue with the original game was that it became too easy as the game progressed. But these weather effects are rarely more than an inconvenience. And the world of Death Stranding 2 feels like it was conveniently designed for vehicles. There’s almost always a path for a truck, even in places that should be craggy or steep, there’s always a convenient path to drive on. Using trucks trivializes so much of the challenge of the game. Inventory management becomes a breeze as trucks can carry massive loads, you don’t have to worry about falling over and damaging cargo, and you can zip past many of the game’s threats.

An argument could be made to just not use vehicles, but there’s no reason not to. Vehicles are fairly cheap to fabricate, make every aspect of deliveries easier, and have no downsides whatsoever. The world is massive, making traveling on foot more tedious than challenging. Players are always going to go with the path of least resistance, and vehicles are just too good to ignore. The traversal aspects of Death Stranding 2 are even easier than the original game, which is the opposite direction that I wanted the scales to tip. I wish that there were more sections in which using a truck was completely infeasible. For instance, when traveling to a new location for the first time there should be more obstacles making vehicle use impossible, but afterwards you could build roads to make backtracking with a vehicle possible. 

Instead of traversal, Death Stranding 2 places more emphasis on combat. There are far more camps of enemies as well as boss fights scattered throughout the game. This is by far the most improved aspect of the sequel, as combat was fairly rare in the original game. Having more combat scenarios sprinkled in with the classic traversal missions is fantastic. It increases the tension, knowing that at any moment you could be battling terrorists, robots, or ghostly BTs.

 Kojima clearly took inspiration from one of his previous games, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain when designing the combat of Death Stranding 2. Stealth is encouraged to protect your cargo, but you’re welcome to take whatever approach you want. The game quickly introduces a multitude of different tools for the player to utilize. From assault rifles and shotguns to holograms and catchable monsters, there’s many ways to approach combat. I appreciate the variety, playing around with all the different options is great.

Combat in Death Stranding 2 packs quite a punch because of the game’s focus on real consequences. You aren’t a superhero sprinting and jumping with no regard for anything. You’re a regular guy who trips over boulders, gets weighed down in the mud, and feels the full impact of any damage. This is especially clear in the game’s handful of boss fights. Battling giant autonomous robots while trying to find your footing in a tar pit is a frantic experience. And watching Sam double over with exhaustion, covered in black muck and blood after dispatching a monster is relieving.

Visually, Death Stranding 2 is stunning. Part of what makes traversal-driven gameplay so appealing is just being able to take in the environments. The constant change in elevations gives you ample opportunity to stop and take in the sights of towering mountains, low-lying flood plains, and wind-whipped deserts. Kojima also has a penchant for excellent set pieces and explosive action sequences. One of my favorites being scrambling through the underbrush during a forest fire to rescue a wild kangaroo as hellfire rains from above. The soundtrack is equally great; there’s a fantastic collection of tunes to jam out to while making deliveries. From old timey easy-listening songs to indie folk to modern Japanese pop songs, I loved the variety as I drove across Australia.

Part of the magic of both Death Stranding games is how they drive the player to slow down and enjoy the process. With so many fantastic games being released yearly, it’s tempting to blast through them as fast as possible to have time to play everything. But while playing these games I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to take my time, build up the world full of structures and roads, complete some of the five-hundred optional deliveries. There’s a sense of satisfaction watching the harsh environment be transformed into a network of safe paths and bases. And reaping the rewards of those building efforts by driving your truck miles across the world to deliver some packages is so addictive.

Bigger isn’t always better. I think Death Stranding 2 would have benefited from being scaled down a tad bit. I think the story and the gameplay suffer from having to accommodate for such a massive world. The story meanders for long stretches of time between major outposts. And the large map forces the use of vehicles to minimize tedium. By the time I reached the final third of the game, I was starting to get a bit worn out and just wanted to see the game through to its conclusion. I think cutting back on some of the more unnecessary missions and refining the remaining ones to be more interesting would have gone a long way.

It’s hard to explain what makes the Death Stranding games so enjoyable to play. To an outsider, it may sound like I’m describing the life of a post-apocalyptic Amazon delivery driver. But these games are so much more than that. They’re about connection, meditation, beauty, and grief, with a healthy sprinkling of Kojima’s weirdness to keep you on your toes. Death Stranding 2 doesn’t quite deliver everything I wanted out of the sequel. But it does have its own strengths that I’m sure many will prefer over the original. It is for these reasons I give Death Stranding 2: On the Beach an 8/10. It may not be for everyone, but I spent countless hours roaming the gorgeous and bizarre world that Kojima and his team crafted.

Silent Hill (1999)

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Horror and terror are not the same emotion. Horror is the shocking, revulsed feeling after witnessing a heinous event. Games like Resident Evil thrive on the sort of disgust caused by its horrifying mutants. Terror, on the other hand, the sense of dread and building anxiety when you know something awful is about to happen. It’s the deep-seated instinct meant to warn you that something is wrong and that you are in danger, even if you can’t see it yet. Terror is the focus of Silent Hill. The thick mist covering the abandoned town, the static of the radio, the disquieting music; everything about the game puts you on edge.

 Silent Hill begins with a car crash on a wooded road in the fog. Harry Mason wakes up in a small-town cafe, separated from his young daughter, Cheryl. It’s immediately apparent that something strange is happening, as there are no residents in the town other than the policewoman who rescued him. Harry sets out to explore the town shrouded in fog, with ominous craters blocking the roads and bizarre monsters stalking him. 

As you progress through the game, you uncover hints as to the cultish conspiracy that has engulfed the town. Demonic symbols are scrawled on the ground and riddles are scrawled in blood on the walls. The few residents that remain whisper of the occult and insinuate sins that swallowed the sleepy town. You track Cheryl to the school, the hospital, the amusement park, and through the eerie streets. The world transforms into a nightmarish reflection of itself, filled with rusty and grimy metal surfaces. The metallic tinkling footsteps and distorted, echoing music is deeply disquieting. 

The story of Silent Hill is solid, especially when compared to its contemporaries such as the early Resident Evil games. The supernatural world and psychological horror are so much more compelling than straightforward zombie or monster plot. You intrinsically know that something is deeply wrong with the town, and there is some connection to Cheryl. The locations you visit seem to indicate traumatic memories, despite never having been to the town before. Every aspect of the game is disturbing and atmospherically oppressive.

At its core, Silent Hill is a survival horror game. You explore the world, collecting resources such as health packs, ammunition, weapons, and items to solve puzzles. The streets are filled with enemies such as rabid dogs, flying leathery screamers, and knife-wielding ghouls. There are far more enemies than there are bullets, meaning you will have to think carefully when you want to fight back and engage the enemy. The game encourages the use of melee weapons such as crowbars and sledgehammers to conserve ammo, but it forces you to get up close to the monsters, risking damage or being overrun with multiple enemies. 

While the individual enemies are somewhat easily avoided, there’s a constant anxiety due to the scarcity of resources. Moreover, the game’s visual and audio design further cause unease. The thick fog obscures your vision; you can’t see more than a few feet in front of you. You have a radio that emits static when an enemy is nearby. You know that there are enemies all around you, but you can’t see them. You have to roam the town filled with dead-ends and maze-like corridors with the persistent knowledge that monsters are right outside your field of vision. The anxiety is further heightened by the distorted and disturbing soundtrack constantly thrumming in your ears.

Silent Hill also contains a handful of cryptic puzzles. These are woven into the themes of the game by using occult symbols, macabre visuals, and strange riddles. These are much more cerebral than the lock-and-key puzzles featured in the early Resident Evil games. You have to discern meaning from seemingly nonsensical texts. While I do enjoy these kinds of puzzles, there was one in particular that I thought was very tricky to work out with many different ways that the hint could be interpreted.

The thing about playing older games like Silent Hill is that you have to be prepared for some clunky controls. Moving around 3D spaces was still in its infancy, and control schemes were not universal. Silent Hill utilizes tank controls, making movement a bit clumsy if you aren’t used to having to rotate to move in different directions. Luckily, the camera does follow the player quite a bit, making it a bit easier to deal with the movement rather than the jarring transitions of the fixed camera angles from Resident Evil. Still, the tank controls are a relic of the past that can be tricky to deal with. 

Silent Hill is the terror counterpart to the horror of Resident Evil. Instead of zombies and gore and bombastic action, there’s a thick fog, static-filled radio, and cryptic riddles scrawled in blood. It’s an incredibly unsettling game, and every decision was made to achieve that goal. It has an uncanny ability to unnerve and cause panic with its masterful atmosphere and hellish soundscape. Despite its age, Silent Hill is a piece of art. It is the video game manifestation of a nightmare.

Stephen’s Favorites of 2024

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I feel like 2024 was the first year where I at least tried to keep up with recent releases. I wanted to highlight the games from this year that were my absolute favorites. Of course, as someone with a full-time job, a family, and other hobbies, I didn’t get to play every major release of this year. There were plenty of games on my radar that I didn’t get around to such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Lorelai and the Laser Eyes, and the remake of Silent Hill 2. Here are all the 2024 releases that I managed to play:

Now let’s get into my favorites of the year.

UFO 50

UFO 50 is a truly unique experience and we may never see anything like it ever again. It’s a collection of 50 retro games made by the fictional company UFO Soft. It’s an absolutely astonishing collection in both breadth and depth. Every classic genre is included, but no entry is a simple imitation of an actual retro game. Every game has a unique twist. There are so many gems in the collection. You could easily sink hundreds of hours into UFO 50 and still have games you’ve barely touched. The creators behind UFO 50 describe it as a blend of retro aesthetics with modern game design knowledge, and they absolutely nailed that aspiration. Read my full review here.

Astro Bot

Astro Bot may not be the most innovative game out there, but damn is it fun. The joy I got from exploring its wonderfully detailed levels was reminiscent of playing Super Mario Galaxy as a kid. Every level had some sort of set piece, theme, or unique power-up that had me smiling. And I loved visiting the hub world to try to identify all the robots dressed up as classic Playstation characters. Astro Bot is just wholesome fun. Read my full review here.

Balatro

Balatro is the most addicting game on my list. In this roguelite deck-builder you play poker hands to score points. As you progress through a run, you can modify your deck in a multitude of ways. The main way to increase your score is by acquiring jokers which vary wildly in their effects. The sheer randomness of Balatro is what makes it shine. There are so many different ways to build a successful run and every time you play, you’ll think you found a new overpowered combo. Read my full review here.

Animal Well

Animal Well is a surreal metroidvania. It’s a labyrinth full of mystery. Figuring out how to explore and interact with the world and the animals was enthralling. Without any guidance, the world is up to you to discover. Secrets upon secrets are layered atop each other, some requiring a dedicated community to unearth. It’s one of the most atmospheric games that I’ve ever played with ethereal visuals and echoey auditory effects. Read my full review here.

Metaphor: ReFantazio (2024)

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I usually stay away from massive JRPGs unless I really am hooked by the premise. It’s hard for me to want to sink 80+ hours into any game as an adult with a family, job, other hobbies, and a massive backlog of other games I want to play. But Metaphor: ReFantazio caught my eye. I loved my time with Atlus’ Persona 5 so a similar game set in a more mature fantasy world sounded right up my alley. Metaphor: ReFantazio presents a fantastical world and delivers on a phenomenal turn-based combat system. Unfortunately, as a lengthy story-driven game I was quite let down by the lack of nuance in the plot and the writing in general.

The world of Metaphor: ReFantazio is one filled with discontent. The country is thrown into chaos when the king is assassinated and his successor, the prince, has been missing for a decade. A military general, Louis, admits to killing the king and attempts to seize power for himself but is thwarted when a magical force using the voice of the late king announces that the next king will be chosen via the will of the people. Whoever has the most support after a few months will be king and wielder of the powerful royal scepter. 

Racial strife, religious fanaticism, and national security are the most prevalent drivers of this world’s electorate. Louis promises to use his military might to protect the country from monster attacks and proposes a form of social Darwinism such that only strength matters rather than race. Forden, the leader of the church, is the other most prominent candidate. He appeals to people’s religious beliefs and seems to want to uphold the status-quo. The main character joins the royal tournament and is motivated by a fantasy book presenting a utopian society. He wants to join people of all tribes together regardless of class and race and create a utopia.

I quite enjoyed the ideas behind the political themes of Metaphor: ReFantazio. The portrayal of how people are driven to support politicians based on anxiety, fear, and anger felt especially apt as elections are taking place around the world. An objectively evil person such as Louis could become a front-runner because people are afraid for their security and want to overthrow the rotten status-quo no matter what it takes. And Forden uses his position of power in the church to manipulate people, not to mention his involvement in a shadow government that tries to rule the country from behind the scenes. But unfortunately, I think these themes never get explored past surface-level political analysis.

There’s a lack of nuance and thought-provoking questions that makes the world too black-and-white. It is obvious that Louis is a chaotic and evil villain. And Forden, despite appearing orderly, is highly manipulative and power-hungry. On the other hand, the main character is presented as perfectly righteous. It’s never in question if Louis or Forden are correct. The main character never has to answer how they will solve any of the difficult problems in the world. He repeats ad nauseam how everyone must come together. His vision of a utopia is nice, but I wish there was some actual nuance here.

I think the story would have been improved by not having Louis and Forden be so comically evil. Obviously sacrificing the weak so the strong can thrive is bad, but if Louis presented his social Darwinism as a merit-based system that anyone can succeed in it would be more nuanced. Moreover, if Forden leaned more into maintaining the status-quo, despite its faults, to maintain order and peace then we could analyze if that goal is worthwhile. And the main character’s utopian views needed some sort of flaws such as their difficulty to achieve. There should be some actual question to what is best for the country. A chaotic revolution that destroys social norms, the status-quo being upheld no matter what, or an idealistic utopia that struggles to answer hard questions. If I’m going to spend 80 hours engaging in a story, I want that story to make me think. And the lack of nuance in Metaphor: ReFantazio led to it not being very thought-provoking.

The issue with the storytelling is made worse by the repetitive writing. I understand these kinds of games are supposed to be story heavy but there were times I was mentally begging the characters to shut up. It’s rare that anything of substance is said, and most of the time characters are just repeating information that you already know. I can’t imagine counting how many times a character said something along the lines of “we have to stop Louis” or “we need to help everybody”. It’s cheesy, repetitive, and I am utterly exhausted by the power-of-friendship trope.

There are some exciting story sequences that showcased the potential that Metaphor: ReFantazio had. There are plenty of twists and turns that motivated me to see the game through to the end. The plot massively accelerates in the final quarter. The middle chapters of the game in comparison were slow and uninteresting. One of the earlier chapters takes place in the desert town of Martira where children have been going missing. This particular sequence was my favorite in the game as it was excellently paced and was a self-contained story with clever writing. The following couple of chapters were boring, forgettable, and lacked any sort of personality. Ultimately, the game is at its best in the beginning and at the end as it drags massively during the middle sections.

The strongest aspect of Metaphor: ReFantazio is its combat. I know turn-based combat isn’t for everyone, but I personally love a game when a game makes me think and strategize. What stands out to me about the combat in Metaphor: ReFantazio is the versatility. You have four characters on the battlefield, each with their own class and moveset. You get four actions per turn, but if you hit an enemy weakness or pass a character’s action it will only consume half an action. Moreover, there are synthesis skills that require two characters of specific classes that are highly impactful but cost two actions. Between basic attacks, single-target attacks, multi-target attacks, synthesis skills, buffs, debuffs, status effects, support skills, passing, and blocking there are so many potential ways to plan out a single turn. Which is important because battles often only last that long.

I played the game on hard difficulty and I found it to be vital to try to win most basic battles in a single turn. The combat is extremely volatile, meaning it is as easy for the enemies to kill you as it is for you to kill them. I found that letting the enemies have even a single turn could be catastrophic. Every battle became a puzzle of how to defeat all the enemies before they could retaliate, and to do so while using a minimal number of resources such as mana and items. Bosses are the exception to the single-turn combat as they have higher health but tend to telegraph their assaults. They often have multi-turn setup that can be interrupted or dealt with via debuffs and taunts. I enjoyed how every fight felt like it was on a knife’s edge, a single blunder could lead to a party wipe. But the versatility of tools that game gives you makes it so these tense encounters rarely feel unfair.

Part of what makes the combat so enjoyable is the adaptability brought by the class system. It may genuinely be my favorite class system in any game ever. There are over a dozen base classes, each with higher tiers that can be unlocked. Any character can be any class, and you are heavily encouraged to experiment with the different classes. Every character can inherit any skills they’ve unlocked from any class. If you want to inherit some elemental magic on your knight to give them some offensive options, go right ahead. If you want some healing spells on your buffing character, no problem. Every character levels up their class mastery independent from their actual level, making it easy to switch around and make use of the flexibility that the system affords.

There’s a lot of smart quality-of-life features that prevent potential frustration. When you max out a class’s level, any additional experience gained creates an item to be used freely on other classes. This prevents the issue of feeling the need to switch classes the moment you hit max level on a class so experience doesn’t go to waste. You can also switch classes and inherit skills freely, not needing to go somewhere specific. You are only constrained by a resource called Magla, which prevents you from unlocking every class and inheriting every skill but I never came close to running out of Magla. Another major quality-of-life feature is the existence of overworld combat.

When exploring a dungeon, you can strike enemies before engaging them in turn-based combat. If you are significantly higher leveled than the enemy, they will be defeated instantly without having to spend time in turn-based combat. This is a huge time-saver and I’m extremely grateful for its inclusion. If you aren’t a much higher level, hitting enemies enough will trigger an ambush, dealing a big chunk of damage and stunning them to start the battle. Conversely, if an enemy hits you then you will be ambushed instead, letting the enemies have a turn before you. Because of the volatile combat, being ambushed is extremely catastrophic and often leads to just having to reload from the last save. While I appreciate the benefits from overworld combat, I wish getting a hit a single time didn’t effectively lead to a game over. The third-person action isn’t fantastic, and it doesn’t need to be, but a lot of emphasis is placed on it which I find odd.

My other major issue is with some of the late game boss battles. Many of these bosses have ways to give themselves a ton of extra actions per turn, making them extremely dangerous without hyper specific strategies to counter them. They also are effectively immune to most status effects and can clear any debuffs and buffs easily, further pigeonholing what you can do. I found myself relying on setting up a 1-shot (or close to it) to attempt to burst the boss down before they could do any of their ridiculousness. There are also a few late-game abilities that feel almost necessary to counter the wealth of actions that these bosses can have. 

Atlus’ style of JRPG is famous for their emphasis on time-management via the calendar. Metaphor: ReFantazio follows this trend and ultimately makes some great improvements. Every major section of the game gives the player a limited number of days to complete the main dungeon before the story continues. Any time not spent doing the main dungeon can be spent doing side quests, conversing with followers to improve your relationship, improving your “royal virtue” character traits, and travelling between locations. I generally enjoy this format as it makes downtime feel valuable rather than a chore. Choosing what to focus on and optimizing your time is a form of gameplay rather than just feeling like a checkbox.

What makes Metaphor: ReFantazio stand out compared to Atlus’ previous titles is the game’s road trip structure. You and your party are a globetrotting crew in your magical legged landship, called a Gauntlet Runner. Traveling from a major hub city to towns and dungeons takes time, so you have to plan your routes and time your departure based on weather and other factors. The Gauntlet Runner also serves as a cozy hub during travels where you can cook, read, and converse with allies. I quite liked the structure opposed to staying in a more static location like Tokyo in Persona 5. 

Another improvement that I am happy about is that improving follower relationships no longer relies on choosing the “correct” answers during conversations. You get bonus Magla for doing so, but you don’t feel the need to look up a guide to make sure you don’t mess up and waste time by picking the wrong dialogue choices. Moreover, the game is fairly lenient with time in general, and unless you majorly mess up you should have plenty of time by the end of the game to do every side quest and max out every relationship. The major downside to the calendar system, in every Atlus game, is that there tends to be a lot of downtime. Time between dungeons and story sequences can get tiresome if you have too many days in a row of talking to followers and doing other miscellaneous stuff. I would have appreciated a brisker pace in some sections of the game.

I was a little disappointed by the presentation of Metaphor: ReFantazio. The orchestral soundtrack is solid, and I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of Esperanto chanting. I do prefer the jazzier soundtrack of Persona 5, but I can’t complain about the music in Metaphor: ReFantazio. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the visuals. I think the character designs are wonderful, and the animated cutscenes are also incredibly well done, but the graphical quality during normal gameplay is awful. Everything just looks muddied and dull. Many dungeons take place in the same environments rather than unique and memorable locations. Which is a shame because the world is conceptually interesting. There are plenty of wondrous places that aren’t conveyed properly through the outdated visuals. 

Ultimately, Metaphor: ReFantazio is a lengthy story-driven game. And while the story has some good ideas, it ultimately failed to provoke thought or inspire nuanced political analysis. Luckily, the game does deliver on strategic combat and a wonderfully adaptable class system. It is for these reasons that I give Metaphor: ReFantazio a 7/10. Metaphor: ReFantazio is a great JRPG. The problem is that I don’t think this genre is for me.

Astro Bot (2024)

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Astro Bot is a game for people who love gaming. Not only is it a technical marvel, but it lives by the ethos that games should be fun. While I personally love experimental and mature games that toy with inspiring other emotions such as rage or sadness, the unbridled joy that Astro Bot brought me reminded me of playing games as a kid. It’s reminiscent of all-time greats such as Super Mario Galaxy. It’s a modern day classic that I’m already eager to revisit in a few years’ time.

Astro Bot starts with your Playstation-shaped spaceship being destroyed by an alien and having all your robotic allies scattered across the universe. You crash land on a barren planet and have to visit different galaxies and planets to rescue the little bots and repair your spaceship. Each level plays out as a fairly linear course-clear style stage with hidden collectibles scattered about. Astro Bot clearly takes inspiration from Super Mario Galaxy with its approach to level design and reliance on interesting power-ups.

Most levels are a straightforward 3D platforming affair, but there is almost always a power-up or gimmick to keep things fresh. My favorites include the mouse backpack that lets you shrink and explore the nooks and crannies of the level, goggles that let you briefly slow time to avoid speedy obstacles, and a chicken jetpack that blasts you skyward at dizzying speeds. There’s a ridiculous amount of creativity on display in the levels. Each one is like a giant set piece with fantastic theming and spectacle. Whether it’s freeing chained-up starfish, jumping into the mouth of a giant singing tree, or hunting for treasure in sandy villages and stumbling on a Djinn in a lamp, Astro Bot is absolutely brimming with memorable ideas and I don’t want to spoil too many surprises.

Not only are the levels filled with spectacle, but there is also an unparalleled attention to detail. The developers had a penchant for showing off the physics on tiny objects. Levels are filled with things like acorns, confetti, gems, bolts, and other objects that move seamlessly as you wade through them or forcefully launch them. The game also frequently has destructible environments and set pieces that show off the sophisticated physics. The sound effects as you move about on different surfaces is sublime. Astro Bot makes fantastic use of the PS5 controller’s haptic and audio feedback to really immerse the player. The rain effect in particular is very slick. 

I love collectathons and games with a good hub world, and Astro Bot combines those aspects brilliantly. As you play levels you will be rescuing little robots who will come back to the initially barren crash site. Many of these bots are cameos from classic Playstation games, but they don’t feel like cheap references. Many of the references are fairly obscure and even I had trouble recognizing some of them. But aside from the referential costumes every character has their own comedic blurb that makes it seem like the developers of Astro Bot actually played these games and aren’t using them as cheap references. Furthermore, you can spend coins you collect to acquire accessories for the bots. For example, you can get a cardboard box for the Solid Snake bot to hide underneath. I quite enjoyed walking around the hub world and taking in the characters and scenes from Playstation’s past. It feels like a love letter to gaming.

The one fault I have with Astro Bot is perhaps not a fair one. Because comparing any game to Super Mario is putting it up against the best of the best. But Astro Bot is clearly Playstation’s version of Super Mario, so the comparison is necessary. The main character, Astro, doesn’t have nearly the same movement complexity that Mario has. Astro can run, jump, punch, spin, and briefly hover using lasers. But it doesn’t feel like there is anything to master. I remember playing Super Mario Sunshine a bunch as a kid and trying to master my control on momentum to backflip, wall jump, and hover up to ledges that seemed out of reach. Mario’s moveset is far more complex and the reliance on momentum allows for more mastery for advanced players.

While the movement is simpler, I do think the game benefits from Astro’s fragility. Getting hit once will reset you back to the latest checkpoint. The level design and simple movement lend themselves to a fairly laid-back experience, but you still have to be careful. The game is fairly easy, but it has an edge because a single mistake means death. There are some challenge levels and gauntlets that are decently difficult. Overall, I think the difficulty was tuned quite well for being a family-friendly platformer. 

While playing Astro Bot I really didn’t want the experience to end. It’s an absolute joyous adventure that celebrates gaming and the philosophy that games should be fun first and foremost. While Sony has recently focused on more mature storytelling games, I hope Astro Bot signals that there is still a space for polished platformers and collectathons. The variety of levels, attention to detail, spectacular power-ups, and love for older titles makes this a game nobody should miss out on playing. It is for these reasons that I give Astro Bot a 9.5/10. There’s no doubt in my mind that Astro Bot is a modern classic. 

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (2021)

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Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a game that’s better than the sum of its parts. Which is really important because none of the individual aspects of the game are standouts. There’s perfectly serviceable combat, platforming, exploration, and story, but there aren’t really any surprises or “wow” moments. It’s a game that feels reminiscent of classic, Playstation 2 era, adventure games. While being fairly derivative, Kena: Bridge of Spirits somehow feels endearing. I actually enjoyed my time with the game which can be partially attributed to the game’s smaller scope and wholesome vibes.

The game follows Kena, a spirit guide on a journey to learn more about her abilities to usher spirits into the afterlife. She travels to a remote village beset by famine and magical corruption. The populace has been entirely wiped out, and only spirits remain. It’s Kena’s duty to clear the corruption and guide the regretful spirits into the afterlife to help restore the natural order of life. I thought it was a touching story that dealt with loss, regret, and acceptance. There’s a sense of melancholy as you explore what was once a bustling town full of life, and moments of sadness as you learn the fates of the spirits that you’ve been assisting. But it’s also uplifting and endearing as you are ultimately helping the spirits accept and move on.

The most striking aspect of Kena: Bridge of Spirits is undoubtedly its visuals. The world is an absolute treat to look at. Towering canopies, twisted roots, rushing waterfalls, and dense underbrush are intertwined in a way that feels like a genuine forest. The world feels serene and natural thanks to its thoughtful environmental design. The lighting is also superb as streaks of light cut through the trees and illuminate the path during a thunderstorm. Graphically, the game has the Pixar movie-esque style to it that is wonderfully animated and rendered beautifully, especially in cutscenes. There’s no question that the presentation is the most impressive aspect of Kena: Bridge of Spirits.

Gameplay wise, Kena: Bridge of Spirits has a healthy mix of combat, exploration, platforming, and puzzle solving. While all these components were competent, they each had their own flaws. The only aspect that tried to do something new was how puzzles used the cute creatures called Rot. The Rot are little black puffballs that follow you around and assist you as you free them. You can command them to move blocks around and can occasionally fuse them together to create a spiritual dragon to clear away corruption. I loved seeing the little creatures but I felt that they were underutilized in puzzles. I didn’t feel like there was a meaningful difference between having the Rot move a stone block instead of just doing it as the player character like in most games. As a whole, the puzzles were extremely simple.

Platforming faced a similar issue of simplicity. There was some potential here as the game introduced some fun ideas such as using your bow to slingshot you to glowing flowers, rotating floating blocks so that you could use them as platforms, and introducing a dash that sends you through spiritual portals. There were moments that I felt like there could’ve been some excellent race-against-time sections as you rapidly used your tools to levitate blocks, dash through portals, and sling across gaps. Or there could’ve been more puzzle-platforming focused sections of rotating platforms in the correct order. But those moments never really came to fruition unfortunately. Moreover, double-jumping feels awkward because the second jump almost entirely halts your momentum. It makes it easy to misjudge jumps and honestly just feels bad.

I found exploration to be mostly enjoyable because of the environments. There’s a good amount of stuff to find without feeling overwhelming. But a lot of the rewards were fairly disappointing. Meditation spots are thematically nice and increase your total health which is great. Finding hidden Rot around the world also feels good and collecting a bunch gives you more energy to use in combat, great. But I honestly didn’t care for finding the dozens of different hats that you can put on your Rot. Sure, it’s a cute touch. But it is purely cosmetic and I couldn’t help but be deflated whenever I found a secret passageway only to be rewarded with a random hat. Worse still, the most common reward is money. And money’s only use in the game is to purchase hats. So, if you don’t care too much for these trinkets then a majority of the game’s rewards are going to be meaningless for you.

The one exploration reward that I thought was interesting was the Spirit Mail. Collecting these allows you to enter homes in the village that have been beset by corruption. You can clear out the evil energy, restoring that home and the surrounding area to a more serene state. I wish they did more with this. I love the idea of reviving the village, but aside from getting rid of some evil vines and bramble there isn’t any gameplay element tied into this. There are some static blue spirits standing around but they don’t move and you can’t interact with them in any way. 

Imagine this: after cleansing a building in the village, spirits are freed that act as shops to spend your money. It was such an obvious idea to me that I’m shocked it’s not in the game. It solves a multitude of issues that I had. The village would feel more alive, Spirit Mail would feel more rewarding, you’d have actual upgrades and equipment to spend your money on, and combat progression would feel better with these upgrades. I even think it’d increase the emotional impact of the game’s ending as you free these spirits that have been stranded instead of moving on to the afterlife. Maybe the developers didn’t want players to have weapon upgrades to spend money on, but I found it so odd that 3 of the major collectibles in the game (Spirit Mail, hats, and money) had no gameplay implication whatsoever. I genuinely think adding some shops as a reward for finding Spirit Mail would have been a major improvement.

The most fleshed out aspect of Kena: Bridge of Spirits is easily its combat. Kena has the classic options of light attack, heavy attack, dodge, and shield. As you progress through the game a few more options become available such as the bow, bomb, and dash. Furthermore, you can spend experience to unlock bonus attributes such as a stronger shield, more arrows, or bombs releasing mini-bombs upon detonation. But the best way to deal massive damage is through the Rot abilities. As you hit enemies with your basic attacks you will build up a resource called confidence. One confidence can be spent to unleash a devastating melee attack, a piercing arrow, a time-slowing bomb, or it can be used to consume limited health flowers scattered around the arena. 

All of these considerations play into the flow of combat in Kena: Bridge of Spirits. I found it enjoyable to dodge, block, and parry enemies along with dealing some damage with all my tools while building up confidence to burst down enemies with Rot abilities. Enemy design is also quite varied so that you are always on your toes. You really have to make use of all your tools to dispose of the variety of threats the game throws at you. It sounds silly, but I was impressed that even with a large roster of foes there was not a single one that I thought was annoying or poorly designed. But where I think combat really shines is the boss battles.

I think the difficulty curve pertaining to the boss battles is going to be a huge negative for many players. For a game that presents itself like a Pixar movie, the bosses can be quite challenging. Don’t go into Kena: Bridge of Spirits thinking it is a game for little kids as the bosses will humble you, even on the “normal” difficulty. But it’s hard for me to begrudge these unexpected difficulty spikes because the bosses were my favorite part of the game. They follow the same flow of regular combat but are much more challenging. Additionally, most bosses have some briefly exposed weak points that you can target to temporarily incapacitate them. It’s a great way to encourage the player to stay perceptive and get rewarded with small windows to deal big damage.

Even though I did have fun with the combat, I do have a few small complaints. For one, the camera can get a bit annoying with multiple enemies. It has the tendency to soft-lock itself onto the nearest enemy which isn’t always what I want. I think the camera should’ve stayed in control of the player for the most part. My other issue is a lack of progression for melee attacks. Towards the end of the game it felt like basic light and heavy attacks did pitiful damage to bosses to the point it wasn’t worth the risk of getting close. I defaulted to using arrows and bombs until I could stun the boss and then used Rot abilities to deal the majority of damage. I think the idea of having a blacksmith or something in the village like I mentioned earlier could’ve allowed players to specialize into stronger melee attacks.

There’s something about Kena: Bridge of Spirits that feels like an adventure game from the Playstation 2. And not in a bad way. I think it may be because so many modern adventure games put more emphasis on story and massive scope. Kena: Bridge of Spirits feels more personal and endearing. It has a story, but it doesn’t talk at the player for hours on end. It has an open world, but it’s much smaller and more segmented than most modern games. And I appreciated that the game wasn’t bloated with unnecessary junk. It’s maybe a dozen hours long and quickly moves through new areas, enemies, bosses, and tools. In a landscape filled with 50-hour open world games, I’m glad to have smaller scoped adventures like Kena: Bridge of Spirits.

While Kena: Bridge of Spirits doesn’t do anything particularly groundbreaking, I still had a great time with the game. I looked forward to cozy mornings with a cup of coffee and exploring its gorgeous natural landscapes with my crew of Rot buddies. I think there are clear improvements to be made across all gameplay aspects, but as an entire package I think Kena: Bridge of Spirits is fun. It is for these reasons that I give Kena: Bridge of Spirits a 7.5/10. If you are tired of grandiose open worlds and dialogue heavy adventure games, Kena: Bridge of Spirits presents a tighter and more personal quest.   

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020)

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To be brief, if you enjoyed Marvel’s Spider-Man, you’ll enjoy Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. If you are looking for more innovation, you’ll be disappointed by this title. That being said, I do think that Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a solid game all-around. In many ways, I found it had some improvements over its predecessor. But at the same time, all the major gameplay elements are nearly identical to Marvel’s Spider-Man. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to hone in on some minor improvements, but Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales feels derivative. Despite this, it’s still a fun game.

Peter Parker has gone on vacation and has left the responsibilities of being Spider-Man to his protege, Miles Morales. During this time, Miles discovers that a shady corporation is opening a dangerous energy reactor in his home borough of Harlem. He also runs into a mysterious gang who is hellbent on fighting said corporation. Like any classic Spider-Man tale, Miles has to balance his personal life and superhero life, which often clash and lead to some tough decisions.

I felt like the overarching plot of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was solid. There’s a mostly charming cast of characters, some wholesome moments, some laughs, and some sadder moments as well. Everything you’ve come to expect out of a modern Marvel production is present. My favorite aspect of the narrative was how Miles grew more connected to Harlem specifically. I enjoyed spending time there and assisting the locals protect their home from gangs and crime. It felt more personal than just beating up baddies to save the entire city. Moreover, the Christmas setting added to the cozy vibes with snow-covered streets and lights decorating the city.

While I mostly enjoyed watching the story unfold, I felt as if the villains were pretty poor. One is a rich CEO who is willing to ignore safety concerns in the pursuit of more money. Which may be realistic, but is a tad boring. The other villain is more egregious. They make dumb decision after dumb decision and are extremely shortsighted. I can understand the “blinded by revenge” angle, but this particular character was infuriatingly obtuse.

While I felt that the story was serviceable, the real draw of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the gameplay. Like its predecessor, swinging around New York City and fighting crime is just plain-old fun. The web-slinging traversal is so fluid and natural, it’s probably my favorite method of getting around in any video game. I don’t know why anyone would want to use fast-travel when you can zip around the city with ease.

When it comes to combat, Miles has a few more tricks up his sleeve than Peter Parker. While Peter focused on using gadgets during combat, Miles has Venom powers. As you land attacks and dodge hits, you’ll build up a Venom meter which can be used to unleash some more powerful attacks. While I still think that the combat in the Marvel’s Spider-Man games is a bit rudimentary, it’s easy to get into a satisfying flow of attacks, dodges, Venom moves, and finishers. There’s some fantastic animation work at play here which automatically makes any action you take look seamlessly heroic without you having to do much at all.

While the game nailed the cinematic aspect of combat, I do wish there was a bit more mechanical freedom in execution. I don’t need this to be a full-blown character-action game, but some more options other than mashing square would be great. Sure, you can throw debris around with your web-slinging powers or use gadgets, but the best way to do damage is just basic attacking until you charge up a special move.

Along with combat, stealth makes a return as an option to tackle enemy encounters. While it can be fun to catch enemies and hang them from the rafters like an actual spider, it’s a little too easy to be truly engaging. Since you can always be above enemies you can almost never be spotted as you move around. You can be spotted when performing a takedown, but the game explicitly tells you when it is safe to takedown an enemy and will warn you that you will be spotted. The combination of these things means you will never fail stealth unless you intend to. Moreover, Miles has a camouflage ability that you can activate to become invisible. Even if you do get spotted, you can just enter camouflage and wait until it’s safe to start performing stealth takedowns again.

I don’t think having simple combat and stealth is necessarily a terrible thing. Not every game needs to have the combat depth of Bayonetta or the carefully crafted stealth sequences Metal Gear Solid. But Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales needed to supplement its enemy encounters with something else. Swinging around the city is fun, but most of the time you are just traversing from encounter to encounter. There are a few side-objectives to break up the monotony, but the majority of objectives involve disposing of enemies. I would have loved to see more chase scenes or something similar to utilize Spider-Man’s powers in other ways than combat. The traversal is so smooth and fun, I wish it was better utilized for actual gameplay challenges.

I do have to give props to Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales for cutting down on some of the extraneous aspects of its predecessor. One of my biggest complaints about Marvel’s Spider-Man was how frequently the game veered off from playing as Spider-Man. Not to mention the annoyingly common circuit board puzzles. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales cut down on this filler content significantly. There’s still the occasional environmental puzzle, but at least you still get to play as Spider-Man while you solve it.

For the most part, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales feels like a fine-tuned retread of its predecessor. It trims the fat and adds a few new mechanics to make Miles’ gameplay feel distinct from Peter Parker. But it’s risk averse. It doesn’t do anything to wow the player or meaningfully distinguish itself. Nevertheless, it is still a fun game that manages to feel cozy and welcoming due to its setting and endearing cast of characters. It is for these reasons that I give Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales a 7.5/10. A refined Marvel’s Spider-Man game is great, but I would love to see Spidey’s powers taken even farther.