Recent reviews by Kirisame the Awesome Witch!

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a VASTLY different game from its older predecessors that you may be familiar with (Namely, LSW1, 2, 3, and Complete Saga) - but this isn't necessarily a bad thing! It's just important to keep this in mind if you're thinkin' of picking this up, it's a whole nother ballpark.

The mostly Level-based structure, where characters are simple and usually only have 1-2 unique abilities, has been changed up into an Open-World Exploration themed game, where characters have a WIDE moveset but also have less unique quirkiness that they might have had in the originals (as an example; Jar-Jar, R2, and Y. Anakin won't have their high jump, hover, or vent-crawling)

So, if you're looking for strictly more of what the older games offered, it may or may not be for you. Try it out!

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BUT, if you're willing to give it a go, and admire it on its own, then you'll quickly find a lot to love. LSW: TSS is a breath of fresh air, and one of the best and biggest takes on not just a Lego game, but also Star Wars games as a whole. It might sound funny to put it like that, but trust me when I say many other games could take tips from what this game does.

One of the biggest draws to the game so far - and with good reason - is the sheer exploration and open-ended freedom offered to you. It's an open-world Star Wars game with a lot of goofy charm, yet beautiful environments chock full of stuff to do, Kyber Bricks to find, and NPCs to talk to. Frankly, I'm surprised it hadn't been done sooner.

With every episode, the game briefly holds your hand for the plot of the story, but just as quickly lets you go run rampant across the planets. Wanted to explore the desert towns of Tatooine? Well, just head over there and do it then. Headed over to Coruscant? It's a fully realized city with so many huge sub-sections it's baffling. Endor? Sure. Mustafar? Sure. Exegol? Don't even ask. And, remember, every single one of these areas is packed full of stuff to do, and most have sub-areas and sub-areas of those sub-areas which all have stuff.

In addition to that, while perhaps a bit jarring to transition into from the older games, all characters have basic combat ability (all lovingly hand-animated too it seems!), and can be used more broadly to solve puzzles. IMO, the original games had better puzzles, but with how much there is to see, I suppose it could count as a silver-lining that the characters in TSS have a smaller selection of basic "roles" they can fill - so you don't need to fumble through your gigantic character list for somebody that can high jump. If you want to do most of the game as Jar-Jar Binks, that's actually viable! And the game will make it obvious when you need another character to do something, anyway.

Overall, LSW: TSS is great fun - it is without a doubt THE Open-World Star Wars game. It may not be the same as its predecessors, and that's okay if that's not your thing. However, if you ever a chance to try it out, I recommend it - it's really an experience like no other I can think of.

I like making the NPCs fight eachother it's like watching a buncha ants fight in your backyard except if the ants were teletubbies

In Stardew Valley, you are a local farmer with a fishing rod.

You destroy the ecosystem & economy by catching dozens and dozens of fish every day, destabilizing the market with thousands of largemouth bass. Your farm's shipping bin is buried in an awe-inspiring mountain of fish at all times.

All denizens of the valley fear you, but are ultimately powerless to stop you. You are a force of nature; an unspeakable eldritch abomination borne with the sole purpose of fishing (and sometimes farming, foraging, mining, and socializing, but mainly fishing)

Fishing is love.
Fishing is life.
You confidently stuff a clump of algae into your mouth for sustenance. You gain 13 energy and 5 health.

It is a game rivaled only by Cruelty Squad in its ability to accurately depict the Fishing Lifestyle.

PSO2: New Genesis is a glitzy, ambitious game, but even as it's just starting out its long life, it has several fundamental problems that CANNOT be ignored, especially as a fan of the original PSO2.



I acknowledge the game is in its very early infancy - after all, the original PSO2 followed a similar slow release schedule - they started with Episode 1 and worked their way up over the span of 8 years to Episode 6, the final episode of that game. However, even so, PSO2:NGS in its early stages has glaring issues, namely, with its identity.

NGS feels like it can't decide what it wants to be. It wants to be played like PSO2, but it also wants to be an Open-World experience. It has its own cosmetics and cosmetics system - but also has finnicky support for PSO2's old cosmetics. It is simultaneously a social game, with its greatly expanded cosmetic system, but in the same breath also doesn't really encourage players to congregate outside of Central City or for punching enemies.

Throughout the entire game, NGS feels like it's fighting itself with what it wants to be, to the point where it fails to be a truly engaging experience in ANY aspect. It's PSO2, but with a gutted social aspect. It's an Open World, with nothing to see and no reason to go explore after you've seen everything. Has its own brand-new system for cosmetics? Also has PSO2's cosmetics just... here, jankily taped onto NGS.



New Genesis was the game touted to be the next step in PSO2's long life, but it feels like it takes a half-step in everything it does.

I want to love this game, I really do, just like I did PSO2, but it just does not make me happy at all as either a PSO2-like game, a social game, an open world game, or a character customization game. Everything I liked the original Phantasy Star Online 2 for - NGS feels worse at in every aspect.

"Alright, after this I'm going to bed, for real this time."

~You, about 5 or 6 hours prior, just before you had jumped over a mountain, fought 2 dragons, went to Whiterun for supplies, headed to Solitude, raided a bandit camp en-route, got overencumbered, went back home to drop off all the loot, jumped over the mountain again, fled from a dragon into some dwemer ruins, getting very very lost in Blackreach, and eventually having come out of the ruins all the way over near Winterhold, still not even remotely close to your journey's end in Solitude.

Maybe going by carriage was a better idea after all. Oh well, it won't take that much longer!