Recent reviews by mae

thjsi ga,e ois wayt oo good

stop everything you're doing and play this game right now

call that ♥♥♥♥ hollow (k)night silksong (lullaby) the way it puts me to sleep

getting this collection on sale literally feels like robbery

After my disappointment with the second game in the series, Nirvana Initiative— I was admittedly apprehensive at this game's announcement, overall having very low expectations, thinking at this point the series had been 'ruined' so thoroughly from what happened in the second game. So, after playing this game (and one hundred percent-ing it!) I am pleasantly surprised to say that this game is... good? really good even? Now that might be the honeymoon phase speaking, but compared to how downright offensive Nirvana Initiative felt at time, this game feels like a return to form even though it's admittedly the most wildly different in the whole series.

THE SECTION BELOW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE GAMES STORY

While I don't think I'd go as far to say that this game *should have* been the true sequel to the first game, because of it's smaller scale— which is the point mind you; for what it is and what it strives to be which again is a smaller and more focused game to bridge the gap between the past entries it absolutely excels at it. The way it develops past characters in the series and gives them a chance to shine is so masterfully handled, I was a bit shocked to see such an emphasis put on Renju in this game, but it was an amazing direction considering how much Renju truly haunts many of the characters in this game, to see him, not just as a person, but as a weight many characters carry after his death get such a focus even while not physically being present was amazing; and of course don't forget about the new characters, Hina and Sakura/Akemi's story was a shocking reveal, and honestly became one of my favorite stories the series has told; not really expecting much of Hina I initially assumed she'd just be a minor side character to at least spice things up a little bit in comparison to the other games; so the entire narrative centering around her and her past was completely unexpected! Coming right off finishing the game I struggle to fully articulate my feelings, but I thought that this game perfectly exemplified the themes of love and family the AI series is all about. I also appreciate how this game gave further depth not just to the characters of this series, but also to the world building as a whole, I thought Akemi's character was extremely interesting regarding the science fiction elements of the AI series while not exactly jumping the shark, even though this game is by no means grounded, and has its fair share of absurdity it never felt distracting unlike Nirvana, while yes it's definitely more 'silly' than the first game it still felt all very tonally consistent. Again while this might be the honeymoon phase talking, I'd say this game often rivals the first game in narrative quality, while not exactly surpassing it it certainly feels cut from the same cloth— surprising considering Uchikoshi didn't even write it...!

To quickly touch on the gameplay side of things since I've mainly been rambling about the narrative of this game, overall I liked it! The smaller focus on somniums didn't really irk me too much considering the new shiny gameplay feature of this game— the escape rooms were fantastic in my eyes. I love escape rooms personally and this game absolutely killed the vibes regarding everything, after playing 2 games worth of somniums it was honestly a welcome shake up and I thoroughly enjoyed every escape room in this game (even if I was pretty bad at them...)

To conclude; I really enjoyed this game, not to sound overdramatic, but it really reignited a sense of hope regarding this series after Nirvana disappointed me so deeply. Does this game surpass the first AI game? Well, no of course not, but for it's scale and it's quality of both gameplay and writing— and music... oops forgot to mention that! I think it serves as a highly competent and grand continuation of the series.

Toby Fox is god

"What if Nero played with toys"

this the ♥♥♥♥ glep plays on his ipad

this is my third time buying the same game, i dont even like p5

it just stupid :/