Recent reviews by Bruce Wayen

Easily the Game of The Year for 2022 for me, hands down. One of the few games that I actually spent more than 8 hours session per day, came out tired and still want more.

Elden Ring did more than just tweak the souls formula; it revolutionizes it. This is not Dark Souls 4. This is a true new game that manages to make itself different, the same way how Bloodborne and Sekiro is different that the usual Souls games. This game is a testament of mixing both a tight gameplay and an open world that, for once, is not some checklist and actually feels full of wonder, becoming one of the few games that executed open-world masterfully. My only gripe was on the technical stutter on the performance, which I do not excuse at all (expected, but Fromsoft please) but the pros in Elden Ring just ECLIPSES the cons for me

The game is so good. It really is one of those games where you just have to play it. Heck, the game is so good that it became my first Soulsborne games that I 100% it, yet I STILL want to play more.

If a game made you want to play more despite getting full out of it, then you know it's a good game.

Felt like I needed to make a review out of this game. After putting more than 60 hours almost non-stop in this game, I’d be doing a disservice by NOT telling how great this game is. Seriously. If Yakuza 0 had been released this year, I’d immediately put it in the GOTY list. Full stop. I put this game on the ranks of even Sekiro, Persona 5, and Witcher 3 in my list of greatest games I’ve ever played. “Woah, woah, woah, you’re exaggerating way too much, dude. Those are big names that you put”. Yeah, and with good reason, too.

Since I really, really, really love this game, this will be my first review of making things short just because I don’t have many things to say. Yakuza 0 is one heck of a rollercoaster ride. It has a good story that serves as a good starting point to the Yakuza series, and a good combat system that takes cue from Devil May Cry, though not as deep. Best of all, there’s a massive amount of side content, crafted with a high amount of care. There’s always a reason for doing karaoke, or bowling, or dancing in the disco, or running a real estate/cabaret club, or doing a sidequest that has little fetch quest, or PLAYING A FREAKING TAMIYA. YES, WE CAN PLAY THE GAME OF OUR CHILDHOOD, COMPLETE WITH THE HYPE.

Best of all, Yakuza 0 is just fun. There is one thing that Yakuza manages to give that games rarely put out nowadays: Pure fun. Most games always put a reason for you to do a minigames or sidequest, no matter how boring it is, such as equipment. Yakuza doesn’t. Sure, I might’ve beaten the best at disco, but I’m still playing disco, even though I’m not being rewarded or anything. It’s just fun. That’s why I love it so much

Yakuza 0 manages to pull me in real strong. I had zero expectation, but I came out blown away. To all fans of an open-world-ish RPG, grab it. It’s a steal when it’s on sale, but even without it, I’d say it’s still worth it. More must know about this series. Don’t worry about the playtime. 60 hours? That’s just scratching the surface, really. And for me, this is a great start. Kiwami, here I come.

I confess, I never knew what this game was before I bought it. My friend and I joked around the steam store when we stumbled upon this. At first, it’s title is weird. I mean, I thought it was probably your usual steam bloat. But then, when I look at the screenshots, I was like, “This is basically X-COM but with...anime-ish feature” Since it was priced lower before than Chimera Squad (Dandylion please don’t sue me) and I was in a X-COM maniac mode, I said, “Sure, why not”

Suffice to say that, after playing this from start to the end, this is literally the better X-COM Chimera Squad (XCCS) than X-COM Chimera Squad is.

There’s a lot of things that the developer put in this game with a lot of depth, and that is the greatest thing about Troubleshooter. The game is so, so deep. It’s not like X-COM where your strength starts from basic to laser to plasma or psionics (or advanced units like MECS or Templar/Skirmisher/Reaper, but let’s put that away). There’s buildcrafting. You see, in this game, the character strengths are defined by masteries that you can put. Think of it like mods or traits. The best part? There’s a lot of masteries, and I mean, over 200-ish masteries. But not just that. Combining certain masteries will give you a mastery set, which means even more possibilities! You want your tank to be a fireball slinger instead of punchy punchy? Sure. Want your healer to be a debuffer? Why not. Or you want to make your own templar from WOTC, complete with the OP of the Reaper and Parry trait? Why the hell not. The game lives and breathes through its depth, and I can see how meticulous the devs are in this game.

Another thing that it has is its story. XCCS is the first entry from X-COM that tries to focus its narrative and its results are...okay, I guess? Troubleshooter, on the other hand, is different. I always love a story in which its whole cast is interconnected, and boy, there’s a lot of twists in the game. The story really surprises you sometimes that you don’t expect that one particular thing can cause an impact. I like how the story connects as time goes on, and it shows how some plot holes are patched as the game progresses.

But are there bad things about this game? Hmm, I wouldn’t say bad, but more of a “depends” stuff. First, I did say the game has depth. But, reaching that depth would take a long time. It really takes time for things to start gearing up, not just from gameplay but from the plot. I’d say about...25 to 30-ish. It’s okay for some, but some people will be put off by this, especially nowadays when there are a lot of AAA open-world huge stuff yada yada yada. Like I said, it’s not bad, but it’s not good either. It depends.

Another mixed thing is that the start of the game is a bit overwhelming, at least for me. You can be anything in this game, yes, but freedom and effectiveness are two different things. I wouldn’t know how to exactly make my build stronger without some guide. This is a mixed bag, I know, but I would’ve preferred if the game does hand me at least a template for builds or advanced tutorials.

...wow, this is a long review. I think that’s because Troubleshooter has a lot of things to say. It doesn’t copy. It takes notes from XCOM and Fire Emblem in some way. But, it manages to combine all that note and it becomes a thing of its own, and a fantastic game it is. All fans of XCOM, Fire Emblem, SRPG or strategies should really look into this, as this is an underrated gem.

Oh, and I can’t wait for episode 2. I really can’t.

...maybe I can if you put some kind of psi-blades for Irene or Albus or Leton. Pretty please?

First of all, before I review this game further, let me simplify it for those who just need a quick take: Yes, this is still XCOM we all love and hate. Yes, this is still the game that lets you manages different people and aliens, this time. And yes, this is still the game where even though that it said that your shot has a 99% chance to hit, it misses, and a 1% chance to hit goes critical. In fact, the former has already happened a lot.

But, Chimera Squad has uniqueness that makes it stand on its own. What does Chimera Squad brings? Aliens. This time, though, aliens that will kick the enemies ass.

This time, you can only bring four members to the encounters, and there will be no changing that. In exchange, agents that you recruits are more personal. While XCOM and XCOM 2 lets you recruit a literal person with generic voices and personalities in which YOU are the one who puts the story, each agents is more personal. Different personalities, different voices, different races of course, and different tactics between them. On top of this, when one of the agents die, it counts as a game over, instead of "welp, he dies, cry me a river and find a new recruit I guess lol", so the stakes are more personal. On this, I am very much fond of it. Call it bland if you want, they do feel more colorful than the mainline entries. Regardless, I consider the cast a plus point, even if you can only bring four of it.

What else, hmm...ah yes, the combat is also different.

For starters, turns are now alternate between each agents and the enemy. This means that the encounters would be like one agent moves, then an enemy moves, another agent move, then an enemy, one by one until all moves. It changes into a chess game, for a lack of better...image. What this means is that no longer will you be ♥♥♥♥♥♥ because the game decides to throw four berserkers, two sectopods and two gatekeeper that you aggroed. Every encounter lets you move easier now, and there is a timeline indicating who moves to let you counter the enemies. Oh, there are three mutons? Well, let's see which one moves earlier and wreck him/her first so that we can move earlier. The game is fairer in this, but again, missing a 95% shot is still a thing so do be aware.

But then you ask, "but how do the game decides who moves at when?" Introducing breach mode, another new mechanic that I like. Since we are playing as a SWAT-team, the game will let you plan how, when, and from where you enter in each encounter. Think of it as the ambush mechanic in XCOM 2, only this time, you get to decide who attacks who. Each encounter have entry point(s), each brings either benefit such as increase stats or a stun on every shots, a loss such as enemies do increase damage, or both.

This is one of sickest thing in XCCS. It brings that level of strategy and puts the decision making further. For example, do I breach from the main door with all of my agents, which gives a benefit of a critical hit on every successful shot, but with more aggresive enemies? Or do I enter from the side entrance instead, where there are less aggresive enemies? Who should enter first? Should I use a flashbang grenade or not? It gives off that thrill of planning that I find fun, rather than the uncertainty of the ambush mechanic in XCOM 2, yet there is still that risk management. It's safe, yet dangerous at the same time.

BUT but but but but, there is one thing that I did not like, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but there is only one thing that I don't like from XCCS: Technical issues. My god, this game crashes a lot, and I mean A LOT. I've gotten more than six crashes in my playthrough, some of which crashes during turns where there is a lot happening. If it wasn't for the autosave, I would've refunded this SIMPLY because the game is really, really buggy sometimes, far more than XCOM or XCOM 2.

Despite that, though, I still recommend the game. Is it a good ol' XCOM? Yep. Is it the one of the best strategy games like XCOM EU or XCOM 2? No, and why should it? It is a perfectly fine strategy game that cost less than $20 and gives out 20-30 hours of content easily, and that's not including replay factor. I mentioned you can only get eight agents, well I forgot that there is a total of eleven agents, so that gives a replay factor already. It's a good XCOM game, and a more casual and relaxed one, not like the mainline where you have to plan which satellite you put in the game or else you are ♥♥♥♥♥♥. It's more relaxed, take it easy...even though you miss that 95% shot. Also worth noting is that XCCS reminds me that I haven't played XCOM 2 expansion, so yeah.

I'll miss my Zephyr, though. Keep punching, you hybrid human alien son of a gun.

Ah, DOOM. The classic FPS that everybody has at least heard in one or more generations. I admit, I never have the chance to play the old DOOM that much. That being said, when I played DOOM 2016, I was amazed as hell. It was one of the fastest FPS I ever played, and the loop of ripping and tearing demons never bored me. So it’s simple then, that DOOM Eternal was one of my most anticipated game. Question is, is it still DOOM?

Good news, it is. Kind of bad news, it's...maybe not for everyone.

No, before you bring me pitchforks and torches and burn me hotter than a flame roasted imp, I can explain. I also cleared the game on Ultra-Violence, which is kind of the second hardest difficulty, so I have fought like hell here.

Let me start by saying that yes, fortunately and of no surprise, DOOM Eternal is still DOOM, and it came back to us faster, better, stronger, angrier, and gorier. They managed to make a game as fast as DOOM 2016 and amped it up to the max. There are so many new layers and layers of tools that make the game so much more chaotic than ever. Dashes, Flame Belch, Ice Grenade, three different super weapons, Blood Punch, Meat hook and more. There are more ways than ever to kill demons in different way and different slice.

But then, here is when things get a bit...divided.

Personally, I love getting new stuff to try out. In a game where the gameplay is already quite perfect, the only thing they can do is either give us the same thing, or add more stuff. Either way, I appreciate. DOOM Eternal gives more than ever, but everything becomes far more tasking. There are ammo lying around still, but they are scarce, prompting us to chainsaw the heck out of imps more. And these are only one example. There are so many things to track that things can get a bit dicey.

However, when it works, it works beautifully. You’’ll be a badass slayer, moving and dashing from one another, killing demons in front of you, meat hook a flying Cacodemon, then laser beamed an Archvile, throwing ice bombs in the process, and chainsawing small fry and glory killing them. The dance was very, very satisfying. This will be proven more during Slayer Gates, challenge areas where you fight under very intense arena with demon spawns with ridiculous amount AND enemies you're supposed to encounter very, VERY late (Looking at you, Tyrant). When you triumph this, the feeling that you get is immense.

At least, that is for me.

The reason I said that is because this gameplay loop is not exactly for everyone. DOOM Eternal is divisive because some people love it for being so damn good, but other are overwhelmed with this. “Shooting a Revenant weak point in air even with a slow-mo is still hard, and now I have to track my grenade cooldown as well?” is what people that are not fond of this loop. Is it valid? Yes. And is it okay? Yes, in my opinion, because this is a different beast altogether.

“Wait, the game can’t be perfect, right?” Unfortunately, yes. The game is not perfect. Two main points that I will raise are story and enemy design. The former is more of the things that I don’t like while the second is a mixed bag. I’ll be honest, I was looking forward to the story. DOOM is not famous for it, but I like having a continuation. Unfortunately, the story really jumps into place. There are some juicy bits, but it felt like it was not put well enough, or they were not thought out well. Oh, so we get to know the Doom Slayer more...wait, who’s this guy again? How did this villain rise? What the hell is happening? I found myself often say “♥♥♥♥ it, I’m blasting”, because making sense of it is just difficult. Reading the Codex that you can collect helps, but slightly, anyway.

Enemy design is... a mixed bag. Because Marauders. On one hand, they’re Marauders. On the other, they’re Marauders...Okay, long story short, mirror matches ain’t exactly fun. You can just imagine if a boss is put in a normal encounter to get a picture of it.

In entirety, though, DOOM Eternal is amazing for me. My expectations was fulfilled, and I can't just put the game down. Fans of fast-paced as heck FPS, or someone who wants to play something badass and metal, look no further. The gameplay loop is badass as heck, and you’ll be fighting like hell in no time. And, if you’re thinking, “Oh, this gameplay is too much, I like DOOM 2016 better”, that’s okay, because that means this is simply not the type that you’re looking for. Yes, the gameplay is similar, but oh boy, once you do play it, it is a different beast. I’m still gonna play it more, just to gear up for ultra-nightmare and testing the multiplayer. You may notice that multiplayer is not in my review, because I haven’t played much of it. The gist of it is that it has good theory, but in practice, it is hard to get hooked, especially if you’re looking for a more traditional multiplayer.

Seriously though, ♥♥♥♥ Marauders.

Destiny has finally comes to pc, and with it, Shadowkeep, a Rise of Iron sized expansion, or, in more general terms, an expansion. It also goes free to play as well, which means anyone can now play and try it out.

Question is, is it worth getting into?

That...depends, but my stance on this is that, being a free to play game? Yeah, definitely worth looking.

Full disclosure, I've been playing this game since it was on BattleNet. Heck, I played this game since release. I watched the game's development, from the so-called "casual" catering in its first year, the dreaded Curse of Osiris expansion, a new hope in Warmind, and the eventual rise in Forsaken, along with the up-and-downs of the annual pass, Black Armory, Joker's Wild, and...season of Opulence with its Menagerie (I confess, I forget its name). And now, Shadowkeep with the season of the undying. 99 hours here? Nope, that's misleading. Days, hours, minutes have been put, but even then, it's still a rookie numbers. Many veterans have put thousands already.

Enough with the introduction, let's go straight to the review: Is this game good?

Well, if you want a personal opinion, you can already tell by the hundreds of hours that I've put in the game. First and foremost? Gunplay is the most solid thing that I've ever played, loot leans toward more to the rewarding styles, there's plenty of stuff to do in the game, pinnacle weapons (or ritual, but let's be real here), exotics weaponry, great synergy between ability and gunplay, variety of activities, seasonal events, and an 'ever-changing world', though it remains to be seen how this works. Heck, the lore and story can be a real interesting thing if you really get into it. There are thousands and thousands of thing that you can do before you get bored and move on to other games. Good thing that this is an MMO, though, so when new stuff comes out, hop back in and start doing it.

But this is a personal opinion. Objectively speaking, there are some faults in the game that are troublesome at best, and very frustrating at worst. We're talking about things that makes you say, "Oh, ♥♥♥♥ this game, I got better ways to spend my time and money than this ♥♥♥♥".

One, there's PvP and PvE. You might be thinking, "...so?", and it's okay. But, when there are offers for both competitive AND cooperative play, you're gonna have trouble balancing it. There's the problem. B-A-L-A-N-C-E. Go to the Destiny Subreddit, steam forums (I don't know about this one though), Youtube, and most of the time there's always that argument that nerfs are done for the sake of PvP than PvE, or vice versa. The Recluse, a pinnacle PvP weapon (think of it as relic weapons in MMO), have been the go-to meta for over months already, especially in PvE. Mountaintop, another PvP pinnacle weapons, is also a meta weapon in PvE once. Heck, classes such as Titans in the Striker Subclass have recently gotten nerfed. And then there's the (in)famous One-Eyed Mask. The points stands: Nerfs and buffs are frequent as heck, and you never know if such buff or nerf are justified. A good thing from this is that the meta are ever-changing. The bad part: Your favorite weapons anc classes might be useless at any time. Bungie are having a difficult time trying to separate balancing PvE and PvP, God knows why.

Two, this is an MMO, and every MMO comes with, you guess it, grind. Let me say this upfront, the grind in Destiny can be a bit unforgiving at times. Not that I mind it, but not all players can put up with such a huge grind. The worst part, however, is that these grinds put you in a playstyle that are sometime disgusting. Justified, but it can ruin not only your experience, but also others. Mountaintop and Wendigo are a good example of this. Not to mention that the game now has a battle pass in it, which the grind isn't that hard, but a grind nonetheless. But, the biggest issue in the game's grind is how it has little protection over bad luck. When you reach the endgame part (as in, you've finished the campaign), your goal is to increase you Power Level (similar to Item Level in MMO). How do you do this? By doing the weekly, which is doing activities a number of times until you get a Powerful Engram. The soft cap of the level is 950, while the true cap is 960 for your items. The grind to 950 is not bad, but to 960? It's hell. I stopped grinding the moment all my items reached 950, because the only way to get an item above 950 is doing a nightfall strikes with the second or highest difficulty, raids, or 'Nightmare Hunts', also on the second or highest difficulty. That's it. Three sources only. The worst part is that there is no bad luck protection. So you already have a 951 chest armor already? Too bad, here's another one. Come back next week to get another. It's frustrating.

Three, the in-game store, Eververse. Back in Year 2, I don't mind the Eververse much. To start with, this is an in-game store for cosmetic that can be purchased in two ways: Bright dust, which is obtainable in game, and Silver, which is microtransactions. Sounds okay, right? And it was. Bright dust can be gotten by dismantling (throwing away) cosmetics, and also, cosmetics can also drops through the Eververse Engrams, which rains back then. Now, though, bright dust can only be gotten through weekly bounties, and Engrams can only be gotten through battle pass at certain level 1-100. "Okay, fine I guess", I said at first. Until you realized the pricing of the cosmetics are insane. You wanna get the armor from the current event? You can get it with 6000 bright dust or $15 worth of silver. FIFTEEN BUCKS. That is a price of a DLC or a game. Ironically, it's also a price of a season/battle pass going forward. Players are raging of how expensive things are. While it is a bit justified, given that they need funding after the split from Activision, the balances are again off. They need to increase the sources or decrease the prices. Personally, I want to get bright dust again after dismantling my cosmetics, even if its less then ever. As it stands, these price can be devastating.

I could also talk about bugs and how long it takes to fix it, given that one of the top damage dealing weapon cannot be obtained, but I'm giving Bungie the chance to fix it.

As it stands though, this is the whole answer of "is this game good?", and the answer of that, as mentioned, it depends.

Veterans and longtime players will be more critical of the game, since they played the game and may or may not like its changes. New players will say that it's one of the most polished game and fun game they ever played.

So should you play it?

Well, since it is free to play, you should at least give it a try. There's already a ton of content for free to play players. Try it out after 50 hours and see if it you like it. Heck, give it 100 hours, even. Personal opinion, Destiny is not a game that you can say its good or bad after 50 hours or even 100 hours, since the game always changes whatever it wants to. But stick to it and see if it grows in you. Even if the grind is a bit too much, Destiny always does what its best: Gunplay and space magics. And for many, me included, it's what makes people always comes back to it.

See you on the field, Guardian.

Sekiro is a one-of-a-kind thing. It’s a new departure, coming from the studios that are used to making games with medieval knights or swords that can turn into scythes. It’s also the game where difficulty started to be debated. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve heard of people discussing easy mode for Dark Souls, yet only in Sekiro where the debate starts gaining traction.

So how do I say about this, having completed Sekiro? How is this trip to Japan different than before?

I’ll start by prefacing that I wouldn’t gloss other than the gameplay...okay, fine, other than gameplay or story. Story-wise, you are shinobi who is trying to save your master. One time, you got yourself kicked hard, then you came back, one arm missing, and was given a new prosthetic arm that can do a lot of things. Becoming Edward Elric, you set forth, saving your kidnapped master and killing de--I mean, people. The end...no, seriously, the rest is as cryptic as any FromSoft games, though I do find it far more refreshing than your previous “undead” experiences.

But the main draw of Sekiro is simply, without any doubt, the gameplay.

I’ve read articles before playing Sekiro. One thing that keeps coming up is that don’t approach the game with a “Dark Souls” mindset. Meaning? Don’t start a fight with blocking until you win. Nope, not gonna work with this one. Combat in Sekiro comes down to PARRYING and DEFLECTING them, breaking your enemy ‘Posture’ (think ‘Stamina’), then giving them a deathblow. Rinse and repeat until your enemy died or you died...then you came back up on the spot and fight again, because in Sekiro, you can now revive yourself one more time after getting killed. Helping you fight are Prosthetic tools. Shuriken, fireworks, axe, spears, and shield to help you out.

So how does this translate? I went in with a ‘Bloodborne’ mindset instead; attack and dodge. Results? Nope, still nope. And that’s the best thing about Sekiro. There’s no specific mindset you can bring. You make a new one. Becoming too defensive? The enemy will break your posture instead. Keep attacking? Yeah, the enemy will grab you and slam you to oblivion. This forces you to observe. You play patiently, deflecting the bosses attack and avoiding the unblockables, but you must also be aggressive, interrupting the enemy combo midway and give chase to the enemy if they’re getting a breather. In gameplay, this is nerve-wracking. Bosses will give you a flurry of 7-hit combos, clanking steel, throwing fireworks, and blood will flow. They will stop at nothing attacking you, but when you can deflect and the boss is the one who got down instead, there is that feeling of satisfaction not found in Dark Souls or Bloodborne.

Those game teaches you endure and dodge; this game teaches you to be risky and stare your enemy in their face. If you fall, get back up and try again. You are actively learning the game, often saying things like “Oh, the enemy did a thrust attack after a 3-hit combo, I should try to counter that.“ instead of “Screw that attack, it felt so cheap”. Sekiro rarely shows a cheap attack, hence it teaches you to be better faster, and when you do, bosses tend to go down under 3 minutes. Heck, once you learned the game, I argue that it is easier than Dark Souls or Bloodborne. Is it hard? Of course. So, fight back.

Sekiro is good game when it lets it action starts, but when you’re off exploring and traversing, the flaws starts to show though minor it is. One thing that bothers me is the ‘disease’ mechanic. Short version is that if you keep dying and living, NPCs around you will start getting sick and starts coughing...that’s it? Well yeah, that pretty much it. Oh and it also reduce your ‘Unseen Aid’ probability of getting back up without losing your stuff. The mechanic forces you to become better, at least, that’s what I think it does. But when a game true meaning is to learn what your opponents is doing and do a trial-and-error approach, the mechanic can be frustrating sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, there is way to cure it later on, but it does questions the point of it, especially when curing it is limited, in a way. Other than that, not much problems. Camera is still wonky, but then again, when you’re getting beaten to a pulp in a corner, it’s bound to have problems. No multiplayer also means that replay value only comes down to NG+, which may put off people, given that it is a $60 AAA game.

Having said this, I’m amazed by Sekiro. But, I wouldn’t exactly call it an action game. 26 hours of playtime teaches me that this is an action-rhythm game, minus the music, of course. How so? You walk along, grappling from one roof to another, then meets a samurai with two deathblows required. You start blocking, the enemy then thrust you, and you counter it. One two blows, then a quick slash hits you, followed by another, which you die. You get back up, try again, only to find that the enemy also have a ranged attack. Try again, and die, again, again, and again. You become so focused, it becomes a graceful dance with your enemy, then ends it up with a thrust to your enemy's head.

And when you’re done, you walk off, feeling like you’re the best in the world...only to be smacked by a freaking ape.

Sekiro is a wondrous action-rhythm game. Enjoy it, go along with it, and you will see a GOTY contender in your eye.

So I've never written any reviews ever in Steam, nor in any games. But, for once, just this once, I did a review, simply because this game is well-worth receiving its praise, and I wanted to review it once its region-restriction is gone.

Let me just say that getting this game wasn't exactly an easy decision. It was a toss-up between this or Mass Effect: Andromeda. At first, my heart was fixed onto ME:A. But, after seeing the review days after release, I was swayed. So, I thought hard, and in the end, I did the simplest thing: Toss a coin. NieR wins, and so I bought it

Do I regret it?


Simply put, NieR:Automata was one of the best games that I played. Okay, let me rephrase that. NieR:Automata is one of the few games that manage to stirred myself. The game manages to put you in a rollercoaster ride of emotion, up and down, while looking cool in the process, and its a damn good feat on its own.

I'll make this into two parts of the things I like and the things I...kind of don't like it. Do take note that from the hours I played is a normal playthrough of Route A to E, speeding up the playthrough in Route C.

The things I like about the game:

- A simple, yet well-executed story.
NieR:Automata tells a story of 2B and 9S (And later on A2) , androids created by humans with the purpose of retaking Earth that has been taken over by machines. A simple story, in my opinion: Fighting machines that have taken over things, yet from the start, you'll notice how they speak words like humans do. Until here, it's a still quite simple set-up, and one that has been done previously. But, in spite of this, NieR still manages to twist and surprises its audience well. There wasn't any moment where the plot twists didn't surprise me, and it's endings ( Again, A to E ) make my jaw dropped jaringly. Ending E, in particular, is a damn well-constructed ending, but we'll get to that later ( Yes, I put it in a different point. It's that good )

- A combat system that's easy to learn, but hard to master.
Let's put the obvious things out of the way first: It's also made by Platinum Games, and I'll say, they don't dissapoint with the combat one bit. You name it: Bayonetta, Metal Gear Revengeance, Vanquish, those games are games with an amazing gameplay. So, does that mean NieR: Automata is the same? Short answer? Yes. Long answer? Yes, but the combat will have its "feel" later. Early on, the gameplay is simple: It follows Bayonetta's combat system. You got light attack, heavy attack, and dodge as your main source of defence, with perfect dodging exist as a source of damage. The unique aspect here is your "Pod", drones that can shoot and shoot with an even bigger boom. Early on, you only got two types of weapon and one Pod "Charged shot". A bit dry, but once you got spears, gauntlets, Charge shot that will shoot grenades, create a black hole, slows down enemy, and more? It's a satisfying game. The best part? Every route adds a new form of gameplay that'll drastically change your ebb and flow, and that adds a good fluidity of the gameplay

- A very, very, VERY good soundtrack
If there's one thing that will always be a good or positive point in the game no matter what, it's the soundtrack. There is not one bit, I repeat, NOT A SINGLE MOMENT where I DO NOT like the music in NieR. Every new song that was played, I always stop and listen to it for a good while, even when I'm about to be beaten to a pulp by a bunch of angry robots. From a calming vocal, to an song full on war, the soundtrack got everything. Heck, if they ever released the official soundtrack as a DLC, I'll buy it in a heartbeat, prices be damned.

- A moral lesson that's actually on-point
There are few games that made an impact to me, even fewer that I actually put a thought about it. There are two games that manages to put out a good lesson for me: First is Spec Ops: The Line. Guess what's the other one? This.
I feel that this needs to be put in a separate point than the story aspect, because NieR manages to put out a portrayal of something in a way that makes them think twice about what we usually know, especially in the game. Do these machines try to be human? For what purpose? What's the difference between us and them? How are we today related to them? These are the points that the games give, and it gives its answer that will give us, "Huh?"

- A damn-well satisfying ending
I'll not spoil much. Ending E, the true ending, is exactly how people say it: It's touching, it gives the biggest lesson to you, and it will make you spill your tears....at least, a bit for me anyway, which is quite rare, in fact.

The things I didn't like much about the game:

- Port Optimization
This is probably the only biggest gripe so far for me. Okay, my PC isn't actually top-notch (i5 4690 3.50 GHz, GTX 770 4GB,16 GB RAM ), but it should at least gave me 50 fps or rather a solid performance. This isn't actually a major gripe, and please, don't discuss technical things by much.

So, Conclusion. Is the game worth it? Yes. At its current price? Yes.

NieR:Automata is one of the few games which I am actually grateful for buying it. It manages to gave me a solid 30+ hour of entertaining gameplay, with an amazing story and ending, coupled with a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awesome soundtrack. You'll rarely found a game like this nowadays. Buy this game, it is WORTH it.