Hollow Knight:Silksong is in my opinion, undeniably a masterpiece as a work of art. The world is beautiful, polished, massive and intricate, the combat feels excellent and has tons of playstyle customisation and the characters are all distinct and interesting. The game boasts some fantastic bosses and some of the most unique styles of messaging around power, love and capitalism I've seen in a game. It is wonderful to explore, and you can truly tell that the developers poured everything they had into the game. So why the lower rating? Because I struggle to recommend it as a game to enjoy rather than a work of art. While slightly toned down from when I played the game, the difficulty of this game is still brutal, beyond any game I have played before, to the point of cruelty at times, unless you have a very strong build and have explored the world thoroughly. It was never truly unfair,but at one point, progression was almost impossible for me until I actively explored and hunted down certain upgrades to strengthen my character, and it wasn't like I wasn't trying to explore the world at all even beforehand. Team Cherry also seem to have doubled down on some design complaints from pervious games, such as boss runbacks, rather than eliminating them or always providing shortcuts (my personal preference). There are oftentimes large enemy gauntlets with wave after wave of enemies constantly. Oftentimes I find their enemy combinations severely unfun to fight, especially enemies that love projectiles. In said gauntlets, death means doing everything from the start, and the double (and triple in some later stages of the game) damage you take is especially brutal, since you can't heal as freely as you did in base Hollow Knight.
Ultimately, I think Silksong is a fantastic work of art, but if you are not prepared for extreme difficulty, I struggle to recommend it purely as a game to enjoy.
Yakuza games arent especially known for their stories per se or even their combat. They're known for having incredibly charming characters go from delivering pizza to old ladies to tearing their suits off and spewing exposition at each other to exploring the value of brotherhood with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. You play them with heart rather than mind because they are beyond stupid in many cases if you use an ounce of logic, and often suffer from overexplaining the intentions of a writer crudely rather than simply showing through actions alone, and especially in the later games you will find yourself rolling your eyes at some of the nonsensical plot points the series goes with. Yet in the end, I don't believe anyone with a heart can go through the game and feel nothing, for its an experience that will have you grinning, almost crying, and very often reflecting on how to be a better man, and 0 is the peak of that with arguably the best plot in terms of the story being a vehicle for character interaction and development. It also boasts some of the series most memorable characters, and the Yakuza here feel stronger and more intimidating than ever in a way no game after ever recreates. It is an incredibly flawed experience, as is the entire series overall, but theres nothing like it. 10/10 music too.
