Resident Evil Requiem

A direct sequel to Resident Evil 4 (3000th post) 

Game no: 568

Genre: Action 
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2026

Resident Evil has been part of my gaming history since I was young. This series is close to its 29th year and from each iteration of game it comes out with new and exciting ways to experince it. I really didn't want to play Requiem because I found the first person segments are scary from previous Resident Evil games (7 and Village). I had to check it out because this game is the continuation story of Leon S. Kennedy. 

The game story is interesting since this is supposed to be Umbrella last stand so the race is on to get the final virus. This game is divided into two different stories with diverge together later. In the first section you play as Grace Ashcroft. Grace is working for the FBI and needs to investigate the murder that relates to her mom's murder. The second sectoin you will play as Leon Kennedy where he is hunting down the last biohazard terorrist. Both stories are stand alone but with some overlap. Grace will met Leon and after that their stories will become intertwined together. 

The gameplay is divided by two. There are some similarities and also difference. Grace game is done in first person and its more slower. Her game plays like a standard Resident Evil game where you need to find a key that is used to slove the bigger puzzles. You have limited weapons but you will have the Requiem (more on that) and you need to craft your own weapon by using blood found everywhere. Grace section is scary due to two reasons. One Grace being slower and there are limited materials. Secondly the amount of jump scares being in first person is way scarier. It doesn't help that Grace is also scared all of the time which makes us also scared. Now Leon gameplay is much more different. His gameplay is more like Resident Evil 4. We are in third person and Leon has a range of weapons, with a melee and parry move. Combat feels smooth and fast pace and you will get points for every kill you do. The CP points are then used to buy more weapons and upgrades for yourself. The third character that is playable in the game is the Requiem. Leon super powered gun that can shoot everything with a one shot kill. You are given this gun at the start of the game and at first Grace will use it before reverting it back to Leon. The gun is awesome. Having it makes you feel less scared (more on that later)

So what do you I like and what do I not like about the games. The parts that I don't like is the backtracking. But that is how Resident Evil games are played. You need to go to one area to get to another area. It is a good thing that the map this time is super friendly. You can find where do yo u need to go. Grace sections is more enclosed while Leon get to explore a part of Racoon City which is sprawling. The things that I like besides the story and gameplay. It how playing as Leon and visiting back Racoon city it was like a blast from the past. They even let us fight an old boss from RE2 complete with old RE2 music. Awesome stuff 

So why I enjoyed this game a lot. It is because of something called CheatEngine. I use my Trainer to give me unlimted ammo, no reload and super speed oh as well as god mode. It makes the game fun and I can enjoy everything this game have to offer. Grace section is awesome since I have an unlimtied Requeim that I can use to blast every enemy. This makes me want to play Resident Evil Village with these cheats. The super speed cheat is a bit problematic since you will clip the background sometimes and fall down but you can turn it off. 

Overall It took me around 6 to 7 hours to finish the game and see the final story. I enjoyed every moment of it. This is confrimed will be in my game of the year list. RE 9 deserve an S-Rank from me.

Hades II

First game of the year 

Game no: 566

Genre: Action (Roguelike)
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2025

A game that took me forever to finish due to not having that much time to play it everyday. The sequel to the one of my best games of the year Hades returns with an all new story as well as better mechanics that we love and also some new features as well. Hades II tells the story far into the future. You play as Melinoe, the daughter of Hades and sister to Zagreus who is curse to the underworld and needs to stop her Grandfather chronos in order to save everyone. That is basically the story in a nutshell. Of course the story is a bit more complext than that but I am not a big fan of the story that much. I mean I do listen to it but the reason why we play Hades II is obviously the kick ass gameplay. 

The gameplay like the first game is the same. You start at the hub, choose your weapon of choice and start your journey. There are 4 different biomes to navigate. In each biome there are multiple gates. Defeating the enemies from each gate will grant you a boon (powerup), resources or a story to move the plot forward. The boons that you use upgrade your attacks, specials, defend and also health and magic. The key of surviving each run is to deicde which upgrades are important that can help you defeat Chronos. At the end of gate you will face a boss. Beat it and you will go to next biome. There are 4 stages until the final boss. Die halfway you have to restart again. I played in the god mode option where for everytime I die Melinoe gets stronger which is great since you can see the progression made while playing this game. There is also the hub world where you craft spells and plant items to aid you in your quest (this is very important in progressing the story) since you need to gather resources to upgrade weapons and make new spells for you. I can say that this is a very meaty game. If you only have one game to play this year, you would not be disspointed. 

What I love about Hades II. Everything. It seems like the perfect game. Combat, gameplay, progression is great. Even if you think you are failing you are actually getting something new that will help you with the next run. There are a lot of characters to interact with and there is a lot of dialogue. The only gripe I have is that after a while I got bored of the story.. It is just too much story and I just wanted to kill more demons. After a playing this game for a good 40 hours I decided to switch on cheatengine to make my game goes faster. A normal run will take like 1 hour but a cheatengine will take like 10 minutes. You know what they say... If you are still enjoying yourself after cheats that means it is a great game

There is a second part of Hades II that I didn't mention in the review but basically is a new story with new biomes, weapons and resources (there is even a mech suit) but I will say that it makes game so deep. So in the end I am going to say this is the best game that I played this year. This year I think it is going to be hard to get 10 games in. But I will try my best. If I play one game this year (which won't happen) this will be thet top 3. Hades II is a deserving S-Rank

Ninja Gaiden Ragebound

A good hack and slash

Game no: 564

Genre: Action
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2025

It's been a while since I played a good 2D Ninja Gaiden. Checking the blog the last I played a 2D one was in 2017. So how excited when I found out that there is a smiilar 2D version of this game. It does not dissapoint. Since this game is really straight forward and there nothing much to give a detail description about. Let me give you the background. You play a young ninja from the Hayabusa clan named Kenji (I really thought we get to play as Ryu but he was just a cameo only) and halfway through the game you play as a clanswoman from a different village name Kumori. Due to unforseen circimstances (part of the story which I will tell in a bit) Kumori died and her sprit got stuck in Kenji. Thus the game has a very interesting mechanic. 

Gameplay is like a typical Ninja Gaiden game where you have to go from point A to point B. You climb, jump, dive and avoid obstacles on the way. What makes this game unique is that, Kenji has a melee attack while Kumori has a short range air attack which you can use only 3-4 times before neededing to recharge the meter. There is a charge attack for the heavy enemies where you can get by hitting a specific enemy or charge your meter (which will cause your health to decrease) 

What I liked about this game is the action is face paced. You contastly need to keep moving to stay alive. This game is hard but not unforgiving. Since if you hit something it is probably your fault. The bosses are challenging and you feel a certain sense of excitement when you beat a difficult boss. 

What I don't like about this game is that after a while it is just a lot of repetition. There is no way to get an easy mode for this game so you'll end up dying a lot. After act 4 I just open the cheat engine to finish the game. It is challenging but I am not up for that challenge. The story is sub par which means that I didn't really care that much about the story. 

In the end I finish the game but I can't unlock the rest of the secret stages since you need an S rank for that and who has the time. Overall I give this game an A-Rank

Dead Cells

One of the best games this year but...

Game no: 563

Genre: Action (Roguelike)
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2018 (multiple DLC updates until 2023)

What can I say about Dead Cells. It won some gaem of the years way back in 2018. It one of those games that will survive the test of time since 7 years later it still great to play and responsive. Overall this game will be in the forever immortalise as one of the best action games ever. So what is Dead Cells. You play as a sentient blob that inhabit a corpse body and you need to figure out how you got there since you got amnesia (obviously) So you have to make your way to hordes of enemies until you reach the end of your goal. Every time you beat an enemy they will drop some call cells. Cells are the currency of the game. With cells you can upgrade your weapons and your abilities. So that is basically the game. You go again and again until you finish the game. This game stucks you on an endless loop 

What do I like about the game. Besides the fluid pixel art style. The game play is fun. It is fast paced and engaging. You start of by choosing 2 main weapons and 2 secondary weapons. The weapons can range from face short range swords to long range bows as well as elemental powers such as fire. ice and lightning (my favorite). The secondary weapons are there to help you to clear out big rooms with sprawling enemies. It is fun to experiment on which combo of weapons that you want to use. Each weapon has different attributes and they give you a fun way to dispose of the enemies. The other thing I like about this game is the unlockables. Everytime you get more cells and blueprints (these are weapons, items, clothes, abilities that you can use in your run).
You unlock something that changes your gameplay style. I bought this game after no more new updates were given. That means that I got the ultimate game with all the DLC. Including the Castlevania DLC. If you are fan of Castlevania, this game is a match made in heaven. They replicate the castle with enemies from the series and remix music from your favourite stages. Playing the stages until you reach Dracula its a blast. This is where the BUT comes in. I can tell you I played this game with cheats. I put one hit kills and unlimted health mostly. You know when a game is fun tha teven with cheats I could play this again and again and it doesn't disspoint. Well I lied. The boss fights with single hit kill does dissapoint a bit but after a while I just wanted to get through the game as fast as you can. There are tons to do in the game and I think without cheats you are just going to end dying again and again.

The thing that I don't like about this game is that once you find everything that the map has to offer you practically done. To get all the maps you have to go to a specific area and to get to a specific area you need to get a specific ability. All of these takes time to do it. But once you get all of that you can practically go anywhere in the map. So the game milage may vary since without cheats you can play this game until you get bored. But due to the hard difficulty I don't think you are going to enjoy it. 

Overall Dead Cells is a great game. Obviously its going to be in my top 10 and even with cheats (which I think is the best way to play) this game still deserve an S-Rank

Replayed: Castlevania Symphony of the Night

A must play PS1 classic 

Game no: 558

Genre: Action (Metroidvania)
Platform: PS1
Release Date: 1997

This is one of the best games I played. This can be considered at one of my top 10 games I play of all time. The key indicator of an amazing game is that even with cheats this game is still fun to play. That is what I did. I installed some cheats. The most notable cheats is the ability to walk through lock doors and walls, also high attack damage. Playing this game in such way makes me appriacte how complex is a Metroidvania game.But the cheat does cause certain things to trigger unexpectedly which is okay by me. Overall the combat is great, the enemies are fast and responsive and you'll get hit a lot of times. 

I got the talisman which prevents me from taking damage. After that this game is really about exploring the castle and all its secret. What makes this game stands out from the others. Discovering a hidden passage or a new secret makes me want to continue exploring the castle. The game has a lot of powerups that you get through the game. You'll end up to be a bit floaty once you get the jump higher and float power. It just makes the game a bit slower but not a big deal. In the end I beat the game with the inverted castle (which really makes the game go on to hard mode since its very difficult). Overall this is one of the best PS1 every. A must play. I'll give this game an S-Rank.

Blue Prince

This game is very divisive and I am in both camps

Game no: 547

Genre: Puzzle
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2025

I first heard of Blue Prince (which is a play on the word Blueprints) from a lot of podcast I heard. Some called it the greatest game ever made, a must play and all the buzzwords alike. How delighted I was to find that this game was free to play on Playstation Plus. So I decided to try it out and here is my own review of this game. It is going to be a long one so bear with me 

What is Blue Prince? So the premise is simple enough to understand. You are Simon and your grandfather pass away and have given you his entire estate. The only catch is you have to find the 46th room. The house also comes with a set of rules. First rule is that you can't spend the night in the house. 2nd rule is that everyday you enter the door the house resets and you need to draft a new room everytime you enter a door. 3rd rule is that you start off with 50 steps and everytime you enter a room you will lose one step. If by the end of the day you haven't finished the puzzle you have to call it a day. The day will reset and you have to start over again.

So that is the main premise of Blue Prince. But underneath the simple game mechanic is a complex layers of puzzles that you need to solve in order to advance the story and reach the 46th room. The thing is that each room that you draft whether it be a art room, study room, bed room, painting room and the 45 different rooms. You will unlock something. Something that will advance the story more. Weather it be a clue, a device (like the shovel, metal detector) and also currency in a form of food (steps) keys and gems to unlock rooms. That means each run won't let you win the game but you will make progress on each of the run eventually.  You will probably be in Day 90 where everything will just click for you and you will have a great run that can finally unlock the 46th room. 

So why do I like the game. The visual are just teriffic to look at. It's just a room with a lot of small details that you have to look closely to see it. The gameplay is quite fun. Drafting rooms to see where you are going next makes for an interesting run. The items and treasures you find also gives you a sense of you progressing. There is a story about the mansion but if you don't want to read it its okay. 

But this game has it flaws as well, this game and been critically praised. I find that this game really does not respects the players time. I know the RNG (Random Number Generator) plays a big role in each run. Basically you won't get the same room or the room that you wanted in that day and you have to start again. It does make the game super frustrating. The economy in the game as well it is not so good. You will run out of keys and gems before you will run out of steps. In the end not only I was frustrated but I feel that this game will only be fun if things go your way. Most of the time you'll aimless wondering the hallsw waiting for you next clue to advance further in the game. I am all for that but after a couple of days of drafting the same room over and over again it suddenly becomes such a bore.

This is a new part of my reveiw of playing this game with Aurora. Aurora is a cheat engine from cheat happens. I can say this, if you value your time and you want the most of the game. Play this game with cheats. You will still need to solve all the puzzles on your own. But with the ability to reroll a draft if you are not satisfied, unlimted gems, keys and step. This game becomes more fun.. Eventually when you slove the big mystery and get to room 46. You won't waste a lot of time and you also feel like you accomplished something. Going forward some games will be played with cheats since having cheats doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the game. 

In conclusion, Blue Prince is an awesome game. A roughlike puzzle mystery game that is fun to play and no two runs are the same. Is the game for everyone, probably not. I can also say that this game isn't for me as well. But I manage to enjoy it my own way. I give the game am S-Rank