Replaced

A great game but there are some problems 

Genre: Action
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2026

I saw this game on youtube and it looks beautiful. It looks like a pixel art diorama. I had to play it. I rarely buy games based on the art sytle alone. I have to at least read the reviews on it. So after paying the game I can say that this is one of the most beautiful game I have ever played. The graphics has a flat pixel art quality it in. Other than that the combat is servicable and there are a lot of platforming sections. I mean that is the base of the game. So thats the good parts. There are more bad parts than good. First of all the pacinng is quite bad. Just when you thought you are enjoying the game, the game put you in a halt and then you have to roam around a town doing something. There will be some sections with notihng much to do but just go straight. The fighting is few and far between so that's quite boring. The story is servicable. I know what it is about but after a while I couldn't care much about the story. In the end I couldn't finish this game. I played around 5 hours and I figured that I have already seen enought that I have to. It's okay to leave a game once you feel unsatisfied. This game will receive a C-Rank for me. It should be fun.. But after a while it is not. 

Mixtape

A game about friendship and the end of an era 

Game no: 570

Genre: Others (Minigames) 
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2026

This game has been in all publications and being touted as the best game of the year. High praise all over. The story is amazing and the gameplay (or lack there off) is fun. I for one tried this game and my review is not like the others. What is Mixtape about. Three high school friends spending their last day before one of them is moving to New York. Basically this game happens in one night of a couple of hours. The game uses a custom soundtrack (hence the term mixtape) to get into the mood of the gameplay 

This is not a game. This is basically a game on rails or an interactive movie. That is why everyone can play this game. The controls are easy. There is no fail state since they made it very accessible to everyone to play. The game rangers from using the joystick to move your skateboard or simple one button pressues for the action that you need to do. The gameplay all depends on what is music is playing on the background. The music plays an important role in the gameplay but to tell you the truth I am not a big fan of 70-80s music that much. I know some of them but not all of them. Some are great while some are a hit and a miss. 

Not to say I didn't like this game but this game was not the 10/10 like everyone seems it to be. Its probably the story only relates to a certain type of demographic (basically kids who are finishing high school) so I don't have any stakes in the sotry. The backstory is more interesting that what is happening overall as a whole. The characters also doesn't get cl,osure which sucks for a videogame. But it was never intended to do that. It was basically to record the last day of highschool and it set out to do actually that. I am glad I played it at least once so I can see what is all the rave is about. Overall I can't recommend mixtape to anyone. The story was mid. The gameplay was no existent and overall everything just was left hanging. I did love the art direction and the cartoon like nature of the graphics (complete with 16 frames per second) Overall I give mixtape a B-Rank
 

Forza Horizon 6

Forza is back and its in Japan 

Game no: 569

Genre: Racing 
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2026

After 5 years Forza Horizon is back and this time its in Japan. Everything we love about Forza is back and this time they manage to capture Japan perfectly. I need to do a review of the game but since the game is almost the same as Forza Horizon 5 so I will give it a good try. 

The game is the same as the previous game with some slight changes. You are an unknown starting of at the festival but this time you need to push through the festival to unlock all the racers. You are given a colourful band which unlocks certain racers. After beating on the racers you will unlock a Forza event. That is when there is an over the top event where you race with a Robot, Rocket or Plane. Other than that there are other activites like a delivery job, bonus boards and a new thing which is regional mascots (cute foods beased on the Japan Region) 

The Map of this game is amazing. I think its better than Mexico because Japan has 4 seasons. There are small areas that represent famous parts of Japan such Tokyo and Mount Fuji. This is the biggest map of the game but it doesn't seem as empty as Mexico. There is always something to do and see.

So let me tell you what I don't like about this near perfect game. Honestly I love everything about this game. This is my game of the year in 2021. There are a couple of nitpicks that I find a bit annoying about the game. First the map nowadays have an elevated highway. Which means you can get lost in the spider-web of the highway. Another thing is it just me or the character creator looks worse noow than before. Our models seems a bit unfinished. Yeah besides those two this is a near perfect game. 

There is nothing much I can write about a game that I really enjoy. This game will be played for years to come until the next Horizon game will come. I did get the ultimate edition so there is the 2 DLC to look forward to in the coming years. Overall this game is going to get an S-Rank from me. 

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.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion

A acceptable marvel beat em up

Game no: 567

Genre: Action (beat-em-up)
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 2025

Beat em up were very popular in the 90s. In fact you will waste a lot of quaters going to the arcade by yourself or friends just to play a game where you can beat other senseless. Marvel cosmic invasion tends to give that nostalgia back by letter you play as 14 different Marvel heroes across the story that expands the entire Marvel universe. 

Let's dive in the review

Booting up this game you are treated with very beautiful pixed art. Each characters are hard drawn beautifully and their animations are very fluid in motion. The colours all pop out and there is even an effect to put a 90s crt filter to give that old school effects. As for the characters there are 15 playable characters to choose from. From fan favourites such as Wolverine, Captain America and Spiderman to obscure heroes like Beta Ray Bill, Cosmic Ghost Rider and Phyla-Vell (No idea who she is). Each of them has an attack button, a jump or fly button, a block or dodge button and a special button. You can mix and match the inputs for devasting 100 hit combos. Frankly not all of the characters controls great. The heavy characters does give a lot of power but they are slow to dodge so I stick to the small fast charactters since the enemies are always moving on the screen a lot

Speaking of enemies. This game has a lot of them. The main bad guy in this game is Annihilus. From what I can understand he is part robot and part bug. So most of the bad guys that rush you are usually bug based. You do get a Sentinel and dinasour as well as a symbiote here and there. As for the bosses, all of the big bads are here from Thanos to Galacus. Each of the boss has their own unique pattern which takes a couple of tries so its fairly straight forward. 

What I liked about this game besides the art sytle is the combat. It plays like an old version of a 2D fighting game which isi fun to control. But the thing that I don't like is that it gets too repetitive after a while. The stage really don't offer any much variety in gameplay. You go from point A to point B. Fight some bad guys and the boss and you move. It gets to repetitive for a while. Lastly the bosses are so freaking hard. One wrong move you will have to restart the game again. I think it would be easier if you play it with a group. 

In the end this game is fun and I would recommend anyone to play it if they have friends. So I give it a good 

A-Rank 

Robocop Rogue City

Playing this game out of pure nostalgia 

Genre: FPS
Platform: PS5
Release Date: 2023

If you are kid born in the 80s you will know what Robocop is. He is part man and part machine here to uphold the law of New Detroit. This game is basically a First Person Shooter with a bit of detective elements sprinkle in the game. The gameplay is bascially follow the story beats and solve crime. Shoot your way to hordes of bad guys and then solve crime only to get yourself in another situation where you have to shoot more bad guys. I can say the shooting is fun. You really feel like Robocop. You can also pick up wewapons that are scattered all over the floor. I like the shooting of this game even if Robocop moves like a sloth. That is how Robocop should move. What I didn't like is the other stuff. The dectective mode, the branches of storyline and the constant going to point A to point B. This part doesn't make Robocop fun at all.I did played for a couple of hours before calling it quits. So I give this game a C-Rank. The good news is that I get to test our my Playstation Portal and that things works fine. 

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

The Rogue Prince of Persia

Last game of the year

Game no: 565

Genre: Action
Platform: PS5
Release Date: 2025

We start with Prince of Persia the Lost Crown a metroidvania like adventure and we end this year with a Rogue Like game The Rogue Prince of Persia. The game was create by Evil Empire. The same studio that created Dead Cells (which I also played this year. Great game by the way). So this game is basically Dead Cells but in a middle eastern wrapper. Basically there are 10 stages and 3 stages are boss stages. You need to try to complete each stage and if you die you start back in the beginning.

While it does play like Dead Cells there are a lot of differences in the game. The game is much slower than dead cells. There is no magic, there is one primary weapon and one secondary weapon. The secondary weapon uses energy it you only can recharge while you kill other enemies. The last difference that you can wall run and wall jump. The more you do you will get a speed boost which makes movement much more faster. 

I love this game don't get me wrong. I love a good rogue like adventure. But that is it. Since the run that you rely is base on a good loadout that you get. Almost forgot, you have medallions (up to 12) which can give you different kind of buffs such as stronger attacks, extra weapons and healing. So back to your runs. The succesful of your runs depends on your loadout. So this game is really not just a test of skill but of luck. So I was very lucky that my last run got me until the final boss. 
Overall to get the full stories you need to beat the game 20-30 times but I didn't enjoy it that much to play this again and again. Maybe one day I will but as for now I have got my fill of this game. Love the art style, sound and gameplay but the slow pace nature of this game makes it a hard recommendation to continue. A-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

New Star GP

One of the best racing simulators I've played 

Game no: 562

Genre: Racing 
Platform: PC (Steamdeck)
Release Date: 2023

I got this game on the steam sale and decide to be the game that I played on my Steamdeck. At first I thought it was just another arcade F1 racing game but boy I was wrong. This game takes the simulation aspects of F1 and adds an arcade flair to it to make it streamline and fun to play. Let's dive in what I am going to say the best racing game I played this year.

 You start New Star GP as a rookie racer (you can customise if you are a man or woman) and thne you are trust into the 1980s where F1 is gaining popularity.

In this game you have to manage the entire F1 season. Which means getting a pit crew, a chief engineer and as well as a promoter. They will give you a specific perk based on the races that you win. Each perk is essential to winning the race. Each decade has 10 racers. Everytime you fly to a new country you need to compete in different arcade racing events like time trials, checkpoints, reverse track and finally the GP. You need to win the race in order to get credits. You need credits to upgrade your car since you can't win
with a stock car. The amount of detail and depth needed for each season is amazing and the way they package it is easy to play and understand. Let's talk about the perk system. The perks range from less collision when being hit, faster refueling and changing tyres and also getting extra money if you win the race with certain conditions. 

The main gameplay is the GP. The whole season there will be a story involving our racer. The story is dynamic and it will change depending on a lot of conditions. Conditions include winning racers, overtaking rivals and also drama in your own team. During the season you will encounter decisions that you have to make. These decisions includes trying to make your pit crew happy. A happy crew will make your you perks better and an unhappy crew member will cost them to quit their job. There are also some shady people will ask you to try to stop your rival by giving you a lot of money. The GP itself is very challenging since once you go in the GP, you are not allowed to restart the game. It only works once (until you have the perk to restart the GP again). 6 laps and you need to figure out when is the best time to pit and chang tires. Also when yo use your boost. What makes the GP amazing is that anything can happen. The first place can have a tyre blowout that will cause you to take first place. 50 racers and each race is thrilling. 

What I don't like about this game is that the economy is not that great. I think the reason is that you need to play a couple of seasons to upgrade your car fully. Other than that this game is near perfect arcade racer. As I end my review I am going to say this if you love F1 and you love racing. This is the game to play. Overall this is confrimed to be in my top 10. Not sure yet will it make the top 3. But this is for sure an S-Rank game 

and Roger

A touching game about memories 

Game no: 561

Genre: Others 
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2025

and Roger is a game about family and lost. When you start this game  you are greeted with a dot. You click the dot and then another dot appears.. you click it and so on and so fourth. During the gameplay you are given a story. At first it seems like a mystery and then it evolves to a beautiful love story and then it goes back to sadness. This is a touching story on what happens if you lose the most important thing. Your memories. This game is basically what happens when you have dementia and how the people that love you deal with it. As far as gameplay is just a simple point and drag adventure with some unique prompts. Nothing to special. This game is more a story rather than a game. So in the end (which is only an hour by the way) you'll leave the game with a mixed of emotions. I give this a S-Rank

Sword of the Sea

Journey meets Tony Hawk 

Game no: 560

Genre: Action 
Platform: PS5
Release Date: 2025

This game tells the story about a warrior that uses a sword as a hoverboard. He needs to traverse the barren land and connect it so that the creatures of the sea can roam freely. Basically the land is dead and he is tasks into giving some life to it. 

The game is simple enough. You control the warrior through the vast open desert waves and while jumping you will do some tricks. Along the way to you will some envirornmental puzzles as well as collected some shards which will you use to upgrade your board. That's about it. I mean a game doesn't have to have that much depth and sometimes they don't need to. This game reminds me of Journey where is the jouney (pun intended) that counts and you don't need complicaed mechanics. You are there just to enjoy the game and view.

I do like that this game doesn't stay your welcome. It is a good 3 hours and then it is done. Short and sweet. In between there is a story but it is told without dialogue so you need to read the other descriptions to get what is it about (I didn't pay attention to the story that much) The only thing I do not like that much is that some snowboarding sections are a little difficult and it can get a bit frustrated 

In the end the Sword of the Sea is a great game to relax and unwind. Great soundtrack. Amazing visual and just at the right time. The perfect game for a night or a couple of nights. I will give this an S-Rank 

Mortal Kombat 1

A new era of Kombat

Game no: 559

Genre: Fighting 
Platform: PS5
Release Date: 2023

Mortal Kombat has always been a staple of my gaming library. I enjoyed everyone of them since the original Mortal Kombat for the Genesis. This game has been out for 2 years and everytime I wanted to buy I think it is too expensive. What joy I had when I found out that this game can be played for free on PS+ extra. Netherealm Studios is no stranger in designing fighting game but why do people play their games is always due to the top notch story mode. But sadly this year MK didn't hit the mark. There are a couple things wrong with this game lets break it down one by one. 

In the end of MK 11, the story ends with Liu Kang became the keeper of time and he went on in reshaping a new timelne. Basically they rewrote all the main characters storyline. There are no new characters in this game. Most of them come for past MK lore. The story is servicable enough but when it involves multiverse and many different character. The story can get convoluted. I miss the time when Mortal Kombat just meant the tournament without any fancy over the top storyline. 

The gameplay is another thing. There is something different for MK than other fighting games. Each blow that we land on our opponent we can feel it hitting which is great. The not so great part is that the fights are a bit cherograph. We know what is going to happen based on the move sets of each character. Granted that is most fighting games but unlike Street Fighter or Tekken where the moves are fast and we can change move on the fly, Mortal Kombat seems a much more slower endavour. Other than that the gimmick for this year game is the Kameo system. This is basically your second fighter that you can call when you need an assist. It is not a tag another person in but its basically pressing R1 and hoping that the character will land the move to give you some space. It works well but after a while you won't want to use it that much because it doesn't give that much depth. Besides the the Test Your Might, Sight, and Luck are not availble to play in offline mode which sucks. 

Honestly this game is a letdown. Mortal Kombat in my opinion peaked at MK X and after that they are trying to see if they can replicate the same formula that made it fun like before. They really should take some inspiration from MK 9 where it is just a fun game all around with fast kombat. I finished the story mode and watch the DLC Khaos Reign which I am not going to do a review for because they just add 4 more new characters. I give this game a B-Rank. Good thing it was free to play...  

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.