it's been a while since I reviewed games so here are a bunch of reviews

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Disclaimers:
Any game that was made in Japan was played in Japanese. I know nothing about the translations of any of them and the quality (or lack thereof) of the translation did not influence my opinion.
I did not include I Wanna fangames, pure VNs, or games I played emulated. Only new releases for current consoles and PC.
My scores are both extremely harsh and out of line with the average person's gaming experience. Don't take them too seriously (though you did decide to read this).
Games I rated a 3/10 or lower I may or may not have actually completed. I won't include a game here unless I played a significant amount of it, though.
I probably forgot some shit but whatever. I tried to cover everything I played since the last time I reviewed shit.

Okay, let's go.

1/10:
Owlboy - It feels less like a proper "game" and more like a loose framework of setpieces, roughly approximating some facsimile of a modern 2D game, designed more to show off the creator's pixel art than engage the player or provide a meaningful narrative. The fatuous nature of the game design combined with the absurd price point and rave pre-release reviews make me rather... uncomfortable with this game's existence and everything surrounding it. I'm not saying it was made as a scam, per se, but it would have been better off as a series of animated gifs instead of a piece of ostensibly interactive software.

2/10:
Bloodborne - More of the same shit as any other Souls game. Repetitive levels with no music and repulsively bland aesthetics, terribly designed bosses that don't seem to take the game's camera into account at all, and purposely obscured narrative underpinnings. Nothing about any game in this series is good, and their popularity in recent years is one of the most distressing trends in modern gaming, if you ask me.
Hollow Knight - Boring and monotonous, with oversized screens that offer no meaningful challenge on a micro level. Blindly copies Souls games in all the most annoying ways. Confused, oversaturated visual design that draws the player's eyes everywhere except where they should be looking. This has nothing to offer over any other ~indievania~, so set your sights elsewhere.
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight - Somehow even worse than Hollow Knight. Another shitty attempt at copying Souls design in 2D, this time by people who seem to have never actually played any 2D game. At least the sprite art is good. Too bad there's no music.

3/10:
Alwa's Awakening - zzz. I get what you're trying to do but the world doesn't need another terribly dull NES indievania like this. I don't like to hate on passion projects but sometimes passion is just not enough.
Blue Reflection - Basically a kusoge. Completely confused about what it wants to be, and every distinct gameplay/narrative element is so half-assed it might as well not even exist. Which means that the game as a whole basically feels like that too. It's pretty clear that Gust's staff is too incompetent to make anything even halfway functional except Atelier games without direction from someone with an actual vision, so for the love of god bring Tsuchiya back from his soshage hell. Also, BR pisses me off in particular, since I went into it thinking it might be a softer, more nuanced take on the Persona formula, but it ended up being even more generic and braindead than Persona itself. Hell, you literally fight god as the final boss just because. At least it has a wonderful soundtrack by Asano, but all that really means is that the gorgeous music is horribly mismatched with the game and ends up accentuating how uninteresting it is...
Fate/Extella - Fuck this shit. A half-assed scenario featuring flanderized versions of all of the Extra characters (the fact that they added a "canon" for Extra/CCC doesn't fucking help, by the way) and some of the worst combat I've ever experienced in a video game. It's clear that neither Nasu nor Sakurai actually gave a shit about this game, and neither did anyone else involved with it. At least it's convinced me to never try any other musou game.
Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna - At its heart, Chrono Trigger is a boring piece of shit, dressed up by layer after layer of visual polish and what I like to call "setpiece" presentation. When you strip away CT's (admittedly stellar) surface level presentation elements, you're left with a shallow husk of a game. And that game is Setsuna. I hope to never see an experiment like this again. If you want a modern JRPG that actually recalls the *fun* parts of the 90s, try Evenicle instead.
Oniken - This was fun until I reached a boss where the primary challenge was not being knocked into pits by zako. Yeah, no thanks.
Rabi-Ribi - I guess it might be okay, but the huge amount of poorly translated text (both the English and Japanese scripts are awful in different ways) is severely offputting to me, and since the cutscenes contain too much relevant information to skip them I'm unable to continue with the game. Probably only playable if you know Chinese, which is what it was originally written in.
Seiken Densetsu (Vita/phone remake, played on Vita) - I actually played this to completion, but I don't know why I did. Some parts of its design are "retro" in a somewhat charming way, but it's mostly just a dull slog through a stagnant quagmire of nothingness. Unless you have some particular love for the original, the GBA version is actually better. Yes, I went there.
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero - This spent three years in development? It feels more like three days.

4/10:
Action Mogura - Charming and has a nice soundtrack, but honestly just kind of boring when you get down to it. Freeware, so it mostly gets a pass.
Kero Blaster - Eh. Doesn't really do anything interesting or especially fun, but it wasn't particularly offensive either. Low price point so I'm okay with it.
Konosuba game - Solidly made in its own right and serves well as fanservice for fans of the anime/LN series. Kind of lacking in content and meaningful difficulty, though. You can also only acquire it legally by buying an anime blu-ray...
Odallus: The Dark Call - I guess it's ok. You might as well just actually play Demon's Crest again instead though.
Persona 5 - Sure, it's a fun game, but that's all it is. I am very, very tired of everything the P5 narrative has to offer me. I'm tired of protagonists being rewarded, even celebrated for enforcing their will on the world through violent means, I'm tired of half-assed social links that exist in a state of subservience to the overarching plot, and I'm tired of fucking fighting god at the end. I sunk 110 hours into this game, and I can't say it was worth it. Look elsewhere if you want something that actually enriches your soul or brings joy into your life, because all I felt after spending all that time on P5 was a sense of overbearing fatigue. Also, to criticize the actual gameplay a bit... I really think the dungeons could have pushed the player further. I appreciate that they put a lot of effort into the aesthetics and "flow," but there's never really a brain-bending puzzle that stops you in your tracks or a devious trap that sets you back in any meaningful way. This single screen is more *challenging* than anything in Persona 5's dungeons, and it's just one part of the third to last dungeon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iet-dBT2G7Q So yeah I'd like to see them make more, uh, fiendish dungeons in P6, I suppose.
ルフランの地下迷宮と魔女ノ旅団 (Refrain) - Starts out pretty well on both the gameplay and story fronts, but becomes steadily less interesting as the game goes on. It's clear that the staff had more *ideas* than they had design sense, because several of the game's fundamental systems are simply broken (covens seem like a good idea on paper, but there are several which are simply overwhelmingly a better choice than anything else, and the Disgaea-esque character creation and growth doesn't gel well with the rest of the game at all) and it never really feels like everything fits together in a cohesive way. They also run out of steam for the dungeon design around halfway through the game; I found the final dungeon to be particularly poorly designed, thanks to its random(?) warps which do nothing but serve to prolong the length the player spends wandering around aimlessly trying to figure out what's going on. The story is more or less decent until the end, but I rolled my eyes pretty hard at the final boss literally saying "we have time, allow me to explain everything to you..." Another game that probably wanted to be less "generic" than it actually ended up being, but it does have some real heart to it in places and was clearly made with passion, so I'll play the next game by this team, if indeed they make another. Satou's music was pretty inspired here, too.
Wonder Boy and the Dragon's Trap (remake, PS4 version) - Expressive yet clean visuals and a delightfully playful arrange soundtrack can't hide the inherent jank of an 80s game, unfortunately. Play an actually modern indievania or I Wanna Be The Fangame instead.

5/10:
Atelier Firis - The usual Gust jank is alive and well, unfortunately. But there are actually some decently ambitious ideas at play here and I'm genuinely interested in seeing where the series heads next. Plus, any game with a female protagonist that isn't based around murderdeath gets a few bonus points in my books... Speaking of which, I hope they expand the dressup options in the next game... Oh, and the music is obviously great. But I shouldn't even need to say that.
AM2R - Not as good as Super Metroid, but still pretty good. Updates an unplayably dated game quite well, so it's worth a playthrough or two if you care about the series. Don't expect a masterpiece, though, because it's still just Metroid 2 at the core. Freeware, for obvious reasons.
Biblinthus - Decent concept, decent execution, reasonable price. It's on sale right now, in fact.
Chelsey has to fucking murder the 7 devils / Bunny Must Die (PS4 version) - I guess it's ok. I've played through it a few times already so I don't know how objective I can be but people seem to like it and the PS4 version is a nice update with very clean HD visuals.
Project Diva Future Tone - Features cute outfits for Miku instead of murderdeath and probably the largest selection of songs in any CS release of a music game. Add or subtract points depending on how much you like Vocaloid and Project Diva gameplay.
Reverse x Reverse - Actually pretty good, but not really memorable to me for whatever reason.
Star Liner (http://www.dokidokivisual.com/magic_of_stella/star_liner_magicofstella_2016.php) - The later levels get way too fucking complex for a free web game. Too bad it's not really "finished."
Stella Glow - Pretty much the definition of 可もなく不可もない, but a generally competent example of a modern JRPG with some nice music here and there. I'll give it a 5/10 because it has Tamura and Toriumi and they're both pretty great in it. Too bad about the whole "being on the worst handheld of all time" thing though. Also apparently the western release is dub-only lol........ Also also I don't really remember when I played this and there's no easy way to check on the 3DS so my apologies if it was in the previous post...

6/10:
Baldr Heart - The structure of the game is lopsided in a way that's detrimental to the overall narrative, and none of the characters are very interesting or memorable, but the ultimate plot and core gameplay system are both actually quite good. It can't live up to Sky, unfortunately, but taken on its own Heart is well above average.
King Exit - Packs a compelling, focused narrative and dynamic cast (brought to life with a vibrant script) into a tight 20 hour package. If this weren't a shitty RPG Maker game with terrible combat and no voices, it would easily get a 7/10 from me, but, alas. If you're not afraid of playing ero RPGs, do give it a play.
New Super Hook Girl - Cute, fun, and free. Probably the closest a game has come to being a proper successor to Super Meat Boy in terms of making me want to master both its base system and individual levels, but is unfortunately rather lacking in content. Still, though, it's free, so you can't really ask for much more.
Pharaoh Rebirth - Distressingly easy, but fun as hell otherwise. Absolutely gorgeous pixel art and a downright jovial cast/script lend the game a certain sense of "color" that all too many games lack nowadays.
Utawarerumono 3 - Failed to live up to expectations set by the previous game, but Anju is a precious angel and the map design is quite good, especially in the postgame.

7/10:
Tales of Berseria - Actually fucking well-written on both a macro and micro level, with great care paid to every aspect of the storytelling that shows itself in the consistency of the characterization and narrative goals. The ~500 skits are particularly impressive, with incredibly careful scripting (done by one of the writers himself) that makes great use of the ADV format in order to breathe life into the characters and create comedy and drama within a limited framework. Honestly, the work done on the skits in Berseria is some of the most effective usage of ADV presentation I've seen period (thanks in large part to the great grasp of *timing* that is on demonstration), and it's a shame that it's gone rather unnoticed simply due to it being 2D. Sure, you probably need to have played more than a few VNs to really appreciate what's going on in the skits, but I find it rather irksome when quality work is swept aside due to preconceived notions like this. But, well, you could say that about Berseria as a whole - because Tales is "anime," people don't take the story seriously, even though any given subplot (say, Eleanor's character arc about her learning to question the system she's a part of) in Berseria is far more nuanced, and, dare I say, relevant, than anything that Persona 5 has to offer. But since Persona is the darling of the media and gaming fanbase, it's the one that gets time in the limelight. Ah, well. I could go on forever about how much I love Berseria, but I'd better move on before I start finding more excuses to trash P5. I will say this: If Berseria can do this much with just two writers, why can't Kiseki do it with three times that? Why can't Persona do it with literally dozens? Questions, questions... Also, as a game, I guess Berseria is more or less... passable. The battle system is kinda unintuitive at first and the maps are too big for their own good, but I didn't really have any major problems with it and I was more focused on the narrative elements and presentation. Speaking of which, Berseria is actually fucking fully voiced, unvoiced fucking Per- (rants continue for all eternity)
Ys8 (Vita version) - Probably one of the best games ever made. At the very least, it's the rare game that doesn't make you feel like you wasted your time playing it. It evoked a genuine sense of "adventure" in me and I was sad to leave the characters and island it took place on behind at the end, in any case, and I can't really ask for more. Oh, and the soundtrack is fucking absurdly good, thank you jdk. Anyway, this is easily one of Falcom's modern masterpieces, alongside SC/Ao, so if you're a Falcom fan and haven't played it yet, what are you waiting for? Well... at this point, the PS4 version, I guess...

8/10:
Nothing

9/10:
NieR Automata - Thank you for making me believe in video games again.

10/10:
Eternally nothing

Verdict: If you care about narratives in video games and using them to tell stories, play Automata. If you're just interested in gameplay, though, forget everything on this list and go play Dungeon Travelers 2-2 and Distorted Travesty 3. I haven't finished either myself, yet, due to a lack of free time for longer stuff recently, but they run circles around pretty much everything else I've played in the past few years in terms of actually demanding the player push themselves, not only to master the core systems at work but to understand the design principles at play. They are very different genres, but they are both just as rewarding. I guess any game that abbreviates to DT is blessed by the gaming gods. If you're not willing to strap in for ~the DT lyfe~ though I guess Ys8 is a safe choice.

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