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Death Stranding 2: On the Beach It's more Death Stranding. Like, shockingly so. The intro was a huge surprise and the ending was completely bonkers in the best way but the middle 80% of the game basically feels like a rehash of the first game. I don't know what I expected but I figured Kojima would switch things up more than that. And it just overall wasn't as captivating as the first game for me. The first game did such a fantastic job with its world-building that it just doesn't feel weird and mysterious anymore. I can just roll with whatever weirdness the game throws at me. That's not to say I didn't love every second of it, though. Like Mister Jack said, the game is definitely way easier than the first one. The only missions I didn't S-rank with ease were some of the boss fights. I remember struggling with the Mads Mikkelsen sections in the first game but I never had any issues dealing with Solid Snake wannabe in this one. Getting access to vehicles very early on also really trivializes the game. I was playing on brutal difficulty and the only times I was challenged was when I had to deal with those ghost mechs. In hindsight, I probably should've played on that new To The Wilder difficulty but I'm always wary of new "eXtRa DiFfIcUlT fOr PrO pLaYeRs OnLy" modes because more often than not they feel like over-tuned bullshit. It's always a treat to play a new Kojima game but at this point it's starting to feel like he's just remaking the same game since MGSV. Sam controls almost exactly like Venom Snake, he just has a different moveset. They're all set in open-worlds with mission-based story progression and big story moments delivered much more sparingly than in his MGS2-4 era. I kinda hope he'll switch things up a bit more with Physint. I'll be there day one no matter what but I wouldn't mind a different structure in his future games. Anyway, normally I'd keep playing and 5-star all locations and get all the achievements but I started playing Pragmata and it's actually really fucking good. So I'm gonna focus on that for now and probably get back to DS2 later on.

I really enjoyed the demo and the reviews and overall buzz surrounding the game are very positive, so I went for it. And it's a new IP for once, so I don't mind showing some support. Besides, if there's a studio that's earned my blind trust at this point it's definitely Capcom. The timing is perfect too since I'm nearing the end of Death Stranding 2.

Death Stranding 2 It's pretty much an improvement on the original in every way that matters. There's more weapons that are non-lethal now so you don't need to worry about accidentally killing humans nearly as much, which also means much more focus on combat. There's also a bunch more tools and toys to play with and managing cargo has been streamlined to be less cumbersome. I still really like the first game but it feels like this one is the fully realized idea of Kojima's vision of a "strand game." The plot is as insane as you'd expect from a Kojima game and there are a few moments I think I'm going to remember forever. I found it easier to get S-ranks in this game too, though I'm not sure if they deliberately made it easier or if I just got better at the game after playing the last one. Either way I really got sucked into this one. I'll probably be going back to it at some point to polish off the last few deliveries I didn't get around to.

RE Requiem completed, Insanity is called that because you have to be insane to try it lol. Infinite ammo and bonus weapons are a must before you even think about it.

I've been informed I'm the main source of learning about films so mini-trailer dump of some potentially interesting upcoming films This is based on a short film which you can find on Youtube. Kinda looks like it's based on Not too bothered by this but seems to be getting some hype (mainly sus to me if you cast Jared Leto). Kinda sucks they're not going with "Dune: Messiah", also this is one of three films this year with Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in And this is same day as Doomsday so I'm gonna be sat in a cinema for hours :) Also this is the "Ok, I guess I wasn't clear...". Some folks are hype for this, purely cos it's Spielberg. I might see in cinemas but tbh he's had a poor track record for a long while now And then pretty main stream Kinda excited to see Mamoas Lobo. And then finally a little indie series (out in time for my birthday and our half-term school holiday)

Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels DLC This was pretty fun, wish there were more Hot Wheels cars (not just, car but with a Hot Wheels livery) since the ones that are included are really fun, specially the Bad to the Blade and Bone Shaker. I did have an issue at the end, where in order to unlock the final race, the Goliath, the mission tracker just said to "Get at least 1 star on every S2 PR Stunt", I had that and more, with some at 3 stars, and yet the race was still locked. Turns out you also need to get a certain amount of medals, after completing some other events in lower ranks I finally got enough medals and got to complete the DLC. I'm really going to miss these cars when Forza Horizon 6 comes out lol. Grade: A+

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment I really liked Age of Calamity, and was looking forward to this one since it actually tells the backstory of the imprisoning war. However, sadly, I just don't think it's as good as Calamity. It's not bad, per se, it just kind of is. With the exception of Zelda, Rauru, and Mineru, the characters don't feel as much like characters as they did in Calamity, and it's just so damn long. It took me around 25 hours, and I was ready for it to be over around the 2/3 point. That said, I did enjoy my time with it, and if you want a Zelda musou game it's certainly that. Score: 3/5 (I'm attempting a new 5-point system, no fractional points)