All tagged PS4

Yakuza 4 Review: An Insightful Examination of Loyalty in a Leap Forward for the Series

Yakuza 4 is a textbook example of what a sequel should be - it takes the foundation of what the previous game established and builds upon and improves what was there. Yakuza 4 simply feels a lot more fun to play and tells a story that, through its more stylized structure, is one that feels more dramatic, emotional, and impactful. While it still doesn’t quite reach the heights of later entries, Yakuza 4 is clearly a stepping stone that transitions the series from an awkward, transitionary phase to a greater, more polished experience.

The Positive Impact of Video Games in a Year of Isolation

[V]ideo games deserve to be commended for the comfort that they provided to hundreds of millions around the world in ways that no other medium could possibly replicate. This piece will be a reflection on the relationship between 2020 and video games, specifically the video games that provided an opportunity for us to cope and survive through a year of unprecedented anxiety and uncertainty for so many.

Implementing Challenge and Teaching Mechanics in Nioh

Nioh is a reminder that games do indeed still offer challenge to players, and through that challenge, it crafts players into becoming more attentive, more empowered through overcoming hardship, and more confident that they can learn any skill and conquer any challenge if given perseverance, adaptation, and the will to continue learning and mastering what’s available to them.

Celeste and the Symbiotic Relationship of Difficulty and Narrative

Everyone who plays Celeste will learn about how to learn and and get through hardship, which, in so doing, teaches its audience about mental health and illness, a topic that many pieces of media struggle to effectively talk about, and how it can be coped with. It is for teaching that lesson to its players that Celeste’s management of its difficulty and narrative serves can only be considered as masterful.