If you only play one NieR game, Automata is the one to play. If you liked it enough to want a second helping, Replicant is probably the best form you can experience that in. It still feels a little more like medicine than dessert.
“Variations on a theme” is a phrase I’ve employed to describe the games of Hidetaka Miyazaki, but it’s all a bit more complicated with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It shares ample DNA with the games that made Miyazaki famous—Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne—but it’s also much more distinct. Any particular SoulsBorne game is unique, but looks and plays basically like the others. Sekiro doesn’t. The result is a game that revels in its surprises while nonetheless feeling familiar as an old shoe, or a loyal dog that bites. Hard.
I could’ve predicted to you two months ago that this thing was going to be a sensation.
I could’ve and should’ve. I had the headline at least written, but then I got lazy and then I didn’t write anything. Then I played the game.
Devil May Cry 5.