Ever since the Resident Evil 2 Remake was released in February 2019, I had been looking forward to a new and improved version of the third game. I was even more elated when I learned that the Resident Evil 3 (RE3) Remake had secretly been in development at the same time as the second title and would be released on April 3rd of this year.

I tried to remain spoiler-free prior to playing the Resident Evil 3 Remake for the first time, but didn’t quite succeed at it. But I still very much enjoyed the game for its intensity and improved character development. The story is simple: ex-STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Services) officer Jill Valentine is in a race to escape a monster-infested city before it is destroyed while also trying to evade an intelligent titan-like creature called Nemesis bent on killing her.

What differentiates the remake from the original game is that it is more fast paced, with Nemesis coming after Jill within the first two minutes of the game. And Nemesis gets deadlier with each encounter, either by equipping himself with a flame-thrower or rocket launcher or by mutating into a bigger, faster monstrosity.

In spite of this, my first playthrough took five and a half hours because I was either taking my time, trying to figure out how to navigate a sometimes confusing map, or trying to work out the solution to one of the game’s puzzles. I have since played through this year’s Resident Evil 3 two and a half more times for the achievements or to get my time down. My best run so far was 2 hours & 10 minutes, but I’m sure I can get through it faster than that.

I have also hit some oddities that made for interesting experiences. Midway through my first playthrough, I started having a problem with the sound (I couldn’t hear much of anything), so I decided to skip one of the cinematic cutscenes to exit the game. This resulted in me dying two seconds later because I didn’t realize I should be running.

During another playthrough, I was facing off, Nemesis aside, against two of the most dangerous monsters in the game—one in front of me and one to my right. I successfully gunned down the creature I was facing, but this somehow made the other keel over at the same time.

While I very much love the way the remake’s story unfolded and that the characters were more fleshed out, there were some elements present in the original that I would have liked to see here. For one, it would have been a treat to see a new and improved version of Gravedigger, a giant worm sporting two sets of teeth. I also would have preferred to see the alternative narrative brought on by branching choices sprinkled throughout the game. I have never played the original Resident Evil 3, but I may purchase a copy for the full experience.

Accompanying the release of the RE3 Remake is a multiplayer game called REsistence where 1-4 players attempt to escape a testing area overseen by another player\Mastermind. I have attempted a few practice runs to get a feel for this game, but I need some time doing solo runs before I’m ready to join an actual match. I’m sure once I get the layouts for each area memorized, I’ll do much better at it.

One other aspect that thrilled me about the RE3 remake is that there’s a post-credits scene that seems to tease that the next installment in the series, Code Veronica, will also get remade. Since I consider the latter as the one game with the best plot twists, I would love to see a modernized version of it. Especially if it’s on the same level as the remakes for parts 2 and 3.

Resident Evil’s production company, Capcom, has done such a great job reintroducing their older classics to a modern audience that I look forward to what’s in store for future entries of the franchise.

Despite the fact that the Final Fantasy series has fifteen main titles to its name, I’d never played one of them until 2017. Viewing YouTube videos from ProtonJon depicting a blind playthrough of Final Fantasy V during an annual Four Job Fiesta event—more on that later—sparked my interest. I purchased the game myself not long after.

Like many other entries in the franchise, Final Fantasy V sees individual fighters band together to combat a potential world-ending evil/villain. The plot of this particular title is however a bit ridiculous; the main antagonist is a sentient, humanoid tree. But what sets the fifth game apart from many other titles in the series is that the roster is limited to five playable characters, though you only ever have four at a time.

Final Fantasy V consists of exploring the landscape of three separate worlds, battling a wide variety of monsters and acquiring items or achieving goals to advance the story. I love the game for its simplicity but also because it offers variety with each playthrough.

You’re able to assign each character a specific role/job in combat, such as knight, ninja, mage, etc. Each job comes with its own unique perk but also its own drawback. For instance, a berserker has a massive amount of health but cannot be directed to self-heal while in combat; they must rely on teammates to keep them alive if necessary. Also, you can mix and match job abilities such as having a ninja capable of casting spells, assuming that the character in question was a magic-user at some point. You can switch a character’s job and abilities at any time during the game.

However, the Four Job Fiesta, an online charity event that takes place during the summer, can make Final Fantasy V a challenge to get through. Participants pay a small fee to determine what jobs they have to work with and are strictly limited to those specific jobs. Though you can switch up the roles among the four playable characters, you must have the assigned jobs represented through pretty much the whole game. To cite one example—thief, thief, ninja, chemist.

I haven’t yet tried the Four Job Fiesta, but I might actually give it a shot when it rolls around this year. In the meantime, I have been playing the game normally and experimenting with all the different jobs. I have yet to beat the final boss though—that may require more leveling up to increase the amount of health my characters have.

I have also been re-watching the YouTube videos from ProtonJon, which has clued me in on some aspects of the game I’ve missed. There are also a couple uber-bosses present in the game who are extra tough to defeat and who can wipe out all four combatants in one blow.

And when the Fiesta event does start, my only prayer is that I don’t get stuck with four berserkers.

I first played Subnautica: Below Zero as an underdeveloped version in January 2019. My initial experience with the Subnautica sequel lasted at most three hours and ended when I reached a point where I was advised against continuing due to an incomplete, broken landscape. I decided to wait until the game was more developed before getting back into it.

When I returned to Below Zero late in 2019, I decided to start over from the beginning for the full experience. But somehow, I didn’t expect the difficulty to be ramped up so much. On my first playthrough, all the story points were a breeze to get through. But that was when it was just a bare-bones version. In the new and improved Below Zero, it takes longer to get through the story. Some extra steps, such as collecting resources to build something, are required.

This update has also introduced a human antagonist, whom I have only encountered once so far. I am very interested to see how this new thread ties in with a young researcher named Robin Goodall who gets an artificial intelligence accidentally lodged in her brain.

On my current playthrough, I have made it to a self-contained glacier, but the landscape is so huge and disorienting that it’s hard to find certain objectives needed to advance the story. I also managed to lose the submersible I’d put a lot of time and effort into constructing by parking it too close to aquatic creatures that could damage it.

Though it may take a while for me to get through the game, I’m impressed with how much Below Zero has been fleshed out. Quite a few of the underwater vistas are absolutely stunning, such as the bioluminescent Twisty Bridges or Lilypad Islands. The new creatures populating the ocean/glacier are equally impressive or terrifying—especially the Ice Worm, a leviathan sea creature who uses a molten-hot sword-like implement on its snout that lets it come at you from underneath the ice.

There have been so many changes or improvements made to Below Zero that it’s almost as if this is my first time playing it. I don’t know how much time it will take to reach the ending since I’ve not yet crafted the necessary items to explore the deepest depths of the ocean. But it’s been quite an experience so far.