This review was originally posted on Backloggd. [www.backloggd.com]

Not 5/5 as in flawless masterpiece, but 5/5 as in they made this game for me, personally.

With a parry system strongly reminiscent of Sekiro's (a game which has a combat system I adore) but a splash of Bloodborne's Rally system retooled to not suck absolute ass (fight me) and all this wrapped up in Dark Souls 1-esque level design except it doesn't ♥♥♥♥ the bed halfway through? Absolute chef's kiss.

So, you can block in this game, in fact (almost) everything except grabs are blockable, but a portion of your health is lost as chip damage, except you can recover that chip through attacking the enemy. How does this improve Bloodborne's Rally system? Simple, when a boss does a million ♥♥♥♥♥♥ attacks in 3 seconds if you have the stamina to block it all then ALL THE CHIP YOU TOOK is stored and can be healed, unlike in Bloodborne where only the last hit is healable (♥♥♥♥ you Ludwig). If you time your blocks well you get a parry, which causes no chip, builds up an invisible "Posture" bar (it works kinda like Elden Ring) so to speak, and if you parry enough YOU CAN EVEN BREAK THEIR WEAPON I CANNOT STRESS HOW ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ COOL THIS IS!!! When the boss has taken enough "Posture" damage a fully charged R2 will open then up to a Fatal Attack (Elden Ring Critical Hit). This ensures R2 attacks will always have a place in combat, which is something every Souls game has struggled with.

Bosses, mercifully leave enough time for a fully charged R2 if you know when to go for it, Lies of P maintains a great level of boss difficulty that really made me feel like I was playing Dark Souls 1 again, stuck on Taurus Demon all over. Thankfully, Lies of P does not take lessons from Elden Ring's "make them read every input and just spam a million attacks" school of thought, instead bosses are slow, methodical, baiting you to attack them at the wrong time in a way that ALWAYS feel like YOU (I) ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up.

Yet, in opposition to these slow, methodical bosses, the game really wants you to keep hitting them, a portion of your damage is dealt as chip, and if you don't hit them they WILL heal that chip back, and if you run out of heals you can generate more by landing hits. In Lies of P, patience may be key but hesitation is (still) defeat. I was originally skeptical of the heal regeneration, but it's so hard to generate more than one extra heal, and frankly, it was more often I generated an extra heal during exploration than during a boss fight. When I did generate a heal during a boss that I desperately needed however, the tension really hits.

Lies of P additionally has many ways to modulate your difficulty, between AI summons, Fable Arts, the Wishstone, and infinite respecs, this feels like the conclusion to the idea that you can adjust the difficulty of a Souls game via the mechanics you interact with. Most of this is mandatory, and what isn't is found with just a little exploring. Lies of P may be the most accessible Souls-like thus far, without eventually making these mechanics feel necessary to progression, which just ultimately defeats the point (looking at you, Elden Ring Spirit Ash).

One of the most common criticisms of the game is that it's perhaps too inspired by Souls-likes, namely Bloodborne, and I couldn't disagree more, what is taken from Souls games are often retooled and reworked in an exploration of the mechanics, not a simple copy paste. Not to mention Lies of P brings its own new mechanics to the table in the form of the separation of weapon blade and hilt, you can put a damn dagger blade on a greatsword handle if you so please. Although, I must admit, this concept was not explored nearly as much as it deserved, it is still inspired game design regardless Also the aforementioned breaking enemy weapons this is still the coolest ♥♥♥♥ ever I do not care how underdeveloped the weapon creation mechanics are because breaking a boss's weapon is REALLY ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ COOL DUDE I'M SO SERIOUS!!!

But I mean, I understand that I can't convince anyone to agree that this is the best Souls-like, and I'm okay with that. I just fell in love with the entire game, the music, the characters, the stories, the gameplay, it all spoke to me in a way I can't write or articulate. I'm not kidding when I say I feel like this game was made for me, this ♥♥♥♥ really spoke to me, and at times I felt like I could speak back, I feel seen. ♥♥♥♥.

Please don't let Round8 Studio be a one hit wonder, please let the DLC and whatever they make next be as successful as this, please do not let their next game be another Bless Unleashed I am BEGGING.

This review was originally posted on Backloggd. [www.backloggd.com]

For a couple reasons I don't believe I'm in a position to assess Mouthwashing on a 1 to 10 scale, as I learnt of the primary plot event before playing the game. Because of this I decided to watch Jacksepticeye play the game instead of playing it for myself because I felt I had spoilt the point due to knowing the primary spoiler.

And yet here I am now, having played Mouthwashing for myself... why? Well, it's because of Backloggd, funnily enough. As I was racking my brain trying to think of the best games that came out this year for the GotY event, I could not think of a better game to nominate for best narrative than Mouthwashing. Considering this, I felt as though I owed it to both the developers of the game and to myself to buy and actually play the damn game.

I’m not really one for horror games, I don’t think there’s much of anything wrong with them, it’s just not what I look for in a game. So needless to say, I had a fairly tough time with Mouthwashing despite beforehand knowing each twist, minor jumpscare and mechanic before pressing the big green play button. I played like a total ♥♥♥♥♥, I planted my feet firmly still for most of the stealth section, I camped Swansea so bad I’d get called slurs in a Call of Duty lobby, and I stopped at each intersection to let the Polle monstrosity cross just in case.

But I mean, I’m here to talk about the story not the gameplay, so why do I believe Mouthwashing wins my best narrative for 2024? Well, I mean for starters I don’t really play many games in the year they release so Mouthwashing doesn’t have much competition, but despite that I still wholeheartedly believe it would have won me over even if I had all the time in the world to play each and every release this year.

This might be a little controversial but I don’t really believe Mouthwashing’s story is actually all that great, it’s certainly good enough, but on its own it doesn’t win any awards in my opinion. No, what makes Mouthwashing stand out to me is the symbolism, the subtext, the commentary, the blood in its veins, the air in its lungs, the stuff that makes it tick.

I don’t think I can really talk about it myself, I don’t feel adequately equipped or qualified to discuss the big thing going on here, but the way it permeates through every second and every inch of this game is incredible, it’s sickening, it’s disgusting.

I say that with love by the way, this game is sick, it’s disgusting, it makes me sick to my stomach. And it rightly should, either this game makes you sick or you don’t simply don’t get it. Sometimes our worst moments do make us monsters, did you ever wonder why the only monsters in the game are in Jimmys mind?

I hope this hurts…