🗡️ Expectation: A beautiful, JRPG-inspired game with an interesting turn-based combat system.
👀 Reality: An emotional journey with a gorgeous art style, where every choice feels like it has weight, and the combat system is more like a rhythm game mixed with a puzzle.
🎭 First Impression: "Wow, the art is incredible!" A character dies in the opening cinematic. "Oh. Okay, this is serious and I cannot parry for the life of me!"
⏳ 3 Hours Later: The emotional weight of the journey is really starting to hit. I’m completely invested in these characters and have so many unanswered questions.
🖼️ The Canvas: Watching as a player on the outside, every action is a brushstroke painting my emotional state onto a beautiful, tragic canvas. Not realising that was the reality of this world...
📖 Final Verdict: "An unforgettable adventure. Clair Obscur is an absolute masterpiece of storytelling, art, and game design. The turn-based combat is innovative, engaging, and rewards strategic thinking. The world is rich with history and lore, and the characters feel incredibly real. This game will stick with you long after the credits roll, and I would not be surprised if it wins game of the year. A must-play for any RPG fan. 10/10 would cry again."

⚔️ Expectation: Classic JRPG vibes — play the hero, save the world, killing monsters is fun!
😬 Reality: Slowly realises the reality of the situation.
🎭 First Impression: "Wow, these shades are kinda creepy." 10 hours later "…oh no."
⏳ 3 Hours Later: Spamming dodge rolls while Kainé roasts me mid-battle.
🎶 Music: Ethereal, haunting, and beautiful — somehow makes existential dread sound like a lullaby.
💔 Ending: "Wait… What?" Stares at screen in horrified silence - proceeds to watch 2 hours of YouTube videos clarifying all the lore to this world.
📖 Final Verdict: "Came for the sword combat, stayed for the emotional trauma. 10/10, would question every RPG's morals again."

🤖 Expectation: Cool androids fighting robots in a post-apocalyptic world.
💔 Reality: Existential crisis, emotional devastation, and questioning the meaning of life… but with stylish combat.
🎶 First Impression: "Wow, this music is incredible!" 5 minutes later "Why am I crying to a choir singing in a made-up language?"
⏳ 3 Hours Later: Starts playing for the action—stays for the heartbreak and philosophy lectures.
🔄 Playthrough 2, 3, 4, 5: "Oh, you thought you were done? Cute."
📖 Final Verdict: "A masterpiece in storytelling, combat, and music. 10/10, would suffer beautifully again."

🗡️ Expectation: More stealth, more powers, more revenge.
👀 Reality: Blinks across rooftops, stops time, Dominoes four guards together, and yeets one off a balcony just to see what happens.
🎭 First Impression: "Karnaca is breathtaking!" Immediately gets spotted and panic-blinks into a wall.
⏳ 3 Hours Later: "I’ll be completely stealthy this time!" Accidentally triggers a domino effect of chaos and accepts my new High Chaos fate.
🔄 Playthrough 2: "I’ll try Emily’s powers this time." Accidentally teleports into a guard's face and immediately regrets everything.
📖 Final Verdict: "Incredible world, S-tier gameplay, and endless ways to break both the game and my moral compass. 10/10, would Domino an entire room of enemies again."