Just finished Metal Gear Solid 2. Holy fuck.
At first, I was disappointed by the missing cast and having to play as some random twink instead of snake. I liked the gameplay, but it was a bit fast, and more difficult that MGS. Using FPS mode with a controller feels like shit, as always, but I kinda got used to it. The Fatman fight was so kino. I was really enjoying it, but hoping I'd get to play as Snake. EE's death really fucked me up. They specifically gave her traits, phobias, to trigger a paternal instinct to protect, as well as make the player bond with her after witnessing her vulnerabilities and carrying her around like a child and holding her hand. Fuck. That's evil game design and something you can only do with games. I actually started crying with Otacon. The game just got a lot heavier all of a sudden, it was legit depressing. I was like "let's just finish this", and the game somehow goes 4D. The AI sequence is the most horrifying gaming experience I had. At this point, I really got invested into Raiden and Rose's relationship, because I could relate to Raiden and this sudden change was haunting. I started questioning everything, it was like a fever dream, Snake appearing gung-ho in his classic getup, handing you a katana, the game suddenly turning into an action movie, the surreal fight with Rays - everything is deliberately designed to make you doubt anything you see. Snake's "infinite ammo", Japanese hi-tech armor straight out of a cyberpunk setting for no reason, and they deliberately made everything feel more "gamey". It was like a parody of metal gear at this point. The situation was orchestrated by Ocelot and Patriots, it's a simulation, the in-game events might be an in-universe VR simulation, the real game Metal Gear Solid 2 in our world is literally a simulation. I was questioning everything until the final battle. What a battle, too, the music's amazing. It was scary. I can see why everyone keeps sucking Kojima's dick. Genius.