A technical masterpiece full of mystery and complexity I've been craving for ages!

• If Nintendo could release a modern console that isn't years behind, this is what Breath of the Wild (or TotK) might be like in 2026.
  
• If Capcom actually cared about traversal in Dragon's Dogma 2, this is what it might feel like.
  
• If Rockstar made a high-fantasy action adventure game with RDR2's engine, this is exactly what it would be like.

I'm around 80+ hours in and still hanging out in the starting region mostly, and just reached Chapter 4. I haven't even gone to a 2nd city yet and there's still so much to discover and do. Honestly, just walking around in 1st person mode taking in the sights is way too much fun, because they've put so much detail into the environments, especially the interiors.

A lot of people are saying this, but I feel the same excitement I had when Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim first came out. The sheer detail in interactions, the fact that I can steal items and face consequences, bump into people and they complain, and talk to just about any NPC while they share their immediate concerns, the immersion is wonderful.

The puzzles are really fun and force you think without much guidance. The environment itself guides you if you use the right tools.

The amount of secret rooms, caves, and other mysteries is just staggering, and really makes exploration enjoyable. This isn't a world full of copy/pasted theme park assets. Everything feels like it's hand-placed, and finding unique equipment is usually the highlight of exploring a random place. Thankfully this isn't some RNG crap: you hang on to your rare finds!

Inventory management was rough at first, but they've made enormous improvements in recent patches, along with a bunch of other QoL updates. This game gets a higher rating from me purely for taking such great care of the game post-launch, and listening to player feedback. Their patch cadence is something every studio should envy.

• Enemy variety is lacking in the open world, and very few mobs exist so far, so combat feels rarer than I'd like.
  
• Climbing can be a little clunky, especially before you get other traversal abilities. It can be worked around.
  
• Bosses can stagger you into oblivion, even when you try to dodge. That said, using a different strategy is advised!
  
• Inventory management is still a little bland and could use better navigation (like paged jumps on controller using R2/L2 maybe).
  
• Putting tools and secondary weapons (like longswords) on the same radial option is frustrating.
  
• Not being able to equip longswords or other weapons in your primary slot is ridiculous.
  
• Can't hide or unequip shield if you prefer using other weapons.
  
• No transmog (yet?)

With all this in mind, these hardly diminish how much fun and amazing this game is. They're minor and easy to tolerate, and I'm confident PA will be doing more work!