Such a calm and relaxing game. I originally played this game on console before the Farewell Edition update came out and bought it again on Steam mainly because I wanted to review it here as well as playing it on the go. I don't know where to begin with this but I wanna say how amazing and spiritually transforming this entire experience was. Like way back before I started playing this game, I thought it was going to be one of those typical "oh just another management games" when I saw the trailer but I was so wrong. Aside from the simple gameplay, it had a very deep story and deals with a lot of mature/taboo themes like death, grief, and moving on (albeit presented in a much more lighthearted way) that I find myself relating to a lot. I played this game during a very chaotic time of my life where I lost my job and loved ones... but looking back at it, it was nothing but a very painful past that was partially healed by this comforting experience of a game. The main character Stella, is a very likeable protagonist and not to mention sympathetic as well. Other characters like Gwen and (my own favorite) Buck are also pretty likeable as well. What makes these characters feel so real and likeable is the fact that every single one of the spirit characters have their own unique personalities and interests and it is really nice to see how they interact with your character since you get to learn a lot more of how closely related a lot of them are through their dialogue and behavior towards you. I highly recommend keeping the background music on and I am saying this because the ambient soundtrack is what also carries the gamepIay by a huge mark because it is supposed to make the open-world feel more atmospheric and it succeeds in every way possible to keep you hooked. I know I called the gameplay "simple" earlier but I mean it in a very good way. It is what exceeds my expectations of being a cozy game and it is not one of those types of games that try to overburden you with complex game mechanics to make things challenging. I really do enjoy the simplicity of the gameplay because I really wanted to focus on the story and world more. The artstyle/visuals just looks beautiful and it really compliments the world better to make me want to explore more. I know this game isn't everyone's cup of tea because it is a very slow-paced experience but I still highly recommend people to try it because, just like me, you'll maybe end up loving management games. Just like other emotionally heavy games like OneShot and To The Moon, I'm not the type of person who cries a lot when seeing stories like this but ohhhh boy this game actually made me tear up every moment. This game, combined with my life experiences during that time would be what I consider to be my metaphorical "hero's journey" because it serves as my reawakening and character development that serves as my own personal reminder to make the most of my time and treat others fairly. I'll never forget how this game changed my life forever and made me become not only a much more spiritual, but also a better person. Spiritfarer is definitely one of those types of experiences that you cannot miss and it is sad to see how underrated this game really is. I do feel that a lot of indie games like this deserves a lot more attention in the gaming community. This is definitely going into my Top 5 Favorite Games list and I am excited to see what other projects the developers are working on in the future.

I've always disliked the persona series but this has been my most disliked one so far to a certain fault. It's still very time-consuming repetitive with cringey/cheesy dialogue that make the story goofy at times. To explain the gameplay in my own words, it is pretty much a visual novel at most but there are also dungeon crawling segments by the way but most of it can pretty much be simplified into attacking random enemies that just walk back and forth, rinse/repeat over and over for many hours until you reach a good level to face off against the bosses. The combat itself lacks a lot of depth and most of the time you can just spam your AoE abilities to make things easier. When I say this game is repetitive, I am not only talking about the gameplay as described earlier, but I am also referring to the story as well. Every chapter pretty much revolves around the Phantom Thieves doing the same thing and the villains are extremely cartoonishly one-dimensional with no variation in goals/motive other than "to gain attention." Even our protagonists themselves are unlikeable as well because of how poorly written they are. Characters like Ryuji honestly annoys me really much and I found myself rooting for the villains more as if the latter should've been the main cast instead. The map designs (specifically the dungeon segments) are very cramped and simplistic with very little depth or variation to them as well. They are designed to be a very linear "fight your way from Point A to Point B" type maps. What could've made it better is that it could've been a sandbox instead of what we got here. Also this game has Denuvo, like seriously? This game isn't even that important to be adding Denuvo in the first place. All it does is make the game very buggy and poorly optimized that ruins the experience for everyone. I never thought I would have to do this but in comparison to the original Persona 5, there were a lot of gameplay elements such as romance progression and bonding events with specific individuals that is not present in this game. It feels as if Strikers became a complete downgrade from what we got in the original. For a simple game like this it is not even worth a full $60. There's not much I could say that's great about this game other than the soundtrack and voice acting. In my opinion, it does feel as if this experience can be described as "a $60 soundtrack with a free game included" type thing because the OST is what carries the gameplay. The soft jazz music in the overworld contrasted with the heavy rock theme of the dungeon crawling and action sequences really does fit the mood and tone. Aside from the soundtrack, I also mentioned that I liked the voice acting earlier (specifically Matthew Mercer's performance as Yusuke Kitagawa / Fox) and recommend playing this in English. I say this because because despite how poorly written and cringe the dialogue is (I'm being serious it is literally elementary level writing/dialogue), the voice actors were able to naturally deliver all their lines perfectly that masks the bad writing. This isn't a niche game by any means but despite the massive fanbase, it does make me realize that a lot of elements in the gameplay and cartoony art style would turn a lot of people like me off and it is not everyone's cup of tea. I guess if you are into something story-based and not care about the gameplay then this would be made for you. Don't get me wrong... I do love story-driven games but you just need to at least have a compelling story that would keep me hooked and reward my attention and this game has none of that.
Overall I would not recommend this. This will be the last persona game that I ever get.