Counterpoint: If not having room for a $70 game because there’s a $60 game already on there (which also isn’t normally a problem for him because his main gaming system is his $500 gaming console) is an issue, then the article is already being written from a position of privilege.

A shame, but the writing has been on the wall for a long time. Volition was never quite the same after the THQ bankruptcy, and that was still several years before Embracer took over.

Now there’s a difficult job!

I’d make a joke about the pistol having repeatedly fired blanks over the last couple of years, but I think that’s the point of a starting gun isn’t it?

Bloody ChatGPT

It’s also a holdover from arcade games, which would have an ‘attract mode’ when there was nobody playing.

I replayed through Hypnospace Outlaw. And hoo boy does that game hit harder when you’re playing it whilst the major social networks are crumbling.

Still waiting for more Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment genre games, personally.

The gameplay loop uses getting to interact with the characters and to advance the various subplots as part of your reward/consolation at the end of each run. I’d call that story-heavy.

I’m not enjoying just how often it wrenches control away from you to either show you a barely animated cutscene or a flyover.

Well that’s certainly a shitpost and a half there.

Jesus Christ I cried my eyes out at Spiritfarer. (Also I was on the final beta test, so I’m in the credits for that one!)

Meanwhile, Minecraft trundles on as a multiplatform title 9 years after its acquisition. 🤷

Hades. I don’t think I’ve come across a game so carefully paced as Hades, both plot-wise and in the gradual introduction of game mechanics. Which is bloody impressive considering that it’s a roguelite.

I’m looking forward to seeing people who haven’t played it before react to two things; Missile the Pomeranian, …and I’m just going to keep schtum about the other one.

Ah, the Hidden Garden. Yeah, that one’s pretty magical. I think if there’s one thing I really like about GW2 (aside from the ungodly amount of content), it’s how organically it pushes folks to play together. Speaking as a serial soloer, I’ve spent more time playing with other folks on GW2 than in any other game, simply because you can so easily bump into folks doing map events and just get swept up in whatever’s going on.

People are also just generally nice too, which is lovely.