I'm a little late to the game with this one, but I just finished the main story of Control and it was fantastic. It's been a while since I played a single-player, story focused game like this and the themes and aesthetic felt like it was just about tailor made for me. I love the Cold-War era secret government agency mixed with the obvious SCP influences vibe that the game has, even if the atmosphere did get intense enough at times that I had to take breaks.

I also really enjoyed the gameplay. It reminded me of a game that I played back in the PS2 era called Psi-Ops which was the first game that I played that did telekinesis in a way that felt good. Control's launch power has a similar feel, it's just really satisfying to blow an enemy away with a perfectly timed launch.

I haven't gotten the DLC yet, but I may try to pick up the season pass soon, as I've heard that it was really good.

Disco Elysium:
Holy fuck is it an incredible game! It is easily the most impressive game I have ever played. I really don't want to ruin anything about the game, but there is one gameplay choice that I have to talk about it. Time only passes when you are doing something, i.e. reading, talking. It adds so much to the themes of the game, and man, I wish more games made gameplay choice to further their themes. My one real complaint is that I am near the end, and I just don't know how to finish it. It is possible that this is a stylistic choice too, so it might not be a complaint.

System Shock (remake) demo - I've been patiently waiting for this since I backed the Kickstarter campaign. I've played most of the original without ever actually finishing it, so I've played the Medical level repeatedly. This is about exactly what I want out of the remake. It's still System Shock. I opened a door to meet a mutant for the first time and it almost elicited a gasp. It looks as horrifying as it should. I love the subtly pixelated texturing on everything, like it's both trying to be faithful to the look of the original, while also looking like you're seeing the world through not-human eyes. Like you've replaced your eyes with implants that are hi-def but not IRL-def. I didn't finish the level because I want to save it for the full release, but I'm now very excited for that finished product.

Valorant - I played one match (match? round?) of Valorant and determined it is Not My Thing. It's Not My Thing because it's Counter-Strike, which was also Not My Thing. I've never been a fan of Counter-Strike, despite giving it multiple attempts over the decades since it was released. My specific complaints about Valorant is that the movement speed feels like a choice between slow and slower but quiet, and there's no firing range for abilities, which are both vital to success and consume credits. I didn't want to waste credits on misfiring my abilities, which I only had the vaguest knowledge of based on a text description. When I did have so much money I could afford to blow some on misfired abilities, I can't tell you how many times I flashbanged myself. I never fired my ult because I could hardly remember what it did and I died so quickly it never felt like I had a need for it.

I do love the way it looks though. The art style, the design of the characters, the look of the weapons and abilities, all of it looks cool. I guess I just wish this were in a single player game that I was interested in playing.

From Itch's social justice bundle, i figured I'd check out Lenna's Inception. The best way I can describe it is a hilarious woke parody of The Legend of Zelda, around the time of Ages/Seasons, and maybe a handheld game in either direction. You're Lenna, and you're trying to prevent the game world from being corrupted. The characters don't actually acknowledge or know they're in a game, just that stuff's getting corrupted. It's so good, too, though, because it plays exactly how I feel one should expect this sort of game to play. As a parody it's really great because it also has a lot of rather original stuff from the mechanics to the story development, at least after two temples.

GTA IV - I'm nearing the end of the main single player campaign. I think I have less than 20 missions to go. I spent a bit too much time over the weekend trying to do performance tuning to get the game running at a locked 144 FPS, but alas, this game is not meant to be played with the best settings. The best I can manage is an average 90 FPS. Gameplay-wise, I have to say that the GTA formula gets a bit tiring towards the end. Most missions are:

• Go here and kill someone
• Escape from the cops
• Pick up the package

Nearly everyone in the game is a piece of shit so I am just skipping a lot of cut scenes. I already know about the ending and the choice I have to make. My mind is already made up on that decision, so my goal now is to just get to that moment.

Westerado: Double Barrelled - Not sure what made me start playing this game but I found it incredibly enjoyable. For background, in this game you are tasked with finding the killer of your brother and mother. Everyone in the game seems to know who killed them but will only give you clues of how the killer looks, only after completing a mission for you. My guy was wearing a blue suit with a green bandana and silver belt buckle. It took me about 3 hours to find the killer and I kind of went off and killed nearly anyone who stood in my way (the Native tribe, the Army, and Oil Tycoon). Towards the end, the outlaws didn't bother going after me because my reputation was so dangerous. The game has some replay value and a load of achievements. I would give it a shot since it is so short and sweet!

Mario Maker 2 - I spent some time watching a twitch streamer play this over the weekend so I bought it. I had previously played Mario Maker 1 on Wii U many years ago so this caught my eye with all the cool additions. Unfortunately, I am having a terrible time trying to find good quality levels. If you play Mario Maker and want to share your levels, I would be more than happy to try them out and give you my thoughts!

Star Warts Jedi: Fallen Order:

Got it on a recent sale and I am, honestly surprised and a little disappointed. It's not bad per se, it's just kind of. . . fine.

The production quality is good. Graphics are great, environments are really beautiful, and the dialogue is pretty decent and well written. I haven't gone far enough to get where the plot is going, but it seems all right so far.

But there's just something kind of off about it. The gameplay is just kind of there. The platforming bits aren't really challenging, just there to slow you down so you don't get bored coasting through. The combat is occasionally challenging, but the animations feel sort of clunky and your options for engaging in a fight are very limited. There isn't much room for self-expression or flourish here, and the only skill-checks involved basically come down to reactive timing. If you compare this to God of War there is just no contest. The animations feel slow and disconnected from your inputs. The timing windows are in this weird middle ground where they're either too wide to where you're not even trying or so narrow that you can't tell what's going on.

I also don't really like the tendency towards having EVERYTHING be aggressive towards you. If I'm exploring the lush jungles of Kashyyk, it should be teeming withe life. But basically the only animals around are trying to kill me. Anything that's not is off on parts of the screen you can't actually reach. They're uninteractable except on one stage so far.

Overall it just feels unpolished. It looks great and dynamic, and maybe in the 90s this style of gameplay would have been out of this world. But playing it today, especially comparing it to a game like God of War or even Spiderman PS4, it just feels lacking. It's like various teams didn't talk to each other. The environmental designers didn't talk to the platform gameplay elements. I can't always even tell which parts of the map are climbable or not early on. It doesn't make it super clear. I'm just not used to a AAA game feeling this lackluster, especially a Star Wars property.

Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, it's not super subtle but I like it so far, it has its charm. I wish that they were more games like that, exploring mundane daily life, games are such a good medium for that but it's barely been used so far.

Bashing my head against a wall as I repeatedly attempt the Pantheon in Hollow Knight Godmaster DLC. It's basically three boss rush arenas that can be completed separately, with the last one holding all of the hardest bosses. Fun! You can also revisit old bosses on harder difficulties -- "Ascended" which adds more difficult arenas and movement patterns of bosses, and "Radiant" which is Ascended but with a one-hit KO. So far I've only been able to beat the first boss on Radiant, it's insanity.

I've started playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time with the OOTRandomizer. It's a really interesting way to play! I've finished the game a couple of times in the last 20 years so I sort of know my way around but it definitely makes you think laterally! My friends and I were trying to work out how I was meant to proceed when I didn't have the requirements to finish any of the dungeons as a child and eventually we realised you don't actually mechanically need the three spiritual stones in order to open the temple of time so now I'm in the adult timeline and tracking down prerequisites for the child timeline.

I'd definitely recommend giving it a go!

I've been playing Newer Super Mario Bros Wii, which is a hack of New Super Mario Bros Wii. Honestly, I think if this came had come out instead of Mario U, the series wouldn't have the 'repetitive' reputation it has today. It's got a lot of ideas, and it uses them well. All the unique level themes, level design, new enemies, and even truly unique bosses for every world. The Star Coins leave something to be desired though, most of them not really being that hard to collect and very few having you do anything really interesting to get them. All in all though, it's a great game. I'd go as far as to call it the definitive game of the 'New' series. And there's so much content too, especially for a fan hack. There are the eight worlds you'd expect from the New series, but each of them is longer, with 9 levels in the shortest and 14 in the longest. And the themes legitimately keep it interesting the whole time. I won't list them because you should really experience this game for yourself, but some worlds even transition in theme halfway through, and it genuinely feels like a natural evolution. And so many of the best elements from the past games make a comeback in a unique way. I especially like what they did with the Shy Guys. The hammer suit is fun as all hell to use too. And in addition to the 8 normal worlds, there's 5 shorter 'special worlds', labeled A-E with 5 levels each, and of course, a World 9 for collecting all the Star Coins. And these special worlds are no tacked-on feature either. In fact, world A is my favorite in the entire game. They didn't skimp on music either. It's not a classic track machine like some of the games on the NES were, but all the music is well-designed and not just "castle track #3". The controls are carbon copied from the original game, which is good and bad. It's nice and tight, giving you a ton of control in the air and on the ground, but you have to use motion controls. Although I was playing on Dolphin with a wiimote, so I just mapped B to shake and that worked well. It's decently harder than the original, but it is still a New series game, so don't expect a crazy amount of challenge. Overall it's what the 'New' series always should've been.

All in all, I'd go as far as to call it the best 2D platformer of the past 20 years, if not of all time. And they're coming out with an upgraded version soon. I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

Team Fortress 2 - This is my comfort food game. The main content hasn't really been updated since 2017, but a good time is still a good time. Sadly, there are a lot of bots running around these days on Valve-hosted servers, but the human players have gotten pretty good at banning them... Still, it is annoying.

One really cool spot in the TF2 landscape - the fans over at https://creators.tf/ have been hard at work hosting their own servers with regularly updated content! New maps, weapons, hats, and even their own Contracker! I can't recommend it enough if you are feeling nostalgic for the #1 war-themed hat simulator!

Undertale - I finally got around to this one, and I'm glad I did. This was an instant favorite! It may not be everyone's cup of gravy, but I really fell for all of the characters, and the style of storytelling Toby Fox used. Highly recommended if you're looking for quirky, offbeat gaming.

Into the Breach - I love Faster Than Light, and I finally got around to this one, and it does not disappoint. I think it's about the same difficulty, but more forgiving than FTL. Easy mode is definitely easier - after figuring out the mechanics, I've already had a few victorious runs.

If you are looking for extremely focused turn-based strategy, look no further and give this one a shot!

The Last of Us. Wow, what a game. The storyline was incredibly compelling and the atmosphere created a true sense of urgency. It was the first survival game I've played where I actually felt scarcity for safety and resources. I ended up playing for about 5 hours straight because every time I thought I was at a safe resting point, something urgently dangerous would happen again. It's a PlayStation exclusive that I was able to play on my brother's PS4, so I'll have to find a way to play Part II when it comes out.

I have been getting into Diablo again lately. I've beaten it already and I've gotten to the Hellfire expansion. I really recommend checking the game out again to anyone who's a fan of the later Diablo games. It really aged well, and the atmosphere in the game is still unmatched by any of the sequels.

I've also been playing with some mods like The Hell 2 or Belzeebub, and the amount of things they add is just insane. Not only do they add new quests and items, but also whole new game mechanics, quality of life improvements, UI improvements, etc.

PS: Check out Devilution/DevilutionX if you are on linux.

I've been playing Fallout 4 lately. I forgot how much I liked the game and the voiced protags. I think it caught a bunch of flak when it came out because it wasn't New Vegas 2 (Obsidian left some big shoes to fill). It's not ugly as sin like 3 and NV are (not a high bar, even for back then). The characters seem a lot more expressive and the series needed a good facelift. I hope they ditch 76 soon so they can focus on a real FO game after TES6 comes out in 2030.

Been playing Risk of Rain 2 as well. It's amazing how well Hopoo made the switch from 2D to 3D. Lots of fun characters, synergies between items/abilities, and general chicanery.

Tried Civ 6 with friends as well. Not usually into Strategy games, but the simulation turn feature really helps out. Don't think it's something I'd make a habit of playing, though

Skyrim, I've obviously played it before (multiple times) but this time I decided to really get into it. And I think it's probably the best game ever made. I finally actually did the DLC, and it's honestly almost better than the main game, Dragonborn and Dawnguard are some of the best RPG experiences I've ever had, everything that happens on Solstheim is just insane. If any of you just have it in your library I'd really recommend giving it another go and getting obsessed, it's worth it.

We Were Here Together. Haven't beaten it yet, but it's a great coop puzzle game. It's not Portal 2, but still pretty good. The whole idea is that you have to constantly communicate with the other person, because they see something that you don't and vice versa. Most of the time you don't even see your companion and have to rely on their words alone (and try to accurately describe what you see around you and what you can do with it)

Both of these games I had gotten for free through Epic giveaways. Also, both of these games are designed with a controller in mind, though KB+M could work.

Hob - Dialogue-less puzzle-platformer action-adventure. A big golem wakes you up and you ultimately have to rid your crumbling world of toxic purple stuff. As you solve puzzles, pieces of the world move and fall into place, opening up new paths and connecting important things. You've got a sword for swingin' and a golem arm for punchin' (and activating things). Plenty of hidden powerups (heart pieces, power pieces, ability upgrades, sword pieces), but the world is tight enough - especially once fast-travel is unlocked - and vague indicators on the map when you've been near something keep the hunt from becoming a slog; I found most stuff in the course of normal exploration and backtracking with new powers rather than a meticulous hunt. Visuals are stunning, controls are fluid, combat is fine (it's more about the puzzling and platforming). I think it took me about <= 10h to complete.

Moonlighter - Rogue-lite meets item-shop-manager with a pixel style. You're a merchant who goes into dungeons to defeat monsters and collect artifacts that you can sell in your shop for profit. Your backpack is limited and sometimes items have "curses" (e.g. will destroy the item below when returning to town, must keep item on the bottom row, etc.) that, combined with prices and rarity, add a backpack managing aspect that's more of a puzzle to maximize total profit (or needed items) than a chore. There's four dungeons that you progressively unlock by going deep enough to defeat each one's big guardian. A fifth opens up after beating those. In town, you figure out the best prices to sell your items based on people's reactions and current item popularity (the game keeps track of prices for different reactions for you, so it's less intimidating than it sounds). With your profits you can bring other merchants to town (blacksmith, etc.), upgrade/decorate/expand your shop, upgrade weapons, and such. Eventually your shop is big enough for people to make specific item requests that you can fulfill by certain in-game calendar dates for extra profit. There's a loose narrative between talking to townsfolk and finding in-dungeon letters. I'd guess I'm about half way through, maybe a bit less, and I'm really enjoying it.

The Fiance has been playing Ys 8 a lot the past few weeks, and since we have been pelted with news about Memories of Celceta coming to the PS4 I decided to purchase the PC version (as far as I have been able to tell, there are no real differences).

It's always interesting to see how the Ys games compare against each other. Falcom games always feel like they are in a vacuum - the gameplay grows entirely from lessons learned from other Falcom projects instead of what the industry does. It sounds like a criticism but it is actually a large reason why I love their games so much. Celceta is a huge improvement over Ys Seven, so much so that it doesn't feel terribly different from Ys 8 except for the change in camera systems.

I'm very grateful for this game right now. Work has been incredibly stressful for the past few weeks, and this game has a flow that lets you get lost in it very easily. This weekend has actually felt like a weekend.

But of course my computer is still having problems with the graphics card, so I'm only getting to play it in short increments. Thankfully you can save everywhere, so it is still very playable. I was planning on waiting out until the new ones get announced because I am a bit afraid of what is going to happen when the PS5 launches, but I'm almost tempted to buy an RTX 2080 super and hope it's going to be future proof enough.

Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. Fantastic series, very excited to play the 3rd.

I finished playing RDR2 from last week. I really enjoyed Arthur's story and the story about trying to change yourself in the face of a slow realisation that things aren't as good as you thought. The epilogue was a bit much tbh - I played RDR1 so I get why they are trying to tie up loose ends, but it felt a bit unnecessary. Overall, I'm glad to finally uninstall the game off my hard drive and make space for more games.

I played Moonlighter, which seems alright but the roguelike aspects feel a bit... eh? I'm not sure. Maybe it's because I've played Binding of Isaac, Flinthook, and Dead Cells, but this game doesn't really offer much on that aspect. The shop mechanics are OK too. In short, it's a nice game, but nothing is making me feel compelled to play or even recommend it to others.

I went back to DUSK and holy shit I forgot how good this game was. Some of the set-pieces this game has is so good. Quite frankly, I kind of prefer it over to DOOM Eternal due to the simplicity of it all yet how thoroughly engaging it is.

Animal Crossing - cleaning up my farm, analysing fossils, making bank. The usual.

Dead Cells - I got the DLC, and it does actually make me want to go back into the game. The game is so good, even after investing 70+hrs into it as a working adult with little free time.

Fight 'N Rage - This is mechanically the Streets of Rage I wanted but my god the art style is weird. You have werewolves and animals etc but then alongside them you have these big tiddied human women who act pretty sexualised and man does it give a weird vibe. I feel my inner child having fun and also my inner Anita Sarkeesian wanting to just throw the game away.

I also got an Anbernic RG350M which is like a little handheld emulator. Really good to revisit the old games, but admittedly the OS is extremely clunky.

• Many different ways of closing an emulator down - no consistency and nothing is really explained to you. You just have to figure it out. A few times I couldn't figure out how to exit an app and I had to reset the machine.
• UI is incredibly cumbersome, and there is a mixture of Chinese and English in the OS which says to me the OS hasn't been translated correctly.
• Installing apps in some cases hasn't been straightforward - the RG350M is based on OpenDingux, but that means there isn't a consistency with how apps are installed, where data files are placed, etc. I tried installing a port of Quake onto the RG350M and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get it working.
• Because I was an impatient dolt, I paid £140 for mine and essentially got ripped off pretty badly. But it did come with a whole slew of emulators and ROMs set up already. Going outside of the provided ROMs is a path of pain and compatibility agony.
• Not that I've tried, but the HDMI port that it shipped apparently doesn't work, and getting it to work requires messing with beta firmware.

However, with that said, I really enjoy being able to play Sega Master System, Mega Drive, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Arcade, Neo Geo, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Advance, and Playstation Games. There's even some extra apps thrown in like Streets of Rage Remake just for good measure. It's a nice system so I don't feel like I'm tied to my desktop PC, but I do wish the execution was better.

Metrico+

I really wanted to like this. It's an abstract puzzle platformer where each puzzle is based around metrics of player movement. For example, in a given puzzle, one platform might be based on your x-coordinate and another might be based on the number of jumps you've done in that puzzle. It's a neat concept, the game is well-made, the music was interesting -- I just didn't really enjoy it? The whole thing just felt kind of flat for me the whole time -- I ended up stopping part of the way through the second to last world.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

I was in the mood for a JRPG and picked this one from among the few in my Steam library. I think fans of the genre might find it a little too simple or limiting, but I'm really enjoying it. It's polished and interesting. It's quite slow-moving which would otherwise be a problem, but I'm listening to audiobooks during the non-story/lore bits so it's not too much of a bother.

WRC 7 FIA World Rally Championship

Similar to Battle Chasers, I was in the mood for a racing game and this was in my library. I'm playing it on easy mode, with all the assists on, as background for audiobooks. I could probably up the difficulty, as I'm smoking the computers by ~20 seconds each race while my driving is far from perfect. On the other hand I'm enjoying the lack of tension and looking at it as just some casual fun.

Champions of Regnum This is an old school RvR open pvp mmorpg in a crisp full 3D gfx style. It's a heavy constant war RvR game across a large map, and its not just a case of running around capping forts. It's a case of large scale battles at each fort. I like it because it is unpredictable because the content is all generated by players. It offers excellent endgame value, that i feel beats its peers such as GW2, DAOC and Return for Reckoning. I feel it is the best value in terms of time and money, RvR mmorpg in the market today. Also, the game has a really unique strong art-style, thematically drawn from latin America. This is really unique amongst mmos--- so I feel when I visit the game, that I am suddenly in a small part of South America.