I think Ghostwire is neat. Its a game that falls flat in many ways but its world is so gorgeously detailed and well rendered that I hardly need an excuse to spend time in it. I love running through the streets and over the rooftops of a haunted Tokyo forever locked in a moody rainstorm. Im glad the Spiders Thread update/dlc exists because it gives me an excuse to come back and soak in the atmosphere a little longer.

The new content that makes up this update is interesting as it serves simultaneously as more of the same, an evolution of the original games potential, and an magnifying glass to highlight all of the games existing flaws. There is a small new area with a questline that serves as the most in depth sidequest the game has to offer. Its fun and decently spooky even if theres. nothing here that ghostwires horror contemporaries havent already done better. There are 3 new enemy types which range from cool to annoying. I love the mermaids who swim through the pavement and keep you constantly checking all your angles. I dont love the hovery guys who are hard to hit and love to fly around in places out of your reach. The new combat abilities are mildly interesting but struggle to find a home in combat encounters that were designed before they existed. The exception here is the dodge which is such a no brainer inclusion i cant imagine how they skipped it the first time.

The meat of the update is the new Spiders Thread mode. This is a run based rougelike inspired mode where you will tackle increasingly difficult levels of a sort of dungeon set in the ethereal otherworldy spaces that played heavily into the games launch trailers but ultimately dont show up too often in the main game. The problems with this mode are esentially all the problems that existed in the base game. Ghostwire is a game in which all of your abilities feel terrible until you max your skill tree, at which point you will finally feel base level competent and wonder why the game didnt just start you at this power level. Spiders Thread exacerbates this by resetting all your abilities to 0 and making you unlock them again. There was an opportunity here to throw lots of wild game breaking modifiers on top of the end game powers to make things new and exciting, but the opportunity is passed over. On the positive side the new abilities like a stealth zipline takedown and ground pound have alot more room to shine in combat arenas designed with them in mind. The spiders thread arenas also get to lean more into the otherworldly architecture and spacial design that I desperately wanted more of in the original game. It doesnt go as hard as i would like but ive only seen about half the floors, so things may get wilder as you progress. Oh you also get to hang out with a big magical cat and rescue strays.

Ultimately, its a decent enough mode and its cool to see how the developers restructured the game in a new way. The entire update is meaty, with lots of new elements to dig into. Its very generous to release this all for no cost. Theres lots here that i wont be experiencing (two new sets of collectibles are just not worth my time) but i think someone playing the game for the first time will have a much more accessible and fully realized experience. This is definitely the “definitive Ghostwire experience”.

Ive set this down long enough to mark it as no longer playing. This game obviously blew up for a reason but i found after the initial few hours of discovery i really want just a little bit more determinism in my runs. Its hard to stay engaged when i think “oo i wonder if i could do a run that goes all in on X” and then you just never get any cards to make that run possible over the course of an hour.

Game highlight: the visuals! What incredibly delicious art direction here. I love the look and feel of everything here.

Listen, im probably one of the biggest Homestar Runner guys you're liable to meet, but this game is mostly bad. This is a collection of three "roomisodes" set entirely in Strong Bads self invented crooked cop/noir/action movie franchise, "Dangeresque". A "roomisode" is just a clever way of saying these are point and click adventure games that are each limited to one room, making them quick bite sized experiences that are mostly designed to deliver gags. The first of the 3 was originally released as a flash game some 15 ish years ago, the second was started around the same time but never finished, and the third was made brand new for this collection. Unfortunately this means that while the third roomisode is the most fun, funny, and polished of the three, the first plays like a flash game from some 15ish years ago. The second is somewhere in the middle. It seems odd to say when mechanically they are all identical, but the Brothers Chaps have grown as artists in the past 15 years and it shows! Part three is more clever, less grating, and has better gags than the other two parts. Im glad i decided to finish it (i considered dropping the game after part 2), but as a package it might be a hard sell even for the most die hard of die hard Homestar fans.

Game Highlight: i actually thought the 3d cutscenes were pretty neat. I liked the pixelated 3d render look. Also the third roomisode had a fun premise and twist.

This is a pretty bad pinball game. The game clearly wants you to learn to actually play pinball, which is cool, but it wants you to control the ball pretty precisely from screen one. This ends up being a big ask in part because the ball physics feel off. Youll spend alot of time trying to hit a specific button to open the path to the next screen, losing your ball on that screen, then dropping you back to that previous screen to try and hit that button again. Its tedious and not particularly fun.

Game highlight: the visuals are charming and the opening cutscene is very funny.

This is a very cute little management game with fun art and some clever writing. I enjoyed building little rooms and the woodsy aesthetic completely does it for me. I might dip in and out as the year goes on, but in the moment its failing to keep my interest. Theres just a bit too much running back and forth to manage your bookings, which is time id rather spend doing the fun parts of the game.

Game highlight: decorating little cabins and fantasizing about leaving Brooklyn to go live in the woods.

I had a great time with Strange Horticulture. Solving all the puzzles was satisfying and It was just the right length to not overstay its welcome. I loved finding all the new weird plants and organizing them on my shelves. I do think it had some misteps though. Some of the puzzles felt a little bit too vague and making me wait to refill my exploration meter was a bit tedious. I see how it was done to help the pace of the game but also sometimes the only thing i had left in a day was to solve a map puzzle and waiting was tedious. The elixir mechanic also felt underutilized.

Game Highlight: the mood was absolutely on point. I loved the cozy greenhouse and dark color palate they chose. Also it was very funny when being bad at my retail job caused my mind to shatter.