Gurn
I am fond of the Animal Crossing series for providing a gentle—though ultimately repetitious—timesink to be enjoyed once per demi-decade, and New Horizons delivered this in spades at a very welcome time. It's not a particularly innovative sequel (if anything it's lost a smidgeon of the soul found in prior games) but this release has plenty of polish and is probably the best of what the series has to offer.
Very similar to the first game, for better or worse. The original Subnautica was excellent, so, there's a lot to enjoy here. However, Below Zero's new features and story were not enough to sustain my interest all the way to completion, and it is disappointing to see that various UI foibles and graphical glitches are ported over wholesale. I conclude that the first game is the one to play, whereas this one is for enthusiasts.
2020
Live service nonsense notwithstanding, Fall Guys remains an exciting multiplayer timewaster that colourfully captures the bonkers excitement of retro TV shows such as Total Wipeout and Takeshi's Castle. It's not profound but it has brought me joy.
A game bursting with groundbreaking technology and interesting ideas, all of which are implemented so poorly as to seem quaint with hindsight. To be frank, there are many things that this fourth Elder Scrolls game does not do very well—and I find it a disappointing RPG when compared to its predecessor, Morrowind. Nevertheless, Oblivion is fascinating to revisit having played later Bethesda games; it is, after all, the successful manifesto that their subsequent releases built upon.
Though the features added in Rise and Fall are hit and miss, I would not go back to playing without it. The positives outweigh my grumbles: the loyalty mechanic brings welcome depth to city placement and livens up your borders; achieving historic moments feels great and so does being able to review your civ's history; and overall there's a lot more of what was already in the base game (new playable civilizations, new wonders, etc.) which together bring variety and longevity to the experience.
But while we're here, I have two grumbles and they're both to do with the Great Ages mechanic:
1) It was much more fun in base game when the big "you have entered the renaissance era" (or whatever) moment was triggered by you researching a renaissance era technology. The new system—wherein you are pre-warned that "the world will enter the renaissance era" (or whatever) in X amount of turns, and then it just happens—feels passive and thus dissatisfying.
2) Because the points that you earn towards achieving a Golden Age do not carry over into the next era, players who have already met the threshold for a Golden Age are encouraged to make odd decisions and avoid triggering Heroic Moments in order to score the points later. It's a level of micromanagement that feels narratively incongruous.
But while we're here, I have two grumbles and they're both to do with the Great Ages mechanic:
1) It was much more fun in base game when the big "you have entered the renaissance era" (or whatever) moment was triggered by you researching a renaissance era technology. The new system—wherein you are pre-warned that "the world will enter the renaissance era" (or whatever) in X amount of turns, and then it just happens—feels passive and thus dissatisfying.
2) Because the points that you earn towards achieving a Golden Age do not carry over into the next era, players who have already met the threshold for a Golden Age are encouraged to make odd decisions and avoid triggering Heroic Moments in order to score the points later. It's a level of micromanagement that feels narratively incongruous.
2022
Cool concept with an evocative setting. The core gameplay felt spread a little thin even for such a short playtime (~ 1hr) but I enjoyed this experience for what it is and thought the sound design and lo-fi graphics were creatively utilised for some fun scares.