TabletopRPGFan
2020
I know a lot of people absolutely adore Baldur's Gate 3, including a lot of queer people, and as a result I've been really anxious about posting this. I don't want to act like my opinions are objective, I personally hate it when people list their opinions as if they're facts so I'm really sorry if I end up doing that unintentionally. I also want to apologise if this ends up feeling vitriolic or hateful. A 7/10 is a positive score, and I definitely enjoyed my time with Baldur's Gate 3 overall, but I just had some flaws with it and its queer representation that I haven't really seen anyone talk about and I just wanted to write those down here. There might be a couple of minor spoilers here but nothing major.
I was very surprised when I saw that Baldur's Gate 3 had been nominated for multiple queer gaming awards, like the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game or the Gayming Awards, because I found BG3's attempts at LGBTQ+ representation to be... condescending and frustrating, especially with its trans representation.
Firstly, every BG3 romanceable character is playersexual. This alone might not be a flaw. Other games I can think of like I Was a Teenage Exocolonist and Stardew Valley are able to have 'playersexual' love interests while still telling queer stories, and as a result the characters don't feel playersexual so much as they feel like bi/pan representation. BG3 does nothing of the sort. My character's relationship with Shadowheart never felt like it was a queer relationship, it didn't feel like a queer story, because ultimately my character could've been removed and replaced with a man and nothing would change. The only queer couple I can think of in the game are two side characters, Dame Aylin and Isobel, and while they're delightful they didn't really change that I never felt like the game was using my character's relationship as an opportunity for meaningful queer representation.
I've written before about how I dislike it when game devs include genital customisation and describe it as playing a trans character, it feels at best reductive and at worst objectifying. This is also a critique I had of Cyberpunk 2077, but that's able to somewhat mitigate it through the presence of Claire, an interesting and well-written trans character with her own questline and story arc. BG3 has... Nocturne. A character who shows up once and has at most a dozen lines of dialogue, all of which are about a cis character. Because trans people aren't people apart from how we relate to cis people I guess. Hell, it's mentioned that Shadowheart is the entire reason why she "found the strength" to transition in the first place, and she's introduced by her deadname long before you actually see her and learn her actual name. There's no reason to deadname her, Shadowheart knows her as an adult after she's transitioned and earlier games like Tell Me Why don't deadname their trans characters even in flashbacks to their pre-transition selves. Shadowheart is my favourite BG3 character, but it's so frustrating that the game's only trans character is entirely dedicated to making her look great and isn't a person beyond that.
This also extends to a problem with the character creator. While you do have the "nonbinary/other" option for your character's gender, it doesn't really change the fact that the character creator is incredibly binary. Naming them body types 1 and 2 doesn't really change the fact that one is very masculine and the other is very feminine, and this combined with the eight or so set face options for each body type mean that there's really not an option to play as a more androgynous character. Obviously, there's no one way to look nonbinary. But I thought that the lack of options to depict your character really felt like I was being pigeonholed into playing a certain character, both in terms of appearance and personality.
My problems with this game's LGBTQ+ representation weren't my only problems with it. I also had some problems with its combat balancing, story, (some of) the characters, and I never really felt like I was properly roleplaying my character at all. You can ask in the comments if you want me to go into more detail about those, but I felt like its LGBTQ+ representation was a flaw that I've never seen discussed. It feels like it was well intentioned but misguided, and I think it's important to critique it so that the developers can learn from their mistakes and improve next time.
I was very surprised when I saw that Baldur's Gate 3 had been nominated for multiple queer gaming awards, like the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game or the Gayming Awards, because I found BG3's attempts at LGBTQ+ representation to be... condescending and frustrating, especially with its trans representation.
Firstly, every BG3 romanceable character is playersexual. This alone might not be a flaw. Other games I can think of like I Was a Teenage Exocolonist and Stardew Valley are able to have 'playersexual' love interests while still telling queer stories, and as a result the characters don't feel playersexual so much as they feel like bi/pan representation. BG3 does nothing of the sort. My character's relationship with Shadowheart never felt like it was a queer relationship, it didn't feel like a queer story, because ultimately my character could've been removed and replaced with a man and nothing would change. The only queer couple I can think of in the game are two side characters, Dame Aylin and Isobel, and while they're delightful they didn't really change that I never felt like the game was using my character's relationship as an opportunity for meaningful queer representation.
I've written before about how I dislike it when game devs include genital customisation and describe it as playing a trans character, it feels at best reductive and at worst objectifying. This is also a critique I had of Cyberpunk 2077, but that's able to somewhat mitigate it through the presence of Claire, an interesting and well-written trans character with her own questline and story arc. BG3 has... Nocturne. A character who shows up once and has at most a dozen lines of dialogue, all of which are about a cis character. Because trans people aren't people apart from how we relate to cis people I guess. Hell, it's mentioned that Shadowheart is the entire reason why she "found the strength" to transition in the first place, and she's introduced by her deadname long before you actually see her and learn her actual name. There's no reason to deadname her, Shadowheart knows her as an adult after she's transitioned and earlier games like Tell Me Why don't deadname their trans characters even in flashbacks to their pre-transition selves. Shadowheart is my favourite BG3 character, but it's so frustrating that the game's only trans character is entirely dedicated to making her look great and isn't a person beyond that.
This also extends to a problem with the character creator. While you do have the "nonbinary/other" option for your character's gender, it doesn't really change the fact that the character creator is incredibly binary. Naming them body types 1 and 2 doesn't really change the fact that one is very masculine and the other is very feminine, and this combined with the eight or so set face options for each body type mean that there's really not an option to play as a more androgynous character. Obviously, there's no one way to look nonbinary. But I thought that the lack of options to depict your character really felt like I was being pigeonholed into playing a certain character, both in terms of appearance and personality.
My problems with this game's LGBTQ+ representation weren't my only problems with it. I also had some problems with its combat balancing, story, (some of) the characters, and I never really felt like I was properly roleplaying my character at all. You can ask in the comments if you want me to go into more detail about those, but I felt like its LGBTQ+ representation was a flaw that I've never seen discussed. It feels like it was well intentioned but misguided, and I think it's important to critique it so that the developers can learn from their mistakes and improve next time.
2015
It’s strange. I’ve tried to play Fallout: New Vegas twice now, and both times I had to stop my playthrough when I inevitably get softlocked out of the game. Even when I could actually play it, it was still plagued with constant crashes and bugs. But for some reason, the only thing I could think of while playing Fallout 4 was how much I’d rather be playing New Vegas.
Very strange decision for the latest entry in your roleplaying game franchise to strip away most of the roleplaying aspects. It ends up feeling more like an action-survival game than an RPG. The simplified roleplaying systems seemingly come in exchange for more in-depth survival mechanics, like weapon and armour customisation, settlement building, and so on but I never actually engaged with these unless I was forced to. The main gameplay loop is based around exploring the map and completing quests, so these overcomplicated systems just kind of exist for the sake of existing, and hunting down resources just to build a guard tower or whatever is just tedious. The moments when I was forced to build a settlement or whatever to complete a quest were some of my least favourite parts of the game, and I hated repairing and upgrading power armour so much that I just sold all of my power armour parts and abandoned it in Diamond City.
I personally like it when an RPG gives you a voiced character with preset details about their backstory, core personality, and motivation. I think it works really well in games like Cyberpunk 2077, the Witcher, or Mass Effect. But the thing about those games is that their missions and narratives are constructed around those characters. In Cyberpunk, V is a mercenary, which justifies why they're taking all of the sidequests in the game even when they don't directly contribute to the main questline. But in Fallout 4, the Sole Survivor doesn't really feel like they belong in this game. Their mission is to save their son, which creates a dissonance when you're taking sidequests or doing anything that doesn't directly contribute to that goal. Their personality is simultaneously blank enough that they aren't interesting to follow but defined enough that they can't really be played as a self-insert or roleplayed in any different ways.
I probably would’ve finished the main quest, but then I was forced to build up the defences at the Minutemen castle and I just don’t want to spend the time scrounging for the resources to do that, taking me away from everything I’ve enjoyed about it. Combat is fun, the soundtrack is pretty good (though New Vegas has a better one IMO), and some of the characters are enjoyable, but the world is kinda disinteresting. It feels like they put so much effort into the settlement building and survival mechanics that they didn’t work on any towns except for Goodneighbour and Diamond City. I could see myself returning to it someday, and maybe I'll like it more if I finish the story, but I don't think I will for a little while.
Very strange decision for the latest entry in your roleplaying game franchise to strip away most of the roleplaying aspects. It ends up feeling more like an action-survival game than an RPG. The simplified roleplaying systems seemingly come in exchange for more in-depth survival mechanics, like weapon and armour customisation, settlement building, and so on but I never actually engaged with these unless I was forced to. The main gameplay loop is based around exploring the map and completing quests, so these overcomplicated systems just kind of exist for the sake of existing, and hunting down resources just to build a guard tower or whatever is just tedious. The moments when I was forced to build a settlement or whatever to complete a quest were some of my least favourite parts of the game, and I hated repairing and upgrading power armour so much that I just sold all of my power armour parts and abandoned it in Diamond City.
I personally like it when an RPG gives you a voiced character with preset details about their backstory, core personality, and motivation. I think it works really well in games like Cyberpunk 2077, the Witcher, or Mass Effect. But the thing about those games is that their missions and narratives are constructed around those characters. In Cyberpunk, V is a mercenary, which justifies why they're taking all of the sidequests in the game even when they don't directly contribute to the main questline. But in Fallout 4, the Sole Survivor doesn't really feel like they belong in this game. Their mission is to save their son, which creates a dissonance when you're taking sidequests or doing anything that doesn't directly contribute to that goal. Their personality is simultaneously blank enough that they aren't interesting to follow but defined enough that they can't really be played as a self-insert or roleplayed in any different ways.
I probably would’ve finished the main quest, but then I was forced to build up the defences at the Minutemen castle and I just don’t want to spend the time scrounging for the resources to do that, taking me away from everything I’ve enjoyed about it. Combat is fun, the soundtrack is pretty good (though New Vegas has a better one IMO), and some of the characters are enjoyable, but the world is kinda disinteresting. It feels like they put so much effort into the settlement building and survival mechanics that they didn’t work on any towns except for Goodneighbour and Diamond City. I could see myself returning to it someday, and maybe I'll like it more if I finish the story, but I don't think I will for a little while.
2020
Cyberpunk has long been one of my favourite sci-fi subgenres. There's something about stories where technology has advanced but society has collapsed, where the capitalist hellscape of our reality has thrown away its mask and is displaying its cruelty upfront that's really interesting to me. Characters in cyberpunk stories walk neon-lit streets where the game is fixed against them, willing to throw everything away for the chance to complete their goal, usually either failing or succeeding after great sacrifice. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the best examples of this I've seen, especially in video games.
Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most immersive games I've ever played. You're dropped in the shoes of V, who's on the run from a shaky past and is trying to make it big as a Night City legend. V is one of my favourite video game protagonists, and probably one of my favourite protagonists in general. You have a good amount of leeway to shape their personality and background, but in a way where they actually feel like a present and important character in the narrative rather than a blank slate and nonentity in the story. While I'll admit that I've never played as masc V during any of my four playthroughs (and I haven't been all that impressed by what I've heard), Cherami Leigh gives an absolutely amazing performance as V. I honestly think she should've been nominated for best performance at the game awards.
Much of Cyberpunk 2077's strengths lie in its story, characters, and world. Night City is both alien and all too familiar, and despite the strangeness of their setting and situation the characters in Cyberpunk have realistic feeling motivations and writing, complimented by their excellent performances. Real standouts for me include Judy, Takemura, Claire, and Jackie, as well as Reed, Myers, and Songbird from the DLC (which is incredible in its own right).
This is also complimented by its gameplay. Cyberpunk 2077 decides not to go with the class system of the tabletop RPG its based on for a more skill-focused system. I personally really like this decision for the video game; V is a character in the game rather than a faceless self insert, so having them always play like a Solo (though maybe with a bit of multiclassing into Tech or Netrunner) really fits. On the subject of the tabletop RPG, I'm a really big fan of it (I'm most familiar with Cyberpunk RED because I started getting into tabletop RPGs back in 2017 when I was 13) and it feels like a fitting continuation of that world.
Also, the soundtrack is just incredible. From the game's score and combat music to the in-universe radio stations, every song works together to immerse you deeper into this world. If you haven't heard it, check out Kerry Eurodyne's version of Chippin' In. It's one of my favourite songs on the soundtrack but it only shows up very briefly during a Johnny flashback.
I also feel obligated to discuss the trans representation in this game, as I've criticised other games for their trans rep before. I personally don't really like it when devs include genital customisation and explicitly describe it as "playing a trans character", it feels really reductive at best and kind of objectifying at worse, but nonetheless I first played this during a period of time when I was feeling really shit about myself, and even if it's really dumb, being able to play as a canonically trans badass mercenary made me feel bit better. It's also worth mentioning Claire, an interesting trans character with her own sidequest line and story arc who's one of my personal favourites.
I played this for the first time in February last year; this playthrough was my fourth. Despite its rocky release, Cyberpunk 2077 was able to become one of the best games I've ever played and I can't recommend it enough if you like science fiction, action RPGs, or both.
Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most immersive games I've ever played. You're dropped in the shoes of V, who's on the run from a shaky past and is trying to make it big as a Night City legend. V is one of my favourite video game protagonists, and probably one of my favourite protagonists in general. You have a good amount of leeway to shape their personality and background, but in a way where they actually feel like a present and important character in the narrative rather than a blank slate and nonentity in the story. While I'll admit that I've never played as masc V during any of my four playthroughs (and I haven't been all that impressed by what I've heard), Cherami Leigh gives an absolutely amazing performance as V. I honestly think she should've been nominated for best performance at the game awards.
Much of Cyberpunk 2077's strengths lie in its story, characters, and world. Night City is both alien and all too familiar, and despite the strangeness of their setting and situation the characters in Cyberpunk have realistic feeling motivations and writing, complimented by their excellent performances. Real standouts for me include Judy, Takemura, Claire, and Jackie, as well as Reed, Myers, and Songbird from the DLC (which is incredible in its own right).
This is also complimented by its gameplay. Cyberpunk 2077 decides not to go with the class system of the tabletop RPG its based on for a more skill-focused system. I personally really like this decision for the video game; V is a character in the game rather than a faceless self insert, so having them always play like a Solo (though maybe with a bit of multiclassing into Tech or Netrunner) really fits. On the subject of the tabletop RPG, I'm a really big fan of it (I'm most familiar with Cyberpunk RED because I started getting into tabletop RPGs back in 2017 when I was 13) and it feels like a fitting continuation of that world.
Also, the soundtrack is just incredible. From the game's score and combat music to the in-universe radio stations, every song works together to immerse you deeper into this world. If you haven't heard it, check out Kerry Eurodyne's version of Chippin' In. It's one of my favourite songs on the soundtrack but it only shows up very briefly during a Johnny flashback.
I also feel obligated to discuss the trans representation in this game, as I've criticised other games for their trans rep before. I personally don't really like it when devs include genital customisation and explicitly describe it as "playing a trans character", it feels really reductive at best and kind of objectifying at worse, but nonetheless I first played this during a period of time when I was feeling really shit about myself, and even if it's really dumb, being able to play as a canonically trans badass mercenary made me feel bit better. It's also worth mentioning Claire, an interesting trans character with her own sidequest line and story arc who's one of my personal favourites.
I played this for the first time in February last year; this playthrough was my fourth. Despite its rocky release, Cyberpunk 2077 was able to become one of the best games I've ever played and I can't recommend it enough if you like science fiction, action RPGs, or both.
2019
This is my go-to comfort game. Whenever I've had a particularly shitty day or life is too overwhelming, I can always put my headphones on, turn my phone off, and escape to Hawk's Peak Provincial Park.
2023
Yukari Takeba is a lesbian and I wholeheartedly believe that. She's a victim of compulsory heterosexuality and should be able to kiss the Female Protagonist on the lips.
This review contains spoilers
Every so often, you get a game that hooks you straight away. A game that you're thinking about for every moment you're not playing it, and a game that you'll be thinking about for a long time after you've completed it.
For me, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is one of those games. The writing is incredible. Every loss hit me because the characters felt so real, and the way that choices interlink to create your own unique narrative is incredible. By the end of the game, my ending and the choices I made felt like the consequences of my actions paid off. And because I cared about the characters, all of my decisions, how I chose to spend each month, felt so tense and terrifying as the game progressed and the stakes got higher.
Also, I love the trans representation in this game. I liked the games fluid approach to gender and how you can change your expression, identity, and name whenever you feel like, even if I never used the feature (I played a girl the whole time). I also loved the trans characters in the game itself, especially Tangent, and how her transness is an important part of her identity and arc without focusing on cliched transition-related angst. There's a scene in the medbay between her and Utopia, another trans woman, that nearly made me cry.
In short, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, is a game I loved, I highly recommend, and I will probably be thinking about for a very long time. It's probably not for everyone, but it was for me, and at the end of the day that's all that matters.
For me, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is one of those games. The writing is incredible. Every loss hit me because the characters felt so real, and the way that choices interlink to create your own unique narrative is incredible. By the end of the game, my ending and the choices I made felt like the consequences of my actions paid off. And because I cared about the characters, all of my decisions, how I chose to spend each month, felt so tense and terrifying as the game progressed and the stakes got higher.
Also, I love the trans representation in this game. I liked the games fluid approach to gender and how you can change your expression, identity, and name whenever you feel like, even if I never used the feature (I played a girl the whole time). I also loved the trans characters in the game itself, especially Tangent, and how her transness is an important part of her identity and arc without focusing on cliched transition-related angst. There's a scene in the medbay between her and Utopia, another trans woman, that nearly made me cry.
In short, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, is a game I loved, I highly recommend, and I will probably be thinking about for a very long time. It's probably not for everyone, but it was for me, and at the end of the day that's all that matters.
Very fun and cute! I don't know how Celeste always seems to tell a story that relates to what I'm going through at the time, I also have a big and exciting thing approaching that is nonetheless a big change that I'm very nervous about. I may have cried a bit when meeting with Part of You.
Also Madeline has a girlfriend now and is writing a book!!! I love to see a trans lesbian thriving.
Also Madeline has a girlfriend now and is writing a book!!! I love to see a trans lesbian thriving.
2010
It crashed 18 times in four hours and I seem to have been softlocked out of the main quest. I want to love Fallout: New Vegas but the game just refuses to let me.
2021
I started playing this last summer but stopped playing because of the release of Baldur's Gate 3 and other anticipated games, and I unfortunately never ended up picking it up again. I thought I'd start it again because what I'd played was really good.
I wish I hadn't put it down in the first place. Unsighted is an absolutely incredible game. The combat is great, it's challenging without being frustrating and being able to pull off parries and long combos is so satisfying. The boss fights are so much fun. The time limits mechanic is great too, its firm but fair in a way that feels tense but without feeling unfair or stressful. The story was really compelling and delightfully queer, the art style and visuals look great, and I will be listening to the soundtrack when working on uni assignments for the foreseeable future. I can't recommend it enough.
This is the second game I've played this year about lesbian androids. I couldn't fit that point into the actual review but I thought it was worth mentioning.
I wish I hadn't put it down in the first place. Unsighted is an absolutely incredible game. The combat is great, it's challenging without being frustrating and being able to pull off parries and long combos is so satisfying. The boss fights are so much fun. The time limits mechanic is great too, its firm but fair in a way that feels tense but without feeling unfair or stressful. The story was really compelling and delightfully queer, the art style and visuals look great, and I will be listening to the soundtrack when working on uni assignments for the foreseeable future. I can't recommend it enough.
This is the second game I've played this year about lesbian androids. I couldn't fit that point into the actual review but I thought it was worth mentioning.
2024
Persona 3 Portable has always had my favourite story and characters of any Persona game, but unfortunately the various ways in which it's aged poorly have prevented me from naming it my favourite Persona game. After the remake was announced I was cautiously optimistic, with my excitement only growing with each new trailer. This is the third game I've ever been so excited about that I preordered it.
I'm going to start with the flaws because there are not many. The lack of FeMC is really disappointing, I thought that some of the music tracks are better in their original incarnation, and I think there are a few moments where the second-person narration is a bit more effective. That's it. Those are the only flaws I can think of as of writing.
I was a little nervous about the new voice cast, but I'm glad to say that they all knocked it out of the park. Although there are a few performances from Portable that I prefer, the new cast are great. The real star of the show for me was Zeno Robinson, who was able to turn Junpei from a character who I actively disliked in the original version of the game into one of my favourites. The fully-voiced Social Links were great too.
The reworks to combat and Tartarus have turned it from a chore I hate completing into something I regularly journeyed into for fun. The combat feels like the best the series has had so far, with Theurgy making me frequently adjust my strategies so that I could unlock the attacks.
The music is great too. Although a few songs are better in Portable, the new songs are some of my favourite in the franchise. I've been listening to Full Moon Full Life on repeat and I think it might be my favourite Persona intro?
Finally, the story of Persona 3 Reload is just as great as it was in the original, and arguably even better. The new Link Episodes were really good, both preventing the SEES boys from feeling out-of-focus and exploring different aspects of them to the Female Protagonist's Social Links. The expanded sequences with Strega make them feel more fleshed out. I was sobbing for basically the entire ending.
In short, this is easily my favourite game in the Persona franchise and one of my favourites ever. A 10/10 genuinely feels too low. I highly recommend it.
I'm going to start with the flaws because there are not many. The lack of FeMC is really disappointing, I thought that some of the music tracks are better in their original incarnation, and I think there are a few moments where the second-person narration is a bit more effective. That's it. Those are the only flaws I can think of as of writing.
I was a little nervous about the new voice cast, but I'm glad to say that they all knocked it out of the park. Although there are a few performances from Portable that I prefer, the new cast are great. The real star of the show for me was Zeno Robinson, who was able to turn Junpei from a character who I actively disliked in the original version of the game into one of my favourites. The fully-voiced Social Links were great too.
The reworks to combat and Tartarus have turned it from a chore I hate completing into something I regularly journeyed into for fun. The combat feels like the best the series has had so far, with Theurgy making me frequently adjust my strategies so that I could unlock the attacks.
The music is great too. Although a few songs are better in Portable, the new songs are some of my favourite in the franchise. I've been listening to Full Moon Full Life on repeat and I think it might be my favourite Persona intro?
Finally, the story of Persona 3 Reload is just as great as it was in the original, and arguably even better. The new Link Episodes were really good, both preventing the SEES boys from feeling out-of-focus and exploring different aspects of them to the Female Protagonist's Social Links. The expanded sequences with Strega make them feel more fleshed out. I was sobbing for basically the entire ending.
In short, this is easily my favourite game in the Persona franchise and one of my favourites ever. A 10/10 genuinely feels too low. I highly recommend it.
2023
I'm going to establish some context before I start writing this review.
I am autistic, and one of my special interests is space. It's maybe my longest-lasting one, and it invades almost everything I do. I tend to include space or space travel in almost every story I write, even if it shouldn't really involve space at all. Because of this, there's something that I refer to as the Spaceship Bias: if a game lets me pilot a cool spaceship and travel through space, I am immediately going to be more generous to it than I otherwise should. I can’t help it. Generally, the more realistic the depiction of space, the better. My favourite video game, Outer Wilds, is my favourite in part because of its realistic orbital physics and incredible spaceship piloting (you have to account for acceleration and deceleration burns because it doesn't pretend like there's friction or air resistance!!! You pilot your ship with pitch, yaw, and roll and if you jump from your ship's artificial gravity, you'll be pushed to the back of the ship because of the G-forces!!!). So with that established, I'll get on to my actual review.
Starfield takes place in 2330, a few centuries after humanity was forced to leave Earth. The setting is a small pocket of space called the Settled Systems, radiating out about fifty lightyears from Earth. These star systems are a fairly accurate map of space within this distance, though many have been renamed (understandable given that most near-Earth stars are just "Stellar Classification - Number").
I love the design. The world feels very lived-in and I love the spacesuits! They feel futuristic but in a way where they actually feel like advanced versions of suits we already have, and I think that the starships are really cool. I love the blocky, sixties-NASA look to them and how lived in each part of a ship is. Each of the major settlements all have their own unique aesthetics. Also I love love love the robots! They look like humanoid NASA rovers, like if Opportunity (RIP) had arms and legs, it’s a really creative design and I haven’t seen anything similar to it before.
To give some nitpicks that are only problems to a space obsessed autistic girlie like myself, I wish that more planets had names. The overwhelming majority of them are just named “System-Numeral”, even a lot of inhabited ones, which is a shame because I love the naming scheme of Alpha Centauri. It’s frustrating how procedural generation can affect planets in the solar system. The model of Mars from orbit is pretty accurate, you can make out actual Martian geographic features like the Valles Marineris, Olympus Mons, or Hellas Planitia, but when I clicked on Valles Marineris because I actually wanted to take a look it was just Generic Mars, no valley to be seen. And maybe I do wish that the air pressure crushed me and instantly killed me when I was on Venus. Maybe I do wish that happened. And maybe I also wish that they went with more realistic space flight, with you having to consider things like acceleration and deceleration burns, but I also know that I’m the only person on the planet who would enjoy that, especially in a fight.
The factions are okay, but the game seems unwilling to criticise them or look beneath the surface, and a lot of the most interesting things about them aren't really explored very much.
The United Colonies is an authoritarian state, with armoured soldiers patrolling the street brandishing assault rifles and the whole Starship Troopers “service guarantees citizenship” thing going on, but this is never really commented on. It’s always “the old administration was bad, but the new one is pretty cool!”. The UC’s government, the Military, Administrative, and Scientific Triumvirate, isn’t explained in that much detail but I don’t think anyone says the word “election” once, so for all I know it could be an outright dictatorship. The UC’s dystopia is best exemplified by the Well, a district of New Atlantis. It’s a rundown underground slum, covered with graffiti calling the UC out for being hypocrites and tyrants. It’s a place for the people unable to earn their citizenship and the United Colonies has cast them aside, their only presence a single technician and dozens of armed security. I did want to also mention how much I love the UC cities in the Sol System, especially New Homestead. Titan is my favourite body in the solar system and it really felt like the writers did their research as the history of the town ties into Titan’s many cool properties and why it would likely be colonised.
The Freestar Collective are also dystopian. They wanted to escape from the authoritarianism of the United Colonies, but their idea of freedom was just less regulations, allowing for corporations like HopeTech, Xenofresh, and Ryujin Industries to dominate the Collective’s society and government. At least three members of the Council of Governors are unelected and two of those are CEOs of a major corporation. Akila City arguably holds the truest to the ideals of the Freestar Collective, but it’s a city with streets paved in mud. People in Akila City are obsessed with their legacy, to the point that families like the Coes and the Cartwrights almost form a local aristocracy. Akila City feels like the writers tried to recreate Firefly from memory. In Firefly, the Independents tried to rebel from the Alliance but failed, and they’re stuck at an almost Old West level of technology because the Alliance is intentionally depriving them of it. But the Freestar Collective won its war for independence, so its whole “Space Cowboy” aesthetic and the run-down Akila City don’t really make sense. Neon is a very sanitised version of a cyberpunk dystopia, it reminds me of the sort of thing I would’ve tried to write when I was thirteen and had only just learnt that the cyberpunk genre was a thing. It mimics the aesthetics; a corrupt, neon-lit city that’s either dominated by corporations or by street gangs, but it feels toothless. The best cyberpunk media lives up to the “-punk” suffix in its name. It’s angry. It has something to say about the world we live in, about the systems of class and capitalism that dominate society, about our relationship with technology and with ourselves. Starfield is too kind to its corporations, and because of that it ultimately ends up feeling like there’s nothing to say. I could write about it a lot more given that cyberpunk is my favourite sci-fi subgenre, but I won’t because this review is long enough as it is.
There’s this very deep sense of tragedy to Starfield, always lingering in the background, and I don’t think it was intentional. The human population is probably only a few thousand people across the galaxy. Cities like New Atlantis, Neon, and Akila City are described as colossal metropolises but only house a few hundred people at most. Land on a random planet, even a habitable one, and you’ll frequently find it to be full of mostly abandoned mining outposts or research stations. It creates the implication that what the United Colonies tell you in their museum is false; they didn’t save humanity, but only a handful of people could jump ship to Jemison or Mars and everyone else was left on Earth to die, or that the Colony War was more devastating and brutal than either the UC or the Freestar Collective are willing to admit.
The main questline is the least interesting part about the game. I think that Constellation has the potential to be a pretty interesting faction, and I think that the Constellation members are fun and compelling characters to follow. But the main questline feels familiar. The plot is about strange alien artefacts across the galaxy that give you powers, and you need to search for the artefacts and uncover the truth about them. In all honesty, I didn’t even finish the main quest during my first playthrough because I didn’t really find it engaging. I finished it this time around and while I won’t spoil it, I found the later plot developments and eventual conclusion to be pretty lacklustre.
I’ve been ragging on Starfield quite a bit, so here are some positives. Combat is fun, and zero-G combat is incredible. Dealing with enemies in three dimensions, the force from your gunshots pushing you backwards with each shot, seeing each enemy drift away from you after they die creates a really tense and engaging fight experience. The side questlines are pretty fun, with the Crimson Fleet being a particular standout. Working as an undercover agent for UC SysDef is really exciting, with the questline itself having really great missions and setpieces like a prison on a desolate ice world or a fancy party on a luxury starship. The visuals are pretty nice, at least for the environments. The roleplaying mechanics are also a massive step-up from Fallout 4, I think the character creation system is pretty fun and I liked how your traits can pop up again in the game, though it only happens rarely. I’d highly recommend picking either Neon Street Rat, UC Native, or Freestar Settler because those three have some of the best RP potential in the game. The score is really good too.
Ultimately, Starfield is a strange little game. It’s clear that it was made with love and passion from the developers. They very clearly admire the science fiction genre in all its forms and the game wears its influences proudly on its sleeve. But I don’t know if they really understand what made their influences so beloved in the first place. It’s not as bad as most people say, and despite all of my criticisms I ultimately still had fun with it. I’ll probably end up buying the DLC if I see it on sale. I think I’d recommend it if you bought it the same way I bought Fallout 4 - on sale with all the DLC a few years from now, when the price is less than £10. Starfield tries to be the definitive space game - it tries to be an action RPG, a space exploration game, an outpost building survival game, but in trying to do everything, it fails to stand out with anything. If you want a space exploration game, Outer Wilds is my favourite video game and is available for a fraction of the price. If you want a sci-fi action RPG, Cyberpunk 2077, another of my favourite games, has better writing and visuals, a more interesting setting, more compelling characters and better gameplay while also being cheaper (I literally spent a good chunk of my Starfield playthrough thinking about how much I’d rather have been playing Cyberpunk). And if you want a sci-fi survival game, Subnautica is one of a handful of games where I actually enjoyed the gameplay loop of hunting for resources to upgrade tools and build a base (and sick submarines), and it’s also cheaper than Starfield.
Sorry that this is my third critical review in a row. I prefer it when my backloggd is a more positive place but I had a lot of thoughts about Starfield and wanted to write them down. I don’t know what I’m gonna play next but I hope it’ll be something that I can wholeheartedly gush about in my review, like I did with Unsighted.
I am autistic, and one of my special interests is space. It's maybe my longest-lasting one, and it invades almost everything I do. I tend to include space or space travel in almost every story I write, even if it shouldn't really involve space at all. Because of this, there's something that I refer to as the Spaceship Bias: if a game lets me pilot a cool spaceship and travel through space, I am immediately going to be more generous to it than I otherwise should. I can’t help it. Generally, the more realistic the depiction of space, the better. My favourite video game, Outer Wilds, is my favourite in part because of its realistic orbital physics and incredible spaceship piloting (you have to account for acceleration and deceleration burns because it doesn't pretend like there's friction or air resistance!!! You pilot your ship with pitch, yaw, and roll and if you jump from your ship's artificial gravity, you'll be pushed to the back of the ship because of the G-forces!!!). So with that established, I'll get on to my actual review.
Starfield takes place in 2330, a few centuries after humanity was forced to leave Earth. The setting is a small pocket of space called the Settled Systems, radiating out about fifty lightyears from Earth. These star systems are a fairly accurate map of space within this distance, though many have been renamed (understandable given that most near-Earth stars are just "Stellar Classification - Number").
I love the design. The world feels very lived-in and I love the spacesuits! They feel futuristic but in a way where they actually feel like advanced versions of suits we already have, and I think that the starships are really cool. I love the blocky, sixties-NASA look to them and how lived in each part of a ship is. Each of the major settlements all have their own unique aesthetics. Also I love love love the robots! They look like humanoid NASA rovers, like if Opportunity (RIP) had arms and legs, it’s a really creative design and I haven’t seen anything similar to it before.
To give some nitpicks that are only problems to a space obsessed autistic girlie like myself, I wish that more planets had names. The overwhelming majority of them are just named “System-Numeral”, even a lot of inhabited ones, which is a shame because I love the naming scheme of Alpha Centauri. It’s frustrating how procedural generation can affect planets in the solar system. The model of Mars from orbit is pretty accurate, you can make out actual Martian geographic features like the Valles Marineris, Olympus Mons, or Hellas Planitia, but when I clicked on Valles Marineris because I actually wanted to take a look it was just Generic Mars, no valley to be seen. And maybe I do wish that the air pressure crushed me and instantly killed me when I was on Venus. Maybe I do wish that happened. And maybe I also wish that they went with more realistic space flight, with you having to consider things like acceleration and deceleration burns, but I also know that I’m the only person on the planet who would enjoy that, especially in a fight.
The factions are okay, but the game seems unwilling to criticise them or look beneath the surface, and a lot of the most interesting things about them aren't really explored very much.
The United Colonies is an authoritarian state, with armoured soldiers patrolling the street brandishing assault rifles and the whole Starship Troopers “service guarantees citizenship” thing going on, but this is never really commented on. It’s always “the old administration was bad, but the new one is pretty cool!”. The UC’s government, the Military, Administrative, and Scientific Triumvirate, isn’t explained in that much detail but I don’t think anyone says the word “election” once, so for all I know it could be an outright dictatorship. The UC’s dystopia is best exemplified by the Well, a district of New Atlantis. It’s a rundown underground slum, covered with graffiti calling the UC out for being hypocrites and tyrants. It’s a place for the people unable to earn their citizenship and the United Colonies has cast them aside, their only presence a single technician and dozens of armed security. I did want to also mention how much I love the UC cities in the Sol System, especially New Homestead. Titan is my favourite body in the solar system and it really felt like the writers did their research as the history of the town ties into Titan’s many cool properties and why it would likely be colonised.
The Freestar Collective are also dystopian. They wanted to escape from the authoritarianism of the United Colonies, but their idea of freedom was just less regulations, allowing for corporations like HopeTech, Xenofresh, and Ryujin Industries to dominate the Collective’s society and government. At least three members of the Council of Governors are unelected and two of those are CEOs of a major corporation. Akila City arguably holds the truest to the ideals of the Freestar Collective, but it’s a city with streets paved in mud. People in Akila City are obsessed with their legacy, to the point that families like the Coes and the Cartwrights almost form a local aristocracy. Akila City feels like the writers tried to recreate Firefly from memory. In Firefly, the Independents tried to rebel from the Alliance but failed, and they’re stuck at an almost Old West level of technology because the Alliance is intentionally depriving them of it. But the Freestar Collective won its war for independence, so its whole “Space Cowboy” aesthetic and the run-down Akila City don’t really make sense. Neon is a very sanitised version of a cyberpunk dystopia, it reminds me of the sort of thing I would’ve tried to write when I was thirteen and had only just learnt that the cyberpunk genre was a thing. It mimics the aesthetics; a corrupt, neon-lit city that’s either dominated by corporations or by street gangs, but it feels toothless. The best cyberpunk media lives up to the “-punk” suffix in its name. It’s angry. It has something to say about the world we live in, about the systems of class and capitalism that dominate society, about our relationship with technology and with ourselves. Starfield is too kind to its corporations, and because of that it ultimately ends up feeling like there’s nothing to say. I could write about it a lot more given that cyberpunk is my favourite sci-fi subgenre, but I won’t because this review is long enough as it is.
There’s this very deep sense of tragedy to Starfield, always lingering in the background, and I don’t think it was intentional. The human population is probably only a few thousand people across the galaxy. Cities like New Atlantis, Neon, and Akila City are described as colossal metropolises but only house a few hundred people at most. Land on a random planet, even a habitable one, and you’ll frequently find it to be full of mostly abandoned mining outposts or research stations. It creates the implication that what the United Colonies tell you in their museum is false; they didn’t save humanity, but only a handful of people could jump ship to Jemison or Mars and everyone else was left on Earth to die, or that the Colony War was more devastating and brutal than either the UC or the Freestar Collective are willing to admit.
The main questline is the least interesting part about the game. I think that Constellation has the potential to be a pretty interesting faction, and I think that the Constellation members are fun and compelling characters to follow. But the main questline feels familiar. The plot is about strange alien artefacts across the galaxy that give you powers, and you need to search for the artefacts and uncover the truth about them. In all honesty, I didn’t even finish the main quest during my first playthrough because I didn’t really find it engaging. I finished it this time around and while I won’t spoil it, I found the later plot developments and eventual conclusion to be pretty lacklustre.
I’ve been ragging on Starfield quite a bit, so here are some positives. Combat is fun, and zero-G combat is incredible. Dealing with enemies in three dimensions, the force from your gunshots pushing you backwards with each shot, seeing each enemy drift away from you after they die creates a really tense and engaging fight experience. The side questlines are pretty fun, with the Crimson Fleet being a particular standout. Working as an undercover agent for UC SysDef is really exciting, with the questline itself having really great missions and setpieces like a prison on a desolate ice world or a fancy party on a luxury starship. The visuals are pretty nice, at least for the environments. The roleplaying mechanics are also a massive step-up from Fallout 4, I think the character creation system is pretty fun and I liked how your traits can pop up again in the game, though it only happens rarely. I’d highly recommend picking either Neon Street Rat, UC Native, or Freestar Settler because those three have some of the best RP potential in the game. The score is really good too.
Ultimately, Starfield is a strange little game. It’s clear that it was made with love and passion from the developers. They very clearly admire the science fiction genre in all its forms and the game wears its influences proudly on its sleeve. But I don’t know if they really understand what made their influences so beloved in the first place. It’s not as bad as most people say, and despite all of my criticisms I ultimately still had fun with it. I’ll probably end up buying the DLC if I see it on sale. I think I’d recommend it if you bought it the same way I bought Fallout 4 - on sale with all the DLC a few years from now, when the price is less than £10. Starfield tries to be the definitive space game - it tries to be an action RPG, a space exploration game, an outpost building survival game, but in trying to do everything, it fails to stand out with anything. If you want a space exploration game, Outer Wilds is my favourite video game and is available for a fraction of the price. If you want a sci-fi action RPG, Cyberpunk 2077, another of my favourite games, has better writing and visuals, a more interesting setting, more compelling characters and better gameplay while also being cheaper (I literally spent a good chunk of my Starfield playthrough thinking about how much I’d rather have been playing Cyberpunk). And if you want a sci-fi survival game, Subnautica is one of a handful of games where I actually enjoyed the gameplay loop of hunting for resources to upgrade tools and build a base (and sick submarines), and it’s also cheaper than Starfield.
Sorry that this is my third critical review in a row. I prefer it when my backloggd is a more positive place but I had a lot of thoughts about Starfield and wanted to write them down. I don’t know what I’m gonna play next but I hope it’ll be something that I can wholeheartedly gush about in my review, like I did with Unsighted.
A pretty interesting visual novel/choice-based narrative game by the same devs as Life is Strange. I liked the Sandman-esque worldbuilding of various different sibling deities representing different concepts and the way it intermingled with the human conflict. Being able to see the consequences of your actions ahead of time was an interesting concept, but it made the pacing struggle a bit compared to something like Stray Gods and how its choices are more integrated with conversations. The music was pretty good too, Lena Raine has never made a bad soundtrack.
2017
I was 12 years old when Injustice 2 came out, and it was the first time I'd ever been truly hyped for a game. I'd rush home from school every Thursday so that I could see the new character reveals, I'd watch in-depth analyses of each new trailer, and it was the first time I'd ever preordered a game, both so I could get Darkseid but also so I could play it as soon as possible. So this review is going to be tinged by a lot of nostalgia. Starting this game up for the first time since 2019 was legitimately one of the biggest waves of nostalgia I've ever been hit with. That being said, I'm a lot more critical of the games I play now than I was back then, and I've also read a lot more comics, so this review won't be one of blind adoration.
To get the biggest problem out of the way, I don't like the story of the Injustice games. Superman is my favourite superhero, and just saying that feels like an understatement. I genuinely don't know if I wouldn't be here today if I hadn't read All-Star Superman when I did. Above all else, Superman represents hope. The belief that people are good at their core and that tomorrow will be a better place than it is today. The whole "Evil Superman" trope one of my most hated elements of any fiction. It's boring. It's lazy. It's shallow. And when it's the Man of Tomorrow himself that's turned evil, it actively harms the way that casual fans see the character, making people think that Lois is the only thing keeping him human (don't even get me started on talking about how often Lois is fridged for these kinds of stories). And if we're being honest, I imagine that the billionaire with enough surveillance to make Big Brother jealous is far, far more likely to become a dictator than the embodiment of kindness himself.
The most frustrating thing, though, is that if you removed the "Injustice" stuff, I actually quite liked the story! The basic premise of "Grodd and the Society are up to some villainous chicanery, but it turns out that Grodd is working for Brainiac" is simple but it's pretty fun, and I enjoyed the character interactions between various Justice Leaguers. There's a part towards where Batman and Superman are working together and their interactions are more in line with the characters I actually like that made me feel like I was playing a Justice League fighting game, and the story already has enough Brainiac mind control/Poison Ivy pheromones/Scarecrow toxin to justify superheroes fighting each other! The character assassination of not just Superman but a dozen other characters, and the other edgelord bullshit that comes with the story is ultimately needless. Whenever the Injustice (derogatory) isn't showing up, the character interactions between the Leaguers are great (especially Green Arrow and Black Canary), and this has some of my favourite adaptations of both Supergirl and Brainiac, to the point where I imagine I will be picturing Laura Bailey and Jeffrey Combs' voices next time I read a comic with either character.
The gear system could be good if it wasn't tied to lootboxes. I have more gear for characters I've never played than I do for characters who I main because every time I open a lootbox and hope I'll get to customise the characters I like, it's always a gamble. I haven't seen a recent release with lootboxes and I'm so fucking glad they're gone.
So why am I giving Injustice 2 an 8/10 when I still have these problems? It's because, above all else, this is just a damn good fighting game. I'm not that big a fighting game fan and I had a ton of fun playing this. I'm not a professional games journalist so I can't really explain it well, but the controls are really good, it's really satisfying to string together combos or to use environmental interactions. The graphics look really good for a game from over five years ago and the voice acting is pretty good too. I've been playing this on my own the past few days, but I can't wait until I have some friends over so that I can play as Supergirl or Black Canary and obliterate them.
The feminist part of my brain acknowledges that the designs of women in this game are objectifying and oversexualised, but unfortunately the lesbian part sees the characters and goes hfibsibfeisbfwbfibnnmm.
To get the biggest problem out of the way, I don't like the story of the Injustice games. Superman is my favourite superhero, and just saying that feels like an understatement. I genuinely don't know if I wouldn't be here today if I hadn't read All-Star Superman when I did. Above all else, Superman represents hope. The belief that people are good at their core and that tomorrow will be a better place than it is today. The whole "Evil Superman" trope one of my most hated elements of any fiction. It's boring. It's lazy. It's shallow. And when it's the Man of Tomorrow himself that's turned evil, it actively harms the way that casual fans see the character, making people think that Lois is the only thing keeping him human (don't even get me started on talking about how often Lois is fridged for these kinds of stories). And if we're being honest, I imagine that the billionaire with enough surveillance to make Big Brother jealous is far, far more likely to become a dictator than the embodiment of kindness himself.
The most frustrating thing, though, is that if you removed the "Injustice" stuff, I actually quite liked the story! The basic premise of "Grodd and the Society are up to some villainous chicanery, but it turns out that Grodd is working for Brainiac" is simple but it's pretty fun, and I enjoyed the character interactions between various Justice Leaguers. There's a part towards where Batman and Superman are working together and their interactions are more in line with the characters I actually like that made me feel like I was playing a Justice League fighting game, and the story already has enough Brainiac mind control/Poison Ivy pheromones/Scarecrow toxin to justify superheroes fighting each other! The character assassination of not just Superman but a dozen other characters, and the other edgelord bullshit that comes with the story is ultimately needless. Whenever the Injustice (derogatory) isn't showing up, the character interactions between the Leaguers are great (especially Green Arrow and Black Canary), and this has some of my favourite adaptations of both Supergirl and Brainiac, to the point where I imagine I will be picturing Laura Bailey and Jeffrey Combs' voices next time I read a comic with either character.
The gear system could be good if it wasn't tied to lootboxes. I have more gear for characters I've never played than I do for characters who I main because every time I open a lootbox and hope I'll get to customise the characters I like, it's always a gamble. I haven't seen a recent release with lootboxes and I'm so fucking glad they're gone.
So why am I giving Injustice 2 an 8/10 when I still have these problems? It's because, above all else, this is just a damn good fighting game. I'm not that big a fighting game fan and I had a ton of fun playing this. I'm not a professional games journalist so I can't really explain it well, but the controls are really good, it's really satisfying to string together combos or to use environmental interactions. The graphics look really good for a game from over five years ago and the voice acting is pretty good too. I've been playing this on my own the past few days, but I can't wait until I have some friends over so that I can play as Supergirl or Black Canary and obliterate them.
The feminist part of my brain acknowledges that the designs of women in this game are objectifying and oversexualised, but unfortunately the lesbian part sees the characters and goes hfibsibfeisbfwbfibnnmm.
2020
This review contains spoilers
As much as I love the Persona franchise, it has not had the best relationship with queerness throughout the games (as much as I like to headcanon various characters), and I think that Persona 4 Golden is the worst at handling queer topics. It gets very close to some good stuff, especially with Kanji and Yosuke and how they could've been really good at reflecting internalised homophobia/biphobia, but the stuff with Naoto was very uncomfortable to play as a trans person, even though I doubt the writers were even thinking about trans people while they were writing Naoto's social link and character arc. I also fucking hate Teddie so, so much. He's not homophobic, he's just really annoying and creepy.
But beyond that, I really like this game, although I think it's my least favourite mainline Persona game. I think the Midnight Channel and the way that the game uses Shadows to reflect insecurities and trauma is really interesting for character development. And I think the characters are great, my personal favourite is Yukiko but I also really like Yosuke because I grew up in a small town and I knew so many kids like him when I was a teenager. The music is also great, I listen to Heartbeat, Heartbreak all the time.
But beyond that, I really like this game, although I think it's my least favourite mainline Persona game. I think the Midnight Channel and the way that the game uses Shadows to reflect insecurities and trauma is really interesting for character development. And I think the characters are great, my personal favourite is Yukiko but I also really like Yosuke because I grew up in a small town and I knew so many kids like him when I was a teenager. The music is also great, I listen to Heartbeat, Heartbreak all the time.
2018
I'm not really sure where I got the impetus to replay Deltarune from, other than that I wanted a small game I could play over the few days before the release of Persona 3 Reload. I haven't touched Deltarune in two years but I was still able to beat Jevil first try on this playthrough, nice to know I've still got it.
Definitely the weaker of Deltarune's two chapters, but still a lot of fun. Great music, nice character development for Susie, though I think it only really finds its footing after she joins the party properly. Made me remember the release of Chapter 2, back when I still used social media, and all the theories and memes from the fanbase.
Definitely the weaker of Deltarune's two chapters, but still a lot of fun. Great music, nice character development for Susie, though I think it only really finds its footing after she joins the party properly. Made me remember the release of Chapter 2, back when I still used social media, and all the theories and memes from the fanbase.