It's been almost 5 years since I've played this and I think about it constantly. I'm not gonna lie to you and say every day but it damn well feels like it. The first time I played GTA 4 I was so dumbfounded that I thought nope, there's no way the technology is possible for this. They're doing some kind of magic illuminati wizardy to make this run, there's no way all this fits on an Xbox 360 disc. Same thing the first time I saw Halo. I'm sure everyone has some version of that feeling about some formative childhood/teenage game or another, but then when you're an adult and realize oh yeah, I can see all the corners they cut to pull this off, shattering the illusion in spectacular fashion and then going forward creating a buffer of obstinate cynicism every time a new game reveal overpromises some amount of dynamism or branching paths or fidelity or content or whatever.

This game reaches a new height of that feeling that I never considered possible, because despite listening to interviews with Creative Director/Lead Alex Beachum and having a much better fundamental understanding of game development / general limitations of games and their engines, it does not compute to me that this game can exist in the form that it does. Every choice feels so assured; every location and the space between feels impossibly broad and alive and massive; every moving part feels entirely cosmic and unknowable while simultaneously having an inextricable forward motion that can only have been guided by the exactitude of a molding hand. I haven't played Elden Ring, but the way that people compare it to Breath of the Wild means that there is no chance in hell it comes anywhere near the sense of wonder at discovery that this game achieves in a way that almost feels effortless, as if video games have always meant to feel this way. I've never seen and probably never will see another thing in this medium that will raise the bar further than this has in at least my lifetime. A masterpiece of the form if ever there was one.