im dead serious this is an actual contender for game of the year. the loop is simple, during the day you catch fish and send them back to your restaurant where you prepare sushi and serve customers during the night. the entire cast are goofy and entertaining, the ambient music is super relaxing (though it did grow old for me very quickly), and there is a surprising amount of enemy and area variety throughout the game. i couldnt tell you how many times i reached a point where i thought the game was going to end soon, only to be met with another, huge area for me to explore and get lost in.

some minor issues i have are that the plot is quite weak, but i wasn't expecting much of a story from a fishing game anyways, and the charming characters more than make up for the mediocre story. in addition, though the game is quite short with little replay value, not every game has to have 300 hours of content with 10 different endings. being a pleasant and memorable experience is just fine.

if you enjoyed stardew valley, dave the diver is a must play. though not as replayable as the former, this is 100% worth your time, and im definitely looking forward to any potential new content or updates the devs might release for the game.

wow. i truly think minecraft might just be one of the most, if not the most, overrated games of all time. the repetitive gameplay loop of exploring caves until you fight the ender dragon and beat the game is so mindnumbingly boring. the biomes suck, with mostly only minor aesthetic differences between them all. pve combat is extremely simple, with most enemies merely running towards you at a straight line with no other behaviours or attacks. this limits skill expression and any deeper, tactical thinking on the player's end. pvp combat on the other hand is admittedly really cool and some crazy shit happens on those servers but that's not what most people can do nor what most people are doing.

i understand mojang is trying to make the game more enjoyable with updates to caves and biomes, as well as new enemies like the warden, but i dont even know any more. dont even say shit like 'i got the wrong mindset' or 'you're just a hater' cause you'd be exactly right, i do have the wrong mindset and i am just a hater. i dont like being called out on things. anyways i swear to god no one actually likes this game as much as they say they do, im just here voicing the truth that no one wants to admit.

im not really a fan of the generic ubisoft formula: open world action rpg with crafting elements, capturing outposts to reveal nearby activities and collectibles on the map. i should be shitting on this game for following that same formula.
but im not, because this game really is just super fun. combat is very satisfying, with weighty weapons and good sound effects helping to sell the power of each hit. night missions felt terrifying, but the rush i got from volatile chases made me want to come back again and again, and the fluid parkour systems make simple traversal between places engaging.

some gripes i had were that the story and characters were quite boring and generic, with nothing in particular standing out to me, and i didnt really care enough about most characters to feel anything during if they died. i dont really care about this as much as i feel that the gameplay and feel of the game is what's most important with this type of game.

in the end i really do recommend dying light, especially if you're a fan of far cry, the zombie genre, or if you're just looking for a new game to play.