I really wanted to like this one, but I couldn't keep myself interested. Every cool mechanic wasn't enough to keep me from getting burned out on the dull world, activities, and characters.

Overall a pretty decent DLC offering. The new map is pretty neat and the mechanics are fun to experience once, but it feels like a one-and-done for me. Looking forward to maybe checking out some user created tracks with the new Trackmania-style pieces, but I can't see the DLC or Hot Wheels-branded cars making me want to stray away from doing rally races in the base game Mexico map.

A really fantastic action puzzle platformer with an incredible sense of style and soundtrack to match. Not even racing games have gotten me interested in shaving down my time by a few seconds, but the core gameplay loop of Neon White encourages replay and experimentation with really smart design. Combined with a nearly perfect difficulty curve, and what you get is tight, sub-60 second levels that are regularly having you perform stunts worthy of a Quake or Mirror's Edge highlight reel. A real treat of a game overall.

Doom Eternal has nowhere to go after this, both mechanically and narratively. Just pushing every encounter to its absolute limit of what the game design can handle, and at a few points it risks the wheels falling off. Worth playing, but the really demanding difficulty is making me not super thrilled to tackle it again to 100%. I plan on getting around to it someday. Doom Eternal was good, but I'm ready to be done with it.

Falls just short of being "Crusader Kings in space" for me, but still great in its own ways. I am a huge fan of all the elements of speculative sci-fi they include, and it is all wrapped in a great grand strategy system. The real thing that prevents it from being truly great to me is that over the course of two games, playing as wildly different species and civilizations, I am seeing a huge amount of repeated events and discoveries. They don't appear to give me a reason to make different choices on these besides roleplaying, but unlike CK3, there aren't deep RPG hooks built into this game. All of the economy and shipbuilding and expansion feels remarkably manageable, which is a pleasant surprise for this sort of game. Excited to try out new DLC and scenarios as they go on sale.

A perfect game, no notes. But seriously, I'm trying to think of anything I would change about the game and I'm coming up empty. The music and atmosphere is incredible, the R-rated high fantasy cartoon lore is exactly my speed, and the visuals and environment design are on point. And that's all just set dressing for the finely tuned combat loop that is the perfect mix between mindless flow state and split-second decision making. The power you have to manage your own resources and source ammo, health, or armor at any time really makes it feel like you are in control of how effective you are at any given time. The diversity of enemy types helps this and ensures you're always trying to prioritize the biggest threat in a combat space at any given time. When you're in the groove it turns into a first-person character action game, something like Bayonetta. Until the Marauders show up, then it's Sekiro. All I can think about right now is going back and replaying levels where I missed secrets and collectibles and trying to 100% my save file.

A short action game that's all style and no substance. Underneath a really faithful Kurosawa look is a dull combat system, chunky animations, boring puzzles, and maybe the worst-feeling parry I've felt in a game. The controls don't feel responsive and the lack of enemy variety means the 4-hour game somehow feels padded out. I liked the story, by the end it actually had some interesting things to say about stories of revenge, etc. But I don't think that the spectacle of the visual presentation made up for the dreary game that was underneath it.

A decent retro throwback somewhere between a Castlevania and a Megaman, the music and time cycle mechanic weren't enough to keep me interested. Difficulty and amount of backtracking put me off.

Great little adventure game with some smart political things to say, which is a rarity in the game space. I found myself less interested in the side stuff compared to the main case, but still absolutely worth a playthrough. Maybe I'm dumb but I still don't know what kind of point the politics of the game were trying to make, that socialism is a doomed cause? It seemed very pessimistic on all fronts. The game is also full of people who will completely outline all of their political beliefs with the slightest of prompting, which fluctuates from funny to tedious. But overall, a good mystery, political intrigue, and great writing kept me playing.

Top notch exploration, combat, enemy design, art design, evocative landscapes and characters, and wonder around every corner. The only thing that I can really say negatively about the game is that the last third of the game doesn't hold up to the standards the first chunk of the game sets when it comes to environments and zones, and there is a lot of enemy re-use. However, this is a nitpick in the grand scheme of what the game accomplishes, and the last-act legacy dungeons are top notch. Haligtree, Farum Azula, and Raya Lucaria were the highlights for me, and I never struggled to progress (except on Melania). Just a really great accomplishment overall, and I will definitely be putting more hours for new builds and NG+.

A decent enough sci-fi Civ-like, I felt kind of overwhelmed with the number of systems in place over my 2 playthroughs. So much is outside your control when it comes to whether you'll be successful or not. I'm sure there's a deeper rewarding game underneath this, but I just don't care to put any more time into it at the moment. I will say the lore, art, and UI is all uniformly great.

Was having a pretty good time in Chapters 1 and 2, and then it started to overstay its welcome in Chapter 3, until it decided to mess up my save. I eventually finished it with cheats. Poor performance and framerate really hurt this one too.

2021

Great atmosphere, weapons, and enemy design. Enemies actually react dynamically to getting hit which is cool. The last chapter is a little ball busting but overall a ton of fun.

Fun, cute, very short (45 mins) game. The standouts were the music and animation and world. The boss gauntlet at the end was whatever, but I feel like that's just how some games were made back then.

Game with good ideas that overstayed its welcome. Good movement, music, and combat mostly. Some of the worst bosses I have ever have the displeasure to play. Took me just over 7 hours, which felt fine. Used assist modes during some parts just to make it through them faster and see the rest of the game. I bet a sequel that cuts out the bad ideas will be really tight.