Started Red Dead Redemption since it came to PS5 recently. I’m enjoying it! I’d never really *loved* Rockstar games until GTA V. But I’ve grown to appreciate and enjoy their prior games to a certain level over the last few years.

Randomly thinking about Octopath Traveler II. Not only one of the best JRPGs, but also one of the best games *in general* I’ve ever played. Memorable & endearing characters, one of the best OSTs to grace gaming, a perfect turn-based combat system with immense depth to it, etc. One of the GOATs.

Man, what a horrible situation. Just really bad management all-around by Yacht Club. Shovel Knight should have several mainline games by now. They could’ve gone the Mega Man route with the series and would be massively successful. Poor management mixed with wild ambition has tanked the studio.

I’ve been playing Arc Raiders for a week or so now. And, while the moment-to-moment gameplay is fun and sometimes unpredictable, the progression system and player goals are really lackluster. Why should I even *care* about getting good loot if what I do with it is just more of the same?

Nine Sols ✅ Incredible parry-based combat system ✅ Genuinely great philosophical storytelling ✅ Fantastic art direction ✅ Traversal & exploration are fun and rewarding ✅ Some of the best boss fights I’ve experienced ❌ Lore dumps near the end hurt overall pacing 9.5 / 10

Nine Sols is peak

Started Nine Sols a couple days ago! Really enjoying it so far. Love the aesthetic and bits of story I’ve gathered thus far. I’ve never played a game that relies on parrying, so I’m struggling a bit in some combat encounters. But it’s real good.

Started playing Arc Raiders and it’s fun! I’m a little lost on what progression is supposed to be. Looting material to craft better gear just to loot more material is a gameplay loop that doesn’t feel ultra satisfying for me. But doing raids can be just pure fun, so it’s good regardless.

The most fun Zelda game

Easily my most anticipated game for next year. I played Nioh 2 earlier this year and absolutely adored it. And I’m someone who has never really loved Soulslike games in the past.

Gato Roboto ✅ Charming aesthetic ✅ Simple, fun action-platforming gameplay ✅ Story is surprisingly dark ❌ A bit too simple as nothing about it stands out ❌ Not enough depth in exploration elements 7 / 10

Feel like my vote card is pretty standard, but here it is nonetheless!

I’ve never been a huge fan of Super Metroid. But I’d also never sat down and played through the *entire* game until now. My feelings about it were reinforced. Maybe I’d have more appreciation for its design had I played it back in the day more extensively. But, in a modern lens, it stumbles a lot.

Super Metroid ✅ Great atmosphere & OST ✅ Exploration is vast & often rewarding ✅ Upgrades feel intuitive ❌ Clunky, floaty controls ❌ Traversing the map, especially backtracking, is a chore ❌ Boss fights are more annoying than fun ❌ Learning where to go often relies on trial & error 6.5 / 10

Just watched their 20-minute gameplay video and… man. The dialogue comparisons to Forspoken are valid and it’s paaainful. I don’t know why they have spoken dialogue in this game *at all*. Let alone choosing to do it like this. It’s not just cringey, but also invasive to the core gameplay.

My GOTY nominee predictions: - Expedition 33 - Hades II - Hollow Knight: Silksong - Donkey Kong Bananza - Kingdom Come: Deliverance II - Arc Raiders 🏆

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition ✅ Strong cast of party members ✅ Truly grand and epic with a lot of heart ✅ Great, consistent world-building ❌ Combat system gets too repetitive & grindy ❌ Some sloppy writing here and there 8.5 / 10

Is *this* the long-rumored Horizon MMO? A mobile-focused venture that isn’t even coming to PlayStation? I was expecting it to be an AAA blockbuster PS5/PC type of project.

Pricepoint is going to be key for this. If they want to hit the mass market and compete on the console front, this will need to cost similarly to a PlayStation.

Excited for this today! Not even really sure what the scope of this will be. But excited nonetheless!

Bluesky will hate me for saying this, but sometimes you have to distinguish between when a consumer boycott or buyer shaming is effective vs when other means that target the wider public, labor, and state would be more effective. Arc Raiders is already a multi-million seller that uses GenAI.

Multiplayer games like Arc Raiders aren’t meant to win GOTY at The Game Awards. That would be like a Marvel movie winning “Best Picture” at the Oscars.

We’re going to have to accept that AI will be used in game development. Games can be made for much cheaper *and* much quicker with AI. My hope is that it sticks solely to things like QA and doesn’t jump into the creative side of development. I have no interest experiencing art made by AI.

It feels inevitable at this point, but Insomniac potentially being stuck as PlayStation’s “Marvel studio” sucks. Let Insomniac be creative and make their own shit.

Xenoblade Chronicles has been very good thus far! Happy to feel this way about it after not really enjoying XC3 much at all when I played it a while back. Feels like each entry in the series has a lot of differences. Not just in gameplay, but also in look and feel.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins ✅ Some of the best enemy, environment, artistic, whimsical designs for a Mario game ✅ Tight platforming controls ✅ Simple, but fun level design ❌ A bit *too* simple and easy ❌ Not a ton of overall substance 7 / 10

Out of nowhere! Love the new content in this update. Especially adding classic consoles back as furniture items and letting you play games on them. 😭

Next game.

Short form video is killing gaming and the fastest selling console in US history just launched and layoffs are the only answer and multiple franchises are seeing record setting launches and we need to expand use of AI to make more games faster and we've had huge increases in release count each year.

Gravity Circuit ✅ OST fuckin bangs ✅ Great stage design with well-placed hidden upgrades ✅ Gorgeous pixel art ✅ Well-crafted precision platforming & combat ❌ Booster / Burst chips throw off simple difficulty that makes this type of game thrive ❌ No rewards for completing specific stages 8.5 / 10

Extremely confused why this isn’t going to include competitive multiplayer.

I’m afraid it might be peak

Needing a Mega Man fix, so I’m trying out a Mega Man inspired game next with Gravity Circuit!

Cocoon ✅ Great sound & visual design ✅ Intuitive puzzle progression ✅ A couple of mind-blowing moments ❌ Some tedious back and forth to retrieve orbs 9 / 10

Think Cocoon might be my next game 👀

I don’t have much faith in movie adaptations for video games, so I don’t expect anything great. But Horizon’s story is legitimately so good and the world is incredible. It *could* be something special if they fire on all cylinders.

Pyre ✅ Weird fantasy NBA Jam gameplay ✅ The world & aesthetic ✅ Enjoyable cast of characters ✅ Beautiful, hand-drawn art ✅ Difficult decision dilemmas ❌ Uneven pacing & balancing all-around ❌ Finale is lackluster 8 / 10

I loved this game as a kid, despite it constantly being talked about as one of the worst video games ever crafted nowadays. 😭

I’m really glad they’re continuing the ‘Pokémon Legends’ series of games. I’ve fallen off of the mainline games pretty hard, but Legends: Arceus was probably my favorite Pokémon game since X/Y. Probably won’t get Z-A at launch, but excited for it down the line!

This game looks insanely cool.

A lot of the conversation surrounding Expedition 33 has been diluted by fandom nonsense and people not playing many JRPGs before it. Expedition 33 isn’t some revolutionary game. It doesn’t do anything wildly unique. But it does everything it aims for at an immaculate quality. One of the GOATs.

I’m liking Final Fantasy Tactics quite a bit (especially the writing), but I *am* feeling overwhelmed constantly by how much micromanagement is involved. I think a lot of people would love how you can change jobs whenever and swap around abilities & equipment, but I’m just overwhelmed by it.

Four RPG’s to get to know me!

Excited to play Final Fantasy Tactics for the first time ever tomorrow. 🥹

The infamous walk back to the ‘Last Judge’ boss fight in Hollow Knight: Silksong is interesting to me. I’ve seen a lot of criticism for it, and many claiming it’s brutal and badly designed. But I pretty strongly disagree.

Recently discovered that a substantial amount of people use the analog stick instead of the d-pad when playing 2D platformers. What is wrong with you.

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar ✅ Massive step up in polish & quality ✅ Wonderful new art direction ✅ Character portraits & voice acting ✅ Bazaar is genuinely fun ✅ Great cast ❌ Lacking in some upgradable progression & customization ❌ Pacing slows a bit too much near the endgame 8.5 / 10

After finishing Silksong, I’m a bit puzzled by the conversations surrounding it, especially in terms of difficulty. I didn’t find the game overtly hard… at all? And I also didn’t find the runbacks to bosses to be egregious either. And that’s usually something I’m *very* bothered by with Soulslikes.

Hollow Knight: Silksong ✅ Fantastic platforming & controls ✅ Great pacing & progression ✅ Intense combat encounters ✅ Beautiful art direction ✅ Meaningful & thoughtful exploration ❌ Two currencies without good reason ❌ Formulaic side quest design 9 / 10

Silksong is pretty good so far, but there are some things I’m not loving about it. I’m not sure why they added these side quests that seem to mostly be fetch quests. And I also don’t like having two currencies. Especially since I can’t find enough ways to spend my non-rosaries currency.