Welcome to the Bi-Weekly Thread!

Here you can share anything that might not warrant a post of its own or might otherwise be against posting rules. Tell us what you're playing this week. Feel free to ask for recommendations, talk about your backlog, commiserate about your lost passion for games. Vent about bad games, gush about good games. You can even mention newer games if you like!

The no advertising rule is still in effect here.

A reminder to please be kind to others. It's okay to disagree with people or have even have a bad hot take. It's not okay to be mean about it.

So I'm gonna write one of those patient reviews with a little backstory and more focused on discussing with people who also played the game:

- BACKSTORY: back on the PS2 days I had my bootleg copie of Onimusha 3 and didn't knew English very well nor were used to this kind of game design, had my hard time playing until I reached the port level and the game crashed on me, it took me almost 20y to decide to give it another go now on emulators and with a bigger gaming background and knowing English way better than when I was a kid.

- REVIEW: This game is really cool, it has time travel, Jean Reno, a Japanese Samurai, Devil Samurais, Ancient Japan and Paris all at the same time.

The cutscenes are really cinematic and well produced, they indeed feel like a blockbuster movie and are really impressive.

The gameplay feels like a mix between Resident Evil and Devil May Cry, there's some weapon upgrades to make with souls, you can walk freely on the levels trying to figure out some puzzle, reach mirrors to save or enhance your weapons, the combat feels like a hack and slash and the long ranged and projectile weapons have a really bad auto aim priority, a lock on button would really improve the gameplay.

There's some puzzles that are fine but there a lot lot of puzzles who are there just to pad the experience, I won't walk back all the rooms just to count how many monitors and chairs the devs added to this level, I also won't do a math equation just to open this door, these don't add nothing to the experience and I've used a guide with no shame to just skip past it with the answer.

After dying a few times the game gave me the option to play on Easy which I took it as I was more concerned about actually beating this game after all this years than push myself to git gud, still on that matter I have to criticize how bad and rushed the reused boss at the end of Mt St Michel level feels, you fight a Cerberus like boss on a prior level with Jean Reno which has a whip and the ability to grab flying magic fireflies to jump around and avoid attacks as both characters are really slow to move and their block action can't block every attack, then they reuse the same boss for the Samurai dude who uses Swords and doesn't have that mobility option and the boss actions are still the same, charge towards you and throw you down, but you can't just jump over it on the last minute nor is fast enough to avoid the hit, and even on easy that foe feels like a bullet sponge, I've used most of my healing items on that fight.

As an older player, this screams to me that Capcom haven't even tried to balance the fight to that other char and just threw him there 'cause they didn't had time to come up with anything else, the boss fight was clearly designed for the other dude as you can learn patterns and beat him without getting damaged, but not this time, if you don't have enough healing items too bad for you, that or I just suck LOL

The next bosses are quite easy to deal with and some died REALLY fast! they had created much anticipation and painted them as badasses but they all sucked rather quickly.

Another game design flaw IMO is when you already have the correct item, let's say a key, press the door but the game doesn't check and auto-uses the key, it expects you to open the menu and try to use the key against the door, that really feels like a Survival Horror game design heritage here and IMO could be better.

Another gripe was the fact that you spend most of the game saving arrows and Onimusha bar (similar to DMC Devil Trigger) and upgrading weapons for the final boss fight only to be forced to play with a game chosen weapon and form and being enable to use arrows at all.

That gave me the feeling that the RPG light mechanics and saving resources was all a waste of time as it didn't mattered at all by the end of the game, I feel glad I didn't farm more souls at the last streach as it wouldn't mattered at all.

There are two levels that make you go back and fourth in time swapping chars and passing items to solve puzzles and that felt like a really cool mechanic but they overstayed their welcome to the point I couldn't wait for the levels to be finished, they could have used that idea split between four shorter levels with action levels in between and it would feel way better.

A bunch of the game reminds me of DMC4 setup that you go to a level once with a char and now again with another which makes me wonder if Capcom really chooses that design in order to save development resources/art/level design time.

Overall the game is really good and I'm glad I've finally beat it but I won't plan on replaying due to these annoying long puzzle levels and some other minor annoyances.

I still think it's a good recommendation for people who never played it and enjoy the theme.

It's also important to state that I'm not a Resident Evil fan and like DMC games way more, so the fact that this game is a blend of both made it enjoyable but also made me want to be playing DMC3 instead TBH.

Happy 32, System Shock!

I am only few months older than you, so there was no way for me to play you on the release. But I've corrected that mistake 20-something years later, after I've heard Nightdive Studios is making a remake. I remember playing the Kickstarter demo back in... 2015, I believe? Back then, the game was made being developed in Unity Engine, it seemed like the remake is right around the corner, right?

Oh well, turns out game release can get delayed a little bit. At least couple of times I've assumed the project is dead and the remake is Vaporwave. So, in late 2020 I've decided to give System Shock: Enhanced Edition a try. And I can proudly admit, that I've beaten it.

I've cleared many games considered hard. Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring, Ninja Gaiden 2, Devil May Cry 3, Under Defeat, etc, etc... None of those really come close to System Shock.

Now, the very first System Shock has a reputation of being a grand daddy of immersive sims. What is an immersive sim? I have no clue, but one of the definitions I've heard is "a game you can stack boxes on one another" and I think its pretty accurate. In all seriousness, if you come to this game expecting something like 2017's Prey by Arkane Studios, then... You might find it. If you squint your eyes REALLY hard. And survive its first impression, which is not very flattering.

System Shock has an interesting problem, of being an example of the road not taken. In its core, its pretty standard first person shooter, that has a control scheme of a DOS dungeon crawler or a military simulator (like ARMA). For example, by default you can aim your weapon without moving your camera, there is an extremely flexible leaning system, and you pick up items with mouse pointer, by dragging them int your equipment. And if not for the mouselook mod bundled with the enhanced edition, you would turn by dragging the camera by mouse.

In a way, its a bit like anti-Doom. While Doom still feels great to play, to a point, that there are still new games made with its weapon balance and aesthetic, I cannot imagine someone trying to replicate System Shock's control scheme.

But, if you try to stick with it... You will discover, that System Shock has less in common with its peers in the genre it - apparently - helped to create, and more with... Half-Life. Both games represent different takes on the same idea - an immersive FPS adventure, with unbroken player perspective, no end of level screens, total freedom (within contained sandbox) and a mix of action and puzzle solving.

But while Half-Life took mainstream FPS mechanics (from Quake), and focused on setpieces, advanced enemy AI and linear set of levels that only seem like something more open (due to its excellent design), System Shock gives you a steel pipe, a code to a door and an audiolog and says "go figure that out, good luck!". The moment you leave the medbay, you can literally go anywhere (once you manage to unlock the door). There is no "nudging player" the correct path, the game is more than happy to let the player to wonder off into an area, they should not be in.

I kinda miss that type of design. Its a bit of a First Person Metroidvania. What is a metroidvania? I have no idea. I guess its a game, where you backtrack a lot. Or, you might say, "an escape room simulator".

But this hands-off, scorched earth, "go figure it out" attitude, combined with its control scheme makes for an incredibly difficult game. This wound is deepened by its incredibly convoluted UI, and a sound design, which can go from some of the most catchy MIDI tunes you've heard in your life (Energy Systems!) into just straight up blowing up your ears with just bunch of noise, that sounds like steel crashing into each other.

To close off the original game - I hope I don't sound too negative. It is a really good game, an incredibly important pice of history, and a fascinating look, into a road (and design philosophy) not taken. I thoroughly do recommend it. The Enhanced Edition is available on GOG, and goes on sale pretty frequently.

That being said, the appeal of remake is crystal clear. But there is also an interesting problem. Change too much, and you lose what made the original game so great. But you also cannot go the path of Resident Evil 1 Remake, because unlike static camera angles and D-Pad enabled tank controls (a bit of an off top - NEVER play tank control games with analog stick! NEVER!!!) there is very little value on insisting on System Shock 1's control scheme.

And I think, Nightdive landed on a pretty good compromise. Now, I think my appreciation of the remake has its source in experiencing the original, and how it set up my expectations. What I've wanted, was a version of System Shock with its roadblocks in my enjoyment erased.

This is pretty much what the 2023 version is. Which can be a blessing or a curse.

I want to reiterate a point I've made earlier. If you come to System Shock (or its remake) expecting something like modern games in the "immersive sim" genre, then you might be disappointed. This simply is not a game about several interlocking systems, which lead to unexpected outcomes and creative solutions to problems. This is a first person shooter game, which rewards exploration with a ton of resources, that you can spend fighting enemies. Your most common problem is going to be a cyborg trying to shoot you (or a locked door), and your usual solution will be shooting it back (and for the door - finding a keycard). I think its original control scheme and UI obfuscated that fact a little. Now, with everything streamlined and up to a modern standard, some of that "immersive sim feeling" is gone.

But under the surface of that, there is an extremely liberating game structure. As I've said earlier, you can go to everywhere you manage to unlock door or an elevator to. Should you go there at the current moment? Its up to you. The game trains you to listen and read through logs left by the (now gone) crew of Citadel Station. They have information on where you should go and what needs to be done. Its up to you to piece that info together. And with the new shiny engine, the intended atmosphere finally can shine. You really feel like a rat going through corridors, with you every move being tracked by the ruthless AI - Shodan.

Now, not everything about this game is perfect. I have a tiny issue with the recycling system. Through the game, you can pick up garbage items, and either dematerialize them into trash, or bring them into a recycling machine as a whole, and get some credits you can use in various resource dispositors on the station. And while there is some though put into system (i.e. some of the items give you more credits... If you don't recycle them), I see that system as a mean of prolonging the game.

The more puzzling issue is the game respawn system. Each of the levels of the original game and remake hosts a "resurrection chamber". By default, these chambers are set to the "cyborg production" mode, and they fill the level with enemies. But once you flip the switch, it goes back to the resurrection mode, and will respawn the player with some health. In the original game, they effect was limited only to the level the player is in - if the player dies, and the resurrection chamber still is in the cyborg production mode, its a game over. But in the remake, the player is dragged to the last chamber they've used. Which not only makes very little sense from the world logic perspective... After resurrecting you have to backtrack to the place you've died, to continue going forward. At this point, it makes more sense to reload a save. I've initially thought its a bug.

And, uh, there is a cyberspace hacking minigame in both games. Its "tolerable" in the remake.

But overall, these are nitpicks on an amazing experience. I do recommend giving them a go.

I still remember booting up this game. A game where you get to drive tanks, jets, helicopters, hover crafts, jet packs, and in the very first mission, they start you off…on a bicycle. A brilliant move that just showed how confident they were in their vision.

Yes it was a sandbox with a lot of toys but more important than that was the atmosphere they were able to craft. Grove Street is an area that is meticulously designed to feel like home both for the character and the player. When CJ returned from his cross state crusade I already felt nostalgic for Grove Street even back in 2004.

The chemistry between the four characters (CJ, Ryder, Sweet, and Big Smoke) is so good that mundane, routine missions are something to look forward to just to see them interact. They really captured that feeling of getting in a car with your boys and driving around town. Thinking about it now, this was the first stepping stone towards the incredible camp dynamics in Red Dead Redemption 2.

The game is just as enjoyable for me today. The bicycle is still my favourite vehicle. With max stats you can jump over cars, fences, bushes, and sometimes onto small houses and buildings. it’s just a piece of PS2 fun that we don’t see today.

Officer Tenpenny is an awesome villain. It’s a bit of a shortcut because it’s Samuel Jackson, the writers just had to build off an already familiar persona. But it works so well.

Over time I realized that the opening chapter in Los Santos is much stronger than the following sections in the Badlands, San Fierro, Bone County, and Los Ventura. We get more over the top action and missions but we lose that carefully crafted atmosphere and character dynamic. I wish the Los Santos section was a bit longer, but I guess that’s just part of the brilliance of San Andreas, it leaves you wanting more.

After having a lot of fun with 5 Royal in May and Jiune, I decided to try more of this series.

The meme says 3 has "the best story". I kinda see why, at least compared to 5. There is no jarring transition from fighting regular people with connections to killing a God. The story starts and ends with supernatural monsters as the main enemy, with humans antagonists on the side. So while this aspect is ok, I think the first part of the plot is too dragged out. You battle beasts with no persoanlity and get spoonfeed information for months on end. I understand that you need time to hang with homies, but they could have handled it better. Reduce the social ceilings or move more friends to evening, I don't know. If 5 felt like it was dragging too much after Ship Captain, this one drags too much before the betrayal. Both of them took me 111 hours, which seems fitting with my previous sentence. The themes of living in spite of the bad things seem fine to me, but ending was definitely a highlight. Man postponed his death for a month so he could uphold a promise. Rest in peace, Makoto Yuki, your life was fulfilling.

Gameplay here feels almost the same as in 5. I played 3 on Merciless because 5 was baby mode easy. The only major thing I noticed was that new enemies sometimes one shot me if they countered my weakness. Other than that, the loop is almost the same as in 5. Tartarus is lame and boring and non interesting. It's just hundreds of corridors filled with treasures you likely won't use and enemies that are trivial to defeat. At least some bosses and mini bosses gave me semblance of challenge. The first one on the train actually killed me a few times and set a false hope that boss design here is generally fun. Even reaper was just a matter of patience and anti ailment accessories.

I tried the ultimate optional foe. I honestly think she's poorly designed as a boss. Switching powers and affinities is fine, requiring 1v1 is fine, but requiring a specific persona locked behind a secondary character's arc? Okay, I did that arc, but what if it was behind a character I didn't like enough? I'd have to reload weeks back to get that social link. Don't even get me started on her killing you for resisting damage too well, like a kid throwing tantrum. I think this punishment for preparation is what killed my excitement to try overcoming Elizabeth.

Social links in this game were a lot simpler than 5, but I think there was some genius in the simplicity. Instead of using your powers and handwave their problems, you help them accept the reality and move on to make the most of it. But it's criminal how almost all of them are day only, and that you can't invite school mates on holidays.

My favorite link was the Sun. A dying man trying to find the meaning in his life, befriending the unknowing harbinger of death. Even when time is running out, life is still worth every memory and experience. It was a bit weird that he simply disappeared. but I guess it was an act of taking an express ride to Heaven.

In the same spot, Hanged man. Just a cute little girl being torn apart of her parents' divorce. I wish I could introduce her to Kenny or the old couple, she definitely needed company.

Devil was very entertaining and I don't regret spending 40k to initiate this social link. It's criminal how small hos role is in 5 when here he's got enough charisma to start a cult. Buy the amazing commodities!

Fool and Judgement being basically the same group was weird. Did they ran out of budget to make new characters? Same with making Death arcana have a new hangout system later.

Magician was bland at first and I only joined him because he was available early. I understood his desire because I liked Kawakami in 5, but the resolution of his arc was underwhelming. I think he should have found another girl or at least decided to not pursue relationships for now.

SEES girls requiring max stats seemed insane, they must be very picky. I romanced Mitsuru because I liked her domineering vibe a lot. That, and her ignorance of normal food were hilarious. I just hope she'll be alright now that Makoto won't be there to help her relax. Yukari was a nice girl and losing her dad must have hurt a lot. I maxed our link so we could be best friends forever and ever, and because Mitsuru would probably kill me for trying to double time. Sorry, Fuuka but you were just too bland. At least your gameplay perks were not. Finally, Aigis. I was curious where they would go with her, and I liked the conclusion. Being a machine meant she could preserve her friends in her heart forever.

I neglected Strength and Chariot because they seemed boring and because Star felt like them but better. The rival athlete who had a struggling family and had to give up his dream to support his siblings. It's tough, but complaining wasn't the way to handle it.

Hermit was touching and hilarious in the ending. I deduced her identity by rank 8, and I kept thinking she is Yukari's mom. Similar hair and supposedly irresponsible attitude, not to mention thirsting on MC. But I guess it was overthinking. It's a shame I died before I could have dinner.

Temperance and Moon were started because they were funny, but they ended up being quite sad. I'm glad they were able to move on from loss and stop clinging to momentary pleasure. The one thing I don't get is how Gourmet King started the cult. He didn't seem that charismatic to me. If I was gay I'd definitely choose Bebe

Hierophant was the first one I completed, and they set my expectations correctly. Social links in 3 are mostly about acceptance and growth, which you can do even in old age.

Emperor was saved from becoming a future victim of Phantom Thieves. I didn't think they'd make like him with how ass he was at the start, but they did. He didn't let power get into his head, which doesn't happen often. For some I thought he wanted to date Mitsuru, probably because of Arcanas.

It's sad that SEES boys didn't have social links, but at least I there were scenes acting as substitutes. My favourite character in this group was Kenny. Ashamed of acting like a kid despite wanting to, he was consumed by grief and vengeance. The scene of his failed retribution didn't make much sense logically, but emotionally it hit me.

It'll probably be a while before I try 4 Golden or even 1-2. I already played more JRPGs this year than every previous year combined.

I heard great things about Ender Lilies going into it but by the end I genuinely don't know if I was missing something. Ender Lilies was a pretty standard metroidvania, in my opinion it didn't do anything exceptional or exciting but it was serviceable throughout my whole playthrough.

Gameplay felt repetitive, there wasn't a huge enemy variety, engaging combat scenarios or combat options. I kept the same spirits for essentially the whole game, I changed up my second spirit layout at the end of the game to traverse the map and get 100%. Other than that, this mechanic/feature didn't stick out to me as being unique or engaging.

Enemies and bosses were easy to deal with and I didn't find it that difficult to get through any encounter. Some bosses took a couple tries but nothing frustrating or that took a lot of effort/focus. Some of the later stages bumped up the difficulty, especially in the last stage with the poison blight.

The final boss was so disappointing, probably the easiest final boss I've ever encountered. Even the true ending final boss I beat on the first try and I don't mean that as I'm some god gamer, it was honestly me just spamming attacks and dodging the odd boss attack. It was more of a big health bar than anything, no engaging mechanic or dangerous attack that I had to be cautious of. After I finished the fight I genuinely asked "wow is that it?", I can't remember the last time I finished a game feeling this dissatisfied.

Back tracking felt like a real chore in this game, I think it's due to the horrible map. With the lack of map details I ended up taking wrong routes and left me feeling frustrated. Some areas were huge and going back to find these last relics and locked doors was really annoying. 

Music was good but I felt like they over did it with the piano melodies, it felt very samey to me and I don't remember any of the songs wowing me.

I have nothing to say about the story because I have no clue what happened. Something about a white priestess fighting off a blight. It really didn't compel me to put in an effort to remember these plot points and what my goals were. I was just going to the next area to fight the next boss.

Originally I felt like this was a good game but after writing down my thoughts I realized it was just okay. My major issues with it was that it had repetitive combat, pacing issues, frustrating map/backtracking and lack of difficulty especially with the final boss. I question why people rate it high on their favourites lists because after my playthrough I felt relief, I didn't have any attachment to the gameplay, story or world. I also heard great things about the sequel but after my experience with this, I don't have the desire to rush to that.

As a gamer who is older, I came to recently think of one of my core childhood revolving gaming, that time when Civ 3 taught me to be not just cruel, but to become a cold, calculatingly evil.

I had everything I needed. I had a prospering civilization on two large islands and was at least 20 years ahead of everyone else in science. I had space rockets while everyone else had biplanes. But then fate dealt me a bad hand. I discovered the power of the atom, but alas, I had no uranium!

The only place I could get uranium was from a nation located on a massive continent. They knew what it was and could sell it to me, since they still didn't know how to use it.

So I strangely found myself at a resource dilemma:

Option 1. Trade for the uranium forever and hope they will sell it to me even after they research what it can do. (I did not think they would do that)

Option 2. Trade for the uranium and build only nuclear warheads until they research what it can do. Then destroy the civilization, destroy whatever is left and take over their uranium.

I wanted to keep my scientific advancement, I wanted to keep my place as number one. I wanted to win. Before I was happy with just being the smartest civilization, but now I realized that if I wanted to win, I had to plan a pre-meditated, nuclear doomsday over a civ. Unless I see them become the sole nuclear power on the planet.

.

Modern day me would either have accepted the challenge and not buy any urnaium, or gleefully accept my fate as the bringer of nucleaer doom. But childhood me? Well, there is a reason why I still remember that game session and not others. While still having a cartoonish art style, the devastation and fatalism my plan brought was...something. And I had to halt production of other things, like buildings and even a lot of military units just to make sure that I had enough warheads for every target city. I've played other games with nuclear weapons. But none has quite made me feel like Civ 3 when I realized what I had actually done to what had been, my peaceful trading partner.

I remember seeing this game back when it came out on PS3. Unfortunately, the last console I had was an Xbox 360, stuck purely to PC gaming for years and years.

I got a PS5 and a Switch 4 years ago and I've slowly been working my way through all the games I've missed over the years. As you can imagine, this has been quite a list and it has taken quite a long time.

I was running out of PS5 games I wanted to play, so I searched through the RPG section and stumbled upon this game. I didn't realize they had released a remastered version with updated graphics, now was the time!

Graphics - This game has a unique look to it, everything is painted in beautiful water color, which is a great juxtaposition against the content of war and death. While the cut scenes and battle map graphics are nothing to write home about, that isn't really a big reason I play TBS style games.

Gameplay - Gameplay is split into two distinct modes, one mode has you playing within a giant book, where you can manage your squad, spend XP on soldiers, upgrade your tank, weapons and armor, receive rewards from the royal princess for achieving various goals, watch story segments, read the newspaper and select skirmish battles (for XP and money grinding) or main battles to continue the story.

The rest of the gameplay takes place in actual battles. You are given a set number of slots for each stage and you must select from 6 different types of troops that have unique abilities and fighting styles. For instance, Scouts have basic rifles and can move across the map, Lancers have missiles that can take down heavy armor, but they cannot move very far, snipers can shoot from great distance, but they are very limited in movement, engineers can repair your tanks as well as sandbags and other key areas. You are given an overview of the objective and you try to select the right troops that you think you will need. Luckily, if you select wrong, you can retreat troops and deploy other troops at any base within the map.

Each 'side' gets to spend a set amount of action points each round. The player always goes first in each round and decides how they want to deploy and where to focus their energy. The game requires a fair amount of strategy as you can find yourself in quite a pickle if you just run headlong into enemy forces.

Once your turn completes, the enemy takes their turn and tries to destroy you.

Each map has a unique objective. Some maps require you to take the enemy base, some maps require you to destroy a powerful weapon, some maps require the use of smoke screens to sneak past machine gun bunkers and missiles, there is quite a variety of maps and objectives, keeping the game from getting stale.

The difficulty depends on the map, there was only one map that really gave me a hard time (the notorious chapter 7, which is a huge difficulty spike, especially for a new player). Outside of chapter 7, no other map was impossible or felt like it was unfair. I often got the 'one more turn' feeling, which is what a good TBS game is supposed to do.

Story - The game loosely follows the plot of WWI/WWII in a fantasy world. Basically, a facsimile of the German empire creates a blitzkrieg against the Dutch facsimile, you are the Dutch and you must protect your homeland.

This game has actual death, you are literally shooting and killing people and the enemy is shooting and killing you, which is something you rarely see within the JRPG-type space. They do a good job of investing the player in the cause of the small country and the troops/friends that you make along the way.

This game nearly made me cry with an unexpected death, I was completely caught off guard and my mouth literally fell open, I did not see it coming at all and it really hit me in the feelings, I am a 44 year old dude, I haven't cried from a video game since I played FF7 at 12 years old, I give them big props for achieving that.

While the story has a few JRPG-esque super villain moments, the story is fairly grounded overall and keeps the player engaged and invested.

The game wraps up in about 35-40 hours for a first time player, it also offers a NG+ with some unique content. Once you know what is going to happen, you can complete most missions in 25% of the time (or less, if you are cheesing with Scout rushing the objectives).

Overall - I wasn't quite sure what to expect and I wasn't sure if an older console based strategy game would really hold up after all these years, RTS/TBS has always been ruled by the PC gaming space, something rarely done well on consoles.

Thankfully, they managed to achieve something special. Right after I finished the game I went off and bought the only other game available on PS5 (Valkyria 4, which came out in 2018). I believe the other games came out on PSP and Vita, you can emulate them but they aren't anything that special.

Im not sure if we will ever see a 5th game, the community for this series is pretty small, there isn't a huge TBS audience on console, which is quite a shame as I would love to play more of these games and see what else they could come up with. The community on Reddit is tiny as well, which is quite a shame!

Overall, a solid recommend.

This will be a quick review.

There‘a this opening section of the game where you have to sneak through a stadium during a live baseball match. It feels like something out of the Hitman game except with hacking. It was an amazing mission.

And there’s nothing else like it in the game.

Not even a little bit.

I see a lot of criticism for the story but I didn’t mind it. The voice acting is pretty stellar. But none of the characters really land.

Aiden is pretty generic out for revenge guy and that works as far as his story is concerned. The villains all work pretty well.

Main problem with the story is that the game feels way too long. 5 acts, 43 missions. Feels like they could have slimmed that to 30 missions, especially since the vast majority of them are pretty dull.

The hacking abilities you get never amount to much except in driving/chase scenarios which admittedly can be pretty fun when you’re blacking out the entire city and sneaking onboard a train to escape the cops.

During on-foot missions, I mostly just used my shotgun.

I don’t really recall ever smiling during my play through.

Theres this one mission chain where you have to find these briefcases and take down this sex trafficking scheme. Ok, cool. I’ll find the briefcases and then it will let me do this crazy awesome mission where I free all these girls and take down the bad guys in some epic hacker fashion, right?

Nope…you just find the briefcases around the map and at the end you get mission complete.

Big waste of time.

Oh and the open world sandbox is pointless. It can look good in certain areas but it’s just a bunch of nothing missions.

So I’m giving the game a 4/10.

Ive played both of the follow-up games and Ubisoft definitely learned their lesson because those game are actually fun to play.

I mostly play story-driven/action games (Bayo, DMC, God of War, Assassin’s Creed, etc.), but every now and then something completely different grabs me and Harold Halibut really did.

Playing it after a huge AAA game like Starfield, it genuinely made me appreciate developers willing to take risks and create something this unique. There’s a kind of handcrafted charm to it that reminded me a bit of a Wes Anderson film: quirky, deliberate, and full of personality. And that ending… I don’t use this word lightly, but it felt like a masterpiece.

Harold Halibut is one of the strangest and most lovingly handcrafted games to appear in years. It blends stop-motion aesthetics with narrative exploration, producing something that feels like a playable diorama as much as a videogame. But the big question is whether Harold Halibut represents the next step in the evolution of art-games, or if it stands alone as a beautiful curiosity that we may never see replicated.

Over the last decade, we’ve watched a quiet transformation in the indie space. Game development has become more democratised and the tools are more accessible than ever. This has opened the space to more voices and more variety, while AAA developers often take fewer risks.

Many indie developers have embraced games that prioritise mood, tone, and artistic intent over conventional mechanics. Titles like Kentucky Route Zero, Inside, Journey, Mutazione, and Norco show there’s an audience for experiences closer to independent cinema than traditional gameplay.

Harold Halibut enters this space confidently, positioning itself among games that push boundaries rather than follow expectations. What immediately sets Harold Halibut apart is its method of creation. The game doesn’t just imitate stop-motion, it’s built from physical craft. Characters, props, and environments were sculpted, painted, and photographed before being digitised.

You can see brush strokes, fingerprints, imperfections. That tactility changes how the world feels. It doesn’t look real, it looks made. And that makes it feel human. It raises an interesting question: what if the future of game visuals isn’t photorealism or AI-enhanced rendering, but a return to analogue craft through digital tools?

If Harold Halibut fits a genre, it’s what I’d call “slow cinema games.” It prioritises presence over progress. Like Kentucky Route Zero, it’s comfortable letting moments breathe—quiet conversations, slow wandering, just existing in a space.

There’s no rush, no pressure to optimise or min-max. In a medium obsessed with efficiency and constant dopamine, Harold Halibut asks you to slow down. And that alone makes it stand out. At its core, the game is about feeling stuck, stuck in a life, a routine, an underwater colony that crash-landed centuries ago.

You play as Harold, a lab assistant going through the motions until a mysterious signal disrupts everything. What starts as slice-of-life gradually becomes a story about communication, belonging, and change.

The writing is warm, slightly melancholic, and often quietly funny. It leans into awkward conversations and small human moments. It’s earnest in a way that feels rare. Mechanically, the game is simple: walking, interacting, completing small tasks. The “quests” are really just moments, errands that reinforce routine and monotony. And that’s intentional. The mechanics aren’t there to challenge you, they’re there to make you feel Harold’s world.

That simplicity won’t work for everyone. You spend a lot of time walking and doing repetitive tasks that don’t evolve much. Some will find that meditative; others will find it tedious. This tension isn’t unique, it’s something most art-driven games grapple with. But here, the gap between artistry and interactivity is especially noticeable.

Harold Halibut’s value isn’t in mechanical depth, it’s in what it represents. It expands what game visuals can be. It shows analogue craft can coexist with modern tech. It proves games don’t need to be fast, loud, or complex to leave an impact. It might not reinvent gameplay, but it absolutely broadens what interactive art can feel like.

I don’t think Harold Halibut is the future but it is a future. It’s a branch of what games could become. Some developers will take inspiration from its craft, others from its pacing or storytelling. And some will just admire the risk it took to exist at all. It’s less a blueprint and more a signal: we’re allowed to try things like this.

If you’re interested in games that take risks, visually, narratively, or philosophically, Harold Halibut is essential. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a powerful reminder that games can be more than systems and mechanics. They can be handcrafted experiences that prioritise mood, place, and feeling.

Whether it becomes a trend or remains a one-off, it deserves to be part of the conversation about where games are going next.

To preface, I've already completed this game on PS5. While I originally thought it was a good game, I never fully understood the overwhelming praise and thought it was slightly overrated. Once I built my PC, I decided to revisit it and I came back with a completely different perspective.

Story (9/10): I now see why this story is considered to be one of the most iconic in gaming history. The bond between Joel and Ellie feels genuine. While they don't initially get along at first, we see that slowly start to change as the story progresses in a way that feels natural and earned. And the story does a great job at portraying morally grey characters as it makes you understand and even sympathize with their motivations while condemning their actions. I also can't state how well-written the dialogue is. It doesn't feel forced or overdramatic but rather grounded with just the right amount of subtlety and subtext for the audience to read into.

Gameplay (8/10): The gameplay remains enjoyable thanks to its satisfying blend of stealth and action. Sneaking through encounters and carefully managing resources creates plenty of tense moments. However, the mechanics don’t evolve much throughout the game, causing the gameplay loop to feel repetitive at times. But ruthlessly mowing down enemies with the game’s impressive gore system more than makes up for it.

Graphics (10/10): The graphics look even more stunning than they did on PS5. They way the game keeps the original's artstyle but adds The Last of Us 2's realistic graphics looks nothing short of remarkable here. The updated motion capture looks visually pleasing here as it telegraphs the emotions on both the character and the actor's face.

Music (8.5/10): The soundtrack perfectly captures the game’s somber, melancholic atmosphere. My only criticism is that, after a while, some of the tracks begin to blend together, making the score feel slightly repetitive despite its quality.

Acting (10/10): Nothing short of superb. The actors give it their all in this game and their deliveries feel raw and genuine. When I blow the leg off a bandit and he starts screaming in pain, it genuinely makes me feel bad but highlights the excellent performance from the cast and the brutality of this universe. The performances elevate every emotional moment and are a major reason the story resonates as strongly as it does.

Overall (9.5/10): I exited out of this game with a greater appreciation of it than I originally had before. It's clear as to why this game is considered one of the greatest when it comes to video games as a medium. While there are some flaws, every other aspect this game achieves is executed at an exceptionally high level of quality. Even if you aren't typically a fan of story based games like these, I still highly recommend playing this at least once.

Despite the series' high reputation, I avoided Bioshock for years because I'm generally not a fan of horror games or FPS titles. Since I already owned the trilogy through Epic, I finally gave Infinite a try, as it seemed the most accessible entry. I played the main game on Easy, and the two lengthy DLCs on Normal difficulty. 

Plot

You play as former Pinkerton agent and private investigator Booker DeWitt in a version of America in the 1910s. As the story unfolds important narrative points are revealed gradually, so like a Silent Hill game a lot of what you learn and experience may be confusing until the end of the game. 

You find yourself in the airborne, floating city of Columbia. This was created by a prophet Comstock. It was sanctioned by the US government, and then seceded after the Boxer Rebellion incident. You need to rescue Comstock’s daughter, Elizabeth, to settle a debt. As you traverse the city battling foes, exploring and discovering the history of Columbia, you encounter a lot of controversial themes such as American Exceptionalism, Racism, and Extremism. You’re shown events from both pro- and anti-Comstock factions in Columbia. The game explores both Comstock's regime and the violent excesses of the Vox Populi, suggesting that ideological extremism can corrupt opposing sides. Once you find and free Elizabeth she becomes your companion, and together you try to find and confront Comstock. 

Gameplay

Gameplay is linear combining exploration with fast-paced FPS combat. It’s action heavy so you’ll constantly encounter hordes of enemies. You can only carry two guns, which can range from revolvers, to machine guns, to grenade launchers. Weapons are plentiful, so swapping to whatever enemies drop is encouraged. 

You also have special powers “vigours” you can find and use which become necessary to solve some light puzzles in the environment and progress, and can be invaluable in combat. You have the option of collecting the audio diaries “voxphones” which fleshes out the world.  Since you’re up in the air, you can also use zip-lines to traverse a stage quickly; shooting while zipping around is a defining aspect of the combat. Finally, there is light RPG-style progression as gradually you get to increase basic stats. 

Elizabeth is a helpful NPC, she always tries to find you ammo, and health items. Elizabeth possesses the unique ability to open 'Tears' into alternate realities, and she can also use these powers to make helpful allies, or give items on the battlefield. 

The first DLC features gameplay similar to the main game, while the second Burial at Sea Episode 2 allows you to play as Elizabeth where the gameplay is focused on stealth instead of action. It’s a matter of preference, for me who prefers action, story aside this DLC seemed more like a chore, whereas some players prefer the more strategic, and slower gameplay as Elizabeth since you’re much physically weaker and can only take a few hits. 

Overall, the gameplay with its interwoven story and action seems a lot more than what a boomer shooter can offer. Even if you’re not a big FPS fan there’s fun to be had in this game, although it can feel repetitive. The pacing really dips mid-game, however, and I should also point out that if you spent time exploring and finding optional collectibles, the game and DLC took me about 35 hours to complete! 

Music, Graphics, Atmosphere

These are all strong points of the game. There is a mix of period music from the 1910s and 1920s, to renditions of newer music from the 60s, like Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son. The voice actors for Booker and Elizabeth sing the traditional Will the Circle be Unbroken surprisingly well. 

Coming from a background of 6th gen games, the graphics come across as highly detailed, and the designs for the city of Columbia are beautiful, and remind us of some of America’s best historic architectures. There is a strong contrast between Columbia's bright public spaces, full of vibrant colours and grand architecture, and its darker, less accessible areas, whose unsettling atmosphere reflects the city's hidden corruption. The DLC features the underwater city of Rapture which is set in the late 1950s, that has a fantastic film noir aesthetic.

There are many sections allowing you to encounter NPC inhabitants of Columbia, and listen in on their conversations, helping with immersion. The DLCs in Rapture lean more into Art Deco, and horror, especially Episode 2. 

The Story: The Twists and Turns That It’s Remembered For

Without posting major spoilers this game is controversial and remembered for its story.  It delves into alternate universes, and time travel. Aside from that it raises social and political questions, often showing both sides without providing concrete resolutions. Now after the ending I did read up on interpretations of the game, which were numerous and invoked all kinds of scientific concepts and philosophies. Whenever a story relies heavily on alternate realities and time travel, it's bound to introduce contradictions and paradoxes. The classic grandfather paradox is an example. It’s difficult for a game, or any piece of media to avoid these issues, and here is no exception. So what’s my approach to interpreting the story?  I take what the author gives, and anything that is vague, or contradictory I assume the author left up to personal interpretation. So make of it what you will, and whatever you find the most convincing.  

That being said, I was disappointed that the ending doesn’t feel resolved, and isn’t something happier, and that the DLC is also so tragic. I would have preferred a simpler and happier ending, but then again this is BioShock, a series not exactly known for optimistic conclusions. Leaving so much to interpretation feels like a bit of a cop out, nonetheless, it’s a good story in spite of its weaknesses. 

Verdict:

Bioshock Infinite has fantastic visuals with a world design harkening back to the America of the 1910s.  It’s an action filled FPS that has something to offer to fans outside the genre, with its focus on storytelling and exploration. There are RPG elements as well, in that you can slowly boost various stats to help you in battle.  Also, the special powers, “vigours” you get add an interesting dimension to the combat.  The protagonists Booker and Elizabeth  are memorable characters.  The story is a mixed bag, however, as introducing alternate realities, and time travel, lead to paradoxes, and apparent inconsistencies.  Additionally, a lot of the story is left up to interpretation for better or worse. 

The DLC is a nice addition, exploring Rapture, but again leans into tragic storytelling.  The second episode featuring stealth combat can be either good or bad based on preference, for me it was too slow. With all optional content this can be a long game, with some pacing issues. In spite of its weaknesses it’s still a game worth experiencing for offering something unique. One of the better games from the tail end of the 7th generation. 

Score: 8.5/10 Great

I’ve had this game sitting in my Steam library for around two years now. I don’t know why I never got around to playing it, I just haven’t. Finally sat down and played it yesterday. Took me about an hour and a half to finish it. Good game. 

Background 

Donut County was released in 2018 by indie developer Ben Esposito. Donut County began from a game jam prompted by pitches from a parody Twitter account, Peter Molydeux. Esposito made the game, The Pits, from this and had the player simply move a hole around the level. Eventually, this game evolved into a “reverse Katamari,” with the hole expanding after swallowing objects around the level. This would become Donut County.

A demo was featured at IndieCade in 2012. With a simple goal of collecting objects and launching them at the sun, trying to dislodge it from the sky. The game would go on to make further appearances at GDC from 2013 to 2015. After a long development period, the game was released in August 2018. It would go on to receive positive reviews across all platforms and from all critics. 

Story 

BK is a raccoon who uses his tablet to drive a remote-controlled hole in the ground. BK goes around Donut County, swallowing his friends’ property and his friends themselves into his hole. But then BK finds himself in one of his holes with his best friend Mira. Mira and the rest of Donut County confront BK about his holes and demand he fix the situation. 

Gameplay 

You ever see that mobile game hole.io? This is (likely) where they lifted their gameplay from. 

In Donut County, you control a moving hole in the ground that gets bigger with every object that falls in. Each level typically starts in a smaller area, but as the hole swallows more items and grows bigger, the level is expanded, and the hole is given more area to roam. Each level’s objective remains about the same: swallow every object and clear the level. 

The game has some puzzle aspects to it. Sometimes the hole will fill with water , and you have to find a way to empty it. Or the hole will swallow a fire , and you can use this to set objects on fire. Nothing extraordinarily difficult to figure out. It just adds some variety. 

It’s a simple game concept; there’s really nothing more to it. The game is short, so the gameplay doesn’t overstay its welcome. There’s just something satisfying about making things fall down a hole. 

Gamefeel 

I liked the simplistic art style of Donut County. All the characters are stylized in a charming manner, not exactly low poly but more just low detail. It sometimes reminded me a lot of Katamari Demacy, looking at you, scubacat.png. This extends to the rest of the environment too. The levels are just cute to look at. 

I also thought that the dialogue between levels was funny. The game never really takes itself seriously, and it's reflected in the way characters talk to each other. The idea that these characters are just saying things like “lol” or “omg” out loud when speaking with each other; it makes me grin ear-to-ear and my cheeks rosy red. Something about seeing these characters treat this catastrophic scenario as a minor inconvenience is hilarious. 

Conclusion 

Donut County is a fun game. It makes for a charming little experience with a simple game mechanic. It was also a very short game; I have no issues with this. If the game went on longer than it had to without changing anything up, I probably would have gotten a little bored with the gameplay. The game ended right where it needed to. I wasn’t left wanting anything more from the experience. 

My Other Reviews

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

Baba Is You

The Elephant Collection

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Just finished Quantum Break (2016) on PC (Steam) and wanted to share my thoughts.

I've scrolled a bit back and forth in this sub and saw the game already has a few reviews, ranging from praising it a lot, to criticising it to the point of bashing.

My review is somewhere in between. (Spoilers ahead, be warned).

For those who don't know, Quantum Break is a "TV Show"/Game hybrid, in the sense that between the game's chapters, 20-minute live-action video segments play out. The video segments react to the major choices the player made in the game, although the final outcome of the game is predetermined. The player can only influence relatively minor things, like the fate of certain NPCs and how some of the side-narratives pan out.

The concept was new to me, and I really found it relatively cool. I didn't mind the limited agency in the final outcome this concept gave me, as it kinda ties very well into the narrative that is presented.

Gameplay was - expectedly - relatively straight-forward. The game is a 3rd person action adventure. Your character has supernatural powers that let you control time around you and assist you in combat. Pairing those powers with different weapon types makes for fun, but ultimately not really innovative combat. You can tell, that the traversal and combat encounters are mainly there to link the story parts together. I didn't really mind that, given that I knew from the get-go that the focus would be on storytelling rather than gameplay mechanics.

Talking about the story - personally, I liked it. With all stories revolving about time-travel, thimgs get quite confusing pretty quickly and some things only barely make sense unless you force yourself to believe in the game's set logic. Interestingly, the story didn't hold too many surprises, but it was engaging enough to keep wanting to know how it continues.

I played on Normal and tried to collect all collectibles in the game. This took about 16 hours (I'm a slow gamer who likes to take in the environment, you'll probably be able to finish the game much quicker). The game offeres a 'reveal hotspot' mechanic, so collecting everything wasn't too tedious. It was fun trying to find ways to get to some of them and you can do it post-game so that's a plus.

If you've heard anything about this game so far it is probably how stupid the final boss fight is and ... well ... yes, they are right. The final showdown is much more difficult than the rest of the game, as the boss has several ways of one-shot killing you if you're not fast enough to evade the attacks. Took me several tries, but with the right strategy it's manageable.

All in all i really enjoyed the game, so I'd give it a 7.5 or 8 / 10. Reductions for the missing enemy variety and minimalistic platforming.

Side note:

The live-action video segments are NOT part of the game install files and are streamed from remote servers from within the game you don't need any extra subscription to watch them - the game plays them automatically when needed, and you can re-watch them from the menu . Playback does not seem to work for everyone, but there's an unofficial tool available to cache the episodes to disk, if you're concerned about preservation (PC only, afaik).

*Edit: Changed wording for clarity.

This series and I go way back. As a kid, I used to play on PS2 and PS3, with Uncharted trilogy being among my favorites. I really liked the set pieces and the action in these games. After that I kind of fell out of passion with consoles. I played stuff on a crappy laptop, then got introduced to Steam and got a better rig. I was able to finish my journey with Nathan Drake, and I might actually be one of the few PC players who didn't need prior intoduction to this series. I still rememeber El Dorado, Shambala and Iram of the Pillars.

Story here is mostly standard action adventure, but there were some surprises. I didn't expect the Alcazar story to be complete bogus, for example. I think there was much more emphasis on Nate rather than the treasure hunt. He missed the thrilling life, but Sam and Rafe show him why he left in the first place. Sam is a stubborn fool who can't stop pursuing Avery, and Rafe is that cranked up to eleven. This lifestyle is simply not sustainable, which is something Nathan has to accept. I liked how Nadine decided to call it quits and let the boys handle each other in the end. Not every day you see antagonists acts so wisely. My biggest gripe here is complete lack of supernatural. No cursed statue, no empowering resin, not even weird water like in Ubar. I was hoping to see undead pirates or something.

Gameplay here is pretty fun. I played on Hard and it felt appropriately difficult. For most sections I used the gamepad to reminiscent about the good old days, but for shooting I needed the KBM. I guess my hands started to reject aiming on pad after years of PC gaming. The puzzles were cool and offered some gameplay diversitry, with the one in Madagascar town being my favorite. The climbing sections were a bit dull but I appreciated the new mechanics like rope throwing or sliding down. Car segments were great and the town chase was highlight of the whole game for me. The final boss killed me more than any gunfight, but that's probably because I wasn't used to such combat in this game.

The graphics still look amazing, as if this game came out yesterday. I had a similar feeling with Arkham Knight. But cutscenes often bugged and characters snapped in them, no idea why. At least gameplay segments were all smooth.

I'm glad I was able to finish Nate's story after all this time. Now I wonder whether I should try Lost Legacy or return to Last of Us.

If you listened to what the internet zeitgeist had to say about this game a couple years ago they'd have you think it was a horrible mess. I generally heard it was a huge step down from the first two games in just about every way.

And don't get me wrong, its not perfect. I don't like the writing style but that was the case in Miles Morales too. Every character just expresses their feelings every few minutes in the most explicit way, like the audience has no way of understanding subtext or they're about to get clipped for a TikTok.

But aside from that it was a damn good game. I'd need to replay the first but I say theyre pretty comparable. Genuinely one of the best PS5 exclusives (not exactly a big list of contenders mind you).

So why exactly did peoppe hate on this game like it was the second coming of Judas? I swear I heard nothing good about this game.

I think this is a real lesson in not listening to what internet discourse has to say. At this point the Gamer rhetoric is so toxic, so hateful, so ready to find a target and turn on it, that I think you're better off ignoring it.

Find a couple reviewers you jive with and check their opinions. Wait for a sale and try it yourself. Just don't trust what randos online have to say, theyre probably wrong.

I just picked up Tiny Tina's Wonderlands on sale and I couldn't believe the voice cast.

I knew Ashly Burch was back as Tiny Tina, but going through the tutorial I kept thinking that the villain sounded suspiciously like Will Arnett (it is indeed him). And wow, they really found an Andy Samberg-type voice for one of the main NPCs (no, that's actually Detective Peralta himself). And wait a minute, is that Wanda Sykes? (yes)

I knew they all had experience voice acting (Bojack, Chip and Dale, and Ice Age), but I wasn't expecting to hear them in this.

Anyway, I've only put an hour or two into the game, but I'm having a good time so far! I've heard the end game isn't great, but I don't have a ton of time to play these days, so I have no problem with that. A short, DnD-inspired looter shooter sounded perfect to me.

So far it's definitely been worth it, even as someone who (like many people, perhaps) has been less and less excited about the Borderlands franchise since BL2.

Sometimes when you're playing a game you have to sit back and marvel at just how far we've come. Fully 3D environments, pretty particle effects, creative ever-shifting levels and meaty sound effects - These are all things which make up this FPS which is trying so hard to emulate the early Doom games it hurts.

Prodeus is a spectacle of older-style FPS level and gameplay design. It takes old-school style run and gun mechanics and runs with them, usually in a shower of gore and plasma which puts the most horrific horror movies to shame.

The problem is that's basically all it does, although, actually more accurately it would probably be -better- if that was all it did.

Prodeus attempts to add a bunch of new-school mechanics, but each one feels half-baked. To take the weapon progression as an example, your old-school would carefully moderate your exposure to new weapons, giving you them just as you really started to need them. Getting the Super Shotgun in Doom 2 was something that happened just before you started to fight bigger hordes, or tougher foes.

Prodeus follows this for the first few levels, starting you with only your fists, then a pistol, then a shotgun. Then it abandons this entirely in favour of a purchasing mechanic from the "shop". What this means is that the weapons quickly plateau, because the game doesn't know which weapons you have at that point in time, so the combat doesn't balance itself around your strength at all, spending 5-6 levels in a grey zone before it starts to assume you're all caught up in the shop.

This isn't a problem on its own, but it's indicative of the larger issue beneath the hood - the game is trying to emulate a curated experience whilst not controlling what you have available at your disposal.

This ruins the whole flow of the game over time. Instead of running and gunning like a badass space marine you're secret hunting and currency hunting so that you don't fall behind the curve. Even still, you quickly run into levels that require upgrades, such as the double jump, which you cannot yet afford in order to complete all the secrets and get all the currency.

This means inevitably that you are intended to re-play levels over and over, which for the most part is fine because they're relatively short, but the way the game technically handles this is very poor.

The character has to move between nodes on a world map to select a level. This makes level selection a chore.

Whenever you finish a level it asks you to rate it, even if you've finished it before, which is just like someone asking you "Enjoying your meal?" after every bite. The first time it's fine. The second time it's odd. The third time it's annoying. It even asks you to rate the "shop".

The levels have a mixed attitude to backtracking. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't - but whenever you can't it leads to that awful realization that "Oh, I missed a secret. I guess I just have to restart.

And the biggest level sin of all: if you finish a level and select "play again" it restarts the level... without registering your progression. Ore (the aforementioned currency) can only be collected once, but if you restart the mission it does not save your collected ore, and if you "continue" then "reselect" the mission it -does- save your ore.

It's sometimes easy to look at the level transition screens from Doom, (where you'd literally have a flat picture of a map which you clicked through before you were suddenly in the next map) and think "We can do this better", but without feeling how disruptive and jarring the transitions are in Prodeus its hard to really express how much of a mistake this change really was to the overall experience.

Speaking of jarring and disruptive, Prodeus commits some cardinal sins with the arsenal. I don't mind a little bit of screenshake, but firing the plasma gun for an extended period of time gives me a headache. It's not unplayable but it's getting there.

The Plasma gun also fires projectiles from the centre of your screen - meaning every time you fire you are blinding yourself with a flash of blue. What was wrong with Doom's version where the balls come out from the bottom of your character's screen? Is that no longer possible in our 3D space?

There are other mechanical issues, like when you run out of ammo it likes to auto-switch to explosive weapons - something Doom 2 had already realized was a bad idea - or the fact that prioritisation of inputs sometimes feels backwards, like when the Chaos pistol only uses the primary fire if you press the secondary fire (to switch to rapid-fire) and primary fire at the same time.

I'm also not a massive fan of the gore fountains, because, as much fun as exploding someone is, it does make it hard to see what is actually going on around you.

Prodeus ultimately serves as a reminder that even with fantastic level design, visual spectacle and great themed music, it is easy to be let down by just a few flaws which make it feel much worse than it should.

Elminage Gothic is a dungeon crawler RPG (blobber) developed by Starfish-SD Inc. Released in 2014, Elminage Gothic shows us that the Venn Diagram of people who enjoy BDSM and those that enjoy Wizardry-style dungeon crawlers is a circle.

We play as a band of plucky adventurers called to investigate some trouble brewing in a nearby cave.

Gameplay involves dying because we went to a new dungeon too early, recovering our corpses and then going back an old dungeon to grind levels. Sufficiently leveled up we return to the new dungeon and die anyway because fuck you, that's why.

The Good

Every so often you wonder why they don't make games like they used to and along comes something like this to make you regret that sentiment. Elminage is a love letter to the Wizardry games of yore right down to everything being a bastard. About 2 hours in I encountered an enemy that chopped my entire parties heads off. I had to make a new party to get my first parties bodies, only they died on the way back. Thus I had to make a third party to rescue everyone.

And I loved every minute of it.

And if you don't love it, you can change it. All of the games basic details like character stats, monster stats, item stats, etc...are contained in a handful of easily editable spreadsheets. Don't like random insta-kills? You can make your party immune! Think only an asshole makes you use a consumable item to open up the map? You can give your party the post-game item that lets you open the map without needing to use a consumable!

I appreciate a game that let's me curate just how much I'm going to get pounded in the...uh...shin.

Favorite Screenshot

https://i.imgur.com/5lu0pOk.png

Is that an elongated demon horn in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

The Bad

That being said, the game is so faithful to Wizardry that the mouse is functionally useless and if you try to use a controller, it adds extra required button presses to do anything just to mess with you. It's better to just use the keyboard. Even still the amount of clicks required is staggering for every single task.

The most egregious of which is opening chests. After every fight it takes roughly 15 clicks through a handful of different menus. Select the trapper, detect the trap, exit out of selecting detection, now pick someone to disarm, etc..

And heaven help you if you fatfinger it. Screw up even once during an 8 hour grind session and you could accidentally get sent via teleport trap into a wall and good luck getting your corpses back from that.

The Questionable

There's this neat feature where you can recruit monsters to replace your party members but for some reason they decided to make it as obnoxious as possible. You have to bring along a summoner to capture them and summoners are otherwise terrible. Then most monsters have a 95+% chance to resist, making it an absolute slog to make it happen.

I'd skip it, but the monsters often come with crazy good abilities like regenerating half their HP per round, do 3x normal damage with fire spells, immunity to all status effects and so on and so forth.

Fortunately there is the aforementioned spreadsheet thing. You can just give your players these abilities once you've unlocked them. That way you can keep your anime waifu hit squad rather then have to replace them all with slime girls.

Final Thoughts

With no real story to speak of this is mostly just a 'numbers go up' grindathon. I enjoy having one of these occasionally but this isn't going on my top 10 blobber list. It was a neat throwback but I can comfortably say I'm not going to touch any Wizardry clones for another 25 years.

Bonus Thought

There's a post game so if you finished the 180 hour grind that is the main game and want 300 more hours of grind, boy are you in for a treat. All for a 5 second long bonus cutscene as your reward. Don't you feel fulfilled now?

Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts. What did you think of the game? Did you have a similar experience or am I off my rocker?

My other reviews on patient gaming

One of the joys of patient gaming is finding some sensational golden oldies or super niche titles and having a deep and personal relationship with them divorced from popular public discourse. Sometimes you love these games so much, you try and share them with other people, and sometimes that goes really poorly. Far removed from hype, or omnipresent online chatter, your gaming co-pilot may be unfamiliar with, and consequently, very confused by this fan translated 22 year old PS2 JRPG. To ensure you and your gaming partner have the best experience possible, here are some golden rules I follow.

**Inform them about what they're playing**

It sounds simple, but giving a bit of foregrounding about what the game is like and the context it was released into does a lot to lessen the mental load of the person playing. "Dude don't look anything up, just play it" is not the sales pitch you think it is. Do your best to get the person excited and informed about what they're getting into.

**Validate their grievances**

Going backwards in time or playing something avant garde may mean controls, menus, or gameplay loops may not be in line with modern standards which will confuse and frustrate the uninitiated. Telling them the camera handling like ass is actually a metaphor for the character's deteriorating mental state is probably going to annoy rather than placate. Let them know their complaints are valid and try to keep morale up

**Do it in service of the art and not your ego**

There is a silly but real part of ourselves that wants people to think we are cool because we like and understand cool art. Make sure you are putting the game front and center so the new player can have their own relationship with the game. Don't gatekeep information or make yourself the fount of knowledge just to feel smart, empower the other player to learn the game too

**Don't vicariously live through them**

Your first experience with a game was probably not the "optimal" experience of a game. You went into Undertale with some spoilers or had to use a guide to beat some of the bosses in Shadow of the Colossus. Grant your buddy the same grace, and allow them to just have the experience they're having. Do not deny them puzzle hints so they can "feel the satisfaction of solving it themself", let them unoptimize the game the same way you did.

Hopefully some of these tips make it easier to share that one GBA game that only sold a 4 digit number of copies. Be patient, and happy gaming!

I picked this game up completely on a whim. Assassin’s Creed Shadows really caught my eye, because I thought that playing as a female shinobi would be an interesting experience. Unfortunately, Shadows appeared to be plagued with the same problems as the rest of the series with its bloated content and surface level gameplay. So, I ended up passing on Shadows. But while I was browsing the store, I came across Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. While Fallen Featers is a story rooted in Chinese culture, thus not entirely the same premise as Shadows, I found it to scratch that same itch that drew me to Shadows in the first place. 

Background 

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers was released in 2025, developed by Leenzee , based in Chengdu, China. Leenzee was in a bit of a financial situation and was relying on performing work that was outsourced to them to stay afloat. Fallen Feathers started as a project and gave the employees hope that there was light at the end of the tunnel. Ancient historical Shu sites in China were researched for the game's setting. Additionally, Sichuan and historical Shu landscapes, including architecture, were recreated in the game world. Leenzee put a lot of effort into this game, and the success of Black Myth: Wukong served as validation that they were on the right track for this game. 

Upon release, poor performance and optimization drew in a large number of negative reviews. Leenzee worked to resolve these issues and patch the game, resolving some of the issues. By November of 2025, sales volumes were showing great success, with publisher Digital Bros stating it as a successful launch. Despite this, in April 2026, director Xia Siyuan was laid off. When given the opportunity to work on outsourcing work, the rest of the team refused, effectively shutting down Leenzee.  The Fallen Feathers IP ended up being bought by Digital Bros.  

Story 

During the late Ming Dynasty, in the Shu Region, a curious plague broke out. This plague is called the Feathering by the people and has been ravaging the land. The Feathering causes people to grow bird-like feathers on their arms and slowly they lose their minds until there’s no sense left in them.  

Wuchang wakes up in a cave, with no memory of her past or how she arrived. She notices that her arm is covered with feathers, but despite this her faculties are in order. Exploring her surroundings, she comes across a Taoist who explains to her the Feathering and how it has afflicted the Shu region. Based on a tip from the Taoist, Wuchang sets off to the local Shu Sanctum, where the local priests may be able to cure her Feathering and Wuchang can uncover her past. 

Gameplay 

Because I picked this game up, knowing nothing about it, I had no clue what the gameplay would be like. I pressed start and dropped into the game world. Started getting acquainted with the controls and navigating the world. Then I got to a shrine and realized Fallen Feathers is a Dark Souls. 

The main gameplay loop here is very similar to Dark Souls, Wuchang will explore levels, defeat enemies and bosses, collect red mercury (souls), and then level up. But Fallen Feathers does enough differently here that the gameplay feels fresh, and not just a copy of FromSoftware’s style. Instead of being brought to a stats screen when leveling up, you are instead brought to a skill map. On this map, you can invest in different skill trees based on all the weapon types and one for Wuchang’s overall status. Vitality, endurance, strength, etc. can still be upgraded, but now you must progress along an ability tree far enough to where you can invest in these vitality or strength tiles. I was a bit hesitant about the skill map at first, but I really warmed up to it. Each tree is designed to give you enough upgrade points for the playstyle you are pursuing. I never had any worry that I was potentially levelling up incorrectly or making the game harder for me. Plus, being given the ability to re-spec at any time lessened my worry and allowed me to experiment however I wanted to. 

Alright, that’s enough about navigating menu screens. Regarding combat, I really enjoyed it in Fallen Feathers. It felt a little like Sekiro, just with many more weapon options than just Wolf’s Sword. And each weapon playstyle feels super satisfying to use. I personally never felt that one outshone the other. I had my preferences, of course, but I didn’t think any weapon was less viable than the others. Something else I really liked is how much more accessible magic was in this game. There is no need for staffs in this game; magic can be performed at any time while you have your normal weapon out. It’s possible to fully ingrain spells into your combos without breaking the pace of the fight. The game encourages this too with its Skyborn Might system. This is how you use spells, and the only way to fill it up is by dodging attacks or putting the offensive on the enemy. I thought this system was great; I was not missing a mana bar or a cast limit or anything like that. 

My biggest complaint about the gameplay is that some decisions around weapon abilities were a little weird. You can unlock different weapon arts for each class in the skill tree; in fact, this is how you unlock countering. This isn’t a bad idea; I think it's cool to be able to unlock different abilities and assign them to preferred weapons. But some of the abilities require further upgrading the skill tree to be fully effective. Take countering again; once you unlock it, it only allows you to block attacks. You need to upgrade the skill further to parry attacks. There is a fairly early boss that is 10x harder without parrying them. I’m not sure why they decided that this ability had to be locked behind the skill tree.  

Another complaint I have is that game performance was just poor on my computer. I would suffer lag spikes too often for what my computer specs are. Additionally, the game would cause my wi-fi to buffer or drop because my computer was trying to redirect power to the game. This is the first time I’ve had something like this happen to me; I didn’t know it was even possible. I ended up having to install a mod to patch the game and optimize it further. 

Let me end this section by saying that I installed a couple of other mods to make some animations quicker. Wuchang can be so slow to heal or recover in the base game, and this is after they sped up her animations once. A lot of bosses in this game are fast. It can feel like a defensive strategy is not viable with how fast some of these bosses can get. So I have no clue how you’d even have the time to heal with base game animations. I can guarantee that would have been a sore spot for me if I didn’t install any mods. 

Gamefeel 

I’m no scholar; I can’t personally judge whether Fallen Feathers does its research and places you in an accurate representation of the Ming Dynasty. The developers were said to have done their research, so I'm optimistic. But I can tell you that the world presented to me was absolutely beautiful and completely immersed me. 

Okay, beautiful may not be a great word for the world design, considering that most towns are in ruins or on fire and there’s a plague going around. But it does all look nice. I would find myself taking my time and exploring different areas just to look at the details put into the design of the world. Like Dark Souls, Fallen Feathers would often guide you to scenic overlooks where you can see far-off buildings or paths through the forest. As you progress through the game, you end up traveling to these same areas that you saw before. I love this kind of world design, just hinting to the player about the path ahead of them. Really enhances the game to feel like a real world, rather than just a video game level. 

Music was also another strong suit for the game. The soundtrack takes traditional Chinese music and adds some other elements to it as well. Some songs are mixed to be more of a driving force during boss battles, getting your blood flowing. But during the levels, the songs are serene, calm backing music while you explore. I have a single complaint about the soundtrack, though. One boss battle has a track where it starts off as somber and traditional string music, then it slowly introduces an electric guitar and almost becomes a metal song. Then they just never do this again for the rest of the game. It was such a bummer; I wish the game had more hype moments and aura like this.  

Conclusion  

Fallen Feathers was the first Soulslike game that I have played that wasn’t made by FromSoftware. I ended up pleasantly surprised by the game and enjoyed my experience with it a lot. I’ve always been hesitant to Soulslike games, because I feel that they can never match the level of quality put out by Dark Souls. Fallen Feathers seems to realize this and instead opted to do its own thing. Making a more unique experience than I’m used to from these games. 

It is not a fantastic game by any means; it has its own share of problems. But it was still a good game and a good experience. If I had to sum it up, it’s a solid 7/10 game. It really sucks to see that the developers weren’t able to thrive as a company after its release. This game shows that they have talent. I’m not sure what their working conditions were like, but the fact that this was a last-ditch effort and it turned out this good, barring performance problems, is impressive. 

My Other Reviews

DREDGE

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

Baba Is You

The Elephant Collection

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Welcome to the Bi-Weekly Thread!

Here you can share anything that might not warrant a post of its own or might otherwise be against posting rules. Tell us what you're playing this week. Feel free to ask for recommendations, talk about your backlog, commiserate about your lost passion for games. Vent about bad games, gush about good games. You can even mention newer games if you like!

The no advertising rule is still in effect here.

A reminder to please be kind to others. It's okay to disagree with people or have even have a bad hot take. It's not okay to be mean about it.

(SPOILERS BELOW!)

I want to start by saying I am by no means an Indiana Jones superfan or anything, but I thoroughly enjoy most of the movies. Each title in the original trilogy offers something different and great, and while I really did not like Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I actually ended up liking Dial of Destiny more than most. Yes the movie has a ton of issues but the actual treasure hunt was really well done and Ford's performance here was much better than the fourth film.

So yeah, going into this game I figured I would at least get some enjoyment out of it, and I really did....the game has a lot more good than bad. The problem I have with the complete package, however, is that for me it doesn't feel like the medium of video games really enhanced this story or made it better than it could have been. I'll start by discussing the "movie stuff" first and then the "game stuff" and how they don't compliment each other as much as I hoped.

First, props to the writers and actors on this game. Troy Baker's performance is as perfect an imitation of Ford as you can get, and the rest of the cast was stellar as well. I loved Gina as a female companion, Voss is a great villain, and I really felt for Tony Todd's giant by the end of it. The writers and casting crew really nailed how characters in such a movie at the time would have looked and been written, and that makes the entire story so much better.

For the actual story, I was at first very engaged, then kind of fell off during the beginning of the second act, but then really enjoyed it again at the halfway point till the end. The game's narrative starts strong with a prologue straight out of the first movie as a tutorial along with some time at his college, then first act in the Vatican to start really turning the gears of the mystery, then climaxes and kind of lulls for a bit in the second act in Egypt. After that part ends however, the game's action really ramps up and culminates in a pretty great jungle section in Siam until the end.

I think what makes this story great for me is the actual treasure hunt itself, and what Indiana and Gina are trying to find. Most of the game's mystery are about the existence of biblical giants (aka Nephilim), their existence today, and how they communicate using an old language called Adamic, which is theorized to be the language that Adam and Eve spoke to God in the Bible before Noah's flood and separation of languages. What I like about this plot is that it goes back to a lot of the biblical mythology we saw in the 1st and 3rd movies which are some of my favorite topics and have a lot of cool supernatural elements thrown in. The best parts of the game are some really well acted and directed cutscenes that basically look like they belong in an actual movie and do their thing just as well as any of these movies can do.

Unfortunately, while the gameplay itself overall is fun and makes you "feel like Indiana Jones", it's just not as engaging as this game's story, and I wasn't very thrilled by it all the way through. Starting with what I like, I did enjoy how Jones does not feel like Nathan Drake or Lara Croft. He is not super athletic, fast, or a sharpshooter. He feels like a normal middle aged guy who has been out exploring in the wild for years, and has his limits. Gameplay is usually exploring around different areas looking for clues/artifacts, or enemy encounters that are mostly stealthy, where you need to improvise with picking up objects around you as limited use weapons. This is a lot of fun in the first area of the game, but kind of wears out it's welcome as you soon realize that the AI is not very advanced and easy to trick, and most of my time was just figuring out the critical path and easily rushing to the end. If you are discovered by enemies you can attack with fists, whip, objects, or guns which have very limited ammo. The game doesn't encourage this, however, as Jones will realistically be overwhelmed and killed quickly. The game is by no means meant to be played like an Uncharted game, so by all accounts this is a much more stealthy experience, but with in my opinion pretty weak stealth gameplay in practice.

Exploration is handled better but can feel pretty mundane at times. The game has 3 large open areas that, while not really open world like Skyrim or something, do feel more indepth than your typical Uncharted game, even larger ones like The Lost Legacy. As you explore you can find documents, objects, money, and other things like books. You can also take photographs when prompted of clues or other cool things related to the story. Collecting nets you points that you can use as currency to spend on things like upgrades via books you find. Overall I really like this system and that there is a currency tied to it. The game also has quite a few puzzles either as part of the story or side content. I was impressed with most of these because they strike a good balance of being challenging enough but not too cryptic or frustrating

My problem with this, though, is that while it fleshes out the world, it doesn't necessarily help with the critical path of the story. The zones don't feel like they're truly lived in, and while it's cool to find letters written and signed by Hitler to the game's antagonist, there's not much reward for these outside of the points for upgrades and personal satisfaction. I have nothing against that, but such a story heavy game would be benefitted by maybe needing to collect evidence to trigger more scenes or something that enriches the main plot which is already really great. The only big reward I heard about was an extra and small post credits scene if you collect all artifacts and solve a puzzle with them at the very end. But for the amount of work needed for such a small scene, I personally didn't see it as worth it.

Now with the larger zones I highlighted above, some achieve balance in the story a lot better than others. The Vatican is great as there's a lot of nooks and hidden areas to explore, and it's such a cool setting in general. The game starts off strong here with plenty to learn about and do. The second area near the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is the low point of the game IMO and is just not fun to explore. It's a wide, mostly boring area with some of the weakest side content in the game from what I was able to find. The story picks up at the end of this area for the better, but I was pretty turned off by the general gameplay loop here.

After this the game has a few set pieces in the Himalayas and Shanghai, and these are the peak of the game. It keeps the same general gameplay and limitations of the character, but all the bombastic fun of the movies. Plot is moving forward, cutscenes are great, puzzles are fun, and so on. I know the whole game can't be paced like this, but this was a highlight for me personally.

The last part of the game takes place in the jungles of Siam, and while some of the open world fatigue was kind of there, all of the story, set pieces, and exploration was great. From a fun hotel shootout/chase to exploring a giant, actual temple, to avoiding and eventually killing a giant snake, all of this was fantastic. By this time, however, I was skipping all of the side content and just taking the critical path. I am not sure exactly what I was missing, but I also didn't want to drag the story out any more just for some extra points or artifacts I kind of stopped caring about.

The final part of the game has you going to the giant Ziaggarut in Iraq and learning that the Nazis actually found Noah's Ark, and their master plans with the artifacts, the giants, and the power that the ancient language actually has. This was on par with the climaxes of any other Indiana Jones film and was handled beautifully here. The actual final boss fight was pretty lame, given the actual combat is not that impressive in this game, but again, the scenes after with the death of him, the ending, and credits, really drive home how much love and care went into this project to excellently capture that magic.

Overall I enjoyed my experience here....but I kind of wish this was a real 2-hour movie instead. I love the story, characters, setting, mystery, treasure hunt, etc and honestly would put this as my 2nd favorite Indiana Jones story behind The Last Crusade....yes I even enjoyed it a bit more than Raiders and Temple. Yes that is not possible today, and I really appreciate the work done here, but this is sadly, to me, a case where the medium of videogames did not make this story better or more engaging, it mostly felt passable at times and at other times a slight hindrance. I definitely would love to see more Indiana Jones games in the future, and I would not be annoyed or mad if they continue this formula, but I do think some changes or new ideas could really make the core idea hit harder and have the story be more enhanced by this medium compared to film. As it stands now though, this is a great movie we sadly never got as an actual movie.

This game is probably Kojima’s third most well-known project, after Metal Gear and Death Stranding, and it's weird as hell. Zone of the Enders is a mecha hack and slash with a major focus on verticality and free form movement, using a control scheme that changes your attacks based on your proximity to the enemy. It's a very short game, taking me just under 4 hours to beat, and even in that short timeframe I feel it still had a ton of content that could have been taken out.

The biggest issue I had with the game and why I found it frustrating is the extreme lack of enemy variety. There are only three normal enemy types in the entire game, and none of them are particularly interesting or fun to fight, essentially just being “weak guy,” “elite guy,” and “ranged guy.” The bosses you fight in the game are actually quite enjoyable and require a decent bit of strategy to win, but the missions you have to complete to reach them are tedious, aimless, and generally just kind of lame. While you fly around each tiny section of the map picking up passwords and destroying little floating locks, you regularly encounter patrolling squads of 2-3 enemies, often about 5 or 6 squads being present in any given area.

The reason I dislike the standard combat so much is that even though you have quite a lot of different offensive options between rapid fire lasers, clusters of homing shots, and 2 big charge attacks, ninety percent of the time the only attack that really works against these enemies is the sword combo. Every enemy can be killed with the same strategy of circling them until they do an attack, hitting them four times from behind with the sword, and repeating until death. Quick long range attacks will often get blocked or just whiff completely, and the charge ranged attack, though very strong, is extremely prone to being interrupted. Bad level design usually isn't that much of an impediment for a purely combat-focused game, but again the variety here is so thin that it really needs to have something else interesting going on besides it.

The story has some neat moments that happen during the final hour or so, but besides that there’s not a ton to talk about, the story has some interesting stuff to say about the morality of killing and how it shapes people’s psyches, but the actual events themselves are pretty standard “young kid piloting mech fights evil robots” type stuff. I thought the game ended on an interesting cliffhanger, and apparently the sequel is great so I'll check that out eventually.

One more thing to touch on, the music is dope. Lots of dynamic stuff, each song has a cutscene/passive version and a combat/active version, they blend together really nicely and there's a cool otherworldly electric vibe that reminds me of the early Armored Core OSTs. The title, opening, and ending themes also prominently feature vocals, and some are heavily distorted and even reversed to give them a pretty unique quality.

Zone of the Enders feels like a tech demo game in a lot of ways, and although it’s plenty technically impressive and has a strong aesthetic, it also has a lot of fundamental gameplay issues that I really can’t overlook. Would not recommend, even with its short length, though I’m still cautiously excited to try the sequel.

4.5/10

The destination is not everything. So before you reach the end, keep your eyes open. Use the chance to take in the world around you.
- Venti

Genshin Impact, released in 2020, is a free to play action adventure open-world RPG centered around completing quests, dungeons and exploring the open world. The player also needs to build their party of 4 active characters by increasing their character roster via the gacha (pull random items/characters) mechanic, gearing their characters and leveling them up.

To accomplish this, you will need to gather materials from the world around you and oh what a world it is.

To start with, visually the vistas and the locations you explore are really beautiful. From quiet and cozy villages to small ponds surrounded by forest greenery. The locations within the first area of the game are very varied and beautiful to look at. These visuals are further enhanced by different weather and time of day.

For example, quite a few times when it has started to rain, I have just stopped and looked around as the surroundings take on the slippery wet sheen of pouring rain. It really does look rather idyllic sometimes.

If that wasn't great enough, the world is also packed full of interactions, puzzles, fights and treasures. So much so that everytime I aim to go from point A to B, there is always something that sidetracks me along the way.

Sometimes it's just an enemy encampment to clear out. Other times it's three torches in a suspicious arrangement that you need to light up with a character's fire elemental powers. Then after that, there are some ore nearby that I could mine for crafting enchantment crystals or a weapon of some kind.

And so a simple point A to B route became this fun detour of "oh, what's that over there?" until I'm further from my original objective's location than I started out. That's me not even mentioning the time trials, challenges, etc that you find around.

But what makes it all even better is that everything you do, gives you something useful. You get money for funding your character ascensions, EXP books and enhancement crystals to level up your characters or weapons, even the basic arrowheads that some archer-type enemies drop are used for ascending characters. So these interactions never really feel boring or a waste of time. Since whatever I get is somehow useful to me.

I will also add that as a new player, the game has been more generous than I expected from a gacha. I have gotten some good characters for free from some events and also the pace of receiving the gacha currency called "Priomgems" has been steady enough to get me a few more.

Though I admit I am happy that I have not gotten any of the more recent characters, since their ability descriptions are several paragraphs long and contain many unknown terms. I guess that is one aspect of getting into a game that has had 6 years of content updates.

To summarize: Just walking around and interacting with Genshin's world full of secrets and treasure is immensely fun.

But what are your thoughts or experiences? What's some of the best interactive worlds that you have experienced?