That sounds lovely! If I ever get a partner (and they’re a non-gamer that is open to getting into gaming) then that sounds like a delightful thing to do together.

Hm, I have no ideas about mods for 2, unfortunately. I only played it once, and that was back in the day. I remember absolutely loving it, and I’ve been hesitant to go back because I don’t want to sully my memory of it.

And my backlog is too long to be replaying games, anyway.

I played it like a year after launch on PS4 and didn’t have any issues. On PC there is also ACUfixes that further fixes and improves things. Honestly Unity was such an ambitious game and both the city of Paris and the crowd system in it is still unsurpassed by later titles. I remember when Mirage came out comparison videos started going viral questioning which game came out 9 years after which. The fluid and varied animations in Unity is still absolute peak, look at how satisfying high level gameplay is.

Original Xbox games are a mixed bag though, emulation development for that platform is very far behind PS2 or GCN. Sadly :(

X360 too, although bizarrely I think Xemu is sometimes worse performing than Xenia? Is it just that there aren’t enough enticing exclusives that lead to these emulators being behind? I’m not really tapped into the scene.

Unity is still underrated largely due to its reputation formed during launch with all the bugs. But I think there was also a case around then of “Assassin’s Creed fatigue”, which only amplified the negative reception. It’s actually a very interesting what if scenario, what would have happened if Unity wasn’t broken on release and was successful? It’s well documented that its failure led to the entire rejigging of the franchise into open world RPGs in Origins and beyond.

As always I love reading your reviews and articles and just writing in general. Loved the clip of the trigger clacks, they may perhaps be too loud for stealth and convenience but they have a very pleasing sound. But then I love clicky mechanical keyboards.

Unfortunately I feel like I give the same comment every time (well, every time I remember to actually comment): “this device is so cool and I want it because it looks like such a desirable and pleasing object, but I can’t possibly justify buying it when I barely play any retro games of the era this runs well”.

Maybe I’m still waiting for the moment when (if?) portable retro handhelds like this get just a few steps further more powerful. Well actually, I guess that’s just the Steam Deck, eh? Though even that is probably not quite powerful enough. I’d love the PS2/Original Xbox (even X360) era games on my lap…

It’s absolutely all over that time period. I was firing up Lost Odyssey (2008) on an emulator recently and it’s there too. It’s also part of the reason Dragon Age: Origins looks so ugly. I could probably go on listing examples. I have no idea how or why Real Is Brown got so popular, but I’m glad we’re over it now.

2007 is smack dab in the middle of that mid 00s grey-brown color palette design disaster era. Every game from then looks way worse than they should because of it.

That is an incredible trajectory for a game, what the actual fuck?

To me it always felt like AC2 is the true start of the franchise. The first game was cool in many ways, but overall felt almost more like a tech demo or proof-of-concept. I like the more serious vibe of it, but it gets very repetitive.

Yeah, interestingly enough we are so reliant on cheap entertainment for presumably mental health reasons that we tend to make other cuts instead. That’s why for example the Men’s Underwear Index is actually a pretty good indicator of recession.

Waking up to a world cup day without Cabo Verde in it anymore.

G.A.M.M.A. is the most popular and most supported (their Discord has like 700 000 members). It does have a somewhat specific playstyle though, mostly focused on scavenging and a slow gear progression that many love but not everyone.

I recommend watching Cheeki Breeki’s two-part video from last year, where he goes over some of the most popular and notable ones.

Part one

Part two

I can’t say I have had any experience even close to that to be honest, but I would never advise anyone to play vanilla Anomaly. It’s meant as a stable and unified platform for mods, and it does that exceptionally well compared to previous Call Of Chernobyl-based soups.

What I would recommend is installing one of the numerous pre-built modpacks that are one-click downloads and probably address all your issues and more.

I’m deliberately excluding free titles as that would be technically infinite. Otherwise it would be Dota+Dota2 combined, even accounting for the last few years of playing Dota2 not exactly counting as “enjoyment”.

Most enjoyment is tough, but it’s probably either Diablo 2 or Warcraft 3. I played both fervently throughout my childhood, but considering Dota 1 technically counts as WC3 I think that is probably the one. I played a whole ton of WC3 custom maps, even apart from Dota. It was the unifying game me and my childhood best friend bonded over.

Least enjoyment per dollar is unquestionably STALKER 2. I pre-ordered the €100 deluxe edition because I love the franchise, I loved the GSC studio and I wanted to support them through being struck by the Ukraine war. I ended up doing a single playthrough and then shelving it, waiting for patches. But do I regret my purchase? Not necessarily. I knew it was an emotional purchase, I know it was a show of support. And I knew it was an investment for the future. GSC have still not given up on the game, they’ve slowly been fixing it and the first DLC is coming. And mods are being developed. Do I think it will supplant Anomaly? No. But it still has the chance to pay off.

Please let me know what you think when you’ve finished it! I haven’t really been able to discuss it with a lot of people despite trying to push it onto as many others as I can hah.

It had a big buzz around it during the next fest this spring and also some around when it launched. It’s not going to be for everyone, but you’ll probably know if you vibe with it within the Steam refund window. It’s one of the hardest games to describe I’ve ever played, especially since you really want to play it completely blind. It’s a little like if David Foster Wallace made a modern interpretation of A Midsummer Nights Dream as a pseudo match-3 game? It’s a little like Undertale but for adults?

I don’t know, I recommend just giving it a shot.

Solo dev game, yeah. Also his debut game! Wild. They actually revised the plan. It was supposed to enter Early Access in May, and then have NG+ added later on. Instead they pushed it to September but supposedly feature complete. We’ll see if it’s a wise choice - September is a rough month to compete in.

But yeah, absolutely agreed on how good the game is. Good balance, nice build variety, the systems all work so well, the NG+ implementation is super cool and the game just has so many little surprises to throw at you. And it’s much bigger than you might think at first.

I still think Titanium Court edges it for me in terms of my number one favourite game I’ve played this year, but those are the top two for sure. And they’re both solo dev games! Madness.

One of the downvotes I’m happiest about getting ever, I think. I’m glad this gem isn’t completely unknown!

Withering Realms looks incredible but I might wait until full release, which is hopefully next year. September is so stacked. That being said, I’m not sure there are any of the other upcoming games I look forward to as much as this anyway…

I’ll throw in another one, why not. Withering Rooms is one of my absolute favorite games I’ve played this year. It’s an action/light horror roguelike that ends up being a very unique experience despite clear inspiration from games like Silent Hill and Dark Souls. For a solo developer game (who even wrote the wonderful music himself) it’s a seriously impressive game, especially with the amount of small QOL touches. I thought the puzzles were intuitive personally, but I loved and appreciated that there is both an in-game “Puzzle Oracle” consumable if you are stuck, and a tiered hint section on the website if you need a nudge.

There’s a ton of builds you can do, from various magic builds to melee and ranged and traps and more. The story is also very interesting, the world building is excellent and I enjoyed the writing. It really nails a certain vibe that very few games get right. For me, exploring this unique and interesting but dangerous world filled with a cast of weird and strange characters gave me similar emotions as playing Dark Souls 1 the first time. And it’s hard to give higher marks than that.

Amazing game.