I mean I am all for criticising creatively bankrupt mush like Ubisoft et al pushes out and Call of Duty 420: Black Ops 69 or FIFA or whatever but we can’t pretend there are literally no good games being released nowadays either. Just now we had a month with both Blue Prince and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 being released within weeks of each other. BG3 and Alan Wake 2 releasing in the same year was just two years ago.

There are plenty of not just good but great recent games.

I just spot interesting projects and creations others create and then just write my own thoughts on them

Soo… journalism?

In any case, do whatever makes you happy, whether remaining solely on here or creating your own thing from this like a website or blog. Your content is among the best on the platform and I hope you know how much we all appreciate you.

I hate being a cynic but I am with you on this one.

The first half is stronger than the second, in my opinion, but I really like it overall.

Story wise though, i’m a bit mixed on. I’m really liking the story, just not as a Max Payne story. The Brazil setting isn’t really doing it for me and it feels a bit more GTA Coded than Noir, at least until i detach it from the first two games.

This is pretty much the general consensus of the game overall I think. Good game, just not a good Max Payne game.

There are some high performance VA panels that are good for gaming. Samsung Odyssey Neo G7/G8 for example.

Are there really no mini-LED monitors in your country? I’m a really big advocate of them. As close to OLED HDR performance as you can get without burn-in and with better peak brightness. I’m currently using a Cooler Master GP27Q that I got for cheap as an opened box, which has been a really solid monitor for the cheap cheap price I got it for (couple hundred euros).

I think a 27 inch 1440p monitor with 2000+ dimming zones will be the sweet spot between performance and affordability, though none like that are on the market yet.

Look Ubisoft: this is what your devs could be making if you’d let them make what they want to be making. Instead of churning out another cookie cutter “Ubisoft game”.

Yeah GoT quickly turned from a fun game I enjoyed to a game I almost loathed and resented as I had to force myself to finish it.

It really doesn’t have enough variety to support being that long, in my opinion. The mission design is way too bland and samey and the tone of the writing just starts wearing you down. Literally everything is the same serious tone delivered in a dour monotone. A handful of moments with Kenji is not enough to break the tedium. It would be fine if the game was 20 hours long, not 60.

I still think it’s a fine sort of 7.5-8/10 at the end of the day but I consider it one of the most overrated games of all time. It’s just a polished Ubisoft collect-a-thon open world with solid combat at the end of the day. It’s not game of the decade or whatever.

I suppose I will use the same “supporting indie devs is a good deed” justification as when I purchased Blue Prince on launch day for this game.

La Belle Epoque inspired game that is reviewing at 92/100 on OpenCritic with several mentions of it being a GOTY contender? And the themes are about wrestling with hope and optimism in the face of nihilism and hopelessness? (Disco Elysium my beloved)

I never stood a chance.

Mumble is where it’s at.

Ubisoft made a fun game, but it’s way to big for it’s own good.

Well, everyone expected this game to copy Ghost of Tsushima, so maybe it’s not surprising that it ends up copying its biggest flaw as well.

That’s a wild looking thing! Had no idea that was a thing.

Cross posted this to !obscureinstruments@sh.itjust.works

I think even in back 2012 an argument could be made quite easily, but it’s a shame Roger Ebert didn’t live long enough to see some of the games released over the past decade that quite convincingly demonstrate how video games can indeed be art.

I agreed with him very often but that was one instance of him having an inexplicably bad take.

I’m a slut for La Belle Epoque so even though I’m not necessarily in the market for a JRPG at the moment I might just cave anyway with scores like this.

I’m almost done with Blue Prince too, so it’s fortuitous timing.

Or you know, don’t.

It’s my favourite take on a first contact story. I think you’d appreciate it.

Ever read Roadside Picnic?

It is the best written video game ever and it’s not particularly close either. It’s one of the best written pieces of media I’ve ever had the pleasure of consuming.

I haven’t had time to play as much the past couple of days, but when I do I am similarly entralled by Blue Prince. It’s going to be very hard for another game to pip it for game of the year for me I think.

It’s so full of mysteries, so full of intricacies, so full of interactions and puzzles within puzzles. The narrative and lore is great too. I really do love every single element of it. Even the basic gameplay of the roguelite portion is so well done that you are always just fiending for one more run, the dopamine rewards of drafting a satisfying house really just tickles your brain just right.

Seriously, if you haven’t already then go play it.

They’ve already been paying crazy money for poop coffee for years so maybe this was always an untapped market.