Video Games

Astroneer

41 hours

• Graphics: 👍👍
  • Colorful, diverse, and at times beautiful; while also being clearly readable.
• Gameplay: 👍👍
  • No combat or food/water mechanics is really refreshing.
• Story: 👍
  • There isn't really a story, but there also doesn't need to be.

Carrion

Reverse horror game where you play as the monster breaking out of a lab.

• Gameplay: 👍
  • Most enjoyable when it feels like you’re stalking humans, but that’s infrequent
• Graphics: 👍
• Story: 😐
  • There’s not much of one, but what’s there is alright

Deep Rock Galactic

100+ hours

• Graphics: 👍👍
• Gameplay: 👌
• Writing: 👍

Fez

Prepare to have nothing explained to you. Some will like that old school mentality, others will not.

Platforming itself is enjoyable. Rotating the world to go where you want is very rewarding. Moving about the world is sometimes a puzzle in of itself. The best puzzle type in the game for that matter.

Firewatch

The story tackling some of the challenges of dementia had me invested quickly. The radio conversations with Delilah are unique. I'd love to see another game do something similar. I was glad the ending didn't explain everything with some supernatural explanation. Keeping everything grounded was the right call.

Some previously written thoughts are below.

I beat this game in a day. That’s not a bad thing mind you, I appreciate when games don’t overstay their welcome. Gameplay wise it’s nothing more than a walking simulator. Story wise it’s quite a wild ride. Your wife getting dementia hit home for me, wasn’t expecting that. I was glad the ending didn’t get fantastical as well. It didn’t chalk everything up to magic or something else, which would’ve cheapened the first ⅔ of the game. The story is trying to tell you that avoiding your problems can lead to new ones, which is a good lesson.

Golf Gang

4.6 hours

• Graphics: 👍
• Gameplay: 👍👍
• Fun w/ Friends: 👍👍, but only for ~5 hours

Monster Hunter Rise

100+ hours

• It's Monster Hunter at it's best.
• The Wirebug is a ton of fun. Makes traversal super enjoyable.
• Fighting monsters is, at times, frustrating. Once you learn the moves of a monster it becomes really fun and satisfying.
• Each weapon is unique and could be an entire combat set in another game.

Outer Wilds

• Gameplay: 👍👍 when finding new things, 👍 when you're not
  • If there was a system that gave you a hint after (hypothetically) 3 cycles without finding anything new, the game would have fewer frustrating moments.
  • Flying the ship goes from occasionally annoying to tons of fun once you start to master the controls.
• Graphics: 👍
• Audio: 👌
  • The music is beautiful. Especially Timber Hearth and Outer Wilds.
  • How sound and the music tie into gameplay is unique and well executed.
• Story: 👍👍
  • Effectively shared with the player through in universe systems.
  • Fairly cohesive despite being acquired in whatever order the players happens upon.

Raft

• Gameplay: 👍
  • The survival and building mechanics are fun for 5-10 hours, then quickly become tedious
• Graphics: 😐
• Story: 😐
  • Told through notes discovered on special islands, occasionally interesting, but usually doesn’t have much substance

Retired Men's Nude Beach Volleyball League

Most of the story text is cringe and not really necessary.

When you get a steady flow of hits the game is quite fun, but hitting a 2D ball, with a 2D character, in a 3D space doesn't allow that to happen often. Tracking the ball becomes a frustrating chore.

Dope theme song.

Risk of Rain 2

62+ hours

• Amazing build flexibility for each character.
• Command items becomes busted quick, but it's more fun.
• Mods add 10's of hours (maybe more) of enjoyment to the game.
• Great support from the devs.

Valheim

40+ hours

While I haven't beaten this game, I've spent enough time with it that I want to share my thoughts. The crafting system is well thought out. The biggest issue with is how many resources some things require (grindy). You'll eventually get an upgrade that makes acquiring said materials much faster. Even when you're mining copper for hours the game is enjoyable. It's at its best when playing with friends.