My original take on BotW was that it was a solid backbone for a new formula with room for improvement. Sure enough, TotK improves on what we had before (even a lot of pre-BotW concepts, arguably) and introduces some cool new elements that still demand their own improvement in the future. This series is escalating by a margin I'm not sure I've ever seen.

Hi-Fi, meanwhile, hits every beat that I personally like seeing in a game—or any medium, for that matter! Between this, Sunset Overdrive, and (sort of) Psychonauts, maybe Microsoft should all-out embrace a wacky action brand if there's an audience for it. Or at least, I hope HFR was successful enough that Tango can be known for something and perhaps make a bigger sequel with everyone being playable, a wider variety of environments and tunes, and yes, more licensed songs.

You aren't kidding. I tried to have an open mind during the PlayStation stream but eeehhh, even Spidey didn't do much for me besides introducing web wing gliding (which should make it a bona fide superhero experience and completely denecessitate fast travel). MGS Delta was probably supposed to be a headliner, but "Konami" and "Not actual gameplay footage" are mood killers on their own, let alone together. I'm most curious about how the inevitable Master Collection Vol. 2 will handle the nigh-unportable MGS4.

CDKeys is nuts sometimes. I remember getting RE8 for like $18 when it was maybe half a year old. I did cave into morbid curiosity and grab RE4 which, as the consensus suggests, feels about the same as the original for better or worse. Ragnarök is naturally a safe bet at this point, so I'm looking forward to that.

Right, I was in fact referring more to environmental variety with BotW and Elden Ring rather than distinct tasks, whereas Witcher 3 would be vice versa. Guess having it all truly is a pipe dream, if only due to the absurd amount of effort that would take.

But on that subject, I will say this: As someone who wasn't drawn into BotW right away (and even then, despite being amazed by the sense of true freedom, for me it still never quite felt like the deeply impactful experience it should have), I was immediately hooked on TotK, continuously want to try everything in sight, and already want to call it an all-time favorite game.

So yeah, we have a not-so-unexpected GotY upon us. But personally I'm still stoked to get into Hi-Fi Rush at some point too! Any further feedback on that one?

You are on to something for sure. As RPG fatigue leaves me grossly intolerant of padding, and aware of how heinously common it is (particularly attribute-dependent quest barriers), I notice the trend especially in the 2010s seemed to be one-note atmosphere. I'd guess we have Skyrim to thank for that, but either way I imagine it was inevitable as developers tried to make games bigger and bigger. Maybe since criticisms of emptiness popped up so quickly, the workaround was to sacrifice variety instead? I will say the most noteworthy exceptions are Witcher 3, BotW, and apparently Elden Ring... and hey BIG SURPRISE, they're held in the highest regard!

Thinking about SMT availability has me realizing so many of them are somehow only on DS and 3DS. But considering Nocturne HD's array of ports, and how much more innately accessible SMT5 is than its predecessors, expanding its presence to other platforms feels like a no-brainer. Plus modded emulation has proven that the game can easily run much better with just a little extra hardware, something that had also been preemptively achieved with NMH3, so c'mon! Let's go!

How was The Quarry? I do intend to get around to that when I'm in the mood, which could be a while. But I remember Until Dawn so vividly that I must've been pretty engrossed in it and would certainly like to recapture that.

I've neglected to mention this for years, but feel the need to since it was our original threshold: You ever checked out any of the Back to the Future comics? All the ones I've read are fun enough to be worthwhile, but in particular there's a run called Citizen Brown that adapts the game and basically fixes everything that was odd and awkward about it! Definitely the palette cleanser we needed, if a bit of a niche one.

You're absolutely right; the fatigue I have with AC being repetitive merely stems from playing more of them at once than most other people have. When there's been time to forget one experience, it's much easier to forgive another being so similar. Having toyed around with Origins now, I do appreciate that it (as expected) fills the grind with meaningful sidequests, like sometimes with fully animated cutscenes even, which justifies the forced longevity a lot better than its predecessors. And it is still the same at its core, though for that exact reason I'm not confident that I'll ever finish it.

What's most fascinating about diving into Dragon Age is the uneven retrospective. All three are mixed bags, but for entirely different reasons. I think overall I appreciated DA2 the most for keeping it simple—knowing that it was a low-resourced side project and adjusting my expectations helped with that, not to mention the satisfaction of it fixing a lot of the clunkiness that made DAO so agonizing to get through after a while. Inquisition though? Wow, what an elaborately programmed way to waste my time!

Yeeahhh, figured Wonderful 101 was a flip-flopper considering how polarizing it is just to look at. Guess I'll stay away from it for now since I'm still sore about Bayonetta 3. Hi-Fi Rush, on the other hand...

Dunno if Prey 2017 interests you at this point or if you've already played it, but I can confirm that it is, in fact, much better than Deathloop despite being its predecessor. That said, it doesn't resemble Dishonored or Deathloop that closely. Instead it's somehow the fourth BioShock, but with more of a System Shock setting obviously. Easily the most intriguing of my recent game streak despite being an afterthought purchase. Good news is the Prey team appears to be behind Redfall, so fingers crossed?

Hey! I see you’re playing Scarlet Nexus. How are you enjoying it so far? It was definitely one of my favorite games of last year. I still need to go back and buy the game so I can replay it as Kasane. I hope you’re enjoying it ^^