May-June 2026: G4M3R Episode
Trying to keep slightly more consistent updates on this and writing stuff as it happens across time. Work-life got very busy for like 4 weeks on a row, at the turn of June, so my leisure time was focused on being a couch potato playing videogames.
The notable exception to this gaming streak was Junk World releasing in movie theaters, which made for a very nice date. The movie had more means and ambitions than its predecessor Junk Head did, but it lost a lot of atmospheric cohesion in doing so: too busy with its multiverse looping story, it had less time for the small funny moments that made Junk Head shine. Still, a very unique viewing experience more people should see.
The Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth rabbit hole is over. The narrative unfortunately suffers deeply from their incapacity to commit to what the game claims to be doing. It is a bit grating to hear Spike McBlondie & Co. ramble about changing their future which is definitely not set in stone, then immediately proceed to follow the tracks of the original FF7 narrative almost to the letter, including some re-retcons of changes that happened in FF7Remake. This is all the more unfortunate because, unlike FF7Remake which was a deeply disagreeable experience mechanically speaking, everything in Rebirth is fun, from its updated combat system that flows much more smoothly than Remake ever did, up to the myriad of mini-games that are either fun to play or fun to hate.
Also finished The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, excellent narrative, I miss my boywife himbo Herlock Sholmes. Unlike the original Ace Attorney trilogy, where most cases just happen, and the conclusion felt like some sort of Avengers most ambitious crossover moment, here in the Great Ace Attorney every moment, every case since the very beginning of the first game, builds up to a Great climax involving every main character in deeply intertwined ways. Ace Attorney Investigations Collection also had a slightly less tightly written but goofier climax, not much to say about it - didja now Miles Edgeworth is called Benjamin Hunter in French? Now there’s only Apollo Justice left, sigh…
Another day, another visual novel: I quickly played through Anonymous;Code. Through Steins;Gate, the SciADV (Science Adventure) series is what got me into anime, then into reading VNs and more broadly eased me into reading English text. It has played a significant role in my life for more than a decade, and occupies a forever special spot in my autism hall of fame. With all that in mind, knowing of A;C very complicated production, the game barely matched my low expactations from it. It removes all the fluff that makes the other SciADV casts feel alive and connected to each other, streamlining it into a constantly moving plot with ever bigger stakes it fails to make me care about. The Save/Load mechanic had potential, which can be glanced in the very last stretch for the True End, but ultimately fails to deliver more than an irritating interruptions of what is an otherwise purely “linear” experience.
I had to force myself to finally conclude Silent Hill 2, whose last section I had been avoiding going back to for months. I am obliged to acknowledge the game’s long lasting impact, but on a personal level not a single aspect resonated with me. It is too concrete for me to enjoy the surreal vibes and atmosphere (unlike, say, Yume Nikki), but too abstract for me to care about the characters. It felt like Signalis mechanically but without lesbians (one less reason to care), and this is the final nail in my “I don’t like old-school survival horror games”-shaped coffin.
I played Hollow Knight on a whim, at a moment where I needed something to keep my brain and hands busy without letting my thoughts unravel, and this game seemed like the perfect means to an end. I reached the so-called Bad End, tried to reach the True End and got bored along the way. I don’t really vibe with these sort of lore-heavy narratives where nothing much actually happens during the playthrough, narratively, which probably weighed heavily in my decision to let the game go after reaching some sort of ending point. The exploration of the map was overall fun, but the boss fights were not enjoyable for me, and the endgame being mostly just a constellation of ever-harder bosses and variants killed my interest. I can’t process how people can click with this, I just cannot.
Completed Lok Digital. Short game, excellent minimalist mechanics cooked in a smooth UX, no puzzle gets hard to the point of wanting to headbutt walls, and the hint system helps for the harder ones without giving away the whole thing. What more could one ask? (This paints a stark contrast with Baba is You, which was completed slightly earlier, requiring many external hints to make sense of the sometimes obscure and convoluted mechanics, a very interesting puzzle game including too many wall-headbutt moments for me.)
Also completed TOEM during a heat wave day, which roughly plays as Pokemon Snap, in a greyscale magical Northern Europe setting, with funny dialogues along the way.
On a final note, I started playing Pronoun Palace, the woke queer Scrabble roguelike, if you like both Wordle and being bored for longer stretches of time that’s the game you need, 11/10.