Riley MacLeod
Narratively and structurally, Hitman 3 strips its own make believe away, leaving the series’ core darkness on display.
My favorite ending in Cyberpunk is the one a lot of players call the “bad” ending. I wouldn’t have been satisfied if it were my only choice, but its sad but uncompromising tone felt right for my playthrough. In every ending, characters you forged relationships with message you during the credits. In this ending, they have different opinions on your choice, and some wish things came out differently. This ending felt most like my time inside Cyberpunk and in the discussion around it: a lot of conflicting emotions and no definitive answer.
So many people worked on this game for so long and at such cost, that I want The Last Of Us II to be more than the experience I had.
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Hitman 2 takes what its predecessor did best and improves on it visually and mechanically. It’s a cerebral game, a sandbox that can be bloodless or chaotic depending on who’s pulling 47’s strings.
It may be a hard game, but the temptation to improve was irresistible. I didn't want to stop playing.
Ultimately, Death of the Outsider is just more Dishonored. Dishonored excels at being a blank slate for players' creativity, and while Death of the Outsider doesn't do anything to change that, it doesn't ruin a good thing.
The worst version of Prey is the game its ending thinks it is, an action-y game with stealth elements about humanity and moral choices. The best version of Prey is the game that happens in between, one where you ignore its plot completely, take your time to explore every cranny, and hide in a tree to look at the stars. It fails itself when it tells you what to do, but you have plenty of opportunities not to listen to it and have a great time in the process.
The main plot of Night in the Woods didn't move me much, and in fact it disappointed me a little in its shift from relatable 'people stuff' into grander, supernatural machinations. But for me the plot was secondary to the experience of kicking around town, bumping Mae up against everybody's lives, seeing myself, who I could have been, who I'll never be.
Abzu is a lovely, pleasant game, one well worth experiencing for yourself. It unfolds in unexpected directions, a relaxing exploration in a beautiful and mysterious world.
I could call the game bad for all its faults, but it doesn't even feel fair to call the game bad. It is a traditional game, featuring all the things typical games of its type feature. Glitches aside, there's little here that would convince me to tell you not to play it. I didn't enjoy most of my time with it, but I wasn't miserable either.
The first episode of Hitman is a very strong start, and it's a return to form for a series that some were worried had begun to wander.
Beautiful but clumsy, with a very helpful wet dog.