I plan to write a long-ish blog post in which I gush about Baldur’s Gate 3.
Before I start crafting an unnecessary essay about a current game that’s been reviewed and praised elsewhere, I feel a desire to wrap up the remaining games in my series: reviews of games that have been released and reviewed so long ago that my opinions are meaningless.
Perhaps it’s for the best. Instead of writing endlessly about Expanse: A Telltale Series (for example), I’m reduced to a couple of paragraphs. Brevity is the soul of wit, and I am not witty.
Speaking of which…
Expanse: A Telltale Series
This is a prequel to The Expanse TV series (not the books; the TV series combines some of the books’ characters and this game follows suit). A few of the game’s character voices are supplied by actors on the series.
This has the best 3D movement mechanics that I’ve seen in any Telltale-style game.
I have a well-documented fondness for Telltale games. This one is no exception.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
You may recall that I was mildly disappointed in Horizon: Forbidden West compared to its predecessor. Burning Shores is a DLC for HFW that partly redeems its base game.
This may be because the “Burning Shores” take place in the city of Los Angeles. I used to live there, and recognized the places: the Griffith Park Observatory, the Santa Monica Pier, and so on. Or perhaps it’s because Aloy finally has a chance to kiss a girl and she likes it.
Viewfinder
Viewfinder is a puzzle game with a clever concept. You can take a picture of something in your environment, then superimpose that image onto another part of the game world. If the image extends out to the horizon, then the superimposed image replaces the entire 3D world model out to that same horizon.
I enjoyed the game until I got to the last chapter. That required solving a series of eight puzzles in five minutes, and requires fast reflexes. I simply gave up.
I highly recommend this game, except for that last chapter.
Humanity
Humanity is a “flow puzzle” game. You use tools such as pipes and switches to control the flow of a fluid-like substance to satisfy the puzzle’s condition.
In this game, the “fluid-like substance” the flow of human souls seeking the afterlife. Your control mechanism is a Shiba Inu, a cute breed of dog.
I loved using a cute friendly puppy to help huge numbers of people. I got about a third of the way through the game before other things distracted me. Based on what I saw, if you enjoy puzzles you’ll like this game.
Diablo IV
I might have a better long-term impression of Diablo IV if:
- it hadn’t come out shortly before Baldur’s Gate 3, which is a far better game by any measure;
- the game didn’t descend into repetition once the main story concludes;
- Blizzard hadn’t acquired a bad reputation for its treatment of its employees.
If you like the endless game loop of “kill the monsters to get better gear to fight bigger monsters to get even better gear…”, then this game is better than Diablo III. As for me, I’ve lost interest.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a better game than its immediate predecessors, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. If you enjoyed those earlier games, you’ll like this one too.
One of the things that’s better about this game is its story. However, that story assumes you’re familiar with the story beats (including side-quests) of the previous games. I would not suggest playing this game without having played the other two, unless you don’t care about the story.
God of War: Ragnarök
God of War: Ragnarök is another sequel that’s better than its predecessor. The story is better, and its game mechanics (on easy mode) were mostly within my limited game-play abilities.
Again, I would not suggest playing this game without having played the previous game in the series.
God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla
This is a DLC for GoW: Ragnarök. It’s a roguelite in which Kratos examines his past. I found the game annoying at first, because I’d forgotten the control sequences in Ragnarök, but eventually managed to progress in it.
The story of this adventure assumes familiarity with the entirety of the God of War series going back to 2005. I advise watching one of the many God of War timeline videos to best appreciate it.
That’s it!
In my next game essay: Why you should seduce Karlach.