<insert "pitbull" joke here>

They’re step-siblings, the hottest kind of siblings.

Nearing the end of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which has been a pretty fun ride. It’s amazing how much playfulness and inventiveness the devs managed to cram into a game from a genre that’s over three decades old. It’s probably a bit too difficult for my tastes, but Funky Mode makes things a bit more fair.…

Gonna curl up with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and let this game kick my ass over and over and over again.

You could have made this decision at any point in the past four years. You didn’t. Now it’s moot. There’s no point in announcing a lack of coverage of something when there’s no coverage to be had.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. You’re expecting consistency when there are petty partisan points to be scored? This is the A.V. Club, buddy. Moral hypocrisy is the name of the game.

I think the best way to do an Indiana Jones game while working in the confines of AAA development is to make it more or less like an Uncharted game, but with the tone of the 1930's adventure serials that inspired it. Basically, steal from both the master and the disciple.

Is this the same Jelle Bakker who does Jelle’s Marble Runs?

It’s all Genshin Impact, all the time for me, baby. I’m having a blast with the new wintry zone and its survival mechanics. The giant cavern full of crystal is a highlight, especially the enormous spiral ramp.

I’m flattered to be described as a “games coverage mainstay”! I know I don’t hang out here as much as I used to, but I still love this place, and I’ll keep dropping by when I can.

You’re welcome! It’s a game that reviewed well at release, but it unfortunately seems to have failed to make an impact, so I’m doing my part to spread the word about its excellence.

I liked Golf With Your Friends because it allowed me to golf with my friends. That sounds silly, but it’s true. GWYF is a janky experience that’s marginally more polished than Cyberpunk 2077, but when you’re playing with your friends, it’s sublime. It turns into a goofy-as-hell party game that bends and breaks the…

This weekend I’ll be diving back into Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout and Genshin Impact after a few weeks away from each. The former just dropped their third season of content, and it’s winter-themed, which I appreciate greatly. The latter is releasing new content next week, opening up a whole new continent to explore,…

I feel like that film teetered on the edge of greatness but just missed the mark. I think Shinkai deliberately wanted to cover as little of the protagonist’s past as possible, but the whole thing would have held together a lot better if it had been explicit about Hodaka coming from an abusive household.

Thanks! If you’re looking for more releases by Asian artists, Sokoninaru, LiSA, Chelmico, DAOKO, Scandal, and Akai Koen (RIP Maisa Tsuno) all put out pretty good records this year.

Interesting list, with a lot of albums that I liked (though I can’t say the Rina Sawayama or Fiona Apple records did much for me). Here’s my top 20:

Cursive: Vitriola and Get Fixed

Continuing my adventures in Yakuza: Like a Dragon this weekend. It’s an extremely long game. I’ve already sunk 70+ hours into it, and I predict that there’s at least another 20 hours left to go. But as far as JRPGs go, it’s excellent. It’s not as self-serious as some of RGG Studio’s past titles, but it also tells a…

I’m in Chapter 10 of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and so far it’s delightful, a few massive difficulty spikes aside. The substories seem even more substantial than in series entries past, and the plot is a little more grounded as compared to, say, Yakuza 4 or 5. What isn’t grounded, though, is the kind of gear and weaponry…

Jesus fuck, 505.