I actually loved the part of the game where you meet Ashera and get to know her colony, because it’s the closest thing the game has to a comedic break. I love how exasperated Eunie gets with her.

I finally reached Chapter 5 of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 on my commute yesterday, and damn this game goes *hard*. It did not need to go this hard. It could have coasted. But it’s willing to put its characters through the wringer and also do some pretty neat fakeouts.

I’m also at the start of Chapter 5 (not going to spoil anything because I don’t know how far you are into it), and damn, it’s some chilling, emotionally gutpunching stuff to see how these functional adolescents just don’t have any reference point for all of the stuff we take for granted. It’s really effective stuff.

This is why y’all should come hang out at The Avocado (https://the-avocado.org/). People actually have fun there.

More Soul Hackers 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for me this weekend. I’ve gotten a little burned out on the former, because I’m playing on Normal instead of Easy, and it’s a bit more stressful than I had perhaps intended. Time to grind! XC3 on the other hand continues to have its hooks in me. I’ve kind of let the main…

I’d say SH2 is a lot less narrative-heavy and has fewer meta-systems to worry about than Persona. (I haven’t played any of the mainline SMT games, so I can’t compare.) It feels a bit like Tokyo Mirage Sessions, albeit with more meaningful and customizable progression. The games I’d liken it most to are the Digimon…

This weekend I’m forging ahead with more Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Soul Hackers 2.

Chris Rock being asked to return to the Oscars is like The A.V. Club expecting the commentariat to stick around after the Kinjapocalypse.

This weekend, I’m planning to dive into Soul Hackers 2, which I downloaded to my PC last night. I know the reviews were lukewarm, but I’ve been itching for some Atlus turn-based action, and at a lean 30 hours or so, this is exactly what I’m looking for.

The A.V. Club had a games section long before they became part of G/O Media.

I feel like there’s room for a more grounded Saints Row than SR4, but gleeful amorality is a huge part of the appeal of this series, and not leaning into that seems like a misstep. This series’s ethos really should be “be gay, do crimes.”

Having lived there, I can say that speeding isn’t appreciably worse there than most of the other places I’ve lived, in part because the traffic is so bad to begin with.

Out of games that have announced release dates (aside from the ones listed here), I’m looking forward to:

I played through Bright Memory: Infinite last year on PC, and it’s very good for what it is: an indie FPS/action game. Don’t expect a lot of different environments or many crazy setpieces. It’s just a short, simple, surprisingly slick campaign.

Yeah, I’m hoping it’s just the way the trailer’s cut, because otherwise, hoo boy are we in for 2 hours of the most hoary clichés.

I’ve been playing two games: Silt and AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative.

Neon White would probably be my current GOTY, but I haven’t completed it yet, so instead I’ll talk about three other games.

For me the top album of the year so far is Hikaru Utada’s Bad Mode. Honourable mentions to Sachiko Aoyama, Haru Nemuri, Placebo, and Porcupine Tree.

PC. I have a Switch, but I’m absolutely horrid at playing first-person shooters with a controller.

Definitely playing more Neon White this weekend. It’s basically Titanfall 2-style parkour/shooting with Super Meat Boy’s gameplay flow and Paradise Killer’s tone and aesthetic and a Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories-esque card mechanic bolted on. This is very much my shit.