Oh, yeah, I got that much, but that seemed to be it. No explanation of why that would help, or what it would lead to, or why this had befallen the kingdom, etc. In a game that was so achingly beautiful, that made a lot of the enemies so cute and similar to you that you regretted killing them, I would’ve liked a little…

A wonderful review of a wonderful game. I stopped after finishing the game the first time, because I just don’t have a ton of time these days, but should I go back for Steel Soul mode and 100% completion? I realize now I missed at least one DLC (the Grimm Troupe, and possibly Gods and Glory), so if that’s great…

That’s the only thing about Hollow Knight I didn’t love — the Souls style of storytelling. For the second half of the game, I was thinking to myself [SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT] “I hope this isn’t just building up to an unexplained ‘now you take the place of the thing you fought’ ending.” That’s...…

Papo y Yo, a puzzle-ish magical realist game about a boy in a favela and his alcoholic father, might be the only video game ending I’ve actually cried at. Easily my favorite. Braid (the reverse part, at least) and Portal and the several endings of the original Fallout are also up there.

Just replayed Bastion a week or two ago. Every bit as good as I remember, and that ending is beautiful. Pyre was great, but can’t hold a candle to it.

That’s one of the most validating things I’ve heard about a video game. I psyched myself out every time I saw one of them. 

Oh yeah! I had Upwords growing up but thought of it as a lesser version of Scrabble. I’m totally ready to learn I was wrong.

Thanks! Guacamelee is the only one I’ve played. I liked it, but can’t say I was blown away. Owlboy I also started, but got bored of. Salt and Sanctuary is sitting on Steam waiting for me, and I’m hearing good things about Celeste, so they may be my next ones -- but it might be time to dig up Symphony of the Night!…

Yup. This is why I loved Logan.

Surprised that burgers from the airport burgerie aren’t on the list.

Haven’t played it in years, but that’s great too! I think of it as a fairly different kind of game — a semantic game more than a spelling game. Closer to Taboo or Charades than Scrabble or Boggle. But that may just be my mental categorization.

I didn’t finish Transistor and was slightly lukewarm on Pyre, so I went back to Bastion to (a) re-experience it and (b) see if it was as good as I remembered.

Ooh, and Portal!

I think I did 100% that, which is way more palatable when the game is short...

Yeah, Steam tells me it was 28 hours. I might return for another 28 and try to get to 100%!

Looks like... 28 hours. I only beat it once, though — no Steel Soul or 100% for me, this time. Maybe next time...

Also:

I had never heard of Snatch It until Thanksgiving a couple years ago, but literally every member of my family (and several of my friends) now own a copy. It’s like Bananagrams but, you know, good.

Hot take: Scrabble is at best the third-best word game, after Boggle and Snatch It.

Just replayed Bastion and it did exactly that. I remember 5- to 20-hour games (Bastion, Papo y Yo, Braid, Hollow Knight, Undertale) more fondly and more clearly than I do most games I’ve sunk 100+ hours into. More Arkham Asylum, less Arkham Everything After!