I actually didn't play Etherlords II until well after it released. I think I found it looking around for solid PC card games. Etherlords II is an open world-ish RPG, but instead of combat taking using the powers and weapons of party members, it takes place using a deck of cards you've constructed. There are a variety of different "races" in the game, and each race has its own campaign. Each race has access to different cards, although there may be a small amount of overlap (I can't recall). If a battle is lost, it can immediately be tried again, and certain battles require specific strategies to prevail. Although the final boss of the game is absurd, I became very engaged in learning what type of decks were wielded by various enemies, and how I could most effectively combat them. Etherlords II, in a way, reminds me of a single-player Magic the Gathering. Luckily it's not as expensive as Magic.
Firewatch, in many ways, is an extraordinary exploration of isolation. Henry, your protagonist, sees very few other people, and often the only sounds you hear are his footsteps on the terrain. You spend much of your time conversing with a woman named Delilah, your supervisor, and you (as well as Henry) come to appreciate her ramblings in the midst of such loneliness.
SOMA is a pretty dark and compelling game. I actually liked it much more than this team's previous release, Amnesia. There are many games that can change their players, but SOMA is the first that actually documents evidence of the phenomenon. The enemy encounters leave a lot to be desired, but the team actually addressed this by releasing a "safe mode" for the game.
Ever since I played Mark of the Ninja, I’ve been looking for something, anything, to provide that same stealth satisfaction. My attempts to recapture the magic were often in vain, and I’d just find myself again and again just watching YouTube videos on the brilliant design decisions made by Klei in the production of that masterpiece of a game. But finally, in 2020, I found Wildfire. Although developer Sneaky Bastards’ title certainly has a few mechanics that aren’t explained as well as they should be, the game’s plentiful environmental information and variety of supported approaches is very much in the Mark of the Ninja vein. The Witch (the game’s protagonist) feels much like you’d imagine an “elementalist” to feel, and achieving the disparate objectives within each level requires a mastery of each of the fire, water, and earth elements. And the game features a gradual and intentional power curve that allows you to lean into whichever element suits your fancy. Although the game can be completed in a little over six hours, I spent almost four times as long, completing various challenges and enjoying and appreciating this stealth playground.
Although I ran into a graphical glitch, a few crashes, and a quest progression issue during my time with Cyberpunk 2077, I ended up enjoying my time with it overall quite a bit. I played a few months after release on a higher-end PC. The game features excellent writing within its main and side stories, and Night City was a well-developed and immersive locale. I appreciated the character work and voice actors in the game, which only enhanced the exploration of exciting cyberpunk themes. While the game required a little grinding to access the highest level of cars and equipment and the skill tree was perhaps not as interesting as I'd hoped, the gameplay was solid. Outside of instability (which was a serious issue for many), players let their disappointment with what Cyberpunk 2077 wasn't, prevent them from enjoying what it was.
While I can't say that I found the story of Stonefly exceptional, I liked virtually every other element of the game. I loved the loop of collecting resources, then developing new abilities and upgrading my ship. I liked the concept, a world in which humans are smaller than insects and pilot ships that resemble them. I liked the music, which makes the world feel all the more enchanting, and the graphical style, which reminded me of children's author Eric Carle (of Very Hungry Caterpillar fame). More than anything, though, I loved the combat. While a friend of mind commented on how frantic it could be (which is certainly the case), I found it immensely satisfying to gain competency here. Often when I was having problems, I'd realize that I'd been neglecting an ability that would turn out to be a game-changer. I also found the way that your ship "blows" hostile bugs off of leaves and logs to eliminate them to be satisfying in a way that simply killing them wouldn't be. I was constantly luring or pulling enemies to the sides of the arena, and would punctuate the demise of more irritating foes with a hearty "get the fuck out of here!" Stonefly is an outstanding ARPG, and well-worth your time if you have a soft spot for the genre.
