Games

I don’t play as much as I used to back in the days, but I still like to try new stuff once in a while. Here are some of the games I’ve been enjoying lately and some comments.

2022

• Immortality: Very weird format, but I’m loving it so far. It’s kind of an interactive movie about an actress, where each significant object in a scene (either from one of her movies or the cinema industry around) can lead to other scenes. I won’t spoil much, but it’s very good at it. PS: Advancing more into the story, I’ll just say this: if you use a joystick, consider using also the pad if you see a yuxtaposed scene where the L stick doesn’t work. And that’s as much as I can tell you without spoiling.
• Elden Ring: You probably know much about this already. I’m not going to say anything more insightful about it than Noah Caldwell-Gervais said in his superb analysis on Souls inheritors.
• Grim Fandango (Remastered): Still the masterpiece it once was. Much praise has gone to the music (one of my favourite videogame OSTs) and the cinematography of the camera’s position, but I forgot how just plain hilarious this game is. Sadly, the mechanics have aged badly, as in most LucasArts graphical adventures, and the remaster isn’t much to look at. Still one of my favourite games.
• Citizen Sleeper: A sci-fi story exploring concepts of identity, labour/capitalism, cyberpunk (in the right ways: at its intersection with capital) and such. It feels like a graphical novel with extra steps: it’s organized in cycles where you can use actions that have a chance of success of failure (via dices). It’s fun, and its aided by a very curated aesthetic and a compelling setting. Some of the subplots fell flat for me: the game really tries to make you like (or, at least, empathize with) most characters, and if certain qualities don’t work you get stuck in tasks for the sake of advancing a story you are not invested in.
  Also: the game has, sadly, little replay value, as one can get most of the “endings” in one playthrough, and the novelty and pressing of the early game quickly fade out. Still, it was a relatively cozy game that I’d recommend if you are into sci-fi.
• Norco: Pixel-art distopian surrealist game set in Louisiana. It has a dreamlike quality, kind of like Kentucky Route Zero. Most of the dialog is very solid. It’s has also gorgeous art. The bit I liked the least is the (rare) combat system, but other than that, I would recommend to most people into pixel-art or the click adventure genre.
• Rimworld: I got into this game a bit more in depth lately. Probably you know that it’s basically simple Dwarf Fortress; I like it, but the potential for emerging narratives is more constrained, or at least that’s my impression, and lots of it has to do with the way it’s 2D rather than 3-D divided in Z levels. Anyway, I’m nitpicking, it’s a great game.