Game in Hand

Feb-March NextFest 2026

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 17:08:04 GMT

Not sure how a capcom game made it into nextfest demo front page but I guess you do what you gotta do. Probably over exaggerating but the selection of less than quality titles seems a lot higher this year. It definitely took a few days for the good titles to work their way to the top thanks to the steam community digging deep.

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Reign of the Warlock - Diablo 2 Resurrected Expansion

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 16:11:40 GMT

I think at this point they could add a 2026 honda civic as a playable character in diablo, and my primary response will still be "Okay... maybe I should go try and see what changes they made to my paladin and sorc?". The warlock is unnecessary pay to fun but I can give credit where credit is due. They made me pay full price for a game I bought 5 years ago and still makes me think path of diablo and project diablo 2 needed my $30 instead.

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Escape from Ever After Review

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 16:16:35 GMT

Some mixed signals in there with the story. But overall a very fun and playful atmosphere borrowing from some very strong themes. Easy recommendation in my books for any Paper Mario series fan.

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Quarantine Zone: The Last Check Review

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 01:33:13 GMT

January off to a slow start for new games, and really, we could just be carrying on games from 2025 and still be in really good shape. February will size up better but for now, a lot of old junk is landing in xbox game pass ultimate.... not so ultimate calibre.

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Gaming Top 10s of 2025

Wed, 24 Dec 2025 04:57:25 GMT

Seasons greetings friends. I can't remember the last time made a >1hr episode, so bare with me for the mega finale of 2025. A lot of content, a lot of feelings in reflection, a lot of comments, a lot of games. It was a strong year for all walks of gaming. Maybe we can thank GTAVI for being perpetually pushed as studios cracked the whip to get games released early this year. But that's it for me this year, cheers.

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Switch 2 Half a Year Later...

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 02:09:21 GMT

Here are some thoughts and sentiments after half a year with my switch 2. While I have at least enjoyed my time playing both new and old games, part of me wonders if we are seeing a bit of Nintendo slip-up in these 1st party titles developed through COVID. Whether it's dividings teams too thinly or following modern AAA garbage practices, I feel like Nintendo turned a new page on monetization. Before we received more out of the DLSS capable, VRR capable, handheld system.

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Dispatch Review

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 22:46:43 GMT

What starts as just bunch of jerks becomes you and your lovable bunch of jerks. Just remember, your choices matter to a bunch of reject villains who are coming together as a team to take on the true evil of the world; unemployment and the rising cost of rent and food. Great looking game from start to finish and well worth the wait ever since playing the demo at nextfest in the spring/summer.

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Pokemon Legends ZA Review

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 03:28:28 GMT

I kept my expectations realistic because like most pokemon games, the thrill is in recapturing the same 60 pokemon from the generation pool and evolving them until you've seen just enough pokemon to know it's not worth it to catch them all. At its fundamentals, the battle system was a good pivot from turn based combat. But the failure comes in polish and finish. It is quite unexcusable this is our intro to pokemon on the switch 2 and really I can only think we got a switch 1 game that was easily dialed up for a bump in vram, ram, and gpu performance. 30 FPS is quite suitable for how bad the animations are in this game and I can only wonder sometimes what they spend their development budgets on. I am not even entertaining the thought of the mystery dungeon DLC, and I think I am ready to move on from buying a pokemon game until a true 10/10 title shows up. Won't hold my breath though...

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Silksong Review, Xbox's Game Pass Changes

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:15:22 GMT

From over the moon feelings about Silksong, to realizing my half decade of having game pass is soon to end as I enter my final year of game pass ultimate. Soon this podcast is going to be called Dollars and (Common)Sense. The most insane thing to suggest is to continually buy switch 1 version of switch 2 games, using vouchers and discounted egift cards, until Nintendo 1st party titles start earning that MSRP. Can't really say I don't feel these games feel worth more than the 35% off price tag.

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Skate - Early Access Impressions

Sun, 21 Sep 2025 22:54:52 GMT

As an EA Insider who has played this game for what I can now confirm is over ~2 years now, I still think there is much to love about this game. Rooftop and current unpatched insane physics are going to make meme worthy videos but there isn't a lot inherently going for downtown island city for anyone looking for the keystones of original skate 1,2, or 3 in this game. For better or for worse, it's a free to play game, free to be notified of cosmetics every step of the way, free to have multiplayer first mechanics be melded into what was primarily a single player game. It's hard to be too pessimistic as Full Circle have a solid foundation and understanding of the mechanics, but I think they need to either grow in scope or give players the tools to instill old Skate into new Skate.

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Donkey Kong Bananza - Fun... but $100 fun?

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 03:03:27 GMT

As someone who LOVES Donkey Kong, treated to a Mario Odyssey inspired Donkey Kong, how can I feel/be more positive?

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Gamescom - Silksong and I guess other lesser games

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 17:28:36 GMT

To say Silksong's 2 week heads up followed by path of exile 2's 4th act announcement was schedule disrupting would be an understatement. Definitely a whole bunch of cool games announced and some mid to less cool game DLC and updates announced. Overall I don't think we'll hit a lull of games to play any time soon.

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Battlefield 6 Open Beta and Summer Chill-out Gaming

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:54:41 GMT

Enjoying a nice slow summer with only Donkey Kong Bananza on the go. The BF6 open beta was a nice surprise. Hopefully when it comes out in the fall it lives up to the beta expectations.

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Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3+4 Review

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 02:43:51 GMT

THPS3 was as good as I remember. THPS4 was an improvement. THPS4 was culled for being poorly written and voice acted Definitely my hot take, the original THPS4 was a turn in the wrong direction for the series. That said, I just wish some of those stages like Hawaii and London didn't feel like they amputated half the content.

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Top 10 Favorite PSX Games

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Filler episode! <3 see you in August.

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Elden Ring Nightreign - Review

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 05:23:52 GMT

Early celebration for the (unofficial) 50th episode and 1000 downloads of Game in Hand! As much as I complain, I really love this game, hope they continue to put out more characters and map events.

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Dune Awakening - Final Review

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 23:26:09 GMT

I think Funcom has a good recipe here, I love playing sandcastles in the desert. But the sum of all pieces in the current end game cycle just kinda makes me wonder what makes this their choice for definitive end game for players.

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June Game Publisher Announcement Extravaganza

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 04:46:21 GMT

Sony State of Play, Xbox State of Xbox, Summer Games of Fest, Steam Next of Fest.

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Mario Kart World - Review

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 00:38:46 GMT

I am a Mario Kart simp, so of course I would like it. It is a huge ask to pay such a large price up front for what we have day 1. I think we will be more judgemental about what comes in the future as I do feel like they didn't quite nail free roam or incentivize completionist mentality, or simply WHY STICKERS. I did play around on the hovercrafts, helicopters and seeing what I could find. I did see a UFO but had to chase it over the ocean. I do think this game represents the best of what the switch 2 is capable of, and to me is a better showing than a few of the Switch2 upgrades I've tried.

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Switch 2 - Hands on

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 01:39:15 GMT

Sneaking this one in, as lame as it sounds, I can't put it down. Once you go 60fps, you never go back.

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Dune Awakening Closed Beta - Impressions

Tue, 20 May 2025 22:12:18 GMT

I find the Dune lore fairly engaging so I was more than willing to jump on the beta weekend with an open mind and enjoy some survival craft. I do think the start needs to be accelerated a bit more than it already is with super respawn times, because the opening sprawl and time commitment to figuring things out is massive.

Some people dig that, I imagine they are targeting those people, especially.

The sounds of a truck running in the background was in fact, fun construction truck idling.

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review

Sat, 17 May 2025 01:44:10 GMT

Biggest flaw about the game is it treats itself like a less than full priced game. It's a game to remember.

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The Elder Scrolls 4 (IV) - Oblivion Remaster Review

Thu, 01 May 2025 01:31:49 GMT

Day 1 for Gamepass, our cup runneth over. <3

I don't think there is a better reason to need to re-play, or experience Oblivion for the first time. But man, no matter what, Bethesda going to Bethesda. What originally felt like a game on the edge of the limits of content and design, comes back almost 2 decades later, seemingly feels like realizing graphics both improves but does not make the game. I think the ability to scale graphics to any level is a benefit but at some point, you pass the point of wondering if you should just boot up the original with mods. I pray we get some quality of life announcements in the forecast.

*edit - Just realized my old man brain time traveled 13 years back and said towerfall ascension unlocked today, Towerborne is the beat em up you should check out.

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Blue Prince

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 02:03:39 GMT

You take the good with the bad. It's fun having a house designed by some cryptic guy, play out like familiar board games, and struggle like a poorly implemented rogue-lite function. Sounds a lot easier than the hoops most of us go through to get a house.

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Switch 2! - Nintendo Direct Recap

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 01:34:22 GMT

2/4/2025 - Nintendo Direct Recap and Thoughts. Nvidia states it is 10x more powerful than the original switch, therefore by Nvidia logic 5070=4090=switch 2.

3/4/2025 - Apparently the follow up stream was filled with people just spamming about price.

*List of edits and updates for accuracy!*

*The panel in handheld mode is capable of 120hz, VRR, and HDR. Metroid Prime 4 for example is being advertised as 1080p120 in performance mode.

*Can use non-nintendo USB cameras but there is some vagueness about compatibility

*Not all titles are $80 USD, Bravely Default Remastered is $40USD per a Target ad for example

*Deltarune episodes 3&4 were announced, 1&2 already exist but I didn't have that on my radar

*Digital foundary's visual critique was decent for expectations but obviously gameplay on the screen>youtube compression

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Heroes of Hammerwatch 2 - Review

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 04:30:11 GMT

A great pixel roguelite. It is a true sequel with extra classes and expanded advanced specializations. It still needs some TLC and polish, but it certainly has kept my interest.

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The Case of the Golden Idol - Review

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 01:33:13 GMT

Hints of Return of the Obra Dinn was the main reason to pick this game up, sad only the main game is included.

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Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (PC) - Review

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 03:30:47 GMT

Someone should stand up and say the original was better while agreeing you can still have fun playing FF7 rebirth/remake. It is really an amusement park themed retelling, of the concept of final fantasy, using FF7 as a foundation, that was allowed to M.Night Shyamalan too many times. I just think people would have paid money for half the game this actually was but focusing on the right kind of character development and things that would make sense, more than how many mini games and multiverses one can fit in a final fantasy game.

6/10

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Review

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 06:00:59 GMT

Nostalgia bait, except they delivered on it. It's hard not to feel like the great circle picked up where the trilogy ended. I haven't enjoyed an indiana jones game since Fate of Atlantis and really the lego games were the only real contenders.

Odd start to the year with Sony events and discussions, Xbox deciding even you can be an xbox if you want to be, and having two Take Two studios releasing games within months of each other.

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Path of Exile 2 Early Access Impressions

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 03:49:36 GMT

Good start to a unpolished ARPG. I know it's not updated enough to say anything definite, but a month an a half later, there are more peak players logging into Path of Exile 2 than people playing GTA V. Banana has overtaken POE2, so... obviously it's not THAT good... I guess.

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(Extra!) Indie Games I Liked in 2024

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 22:10:23 GMT

Honestly, there were a bunch of indie games I left off my top 2024 lists and should have slotted them in somewhere, somehow. Check out Cryptmaster, The Ten Bells, The Case of the Golden Idol, and Nine Sols.

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Top Games of 2024

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 16:14:56 GMT

Top 5s - Honorable mentions, Top 5 JRPGs, Top 5 non-JRPGs, Top 5(ish) Disappointments, and a handful of rambles. Happy new year everyone!

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Zelda Echos of Wisdom & Mario and Luigi Brothership

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 06:11:52 GMT

I promise I'll only call it Mario and Luigi brotherhood like 3 times.I am seriously at a loss here. Nintendo outlets rejoicing over Brothership, Media and User scores on Metacritic are aligned, calling this game an 8/10. Why am I not on the same wavelength? Worse, I am seeing the outlet I agree with is none other than IGN. The M&L recipe was followed but to me it tastes like a copper penny. Zelda on the other hand is staple Nintendo experience, but I was over the moon that Mario and Luigi returned. It just like if your parents replace your goldfish when it dies and you feel something is off. I have lost a lot of my will to keep playing Brothership and instead, playing a casual zelda game because it just feels better.

Maybe I'll revisit this in the new year and see if my opinion changes but... man... not how I was expecting to feel.

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Metaphor ReFantazio Review

Sun, 17 Nov 2024 17:17:11 GMT

Atlus' studios are really good at the persona formula and despite some changes that made them try and indicate "yeah it's made by the persona team, but it's a "new" RPG!", blind taste test would say otherwise. The art style and music are simply interesting and refreshing vs some of the blandness we've been exposed to recently. The plot is a bit bonkers and again we're experiencing an "okay just go with it" in the plot arcs, but I don't think I felt I should stop playing at any point so it was hard not to just keep going through. I wouldn't put it on the pedestal that Persona 5 sits on, but it's probably not hard to say it's one of, if not the best turn based RPGS we received this year.

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Top 10 NDS Games

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 21:06:22 GMT

What can I say... the NDS was not about fully 3D games, it was about interactive games. The forced touch experience was really make it or break it for a lot of games. Great to see a lot of developers embracing it because we all know how much developers loathed the nauseating 3D feature of the 3DS.

A lot of these games have innovative aspects to their touch controls while others feel shoe horned into the concept. Really that was make or break for me. Hope at least we line up in a few of the top choices.

**Just as a post upload edit, I just saw IGN gave Veilguard a 9/10. Someone pass me that koolaid.

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Top 10 Favorite PSP Games/Series

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 03:14:12 GMT

Let's talk about my favorite PSP games of all time since I am a bit busy, tired, and tired of being busy. Took everything I had in me not to mention FFT and Valkyrie Profile Lenneth.

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Core Keeper & FFXVI Demo - Impressions

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 02:12:01 GMT

What is it that is so appealing about tile based exploration and crafting games. It's very rudimentary but stole my interest longer than a few other titles I've played recently. It definitely has a lot going for it and aside from peaking a bit early in functions, it's a solid game.

On the other hand, squeenix needs some tough love when it comes to PS5 exclusives being slowly re-released on PC. I am a fan of the lower sticker price for the base version, but I am just not loving it. 30 FPS games belong on the switch and is a full disappointment when you force someone to watch a stuttery cutscene when it could have just been a video.

I bought Metaphor: Refantazio because the demo was great, so I'm pumped for the release later this month.

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Kunitsu-Gami Path of the Goddess

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 21:58:09 GMT

Capcom said the game sold 500,000 copies on July 19th, we're 2 months past that point. Maybe players need a gentle reminder to review... or I guess play it since they are all probably part of the 500,000+ peak concurrent players playing wukong everyday.

Don't sleep on Kunitsu-Gami, it has a lot of offer, plays well on handhelds, and we need capcom to hold the banner for other AAA studios to take a risk every once and a while and serve more games like this instead of Games that throttle you down As a Service.

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Once Human - Survivalcraft meets Serverstabilitycraft

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 22:11:43 GMT

Rejoyce, summer release slump is over!

I am having a fairly decent time with this game. It probably is worth more than the zero dollars I've spent on it, but it's cosmetics are also next to nothing in terms of appeal. Novice mode is the definitive casual way to play. Anyone else who is seeking even half a challenge should avoid novice servers.

Wukong is out and I am definitely not a day 1 reviewer. I think it does a lot right and definitely will get to it when time permits. Judging from the other souls like games, it's going to be a steam sale target for sure.

Starwars outlaws is out and as much as I am a fan of Massive Entertainment's games, they always seem to be above generic garbage that gets pumped out, initial reviews and performance results leave a bit to be desired. Hopefully it's not a "OH WE DEFINITELY ARE WORKING ON THIS, HERE IS A 5 YEAR ROADMAP FOR A GAME WE'RE GOING TO NOW STOP TALKING ABOUT AND ABANDON IN 9 MONTHS". Looking at you EA and WB.

But at least we're ramping into the period known as back to school depression. New games to be had, many still coming down the pipeline.

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Summer of Slowdown 2024 - Games Roulette

Sat, 17 Aug 2024 03:19:30 GMT

Serves us right for having such a strong new game library last year. Now we are stuck with a lack of (positive) new game news. Nothing worse than lackluster news either. I guess we can just sit around and wait for announcements to save the dates to hear about game release date announcements.... Boourns Dragon Age. Boourns.

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Cryptmaster - Hangman RPG

Sun, 11 Aug 2024 17:03:44 GMT

A change of pace from a summer of mind numbing shooters, F2P mediocrity, metroidvania like mazes, and card swiping waifu phone games. While I do think parts of the game do get a bit repetitive in terms of combat, it would be hard to say I didn't have to go into every interaction with something clever up my sleeve. The game isn't a chore to finish as the characters are lively, the comedic dialogue and crass responses fit the game well, and the puzzles you solve offer a decent breadth and depth to what could have been a very narrow focused game.

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Hades 2 - Must Buy More Hades

Sun, 14 Jul 2024 05:17:48 GMT

Supergiant is back again with early access to a solid game. It does lose a bit of its originality from the original Hades but there is multiple modes and challenges to keep you satisfied with the price tag.

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Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 18:11:55 GMT

Definitely a premium remaster of the beloved original but I am praying for a 60fps mode with the Switch 2 or something. The highly touted partner wheel time saving vs hitting a button on the dpad is lessened by inputs that are just ignored when the game isn't quite ready yet to let you dismiss text boxes, menus, tactics, etc.

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Xbox Showcase Recap and More

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 17:10:48 GMT

Only a lack of sleep and children not sleeping can interrupt game time, so let's take advantage of the moment to recap some of the most anticipated xbox and PC games, including hints by Phil Spencer regarding an xbox handheld.

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Top 10 Favorite Game Boy games (GB, GBC, GBA)

Mon, 27 May 2024 12:15:21 GMT

I started history/fact checking myself to see the power difference between the NES and the nintendo handhelds, and it's crazy how everything progressed. Hand held episode with a smile. I was considering putting FFTA on my GBA miss games the more I remember those stupid rules, but FFT gets a pass.

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Top 10 Favorite NES and SNES games

Mon, 06 May 2024 12:15:40 GMT

Hard to not go off the deep end sometimes where nostalgia probably interferes with games ranking, objectively. Still, this wasn't just me playing it safe, it's what drives my brain towards playing these titles on retro handhelds on a regular basis. Or at least when I need a dose of childhood. Right next to metamucil and big bowl of bran. I know exactly why people go to extreme ends to fulfill childhood gaming nostalgia once I had 4 game cube controllers when they brought smash to the Wii U and again when I bought a snes classic. A 1st party retro nintendo controllers was like a brain rub after not holding them for a while.

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Unicorn Overlord Review

Sat, 27 Apr 2024 04:11:57 GMT

Vanillaware has put out another stellar title. Gone are the grid lines and take turns mechanics that held units and boredom in place. While the story is nothing spectacular it certainly wasn't sitting on my nerves or poorly written at any point. Tactical difficulty was an okay challenge right under gear cataloging. Easy to say by the end of the game you need to become really familiar with what items do otherwise, you're in for a scroll.

Double excited to see more about Metaphor: Refantazio when it launches in October.

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South Park Snow Day - Regression of Quality

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 02:52:24 GMT

It seems South Park might be best experienced in the paper on 3D world. I know they likely didn't want a blockbuster budget game and in interviews Matt Stone mentioned Trey Parker likes RPGs and D&D, and Stone likes... mindless button mashers. I won't say that's the reason the game sucks but it's a complete deviation from previous quality. It's clunky, it's slow, it's repetitive, and I felt a real lack of compulsion to try anything new when I was face rolling through the game with the first thing I tried. It goes beyond being a "casual" game and all I can call it is lacking. Lacking in content, lacking in fulfilling end game. But obviously not lacking in Day 0 announced 6 DLC packs. It's tough not to just blatantly say I miss Obsidian's Stick of Truth and even Ubisoft Osaka, Montreal, uh Kathmandu? Greece? South Pole? Fractured But Whole. And division games actually. I hope Ubisoft gets well soon if this was South Park's break up game. But it feels like THQ is a bad influence ever since they went bankrupt while making the 1st game.

I messed up on the sound settings on this one so apologies that I dropped XXXL bass on this one. I marginally adjusted for last episode in my recording settings and I lack the talent to fix it in post edits without it sounding like calling from a phone booth.

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HellDivers 2 surpasses all expectations

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 05:08:17 GMT

Helldivers 2 has exploded in popularity and rightfully so. While I've limited most of my experience to one coop night a week with friends, it is definitely worth the praise and I can see the appeal grinding to level 50. It will be interesting to see how the devs at Arrowhead handle season 2 but it seems they are reactive and receptive enough to not screw up a good thing.

Balatro on the other hand feels like something I should be able to replicate with a couple card decks and a sharpie. The math to support it though make it $10 well spent. It's going to be one of those ultra lightweight handheld friendly games that has as much replay value as slay the spire or phone games like slice & dice.

Hope you enjoy and I'll see you in April for the next episode.

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Last Epoch 1.0 Early Impressions

Sun, 03 Mar 2024 23:37:48 GMT

It's tough to not just reminisce this game is the true spiritual successor to Diablo 2. It borrows a lot but uses it as a foundation for the depth of the game it provides. I feel the replay value isn't watered down through effortless respecing or uniques that dictate your build. A lot of this jives with my mindset but it will also be a test how well the monolith, echos, and dungeons feel to grind endlessly.

It is a lot more stable now so take a lot of those reviews with just pinch of their cup of salt.

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Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 05:52:52 GMT

It's a solid game. I have 91 in game hours at this point on my premium save, realizing I said 65 hours instead of 85 at the point of recording (tired, lol). It was absolutely a joy to play from start to finish. Playing as Kasuga and Kiryu at the same time was the ultimate tropical bromance. Even though it felt like Kiryu was more of the main character and Kasuga was Like a Dragon: Infinite Puppy Energy. It didn't disappoint and always had times that kept you smiling, engaged, confused, extremely confused, and learning plant trivia.

I am kind of debating the point why I bought the deluxe edition at launch, I am not burnt out just not sure I want to skip story for 40 hours of regrind. You wouldn't need to buy the DLC right away, you can get fairly high to at least satisfy Hard right off the bat. Levels, items, money, gear, poundmates, furniture, and more all come with you. NG+ Hard is recommended to start at 55+ Legend is 70+, plus it sounds like bosses are revamped. So for everyone upset that it's gated behind a deluxe upgrade, play on vanilla then buy it when it's on sale.

Cheers Everyone!

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Baldurs Gate 3 - Victory Lap Review

Mon, 29 Jan 2024 02:45:15 GMT

For the final 4 months of 2023, BG3 almost all my free time. Although I admit that it may have some flaws, such as the third act being a PC resource hog and less fulfilling compared to the first two acts, that's the end of the list of my complaints. It's an extravagant Dungeons & Dragons experience and Larian Studios truly went all out with it.

Now playing Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and it's been a great way to kickstart 2024. Fingers crossed the fun train keeps going despite the gaming industry being gutted. Might be a good time to fall back on indie games judging by Suicide squad getting DRM and looking really uh... not like anything the studio was known for.

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Top Games and More of 2023

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 21:54:49 GMT

Jokes aside, limiting lists to top 5 in 2023 should mean I need 6 lists alone just to mention games I really enjoyed this year. But I narrow my choices down for the best showings. Hopefully this should help anyone with a burning hole in their wallet looking for the best value for your steam wallet. Or even those big EGS sales that get scoured at by the religious cult of Steam. And their followers who believe it is the one true platform lord and cloud saviour of games.

2023 was above average for titles that should easily fall in the "no brainer recommendation" shopping cart. But for every new heights of gaming we reached, somehow, someone, keeps us anchored to the sea floor. Remakes of RE4, Super Mario RPG, Star Ocean, and more, are showing the Konami's that emulating an old HD collection is a pitiful cash grab for people who want to experience Metal Gear Solid. D&D related games get's a 1st place victory lap before Hasbro (or I guess Don'tHasBrosAnymore) laying off everyone before Christmas. New heights of charity for the game awards allowing brief game celebrations to interrupt their ad placement show.

This is my last podcast for this year, it's time to unwind and get some quality time with that backlog you neglect so much. You can replace all that unnecessary information in your brain with game titles. Happy gaming everyone.

Edit: just noticed I said Days Gone in my final list, Days Gone is obviously a cut above anything wading in the garbage tier.

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Super Mario RPG Remake

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 05:51:48 GMT

Nostalgia triggered. I beat it in 4 sessions. While I can't make my brain process I paid full price for a very short game, I am enthralled at the opportunity Nintendo presented to players. Now do Chrono Trigger!

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Super Mario Wonder

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 22:33:57 GMT

I don't think I can be too harsh about Nintendo reusing the New Super Mario Bros formula. It is the safest bet that Nintendo's holiday sales projections are safe. I think it's just all stop gap measures until we get the new switch. It was casual enough I didn't feel odd being compelled to completing the game over other titles. Really I just needed a mindless break after the month I have had. So consider me defeated when it comes to being too harsh on Nintendo, when they give you just enough to keep you happy. I desperately want Super Mario RPG so anticipate that in the upcoming weeks.

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Starfield Is Exactly What I Imagined It Would Be

Sat, 07 Oct 2023 00:24:42 GMT

Starfield has been out for a month now, it is good enough to not warrant red flags like we should have used for Fallout76. But it's not polished, and it's that final polish, proper upscaling tech, and time and time again bethesda problems that makes me think they need a good hard look at how or why this became a 200 million dollar game. It's currently my side game as Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't know I am seeing it between sessions.

Switch 2 hype and rumor mill is running overtime and I had a shared feeling with Luke at LTT's WAN show. If Nintendo doesn't do a docked egpu experience, maybe someone like valve needs to step up to the plate. Get the equivilent of a 4050 discreet chip waiting over thunderbolt 3 or 4 and stop pretending like the switch should cost $400.

I think my next episode will be a handheld rundown as the GPD win 4 gives me a bit to think about. High end gaming and all. Hopefully both the next steam deck and the switch 2 become more in focus.

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Too Many Good Games - Armored Core 6

Sun, 03 Sep 2023 06:13:20 GMT

Armored Core 6 is the star of this week, although I can't say it's the only game on my plate. Sea of Stars is as good as I had hoped. Need to pace myself a little better before backlog gets out of hand.

Still can't believe Sony is going through with the Portal, half step measures to pretend to be relevant in handheld gaming.

Ended up returning and buying the ROG Ally again at an open box discount, hopefully I can pass along some game performance on it and the steam deck. But the steam deck is looking a little slow already...

Switched to a different mic for this one to try and reduce the amount of noise reduction for noise suppression but some words were getting clipped. Work in progress.

Thanks again everyone!

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Baldurs Gate 3 and Dave the Diver are Outstanding

Sat, 12 Aug 2023 20:49:28 GMT

LONG LIVE AMAZING, PASSIONATELY MADE GAMES. What started as an episode for Dave the Diver, which by all means is likely being the top indie game of 2023, became an show stolen by BG3. Larian fans, Divinity Original Sins fans, Baldurs Gate fans, D&D fans, get your wallet out right now. Metacritic best games of all time #1 AND #2 are current held by ISOMETRIC RPGS, the genre that was abandoned due to some mistreatment by some soulless studios running franchises into the ground. Peak steam concurrent players hit over 814,000, so get your shiny dice out and get ready for a masterpiece.

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A Busy June For Gaming!... and me!

Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:54:13 GMT

A jump back into the podcast with a recap of my time divided across 4 fronts. Tears of the Kingdom is worth every penny, Diablo 4 makes me concerned for every penny. I was so torn between the new handheld PCs that I cancelled a pre-order and now will wait for the dust to settle. And as always, I have indie games to pile onto the backlog.

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Diablo 4 Beta - And Now We Wait

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 01:50:17 GMT

It's looking like a proper sequel to Diablo 3 and not a faithful remake of Diablo Immortal. It's just not the innovative genre changer we would hope to get out of a billion dollar company being developed for 8 something years. I wish it wasn't just a beta because I could have accepted a new ARPG even in an early access state such as this. But as always, this beta is meant to help Blizzard. It sells preorders, it sells double downs apparently, it helps stress test. I played all the classes and it really left me wanting more Diablo 4. I think this is a bit of a redemption game compared to Diablo 3, some ideas definitely taken from other games, which isn't terrible. Real battle pass info and not just marketing keyword jargon is still not apparent so let's focus on gameplay and not speculate on what hasn't materialized yet.

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Hogwarts Legacy in Hand

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 20:38:08 GMT

Portkey Games has a pretty solid Harry Potter universe addition to their development resume, it's simplistic and casual friendly but balanced enough that I couldn't see myself not seeing it through to the end. Performance requirements for this game makes me wonder about ports to PS4, XBONE, and Switch if the majority of PC users are already struggling. High end GPU owners will breathe a sigh of relief the game will run on ultra but everyone else won't be happy with the day 1 patch.

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How was gaming in 2022?

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 04:14:24 GMT

Happy new year! What did we gain in 2022 worth talking about? You have the Steam Deck cleaning house at affordable handheld PC gaming. You have Elden Ring that was a gorgeous reminder that From Software is still the master at making you suffer. I have 8 indie titles that I got more game play value with than any of the other big AAA titles anticipated for 2022. A lot of games were jammed into the first 4 months of 2023. Blizzard made some interesting game decisions, that shouldn't surprise anyone anymore.

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Shredders Revenge

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 21:31:13 GMT

Tribute Games has released a solid arcade beat 'em up. It hits all of the familiar points of a quality arcade game... unfortunately copied the game length too. But will Tribute games start reviving all old arcade beat 'em ups? X-Men, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, and Alien vs Predator next please!

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Steam Deck in Hand

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 21:10:19 GMT

Valve's Steam Deck experience is a state between hype and reality. In this episode, I talk about the progression of handheld gaming and emulation, and where a niche handheld PC gaming has improved with the Steam Deck. Providing some insight into the Deck if you already have a unit or are waiting for yours to arrive.

Check out gamingonlinux for detailed updates for the deck: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/

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