I'm looking forward to Stellar Blade next week and I think I'm like ~80% done with FF7 Rebirth so I should be finished by then. I still need to finish Dragon's Dogma 2 and try the FF16 DLC that just recently came out as well... I wish there were more hours in the day.

Other than that the main thing I'm looking forward to is the "totally not E3" announcement shows this summer to see what's coming out later this year.

Played Millenia & Tropico 6, (waiting for next update to drop in helldivers 2)

Grand Strategy is by far my favourite genre, followed closely by 4X, and then shooters

I am excited for Manor Lords next week, but after Millenia I am trying to temper my expectations

Finished FF7 a while ago and another called Cathedral. Started Blasphemous (españita mentioned), good little game

My favorite has changed over the years. When I was younger I used to like FPS but for the last 2-3 years I've been playing JRPGs almost exclusively. I really like Stalker, I should play Clear Sky again and choose the side of the bandits

Actually have some time this weekend to play games and I decided to go back to Guild Wars 2 for a bit. Trying out Condition berserker (more like gearing it up lol).

I just realized that I have month to finish getting the good stuff out of the wizard's vault, and I feel like this time there's a lot more stuff than the last few resets.

I just started Horizon Forbidden West. I actually loved the first game, but trouble is I finished it about 6 years ago. So I'm struggling to remember the characters and game echanics.

Funny thing, actually! So a buddy showed me this website that allows one to buy games on steam despite the sanctions (steam currently prohibits purchases from Russia, for the record). If anyone is wondering "why not just pirate" - I wanted some specific games and their pirated versions had compatibility issues.

Anyway, bought myself Sleeping Dogs. Apparently (I didn't know it originally) it's part of the True Crime series, which features undercover cops infiltrating gangs and such. I suppose this premise alone might turn many comrades off.

This specific title is set in Hong Kong. There's some western chauvinism sprinkled here and there (for example, in the club location there's an ad for "Gulag vodka"). A good amount of characters are westernised, having western names (Jackie Ma, Winston Chu, etc). Protagonist's boss is white even. That said I feel it's doing a decent-ish job of not whitewashing either the gangs or police. Aforementioned boss for example is shown faking evidence at least once so far in my progression and is generally a cold git. Gangs talk a lot about loyalty and family, but also murder and steal with no regards to anyone but themselves.

Anyway, regardless of the plot, gameplay is quite pleasant. It's an open world TPS, similar to GTA and Mafia series, but with less emphasis on shooting ("guns are rare in Hong Kong", as one character says) and more emphasis on hand to hand fighting. There's mechanics for grappling, throwing, blocks, kicks and punches. Fun stuff, if you're into this kind of games.

Overall, it's obviously striving to envoke action movie feel. Something from John Woo, or perhaps those Van Damme flicks. Not bad to unwind after work.

Question of the week

Admittedly I don't even know what is coming out this year, and most of it would likely melt my wee potato laptop anyway. I was kinda looking forward to Smuta, which is a Russian game, set in 1600's. It had a prominent (online) and openly Marxist historian as a consultant. Unfortunately, the game is apparently shit. Mechanically, plot-wise, just in general. Folks are now mocking said historian in comments to his videos.

I'm playing a lot of Stardew Valley right now. It's been a rough year, and the new patch is exactly the kind of thing I want in my life right now.

For the upcoming year, I'm very much looking forward to Frostpunk 2 (I played the beta last week, and it was great), and the upcoming Victoria 3 DLCs/patches.

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