Blue Prince perhaps? I haven’t played Silksong yet so I can’t fairly judge it at the moment, but Hollow Knight was such an incredible experience to me that I imagine I’d rate the sequel highly too.

But yes I agree, it very much depends on which games came out that year.

I can’t say I’ve heard of Where Winds Meet or Crimson Desert (Pragmata however, I’ve heard is very good and I’d like to give it a go). E33 feels somewhat different in that it has achieved mainstream success, and I disagree that it has been forgotten about already.

Is it perhaps that those games in particular have this kind of modern generic/bland 3D visual style? So many modern games (usually AAA) look same-y to me nowadays.

Absolutely, it’s great to see smaller studios trying something new with a traditional format; an F-you to the AAA studios that have grown lazy. And I hope it kickstarts more innovation in similar games going forward.

I think a lot of turn based RPGs suffer with this - once you find a combo that works you get into a rut of using the same moves and not having to think too much in each fight. The dodging/parrying did add some flavour, but I still found myself getting a bit bored by the end of the game.

Would you be able to give some examples of what you mean?

Why? I think the game is overrated and I’ve quite clearly listed my reasoning. When I suggest that perhaps the game ‘is not for me’, it’s not because I don’t enjoy the genre in the first place etc. The exact opposite in fact - on paper, this game is everything I’d want out of an RPG. When I say it’s not for me, I mean that perhaps I have some personal gripes that others could overlook; that’s my suggestion for why the game is constantly rated so highly despite my feeling that it shouldn’t be.

If the game sounded like it would hold no interest for me, I simply wouldn’t have played it. I wouldn’t play a football game (which I know I wouldn’t enjoy) and say it’s overrated simply because it’s not a genre I like.

Expedition 33 DOES do a lot of things I like, and it kept me more-or-less interested throughout. I just don’t think it deserves perfect reviews.

I actually played this just after finishing BG3, which I thought was an incredible game and perhaps one of the best I’ve ever played.

Perhaps it’s just that no RPG is going to quite live up to that experience, so E33 in comparison I couldn’t help but criticize a little harshly in my mind.

But even now, BG3 feels like a 10/10 game to me, whereas E33 is perhaps a 8 at best.

That’s totally fair! This is just my personal opinion, I’m glad you enjoyed it :)

Maybe the issue with the awards is that the competition wasn’t that strong? Most AAA games don’t put much effort into telling an interesting story, if nothing else Expedition 33 at least tried.

That’s a fair point! I do appreciate the devs trying something unique with both the gameplay and story. Of the other GOTY nominees, it is an understandable pick. In terms of general reviews I’m surprised to see so many 9s and 10s though.

…is it cooked rice?

This looks so fun to play! Going on my wishlist

Yay that’s awesome, keep at it! :3

Looking kinda furry…

It’s old but very readable and surprisingly funny. Even gets quite meta at points!

Goes off on some tangents at points (including some nested stories), but even these I found quite fun.

I’m originally from London and my parents would always say living room and sofa.

My boyfriend’s mum refers to one room in her house as a sitting room, and another as a living room. I can never remember which is which, despite living in that house for a number of years.

Is it any good?

It’s a cool idea but I like to go off the actual number of pages read (starting from the proper start point of the book, not the first few pages of copyright/contents etc) so I think a general % might throw things off slightly. And I sometimes re-open older books to check annotations, so I suspect it might think I’m re-reading a book when I’m not!

If you’re not as anal as I am I imagine it’s pretty useful though xD

To be fair there is a really cool LGBT hairdressers not far from me! I go there when I can, but it’s hard to get an appointment sometimes.

Annoyingly I really like how the ‘regular’ barbers do my hair. But there’s only so much chat about poker and clubbing in Ibiza that I can handle :'3

I kinda hate going to the barbers because the conversation will always spin towards sports or women and I’m not interested in either.

…and friendship, for everyone!

Earlier today I finished reading Call Me by Your Name. Bittersweet and very poetic, I really enjoyed it. The book club I’m in is going to watch the film adaptation later this week.

Next up is Slaughterhouse Five. It’s been on my TBR for ages.