I really like the resource/inventory systems of survival horror games. Often they can force interesting decisions as long as your current state doesn’t starve you of options.

• I can’t pick up shit! Well, I’m not using these three things so maybe I should box them. Or, I could use up some ammo on nearby enemies.
• I’m low on healing items! But I have a lot of ammo. Maybe I could stop conserving nuke launcher rounds to trivialize the next few rooms of giant zombies; try a bit more of this other weapon I don’t use much and stow my normal pistol.
• I’m low on ammo! But, I’ve been saving a hundred healing items. Maybe I can practice tanking past enemies and see just how much it will affect me.
• I’m okay on ammo but these enemies keep coming. But…I think if I make it to this area, it will give me a stationary healing spot. So I’ll just conserve ammo and take hits on the way.
• I’ve been poisoned! But there’s gonna be a bunch of other poisonous enemies before I get through this area. Maybe I can ignore it until I’m through.

I think I’d even like to find more games that focus on that sort of item management without being so horror-focused; helping you feel excited for saving an inventory spot or prioritizing the right things. It’s especially cool when you’re finding ways to shift risk in the right directions based on what you can afford losing. Example in Back 4 Blood: There are tools/resources that retain/add more “possible downs” for a survivor, which may mean you can put off healing for a long time and keep picking each other off the floor. One game has a death prevention item that you can only hold one of; so you’re encouraged to “get killed” before you find another one.

I was a big proponent of Game Pass! I still like the model.

Then they fired Tango Gameworks, the devs of MS Game Studios’ ONLY goty candidate, Hi-Fi Rush. Now, I am very much: Fuck Xbox.

Halo Infinite’s campaign was mildly enjoyable and the grappling hook was a small idea that was fun. But, the amount of money they spent to achieve that “mildly enjoyable” game was staggering.

Indie developers couldn’t afford those systems to begin with, so there was nothing to cut. Then, some of their games got popular, and only a free of them still make boxed sets.

Don’t forget AAA is turning to so many F2P experiences.

The bit I couldn’t handle is, it’s a first person game with a less accessible “detective vision” where guards fill their detection meter super fast.

You could do fun stuff if you already knew the level layout and guard patrols, but exploring creatively without opening dark vision every 8 feet caused you to run into a guard and suddenly it’s a chaos run. The combat was not fun enough to dedicate efforts to that.

I think the moment where I stopped playing was when I was perched on an awning above the guards, and they still spotted me. Often, a conceit of stealth game verticality is that guards don’t look up very far.

Compare to Hitman: If you trespass, a guy escorts you out. If someone sees through your disguise, they chase after you with questions, not bullets. If one person sees you act illegally, they try to arrest you and you can grab the gun. With basic awareness, you can often prevent escalation to gunshots fired and backup called.

My iPhone battery has survived a surprising amount of time, and I’m going to guess that’s because of Apple imposing its own researched limits on battery charging based on what it sees from my usage.

That could mean it’s sometimes lying when it says it’s at “100%”.

What kind of censorship are they following? All that comes up online is removal of hate speech and misinformation.

I definitely wouldn’t count Game Pass streaming as an option to validate PC gaming; since that can run on old Android Phones too. Plus, many of the games are only going to support controller, and you need to upgrade to Ultimate to get access.

I admit I’d forgotten about EAP and U+; to my knowledge they’re pretty unpopular because of their cost-benefit ratio.

The gargantuan margin of error there basically means it’s no different from the nebulous phrasing I put.

I’m sorry, what? Windows yes, I used PC Game Pass for a while before swearing off Xbox. But for all its emulation advances, Linux has always had huge struggles running UWP apps, which accounts for everything on Game Pass. Even on Windows, Game Pass isn’t always the best experience compared to just using a console.

How about we equate the nebulous uncertainty of those claims, since piracy arguments never have reliable motivator data.

“Piracy might not decrease sales. In fact it might increase them.”

Besides plug and play safety as mentioned, two other cool things:

• Monthly Netflix-style rental service. For people who want to try a lot of games to find their niche, PS+ and Game Pass are great.
• Sleep mode. Being able to pause a game for days on end is incredibly convenient. PCs have attempted to have this feature, but very inconsistently, and it often means you cannot web browse when finished playing.

I’m enjoying Marvel Midnight Suns. It has very fun combat tactics, I probably should turn up the difficulty but I love flinging soldier at each other.

I just wish it turned down the social elements a little bit. The game feels like it was a fan fiction dream of its writers and so you spend time going to a book club with Blade or having your supporting comments rejected by turbo-grump Captain Marvel. It’s also hard to absorb drama behind a premise such as “People can get perma-hypnotized.”