Media of 2026
| ➡ Books | ➡ Movies |
|---|---|
🕹️ Warhammer 40K: Gladius
endless, May. I have played a bit of Gladius before, but picked it up again to try and scratch the strategy itch with something a bit lighter. It's pretty good, though to be honest it does also make me want something a bit more civilian/logistic-y. I was reminded that the developers made Zephon as a sort of successor, so gonna be looking out for a sale on that.
🕹️ Dark Souls 2
replay in-progress, Apr-May. Generally I have found DS2 much easier than the last time I was playing it - I'm not sure how much is due to lack of coop scaling, and how much is personal skill or weapon choice (the mace is great). The upshot is I'm much more free to appreciate the smaller details and many of the nuances that separate it from the other games in the series.
🕹️ Shadow Empire
endless, Apr. After watching let's plays for maybe as long as a year now, I finally decided to pick the game up and stick with it more forcefully. Lo and behold, I had a great time, winning my first game on easy. I think I managed to internalize a lot about the game while watching it, and also I suspect I got quite lucky, because it did actually feel very easy. I'm looking forward to starting a second campaign on normal and seeing how rough it can be.
🕹️ Pragmata
completed, Apr. Capcom does it again. Again feeling very much like something from the PS2 era, much like Kunitsu-gami. Just a lovely little game that doesn't outstay it's welcome. The combat does get fatiguing in big stretches, but it's very easy to jump in and out, and returning the player to the hub after every death makes it easy to not get hung up on doing an upgrade at every opportunity, and easy to dip out and return another day. Very endearing stuff, and Hugh is a great victory for well adjusted protagonists.
🕹️ Gray Zone Warfare
multiplayer, Apr. I've seen this on the front page of Steam for the past few years, and a recommendation from an acquaintance finally piqued my interest. It's pretty phenomenal, and does fantastically interesting things with the genre. I might write a full post about it.
🕹️ Resident Evil
in progress, Mar. The remake. So far, it's hard and confusing.
🕹️ Cronos: The New Dawn
completed, Mar. Interesting game. I found the level design and exploration to be especially strong - without interact highlights turned on it was very playable and felt great to exploit a wide variety of strategies to get into side rooms. The communism allegories were interesting, not sure how coherent I found them. I'll have to contemplate it more.
🕹️ Marathon
multiplayer, Mar. I find it very hard to care in Marathon. The fights are tense, chaotic, frequently over in moments. This is true of other recent games, but for a stylish FPS it's been a while. But good god the UI/UX absolutely stinks. It kneecaps the entire loot and loadout system by making it wildly tedious to find or examine anything.
🕹️Resident Evil Requiem
completed, Mar. Phenomenal, phenomenal game. Runs and looks incredible, feels massive but clocks in at a reasonable runtime. It feels like a pastiche of the whole series, and I especially loved the nods to 6. Just wonderfully insane throughout.
🕹️ Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
completed, Feb - Mar. Another Capcom banger - tried the demo and it unexpectedly grabbed me. Genuinely beautiful, and having put a few hours into the full game I'm surprised at how much mechanical variety there is. Many people have remarked that it feels like an experiment from the PS2 generation, and it really does.
🕹️"Overwatch"
multiplayer, Feb. Still some neat ideas, but it feels like it clears the bar of being fun to win but not fun to lose.
📺 Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
completed, Feb. This really worked for me. The animation is phenomenal, and I felt it ended very strongly. I liked all the characters, but especially the Zeon remnants and Lt Burning. And obviously the beautiful Keith and Mora.
🕹️ MENACE
early access completed, Feb. First impressions of the early access are phenomenal. I already liked the demo, and having the strategic layer implemented really changes how I want to approach the missions. Watching your crew count dwindle is very compelling, and I really love the new squad leaders I've seen so far.
🕹️ Silent Hill 2
completed "in water", Jan - Feb. Only just started, but have mixed expectations after loving Silent Hill f. I'm excited to see more of the traditional vibe of the series, but practically speaking I really don't expect it to capture my attention in the same way f did. I found it to be very compelling during cutscenes, the performance capture and artwork was really phenomenal. The hospital was probably my favourite level, but good lord they love to think of the building with the most possible rooms in it repeatedly in this game. Cleared it in about 13 hours, but it definitely felt like a slog. Presumably much of that is intentional, but good lord. Enjoyed nonetheless, but glad to be packing it up for now.
📺 Cherry Magic
completed, Jan - Feb. This was recommended to me by a flesh and blood fujoshi. It's really compelling so far, it completely avoids the will-they won't-they of the genre, and really goes way beyond my expectations in terms of things actually happening. Satisfying finish.
🕹️ Highguard
multiplayer, Jan - Feb. The horses are really well implemented and are super fun to ride and play around. The weapons and movement all feels pretty great, but there's some fairly baffling gaps, mechanically speaking. You can really feel where other ideas were being experimented with and discarded.
🕹️ Doom 64
abandoned, Jan. Awesome visually, and guns feel great with rumble. Nightdive port is a bit clunky and slow with loading and menus. Later levels are starting to take the piss. I gave up, but still had fun overall and might check out some user maps to have more time with the sick vibes.
📺 Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team
completed, Jan. Really incredible animation, some of the best yet of the Gundam I've watched. The final episode was weird, would not say it really enhanced the show. I really got a sense of enthusiasm for more grounded military maneuvers, especially in the really cool defense in depth by the Zeon officer side character. Lots of great stuff and compelling little character moments. I do appreciate how much was left unstated, the negative space left in characterization really worked with the scale of the series.
🕹️ Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front
in progress, Jan. Don't expect to finish this one, but you never know!
🕹️ Routine
in progress, Dec - Jan. Incredible, deserving of a full post. Little bit too scary to make it easy to commit to finishing.