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19.) Hades 2 I think I liked this one even more than the first one. Same general formula, but just enough added to it to keep it fresh and some fun twists to expectations here and there. I'm sure there's still a TON more to do like there was with the first one, but I hit the point where the main objective is complete and the credits rolled (which required beating the "main" end boss about 8 times, and the "other" end boss about 4 or 5 times if I remember correctly), so I'm calling that good enough though I may continue to play it for a while off and on to see where it goes from there. Only thing that was a little disappointing is they didn't swap out bosses sometimes to keep things fresh like in the first one, though with the 2 different paths you can take it makes sense. The two options kept things fresh enough that it was only a minor gripe. 20.) A Plague Tale: Requiem Jesus, this game was bleak as hell. It pretty well rivals The Last of Us 2 for being a relatively unpleasant experience in terms of story. I once described TLOU2 as "It's a good game, but I didn't have fun playing it." and I think I'd apply that to this one too. The first one could be rough at times, but it balanced out the unpleasant parts with some more light hearted stuff and had an overall happy ending. This one was just depressing nearly the whole way through and the few small "happy" moments seemed brief, and the point where the "other shoe drops" were telegraphed pretty heavily so it was hard to enjoy them. From a gameplay standpoint, much of it is improved, but the AI of the rats was way more finicky and obnoxious so it made the overall experience more frustrating which was disappointing since the environmental rat "puzzles" in the first game really stood out to me as well designed and elevated the experience there, where it definitely diminishes things here. I'm still glad I played it, but had no intention of every playing it again honestly. I'm curious to see if they'll do another sequel that leads off of the after credits scene because that could be pretty interesting, but for the time being it looks like they're making a spin-off game, but it centers around one of the better characters introduced in the 2nd one, so I'll definitely check it out. Not sure I'll beat anything else before the new year, but I'm happy I managed to beat more than 10 games this year. Stopping most of the live service shit I was playing definitely made a huge difference.

Totally agree. Takauji breaking the fourth wall (I think I'm using that term correctly? ) to tell the reader about he's the good guy was a fun element. I remain unconvinced by his arguments! I still look forward to Elusive Samurai every week with lots of excitement, and I will be a bit sad when it ends, but I guess we will be arriving at the end fairly soon. I don't want to jinx it, but I don't see how Matsui could possibly botch the ending at this point. This manga has been consistently very good for a long time now and he seems to have the whole story planned out very nicely. I suppose it helps that it's based on historical events, but obviously he's taking some artistic liberties to make it more compelling in manga format. He just has to stick the landing now.

The Jays already done more than the Brewers did in the entire series vs the Dodgers. Someone should tell them that's how a number 1 seed should look.

Yo. Dr. B. Blue Jays eliminate the Yankees. At first I thought they were waking up a beast in Judge after game 3, but they finished it off. Now if the Mariners can beat Skubal for the 4th time this season I guess we'll be facing off in the ALCS.

I'm just glad it was something like that and nothing like tragic Happy to see you back

I've missed our baseball conversations and with both the Blue Jays and Mariners possibly going into the playoffs we have a lot to talk about.

I ended up playing nearly all of Remedy's games after Control. I had owned the first Alan Wake for years but avoided it because it sounded like a survival horror game and I generally can't play those anymore. Gave it a shot after Control and loved the story. Ironically, Alan Wake 2 is more like a survival horror game, so I was worried but I ended up still really enjoying it. There are definitely some heavy ties to Control in it (especially via one of the DLC), and there's a teaser for Control 2 at the end of one of them (much like the Control DLC had a teaser for Alan Wake 2). If you haven't played it, I'd also recommend Quantum Break. It's not technically part of the shared universe thing since the IP for it is owned by Microsoft, but they sort of found a workaround for it that ends up being pretty clear in Alan Wake 2 if you've played it. 13.) Dead Take Really interesting little psychological horror adventure game featuring Neil Newbon, Ben Starr, and some other well known voice actors made by the same studio that did Tales of Kunsera: ZAU. Was drawn to it primarily for the people it featured and because I really liked ZAU and was interested to see what else the studio could do. Horror games are something I often can't play these days just because they stress me out too much, but this one hit just about the perfect spot for me. Super intense atmosphere and a pretty dark but really interesting story. Not having something chasing you around apparently makes the difference for me. Got pretty tense at times, but I enjoyed playing it quite a bit. It gets a bit overly artsy at times, but that was to be expected. Had some really solid puzzles too. Nothing so complicated that I got frustrated, but still took some time to think through.

12.) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Hands down one of the best games I've played in I don't know how long. I love just about every part of it, and it's easily in my top 5. Great story, great characters, great gameplay, fantastic environments and lots of fun side stuff and intriguing mysteries to dig into. You can really feel the influence from other RPGS, in particular the Final Fantasy games. I haven't been this all around impressed with a game in a long time. Can definitely see myself going back to this one in time.

Zau was a great game. Just long enough to feel satisfying and ended before it became a drag. The movement and the platforming(and the boss fights) were definitely the highlights for me gameplay wise. I found the combat zones to be tedious, though

Happy Birthday, Tassi!