loop hero
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the internet's current GOTY du jour. somewhere between an autobattler, idle clicker, moba, and progress simulator. it's mysterious and charming, which counts for a lot in a crowded marketplace. there isn't much agency for the player as your fate is almost entirely determined by RNG. you can nudge it in a desired direction but if you don't get the right kind of drops you're usually screwed no matter what your game plan is. it's kind of inconsistent too. i find myself failing runs in nearly identical scenarios that i had successful runs in. i don't quite know why i failed in those situations. that's frustrating and makes me not want to play the game. it does have a nice flow to it and the gameplay loop is intriguing and propulsive


hitman 3
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still the same old hit mane but now with dark souls-like shortcuts that persist through playthroughs. this seems unbalanced and an unnecessary change. just design the level to make those areas more accessible from the beginning. i think this is a concession to new players. another concession might be the reduced difficulty on "professional" (default) difficulty. the vision cones and range are greatly reduced. you can get away with a lot more than you used to right in front of guards and citizens. it's a little off-putting as a hitman vet but it's is a good change. those that want a tougher challenge can always play "master" difficulty. the level design continues to be astounding. there are some nice wrinkles in a few of the levels and as always a lot of extra objectives and missions within each level to encourage replays and exlporation. IOI finally figured out how to import cross-store saves so i was able to bring most of my hitman 2 progress into 3. i'm going through and attempting to get "silent assassin, suit only" rank on all the levels in the game, mostly ones from 2 and 3. i might record a few runs and post them


division 2
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i felt like shooting folks, grinding, and optimizing so i reinstalled it. i can't really tell how much changed since it's been a long time since i played. it's a little on the open-world bloated side but it's still fun to play


street fighter v
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kolin got nerfed but she's still mostly the same. haven't really played enough matches to fully gauge how much the game has changed but i do see folks playing a lot more neutral. there is less run-at-you-with-plus-buttons due to v-shift even though i don't see that many people using it or using it correctly. ranked still sucks and the netcode is inferior to the guilty gear strive beta. i'm probably dropping SFV when strive comes out but i'm enjoying the high level footsies play for the moment