The obvious matchup in Tekken 8, now that Yujiro Hanma has been teased as a new fighter, is him versus Fahkumram. Aside, finally, a cameo that makes a little more sense in the franchise.

I left the gaming discords I joined, after I quickly discovered that they do not any play video games. An easy mistake to make.

I downloaded a bunch of free games on Steam (16 of them) in hope to find something easy to recommend. But the best things had bugs that prevented me from completing them.

And a friend & I tried to play the Outward 2 playtest. (Key word try.) But it had a lousy, useless tutorial. Performance was unreal. (Unreal 5, and it sucked/stuttered on low settings.) And it crashed immediately whenever we tried to join each other's game. Big thumbs down.

On a positive note, Mina The Hollower is a punishing game. But it is far more open-ended and rewarding to explore than Silksong was during its first act. Masterpiece? Don't know about that yet. But it's been a solid start.

Guys I'm like obsessed with look outside. It's so charming and colorful and definitely not scary at all

Another game beat & I posted this review to Steam.

I only got 75% item completion, and I might've missed a side boss or two. But I think I'm satisfied to move on from credits.

My overall feelings are positive. And I think the game's strengths are stronger than its weaknesses. But there's some fairly obvious low points and flaws. (Like the Battletoad-esque tower sections that end every dungeon on a sour note. With the most floaty controls of the whole game, and each time felt like an absolute chore to play through.)

People comparing this to Shovel Knight (even if it is by the same studio) feels like they haven't played it. Because this game wears its inspirations transparently on its sleeve. Silksong (Side-arms reliance especially.) & Dark Souls 2/3. (Similar bosses and end game 'spam enemies' level design.)

I've also told four separate people that I was playing this and they responded "Oh, the hard game?" So let me be clear about the difficulty here. This is not Silksong Act 1. (2 or 3) Mina The Hollower's best strength is how open-ended and rewarding it is to explore from the very start. And you'll be max level, before the game's even halfway over. (I was.)

The truth is, at least for me, the game's difficulty is kind of all over the place. (Except the absurd difficulty spike of The Radiant Manor that was just exhausting to get through.) And it feels rather unbalanced and frustratingly trial-and-error at points.

My question for everyone who did beat the game, or is currently going through it, what "tactic" did you use for the game? (And did you ever *need* to change it?) Because almost every encounter in the game seemed like this was meant to be bested by the age old strategy of "random ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ go!"

Side arm spam is the only way a normal person is getting through some of these encounters 1st try. My Axes always did more damage than my Mace (my weapon throughout the whole game) and every second enemy has a shield or flies. So my side arm was always more effective at damage AND range. (My two change-ups that weren't "win by axe spam" was Thorne's 2nd fight, the single time bombs were ever useful for me. And the parasol for the final boss' first phase.) But even then, without side arm spam, I highly doubt I would've defeated these bosses first or second try.

Though I'd still challenge everyone who thinks the game is "too hard". Because it's incredibly generous in giving the player more chances/upgrades. (I lost my bones once the whole game, I think.) But it's undeniably frustrating. The Mined Mind is the worst creature to ever exist in an otherwise incredibly easy near-end game level. Yet the hardest level mechanically & the best one by being cruel in a memorable way, is the wind / chase sequence level. (My third dungeon.)

TLDR: A positive mixed bag in terms of enjoyment. Really loved the opening hours. Had some good humor. Feel like the game does well at intrinsically rewarding the player. But I wanted the final level to be over. (A game like Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo comparatively is just a blast to play all the way through.) 7.5/10? (Will rate 4/5 stars on Playstation.)

KINGDOM HEARTS 4 IS REAL

Twitter has kept me (and many others) suspended for fuck all reason. Because the support system is completely broken. (With automated support sending emails erroneously claiming to have restored your account.) Only relevant, because it's often where I got my gaming news.

Unfortunately, it's been mostly bad news...

Steam will no longer support physical gift cards at the end of the year.

And RPG Maker forums are being shut down at the end of the year.

Goddamn.

My little dash of positive to counterbalance, is that 'Poco' was an enjoyable free point-n-click puzzle game on Steam. (It does have a really jank fishing mini-game though.) But nothing's perfect.

Steam's been giving away a bunch of free games that I've downloaded to try. (And I'll likely grab a couple more games off my Wishlist later.) Because I've been bored as fuck.

Also, Smite 2 is a blatant cash grab & Hi-Rez can't even do that right.

GTA 6 locking cosmetics behind the 100 dollar version is bad.

What's worse is that it'll not at all impact sales.

We'll see. I've seen even diehard Rockstar fans start balking the idea of both locking the base game behind an $80 price tag, and also locking in-game stores behind the Premium Edition. Just goes to show that the golden days of getting a complete game are long over.

I played 45+ demos for the Nextfest & I tried several of the free/100% discounted games that Steam had given out over the past few days.

(Something that helped me find a few potential gems and "streamlined" my wishlist/followed games. Like how Dinoblade couldn't even load its textures in the level & gave me another reason why I hate the Unreal Engine 5.)

But it gave me something to do. So there's value in that. (Sojourn Past was probably the best demo of the Nextfest.) And here's a few positive reviews...

Lingo feels a bit like Wordle for masochists and non-Euclidian maze enthusiasts. But it did keep me engaged for as long as its more "video-gamey" sequel. (About 20 hours.) It's a game with a seemingly endless amount of obscure puzzles in it. Though I felt like I got a lot more accomplished in this one.

Hypogea was another bite-sized (two-three hour) platformer that was a good time. Mostly good gameplay feel. (Only got stuck at maybe one or two particular jumps.)

I've obviously played more than that & I have more games to try. (Will almost certainly take advantage of the Steam Summer Sale too.) But I guess I haven't found anything I'd "strongly recommend" yet. I'd say Pragmata is an 8 out of ten & it's still probably the best thing I've played this year...

GTA 6 will obviously suck. (Likely compared negatively to the last game by those who are actual fans of the series.) But I can't help but hope that it has a Cyberpunk-esque launch. So everyone who pays "the stupid tax" will have a greater sense of buyer's remorse & maybe the game's sales numbers will actually suffer as a result of that. Cuz I certainly don't want $100 games to be the norm. But knowing how much money GTA Online whales will make them in the future...(I don't foresee them failing/falling as hard as other studios as of late.)