Games I’m currently playing:

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

I think I like it, but I don’t love it yet. It’s undeniably well made. The story is told well, the acting, music, and graphics are all top notch. Really well done.

But the story isn’t really hooking me yet. Something about that kind of fantasy story irks me. Like, the premise seems so outlandish and arbitrary that I can’t tell if it’s actually good or if it’s just manipulative. I’ve seen so much praise for the intro, but to me it’s like: “Every year on this day, something emotional and devastating happens!” Then it happens, apropos of nothing, and everyone is like, “Oh my god this intro is so emotional and devastating.”

Just doesn’t feel organic to me.

It’s also not my type of game. I’m slightly less than neutral towards turn-based RPGs, and I’m firmly against parrying. Still, the execution is good enough that I’m going to stick it out a while longer.

• Oblivion Character Creation Screen

I just can’t seem to get past this no matter how hard I try.

• Minecraft

Getting back into my 6 year old realm. Building a big stables near a cherry grove.

• Split Fiction

I’ve been playing this with my wife, and it’s fantastic. Never boring, always clever and inventive. Just went through a whole pinball sequence that is just a master class in game design.

• Ravenswatch

One of the best multiplayer games I’ve ever played. Also one of the best roguelikes. The gameplay is ridiculously tight, and the new characters are awesome. I wouldn’t personally describe it as a coop Hades, but I wouldn’t outright disagree with someone who did.

Shit, I just realized I’ve been playing a lot of games lately.

“Woke” has had a consistent meaning since its introduction into the English language almost a hundred years ago. It means “Aware of systemic racism.”

When blues legend Lead Belly ended a show in 1938 by saying, “Stay woke,” he meant: “Stay aware of systemic racism.”

When some chud on YouTube in 2025 says “‘Woke’ is ruining gaming,” he means that awareness of systemic racism is ruining gaming. For him.

And when an American politician calls himself “anti-woke”, he’s saying that he opposes the awareness of systemic racism. Not that he denies the existence of it, but that he’d prefer no one talk about it, so that it can continue.

A lot of the game is scanning planets, gathering resources, and upgrading your ship. The upgrades allow you to gather more resources, explore further, and get better weapons so you can survive hostile alien encounters.

If you ever have the opportunity, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Disco Elysium gave me this experience in a new context. But better, because it blurs the line between success and failure.

Star Flight. I played it on Genesis, and it’s still one of the greatest games I’ve ever played.

One space ship, 270 solar systems, and 800 planets. The manual included a captain’s log that was sent back in time from the future, but without that you’d just be scouring the stars for clues, interrogating aliens, digging through ancient ruins, and watching slowly as a rash of planet-destroying solar flares spreads through the galaxy.

So fucking good.