ADHDefy

Slay.

I felt this in my soul. lol This has basically been my state of mind for the least couple of years. I used to game on mobile a fair amount, but these days, I just can't handle mobile gaming anymore. I can't deal with F2P games on PC, either, despite having loved some of them in the past (Apex Legends, Warframe, etc.).

Between F2P games, paid games with egregious F2P-style monetization, and soooo many AAA games coming out broken or just bad, I have been playing a lot of retro games, older JRPGs, and indies the last couple of years. I'm just so burnt out on the modern game industry.

My name? Uh... Normal... Man?!

Gabe has remained a wizard through all of time

Ivan 100% Tetrises himself to save the others that have yet to fall. It's just the kind of block he is.

Sure. The premise is that blocks are falling and can't be allowed to reach a certain height. There is drama in knowing that, no matter what, it will eventually reach that height. You're given the tools to fend off the inevitable for as long as you can. There's conflict, resolution, and the plot details are determined both by the decisions you make and the order in which the game delivers the blocks to you. You are the protagonist, the computer is the antagonist. There's a beginning, middle, and end to every game. It's as reductive as stories get, but it's a story.

I would argue that all games have a story. Some have a scripted narrative--which, in the medium of video games, gives the player their own immersive role in the story--while other games give you the tools to create your own story as you play. You face conflicts and use your abilities and the resources around you to overcome them, ideally resulting in a satisfying progression throughout your playtime.

Both are cool for different reasons.

It was really good! It expanded on the story in really interesting ways.

Over Halloween weekend, I beat the original Alan Wake for the first time. It was a blast. I got really engaged in the story and couldn't put it down. I was shocked at how well it held up. The graphics were a tad dated, but they were still pretty good and everything else about the game felt like it could have come out last year. I think I bought the game in like 2014, so finally playing it was a real victory for my backlog. lol