My least favorite thing in all of entertainment media these days is the prevalence of the hot take artist. Due to the nature of social media algorithms and a lot of people’s propensity for wanting to be mad, throwing out hot takes is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to grow a brand. Whether it be sports, movies, or video games, being a hot take artist is a way to get an audience fast. A lot of people operate with the view that they just need a strong take one way or another, and that’s that.
It’s simple and effective, but it’s also gross. I can’t take any opinion seriously from people like this, as I know their opinion mostly comes from a place of wanting attention over how they might actually feel. My goal with this blog is always to be as nuanced as possible. I want to see both sides of things, and generally, I think I do. I’ll spend plenty of time talking about flaws from games I love, and I will also spend time talking about the positive points about a game I don’t care for as much. Not to sound too egotistical, but I genuinely think that is one of the strongest aspects of this blog.
But that also doesn’t mean that hot takes in and of themselves are bad. I love a good and well thought out contrarian take. In fact, I think these takes are really important. I think a lot of reviews from the big websites these days can end up being a bit homogeneous. Due to fear of getting flamed into oblivion (pun not intended), we don’t see non soulslike players reviewing soulslike games anymore. The main people who review sequels seem to be people who enjoyed the first game in the series.
When review sites do this, we lose very important perspectives. Yes, there are a lot of people who love soulslike games as an example, but there are also a lot of people that don’t regularly play them but might be interested in a particular one. These people often don’t get valuable perspectives on if a game in that genre might be a good entry point because of the way a lot of sites tackle reviews these days.
I say all that to say that I enjoy hot takes, but they have to be authentic. I’d say most of my takes on games don’t go too wildly off course from the consensus. After I play a lot of games, I feel like I usually end up within reach of the Opencritic consensus. But that also means that when I differ wildly, it means something. I’m not bullshitting. When I have a hot take, it’s something I truly believe.
As I started writing about three huge releases that have come out in the last month, I realized that I have some pretty strong takes on all of them, both positive and negative. All I can say is that sometimes this is how it goes. We all have our stretches each year where some big games come out that don’t quite work for us that others are enjoying. I seem to be in the middle of that kind of stretch right now. But despite that, I also may have discovered my Game of the Year. Let’s buckle up for some hot takes both positive and negative in this edition of the Gaming Roundup.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Regular readers of the blog may know that I keep a very elaborate list of my ranks throughout the year. After around seven hours with Expedition 33, I already feel confident that this is a game you are going to see a lot from me when I get to my awards at years end.
First off, and perhaps most notably, Expedition 33 already shoots up to my #1 for combat this year, and I will really be shocked if it gets topped. This could very well be my favorite turn based system ever, with the main competition being Chained Echoes.
In terms of just being a turn based game, Expedition 33 delivers on a whole lot of satisfying strategy elements. There is no MP system, so you build up your “AP”, which fuels special skills, by doing normal attacks, as well as dodging, parrying, and some other actions depending on your buffs. I love this, as this means you can go into each battle using your skills to their maximum. There’s no spamming the attack button and conserving your MP here.
And then the game just has so much customization with how you build your party. I won’t get too into the weeds for this piece, but in addition to deciding which six skills to equip, you have a ton of options for different passives that can drastically change how you play. I was able to outfit my whole party with attacks that “burn” enemies, and then I have various benefits, like AP renewal, healing, and higher chances of critical attacks when enemies are burned. And I’m still early on. I think by midway through this game, there will be a ton of clever ways to build up my team.
That alone will be cool, but then Expedition 33 adds in the most satisfying action elements within a turn based RPG that I have ever seen. This blows away Sea of Stars or Paper Mario. You have a few QTEs to hit when you attack enemies, but the real meat of Expedition 33 comes on defense where you can parry or dodge attacks. I’m not going to say that the parry is on the level of something like Sekiro or Rise of the Ronin, but it’s not terribly far off. You encounter quite a few different enemy attack patterns here, and parrying them is a reasonable challenge on normal difficulty. It’s not easy, but it’s doable, and it feels amazing to pull off. Basically, Expedition 33 has crafted a turn based RPG where you could mostly get by on your standard turn based strategy if you are crafty enough, but an action gamer could probably get by almost exclusively on reflexes if they really wanted to. It’s incredible, and there is nothing else like it.
But my amazement doesn’t end there. Expedition 33 would also be my current #1 for Graphics and Art Direction. It is stunning in every way, from its fidelity to its color palette to all of its artistic choices. The music is also easily my #1 so far this year. There are great songs playing constantly, and I have already encountered something like three or four different battle themes that I would consider bangers.
The very talented voice acting crew has also delivered. I think Kirsty Rider as Lune is absolutely fantastic. Jennifer English as Maelle is also killing it. I’m not quite as high on Charlie Cox as Gustave, but I’d still say he is really solid. And I haven’t even seen Ben Starr yet! The characters also seem pretty deep, even though none of quite fully pulled me in yet.
The only thing outside of occasional nitpicks that doesn’t have me ready to give Expedition 33 a 10/10 so far is probably the story. Expedition 33 has an incredible hook. You are trying to kill a paintress that kills everyone who is a certain age every year. This Expedition to kill the paintress has happened every year for 60+ years and has always failed. We are now down to people who are 33 years old or younger. Society is obviously messed up. There is also a big moment right when you get onto the continent where the paintress is that leads to some really fascinating questions. But nothing all that interesting has happened since. I’m still very invested in the story, but it doesn’t fully have me all in yet. From everything I’ve heard, a big moment should be coming soon that might change that. When that happens, watch out.
But even with that very small complaint, this game might still be impossible to top. I still have a ways to go, but I’d easily give Expedition 33 a 9.5 so far, and it could easily be a 10/10. The combat is so good that I can’t see myself going lower than a 9/10. If you like turn based RPGs at all, you should play this. If you aren’t usually a turn based gamer, this is one of the rare games that actually might win you over. It is SPECIAL. I can’t wait to write more about it in the coming weeks and months.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
First off, I have to say that it is absolutely insane that this game dropped out of nowhere with only rumors and no real hype. Due to the nature of physical games, and also just best practices with marketing, it would have been impossible for a remaster as big as Oblivion to drop without at least a few months of build up in the past. Something like this could only happen today, with the prevalence of digital games and with a service like Xbox Game Pass. The only other AAA game to drop like this in recent years was probably Hi-Fi Rush back in 2023. This is a very new phenomenon.
When the big leaks finally confirmed the existence of Oblivion Remastered, I was quite surprised by the game being labeled as a remaster instead of a remake. I generally define a “remaster” as a purely visual upgrade, and often, those upgrades aren’t usually as crazy as the visual upgrade here was. I kind of view “remasters” as lazy overall. The trailer finally announcing the game also discussed some changes to leveling up, UI, and combat. So even though it was being called a remaster, I was pretty damn convinced that I was going to view this more as a remake.
After spending about three hours with the game, it turns out I was wrong. Bethesda was very correct to label this as a remaster. This game is absolutely stunning, but its guts are absolutely those of the original Oblivion, even if there are a few small tweaks in there.
The weakest part of Bethesda games is almost always combat. I was hopeful that this would be re-worked a bit. For the most part, it definitely hasn’t been. Combat is about as basic as it gets. I’m playing as a melee character, and there’s an odd flow of just holding my block button, waiting for an attack, and then striking back. It is neat that I can work some magic in, even as a warrior, but it’s nothing special, especially after playing Avowed not that long ago. I was hopeful that I could use the quick wheel that the game gives you to use items and swap spells as I play, but the game bizarrely doesn’t slow down at all when you do this. This means that if you want to use a potion in the middle of combat, you have to completely pause the game and go into the menus to use it if you are in a tight spot. It’s the same if you want to change your current equipped spell. This is the kind of dated design decision that no developer would do today. There definitely appears to have been enhancements in sound design and maybe some animations that enhance the impact and feel of the combat, but it’s not enough to make up for the dated core design.
That old school design is also there with navigating the world. The world map is very clunky and only midly useful. There aren’t very detailed maps for within cities. There are also no markers telling you where quest givers are. The map doesn’t slowly unveil as you explore new areas. When I made my way into my first town in the game, I needed to talk to every villager in order to find where the quests were. I definitely understand how this could appeal to people. This is signifcantly more organic than the many games that have icons to show you these things, but most of the people you talk to aren’t terribly interesting, so it does grate on me a bit when I really just want to get into the action, but have to wander through a town (with a limited map) and talk to a dozen people to figure out what I want to do next.
I also have to laugh at some of the random design decisions from the past still being here. In the opening sewer of the game, I grabbed a sword off the body of a fallen soldier. At the end of the quest, a different soldier thanked me for retrieiving that sword and took it back. This means I entered the overworld with just my fists and a few spells. After being chased around by multiple mudcrabs that were a bit of a bitch to take out, I decided that the “normal” difficulty is probably going to be more appealing than “hard” with this sort of game.
While I’m kind of shitting on the game here, I still think there is a lot to love with Oblivion Remastered. But I am also in the middle of four different games, and I’m all in on Expedition 33. I think the older school mindset of Oblivion means that it’s not really a great game for game hopping. Especially with the lack of maps in towns and such. This is the kind of game you have to live in to really appreciate. Combat is also an adjustment compared to more modern games. It’s just so bizarre to play such a beautiful game that still feels like an Xbox 360 game. I’ve never experienced anything like it, for better or for worse.
Because of all that, I decided that it’s best to set this one to the side for now. I will definitely jump back in when my backlog is a little clearer, and I can really focus on it. The world in this game is gorgeous. The exploration is organic and rewarding. The quest design was also some of the best in Elder Scrolls‘ history, from what I recall. I think I’m going to mostly enjoy rediscovering it with a very fresh coat of paint, even if Im likely going to find plenty of annoyances alomg the way. But I think I really need to both be in the right mindset and not have nearly as much on my plate when I do so.
Blue Prince
Blue Prince is a roguelike architectural puzzle game. As you can probably imagine, it’s not quite like anything I’ve ever seen before.
You play the game as Simon P. Jones. He has inherited his uncle’s estate. But in order to fully secure it, he must explore this mysterious mansion and find the hidden 46th room.
Basically, each time you go up to a door in the mansion, you are given a choice of 3 different rooms to create. Your goal (or, your apparent goal at least) is to create rooms that make a path to an “antechamber” that is at the other end of the mansion. The rooms you make have different benefits or penalties and will have different ways to enter and exit them. Several rooms are dead ends (but often also contain nice rewards). You also have a limited number of “steps” to use in each run, so backtracking too much can put you into trouble. Some doors need gems to unlock. Some need keys. So, in an ideal run, you will be setting rooms that have several pathways and also finding keys, gems, and other items that will let you navigate to the end of the house. There’s more to it than that, but that is the simplest way I can distill it. There are plenty of secrets to find in many of the rooms that can help you uncover ways to progress through various puzzles, or that can help you gain permanent upgrades for future runs.
My problem so far with Blue Prince is that there are just way too many runs where I don’t feel like I progressed in any way, shape, or form. First off, it takes a lot of luck to have a run where you both accumulate the amount of gems and keys you’ll need to keep going, and also to find rooms with enough pathways where you don’t get stuck at a dead end. And look, I love roguelikes and roguelites. I’m very used to disappointing runs. But it hits worse in a game like this where it is completely out of your control. There aren’t tons of Blue Prince runs where I think afterwards that I made a big mistake selecting one room or the other, in part because almost any room can have surprise locked doors or some other issue that holds you up. Most Blue Prince losses are ones you just have to accept that you couldn’t do anything about.
I could also accept that if I felt like I made progress in other ways during my run, but more often than not, my Blue Prince runs are rarely rewarding in terms of either upgrading my house, or in terms of solving puzzles.
I’ll start by talking about the more tangible rewards in Blue Prince. Blue Prince is technically a “roguelite,” as there are many ways that you can upgrade the house in order to make future runs easier. I unlocked access to a different part of the mansion grounds that I can go to at the start of each run in one of my sessions. I’ve managed to upgrade 2 different rooms so that I can get extra rewards from them if I enter them. I also now start each run with 2 gems and 2 coins thanks to the different puzzles I’ve solved or things I’ve unlocked. So I’ve found roughly 5 “upgrades” after 25 runs so far. That doesn’t sound too bad, but most of these rewards aren’t all that useful. It’s nice that I get some dice that let me reroll rooms now if I happen to go into the “Bodouir” room, but I haven’t seen that room once in the 5 runs since I upgraded it. The two coins I now start runs with aren’t terribly useful, as I don’t even spend money in 80% of my runs (you have to find a few specific rooms in order to spend money, and those rooms tend to not be the best rooms for making pathways to continue through the house).
So yes, while Blue Prince has roguelite elements, and some rewards are very useful (the aforementioned access to the manor grounds is a pretty solid upgrade), the vast majority don’t move the needle.
Most defenders of the game are fine with that, as the real “reward” in Blue Prince is learning more about how the game thinks and obtaining knowledge in order to progress through the game more. I will say that there are a ton of things to discover about this house. A good chunk of the rooms in the house will contain some info that could be useful in one way or another. My problem is that I’ve figured out how several different rooms can interact with either other rooms or with items you can find in the world. But I have a hell of a time getting the combinations I need to ever pop up.
Very early on in the game, I found car keys in one room. Simple enough, obviously, I needed to find a car to use these with. I did not find a car on that specific run. Later on, I discovered a room called the garage, which, of course, had a car in it. It took me 12 runs to ever get the car and car keys to show up at the same time. And that’s a really simple combination.
In one of my last runs, I was excited to discover the “Locker Room” for the first time. It’s always a nice discovery as you get deeper into the game when you can draft a new room. As I entered the room, I realized that there was something like a dozen locked lockers in this room. You need to use up a key to open up each one. I used up a few of mine and found a few items, but nothing significant. There’s a chance that one of these locked doors contains a useful clue for solving a puzzle in the game. There’s also a chance that there is nothing except random items in these lockers. The only way for me to find out is to have a run come together where I happen to get this floorplan and happen to unlock rooms that help me build up lots of keys. Considering it took me over 20 runs just to get the locker room for the first time, I’m not sure how plausible this is. I also have no idea if this room is really worth pursuing in any meaningful way. It might contain a really important clue. But it also might not.
This is the other element of Blue Prince that can be quite frustrating. I love puzzle games. In recent years, I’ve greatly enjoyed Rise of the Golden Idol, Chants of Sennarr, and The Entropy Centre as examples. In all of these games, I knew that I had all the tools in front of me, and I just had to use those tools to figure out the solutions. With Blue Prince, I never know if I have all the tools needed to solve a puzzle. Several bits of knowledge that help you with rooms are hidden in other rooms. If I can’t figure out how to open a safe in the game for example, I have no idea if I have the tools I need right there, or if I need to find something in another room that will help. Even when I make “progress” in the game, I’m not 100% sure if I’m actually making any meaningful progress.
Blue Prince’s puzzles also don’t really have clearly defined rules like a lot of puzzle games that I enjoy. Many of the puzzles are a bit more abstract in nature. You have to think outside of the box. You have to be meticulous. You probably have to spend a fair bit of time just thinking in ways that you might not normally think. Obviously, this game is beloved by many already, so there are plenty of people like that, but it’s not personally the kind of puzzles that I really enjoy.
Despite my many frustrations with the game, I still am having fun in spots. The game has a pretty interesting plot hook, and the few extra bits of plot that I have encountered as I’ve explored have been pretty interesting. It can feel good to make progress, and there are some really neat puzzles tucked in with some of the puzzles I don’t enjoy as much. Also, as frustrating as a bad run can be when you don’t get good room selections, there is a really fascinating risk-reward element to drafting rooms that I really enjoy. Obviously, you generally want as many pathways as possible when drafting rooms so that you don’t get stuck at dead ends. However, many of the dead-end rooms in the game feature important items that can help you progress as you do encounter things like locked doors. Those kinds of strategic decisions are really fun to make, even if a lot of it comes down to luck in the end. All of these things make me want to push through to the end, even if I’m not always having a great time when I play.
Despite respecting a lot of what Blue Prince wants to do, I’d probably give it a 6.5/10 at this point. I’d say it’s my second least favorite game this year, ahead of only Xenoblade Chronicles X. Perhaps I will have a breakthrough that makes me feel a little better about it, but I can’t see myself going much higher than a 7.5/10 at this point. A lot of Blue Prince fans are insistent that the game doesn’t actually end when you reach the 46th room, as there are so many secrets to encounter. I can definitely assure you that even if I start to vibe with the game more, I will be done as soon as I find that elusive 46th room for the first time.
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