Garwoofoo

OK so Mario Galaxy plays absolutely superbly using split joycons, it’s as close to the Wii as we’re going to get. Looks lovely, sounds great, I’m very happy.

Play

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - I've been playing this for months now, it just seems to keep going and going and there are huge chunks of it that I don't think I technically need to go and do but I want to because it's just all so good. This really is an all-time classic, it's the best Zelda game I've ever played and it's probably… oooh, top 5 games ever for me? Maybe top 3. It's that good. I haven't been as absorbed in something for ages.

Monster Train 2 - been back to this as it had a huge update which rebalanced a load of stuff, in particular

Spoiler - click to showall the clans from the original game

which was sorely necessary and it's an even better game now they've done that. This is another all-timer for me, the best roguelike I've played and a significant improvement on the first game which was in itself pretty great.

Want

I've downloaded Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 but haven't played them yet as they only unlocked this morning. I'm really looking forward to revisiting them although I'm slightly concerned about the control schemes. The originals (especially 2) were so tied to the Wiimote and Nunchuk combo that I'm not convinced the Pro Controller or even split joycons will really manage to give the same level of control. We'll see.

With luck, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment should drop just as I finish Tears of the Kingdom. Perfect timing.

Anno 117 is out next month, although I haven't yet seen any impressions of the console version at all, which is concerning. They did a pretty decent job adapting 1800 though, so fingers crossed.

Bin

Donkey Kong Bananza - I simply don't like it much. The camera is a constant problem, always too close to your character, usually wanting to point downwards at the top of his head, and it's really hard to get a feel for the environments as a result. The game itself is gaudy and charmless, and there are way too many dialogue boxes with endlessly yapping NPCs which ruin the pacing. I've got down to sub layer 1000, I don't know how far through that is but it's a reasonable way I think, and I'm pretty much done with it. Shame. It's no Mario Odyssey, that's for sure.

Xbox Game Pass - what ARE they thinking?

Microsoft has just upped the cost of Game Pass by 50% - the top tier is now an eyewatering £22.99 a month.

It seems a completely insane decision unless they're actively trying to drive the brand into the ground.

I'm paid up for a couple of years entirely thanks to Microsoft Rewards but I don't think I'd consider renewing when it expires. Maybe all the Call of Duty players will consider it worthwhile but I doubt it somehow.

It seems like a completely confused remake to me. So if you want the QOL improvements and the tweaked difficulty, you have to have the shit new graphics? And the classic mode uses the WOTL script but doesn't actually include any of that game's extra content? I have no idea what they were thinking.

I think I'll stick with the Tactics Ogre remake from a couple of years back, I always preferred that game anyway.

I've been playing a bit of Doom: The Dark Ages which seemed to make almost zero impact this year but is actually pretty decent I think. It's not as difficult or as complex as Eternal and I seem to get lost a lot less than I did in Doom 2016 so I'm having a pretty good time with it.

I'm skipping every cutscene though and I don't feel like I'm missing anything at all. Who on earth thought Doom needed a plot? Just point me at the hellspawn and let me get started.