General gaming discussion

One thing I’ll always say though: properly engaging with criticism is to allow and respect alternative opinions, once they come from a genuine, thoughtful and honest place. I used to be wary of IGN, but in recent years I think they’ve improved thanks to new writers and editors. But there’s plenty of other outlets I’d still be cautious about since they seem to exist solely as Metacritic fodder (though, to be fair, maybe the writers themselves don’t see it that way).

Eurogamer gave Hellblade II five stars. I’d probably give it one star, maybe two if I was feeling generous. But I know the outlet and writer so am happy to accept that review as a genuine one, even if I disagree with the conclusion.

I do think there’s a real place for games criticism in highlighting new games and hopefully leading you towards something you mightn’t have considered otherwise (or vice versa, in some cases). Plenty of games I mightn’t have discovered had it not been for a positive review somewhere. But I definitely don’t think even the outlets I trust exist solely to echo my own opinion or, worse, preconceived expectation back at me. Sadly, look at any comment section or thread about an ‘outlier’ review and you’ll inevitably see people furious someone dares have an opinion about a game (that the furious soul likely hasn’t even played yet) that doesn’t align with their own. No surprise some outlets seem to exist to give that audience what they want.

Haven’t had quite as much time as I’d like to play it, but Tactical Breach Wizards really is proving quite exceptional.

The new powers that unlock have had me cackling a few times as my brain has started considering the gameplay opportunities they afford. There’s one called ‘broom breach’ in particular which took me a minute to figure out how it worked, but then once I copped it realised it had just blown the whole game wide open again.

Also special shoutout to the levelling system. While not as transformative as the core powers, each upgrade feels meaningful and useful - all the options available are usually pretty tempting. In a world where levelling up often boils down to ‘+4% elemental damage to armoured enemies’, these substantial upgrades are a lot more interesting.