General gaming discussion

The density and depth of the island design is pretty incredible to me. Yes, while a lot of it is a puzzle delivery system, it's a bit of a triumph of exploration too - so many weird doors, secrets and areas to uncover as you pick the place apart.

It still pains me that the biggest, most incredible secret in the game is still something I can't really talk openly about without fundamentally spoiling the experience!

I was intrigued by this but I've heard a fair few reviewers and podcasters now say the game lacks polish - whether that's technical issues or strange dead ends in the world. Worse, they have said it just doesn't feel great to play. That's a big no-no for me in that type of cinematic platformer / story game - the thing about something like Inside is just how perfectly polished and honed it is.

I'll give it a go at some stage as it's on GamePass, but too many games crying for attention at the moment that any mixed response alas means I'll inevitably push it to the back of the play queue.

On a very different note, is anyone playing Marvel Snap?

What a great game it is, despite its rather addictive qualities! Yes it's a free-to-play mobile card game, but the game is so snappy (pun intended!), pacy and exciting. The card range is hugely diverse and deck building can create amazing synergies between each card. But the real secret sauce is its dynamic play area. Games are played across three zones, and you have to win two. But each area has its own random gameplay quirk, with a new one revealed each turn for the first three turns (out of six). It means the early game is always changing, and creates a great risk-reward dynamic. You can, for example, pop a card into an 'unrevealed' zone early and hope that'll give you an advantage when it's revealed, but you equally risk that it'll be a **** zone that'll be a nightmare to actually win. They're usually always interesting though, and have seen some insane possibilities come into play when the zones are used just right.

Anyway, the main thing is that games are super quick, and the game is balanced just right that losing rarely feels unfair (you can abuse the systems as much as your opponent can). You get dozens and dozens of cards unlocked for free as you go, so it can be quite overwhelming to even build a deck as there are so many good choices. And the theming is really smart too - whether it's a card like Nightcrawler being able to move rapidly around the play area, to the Hulk just coming in as a brute force final card that can (usually) only be played in the final round.

So far the 'free to play' element is well-judged... again, so far. There are multiple currencies, but most of them just go towards variant cards. There is a monthly season pass that lets you get some cards early (currently a Black Panther themed set) and a bunch of bonuses that'll speed up your card collection, but again there are so many cards to choose from that there is always an equally viable alternative to the card you haven't gotten yet. It could tip into unfairness if some insane card is available via a season pass only, but so far so good.

There's a lot of appallingly designed shite in that game, but Hojo's Lab might be the single worst level I've played in a video game in the past ten years.