- Spoiler: show
- 06/01 - Titanfall 2 (Xbox One)
08/01 - The Binding Of Isaac: Afterbirth+ (Steam)
09/01 - Sorcery!: The Shamutanti Hills (Android)
15/01 - Donkey Kong Jr. (3DS)
15/01 - Mario Kart: Super Circuit (3DS)
15/01 - Warioware, Inc: Mega Microgame$! (3DS)
16/01 - Donkey Kong (3DS)
27/01 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - Online Edition (PS3)
10/02 - They Breathe (Steam)
10/02 - Undertale (Steam)
28/02 - Nioh (PS4)
20/03 - The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Switch)
06/04 - Fast RMX (Switch)
09/04 - Graceful Explosion Machine (Switch)
17/04 - Mr. Shifty (Switch)
01/05 - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)
22/05 - Injustice 2 (PS4) (Story Mode)
25/05 - Double Dragon (PS4)
25/05 - Double Dragon II: The Revenge (PS4)
26/05 - Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone (MAME/RetroPie)
26/05 - Super Double Dragon (MAME/RetroPie)
29/05 - Injustice: Gods Among Us (Steam) (Story Mode)
20/06 - Yellow (Android)
22/06 - Double Dragon Advance (MAME/RetroPie)
24/06 - Injustice 2 (PS4) (All Characters Level 20)
26/06 - Injustice 2 (PS4) (All story + Battle Simulator endings)
27/07 - Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 (PS4)
01/08 - Splatoon 2 (Switch)
02/08 - Tacoma (Xbox One)
02/08 - Tacoma (Xbox One) (1000G)
31/08 - Double Dragon Neon (Xbox One b/c)
31/08 - Double Dragon IV (PS4)
06/09 - Prey (PS4)
12/09 - The Binding Of Isaac: Afterbirth+ (Switch)
13/09 - Destiny 2 (PS4)
14/09 - Blade Runner (1997, PC)
18/09 - The Room (Android)
20/09 - The Room Two (Android)
21/09 - The Room Three (Android)
28/09 - Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite (PS4) (Story Mode)
02/10 - Dishonored (Xbox One)
03/10 - Dishonored: The Knife Of Dunwall (Xbox One)
05/10 - Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches (Xbox One)
19/10 - Dishonored 2 (Xbox One)
There's been something of a theme running through my gaming of recent weeks. Where the Dishonored series is concerned, I think I'm coming to something of a conclusion; I really enjoy the pace and focus of the shorter stories versus the sprawling narrative of the main series titles.
Levels like the Boyle Mansion masked ball and the Clockwork Mansion (what is it about mansions, eh?) allow Arkane to showcase their level design, mission design and darkly-twisted sense of humour. Too often though, I find myself caught between exploration (to gather resources and flesh out the world) and stealth (avoiding enemies and skirting around/over the world) in a way that leaves me feeling slightly dissatisfied with both.
I realise that's not a particularly informative observation, but it's something that bothers me much less in recent Deus Ex games (HR or MD), for example, and not at all in Prey, where a stealthy playstyle was entirely situational. Limiting playstyle by skills or by a morality scale is something that figures into all these series, but I think I'm encouraged to be more flexible and creative in how I play the moment-to-moment in Prey, BioShock, the original Deus Ex, and System Shock than in Dishonored.
That's where the shorter DLC campaigns, The Knife Of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches, come into their own for me. The reduced number of areas really seems to pull focus towards the game's strengths, and make for a much tighter story. Gone are the missions that take away your gear or abilities; used to provide variety, but I find them more frustrating than refreshing. Perhaps the issue is that my glacial pace of play stretches a 12 hour narrative out to something more than twice that. Nonetheless, the short campaign retains a sharpness that I much prefer. I think Minerva's Den is a good comparison, though (as mentioned above) I feel that BioShock fares much better than Dishonored in the longer form.
I wanted to put this observation up here now, because I fully intend to bounce onto Death Of The Outsider and that should be a good test of my feelings right after finishing Dishonored 2. One thing I can be sure about, however, is that the immersive sim itch I've had for more than a decade now is only growing stronger.