Kovie

I also find myself with urge to deep dive on what these developer's have worked on. Knowing a few of these games already and some of their reputations, there is so much creativity and need to make new things on display throughout this list.

Playing games is such an automatic habit for me that every once in awhile I start doing it purely as a means to shut everything else out, not a thing I do to enjoy my time. For me, this is by far where they get most aggravating and passively anxiety-inducing.

In that way, it really defeats the escapism quality for me when I go all in on it. I feel depressed, or frustrated, or just so mentally off from lack of stimulation happening that I feel like death - but while simultaneously being on this out-of-control train where the only other option is to actually engage with anything else, and my brain yelling at me that the familiar is far easier and more desirable (you could say addictive).

Yeah, sometimes it's a trap. Sometimes it's a great outlet. It's just important to recognize when it's not helping, and what's going on behind the scenes to have brought you there in the first place.

My feelings on escapism are incredibly complicated, even though without a doubt I've defended and partaken in it heavily. Hopefully I'll continue to work through those conflicted feelings as I go, because I do think it's a very valuable thing for people to be able to do -- to help them cope with periods in their life or respite from everyday stress -- and yet as I get more consistently reliant on escapism, I find myself getting more uncomfortable and restless from being routinely disengaged. When it becomes rote, you need some way to challenge yourself, or something to engage with meaningfully, even just a little, so it becomes more than just a permanent shelter in your life.

Good post! I'd like to read some other takes on the topic from people here, too.

Let's pray I'm never truly invested in a series before it makes this turn.

It feels like this whole system was made directly for an extreme bunch of outliers who interacted with gachapon machines in an unhealthily neurotic way that they were never designed for. Now we can be at the point where not engaging in extremes is actively discouraged. Well done, video games.

This Austin Walker boy is a treasure.

Thank you @brad for shushing Dan when he was trying to detail the logistics of murder.

While technically not a bus, shoutouts to the cool low-poly van from Mega Man Legends.

"He threw a bunch of shit at me and I died!"

Parts of this game are so much worse then I realized, but in contrast the stuff near the end is somehow way more amazing than what I remembered!

I'm starting to feel very confident that Jeff's sensibilities for game design are much more nuanced than Dan's.

Dan Ryckert is the worst FPS game.