I wish genre labels would just go away. "Immersive sim" is one of the least helpful of all of these things. Roguelike/lite, Souls-like, Metroidvania, ect. . Just a bunch of short-hand that only works if you have any knowledge of these games or some conversation a bunch of game critics had years ago so they wouldn't have to write so much to describe the game they're playing.
A better vocabulary needs to established that's concise and inclusive - as if you're talking to someone that has never played a video game before. The alternative is just to forego that nonsense altogether and just think of a way to describe something without shorthand.
I'm jazzed for that Borderlands game. 3 was really fun if you solely focused on the gunplay and side stuff then checked out while there was any kind of story cutscene or whatever. Looks like it'll be the same for the upcoming one.
Necromunda: Hired Gun is pretty amazing. Its problems stem from things that can be patched rather than being design problems. 85% of your arsenal causes enemies to explode. Wallrunning is an excellent way to fight enemies and as you upgrade your biotics it increases your chances of not getting hit while doing it and increases the range of your auto-aim while running so you don't have to worry about trying to line up shots while running: just hold down the trigger and get them enemies.
The powers are fun too. Again, they exist to cause groups of enemies to explode. The atmosphere in it is superb and the soundtrack is nothing but excellent rock anthems mixed with synth. If you like the recent DOOM games it's basically Eurojank DOOM and I mean that in a good way. You can't go wrong with the game.
I'm in the same boat as Jeff with Mass Effect. 1 still remains my favorite because of the story that is told, the sheer amount of world-building and how it feels more like Star Trek. I just didn't care for the tonal shift and some of the plot beats in 2. While the opening of that game is pretty awesome I saw no value in "killing" Shepard - it as something they never explore. But it's all moot because if I played them the 3rd game would be in my mind and I'd know how all this good stuff ends. I wish they'd just retcon that garbage game out of existence. The multiplayer was hella good and only worth it for that and Tuchanka.
Concerning GTAO and RDO: put a ton of hours into Red Dead Online. It's a really great "unwinding" game where I can just ride around in that world, do some dailies, get into some gunfights and feel satisfied with my time in it. Everything GTAO does, it does better. GTAO is great for just the chaos of mucking around, but all those jetpacks, flying cars, penthouse housing and whatnot cost obscene amounts of cash and the reason why it does better than RDO is because the shark cards they sell directly translate to in-game cash. Gold in RDO, on the other hand, can be generously earned in-game. The economy is just flat-better, which unironically means that people are less inclined to spend real money on things.
If you try to do anything in GTAO, like buying a warehouse to do the trade good stuff, just about the entire server will attack you because they know exactly where you are and what you are doing and because they probably have jetpacks and jets, they can get to you easy and destroy everything you spent a lot of time building up. In RDO, your location is mostly unknown to others and you can opt to not allow for PvP. It's just better designed for people who want to engage with the world rather than letting the chaos bleed into it.
As much as Sony kind of mucked up dealing with big games, there's no reason for any game to be 500gb. No reason whatsoever.
The market doesn't need games that big. I'm more inclined to tell Activision to cut the shit than I am to tell Sony to "Be better at dealing with the one, maybe, two games that'll ever get this big". It's ridiculous. On top of the storage issue you have to deal with the data caps and other garbage.
I saw Hobb & Shaw the other day and it's really not bad. It's on the level of Fast 6. It's really, unbelievably dumb but in that good old fashioned 80's shlock way. Reminds me of a modern Tango and Cash.
I liked Superman from the from his animated appearances (Fleischer, Ruby-Spears and the animated series) as well as the Donner film but I never connected to him like I did with the latest DC films. It made Superman interesting to me. They gave him real human vulnerability and flaws. He's uncertain of who he is and what his role in society should be and the world is uncertain how to feel about him.
The heroes of these films are the outcasts and alienated, it's most apparent with Justice League. Great trilogy of films, in my opinion.
Personally, I think the load times on the PS5 and Xbox Series X make them worth owning alone. It's a real bummer they don't have lots of killer exclusives right now but playing PS4/Xbone games on them and having the load times be cut down like 80% is incredible.
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