maybe halfway. Remedy really have done excellent work here. curious how they're going to tie up all the ends on this one

also looking forward to coming back in five years and playing it at native resolution. DLSS is capable tech, but the amount of artifacts is still rough

Alright, ready to start this thing. It's honestly trivial in the grand scheme, and I'll be the first to admit that, but for a game that looks this incredible, I just couldn't stomach the atrocious LOD pop-in.

After confirming it wasn't some quirk with my setup, and was in fact universal - people apparently don't see it, lucky bastards - I found out FlawlessWidescreen has a memory patch that lets you increase the limit. Non-zero impact to performance, but at least geometry that's next to my feet isn't changing quality as I move. I still think it's a little surprising more people haven't flagged how aggressive the pop-in is. All 3D games have it to some extent, this case just seems unusually extreme.

Part of me really wishes this shit didn't bother me. But it's also kinda cool to be playing an even better-looking version of the game.

For posterity: https://flawlesswidescreen.org/ - Main software is old, but the game-specific plugins have been updated. Simple installation, just needs to run concurrent with the game.

Through no fault of its own, I dropped Elden Ring a month into playing it, roughly 100 hours deep. I have returned.

I guess it makes sense, I ended up diving back into the first Dark Souls four years later to round it out, and on that scale I'm not doing so bad.

One of the most delightful games I've played in a long time. And kinda unbelievably gorgeous with raytracing and HDR. As someone who's never played a game in this series, the combat is doing a lot for me. Simple, definitely, but fundamentally elevated by the presentation.

Christ that was good. Both Dartmoor and Berlin, such a beautiful change of pace. Still firmly within the purview, but an elegant deviation.

Might've been my mood, but Dubai did not do a lot for me. Just felt a little bland structurally. I'll have to give it some more time. And even a lackluster level in this game is still good fun.

Also finally going to actually finish the game.

Cleaning up some scores and finishing out the challenges. Not usually up for "mostly the same but way harder" modes, so probably won't do the second run.

The traversal stutter went away? Really interesting development. I assumed it would be a permanent fixture, but now the game's more or less buttery smooth.

I'm not complaining. And it remains a stunning game. UE5's global illumination is genuinely exciting. Hoping we get more indie games that are able to take advantage of it like this.

been a grip. put some hours in over the last few years, and finally finished out the main story. epilogue territory

it's honestly staggering how much less invested i am now. didn't think i was, but the pivot sapped almost all my motivation to continue

it's not that i dislike John Marston. i've just already played as him. i already know what happens. i don't understand the need to fill in the blanks of this miserable part of his life

Another break, and now I'm officially done with Hitman 2. Haven Island wasn't as immediately dope as New York, but it's hard to top a bank level.

On to the Hitman 3 levels proper. I'll finish this eventually, I'm sure.

It's a lot. If my wrist was 15 years younger and not strained by a lifetime of poor posture and an unwillingness to change, I might have considered grinding out the proficiency required to see this thing through.

61 seconds is practically the end, anyway. Yeah.

Might not finish this campaign. Feels a little too much like I'm doing the same thing over and over. Love the raytraced voxel presentation, though, so it'll go on the list of things to boot up when I'm bored and just want to destroy some shit.

gotta be getting close to the end. i wish these games were allowed to be shorter. make a giant island, you gotta fill it with a lot of shit, to an extent i get that, but consider this: less

sunk cost is getting me a little on this one, unfortunately. still enjoying the game, just not as much as i could be

been chipping away, but got a good 5 hours in this last session. getting close to the end. still very fun

Damn! The Pits of Insanity, despite the title, is a stellar showcase of mapmaking talent. Cohesive expression of a theme throughout. It actually builds tension and then subverts it. Even ends well, which is always impressive. When you briefly forget you're playing a Quake map, that's real good.

The Foundations of Cruelty by Ekhudson was extremely solid. Nearing the end, and there's been more than enough good to feel worthwhile. 35 total levels is... it's dense.

didn't connect with the first few maps I played. felt a little like beginner map makers finding their feet. don't know if that's actually true, of course

skipped ahead, sort of, to Robert Yang's contribution and damn that man can design a level of a video game. just immensely consistent. Wiedo's Set in Stone was also very fun, liked that a lot

so many predictable issues, just the nature of it, but... it's a really nice space to look at. Dani continues to be a pleasure, and I'm enjoying being in Yara, wingsuiting to different places, taking pictures, hanging out with Chorizo

love Chorizo

Picture: Chorizo
Picture: Dani and Chorizo

there is a lot of Ubisoft here, which is always unfortunate, but god damn I really like Dani Rojas. gotta be my favorite protagonist in a while, at least in the AAA sphere. she's just fun. confident, competent. not overly complicated, still very compelling

5000. Three years. Progress took a hit after the first few months, but hey. Halfway. Maybe I'll be back here in '26.

Uh. Maybe.

Screenshot: 5000

Still haven't touched any of the maps from 3. But after a long break, I just finished New York! Really good.

Such a stellar series of games.

Mini: 138, Classic: 146, Twist: 74.
Might be done? Worthwhile puzzling.

Streaks: Mini 51, Classic 58. Finished June book. Twist puzzles continue to be mostly unenjoyable. Fun game otherwise.

Finished episode 1.

3000 holes.