I first played Super Mario World when I got my SNES in the 90's. I have played through the game several times over the years and recently decided to 100% the game. It was everything I remembered and holds up extremely well, it is truly a timeless game. The power ups are fun especially the different Yoshis. There is a good mix of difficulties between the levels. The worlds are varied and introduce many unforgettable enemies, many of which show up in future games. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys 2D Mario games.

Overall I enjoyed Pokémon Sword but the story wasn't very compelling. I played this game after playing Pokémon Violet and didn't find Hop as compelling as Nemona, Arven or Penny in Pokémon Violet. The Dynamax mechanic was fun as were Dynamax battles. Overall the game wasn't very difficult but that's ok given the target demographic. I didn't finish all of the DLC but I did find Dynamax adventures fun in general, but especially when playing with others. Sword also benefited from having less visual bugs than Scarlet and Violet.

Horizon Zero Dawn is an open world game where the main storyline is more or less linear with a variety of optional side quests. I spent quite a bit of time just exploring the map. As with most open world games it is possible to get a bit caught up in exploration and not advance the story efficiently. Once you figure out what side quests to do leveling up isn't too bad. The system for managing tasks and the controls in general seemed well thought out. I felt the story was a little slow at first but it really pulled me in as I played the game, and had a satisfying conclusion. The game takes place in the distant future as civilization is rebuilding itself after a catastrophe destroyed what is essentially a future version of our civilization.