From a pure audiovisual standpoint, Rez is one of the coolest games ever made.

A psychedelic rail shooter where you crash through cyberspace while the best music you've ever heard in your entire life is constantly building in the backround. A synesthetic chamber of sights and sounds that jacks itself into your brain and never lets go.

The gameplay is incredibly simple, but the execution of it works perfectly in conjunction with the game's presentation in order to elevate the experience to being trancelike. Shooting down the machinations of Rez caters to this indescribable primal feeling that just feels so natural and compulsive.

While one could view it as being shallow, I ultimately see Rez as a prime example of a game being much more than the sum of its parts. It's a borderline spiritual experience. Not in spite of its simplicity, but because of it.

FEAR IS THE MIND KILLER

No matter where we come from we’re all headed to the same place.

The eternal oblivion is an inevitability every human must grapple with, the concept of death is terrifying and for much of our lives we will spend many years pondering the idea and coming to terms with the inevitability of such a fate. It’s our choice whether or not we will waste those moments or if we will face down death and live our lives to the fullest despite our eventual fate. Cyberpunk is a game about life and death, how we grapple with our mortality and what will use our remaining time on this planet doing. Will we push away the ones we love to avoid hurting them or will we spend our final weeks making the most of that time with our loved ones?

The dilemma of the ticking death clock on V is what truly makes this game special, we’re faced with the inevitability of death and it forces the player and V to make the most of their time, there is no guarantee that V will survive and find a way out so we work under the assumption that we must make the most of our time on this Earth before we die. That limited time is what makes this game special to me, we’re forced to live life to the fullest and in spite of all of that V keeps fighting, not only for themself, but for their friends, the ones they lost, and for a better future, even if it’s a future that they won’t live to see.

Cyberpunk for all of its flaws is still a beautiful game and one I will never forget, it’s a powerful experience that will sit with me for many years to come. The bonds I formed in this game, the time I spent in Night City and the Badlands, the story I experienced, it’s all truly unforgettable.

Arguably the greatest open-world RPG I have played, it sits among greats like Morrowind, New Vegas, and Daggerfall.

“V, never stop fighting.”
-Johnny Silverhand

Spoke to some friends about this game right after I'd just wrapped up my first playthrough. I don't think this is a game I'll ever stop thinking about.

It's dense. It casts a wide net on what it talks about and all it portrays. Addiction. Paying for poverty. Wounds. Disco. Love.

"I don’t know how to properly put this into words, but the only word I can think of when I think of disco Elysium is just love."

It's an autopsy on love.

Its examination is largely clinical, accompanied with the sterility and blunt precision of a medical professional. There is no tidying things up. No saving face. No euphemisms. It will manage to dig into many different parts of you and tell you what it sees. Your politics, habits, your engagement with others. It will find your mistakes and put them under a magnifying glass for far longer than you think is necessary.

It does all this because it loves you, and it doesn't want you to give up on that.