I preordered Stray and never actually got around to playing more than half an hour of it on release. I can see why I bounced off it - it's not exactly a deep or challenging game, but that's okay. I just needed to come back when I was in the mood for a cute, mellow, vibey little adventure with a kitty cat. I really enjoyed how the cat handled, the different animations and movements depending on if you're jumping onto a ledge, a chair, or a vending machine for example - it all feels very natural and smooth. Really enjoyable aesthetic. I struggled a bit with the idea of having human-brain puzzles and such, and when you get your companion I was also a little disappointed - I was kind of hoping for the entire game to be through the eyes and capabilities of a lost cat. However as the game went on I appreciated the way your little friend helps add to the texture and story of the world. Cool setting - I'd be keen to see what else these developers can do in future. I'm glad I finally got around to playing it!

I never had a Sony console so Journey was always something I heard about but never played. It's nice to finally tick it off. What a gorgeous little game, I can see why it is so beloved. The gameplay is intuitive and simple, the journey itself is breathtaking. Music is stunning as to be expected of Austin Wintory. The interactions with enemies are genuinely tense. The couple of times I bumped into another player were great little surprises - I completely forgot that it was a feature of the game, so the first time I was taken entirely by surprise. It was a great little moment of storytelling. Really enjoyed my couple of hours with Journey.

I'm glad I replayed this game before moving onto the other Supergiant games that I haven't yet played. I feel like I didn't really give Bastion a fair go way back in 2013 when I played it for the first and only time - my gametime was about half of what my playthrough was this time around, and I feel like I pretty much rushed through it and came away at the end with the impression that it was a banger soundtrack on a pretty boring game. I'm very glad I gave it another shot, because Supergiant managed to cram a surprisingly high quality little story into this game about a little guy hitting things with a hammer. I really love the art style (though it does sometimes become hard to tell when objects are collidable or not, leading to falling off the map a lot, for me anyway), and the presentation in general is excellent. Darren Korb's music is of course fantastic and is as big a highlight as I remember it being 11 years ago. Really keen to see how Supergiant evolved from Bastion with Transistor next. And for what it's worth, rescue and evac is the only true ending.