the poker night duology is an interesting one, because in retrospect, after having playing both, I think 1 holds up better than 2 does for two specific reasons.
1: the items in tf2 are so much better than 2's it's insane
2: you can make the characters shut the fuck up as well as skip their dialog, which unless I'm stupid is straight up missing from the sequel. why? idk.
my first reason is pretty subjective, but the second one is so important for long term play. 2 feels so much clunkier once the charm wears off and you start hearing the same 10 conversations over and over. either way, poker night 1 is just poker with video game characters. most people only care about this nowadays for the tf2 stuff, and its really damn good. a totally ok poker sim, nothing I'll dedicate much time to

Balatro is exactly what most people describe it as, which is poker but a rouge like. there isn't much more to say past that really, if you like poker and rouge likes, you'll like this game. you already know if you like this game before buying it. this isn't to imply the game doesn't have any noteworthy positives unique to it however, it is very polished and charming. the sound design in the game stands out in particular. the music is very chill and clicking on things and shuffling cards around is very pleasant on the ears. the game also does late game rouge like content very, very well. it doesn't bog itself down by complicating poker to add difficulty (as far as i've seen, i've only made it to the third difficulty). it keeps you engaged with a consistent stream of items to unlock, much like how the binding of issac keeps you coming back. discovering new jokers, decks, and all of the other things you can get as well give you plenty of reason to come back for hours and hours, the sign of a successfully executed rougelike. get this game :)

fallout 4 is like work to me. now, this doesn't mean I hate it, it's enjoyable enough, I've willingly put god knows how many hours into it, but whenever i'm away from it, just like work, all i can think of are the shit aspects of it whenever it pops into my brain. the writing, the bugs, the lackluster settlement builder, the writing, the way certain questlines never end no matter how many quests you do, the writing, oh and the writing really isn't as good as the older games. is this review another new vegas boomer focusing on narratives in video games? not really. the reason why i bring up the mid writing and how fallout 4 feels like work, is because just like work, when i'm in it, it's never as bad as my brain tells me it is when i'm away from it. i like fallout 4, when i turn my brain off and just focus on 'the bethesda loop' (explore, kill, loot) is it mindless? yes. will this game ever stack up to new vegas? no. but is it fun? enough. enough to keep me coming back. i was also 14 when i played this for the first time so many years ago, so it's hard to be fair. the pretentious new vegas fan in me wishes we went down another road, but here we are. fallout 4 is fine. just like work. when you actually get your nose to the grindstone and turn your brain off. that's the most praise i can really give it

Nuka world is just alright. just like every other aspect of fallout 4, it gives you nothing to think about and leaves your mind almost immediately when you put it down. it's a mindless loot and shoot fest just like its base game. enjoyable, but nothing insanely good. i do however, always choose to end playthroughs on nuka world. killing all of the raiders before doing my true final act, eating a perfectly perserved pie right outside of the ufo ride i accidentally kill 5 cultists in. nowadays you'll probably only get the goty edition of 4, so there's no reason not to play this. more shit to kill, with some more interesting and colorful locations to do it in

far harbor, just like base game fallout 4 and nuka world, is a fun time that leaves little to no impact. none of the characters in this dlc stick out in my mind except for dima, he's the best part of this expansion probably, but this doesn't bother me. i'm sure some people dislike that nick valentine is so tied to this dlc, but i can't care. he's the best companion in 4 (and you can't even have sex with him!). far harbor is just a smaller island than base game 4 to run around shoot and loot on, and that's fine with me.

dead money narratively, atmospherically, thematically, and conceptually is the most unique, captivating, and beautiful fallout dlc in any of the games. it is truly something special, a wonderful little story that I will never forget, and will play countless more times. the actual gameplay loop of this dlc sucks hardcore dick however, and it drags a 5/5 environment and story. ghost people are not fun to fight, that is just the bluntly honest truth. they are spongy, they are fucking immune to stealth for seemingly no reason, and there is just not enough ammo to use guns on higher difficulty. I always play on hard with hardcore enabled, and for me, I HAVE to spec into melee every run just for dead money (and for old world blues if I'm not doing an energy weapons run. this isn't about this dlc either way). slashing at the exact same enemy for like an hour is so mind numbing, it really annoys me. i wish i could rate this dlc 5/5 because in every other way it is, but game play is too important to overlook. also, the casino is insane for stimpaks. you can get hundreds of stimpaks for free without console commands, that's the real treasure of the sierra Madre. that and increasing your carry weight so that you can take everything in the bunker. loving this dlc? that's not the hard part. it's killing 200 of the stupid fucking ghosts.

if this is my fault, i'll own up to it and change my review, but i have a feeling it won't.

the secret army of general knoxx, as i understand it, does not level with you past level 51. i played through the zombie island of dr ned first, i was a level 56 siren, and every enemy and quest was only level 51? what? i wasn't going to play through a dlc of enemies that are always 5 levels or more below me. if there's one crime borderlands dlcs can never recover from, it's not leveling alongside the player. boo