[Ginkasa]

Basically all of the new videos games I wanted this year came out in the last month.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales started us off. I enjoyed it. I appreciated how Miles was differentiated from Pete in his use of venom blasts over gadgets, but overall it did feel like more Spider-Man. My current prediction is that "Spider-Man 2" will be called "Spider-Men" and will focus on the two teaming up like in the beginning and what happened with Miles and a couple of other characters.

A couple of years ago I got on a Yakuza kick and played through the whole series. I remember trying to get into it early on in the series, I still have a copy of the PS2 original, but I couldn't get into it back then. I think I was sold on the idea of the series as kind of a Shenmue successor and while it does have some similarities, it was too different for to enjoy it at that angle at the time.

But when Yakuza 0 made some waves and then remakes were announced for the first two games, I decided to give it another try and ended up going all in. I marathoned the series in 2018 and have been current since. I played Yazkua 6 and the spin-off, Judgment when they were new and this year we have Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

If you haven't played them, the series is like a bonkers open-world action, beat-em-up RPG. One thing that's really interesting about it is that features the same city in each game with the same overall design. The Video Game Handbook will call this lazy design, but I think its great. You get to really know this city in a way you don't other video game locales and see it change over time. I was always disappointed that I couldn't return to old areas in sequels to my favorite games, so this series scratches that itch.

The newest game is a good jumping on point as it features a new cast of characters and also largely takes place in a new location (although Kamurocho does make an appearance). It also switches the fighting gameplay from a beat-em-up to a turn based RPG which absolutely works. I really enjoyed it.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity shortly after Yakuza. I think musou games are some nice mindless fun although I don't really go for them overall. I enjoyed the first Hyrule Warriors for its Zelda fanservice and was excited for AoC to provide a look at a pre-Calamity BotW Hyrule. I thought it was fun. A nice snack to hold me over until BotW 2 comes out (which hopefully we'll get some kind of news for it soon).

I was actually a little relieved that Cyberpunk 2077 received its latest delay. Without it, it would have come smack in the middle of the previous three games. As it was, I was able to enjoy and play the other three games without worries leaving me plenty of time when Cyberpunk unlocks in about 5 hours.