Two hours in, and Shadow Warrior 2 is so disappointing... Like, the first one (1997) is a product of its time and hasn't aged well in terms of its racism and misogyny, but the 2013 reboot was a surprisingly huge step forward in every aspect of its design, presentation, and maturity. Given the brilliant 2016 reboot of DOOM, I was stoked to get into yet another modern update to the oldschool FPS genre and instead I found a hub-world, what appear to be side-missions, and loot-based gem powerups in a game with atrociously tone-deaf writing!? All of the sympathetic character development from the 2013 game seems to have been forgotten, many of the scene transitions up to this point have been shockingly abrupt, the drastic aesthetic changes haven't been adequately explained, the new one-liners fall flat, and even the fortune cookies are pretentious literary quotes instead of irreverent jokes. It all kinda sucks so far; I hope things get better as I play, but I've got this sinking feeling... The linear levels feel a little too focused on showing-off the gorgeous visuals now, and exploring for secrets seems to have suffered for it. As for the gem system, I get that it allows for more robust leveling options, but I'm already spending too much time in that menu; I thought the limited skill trees of the previous game were just right, and all the extra customisation feels unnecessary in this franchise. I guess I'm just seeing a series of disappointing design decisions that make me wonder if Ubisoft secretly took over for this sequel, and I haven't been too pleased with their cookie cutter approach for a few years now.
Otherwise, I got back into Borderlands in a big way, wrapping-up The Pre-Sequel and all of the DLC for the original; taking a break before digging-in to the DLC for Borderlands 2.
Owlboy was fantastic.
Giving Shovel Knight another try soon, I think.
Still can't get back into Kentucky Route Zero or Undertale for some reason, even though I do love them both.
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