Recent reviews by Jedidiah

> Playing the last mission of the Soviet campaign in coop as co-commander.
> Co-commander gets a small island as a base.
> Focuses on building an air force.
> Allies paradrop Peacekeepers and Javelins past my defenses.
> They rampage for a while.
> I have almost no ground units... but I have a bunch of new Kirov airships.
> Proceeds to bomb own base to get rid of Allied soldiers.
> Surprisingly little collateral damage (still lost my Iron Curtain superweapon).
> After some rebuilding, sends them to bomb an enemy base for a change.
> Kirov reporting... for all your hardcore base cleaning needs.

I was given No Man's Sky as a Christmas gift from a friend, and I am very grateful for it, and for him.

The love of classic sci-fi runs throughout No Man's Sky, reflected in its aesthetics, background lore, and its premise: the wonder of exploration, with subtle undercurrents of dread. I recognize starship design elements from Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, and the conversations with aliens remind me of themes in Star Trek. There are probably plenty of other little references as well, of which I have only found a few so far.

The main story I've seen thus far, without trying to spoil things, seems to be trying to get into who you are and what's behind everything (which, like good sci-fi at least since H.G. Well's "War of the Worlds", can get you thinking about our own world and universe).

While yes, explore enough and you'll find elements and patterns repeating in different combinations, that's okay. That's just you getting the hang of how the universe works, which helps you build routines to streamline things as you go for bigger or more particular things. Hello Games have been working on adding new things, features, and perhaps systems for variety and to do even further justice for this vast universe. The initial learning curve was delightful, and as of this review there is still much more for me to get into.

If you or someone you know would resonate with the spirit of this game, and if you have the time for it, then No Man's Sky is a great gift for yourself or another.

Not every game that gets big content or seasonal updates also gets such colorful, character-filled, animated trailers for each update, which help the players understand what kind of world and character they are playing (immersion, role-play, gameplay, etc.). Keep in mind, animation is probably more work than simply recording and editing new gameplay footage. The devs care enough to tell a story with even seasonal events.

A strong and rarely seen indication of a Labor of Love.

As the trailers would indicate, this game explores the situation of an AI wrestling between following rules or re-evaluating them, all towards a higher purpose. It struck me as classic sci-fi, the original sort that asks unconventional questions, and I figured it could be insightful.

Despite its linear story (you as the player have little to no choice in events, and that may be part of the point of the game, being from the perspective of an AI and all) and one or two things said in the developer's commentary that seemed off-the-wall or wholly uncalled for, I still thoroughly enjoyed my first playthrough of ARID's journey (I don't listen to developer's commentary on a first playthough, as that can contain spoilers). Certain scenes, especially if going for the achievements, were riveting.

I have not played the sequel yet, but I can anticipate what it will be about. Simply put, the opposite problem to what is encountered in this game, an "order vs. chaos" theme running through both.

Cryptic enough? You can play this game and be exposed to questions about thought and directives you may not otherwise have occasion to consider, see what happens if such things are attempted in a machine... and what if something breaks.

After years of wandering around exposed to the elements, despite your skills in making fortifications and weird science marvels, you'd think you could at least (officially) build a roof over your head.

With the release of Hamlet, now you can actually buy one.

Player housing has come to Don't Starve.

In many games, many people seek a certain thing. Not necessarily a god-mode or a golden gun/trump card, but something much more essential. Something much more powerful.

Freedom: the ability to choose your own way, and follow it.

The Elder Scrolls series has long been famous for giving this thing called "freedom" in spades. And Skyrim, despite a greater emphasis on the action, continues this legacy of greater freedom than we yet realize. Even after years of exploration, with and without mods... there is still potential for more (from the game, AND from you). More to see, more to learn, and more to try. But even within the action, there are approaches I, and perhaps many, have never (seriously) thought of before.

Do you want to be a monstrous, misunderstood vigilante? Do you want to be an unseen shadow who almost never engages in direct combat, but instead manipulates opponents into killing each other? Or are you so insane (and so boss) as to take on the world WITH YOUR BARE HANDS AND BREATH!

All these, and more than we can yet imagine, are possible in the northern wilds of Skyrim.

Skyrim is an apt name. With multiple player-made expansions already released, and multiple total-conversions in the works... is even the sky the limit?

"War makes men mad."

Indeed, and this observation does not discriminate between soldier, nurse, general, politician, or cheerleading "patriots" back home. In this game, you will know some of the real love and suffering soldiers and citizens alike, on all "sides", go through. Even today, these same things apply; advances in technology do not change our nature.

And you will also know, in whatever nation/government/corner of the world you are in, that if you hear a leader, or a group, or even your friend and neighbor, advocating war against fellow beings under our Maker who mean us no harm...

...They are mad. The love of fellow man is not in them, and you now know who the real enemy is.

What is a hero? What does heroism have to do with a froggy horror game?

Heroes are not always the biggest, the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, the most popular, or the cutest. A hero can be none of these.

In fact, a hero can be completely, utterly, helpless.

Powerful weapons, shiny armor, fancy spells, even legends of exploits... these mean nothing to a frog, and to your knowledge, you are not the poisonous kind of amphibian.

You begin this journey out of mere curiosity. You continue out of survival.

As I played They Breathe, I honestly felt building wonder and terror as horror itself rose to meet me. Every wave was electrifying. I admit, I sweated. Some might say profusely. By the end, at the climax... fire ran through my body, threatening to paralyze me.

But do you even "win the day"? What does that even mean to a frog?

They Breathe is a purist distillation of what many other games hide, and lose, behind an advertised front of graphics, features, and voicework of all sorts. Here, you will not find much in "game content", reflected by the small download size and very small price.

But you will find a soulful, wordless look at the very heart of a hero, represented with the simplicity of a frog and the honesty of nature itself.

If you seek timelessness in your collection, They Breathe is a pearl of great price, sold for *scoffs in amazement* a 2 dollar bill.

A fantastic world. Melancholy, but with as much hope as you are willing to make. I did NOT expect some of the endings, nor that there would be so many.

But if you choose one of the good endings, I foresee definite sequel potential, especially if you investigate thoroughly and read/watch the official short story prequel "Fallen". Think of a cross between the shows "Firefly" and "The 100".

Unfortunately, the developers have slipped up majorly in their commentary mode. Some words unfit to be spoken or heard (as in, the absolute worst the English language can offer), tarnishing Primordia's otherwise shining image. Simply don't pry in commentary mode and you'll be golden.

For the game proper, I recommend this mechanical crisis of faith.

What is life? What is mind? What is soul?

There was a time when a new and strange genre of media asked questions of comparable magnitude regularly. Now, many of the latest in "Sci-Fi" focus on minutia: machines, aliens, and action greater in scope than anything possible today. These may satisfy many, but that is not why Sci-Fi came to being over a hundred years ago.

I am proud to say that The Swapper fulfills that mission.

The moment I laid eyes on the intro and heard the music, I saw the same spirit behind it as "The First Men in the Moon" by H.G. Wells, the same author who wrote the much more famous, but just as profound in its day in 1898, "The War of the Worlds". You know, that book that so many movies have been made about?

The art style is unique (dark, creepy claymation and junk-mation), the music has fitting gravitas but is never intrusive, and the puzzles can get mind-bending (this from an engineering major. Calculus and Physics and all that), but as you unravel the mystery behind it all, you are posed with, and ask yourself, the quandaries that defined an industry.

Sci-fi, from the start, has been to ask the questions that had no place to be asked anywhere else rational. Yet, if they are never asked, how can we push the boundaries, forge the frontiers beyond space itself, or even...know ourselves?

Endeavor to know what "yourself" even is by the end of this tale.

So... get this game, cuddle up with it in a dark room, having only the screen and the stars themselves as your light, make sure your sound systems are top-notch, and embark on what was known, way back then, as a "Scientific Romance".