What I've been playing (09/30/2025)
Hollow Knight: Silksong
I finished this a little over a week ago and it was fantastic. Incredible game. Was everything I wanted and more. Doubles down on all the parts I loved about Hollow Knight and makes some fun changes. The increased number of platforming challenges was welcome as well. Hornet's movement really feels good to use and I love how Silksong makes the most of it.
Bloodthief
Only played a single level so far, but I like what I've seen. Very good sense of speed. Can already see myself spending plenty of time trying to optimize my routes through each level. Kinda dig the levels having secrets you explicitly need to slow down and search for. Serves as a good excuse to explore and understand the level layout find potential routing ideas. I'm used to these games being so focused on forward momentum at all times that a reason to slow down for a run or two is welcome.
The only problem is that playing games like this on keyboard and mouse, which is helpful for faster precise movements, does a fucking number on my hands. Not the game's fault, but it does make enjoying these games harder since I have to keep my sessions short. Gets in the way of learning a level and improving my times.
Hades 2
Been playing the 1.0 release for the past couple weeks (was originally assigned to review it before my friend decided to take point on that himself). I've been enjoying it, but I've also felt the fatigue setting in faster than the first game. I think it's because, as much as the core loop is still good and fun, there's so much extra stuff around it that the elegance of its design has been diluted. There's more waiting for timers to finish, more materials and currencies to juggle (so many more currencies), more busywork in general. They basically added a variety of crafting systems and it's... not great.
It's interesting playing this alongside Silksong because they're both sequels that follow the tradition of making the sequel bigger and longer, but the means and result of their unique paths are interesting to compare. Silksong expands what I loved about the previous game -- the joy of exploration and the freedom to become lost in its world -- and is wonderful throughout. It sticks to what worked and makes tweaks based around the change in protagonist and how that alters the ways you interact with the world. Hades 2 takes the same successful framework and expands the scope well beyond its predecessor. It's largely just More Hades. The core loop of is still smooth and pleasant to play and the ways Melinoe plays in comparison to Zagreus make it feel fresh again, but it also bolts so many more and systems that it feels very cluttered.