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I don't know if this counts as a trope but I've been replaying Hitman 2 and the game has honest to god functional mirrors. And this was right before ray-tracing became really prevalent, so it doesn't kill the performance and it doesn't look like a blurry mess because of DLSS because the game supports neither of those things. As far as I can tell, they don't use the old trick of rendering the room a second time, either. And by functional I don't just mean clear, visible reflections. If you pull out a gun while standing behind an NPC, they'll spot you in the reflection and react accordingly. It's just one of those things that games stopped bothering with so long ago that I've gotten used to mirrors in games just being some kind of weird-looking blurry surfaces. So when you run into one that actually works it's a nice detail. It's the kind of attention to detail that I've come to only expect from developers like Remedy at this point. I still remember when I found a projector in Control, lifted it with telekinesis and the image it was projecting on the wall reacted accordingly and even spun around with the projector. They're small, superficial details but I always appreciate it when devs actually bother to implement them realistically.

I was going to wait on this one but it was 10 bucks off for the Capcom sale.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach It's more Death Stranding. Like, shockingly so. The intro was a huge surprise and the ending was completely bonkers in the best way but the middle 80% of the game basically feels like a rehash of the first game. I don't know what I expected but I figured Kojima would switch things up more than that. And it just overall wasn't as captivating as the first game for me. The first game did such a fantastic job with its world-building that it just doesn't feel weird and mysterious anymore. I can just roll with whatever weirdness the game throws at me. That's not to say I didn't love every second of it, though. Like Mister Jack said, the game is definitely way easier than the first one. The only missions I didn't S-rank with ease were some of the boss fights. I remember struggling with the Mads Mikkelsen sections in the first game but I never had any issues dealing with Solid Snake wannabe in this one. Getting access to vehicles very early on also really trivializes the game. I was playing on brutal difficulty and the only times I was challenged was when I had to deal with those ghost mechs. In hindsight, I probably should've played on that new To The Wilder difficulty but I'm always wary of new "eXtRa DiFfIcUlT fOr PrO pLaYeRs OnLy" modes because more often than not they feel like over-tuned bullshit. It's always a treat to play a new Kojima game but at this point it's starting to feel like he's just remaking the same game since MGSV. Sam controls almost exactly like Venom Snake, he just has a different moveset. They're all set in open-worlds with mission-based story progression and big story moments delivered much more sparingly than in his MGS2-4 era. I kinda hope he'll switch things up a bit more with Physint. I'll be there day one no matter what but I wouldn't mind a different structure in his future games. Anyway, normally I'd keep playing and 5-star all locations and get all the achievements but I started playing Pragmata and it's actually really fucking good. So I'm gonna focus on that for now and probably get back to DS2 later on.

I really enjoyed the demo and the reviews and overall buzz surrounding the game are very positive, so I went for it. And it's a new IP for once, so I don't mind showing some support. Besides, if there's a studio that's earned my blind trust at this point it's definitely Capcom. The timing is perfect too since I'm nearing the end of Death Stranding 2.

Pragmata I also really liked this game a lot. It didn't blow me away, but it was solid throughout, and like Toxic says there was no filler, this is the first game I've played in a long time that I didn't feel like overstayed its welcome. It earned every second of its runtime, and when I was ready for it to be over it was. The story is as good as it needs to be, Diana's performance is incredible (she'd better be nominated at the TGA's), the gameplay was fun and different from anything I've ever played before. Overall it's just a really good package through and through, with no real negatives to speak of. It's also pretty as hell. Grade: 4/5

Pragmata I absolutely loved this game. It feels like a throwback to the PS360 gen in a lot of ways. It reminded me a lot of Vanquish in particular. It made me realize how much I miss the days when most games were a solid 10-12 hours with no fluff, often with a lot of replay value. Nowadays, everything needs to be an open-world with dozens of hours of brainless checklists to complete. And don't get me wrong, I love me a good checklist open-world when that's what I'm in the mood for. Especially when it's a game I love and want to spend as much time as possible with. I just find it exhausting that that's what a lot of AAA games have become. Anyway, yeah, Pragmata is great. The hacking concept is novel enough to make the combat feel pretty unique and with the amount of customization available I'm sure people will come up with insane builds that just tear through Lunatic difficulty. I also loved the art direction, especially in the earlier levels when everything looks like a 3D printer vomited all over the station. This feels like a game I'm going to want to keep revisiting over the years. Kinda like Platinum's games. I'm definitely going to keep playing, at the very least do NG+ and Unknown Signal mode. Maybe Lunatic difficulty if I'm feeling adventurous.

I also broke down and grabbed Pragmata.

RE Requiem completed, Insanity is called that because you have to be insane to try it lol. Infinite ammo and bonus weapons are a must before you even think about it.

I got one used. Originally I wasn't planning to get one at all but that was before the entire world economy lit on fire and every console started to go up in price instead of down. I'm not going to bother waiting for an OLED model because I'm mostly going to be playing this thing on my OLED TV anyway and an OLED model will be even more fucking unaffordable by the time it comes out. I only plan on playing first party exclusives on this thing, preferably used when I can get them. I still hate a lot of Nintendo's business practices but frankly 5 years from now I don't know if I will even be able to afford consoles anymore so I'm just going to get while the getting is good.

Every open world game where you have to walk and talk with NPCs needs a follow button. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 had one and I'm pretty sure RDR2 had it and every time it's not present I hate it. I hate having to slowly push the stick and stop and start so I don't accidentally overtake the NPC. Just let me push a button and forget about it. My input really isn't needed here.

It uses render to texture. Basically the game spawns another camera that looks out at the room through the mirror like it's a window, renders what that camera sees (at a lower resolution, and I think with lower graphics settings but am not 100% sure of that part) and then pastes it on the mirror as a texture before rendering the main view. It can't do curves like RT can, it only works on flat surfaces, but it works extremely well for those.

Score! *Edit - Double score! You can get an extra discount by "completing the collection" if you already have Kaizen.

Great decision, it's a fantastic game! It feels right out of the PS360 gen. It plays differently but it's giving me strong Vanquish vibes. I love it. Although I am sad to report that it features AI art.

Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels DLC This was pretty fun, wish there were more Hot Wheels cars (not just, car but with a Hot Wheels livery) since the ones that are included are really fun, specially the Bad to the Blade and Bone Shaker. I did have an issue at the end, where in order to unlock the final race, the Goliath, the mission tracker just said to "Get at least 1 star on every S2 PR Stunt", I had that and more, with some at 3 stars, and yet the race was still locked. Turns out you also need to get a certain amount of medals, after completing some other events in lower ranks I finally got enough medals and got to complete the DLC. I'm really going to miss these cars when Forza Horizon 6 comes out lol. Grade: A+

Death Stranding 2 It's pretty much an improvement on the original in every way that matters. There's more weapons that are non-lethal now so you don't need to worry about accidentally killing humans nearly as much, which also means much more focus on combat. There's also a bunch more tools and toys to play with and managing cargo has been streamlined to be less cumbersome. I still really like the first game but it feels like this one is the fully realized idea of Kojima's vision of a "strand game." The plot is as insane as you'd expect from a Kojima game and there are a few moments I think I'm going to remember forever. I found it easier to get S-ranks in this game too, though I'm not sure if they deliberately made it easier or if I just got better at the game after playing the last one. Either way I really got sucked into this one. I'll probably be going back to it at some point to polish off the last few deliveries I didn't get around to.