This is the “metroidvania” genre part of the game but, it’s not for everyone.

That being said, both Hollow Knight and Silksong make the exploration a lot more streamlined than in older metroidvanias with the map features. When you don’t know where to go, check your map and look for paths that lead to areas that aren’t filled in yet. When you get a new power, see if you can remember any locations where that might be useful.

I agree with a lot of your commentary. A couple times so far a “good run back” has been the grind that let me buy some of the higher-cost items from shops. Sometimes it’s frustrating but usually once you get used to the path it goes quickly. There have been a few times where I didn’t realize there was a closer bench until after I already beat the fight lol.

Double damage would suck a lot less (and be a better mechanic) if you had 6 HP to start, or if you healed 4 at a time, or if bosses didn’t always do 2 damage.

Most of the bosses have 1-damage and 2-damage attacks. Also 6HP and increased healing are available relatively early (still a good way into the game but it’s a long game).

Skills and traps don’t do enough damage to feel especially useful either.

I have to strongly disagree with this. Especially when you start getting more traps/tools and upgrades for them, they get very strong and don’t require you to get dangerously close to the enemy like the basic attacks. Some of the bosses and many of the arenas I’ve gotten through mainly thanks to the consumable traps.

Common enemies are spongy, bosses take at least 33% too long across the board.

Like in most metroidvanias, you start off struggling against common enemies but as you get upgrades they become weaker relative to you. However I do agree that the trash mobs are a bit too tanky. Maybe somewhere between 50% and 25% less health would be ideal. I’m not sure I would adjust the bosses though.

There have been several boss fights so far where I die to the path to the boss more than the boss itself and it takes way longer to get to the boss than actually beating it.

That being said though, I do think there’s some merit to runbacks as an actual consequence for failure. I definitely strategize more cautiously because of it.

AAA games are infamous for their ridiculous pricing, not just Nintendo. I included Sony and they are also charging $60 for their 2D platformer.

I don’t think anyone would have complained if it was $30-$40. They could have sold well at $60 with some people complaining about it and others defending them for the choice.

Plus, you can’t realistically ask more than 20 bucks for a 2d platformer.

Silksong is using a 2D hand-animated style, which is not cheap to make, not because of coders but because it requires way more work from artists than other art styles.

GoG has been having issues too but not as bad as Steam ironically

GoG, Xbox, and Nintendo eshops are also having issues.

LLM training scraper caltrops.

lol fair enough

What is þ

Media viewer and the file browser are completely different programs with different support for media file types.

Not that this is an excuse for Media Viewer to not open webp files. Also asking you to pay for h265 support is extra ridiculous.

I just use VLC for everything.

There are also some games with active modding communities that can be played basically forever without getting boring.

I don’t know what this is trying to say but I don’t think I like it

How is a disk copy of Witcher 3 a GOG problem?

The company that makes GoG makes Witcher 3.

I’m sure the pedestrian also didn’t survive that scenario.

But yeah this data is a bit confusing.

If you liked OG Minecraft try playing some mods but do Minecraft Java instead of Bedrock

Minecraft (Java edition)

If enough people used “green” to refer to “red” objects, the meaning of the word would change.

See: inversion of the meaning of the word “literally”

Sanctum (and its sequel Sanctum 2)

It’s a tower defense where you also have guns and go fight alongside your towers as a first person shooter.

Both Sanctum and Sanctum 2 are worth playing and have slightly different vibes. Sanctum 1 is simpler while Sanctum 2 has more complex build crafting. Also Sanctum uses a square grid while Sanctum 2 uses a hexagonal grid, and Sanctum 2 has some tweaked enemy mechanics, including enemies that target destroy the towers or killing the players over just going for the core. I think Sanctum 2 tries to make the player feel more important instead of the towers being the main focus.