Quick hits! (sort of kind of not really)
Dead Cells is great, but is it a Metroidvania?
Deck assembly vs. dice rolling in Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons
Void Bastards is great, full stop
Days Gone was better than people acted
(Deacon St. John is a worse name than people acted, and people acted like Deacon St. John is a terrible name)
The various slight but satisfying mechanics of Ni No Kuni 2
The *roundness* makes Frostpunk special
Puppeting a body along the ocean floor in In Other Waters
"Two sentences" about Yakuza turns into 15 minutes
You know what we could talk about, though? Puss
The mechanical improvements (and narrative disappointments) of Doom Eternal