Reading Shamus Young's book about a reanimated corpse in the year of his own passing has been a morose, yet positive experience. The Witch Watch is a short but tight novel about magic in Victorian England and it felt realistic without being super serious.

Ragnarök update: This game has more money than God and Ive had a lot of fun taking down The Callous, The Zealous, The Feared and the Stolid as soon as I could. The rest brought adds and that shit just don't work when you're underlevelled.

My first 3 hours of Ragnarök were great, but I'm not giddy over it exactly. Still, with the improvements to air juggling, sprint speed and cliff jumping, the game has inched ever closer to God Hand. They removed my beloved heavy charged fist combo tho. :

Since I'm done with the Dishonored 2 "duology" I've been reading up on some of the secrets and holy hell is my brain too small. Arkane implemented so many logical reprecussions for player actions and powers. The Stilton Manor "thing" is insane!

Arkane really knows how to shake things up. DotO was a challenging romp, since they mixed and matched powers both to empower and depower the player, leading me to relearn how to approach things. I wish more devs were this experimental.

That's a wrap on Dishonored 2. Since the setup is identical to the first, it felt like the same plot, only with better mechanics and a couple of kick-ass levels. That's nice, but there's something about the world they created that's still lacking.

I feel pretty done with the Witcher show after S2. I got what I came for and now have a vague understanding of some character backstories but I don't care for the scope creep turning it into Big Fantasy Epic(tm) that needs a prequel show.

I gave Darkwood 2 sessions before throwing in the towel. No disrespect towards developer intent, it's just too mean, slow and oppressive for me right now. If it wasn't structured around crafting, maybe I'd feel different about it.

The Clockwork Mansion in Dishonored 2 was a rad level to explore and gave me some good Thief 2 vibes. These levels are stupid long first time through, it took me the entire day! Also, Emily's powerset suits me much better than Corvo's.

Happy 20th anniversary to Ratchet & Clank, you are now retro! This game and the series that followed mean so much to me, so I'm glad the series somehow still lives. If I wasn't so busy with Legacy of Kain, I might be giving it the retrospective treatment.

Judgment felt fresh in ways Yakuza 6 failed to. It's mired in minor issues, but the new angle, the sane mystery plot, the minigames and the dub made Kamurocho feel new again. Now to not play another RGG game for at least 8 months or I'll break down.

Kerrik52's LoK Retrospective #17 - Paternal Matters of the Soul

The Steam sale only got me to pick up a copy of Madness Returns for cheap since I missed my window of purchase while it was gone. GOG's on the other hand got me to buy all of this shit for next to nothing, putting my backlog quest in danger.

With Netflix threatening to undermine their business by cracking down on password sharing, I've focused on getting through The Witcher. Season 1 was really fun, this universe has so much to offer, especially since I can fill in some blanks from game 1.

Kerrik52's LoK Retrospective #16 - Melchiah's Malevolent Mausoleum

The promised day is here! I immediately reinstalled DS2 and rotated through my PVP characters and finally gave the Moonlight Greatsword a fair shake. Getting back to playing around with the Alonne Sword, Warped Sword and dual whips was so much fun!

THERE REALLY ARE SPOILERS FOR RAGNAROK OUT IN THE OPEN! HAVE THESE PEOPLE NO SHAME?!

Spooky season is upon us, so I revisited Haunting Ground for a bit. That game is so delightfully creepy without being downright scary. They put in so many neat touches and secrets to make it replayable. I also found this goofy remix on the soundtrack.

MY JUDGE EYES HAVE PERCEIVED THE PERPETRATOR, OFFICER. THIS MAN RIGHT HERE FONDLED THOSE ASSES.

I've decided to focus on some 30 FPS games that need playing, since adjusting to and from it is such an eye strain. Turns out there are different classes of them. Judgment feels like ass, while Dead Space on PS3 looks and plays great on my OLED.

As my proper introductory boomer shooter, Blood went above my expectations. It's stupid hard on anything but the first two difficulties and the bosses suck shit, but all the unique spooky assets and meaty explosions make it work.

The friend I tricked into playing Trails is finally getting close to catching up to me. We had a lore talk today and I could actually interject with some questions I don't know inbetween all the lies, misdirects and half-truths I usually rely on. Was nice

The anniversary update for Kena was delightful. NG+ had fun surprises, the trials put a spotlight on the solid mechanics and they even rerendered the cutscenes at a higher framerate. Oh, and photo mode is even better. Sequel please. :)

The first Microsoft game I'm interested in since the original Crackdown and they got to it so late it came out on PS4. Feels good and a bit odd to own this all things considered. Here's hoping it's funny!

Kerrik52's LoK Retrospective #15 - Abysswalker