@sparent180: I agree with basically everything you said.
Including that the IGN review made it sound like the gameplay was a big improvement, when in fact it's seriously unambitious.
A huge downgrade from Control.
And the only reason I say a downgrade from the original Alan Wake too
is that while the gunplay is virtually identical,
Alan is now slower and less nimble, giving you even less freedom than in 2011.
Honestly I knew we wouldn't get Control-style combat here,
but I was hoping for something more like The Evil Within 2.

@santinegrete: It's a lot tighter than Quantum Break,
but a lot simpler as well.

@spartan8

@muddrox

OK so then why did GameSpot give Deathloop a 10/10 when the game was literally broken on launch so badly that the developers felt compelled to issue an apology specifically for the state of the game?
How many 10/10 games have the developers of said game felt obliged to apologse for? Exactly one. That's how many. The only one with a playable black woman.
Ask and ye shall receive.

@naryanrobinson: Yeah I did some looking into this one on YouTube,
and sure enough, it's not really a 10/10 game.
Sounds more like an 8/10.

This is what I'm seeing/hearing with evidence to back it up:
• fantastic graphics
• fantastic sound design
• fantastic story
• moderate technical issues
• crazy tedious/obtuse/artifical card mission “detective” system
• incredibly simple, repetitive combat,
that if anything has actually regressed in the 12 years since 2011.

That's what I like to see.
I admit I may have read this one wrong.
I thought I was looking at a 7 or 8,
but it'll definitely require a deeper look.
There are plenty of publications out there
who will see a playable black woman
and will increase the score by 2 or even 3.
It's sad but it's true.
So, discernment advised before jumping in at full price.

@kaki: said the guy who hasn't played BG3.

They cancelled Jon Stewart after he refused to back down
on the topics he wanted to discuss on his show, (i.e. China and AI)
because they knew he'd expose their practices.

The thing that disgusts me most about Apple
isn't even all the horrible s*** they do.
It's how immediately after they do it
they act like they're the most moral company in the world.

They really are like a cult.
They remind me so much of the Chinese government.

“At Apple we believe that everyone has the right to have their voice heard.”
- Tim Cook

The more Konami is involved,
the lower my expectations.

@rohanrocks88: Well, it was a controversy, even if a manufactured one.

At least this time they called it,
“Rowling's statements about the trans community”

instead of lying and calling it.
“Rowling's anti-trans statements”

I call that progress.

I must be the only one
who doesn't like being able to fine tune every aspect of a game.

I typically buy games to experience the developer's vision.
Sometimes that vision isn't able to be totally fulfilled
because of time/budget/publisher constraints,
in which case I don't mind applying a fix/patch or even mod.

But when every aspect can just be set wherever I like,
the whole thing just starts to feel a bit pointless.
The satisfaction at completing each of the million configurations,
is —for me— divided between the number of configurations,
leaving no configuration very satisfying.
(With the possible exception of the absolute hardest configuration,
which I usually can't do with the time I have, so I don't bother trying.)

I even feel that way about difficult settings in games.
I think games should either be like Dark Souls, with only one setting.
(and you really feel the significance/weight of the developer's vision in those cases)
or they should have two settings:
One that the player very clearly understands is the intended/default mode,
which is the equivalent of “hard” mode, but isn't labeled as such, or at all.
And an “easy” mode, which is well communicated to the player
to be the non-standard, non-intended mode,
which absolutely everyone can handle.