I’ve heard from several folks that Act 1 and 2 of Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios) is really just the beginning of the game, that Act 3 is the largest part of the game. They were right.
Act 2 involves traveling to a land cursed by darkness, and the player can either fight against the forces controlling that darkness or side with them. I really enjoyed this section of the game. It had some fascinating side quests and a great epic battle to defeat a seemingly immortal being. Completing this era feels climatic — and then we discover that this is only the start of a new storyline, leading the player to Baldur’s Gate.
Arriving in the city of Baldur’s Gate was an overwhelming experience. In addition to the main quest, several of the companion characters’s storylines culminate in the city. In addition, there are so many people to interact with, so many potential new quests to follow. I attempted to play through certain quests, but I was starting to burn out. By this point, I had already played over 100 hours of the game — and I didn’t think I could handle about 30, 40, or more hours at this stage. So, I have decided to take a break and play some other games. (After having some conversations on Bluesky, I discovered that I was not alone in this feeling. A number of players took a break at this same point, which makes me feel better about things.)
Schim (developed by Ewoud van der Werf and Nils Slijkerman) is a game I first learned about and played a demo of at GDC 2024. I was drawn to the game thanks to its unique, vibrant art style, with a fun gameplay concept. The player is a tiny shadow creature that can jump from shadow to shadow. At first, it is attached to a young boy, who we see grow into adulthood — when suddenly the connection between shadow and boy is severed. The rest of the game involves moving through shadows to get back to your person.
The act of jumping between the shadows is such a fun and clever form of platforming. Once inside a new shadow, the creature can interact with the object (such rattling a fence, causing a street light to buzz, or spitting garbage out of a garbage can), which os delightfully satisfying.
Schim is a much shorter game experience of around 5 hours (which was exactly what I needed at this point), with a cool story experience and fun gameplay. I would definitely recommend this one.
Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games) is a comfort game for me. I have played the game (and its sequel) all the way through at least twice, and it’s a game I can turn to for joy of playing it all over again when I’m experiencing stress. As I was just starting to get overwhelmed with Baldur’s Gate 3, I happened to be watching some documentaries on Horizon and found myself wanting to return to that world. So, that’s what I’m doing.
I upgraded to the Remastered version of the game, which seems to mainly put an extra layer of polish on an already gorgeous game. PS5 would have allowed me to bring over my former saves from PS4 (allowing me to go into New Game+), but I opted to just play the game from scratch.
I’m playing the game on “Hard” mode and am progressing at a solid pace. Maybe I’m even improving as a gamer. Although I do get wrecked during first or even second attempts with particularly big machines, I’m figuring out how to approach challenging fights with better strategies and to use specific combinations of armor and weapons in order to improve my chances. In fact, some of the fights seem to go so smoothly that I’ve considered increasing the difficulty to “Very Hard,” but I think I’ll hold off on that for a New Game+.
As always, Aloy’s story is moving to me. Her journey from being an outcast and wanting to know the truth about her parentage growing into a deeper understanding of the world and the ancient past. There are so many interesting side characters and quests, so many fascinating aspects of this world. I just love it so much.
I absolutely loved the first two Monument Valley games, so I was excited to finally be able to play Monument Valley 3 (Ustwo Games). The story brings in new characters, presenting a community beset by a sudden flood, with the player required to find the geometries to rescue villagers and heal the village. The purpose of this focus is to draw attention to all the communities around the world facing terrible flooding caused by climate change.
From a gameplay perspective, Monument Valley 3 switches from a horizontal to a vertical format designed for playing on your phone. Other than that change, the game features the same beautiful artwork style and mind-bending puzzles that play with Escher-style optical illusions. With this new game, Ustwo also includes some fascinating new level and art designs — for example, one level involved a kind of sketching on paper element that felt significantly different than what had come before.
However, the puzzles and overall game felt all too brief. I kept expecting the puzzles to grow in length and difficulty — as they had in previous games — but nothing quite seemed to manifest in that direction. It seems that part of the reason for this is that the game incorporates “live service” elements, with additional seasons coming in the future. Although, there seem to be no fees attached to these additional season, I do find this aspect a bit annoying. The previous games were tight, satisfying experiences, which gets lost in this new format.
I’m continuing with Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, and I’ve inched my way every slightly higher, but am stuck at this new point. But just knowing that I could get to this new point has be excited to continue trying the climb.
If you’d also like to know about the books and movies that I enjoyed recently, you can check out my Culture Consumption for February.