Ara: History Untold isn't a bad Civilization clone.

It's not an alternate perspective of the genre, like Massive Chalice. It doesn't re-theme the Civ formula like Warlock or Age of Wonders, or even twist it like Beyond Earth. This is Kirkland Signature Sid Meier's.

Military management is a little underwhelming, compared to building infrastructure and expanding your empire -- just like Civ V. The nuances of city micromanagement are fiddly and confusing -- just like Civ V. Diplomacy is mercurial, leaders rejecting simple trade proposals for no apparent reason -- just like Civ V.

And once you've got a campaign started, it's hard to put down; there's an addictive urge to play "just one more turn" -- just like Civ V.

I do think that it needs a better interface for late-game management of your over-long checklist of city details (or maybe ... fewer details to manage in the first place), so it's cool to see post-launch support like the National Economy Screen making progress in that direction.

All that said, I don't know if I've got it in me to sink more evenings and weekends into the same kind of 4X empire-building I've clicked through before.

But, I am a big fan of the online multiplayer as a "light" social experience. It's easy to process the game's prompts-to-action while shooting the breeze in voice chat (and talking shit about Queen Elizabeth).

Concluding the Dominus Collection, Order of Ecclesia thankfully brings back collectible enemy souls - as "glyphs" - and ups the sidequest ante with a village's worth of NPCs to run errands for.

But it's surprisingly hard, especially in terms of survivability; and the fragmented world map is...

Oh you know what? Unlike Portrait of Ruin, my opinions on Ecclesia haven't changed since I played the original. And I love lazily quoting my own previous posts.

... there are too many statistics. [...] Each enemy has its own weaknesses and strengths, ... the fact that some aren't [obvious] is a real stumbling block.

The pinnacle of this game's frustration is, in a late stage of a boss fight, or deep in a level trying to find the next save point, being blind-sided by something that instantly takes half your health away. [...] it's clear that OoE is a stalwart of the old-school Die And Retry game design mantra.

... most of Ecclesia is instead filled with comparatively boring micro-stages.

Seriously, look at these trivially tiny map areas:

Portrait of Ruin's sub-maps were, I assume, an attempt to build more geography than could fit in one screen-sized map. But all the miniscule maps that Ecclesia carves out, some for insignificant locations (like that pointless forest), just feel like boring filler in the way of the castle I really want to explore.

Well, at least this game (especially its NPC village) was a clear learning opportunity for IGA on his way to Bloodstained.

Progress: gave up after the Lighthouse.

I really liked Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, back in 2006. But its Dominus Collection remaster doesn't have the same impact today.

Portrait of Ruin's got a lot of content, in terms of geography and running length; this castle and its portraits' sub-maps include plenty of ground to cover. The disconnected-ness of those sub-maps, though, highlights how linear the game really is: a section of the castle is followed by a portrait, then another section of castle, then another portrait, then another section of castle...

An interconnected Metroidvania map can give players a feeling of freedom, of self-directed agency, when it lets you get lost in one of multiple branching routes; it can at least give the illusion of agency when it teases out-of-reach paths for you to revisit with later abilities. But the straight-line path through Portrait of Ruin's world has so little freedom, and so few of those future-ability teases, that the map hardly feels interconnected at all.

Portrait of Ruin also eschews Soma Cruz's soul-collection mechanic, playing more like his games' character-swapping "Julius Mode" -- one character (Jonathan) handles whips and swords and hammers, another (Charlotte) can summon fire and lightning and ice shards. Which works, but isn't quite as exciting as mixing-and-matching your own wacky combination of soul abilities.

What's "cool," or at least was cool a couple decades ago, is that while controlling one character you can let the game fight automatically as the other. The benefits of that computer-controlled partnership are very limited though: they don't position themselves very well, and they become incapacitated fairly easily. Outside of combat they're in the way more often than they're helpful; a "jump on your partner's shoulders" move is pretty sweet, but there aren't any other team-up mobility moves like it.

And although Portrait of Ruin's equipment-collection grind is comparable to Soma's souls, it doesn't feel as satisfying because... item drops and skill-point counters aren't all that related to the monsters you're killing. Or to put it another way, in the Sorrow games each monster felt like an opportunity to get some specific power, while Portrait of Ruin's monsters feel like meaningless fodder.

Portrait of Ruin is a perfectly serviceable hack-and-slash action RPG, and there's an impressive amount of stuff to do in it. But the quality of that stuff is a bit lacking; the map isn't interesting to explore, your ability customization options are limited, and without monster-specific souls to collect, the enemies all kind-of blend together.

Aria and Dawn of Sorrow held up surprisingly well in their remakes, but revisiting this game has unfortunately spoiled my fond memories of it.

Progress: gave up in the Sandy Grave.

In Cat Quest III, you're not just a cat adventurer, you're a cat pirate. Why? Because the world map is split into islands, and you need a ship to traverse its ocean. Hence, pirates!

(And pi-rats, the sword-wielding rodents you'll be battling and plundering in this quest.)

Like earlier Cat Quests, this a basic action RPG: beat up enemies for experience points, find new weapons and armor to equip, follow quest markers to progress a surreal, pun-filled story. The world and its tail tale may be a little weird, but it's thoroughly light-hearted and fun to play through.

And like in Cat Quest II, you can bring a co-op partner along for this quest (though there's no AI buddy, this time). Aside from a small handful of two-player-hostile level designs - like a spike-filled maze where if your partner gets stuck, the fixed camera won't let you proceed - it's a slick and straightforward co-op experience.

Encounters are pretty un-complicated, so you don't need to coordinate or strategize much, beyond making sure that someone has the "Furry Shield" spell ready. And if a fight does get too hard, there're plenty of sidequests available to grind more experience and upgrades; bounties to hunt and hidden treasures to find.

There does seem to be less content overall than the second game had, but Cat Quest III is still getting updates -- like just this week! And everything in this game feels highly polished, finely-tuned and delightful.

(Yeah, Dratcula's Castle is a real treat for Castlevania aficionados.)

Cat Quest is a simple and fun time. I'm really looking forward to more updates; maybe there'll be some kind of Xmas update next month.

Why even have an in-game notebook with such incomplete notes?

Last year, I was intrigued by Return of the Obra Dinn's mystery, but didn't solve much of it because of the frustratingly unhelpful in-game notebook.

The Case of the Golden Idol is mechanically similar: exploring a crime scene unlocks words, and you fill those words into Mad Libs-like forms - attach names to faces, develop the context of relevant evidence, reconstruct a sequence of events - to solve that scene. The vital difference is that Golden Idol's cases are small; an individual case's virtual "notebook" is only a couple of pages, so it doesn't take much effort to re-scan the evidence and connect all of its dots.

Still, by the end of its free demo, Golden Idol was starting to ask for a "solve" that didn't seem solve-able by deductive reasoning; an answer I had to guess and check and guess again for. You know, adventure game bullshit.

And unfortunately, The Rise of the Golden Idol - its brand-new sequel - looks like it may embrace that guessing-game angle even more. Where the first game's cases were clearly building up a bigger mystery (about the titular Idol) in the background -- the demo for "Rise" was already starting to include its own over-arching plot in individual case solutions, making logical leaps in individual scenes feel premature.

While I like the small, self-contained crime puzzles in the early parts of these games, I'm not exactly eager to sign up for their bigger mysteries which seem to sacrifice playability for the sake of drama.

Progress: Finished both demos.

I hate when story content is taken from me; when some seemingly-insignificant event, like a flap of a butterfly's wing - or even inaction, like walking past an NPC - results in a locked door or a dead character and a swath of narrative is gone forever. Poor Counsellor Florrick, I'm sorry I missed you in Act 1, and you never got the chance to pull me into a prison break.

So I can't feel too bad about reading guides online that spoil quest events and possible outcomes. Wish I'd done more of it before Act 3! Because BG3's story content is great, amusing and enthralling and well worth the effort to research and prepare for.

It's the party's strong personalities and intricate backstories, really, that tie the 150-hour experience together. And I love how those backstories all get extra-special attention in Act 3.

The overall plot is fine, too, I mean... a world-ending monster threat with light political conspiracy, assembling allies and collecting magic macguffins, ain't exactly groundbreaking. Expository scenes do well at conveying danger, as dialogs with high-profile NPCs make you feel small in the face of grave evils; and it's got fascinating ties into the world's deep lore (plus a few callbacks to the previous games).

But, for the most part, the main quest is just an excuse for your motley crew of party members to banter and bond and solve mysteries together.

And to swing axes and shoot fireballs at enemy chumps, of course -- but the turn-based combat honestly feels less compelling towards the end of the game, especially after reaching the level cap (only 12? really?). It was a little disappointing that so many Act 3 quests dumped their experience point rewards into the void, although I get that Larian didn't want me getting too overpowered and trivializing endgame boss fights.

(I still would've liked to, though. To get too overpowered.)

The combat, while fun and more-or-less easy to approach, isn't really the point though. The point is that I saved Karlach from her doom in Avernus; opened Lae'zel's eyes to the truth of her oppressors; rescued Wyll from his devil's bargain; helped some helpless, toppled some big bads, found some long-lost treasures, and generally inhabited the world of Baldur's Gate 3 in a way that felt ... impactful.

I saved that world, in my own, personal way. (With some help from the internet.)

Better than: Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 2, Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Extended Edition
Not as good as: Well. It's the best turn-based RPG I've played, I think.
Let's call it, on balance, as good as: Disco Elysium: The Final Cut and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Way back in 2006, when I played Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow then the preceding Aria of Sorrow, Aria felt familiar but simple and "kind of short." This year, playing Aria's modern re-release then Dawn's, the sequel feels familiar but ... complicated and slightly long. Huh.

Weapon Synthesis is a cool addition to the 'vania power grind, giving you a clear series of goals for incremental weapon upgrades, but the fact that upgrades consume souls - sometimes even one-of-a-kind boss souls - makes some of them not worth the cost.

And broadly speaking, your inventory and the map and the bestiary (and even the story) are all "bigger" but not necessarily better; scrolling through shop menus still sucks, fast-travel points are still of mixed convenience, and a lot of enemy souls (even rare ones) seem like low-value filler.

But, even with rough edges, Dawn of Sorrow remains a satisfying and substantial example of the IGA-vania formula: exploring and slaying and collecting and upgrading your way to becoming an over-powered superhero.

This re-release is absolutely the best way to experience it, too, because - aside from awkward touch-screen "seal" sequences - the Castlevania Dominus Collection has brilliantly re-evaluated how to organize this game's visual information. Instead of simply replicating the NDS's top and bottom screens, where originally one screen swapped between "map" and "status" modes, this collection's default UI cleverly displays both support screens right next to the main action.

Short of something like a full-on remake in a modern game engine (which does kinda exist, in Bloodstained), Dominus Collection has done a really impressive job of upgrading the DS Castlevania games while still preserving their original content.

I'm really looking forward to the next one.

Better than: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2021), I mean, even if not much better; Dawn is still a successful sequel.
Not as good as: a "real" new Metroidvania, I guess? maybe Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night?
While I'm still waiting for Ritual of the Night 2: at least I've got plenty more Dominus Collection to go.

Progress: Killed Menace, 100% map, 100% souls. (But gave up on Julius Mode, I'd rather collect more souls!)

No Man's Sky is now infamous for its underwhelming release, and - more shockingly - extensive post-release make-up efforts. It's a hell of a story! Shame the game itself isn't that interesting.

The feature-set is really impressive, technologically: that you can seamlessly jump from planets to space and back, that your custom buildings and terrain modifications persist anywhere, that your character and inventory are portable and can share in another player's universe freely...

But why?

I won't say that there's "nothing" to do in No Man's Sky, 'cause it certainly ticks the Open World Survival Craft boxes of Survival, and of Craft -- there are plenty of life-support meters to manage, tools to charge, crafting resources to collect and convert and upgrade and et cetera. If you're into that kind of game-loop, juggling supplies while building a sci-fi mansion, this is a great place to do it.

Personally, I'm not interested in that. Fallout 4's base-building was a chore I skipped, and in Palworld I only made what I needed for gear upgrades (and for my Dragonite's missile launcher). Hell, my co-op partner and I turned off the survival mechanics - kudos to the game for these options - because they got in the way of exploration.

And No Man's Sky doesn't seem to have anything else worth doing. Its vast, awe-inspiring space only goes so far -- the terrain and wildlife and salvage that's procedurally generated on each planet ultimately feels bland, and so exploration for its own sake just isn't satisfying.

The game's storyline, following mystery signals across the universe, is threadbare and tropey. Compared to the compelling drama of Outer Wilds's sci-fi mystery, No Man's Sky's narrative is like an afterthought. ... well, yeah, I guess much of it literally was added a year later.

In the end, while I can admire how No Man's Sky (eventually) followed through on its ambitious designs, the core game of it is still pretty limited: build a house in space. Meh.

... like I was just saying, Aria of Sorrow's introduction of collectible soul-powers, its variety of equippable weapons and fighting techniques, and its modern setting are all refreshing and exciting changes to the Castlevania norm.

Back when I first played it in the GBA Double Pack, I'd already finished Dawn of Sorrow, so Aria couldn't help but pale in comparison. Now that I've blissfully forgotten the details of the sequel -- I can really appreciate how strong this game is on its own.

Even if some aspects of its storytelling and user interface feel a bit outdated, the foundations that would become "Igavania" - the same principles which eventually made Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night so compelling - are all accounted for, and already working well.

No joke: I said that in Bloodstained,

It almost always feels like you're accomplishing something, even if only in small increments, toward the ultimate goal of overpowering evil. Bloodstained is at its best when it's giving you plenty of opportunities for continuous improvement.

And that's just as true all the way back in Aria of Sorrow; true enough for me to enjoy late-game grinds for experience and gear and souls, completing the game's checklists, and overpowering myself enough to turn the final bosses into total chumps.

It's a great formula, and its execution here is quite good, in spite of the GBA's limited horsepower (and number of buttons). Now, a couple decades and multiple sequels in this game's future, I could lament that some quality-of-life annoyances - like hidden progression requirements, and inconvenient fast-travel locations - still haven't seen much improvement.

But I love IGA's castle-crawling adventures all the same, and even after a dozen hours in this one, I still want more.

Better than: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Not as good as: well, the next one, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
... so, it's a good thing: the Castlevania Dominus Collection is finally here, and I can play that again too!

Progress: Killed Chaos, 100% map, 100% souls.

Castlevania Advance Collection is a faithful re-packaging of the GBA Castlevanias -- as is M2's way, it emulates the original games and wraps them with minimal modern conveniences. These are essentially the same games I played 20 years ago, for better and for worse.

(Though being able to play them on large backlit screens and with a more ergonomic gamepad is quite nice.)

Circle of the Moon was, in its day, a pretty impressive first try at bite-sizing Symphony of the Night's nascent Metroidvania formula. But its movement and combat mechanics haven't aged well; Nathan Graves feels frustratingly stiff and unresponsive to control, especially with this map's surprising abundance of pits to get knocked back and fall into.

The "Dual Set-up System" gameplay gimmick is more confusing than engaging, and the story is too threadbare to keep things interesting. So... while revisiting Circle of the Moon unlocked some fun memories of juggling my GBA, a flashlight, and GameFAQs printouts, I don't feel like I'm missing much by setting this one back down.

And then there's Harmony of Dissonance: Juste Belmont is more satisfying to control than Nathan was, but the gameplay mechanics available to him are comparatively plain. It just feels dull. And the distinctly poor audio quality of the soundtrack doesn't help.

Trivia time! While Circle of the Moon's soundtrack has that "classic Castlevania" feeling, it wasn't composed by Michiru Yamane, who followed IGA all the way to Bloodstained.

But Harmony of Dissonance was composed by Yamane, so that game's decision to "... sacrifice the music and focus more on the visual side of the game" (interview source) is, in retrospect, a real shame.

Of course, it shouldn't be surprising that Aria of Sorrow is what makes this collection worthwhile. It finally ditches the ancient sub-weapons, replaced by (a ton of) new soul abilities; it makes collectible equipment interesting, with weapon varieties that actually change how you play; it's got a story that, while still light, twists the usual Belmont-clan plot in a fascinating way...

But I'm getting ahead of myself, 'cause Aria of Sorrow really merits a post of its own.