I've been telling myself since August that I would, eventually, come back and wrap up Infinifactory. But every time I actually think about it, I just can't even imagine myself enjoying the hours of work it'll take to do the five puzzles I have remaining.

At least of the puzzles currently available to me, they all require assembly from such a low level - like making a LEGO set out of only two-stud bricks - that the excitement of pulling off ingenious engineering becomes overshadowed by grueling tedium.

I would have to call these last few levels an unfortunate misstep for Infinifactory, and the culmination of an awkward pace (with multiple difficulty spikes) throughout the game.

But despite that, I have to commend Infinifactory on the whole, for delivering an impressive amount of great puzzle content. Not all of its puzzles are winners, but ... a great many of them are.

Better than: Shenzhen I/O and TIS-100 for sure; and probably SpaceChem, in general.
Not as good as: SpaceChem had a better difficulty curve (although its final boss was kind of terrible bullshit, too).
Just in time: for Opus Magnum! (hopefully coming out of Early Access soon?)

Progress: stopped at The Homeward Fleet - Fusion Reactor

Immediately, the most jarring thing about Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut is the high-definition UI art that it's putting on top of Nintendo DS-era gameplay graphics. (Honestly, they look even more like GBA graphics.) The modern-ish HD veneer fades away pretty quickly.

And beneath that veneer is a game that feels just a bit too antiquated for today. The controls aren't quite responsive enough; the hitboxes are never exactly what I expect; the menu sucks (where's my Map button); the UI's visual language is unclear; combat isn't interesting at all; the logic on enemy respawning is all over the place.

It's slightly bizarre that, although I definitely wouldn't call the game hard, I end up taking a fair amount of damage -- because I'm having a lot of trouble timing my attacks and movement correctly. Thankfully Shantae's HP is more than enough to accommodate this.

Gameplay aside, Shantae's world feels very minimally charming. Pixel-art belly-dancing can only go so far.

... actually, I guess my nitpicks don't necessarily indicate "antiquated" as much as they might "sloppy." A trend I really can't help but ascribe to WayForward, game after game after game.

Progress: Defeated the Squid Baron

So I guess Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story has been on my backlog for about eight years. I'd totally forgotten about it.

And considering my fond memories of Superstar Saga and less-than-fond ones of Partners in Time, this installment is ... well, it's pretty okay.

• The light-hearted storytelling and strangely-Italian miming are still somewhat charming (especially now that Bowser's in on it). But the larger plot seems silly and unstructured, more like I'm following dots on a map than like I'm actually on a mission.
• The timing-based combat moves are fun, and keep gameplay more interesting than just selecting the right attack (i.e. not jumping on a spiny shell). But learning an enemy's tells can be frustrating, particularly when they're in dinky little details like a left-eye versus right-eye wink.
• Other RPG aspects, like equipment and stat points, don't feel all that important. I mean, leveling up definitely makes a visible difference in overall power; but the finer details aren't that impactful, so far.
• And then there are the overworld puzzles, and the bros' special moves like Luigi smushing Mario with a hammer so he can walk under short ceilings. This was one of the coolest parts of Superstar Saga; but until a genuinely new ability shows up, it's feeling a little over-familiar.

The aspect of switching control between Bowser (in the Mushroom Kingdom) and the bros (inside Bowser) hasn't come up much so far. There is some real promise in how Bowser's vacuum move can make a battle span both perspectives; but at least so far, they don't really integrate with each other all that much.

If I had played it when it was new, I'd probably be a lot more impressed. And it's not like I'm down on the game, exactly. It just hasn't "grabbed" me yet.

Progress: Plack Beach

I've remarked before on Diablo III's uninteresting environments:

... all of these design themes and elements work fine, but they seem lifted from Diablo II as a template, rather than originally designed from its inspiration.

... and its piss-poor storytelling:

And the fact that the plot is totally fucking stupid is still impossible to ignore. Even when skipping cinematics and story scenes, the game's dumb characters are irritatingly aggressive at showing off how silly the story is.

Still, the core loot-driven progression formula got a lot better post-launch; and I figured that this would be a compelling system for me and my dedicated co-op partner, coming off of Borderlands 2.

But I don't know what they changed since 2014 -- or if they even changed anything, maybe it's me? This game is boring, now. Normal and Hard mode, at least, are basically indistinguishable from a clicker game.

Sometimes new loot has a bunch of exciting green numbers on it, but it never changes the way that I play the game. Upgrading gear just feels rote and routine. I guess this was always true of Diablo III: even the difference between slower and faster weapons is practically meaningless for your character's abilities.

And the abilities themselves are, well they're interestingly varied, but it still doesn't really matter what I do. The thrill of unlocking a new ability tends to be dulled by the realization that the old ones - even the ones I started the game with - feel like they completely overpower all the enemies that the game can throw at me.

It feels like the current game's sense of difficulty is premised on swarms of enemies, rather than on particularly difficult tactics (like runners or teleporters or arcane-enchanted laser assholes). So I use an ability that does area-of-effect damage, and they all explode at once. It's all over in a moment.

Maybe we'll see if the "Expert" difficulty changes anything. I hope it doesn't just throw even more underpowered enemies at us.

It'd be a bit of a shame if we get completely bored of Diablo III before even making it to the new Act V.

Progress: Somewhere in the fucking desert

Counting Super Mario Odyssey's power moons is a little complicated. For one thing, some of the collectible moons are actually triple moons that increment the counter on your spaceship by 3; but they still only count as one in the list of collectibles.

For another thing, you can use gold coins to buy an infinite amount of moons. So... huh.

At any rate, there are 836 collectible moons - not counting triples! - and I got 816 of them. The majority of those, I even got without help from the interweb! And the game was really most fun when I was just wandering around a kingdom, looking for things I'd missed.

The 20 moons I've got left are from challenges that I'm deeming too fucking hard, like footraces that require mastery of difficult shortcut-enabling jumps, or the final level that doesn't have any checkpoints.

And I collected all the purple coins for special outfits, which really seems like the most important in-game accomplishment.

Yeah. Mario Odyssey is pretty awesome.

I'd been looking forward to Death Squared, thinking that it looked like a fun co-op puzzler in the vein of Pitfall Planet. Good thing I tried the demo, first.

Death Squared seems not as much to be a thoughtful, methodical puzzle game, as it is a die-and-retry, getting-punched-in-the-face kind of puzzle game.

At least in two-player mode, levels are scripted such that each player's movement basically fucks the other player over. So the solution to a level will require the Red player to move to one position, then the Blue player to move to another position, then Red to move again, and Blue, and ... so on. Moving to a non-ideal position, and/or moving while your counterpart isn't standing in the right place, will result in someone being killed and the level restarting.

Naturally, discovering these traps tends to involve being killed by surprise and having to restart from scratch.

By myself, controlling both characters with one brain, I couldn't even make it through the whole demo. I can only imagine that in co-op, Death Squared would incur even more severe coordination frustration than what drove me to give up on Kalimba.

Nine DLCs and 70-odd hours later, Borderlands 2 does ultimately run out of steam. My few remaining quests are mostly of the Raid and/or Level 50 variety - plus a few tiresomely-repetitive combat arenas - and I'm not really stoked on starting the whole game over again for True Vault Hunter Mode.

But Borderlands 2's weak transition into "endgame" is softened considerably by the incredible volume of content leading up to it. And aside from a few disappointing DLCs, that content remains commendable for its blend of engaging action, compelling loot, and genuinely funny writing and acting.

I'll probably get to the Pre-Sequel after leaving my Borderlands itch un-scratched for a few months. In the meantime, I'm still hoping for that Mr. Torgue spinoff franchise.

The previous Headhunter packs were holiday-themed. Sir Hammerlock vs. the Son of Crawmerax looks like it was going to be for Easter - there's a "fertility event" and there are a bunch of pastel-colored eggs - but then they lost interest, and dropped the holiday connection altogether.

But that's not important. What is important, is that Wam Bam Island is gorgeous. White, sandy beaches lit by a clear, bright sky, peppered with hostile pirates and crab monsters ("craboids"). Two parts of the map are connected by an underwater tunnel, which is, as we all know, the coolest part of any aquarium.

Also important: since it pulls in the whole Vault Hunter cast, the background banter is pleasant and entertaining to listen to -- a distinct strength, compared to Marcus's and Moxxi's packs. I really had fun romping around the island while Lilith fawned over Mordecai's new hunting pet.

Of course, it's still all over before you know it. But among the mostly-underwhelming group of Headhunter packs, the eye- and ear-candy definitely makes this one of the good ones.

Better than: Borderlands 2: How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day
Not as good as: Borderlands 2: The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler
So for those keeping score: from best to worst,

• The main game;
• Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep;
• Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty;
• Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage;
• The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler (which, considering how short it is, is pretty good!);
• Sir Hammerlock vs. the Son of Crawmerax;
• How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day;
• Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt (which, considering how long it is, is pretty bad);
• Mad Moxxi and the Wedding Day Massacre;
• And finally T.K. Baha's Bloody Harvest.

And now the Headhunter packs are up to Valentine's Day, with Mad Moxxi and the Wedding Day Massacre.

Like the previous packs, there's a single main quest that runs through the map, and a single follow-up sidequest that retreads the same ground. And, like the previous packs, it offers some brief glimpses of Borderlands 2's quality, crass humor. (There is a robot named Innuendo-bot.)

But Mad Moxxi, as the title character for this pack, really feels like she's phoning it in. The plot by itself isn't interesting, and she doesn't add any flavor to it. All she does is tell you to go to X and do Y.

The high point of this DLC is about 30 seconds worth of banter between Moxxi and Ellie.

Better than: Borderlands 2: T.K. Baha's Bloody Harvest
Not as good as: Borderlands 2: How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day
Innuendo-bot: deserved better.

Like the preceding Thanksgiving story, the Christmas tale How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day is a short and sweet tidbit of Borderlands 2 content.

The snowy holiday-themed environment is charming, if small. To its credit, unlike Bloody Harvest it isn't so large and empty that it feels painful to run through.

But, it also just isn't as interesting as Mr. Torgue's explosive feast. Marcus is an amusing character, but he doesn't drive this plot. It's more driven by an evil, Grinch-like snowman. Who you then kill.

And like the other Headhunter packs, it's shockingly short, like 30-60 minutes including both its main quest and a single sidequest.

Better than: Borderlands 2: T.K. Baha's Bloody Harvest
Not as good as: Borderlands 2: The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler
As a reminder: these packs released at $2.99, which feels like a stretch for less than an hour of content.