CMD (April-June 2026)

Another large entry of my new, quarterly series "Catch My Drift"! In this edition, we cover a slew of old and new games, and is it possible to have a "Game of the Year" already? Let's talk about it!

In this edition of “CMD”, I will be talking LOT about games! I finished a boatload this quarter! My recent quarterly escapades run the gamut of the gaming universe. Lots to unpack in this article! It’s a doozy. Maybe my most productive season of gaming yet?

Ah, at last it’s… Summer.
Ugh. Actually? I hate summertime. I hate almost everything about it. It’s my least favorite part of the year, honestly. My birthday is in June too. Why did I have to be born amidst the least interesting time of year? Eh, I won’t get into specifics, but from April to June, with rare exception, it’s the doldrums of late spring and early summer. Not much is going on… Yet, anyway.

June has been okay for new looks at video games, though, what with the summer gaming conferences passing by recently to give us just a taste of the new products coming our way in the near to mid-term. Mere morsels, but appreciated nonetheless. Welp, I have been keeping busy. Regardless of new or old video games, I have been playing them. More than ever, it turns out!

This past spring was shit hot for new video games, and I played a ton of awesome stuff this quarter. Capcom has chiefly been on a hot streak, as of late. I can’t wait to recap the things I enjoyed besides their recent output as well. Been a great early part of the year for triple-A video games, and I may have a frontrunner or two for my top spot already. Maybe too early? Who knows? I go by feel these days. So! Without further ado, let’s get into it. Lots of work to get to. I’m sure my fingers will be aching after this one. It’s gonna be beefy, folks. Gird your loins.

Just like last time, let’s start with the games I’ve beaten, then we will get to what I’ve messed around with. I won’t talk about every game I’ve finished—just some highlights.

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GAMES FINISHED APR-JUN 2026:
Cuphead (PlayStation 5)
Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip (PlayStation 5)
Yume Nikki (PC)
Super Mario Galaxy (Switch)
Half-Life (PC)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Switch)
Super Mario Sunshine (Switch)
Donkey Kong Country Returns (Switch)
Pragmata (PlayStation 5)
Battle Chef Brigade (Switch)
Lego Star Wars (PC - PS2 Emulation)
Saros (PlayStation 5)
Star Fox 64 (Switch - NSO)
Mixtape (PlayStation 5)
VA-11-HALL-A (Switch)
007: First Light (PlayStation 5)
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (Switch 2)
Pokemon Pokopia (Switch 2)
Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch) - (Golden Deer Route)
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The Drifter Dabbled: Recent Games I’ve Been Playing
Persona 5 Royal (Playing on PlayStation 5)

Now that it’s June, we have hit sort of a mini-lull in the new release calendar, so I finally took it upon myself to finally start picking away at the lauded JRPG monstrosity that is Persona 5 Royal. This will be the 4th time I have attempted to get into this game, and I think on this most recent try, I have finally identified why it’s taken me repeated attempts. The beginning is… not great?

That’s not to say it’s not engaging visually or addictive sonically, because those are the two strongest things about the game in general, in my early estimation. The visuals, music, and all-around vibes are killer here. Not bucking the consensus opinion here, I think. For me, it’s really the pacing that kills it. It’s slow. Too slow, and by extension, it builds up far too slowly for the time investment it asks of you as a player, at least in the early bits. The first dungeon arc involving Kamoshida took close to 11 hours to resolve, and by that point, it felt more like a tutorial than anything.

A few more qualms. Your party is not great. The weak characterization of your party in the early game (with Ryuji’s Social Link story being downright bad) is really disappointing to me. There is also an ‘edgelord’ flavor to the whole endeavor, and I find that irritating. Seems like these are kids learning to cuss for the first time, and it’s frankly pretty embarrassing when it comes to the clunky dialogue that is littered throughout the initial storyline.

The most grievous issue I have, though, is just how much tasteless fan service surrounds the party character Ann. That stuff is peppered throughout the early hours of Royal, and it really rubs me the wrong way in the beginning stages of the journey. Ann, in general, is constantly sexualized, and it becomes pretty distracting even into the second palace arc. It’s really Atlus at its most ‘ecchi’ and shameless when it comes to their checkered history of dealing with underage characters in the Persona series, and this is no different. It’s just far more pronounced. They lean into their worst behaviors with the character of Ann, and it’s extremely disappointing to see how objectified she is, no matter their attempts to ultimately empower her as a person with agency in the story. How can we call Kamoshida the bad guy when it’s Atlus who are the ones shamelessly ogling Ann and talking out of both sides of their mouth about mistreating the character? Lame.

To cap it off, it’s a game that wants to be a million things, but I feel is far too spread out for its own good, and the amount of choices in how to spend your time is straight up paralyzing at times. It’s… a lot. I like that it’s kind of a big ol’ JRPG titanic mess of a game, but it doesn’t make its shortcomings that much better.

I’ll keep playing it. I am around 15 hours in as it stands, with a whole bunch more to go. I’ll update periodically as I go, I imagine. I am a huge Persona fan, given my love for both Persona 3 Reload and Persona 4 Golden, so I will eventually see it through before Persona 4 Revival hits next spring.
Rough start, though.
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Dosa Divas (Playing on PlayStation 5)

So, gonna be honest about this one— I already put it down. I just don’t think this game has enough juice to warrant another squeeze, if I am frank. I wanted to really get into it, but as it stands, I find it pretty underwhelming.

I’m not expecting a ton, though, to be fair, because I have never really played an Outer Loop game besides this one, even though Thirsty Suitors from a couple of years back piqued my interest. Outer Loop makes games with narratives that shine a light on cultures that are underrepresented in the games industry, and for that, I applaud them. It’s very cool that they want to do that sort of thing. My contention isn’t with that company ethos, it’s really more that I just don’t really like the game they have made. I find the whole package pretty lacking for what should be a diverse, interesting indie role-playing game.

For one, it’s a narrative-heavy game, with lots of dialogue throughout. The issue I have with that is that none of the characters thus far have gripped me in a way to spur me on to see more of the tale they want to tell. It’s just pretty meh. I hate feeling that way about games. Be good, be bad, don’t be boring, is like my main motto when it comes to games, but unfortunately, this is just that: boring. The character designs are good and diverse, but their actual character traits and roles they play in the story come off as pretty generic to me.

The turn-based combat doesn’t move me either. It attempts to trade in the counter-based command prompt turn-order format of the Paper Mario series, but it doesn’t do enough with that format, and lacks the panache you need to stand out in a genre of its peers. The enemy variety is severely lacking; also, you will fight the same stock-standard groups of 2 to 4 baddies for the first couple of hours, and it gets extremely repetitive. Fighting them all is cake, too, because you can beat anyone just by hammering the regular attack, and the buff and debuff system for enhancing your party and de-powering your foes doesn’t feel fleshed out enough to make a mark in the combat, either. It’s just that the execution leaves a lot to be desired, and the devs left a lot on the table in the early game when it comes to the gameplay ideas, too.

I’m bummed out by Dosa Divas, if I am honest. I wanted to really get into it and like it, because I am predisposed to enjoying indie games like this— but this one just doesn’t do it for me. Good luck to Outer Loop, though; they seem to have a nice goal in mind with their creative stuff. I just wish the game they made pulled me in more. I won’t be returning to it, most likely.
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Grand Theft Auto IV (Playing on Xbox 360)

So I’ve never been a Grand Theft Auto ‘enjoyer’, historically speaking. I like aspects of the series, and I am a big fan of Rockstar Games’ other works, like the Red Dead Redemption series and Bully, but I just haven’t clicked with the Grand Theft Auto series for one reason or another. A bit of that has to do with upbringing: I grew up in a Christian household, and M-rated games (no matter the content) were highly frowned upon by my parents, so I just never really had any exposure to the series outside of my childhood friend talking about them (San Andreas was his favorite).

So with the impending release this Winter of perhaps the “Biggest Video Game of All Time” in Grand Theft Auto VI, I am attempting to make up some of this deficit by playing the whole series (or at least attempting to) in its totality. From GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, GTA IV, and GTA V. I just sort of feel a little left out, you know? I wanna understand why the series is what it is, and what people find so attractive about the franchise, I guess. I also just haven’t played pretty much any of them, so it’s a series I am attempting to see through. I wanna be there for the zeitgeist!

Concerning the game in question here with GTA IV, I am around 18 hours into my journey with Niko Bellic, and I gotta say— I am really enjoying myself. The thing I didn’t quite get with the series is really how well-written it is. At least with the IV, anyway, so maybe that’s the exception— but I am pretty gobsmacked just how genuine and earnest the characters and writing can be when they aren’t acting in certain ways that give the series the edgelord rap it has in discourse.

At its roots, GTA IV is a lampooning of the “American Dream”, and that is depicted with all the patented Rockstar goofiness I’ve heard about when I have encountered folks talking about the game in passing, but what I didn’t get is just how earnest the characters can be. GTA has a penchant, it seems, for larger-than-life cartoonish characters that can be a little much to handle. A little goes a long way with all the psychos you’re dealing with on a normal mission or two in a GTA game.

This distinct, heightened climate that defines a GTA game seems to rub folks the wrong way when it comes to how they depict their characters and stories. Being new to the series, I don’t have a ton of exposure to the particulars of the games. Still, as a new participant in the franchise, after hearing all the negatives about the characterization and humor of the games, it’s nice to see just how incorrect at times the discourse can be about how IV actually is. Niko and the characters in the story are well-rounded people all struggling to make it in the world of Liberty City, and while not without their immense character flaws, each is given a lot of pathos in the telling. It’s really good so far. I am glad this is my first GTA game. I will absolutely be finishing this one. As for order? I think I am going to play IV, V, III, San Andreas, Vice City (since the new one returns to that last game’s setting, I want that to be freshest in my mind). I’m looking forward to seeing it through as a longer project of mine.

However, I will also echo a sentiment I have seen about this game: the cars do drive like boats, and you know what?? I kinda like that. If I’m wrong, I don’t want to be right! Maybe it’s just the contrarian in me…———————————————————————————————
Romeo is a Dead Man (Playing on PlayStation)

Not much to say here, but my early time with this in the spring was positive! I am not a Suda51 guy by any means, but I admire his stuff. He is a very quirky, particular individual, and that sort of auteur spirit comes across in the weird, wild, and wacky games he makes with Grasshopper Manufacture. The one Grasshopper game I have really played besides this was Shadows of the Damned: the Shinji Mikami, Suda51 brainchild of the 360 era, that tied together a lot of harebrained ideas with an actually competent and enjoyable game. I have yet to play his other stuff, such as classics like Killer7, the No More Heroes series, Killer is Dead, and Lollipop Chainsaw. (I also want to play his visual novel The Silver Case, which I hear is excellent.)

That’s the real dig I hear around about Suda games: they are great idea games. The playing of them, though?? Leaves a lot to be desired by all accounts. I honestly am okay with janky and unreliable gameplay if it’s servicable enough to convey wacky thoughts. The game industry is better when games are weird, and Suda51 is proof positive of that.

As it comes to Romeo is a Dead Man (amazing name), it’s a whole lot of that, honestly. Some jank here to be found, but ultimately the ideas are what make this little gem shine all the brighter. As a video game, it isn’t really too much to write home about, but the potent mix of a great, bold, and brash presentation united with a humorous premise and populated by likeable, fascinating characters with funny names (Kimberley Goldfish has gotta be an all-timer and maybe not even the best of them), Romeo is a Dead Man is the rare video game that keeps me guessing. I am extremely amused to do so as well. It’s been a delight!

There is also a really dumb and fun zombie-growing mini-game included in the main hub that plays like a farming sim by way of Pokémon’s monster collecting, with a whiff of Persona’s fusion mechanic that is so inspired it’s almost worth playing just to interact with and see. What an awesome thing. I will definitely see this one through to the end in the catch-up part of my year this year.

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Esoteric Ebb (Playing on PC)

This is a new game I’ve been picking at that has been quite the marvel. Esoteric Ebb is a Disco Elysium-like, for lack of a better term. A Baldur’s Gate III, in indie spirit, I’d say. I guess if I were to attempt the proper nomenclature, though, I would lean toward calling it: an expressive narrative RPG. A game that can play out entirely differently, depending on the specific avenues, choices, and skills you decide to go with throughout the narrative. It’s a dense, richly detailed DND-like world that is filled with so many bits of quirky dialogue, amazing characters, and interesting choices, it’s a game tailor-made for me and my brand of bullshit. I am so into what this game is doing. It’s small-scale in scope while being extremely deep about that small slice of life you are living in.

Just to mention a couple of funny things that happened to me while playing it. The first was a conversation I had with a blue gynosphynx that led me to peering down a deep, dark well adjacent to me, which ended with me deciding to jump into it in hopes of finding some lost secret, but in actuality, it ended humorously with me plummeting down into the depths to my painfully ironic death.

The game just let me do that. The dialogue didn’t lead me astray either. It allowed me to inspect the well, and in keeping with the Disco-like nature of the internal dialogue mechanics of the game, offered me some really amusing mental musings about jumping down said well, while ultimately allowing me to have the authorship to make a dumb decision to execute on my really bad idea. It was glorious. What followed was a death screen and seguing comedically, then, to my mental faculties, musing how dumb it was that I just did that. Was I hoping to get somewhere? I just jumped into a fucking hole for god's sake. What’s wrong with me?? Shit like that gets me, man. It's hard for video games to be funny, but allowing me to participate so actively in the humor is so kino.

Another funny bit is in the opening scenes of the game, where you wake up in a morgue. I noticed a bucket on the ground beside a pile of apples, and the game let me put it on my character’s head in place of a helmet. Now every time I talk to an NPC, they remark about the bucket on my head, and I respond by acting like I have no clue at all as to what they are talking about. It’s such a good bit, too. I won’t change that headpiece if it kills me. What a great video game. I absolutely adore what I have played of it. ———————————————————————————————

Silent Hill (Playing on PS1 via Emulation)

Took a little bit of a detour this quarter to play some old video games, and among those that I played, I also touched the cult-favorite PS1 retro horror classic: Silent Hill. I’m honestly astounded how well it has held up! It’s a classic-style horror game with all the familiar trappings you’re used to from the era. It’s rather a comforting experience for me, given the long history I have with consuming copious amounts of horror-themed media.

I love the vibes here. It’s spooky and creepy in a quaint way that reminds me of the era. I am a new fan of Silent Hill as a franchise, after I played both the Silent Hill 2 remake (which is an incredible game, and the my review coincidentally was the first post I published to this Substack), and the underrated Silent Hill f, so I decided to reach back to the beginning since Bloober Team (SH2 Remake’s developers) got the greenlight to remake the original game. Going back to the first game has been a very enlightening affair, ironically (given the dreary setting).

The foggy and mysterious setting of the dreamlike town of Silent Hill is teeming with the twitchy pink and white nightmares that go bump in the night, and every step you take is another step on your long descent into the hellish terrors lying behind every corner. It’s a fun puzzle, balancing your slim resources to survive in the game, and I am really digging a lot of the early stuff. It’s around 8-10 hours, and I am maybe halfway through? Not sure. A ways to go yet, but I’ll be picking it up again as the year rolls on for sure. It’s fun to try old things! ———————————————————————————————
Mina the Hollower (Playing on Switch 2)

As much as I hate to say this… I think I actively dislike Mina the Hollower. That’s not to say I won’t change my mind as I return to it in the future, but the 3 hours I spent attempting to play it were supremely frustrating. I have a few issues with this one, but let’s get the positives out first since we should counter-balance the negatives.

The look is incredible. Very few games have attempted to treat the Game Boy Color aesthetic from yesterday quite like this, and at this scale. This game seems big, complex, and a huge endeavor by every stretch of the imagination, visually. It’s very impressive to see just how well they captured the era of the handheld they were inspired by. It truly seems like a labor of love on behalf of the developers, in that regard.

The music is also top-notch. Now, I am a huge Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove fan, and while nothing I have heard has quite met the mettle of the banger track that is “Strike the Earth” from the original Shovel of Hope campaign from that package, Yacht Club has more than outdone themselves with the tracks in the early game. Just a really sick chiptune soundtrack. Just talking about it makes me wanna pull up YouTube and start listening to it (Track 7 is where it’s at, baby).

My issues start with how it plays. By default, the character of Mina (a mouse) only moves in 4 directions. Not usually a big deal, right? Welp, it is when you have a ton of enemies around. Especially when said enemies can move way faster than you, and can move in 8 directions, to your meager 4. So that’s not great.

Also, the health system is actually just bullshit to deal with. You have only 3 vials at the beginning to use when healing up, and to use any of them, you have to build up a meter by damaging enemies, to use said vials on Mina to heal her. It’s not good at all. Enemies are aggressive and hit like trucks. To top that off, bosses also hit hard, so it’s easy to die instantly in bigger encounters, and they attack quickly when they do, so you almost have no time to heal up.

Usually, it’s 3 strikes, and you are donezo. Then, when you are hit, your health vial meter is reset to nothing. It’s a nice idea, this system, but the design of it is just awful, in my opinion. Mina is like a glass cannon who… actually doesn’t hit hard. She’s mostly just glass. If you aren’t careful, you will go down fast, and you'd better hope you have a checkpoint nearby that you saved at (which can be missed if you aren’t paying attention).

Some of the movement design issues can be mitigated by the use of the ‘burrowing’ mechanic in the game, where Mina dives underground for a few seconds, then pops up into the air like a jump. It’s pretty cool, except your invincibility frames seem wayyyy too short to facilitate any aerial combat you need to do against flying enemies. Time after time, I have shot myself up in the air just to get hit mid-flight because the I-frames dwindled for just a split second too long. That feels bad. The mechanic is fun, but that part kills it for me.

Finally, the most heinous of issues I have with the game is that there is no early-game map. At least not from what I can tell, anyway. That seems like actual sacrilege. Like, where am I going? It’s a huge world, too, with over 100 screens within. How do you expect me to find my way around? It’s pretty much a cardinal sin, that. I put the game down out of frustration because of one too many times where I lost progress after bumbling around and taking damage from the really dangerous enemies lying around to kick some ass in some random hole in the ground.

It’s a game that wants to do too much. It really needed to be focus-tested more, I believe, because this is stuff that could easily be fixed with some design tweaks and consistent patches. The game isn’t broken, but it is very, very, flawed. Hopefully, they introduce some quality of life changes to it because, as it stands, I am not a fan of the game in its current state. Maybe it isn’t for me, too? I dunno. I want to like it so badly, but at every turn and every inconvenience, it gets tougher and tougher for me to engage with it on reasonable terms.

There are sliders you can move around in the settings to help make the game more accessible, but I honestly wish the game were just better designed so I wouldn’t feel the urge to tweak it. I respect the confidence they have in their game in some way, but when I see sliders in the settings, I am of two minds about it. It makes me wonder if they aren’t worried that people might drop it had they not included some options to change the more difficult parts of the experience. That doesn’t seem that confident to me.

I dunno. I am kinda bummed about my time with this game. Who knows when I will return to it? In the meantime, I have better stuff to play for the time being. Wish I liked this thing more.
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The Drifter Triumphed: Highlights of Some Games I Finished or Completed
Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Played on Switch 2)

Finally got to this one after many years of putting it off. Boy… What a game!
This is the first Fire Emblem game that I have finished, but I’ve played bits of the series over the years. I am kinda mad at myself that it took me so long to play this one, because I think that behind both The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Odyssey, this slots in with those as a top 3 original Switch game. It’s SO good. On the advice of a friend, I played through the Golden Deer route for the main campaign and really adored almost every aspect of my time playing through it. Took me around 35 hours to finish the route, and I did damn near everything I could do in that playthrough. I did all the missions, all the side quests, all the support conversations, and even random musings that were littered around the monastery. I did everything.
I was really satisfied with the total package. It’s brilliant.

For any minor criticisms I would have toward the game, it’s counter-balanced by how much I enjoyed it. Minor stuff like running around the monastery can get tedious fast, the inventory screens are a little fidgety for my liking, the items in the inventory screen can be kind of a pain to manage, and weapons are all slightly more expensive to repair than I would like, but all in all, these issues pale in comparison to how much I deeply enjoyed the game.

The tactics and turn-based combat are rock-solid, the characters are fantastic and well-written, and the voice acting is phenomenal, with a lot of bespoke voice talent used for single characters rather than doing double or triple duty VO work like most games do. The visuals haven’t aged perfectly, but the game’s style remains top-notch.

I really loved the character of Claude, the ‘face’ of the route I chose. I loved him as my house leader, and the longer I played, the decision to pick Golden Deer looked wiser and wiser as I went. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is just a great game. I can’t wait to replay it again with the Blue Lions and the Black Eagles. Very excited to do so when I get to another slow period. I am looking forward to the new entry this September, and will most definitely be getting it day one. Fire Emblem! It’s good!! ———————————————————————————————
Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip (Played on PlayStation 5)

At the top of the year, I was busy finishing some 2025 RPGs I had been saving for my personal gaming podcast’s February Game of the Year discussion. Played around 85-90 hours between two hefty games this past winter, so I went looking for a palate-cleanser to reset myself. This little gem was perfect for that.

In its essence, Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip is a GTA-inspired 3D open-world collect-a-thon. The attractive thing about it is that it doesn’t take itself seriously at all, and that’s why I love it. Also, it takes like 4 hours to see through and double that to complete it all, so what more could you ask for in a little indie game that’s easy to complete? It was a really enjoyable weekend, starting it up, playing it through, getting all the stuff, and 100% completing it. What a blast!

It’s a very simple game. You spend time running around doing odd jobs in a small seaside town, meeting wild individuals along the way, collecting hats and bits of junk to… well… collect them, and you accomplish fun tasks given to you in a handy quest log. It’s simple, it’s awesome, it’s Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip. One of the most satisfying indie games you can play, and it’s a hoot and a half. I highly recommend this little nugget to anyone who likes a good time and has a free weekend. Play this one!!———————————————————————————————
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (Played on Switch 2)

I love the character of Donkey Kong. More than any of the storied characters in Nintendo’s vast history, he is my favorite. Why? I couldn’t really tell you. Going on vibes, I think Donkey Kong just seems like a cool ass dude to hang out with. He has a tie! But he is a Gorilla!!! Sign me up for that fun time! I loved Donkey Kong Bananza from last summer, and I adored the redesign he got from Nintendo for his new outing, but there is something about that Rare original that speaks to me…

Anyway, I have played both Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2, and have dabbled with Donkey Kong (‘94) on the Game Boy, and a bit of the Retro Studios games, but I had never completed any of those latter games mentioned before. So I strove to do so this year on a whim, and finished Donkey Kong Country Returns HD on the Switch 2. It was a delight.

I can’t believe how long I had gone without playing through this thing! It was so good! I have also heard great things about its sequel, Tropical Freeze, so I will attempt to finish that this year, too. Returns, though?? So, so good. It’s also really difficult??? I struggled with some of the minecart and rocket levels, especially. But it was all super fun! What an underrated platformer. It hearkens back to the SNES entries with its format and collectibles, but it adds a few tweaks that I appreciated. It also looks and plays fantastic on Switch 2.

God, I loved that game. Can’t wait to get to the sequel, and I hope they make another one in the series! Why did it take me so damn long to play it???? Hating on past me for this error….
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Battle Chef Brigade (Played on Switch 2)

This year, I made it one of my long-term goals to not only play more old, and more diverse video games— I wanted to also chip away at the growing pile of visual novel-style narrative games that I have been accruing over the years. Battle Chef Brigade may just be my longest backlogged game, all told. Kinda crazy it took me this long to get to it. I remember distinctly getting it for my Switch when it hit the EShop day one, and I waited a long time to finally get to it.

Another instance of me being bummed I came late to the party because this game rules! It’s essentially a match-3 puzzle narrative game, but it’s so much more than that. By the end, I feel like they stretched the concept of a match-3 as far as it could go, and it was very satisfying learning the right combos to increase my gem score when I had to apron up and start cooking in the competitions.

It reminds me of the Delicious in Dungeon series, where they thematically balance a medieval setting with a cooking motif, and it’s a very cozy, inviting place. Trinket Studios also has an amazing art team. All the races, characters, and environments are varied and gorgeously drawn and colored, and that’s a big deal because most of the game is voiced, still-life drawings of characters that talk to each other. It looks great, and the voice acting is top-notch too. It’s a very high-quality indie gem that I recommend without reservation. It’s also pretty beefy too: it took me around 10 hours to see it through, and I was never once bored the whole time. Very worth it. It’s also on sale all the time, so check it out! I really like it! ———————————————————————————————
VA-11-HALL-A (Played on Switch 2)

On a recommendation from my friend I do my podcast with, I started this up in my quest to play more narrative games. This may just be my favorite of the bunch I have played this year. VA-11-HALL-A is a modern classic of the genre. I adored every frame of this painting. It’s really phenomenal. I don’t want to get into it really because I think it benefits from going in blind, meeting a bunch of fun characters, and mixing a ton of cool drinks. It’s so unique. There is nothing quite like VA-11-HALL-A. I hope I get to play that spiritual sequel they’ve been working on soon!

Also, it looks so… so… so… good. I love the pixel art here. The CRT filter here is killer, too. I played this game only using that filter, and when you see it in action, it’s like peanut butter and chocolate, baby. The whole game just sings because of it. It’s cozy, it’s inviting, it’s so worth playing. Cannot sing higher praises about this thing than that. Everyone needs to check this gem out! Mix drinks, and save lives, people!! ———————————————————————————————
Half-Life (Played on PC)

I dunno what got into me, but yeah, I finally played through the original Half-Life on Steam this year, and boy was I surprised how well it holds up. The gunplay still feels phenomenal, even almost 30 years since release. Valve really nailed it in one, didn’t they?

What could I possibly say about this game that people haven’t said already? It’s a landmark title in the industry, and it has aged beautifully. Can’t believe how ambitious this game is even still. No one was doing real-time cutscenes or cinematic setpieces at the time. Just an astounding feat for its era. I also think it has some of the very best shooter levels ever made in a video game, even to this modern day. Surface Tension?? Are you fucking kidding me??? Absolutely sublime. Turns out game design ages gracefully when it’s absolutely timeless.
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All in all, a very productive month for me. I am very happy I got so much done in just a short amount of time. I think I am past the halfway point already for how many games I beat in 2025, so the fact I am surpassing my previous pace is really exciting to me.

Now, for stuff I am looking forward to!
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The Drifter’s Backlog: Games from The Dreaded Backlog (A Priority Shortlist of Backlog Stuff I’m Interested In)
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster (PlayStation 5)
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles (Switch 2)
Disco Elysium (Switch 2)
Crow Country (Switch 2)
Yakuza Kiwami 2 (PlayStation 5)
Night in the Woods (PlayStation 5)
AI: The Somnium Files (Switch 2)
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo (Switch 2)
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The Drifter’s Future: New Games I’d like to Play
Star Fox (2026)
Beast of Reincarnation
Control Resonant
Halo: Campaign Evolved
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls
Marvel’s Wolverine
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
Silent Hill: Townfall
Splatoon Raiders
Star Wars: Zero Company
Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced
Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter ———————————————————————————————

Games I Would Like to Review: (New this Edition!)
Added this CMD! These are games I have finished that I would love to review. Maybe some will get done, maybe some won’t. It’s all really a matter of how much free time I have, you know? Here are the games I’d like to talk more about at some point, since they are not included in the recaps. I just have way more to say on these, and I feel like they deserve their own reviews.
These are the eligible games I’d like to review:

007: First Light
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book
Pokemon Pokopia
Resident Evil 4 (2023)
Resident Evil Requiem

Spoilers: 007 and Requiem are both tied, neck-and-neck for my current Game of the Year. They are brilliant games… with so much on the horizon its going to be insane to see which new title will challenge those incredible feats. I wanna review these games soon. I hope I can make some time to do so. They’re all so good!

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Games I Reviewed Last Quarter: (New this Edition! Links Below!)

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Another CMD in the Bammer. Slammer?

Whatever. It’s done. I’m happy.
That’s all she wrote for this recap! I will be back in… September? Feels so far away and close at the same time. This is honestly a great time to dip into the backlog before the big game mess heads our way this Fall.
Did you know they’re putting out another GTA this Fall? That’s crazy!

Shuffle through the mess with me next time on CMD. It’s been a pleasure to serve up my thoughts on a platter for you. Stay classy!… and as always, as the great sports journo and podcaster Dave Dameshek says: “It’s been a little slice of Heaven.”