Basically Cyberpunk 2077, except you never leave your bedroom.

Header image shows the moment I knew I was done with Fallout Shelter. I had just gotten things back on track from an attack of radioactive scorpions, when some death claws came by and took out my defenses, then killed my main power, water and food facilities. Even “Cut-Rate Richard Branson” couldn’t fight them off. I had 101 residents when I finished – enough to unlock every building, but enough to also make the shelter chronically short of water, energy and food. The shelter always made more than it needed, but the frequent attacks would decimate them and then it would be a long session to get things stable once more. ...

A warm, friendly murder mystery that doesn’t outstay its welcome and sets up themes that Persona 5 would eventually deconstruct.

Gamers gotta game, even on Christmas Day…

A decent light workout for those who enjoy rhythm games, but it won’t teach you much about boxing.

A “Fallout”-branded worker placement mobile game in the vein of Ellison’s “A Boy and His Dog”

Unsung Story, by Little Orbit, is the game I never thought I would see. It was due to be released five and a half years ago, but is only hitting early access on Steam now with a lot of work ahead of it. I had written it off. But, here it is – mostly. When the Kickstarter campaign for Unsung Story: Tale of the Guardians launched, it pretty much promised to make exactly the game I wanted to play. A tactical adventure crafted by the master Yasumi Matsuno, legendary designer of Final Fantasy Tactics, Ogre Battle Let Us Cling Together, Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen and Vandal Hearts, among others. This is a genre he created – and now he was back with a game that moved a step beyond his earlier triumphs. Square grids? Unsung Story would use a hexagonal grid. Job tree? Unsung Story would use a job decagon, with ten different qualities coming together to form a unique job. ...

In a more consistent world, I’d have played Persona 4 before I played Persona 5. Not because the plots or characters of the two games are at all connected; they are not. It’s because I am continually seeing the P4 characters and plot through a P5 lens. And, I think this is maybe spoiling some plot twists for me, twists that P5 players were supposed to have been expecting. All Persona games share a similar theme. A series of supernatural events ensnares a high school student, who finds he can travel to a parallel world where people’s subconscious desires – their Shadows – are causing havoc in the real world. He finds he can summon a manifestation of his own inner self – a Persona – to battle these Shadows and free people caught in this parallel world. Other high school students join him and discover their own Personas. ...

I looked at all the RPGs I’ve played this year, trying to pick the one of them all that would be the best of the year. Several stood out, but I couldn’t pick just one. I guess if there were a game that I felt worth spending hours of my life playing, that proved its quality, maybe? Outer Wilds (PS4; finished January 26) This indie game about a hapless astronaut who is trying to stop their sun from exploding in (looks at watch) 24 minutes made a huge splash when it came out last year for all the right reasons. The clockwork solar system our astronaut lives in is full of puzzles everywhere you look. The lore is amazing. The physics are on point. And every 24 minutes, the sun explodes and you start from the beginning again, but you still have retained all you learned. ...

One really nice thing about playing a long, involved game like Assassins Creed Valhalla is that I don’t have to think about what game I want to play when I’m done work and chores in the evening. For the past month, it’s been off to Valhalla for a few hours. It’s the same feeling I get when I’m seriously into an MMO and logging in and saying hello to the guild is just a great start to an evening. ...