Michael

It's very very very clear that the show is over. Ambiguity over Eleven's fate does not mean anything other than they wanted people to decide for themselves how it went down. For me the fact that they showed a short bit of El actually standing nearby a small village near waterfalls means that she really did live on. Otherwise there's no need to have it there. Mike's theory showed obvious clips of the rest of their futures so to have the one with El be a fake out ruins the continuity of the scene and the Duffers are not hacks that would screw that up in my opinion. Hence El lives. It was a great show, but now it's over. Move on people.

Octopath Traveler deserves a shout out. Beautiful graphics combined with a surprisingly deep story make it a wonderful experience. I don't think I've ever played another RPG with the same battle mechanics either. It's inspiring the release of games like the Dragon Quest HD2D remakes which I also can't get enough of.

Seriously? I know that Hollow Knight is great, but it didn't define the genre it inhabits. It's called Metroidvania for a reason. Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night are the blueprints there. Also, Hollow Knight clearly takes a page out of the soulslike book with its tough boss fights. It's cool, but it really just refined ideas from other games; it doesn't redefine the genre itself. Poor take in an otherwise solid article. Also not mentioning that Elden Ring redefined the soulslike genre is a sin.

Just like any award given out GOTY is merely a popularity contest. Playing through a game is a subjective experience, yet people try to objectively validate that experience as superior to another via shared opinions. While majorities can agree on said superiority there will always be exceptions. Who's to say their opinions aren't just as valid? I'd like to see people be more comfortable with making up their own minds as to what is the best for them as opposed to relying on official input.

Core Keeper seems like it might be cool. EA still hasn't made a better version of NFS than the one that came out on 3DO about 30 years ago so I'm going to avoid that one. And any Disney game other than Duck Tales is pretty much a cash grab imo. So, yeah, not very stoked over here, but still they are technically free. I guess at least I'm not getting ripped off. I pay to play online with friends not for free stuff.