Just finished Black Mesa – I can’t believe that effort started in 2005 and concluded in 2020. Fifteen years of a passion project.

Severance Season 1 was the type of science fiction I crave, and was extraordinarily captivating. Season 2 cooled my eagerness, even though I watched it immediately after.

(Warning: spoilers ahead)

A transformative experience, both philosophically and as it relates to gameplay mechanics. As many others might tell you, it is, metaphorically speaking, a jigsaw puzzle for which the pieces are scattered across space and time, you are made a detective in gathering these pieces, and the act of completing the puzzle at last reveals a majestic story. It is a game you are able to fully experience once and only once – perhaps like life itself; appropriate given how much the game dwells on the nature of life and ironically told through your own countless inevitable deaths.

Despair Simulator 2015 - excellent foray into existential crises, moral dilemmas, and science fiction horror.