The absolute current state of Vampire Survivors. What a fun game.

So, the username auction platform has been officially announced, which will likely be Telegram's foundation on how to fund the free service from this point forward. According to their FAQ, "Pre-existing usernames that are currently in use on Telegram can't be used for auctions, however, their owners may get a chance to convert them into collectibles in the future". That's a relief for now (btw, "digital asset" sounds better than "collectible" imo, but you do you, marketing department), but it doesn't deny the fact that this platform is enabling a big FOMO effect, allowing scalpers, scammers, and other kinds of nasty people to abuse this system. It could also kill off any Telegram user-gain momentum, due to the additional contrivances required to secure an alias. We don't know other details publicly yet, but at the same time, paywalling future aliases could go a long way in preventing spam accounts and userbots abuse, making them more easily identifiable moving forward. What I ultimately hope is that Telegram is sustainable enough that it can focus on offering a quality service for a reasonable price (for those willing and able to pay it, as well as for those who cannot), protecting those who really need freedom, and being hostile to those actors who want to cause harm of any kind. In the meantime, I will hold any further judgement until that "reasonable price" is finally revealed. Unfortunately, I already know what happens when "the market regulates itself", I really, really wish Durov would say otherwise.

Halloween is a foreign holiday for me, but as is slowly seeping into our local culture, I'm starting to like the idea of dedicating a moment of the year to the things that scare us. There's dread and fear in this world, if you know where to look, so partaking in lesser, controlled forms of horror might help to keep your sanity in check. This is, of course, my own experience that I am sharing, in the hope that it will resonate with some of you. But moving on: This year's personal highlight on the matter is an indie title called FAITH, published by New Blood Interactive, which has also helped to launch games like the Thief-inspired Gloomwood, the boomer-shooter DUSK and the ultra-violent ULTRAKILL, among others. With its first chapter released in 2017, and recently completed under the subtitle "The Unholy Trinity", this 8-bit 80's-satanic-scare-inspired videogame achieves stunning visuals despite its forced limitations, using mesmerizing rotoscoped animations for their cutscenes and keeping alive the ancient Software Automatic Mouth for the Commodore C64, it tells a compelling story about exorcisms, fighting inner demons, and ending Satanic cults. Despite being marketed as "not approved by the Vatican", it keeps it grounded without falling into caricature, which only reinforces the unsettling feel of the entire experience. This game is living proof that you don't need big investments or using a known franchise (or artist) to make a good horror videogame.

A legend has passed away. RIP Kevin Conroy, you will be sorely missed.

This year's has been by far the hardest to vote on The Game Awards. God of War: Ragnarök, Elden Ring, Tunic, Stray, Sifu, Vampire Survivors... The diversity and quality of this past year games is testament of how far the industry has evolved and matured, telling great stories, presenting memorable characters, introducing fun and engaging gameplay mechanics, creating immersive and detailed worlds and overall, giving us players plenty of choice to escape from a moment, and that's a good sign. But, among the nominees, they're still predatory and anti-consumer entries, most notably Diablo Immortal, which are profitable just because they take advantage of the underlying mechanics that make video games fun to play. But as long as we continue to steadfastly highlight and award those games that are truly worthwhile, the predators that drive the abuse of people's mental well-being will disappear sooner rather than later.

I have finally dusted my Mastodon account, you know, just in case.

Upper Echelon beat me to it, reporting on what I had been writing a response for a while, about the comment shared by The Dot.

I finally did it! It took me about a week. What a game!

Continuing with the end of year season, I have made my nominations for the Steam Awards. Here I'll summarize my reasoning, considering that you can only nominate a game released on Steam, for just one category:

Game of The Year: Elden Ring. As I mentioned before, this year it's particularly difficult to choose the ultimate gaming experience. That's ultimately great, because everybody wins, no matter what. But, in my opinion, the best overall experience, the one that has the greatest bang for our buck, is this one. Also, God of War: Ragnarök is not out on PC yet.

VR Game of The Year: Among Us VR. Having experienced VR fairly sparingly, my opinion may not be entirely reliable. That being said, I think this game is superior to what a virtual world experience should be: having a good time immersed in a place where you can interact effortlessly. The other contender was Bonelab, and I must say that despite being a substantial improvement on its predecessor Boneworks, unfortunately it falls somewhere between functionality and accessibility.

Labor of Love: No Man's Sky. The most epic comeback on video game history. This game has far exceeded its initial promises and continues to deliver. It's not the most perfect (or stable) experience, but its now 7 years of continuous support, with constant new free expansions, makes it truly a labor of love.

Better with Friends: Stray. I prefer to play my games alone, but if I had to share my time playing one, this would be it. A game so simple and yet so rich in detail that it's perfect for starting meaningful/less conversations. Also, I had to nominate this game somewhere. And Goat Simulator 3 is EGS exclusive for now.

Outstanding Visual Style: Tunic. My first choice was going to be Scorn, but then I remembered how this game integrates its incredibly well-crafted visuals and styles into the rest of the experience, amalgamating story and gameplay, and sending a coded message to a generation that has grown and matured with the technology we are a part of today.

Most Innovative Gameplay: Trombone Champ. With recent games being a clusterclownfest at launch the norm (for publishers at least), creating a game that feels like you're playing it wrong and still having the most fun ever takes some mastery of gameplay design.

Best Game You Suck At: HYPER DEMON. I have already featured this, and I still think it deserves praise for being able to create such a difficult game that takes effort to master and finally admire it for what it is: a Zen Mode activator.

Best Soundtrack: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. This game's PC release has truly been a sad affair, but two years later, there is still no worthy competitor on the matter. The closest one is Sonic Frontiers, but unfortunately the rest of the game does not achieve the same level of craft.

Outstanding Story-Rich Game: God of War. There's no other greatest flex on writing, storytelling and character development than what Cory Barlog and his team at Santa Monica Studio have achieved. On top of that, their casting is impeccable, their worldbuilding is massive, and the other aspects of this game complement the overall experience in a way that sets the bar so high, the only ones who can dare to exceed it are themselves, because if you think this game is good, Ragnarök is far beyondad.

Sit Back and Relax: Placid Plastic Duck Simulator. I discovered this game thanks to variety streamer, corrupter of worlds, local pizza pasta man, and duck enjoyer Mr. Vinny Vinesauce. The best title to run unattended while you blow off steam by looking out the window, having a beer on a summer day after work. Just sit back and relax.

Best Game on The Go: Vampire Survivors. This is a strange choice, considering that the developers themselves proposed to nominate the game in this category. But if you think about the efforts to make it run on the Steam Deck, it makes a lot more sense. But beyond that, this is the perfect occasion to celebrate a very italian and nice developer team that have created a title that is pure domapine and nothing else.

After 5+ years of grueling development, Pizza Tower has finally a release date. An unlikely combination between the Wario Land and the Sonic series, featuring a distinctive high-energy, 90's-cartoons-inspired, heavily-stylized, Earthworm-Jim-esque pixel art, a breakneck gameplay, and a matching soundtrack, this extremely niche indie videogame will stand by itself as one of the weirdest releases of 2023. I cannot wait to become the Pizza Tower.

F*cking finally.

It's Death Stranding 2.