Newsletter Update - Reviews and Side Vault

April 2025 Update

Major Change Coming to Reviews

For those who have followed me since my first full year in 2023, you’re aware that I’ve constantly changed the way that I do reviews. Ultimately, I originally settled on a grade-type scoring system. However, in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been really thinking about how I do my reviews and the limitations I currently have regarding how many games I can play.

First of all, my financial situation does not allow me to buy and play games to the level that I’ve seen other content creators be able to do. If it's not finances, it's my time as I have a typical 9-5 weekday job, and I have a young daughter to care for, who has also started Girl Scouts recently. The chances of me sticking around for a game that I would give anything less than a “C” grade would be almost zero. Second, because I can’t play as many games as others, but I still want to experience and analyze the year, I will have to rely on “Let’s Plays” to understand the games in the conversation. Lastly, sometimes you play a game and quickly realize how you feel about it. You don’t necessarily finish it, but understand how you feel about it. Considering all of these, I decided I needed to change how and why I do my reviews.

For starters, I won’t give my reviews a score anymore. Instead, I will focus on a recommendation system. I will still put the pros and cons in a short list as bullet points on how I felt about the game. I will also try to shorten my reviews and focus on how I felt about aspects of the games rather than explain mechanics and those sorts of things. The hope is that I can write reviews quicker but still get across how I felt, but mainly focus on how much I would personally recommend the game rather than score it. This also means I won’t feel forced to finish a game for me to do a review.

Now, I will do everything I can to finish a game. Still, because new games come and, as I explained earlier, time is a commodity for me, I will not be afraid to move on from a game and review it, especially since the point is to focus on recommendations instead of scoring. Let’s Plays will get simple, quick reviews on how I felt about what I saw, and they’ll be part of the monthly newsletter updates instead of getting their own individual articles. With all of this, I don’t just expect to be happier with my review system, but also I can talk about more games despite my limitations. I hope this can broaden my end-of-the-year favorites list from a top ten to a top fifteen.

Other reasons I’m going with a recommendation system over scoring include; the fact that I tend to be a little more positive when reviewing movies and games, some of the criticism regarding scoring games do resonate with me, and I’ve always preferred this method anyway.

The new system goes like this, with some examples of recent games that would fit:

• Must-Play - These are games that I feel everyone should at least try to play once and are among the best I’ve played (Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Astro Bot, Control, Elden Ring)

• Recommended - Good games that left me happy with what I’ve played. Not without issues, but still, generally good titles that I would hope you give a chance (Star Wars Outlaws, Balatro, Hi-Fi Rush, Starfield)

• Check it Out - Average game that I didn’t love but didn’t hate either; some will like it more than I did or even dislike it more; either way, I would tell you to give it a try if the genre or concept interests you (Flintlock: The Seige of Dawn, The Plucky Squire)

• Don’t Recommend - Just not a good game, in my opinion, and I would personally tell you not to play it (Skull Island: Reign of Kong, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum)

As for which game will be the first to get this new review treatment? That will be Avowed, which will be released on April 9th (Wednesday), followed shortly by Eternal Strands and Atomfall. This new change to my reviews will trickle down to other aspects of the newsletter and my time, which will ultimately help in the long run. I’m excited.

The Side Vault is Back!

It’s been too long, but I’m bringing back my Side Vault series this month. The Side Vault lets me write articles that don’t involve the gaming world. My current plan is to release one article every other week. I had my Disney Rankings series going and I’m pretty close to finishing it. That being said, the Side Vault will return next week as I write about what makes WrestleMania important for me, as the wrestling extravaganza is almost here. I’ll end this update with links to all the previous Side Vaults, which are part of a series ranking the Walt Disney Studios’ animated films:

The Disney Golden Age, The War Era, The Disney Silver Age, The Disney Bronze Age, The Disney Renaissance, The Post-Renaissance Era

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Be Nice to All