khab
I saw this when it was in theatres, haven't seen it since. It came with a lot of hype due to all the big-star names, and its marketing really hadn't communicated how tongue-in-cheek it was. People went in expecting something akin to ID4 or Batman, and it sure wasn't that.
Try to see it like a choose your own adventure instead of "gotta catch 'em all". I find it helps to have a soft rule against savescumming for myself - if I make a mistake, my character made that. The only times I let myself reload is if the outcome of what I did was unclear, and went entirely against what I thought it would do.
It would, except they transferred all story-related items, regardless of whether the quest was finished or not, including some equipment and alchemy item, and IN BAGS for some reason. It made a whole mess of my MC's inventory whenever I swapped my party around.
If it ain’t voxel-based, it ain’t Delta Force.
Firewatch
Well-made story-focused, no combat whatsoever. Very few puzzles, almost exclusively about exploring.
What Remains of Edith Finch
More "puzzley", but lets you discover things at your own pace.
Jaysis. Just stop buying these exploitative and morally bankrupt games. No "at least on the X franchise". No "I won't pay any microtransactions". No "I won't preorder".
They will not change, nor get better as long as they're selling.
Just STOP buying this shite, everyone.
The Eurogamer forum was my place in the early noughties. The forum was suddenly shut down in late 2021, removing about 20 years of discussions.
The latter. Still pretty significant, mind you, with some really heavyweight subs still staying closed.
https://reddark.untone.uk/
Releasing a niche new IP from a well-regarded but lesser-known developer with little to no marketing in the extremely busy autumn and expecting success is... a bit weird. You gotta wonder what they were thinking.