THE HIGHS
Wes Fenlon: Sonic is a literal nightmare
Over on our lows page, my lovely colleague Tom Senior has written all about how terrible the Sonic the Hedgehog movie looks, the hate that Sonic's design has inspired, and all the extra work the artists will have to do to "fix" it. All of those things are true, and yet the Sonic trailer is my high for a week, because I've taken great joy watching this disaster unfold. Let's be serious here: the Sonic movie was always going to be awful. There was zero chance it turned out to be a clever take on the character. There was zero chance a CG-Sonic-meets-real-life-James-Marsden was going to be a good idea. I feel bad for everyone working on that movie who knows they're making a lemon, but I'm honestly going to enjoy the hell out of this dumpster fire of an idea all the way to its 13% Rotten Tomatoes score this November.
Tom Senior: Overcooked
I already own a stupidly over-engineered toaster but the one thing it lacks, and I curse this fact every day, is sick RGB underlighting with the ability to cycle through the entire rainbow.
The Razer toaster to the rescue, perhaps. It’s a piece of April Fool’s marketing that has gone rogue. According to Razer’s CEO, it’s going to be a real thing. I don’t just want underlighting on this thing, I want it to glow from within at an intensity that implies toast is being crozzled by the green fires of hell. I want my bread returned to me as pitch black wafers of silicon with Razer’s logo stamped into them. The process must be powered by at least 16GB RAM, and we will try to make Jarred overclock it.
James Davenport: Borderlands 2, again
I played three hours of Borderlands 3 this week and it sure plays a lot like Borderlands 2. What a huge relief. I was worried we'd have another 'live game' fighting for every second of my spare time. Nope. Borderlands 3 is simply a loot-based shooter you can play with friends. The changes don't exactly pop until you play it, but they're what I was hoping for: better guns, more mobile combat, and more to do in every level. November can't come soon enough.
Fraser Brown: Brouhaha
Paradox and Hardsuit Labs produced a juicy morsel this week in the form of Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines 2's first full-blood clan. The Brujah are the first of the five clans we'll be able to pick at some point after being unwittingly transformed into a sexy walking corpse. I'm a big fan of the Brujah, so I'm a happy boy.
My introduction to White Wolf's World of Darkness was via the underrated Vampire: The Masquerade—Redemption, an RPG that put you in the boots of a crusading knight transformed into a Brujah. It spanned the medieval and modern era, showing the Brujah closer to their height and then their transformation into punks and renegades. They used to be idealists, but now they're angry, anarchic and hang out in seedy fight clubs. They speak to my soul.
Chris Livingston: Fishin' accomplished
Tyler and I have been waiting anxiously for fishing to arrive in Sea of Thieves, and the Anniversary Update finally delivered this week. We tried the new Arena mode, too, and made it through the first section of Tall Tales: Shores of Gold, the new story-driven campaign, but mainly we were all about the fishin'. In addition to more 'big' stuff being added to Sea of Thieves, we always thought it needed more small stuff too: little activities to help pass the time on voyages or for those sessions where we're not trying to conquer the seas but just want to hang out and goof around.
And the fishing is good! Sea of Thieves is a beautiful and often (but not always) peaceful and relaxing place to spend time, and dunking a line into the gorgeous ocean and pulling out an adorable fish to cook or sell is fun. Naturally, it's already got us wanting more related features, like being able to keep a fish as a pet in a glass bowl or mount an impressive catch over the captain's quarters. But for now, I'm content with just baiting my hook and reeling in my prize. We put together a guide to fishing in Sea of Thieves here.
Samuel Roberts: Sekiro, Sekiro Another week in Sekiro, the first From Software game I've ever tried to beat, has taken me into what I believe is the final third of the game. What's notable now versus my first few hours with the game is how sub bosses have gone from tens of attempts to beat to just three or four. I'm sure this'll change a bunch of times before the end, but, well... Genichiro Ashina broke my brain. And I think I know what I'm doing now.
Hopefully, by the time I'm done with it, From will announce an expansion or two. Here are some ideas of what that could look like.
