Blog, Blog, Bloq

 Recently, I've been back on the Genshin Impact grind. And the experience is reminiscent of why I left. But I keep coming back for one reason. The Open-World is crafted well, and it makes me want to keep exploring the depths of the surrounding areas. Especially with these latest regions in Sumeru and Fontaine. The multiple layers of the regions contain a large amount of secrets. And I just find it extremely fun to run around a world, just taking in the sights and mysteries within.  I am going to discuss some of the other details that make these types of game work for me. And also how some Open-World games are just not understanding how to keep a player's attention, I think that is what separates Elden Ring from Assassin's Creed Odyssey or Tears of the Kingdom from Forspoken.  Elden Ring and TOTK make me want to stay in the world and question the structures in the surrounding areas. Piquing curiosity is essential to the formula that AC and Forespoken just don't understan...

 My game of the year for 2023 is undeniably The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I played and beat many games this year, but I only ended up finishing a couple of titles that released in 2023. So, my choice boiled down to Tears of the Kingdom, Mortal Kombat 1, or World of Horror. Two large budget projects and a phenomenal Indie game. While I loved Mortal Kombat 1 and World of Horror, they didn't hit like TOTK. A game that had massive hype and anticipation going in and managed to over deliver in the process.  I finished Breath of the Wild a bit before TOTK in anticipation because I wanted to be ready for the follow-up on release. I was so captivated by the Hyrule Kingdom in BOTW that I wanted to know, "where do we go from here?" How do you expand on a world with a numerous amount of mystery? The easiest answer was to just expand. The game world went from exploring all of Hyrule to discovering the wonders of the Sky  and the underlying Horrors of the Depths. Three sea...