Search Results

Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip I’m a point and click adventure game expert, and I’ve been a huge fan of these puzzle-laced narrative adventures since I was a kid. Back then, gameplay storytelling was done differently, and if you wanted to play out a story you had to seek out specific experiences. My favorite of the point and click adventure game types were those done by Lucasfilm Games (also known as LucasArts back in the day. I’m mentioning this because Whirlight-No time to Trip is a modern recreation of a LucasArts era point and click adventure game. Exactly the type I adored as a kid.) There are even references to retro LucasArts/Lucasgames titles like The Secret of Monkey Island. Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert is famous for being both an outspoken critic and proponent of point and click adventure games. He argues that point and click adventure games need to be nostalgic and cater to a niche audience. While the latter is somewhat true, I feel like Whirlight actually succeeds because of its ability to make nods to its inspirations while being wholly its own thing–just with mechanics that were created and refined through decades of point and click game, which have always been around, even as the genre became increasingly niche. Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip Being the expert that I was, I thought I could knock out Whirlight in an afternoon. I was wrong. While I know the ins and out of point and click adventure games both old and new, I wanted to take my time and savor a game as lovingly put together as Whirllight. The art style and characters, while not always as funny, instantly reminded me of some of the best games in the golden era of point and click adventure, which started with the release of Day of the Tentacle. In fact, I'd say that a lot of Whirlight is shamelessly inspired by Day of the Tentacle. And while Whirlight: No Time to Trip employs a mix of the outside the norm “moon logic” that a lot of games of its type employ, I found that Whirllight puzzles were based more on practical solutions. I.E. -stuff you’d actually think about doing. If you’re not familiar with the term “moon logic” – that’s essentially the opposite of it, as some point and click adventure game developers–for laughs, or general absurdity, I can only guess–would have puzzle solutions that often don’t make sense. A famous example is set up so that instead of using the only key you have in your inventory to open a locked door, you instead use the tail of a fish as an improvised lock pick. While Whirlight does use absurd solutions at times, even these often make sense in the game’s own logic. Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip But it really wasn’t the puzzles that kept me from completing Whirlight faster than I did. Like I said, I know how to brute force even the craziest moon logic. Instead, it was the scale. With over 100 locations to explore, there was just too much to do or see. Whirlight-No Time to Trip isn’t a small adventure game meal to devour in an evening. Instead, it turned out to be an entire feast. Sometimes I wondered why, in the older games, inventory sizes were so large when most slots never get filled. Whirllight fills every slot, and most of the time every item ends up getting used. The old adage of “try every item on everything” starts to get a little harder when you’re juggling so many locations and so many possible places to use items. That’s not to say you play all 100 locations in one large open world. That would be silly. Instead, Whirlight is divided into distinct sections baked on story beats. That’s another issue that Gilbert had with point and clicks: pacing. Whirlight doesn’t fight slow story pacing, and instead embraces the chaos and what these multitude of inventory objects, exploration and character can give us. Luckily, the journal helps keep track of everything. Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip In a very un-retro way, you can even see what objectives you’re chasing after, and what you have left. I can’t remember any LucasArts game with such a direct guide on how to proceed, often relying on your memory of the last essential conversation to steer you in the right direction. Instead, Whirlight directly tells you. Though, sometimes it would fail to update the next objective until I interacted with the right character–so not a perfectly implemented solution. Like I said, Whirllight doesn’t really worry about pacing ruining its story. But at the same time, the story is the weakest part. Most of my favorite point and clicks had a MacGuffin or other overarching impetus to keep hunting for what pixels work with what situation. There are story beats that move the plot along to new wacky time travel locations from the far past to the dystopian future, all while interacting with a host of wacky characters– and the game’s world is populated with dozens of interesting and amusing characters to help, hinder, or otherwise serve as flavor for your adventure.Both main protagonists, Hector May and Margaret are interesting and amusing in their own ways, though Hector’s chaotic nature and occasional buffoonery wore on me at times Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip While Whirlight, on paper, sounds fantastic, the execution sometimes made me feel like I was playing an offbrand LucasArts game. Sure, it was obviously heavily inspired by them–with in game references to back up that obvious assumption. (it’s also filled with other retro references) but there was just something slightly off about the whole thing. Like a Temu or Wish version of the games I played as a kid. But it’s harder for me to quantify, like it’s almost something lost in translation. And while I would definitely say Whirlight is a humorous game, I rarely found myself laughing out loud. Sometimes the achievements are funnier than the game. But humor is subjective, and there is always the danger of trying too hard, and Whirlight never really crosses that line even if it does flirt with it. I think some of the struggles come with the voice acting. Not that it's outright bad, but it seems like it suffers from bad direction, like the delivery is sometimes paired with the wrong emotion or not quite what I would expect. And since humor relies so much on delivery, the voice acting often kills any funny. Screenshot: Whirlight - No Time To Trip Puzzles in Whirlight–No Time to Trip can also be a mixed bag. While a lot of solutions feel logical–which is a great thing–the sheer number of possibilities mean you’re having to find out which logical solution fits your puzzle. An early example is a puzzle where you’re trying to get a bird to knock a bowling ball off of a balcony. My logical brain says I could just throw something at it, but all of the expendable and easily throwable items in my inventory doesn’t do it. Instead, I have to use a rose I acquired to pop a promotional balloon I inflated from my inventory to pop the balloon and scare the bird. As soon as I figured out I could pop the balloon I rushed over to that bird, so it was an easy association. And much like humor, puzzle difficulty can be subjective from person to person. I found Whirlight’s puzzles to be the perfect difficulty to not feel so easy I could just breeze through. There aren’t many genuinely retro feeling point and click adventure games coming out anymore. Whirlight–No Time to Trip accomplishes feeling like a nostalgic experience with relying too heavily on it. It’s definitely not a perfect game, but it’s probably one of the highest quality point and click adventure titles we’ve gotten in a long time. Developer imaginarylab released Monkey Island love letter Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town way back in 2020, so it might be a while before we get another gem from imaginarylab. This post also appears on ThirdCoastReview.com

Screenshot: Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time I’ve always been a fan of when YouTubers and streamers find old memory cards from retro consoles, and pick up saved games where the previous owner left off. It’s a fun bit of nostalgia to see both the previous player’s mindset and what they prioritized. A sort of digital time capsule that makes the past feel more present. Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time is based around the concept of coming into someone else’s save file at the end of the game and adds a whole bunch of meta wrapping that makes it an extremely intriguing puzzle game that requires gathering clues to both progress and to understand the meta story that ties it all together. Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time–which I’ll refer to as Remake of the End for brevity–leans into a lot of concepts that can only exist inside of a video game. And that’s something I absolutely love. Not that I hate when games try to be movies with extensively long cinematics (I’m looking at you Kojima) but when video games embrace the whole, well, video game-ness of it all they tend to become something very special (again, I’m looking at you Kojima). But Remake of the End really swings for the fences in this regard. Not only do you play across multiple fake saves, but you also uncover developer commentary (a la Valve Software), video footage from a fake unreleased documentary, and even utilize intentional glitches. Screenshot: Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time While Remake of the End bills itself as a role-playing game right in the title, it’s more of a puzzle game than a proper RPG. While combat encounters look like the typical JRPG turn-based setup, each fight is actually a puzzle that requires a very specific combination of moves to solve. You can find clues in your manual on how to beat enemies, with pages full of information about enemies either supplied by in-universe developer Circle Games, or by handwritten notes as you might find in a real retro game manuals. Remake of the End is obviously inspired by retro games, and other retro-likes, especially Tunic–with one of the in-universe developers wearing a Tunic shirt in the faux documentary. Since you’re playing someone else's save file, you have to learn how to play Remake of the End differently than you would a normal game. A bit of backwards engineering is required as you figure out things you should already know for someone who is about to beat the game. You’re max level and have max gold, but that doesn’t matter because you already bought all of the items from every shop. But revisiting a shop might give you clues that the items in your inventory don’t–like that Lime Pies open Magic Red Chests, and you discover that you were walking past locked gates you had keys for all along. But your inventory is so crammed with items, unless you’re checking everything in your inventory like you’re playing an old school SCUMM point and click adventure, you wouldn’t know. It’s a clever extension of what Tunic introduced with its own meta manual collecting, but dialed up to 11. Screenshot: Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time There are a lot of heady ideas that make Remake of the End seem, at first, an impenetrable onion with layers and layers of secrets to uncover. I don’t want to spoil too much in this review, because that’s true–but it’s also not true. I think there was a potential that Remake of the End had that never quite gets realized in a satisfying way. While developer Coin Drop Games does technically stick the landing–and I’d love to see what they can come up with in the future–Remake of the End never quite lived up to the expectations I had for it after my first hour or so of gameplay. It fulfills its meta narrative promise, but the execution ends up feeling underbaked. If you’re into games that use meta puzzle elements with an intriguing mystery to uncover, Remake of the End scratches that itch. But it feels a bit unrefined, even as it accomplishes what it sets out to do. It feels like a 4-6 hour digital escape room with some good ideas that seem like they’re still in the chrysalis phase. But those ideas are so good I’m going to keep an eye on what Coin Drop Games does next.

One of the reasons I fear for the future is the same reason I have hope for it. There’s very little barrier to entry to create. As long as you have internet access and a smart phone (or cell service and a smartphone) you can be a streamer, a podcaster, a YouTuber or...make a documentary. As the old saying goes though, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. The reason journalism follows a code of ethics and requires leaving as much bias out of it as possible is because with great readership/viewership comes great responsibility, and most people simply won’t do research outside of the two minute video they saw on Tiktok. Critical thinking is more critical than ever, but it’s so easy to keep scrolling and ingest things as fact that are, in fact, harmful. When I say that The Crash feels like a documentary that maybe should’ve been baked longer, it’s not because it’s missing flow, or has bad cinematography, or anything else like that. It’s because it seems irresponsible. There’s a difference between not getting in the way of the story and letting the story go in one direction, seemingly unfettered by facts. It’s one thing to present both sides feelings on the matter, but the facts still stand. POTS isn’t even the first medical condition that was proffered as a way to escape a murder charge, as many viewers pointed out that IN the documentary, in “gibberish” she asks her mother if she could just say she had a seizure. Not to mention the way POTS traditionally works, or the fact that Shirilla seems to have had no other instances of POTS while in prison, or ever, according to even friends that defend her. Facts indicate the gas pedal was pushed down at 100 percent, with no braking input. And while you can argue “facts” like the tumultousness of a teenage relationship it’s really hard to argue a very specific sudden onset of a very specific chronic disease never mentioned prior and not leaned on later in court that would have her successfully navigate the rest of the road going 100 mph an hour and then losing control BY accelerating at 100 percent (not even partial gas- FULL gas) into a brick wall. Yet it feels like Netflix gives Shirilla more than just plausible deniability - between her parents and friends defenses of her character and shrugging it off as “stuff kids do” while talking about the horrible impact it’s had on her, these same people are talking about terrible it is for them to think about going back to those “awful” houses. Which awful houses? The houses of the families of the victims, Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. While it’s uplifting to hear the judge didn’t buy it, it’s frustrating to see that Netflix did. Rather than presenting all the facts of the case, they sensationalized it as a sort of “What if?” scenario that’s totally disingenuous when considering all the facts not included in the documentary, and created a “great story” while feeding into the obvious narcissism of Mackenzie Shirilla herself, who’s literally preening for the camera in prison. Seeing this at the top of the charts and knowing I help put it there by watching doesn’t make me feel good. What does though? The absolute onslaught of people going down the “rabbit hole” of researching the case, and pointing out all the things that were left out of the documentary. Because that’s not just a vapid obsession with a show you watched - that’s research that leads to a full understanding - something Netflix failed to provide in The Crash. And while I doubt that Netflix nor the Shirilla family will ever feel remorse for The Crash or the crash as it happened in real life, nor apologize, I think that as the discourse continues and as more and more people fall down the research “rabbit hole” we can hope that they in turn turn to supporting the victims and their families as they try to find justice in an unjust world.

Screenshot: Clockwork Ambrosia I’m a sucker for metroidvanias, and I’ve been a fan since Super Metroid way back on the SNES, so it’s nice to see the genre still around and kicking. While Clockwork Ambrosia hasn’t been met with overwhelming hype, it’s been a game I’ve had my eye on for a while now. But little did I know that its release is the end of a 14 year journey for developer Realmsoft. Clockwork Ambrosia is a 2D sidescroller that takes place in a steampunk inspired world. While it has the usual hallmarks of a metroidvania, like exploration and ability unlocks, it has a little bit more emphasis on weaponry. The player character Iris isn’t your usual action hero. Instead, she’s an airship captain, so she’s more used to engineering than fighting. When she finds herself stranded on an island and trying to solve a mystery that involves fighting legions of automatons, she puts that expertise to work on making her weapons do most of the job for her. I mean, work smarter not harder, right? Screenshot: Clockwork Ambrosia While Clockwork Ambrosia is a pretty standard metroidvania, it does have an interesting weapon system. The four main weapons you get through your playthrough can be customized and upgraded as you find mods and purchase others from various NPC vendors. These mods do everything from up the damage to change the behavior of weapons in pretty significant ways. You can rig screen-filling shot splitters, devastating missile strikes, or program bullets to trigger secondary actions (e.g., firing extra projectiles whenever a round is disabled). Iris utilizes four primary weapons as the foundation for these builds: the versatile Pulse Breaker, the armor-shattering Missile Launcher, the rapid-fire Revolver, and the trick-shot Grenade Launcher. While I tend to lean pretty heavily on a certain weapon or two in similar games, I kept messing with different mods, making me swap between new favorites a half dozen times or so through my playthrough. Screenshot: Clockwork Ambrosia Clockwork Ambrosia is also a pretty game to look at. I dig its bright pixel art and smooth animations. Since pixel art is a valid art style, just because a game possesses it doesn’t necessarily make it “retro.” But something about Clockwork Ambrosia reminds me of playing Super Nintendo or Game Boy Advance era sidescrolling games. But retro is often synonymous with extremely difficult, and I would say that this game isn’t very difficult. In fact, I would put it near the easier scale when compared to other metroidvanias. This is partially because of the customizable weapon system. I never felt like I was without ample firepower to dispatch my foes. That’s not to say there aren’t difficult encounters–some boss fights gave me a hard time. But unlike other games of its sort, you don’t go back to the last save point when you die. Instead, you will start back in whatever area you were in when you died until you run out of lives. This makes Clockwork Ambrosia more forgiving than other similar games, and that makes it a good entry point for those who are curious about the genre but are scared away by the notoriously difficult genre. Screenshot: Clockwork Ambrosia While I had fun playing Clockwork Amrbosia, I couldn’t help but feel like it was missing that certain something. I realized it wasn’t lacking majorly in any one area, but it instead falls short in many small ways. For instance: it has an interesting world with a few NPCs that are compelling, but it never does enough to make me care about that world nor does it get fleshed out enough to be fully immersive. Similarly, the graphics are beautiful, and the animations are great–but the art still manages to feel a bit lifeless and flat. And the weapon customization ends up trivializing combat, and even some boss encounters. I don’t think Clockwork Ambrosia will be the next big thing, but it definitely deserves a fanbase. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets a cult following. Developer Realmsoft deserves a payoff for the 14 years of work that went into this game. And I hope to see a sequel in the future. If you’re a fan of metroidvanias, you could play worse. If you’re curious about the genre and wanted a place to jump in: you found it.

Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes When the Battlestar Galactica reboot aired, it was a cultural phenomenon of a sort we don’t see as much these days. While (in my opinion) the show fell off a bit towards the end, its exciting first few episodes are some of the best sci-fi ever put on TV. The crew of the Galactica leads a ragtag group of civilian ships away from Cylon danger, forced to jump every 33 minutes as their enemies remain in hot pursuit. Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes takes that exact premise and makes it the foundation of its rogue-lite loop. Developed by Alt Shift, Scattered Hopes shares a lot of DNA with the studio's previous game, Crying Suns. Both feature iterative roguelite narratives, real-time combat with a tactical pause, officer management, and away missions to points of interest. There is even a constant pressure to keep moving forward, mirroring the relentless pace of that aforementioned first episode, "33." Scattered Hopes manages to expand the lore of Battlestar Galactica in a way that, while not strictly canon, is thematically and tonally spot-on. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes The developers are obviously massive fans of the franchise, and a lot of love and attention to detail has gone into the game. The visuals utilize a low-res, stylized aesthetic that remains faithful to the reboot series—complete with a recreation of the show’s iconic intro that perfectly sets the tone for the gameplay. If you’re a fan of Battlestar Galactica, this game was made with you in mind. In Scattered Hopes you play as the commander of an older-tech Gunstar, on the run after the destruction of the Twelve Colonies. Having received a vague but hopeful message from Commander Adama, your goal is to guide your own small fleet of ragtag ships to a rendezvous with the Galactica. You’ll have to make hard decisions to save your fleet. The Cylons are relentless, and you will be destroyed. But "all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again," as the oft-quoted phrase is aptly applied to the roguelite mechanics here. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes Every decision you make can lead to failure. And as such: most of the gameplay in Scattered Hopes revolves around resource management. The main currencies that keep your fleet flying and fighting are your main cast of officers (which changes every run), as well as fuel, supplies, scrap, and nukes. Nukes both serve as battlefield trump cards and currencies in certain situations. Keep your crew happy, your civilian ships running (and bomb free) and as long as you keep yourself from total destruction by the time the Cylons inevitably catch up, you will live to jump to another sector to do it all over again. Fail, and you get the chance for a few upgrades using a meta currency (called Fate) gained on runs that bestow permanent upgrades. You can also unlock more potential upgrades by completing trials, or meeting up with Galactica with each of the four different Gunstar archetypes. There are also multiple human factions to manage. Doing favors for one might earn their loyalty but anger another. Sometimes, you have to make choices with little context beyond knowing it will shift these progress bars. It’s best to keep everyone as content as possible; getting on a faction's bad side means dealing with stolen supplies, acts of sabotage, and other issues that can easily sink a run. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes In each sector you jump to, you’re often limited in what you can accomplish. Every action takes time and/or resources, both of which get harder to come by as a run progresses.There are various points of interest, each yielding needed resources or a chance at a new ship, weapon, or crew member. Just like in the TV show, your officers can take on whatever role you need, bestowing bonuses if you send them out to resolve a crisis—sometimes at their own peril. However, after playing for a dozen hours or so, I felt like I had seen every type of sector there was to see, and they started to feel a bit same-y. The absolute highlight of Scattered Hopes is the combat. It’s my favorite depiction of Battlestar Galactica ship-to-ship fighting we’ve ever gotten in a video game. Your Gunstar and two selected civilian ships sit on the opposite end of the field from the Cylon mothership, and your sole objective is to minimize the incoming damage the Cylon forces are trying to dish out. You’re not trying to destroy the enemy Basestar, however. Winning fights isn’t about fielding the best units to overwhelm the enemy; it’s entirely about survival. Your goal is simply to run away and live another day. But until your FTL drives finish spooling up, you’ll need to fight. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes You can return fire with your Gunstar's equipped weapons and launch a multitude of fighter types to intercept threats. Finding better ships, leveling up heroes, and upgrading civilian ships gives you powerful abilities that shift the odds in your favor, which is vital since every tactical mistake cascades into failure down the line. A single wrecked Viper squadron can mean essential resources are siphoned away from other crucial projects. Battles are explosive and incredibly busy. You will need to use the pause function frequently as you deal with multiple ship types and incoming nukes and other missles, all while directing flak fire and coordinating your attack squadrons. It can feel overwhelming, but the game encourages you to pause and take in the tactical battlefield—something Bill Adama surely wishes he could do. The civilian vessels in your convoy are just as important as your guns and fighters. Not only do they serve as a first line of defense (essentially meat shields), but they can also come equipped with defensive or offensive capabilities. You might get lucky and find a civilian ship that can shoot down missiles or fire back at their assailants, relieving a bit of pressure during high-stakes encounters. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes Scattered Hopes also does a good job touching on the paranoia of the show, particularly when it comes to surprise Cylon reveals. Yes, there will likely be a Cylon hiding among your key crew members, and you’ll have to weed them out. Even though your roster changes every run, you can still get attached to them—right up until they reveal themselves as the frakking toasters they are. And you even have the option to imprison and interrogate them, mirroring some of the darker moments from the show. While I appreciated how much of the world Alt Shift got right, the experience never felt quite as harrowing as its premise promised. So much of the pressure and drama in Scattered Hopes comes from management systems that feel very sterile, while the combat is the only part that feels tense and decisive in a satisfying way. There were a few times when I jumped out right as the missiles came screaming in, followed by waves of Cylons, though I’m fairly certain the game’s AI pushes those units out at the last second specifically to manufacture those close calls. Still, Scattered Hopes is at its best during only a fraction of its game time, and that’s a bummer. Screenshot: Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes However, it’s the closest a game has come to capturing the feeling I got from FTL since, well, Crying Suns. Scattered Hopes can sometimes feel like a ten-pound game stuffed into a five-pound sack, but there is major love poured into it, easily making it the best Battlestar Galactica game out there.

Screenshot: '83 ‘83 is in trouble, and it’s a shame to see. Released in Early Access only a few days ago,the player numbers are suggesting a game that is mostly dead out of the gates. As I played on launch weekend, there were only a few hundred players distributed between a few servers. The included server browser was a bleak look at an empty game that needs entry-point hype to catapult it into stratospheric success–or even sustainability. The development cycle for ‘83 was turbulent. Originally developed by Antimatter Games–the veteran developers behind Rising Storm 2: Vietnam–the project was shelved in 2023 when parent company EG7 decided to shut down the UK-based studio entirely. Rather than letting their highly anticipated Cold War Gone Hot tactical shooter become a game that never was, former developers rallied to establish a new independent studio called Blue Dot Games. This newly minted team successfully negotiated back the IP rights for ‘83 from EG7, allowing them to continue their work on the game. Blue Dot Games has completely overhauled the game’s foundation, and finally released the game into Early Access. Screenshot: '83 Unfortunately, despite the hype and the feel-good story of developers taking back the reins to their lost IP, there doesn’t seem to be an audience showing up for it. But in a gaming space with players that are fickle and even revel in a game dying, a niche shooter like ‘83 can at least hope for a niche audience. But maybe it’s a tad too niche. That’s too bad, because ‘83 is a solid near mil-sim style shooter. Don’t go in expecting ARMA, and with instant bullet kills, don’t expect a Call of Duty or Battlefield experience. Being in Early Access, it’s a little rough around the edges and low on content, but the foundation is there: solid gunplay, and battles that are dynamic and fun for those who want their shooters to be less than hardcore. You can still get sniped from a couple hundreds of meters away from a concealed sniper you never saw, but Blue Dot Games made the maps dynamic and perfectly sized to ensure that the runs between getting unceremoniously sniped don’t feel as long as in other games. Screenshot: '83 Since ‘83 is in Early Access that means it’s not quite done. Right now it’s pretty barebones as far as content. There are two factions: the US flavored NATO and the Soviet style PACT. There are the normal classes you would expect: machine gunner, anti-tank, sniper, rifleman, grenadier with a special forces squad option for players who want to get behind the lines and make spawn points for their team. Right now there are only three maps available, but the roadmap plans three more maps coming, as well as new factions, vehicles, commander abilities, etc. According to the Steam Early Access info box developer Blue Dot Games plans on keeping the game in Early Access until mid to late 2027. A multiplayer game lives and dies by its population. I can jump into the server browser and see less than 100 players (right around 90) playing right now across the servers. It is Monday night, but even peak times on the weekend weren’t that populated–not to mention the wasteland of EU and Oceanic servers. I really hope this changes and Blue Point Games can make ‘83 the game it has the potential to be.

Screenshot: Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth There’s something nostalgic about Moomintroll, even if I don’t directly remember it before playing the demo for Winter’s Warmth at the Steam Next Fest. Created by Finnish-Swedish author Tove Jansson in 1945, the Moomin franchise has steadily evolved from beloved children's literature into a multi-generational global empire. The eccentric trolls first gained massive international traction through a widely syndicated 1950s comic strip, but it was the 1990 Japanese-Finnish anime adaptation that truly catapulted the property into a pop-culture juggernaut, establishing its iconic visual identity and spawning highly lucrative theme parks and lifestyle merchandising. Screenshot: Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth Most recently, the IP successfully transitioned into the modern cozy gaming space with 2024's critically acclaimed Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, proving that Jansson's timeless, watercolor world can thrive in interactive media and perfectly setting the stage for the franchise's expanding digital future. Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth is the next game in the Moomin series, and it happens to be my introduction to the entire phenomenon. Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth is a cozy adventure game where you play as Moomintroll after he wakes up early from winter hibernation, and is tasked with helping create the bonfire needed to usher in spring. This sets adorable Moomintroll on an adventure through a winter that gets less scary and dangerous as Moomintroll learns to adapt to the frozen world, with a little help (and antagonism) from regular Moomin characters. Screenshot: Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth The intensely curious and sometimes naive Moomintroll means well, and is willing to put up with a lot of nonsense from those around him. After a surprisingly scary and then depressing opening, Moomintroll realizes that he’s alone in the world for the first time, and needs the help of others–like Too-Ticky, the crafty friend who helps Moomintroll accept the world for what it is, and even doles out a few upgrades to Moomintroll’s gear. Most of the gameplay in Winter’s Warmth involves exploring the sometimes surreal frozen world and completing tasks for the various characters you meet. As you progress, new areas will be unlocked through acquisition of new tools and abilities–like the mittens, that give you the ability to knock down icicles, or the shovel that clears away snow and opens new areas for Moomintroll to explore. You don't need fast reflexes or heavy puzzle solving skills to get through Winter's Warmth–save for a few snowball fights with the precocious (and slightly antagonistic) Little My. Screenshot: Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth The main gameplay mechanic in Winter’s Warmth is exploration, with the main antagonist being winter itself, and the limitations and hardships that bring. For those that want to take in every bit of Winter's Warmth's quiet beauty, there are lots of tasks and side quests that can keep you happy. Winter’s Warmth seems like a game that would be aimed at children, but I think there’s a lot here for everyone. Winter’s Warmth pulls no punches: it has no qualms with killing off a cute squirrel in the game’s dark opening moments, with Too-Ticky reminding Moomintroll that the Lady of Frost isn’t cruel, she just is. It’s a hard life lesson that all of us learn. Ultimately, Winter’s Warmth is about finding those warm spots in the cold and welcoming the new life of spring; it teaches us that even in the darkest, scariest places, there are ways to adapt and appreciate the world for what it is. I hope that developer Hyper Games keeps letting me explore the Moomintroll world. If you crave some cozy exploration, you don’t need to be a fan of the Moomin franchise to enjoy this. And if you’re a fan, I hope Winter’s Warmth is as delightful to you as it was for me.

Screenshot: Above the Snow I love management games, and a part of me always has. Since my early days playing games like SimCity and RollerCoaster Tycoon, I’ve had a taste for video game management. Games like Frostpunk turned resource management into life-and-death affairs—and I’m done with intense decisions that can lead to a cascade of death and failure. I’d rather have something a little more cozy. So I was excited when I heard about Above the Snow. It’s a resource management game that doesn’t make it feel like what you’re managing is going to fall apart at any moment. On top of that, it’s narrative-rich—something I haven’t really experienced in a game aimed towards resource management. It’s like a wish come true that I didn’t even know I had—but even so, the monkey’s paw curls a hairy finger, because Above the Snow is boring. You might say, “Of course it’s boring.” With Steam store tags like “cozy” and “story-rich,” you expect a more laid-back game that doesn’t punish you harshly for your mistakes. And that’s exactly true of Above the Snow. With three difficulty levels, you can choose to make the experience more or less punishing, but even so, Above the Snow isn’t about punishing failure. There’s even a tooltip that pops up explaining that most holes can be dug out of. Screenshot: Above the Snow Of course, with less pressure comes lower stakes. Lower stakes aren’t bad by themselves, but there should be something else that drives interest. What was left is its narrative-heavy approach and its game mechanics—neither of which held my interest. The story isn’t bad on the surface, but it felt too much like a never-ending tutorial. On one hand, that’s excellent: like most management games, Above the Snow has a complicated UI, a chunk of mechanics to learn, and different resources to, you know, manage. The story eases you through this, telling you what to do and when. That doesn’t mean you don’t have the option to pursue other tasks or goals, but it still makes the game feel like a more on-rails experience than I’m used to for a management sim. If you’re someone who doesn’t like resource management games because you get the feeling that there are too many levels and switches to learn to flip, Above the Snow is a great way to ease yourself into the genre. The story does have a whole range of interesting characters that show up as you accomplish tasks and complete chapters. Not only do these characters have their own personalities, but they also have their own stats that make them better suited for some tasks than others. But since there is little obligation to min/max with how forgiving Above the Snow can be, it often doesn’t hurt to use a less-than-optimal character for a specific task. Screenshot: Above the Snow As with most resource management games, your goal is to keep everything running smoothly and, ideally, make your guests happy. There are a few gauges you have to keep an eye on as you renovate your winter lodge. It has to be a video game trope at this point, but you get the chance to renovate a lodge that has fallen into disrepair, unlocking rooms and more of the surrounding grounds as you seek to expand amenities and services, all in support of alpinists hoping to explore the surrounding mountains. That means they have to have enough entertainment, food, and places to sleep—among other needs. They also need access to those mountains, meaning you need to set up trails and other access points like ski lifts. Sometimes Above the Snow can feel more like The Sims than a resource management game as you deal with guest problems that never feel too pressing, even when you have to mount the occasional rescue to save stranded mountaineers. Most resource management games live and die by their UI, and I had a serious love/hate relationship with Above the Snow’s UI. On one hand, it’s crisp, clean, and very attractive. It matches the game’s hand-drawn aesthetic and is organized in a logical way. On the other hand, it’s clunky and buggy. Even if the UI is logically organized, it’s still awfully complicated, requiring users to make multiple menu clicks just to assign characters to simple tasks. There are other UI quirks, too. For example, if you’re on a map and want to transition to another map view, you have to manually close whatever window you have open first, instead of it auto-closing. Screenshot: Above the Snow Perhaps I’d be complaining if you could change the view without closing the window, but it feels tedious here. There are also alert pop-ups, but you have to search for the problem yourself; clicking on the notification doesn’t bring you to the issue it's warning you about. I even ran into a few UI bugs that blocked me from being able to access options to progress the story, requiring me to figure out some workarounds. If you like the idea of a resource management game that isn’t too punishing but want to ditch the story, you can play Endless Mode. The whole idea behind this mode is to focus purely on building the best winter vacation resort you can. You start with three random characters with their own stats, and each time you have a reputation increase, you’re given a new crew member. While Endless Mode doesn’t fix the problems with the clunky UI, I actually preferred it over the story-driven campaign—but only just. I really wanted to like Above the Snow more, but it didn’t quite click with me, and I’m still torn. I did love the cozy aspect, but it feels like a lot of the resource management stuff is a bit silly when it’s hard to have true scarcity unless you’re making absolutely terrible decisions. Above the Snow has some great ideas going for it, but when you take away everything that makes it unique, you’re left with a resource management game that is a bit mediocre, and even a little boring.

Screenshot: OPUS: Prism Peak There’s a part of me that associates video games with platformers and shooters, despite the fact that I spent a chunk of my childhood playing narrative-heavy games like OPUS: Prism Peak . While I’d never heard of the OPUS  series of visual novels before, I’m glad I got in at Prism Peak —though, as far as I can tell, the OPUS  games aren’t directly connected, since the other three games deal with sci-fi elements. Prism Peak , on the other hand, deals with a very human journey while incorporating spirits and Japanese folklore elements to tell its very earth-grounded story. In OPUS: Prism Peak  you play as Eugene, a 40-year-old photographer. In his own mind, he’s a failure with a failed marriage, a failed business, and a string of social shortcomings that leads him to believe he leaves only misery and heartbreak in his wake. Eugene is, therefore, like most 40-year-olds who have dealt with their fair share of being alive and accumulating experiences, both good and bad. Instead of having a normal midlife crisis like the rest of us (see: my growing collection of retro video games), Eugene crashes his car in a tunnel after getting caught in a dense fog. For anyone who’s seen Japanese-influenced media, you know that means a journey into a spirit realm, and you’d be right. Screenshot: OPUS: Prism Peak Prism Peak  is a visual novel, which means a heavy emphasis on narrative with fewer traditional gameplay elements. What gameplay does exist is centered around exploration and taking photos. In fact, for the handful of action sequences the game has, you mostly use your camera as a sort of weapon. But the vast majority of the time, you’ll be casually walking around, examining objects in the world, and interacting with a cast of different characters. But Prism Peak  isn’t okay with you just casually absorbing the story. Not only do you get a better ending if you do everything, but the game tests you on your knowledge as you progress. At least, I couldn’t help but feel like I was taking a test. Like most games of its kind, Prism Peak  has a catalog system that allows you to take photos of specific items to get more information about the story, a certain character, etc. Screenshot: OPUS: Prism Peak Except the notebook you carry doesn’t automatically fill in all the blanks; instead, you are tasked with filling them in yourself. Each time you make an attempt, you spend ash. You get ash from burning seeds at fires, and you get seeds from looking at points of interest. It’s an interesting economy that feeds into itself and ensures you’re interacting with the world and paying attention. There’s even a payoff at the end, with a "true ending" unlockable if you meet certain criteria that become obvious when you reach the conclusion of the story. My favorite feature of the notebook is the alphabet. Throughout Prism Peak , you’re given names in an alternate spirit language that possesses its own alphabet. Figuring out what symbol corresponded with which letter or number was a highlight for me. I love cryptograms, and Prism Peak  essentially has one at the core of its only set of puzzle mechanics. Screenshot: OPUS: Prism Peak Photography is a big part of Prism Peak . You have a camera with you most of the time, and while you have to take pictures at certain mandatory points, you can also snap photos almost whenever you want. The photos you take are even incorporated into the storytelling and gameplay, which is something I haven’t really experienced before in a game. It’s a small touch, but one I got a huge kick out of. Your companion through Prism Peak  is Ren, a girl who seems to have trouble walking but has no problem being carried around like a backpack for hours on end. The relationship between Ren and Eugene is an important part of the story, but it serves more as an emotional anchor than a meaningful arc. I don’t want to get into any spoilers, but the cast of characters you meet on your journey are just as important as Ren. In fact, by the end of the game, I was still a little baffled by Ren’s purpose beyond invoking a fatherly instinct in the player and acting as a vehicle for the storytelling. Screenshot: OPUS: Prism Peak Despite its cinematic visuals and lack of puzzles or other conventional gameplay staples, Prism Peak  is a great example of a story that works as a video game. The biggest difference between what a game like this can offer over an actual movie is the ability to kick around the bushes, see what’s under that rock, and just explore. It's still guided by what the developers want you to see and interact with, but you can linger in a way that film simply doesn’t allow. And it’s a game you’ll want to linger in. OPUS: Prism Peak  is a gorgeous game. You can probably gather that from the screenshots, but it consistently delivers beautiful visuals that add to the emotional depth of its story. One of the reviews on the Steam store page says Prism Peak  "looks like a Shinkai Makoto film reborn as a video game." I’d have to agree—that hits the nail right on the head, with perhaps a dash of Studio Ghibli. If you like your visual novels taking place in a 3D world with gorgeous visuals, Prism Peak  delivers. Screenshot: OPUS: Prism Peak While I enjoyed my time with the game, it’s not perfect. There were a few technical issues I hope get patched later. An FOV slider would be HUGE, since the default field of view is so low. Another great addition would be the ability to turn off headbob. Both of these features are essential for people like me who get motion sick playing video games. Luckily, I was able to sit far back with a controller and play, so I didn’t have any major issues. I also had some issues with the choices you have to make throughout the game. There are conversational choices that will supposedly change a character’s outlook toward you, accompanied by a pop-up saying whether the character was disappointed in your response. Sometimes I felt like, no matter how hard I listened and tried to understand the character I was talking to, picking the "right" response was still a coin toss. Screenshot: OPUS: Prism Peak Ultimately, OPUS: Prism Peak  is a beautiful game that emphasizes the need to be positive, to seek out beauty, and to recognize the power of friendships and lasting relationships. It deals with guilt and grief, but despite touching on some heavy subjects, it never wallows in them for too long or settles for just telling us how miserable Eugene is. I know there’s a “true” ending, and I know there are things I didn’t finish, but I won’t be going back to replay it—even after being bestowed items that let me skip scenes. Ironically, the game’s camera mode unlocks once you complete its main story the first time, bringing with it the ability to take pictures of Ren, though neither Eugene nor Ren will ever acknowledge that you did.  As far as visual novels go, OPUS: Prism Peak is easily the best I’ve played all year.

Screenshot: MINOS I was excited when I got the chance to review MINOS . See, I’ve been a huge fan of games like Balatro  and BallxPit —games that take classic mechanics and shatter them with addictive roguelike synergies. I was hoping MINOS  would be more of the same, but it’s a tad slower and a bit more contemplative. Don’t get me wrong: there are opportunities for those kinds of synergies, but MINOS , by its nature, is paced more deliberately and isn't quite as bombastically over-the-top. In fact, if I were to compare MINOS  to another game visually and narratively, it's Hades , despite the two being very different gameplay-wise. MINOS  is a tower defense game with roguelite and puzzle elements. You play as Asterion—the Minotaur—sitting in the middle of a labyrinth, stopping pillagers from messing with your stuff. You’re accompanied by Daedalus, who helps by changing walls and placing traps. He also doles out useful bits of lore and wisdom, guiding Asterion through his literal and metaphorical descent. The relationship between Daedalus and Asterion relies on a dynamic as old as video game storytelling: you have the guy who sets the tone and scene, and the guy controlled by the player who ostensibly does the actual heavy lifting. Screenshot: MINOS A run in MINOS  is split into two main sections. First is the map phase, where you rest at camp, buy upgrades, and prep. Then comes the gameplay phase, which is further divided into preparation and action. Here, you set up your labyrinth to your liking, then wait and watch as your enemies get slaughtered by your traps. There are also special labyrinths you can enter that act as story rooms, and others that serve purely as progression puzzles. Building the labyrinth into an intricate killing machine and watching that machine do its job is the main draw here. As Asterion, you can use energy to clear rubble and optimize your space, eventually unlocking abilities to set new trap tiles. As Daedalus, you can move walls to funnel adversaries into killzones. Most traps can only be placed on specific tiles, adding a layer of strategy to routing the enemy’s path over as many hazards as possible. The labyrinths themselves range from massive to cramped. There isn’t an inherent advantage to a large labyrinth over an average one, but there is definitely a disadvantage to setting up a defense in a small map with multiple entrances; it often feels like enemies spawn right on top of the maze's center. Screenshot: MINOS Theoretically, there is a ton you can do with your arsenal. You can dispatch interlopers using spikes, blades, boulders, fire, poison, and more. Many of these deadly traps can be linked to pressure plates to create intricate, Rube Goldberg-style sequences of death. You can even set up shifting walls or rotating rooms to trap and separate looters—possibly even sealing them in to choke to death on gas. That is, if you’re clever. I tend to take a more straightforward, brute-force approach. Instead of clever combos, I just put out lots of traps and hope for the best. To keep runs interesting (or frustrating, depending on your point of view), MINOS  throws a massive variety of enemy types at you. Some can walk over traps without activating them; others can disarm them entirely, allowing their retinue safe passage. There are enemies that throw bolas to slow Asterion down, and big, beefy types that act as meat shields for their friends. And then there’s Asterion himself, who becomes quite formidable after a few upgrades. Still, he’s easily overwhelmed by a group, so traps remain your best method for crowd control. Screenshot: MINOS Playing through a run of MINOS  doesn’t have the same propulsive forward momentum as something like Slay the Spire 2 . Luckily, developer Artificer gave players a reprieve in the form of shortcuts to bypass the early levels. If it weren’t for that, MINOS might feel like a tedious slog as you go through the motions to get to the meatier depths, where the real challenges await.  Ever since I played Dungeon Keeper  as a wee lad, I’ve loved the idea of setting up dungeons to foil adventurers. While MINOS  isn’t exactly the game I wanted, it definitely scratches that itch. Just because it is slower than games like CloverPit  doesn’t make it worse. The current zeitgeist in roguelikes favors fast, loud, arcade-like flashiness and over-the-top combos—or at least the promise of them. With those other games, you have to pry me away; I go to sleep feeling like I neglected my actual life. MINOS  had a hard out for me. I would hit a point where I absolutely couldn’t play anymore, and I likely lost a few runs simply because my interest waned and I started making reckless decisions. While MINOS  isn’t exactly the "Balatroization" I was hoping for (that’s a real word, I swear), it is a competent tower defense game with roguelite elements and some synergistic fun. Sadly, it never quite hits the genre-bending heights of its contemporaries, and it faces stiff competition for a player's time. I put a dozen or so earnest hours into MINOS , but when a game like Slay the Spire 2  can effortlessly command over thirty hours of my week, it highlights just how hard it is for a slower, more methodical game to hold my attention.

The Pitt. HBO Max. Listen, 7pm is a good time to be at home, in your pj’s, with a pizza and a good show after work (unless you work in an industry where it’s go time).  Right now though, we’re in a situation where everyone’s been working since...well, forever ago, and are now entering the second hour of a holiday nightshift.  No one’s having fun. Not the patients who did a few bumps and assaulted a nurse, not the guy who blew himself into a garage, not really anyone.  And not the doctors of The Pitt, either. Robby’s gone full Toby Maguire in Spiderman 3 emo with a hint of evil, Dana’s literally had it up to here (gestures to the outer atmosphere of the planet) and Hashimi came in on this day only to witness …well, what has she seen. The point is, Happy Fourth. Now let’s see what catastrophes can still befall our cast and crew here, and hope everyone gets out of it alive.  Did I just doom us? Recap of the Recap: We start all the way back with Digby at a time when Dana was mostly calm.  Then we flash back to Hashimi calling her psychiatrist after her first encounter of Baby Jane Doe. Duke and Robby get a quick flash. Then we cut to Jerk Robby being his jerkiest - first yelling at McKay for being outside doing street team stuff and then at Mohan for having a panic attack because of her mommy issues. I’m never not gonna want to one punch him for that. Then we’ve got Robby yelling at ICE. At least that was a good place for that anger. Then we’re with our diabetic dad, and when he left the ER even after the social workers tried to cost cut. As most of us well know, a few thousand knocked off a few thousand dollar bill is great, sure, but doesn’t mean you had that other few thousand lying around. Mohan promised she’d get him everything he needs at home, and as far as we know, Abbot helped pay for it to be Uber’d out there.  Then a quick cut to him as a “new” patient who fell off a catwalk at a warehouse. And now, we’re in the present.  The Pitt. HBO Max. 7PM: Diabetic Dad - Orlando Diaz. Mohan’s the only one who knew him of the people in the room, so she tells them that he’d left AMA and we find out he went back to work ( of course) and had a fall from that catwalk. No one saw him, they just couldn’t raise him on the radio and found him after. He’s in a bad way. Night shift says they’ll take it from there, but Mohan says she’ll stay. Robby backs her, says “continuity of care” and assigns everyone else out. Surgery is hanging around, and note he has a skull fracture. One of the night doctors asks what some of his stats indicate but she shoves it off saying she’s trying to treat the patient, and Garcia fills in the info - he’s got the Cushing’s reflex from intracranial pressure. He needs to go to ct right away. Outside the room they ask if there’s any family to notify and she says “wife and three kids.”  Meanwhile, night staff is asking if there’s a card to sign or any cake for Robby.  There’s not, and this greatly disturbs them. No cake is kinda shitty. We see Emma wandering around so she didn’t go home. Santos is talking to someone about a patient who got hurt while raiding a restaurant, so I think we have an ICE agent patient. That oughta be interesting.  Langdon drives by the same guy, Grus, and asks if he knows the nighttime drill. Meanwhile Whit is helping a new intern, and introduces her to dragon lady, who doesn’t care. I heavily dislike her. Abot shows up ready for his shift, and Dana tells him about the ICE raid and that Jesse was arrested - well, detained, for assaulting an officer.  The Pitt. HBO Max. Meanwhile, the new intern meets Hashimi, who greets her in Armenian, much to her surprise, but hey, at least we didn’t leave dragon lady as the welcome wagon. Meanwhile, dragon lady’s breathing fire cuz they’re speaking a language she doesn’t understand. Typical. Dana gets everyone’s attention to address the elephant in the room. Which one? There’s a whole herd if you ask me. Ok, it’s the ICE elephant. She mentions that Jesse tried to intervene when a fed was handling his patient and both he and the patient were taken away by ICE. Someone asks if he punched the guy and they say no. He put out his hand to stop him. We hear a mumble “it was a little more than that” and I suspect that was dragon lady. Or was it McKay? Holy shit. Weird. They tell them they’ll update them every 12 hours but ask them not to feed the rumor mill. She also addresses Emma’s assault and reminds everyone of code hula hoop and keeping a path to the door clear. Abot takes over the talk to discuss downtime and plans but then it’s uptime, and the computers are back. Everyone breaks out in applause but the buzzkill Abot (kidding, he’s fine!) says everything from the last 5 hours has to be scanned into record. So there’s still a lot of busy manual labor to be doing. Even worse news, this falls on the day shift, cuz it’s their stuff.  They either dont’ know this is procedure or forgot or wanted to forget so naturally, everyone’s upset. I mean, I get it. But I guess that’s how you get two extra episodes these days.  The Pitt. HBO Max. Emma comes up to Dana and asks if they can go on rounds. I think Dana needs her more than Emma needs Dana.  Everyone’s in with diabetic dad and Mateo brings results. His blood sugar is ok, potssium ok, and he’s doing a little better. There’s a lot of reasons he could’ve passed out and I think Mohan knows which one it is but she’s not saying, and they settle on "it's really hot and he’s probably dehydrated”  Next we visit Oliver - who - I don’t recall what his deal was. I think he’s the other kidney guy, not the English patient. 90 percent of the entire staff is looking over him now and Hashimi asks if he’s ok. Ah yes, this is missed dialysis guy and his son.  He had a pulmonary edema after missing dialysis and the closest dialysis center to him had just closed so he hadn’t been in a while. As of this writing, we’ve got a hospital nearby that’s not paying its people and care is getting neglected so don’t think this sort of thing is fiction. His son is named Mason. Hashimi takes everyone over to Digby. Oh, everyone’s here cuz it’s night shift rounds, I’m a moron. He’s gonna get good care for his arm. Dana stops in to see if he got enough to eat.  This is a feel good ending at least. I hope.  We get a new girl we didn’t see with a tweaked knee from doing sick tricks on a skateboard, maybe? She’s covered. Outside, Rounds end. Dana gives Emma a steel bowl, and takes her along to Digby. She greets him and asks if he’d like to get cleaned up a little bit.  He seems wary of it, because he did get the shower earlier but is this an elaborate ploy to play that maggot arm one more time?  Oh, or not. They’re offering a shave and a haircut. I wouldn’t have blamed anyone if they did bring that out again though. I’m just saying. It was quality effects.  Perlah’s out being amazing and working the board, and a police officer breezes by with a coffee and tells her to stay safe. She returns the thought. But she’s not just any cop - she’s the one that came in with Mohan’s diabetic dad, Orlando. She asks if she noticed anything about the fall but Cary, our new police officer friend - like a break in the railing or security cameras. Those are sorta specific questions…but Cary doesn’t spill any tea here and what is Mohan thinking or doing at this point? Baby Jane Doe is first on the patient list, and they give night shift her story. She’s about to be placed but she’s got friends in night shift too se we switch off her.  BH-1’s psych hold danger to self is the mother of our heat stroke kid.  Hashimi explains the whole ordeal, including that she walked out into traffic.  The Pitt. HBO Max. Just then a kid comes in who’s wheezing with no response to albuterol. So he’s obviously asthmatic regularly, and when asked the mom says so, but that it’s never been this bad. He’s not getting enough air, and using extra muscles trying to pull air. He doesn’t look as bad as all that means he is. But the nurses know. Langdon’s got him and they’re doing continuous nebulizers, epi and all the things to try to help.  He’s also on a few other asthma meds (said a person also on those meds) and when they ask why he discontinued them recently, she says it’s because he lost his Medicaid.  This particular patient is one I relate to, as I’ve actually had to purchase Montekulast (an asthma preventative) on my own dime with no insurance before, and I can remember just how expensive it is.  The life of no insurance often means no preventative care, which leads to more severe problems in the long run, people. I’ve lived it and you’re seeing it on screen now. They epi him in the thigh and ..we’re out with Abot and McKay. McKay is giving crazy eyes while …faxing? I mean, inconvenient sure, but that was a strange little vignette. No matter though, as we’re on to other stuff, and McKay’s picked up the Armenian intern from earlier and they’re with a lady who’s got liver function issues and is in fact already turning yellow, so it’s surprising on some level that they even ask if she noticed. It’s noticeable. She’s been bronzing, and I guess that’s a good reason you might not have noticed.  Our intern, who’s a Cali girl, giggles a little and asks which bronzer, adding that some bronzers can have chemicals that cause strange reactions, but it’s dha and sugar beets. I mean, word, but those could cause their own issues too perhaps? Maybe I just like guessing medical diagnoses too much.  She asks why her liver’s inflamed, and that’s kind of the better question. There’s a lot of possibilities, which honestly, I didn’t suspect. She’s a very “clean” lifestyle sort, and is disgusted at the thought of Tylenol - she’s also vegan. I suspect there’s something in that that’s a clue. Things are going up on the computers, but slowly, with Digby being the newest addition. If it’s chronological Duke’s got a while. Speaking of, he’s on Robby’s mind, and Robby’s on the phone finding out where he is. Some more urgent CTs have again come up, if you recall, and Robby, being irrational these days, is pissed because of Duke.  He asks if they can get to him next, and we have no idea if they agree. Perlah just realisticallyt ells him it could be hours. Meanwhile, Dana’s needling Robby about the time and Robby’s loose ends. He hits back with a comment about Dana working til sunrise, then about her getting to to go the extra mile when they accuse everyone else of being martyrs and she doesn’t counter. She looks a little sorry. But still mad. Valid. Robby gets called over to Orlando, because his new injuries are pretty severe. Mohan snaps at everyone when she’s called on to figure out the next steps, and we’re back over to our asthmatic with Langdon and his crew. Emma’s with Digby shaving his face, and they seem to be getting along.  I feel apprehensive though, because it’s been just hours since her attack and she’s again alone with a patient. It’s understandable maybe, but also, Digby has been nothing but kind up to this point, but I think that’s probably the point. The Pitt. HBO Max. Santos runs in towards the scanning and bumps into Whit, sending papers everywhere. She’s flustered but Whit says they had to be sorted before they got scanned anyway. Santos asks for Joy but they find out she left at 6. She recommends tapping Ogilvie for help, but he’s in with the kidney stone.  Santos asks if he’ll be by tonight and he says he will after he goes to check in at Robby’s house, and they share another weird moment between each other while they both realize they are actually friends. I hope. They have an equally awkward conversation about how often or not often he could be at Robby’s or Santos’ based on what she might maybe want that I just want to put them in a room for two hours to stop being weird and talk about it.  Upstairs, Javadi’s with Orlando. A neuro’s on the case - division chief - and she’s consulting. He needs an EVD. She throws a bunch of jargon out which Javadi’s struggling to hang with. Robby explains it in the background but to be honest I”m not going to try to sum up because I’m still not hanging.  The division chief asks for someone to scrub up and help,and Samira say she’s good. Robby pushes her and says she should lend a hand, but she still tries to refuse. “I said I’m good” and Javadi also turns it down, but then she gets recognized, because of course the division chief knows her mother. Oh no. “She was a resident. You were in utero” is always fun to hear at your job.  She turns her down when she gets invited again to participate and Robby’s in disbelief. She goes to leave the room and Robby follows - she’s the chief of neurosurgery. She’s kind of a legend. Javadi’s squirming. Robby is really pushing and asks if it’s about the volvulus slipup and if it is to basically get over it. She takes the scrubs. O-kay. Langdon, Hashimi, and most everyone else from day are with our asthma patient. Hashimi has an idea for some sort of mesh that might help but only if they get it in less than two minutes. Robby comes in and Hashimi ducks out. Is she avoiding him now? The Pitt. HBO Max. Upstairs, our legend is with Javadi, and they’re just not even measuring before they cut into the skull. Robby asks - in the middle of all this - about Garcia working with Hashimi at the VA. Let’s not do that now, eh?  Javadi’s gonna get the drill. She doesn’t want it, but our legend says it’s fine because there’s a safety stop. So now e’re drilling into Orlando’s skull. I have all the anxiety and she has more. Dana pops in with Digby and Emma, his shave is finished, and he’s maybe getting a haircut. He doesn’t want it, but Dana convinces him and he shares he hasn’t had a haircut since his daughter’s wedding a few years back. We find out they know where he is and they live in his house, so that seems like a lot of relevant back story we never had.  Back in it’s not rocket surgery, it’s rocket surgery, and Javadi’s at the helm.  We’re waiting for a pop when we …I can’t even pretend this is normal. Hyperventilating.  Cut to Mohan, where we’re finding out that Orlando has the highest possible likelihood of survival for his condition, which isn’t as good as it sounds. A third of patients die, and another large percentage have long term disabilities.  She’s obviously not taking this news well, but we’re done here for the moment, because The Pitt. HBO Max. Javadi hears a pop. Which is goooood? Eesh. I mean, we’re in full on brain surgery here. It’s good there’s a supervisor but she’s sure letting Javadi take the wheel a lot. She’s actually doing the thing though, so props.  McKay’s with Santos and Whit asking them how scanning is going. They’re basically dying of tired, which makes all the sense. They fill her in on Abot’s new patient, the jaundice lady. Santos guesses it’s a hepatitis. Whit asks if it’s Tylenol, she rules it out, and then goes for “does she eat polar bear liver” because it can cause Vitamin A toxicity but she doesn’t eat meat or fish so it can’t be either, can it? Still, that’s getting warmer, I feel like. McKay asks Santos to go take a look. “You have a way of figuring out the weird stuff” she says and before Santos can complain more, Whit says “Take the compliment.” Good advice, though I feel like he was warmer than she was. Our asthma patient is doing better. They ask how he renews his meds, and she says in cash at a clinic for about 400 a month and King is incredulous it could be that much. But it do. Back in with Orlando, and they’re still all up ins. There’s a level involved, a thick tube going through his head, and…I guess that’s some way to calculate something about brain fluid. Mohan says the first troponin is working but they need a second MRI to rule out something. Robby asks her to step out for a minute. I’m raising all my eyebrows. She’s immediately defending herself, and telling him she did everything she could to make him stay. Hey, that’s not on you. But he’s not there for that, he’s there to …ask questions about Hashimi and her work with her at the VA? Come on man, read the room. The amount of fucked up decisions Robby’s been making the last three hours boils my brain. He’s asking if she had lapses in focus or attention, and she mentions the zone out over Baby Jane Doe early in the morning. I mean, ok, that’s weird but I don’t want him to have ammo he can be reckless with.  The Pitt. HBO Max. In with our yellow lady, and no cirrhosis. She’s pissed she’s sick.  She mentions how much sleep she got and McKay says she can’t remember the last time she did get 8 hours. Santos drops “Maybe you should try sleepmaxxing” and I think she’s baiting our yellow lady into revealing all the influences on her health journey.  It works, and before long we find out she’s got a gaggle of naturopaths and healers. This is going places. But she doesn’t even take vitamins. She mentions food is the best medicine, and reveals she takes turmeric. A LOT. Like 3500 mg.  Welp. Turns out that can cause liver failure. Back with Dana and Emma, and he’s got a fresh haircut. And he’s crying. I hope it’s a good cry. He can’t remember the last time he looked like this. Emma says he looks totally different and accidentally provokes a crisis. “Then how will they find me?” Dana’s there to reassure him that they know his voice and his face and they know where he hangs out. Emma chimes in to ask if his daughter danced with him at the wedding,and he says she did. She says that if that’s true, then his daughter will never forget him, and he’s tearing up again. Oh, thank you for not making him a throwaway, The Pitt.  Robby tracks down Hashimi and starts in on her, telling her she seems like she was hesitating with the asthma patient when recommending Aerogen, and pretends he wonders if she was having second thoughts. Or maybe he does wonder. Still, not liking this train we’re on. She says no, she was just thinking about hte best treatment plan for hte patient.  He accepts it but asks if there’s anything else he should know and she says no.  Robby gets on the phone to ask about Duke, who’s apparently in the scanner now. So, cool. Progress. He asks Abot if anything’s new upstairs. Perlah asks everyone at the nurse’s station if they should take up a collection for Jesse for bail, and Langdon says they don’t usually set it til after a holiday, and the collective group realizes he’s likely to be in all weekend. King pops out of a trauma room to tell Robby that Grady’s worse - much worse. And I’m like, who’s Grady? Asthma kid? Oh yeah, yep. He’s tiring, and they need to intubate. This just sucks so much.  Or they were going to, but he has a collapsed lung. Apparently if your lungs try too hard, they can eventually burst. They cut a little hole in him and suddenly he’s breathing. Cool trick. Robby is back to Mohan who just really doesn’t want to be around him, and yet. He says it’s a good thing our legend, Dr. Conley, was there and they should try to find him a neuro-critical bed and all I’m thinking is how much more things will cost him now. Ugh. She barely responds, but Duke is back so Robby splits off.  Duke’s made friends with his nurse Vivi and is about to teach her how to ride motorcycles.  Perlah heads up to Mohan to let her know that Orlando’s wife is here, and she leaps towards the doors to meet her.  She has no idea how bad things are, and is still in uniform having come from work. Man. She has food for him, and no idea what’s coming. Oh man. Mohan and Robby are trying to let her know what to expect, and it’s brutal. He can’t be independent at home for at least a year. It’s devastating given what we already know.  This poor woman and her family. Poor Orlando.  That’s not even worst case, because he could need round the clock nursing for severe disability. You can see the light go out of her eyes even more than when she walked in and saw him with all the tubes and the stapled head.  She turns to Mohan and asks “You let him leave?”  Oh no. She says that she told him to stay, and Robby says he was competent and knew the risks. “We honored his decision to leave.”  “Even if it was a stupid one?”  Yeah. Even then. Mohan says again, “I tried to stop him” but it’s not helping.  How could it? Still, it’s not her fault.  The Pitt. HBO Max. Elsewhere, King pops into the break room and asks Langdon if he’s ok. He says he’s ok, he jus t isn’t sure if he’s ready to be back. “Of course you are” she says without even blinking. That’s the kind of support everyone needs. He’s obsessed with his mistake of almost intubating the asthmatic kid, but he didn’t, and they caught it. She tells him about her deposition, and how all the lawyers questions made her feel like a bad doctor, but that we don’t always get everything right the first time, and assures him that he would’ve caught the collapsed lung. He  mentions Robby being all over him but King reminds him he’s leaving for 3 months. She admits she doens’t want Robby or him to leave. “That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” and they bond over Nietzche. Which is what I love about them.  Outside, Santos and Whit are scanning. They’ve got a thick file, which turns out to be Oggy’s. His english patient. Who didn’t make it, and died on the table 40 minutes ago. They can tell it’s something that was missed that killed him and if the computers weren’t down, they both think he’d be alive. That sucks. Our intern stops in and wants help with a teenager with jewelry magnets. Whit asks them to find someone else because they are trying to get off the clock in a more grumpy manner than I think we’ve ever seen him, but again, valid, especially coming off that news. He can’t escape it though, as Santos already “took one for the team” so he’s off.  McKay and the intern turn their attention to the labs for our yellow lady. Her liver’s taken a beating but it’s not dead yet, so, yay? She’s getting told to cut out the turmeric and being admitted for monitoring. Mystery solved? We’ll see. McKay can’t get “sleepmaxxing” out of her head, and asks her how she comes up with these things. Santos reveals that she just thnks of the stupidest thing the person could’ve done and assumes they did it. I mean, it’s a solid tactic. McKay’s taken aback by Santos’ lack of empathy, but Santos merely doubles down on how people as dumb as her basically pay the bills.  Emma’s heading out with a cheerful “wasn’t so bad” and dragon lady is going to find Duke’s results. Mateo’s at the desk  to let everyone know Orlando’s tucked in. When they discuss if he’s got a decent chance of recovery, Robby blurts out that he doesn’t think that’s the outcome he was hoping for. I hope that isn’t projection,but I also hope it’s not true at all in any way. Robby continues that he’s got 100k in medical debt and would’ve kept going had Dana not loudly announced Ms. Diaz’s entry into the nurse’s station area. She’s looking for the bathroom and Perlah goes off to help her find it. The Pitt. HBO Max. Dana takes this opportunity to chide Robby for having a personal conversation in a public area, and he acknowledges that, at least. For a second, before she tries to continue,an d he waves her off.  Suddenly we’re in a room with someone I don’t think we’ve seen yet. Perhaps magnet jewelry teen? Oh yeah, that’s it. One of the jewelry pieces is stuck up her nose. Whit tells her it’s pretty serious, and if they don’t get them out quickly, it can cause the septum to collapse. She’s pissed that her friend did this to her, her friend’s terrified, and she’s not having them trying to remove it, even when Whit says he’s not using the pointy end. She’s calling his bluff that it won’t hurt, he’s not really caring and going for the kill. OK, and maybe he’s not bluffing. Tadaaaaa.  Monica’s back with results on Duke. “Fuck” he says, and Perlah looks over his shoulder, then asks if he’s got a surgeon. So that’s never fantastic. Emma comes back in. She says Ogilvie’s out in the ambulance bay covered in blood and staring off into space. For 40 minutes. Oh no.  Poor Oggy. He’s basically catatonic according to her and Robby asks for a stat page to CardioThoracic while Whit goes to check on Ogilvie.He ’s like they said. He’s not okay. Not in the least. But we cut away. Langdon and our night nurse are in with asthma boy and he’s looking a TON better. He wants to go home, but they let him know he’ll likely be here another day or two for monitoring and that he’ll be going home with a Symbicort inhaler. (That’s one of those maintenance drugs that prevent larger attacks when used regularly that you don’t always get lucky and get paid for.) It gives her a little hope, because she might be able to get back on Medicaid by then. She explains that they sent a letter to her old address that didn’t get forwarded and when she went up to get his prescription she was told his Medicaid was expired. She had been fighting for months to get re-enrolled but didn’t have the proper paperwork, especially because she’s a hairdresser who didn’t have regular income.  Meanwhile Dr. SHen comes in to basically trell the kid he’s looking good and they’ve got his back. I like him. Grady thanks Langdon and the team directly.  See? It’s ok.  Out with Ms. Diaz and Mohan, we’ve got our social worker, and due to Orlando’s injury, things have changed. Do we think for the better? Shen walks in and seems a little flustered by our social worker’s presence for some reason but he’s looking for Abot, who no one’s seen in a while. The social worker’s saying that with his condition now things may be easier, and the term easier seems a little insensitive here, but let’s hear her out. Ms. Diaz also ruffles at the term easier. The social worker explains that he’ll be eligible for Medicare and Medicaid and all of his care including at home care will be covered. She’s visibly angry, probably because that doesn’t really get her her husband back the way he was, and I don’t blame her. Mohan tells her it’s not a good time but she says she wanted to reassure her about costs. Ugh.  Social worker and Robby bump into each other,and oh yeah, they’re a thing. They reflect a little, and he halfheartedly asks if she’ll go with. She says she knows better than tog et between him and his vision quest but adds a little bit about him not wanting to know her real reasons. He bats that around a little but decides not to pry and she says she hopes the whole thing isn’t about him trying to run away from her, because if so, he should just tell her to get lost. “It’s complicated” is the status we’re seeing here playing out in real life.  He insists its’ really him, not her, and they hug, so…ok? Abot busts through the hug like a jerk, but i can’t hate him for it. She teases Robby that she’ll see him next week. Abot makes an audible eyebrow raise, and Robby flips him off.  The Pitt. HBO Max. Outside, Oggy and Whit are sitting on an ambulance and he’s recounting his gall stone that turned into a death from Season 1. He misse dit. People die. Ogilvie asks if you ever get past it, and he says no. Our boy Oggie’s not sure he can take another day like today, and honestly man, heard.  He’s thinking about primary care instead, or pedes. Ogilvie agrees but says he’d be bored out of his fucking mind, and that he likes the challenge of undiagnosed illnesses and the quick decisions and life saving procedures, and he likes being there for people on the worst day of their lives. He says he thinks Ogilvie should go home, sleep on it, and then decide, but Ogilvie doesn’t want to go back in. So Whit doens’t make him, and says he’ll take his gown and take it inside. I love Whit.  Our intern stops by Digby with a smile, and then runs smack into Whit. There’s a dummy in a wheelchair but no one cares. Santos finds Whit and Santos asks where he’s been. Ogilvie ducks the question. King’s trying to shred stuff but it’s stuck. Whit tells her to kick it and she kicks it like it owes her money, and it honestly cracked me up. And Santos, and Whit.  New intern tells Dana she thinks Digby got a room upstairs, but she says “in your dreams.” Intern says there’s a different man in there and I think maybe she just doesn’t recognize him. That makes Dana smile,a nd I’m all for that. The Pitt. HBO Max. Robby’s at a desk with a surgeon, and they’re looking at Duke’s results. It’s an aortic aneurysm. 50% one year mortality. He needs surgery stat. However, our surgeon’s not statting. He’s trying to send him to see Cardiology and Pulmonary first, and go outpatient til they can schedule it, but Robby’s insisting he’s a ticking time bomb. It’s a battle of the wills here.  Also who’s this actor? He looks SO familiar. Surgeon wins out in the end and Robby punches a thing. A thing Dana’s very near to, and she snaps at him and tells him to take a walk.  One of our night shift is ringing bells for two discharges and pissing off Mohan and Perlah - before he tells them he diagnosed them with ultrasound instead of waiting for imaging.  Working miracles. Turns out he’s going for an ultrasound specialization and they talk a little about how competitive it is. Monica come sby to bitch about the shredder and Mohan’s shredding her ultrasound fellowship application. Oh no. Whit comes over to Mohan and says he’s sorry about her patient. She assumes he’s talking about Orlando and says he’s doing ok right now, but Whit then has to tell her he meant English patient. And she obviously didn’t know.Robby doesn’t know either, because he was too busy. Mohan darts away. Dana, meanwhile is on Robby like white on rice. “First you’re shaming Samira, then McKay” and he tries to fight back with “they both needed it” but she’s not having it,and good. She tells him that’s for private conversations and brings it back around to talking about Orlando’s potential suicide in public, too,and tells him to sign out the shit that’s bugging him and get out of here. He says he can’t, and she said he needs a time out. He says “you’re not my mother” (original!) and all she says is, “you need one.” “No, I had one. She left. I don’t need another one. I need someone who can run this place while I”m gone.”  Dana backs off immediately and apologizes, saying she didn’t know.  “Who needs to know? Who gives a fuck? Robby retorts Dana looks him right in the face and says “I think you need a break.”  “That’s what a sabbatical is for”  The Pitt. HBO Max. She tells him to start it now and walk away but he says he needs to talk to Duke and he owes him or else he’s gonna just go out and die while he’s gone, so she says wrap it up and leave. He tells her he’s not sure Hashy can run the place, she wants two ateendings and hasn’t worked it out with Gloria. Also, he doesn’t know if Langdon is gonna relapse, if Javadi’s gonna give up, if Samira’s gonna flame out and if Dana’s gonna be ok since she’s been running around with a full syringe of Versed in her pocket.  Dana says they’ll all manage until he comes back, and Robby quickly says “Yeah, what if I don’t come back” and starts heading away.  Dana, you’re not gonna follow? Oh my god, fade to black. Because of course. So…I guess we see where this goes. Next time. The last time.

Have you ever seen anything more beautiful than Earthset? No one has. Via NASA. I’ve got a weird relationship to the moon. I’m not quite Gen-X, not quite full Millenial, so I’ve got a weird relationship with everything, really, but the micro generation known as X-ennials, which is me, has a very unique perspective on things, because of our fluency in an analog then digital world. We get the best of both worlds. I can work a card catalog and I can touch a computer like it’s not about to explode and murder me. I can even make a Tiktok. The kids are alright.  But we also got a LOT of trauma. While the moon missions were just before our time, they were JUST before our time. I was only 4 years old when the Challenger disaster happened. I was 20 when the Columbia disintegrated on re-entry, and visited the memorial on a trip to visit my aunt in D.C. a summer later. Most of the time, when someone rolled a TV up for live news, it was not good - from bombing in Iraq to Afghanistan to 9/11 and things like Katrina. But I'd like to visit.  Did we dream about being astronauts and going to space? Absolutely. But if we’re being honest, people had been to the moon, and since that time, bad things kept happening. As time wore on, NASA took more and more of a back seat to everything else. Maybe we dreamed of the moon once, but now a fear surrounded it, at the same time that at least as a national priority, space exploration was being relegated to the halls of planetarium’s we’d visited as kids, that we thought were relics.  But they’re not. Even with proposed budget cuts currently threatening 41 missions at NASA, even with…well, everything looking like someone’s gonna roll another TV in the room and tell us we need to watch…right now we watch for the wonder of it all.  When you need a win, how about one for all humanity. We got Project Hail: Mary but even that box office beauty doesn’t compare to seeing the successful launch, reading that this will be the first woman to Lunar Vicinity or seeing astronauts' ecstatic iPhone photos of Earth from somewhere way way up above it, and getting to see the face of that pale blue dot in mind-blowing HD? I am seriously already crying at the absolute magnitude of such a feat.   But then you find out that:  The Artemis II carried heritage hardware from previous space shuttle journeys and moon missions so that those that never made it to the moon or home could be there with them.  They named a bright spot on the never before seen area of the dark side of the moon after the Commander Reid Wiseman’s wife, Carroll , “Two R’s, Two L’s” as they said during the broadcast where the dedication was announced,  who passed away a year ago. The person who requested the naming of the crater/bright spot wasn’t her husband. It was actually Canadian Space agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, as we found out during the live broadcast where they broke it to him . There’s a live broadcast of Artemis II you can watch from Nasa’s website , Youtube, Hulu - just about everywhere. You can literally hear them talk science, tell Earth Command “you look gorgeous” or chase around jars of Nutella.  The crew woke up to a previously recorded message from James Lovell, (click above for audio) who among other things, (Many impressive other things) was the pilot of Apollo 8. Yes, that Apollo 8. The message welcomed the Artemis crew to “his old neighborhood” and passed the torch to them Now, the weird hot tears rolling down your face after just a few of these points? These aren’t the jaw-dropped heart pounding sort of shock feelings you’re used to.  The reason they come so quick and run so fast is they’re excited tears. Happy tears. It’s ok to look up at the sky and hope. We need this.  Maybe we are beautiful.