Christopher Livingston is still playing Cyberpunk 2077, for the romances. He’s finding the NPCs—one of the better-regarded parts of the game—interesting enough that he’s developing feelings even for the ones you’re not supposed to smooch. It’s a sad tale of unrequited love in Night City.
Natalie Clayton played Bloks, a god game that plays like Tetris. You’re building a world from molten core on up, via the medium of arranging shapes as they fall out of the sky. The ultimate goal is to build life itself, and then try to keep your little people alive as they build their own civilization on top of your unsteady jumble of blocks.
Fraser Brown played Grounded, Obsidian’s homage to Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Unlike the studio’s narrative-heavy games, this one’s big on the emergent narrative, with animals as likely to turn on each other while you watch as the demons in Doom. For Fraser the story that emerged was first one of Ant War, followed by Uneasy Ant Truce.