The single player mode was decent. I like the career structure, it’s something unique compared to most other racing games’ checklists of events.

Driving physics were a minor improvement over Heat, which was already solid on that front (especially compared to the train wrecks of NFS '15 and Payback).

Contrary to most NFS fans, I wish they leaned more into the cartoon/anime aesthetic, something closer to Auto Modellista. I’m guessing EA didn’t want to risk it though, so Unbound’s aesthetic feels a little half-assed as a result.

Car customization is great as expected, Ghost nailed this in NFS '15 and basically copy/pasted the same system into everything since, which I’m fine with.

The multiplayer is live service garbage and I’m very disappointed that all post-launch updates have ignored the single player mode entirely… Or maybe I should be happy that they didn’t incorporate live service garbage into the single player…

Overall, 7.5/10 if you ignore the multiplayer. It’s Ghost’s best game.

Readable on Voyager as well.

EDIT: Not to say it looks good, but it’s readable.

Nice, waiting paid off. I’m actually interested in picking up the new God of War and Horizon games now.

I started using FreshRSS around the same time Reddit killed their API, it has rapidly become one of my favorite self-hosted apps.

Also,

open source software releases I follow

You have just taught me that I can add github release pages to my feed, I love FreshRSS even more now.

A lot of these games are pretty short and playing on my Steam Deck during lunch breaks at work is responsible for several completions. I also basically never play online multiplayer games.

Shorter games is the biggest factor though. Just for fun I combined my time in To the Moon, Parking Garage Rally Circuit, Jusant, Sprawl, Toem, ExoOne, Ghostrunner 2, Loddlenaut, Unpacking, Lunistice, Up left out, Naboki, Hook 2, and Inside, and the total number of hours it took to beat all of those was 37.

I’m guessing you probably have more than 37 hours in your favorite online game this year, I just spend my hours on different games lol

Corn Kidz 64 looks super fun, I will definitely be picking that up!

lol when I was reviewing my HLTB log for this post, I had the same thought. “I did all that this year?!” The benefit of mostly playing shorter games, I suppose.

Sea of Stars has been on my radar for a while. I’m not huge on turn-based combat, but it looks so good!

Same here. I really enjoy Nonagon Infinity but haven’t been able to get into any other album of theirs.

Madeon - Good Faith

I adore Madeon’s first album, Adventure. I knew Good Faith would be different and I was really looking forward to it anyway, and it when it finally came out, it just never clicked with me. It’s an album I come back to probably once per year to try it again, but I just don’t vibe with it. It’s an album I respect a lot, but I just don’t like it.

Justice - Hyperdrama

Still a pretty new release admittedly. That opening track is one of Justice’s best ever songs, but the rest of the album just isn’t grabbing me. I’m hoping it’ll grow on me over time.

To twist your question a bit: The Glitch Mob - Ctrl Alt Reality

Another case of an artist moving in a totally different direction, and when I first listened to it, I didn’t like it. Similar feelings to Good Faith. But then I listened to it again. Then again. Then again. There wasn’t a sudden moment where it clicked, it just got better with every listen. It’s probably my second favorite album of theirs now.

And to twist your question even more. I thought I would dislike: Muse - Will of the People

I’ve been in the camp of “modern Muse isn’t that bad” for a while, but there’s clearly been a downward trend. Even I cannot defend Simulation Theory. I expected WOTP to be more of the same, and somehow I ended up loving it. It is maximum Muse cheesiness, in the best way possible.

I’ve been itching to upgrade to AM5, this might finally be the CPU to finally make it worth it. Hopefully power draw and thermals are good, I’d like to do an ITX build if possible.

it’ll usually be the artist’s name. Like if you search for “Taylor Swift”, you’ll get exactly zero results because that phrase is blacklisted due to a complaint from the label. If you instead search for a specific song, you will see results, and can work backwards from there to find the album you’re looking for.

The last time I had trouble finding something on Soulseek, it was an album that had released a month or two ago, so it might’ve still been too new.

Yeah, I’ve had to use that blacklist workaround on many occasions, lol

I would love to see what someone could do now in the same vein.

Genki is finally making a new TXR, got announced a few days ago.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2634950/Tokyo_Xtreme_Racer/

I have a work-in-progress list here, strictly games I would consider “must play” in the genre. Notably missing the Ridge Racer and Tokyo Xtreme Racer games because I haven’t played enough of them to have an opinion.

https://howlongtobeat.com/user/atmur/lists/40754/Peak-Racing-Games

Mostly arcade and simcade racers though. If you’re interested in sims:

For modding, Assetto Corsa is basically the modern rFactor.

For offline racing, Automobilista and Raceroom have pretty solid AI. Note: Raceroom’s pricing model is dumb, kind of like iRacing just without the subscription.

For career mode, Project CARS 2 (not 3) is basically the only sim that even tries.

For online racing, ACC and iRacing are unmatched.

For rally, you’re already playing DR2. Richard Burns Rally is also shockingly good for its age.

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I love watching live service games fail, it never gets old.

but sadly couldn’t get into it because I found the races lacking… something…

Yeah, Auto Modellista is a beautiful looking game, but the AI is pretty bad and the driving physics (especially in the NA release) are not very good.

Oh hell yeah I’ve played almost all of both series.

Flatout 1 is alright, hasn’t aged especially well. Suffers from being completely overshadowed by its sequel in every way.

Flatout 2/Ultimate Carnage is still my favorite Bugbear game, with Wreckfest being a close but firm second.

Flatout 3 is.

Flatout 4 is honestly not terrible, but still feels like a cheap imitation of the first 2 games.

Burnout 1 also suffers from sequel shadow.

Burnout 2 is a great arcade racer that no one talks about because…

Burnout 3 is quite possibly the best arcade racer ever made. Absolute masterpiece.

Burnout Revenge is somehow just as good. Whether I prefer this or 3 depends entirely on how much I enjoy traffic checking on that day. I posted Junkie XL - Today to the music community a few days ago because I was playing Revenge recently, what a soundtrack.

Still haven’t played Dominator, should probably get around to that.

Burnout Paradise is also excellent in its own right, but I think going open world took away some of the charm that the previous games had. Tracks were so well designed in 3 and Revenge. Still love Paradise too, but 3 and Revenge are just absurdly good.

Fuck yeah. After Test Drive Solar Crown turned out to be live service garbage, I’ve been waiting for another racing game to look forward to. Hopefully the career mode has a bit more depth than Wreckfest 1.