The composer for Super Meat Boy has done lots of great tracks for Binding of Isaac and Crypt of the Necrodancer too (Danny Baranowsky)
Enter the Gungeon - Abbey or Die
Enter the Gungeon - Behold the Boss Eater
Enter the Gungeon - Boss Battle Beating
Metal Gear solid theme
Nine Sols - Collage
Hades soundtrack (all of it) + if you search for the composer (Darren Korb) then you’ll find loads more great soundtracks he’s done (notably for Bastion).
Hollow Knight soundtrack (all of it + the piano cover version)
Street Fighter 6 - Viator (theme for Ryu + there’s a real cool metal cover that is on YouTube by an indie metal band)
Wipeout HD soundtrack (all of it)
Super Hexagon (all 3 tracks)
Hotline Miami soundtrack
Dead Cells
Lots of people have rightly mentioned FTL
Frank Kelpacki has done tons of great soundtracks across the whole Command and Conquer series and it’s worth searching through.
If you’re into chip tunes, then it is also worth checking out Streets of Rage 2 soundtrack.
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m really into video game instrumentals. If anyone else is interested, there’s a great podcast called Sound of Gaming by BBC radio 3 that is worth going through the back catalogue of episodes.
The form factor advantage of the Switch comes from its trash controller. When I replaced with the the Hori split pad, the form factor was almost similar.
Slay The Spire is an excellent recommendation. Although a lot of people find roguelites stressful because they get stressed about losing progress. You just have to play with the right mindset:
I guess hitboxes aren’t weird anymore now that they’re more mainstream. Although I did make a custom layout that is unusual (if that’s your definition of weird).
It should be fine. You’ll have to be thorough in removing personal information. I would prioritise giving it to someone I know rather than a complete stranger.
Everyone else seems to be very concerned about the terms of service, but I don’t know why ToS is of utmost importance to everyone suddenly. Anyone would gladly share their streaming service passwords, would previously rip CDs or DVDs, use VPNs to circumvent porn restriction laws in their country, lied in sites/apps to sign up as a teen, etc…suddenly Steam ToS is somehow sacrosanct.
This came up recently when Steam confirmed your account cannot be left to anyone else when you die. The conclusion everyone seems to mention there is: if you leave your username and password in your will, how would Steam ever know or enforce this?
Possibly. The very early part of the game is linear. Very quickly in this game you’ll find it impossible to look up a guide because it is so non-linear, and it is really difficult to judge where you are in the game because you might have done things in a completely different order. Generally, early bosses just take a bit of practice and pattern recognition, and tend not to be reliant on upgrades.
A lovely story. Ive had a brilliant experience myself with my 4 year old neurodiverse son who took great comfort in playing Ori and the Blind Forest, and finished the game himself and found all the secret areas I couldn’t.
Then at 5, he watched me play Super Hexagon and wanted to play that. He’s gotten to the hardest level and asks for my help, but he’s beyond my skill level.
As far as the argument against the issue you mentionrd, the logical argument was complete in the first paragraph:
the academic community has failed to produce any negative relationship between video games and real life.
It’s an amazing console, but the shortcomings you’ve mentioned are legit. When I got my Switch, I immediately ordered the Hori Split Pad. Then I threw the Joycons in a drawer and never looked at them again. A large capacity SD card is mandatory and is so cheap, I don’t consider that a big deal.
Online subscription shit is just console bullshit that I won’t pay on principle.
All the reasons you’ve mentioned have been sorted with a Steam Deck, and I haven’t ever picked up my Switch from the day my Deck arrived.
I picked up Star Wars Rogue Squadron and it has been great fun and very nostalgic to play on the Steam Deck. I was looking for a modern alternative and picked up Everspace, which I like, but am finding it incredibly difficult to get good at so far.
Hollow Knight is the greatest game of all time for me. I replayed it recently and it was such a different experience for me to move through confidently and quickly when I had a grasp of combat from the beginning. It took me months to finish it the first time because of getting lost and not knowing where to go next.
Some generic (no spoiler) tips:
go in another direction and come back to the boss later if that’s possible. If a boss is way too difficult then there may be an upgrade you haven’t gotten yet.
take your time. It is more important to save your health rather than rushing to get a hit in. Sometimes it’s worth going to a boss and not hitting him at all and just focus on learning movement, patterns and figuring out where the openings are.
play around with your charms and get the best setup you need to help with the boss fight.
try to avoid attacks by running into the gap in projectiles rather than relying on dashes all the time.
if you’re coming to thinking of quitting the game based on difficulty, then there’s no shame in watching a boss guide video on YouTube. Or space it out with a secondary game so you can play something else and come back later.