I’d rather not wade into the larger “CDPR is transphobic” debate, but here’s an article from Polygon from a few years ago detailing some stuff, including the cosplay contest controversy:
To save you from reading the whole thing, basically, during the run-up to Cyberpunk’s release, CDPR got very… edgelord with their marketing.
One of the more controversial pieces of marketing was an in-universe poster advertising a drink called “Mix It Up”, which depicts what appears to be a trans woman in a highly sexualized manner.
They then organized a cosplay contest for further marketing and that resulted in another controversy related to the poster, wherein a cisgender woman cosplayed as the depicted trans woman, CDPR made it one of the finalists in the contest, and it predictably led to outcry for being tone-deaf at best, malicious at worst.
The larger issues with the poster itself (and CDPR as a whole) are in the article, but the cosplay thing really comes down to this bit in the article:
CDPR also included a cisgender cosplayer as the Mix It Up girl among their cosplay contest finalists. Even if you buy the company line that the poster represents how queer bodies have been appropriated for marketing, their entire argument is negated when they have a cis person dress up in that queer body as part of their own video game marketing.
If you’re thinking perhaps the model was well-meaning, attempting to create a trans-positive cosplay, trying to further highlight queer commodification CDPR spoke of originally, or just a misguided ally who got it wrong this time around, I have bad (yet predictable) news for you. Yugoro Forge, the cosplayer in question, tweeted that her costumes are “beyond politics,” and when pushed on the fact her Cyberpunk 2077 costume dehumanized trans people who are already subject to violence so frequently, she replied, “many cis men and women face acts of harassment and violence on a daily basis as well.”
So you’ve basically got them saying the poster is satire, but then they’re not only doing exactly what they claim they’re satirizing, but doing it in a way that can be seen as rubbing salt in the wound for people who were already hurt by the initial depiction.
My personal opinion on the whole thing is that they really just fucked up and couldn’t read the room, but they do also have a history of being less-than-kind to the queer community themselves (seen in the article), so I can understand why people view the company as hypocritical in regards to the whole thing.
I envy you. If you ever decide to get into the mods, I wish you well on your extended break from literally everything else.
Also, the Dawnguard DLC is pretty fun and you don’t have to do much of the main quest line to start it.
I say this mainly because Serana’s awesome and out of all the vanilla companions, she’s one of the few with an actual personality. And Laura Bailey always gives a great performance.
She’s just fun to have around. Plus you get crossbows and some cool armor not in the base game.
Lol, sorry, I just really enjoy that DLC. You play however you want, but I need to just point in her direction because I love her.
I mean, part of that popularity is the modding community (and also re-releasing it a dozen times). It’s not like Elder Scrolls has the best gameplay around. Always been a bit clunky. Narrative is hit or miss, but the lore and worldbuilding is what saves it, along with some great environmental storytelling.
But in general, Bethesda games live and die based on how strong the modding scene is. It’s why a fair portion of people are still playing Skyrim and Fallout 4 instead of Starfield. It has its mods, but the community isn’t as interested in it as they are the others.
That said, I’d say Breath of the Wild has some classic Elder Scrolls moments. The world has a lot of “hey, what’s that over there? Oooh, new unmarked side quest/cool thing to do!” experiences.
Don’t forget about the great bonuses for participating in the community forums, such as classified documents, toxicity, classified documents, and classified documents.
It starts off with a slight shift in tone from the earlier broadcasts, you feel the tension ramping up, and then you know exactly what’s coming, but it’s still a fucking gut punch no matter what choice you make.
Honestly, that entire game has so many of these moments, but that’s probably the one that’s stuck with me most.
(The Lockdown episode also had a lot of “what the fuck is even happening” moments pretty much every time something new happened, so I want to just give that an honorable mention. I often find myself singing “Mr. Bear (What’s That Over There?)” for literally no reason whatsoever.)
Haven’t been super interested for a while. Occasionally I’ll find one that stands out, but I’m not out here looking for it anymore. I’ll take a tightly crafted linear game over that any time.
Usually, if I play open world games now, it’s a “point A to point B” situation. I don’t explore the entire world unless I’m really taken with it, and even then I’ll lose interest after a while. (And if there’s no fast travel or some equivalent in-game method to traverse across the map instantly, I very likely won’t bother.)
What I do enjoy, though, are kind of “open zone” games.
A lot of immersive sims fall into this category of “wide open levels, separated by narrative chapters”. Think Dishonored or Deus Ex.
I like that approach as opposed to “here’s everything, go anywhere”.
After a two-ish week break, I’m playing Marvel Rivals again. Completely disabling all chat (mainly text because I’ve always disabled voice anyway) does wonders. (The fact that I never had to disable text chat on Overwatch perplexes me. Even when it went F2P, I didn’t have to deal with half the shit I see in MR.)
I don’t play comp, so it doesn’t really matter much.
Might start up Reviver or The Operator later. Loved both demos when I played them a while ago, so I think I’ll enjoy those.
I mean, the Z-A previews definitely showed a similar art style, but the battling gameplay is completely new. Dodging out of rollout looks great.
If it’s in Lumiose, I really hope the “you’re not the one” hex maniac girl is back and they actually resolve that plot thread. I doubt it, but who knows.
If you ever want Emerald with some quality of life improvements (e.g. HMs not being necessary to actually teach; you can use them in the overworld as long as anyone in your party can learn whichever move), I’d highly suggest the Emerald Seaglass ROM hack.
I’m mainly bringing it up because the art is absolutely gorgeous. So if you ever want to dive into Emerald again, give it a shot.
You can play it on a variety of GBA emulators, so it’s pretty simple to get running. A few good Android ones, I believe there’s one called Delta on iOS, and there are several for most desktop OSes (included Linux).
Lol, I’m actually playing through Violet right now. I don’t even know why, since I finished Scarlet a few weeks ago and they’re basically the same. I think I just like Miraidon more than Koraidon.
But man, I started playing the series when it first came out. Red was my first, but I’ve had long periods (like almost a decade) in which I never even bothered with the series, then eventually came back to it and finished what I missed. It’s a series I just kind of bounce between.
Honestly, getting back into it after a long break last year with Shield surprised me. I get why some people don’t like it, but I really had fun with that game.
As for similar games, Cassette Beasts nearly ruined the entire series for me. Such a great game that did so much right and so very little (if anything) wrong (in my opinion, at least). Art, music, creature designs, battle system, and especially writing. All fantastic.
I’m eager to try out Beastieball when I get a chance as well. Looks fun.