Gaming

I reluctantly pulled the trigger on PS+ with the Black Friday discount because I have to have it to play Madden, and downloaded Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart because it's included. It does a beautiful job leveraging the PS5's features, and it's really fun. I also love the art style. Too many games go too hard at "realism" instead of just making a beautiful game.

Also, because I got it as a PS+ game years ago and just regained access without buying it, started playing COUNTER SPY again. I don't think it ever got the attention it deserved. It's a fun 2D stealth platformer smoothly combined with a cover shooter mechanic where you can aim and shoot in 3D from fixed cover points. Dying raises the threat level, and if you raise it past DEFCON 1, you get a countdown timer to complete the level or fail your mission. There are a couple mechanics to lower the threat level, and you can choose to gain your intel from US or russia themed enemies who are otherwise the same. Levels are procedural, and there's meta progression by unlocking guns. It doesn't really get to rogue lite because there aren't random powerups, weapons, skills, etc, but it feels similar otherwise. I would have loved a sequel expanding on the premise, but it's still worth a run every now and then.