Beyond Blue Review is Live! (Patreon)

I've really been looking forward to this one. Half video game and half documentary, Beyond Blue is all about the joy of ocean exploration. As a recreational diver myself, I always go after games set underwater, only to be a little disappointed when I find that the actual diving aspects have been minimized as much as possible to more conveniently deliver a sharp set of unrelated game mechanics or an engrossing narrative. Which is a fair design decision, but still leaves me hungering for a game that celebrates just the act of diving for diving's sake. And in Beyond Blue, I at long last got my wish! The game doesn't quite live up to the real thing, but it comes a fair sight closer than anything I've ever played before it, and as a space to just vibe out in, I really enjoyed it.

Next up, I'm taking a crack at that Games Under Five Hours: itch.io Edition video. Even if you didn't buy that bundle (and honestly, why wouldn't you?), you'll still get some nice recommendations you can always just buy at cost, so should be good fun for everyone. I'm hoping to get that out next week, but the quarterly wrapup style videos tend to be a bit of extra work, so I wouldn't be surprised if it took a tad longer and landed on the following Monday or something. GTDM Mass Effect's also making a little progress. I'm not setting a hard deadline until I get a finished script, but I'm hoping to reach that point within the next week or two. Until then!