Life and Gaming Update in 2026

I didn't post anything in 2025. Since starting this blog in 2011, I've rarely gone an entire year without writing something, so it feels strange to see a gap that long.

Games I Played in 2025

• Indiana Jones and The Great Circle
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
• Assassin's Creed Syndicate
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Dishonored 2
• Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

Indiana Jones and The Great Circle

I played this on Xbox Game Pass, which I picked up for $1. I finished it in a few days without doing many side quests. The companion character was predictably annoying and dragged the experience down. The graphics were excellent, but the gameplay had issues and the weapon system felt clunky. Overall, it felt like a $5 game.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

A console-ized version of F.E.A.R. The story is completely insane - anyone who has played it knows what I mean. It's a good game, but nowhere near the league of the first.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

This will probably be the last Assassin's Creed game I play for a while. It's not bad, but it's not as good as Unity. The graphics feel noticeably worse, and switching between characters is a gimmick that didn't add much. The story is boring. Unity was a much better game.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Excellent graphics, but a very boring story. The RPG mechanics feel unnecessary, and I wish they had removed them entirely. My next Tomb Raider game will be Underworld, which I plan to play in 2026.

Dishonored 2

One of the best single-player games I've ever played. I think it's better than the first. I played as Corvo, and it felt like a worthy sequel in every way. It's rare for a sequel to surpass the original across the board, but this one does. An all-time great for me.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

More of the same - in a good way. A very solid game. I didn't understand parts of the story, but the level design is excellent. I'll watch a YouTube breakdown to fill in the gaps.

Life

2025 was a bittersweet year. Some great things happened, and some very sad things happened. A death in the family was difficult to deal with, and life will never be quite the same. I also traveled a bit - Austin, Atlanta, and Chicago. Austin wasn't really a vacation; it was more family-related. Chicago was great, and I plan to return in 2026.

I haven't played many games this year. Battlefield 6 is probably my most-played so far. I'm also playing RoboCop: Rogue City and enjoying it. Gaming feels strange lately - I want to play more, but I'm not finding the time or the motivation. I miss the days when I played games instead of watching YouTube.

I want to stop worrying about the world, the wars, the market, and just enjoy games like I used to. The problem is that every social media platform has turned into a political cesspool. I'm still partial to X (Twitter), but I try to check it only once a day to preserve my sanity. I miss the days when Reddit wasn't what it is now, when forums still existed, and when PC gaming wasn't a rich man's hobby.

When I look back at life between 2014 and 2017, it feels like a real high point - both in life and in gaming. This was the golden age of Battlefield. I played so many great games during that time. My family was doing well, my grandmother and uncle were in good health, and I was planning to visit her soon. I have so many fond memories. We bought a house and paid it off in two years. I was financially well off. I'm not doing badly now - arguably I'm doing better - but I don't feel like life has gotten better.

I want to recapture that feeling again. I want to live more in the moment, work out more, and spend time doing things that make me happy and have a positive influence on my life.

Broadly speaking, I want to get more into Linux, earn a certification and make a career transition, play more games, work out more, eat healthy, and reach $2 million in net worth.

Let's see if I succeed.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey (PC) Review

I have mixed feelings about the game.

What I Liked

- Quick Save Feature: The ability to quickly save progress is a significant plus. The old save system would have made things worse.

- World Design: The game boasts an impressive world design in terms of visuals, and the vast map to explore.

- Stunning Graphics: The visuals are truly remarkable, better than Assassin's Creed Origins in my opinion.

What I Didn't Like

- Sloppy Gameplay: I encountered moments during the game that showed a total lack of polish. For example, during the final boss battle, a mercenary appeared but was unable to enter the arena due to invisible walls which shows that the game has not been properly play tested.
 
- Goofy Combat Mechanics: The movement system of Assassin's Creed makes some sections of the combat feel awkward and silly.

- Repetitive Gameplay: The game suffers from a lack of variety, with noticeable copy-pasted assets that make exploration feel monotonous.

- Boring Storyline: The narrative failed to engage me, and the acting in the cut scenes was subpar, making it difficult to sit through the cut scenes. I skipped most of them towards the end.

- Disappointing Final Boss Battle: This encounter was poorly designed, featuring a steep difficulty spike and an unnecessarily long cut scene before the fight. The absence of a save point afterward meant that dying would force me to replay the same choices repeatedly.

- Poor Animations: Enemy dodging animations felt rushed and unrealistic, with characters appearing to teleport rather than move fluidly.

- Unsatisfactory Music: The soundtrack did not resonate with me. No where near as good as Black Flag, and even worse than Origins.

I paid $11.99 for this game and feel that I got my money's worth; however, it's clear that it lacks polish. Given my experiences with this title and previous entries like Origins, I will be passing on Assassin's Creed Valhalla, as I suspect it will follow a similar formula that I find increasingly unappealing.

Borderlands (PC) Review

I'm somewhat conflicted about Borderlands. Technically, it's a solid game. It ran smoothly on my setup with a 2560x1440 resolution, an i7-6700k processor, and a GeForce 1080Ti, without any issues.

However, the gameplay feels dated. Movement lacks a sense of weight, and I frequently got stuck on level geometry, especially in densely packed areas. The vehicle controls are also unconventional, using mouse-based turning rather than the standard WASD movement, which took some time to get used to.

While I appreciate the cel-shaded graphics, the environmental design left something to be desired. The heavy use of grey and brown makes sense for a post-apocalyptic setting, but a bit more variety in the visuals would have been nice, even considering the game's era.

The much-touted weapon variety didn't impress me. I found most of the weapons to be underwhelming and felt they lacked significance. I ended up sticking with a few weapons throughout the game.

I played as the Soldier class, which was enjoyable. The gunplay is decent, but the endgame felt dragged out with a series of padded quests that ultimately failed to deliver a satisfying conclusion, leading to some boredom.

I didn't explore the DLCs due to a packed gaming schedule, so I can't comment on their quality.

I cautiously recommend Borderlands, especially if you're a fan of the series and want to experience its origins. For others, it might be worth a pass.

Batman Arkham City (PC) Review

Very solid game. Definitely worth playing. Main story takes about 13 hours to complete. There is a TON of side content.

Combat is the best part of this game and there is a lot to learn. After 13+ hours, I don't think I am anywhere near mastering it. There are parts that are unfair at times, especially when there are a lot of armed guards. Lack of auto-run will get you killed.

I had no technical issues. Worked fine on ultrawide resolution (3440x1440) without any mods. Game looks beautiful and animations are excellent (for the most part).

Game is made for consoles first. Controls are not PC optimized, same with the UX. Its not a big deal, but it would have been a lot better if there were PC specific controls etc. Lack of auto run is painful.

Story didn't make much sense. Its not bad, but it was forgettable.

Boss battles are kind of boring, but they are not overly frustrating, which is great. I typically do not enjoy boss battles in most games because the developers tend to design them in such a way that there is not a lot of player choice. This is true for Arkham City as well, but it was not done in a stupid manner like Tomb Raider Anniversary.

Level design is good, but sewer levels are very boring.

Over all, one of the very best action games ever made. Thoroughly recommended, especially if it is on sale.

Rise of the Tomb Raider (PC) Review

Rise of the Tomb Raider is a very solid sequel, and I really enjoyed this game. The graphics are top-notch — I played it at 3440x1440 resolution on a machine running an i7 12700k and a GeForce RTX 3080Ti with ray tracing enabled and I was getting over 100+ FPS with DLSS set to Quality mode. The attention to detail in the tombs you get to explore is outstanding, even extending to the optional ones. These optional tombs came closest to delivering the experience of the old games for me.

Level design in this game is exceptional, surpassing Tomb Raider (2013). Notably, the Syria level stands out as extremely well done. Combat mechanics are functional, and thankfully, unlike the last game, there aren't too many quick-time events.

However, the crafting system from the previous game makes a comeback, and unfortunately, it's not good. It feels out of place in a game like this. Having to constantly loot for resources becomes quite tedious. RPG mechanics don't make much sense in a fairly linear game such as this. Personally, I play Tomb Raider games to explore interesting levels, solve puzzles, and collect cool artifacts—anything beyond that feels like a distraction.

The voice acting for Lara Croft is very good, but I can't say the same for any of the other characters. The dialogue is often boring, and the overall story feels nonsensical. I don't understand why they felt the need to “humanize” Lara Croft, especially when they struggle to tell an interesting story. The original games kept it simple: Lara Croft is a rich adventurer who likes to raid tombs. Now, they've tried to create this elaborate backstory for her, which, in my opinion, detracts from the experience. The story of Rise of the Tomb Raider is essentially an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade rip-off, told in a boring and lazy manner.

It took me about 16 hours to finish the main campaign and some of the optional tombs, which can be very challenging.

I got this game for free on the Epic Game Store, which, despite all the Fortnite money, is still not great. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, the game is not available on GOG. I recommend buying this game on Steam, where it frequently goes on sale.

Assassins's Creed Origins (PC) Review

The best thing about Assassin’s Creed Origins is the game world. Ubisoft did a fantastic job creating Egypt. The map is massive, and strictly playing the story missions covers around 60% of the map—this is without any of the DLC content. Exploring the pyramids, the Sphinx, and other Egyptian landmarks is a lot of fun. The City of Memphis is particularly memorable to me. In the hands of a better studio, this game could have been a masterpiece.

Graphics fidelity is top-notch, and it’s very well optimized. At the absolute highest settings on 3440x1440, I was getting around 120 FPS on my GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. With the HUD elements disabled, it manages to look on par with Red Dead Redemption 2 in some areas.

Gameplay is very mediocre and extremely repetitive. It’s obvious that they are trying to imitate The Witcher 3, but it does not measure up. The mechanics seem very shallow, and they got boring fast. It suffers from the copy-paste design of Ubisoft games—bargain bin gameplay in a AAA open world. In true Ubisoft fashion, the map is full of markers, which robs the player of the joy of exploring and discovering something cool in the open world. Once a viewpoint is activated, everything in the area is highlighted on the map for the most part. There is no reason to go to a remote corner of the map because you know nothing is there other than maybe a trinket or two. But if it is anything remotely important, Ubisoft will make sure there is a question mark on the map. It removes any sense of discovery.

The bird is another goofy mechanic in the game. It’s basically a high-tech drone in the form of a hawk, and the game really wants you to use it. It could have been so much better, but Ubisoft can’t help themselves.

There are also those ridiculous modern-day sections, but thankfully, they are very short.

I am happy they removed looting animations from the previous games.

The story can be interesting in certain parts, but by and large, it’s nonsensical. The dialogue is very bad, and the characters are poorly written. It felt like they were trying to create a character like Geralt from the Witcher games but failed. Black Flag still remains the best in terms of story and characters. The final missions are extremely annoying because you don’t even get to play as the main character.

I paid $8.99 for this game, and I think I got my money’s worth. I recommend getting it on sale.

Call of Juarez (PC) Review

Released in 2006, Call of Juarez is an FPS set in the Wild West. I should have loved this game, but I didn't.

Considering the game was released 17 years ago, the visuals still hold up. Compared to most of the gray and brown shooters released around this time, this game stands out with colorful visuals. They successfully portrayed Mexico in a way that avoids the visual style of a Breaking Bad episode.

The story follows two characters, Billy Candle and Rev. Ray McCall, one seeking treasure and the other redemption. Techland explored the idea of finding redemption in the Wild West long before Rockstar. However, the story is not quite as interesting, and the voice acting can be amateurish at times.

Shooting is clunky and the weapon degradation does not help at all. McCall is more fun to play because you get to use guns, but the downside is that between episodes, you don't get to preserve weapons. There is no ADS when using pistols, and at times, you have to engage enemies at a distance. There are a lot of post-processing effects that obscure visibility, and fighting enemies with pistols at a distance is a frustrating experience.

But by far the most annoying mechanics are the melee combat and duels. I can forgive the awkward melee combat but detest the duels. I remember playing the demo way back in the day and hating it. That hasn't changed 17 years later.

There is very little player agency during duels. The mouse has a mind of its own. The game runs at over 200FPS on my machine, and I get the feeling that made things worse. I restricted the frame rate to 60 using RTSS, and I think it made the experience marginally better. In my opinion, it's incredibly bad game design to lock a player into a specific situation and impose very narrow criteria for success.

Billy leans more towards stealth, and using a bow is fun. However, the worst part about playing as Billy is the platform sections. First-person games around this time were not smooth enough to attempt first-person platforming. To say these sections are awkward and boring would be an understatement.

The game's default control scheme is a little weird. Horse sprint is mapped to Caps Lock on default. Why not use Shift? Who thought this was a good idea?

The disappointing part is that this could have been a timeless classic, but needlessly poor design choices prevent this game from reaching its potential.

Darkness II (PC) Review

I have not played The Darkness I because it was never released on the PC. Not having played the first game should not stop someone from playing this game. Just watch a YouTube video about the story of the first game, and you will be all caught up on the story. I should also mention that I knew nothing about the comics before playing this game.

A direct sequel to the first game, in The Darkness II, you resume the role of Jackie who is possessed by Darkness, which gives the player control of the demon and its underling.

From a technical perspective, I played this game in 2023 on i7-6700k, Nvidia 1080Ti at 2560x1440. Since this is a console port, it doesn't work well when the game is running at a very high framerate. Enabling VSync, should take care of these issues. This means that the game is going to run at a steady 60FPS, and while this is not ideal, I didn't mind it too much considering how old the game is.

The story doesn't pull any punches. From dialogue to gameplay, this is a game meant for mature audiences.

Combat is the real highlight here. In the right situations, when everything works, it is a lot of fun. Darkness abilities are a lot of fun to use, and using objects in the level to attack enemies is very well done. The one big complaint I had was the visual overload at times. The gameplay involves sticking to shadows, which gives you access to dark powers. Oftentimes in combat enemies will use light beams and these are blinding. They should have toned down the effects. I am willing to bet its not as bad when viewing this on a TV, but on a monitor it becomes really annoying and induces headaches.

In addition to this, the weapon system is clunky as well. You use Q and E to interact with objects. Pressing E allows you to eat hearts, which replenish your health. E is also used to swap weapons on the ground. When there are a lot of enemies and objects on the ground, you have to be careful about pressing E, or else you end up switching weapons without meaning to. It is aggravating in the heat of the battle and can get you killed. This could have been easily solved by automatically getting health from enemies, and without needing to go through the animation.

I got this game in a Humble Bundle for $1 (along with some other games). I got my money's worth. It takes about 6 hours to finish it, and its fun. I would not recommend paying the absurd non sale price of $29.99. If you can find it for around ~$3, and if you enjoy action games, go for it.

Verdict - Buy on deep discount.