Pragmata (Xbox Series X)

I heard someone say this game would have felt at home on the Xbox 360. I must have been playing the wrong 360 games, because this felt fresh and new, and it clicked with me immensely. The combat is straightforward enough third-person action, but it takes on a different element when your robot partner is also manipulating enemies at the same time. This hacking is far more useful than the gun damage, so it winds up splitting the players attention in a neat way. Save for the final boss, I never found any combat encounters to be particularly difficult. This meant it was never a drag when entering into an arena between objectives, which is good since the puzzles and layout of the levels were also so enjoyable. If the combat didn't work, it would have ruined the pacing. Instead, I enjoyed it all the way through, exploring and fighting. The story worked enough, too, to make me believe what the characters had gone through. It doesn't necessarily need a sequel, but more people should play this one.

Good Boy (2025)

The first Spooktober watch of the year. This is a horror movie with one singular gimmick, but that gimmick really works. Generic supernatural entity affects a sick and dying man, but the sole character of any real focus is his dog. In fact, humans, or at least their faces, are mostly obscured the entire film. I was intrigued from the time I heard the premise, and it honestly delivered. The film is scary; the dog is cute. The scariness of the film is made all the better reading the making-of process after the fact. The dog’s behavior is impressive, but the behind-the-scenes make it sound like even getting 70 minutes was a miracle. I look forward to Indy’s long and meritorious acting career.