Wuthering Waves

This is another gacha game which features better action combat than most and climbing / gliding system like Tower of Fantasy, which is fantastic. It also has a decent story and a ton of upgradable systems which is both good and OMG grindy. 

It also features thirsty gardeners...

You see, you have the usual gacha luck-of-the-draw party who can all level up and you can also level their weapons (both need special material grinded to break level caps). And then each can equip "captured" enemies. FIVE of them. That can also be leveled. But no its not just, "I want a lizard thing instead of this slug thing" because they also have randomized stats and abilities. This lizard might breath fire. This other lizard just naps and heals you. Want to tell the difference? 

Too bad you can't. You need to go kill the lizards until you capture one that does what you want. AND has the substat bonuses that interest you FOR THAT CHARACTER. Good thing you can only have three characters per squad... :P Also, I REALLY DESPISE they systems where everything levels up with you. Great you reached level 10? Well those level 1 monsters are now also level 10. It's like, what was the point of leveling up? But guess what, you can't AVOID leveling up, because its your exploration level that determines the monster level.

Yup! So even if you remained at level one but explored the hell out of the map, guess what? You're just leveling up the enemies. Pity, because there's some really nice story in there. If you feel like you don't mind that level of grind then I recommend this for you. Definitely not one for me though.

Spider-Noir, Harley Quinn and Kite Man

A trio of alternate superhero shows!

Spider-Noir

This currently single season story has Nicolas Cage star as a 1930's private detective who also moonlights as "The Spider", their version of Spiderman - and guess what? When you have a good story, good characters and good acting you get a good result! Without a doubt this is now our favorite version of Spiderman. On Prime you even have the option to watch in in black and white if you want. Highly recommended and hope they make a season two!

Harley Quinn (and Kite Man, Hell Yeah!)

This currently five season animated comedy features the titular Harley Quinn who starts off breaking up with Joker and then forming her own gang. A lot of the laughs come from the irreverent way it treats the whole cast, with many extras dying gruesome deaths, but it can quickly get abrasive if that's not your sort of thing. Definitely shines brighter in the earlier seasons than the later ones. 

Kite Man, Hell Yeah is a currently one season spin off from Harley Quinn and follows the adventures of the guy whose power is he has a kite? It has the same tone too so if you like the main show you'd probably like it.

Ouroborus King and Rogue Waters

Two different roguelikes.

Ouroborus King

The weak story about a King reclaiming his lands doesn't cover up the fact that this is simply chess with a variety of unique pieces. You start with only four, and on your journey can "recruit" more, "upgrade" the ones you have, or find relics that do some neat stuff like take back your previous move. Not recommended unless you really like chess.

Rogue Waters

This roguelike has a lot more effort put into it with the art and animation and tells the story of an undead pirate seeking revenge. Combat starts with three rounds of exchanging cannon fire where you either target enemy cannons so they don't wreck you, enemy soldiers so you don't have to fight them later, or "modules" that provide many buffs to their owners.

Afterwards it becomes tactical grid combat with a focus on pushing (and some cool abilities). While you will lose a lot at the start, especially to annoying cut scenes, it really gets addictive once you start upgrading your ship and crew. Thumbs up for this one!

Brightburn and Boy Kills World

Movies about a boy killing the world?

Brightburn

A husband and wife praying for a child have their wishes granted when one falls from the sky in an alien spacecraft. They raise the kid as best as they can but going with nature always wins over nurture, once the kid hits puberty he starts getting violent and powerful. So yeah, this horror movie basically answers "what happens if superman was bad and somewhat sadistic"? It's goes just about as you'd expect which is not great. Predictable movies are predictable.

Boy Kills World

This action comedy movie takes predictable and throws it out the window. With a mute protagonist who is always voiced over and wants to revenge on the woman who controls everything through violence, the action scenes are great but totally unbelievable given the amount of bullets that miss our hero. It's funny with some really wacky parts (drugs!) but also gory which makes it a hard one to know who their target audience is. Me? So yes, the main plot is good but getting from point A to B is very convoluted, ridiculous and sometimes hilarious while the violence, especially the martial arts violence is well done. Worth putting on while you're doing something else if only to pay attention when the fight scenes start up.

Hogwarts: Legacy and Calico

Games of Magic (and animal abduction :P)!

Hogwarts: Legacy

Set in the world of the popular Harry Potter series but taking place much earlier, you get to play as a student in the magical academy and quickly get involved in a plot that only you "the chosen one" can resolve. But also, you need to attend class, explore the (vast) lands around, while helping (or not helping) other students and residents. This also involves doing some Pokemon by capturing saving a variety of magical beasts and putting them in your own pens for your personal use. Also, expect to be beating the absolute shite out of your opponents in this one to the point of "I don't need the killing curse because its so much more satisfying to break all your bones, cut you into pieces and then explode you from inside out, MUAHAHAHAAHAH!".

So yes, while I enjoyed it there are a couple of negatives: while there is broom riding there's no Quidditch (which is fine I guess), and despite the huge map the activities are kind of repetitive. Go here and clear a cave, go there and clear a cave. Oh a puzzle. Oh its the same sort of puzzle but elsewhere. Lastly, unskippable lines in cut scenes. Sure, you can skip the entire cut scene but you can't read faster than the voice actors (who do a wonderful job btw) and press a button to go to the next sentence like in other games. Is that one a minor point? Well, there's loads of lengthy cut scenes so you tell me. Still recommended, especially if you like Harry Potter.

Calico

In this pastel color game you are in a magical land where all the animals are friendly so you can pick them up, let them sit on your head, and take them to the cat cafe you are trying to open which you can also interior decorate to your hearts content. Also, just to add to the WTF factor you can prepare food... by shrinking down to a tiny size and then running around the kitchen like an action game to grab ingredients and basketball them into the boiling cauldron? Yeah, it lost me there at that point. I guess I'm not magical enough for this game. :P

Evil Black Phone

Shows about the supernatural!

Evil (TV series)

In this four season show a psychologist, a priest in training, and a tech expert make up the Catholic Church's assessor program, which takes on cases to determine if people have demonic possession or are just crazy, because the two actually look very much alike. It is very well written and well acted (especially the little kids) and 90% of the show is just cool character growth, world building and plot advancing. The other 10% is made up of horror which shows up every now and again, and holding back on it actually makes it super effective. Big thumbs up for this one, I highly recommend it.

Black Phone (1 and 2)

When a young quiet boy is taken by a kidnapper, he ends up having to rely on voices from a disconnected black phone to help him out - voices of the kidnapper's previous victims. While yes, that's a pretty scary situation to be in, there's not so much horror to it if the ghosts are on the protagonists side. I do like that everything the kid does that seems for naught actually plays a part in the end, but its almost like the bad guy doesn't stand a chance here. 

In the second film years have passed and now it focuses on the sister of the quiet boy, a sister who gets strange visions and ropes in people to go with her to a frozen camp to follow the clues (there's still a disconnected black phone there, don't worry), only to discover its where the kidnapper from the first movie started his killing spree. Yay for there being a bad ghost this time around which makes for some scarier moments but when said bad ghost starts to ice skate... um...

It's interesting that the second film succeeds both in being scarier but also in being a less interesting movie. All up, give number one a try and if you really liked it, continue with number two. Or just watch Evil which is much better, but a bigger time investment. :P

Oddsparks Lonestar and the Stone of Madness

Three games that are just not for me.

Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure

As you explore this fantasy world you will need to create a bunch of cute helpers to help you do things, like forage, chop trees and... fight? That last one isn't so much of a problem, but the whole idea of this one revolves on automating processes using your helpers like batteries to power magical machinery and conveyor belts to make components turn into other things and so on. The grind is not hidden from the start either, with early quests requiring hundreds of processed materials to complete. I'd probably have given this one more of a chance had I not gotten sick of the whole conveyor belt processor puzzle thing from Arknights: Endfield. 

Lonestar

In this rogue like, you get to pick a pilot from a random trio of options and a ship (based on your level) to then go do some bounty hunting! Majority of this game is turn based battles which are simply about putting power components in your guns and other ship components and then blasting the enemy as it does the same to you. Whoever has the higher numbers hits the other guy, and if you have fuel you can do tiny manuevers to dodge some enemy firing lanes. Minor events in between fights let you refuel, shop, upgrade or treasure hunt, often with a cost and then its onto the next target. Again this gets super grindy very quick.

Side note: Grindy much like Green Hell's: Spirits of Amazonia expansion. OMG. We enjoyed the base game but in this one they decided that you need to do thousands of things over and over just to advance the story. No thanks!

Stone of Madness

A stealth game with awesome hand drawn animation set inside an insane asylum!? This should be right up my alley! Except, its a stealth MANAGEMENT game. You see in it, you (playing as a priest) must assemble a squad of people with special abilities - like a strong guy and a violent woman. While you can only control one person at a time, your other two squadies can either wait or follow you. Except all of you are actually crazy. The strong guy hates darkness and can't be left there. The woman hates fire and can't do anything near it. The priest hates violence so has to be away when the woman is murdering guards. Only the priest can deal with the ghosts that come up at night. What!? Ugh, so yes. As much as I wanted to like this the management part of it was too annoying for me. Recommended though if you don't mind that sort of thing!