My Gaming Hot Takes

Videogames are my favourite medium of entertainment. Rarely has a day gone by in my life where I haven’t booted up my Nintendo Wii, my Xbox 360 or my gaming PC to delve into worlds and immerse myself in the pulse-racing gameplay. I have almost two decades of gaming experience by this point … which means I’ve also formed a hot take or two.

I want to talk about some of my gaming hot takes / unpopular opinions, in order from least to most spicy. Let the angry comments commence!

Before we begin, you can check out some of my related blog posts below:

Top 20 Videogame Worlds

Top 20 Best Videogame Narratives

My Top 20 Favourite Videogame Soundtracks

About Me: Video Games

Mild

These opinions are inoffensive. I think. I hope.

“Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” Is Amazing (And The Last Good AC Game)

Let’s start with an opinion that many people seem to agree with nowadays – “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” is a fantastic game. Not a perfect game by any means, but some of the most fun the AC franchise has ever offered.

To get the cons out of the way – the story has problems. The characters are flat. The combat, while fun, could be far too grindy / spongey. But I think the pros far outweigh the cons.

Alongside “Black Flag”, “Odyssey” has my favourite world ever put in an AC game. Ancient Greece is stunning, enormous and there’s plenty of side content to keep you engaged – the Cult of Kosmos in particular blew my mind back in 2018. Also, a few of the side quests have some of the funniest, most absurd writing I’ve seen in a Triple-A game.

To throw in some extra spice for this take, I’d even go as far as saying “Odyssey” was the last good AC game. “Valhalla” was bloated, “Mirage” was fine but ultimately forgettable, and “Shadows” was borderline unplayable for me. In other words, the series has been in a bad place since 2018.

Games Should Be On Discs, Not Just Digital

In the last few months, PlayStation revealed that they’d be moving away from physical releases and just focusing on digital downloads. This sounds harmless on paper. We live in a digital world, after all, so it makes sense to transition from cost and labour-intensive discs into easy, downloadable files.

The major drawback of this, however, is that prices will be sky-high forever. No longer will you be able to buy a game second-hand, or share a copy with a friend. Sony have devised a means of squeezing every last penny from gamers – and, unsurprisingly, the gaming community isn’t happy about it.

We’re entering an era where consumers own nothing. If we don’t have the physical media in our hand, it can never truly belong to us – the games might be deleted from consoles one day, after all. This stretch of history is turning into ones and zeros, and that scares me.

“Middle-Earth: Shadow of War” Is The Most Underrated Game Of The Last 10 Years

I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog how I was immensely disappointed by “Shadow of War” on release but have since come around to it. I’ve come around to it so much, in fact, that I’d almost call it a 10/10 game. Almost.

I think we can all agree that its ending has faults. It’s not as bad as it was at launch, but the “Shadow Wars” epilogue is a needless, endless grind that the game could’ve done without.

Other than that, however, I find this game to be pretty much flawless. The story is compelling (until the end), I love the characters of Talion and Celebrimbor and their frosty dynamic, the multiple and varied terrains are amazing to explore, the fortress assaults / defenses are awesome, and the ground-breaking Nemesis system is at its best.

People have eased on this game over the years, but I don’t think it gets nearly the acclaim it deserves. I’d put this alongside any open world action game of the 2010’s.

Nintendo Games Should Be On PC

I’m not saying that Nintendo need to release their games for PC on day one. Their business model relies on console exclusivity, so – like PlayStation – I think they reserve the right to keep games on their consoles for a year or two. But why don’t they broaden the releases of these amazing games after that window?

Sure, there are unofficial ways to play these games – I myself have (allegedly) used emulators to play classic Wii games – but they’re far from ideal, especially from the Switch era onwards.

Nintendo are sitting on a goldmine. PlayStation eventually released titles like “God of War”, “Ghost of Tsushima” and “Spider-Man” for PC gamers, and they’ve no doubt made oodles of money as a result. Nintendo need to enter the modern age and port titles like “Breath of the Wild”, “Fire Emblem: Three Houses” and “Super Mario Odyssey” to PC. It’s what the gamers want!

The Game Awards Need To Change

I became a huge “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” fanboy from the moment it released. As a result, I sat through the Game Awards – the most prestigious award show in the videogame industry – for the first time in 2025. Start to finish. All the many hours of endless ads. And more ads. And more ads …

While I was glad to see E33 pick up lots of awards, I was immensely disappointed by the rest of the show. It was just trailer after trailer – even most of the presenters were only there to advertise their new project. The banter was stale, there wasn’t enough of a spotlight shone on that year’s games, and the ceremony dragged on for hours.

This is supposed to be a celebration of the gaming industry’s successes. Play more music! Interview more icons! They could even introduce some sort of recurring “Hall of Fame” recognition for past titles, maybe on anniversaries. Let this be a showcase of the best of gaming, not a place for advertisers to dump their money.

Spicy

These hot takes might ruffle some feathers, but I stand by them.

“Hollow Knight: Silksong” Is Waaay Too Hard

I loved “Hollow Knight”. I disliked “Silksong” and dropped it after twenty or so hours. I found “Hollow Knight” to be challenging yet rewarding. I found “Silksong” to be an unfair slog that treated its players poorly. You might think there’s not much difference between the two games, but in my mind there’s an enormous gap in the games’ design philosophy.

I detailed my specific gripes in my review at the time, but I think this game can only be described as “anti-player”. Every single aspect of its gameplay – be it the world traversal, the bosses or even the checkpoint system – is designed to be as agonizing and infuriating as possible. I get that Team Cherry wanted returning “Hollow Knight” players to be challenged, but they went off the deep end here.

I’m not saying “Silksong” is bad, because it isn’t. A lot of effort clearly went into it, and parts of it are done very well. But as an overall package – and as a big fan of “Hollow Knight” – I felt betrayed.

I Almost Never Play Games On “Hard” Mode

This one is kinda tied to my “Silksong” critique. I don’t have any problems with inherently hard games (titles like “Celeste” and “Elden Ring” are among my favourite games ever) but if a game has a difficulty selection screen at the beginning, you’ll be damn sure I’m picking “Normal”. Even “Easy” sometimes if I’m replaying a game and want to kick my feet up.

What purpose does a “Hard” difficulty serve? In most games I’ve played, all that does is lower your damage and increase enemy health – i.e. you have to restart from checkpoints more often (hence replaying sections you’ve already been through) and bullet-sponge enemies take twice as long to kill. There are hardly any fundamental alterations to the gameplay … so I might as well play it on the standard, expected settings. I can understand people who play on “Hard” in order to prolong their game, but I’ve never been that kind of gamer. I play games to escape the hardships of real life!

One recent exception is “Ghost of Tsushima”. In it, there’s a difficulty called “Lethal Mode” which turns you into a glass cannon – you go down in one hit, but you can also kill enemies in one strike too. This fundamentally changed how I approached the game, and as a result I had a lot of fun. I wish more games had “Hard” modes that actually added variation rather than unnecessary difficulty.

I Don’t Care About Character Customization

I don’t know why, but I’ve never cared about my character’s looks. Never. I always just pick the outfit / armour set that has the best stats, and I don’t care about how it makes them look. I focus entirely on the story, gameplay and world. I couldn’t give a hoot about the person I’m controlling.

This goes for the start of games, too. I’ll often play an RPG, like “Skyrim”, where you’re expected to change miniscule details about your character’s face, skin tone, waistline etc. I tend to either “randomize”, go for a preset or quickly slap together a character and then call it a day.

I know I’m in the minority for this one. Pretty much every gamer I’ve seen will spend a good few minutes customizing their characters before starting, or don an armour set that they think looks the coolest. My brain has just never been wired that way.

Adults Liking (New) LEGO Games Worries Me

I used to love the LEGO games as a kid – I think everyone did. I fondly remember the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Batman and Lord of the Rings titles, but I eventually grew out of them. I think there’s no shame in looking back at these older titles with nostalgia, maybe even replaying a few for old times’ sake.

But every time a new LEGO game releases nowadays, whether it’s “Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga” or the recent “Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight”, I always see tonnes of grown men flocking to them. I played a few hours of “Skywalker Saga” out of interest (and also because it was free at one point on Epic Games) and was stunned by how childish it was.

These are not games made for adults. They’re for young kids to enjoy, or for parents to play with their children. You cannot be a serious adult if you play these brain-dead games for your own satisfaction. You need to grow up.

Bethesda Are The Most Overrated Gaming Company

I’m sure a lot of people would point out that Ubisoft are the most overrated gaming company because their games are often stale, but I think their reputation is pretty low nowadays. One company that people give far too much credit to, however, is Bethesda.

They will always have a special place in my heart for making “Skyrim”. Other games they’ve published (but not developed), like “Dishonoured”, “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle” or the “DOOM” franchise are awesome too. They have a lot of good things going on … which makes their personal output even more disappointing.

I’m of the opinion that they haven’t made (by themselves) a truly great game since “Skyrim” in 2011. I gave “Fallout 4” a try but found it boring. “Fallout 76” was a travesty which has since been mildly fixed. “Starfield”, supposed to be their next big thing, was a bloated, inconsequential mess. This level of output from one of gaming’s biggest companies is inexcusable. We don’t want “Skyrim” remastered for the twentieth time – we want a good, original game!

To make matters worse, “The Elder Scrolls 6” is still unaccounted for. Bethesda are using our nostalgia for the flagship series to justify their own existence. They released a teaser trailer eight years ago. Eight! It’s been fifteen years since “Skyrim” released, and the sequel shows no signs of coming out any time soon. When it does eventually hit the stores, it’ll have huge expectations on its shoulders – it could very well make or break Bethesda as a company.

The Yakuza Franchise Is Better Turn-Based

It’s not a hot take to say the recent Yakuza games are bangers. Both “Like a Dragon” and its sequel “Infinite Wealth” were well-reviewed and well-received by fans. Some OG fans, however, didn’t like how the series moved away from the beat-’em-up systems and towards the turn-based style. Most people would say the enjoyment level is about even. I’m not most people.

To put it bluntly, I don’t like beat-’em-up games. They’re just exercises in button-mashing in the hopes that you get a good combo, maybe an “S+ Rank!” comes up on screen or something. I’ve tried the older Yakuza games and I didn’t like how mindless and arcade-y their combat was.

So, in summary, the real hot take here is that I couldn’t get into the old Yakuza games because of their combat. The recent turn-based combat is vastly superior. Long may it continue.

Extreme

I expect some angry comments regarding these opinions.

“Resident Evil 3: Remake” Is Way Better Than People Say

By itself, calling the RE3 Remake “good” isn’t enough to get the pitchforks out. It was much maligned on release, with fans of the original complaining about story cuts, but nowadays people are more mellow on it. General consensus is that this game ranges from “Okay” to “Good”. Me, personally, I’d go as far as calling it “Great“.

Where this take starts to become truly spicy is when I compare it to the RE2 Remake. If we’re talking highest highs, then RE2 wins by a landslide – the first half of that game is untouchable. The second half in the Sewers and Lab, however, is a bit meh. The boss fights too are sub-par across the board.

Which brings us to RE3. It never has any truly stand-out moments, but it’s more consistent across the board than RE2 ever was. On top of that, RE3 actually has some good boss fights here and there against Nemesis.

Is RE3 better than RE2? No, I wouldn’t go that far. But it’s more consistent, and I’d be just as likely to replay it – if not more so.

“The Evil Within” Is The 2nd Best Horror Series

This in itself isn’t an extreme take, but I wanted to pair it with my “Resident Evil” take. I consider “The Evil Within” as the silver medalist Horror series (behind RE), which isn’t as obvious as you may initially think.

Other contenders were “Alan Wake”, “Dead Space” and “Outlast”. These are all great series – “Alan Wake” especially – but none of them are consistent enough to even get close to either RE or “The Evil Within”.

The hot take part of this is that I think “The Evil Within” is a better series than “Silent Hill”. “Silent Hill” had a ground-breaking second game and a few other good titles, but I always get a little salty when a new “Silent Hill” game is released whereas “The Evil Within” has seemingly been left on the cutting room floor.

Another way I could’ve worded this take is “I’d trade every Silent Hill game (apart from the second one) in a heartbeat if it meant one more Evil Within game”. But I’m not salty or anything.

“The Last of Us: Part II” Wasn’t That Bad (It Was Pretty Good, Actually)

I, like many other fans of the original, was outraged when “The Last of Us: Part II” released. There were certain aspects of its story which were poorly executed, and one scene in particular near the beginning (which I won’t spoil) was infamous back in 2020. Every gamer in the world – myself included – decided that this game was an utter, infuriating flop.

Six years on, however, I’ve softened on some of this game’s rougher edges. I’ve also become a writer myself, so I know how hard it is to create a narrative which is both compelling and satisfies the audience. While “The Last of Us: Part II” failed somewhat with the latter, it still shined with the former.

This story was just as visceral as the first, and it’s a fascinating continuation of where the previous game left off. Everyone also forgets that the gameplay is excellent. The combat, stealth and graphical presentation are among the best of the decade, despite being released six years ago.

Was it GOTY, or as good as the original? No, I wouldn’t say so. But as a Survival Horror / Action game, it did its job.

“Sonic” Is The Most Overrated Franchise In Gaming

I’ve never understood why “Sonic” games keep getting published, or why its fanbase is still going so strong. The franchise had some good 2D games in the 90’s but almost every game since has ranged from forgettable to an outright trainwreck.

I’ve had three experiences with “Sonic” in my life – the first was “Unleashed” back in my young Wii days, which had a fun premise but infuriatingly repetitive gameplay. The next was a 2D title which I can’t remember the name of (maybe a remaster of the original? I’m not sure), which was alright but didn’t do much for me. The third, most recent game was “Sonic Frontiers” – an open world game that is ridiculously bloated, janky and repetitive.

I can’t say I’ve played some of the outright disasters like the infamous “Sonic ’06”, but I’ve seen the gameplay footage. It’s outrageous that this series has been given so many second chances. The state of those 3D games … an utter shambles.

“Red Dead Redemption 2” Is The Most Overrated Game Of All Time

I’ve saved the spiciest, most contrarian opinion ’til last. Every now and again I’ll look up a “Best Games Of All Time!” ranking and “Red Dead Redemption 2” is always in the top ten, and often even at the number one spot. Now, I liked this game. I thought it was solid. But these “greatest of all time” shouts have me wondering if I played the same game as everybody else.

On paper, this should be a masterpiece. The world is rendered in incredible detail, the plot is interesting (apart from that weird chapter on the island … and the epilogue is quite slow) and the characters are some of gaming’s best. Unfortunately, I take major issue with the gameplay and the mission design.

I’ve linked a NakeyJakey video above that explains it best, but I was very disappointed by how rail-roaded and repetitive most of the missions became. If you try to do anything remotely creative the game will penalize you and restart from a checkpoint. I could understand Rockstar’s similar design methods for “GTA V” because that was 2013, but by 2018 we’d seen games like “Breath of the Wild” redefine what open world gaming could be. People complain about the “God of War” games being playable movies but “Red Dead Redemption 2” is just as bad!

And the gameplay … I’d be here all day if I pointed out each individual gripe, but I found it too methodical and slow. Everything from the world traversal to the gun cleaning to the horse grooming to the animal skinning takes up far too much time. Rockstar went for realism rather than entertainment, and it hurts the overall package.

To reiterate, I don’t think this game is bad. I’d probably give it a generous 8/10 for its character work and graphical detail alone. But there are too many nitpicks and things I personally dislike for this to be an all-timer.

Aaaand that’s my list! If you liked this post and want to support me, please consider giving me a one-time donation. Even a few pence (or whatever currency you use) is fantastic! I’ve never monetized this blog before, but it would be great if I could do this comfortably and not have to worry about the yearly website domain costs. Thank you so much!