Dailyposts

This year's open-world RPG The Blood of Dawnwalker and its myriad choices got me thinking: What does it really mean for your choices to matter in a video game? Typically, we think it's a good use of branching narratives when you have a properly big, dramatic effect on how things play out or when you have hundreds of endings. Just look at how so much attention on Baldur's Gate 3 focused on its endings or, years before, how everyone tended to ignore the smaller ways the Mass Effect trilogy changed across three games in favor of looking at the restrictive outcomes in Mass Effect 3 . source https://www.polygon.com/best-games-choices-impact/

Even the wildest DLC needs a solid game to swerve away from, or the swerve doesn’t land. Every base game with excellent DLC is strong enough to stand on its own. That’s the common DNA: studios that had built something sturdy enough to trust it, confident enough to hand players a portal to hell, an alien hive-mind under a suburban cul-de-sac, or a crown that makes you ruler of an entire realm of madness — and bet that players would play anyway. For these nine DLCs, that confidence turned out to be well-placed. Here are the best DLCs of all time that took their main story and had the confidence to dream up wild new experiences for dedicated players. Each of these nine game expansions took a big swing, and has been remembered for that creativity ever since. source https://www.polygon.com/best-dlcs-video-games/

Weapons director Zach Cregger took a very different approach with his new adaptation of Resident Evil . Rather than adapting the characters and narrative of Capcom's survival-horror game franchise, Cregger is instead translating what it feels like to exist in one of Resident Evil 's worst-case scenarios. Resident Evil follows a hapless medical courier, played by Austin Abrams, as he attempts to survive a journey to Raccoon City, which is now infested with zombies and other monstrosities. source https://www.polygon.com/resident-evil-2026-sequel-zach-cregger/

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is the rare sequel where just about everybody likes it better than the original. That’s for good reason. The 1991 sci-fi action thriller redefined the blockbuster with a relentlessly exciting story, mind-blowing special effects, and the superstar presence of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The movie is so good it often outshines its predecessor, which also redefined the action thriller in the 1980s and is still exhilarating to watch for an entirely different reason than its sequel. source https://www.polygon.com/the-terminator-1984-free-on-youtube/

The Mad King lives. The Royal Shakespeare Company's sold-out stage production of Game of Thrones: The Mad King closed in Stratford-upon-Avon in September, but it's not the end for the spinoff of George R.R. Martin's prequel to Game of Thrones . source https://www.polygon.com/game-of-thrones-the-mad-king-prequel-2027-return/

Poltergeist , which is currently available to stream on HBO Max, follows an ordinary suburban family who begin to experience strange things in their home. Furniture and toys move on their own, a glass of milk shatters out of nowhere, and the youngest child in the family, five-year-old Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke), begins to communicate with beings through the television. At first these events are dismissed, but during a thunderstorm one night, a tree outside the windows of the kids’ room crashes in and snatches the boy. Then, a portal opens in their closet, sucking Carol Anne into another dimension. With help from some paranormal investigators, the family tries everything to bring her back. source https://www.polygon.com/poltergeist-tobe-hooper-steven-spielberg-on-hbo-max/

Nothing hits quite like a good mystery. Whether it's a seemingly impossible murder, a missing person, or a conspiracy set against the backdrop of a small town, the best TV mysteries keep you guessing right up until the credits roll. They're the kinds of shows that make you scrutinize every passing detail and second-guess each new character. Still, despite the overriding conviction that you cracked the case long before the detectives, it’s almost always someone you least expect. source https://www.polygon.com/best-mystery-tv-shows-worth-solving/