iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 2h

Definitely the hidden one where Becca says, "let's get outta here" before the final toast and you say, "Sure!" You can probably trigger it easily from your autosave. Tremaine's ending is the other good one. It's gonna (literally) be hard for Monika Vail to escape that fate!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 2h

When MindsEye is there as such an easy target, they picked on MGSV? Wild!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 3h

As comic book games go, it's probably one of the most faithful there is in adapting the source material. Also, I think this was the first one where you could actually swing around Queens. It seems like almost every other Spidey game (besides the latest one) is confined to Manhattan.

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 12h

Whenever anyone asks me my favorite game, I just say those two. I don't actually have a favorite game (I love way too many of them!), but those are as close as I can get to articulating my tastes succinctly.

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 15h

That game is quite fun and looks great. Wolverine even makes an appearance! While I never loved the Ultimate Spider-Man take on Venom's origin story (I actually think Insomniac did it better), the game does a really good job of adapting it. Having Brian Bendis involved clearly helped!

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The Emotion Engine @emotion-engine.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I think it’s fun that all of the core id guys are now normal charming dorky dad types (Romero, Hall, Adrian Carmack) or ontologically evil freaks (John Carmack, Sandy) with American McGee, an ardent libertarian that now lives on a boat and makes plushies, somehow straddling the line.

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 15h

2 of the best Castlevania games also bookend both of the classic eras of Castlevania: A precision platformer loaded with secrets transitions into full-on action adventure exploration RPG with more secrets. $6 to experience them both (if you haven't already) is totally worth your time and trouble!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 16h

Cool! I found Star Fox on the Switch 2 to be a pretty decent remake, even if it does lack some of the intensity and excitement of the N64 version when it comes to graphics and animation. And the controls are modernized. Adding free stuff to make a good thing better is always welcome!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 16h

I respect a game that's made to strongly appeal to somebody far more than one bland enough to try to appeal to everybody. Gamers also have a bad tendency to judge sequels by outsized expectations instead of on their own merits. A sequel that zigs when some want it to zag can still be a lotta fun!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 16h

Word to the wise! (I bought Witcher 3 digitally on the Switch for about $10 during a sale one year, so you can hold out for that too!)

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 16h

Yeah, I'm playing it on my gaming rig on my big TV instead. It's pretty and looks great!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 17h

(Hopefully my virtual dudes will sling some hash in Day 5 so I can get some cash flow going!)

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 17h

I put some more time into Nivalis Nights. I'm surprised how quickly it sets you free to hire managers and run your business so you can get down to running around and doing what you feel like. Of course, I only have 9 lims (currency) in my account at the end of Day 4, so maybe I'm a bad owner!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 17h

I think for its time, it looks like it was going for animation quality, but it's missing that fun factor.

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 20h

Right, but the store page specifies that the game has higher specs and also, they can just refund or wait for a patch. (It runs fine on my 5yo mid range PC!) Review bombing on launch day hurts a small dev far more than just filing a support ticket. (And I don't think it's in good faith anyway!)

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 21h

Thank you! What's your platform of choice these days? I have 'em all (except Xbox because, reasons).

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 21h

Most of the gripes are about the game's performance, which is an issue on lower-spec PCs! And that's on the dev. Except, oops, they posted a chart on the Steam page last week explaining what you need to play it for various target specs!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1488490/Nivalis_Nights/

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 21h

"Maybe they just don't like the game" - HOW WOULD THEY EVEN KNOW? It's a management game that's been out for less than a day. And if you don't like a game, you can refund it! No need to harm the developer's launch with your toxic behavior.

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 21h

I dunno if there was a Kickstarter or Patreon community or something that led to this, but Steam has got to do something about this crap. The gaming community has been toxic as long as there's been an internet, but Steam does very little visibly to stop this nonsense from happening.

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 21h

This crap makes me ABSOLUTELY CRAZY. Nivalis Nights has been out less than a day and negative reviewers are posting vague displeasure at nothing in particular. It seems coordinated because reviews went up around the same time. They're awarding each other (not the positives) to boost visibility.

Nivalis Nights - https://steamcommunity.com/app/1488490/reviews/?browsefilter=toprated

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1488490/reviews/?browsefilter=toprated

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 22h

I, too, really want to like Cheese Chase. It's a 1994 arcade game that really prioritizes graphical splendor in favor of well-designed gameplay. Art & Magic (the developer) was known for that tendency, unfortunately.

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 22h

SIDE NOTE: I'm not sure how it'll do on my Steam Deck (which has no trouble with Cyberpunk 2077, btw!). I sure hope I can get it to run all right. I'd encourage any indie devs out there to make sure their games are optimized for the Deck, because it will boost your sales among owners like myself!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 22h

I took a break from work and spent about 30 min on Nivalis Nights. Since my favorite park of Cloudpunk was walking around the rain-slicked streets enjoying the vibes and finishing tasks, this game's gonna be great. The graphics got a nice overhaul with polygonal 3D characters this time around!

store.steampowered.com

Save 10% on Nivalis Nights on Steam

Grow your business, manage restaurants and nightclubs, make friends and enemies, buy and decorate apartments, go fishing and maybe even find love in a cyberpunk city that stretches from the ocean to t...

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Reposted by Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played!

Mr-GN @mrgn13.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

@greatestgames.substack.com

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

REMINDER: If you want Sony to continue to support physical releases, one of the strongest arguments you have is to buy their new games physically rather than digitally! Remember that these decisions are being largely made by looking at spreadsheets, not player feedback.

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Reposted by Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played!

gita “the formalist” jackson @xoxogossipgita.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

There are barely any women or black people in games media and I can think of a couple reasons why but no one will like it

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

A) I miss Rec Room like you wouldn't believe. B) I'm all over a game that's basically Katamari Damacy meets Godzilla! It'll be out in 2027.

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

Can't make the event, but I've got the game downloaded and I'm excited to play it!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

Here's a great reminder thread that we should uplift the femmes in games journalism and celebrate them for their awesome work!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

I'm hoping it'll run all right on my Steam Deck. Cloudpunk was quite the battery-killer. But with a pair of AR glasses to make the game world appear right in front of my eyes and the music pipe right into my ears, Cloudpunk on the Deck was worth the trouble! Hoping this one's just as immersive.

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

I have the LEGO Monkee Kid set that shows the origin of the Monkey King and I also have a LEGO Chinese Dragon next to it. Looks like I need to add a third to the mix!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

If you'd like physical boxes for your digital PC games, @sirrandall.yeold.press makes 'em and does a great job!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

If you're a game dev and want to grab some free human-made assets while you support a great developer in the process, here you go!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

I also appreciate that there's no light side/dark side system or "Hazel will remember this..." type of stuff that influences how you make your choices so you can optimize the outcome. Far too many games turn into morality plays due to those systems.

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

Blue's Journey is an early Neo Geo game by ADK that's brimming with gorgeous graphics and interesting ideas as you journey through a larger than life world. It also has a peculiar premise and a branching storyline as well as a really amusingly endearing translation! #gaming #videogames #retrogames

greatestgames.substack.com

The 16-bit Arcade and Console Era (1990-1995) - Blue’s Journey (a.k.a. Raguy)

If you crossed the Wonder Boy games with Super Mario Bros., you’d get something akin to this delightful action platformer

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

Not being a backer myself (I musta missed the campaign way back when!), I just enjoyed the surprise of stumbling onto those sequences and seeing them play out. I'm glad you're getting to engage with folks enjoying the game! I'm sure it's rewarding after all those years of hard work.

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

If you've never played Valkryie Profile, you absolutely should! It's one of my favorite RPGs from the PSX era and it has a great story set in Norse mythology building up to Ragnarok with some truly interesting characters!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

I enjoyed both console NieR games (those soundtracks in particular!), but I gave up on trying to connect all the dots in Yoko Taro's storytelling. It makes a lot of comic book writing look restrained by comparison, especially when you connect it all to Drakengard 1 + 3. Weird, wild stuff!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

I assumed when I was playing the game that 2B and 9S were based on old escort androids that were once meant for human pleasure and service but which had become twisted into soldiers in sexy costumes over time once humans died off. Apparently Yako Taro's lore is way crazier than that, though!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

NieR: Automata is such a deeply weird, genre-bending game that I was surprised how big it got when it came out in 2017. A lot of that's due to the super sexy design of its lead. 2B is still ridiculously popular after nearly a decade despite having almost no personality. It's quite remarkable!

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Sean Jordan | Sharing Great Games You Probably Never Played! @greatestgames.substack.com · 29/09/2026

I'll add, the hyperbolic nature of "agents hacked a major system" requires some careful scrutiny (the agents are often being directed with a software harness full of hacking tools attached to the process). But the fact that it CAN happen and no one's doing anything about it is morally outrageous.

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