Update since my last post...
So I finished both
Hotline Miami and
Alan Wake. The former stayed fairly consistent in terms of enjoyable gameplay, even though I have some issues with the story and how it relates to the gameplay (even though it is fairly obvious that they're not meant to have that much to do with one another...
WARNING: "Hotline Miami" spoilers below
Considering how much the game was clearly laying the foundation for some kind of twist that would throw the protagonist's acts of violence into horribly sharp perspective (the visions of masked people, the bearded guy showing up after every mission, the creepy-looking janitor or the other ways in which the sections between levels started to fall apart), it is kind of weird that the game decides to give the protagonist a simplistic vengeance ending before tacking on a self-aware epilogue where a supporting character is frustrated at the lack of answers (much like the player must be) and finds the creepy janitor only to find that it's either a) just some guy essentially doing prank calls or b) if you collect the secret letters, then it's actually revealed as a big conspiracy. So...not really saying a whole lot of anything unless you know about and manage to find the letters, but at this point I definitely don't feel motivated enough to search for those. I know the story isn't the priority, but they put enough effort into it that having the quality of the ending hinge on collecting the right MacGuffins in a game that puts as little emphasis on collecting MacGuffins as possible seem like a bad idea.
Considering how much the game was clearly laying the foundation for some kind of twist that would throw the protagonist's acts of violence into horribly sharp perspective (the visions of masked people, the bearded guy showing up after every mission, the creepy-looking janitor or the other ways in which the sections between levels started to fall apart), it is kind of weird that the game decides to give the protagonist a simplistic vengeance ending before tacking on a self-aware epilogue where a supporting character is frustrated at the lack of answers (much like the player must be) and finds the creepy janitor only to find that it's either a) just some guy essentially doing prank calls or b) if you collect the secret letters, then it's actually revealed as a big conspiracy. So...not really saying a whole lot of anything unless you know about and manage to find the letters, but at this point I definitely don't feel motivated enough to search for those. I know the story isn't the priority, but they put enough effort into it that having the quality of the ending hinge on collecting the right MacGuffins in a game that puts as little emphasis on collecting MacGuffins as possible seem like a bad idea.
Speaking of story versus gameplay, it seems like the reverse is true of
Alan Wake. I definitely appreciate the idea of
Alan Wake as an attempt to pull from a variety of different horror inspirations and make a more subjective experience out of it (complete with an overindulgence of horror writer tropes that comes pretty close to Garth Marenghi territory at times), but then that's coupled with gameplay that...hmm. I played it through on Normal and that was the kind of thing where it was mostly tolerable but not without the odd challenging moment. The emphasis on light sources was certainly an interesting one, plus I did appreciate how it got weirder as things went on (though it is ultimately a bit underwhelming on a narrative level, especially when you factor in the expansions).
I also played
Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, which is a fine enough addition to the game's story mode and actually makes me think that I could get back into playing it properly.
Of course, the main change is that I finally got around to picking up
Animal Crossing: New Horizons and I'm finding it an obviously pleasant counterbalance to those other games. I've missed playing games that are this chilled-out (wasp attacks notwithstanding).