Ben Brosofsky
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Midway through my fourth game of Civ 7, I forced myself to go to bed to squeeze in a minimally appropriate amount of sleep before work. When I woke up in the morning, my first thought was that I wanted to keep building my empire, and that's when I finally knew how I felt about the game. Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is streamlined, strange, and bound to be divisive. It's also, undeniably, Sid Meier's Civilization. As ever, the series stands apart.
The junction between the old and the new is the common haunt of indie horror games, but few are positioned at the crossroads as perfectly as Fear the Spotlight is. First released in 2023 by Cozy Game Pals, Fear the Spotlight's 2024 relaunch adds an extra layer to the experience while serving as the debut of film production juggernaut Blumhouse's dip into game publishing. The game mixes a modern approach to storytelling and presentation with a gratuitous serving of analogue fuzz, calling horror titles from the original PlayStation to mind while never quite mimicking them.
Winning a round with a hero locks them out for future use, but building a custom crew with repeat heroes can get around this obstacle. Swapping, however, is incentivized by the buff-stacking system, which integrates more naturally in Rivalry than in casual mode. With careful flanking and team showdowns that tend to be more guided than the directionless arenas of other modes, abilities are more consistently relevant, and playing a slower tank no longer feels like punishment. Rivalry is relatively tactical without venturing into hyper-competitive territory, and it could be nice for those who like strategizing without sweating.