u/GiantBallbag

I got a PS5 Pro last month without knowing all that much about how much power I was leaving on the table by not upgrading what was basically an entry level monitor which supported an HDR signal, but wasn't capable of rendering true HDR.

Yesterday I bought a MSI MAG 272URX QD-OLED.

Good lord above.

The PS5 Pro felt like an upgrade. The combination of the Pro and the OLED feels like a generational leap.

I would go out on a limb and say you owe it to yourself to get an OLED tv or monitor if you have a Pro.

Alright, so you will always hear this line from reviewers and YouTubers when discussing games:

"There is no perfect 10/10 game, every game has its issues."

I believed that until I played Dishonoured over the last 31 days.

Sorry if this is a really long post but oh boy, i need to get my thoughts out on this.

This game makes you feel like a creative genius every time you pick up the controller which is why I genuinely believe it's a perfect 10/10 game.

I believe the brilliance of Dishonored isn't just in its world, characters, or powers. It's in how every system works together to create endless possibilities. Every mission is a sandbox. You can blink across rooftops like a supernatural assassin, possess a rat and sneak through drainage pipes, stop time to set up elaborate kills, or even ghost through an entire area without touching a single guard (amazing feeling to get that trophy for ghosting through the entire game with clean hands, killing nobody). The game never forces a single playstyle. It rewards you for being explorative and inquisitive.

Choices are meaningfull but the real beauty of this in Dishonoured is not selecting choice A or choice B in a dialogue window. Those binary good/bad choices that were common at the time of this game's release look downright amateurish when compared to how Dishonoured deals with choice and consequence. For example, a chaotic, bloody playthrough causes the city becomes darker, more desperate, and more dangerous. A low-chaos run tells a completely different story. Your moment-to-moment actions don't just affect the ending but they affect the atmosphere of the entire experience. It's genuinely astounding that Arkane pulled this off so elegantly. I absolutely fucking love this element of the game. I feel I am a decent writer and I can convey ideas well enough, but I truly struggle to find the finds for how impressed I am with this element of the game.

Then there's Dunwall itself. Few game worlds feel as distinctive. It's this grotesque mix of industrial tech fueled by whale oil, plague sufferers on the back streets, and then there is also this layer of aristocratic decadence. It's a setting that's instantly recognizable. It's grim and fantastical in just the right way.

The level design is arguably some of the best ever created. Missions like the Golden Cat trust the player to find their own way to engage with immersive elements. Levels are so dense and packed with secrets. Every balcony, sewer, and rooftop feels deliberately placed to encourage exploration.

The game also understands a crucial thing that many stealth games forget and it's that failure states absolutely suck balls. Failing in this game creates a hugley fun chaotic puzzle all in its own right. Getting spotted doesn't mean restarting a checkpoint, it means you have to quickly adapting. A stealth run can suddenly turn into a desperate sword fight before anyone knows what happened. The systems are flexible enough that mistakes become stories instead of frustrations.

Most importantly, Dishonored respects your intelligence. It doesn't drown you in objectives, or endless markers. It presents a world, gives you tools, and lets you figure things out. That confidence in the player is refreshing and increasingly rare.

The story and characters are exceptional. The tale of wrongful conviction and quest for justice is a classic revenge narrative pulled straight from Alexander Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo, but it never feels derivative. I think this is because the world-building, political intrigue, and moral ambiguity of charachters create a unique atmosphere. There are no simple heroes or villains in Dunwall, only people shaped by power, desperation, and ambition. Goosebumps.

A 10/10 game doesn't have to be flawless. It has to achieve what it sets out to do at the highest possible level. Dishonored is immersive, replayable, mechanically rich, artistically distinct, and endlessly creative. As I write this i cant believe it came out over a decade ago. A classy game waaaay ahead of its time.

It's one of the greatest video games ever made. 10/10.

I saw some posts about James' shows in Belfast on the 25th and 26th being absolute dumpster fires with him getting in his own head and blaming the crowd when either certain jokes didn't land or the acoustics didn't allow him to hear the reaction from the crowd as well as he would have liked.

I wasn't there on those dates, so I can't comment on them really, but I was there last night, and I'm pleased to report the roof came off for him!

Last night he was fantastic and the crowd was fantastic as well. The Craig Simons bit didn't land right away, which I actually think is intentional (especially for the plus ones), but then it gathered momentum and the whole crowd seemed to love it. Everyone seemed to follow the tribute act thread the whole way through the set up and the pay off at the end landed really well. The crowd was really high energy and the applause was massive at the end. He actually thanked the crowd part way through for reacting so well to certain jokes that dont always land on other occasions.

He did a little bit of crowd work but nothing cringey like "you hate me because I'm English." If comedians do that in Belfast it's honestly like pouring cold water over the crowd... we absolutely hate that shit. You feel everyone's eyes rolling to the back of their heads if it happens. He mentioned flags and Andy Burnham potentially moving No. 10 to Belfast "to really make a statement" which was hilarious. Some American guy whistled at a strange time and James completely eviscerated him by doing an impression of him going home to his wife and making the case that his overbearing display of American confidence actually saved the show. It was one of the biggest laughs of the night. I guess we love seeing an American get bullied.

I think previous crowds maybe, potentially, partially, didn't really get the Craig Simons bit and the shows might have derailed for that reason... I dont know... but the show in Belfast on the 27th was first class and I would definitely see him again if he comes back.

Edit: spelling and grammar