I Played… – A gentleman with opinions

I (re)played: Splinter Cell: Conviction

Released in 2010 as a kind of disruptive reinvention of the Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell games (collectively Splinter Cell), my relationship with this title was largely always in comparison to Hitman games. The era of gaming was one where many properties that were shifting from a slow, clunky engagement to faster, smoother and more intuitive approaches to gameplay.

While extremely polarizing at the time, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction (Conviction) has largely been forgotten – not even getting mentioned when people bring out their nostalgia for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Chaos Theory). It is, however, oddly relevant to the politics of today.

So, in my opinion, it’s also an interesting case where Capital-G Gamers were right that a game was bad… but they got the explanations backwards wrong. That’s, interesting but a lot to unpack.

I played: Last Message

This¹ free walking simulator that takes, generously an hour to play properly, is many things. It is a exploration into the experience of a non-heroic survivor in a zombie apocalypse, a meditation on the anxiety of the aftermath of the world’s mediocre response to Covid-19 pandemic, and a fantastic example of how walking simulators can offer amazing immersion in a role.

As its only a short game with a very linear story, I’m not going to go into the plot or characters – I’m instead going to recommend you play it yourself (it’s free, its a small install and a short play). Rather I wanted to put in the context of a conversation I saw a friend having about being over traditional Computer Role-Playing Games,² and how it ties to Robert Yang’s thoughts on the recurring deaths of immersive sims.³

1
James Veugelers Last Message (25 June 2021) JamesGamesNZ on Steam <store.steampowered.com/app/1141030/Last_Message/>
2
Duke Revier (3 January 2026) BlueSky <bsky.app/profile/dukerevier.bsky.social>
3
Robert Yang “The second death of the immersive sim (2007-2017) and a dark prophecy for a third-wave immersive sim” (12 October 2017) Radiator Blog <www.blog.radiator.debacle.us>

I played: Adios

Adios¹ intriguingly obscure arthouse game by Mischief (that’s the American one, not the French one – which seems to be dabbling in Horse games),² so obscure that it doesn’t have a Wikipedia page and only received 9 professonal reviews on Metacritic.³

In the tradition of many arthouse games, the events of the game are largely pre-determined, with the focus being on how the player chooses to interact with them and inhabit the viewpoint. How well it achieves this seems to vary wildly, but I remain confident that its worth examining for how it reflects upon gaming trends in the 2000s & 2010s, the role of interaction in games and building emotion.

Adios is not a conventional game in how many people define it. The residents of r/TwoBestFriendsPlay feel that it was probably better as a short movie,⁴ and Rob Zacny of VICE felt it was a great story but not “a great game”.⁵ I disagree, I think is a rare example of a game that achieves immersion through cartoony graphics and emotional fidelity.

If you haven’t played it, and are interested in the idea of video game immersion as an opportunity to inhabit a complex character – I highly recommend it.

Spoilers ahead as I overthink a unique indie game and gaming in general.

1
Doc Burbank Adios (Mischief, Kanas USA, 17 March 2021)
2
Rattle “It’s a mess” (4 February 2025) Youtube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRpgTIyyj48>
3
“Adios PC Critic Reviews” metacritic <https://www.metacritic.com/game/adios/critic-reviews/?platform=pc>
4
LostHuaun “So, I’ve played Adios after seeing Woolie’s first video and… good story… I probably would’ve liked better as not a videogame” (9 December 2021) Reddit <https://www.reddit.com/r/TwoBestFriendsPlay/comments/rbz13k/so_ive_played_adios_after_seeing_woolies_first/>
5
Rob Zacny “‘Adios’ Has a Great Story to Tell, But Isn’t a Great Game“ (25 March 2021) VICE <https://www.vice.com/en/article/adios-has-a-great-story-to-tell-but-isnt-a-great-game/>