after this i also played captain spirit. this was a standalone prequel game to life is strange 2, focusing on a character from the games second episode and giving a lot of context to his backstory. i love stuff like this, you used to see this a lot more, smaller downloadable chunks made to hype up a big new release, things like deadrising 2 case zero, deadspace ignition or fable 2 pub games, you still see it sometimes nowadays with things like the danganronpa 3 demo or bravely default 2's demo, but it is much much rarer, i die for these and we need to make them more common, they even throw it in as a bonus on the physical copy! the game itself is just more LIS, with the gimmick being your character can use their imagination to make mundane activities more interesting, it fits the vibe perfectly and it's super charming, it makes what would otherwise be a very boring situation into something really visually cool and fun and it says a lot about his character, it's super expressive! you have a small house and a backyard to explore, full of side objectives to finish and there's a lot of cool small items to look at and get comments on, you can even make a few small choices like what costume to wear that carry over to the main game which is super neat, though ultimately it is just walking around a house and doing menial tasks like washing dishes and finding toys, it's not the most interesting or exciting thing but it does feel really unique just for how low stakes and menial it can be, it has its own appeal. though this is a super short dlc with not much to do, if you rush it its maybe 40 mins long and even with doing everything its not much over an hour and a half and it is a very nothing story, just some cute childish adventures around a house and a sad backstory (that can hit a little too hard at times, there's one scene in the ending that hit too close to home and really upset me, so check some content warnings) that can be a little boring sometimes, but it is charming and it does add a little to the maingame. its super pretty too, with the same art style as the main campaign and it has a beautiful snow environment to walk around, plus a cozy little house to explore, they super didn't cheap out on this with the aesthetics and vibes.

lastly was spectre divide, this was one i tried on a whim because i found the European comic book style really nice looking and also because it seemed to advertise itself as being a game made by a streamer I'd never heard of, i find these kind of youtuber games weirdly fascinating like with race with ryan or asagao academy (which i am also currently playing through) so i figured i would give it a try and honestly it wasn't bad, though the idea of a youtuber made GAAS game feels a lil weird and wrong to me, like throwing parasocial issues in there with the issues GAAS games already have, and i honestly do just find the idea of big ongoing games like this having ties to influencers, it feels weirdly dystopic, i don't like that. but the game beyond that isn't bad for sure, at least by youtube game standards. the basic gimmick is that it's a valorant style shooter, slow and tactical and with super quick deaths but the difference is you control two people at once instead of one, which is neat, it's like resi 0! though maybe not done as well as that game because your body double doesn't really do much, it just sits there when not in use, but it can ping you for nearby enemies, making it like a motion detector and you can also use it like a second life once your main body dies, which i actually do like a lot, though i'd have liked maybe a turret mode or something instead as an option. this ads some very positive tactical opportunities and depth to the game that i like a lot, distracting with your main body before switching to your alt and flanking someone, or just using them as a motion detector and second life which makes the game feel a lot more forgiving than valorant ever did, since now if you make one mess up it won't cause you to be stuck in spectator mode for 5 mins, i like that a ton, that second chance really improves the flow and feel of the game for me. that's about all there is to it, instead of heroes you have sponsorships which give you different items like a shield or a smoke bomb and the rest of it beyond the main gimmick is just valorant with the tags took off, it's fine and inoffensive but i do like that gimmick a lot. the graphics though are nice, there's a few cool cosmetics there and i do think the euro comic booky anime style works super well for the game, though i wish it followed through to every aspect, the maps for example look very generic and don't share that same style, they could very well be from any other game of this style and you wouldn't even notice, same with the music which is very bland and its also so full of cosmetic gaas garbo that now feels worse since you have two characters to customise, it's a game with as many annoyances as good points. i'd recommend it if you want to try a more forgiving variant of this kind of game, but beyond being a more accessible version it really doesn't have much of an identity of its own. also of note is this one is wholly online, no bots or anything, which is a real shame.

lethal enforcers is a classic Konami arcade game and a very early light gun game, it's a cute lil shooter set in a city with digitized sprites and some pretty varied locations, but it's held back by some very imprecise shooting and going far too hard on the difficulty, especially on the two players mode. i i played this on a trip to a local arcade and it was the main game that i wasn't familiar with as far as their rail shooters go, they also had point blank and time crisis 3 but i'd already played those, so i ended up committing to finish this and i did enjoy it, though it wasn't a flawless experience. the gun was very heavy and it wasn't super precise, though i acknowledge this could be an issue with my specific machine, but it made aiming super difficult, enemies in general were very hard to see and hit because of how they blend into the environment and frequently take cover and the sprites in general are a little hard to make out in some levels like the airport. the music is cheesy and super catchy, i think it uses the same soundchip as some of those TMNT arcade games because it sounds a little like what I've heard of those games osts, kind of funky but with some dadrock guitars, the first stage, stage 5, the first chase music, the name entry music and the end credits theme are all standouts, it's a nice OST. the stages have a decent amount of variety, car chases, bank robberies, boat chases, a Chinatown level and even a cool subway level and an airport, though many of them do share enemy designs, except Chinatown which opts for racism instead. not much else to be said, it's about half an hour long, has a bunch of home console ports including one on the ps1 that bundles it with its sequel and i do recommend it if you like light gun stuff, though i do find its too tough for me personally, it does have its charm though with its weirdo quirks. with today's games if i had to reccomend one it'd probably be lethal enforcers or DKO, though since you can't play DKO anymore i'd say play captain spirit instead, but really if you like the genre even spectre divide is worth playing, much as tactical shooters tend to bore me, they're all good games, just a shame the best one here is the only one you can't play.