IIRC you never actually have to shoot any of the civilians in that level, but as players we all assumed that you did. IMO that level was the most interesting commentary that has been made in the COD series because it (somewhat sneakily) put the onus onto the player. Most of us just assumed that we needed to gun down the civilians without choice. In my opinion its one of the more poignant moments in the entire series for how it handled such a grim story beat.

If you have the patience for it, try playing on a much harder difficulty. The medium and low difficulty levels don’t provide the same weight. Many systems in the game are unnecessary at lower difficulty levels but higher difficulty forces you to engage in them to get the extra edge over certain encounters.

Higher difficulties force you to engage in potion brewing, reading up on enemies, and making genuinely tough choices morally in order to keep Geralt alive. Lower difficulties remove all the tension from these systems.

Also as another user mentioned, don’t skip any dialogue and engage in the side quests/contracts as they give a lot of unique flavor and nuance to the world and story.

Dredge

Had no idea what to expect going into it. Had only heard that it was a cosmic horror fishing game and decided to give it a try. Ended up loving it!

Not a huge game in terms of scope but feels it nailed every mechanic and the art style and delivery is top notch

I’ve been there!! Amazing spot to play pinball, just wish they served beer… I’m pretty sure they have over 200 tables and some fairly rare ones. Bonzai Run, and Water world are 2 that had fairly limited runs but can be played there.

You might like the movie Arq, was a pretty interesting time loop movie on Netflix

Alan Wake Remastered since I’ve never played it and want to be caught up for Alan Wake 2

Prepare carefully is my favorite. Doesn’t do much too change the game and makes it much easier to start a new playthrough.

Randy or Cassandra. I’ve actually never played with Phoebe, but it seems to have the least exciting difficulty curve.

Randy will hit you with chaos but occasionally you’ll be showered with help, truly feels random. The difficulty still scales by colony wealth so it’s manageable and it prevents me from over extending myself. It also feels more realistic that as your colony grows it’ll attract more

Cassandra is good, but it feels a little more “on the rails” and I don’t find myself in as dire of situations. I’ll usually go with her if I’m trying to experiment more on the run.

You might like radiogarden! It pulls streams for any radio stations that clone their feed online. You won’t get everything but you have the option to listen to radio from anywhere in the world!

Umm, high latency means slow reactions. I think you and OP meant the same thing, but you have the terms mixed up

Of all the DJs, why did it have to be Dimitri Vegas