@benleslie5: Nice to see you! I remember you back from the "Golden Era" or GameSpot. Hope you're doing well!

Myself I joined GS in 2005, I was a Moderator from 2008 to 2014. Autumn 2013 was when the GameSpot forums were decimated and old GameSpot UK Discussion was destroyed without any warning (even to the Mods), killing that community. After that, my interest waned. A decade ago now!

Now I'm in my 30s and have a full-time job, but I still look back on the 2005-2014 era of GameSpot with nostalgia. And I still play video games, and review them for my own site (entertainium.co). Some of the most fun I've ever had online was watching E3 in the old GS live chat.

I believe games should be as easy or as hard as you want. People should not be judged for having fun. I'd support an easy mode in Elden Ring or a hard mode in Super Mario Odyssey. Activate God Mode, I don't care. There is no "right" or "wrong" way to play a game.

Spore was certainly way ahead of its time. Its not a very deep game because it's trying to do so much, but it's interesting for sure. I generally prefer Black and White though; not the game kind of God game, but nonetheless also a God game.

I was going to recommend Borderlands (t's not strickly an RPG, but if you're looking for lots of combat with loot in an open-world with little story, it fits the bill) but you say you hate randomized loot systems and Borderlands is festooned with that.

Some of the modern Far Cry games (3,4,5) are pretty good for having plenty of combat in an open world with not loads of random loot.

Castle Explorer is one of several edutainment games from the 90s I have great fondness for. You got to learn loads about life in a medieval castle and at the same time, explore some 3D-rendered rooms and chat to characters while looking for pieces of the map. You got thrown in the dungeon if you got caught. I remember they stripped down the exploration angle for the "sequel" to this game, Stowaway!

Anyone else remember this game?

While it is rather funny, Prison Architect's page is showing the release date as December 2097.

The game fully released out of Early Access in October 2015.

Nicely argued. However, I feel Max Payne 3 as a poor imitation of the real Max Payne games of 1 and 2. 2 especially is my favourite; it manages to hit the right balance of excellent gameplay with an interesting and noir-esque plot, which is willing to make fun of itself at frequent intervals.

Max Payne 3 is a good game in it's own right, but it's not a Max Payne game, really. One of the things that really soured me on it was arbitrary time limits on doing things. I remember in the nightclub level, if you didn't move forward in the level quickly enough, you'd automatically fail as the game would say someone was killed. Also, Max Payne 3 neglected to have the trademark sense of humour Max Payne 1 and 2 had. I suppose that as Remedy wasn't developing it that was to be expected.

Also, I loved the graphic novel cutscenes from the first two games; the stylish in-engine cutscenes of 3 are cool but they can't beat a hand drawn graphic novel.

Well kinda sorta; I write for entertainium.org but it isn't something I do the whole time. :P Just kind of moved away from GS over time, alas.

Many congratulations Kevin; you have been a pivotal member of GameSpot for ages and your writing has always been incisive and enlightening. Very best of luck in your new job! :)

As you can see from my long delay in replying, not really "back" per se. :P Which website do you mean?