The free to play horse shooter Highguard released this week, and within 5 minutes, the entire Internet agreed that it sucks. Coincidentally(?), the CEO of Larian Studios posted a lengthy comment about how criticism of video games has become too mean and too personal, which discourages artists from taking risks and failing.

This week, we unpack the discourse around hot take negativity, the process of being vulnerable as an artist, and why the business model of algorithmic media pushes so many of us into the trap.

Links discussed in this episode:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/baldurs-gate-3-studio-boss-calls-out-hurtful-personal-videogame-reviewers-sometimes-i-think-itd-be-a-good-idea-for-critics-to-be-scored-metacritic-style

https://www.dexerto.com/gaming/highguard-devs-say-they-didnt-expect-the-hate-but-theyre-confident-in-their-game-3309463/

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This week in The Chat, we peruse the latest offerings from the Xbox Developer Direct, discuss the appeal of Fable, and hear about what it’s like to play a 16-year-old game with 800 mods (spoiler: pretty good).

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What beloved video games do you find insufferable? A lively discussion in our Discord community brought us to philosophical analysis of subjectivity.

Plus, Steam updates its AI disclosure guidelines, which seem like a step in the right direction yet still not granular enough.

And what's the deal with the "Cory In The House" DS game selling for thousands on eBay?

Links discussed in this episode:

Jenna Stoeber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjf-GPp3n5k

Overrated games: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1qcl73d/whats_the_most_overrated_video_game_of_all_time/

Arc Raiders is still popular: https://gamerant.com/arc-raiders-has-already-sold-24m-copies-in-2026/

Cory: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/online-auctions-for-cory-in-the-house-ds-game-are-asking-for-hundreds-amid-meme-campaign/1100-6537472/

Valve's rules: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/valve-has-significantly-rewritten-steams-rules-for-how-developers-much-disclose-ai-use/

Hank Green, Why is Everyone So Wrong About AI Water Use??: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_c6MWk7PQc

Join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/5xz84B9RRJ

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Email us with what you're playing and we'll read it on the show! HaveEnteredTheChat@gmail.com

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