So, I'm old now I guess. I live in Wales, UK. I had internet before there was a WWW or even what we know as internet now. Back in the days when dial up was mainly a collection of BBS boards with no scrapers to link it all together. I've loved fantasy and STORY since the days when i would spend hours typing in BASIC code to make bad text adventures that usually failed on any given line of "code". My main love has been RPGs but I like anything that can pull me in and keep me there for as long as it can. Good gameplay is always important but I prize a great story and journey above anything. Whether its scripted or made by the player isn't all that relevant imo. I came to PCGAMER from issue one, after moving across from Amiga Format. It's changed so much but because I'm an old dude I kinda miss physical paper format in most written media. I used to love reading game manuals that actually meant something - and the best of these was the huge black Civilisation manual with gold lettering on its cover - just reading about how the game worked was worth more than many games these days can be. Linear isn't always a bad thing. It's nice to feel you have the illusion of the order you do things but every story has a beginning middle and end - this is how it's been since time immemorial so why is it suddenly frowned upon? Weirdly I still find some games are too "on rails" but that's less common and maybe, like Political Correctness, that dial has swung too far and now i find some games are SO huge and 'choice and consequence' that I give up after a MERE 100 hours or so. Finally, hype trains, entitlement, and expectation...because a sequel isnt everything it was promised to be, or the perfect miracle you built it up to be in your head, or EVEN not as good as what came before - that doesn't make it a bad game that should be maligned. Take everything you play on its own merits, stop watching streams and other spoilers.. immerse yourselves as has always been the intent of any flight of imagination and leave expectation at the door. *edit* I don't like how comments get closed for articles here. People will encounter them at times maybe years beyond when they were written. This doesn't make the opinion of future readers any less worthwhile. The Stalker 2 review was one of the best I've ever seen online and it's a shame I couldn't say that, or why, there.