From its opening cutscene, “Hyper Light Drifter” created a world I immediately wanted to know more about. Titans walk along the landscape, but immediately turn into dilapidated robots before your eyes. The drifter clutches his chest as a violent cough causes him to buckle over.

There is a lot I can forgive for a good battle system. The linearity of Final Fantasy XIII, even its rather joyless plot and cast — all forgiven in the face of Paradigms and the world of strategy they contain.

Any new expansion to “Destiny” must enrich an already-complex play environment, while simultaneously introducing activities that meet the desires of longtime players and curious new Guardians. “Rise of Iron” confronts these goals head-on, and while a few problems crop up, it is an admirable success in its own right.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings brought my great foray into PC gaming to a thunderous stop. I started up the tutorial, figured out how to walk and then promptly hit a brick wall when it came to combat.

Elite NBA players enjoy the 24/7 spotlight of national television, lucrative endorsement deals, and even occasional crossovers into Hollywood. But underneath this veneer of the charmed life are thousands of hours spent in gyms perfecting shooting strokes, honing dribbling moves, and sculpting physiques to withstand the rigors of an 82-game season.

My sister recently has been absorbed in Mystic Messenger, a dating sim that eschews the traditionalism of titles like Steins;Gate or Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom by focusing strictly on what defines modern love: texting.

The game “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” is futuristic science fiction, but the message it delivers stems from today’s societal problems. Police shoot unarmed innocents, extremist groups unleash acts of terror, and communities are torn apart by segregation.

So all my talk last week about the big, meaty RPGs I was going to play on my sparkling new gaming PC was a lie, because what I really ended up exploring last weekend was Undertale.

It’s hard to believe, but the “Fire Emblem” series came close to cancellation a few years back. After a period of declining sales, Nintendo threatened to ax the longtime strategy game. According to its producer, who spoke to Hobby Consolas magazine in 2013, that threat lit a fire under the developers.

Labor Day weekend marked a major milestone for me: I built my first gaming PC.