Hey all, I’m back with a look at some of the various systems in gaming for this week’s Video Game Tuesday. It’s all about my favorite game systems.

Favorite Game Systems: For this post, by game systems I mean things like the interconnected rules, mechanics, and design that is put into games to make them fun, and not systems in terms of consoles like the PlayStation 5.

Zone Phasing: I first saw the use of this technology in World of Warcraft’s Second Expansion: Wrath of the Lich King. Depending on player accomplishments (quest progress), the entire zone a player was in could be changed and it would only affect those who met those requirements. This let players progress through a zone at their own pace. It’s been used in countless other places and has certainly improved over the years. It definitely has its various issues, but I’ve enjoyed seeing that technology influence other games since I first saw it in widespread use in 2008.

Wheel Menus Combined With Loadouts: Lots of games have wheel menus, and some have loadouts, but not many combine the two. This is really a crying shame in my opinion. Off the top of my head, some of my most recently encountered examples are Infinity Nikki’s wardrobe abilities and outfit wheels and Bloodstained Ritual of the Night’s Shortcut Shards.

Dynamic Cloud Generation Tech: Horizon Forbidden West’s DLC expansion Burning Shores had a really neat cloud generation tech system that is absolutely amazing. Honestly, if you have a copy of it and the expansion, do yourself a favor and load into the Burning Shores area. Once you do, call your aerial mount. Start climbing into the sky and go for the clouds. Unlike in the rest of the title, you can actually reach the clouds in the Burning Shores. Beyond a single minor side quest involving a Stormbird in a thunderstorm, you’ll likely never really get to experience the tech without purposefully going towards the clouds. Once inside the clouds, you’ll find that they will change dynamically, creating pockets and tunnels in them that act like clouds in the actual atmosphere. As someone who was a rather frequent flyer in my younger years, I can definitely attest to the accuracy of this technology and how well it mimics reality. It’s a shame that more games don’t take advantage of this tech, and I’m hoping future PlayStation titles will use it because flying through those clouds was highly relaxing.

The Nemesis System: I’ve covered this system in the past, which was a brilliant addition to Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Nobody else can use it now, which is still a massive shame after Monolith Studios was shuttered, and the Nemesis system is still patented for the next 10 years. The ability to create dynamic enemies that change based on how you defeat them was amazing, and I am really bummed that we won’t likely see it again for a decade. One can only hope that Warner Bros will let Portkey Games use it for the next Hogwarts Legacy.