Patience for Ocarina, scrutiny for censors, and mercury in Maya water

In Polygon's Switchboard newsletter, Welsh says he turned down the chance to review the Switch 2 remake and is not playing it yet, despite counting the original among Zelda's best. He trusts the ecstatic reviews from friends and colleagues and says it is clear the in-house Zelda team made the game. He also admits the Nintendo 64 original has aged badly, and he is not sure it is still fun to play.

The deciding factor is his 10-year-old son, whose favourite Zelda is Tears of the Kingdom and who is getting the remake and a Switch 2 for Christmas. Welsh does not want to take the magic of that first play from him, and he looks forward to playing his own copy at home, away from the online discourse.

CounterpointCritics who played at launch, including the reviewers Welsh cites, would likely say that engaging with a landmark game in the moment is part of the job. They might add that the shared conversation around a release is part of the experience.

Previously: The remake sits at 96 on Metacritic, the year's best-reviewed game. — Thursday November 5 edition.

EFF's Jillian C. York writes that on November 3 the Software Freedom Law Center, India (SFLC.in) was notified by X of Delhi Police takedown requests covering 42 URLs. The targets include accounts and posts of SFLC.in, the Internet Freedom Foundation, and the @geoblockedindia account, along with posts documenting legal notices and censorship. The cited grounds include hate speech, alleged defamation of the RSS, and safety and security.

EFF argues that recording which content governments restrict is transparency, not a threat to public order, and that going after the recorders chills journalists and researchers. It also says X must give clear notice and appeal routes rather than quietly carry out censorship. EFF describes both targeted groups as close allies and gave SFLC.in an award in 2025.

CounterpointIndian authorities, as quoted in the notices, say they are acting on national security and public order, and complaints about defamation are also a legal question. As an advocacy group with close ties to the targets, EFF is not a neutral observer, and the full facts of each request are not laid out in its post.

EFF has filed a submission to the UN human rights office's call for inputs on child rights and safety online, ahead of a report due at the Human Rights Council's 64th session in early 2027. It argues that for many young people the internet is a refuge from unsafe offline settings, so limits on access can make their lives less safe overall, even if some online risks shrink.

It criticises regulators for focusing on empowering parents instead of young people and for restricting access rather than tackling specific harms. It also says age checks that demand sensitive personal data create privacy risks for everyone. EFF urges the UN to hold companies to account for design choices, data practices and surveillance-driven business models, and to involve young people in rule-making.

CounterpointGovernments and child-safety advocates behind age limits, such as Australia's under-16 social media restrictions, argue that access limits are a proportionate way to reduce documented harms. EFF, an advocacy group, stresses the privacy costs far more than the safety gains.

Klepek, writing for Remap Radio, says he is protective of Clive Barker's original stories and has no reverence for the film sequels. He finds that Saber Interactive's Hellraiser: Revival cares about the source more than anything since 1988, without treating it as sacred. He praises how it handles the series' BDSM imagery without feeling exploitative or mocking, and he says the game ends up charting its own path.

He also says plainly that it is not an excellent game: a profoundly average survival horror adventure with too much combat. His verdict is that its devotion is what makes it enjoyable. The rest of the essay is behind a free sign-up wall.

CounterpointPlayers who judge horror games mainly on mechanics would say a game with weak, combat-heavy play is hard to call one of the year's most enjoyable. Some fans may also dispute that the game respects Barker, and Klepek himself raises the objection to Saber's leadership.

PC Gamer's Joshua Wolens covers an interview in which Bruce Nesmith, Skyrim's lead designer, told The Examined Game that Bethesda should improve mounts and add climbable ladders in Sentinel. Nesmith says you can only ride a horse in Skyrim, and would like to fight on it or have it fight alongside you. On ladders, he says the current click-and-teleport approach limits artists building multi-level spaces.

He explains that ladders raise many questions, from two characters using one at once to NPC behaviour and hit or death animations while climbing. Programmers would need time to answer all of them, which is why Bethesda skipped them. Wolens backs both asks, though he doubts most players care about ladders.

CounterpointPlayers who want deeper quests, systems or writing from Sentinel might say mounts and ladders are minor priorities. By Nesmith's own account, Bethesda's programmers weighed the cost and chose other work.

Previously: Rock Paper Shotgun argued the lack of timeline-advancing spin-offs leaves Sentinel with a stalled world. — Thursday November 5 edition.