It’s self-consciousness (less charitably called hack writing or selling out). These are game developers trying to chase market trends rather than following their hearts.

Some are honestly trying to make games that they themselves would love. But it does have a bit of the feel of “I love ice cream and I love dill pickles, so why not dill pickle ice cream?!”

Yup. Love it or hate it. I feel like Balatro renewed this hype train as it cooled off a bit. But even without it, Slay the Spire 2 would have brought it back again.

I was on the fence for a long while but overall I'm enjoying these more and more. Some are more sophisticated than others!

I still don't even know what that means