What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?

Played Final Fantasy VII Remake, and enjoyed it well enough; I have stronger memories of the Midgar section of the original than any of the rest of the game, and it lived up to my vague memories. I sort of appreciate the way that the story was on mutually recognized rails, and also how the end of it narratively breaks away from those rails. It leaves the contents of the second and third game more open for reinterpretation, and preserves some tension when it comes to Aeris' ultimate fate.

I will say that I'd forgotten how many back to back boss fights the end of Shinra tower had, and Remake just turned that up to 11 and added a whole extra dungeon. I was nearing the top of the tower at 11PM, and didn't finish the last boss fight until near 4 in the morning.

I tried Wasteland 3 for about 3 hours, it was okay, but driving around in the Kodiak (your armoured truck) is god awful and the UI for levelling up your dudes is terrible. For each character you control (you can have six in your party) there's Skills, Attributes and Perks each on their own tab. When you're done levelling up a character's skills you're prompted with the ever terrible "Are you sure?" message, then again for attributes and then for perks. So every so often you're prompted "Are you sure?" up to 18 times. There's no fast travel either not even without towns so there's ridiculous amounts of back tracking.

I played some more games from kfwyre's giveaway.

Turmoil is a fairly straightforward management-type game about drilling for oil in early america. I was a little disappointed by it in that I was expecting a more continuous and holistic experience. Instead, the campaign (which I played in full) takes place as a series of self-contained levels/sessions. First there's a land auction between the four players (Me and three computer-controller players in my case), then you have a year to suck your plot of land dry using dowsers, trained moles (!), oil rigs, tanks and horse-drawn cistern carts to locate the oil, create plumbing, extract it and sell it to the highest bidder (of two). The action takes place in a single screen, and there's a lot of clicking and dragging. In other words, it plays very much like a mobile game! Honestly, though, it was reasonably addictive and fun until the end of the campaign. You get to strategize a bit by purchasing upgrades between levels.

The Hex by the creators of Inscryption and Pony Island (older than Inscryption) has a similar aesthetic and cross-game references. It's also very meta. A group of videogame characters gather in a bar after being abused and misused by their creator, the game developer, who they are aware of. They receive a warning that someone is planning a murder - apparently we're trying to figure out who. Throughout the game, the POV changes to each of them and you learn how they met each other and how their original games functioned. This means you get to play a little RPG, a little fighting game, a little platformer, etc. For the most part though the characters (and occasionally players) are super not into any of these games, or they are horribly bugged, so the gameplay diverges from what you would expect. Throughout the game you learn more about the developer of these games and characters, until the big reveal and climax at the end.

This game contains dozens of missable hidden secrets and easter eggs. Keep your eyes peeled!

Like Inscryption, this game will include the names of your steam friends in the gameplay. It contains simulated steam review screenshots and simulated twitch chat too!

I also peeked into 112 Operator but was a bit miffed when, after correctly telling me I should play in Lisbon, it gave me a complement of spanish-named operators. Bug reported.

Started playing Tunic (thanks @Protected!) last week/end while down with the flu. It very, very quickly drew me in and I probably have a dozen hours in it now. A few (mildly-spoiler, obscured by wordplay) thoughts:

1. Wish I had bought a steam controller or three back before they stopped selling them. The keyboard controls are pretty decent, but very unfamiliar to me and there were more than a few “whoops I spammed all my bombs instead of a weapon” moments until I got used to it.
2. I don’t seem to be getting any achievements, no idea why (maybe Linux+Proton?). I don’t really care, other than it makes it harder to tell what progress I’ve made.
3. The in-game manual is an amazing idea. I particularly love when it points you at a page you don’t have yet, but find later.
4. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to find my way ‘westward’, so to speak. I am oddly observant of some secret passages, and toooooootally oblivious of others, lol.
5. But, I spent that time grinding in the annex (not even finding the pollywog’s pad, see point 4) so I am now a very buff little fox who fears no vultures.

It’s been an excellent ride thus far, especially since I’m mostly past my accidental carpet bombing phase. Looking forward to continuing.

I've been playing Ultrakill and it's been a blast. I don't play many shooters these days, but this high-octane, secret-laden, fast-moving game is too good to ignore.

I've been spending most of my time hunting for secrets, and attempting to complete the listed challenges of each level. Some are really interesting like "Beat this water levels without touching the water", or "Finish the level without fighting the boss". It makes you really think about the game's mechanics and level layouts, trying to work out ways to break the game that are somehow still intended.

The combat itself (what will draw in most people) feels good and, for lack of a better word, "meaty". Always very satisfying to play a room well. I'm playing on standard difficulty and haven't found it too tough yet, but I'm sure that'll change.

If you're into old school shooters, this one feels great to play.

Finished Final Fantasy XV last night at just under 52 hours, pretty sure I did nearly every hunt, side mission, etc. except fishing (I hate fishing minigames) and the last frog mission. Not the best FF game, not the worst, an overall enjoyable boy band game. Still kinda in a Final Fantasy mood, so planning on FFXII Zodiac Age next if only because FF7 is really two games in Remake Intergrade and Crisis Core and I'm not sure if I have two more Final Fantasy games in me right now.

I've been playing Lego City Underground with my kid.

Holy shit, it's fucking fantastic. It's like a kid friendly version of Grand Theft Auto.

@under, have you had a chance to play it yet?

Chained Echoes
A true 'Pixel Opera' in the style of Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger with a little Game of Thrones where the plot is concerned. I'm having a lot of fun with this one - it's funny, engaging, challenging and well-balanced.

Medieval Dynasty is a hybrid RPG, survival, and town-builder set in Medieval Europe (at least heavily inspired by it, if not literally in Europe). The UI and UX are clunky at best, the graphics ain't pretty, but the writing and gameplay are pretty good. I was really into it for a couple of days and got burned out on it pretty quick. Will likely return to it eventually. That's usually the lifecycle of these kinds of games on my computer. Heavy play, burn out, don't touch for months, rinse repeat.

Pokemon Omega Ruby Doesn't really need an introduction. But I bought the game years ago and never really got far into it, despite having enjoyed gen3 back in the day. I've been on a Nuzlocke Run kick lately (having started, but not finished a Violet nuzlocke), so I decided to start one in OR. I'm enjoying it a lot, but man that game sure makes Nuzlockes tricky. Which is ironic given that gen3 was the birthplace of that concept. You jump around the map a lot, which means keeping track of whether or not you've caught a pokemon on a given route isn't as straight-forward as it usually is. I've been using Nuzlocke Tracker to help with that. But also there are long stretches where you can't get to a PC (for disposing of the bodies) or a Pokecenter to heal. I guess the newer games have spoiled me greatly! I'm about to get my last gym badge though. Once I do I'm going to be going back to any routes I didn't catch Pokemon on and start forming a proper Elite 4 team.

My brand new desktop computer is acting out, and while it is being diagnosed I got a little pissed with computers in general (I know it's not their fault :P). So I took a break from Darkest Dungeon.

I'm gonna sound a bit repetitive here, but I tried Pillars of Eternity (which is on Xbox Games Pass) long ago, before my experiences with MUD games. Back then, it felt like something I couldn't really engage in due to the lack of action (which is typical of CRPGs). Now, it feels like an upgrade and I'm loving it. The game is text-oriented and fairly complex for my usual tastes, but it has extensive in-game help so it's not so bad. Complexity in itself does not scare me, but rather undocumented complexity (the so-called "wiki games").

I don't like that games nowadays allow you to change difficulty at any time. I understand that a lot of people like this, but I would like to have the option to disable it for a given playthrough (that is not necessarily a super-hard special mode). Being able to change difficulty on a whim kinda makes difficulty levels meaningless for me. I lack the self-control to keep the difficulty the same when I get my ass kicked. At least require me to leave the game or something.

I also realized that I really need to take my Ritalin even for playing video games, so I won't waste any more time trying to "naturally" do even some things that I enjoy. It is a lost battle. My ADHD is that bad.

One reason to play this game now is that I don't like games that make me feel alone. There's a reason why I seek MUDs and MMORPGs, and why I play necromancers in Diablo and Path of Exile. Necromancers are a lot like me: outcasts looking for connection, populating their worlds with virtual (or undead...) companions.

That's in contrast to how I felt playing Alien Isolation (also on Game Pass), which is a good game, but also one where you are largely alone and surrounded by bleak, lifeless spaces. I don't need any help to experience those emotions. Somehow, virtual solitude is scarier than a Xenomorph.