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What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?
What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.
I finally checked out Slay the Spire last week, and am loving it. It’s the most I’ve played a game since Returnal and Elden Ring. I also ended up getting it on my phone because it seems like a great mobile game.
I also downloaded the Final Fantasy 16 demo because I’m really tempted to buy either it or Diablo 4, but I’ve never played a FF game before and have a bad habit of buying games I never touch or barely play. It looks and feels amazing so far and since I’ve never played FF before I don’t have any gripes with how it’s changed from games prior. Still feeling conflicted. I’ve never played the Diablo series either, but it seems like a game I could see myself getting into right now.
There should be a warning on that game, like with cigarettes.
Truly. It's so easy to do "just one more game". It's also like the perfect Steam Deck game. Very easy to pick up and put down.
That and fights in tight spaces. Great roguelikes.
Seems like a nice title for the Steam Deck.
However I never got into deckbuilding games. Everytime I saw cards popping up from below it was off the cards (I'm not sorry) for me.
Am I just too close minded? What is it that you enjoy most in deckbuilding games? Is it a lot of grinding or is it RNG heavy?
There's some RNG with certain cards and builds, and there's a little grinding to unlock all the available cards at first. Other than that you'll mostly be exploring different builds that fit with your cards and relics. Sometimes it will come together perfectly and you're crushing everything, other times it won't quite play out like you expected. Every run has something new to think about, or learn.
That said, don't feel like you need to enjoy something because other people say you should. I don't like dark souls and loved elden ring for example. Honestly if you find StS too spartan, give Monster Train a try, I feel like it can offer a bit more variety and more interesting mechanics on the surface. You can always come back to StS to really appreciate how tight those mechanics can be.
Variety between runs sounds similar to Hades.
I might actually just give one a try, thanks for the answer!
Some people seem to enjoy the preparation you can do in Elden Ring or the insane builds. Kind of suits someone who likes deckbuilding gameplay. In Dark Souls III, probably the most linear title of the Dark Souls trilogy, that wasn't impossible, but relatively hard to do if you didn't want to beat a boss from mid-late game early. DLCs gave new opportunities mid-game though.
There's a lot more variety compared to Hades... the lack of variety was my biggest problem with that game and with many roguelikes. Hades has you repeating similar sections again and again upon death and eventually twists them in minor ways that are nice but not terribly different.
Slay the Spire gives you access to different cards each time, and different rewards, items yadda yadda that change up what cards will be most useful in your deck... and then as you get better you'll learn which things sync up well, how to improve your chances of getting them etc. It also has multiple characters that play differently.
Returnal and Elden Ring are amazing. If you played through the demo and enjoyed the feel of FFXVI, go for it. I checked out the demo and ended up buying it right afterwards, its my first Final Fantasy game too and I have no regrets so far, really enjoying it. Perks of joining the party late is we have no expectations for how it should play, just experiencing it as we go! I've heard the FFVII remake is awesome too.
The only problem with FFXVI is that even if you really love it... it is so much of a departure from the rest of the series that there's no guarantee you'll like any of the others. You might enjoy FFXV and you might enjoy FFVII Remake, but other than that none of the other mainline entries are similar. They're all very much RPGs, not action games like those 3 are.
I think it depends on what you like the game for personally. If it's the story, characters, art direction etc that appealed to you I think you would probably like the other Final Fantasy games since I feel those are the things that really tie FF together more than gameplay ever has.
FF16 has been so much fun, I'm glad I grabbed it.
FF16 has been getting very good reviews but frankly a lot of the reception I've seen online has been mixed. It really depends on what kind of game you want. If you want a game that feels like FF it seems it has kinda failed to deliver on that front as it has trended into more generic action RPG territory. Depending on your tastes that may be more appealing -- and like you say you've never played a FF game before and dont care about the change so it may not matter. I've also seen people say the side quests really suck because they're basically like MMO side quests (the game was led by the head of FFXIV)... but don't have the drive of MMO side quests (helping you level, helping you explore the world and get to know it, helping you kill time with friends who need to level...). Basically there are way more than you'd ever need to do and they mostly seem to be bland fetch quests.
I have played every Diablo game and enjoyed them all (even Immortal to a lesser degree, although I just played thru the story once and paid nothing). I played the D4 beta and all I can say is... it's damn good. I would really love to play it but I already have Tears of the Kingdom and love it, and still haven't finished it so that takes priority for me. D4 is a big step up from D3 at least judging from what I played and I'm really looking forward to playing it eventually.
Still playing Torchlight 2 after picking it back up a few weeks ago; Diablo 4 sparked my interest in an ARPG, but I didn't want to play Diablo 4, so I messed around with Grim Dawn (which I have previously put 50-hours into) and Torchlight 2 and ultimately decided I'd rather play Torchlight 2 instead. The graphics are much more charming, less muddied, creature designs are more interesting and overall it feels a little more challenging than Grim Dawn.
I also very much appreciate that T2 isn't a constant loot shower, which is something a lot of ARPGs have moved towards and Grim Dawn is especially guilty of. If, after a fight, I have to basically just ignore everything on the ground anyway, what's the point? I also like that T2 feels a little slower paced, longer time to kill and I'm killing fewer enemies at a time, rather than smashing hordes, which I just don't find very enjoyable.
Lastly, I also just like the sheer simplicity of the game. I'm a big fan of the original Diablo and I just feel overwhelmed in games like Grim Dawn, Path of Exile, etc, where I have heaps of skills and trees to choose from to create a character. I appreciate that Torchlight 2 is more akin to the original Diablo 1/2, where I get a few stat points each level and a skill point to put into a relatively limited set of skills.
Also went back to Hardspace: Shipbreaker in the last couple of weeks; I really appreciate the Anti-Capitalist messaging/theming of it and it's just a fun game to relax with, play 15 minutes at a time (since that's all a shift lasts) and steadily cut a ship apart, piece by piece. Still need to put some thought in about how you're tackling things, like what order you're doing them in, how you're going to extract certain dangerous pieces of ship technology, etc. I'm very much in to the Dad Game genre these days, which seems to basically be just doing work; speaking of which, Snowrunner is starting to rear its head in my brain again, so I may go back to that soon and add to my 121-hours in that game.
I remember people in the Steam forums complaining about Shipbreaker's message. It was funny to see them so salty TBH.
You should check out Last Epoch. You can make loot filters that literally block out all the noise except for items you want for your build. The loot isn't worth much if it's not going to help your build, so there is no extra reasons to grab tons of loot since it doesn't sell for much.
I did love and play a ton of T2. I have burned out on D4 so maybe I'll fire back up T2 until season 1 for D4 starts up.
Cyberpunk 2077 - fairly fun in single player campaign but I also get the original hate with some bugs and such still around. Don’t regret the purchase though
I specifically avoided all promo for it because I wanted to be surprised and enjoy it organically as cyberpunk is my favorite genre and I had been dreaming about a modern open world cyberpunk game since I first played
NecromancerNeuromancer on C64. I bought it day one and had been enjoying it but, then started to see all the negative reaction to it and was surprised until I looked at what CDPR claimed tue game was going to be. It didn't really affect my enjoyment of it but, when they started offering refunds I took the opportunity on principle. No studio deserves to be rewarded for lying and failing to ship what they claimed, they would didn't deserve the $60 price for what they delivered vs what they promised. However I do believe in supporting a game when the developer & publisher work to address their mistakes (Battlefront 2 & No Mans Sky are decent examples of serious fuckups that became much better after the backlash) so I bought a disc copy after a couple of the major updates for less than $10 with a cool Valentino's steelbook case and have been really happy with it since. I am of the opinion that CDPR got a necessary wake up call and is doing what it should to fix their mistake and I'm really happy they are!They're still releasing free, major updates to No Man's Sky. They really deserved what they got at launch but they very much made up for it.
Oh man. I've played through it three times now. I blasted through it my first time. And then my next two I took my time and did everything. I honestly can't wait for my 4th when the dlc comes out.
I was lucky, and for some reason my PS4 ran the game pretty well. Maybe crashed one or twice the entire time. But driving was horrible because if you were driving too fast. You were driving quicker than the game could load up the world and streetlights. But with every update it did get smoother. So I can absolutely get the complaints. I know it didn't work right away for everyone.
I'm just glad it's gotten to the point that other people can give it a shot and see if they like it.
Iirc the PS versions were the worst for their performance points (which is probably part of why it was removed from sale... they never removed No Man's Sky even though it was MUCH worse on PS4). But the performance was also very bad on standard XB1 and lower/mid range PCs.
I have a lower/mid range PC (well lower now, it was more mid in 2020) and the biggest impact was the patch that came out like 10 days after launch (first big one). It literally doubled my FPS. I believe it had a similar impact on PS4 and XB1. However almost all of the hugely negative coverage from launch showed footage from before that update and many people didn't start playing it until afterward so they had the opposite take where it seemed to work better than they expected.
Not sure if you played at launch or shortly after but this is part of the reason some people had diff experiences. The next gen consoles and higher end PCs didn't see as much of a change.
I did actually play from launch. And honestly now that I think about it, the patch after 10 days really did help a ton. Still had some issues. But I'm also pretty forgiving to games like that. I was just happy to be in this world they created. And then I played again on PS5 and that was definitely the best experience.
After two years of waiting I finally bought the game as well(PC). It's a lot of fun but for being a AAA title and still being even $30 this old, it's got bugs that I expect from indie games. Missions that cars just randomly drive into you because it's scripted, cars don't obey the traffic lights, characters clipping through walls, the ground, cars, etc, tires on the cars clipping through the road, objects you hit with your car causing the car to be launched into the air, the load and save feature still is trash if you have to many saves and cloud sync on(steam and GOG have this same issue, so I know it's the game not their sync function), I've only gotten past the prologue/first big heist of the game but these are all things I've already seen. After 2 years, really shouldn't be seeing these bugs anymore.
Does it make the game less fun? Absolutely not, but it will drag you out of the immersion of the story if you see it in cut scenes.
My main complaint is they should have never tried to put it on ps3 and the 360, I think this was the main reason for so much of it's failures at launch.
They put Cyberpunk on the PS3 and 360? Now THAT I'd like to see.
Lol I don't know why I put 360/ps3, I meant ps4/xb1. At least they are now focusing solely on this gen consoles and PC going forward.
I 100%’d it on Stadia and the worst bug I got was a visual bug where a mug was floating over someone’s fist. Now I’m debating whether to bring my save over or play it all again before the expansion comes out.
Just today I finished Returnal. There's really nothing like it - the AAA treatment for a roguelike is something I've not seen attempted before, except with maybe arguably Prey Mooncrash? In any case, Returnal is an excellent third-person shooter with some of the best most fluid movement I've ever played, great weapon and enemy variety, excellent story, voice acting, beautiful environments and music - seriously, if you haven't played it, I can't recommend it enough. PS5 and PC, but if you can, play it with a Dualsense controller. The haptics and triggers are super well used
I really love Returnal, just absolutely marathoned it when it came out on PS5. The story had me hooked despite not being a fan of roguelikes. I ended up 100% the base game, although I never was able to finish the tower.
How is it on PC these days? I've been holding off largely because of system requirements, but the last report I saw was that even meeting the recommended hardware there was still software-based stutters in PC. Is that still true?
Can't say that it is. I have a 2070 Super and I run it at 3440x1440 with a solid 60fps (DLSS Balanced). I've had a few stutters when a lot of shit is on screen, especially Obolites (which are the little gold money blips), but other than that it runs like a charm.
Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
I'm ~150hrs into the game and it's still a fun time. It's crazy that's how long I played all of Breath of the Wild. I love the crafting mechanic, although I'm not nearly as creative or smart as some builders out there. The world is fun to explore and there's plenty to do. I love this series and this game reminds me if why I do. The care for the mechanics and details is obvious.
My only criticism is my own indecisiveness when picking what quests to do next.
I'm guessing you do what I've been doing... pick one, make your way towards it, and get distracted by 10,000 other things instead.
Are you aware of the duplication glitches to acquire more items?
I've heard of that, but haven't tried it myself. Haven't had the need or desire really. I think I read they patched one of them
Deep into a FF16 playthrough now, ~ 2/3rds of the way through
It's amazing, the combat gets really deep as you learn new things, looking back I wonder how i got away with just the 4hit combo, dash, and fireball from the very start. The story and sidequests can get really really good, and there's some real heart in surprising areas. Much like FF14, a sidequest to gather herbs can turn into a great and meaningful character moment.
The multifaction main story is hard to follow at face value, but there are a couple tools to help keep track of character and faction relationships that I would love to see other games adopt as well.
It's been awesome to just spend the last couple days immersing myself in this world and riding the story, I could see it really hard to get back into if I were to put it down, not because it's bad, but because there's so many characters and plot threads I'd get lost if I forgot them.
I love the characters in 16. Cid is an absolute badass and while Clive is the typical brooding FF protag, there's depth there and I want to see the story through to conclusion. Also the music is top-notch as with all FF games.
This is what I've been playing as well, and I agree completely. The only complaint I have is how slowly they introduce the new combat abilities, and this is largely because they are tied into the story, but it starts out a little too simple. The combat becomes great after unlocking additional abilities, and the boss fights are incredible both mechanically and visually. The main character and story has been fantastic and immersive. The side quests can be surprisingly interesting and sometimes emotionally stirring even. I've really enjoyed it!
Really happy to hear this. I've been playing FF games since 7 and have generally been a huge fan, but I've been seeing so many comments on how much of a departure 16 is from the series roots. But as long as you're not looking for a nostalgia trip turn-based RPG, it sounds like 16 has a lot to offer. I'll definitely pick it up after Diablo.
Recently have been using my old 360 to play Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters.
Ever since I started working from home I just have no desire to hang out on my PC into the evening. Strongly considering purchasing a ps5
Have you considered a Steam Deck? I stopped gaming on my desktop like 5+ years ago (aside from rare occasion) and played mostly on my laptops (still do, frequently), but the Deck has been lovely to be able to play more hardware intensive games and I can do it anywhere in the house.
I absolutely second the steam deck. That has been one of the best purchases I've made the last few years. I'm honestly shocked what all they could pack into that tiny package. Only complaint is battery life. But you are playing PC games in the palm of your hands. So I honestly just keep it plugged in. And it also helps you to clear out your back log.
I just picked up a power bank with a magnetic clip that attaches to the Deck. Nearly doubles the battery life, though it makes the already kinda heavy Deck even heavier.
Antank Magnetic Power Bank Compatible with Steam Deck, 16000mAh 45W PD Fast 3.0 Charging Portable Battery Bank, External Battery Pack with Removable Magnetic Back Mount & Dual USB-C Cable https://a.co/d/3n62NMH
I mostly stopped gaming on my desktop a few years ago but bought an Xbox for the beefy stuff. I don't really get the appeal of the Steam Deck myself but to each their own. If I want to play an intensive game I want the hardware to do it.
I get the appeal of playing anywhere... that's why I have a Nintendo Switch, which lets me play (fantastic) Nintendo games that typically work better in a handheld format because they're designed with it in mind.
I have not, will check that out, thanks!
Main concern I have is long term support / longevity.
Support has so far been good, with constant updates to the system. I would also suggest that the intention of Valve is to support it for a long period, as I suspect they're selling it at a loss because it connects directly to their storefront, so the longer term support, the more sales they get on their main source of income.
Even if it's dead after 3 years and there's a new system, I'd say that's pretty decent for me. I paid $550 (if I recall correctly), which is generally the average I pay for a used laptop and I generally get about 3 or so years of use out of, so it seems like a fair deal.
I love my steam deck but pretty much never use it as a handheld. It's basically a compact PC with a convenient dock that works as well as my laptop but is easier to display on the TV so I can relax without having the laptop on my lap or sitting at a desk. There are a few issues to using it this way and one of the biggest ones for me is lack of true keyboard and mouse support, even for games that were originally made for that format. I don't know what it actually thinks it's doing when you select keyboard and mouse but for a lot of games it doesn't give you the configuration you would get on a laptop and it often has the wrong inputs displayed (like it will say A but the actual keybinding is E). Anyways I digress, that a pretty minor issue for a great product and the price is very good for what it can do.
Farthest Frontier.
I had my soul stolen by Banished a decade ago. This game is doing the same damn thing.
However, the lack of these medieval villagers to get their shit together and invest refrigeration is infurating.
Banished is such a treat. I have around 200ish hours in it and am so sad it has been abandoned.
Such is life with these games. Highly recommend FF though.
It's VERY Banished, but with a lot more to it than simple resource puzzles.
It's Early Access at the moment, but is pretty stable.
Although it's been awhile, last I check the dev was working on a sequel. It's one of those solo operations, so it'll surely take awhile unfortunately. Also in case you're unaware, the modding scene for Banished is really incredible. Megamod/Colonial Charter probably triple the base game's content. Well worth a look if you haven't checked them out.
edit. Just checked the Shining Rock website and his last blog was over a year ago, really hope all is well with him.
Made by Crate Entertainment! One of my favorite studios. I was with them all the way through Grim Dawn early access, and well beyond. Great bunch of people. I can't wait to see what they do with Farthest Frontier.
So, based on not fully knowing how this site works, I thought this was a reply for me.
So I went and bought FF last night.
And played it. Until 4AM. You know it’s bad when you look at the clock and it’s 2AM and you are like “ok just one more thing” and then next thing you know birds are chirping and the sky is starting to turn that “oh crap it’s late” shade of dark blue.
God, I am such a sucker for “build your city endlessly and watch it slowly grow”.
I’ve got about 170 inhabitants, but I’m realizing my little enclave is laid out very inefficiently. I’m gonna probably start over just once because it bugs me that my roads aren’t nicely in a grid (which I didn’t do until my suburb came in).
I set Pacificst mode ON, so if there’s any best practices on what to build should I ever want to turn pacifist OFF (just so I can incorporate it into my design) I’m all ears.
It’s like SimCity but with more character (literally more characters). Thanks for the recommendation!
Definitely not alone but I just beat Tears of the Kingdom last night. I really did not like BotW and so I didn't even care about this release. Wasn't gonna touch it. But all my friends said it was really fun. They fixed some thing from the last game, and made it a ton of fun. I know some people didn't like the fuse aspect of the game. But I had a ton of fun trying to come up with the craziest combos. I loved spears because of the range. But it stopped you from being able to use your shield. So, just drop the spear. And fuse it to a sword. And boom. Sword, and the reach of a spear.
For the first time in a while I was glued to the screen every minute of the game. I had to pry myself away to go to bed at a decent time. I actually kept delaying beating the final boss because I didn't want it to be over. Now I'm going to go on a Zelda kick and play all my favorites like Minish Cap and a link to the past. But I may even try skyward sword. As I'm super into the mythos of the Zelda world now.
I just completed Ordia on iOS (Android version also available). I'm a few years late to the party, but my goodness is this a perfect mobile platformer. The level design, music, aesthetics, and mechanics of flinging your little slime to traverse the vertical levels just has that feeling of a well-crafted game. I also love that it's a no-bs $3.99 up-front with no IAP shenanigans and no ads. If you're into platformers at all I can't recommend it enough.
I need a game recommendation. I’ve been playing Overwatch for years now. I’ve tried other games recently but nothing seems to give me that instant dopamine hit that I get from jumping into OW.
I definitely can’t seem to get into anything open world. Harry Potter and Cyberpunk are two games that I have and have abandoned part way because I’ve lost interest. I tried RDR2 as well but also lost interest.
I also don’t like The Last of Us because I’m finding that anything that requires excessive looting takes away from the experience. Spamming the loot button while going into every nook and cranny breaks the immersion a bit.
Is there anything out there that’s story driven and has interesting mechanics but also doesn’t require you to endlessly loot? I remember I liked Mass Effect, Tomb Raider and some of the Assassin’s Creeds in the past. I feel like they’ve become overly expansive and/or AC is just weird now.
Oh, I also played Divinity: OS and finished it but I don’t like culty/horror genre.
Yes, I am difficult. Help!
My all time favorite single player game would be Fire Emblem: Three Houses. The story is really intriguing and if you like strategy the gameplay is very fun and challenging. I'm the type who plays through 90% of a game and then gets bored, but with Three Houses I've played through all the endings at least twice.
If you want a story game with mechanics as clean as OW I'd definitely recommend trying the Titanfall 2 campaign, It has one of the greatest action set pieces I've experienced in a single player game. Another shooter game I'd recommend is Control, there's some horror elements, but by the end of the game you become such a badass it stops being scary.
Risk of Rain 2 is a rouge-like TPS with similar cooldown management to OW, you can even get a mod to add in Tracer. If you like cool movement Get to the Orange Door is rouge-like FPS with wall riding and a unique art style. These don't really have a story but if you're looking for gameplay elements similar to OW I'd recommend them.
I really enjoyed three houses at first but i thought it started to drag on near the end. I also don't know if this is a valid complaint, but I also found some of the plot frustrating. Like half the issues could have been solved with the characters just talking to each other. I still am a huge fan of the franchise though. Maybe I need to retry it with a diffetent approach. I think part of my problem is trying to micromanage every character. I love that aspect of the game but it is also very time consuming.
Have you tried Dragon's Dogma? It goes on sale fairly regular and is one of my favorite RPGs. The story is interesting with enough to keep you interesting if you want to go exploring or if you want to just go straight through the story. A very, do it your own way game without it explicitly saying, "wow look how your choices made things turn out?"
Heroes of the Storm still has an active enough community even though it is a "dead game".
It is a MOBA, but the games are much shorter than LoL and therefore the people are proportionately less toxic. Comebacks are actually very likely, which also discourages early tilting.
It also has more interesting mechanics than "lane and gank to victory".
Ever play Psychonauts 1/2? If you haven't, then Psychonauts 1/2. #1 is 18 years old at this point so it is a bit dated but still hilarious and unique - one of my favorite games ever and I say that as someone who has finished an unfortunate amount of games. Psychonauts 2 had humongous expectations to meet for me and it not only met them but surpassed them, it was my GOTY 2021.
They are story driven, full of fantastic voice performances and animation, have open world hubs but all the levels are linear (think Super Mario 64). Hilarious writing, offbeat everything, wickedly smart design, fun platforming and action, and new stuff all the way through the games to keep it fresh. And there's no loot, just in-game currency/stuff you can collect to buy a finite number of items/upgrades.
Excellent. From a review, “… Censors attack you with stamps and Depression attacks you with weights…” This I need to see.
Now, do I HAVE to play #1 before #2?
I wouldn't say you have to play #1 before #2 but your experience with the latter will be richer for it.
They do a good job of explaining the plot from #1 very quickly and succinctly. Much of the cast in #2 is also different (not in a bad way).
I broke down and ordered early access for Baldur’s Gate 3, based on the strength of some of the reviews I was reading, and holy carp is it good. It’s the closest I’ve seen to a tabletop RPG in a digital space outside of VTTs. Most other RPGs try to hide their tabletop roots, they really try to keep the mechanics hidden, whereas BG3 really leans into it, which is so great to see. Obviously you don’t have total freedom like in a ttrpg, but it gives players a lot of leeway and is a step above every other D&D game in existence. I’m really hoping they’ll develop some sort of campaign development tools and let players create their own content, it would extend the life of this game well up to a decade and could potentially even move some play groups into using BG3 as a VTT. Maybe still have the DM handle dialogue and setup, but leave combat to the game. It’d be an interesting digital/tabletop merger.
This sounds really cool! I've wishlisted it on steam and hope to learn more about it although I think I'm waiting till it is fully released before picking it up. I haven't had the opportunity to play tabletop games and this sounds like a taste of it even if it isn't the full experience!
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
It's not a game I recommend. I don't even really know if it's a guilty pleasure. It isn't a bad game either. It's extremely inoffensive. But it's a long game that I can waste time on.
I like to read. I read fantasy books mostly. I prefer long stories that I can just lose myself to. I love a great multi book series like The Wheel of Time or The Witcher.
I haven't really played an AC game since 3, I think. I have been working a lot more than usual lately due to some stuff in real life, so I kind of found myself at a point where I just wanted something long and interactive to fill my time. I wanted to tune out the world and just pretend to be part of something else.
Valhalla was gifted to me by my brother who loves the series. He got me the base game and all DLC. He told me I could easily spend Skyrim levels of time in the game. Neat, I had something like 400+ hours in Skyrim. I haven't played the AC series in a while. Let's see where they went with it.
It's.... fine. I mean it fills the hole I need it to. I don't want other recommendations for other games, though. I'm about 80 hours in now. Some characters are well written. The game gives the illusion of choice. It works. I can sit at my desk and play for a whole Saturday with my headphones on and have a good time.
I kind of wish it were a better, more well written game, but honestly I think part of the reason I'm allowing myself to keep going with it is specifically because of how low the stakes are with it. If it were a better game, I'd feel bad and stress over not finishing it quickly enough or not playing it one weekend or another. With Valhalla I feel like I can come and go as I please no matter how crazy my schedule becomes. The story is dead simple enough that I don't really need a recap of it even if I haven't played in a couple weeks.
It fits my life right now, and honestly that's really what I need from it the most.
Haven't played Runeterra after about a year and have been really enjoying it. Fast paced games have not been my favorite lately, been enjoying just sitting down and having to think stuff.
FF16.
I thought LoZ:TotK was going to run away with GotY for me, because that game is full of the type of open world hijinks that you can only really find in the Just Cause games.
But then FF16 came along and knocked my socks off. The combat strikes the perfect balance of accessible and deep, and the story is Game of Thrones meets classic Final Fantasy anime melodrama, which I am about.
Yeah FF16 is definitely GotY for me, so far. We’ll see how I feel about it after Starfield hits lol
Blasted through bloodstained: ritual of the night this week; excellent little metroidvania. Although the writing could be better and some of the animations during cutscenes were broken, overall, I thought it was a really enjoyable gameplay experience. The plot and characters were decent too. Makes me want to figure out emulating some of the OG Castlevania games on the PC. Why haven't they ported those yet!!
They have? They did a Collection with Castlevania I thru IV and Bloodlines plus some GB games... and then the Advance Collection with the GBA games.
If you haven't checked out Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon you should also do that. It's fantastic even though it was just supposed to be a Kickstarter bonus. Ritual of the Night is a Symphony of the Night homage... Curse of the Moon is like a Castlevania III homage. Except it does more than that and it's well worth playing. It was so good they made a sequel to it though I haven't played that yet myself.
Been playing Diablo 4 and honestly, not enjoying it as much as D2R or D3.
The lack of ladder, set items, runes, and feeling weak all the time really turns me off. When my friends aren't playing, I don't play it.
It takes a while to figure out which items are a clear upgrade. Using D2 as the closer comparison, it was much more obvious when you picked up a better item.
If they can do what they did with Reaper of Souls, then hopefully I'll be able to recommend this game.
Diablo 4 and agreed to all. One YouTuber mentioned min-maxers will not like it much. So many different odd stats and it’s hard to tell if it helps you or not.
Grouping up is OP was another weird comment but I understand it now. Oh great another blob of monsters I can’t outrun and won’t give me much of anything.
I’m trying to get my moneys worth but I’m losing interest. I downloaded guild wars 2 which is free to try.
I agree about Diablo. I really enjoyed leveling up but now I’m level 51 half way through the story and I’m stuck in world tier 2 until I complete the main quest. I’m in this weird spot gear-wise where I dip between feeling very strong and feeling lackluster. I enjoy the solo play, and I was having fun with groups, but most of my friends aren’t interested anymore and without the zones scaling past 50 it feels less and less fun and challenging, even if my character doesn’t feel powerful.
I’m honesty waiting for baldur’s gate 3 at this point because I loved divinity 2 so much and I like the pace
I'm with you there. I was an avid player of D2, D3 and PoE and while D4 is a good game at it's core, there's just so much missing that I don't really have any kind of drive to play, now that I've gotten two characters to 50.
There are also some things design-wise that I don't like. Imo trash mobs have way too much health, skills cost way to much resources and all of that leads to fights being slower. Now, I don't need a zoom-zoom playstyle like in PoE, where the whole screen explodes around you, but the slowness of combat in D4 just feels clunky, not smooth. If they'd either tune down trash mobs health-wise or reduce resource cost of spenders, it'd feel a lot better to me. But there are others that may see it completely different from me in that regard.
But since they actually made a really decent game out of D3, I'm still holding on the hope that they will do it again.
Guilty pleasure when I have time - House Flipper.
It's not goty but fixing up & cleaning a virtual house is so much more fun than cleaning up my own
I’ve been eyeing House Flipper VR for awhile, but is there a custom house mode? Like where you can design your own house from the ground up? I thought I saw they didn’t have one, which seems so bizarre to me. Imagine being able to put your own house in the game and be able to make virtual alterations to it in-game, that’d be such a useful tool and they’d be crazy not to do it.
Ya know I haven't noticed a mode like that. You could possibly mod your house shape and do it that way? Maybe that's something they'll put in house flipper 2
Hi there! First time posting on Tildes.
I started playing Aliens: Dark Descent and was surprised at how good it is. It's fun, it's tense, and above all it's got an incredibly well crafted atmosphere. I also like how it rewards you for avoiding combat while still being a combat game, with the alert level and XP being given exclusively for quests rather than kills.
It's got some quest bugs and a few localization isues so I'd recommend anyone thinking about playing it to maybe wait a month. The devs seem very on top of all the issues, and thankfully it's all just scripting problems, there's no big issues like performance or systems not working.
Welcome to Tildes!
I've been playing Street Fighter 6, which has felt like my first time actually comprehending a fighting game and enjoying myself. I got a bunch of friends together for some weeklies and that's made it quite a lot more enjoyable too.
I've also picked God of War Ragnarok back up to finally finish it. I dropped off at some point, for no particular reason, but I've been lucky to still not get spoiled.
Ragnarok is so good, I'm glad you got to pick it back up without spoilers!! Enjoy the playthrough
Ori and the Blind Forest - I've had it for 7 years, since I got my Xbox One S, and I've finally decided I'm going to go and play it through to the end. This is my third attempt and I plan for it to be my last. So far, it's beautiful. Great artwork, animation, and a decent story. I just hate dying and losing 10 minutes of progress because I don't use Soul Link enough. But this is a gem that you should play if you like metroidvanias.
Alundra - It's a game that was meant to be Sony's answer to Zelda. However, it has more detailed writing and mature themes than the Zelda titles of the time (1998) did. Imagine Zelda gameplay with Final Fantasy style graphics and music. That's how it looks and sounds. I'm loving it so far. To copy and paste from Wikipedia:
Cyberpunk 2077 - I've played about an hour of it so far. It's okay, but nothing groundbreaking. I'm still fairly new to it and I don't understand all of the mechanics, so I really can't say too much as I don't know enough to give a fair review of the game.
The Ori games are really wonderful, and probably my favorite mainstream examples of "games as art", especially blind forest, the first one.
They're hard enough to feel challenging, but never felt really punishing. The art and music are just otherworldly impressive. If you enjoy blind forest, I strongly suggest trying it's sequel Will of the Wisps. Some plot elements are resolved and you get a lot more traversal powers. It didn't quite capture the same feeling as blind forest did for me, but I think that's more about the headspace I was in when I played the sequel.
I think you and I have the same problem with the first Ori game. Some of the scripted sequences are truly frustrating. I gave up around the part with the water going up a tree or something like that, my hand was cramping up trying to do all the jumps correctly.
Ori 2 is much better in my opinion, I'm glad I took the chance after the first one. The design language is much clearer and the scripted sequences are less about precision and timing (though they're still pretty annoying, especially that one stealth section). Highly recommend just stopping the first game when it gets too frustrating and just watch a let's play or something :)
The Final Fantasy pixel Remaster I ordered at the end of April finally arrived and I've been playing that. I finished 2 and am cranking on 3 (which surprisingly enough I have no record of playing)
I've been playing through the Dragon Age series on PC, which has been a series of whiplash-inducing changes when played one right after the other. What started as a Baldur's Gate sort of DnD clone turned into something clearly developed from the top down with a lot of changes that "simplified" the play experience to, in my opinion, its total detriment. On the third installment now some of those changes have been rolled back, but it's still a console-focused endeavor, now firmly a Skyrim clone with none of the tactical or TTRPG elements that drew me to the first one.
But the world is fascinating, the characters rich and filled with emotional pathos, and the difficulty of the moral and ethical questions presented to the player make it incredibly rewarding to play. I'm fascinated by the balance achieved here; in my experience, it's rare to have such a challenging set of circumstances presented to the player, and that has only gotten more compelling as the series goes on.
I really need to get back and play all the Dragon Age games again. I think I might actually start doing that this evening.
go for it! i'm considering doing another run of DAO after i'm done with Inquisition. Or maybe another Inquisition run lmao
I've never finished 2 or Inquisition, but DAO I think I've completed maybe a dozen times? I gotta really push through and do a fully play through
I recently replayed Dragon Age 2 and am about 2/3rd of the way through my second playthrough of Inquisition. I had never finished DA2 before because it was in the days before cloud saves and a hard drive failure meant I lost all of my progress. So it was good to finally play through to the end on that one. I have a real soft spot for DA2. Even though the copy-paste environments are terrible, the concept of everything taking place in one city and the story are really good.
I'm playing Inquisition again to try a different class and play all the DLC, which I missed out on the first time around. This is especially important with DA4 on the horizon and I believe the Trespasser DLC is important to the story. It is in many ways a great game, but the semi-open world does get very samey and grindy. I also don't find the companions quite as interesting. I think the party banter was best with DA:O and DA2.
The banter! The companions! I really miss the party banter of DAO and the campfire mechanic; I also really miss the entire gift-giving mechanic (lessened in DA2, gone as far as I can tell in DAI). I really liked having to get to know my companions to figure out what they'd like (Sten liking paintings was a delight to discover) and then also having generic "gifts" as well. It felt a lot more personal than the experience of DA2 and DAI (so far).
I loved being in one city, even with the same-same of the dungeons/halls/etc. It felt very meaningful, overall, to be city-bound and provincial instead of bopping about an entire continent.
I've just started DAI and it's gorgeous but more vapid than I'd like when it comes to companions and the player's relationships to them. (I am also spoiled by recently having finished ToTK, so I do now believe an open world game must also include physics that actually interact with the world, so it's a little frustrating navigating all these mountains, but so far I'm still hooked.)
I'm playing Eastward in the bit of free time I can muster when I'm at home.
I have only a few hours in yet but I like the concept.
It's a lot of dialogue that you just click through and the build up is really slow. The story is mostly told through dialogue.It's a pixel art style game and I thought it was a dungeon crawler first, but it turns out that it's also a puzzle game and an action adventure rpg style game.
The story seems to develop into something really crazy with alternative realities and such, but I don't want to spoil it, and I'm not even sure about it, as I just started with chapter 4.
It was super chill until the chapter ended in some crazy action sequence in that I died multiple times because I picked the wrong way or were too slow. After that it went back to easy dungeon crawling again.
I'm bad at describing this stuff, so I will leave it here with a recommendation. I think it's receipt is kind of different to the games I usually play and rather unique which I like. I'm looking forward to where the story will develop and if it's the direction I think it is out of it will suprise me.
I loved Eastward! It did leave me wanting more as they left some things unanswered. I hope they make another game with more answers in it! Perhaps exploring the timeline before what happens in Eastward. A sequel would be fun too.
As for Eastward itself, I enjoyed the music and found the silliness surrounding the main characters lack of talking to be fun. Battling major threats with a pan also added some light heartedness to a gloomy theme at times. The way you trade off between characters to make it through areas was fun. The pixel art was really nice and you could tell a lot of work went into all of the character designs and settings. Being unable to go back and get some missed ingredients was a bit annoying though. The train in the foggy area was really weird but I'm not going to spoil things for anyone who hasn't played it yet either.
Roght now only the final boss is what stands betwee me and finishing Divinity: Original Sin EE.
I'm 37, old school gamer. I lovegames that take tens of hours to finish and that have real depth and good mechanics. D:OS EE is just like that. It starts slowly, builds up slowly while you meet and learn about he world. Then the story starts unveiling itself and afte 70 hours in, you finally know what's going on.
I won't lie - I'm looking forward to finishing it! I want to finish it. Not to finish the story, but to be done with the game and move on.
Don't get me wrong though! This is one hell of a great RPG game that true fans of the genre should really play at least once. It is very deep in lore, mechanics, characters, ... While I explored like 95% of the maps, I still have unfinished quests, unlearned skills, unmet party characters, unlearned crafting etc. I won't even do that much of the achievements, I had some bad diaogue choices and probably didn't even get a few quests. I still think I don't know 50% of the mechanics of the game. Back in the day, I would probably play and replay the game all over until I'm really done. This time, I got enough, I won't probably play the game ever again. It is too much of talking, reading, running, thinking, ...
But as I said - don't get me wrong! This is really one wonderful great game!
I think I enjoyed it more than D:OS 2. The pacing is better I think. Gaining XP in D:OS2 is quite hard and you basically have to do every single quest and every fight you possibly can to be able to move on. I found that a little frustrating.
But the work Larian did on those two games makes me very excited for Baldur's Gate.
I finished the first and it was great. I was eager to try the second and did manage to get past the first main chapter (don’t want to spoil for anyone) but then I was introduced to the concept of the “ideal build”.
In #1 I just happily built my characters in a way that felt natural to me. But in #2 somehow understanding that I had a less than ideal build ruined it for me, and now the game was about the build and not just enjoying the story. It’s silly I know, but I just couldn’t see past the fact that somehow I was doing something “wrong”.
Not silly, I can totally understand that. I now consciously try to avoid walkthroughs and blogs from experts who tell you how to get the best builds and do the quests in the right order. I used to read them to make sure I didn't miss something important or make a terrible decision, but I realized I had more fun discovering things for myself. Seems obvious now but it's easy to get sucked into the hardcore gamer mentality of doing perfect playthroughs
Actually I went into the D:OS 1 blind. I wanted the full experience and I got it. I hooe D:OS 2 can also be played blind, just doing what I think is best and not caring that much about anything ideal.
I wanted to play D:OS2 after the first one. But I have to take a pause from these games, it would be too much. Great game though!
Agreed, they're not the types of games to play non stop and back to back.
Still playing Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. It's reminding me why I loved the original game so much. It's just mellow and slow-paced, doesn't feel as frantic as the other games even with the shorter years (10 day seasons instead of 30, so 40 day years instead of 120).
One of the bigger surprises: I forgot how cute the children are in this game. Most of the other games have them be eternal babies, or just... Kinda there. This kid actually feels fleshed out, it's nice to have a child that actually talks and has a personality.
Fellow nostalgia farmer! The game definitely still shows its age (I want to cry when Carter and Flora get in my way while digging for artifacts) and the routine doesn't change a whole lot despite progressing, but like you said, I REALLY like that the child is an actual entity who grows up, whose career you can influence. I'm over here trying to decide if I should try to get my virtual 2D daughter inherit the farm or let her pursue her interests on her own...
I'm left wondering how much of the code they directly copy/pasted. The characters will sometimes talk to me when I'm holding an item without me talking to them, something I remember from the original game. (Also seriously, why do those two get in the way?? They can't even walk around the dig space, there's boxes right in the way in chapter two.)
The kids really are great in this game! I love that they added scenes with Takakura too. He is so awkward and out of his depth with the toddler, while the kid just adores him. It's adorable.
Enjoying Battlebit: Remastered and Six Days in Fallujah still this week. Eyeing Stanley Paradox during the summer sale.
I've been playing TF2 for years and it still pulls me in. Excellent team based fps with a timeless art style, and a goofy cast of characters which hide an incredibly deep set of gameplay mechanics.
I always come back to Super Smash Bros Melee as well. Has a thriving competitive scene after 22 years, and a community-made online mode using a GameCube emulator (praise Fizzi), with a netcode that honestly performs better than a lot of modern fighting games.
Been playing through the Fromsoft games finally as well. Finished Dark Souls 1 recently, about to start DS2.
I grabbed a few games from the Steam summer sale. I just finished Stray yesterday and while I enjoyed it and thought it looked fantastic, there's not a lot to do in the game. I wanted more to do, more ability to mess with things and jump on things, I wanted some side missions, just more all around. It seems like a good concept and was interesting to play so hopefully they make a sequel and greatly expand the game.
Now I'm playing In Sound Mind which I was enjoying before heading to bed last night. I tried Black Mesa but it doesn't have controller support and I'm not a fan of playing games on my laptop using a mouse and keyboard. I can't kick back on the couch if I have to use the keyboard.
I also picked up The Last Campfire, The Binding of Isaac and Action Henk. I'll likely give them all a try today.
DOS2 for now, but more as a warm up for the new Baldur's Gate. I also picked up Astroneer and Satisfactory for some mindless grinding. Really dig (pardon the pun) those games.
I started playing Dome Keeper recently, which is nice and chill at lower difficulties. It's a pretty simple game, you just mine for resources between waves of enemies and use the resources you gathered to upgrade your ability to fight off the waves or mine better. The only negative reviews I saw about it just said that it's a short game, which to me is a plus.
I’ve been switching between a few games. Like a lot of people I’ve been playing both Final Fantasy XVI and Diablo IV, which I’ve been enjoying, although I’m starting to feel the grind on Diablo before season 1 has even released so I might be burnt out of it by the time it comes out. Final Fantasy XVI I’ve been loving- the combat and cutscenes can be really incredible and at certain points just a huge spectacle that I haven’t seen much in games.
I’ve also been playing a ton of Omega Strikers which is a free to play MOBA sports game which is very fun and one of the only games where I’ve been playing the competitive mode. I’d highly recommend checking it out if it intrigues you at all. It’s on most platforms (even mobile) and has cross play and cross save.
I'm a Stardew Valley devout and generally newbish gamer (which is something I'm fine with - I like figuring stuff out, even if it takes a while)! I discovered Sun Haven through a friend and got it for both of us and it has been so exciting. It feels like someone played Stardew thoroughly, pumped up the magic, and made the mechanics more readily learnable and easy to use. The world promises to be huge. I've decided that I'll probably only play it multiplayer until we decide otherwise because it's awesome to figure things out together and to feel like you're getting stuff done in half the time. (I know that's a bonus of most multiplayer games, but this one feels really effortless.) I haven't looked forward to actually playing a game this much since Pokemon Go's launch. Also, I really like the art, but it's possibly not for everybody. Can't wait to play more, and I think I'm just getting started!
Ooh, I really love Sun Haven although I have the problem that I keep creating new characters due to the character creator options being so much fun. I haven't beat it yet. My current Character is an elf and will probably make the elven farm her main base of operations. I'm not sure what character I'll make the main sun haven farm their most frequented location. I find I try different play styles and color themes with different characters. So much to do in that game!
My character is an elf! I'm so stoked to get to the elven area, but the person I'm playing with is on vacation. It looks like it's very much my style.
Awesome!! I hope your friend has a fun vacation and you can both make it to the elf area soon after they return! With the pretty glowing areas, the colors and the nature themes, it's definitely my style as well! I haven't made it to Withergate yet. I'm taking my time and enjoying, well, that plus getting distracted by another game for a bit. I'll be back to Sun Haven soon!
Definitely sounds like my kind of place! I've been keeping myself busy with Cozy Grove in the meantime, which is super cute and has kind of similar gameplay, though it is point and click.
I picked that up on a steam sale but haven't had a chance to play it yet. Glad to hear you are enjoying it! Peaceful games are my favorites!
Splitgate is fun.
Flight Simulator 2020 on game pass,
Having a lot of fun zooming trough the sky
I'm a patient gamer and have finally got around to playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey. I'm not an AC purist, so I quite like the more RPG-style games they have created recently. They're formulaic, way too long, and not particularly innovative, but I still enjoy them. As a bit of a history nerd, I love how immersive they are. I do get the sense that I'm playing in an Ancient Greek world and learning more about what it looked like in those days.
Prior to that, I was playing Jedi: Fallen Order, which I was enjoying but couldn't bring myself to finish. I hated the save system, and it's something I can't tolerate as a PC gamer. Even Ubi has finally allowed for quick saves in their AC franchise now!
I love the AC series for their incredible scenery. I remember upgrading GPUs just to keep up with the Birds Eye view 360. I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed by the visuals.
I don’t know what an AC purist is but if it is what I think it is based on your comment, I think I am one. I appreciate the open worlds for exploration but I need a tighter pacing. I’ve yet to actually finish any of them except the American Revolution and the Caribbean / piratey one (which means I’ve left unfinished London, Egypt, and Greece).
The whole “IRL” side story is something I can increasingly do without. I get that the two are woven together and “oh no the bad guys are still in charge” but it breaks the immersion too much.
The AC purists think that AC has lost its way and should go back to the stealth- focused Ezio trilogy. I played the first one but then nothing after that until Black Flag. I believe the new Mirage one is going back to its roots. But I loved Origins and am enjoying Odyssey so I don't think they made a mistake trying these new games
I think I've given up on Final Fantasy XVI. I just can't force myself to keep playing. I love the story and a couple of the characters. Really well written game and very beautiful. Some of the most epic cutscenes I've seen in a game in a long time. But outside of cutscenes and the story, I've never been so bored with a video game in my life. And the story just isn't enough to keep me going.
On the other side of things, I picked up Ghost Trick Phantom Detective's remake on Steam. I'm enjoying it so far. Never played the original so I'm glad I get to experience it without having to track it down on DS.
I grabbed Gotham Knights as part of the Steam sale but I really don't like it. Can't put my finger on it, but something about the combat just doesn't work for me and not really enjoying the story so far.
I played and finished Smushi Come Home in an evening. I try and stick to sub-$10 games because I'm perennially broke, but the screenshots and the positive reviews swayed me. I'm glad they did. It's a charming game with very few limits - no deaths, no timers (except a single hidden puzzle that's completely optional), no enemies - no pressure. This would make a great game to play with kids, but also, it's a great game to play yourself, whatever your age.
Ender Lilies
It reached a new historic low at $12.50 and all the reviews praise it as a wonderful Metroidvania so I picked it up from the steam sale and completed it. Unfortunately for my experience, I didn't realize how Souls-inspired it was and went in with the wrong expectations; I can certainly think of it as a competent 2D Souls-like, but it wasn't what I was looking for as far as a Metroidvania which is a little odd to me because I do see Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight, Minoria, and Hollow Knight as Metroidvanias with Souls-like elements. Perhaps it's because Ender Lilies kills your momentum when doing aerial attacks? Or maybe because those 3 titles still having living people to talk to whereas Ender Lilies' story is peering at the memories of the dead and infected? Either way, I do think there is a definite line design-wise that made it one and not the other.
Well given how much recovery frames everything has, I leaned towards using the Magic Missile weapon first for range safety, and then to the claws and throwing knives for attack speed so I could respond properly with parrying spirits. As far as flaws, boss contact damage does as much as a regular hit and the limit break bar is unobtrusively on the bottom left, something I would call bad design considering how much it boosts your DPS and something that possibly soured my experience more since I didn't really use it until the second to last boss.
Overall, I can see why people who enjoy Souls-like games like this, but I'll probably forget this in a week.
30xx
Picked this up because they have a release date for leaving early access and because I liked 20xx. It definitely refined the systems of the previous game, but it can also feel like a simple fresh coat of paint over the same core of roguelike Megaman, though that might've been because I was playing 20xx on my steam deck in my spare travel time.
The balance is different, currency feels much rarer and/or items just being more expensive overall and there's a stronger emphasis on using powers. It trades the Flash aesthetic for a 16-bit look which definitely makes it feel more like a polished product compared to before. Still, someone unfamiliar with the series could pick up 20xx for cheaper or wait for a bigger sale on 30xx.
War Thunder. It's not really new anymore (It was released in 2012 or so? With a "pre-cursor" in 2010 or so for Console).
As a member of the "original players" it's pretty fun for me. However everytime I see newer players join the grind is unbearable. They really made the game into the epitomy of "freemium" with ridiculous grinds even for basic stuff that I was able to unlock in a few days or weeks back in the day.
I think recently with the backlash from the playerbase; Gaijin (the creators) are starting to enact some meaningful change to make it more friendly for newer players without paying.
On the roguelike game podcast that I host with two others, we last played Shattered Pixel Dungeon on our phones. This week we will be covering Enter the Gungeon with some special guests.
Our review of SPD got a lot of buzz apparently, with the first instance of someone making a reaction video to our overall "it's ok" review.
In terms of traditional roguelike dungeon crawlers, SPD is good. It's accessible, fast, good to look at, and has a big community that's active in it's open source development.
The problem is, for our podcast, SPD is going to be ranked up against some of the bigger games like FTL or Darkest Dungeon. It's certainly not a "bad" game, it just didn't hold our attention as well as others. It sort of skirts the line between easy to play on a phone, needing a wiki to follow, and having a lot of gameplay depth. Some of those seem to work against the phone UX to some degree.
For the moment SPD falls into the "solidly ok" camp, but you certainly can't beat the android price point of free. It's worth it to try and get past the first boss. There's a lot of stuff in a seemingly small package and it's great for putting in ad much effort as you want into it.
I have wasted so much time playing Shattered Pixel Dungeon. It gets a bit formulaic after a while but there's still enough challenge to make it interesting. The dev Evan is nice enough to host previous editions of the game on his Github too, so you can play older versions if you dislike a particular change. I'm using the version just before his introduction of hero talents.
It is very interesting to see how open source gamedev is accomplished. Evan is a shining example of that kind of style IMO
I recently posted the list of games I bought during the Steam Summer Sale. Of these ten I returned Mr. Sun's Hatbox because the combat is godawful and Into The Breach because my brain is just too smooth for the tactics required. I also bought the OG Doom and Doom II and played a bit of Doom using GZDoom. I have no strong feelings one way or the other. On one of the early levels of Doom I got stuck in a room as the entire room was pitch black, I did manage to get out, finish that level then I quit. I haven't returned to Doom yet.
Pan'orama is great. I beat the game on my second try. My only complaints is that in the late game you're moving the map around a lot and keeping track of quest tiles can be difficult, there's no reminders on the edge of the screen or anything.
Inkluinati, Art style is fantastic. I'm still going through the tutorials though.
Rain on your Parade, Played it for a bit but haven't returned, no complaints.
Roots of Pacha, NPC graphics could be better, I find it a bit hard to distinguish some characters from others. Switching between tools is kind of a pain. Instead of having your tools on your hotbar like Stardew Valley they're in a toolbelt of sorts off to the side. You cycle through the hotbar with left and right bumper (IIRC), then cycle through the toolbelt with left and right trigger (again, IIRC) then use the selected item with A (this is fine). I can't find the clock, RoP has a similar save system as Stardew Valley where you save when you go to sleep. Maybe I unlock a clock later on?
Phoenotopia: Awakening, Controls and combat are not great. You interact with stuff using the X button rather than the tried and true A button (this may be changeable); the slingshot is a pain to use, instead of switching to the slingshot then using one of the analog sticks to adjust aim you press B then get a moving target icon that raises and lowers then you press B again to actually fire. This target is not very helpful for judging where the rock will go. Stardew Valley's original slingshot system is better and that's saying something.
Chained Echoes, the unbearably long cutscenes finished off what little engagement I had in this game. There's a big world but barely any reason to explore it and next to no side quests.
Burnout Paradise, still holds up and plays perfectly on the Steam Deck. Unfortunately EA shutdown the servers a while back so I don't have access to any of the DLC I paid for like the Extreme Hot Rod or the GT Night Hawk.
Both games being dark is a complete coincidence. Had no prior knowledge about both of them. I genuinely thought Happy Game would be a cutesy artsy game like Amanita Design's previous games such as Samorost.
Amanita has always had a bit of a dark edge to them. Machinarium has a grim dystopia hiding underneath the surface, and even Botanicula had a couple minor horror-ish sections. And Phonopolis looks like it'll be leaning even harder into the dystopia. I think it's part of what makes their games so good!
In VR I'm still enjoying Blaston a whole lot. It's sad the visuals makes it look like a freemium title (which it is) but two-player duels with adjustable weapon loadout is just so fun, and one heck of a workout too.
I also played Ring of Pain, a turn-based roguelike where collect various equipment to fight various monster cards. The mechanics are easy to grasp and it has a neat dark style, although Inscruption is still darker. The gameplay doesn't feel all that deep, but only played it for 5 hours and others have hundreds of hours of playtime, so.
My fave roguelike is still Noita which I played for 300 hours or so. It's a pixelart platformer dungeoncrawl with lifelike physics, tons of secret and likely the best magic system in any game. The sad thing is that other roguelikes just can't compare, so I have a hard time finding something I can get into.
I also went back and tried some old Amiga games. Lemmings, Furry of the Furries, Golden Axe, Hole-In-One Miniature Golf, Toki. Wish I had that nice old joystick with that bulb on the top. I don't care much for the Xbox controller.
After recently having finished a campaign in XCOM: Enemy Within, I thought I'd try getting into yet another game I didn't have the patience for back in the day.
End of Eternity/Resonance of Fate is that game. It still hasn't quite "clicked" for me.
I've been hoping this question would pop up again since I got a Tildes account! I have been playing Cassette Beasts on Xbox game pass and have been absolutely loving it, at first glance it looks like it's just a Pokemon clone but it's got an abundance of unique charm, a unique and engaging story about a bunch of people lost in a different dimension and working together to survive and flourish in a hostile place and helping them do that while you're looking for a way home, excellent monster design and evolution progression, a well fleshed out type system, a fusion system where you can basically use a limit break to combine any two other monsters you and your other party member fuse into a unique much stronger monster (kinda like dynamaxing but way cooler). I was just gonna play it to scratch a pokemon itch but it honestly is much better than a pokemon clone it does scratch that itch but, it does so so much better than I expected and has a lot to love about it's own unique world and gameplay. I've been excited to find collect and evolve every new monster. It surprised me how good it is and I hope it has a chance to grow into its own IP because I think it deserves its own place.
I've been playing Tears of the Kingdom on and off and I hate to say that I don't really enjoy it that much. I did play Breath of the Wild and I had the same feelings for it, so I knew beforehand that ToTK wouldn't suit my tastes, but due to the overwhelming hype the game received I went against my better judgment and I bought it anyway. Note that I never actually felt a true desire to play it; rather, I was merely curious due to everyone else's excitement.
I'm not going to slander the game because it really isn't a bad game: movement is fluid, it looks nice, the Ultrahand works well and I can see how people can enjoy toying around with it. I'm also thoroughly impressed with vastness of the world, having a sky, ground, and underground portion. Unfortunately, I'm simply not the target audience for this game. I find myself quickly getting bored with it and can't stand to play for more than an hour. I knew that this would be the case and yet I still bought so I've only myself to blame for mindlessly following the hype. I don't know if I should just finish it and sell it, or simply give it away to someone who will appreciate it. For now, I eagerly await the new Mario games coming out later this year.
Pokemon unite
it's a pokemon themed MOBA that would have been a dream come true hadn't it been plagued by the most predatory engagement tactics in the mobile game developing book. The game is made by Tencent and is essentially a 5v5 pvp game played with and against real people, it lures you in with good matches and fun battles at the beginning, only to become worse and worse once their algorithm detects that you're hooked.
The game has a sleugh of malevolent practices, from predatory gachas (where little kids have been scammed into paying real money to get nothing in return), to favorable matchmaking for money spenders, using free2play players as fodder for them, and everything inbetween.
Even if you're aware of all the traps laid by the devs, the game is still pretty much unplayable. It has a forced 50% winrate for everyone, so for example if you win 3 matches the game will make you lose the next 3 matche by stacking the opposite team with really good players, while putting really bad ones in your team. The game is designed in such a way that it's impossible for a single player to win alone without their team, even pro players complained about the matchmaking cause the game was unplayable for them unless they played in a team.
The cosmetic skins for the characters can reach 40$ and the way they sell them is by making the characters overpowered when the skin releases, only to nerf them to the ground after the skin stops selling. Sometimes they're too slow at making skins so instead they lock the pokemons themselves behind a paywall, last one was so obscenely broken it made the game nigh unplayable, made half the playerbase quit and if you wanted to have it you'd have to pay almost 40 bucks.
I love pokemon and i tried to give this game so many chances, but every time it leaves me burned. Tencent is milking the franchise for what it's worth without a care for the players, absolutely wouldn't recommend and if your kids play it consider uninstalling it for their wellbeing.
Got a Miyoo Mini+ recently. Been really digging playing old school games on it. Really nice way to unwind after a work day without the commitment of playing on the TV. Just switch on and go.
Working my way through Lufia 2, Breath of Fire 4, * Chrono Trigger*, Zelda Minish Cap. Also revisiting Super Mario World as my son is playing through it, so I want to be able to help him.
I recently downloaded Mechabellum after watching this video and I've been enjoying it a lot. It has a lot of the elements I like from an RTS, but it's an auto-battler so I don't have to worry about my APM being terrible. I can just focus on the strategy aspect of it, which is fun and engaging. It's kind of addictive and highly replayable, and it has enough RNG where you can never quite expect what's going to happen, but not enough that it makes you feel cheated.
Before that, I played through Outer Wilds, which is lovely and amazing. I can't recommend it enough. And like everyone else who recommends it, I suggest you read as little as possible about it, since the sense of discovery is one of it's biggest draws. In short, it's a space exploration archeology game.
I'm playing through Call Of Duty MW2, MW3, and Black Ops campaigns as I never have before. Had them in a box for a 360 Jasper I acquired over COVID lockdowns. Everybody and their grandma has already played them but I'm catching up finally a decade and a half later. No Russian was quite intense I must say.
I started Darkest Dungeon and am enjoying it. It’s thinkier (a terrible word but I can’t think of a better one) than I was expecting, and that’s drawn me in. It’s a harrowing turn-based dungeon delving game where you’re constantly pushing your luck
Recently started playing Open Arena, a open reimplementation of Quake III Arena, very fun game in multiplayer.
Nier Replicant. The gameplay and overall mood is very similar to Nier Automata. I’ve never been one for button mashing games but there’s something really satisfying about spamming attacks and evade while rolling and jumping all over the place. anyway, I hope to learn more about the world that both games are set in, though in the end I feel a bit silly for playing either of them as it seems the intended audience is at least a decade younger than I am.
I just finished and got all the achievements for Lil Gator Game and it was such a treat. It's a small game in a mini BoTW-esque open world. You just go around the island doing "quests" for different animals hoping they become your friend. The writing really is top notch with how I feel kids talk nowadays. You got the meme speak, the absurdities, the sweet and charming humor. It's been a while since a game felt like it lifted my spirits.
I've also been playing Yooka Laylee 2. I heard the big mishaps from the 1st one but the 2nd one caught my eye. I've realized through playing it I'm actually quite bad at platformers but the graphics are gorgeous and the overworld is super fun and full of secrets. I'm a big fan of Hat in Time so this kind of scratches that itch.
I am a bit late to play these but Brotato and Kena I believe it is called.
I was planning on buying Octopath traveller 2.
I've been diving back into a couple space combat games: SpaceRPG3 and SpaceRPG4. They are available exclusively on android. They are two of the best quality games in the style of (now-dead) Ambrosia Software's "Escape Velocity" series, which was an open world space combat and trading game from the 90s.
Other games in this style include endless-sky, probably star valor (doesn't run on my OS, but it looks cool), and, well, that's about it actually.
In these games, you start out in the weakest, cheapest ship available, and you have a modest amount of money; not nearly enough to buy the nice shiny ship outfits or even a better ship, but enough to survive for awhile. You exploit space arbitrage and pirate your way to wealth and glory, and eventually you can battle with the big guys. What EV Nova got right about this was the game balance.
The combat felt arcade-like. You could beat a bigger ship by flying with style, but not always. SpaceRPG3 and 4 are similar; the combat is satisfying. It's like those space shooter games, but way better.
There's another game like this called NAEV. The balance in NAEV was god awful at the beginning, but it's gotten ever so slightly better (but still pretty bad). Trading apparently is finally a thing in NAEV, but it's badly gimped. So yeah, I don't really recommend that one.
After beating BOTW a month or two ago, I went backwards and started playing Skyward Sword on Switch, which I had never played except for a few hours on Wii. It's been really interesting to go back to a non-open world LoZ game. At the same time, seeing some of the elements that went into botw: like the sailcloth, crafting/upgrading, stamina wheel. I definitely like the controls on Switch vs Wii. I'll get to TOTK eventually!
I've been playing a bunch of single-player games recently- Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor were incredibly fun, currently playing through Final Fantasy XVI. I can definitely see why people are torn on it, but I'm personally enjoying it so far, its my first Final Fantasy game! (Don't worry I'm going back and playing FFVII next lol). Other than that, Battlebit Remastered has been my multiplayer jam, first huge shooter I've enjoyed since like Battlefield 4!
As a dedicated handheld gamer, I’ve been spending the better of a year trying to play through the entire Trails Series. It’s a pretty big commitment though, so I always play a different game or 2 between Trails titles. Trails to Azure was such a FANTASTIC experience to cap off the Crossbell Duology, but I wanna actually shine the spotlight on my break game before I start the Cold Steel saga.
I spent June playing Muramasa Rebirth on PS Vita. Far and away the most BEAUTIFUL game I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. It’s like a dual story, 2D action slasher, set in pre industrial Japan. The devs, Vanillaware, are well known for their gorgeous 2D artwork in stuff like Dragons Crown, and the high action gameplay of Muramasa really drew me in from the start! Both main characters use either a short katana or a long sword to slash your way through enemies. The progression centers around unlocking new swords, and each one has their own special attack too. It’s a pretty short 7-10 hour sprint to get through each storyline, and totally worth the journey!
Destiny 2:
It’s really fun to play with friends.
The community hates the game.
The price of the game is too high.
Tears of the kingdom:
I couldn’t put it down. Beat it in about a week, at a high enough hour count in emberassed to say.
Addison sign puzzles were great to find, you’ll know if you played the game.
Story was meh, but it always is in Zelda.
Pikmin 3:
Getting ready for Pikmin 4, can’t wait to play that one.
BattleBit Remastered is really nicely done block style battlefield like of fps.
Assassin's Creed: Origins is pretty nice SP game you can relatively easy to get in and out of for small pieces of gametime. Has that AC gameplay and that Egypt theme.
Also runs around 40fps on steam deck, so I been playing some side missions during commute and what not.
FF14: I've never played a Final Fantasy game before, but had been looking for an MMO to play after leaving Destiny 2. I'm most of the way through it's main story now and it's really exceeded my expectations.
Snowrunner: I play this when I just want to relax and watch some TV at the same time. Frequent expansions have meant that I've been playing it occassionally for a few years now and I'll still got plenty more to explore and complete. I'd quite like to see more games around delivering things — I enjoyed Death Stranding for many of the same reasons.
Tried BattleBit Remastered and Phantom Doctrine. Probably won't go back to either.
I literally just finished collecting all collectables in Wolfenstein Youngblood (except for the 1st cassette tape... Darn it!). I uninstalled it, and I just bought Spider-Man Remastered, and Gotham Knights, but I haven't played them yet.
I still play TF2 every now and again.
I beat Resident Evil 4 and I loved it and I’m most of the way through RE:7 Biohazard which I’m thoroughly enjoying. I’ll probably move onto RE:8 Village while I wait for Baldur’s Gate 3 to come out on ps5.
I’m losing interest in diablo4 but I feel obligated to beat it once since I spent so much on it.
I’ve played about 15 hours of EVE Online. It’s one of those games I’d heard a lot about, but knew almost nothing about the actual gameplay. It’s pretty enjoyable, and there’s enough downtime for me to read/work/etc while I’m mining or traveling. Usually I play solo in multiplayer games (partially because I’m not exactly great with people), but I might look into the social aspects of the game when I get more time to play.
Been playing a bit of Halls of Torment. It's like Vampire Survivors but with a Diablo skin and some options around how active or passive you want to be with it. You can actually both aim and execute your attacks if you want. I tend to play with auto-attack on but manual aiming. It's a lot of fun so far!
I mainly play chess these days, but I've dabbled a little bit in Darkest Dungeon 2. I like it, not sure if I like it as much as the original but it's fun so far. The stagecoach driving is a bit weird for my taste, but it is cool as an idea. I do miss the Hamlet from the original Darkest Dungeon.
I just finished playing Cassette beasts. I like how they took a creature collector/monster taming game and put their own spin on it.
You start out waking up in another dimension with people who have all come from different earths. You may run into characters from literature, or someone from the 80's or a world in which most of its history sounds like ours, but they had a shark man attack some time after world war II I think so a lot of interesting comments from different characters.
The rules of reality work a bit different there. You can use a cassette player to record various creatures from legends and mythology and become one in order to fight back against the creatures in that world. If your purpose resonates with the companion characters you are traveling with, both of your characters monster forms can fuse into one big one for more power during fights. Recording certain monsters can change what you can do as a human. Recording one kind near the beginning can give you wings and let you glide, another lets you zoom quite fast, which makes up for the generally slow walking speed, and various other abilities as you go through the game.
They have what are called bootleg tapes, basically monsters who are a different element than the usual for that breed. Bootleg recordings have different attacks and often learn rarer ones you can then take from those cassettes and use on compatible forms if you so choose.
Let's just say that turning into a sheep ghost in order to fight predatory real estate vampires is a normal day in that world.
I've been playing Ghost of Tsushima the PS5 version.
I got a PS5 in the mid of my uni semester because I've got some money saved from being a TA, Ghost of Tsushima was the first game that i wanted to try because SAMURAIS!!!. Really been liking all the art direction of the game, it is just beautiful, and coming from being a PC player i have to say that the gameplay experience with the Dualsense is perfect, those adaptative triggers are excellent. The next game I want to try is Bloodborne.
Sorry for going a little off-topic now but I have noted that PS5 doesn't have really that much games, they are mostly PS4 remaster/upgraded versions and that was a little of downer for me. Hope more games release exclusively.
Any game recommendation for the PS5 is welcome.
Replaying DOOM '16 & Eternal. Both are so insanely good.
As someone who was twelve in '93, DOOM is in my DNA and 2016's reverent art (and especially sound) design fills me with joy.
And Eternal is such an unexpected swing, such a gleeful overload, that it makes 2016 feel almost subdued by comparison. I don't think one is better than the other, which is the biggest compliment I can think of.
DOOM '16 is the more streamlined, grab-yer-gun-and-get-to-shooting of the two, with little of Eternal's resource management or progression tiers. But the way your resources deplete in Eternal makes the whole game play like one of 2016's timed rune challenges. Leave it to Id to turn your health/ammo stats into enemies. Outside of Devil Daggers, Eternal is the most relentless and exhausting game I've ever played.
I've been playing Baldur's Gate III - Early Access after being gifted recently. (I was holding off until after release and all the bugs were quashed) - it is incredible how well made it is, and how much the combat is fun as heck like DOS2. Larian does know how to make great Isometric D&D style games.
And also I've been playing this fantastic game called Baba is You which is a complete mind melting puzzle game with charming art and a lovely soundtrack to really tickle your brain. It's great fun on the Steam Deck (which BG III is as well, but I'll wait until they have native controller support)
Honestly. Playing CSGO mainly and using Duckstation to play old PSX games off and on, mainly Jumping Flash and Rally Cross.
I'm playing Ocarina of Time again.