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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'm playing Against the Storm and it's a really outstanding city builder. Each town is a randomized 1-2 hour puzzle, making them feel like binge-able little snacks, but they're also steps in a caravan route, so you always have long-term goals to work towards. Rewards for each town can also be plowed back into the capital city to unlock meaningful gameplay changes for a sense of rogue-lite global progression. Within each town you have to balance the demands of food, fuel, housing, industry, and exploration under constant pressure from the weather and random events, but it manages to avoid being either unfair or tedious by giving you as much agency as you care to take on - even allowing you to select your own objectives from procedurally generated options. The cartoonish world and idiosyncratic fantasy races also set a pleasant tone that reminds me of playing Warcraft 3 as a kid. Now that games are a service and fun has been rendered obsolete by seasonal battlepasses, it is an absolute delight to find a game that never takes my time or my effort for granted. 10/10 Instant classic.
I've had a good time with Against the Storm as well, only got as far as finishing the first two seals so far but it's something I want to come back to when I'm in the mood for it just for another round or two at a time.
Stardeus. It's very much a 'Rimworld in Space' with some great humor and an interesting perspective in playing as a computer in the ship rather than some ethereal colony manager. The relationship to your crew is a bit different because of this and while it is your mission to find the crew a new world to colonize you can begin to see them as just another resource. Especially if you find an 'Asimov Override'.
The game is still early access so it still feels there is room for a lot more content (I really hope they add ship vs ship combat) but it does have a lot to explore and have fun with already. I think another similar game Space Haven is a bit further along in resource management but that game requires a lot more babysitting of each crewmen which thankfully isn't an issue in Stardeus.
I mean, Rimworld is already in space, sort of :-) That does sound fun, though!
From what I have seen of the game it is similar to the Save Our Ship mod for Rimworld. So, depending how you are that mod, it is either going to be great fun or not. I do have my eye on this one and I am waiting on it being released from early access to get it.
I am playing Genshin Impact because my seven-year-old niece is obsessed with it. We got co-op mode going when I was visiting and now we're playing remotely using video chat.
She is a better fighter than I am and knows the lore better; I often have trouble remembering characters' names. I mostly like exploring and unlocking new regions. It's a very pretty game, if you ignore all the stuff that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. There is obvious Breath of the Wild influence, but I think the original did some things better.
I played GI for a good year after its release. Got a bit tired of the grind loop, but it will always have a warm place in my heart for such beautiful scenery and fantastic music. The music especially.
I tried out Levelhead which was a gift from @phoenixrises . I spent a few hours with this game over the course of two sessions and played through many levels in the solo (training campaign).
At its core, Levelhead appears to be a fully 2D puzzle platformer in which you control a little delivery robot. In each level, you have to find and collect a package, then deliver it to a target location, with other optional objectives on a per-level basis. The solo campaign - which contains comical voice acted "cheerful dystopian company briefing" style interludes - seems pretty vast, but what the game really wants you to do is design your own levels and share them with other players; essentially this is a Mario Maker-like.
I didn't love the very colorful, very flat art style, to be honest; it often made things difficult to parse and made it difficult to make certain assumptions about the functions and effects of elements I hadn't previously encountered. I was into the puzzle solving component of the game, which catered to my tastes, until quite abruptly it turned into the type of platformer that's more about navigating with expert timing tight sequences of hazards that can kill you in one hit. The checkpointing for that wasn't super good, either.
Unfortunately, while I tried a few player-made levels, I have discovered - perhaps unsurprisingly - that the average player isn't a very good level designer. The criteria for levels being accepted into the "permanent" section of the game don't seem to have much to do with level quality, nor did I find a mechanism for providing quality feedback.
I'm a fairly decent platformer player and have prevailed through this type of game in the past, but I felt like Levelhead really set the wrong expectations here. I'm no speedrunner, nor was I in speedrunner mode, so I set this game aside for now. Though I do understand this game has a loyal fanbase creating plenty of content for it. In fact, one of my Steam friends has spent more than a hundred hours on it. So it might be the game for you!
I also played Blue Fire, a gift from... @phoenixrises ! I completed 100% of this game, including things not tracked by achievements, in 13 hours.
Blue Fire is a 3D platformer with combat, possibly soulslike pretensions. I will be drawing some comparisons to Kena: Bridge of Spirits, the most similar game I've played in recent years, and other games.
First of all, I thought the platforming was pretty good, though not all steam reviewers seem to agree; the satisfying, responsive parkour represented the main appeal of the game to me (more than in Kena!) For my skill level, it was challenging but never really frustrating. You start the game with just the ability to jump and dash (and air dash) and unlock a slew of additional movement abilities as you go, until you can double dash, triple jump, sprint, wall run, air spin, etc. (reminded me a bit of Supraland!) The game takes place entirely indoors (though there are some outward facing balconies) within a floating castle/island hovering over a desolated landscape, and operates on a "if you can reach it, you can keep going that way" basis - no invisible walls other than cutscene triggers - so it's absolutely possible to use movement combos to work around fights and speed up traversal. One time I was doing what I thought was an unintended bit of climbing using wall jumps on a tricky out of the way spot and at the top of the climb found a chest with one of the best weapons in the game. Now that's the stuff! Spread throughout the game world there are entry points to "voids", which are instanced platforming challenges that reward you with heart containers, expanding your health bar. All are optional and helpfully rated between 1 and 5 stars. The 5 star voids were the only challenges I found a little frustrating, but even those can be cheesed with some finesse!
The visuals are... fine. The 3D models are fairly simplistic, which is unsurprising considering this game was developed by a very small team. The inhabitants of the castle are blobby shadow creatures, and while the level designs are pretty good on a macro scale, the close details are unimpressive. In that Blue Fire is vastly inferior to Kena, which was like playing through a high budget Pixar movie complete with a cast of lovable unique voice acted characters. There were some weird minor UI issues, such as there being no way? (or no easy way at least) to check how much I had of certain things. Like Kena, Blue Fire has an excessive amount of purchaseable cosmetics that do nothing practical, which in Blue Fire are tunics for the main character to wear. The "cheap" currency in Blue Fire is even easier to find than in Kena; it's just lying around all over the place, and in fact it's so easy to farm the main limitation on purchases is the capacity of your purse, which can be extended if you find the right vendors. There are loads of "gemstone" items in chests whose only purpose is that they can be sold for even more money, and I never had to sell a single one of them.
Unlike Kena, Blue Fire has a whole bunch of actually useful items, which I appreciated. The character wields dual swords, and there are many sets to be found with increasing attack powers, which are essential in combat (read below). There is also a system of equippable (only at save points) "spirits" not unlike the charms in Hollow Knight or many similar games. There are 18 unique spirits hidden throughout the game and each gives you a benefit while equipped, which are usually related to currency income, attacks, damage mitigation or movement options, but a limited amount of slots to equip them in; more slots can be purchased and the game isn't too stingy with the currency required for those.
The combat is pretty bad. One thing I quite liked about Kena were the true soulslike boss fights; they all shared a common aesthetic, but were unique encounters with unique phases, attack patterns and strategies required to defeat them. They were pretty difficult fights but it was satisfying to get good at them; the enemies felt really "heavy" and solid in the world. In contrast, Blue Fire's enemies have uneven difficulties and uneven hitboxes; sometimes you go from on area into another and suddenly it takes six or seven hits to kill each basic respawning grunt, and they hit hard. There is a parry mechanic I quickly stopped using because for some reason it requires mana, which you run out of quickly, and seems to have a slight cooldown. But dodging using the dash isn't always effective either, since even if it appears the enemy missed you, you can take damage; on the other hand, sometimes you swing right at the enemy and they don't take damage. So here's my combat guide for every single enemy encounter in Blue Fire:
Which is definitely not the kind of nuanced strategic combat you would expect from a soulslike! So I'd say Blue Fire fails at being that. But I did have a lot of fun playing it anyway; a great accomplishment from a tiny team of developers!
Previous
Video games:
Slay the Spire
Still my main go-to. I've been experimenting more with different cards and strategies. One of my main goals has been winning with The Watcher without going for the Rushdown combo. I have succeeded once with what I would describe as a Calm/Divinity Control/Combo deck. I can share a couple screenshots if anyone's interested. Or some screenshots of other runs. Do people still use imgur to host or..?
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Really cool portrayal of a character who hears "the voices". Fairly cinematic game with some breaks for combat - the controls for which weren't totally intuitive to me and I didn't realize for quite a while that I could block. I struggled a bit with multi-enemy fights because of that. I also got stuck longer than I should have on the level with illusions. I didn't see what some of the gates were changing when I walked through them. Have been meaning to play another level but haven't gotten around to it.
Board games:
Castles of Burgundy
I played it once years ago and have been wanting to play again. With the new fancy edition released last year, someone on BGG recommended checking for used copies on the cheap. Sure enough I found one - the 2019 edition, in great condition. The core gameplay is that you roll 2 dice each round, and there are (usually) several options for you to use each die on, typically acquiring hex tiles from a central board, and then later placing those tiles out onto your personal board. Different tiles of different types will give you bonuses like immediately gaining/placing another tile, generating coins, improving your place in the turn order, getting points, etc. You can also spend a die to get 2 workers, which let you boost or decrease the value of a die if you got unlucky. You get bonus points for completing sections of your board quicker, but you also score more points for completing larger sections.
I have been playing worker placement games a lot, and I think this has a similar feel but instead of the tension being over taking certain actions/blocking them from the opponent, instead you're trying to get the tiles you want, maybe taking some your opponent wants. And seeing what they rolled, try to limit their options.
Taught a friend how to play, and lost :) Rolls on the last few turns were unkind and I just barely wasn't able to complete my big section of building tiles. Will be interesting to play with the asymmetric player boards.
Ultimate Railroads
I've been playing the Russian Railroads base game for years now, but a friend just picked up this edition which comes with several expansions. We've tried everything now except one of the small modules. I like how the new boards incentivize advancing all of your available tracks. The German expansion is my favourite, as it gives you options for what bonuses are on 2 of your tracks, as you advance on them. But the craziest moment was produced by the Asian expansion where I was able to plop down 2 factories that give you X points for your engineer value, then score each of them twice in the last round of the game.
Great Western Trail - Rails to the North expansion
The main mechanic introduced is a new aux. action that lets you place houses on locations north of the board that can unlock some strong bonuses and additional delivery locations. It also changes up the main delivery bonuses/penalties. I made a huge blunder in the misplacement of a building (not the new house thing, just base game thing), and my opponent capitalized on it by placing his taxing building there. I felt like I kind of ruined my whole game and didn't get to really get what the expansion had to offer. Will need to try again.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses keeps bouncing from my 'shelved games' list to my 'in progress' one. I also keep casually picking up Fire Emblem (GBA) and I can't help but compare the two, mainly in the way 'relationship' stuff can easily end up taking over so much of the gameplay time. I start up the GBA game and after a few blocks of heads talking to each other, I'm back into another battle. Meanwhile, even with fast travel, I'm spending time running around the Monastery trying to find all the baubles and make sure I answer the things properly which can easily add another half hour in between getting to the next battle. I know that I can just not do it but with all the bonuses conferred from building bonds and doing stuff in your 'down time' it makes sense to do it.
I guess having played them over the years, they seemed like cool features but when I'm continually pushed to hit on my students it just makes it... Odd. At least in Bauldur's Gate or Mass Effect I'm hitting on adults. I just want to play the battles and get the story not run around and pick up shimmery blue lights for socially awkward teens.
Supports in FE are weird. Getting them in the GBA games is a ton of busy work. It's more time consuming to get them compared to the post awakening games, but the latter games are more intrusive with the mechanic. Old supports still had a gameplay effect, but they also felt like hidden dialog, while they feel almost mandatory in the new ones. I can't really say that the games would be better without them though because I think the good ones are really good.
I've tried to figure out what I expect 'the balance' to be but I've kind of given up. I don't hate the idea of it but I just think that Xcom does it better, though that leaves the story part up to you to make up instead which definitely doesn't meet the vision I feel FE has in mind.
Started playing Sea of Stars this weekend. It's been a long time since I picked up a JRPG. The scantily clad girls, overly dramatized writing, and long play times just aren't my thing anymore.
But I'm really enjoying this game. It's a throwback to Chrono Trigger and FFVI era RPGs. A lot of dialog in some places but so far not enough to make me bored. The writing is tropy but entertaining enough. Combat is simple but requires attention. But the real highlight of the game is how beautiful the environments are with their detail and lighting.
Map design is also excellent, you can wander and explore and more often than not end up exactly where you want to be. About 3 hours in and looking forward to clocking a bit more time this evening.
As someone who spent a whole weekend 100%ing Sea of Stars, I'd be very curious to hear your thoughts and if they change at all once you get to the end! :)
I booted Celeste back up. When I got it a year or two ago, I played through all the base levels. This week I went through all the B sides and discovered there are C sides as well as the Farewell chapter being quite long. So I learned wave dashing in Farewell and am progressing through that. I'll go back for the C sides as well. This game is phenomenal, though. If you're at all a fan of platformers, you need this game. It has a good progression of levels so that you can still get through the base story with limited experience in platformers, but some of the bonus levels are RIDICULOUS. I'm generally pretty good at platformers and I'm being tested pretty well right now and I love it!
I also picked up and started Remnant 2. I bought this after seeing Iron Pineapple play through some bosses. I'm a fan of souls games, so I decided I'd give it a try. To be honest, the game is pretty jank so far. There are just a lot of small things that prevent it from being super smooth to me. I do want to stick around for the boss fights, though, as I'm sure the game will click with me once I'm a few more hours in. I started on veteran difficulty, but I may step down to normal as I can already tell that I'll have some frustrating gameplay later on veteran.
Overall, I have been into a lot of longer, story centric games lately, but I feel the tide turning a bit, with me getting back into Celeste, finally finishing Metroid Dread, and picking up The Messenger after someone else's recommendation here. After watching a ton of GDQ recently, I think I'm gonna be vibing with some simpler and shorter games for a bit. My interest in different genres generally comes and goes, so I'm used to it. I'll have a platformer spree now and get back to story games in 6 months or something lol
If you're enjoying Celeste and want a little break between Farewell and the C-Sides, there's the Strawberry Jam Mod which has a ton of custom levels and mechanics. I work through it a little at a time every few months. I'm happy the community is keeping the game going because it is such a solid sandbox.
I haven't watched the run yet, but I saw someone ran Strawberry Jam at GDQ a couple weeks ago, so it's definitely on my radar! Before that, I didn't know the game even had mod support. You're right that the game is a super tight sandbox and can probably allow for some crazy shit!
https://youtu.be/lSsvaT-OTdY?si=gCjPb-5ydBnJ_RpU
I just tried to set this up on Steam Deck and it seems the mod launcher Olympus doesn't play nice with the game if it was installed via Heroic. Rather than trying to sort out that mess, I might just wishlist Celeste and buy it on Steam next time it's on sale for $5. Another option would be to get the AGDQ humble bundle that's on now for CA$13.34+, but I'm not really interested in any of the other games.
God of War: Ragnarok - Give Me God of War
It's kicking my freaking ass right now, gang. Such a beautiful way to play though, imo. It's filled with frustration and near tears and got damn. But I'll say it's caused me to slow down, plan my moves, and appreciate the scenes more (mainly cause I'm stuck on the same level for days at a time).
If you played GoW2018, and beat Sigrun, you know the feeling of exhalation when you finally won. I'm getting that same relief every time I size up a Berserker in this game, only I have 7 more fuckers to go. Only like 2/3 thru the main story!
I'm not a professional, but it makes me feel really good to work at something and (eventually) overcome it!
I want to get to Valhalla too, but I fear it'll be a while... Lol
I've started playing System Shock (the remake one).
I have played the old one back in the day, like 25 years ago. I just remembered that it was a great game with good atmosphere and remember the villain name and setting of the game.
I had the remake in my sights for a long time and actually pre-ordered it on GOG.com at around 2020. Since I play on Steam Deck and I'm over fiddling with anything (looong time Linux gamer, long before Wine 1.0), I waited for Steam sale and got it now.
The game is great! I love that you are, just as you were in the original old one, thrown in it and everything is DIY since that moment. You don't know how to open inventory? That's your problem. You don't know how to fight? Your problem. You don't know how to advance? Well, that really is YOUR problem.
This game doesn't hold yur hand at all! And it is what I love about it. I come from time when you had to play, gather information from the game and remember it. You could replay (or rather reread) it but it was your job to make mental journal about everything. And it is how remake of System Shock plays.
Good old hardcore game where you have to pay attention and have to look for details. All of this in heavy atmosphere that is very well made thanks to the setting of the game and also thanks to modern features like lighting and shadows.
It certainly isn't for everyone. I may even go as far to say it is not for this time (or age) of gaming. If it was new game and not a remake of famous old game, it would probably struggle to keep afloat. But this one hits all the right strings in old players like myself.
The game looks stunning in modern look and it complements the already heavy atmosphere and setting of the game. Original was great, remake makes it even better!
Just finished playing Cocoon on the switch as I wrote on the last "what have you been playing". Fun indie puzzler with some neat mechanics and a world that I really love. The puzzles were a bit on the easy side for me, but that also meant that I had the energy to make it all the way through. The switch wasn't really powerful enough with a bit of uneven framerate, so I recommend getting it on another platform if you have the option.
I've mostly been playing XCOM 2 since I finished up Spider-Man 2. The only remotely similar game I'd played in the past were the Mario + Rabbids games which are obviously heavily indebted to XCOM but also much more forgiving. I actually started over last night on the easiest difficulty and am finding it much more manageable. I was only playing on normal before, but was finding it frustrating that I seemed to keep overextending myself and getting into unwinnable situations, primarily due to a new enemy/mechanic that the game did not prepare me for.
For example: I was playing a retaliation mission and went to rescue a hostage when suddenly the hostage morphed into an alien. Which I can account for now that I know that happens, but since I was not aware, I had ended my turn in an extremely unfavorable position, and after losing that soldier to the newly discovered enemy and getting another soldier mind controlled, I had no real way to win that mission.
But allowing myself to reset and approach the game at the easiest difficulty to really learn how to approach situations has made missions take far less time and actually feel winnable (and satisfying).
Another example of a kind of unfun mechanic is the Will/Shaken trait. In the last run, a good 50% of my soldiers were shaken and I could not get through a single mission with flawless status, or even having any of my soldiers unwounded. It made it so hard to complete a turn even when one hit would send my whole squad into panic mode. Starting over was the right call.
XCOM can be frustrating because they hit percentage could be 90% and they miss. That dice roll is set once your in position. So you can't just redo that move to reroll. I really like the XCOM games, but that always bothered me.
I read, maybe in the wiki, that one of the devs said that the numbers are inflated (or deflated) depending on the situation and the actual roll percentage is higher or lower. That kind of annoys me if I'm understanding it correctly.
But yeah, I was trying to save scum just to get through a situation with minimal losses and discovered that rolls were predetermined in some manner and that was about the time I decided I should start a new save from scratch.
Yea if I had to save scum too much, then I would just start the level from scratch. I might replay it this year. Doing a permadeath run could be fun lol
Still playing Jedi: Survivor. About a third of the way through. The fast travel is very convenient, but the UI could use some work. I enjoy riding the creatures too. I unlocked the mini game. I really enjoy playing that! Gives more incentive to scanning opponents. That and meeting more citizens.
Playing Marvel Snap as well. Still really enjoy it. It's my go to mobile game. I think I've gotten to a point where I can hit infinity every season. Still got plenty of cards to unlock and upgrade though. The new deck builder mechanic is fun. Seems to be hit or miss though in terms of quality decks.
Does the "nope, you can't do that yet, you'll just have to come back later " metroidvania aspect of Survivor lighten up at all? I'm not quite as far as you and it seems like I'm going to have to basically replay the whole game if I want to explore everything. Every single area has multiple blocked paths and I can't explore anything fully. I can appreciate a bit of that (Fallen Order didn't bother me) but this feels extreme, especially when I know 90% of these things are probably only hiding cosmetics chests.
Not really. There's some less or more of those depending on how long your in the planet. Game says I just past 50% completion and I just got the ability to pass the green walls and maybe use the floating thingys? So backtracking for me! It is mostly cosmetic, but there are the skill point and echos.
What's this new deck-builder mechanic you mentioned?
I played a lot of Snap a few months ago, probably about a year ago at this point. I was getting to infinity every season, had almost all the cards unlocked (at the time), and was having a blast. But then they started adding/changing some convoluted pricing and release structures for the new cards being released and I just kinda lost interest in the way the game was feeling increasingly monetized. It just felt a bit too FOMO-y for me. Does it still feel like that today?
The monetization is still there, but I'll say I'm at collection level 10,000 and haven't paid a single dollar in the game and I'm able to hit infinity on a regular basis. If you play enough you'll be able to unlock cards you want, and still have cool decks to work with and climb with even if you don't have all the cards.
They did change things up a bit with unlocks. There are rotations every week of 3 cards you have a 25% chance to unlock (or a new variant) using keys that you earn through collection levels. You can save all your keys for a week where the cards are interesting to you. Once you unlock one of the cards for that week, the chances for the other 2 cards goes up to 33% (and so on). I think it's a fairish middle ground.
The auto deck builder is something they recently added where you can pick 1-11 cards and then have the game auto fill your deck for you, based on what will complement your existing deck. I've been having fun with it since hitting Infinity this season by randomly picking 2-3 cards and then auto filling the test and trying to win with whatever deck it gives. It generated a pretty cool Werewolf by Night deck for me using Nico and Absorbing Man.
I'm in the same boat as far as collection level and spending money. The spotlight keys are cool. I just save mine up until there's a week with a new card I really want to try. I like it better than just the collector's reserve odds. But they did lessen how often you get tokens. So I do spend my gold on it occasionally. Which isn't a huge deal since you unlock a decent amount by just completing the weekly challenge.
That's a really fun idea! I'll have to try that
Still on a Dyson Sphere Program kick. Completed one game with relatively low difficulty options (double ore abundance, default difficulty Dark Fog) then decided to use what I learned to start a new game with harder options - 50% resources instead of double, with the Dark Fog starting and growth factors increased. Despite the added difficulty, reached the tech tree completion milestone in a bit over half the time. Now that I've got a fairly robust blueprint library, I'm debating whether to keep going on the current setup, or to do another restart and go for the first speed achievement (plus increase the difficulty rating another tick), which I wasn't too far off this time.
edit
New game started! Still 50% resource abundance (the only possible lower setting is Scarce/10%, which seems... not fun), but really cranked the combat difficulty up. My first run had a difficulty rating of about 100 (~100% of base values); the second 400%, and this time 900%, which seemed to be a recommendation from some fan pages for a level that is Hard But Not Insane.
Odd pick but Another Code: Recollection for the Nintendo Switch. I'm generally a fan of these DS-era adventure/puzzle games, and seeing two of them get remade for modern platforms is pretty good.
Unfortunately, despite the remake and art being incredibly high quality (and the cast being endearing,) the story being told is incredibly middling and the puzzles were too darn simple. Can't help but feel a bit burned now having paid full price for the game.
As someone who recently beat it too, did you like the first or second part the most? While I really enjoy the atmosphere in the first one, the characters in the second gives it just enough of a push to be my favourite
Oh the second one by far, yeah. It's a marked step up.
Sunk about 40 hours into Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth so far, and the game really lives up to its name in that it feels like there's an infinite wealth of things to do, almost too much in fact. Honolulu City is a sprawling locale and just traveling around, hitting up the shops, beating up random thugs, and saying hi to anything that breathes is a ton of content already. Then there's the various minigames scattered throughout the city you can play to earn points for rewards, which are quick breaks from the usual turn based combat. I haven't gone that deep into the Sujimon side game and only beaten the first gym leader so far, but it's well integrated into the main game, what with other trainers and raids scattered about the city for you to battle at your convenience.
I've also just unlocked Dondoko Island, which is the game's Animal Crossing clone and while I've never played an Animal Crossing game before, I'm pretty hooked so far. Plus, you can use your resort's income to supplement your cash in the main game so it's not just a cute distraction.
I saw a game called Anomaly Agent show up on my steam front page and I have no idea what about it made me pick it up. I'm used to most games, even indies, having even a little bit of buzz or getting a shout-out on some show or podcast. But this just turned up, overwhelmingly positive, amazing soundtrack and a demo that sold me on it.
It's a 2D beat-em-up with deceptively deep combat. Thankfully, they ease you into the gameplay systems with a constant stream on new enemies, weapons, power-ups and combos. And while they're not doing anything groundbreaking, there's interesting use of geometry and level layouts that explores the world and fiction. Story wise, it's absurdist Time Cop shenanigans and anything more would be a spoiler.
Also started playing Void Stranger over the holidays on a friends recommendation. It's a gameboy esthetic, block puzzle game but I don't think that's what you're playing it for. It's a vibes game that's feels very inspired by anime/manga like Berserk and Made In Abyss. Lots of lore, hidden and explicit. Esoteric characters and situations. Odd perspectives and flash backs. Decisions that feel at the same time inconsequential and massively important. I'm a sucker for all of that. They're also following the current puzzle game trends of being exceptionally meta: messing with saves, kicking you out and counting on you to break assumed rules and limitations. I don't know if I can recommend it to everyone though. I'm 20hrs in so far and looking at reviews, people are getting up to 50hr, 80hr and even 140hr playtimes and seems like it can get exceptionally tedious to discover everything. Maybe look up a few reviews if you're on the fence (maybe not steam though, some people will outright spoil everything).
I've been mostly playing the painting game, trying to get a large amount of miniatures painted for a tournament in March, but when I feel like I can take a break, I've been putting time into Breath of the Wild.
Frankly, I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying it. I don't tend to really like Nintendo games all that much, generally finding myself getting bored fairly rapidly (at least with newer games), but I'm loving the exploration in this. I'm a player who loves to explore generally, so this game is really scratching that itch for me. I'm not far into it, maybe 20 hours, but I just finished the first (water?) Dungeon. One of my main complaints so far was that I had to look up a guide for this dungeon, because I got stuck. I'd assumed that the map room would open when I hit enough switches, but that never happened and it stopped my progress in its tracks. What I didn't realize is that I was supposed to use an ability to open the door, but the fact that the ability can do that was never sign posted or shown to me, so I kind of felt annoyed about that. Otherwise, I'm still enjoying it and will definitely continue.
Also been fiddling around with Advance Wars 2 on my DSi in the evenings. I love this series so much. The DSi isn't the ideal way to play GBA games, but for whatever reason, it's just the system I really feel like using right now. Though perhaps I should dig out my modded SP and flash cart instead, though the flash cart does occasionally corrupt saves and I'm not entirely sure I'm willing to put up with that again.
I'm actually going through Advance Wars 1 right now on my SP! 2 will definitely be on my list later!
Fortunately, I can afford the frankly ridiculous prices of original carts, so I'm playing on a normal copy instead of a flash cart, but before I get back into Gameboy gaming, I should probably learn how to replace those damn cartridge batteries so I don't eventually lose save games.
I actually think I love AW1 way more than 2. I know 2 is supposed to be more balanced, but I also find it overly long, with what seems like a lot of unnecessary gristle, where 1 was focused and straight to the point.
I don't think this is a common or popular opinion, but just the thoughts I had the last time I played through the GBA games.
What's your opinion on playing on original hardware versus emulation? I'm actually a little bit torn here: would love to play on my handheld I use for emulation due to save states and rewind, as well as suspend, but there's something nice about the original hardware itself.
I tend to enjoy games more on original hardware. I've tried playing some Genesis and SNES games on my PC and it just doesn't hit the same. Part of it might be nostalgia, part of it might be the controller (maybe if I used USB Genesis/SNES controllers?), but original hardware just feels better to me. With the case of GBA, I can't really use the original controller on my PC, so I just have the entire console for that.
On the subject, I've been toying with the idea of buying a SNES, some games, and a CRT before SNES consoles get super expensive (about $180 right now for a non yellowed one).
For handhelds, I've thought about things like the Miyoo Mini, but I'd honestly rather spend the extra money on original hardware.
I'm a sucker for emulation on a handheld, myself. I do actually own a SNES and CRT (if your interested , I refurbed it about 2 or 3 years ago ) and while I do like the nostalgia it provides, I rarely use it. My kids like it, so I keep it around, but for me, I'm tired of being tethered to a spot and I have a difficult time giving up the modern conveniences of emulation.
If you do decide to go that route, I'd recommend an FXPak Pro. They're not cheap, but it'll relieve you of the exploitative resellers selling carts at a premium. Another thing to be aware of is that an issue was discovered relatively recently with the SNES hardware that may prevent it from working.
I do actually own a Mini and I use it here and there (used to use it a bunch), but found I prefer my Vita for most things. That said, there's so many of the emulation handhelds out there today for dirt cheap, it might be worth it to pick up one of the $50 or so ones to experiment with and see if you like it. Retro Game Corps is an excellent resource if you find yourself interested in going down that particular road.
Thank you for all the helpful info!!!
Good gosh, Advance Wars 2 is a masterpiece. Dual Strike felt bloated after that perfect balance, and Days of Ruin was just plain ugly. Hopefully the series gets a little new life after the Switch remake.
DoR was actually my introduction to the series and I absolutely didn't "get it" at the time. I still wasn't much into strategy games at the time, but much later tried Dual Strike via emulation on my phone and absolutely loved it, completing it and then later moving on to the GBA series.
DoR definitely lacks all the charm of the series. I do intend to go back to it at some point, but when I think Advance Wars, it's definitely not he one that comes to mind first.
Advanced Wars: Reboot Camp on Switch is a pretty good remake. They remade the first two games and it's a good time. I really liked it. Totally recommend it
I can't remember if I got stuck on that puzzle in BOTW, but almost the exact situation happened to me in Tears of the Kingdom. I totally forgot to try out what I considered "overworld abilities" in the dungeon. And a very similar "they didn't tell me it could do that!" situation happened to me in Metroid Prime with an ability you get.
For GBA games, I have a real Advance Wars 2 cart sat in a box, but digging these old physical games out is a pain. Emulated ROMs are so much easier. Also, I dislike playing them on a real GBA now after getting used to newer hardware. The original SP screen is too small and very dim, although maybe a modded one is better. The DSi would be pretty good too, I'd have thought. Especially if it is an XL. I played through Minish Cap again on a Phat DS a couple of years back - since those can run GBA carts - and that was pretty nice looking if a little small. I modded my 3DS recently but have only tried Game Boy games so far on it, haven't tried GBA. Seems fiddly because there are about 4 ways to run GBA games, from some kind of native method to emulated, all with different flaws, whereas GB games run pretty well emulated in Retro Arch (and retro achievements work too). My old GBA flash cart doesn't save either, and all my DS ones stopped working too. Who'd have thought dodgy pirate hardware would be so flakey?! :-D
I feel a little dumb for not figuring out the puzzle on my own in BotW, but at the same time, I do feel like it was a bit of an oversight. I did figure out the other spots to use abilities in that dungeon, but for some reason, that one just didn't seem obvious.
A modded SP is a give and tank, honestly. I love the form factor of the SP (though the DSi is actually quite a bit thinner, maybe like 40%, in spite of being longer), as well as the clicky buttons, but it's not great this day in age. I have an original AGS-101 as well and I worry about the plastic being brittle and yeah, the screen is pretty crappy overall. Lots of ghosting and generally dim, so difficult to use outside.
Modded ones are definitely better, with an IPS screen it gets super bright, colors look very nice (though still not exactly like an AGS-101), but the biggest issue: Battery life. I rescued my modded SP from an AGS-101 that was broken in two; put the new IPS screen on it, new shell, new big battery (Mahko battery mod) and have an EZ-Flash Omega Definitive Edition, which is supposed to be a better, but cheaper option for flash cart (though not anywhere close to an Everdrive) and with all this, it's a great machine that can play any GBA game and not have to haul carts around. I'd be willing to put up with some of the flakiness of the EZFlash (which I have had corrupt saves, in spite of the claim that it doesn't do that), but with all the mods and the flash cart, I was seeing about an hour and a half of battery life while playing Castlevania. I've been thinking about modding in a USB-C port so it would be easier to lug around, but that still just doesn't solve the fundamental problem of an hour and a half of battery. I just can't do that.
The DSi is pretty nice for GBA, but it is actually emulation. It's pretty close to perfect, but again, still emulation and you don't get the benefits of Save States and the like. That said, it looks fantastic and after playing a bit on both my modded SP and my Miyoo Mini, I'm preferring the DSi right now due to the compact form factor, good battery life and the ability to play native DS games.
The 3DS was pretty decent for emulation and I found mGBA to be the best way to do it. Injecting them so they run natively is nice, but you don't get access to save states, as well as suspend doesn't actually work when you inject the games, which is pretty unfortunate. Ultimately, I end-up rarely using my 3DS for similar reasons to the SP: I find the battery life pretty lackluster and I mostly want to play DS games anyway, which look a bit muddy and blurry on my N3DS.
All that said, yup on the older, cheaper flash carts! Almost all of them (including the R4 cards) have time bombs in them to stop them from working, plus they suck down battery life like it's going out of style. I'd highly recommend Twilight Menu++ since your 3DS is modded (can also use this on DSi), as it's just a piece of software and you can have all your DS games sitting on the system, so no excess battery drain.
Sorry for the long winded post!
No need to say sorry, I appreciate it! I've gone through all the stages of trying to figure out the different options on handheld emulation, playing on real hardware, phone + controller or what, because there are so many options, and they all have down sides. Ever felt like you're spending more time setting up emulators than actually playing the games? :-)
As well as a regular SP, I have an old old GBA that I put a front-light in years ago when that was a thing ("the afterburner" if you remember), but it looks like crap really and I've often considered an IPS mod. A few things put me off, one being the battery aspect. Hearing about real-world use is helpful in putting me off even more ;-)
Makes perfect sense to me.
I was very into modding Gameboys for a minute and have done all of them with the exception of the AGB and honestly, outside of it as a hobby, they just don't make practical sense.
Emulation is 100% of the way there when it comes to Gameboy and is significantly cheaper. Even modding a Gameboy yourself is about $150-$200 if you don't already own the hardware, then factor in the games or an Everdrive ($80-$100) and you're already beyond the price of a Switch.
Just makes good sense to pick up a $50-$80 Emulation handheld and use that instead. More options, cheaper and you're not going to be heartbroken if it breaks or you lose it.
Thankfully, I got out of the purely setting up games and Emulation awhile ago! I have such limited time these days, I hate futzing when I could be playing!
Tried the Pikmin 4 demo on my Switch. Played it, loved it.
Ordered the actual game and I've been loving it even more. It's very Nintendo-perfect, the difficulty curve is just right, they bring new stuff at regular intervals so the gameplay doesn't become boring. It's challenging enough, but not so challenging that I want to throw the Switch across the room =)
Session length is limited by the amount of daylight in game, so it's easy to play in short bursts and there's no need to commit to multiple hours - unless you want to.
I finally finished the final boss for Armored Core 6 a couple weeks ago. I set the game down, figuring I'd venture on to something new. Turns out, I still crave the robot-on-robot violence. So, now I'm working on S Ranking everything. It's impressive how, even after playing some of these missions multiple times, they're still enjoyable. Yeah, it gets easier the longer you play due to gear and your growth in skill, but I like to think that's part of the charm. The game was just incredibly well done and definitely my personal GOTY for last year.
My wife finished up Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and the Prequel, Future Redeemed, as well. Those were super fun games to watch her play. The games truly are a top tier JRPG series, and I'm excited to see what Monolithsoft does next. I'm struggling to talk more about what I enjoy about these two games without spoilers, so I'm going to hold off there for now. Perhaps in comments if people are interested in geeking out over the series itself.
In the board game realm, I got The Crew for Christmas and am immensely enjoying it. It's quickly become one of my favorite games in my collection. The only struggle I have is finding people who are ready for playing what is essentially a cooperative game of Bridge. I don't think the rules are that difficult for the game, but the depth of the strategy is immense and if you're not familiar with how these games operate, then you can quickly get overwhelmed by the potential outcomes.
I also bought my wife a copy of Quacks of Quedlinburg. We've played that a few times now and she absolutely adores it. I'm glad I picked out a game I'll be happy with playing many times over and over in the future.
I'm back in Stardew Valley after binging it for a month about four years ago, just prior to the first pandemic shutdowns here. That was on the Switch, now I'm on a Steam Deck with the newest patch additions and mods. Mostly just Stardew Valley Expanded and Grandpa's Farm to start for any game-changing mods though there's also a handy lookup add-on to give me info I'd otherwise go to the wiki for anyway.
It took me a while to shake off the rust, or maybe that's just what getting through the first spring is like for most people, but I've happily fallen back into the groove as I'm slowly expanding my farm again and have nearly gotten to the first winter. Maybe at some point I'll try challenge runs or completely different strategies for fun (or to romance other people since I'd feel bad breaking up with my current partner) but I'm going for a casual all-around approach again for now.
I'm still playing Stationeers as I was last time. Sunk about 20 hours or something into it, but it's wonderfully easy to spend time checking off tasks like a game of Factorio.
So far I've started on Mars, built a small base, automated my power, greenhouse gases and fuel. Want to get started on a big automated furnace setup in my newly built, currently not pressurised part of the base.
Long term I want to get everything stable so I can mess around with some really advanced automation without worry. I still have to nanny my plants and manually crush my water ice, but I'll get there.
I've picked up Old School Runescape again a few weeks back, and I regret doing so.
Other than the nightmare that is OSRS, I'm replaying Red Dead Redemption 2 and have been enjoying it. I've also been meaning to do a new playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 after the DLC launched, but just could not make myself open it, even if I did enjoy my first playthrough.
too tempting?
More like too draining.
Metropolis Street Racer, Dreamcast game from 2000 or so, Redream emulator. Setting your own goals is such a great mechanism, is there any game which does something similar (racing or not)?
The same company made Project Gotham Racing, which by the sounds of it has a similar system.
I played MSR back in the day on the Dreamcast, and thought it was a pretty good racer. I remember the big deal was it had real-life locations and lots of different "real" cars. The London tracks had all the landmarks, although the tracks were kinda crappy to race on, boring loops and barely clipping a fence your car would always stop dead. There was a San Francisco stage that was really good for doing drifting corners. And the Tokyo tracks were always at night because it used the real-time clock to show the right time around the world, and me being in Europe meant the time of day I played it was about 3am in Japan.
I've not thought about the game in 20+ years though. It was "our" (Dreamcast fans) Gran Turismo, so we tended to overlook the flaws. The hype for that game was incredible, and I think they rushed to get it out because the Dreamcast's end was already approaching.
For other games that have a set your own goals, I can only think of Kid Icarus on the 3DS, where you can put in a risk/reward thing to make the game more or less difficult. Put in no hearts and the game's super easy, but all the enemy drops are rubbish. Bump it up to the max and the drops are amazingly rare, but the game is very difficult because there are more mobs and they hit harder.
They did make the Gotham games after MSR, but the Xbox1 emulator I tried played that game in half-speed slowmo for me (which I find weird, xbox1 is /old/). So I haven't played any of those.
MSR is obviously still flawed, and you can cheat too easily (pick a track without time limit and slide around on a piece of road until you're bored, gaining kudos all the time). But I like that you can't change the cars themselves, and the emulator does make the city high res, so it's easier to race in the dark.
Will see check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_Icarus:_Uprising I missed all the DS games, only had the original game boy :)
Not sure how well Kid Icarus Uprising would work on an emulator, but on the 3DS itself it was a nightmare to control! It had touch-screen controls for the ground section, and cried out for twin-sticks (didn't exist on the original 3DS). Maybe there are hacks now so you could play it like a normal person :-)
Finally gave Rimworld a go and WOW I have been sleeping on this game. I have a server going with a good friend l, using the multiplayer mod, and it works seamlessly. Haven’t had this much fun in ages, and we’re only just starting.
I would recommend the Youtuber Mr. Samuel Streamer and his mod packs for Rimworld. His mod collections/packs on Steam are usually really popular, if you sort by popularity. Who really have me the push to get the game in the first place.
Thanks for the rec, I'll check him out. I'm still figuring out all the basics so I'm happy for now with the vanilla game. This is my first foray into colony management games other than dwarf fortress, which I played in high school and found a bit too complex. But after playing this, I'm wondering if down the line I should give that another try. Although one big aspect of Rimworld I like is this great multiplayer mod — half of the fun of gaming for me is the social aspect.
Started playing Assassins Creed. The first one. I think I got it in a humble bundle at some point and never played it. I haven't actually played any of the series before so may as well jump in here.
I've just made it to the first part where things open up a little so I can't really judge anything yet. But first impressions are that it's kind of slow. I'm assuming it picks up but I'm not looking forward to any missions that require you to slowly follow someone or slowly walk with a group of monks.
I played the first Assassin's Creed in, I think, 2016, and I actually just skipped over it after about 6-8 hours. I found it really dull and tedious. I watched the YouTube compilations of the story cutscenes and then jumped into the AC:2 trilogy which were much better games
I played it when it came out circa 2008 and at the time it was absolutely mindblowing, the graphics and detailed map and free roam, along with the story, made it feel like playing a movie. I can see how it might not have aged well, but at the time man, that game was something else.
Rift Wizard -
Really clean roguelike. I think if you're good you can probably finish it in an hour or so, but even if you're not it's really fun finding all the INSANE synergies you can come up with. Some builds play themselves, others require turn by turn optimization, and there are a TON of spells, skills, and upgrades to keep you finding new combos. If you like rougelikes at all I highly recommend checking it out.
Started playing Sands of Aura, an ARPG with some souls elements. Honestly pretty fun, but probably not for everyone.
I'm playing OpenTTD. Took a break from it for a few months. Having said that, I don't really game much. I just love trains lol, and I find that game very calming (until it gets unmanageable and I am forced to go through the manual and figure out how to organize my vehicles). I would call myself a later-stage beginner. In total I have put like 20 hours into it so far.
Just got Book of Demons: Hellcard, and it's been a blast puzzling through it with a friend. It's a deck building roguelike card battler in the style of Slay the Spire but designed with cooperative play in mind (up to 3 players). It's playable single-player, but you end up actually playing multiple decks and I find the analysis paralysis far more destructive to the experience in that scenario.