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What games have you guys been playing lately? Yall stick to a certain genre or play anything?
Hello ~games!
Like most of us, I spend way too much time gaming. Lately i've been playing Islands of the Nyne because PUBG hasn't been fun the past few patches. I normally play one genre at a time such as RTS, BR, MMO etc until i move onto a whole new genre of games.
What games or genre's have you been playing lately? Anything to recommend?
My favorite games tend to be ones with deeper emphasis on story. I can't speak highly enough of the Life is Strange series (and am presently planning my first tattoo which will be a reference to the games), and The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit has me very very hyped for Life is Strange 2. Other games in this sort of narrative/story genre which I particularly enjoy are Quarantine Circular, Firewatch, Night in the Woods, Tacoma, and Gone Home; among many others (my list is too long).
Factorio and RimWorld are great management/busy work games, in a genre I have found myself calling "podcast games" lately. Surviving Mars is another good one, which is a bit like Tropico in space, with some better mechanics. I don't like many rogue-likes, but FTL was previously a podcast game for me.
I typically dislike classic shooty-shoot games. They're cool—I guess—for the adrenaline rush, but I like experiences that are a bit more nuanced and cerebral. I've never had too many rewarding experiences in these games, I have only ever jumped in if it was to play with friends.
If you haven't already, please give Borderlands 1 & 2 a go. They're very fun, have a co-op mode for story, and for shooty-shoot games, they're probably the only series I ever come back to.
Your suggestion is pretty excellent because I've played them—they're great. Played Borderlands 1 in school, and through Borderlands 2 and Borderlands The Pre Sequel with my husband and our work friend. Co-op and the wacky story made it totally worth it.
Edit: I realize the irony in that none of the games I dislike would use the word "shooty-shoot", but Borderlands has absolutely used that term.
This seems like a really odd suggestion to someone who dislikes shooty-shoot games and likes deep emphasis on narratives and story. Borderlands is exclusively a shooty-shoot game and has a much stronger emphasis on jokes than it does story, much less a nuanced story. (I say this as someone with similar preferences to @cptcobalt, who also found Borderlands fun but quickly got bored of the repetition and lack of any narrative depth.)
How far in did you get? Borderlands is zany as all get out, but it does have some surprisingly decent writing, especially 2 and some of its DLCs, like Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep.
To be fair, I didn't get very far. I played the first one and I think part of the second one. The writing quality was good (I mean, you don't get jokes like that with sloppy writing) but I felt the narrative/plot didn't exactly have nuance or depth.
But I can't say that with total certainty since, like you alluded to, I didn't play the entire games.. And I actually never play DLC, I still haven't moved past the early 2010s mindset of DLC being lower quality content shoehorned into the base game.
Yeah I definitely think you should play 2 again if you've still got it. The build up is a little slow, the main story is around 20 hours, but Handsome Jack is a frequent list topper for best video game villains of all time.
You should play Nier and Nier Automata if you like narritive in your games. The Danganronpa games are really good if you can deal with visual novels.
I just got Nier Automata because I've heard a lot of good about it—I want to give it a shot at some point soonerish.
I would recommend playing Nier first. There isn't a particularly good reason for it, TBH, but it will be harder to play it afterwords because the gameplay is just so much more stiff.
While I think Automata is the better package on a conceptual level and it is certainly much better executed as a game, Nier has a much more effective story. You will be devistated multiple times. I was seriously depressed after playing through it because the game takes extreme measures to let you know how profoundly unfair the situation is.
I also love Life is Strange, it's my favourite game ever, although I still need to play Before the Storm and Adventures of Captain Spirit, I just haven't gotten around to them yet. Firewatch is also very high up there, I loved the story elements, as well as the gameplay element of having to navigate around the trails with a map and compass. Also loved Gone Home.
I took a look at the trailers for the other games you recommended, and they look awesome, definitely on my list.
My recommendation that I played recently would be The Norwood Suite. It's a really weird game, and you'll certainly like it if you like music. You basically walk around a hotel talking to people and completing tasks, but the environment is very strange. To me it's a very strange mix of being a very comfy game, but at the same time unsettling. It's difficult to describe, I suggest you look up a video.
Also love FTL and Factorio, but Factorio is the most addictive thing I've ever played, so I have to be careful with that one :P
Before the Storm is great, but missable. It's a real love letter to the first game, but I'm not going to rave about it to friends who haven't played Life is Strange.
However, you do need to jump into The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit—it's a beautiful little thing that will take about 2 hours of your time. I'm incredibly excited for Life is Strange 2 now because of Captain Spirit, it feels like Dontnod did their best to iterate and evolve on their success from the first game.
I'll check out the Norwood Suite for sure.
funnily enough I play racing sims, rpgs (side quests, grind parts) and fps to podcasts too
Have you tried Sunless Seas (and now Sunless Skies which is in early access)? They're very atmospheric and story-heavy roguelikes and I've enjoyed them a lot. Sounds like they might be in your wheelhouse.
Kinda focused on playing hollow knight on switch at the moment :)
Really good game for the price.
It absolutely seems like a game that should've been $60. I'm glad it's not, because spending $60 on a game would be a stretch for my budget, but it's been so much fun. I'm at around 50 hours in and while I've completed the first ending, I still have about 15 percent of stuff left to find and am very interested in seeing the other endings. It's definitely the best game I've played since Breath of the Wild, and probably one of my favorite games of all time.
In about a week dead cells will be coming out too. If you pre-order it before Aug. 7th you can get 20% off in the digital store.
Overwatch and RimWorld, with a touch of Rocket League and Subnautica: Overwatch and Rocket League for quick online fun, RimWorld for base-building and strategy, and Subnautica for exploration. All are great games.
Is RimWorld good? I had a fair bit of fun with oxygen not included.
I sure think so. There's ton of content built into the game, and a very expansive modding community that has everything from small tweaks to full game themes like Star Wars.
I just started a new Minecraft server with my friends on the recent 1.13 update. It's been awesome :D
+1 for minecraft. A friend and me recently began a playthrough of modded minecraft after a hiatus of maybe half a year, and boy has the modding landscape changed.
Since I started playing factorio some years ago, there is nothing else I can play. It speaks to a part of me like never a game before.
Have you considered a job in PCB design?
Have you tried any of the Zachtronics games? Opus Magnum is the newest one, but quite a few of their other games are the same sort of kinda-programming style (and some are literal programming).
Here's their developer page on Steam, everything except Ironclad Tactics is a programming-ish game (and Shenzhen Solitaire is just a mini-game from Shenzhen I/O split out into a separate game).
Been fighting in that EVE online war. In between fleets I play r6 and/or pubg. I've been trying to get into World of Warships but the "port" menu system hurts my head (and I play eve so that really says something).
Been playing a lot of Octopath Traveler for the Nintendo Switch, and I'm loving it so far. The story (or stories more accurately) isn't exactly groundbreaking, but the game as a whole is just incredibly charming. It really is scratching a gaming itch that I never knew I had. Highly recommended for anyone with a Switch.
I also play a lot of Overwatch with a buddy of mine and have been playing Deep Rock Galactic with my brother and a friend. The latter of those two has been a great co-op experience with some hilarious incidental gameplay mostly concerning getting lost in massive cave systems while trying to mine and/or fend off hordes of enemy bugs.
Was just about to post something about octopath since it wasn't in this thread. As you said, it's nothing groundbreaking, but it is a solid game, and it's one of very few classic RPGs on the switch (for whatever reason).
I've been switching between StarCraft 2, Counter-Strike Source, and Quake Live lately. Not really putting in serious hours though, not my focus rn.
Do Counter-Strike Source and quake live still have active communities?
On CS:S you can pretty much find anything you'd like to play at any time, at least with servers that get decent ping from the midwestern US. Seems like it's better over in Europe, and I have no idea how other regions are, but it's more than active enough here. It's interesting, because there's still young blood coming in. Of course it skews toward players who were turned off when CSGO came out, but the active jailbreak communities and such attract new people still.
Quake Live is active enough to get a game at any time where I'm at, but you don't have a crazy amount of choice about what to do. You can get a duel or FFA but if you have really specific tastes you might have to put work in and find a community to play with and specifically invite. Seems like it's a little better in other regions.
Mostly just playing catch-up in World of Warcraft since we've got an expansion coming up and I've been away for awhile.
I've been playing Divinity Original Sin 2. I used to play shooters non-stop but now it's mostly single player games.
D:OS2 has been such a surprise hit for me. After seeing the multiplayer trailer I recruited three friends to play with me, but connection/performance/stability issues made us getting to about level 4 or 5 and then we just kinda stopped.
In contrast to my friends the gameplay kinda hooked me, and so I kept playing. And damn, that was a good decision. I love love love the kind of freedom Divinity allows. My favourite thing was trying to "outsmart" and cheese the given situation to ease my way through it. Unchaining followers for certain parts, teleporting everything and everyone everywhere, and leaving nobody alive. Overleveling and coming back to decimate whole cities and shooting quest givers in the face with devastating fire lazers.
The fact that you can kill almost every vendor and quest giver made me live out Rivellon's worst source of nightmares. For me, this is absolutely a single player game. We may had fun in multi player, but no one would have wanted to suffer the setups and patience and reloading saves involved in my playthrough. It was an incredible experience. Definitely my favourite game of 2017.
I've been bouncing back and forth between Metal Gear Solid V, Enter the Gungeon, and as of my 5 hour session last night, State of Decay 2. All on Xbox One. All solid titles, very good examples of their genres. I've been putting in serious hours into all of them but State of Decay 2 is on the forefront of my mind after last night. It's way more fun than I expected. Almost everything I've wanted from a zombie game (though I'm only just beginning). MgsV I can go back to anytime and pick up. I just got the silenced tranq sniper and I'm feeling pretty powerful now. Enter the Gungeon is whooping me but it's still really fun. I can usually beat roguelikes after a while, I'm sure this one will be the same once I figure it out.
Because the other comment reminded me of it: Have you played Divinity: Original Sin 2? It's as complicated as you want to make it, and imho worth a recommendation do everyone that likes role playing games. The turn based combat turned me off at first, but it really fits the overall game feel and is an absolute necessity to not drown in actiony bits happening all the time while in combat.
It's not really open world or in any way sandboxy like Skyrim, as you are way more guided in the way your playthrough is structured and stuff like that, but it really is an awesome experience.
And while I'm at it recommending games. How about Dark Souls? Because it's my favourite game of, like, all time, I can't really be unbiased, and it certainly isn't a game where you can flesh out your character in-game and explore the world how you want to. It's more on the action side than the RPG one of action-role-playing-games. But the combat system. Oh my, the combat system. It's the most bestest awesome thing I ever played.
The game is essentially a concatenation of various combat scenarios that you have to overcome with the character you built. Be it sword-and-board, magic-balls-to-the-wall or flip-flopping halberd ninja, I just love the way the gameplay feels. Something that the later soulslike games, or any other game, sadly couldn't replicate it in a way that overall improved on it (as far as my opinion is concerned).
I've been playing Pipe Push Paradise, a sokoban-type puzzle game in the style of Stephen's Sausage Roll. It's super serene and I recommend it.
From online games, mostly Overwatch, PUBG, Rainbow Six: Siege, Tabletop Sim and a few others. From SP games I have been playing 911 Dispatcher (I think that is it's name) and replaying Portal Series (with spinoffs/mods).
I don't have a gaming PC at the moment, all I have is a work MacBook Pro, so the only "computer" game I've been playing is Urban Dead, an old old browser-based zombie apocalypse survival MMO. I joined a survivalist group and we've been waging war and coordinating attacks on the resident zombie horde / PK corp union while discussing and planning over Discord. It's been pretty fun considering I used to solo it over a decade ago!
On consoles, I've been playing Thumper and DJMax Respect. I really like rhythm games, and recently got a nice speaker system for my TV so it's breathed new life into the experience! I don't really have a particular genre I stick to, but I like fast-paced twitchy arcade games that have lots of replayability, easy start-stoppability, and tight controls— so: rhythm games, twin-stick shooters, fast platformers, things like that. I also play a lot of Rocket League, but that's one of the only multiplayer games I've ever seriously gotten into.
I really miss my Windows PC because city builders are like relaxing crack to me. Cities: Skylines and Factorio were my favourites.
I like RPGs in theory, but have never had the patience for them.
I'm assuming you have a PS4 (since I think that's the only system DJMax Respect is on) - if you haven't already played it, I highly recommend Nex Machina: https://www.housemarque.com/games/nexmachina/
Extremely tight, twitchy, replayable arcade game with awesome music/sound. It didn't get nearly the attention it deserves.
Good guess!
Oh my goodness, I love Nex Machina! The music and tight controls and the way the levels are designed as proper waves and not just randomised noise are all just so gripping. Thanks for reminding me about it— I should definitely play it over my new system!
Housemarque's games have all been killer. I recently repurchased Super Stardust HD for the PS4 with the PSVR DLC and while the game has aged so it doesn't feel as tight as Resogun or Nex Machina, it's still a blast. The Geometry Wars series is a favourites of mine too, and more recently, I marathoned through Celeste in a couple weeks (which is impressive for me since I rarely complete games).
Those both have Mac versions. Or is the problem that you don't have admin privileges on your work computer?
My laptop isn’t able to run Cities: Skylines at a decent framerate, but I had no idea about Factorio!!! That’s new since its release. Thanks! I can’t wait to install it.
I recently injured myself and have to sit with my foot elevated, which doesn't work well with my PC setup. Fortunately I ordered a Steam Link when it was on sale for $5! So I've been playing Path of Exile on my couch, which has worked pretty well.
Other than that, when I'm not on the injured list, Overwatch, Factorio, or playing in Unity making my own games.
I'm about 10 hours into Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE for the Wii U. It's supposed to be a Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem crossover but apparently it alienated both fanbases. The story/themes are very anime so it's not for everybody (there was a bit of a controversy with censorship in the western release, too, which I think was a big mistake on the publisher's part because hardcore anime fans are the ones who care most about censorship.) As an FE fan there's admittedly very little Fire Emblem in the game mechanics, but the battle system makes for a great JRPG, and even though it sold horribly on the Wii U I'm hoping for a Switch port.
Also spent some time playing Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012). I played the original Most Wanted (2005) as a kid and the new one doesn't measure up at all. The old game had a story and each boss had a personality. The new game has no customization (a car game with no customization???), getting arrested has no real consequences, and you race to take down driverless white sports cars instead of people with names and faces. That said, the core driving mechanics are still very solid, and though I haven't tried it, the multiplayer is supposed to be very good.
Coincidentally, both games are better experiences if you play them as the games they are instead of what they could've been, which explains why, on Metacritic, both games have a higher review score than user score.
I have TMS#FE. My boyfriend bought it and I had zero interest in it personally. It's gameplay is more like Persona than SMT.
I don't like Persona games because lately the visual style is incredibly irritating, but I actually liked TMS's style.
I asked my boyfriend about what he thought about it and he barely remembered anything about it! He only remembers the basic premise (pop stars with Fire Emblem personas) but none of the plot at all. And he finished the game! It's not that it alienates the fanbase specifically, it alienates everyone.
I've recently come back from a ~6 month hiatus from games entirely, but for the past 18 months my main gaming aim has been to get through my Steam library, which currently sites at exactly 750 games. I've played and either completed or decided to drop just over 20% of those titles, slowed down by a long period of playing Rocket League before updates made the game unplayable.
Nothing earth-shattering, but probably the most notable highlights in the last year or so were the original Valkyria Chronicles, MGSV:TPP and Downwell (all really good, but very different from each other). I'm currently playing through A Hat in Time (loving it even more than I expected to), and recently finished Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (which was a disappointment compared to what I remembered of the main game).
I was super pleasantly surprised with A Hat in Time. I expected it to be charming, but not much more. It was incredibly charming, and also a lot of fun! Movement was slick, the levels interesting, and I spent extra time on each level looking around for all the collectibles.
I've been getting back into Dota 2, which I haven't played much of over the last few years.
Crushing the odd bot game to relax in dota2, don't really have enough time or energy for much else at the moment.
When I do I intend to play more EverSpace. I'm a big fan of TIE Fighter & rogue lites, it ticks a whole lot of boxes!
I love RPGs. I recently started playing The Witcher 3, finished ~60% of the MQ(non expansion), then for some reason I left it and started playing New Vegas again which I never finished. I was playing Skyrim before W3 and I left that too. I've been having this issue for a while where I play a lot of one game, leave it half finished and move on to another. Few exceptions exist like when I played The Witcher 2 again before playing W3 just to see how Roche's path was. I guess I like variety. Alongside all these, I play Dota occasionally. I actually started W3 in order to escape Dota but it pulled me back in...
Been cycling between NG+ in Dark Souls: Remastered and Cities: Skylines, both on PS4.
In my last city I tried to carve a trench out of the land at the top of a mountain and let it run into the ocean. I then put my wastewater processors at the top, put in a hydroelectric dam in front of the processors, and waited to see how much power I could generate from my artificial sewage river. In the meantime I did some housework.
When I came back, my whole city was drowned. Oops.
I've been getting back into Stardew Valley recently, because it's so calm and just eats time.
I'll probably be picking up Divinity: Original Sin 2 when it comes out for the PS4, because couch co-op.
I need to start playing Stardew Valley again, really was a great way of relaxing.
I'm really into arcadey racing games right now, so I'm playing Forza Horizon 3 and Forza Motorsport 7 all the time, patiently waiting for FH4.
When I need a break from racing, I'm playing my second playthrough of The Witcher 3, almost finished with the main story. I'm really looking forward to Blood and Wine, I kinda ignored Regis on my first playthrough but now that I read the books he's one of my favorite characters if not the favorite.
My friends recently gotten me into the final fantasy mmo. The only other mmo I have ever played was runescape so it's something totally different. It has been fun though,and I am starting to play some just cause 3 again. Slowly inching closer to finishing that game.
So my favorite E spot is DotA 2 I don't play it that much any morw but I love watching the International.
Now on to what I am playing.
Rimworld is a colony simulator in early acsess
Slay the Spire is a deck building game in early acsess.
Wizards of legend is a rouge like.
Hollow Knight is metroidvania style with almost daksouls elements.
Factoria is a survival/factory building game.
Man Wizards of legend looks good!
I bought Total War: Rome 2 at the last steam sale after having casually watched it for a while knowing little to nothing about it.
I jumped in and HOLY SHIT it's awesome. It literally was so cool that I ended up falling down a rabbit hole of studying actual history around the time zone just because of how interesting it was trying to figure out how to use each unit. I eventually stumbled into some explanations of what each unit did, then in a historical context, then the reasons they evolved into other units, then into the evolution of warfare in general, then into the history of war. Really interesting stuff. After all that going back and playing the game you actually appreciate the different groups and mechanics for the game putting it in a much more interesting light than simply more unit 1 towards unit 2 because it is better. You even get a feel for the types of battlefield maneuvers that certain generals used in real battles and can do similar things.
I stopped playing PUBG earlier this year because I wasn't enjoying it anymore. For me, the pendulum has swung away from competitive multiplayer. My friend moved for a new job so we've been playing online co-op in the forms of Vermintide 2 (fantasy Left 4 Dead with a dash of RPG elements) and Deep Rock Galactic (space dwarves mining space minerals and killing space bugs). VT2 has some very satisfying melee combat and is fun in terms of testing your skill. DRG has hit a sweet spot of chill exploration, platform-y puzzle solving, and frantic combat.
Destiny 2, maybe an unpopular opinion but i've stuck with the franchise since the first year of destiny 1 and the game is getting better, with forsakens release, I'm excited to have content again. Although i dislike having to constantly spend money on the game.
Tekken 7 which is an unusual departure for me. I've never owned any fighting games before but my friend (big fan) got me a copy and it's pretty addictive. Not something I expected to be so immersed in.
I play a pretty random selection of games (these days mostly from PS+), favourite ones are FTL, FF9, Last of Us.