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

I started playing Celeste over the weekend, and so far I'm really into it. I am NOT good at platformers (I'm three chapters in with over 700 deaths), but I've found this game feels good to play regardless. When I die, I can usually see how it's my fault, and the game feels fair. It's frustrating enough to feel great when I succeed, but not so much that I want to quit. I'm just getting through the chapters and only going for a handful of strawberries each time, so I also really appreciate the game itself telling me it's okay not to be completionist.

I'm playing the Space Exploration mod of Factorio. In Space Exploration launching a rocket is just the beginning. A normal satellite launch returns navigation data, revealing various celestial bodies. To actually get to the other bodies you have to launch a cargo rocket, which has its own rocket silo. Different bodies are rich in different resources. You can also go into orbit, where you can build space manufacturing and research facilities.

So far I've gone into orbit around Nauvis (the starting planet) and I've visited a moon and built a basic factory there. I'm on the cusp of getting some manufacturing going in Nauvis orbit. It's taking multiple trips back and forth between the planet's surface and orbit while I figure out what exactly I need to build out the manufacturing line.

I'm using Trello to keep track of what I need to do on each surface, and what supplies I need to bring with me on my trips from one surface to another.

I've been on a Slay the Spire kick the past few weeks. I've never played a card game before i picked this up last year after watching a Quill18 video and it's very addicting and fun to play. I'm stuck on Ascension 12 with Ironclad and have spent the past week trying to get past it.

I've got to the 3rd boss 3 times. 1st time i got unlucky with the final boss, i got the one where you can only play 12 cards before it ends your turn automatically and i had a deck based on playing a lot of cards to increase strength and gain block. 2nd time i got a bad draw and got no defensive cards, 3rd time i had a deck based doing damage when i gained block but the damage i was doing was randomly placed so the two minions stayed in the fight most of the battle.

It's a very fun game and learning about and building decks that work together (whats the correct term for this) is very satisfying

I've been playing Bioshock: Infinite. As far as FPS games go, it's got good gunplay and an excellent aesthetic, but the whole package feels somewhat underwhelming compared to how much talk the game had when it was new. There are also some really annoying quirks that really breaks your sense of immersion. Characters will often talk to each other but be staring at you. The HUD does not properly scale with the resolution, so playing at 4K means that you will not be able to read anything. And many of the animations are just plain badly done, especially if it's being done by a background character.

I suppose the most disappointing part of Infinate is that there is no sense of mystery like there is in the first Bioshock. Collecting the recordings doesn't seem to really be necessary to understand the world; you can just listen to people standing right in front of you.

After I finish this game (I would say if, if I weren't suspecting the plot will redeem everything at the end), I will probably be playing Ducktales Remastered or replaying The Nonary Games since I got it on sale for PC. I'm looking forward to the enhancements on the big screen.

I just started Master Mode in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was the first Zelda game I ever played, so I didn't experience any of the controversy that I know existed from more long-time fans, and I absolutely loved it.

Master Mode is proving to be an interesting challenge. It's forcing me to play the game very differently; being good at the combat mechanics doesn't really mean that much if all your crappy weapons break halfway through a battle. I find myself traveling back to previous areas a lot more to find weapons and other items, as well as sneaking/rushing through enemy encampments when I'm low on weapon. Most recently had to unlock a tower with a torch, an axe, and a leaf. Ran out of arrows about three enemies in and basically sprinted to the base of the tower.

I'm still working my way through Outer Wilds, but this past week I also started playing Minecraft again. A streamer I subscribe to on Twitch recently started playing for the first time ever, and she started a server that subs can join.

Last night I finally set off from spawn and headed south around a large, snowy continent. I saw my first coral reefs (having not played in the Aquatic update much before), and I think I've decided on where I want to start building. I found a Heart of the Sea in a buried treasure chest the first day I played on the server, so I've decided to make a huge tree atop an island floating in the water "held up" by a conduit, surrounded on the ocean floor by the ruins of a flooded town or temple.

Sounds kind of complex now that I type it out, haha. I don't have a lot of staying power when it comes to making things in Minecraft, so maybe if I focus on one piece at a time it'll work out better. First step: build a floating island and grow some trees for wood.

Video Games

Lucio Ball is done, so my fascination with Overwatch has lessened dramatically. I love Lucio Ball (and I'm acceptably good at it) but I am pure unmitigated crap at Rocket League, so that itch will remain until the next time it's an arcade mode in Overwatch.

I grabbed the Crusader Kings 2 bundle from Humble when it was happening. I haven't quite been able to get into it yet, but I'm going to keep giving it some chances, because it seems like it's such a big, popular phenomenon.

On mobile, I have had a strange fascination with 2048 (remember 2048?) and have played it again. It's a fun time passer, and I am on ~5 days of the same game (max tile is 16384 right now).

Board Games

Splendour remains the family favourite, so I'm hoping to grab Space Explorers (see this article from Ars Technica about hot new board games since I think at least 66% of my kids can handle "splendour with some differences".

I got to play a bit of Cards Against Humanity over the weekend, which is fun as long as you don't do it too much. For those who don't know, it's a relatively dirty word association game - it's definitely 18+ - similar to Apples to Apples. A good time was had by all, especially the drunker people.

My free time is winding down as my summer is coming to a close, so I've had much less time to game than in previous weeks, and will have even less in the coming ones.

I did a preliminary finish of The Witness, which I talked about in great detail and with significant spoilers here. I'm going to return to it to tackle some of the post-game stuff, but I'm not going to stress myself out about completing it fully or insisting that I find/solve everything. I got what I wanted from the game, and I'll continue playing it until I'm no longer interested. It remains to be seen whether that will be in one hour or twenty.

Outside of that, I picked up and have been enjoying Drag Star, which is a text-only choose your own adventure game where you are a contestant in a reality elimination show based off of RuPaul's Drag Race. My husband and I both love the show (with some reservations, of course), and the game is a well-written send up, with plenty of references and in-jokes for fans. It's also constructed in a very inclusive way. I can't think of another game that explicitly allows your character to be nonbinary, use gender neutral pronouns, or identify as asexual and aromantic, for example. In fact, the real show could learn a thing or two about inclusivity from its own parody, as the show still has some hangups regarding gender expression that it could stand to get past.

The game is put out by a company called Choice of Games, and they have released a surprising number of titles. If anyone else has played any of their other games, I'd love to hear about them. I really like the interactive novel format and am absolutely open to recommendations.

I've been playing Dishonored 2. I'm not a stealth master, and sometimes it's hard to play such a violent game. I must play in the morning otherwise I get terrible nightmares. But I love me some juicy, juicy violence, so I must negotiate with my psyche.

It's a bit more difficult than the first, and, like in many games, I find the easy mode too easy and the others too hard. normal was a compromise to keep my dignity. There's some unfair stuff too, like some guards randomly noticing me from vantage points on the opposite side of the level. But it's still good for the most part.

The idea of playing as Emily was enticing, but I couldn't give up the Corvo's powers I loved so much in the first game. So far, Dishonored 2 is great, but there's something missing. Sequels tend to expand on everything: the universe, the story, the mechanics, etc. That's not always a good thing. A well-made contained work of art is always a joy.

Just look at The Dark Knight vs The Dark Knight Rises. The first is a brilliant super-hero neo-noir that embodies everything we love about Detective Comics Batman. The second is a great militaristic movie with a much larger scope, which might have prescinded from Batman altogether.

But I digress: Dishonored 2 is bigger, but it's not better. It was better with smaller, richer levels, and a reasonable amount of collectibles. The stealth path is now hard enough that I kill people on a regular basis. Which is not so bad: Dishonored's violence is deeply satisfying. And its mechanics are so fucking good it's hard to play other stealth games after getting used to it.

Just finished up Spider-Man PS4.

Had a blast with it, easily one of the better open world games I've played in a while, and really captures the feel of Spider-Man. It's a very lovingly made game around the Spider-Man mythos, you can tell that there was a lot of passion put into it.

Really good combat system. From watching videos, I was worried it was an easier take on the Arkham combat. On the surface, it does feel similar, but it's a lot more skill based. I'd say it has more in common with the Witcher than the Arkham games. There's no counter move so that makes you have to pay attention to your dodging at all times, especially since so many enemies have guns and rocket launchers. I played on the hardest difficulty and it felt just right. At first it seemed clunky and hard but as I unlocked more combat abilities and then got into the rhythm of the fights, the game came alive and looked and felt great. They really did a great job on the animation to make it feel super cinematic even though all the inputs are manually pressed without much leeway.

The web-swinging is great. Traversing around New York City with its mechanics is an absolute blast, and it's pretty relaxing swinging around without much worry.

By no means is it a perfect game but it had so much charm, polish, and care that it's one of the few games I've played all the way through in recent years. Absolute blast.

My wife and I just finished Detroit: Become Human... and we both thought it was hilariously awful.

I have played all of David Cage's games, and they are all-- to me-- just terrible. He can't write. Every story he creates feels like Frankenstein'd moments of Lifetime movies. The dialogue and environments have ZERO nuance, and are both as subtle as a sledgehammer. Anytime he writes the lower class, they feel like caricatures, or sideshows at a circus.

And it felt especially poor taste-- in my opinion-- for a white writer to write a civil rights movement for androids in a near 1:1 reproduction of the civil rights moment of the 1960's, down to ripping off MLK's phrases, rallying cries and the like. And because David Cage has likely never experienced racism or sexism firsthand, all of the bigotry exhibited in the game felt detached and almost hyperbolic, which robbed it of an opportunity to've communicated a more nuanced, powerful version of the message it was going for.

Couple that with their typical QTE gameplay and Jesse William's checked out performance, and it's just another flop to me.

David Cage feels like the "Chicken Boo" of writers where I'm pointing out how bad of a writer he is, and everyone else just doesn't see it to the extent that I feel like I'm going crazy. That said, I can understand why someone would like his games-- they are very ambitious, they have a great production value, and they are more of a cinematic experience than most other games, if that's your jam.

Hearthstone, still messing with dailies to stock for the next expansion. For some reason on Reddit, this expansion seems to be where the wall is being hit for a lot of people, either with Auto Chess-likes being more of a draw for that crowd, new powerful decks not doing a whole lot against the old guard, or general malaise with the formula. I guess they could start nerfing cards, since last expansion had the excitement of EVERYTHING that defined the meta being out due the yearly rotation, and pulling something like a new format out is a big ask for this game, but I am definitely getting the feeling that Nerf Day is a better feeling than New Expansion day, which probably isn't a great sign for the health of the game.

Also messing around with A Hat in Time, specifically with streaming it onto my phone with my kitbashed GeForce Now setup for Android. I had it going on the Oculus Go and wanted to try it out there, but the app only lets me have access to Gamestream, and I run AMD, so I guess I should eventually figure out Steam Link.

Also testing out Unravel 2 with my brother, and gaming is much more fun in couch co-op, and when I can just watch someone play a game on YouTube and get the general idea of how I would play it if I had the reflexes or could solve a puzzle, it adds something to have someone in the room with you to plan off of and interact with.

We have the Cadence of Hyrule demo, and I'm trying to talk him into that, as I liked Cyrpt and he likes Zelda.

Just finished Persona 5. While it's an all around fantastic game, and I'd definitely recommend it without reservation, it's also pretty awful for a game that's over 70 hours long to practically require a second playthrough to see all the content, unless you already knew exactly what you were doing from the start.

I didn't want to get spoiled, so I went in blind, and in spite of what I thought was efficient time management, missed out on more than half of the social questlines. Because apparently, being able to finish them before the game is over requires leveling up one specific, optional confidant (Fortune) that you can only pick up over a third of the way through the game, by spending nearly all of your money. And you've got to do it pretty early too. Of course, there's no way for you to know this until you've already done most of her quests, and there's not really even an indication of how close the game's end is to let you know that you're running out of time and you're doing something wrong.

I guess it wouldn't be a JRPG without arbitrary, inscrutable content gating, but god damn is this the last time I play one this long without at least skimming a completion guide. I wouldn't mind missing out on optional stuff if it's mechanical, like weapons or even bossfights, and that's usually what it is. But missing out on character development and story? C'mon! Not sure if I'm going to bother with NG+ or just look up videos of what I missed.

TL;DR: If you want to have a remote chance at finishing Persona 5 in one go, max out Temperance (Kawakami) and Fortune (Chihaya) as soon as they're available.

RAGE 2 - Finished it and it was terribly disappointing. The open world driving is pointless because you rarely get attacked and there's little to see between points. Shooting is very bullet spongy except for headshots, but at least most enemies have enormous heads. They tuck away all of the cool special abilities and weapons in arks that are hidden across the map, so you can (and I did) finish the game without ever unlocking some of them. I finished it missing three weapons and two abilities. Just an overall unnecessary sequel that doesn't improve on the original in any way unless you really like driving around a big map.

As I do after I finish any game I've put some focus into, I spent the rest of the weekend flopping around between a couple different games.

Gato Roboto - Cute, fun two-tone metroidvania. It's a little bit simplified because there's no ammo counters to keep track of, but it's got very good platforming controls and it puts up a decent challenge.

Fire Pro Wrestling World - I've been sitting on this one for a bit. I jumped in without doing any of the tutorials and won a single match but I had no idea how. Then I did the tutorials and it all made a lot of sense. Fairly intuitive but pretty sharp on timing. No life meters or super meters, but your wrestler does get tired over the course of the match and big moves get easier to pull off as stuns last longer. It's almost like they made a wrestling game and not a fighting game skinned for wrestling. There is a ludicrous amount of customization and the Steam workshop is packed with recreated wrestlers. I'm going to give the NJPW visual novel/mission mode a shot.

Sinking deep into Super Mario Maker 2. At first, I thought I'm too burned out on playing the same Mario gameplay over and over, even in infinite permutations. But man, people are so creative with the editor, it's crazy. Someone built a first person dungeon crawler.

Speaking of sinking deep, I also finally installed Subnautica, which I got for free on the Epic store a couple of months ago. It's... great. Underwater worlds are beautiful (still fondly remember Abzu) and there's so many places to go and things to do. I've spent maybe 2 hours and it seems I'm just starting to see the more in-depth build options. Overall, I'm not sure yet, though. It feels a tiny bit grindy and the main loop of looking for resources and building stuff that makes looking for resources easier feels more like being designed around keeping you busy than genuinely offering varied gameplay. It's a coin toss of me becoming obsessed and putting in 100 hours or dropping it soon as I feel I've seen all the variations of fish.

I've been playing a LOT of Grim Dark lately. It hits all of the right notes as a Diablo Clone Tribute and the game's lore is actually fairly interesting. Essentially it's a Diablo Clone Tribute set in a Dark Fantasy 1800's Kingdom after a supernatural apocalypse. The map is mostly static and the game doesn't seem to lose anything by not being completely procedural like most other games would strive to be. In fact I think it benefits the game to not be procedural (with the exception of some caves appearing here in there in places you thought didn't have any). Also, the map is gorgeous and the world "makes sense".

As for gameplay, I'm still diving into it. I played a gun slinging inquisitor who utilized all passive talents that essentially made every fifth shot a fire or ice grenade and combined with the demolition class he fired HEAP bullets. The character felt like an 1800s Space Marine (For the Emperor!) who could immolate and gib hordes of the damned (there are many varieties) in mere second. Though in later levels (you can reach 100 levels), I noticed that the difficulty really does spike and you need to pay attention to your gear/build optimizations.

I also have a Necromancer/Occultist character who I am in the process of building whom literally swarms the battlefield with 11 or so pets (8 skeletal warriors/archers/mages/knights, 1 flesh golem thing, a killer raven and a hellhound) and uh.. yeah kinda becomes a squad management game at that point as they do all the heavy lifting and I'll be standing off to the side of a boss fight reading through letters I found from someone's abandoned cabin. Speaking with which, difficulty modes range from Normal, Veteran, Elite, and Ultimate. The builds online go DEEP and tend to optimize for playing on Ultimate Difficulty.

Crate (the Developer) did a tremendous job with this game and the expansions are really worth it imo.

Overwatch. I have a love - hate Relationship with that game. I really like the machnics, the vastly different heroes and the lack of advantages for higher leveled players. It's an amazing game. But at the same time I don't agree with some of blizzards decisions and also the Fanbase is very toxic/weird.

Terraria. A Game that I love everything about. Amazing combat, amazing boss design, amazing game mechanics. Just overall an amazing game.

Anno 1800. A nice building game I play a lot and have a lot of fun with. Not too complex but not too simple either. Also has a nice touch of humor!

Also Minecraft. But Minecraft never gets old, absolute classic that you can always play no matter what age, preference or mood.

I haveve been playing a lot of Old School Runescape lately. I just can't get enough of grinding for progress. Especially when playing as an ironman (Can't trade other players) as the game really opens up and feels even larger that way. This game provides one of the most rewarding experiences when unlocking new stuff, in my opinion.

Another i have been playing is the Metal Gear legacy collection. got through MGS and am working on MGS2 now. MGS had the absolute most creative and interesting boss mechanics i have ever encountered. Do not sleep on this old PS1 game, although the controls feel quite clunky compared to a modern game.

Tried out Vermintide 2 over the weekend with the guys and found out that it was possible to build a game that meets the genre exactly and only that: hack and slash.

I don't think I've clicked so much with so little reward for doing so in ages. There's next to zero strategy involved, idiotically linear, and just terrible in almost every way.

I've been playing Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on emulator for a little while now. I'm currently stuck on the Level 2 boss -- it's super hard and frustrating. I'm playing because my fiancee said she played it a ton when she was a kid, so I thought I'd check it out.

Underlords (Dota AutoChess).

No alerts sounding. A day of mostly sitting here. Tried one day trade that took me out at b/e not worth the risk. Patience and waiting for best of best setups how I am working right now.
I'm have a hard time explaining why I'm liking it, maybe because it scratches my deck building itch but without the Play to Win of Hearthstone.
Maybe it is because the Meta is changing quick because of weekly updates. Maybe it's because of the RNG/slot machine type of mechanic at the end of each round of getting to select my squad.

In a lot of ways it reminds me of the board game Dominion

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden (Switch)

I feel like I've finally got the hang of this game! Turns out it's not actually that difficult once you learn a bit more about the mechanics and the different enemy types. A Xcom-like game set in post-apocalyptic Sweden. I now feel safe that I can recommend this game, though if you care a lot about graphics, probably not on Switch.

Civilization VI (Linux)

I got bored with my previous game and started a new one, on a more densely populated map. Playing as Norway and trying to make the most out of my coastal raid bonuses. I've built a massive fleet and been at war with someone basically at all times. Fun! Though it seems the AI is not any good at countering this strategy, so it seems to be making the game a bit easier than intended.

Mini Metro (Android)

I'm currently using my old Android phone as a daily driver, since I'm chatting with a girl on Tinder, which for some reason refuses to launch on my Sailfish phone... Found out I have this game installed, but hadn't played it in probably more than a year. Still fun! For me the perfect mobile game is one that launches in seconds and continues from exactly where you left it last time, and can be played for both short and long sessions. This game is great in that regard.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (Linux)

I have a friend who likes to gift me weird games, and he gifted me this when it was on sale this weekend. I love the style, and the story seems wonderfully bizarre. Not very far into the game yet, but it seems very promising. Very text-heavy though, which I haven't really been in the mood for lately.

Mainly I've been continuing to play Tekken 7 (currently trying to learn Katarina) along with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney which is slowly turning into one of my favourite puzzle games ever!

Yesterday I downloaded Wipeout from PS Plus which is bringing back some nostalgic memories.

I spent my whole weekend continuing on with my group's campaign in Gloomhaven. It just so happened that two of us retired our starting characters on the same scenario, with a third character retiring the scenario after!

We were able to unlock the triforce; the music note; and the cthulhu classes. We are at a lot of impasses, having not decided on a number of story trees and instead just opting to continue with what we refer to as "side quests", which then unlocks deeper story that we never decide to do, but we'll get around to it.

It's honestly in my top 3 board games of all time. When I'm not playing it, my group are constantly talking about it, about rules we were doing wrong, and about when we can play again.