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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 finished The Medium. It was better than most Bloober Team games. If it's a demo reel for their pitch to do a new Silent Hill, then it's mostly successful. They've successfully created a third person, fixed camera horror game. It looks great, and controls fine. It's horror, and not surivival horror, so it's a lot of hide and seek, but no whacking monsters with a stick. But the otherworld art is clearly just copy/paste of Zladislaw Bekinski's work. And the story is 😬. So if they got a creative art director (with their own vision, not someone else's vision) and someone capable of telling a horror story, then we're halfway to a new Silent Hill.
I started up some Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. This isn't a series I have a lot of experience with, but it's a fun arcade air dogfighter. My space dogfighting skills don't exactly come in handy here, but I'm getting the gist of it. Looks really good, and I can really feel the stress when I have wingmates chattering and missile lock alarms blaring and I'm just trying to clear some of these targets off the radar.
I finished The Sinking City. Oh boy. I liked this more than the most recent Call of Cthulhu game, which this game was supposed to be until the license got pulled. Its action sucks and the cross-town travel is pretty tedious, but investigations are fun and that's the core of the game. But holy shit, I haven't been so disappointed in an ending in a long time. It's truly a huge letdown. I went from "flawed but fun" to "don't bother" in the span of 30 seconds. Hard to recommend.
I was going to start Outward but I got to the character creator and all of the faces were so goddamned ugly that I quit out. I'll give it another shot someday, but I wasn't feeling it from the jump so I stopped.
Glad you're having fun ! Be sure to enable the "experts" control if that's not already the case; it's really the way AC is meant to be played. Protip: when you're at the Fleet Destruction mission, it's better to aim for the core of the platform instead of all the equipment on it. Also, PLSL is a broken weapon.
If you're interested in more, consider the DLC, and then Project Wingman , a game with not as much polish as the mainline games but all of the heart.
I got interested in Ace Combat because Project Wingman looked good.
Valheim has been the video game of choice. My two younger kids both love it, and we've been slowly building up a world together. My son makes some hilariously janky things, and he loved the "Let's Play It Out" video posted last week to Tildes (here is the video and has made a Johnny Hotbody character, and started looking for ways to break things, so now I keep logging in and finding beds in precarious positions with janky roofs over them and other fun things. I might set up a server for us to play on; needing to have my computer on for him to connect to means I have to be playing for him to be playing, and that's not always possible.
We picked up a new boardgame called Wavelength - mentioned by @kfwyre in a discussion about 2 player games and he's given a spot-on review. It's delightful as a concept, and is also really well constructed as a game; you play directly out of the box, which is really great. Everyone in our family could play despite the box saying "14+", but maybe it's because my kids are precocious game players. My son gave some amazing clues and made some great guesses and he's six years old.
It's notable that the game maker also made another game which I really loved called "The Mind" which is another 'telepathic party game' sort of thing, where you just have to be in sync with each other. I like the concept, and am looking forward to more from this game maker.
I’m so happy that you and your family are enjoying Wavelength! I think the game says 14+ only because a few of the scales they give are a little on the risqué side. Other than that I think it’s great for kids — lots of opportunity for good critical thinking and discussion.
Ha, I guess we haven't found anything too risque, but also allowed for my son to put back a card if he didn't really have any idea how to give a clue on it. It's a great game, thanks for the recommendation!
Been playing a lot of X4: Foundations lately and am eagerly awaiting the new content update dropping tomorrow. It's a 4X game that is the 4th game in the X-series. Basically you have a giant space sand box and are dumped into it with the space ship equivalent of a '95 Ford Focus and some pocket lint. From there you can hunt pirates or become one. Trade. Fight. Ally with folks. Take on missions. Build a fleet. Build an empire. Etc...
It's a lot of fun, but it's also pretty fucking janky. So I'm very excited that the new patch has a lot of bug fixes and quality of life improvements. And the new content should really upend the balance of power between all the different factions. It also makes my computer cry a bit, but my system is somewhat dated at this point.
I've also been playing Gunfire Reborn. Which is an excellent roguelike FPS with really tight controls. There's almost nothing in terms of story, and the graphics feel cute-but-generic low-poly 3D. But the core gameplay loop is extremely solid and seems to hold up well. If you like frantic FPSs I would recommend trying it.
I've had all of the X titles and their various extensions and it's such a bittersweet relationship. There's really nothing else quite like them, and the genre is littered with far worse, but each X title has something that irks me. In X4, for example, having space legs actually feels worse than not, since anywhere you can go is devoid of anything meaningful or even interesting. NPCs look pretty terrible. Station scanning is a weird mechanic that I like to avoid. But when you've got some cash and the means to generate more, and the galaxy is moving, it can really pull me in.
Yeah, absolutely. It's by no means a perfect game, but it's a fun and engaging game in a way that very few other games are. It's sort of like the video game equivalent of a cult classic. Amazing in some ways, terrible or deeply bizarre in others. But the good parts are good enough to forgive the flaws.
I am compelled to continue extolling Kingdom Come: Deliverance . Previous what-have-you-been-playing post(s) here.
KC:D is Game-of-the-Year material, in my opinion. If I were a game reviewer, it would get my pick. It is definitely the best game I've played in the last 12 months. It beats other very good games that I played in that time span and think highly of, like Battlefield V, Pillars of Eternity and Eternal Card Game. I won't repeat what I said in earlier what-playing comments, but here are some additional opinions that have come up in the last week of play:
I'm clocking in at over 70 hours of gameplay, and there's still more storyline (main quest line) I have yet to go through. There is sometimes more than one way to complete a quest, tailoring to differing play styles or how you've chosen to build up your character (e.g. brains vs. brawn). Another thing I'm enjoying is how it's possible to discover (or miss) certain small details in the environment, and that alters the path to completing (or failing) a given quest. The game doesn't have any shining, blinking beacons in the 3D space that hand-hold you to show you all the interactables in your current environment. The game thereby rewards you if, for example, you take the time to aim your POV to look down at the ground during an investigation and notice a small patch of spilt blood on the roadway. If you're just sprinting around through the game, or riding past on horseback, you wouldn't have noticed it. This kind of semi-realism just adds to the already great immersion.
Archery is sufficiently challenging that it's quite satisfying when you get a hit. The damage level is rewarding, too. Although it usually takes several arrows to down an armoured enemy, once I hit a guy square in the back, and killed him with that one arrow -- I think because my bow (and choice of arrow) was powerful enough, combined with the fact that the target only had cloth(ish) armour. You can retrieve your arrows most of the time (on rare occasion, they break), and that's nice, but the realism in this game strikes again: seeing a faint brown shaft and light-coloured fletching in a field of 6-inch-high grass, or stuck in a forest floor is bloody hard. Not because the game mechanics make it artificially hard; it's just because it's literally bloody hard to see something like that against that kind of background. In the early game, my character's money was low enough that every arrow was precious and valuable (because of how costly it was, relatively speaking), and so, when hunting, I would spend time shooting only 2 to 4 arrows at a time at my prey, and if I failed to get the kill, I would move to retrieve my arrows before opening fire again with the next small batch of arrows. I would even try to shoot in a limited or narrow area, so it would be easier to remember where the arrows went, and be easier to find them.
My character's stats have increased, but I still can't get cocky in combat. Taking on 4+ assailants (such as when getting ambushed on a road) is not possible, and fleeing is usually the better option. Being on horseback really helps with that, as all bandits (up to this point in the story, anyway) are on foot, so you can easily outrun them. As I mentioned in my earlier comments, this game has several nice tradeoffs, so you can't just beef up all stats and skills to max and have an OP super character. Another of those tradeoffs is for defense style: slow and tanky (strong, heavy armour), or nimble but lightly protected. You not only tailor your stats and skills in this regard, but you can also change your equipment to synergize with one playstyle or the other. Some opponents, depending on their equipment, are either easy for you to fight, or difficult. For example: I thought it would be better to go with "tanky" equipment. While this is indeed great against people that have lighter weapons, it turns out it is ill-suited against weapons like heavy axes, which are designed into the game to have an advantage against heavy armour. It seems that dodging and evasion would be better against such weapons, because of their slower attack speed. Even in mid-fight, you can change how you attack and defend against one opponent versus another.
I've gotten way more value out of this game than what I paid, several times over. I am strongly considering buying DLC, even if they don't add much additional content, purely because I want to support the development team, and encourage them to make more. If they took this same game engine or foundation, and released a new game that was just new characters and storyline, I would buy it in a heartbeat. I've downloaded some free DLC for high-quality audio and graphics textures, and I'm enjoying that (I toggle the textures on and off, and can see the difference in the game world). I've already set my mind to replaying KC:D from the beginning on hard mode, and I'm excited thinking of how enjoyably challenging that will be.
Get this game!
I played Worlds End Club after getting a free trial to Apple Arcade, and I loved just about everything about it! Good writing, excellent presentation, occasional (very easy) action stages, and a compelling mystery makes it really engaging
And then the game stopped after a big reveal because it’s not finished.
I’ve never been so upset about a game I haven’t paid money for.
Huh, I didn't know about that at all. I enjoyed the Danganronpa games, so I was planning to pick it up for Switch when it comes out in May.
Looking into it a little now, it looks like the Switch version will be "finished":
What a strange thing to do. I'm surprised Apple allowed them to do that.
Presumably the iPhone version will be finished after the release of the switch version (though if it is going to be on Apple Arcade or for a fee has yet to be determined).
Honestly I wouldn’t have been anywhere near as upset if I had any warning about it. Expecting your players to follow you on Twitter for this is egotistical, to say the least.
There are a bunch of games on Apple Arcade that end with a "to be continued" ending. Usually the developer releases an update a few months later with new levels. That's probably what they intended here. They did this with Way of the Turtle, too, for example. But it's had updates with new levels, so I would assume World's End Club will be updated, too.
I think Apple sees it as releasing episodic content since it's a subscription service, or something. I don't how other users feel about it, but I've found it a little disappointing when I hit it as well. I wish Apple would mark which ones were episodic and whether all episodes are available.
I just got into Deep Rock Galactic with some friends. We tried it out during the free weekend, and within an hour we all knew that we wanted to buy it. It's super fun, and I've just run away with it. My friends and I have only been able to play a few times, but I've poured hours and hours into the game on my own. It's such a cool game with tons of depth, and is really the first game in years I've really wanted to play nonstop for days. The sheer amount of content is amazing, and the fact that levels are procedurally generated gives the game endless replayability. And the community is just great. When I've been playing with randoms, everyone has been super supportive and fun to play with. I highly suggest it if you're looking for a CO-OP PvE experience.
Finished up gears tactics. Pretty solid tactics rpg. Snipers are ridiculously overpowered but the game isn't really all that difficult and it rewards you for having somewhat diverse team composition. I played it for free through xbox game pass on PC, and would recommend doing it this way rather than paying full retail. It's not worth keeping around, and there are other good games on xbox game pass.
Jumped back into hades for the first time in probably 1.5 or 2 years. There were only 4 weapons and the bone hydra was the final boss last I played. They added quite a bit more functionality since then and I'm enjoying working my way through. Took me about 5 or 6 runs and 2 tries on Zeus to 'beat' the game for the first time. I lucked out on a heal on hit build, however, so likely will end up dying quite a bit more to Zeus as I learn how to fight him and what builds to create. Should occupy me for a bit.
In genshin impact I hit rank 55 a week or two ago, so there's really not much else to do in the game. Finishing up team comps slowly to get some more diversity. Looking forward to actually getting Venti mid march, sitting on a good 5 pulls or so worth of primogens. Venti will make floor 11 much easier to finish (11.2 is so stupid). I don't have strong enough team comp for much of floor 12 yet.
Jumping all over the place this week, I've been playing little bits of things trying to settle on the next game I want to play:
Binding of Isaac: The (really, truly) final expansion is coming out the end of this month, so I'm back on the horse, refreshing my skills. They've said they're rebalancing a bunch of stuff, so it'll be nice to reexamine my assumptions about items I've been skipping for years secure in my assumption that they're trash.
Caves of Qud: I've talked about it before; it's the weirdest little roguelike/story generator. While there's a patch every week, lately its been heavy on polish and light on content. I'm assuming there's another chunk of the main quest coming soon, but even without it it's still a fun game.
Iconoclasts: I was wanting a platformer as a palate cleanser from the more complex games I've been playing, and this fit the bill. There's still a little complexity, with any given enemy often only being vulnerable to one weapon out of your suite, but it's fun. I'm stymied on a boss at the moment, but it hasn't been terrible so far so I'm optimistic.
No Man's Sky: another major patch, this time with animals. I started over from scratch, so I haven't really gotten to the ranching part, but it's much the same as it's been the last year or two. Fun, but not amazing.
I played Dominion Online with my brother and it was pretty fun. The website seems pretty solid and the base version is free.
We played best of three. He won the first, I won the second, and the third was a tie game. So, a perfect result. :-)
I played The Division 2 with friends. I really like it. It is a very simple shooter that does not attempt to reinvent the wheel. The AI is pretty dumb, and I like that. I'm able to predict their movements and feel powerful in a satisfying way.
The levels are not hectic or shock full with enemies everywhere.
I realize many of my pluses will be minuses for a lot of people, but I just like the old-school formula and like to feel that I understand the action and react with some though and preparation instead of reacting super fast to things.
The game also makes it easy to find things and the interface is really good and clear.
The Division 2 may be more of the same, but it does the basics in a very satisfying manner. It was really fun to play with friends, I'm looking forward to doing that again.
Some people call it a RPG, but I really don't see it. This is a shooter with RPG elements. It is also not an MMO because there's nothing massive about it, there are not a lot of people in the instances. It is very cool either way.
I loved going through the main missions of The Division 2 because they're pretty much all DC museums and landmarks. I don't know how faithful they are to real life, but they looked very good.
Unravel 2. Cute, chill 2 player coop platformer. You only need one key. Might need a controller though.
The two characters you play are connected by a thread. This acts as both a restriction (don't go too far, don't get tangled up) and a feature (one player stands on a cliff while the other swings around). A few hours of good fun, and I don't even like platformers.
Definitely targeted at couples though.
I started playing Pokémon Shield recently but after watching the expanse on Amazon Prime I’ve been itching to play the technomancer. Don’t ask me why because I honestly don’t even know why, but I love the games by Spiders. Played through Mars War Logs and now I want to keep the story going. I would say if you can live with quite a bit of eurojank then Spiders games are as close to an early 2000’s BioWare rpg you will get. The combat isn’t going to win awards but the rpg systems get pretty deep and the story is really engaging. Pokemon Shield on the other hand, this is a winner. My only complaints are your rival is SUPER annoying at the beginning and the game is really easy. I know it’s basically baby’s first rpg, but I barely played the game enough to level up my scorbunny and I still steamrolled everything right out of the gate. I also have been dabbling in Dota 2, I’ve always liked mobas and I never gave it a proper chance so I’ve been playing a few bot matches and it’s clear to see why so many people have played it for so long.
I picked up Slime Rancher again, I keep putting it off, but I want to finish a run in release. I've forgotten enough that I still have to discover the game, which is nice. It's definitely a game that's just fun, with limited risk but wide opportunities, which is what I like in a game I can just chill out with. The economy keeps you on your toes on which plorts to go in on, but it's a joy to play, and the surprise stuff does even more for resource management while running around.
American Truck Simulator: I'm finally running a "company," with myself and two other driver out of one garage. my loan that I used for the investment is basically being paid off by one driver now, and I'm looking to expand into Oregon or Washington (my first base was in New Mexico).
OpenRCT2: I'm slowly working through the RCT1 campaigns to get the hang of mechanics. I felt guilty about using "Allow Early Scenario Completion" in game options, but I've found that if I play properly I'll basically be running the park for an hour after I "win" most scenarios anyway, and that gets boring fast. I'm now on the first "Expert" RCT1 campaign, and am scared to start it, but am looking to make the time to do it.
Parkitect: I love this game, and picked it up again to compare to OpenRCT2. It plays exactly like Rollercoaster Tycoon, with added micro-management stuff, like important decorations to obfuscate employee infrastructure, coaster design is simple and grid-based, while still incredibly flexible. I felt Frontier took park simulators in the wrong direction and de-emphasized their excellent coaster-building mechanics by making you micromanage the parks down to individual employees. In Parkitect, the only "micromanager" aspect is porters and the necessity of all the job types. In RCT you can do everything with handymen to prevent vandalism (it's tied to your park being dirty), but in Parkitect you need to stop vandals with Security, clean with Handymen, repair with Mechanics, and move goods to shops with Porters. Everything feels well thought-out, like they looked at RCT and went "What's wrong with it?" and fixed everything. Planet Coaster just feels like it's in a different genre, which is cool, but I don't want to play it.
RDR2. It took a few hours to grow on me. The mechanics are fairly easily mastered. The storytelling is phenomenal and the open world is interesting and wonderful. The fighting can grow boring once you've figured out a few tricks. Over all it is a really good game.