Aja on 10/5/2023 at 14:37
Thirith, I'm on PS5. It's not that doors didn't open; it's that they wouldn't open smoothly. They'd often swing open fast and slam shut whereas the drawers in RE8 open nice and smooth every time (and have a cool little sliding haptic feedback). I don't know why they thought checking six identical banks of drawers in every room was a good gameplay mechanic either way.
And yeah, woah, melee combat is something I'm tending to avoid now. I'd love to see some great examples, but lots of people seem to think S&S has a great implementation. Personally I hated, as you mentioned, when I'd try to stab and the knife would glance off, seemingly for no reason, and now your arm's in a weird place and you don't have the space to swing again and it doesn't feel realistic, just janky. Not everyone's a fan, but I like it best when a game gives me two floating hands and all weapons are projectile.
Anyway, I recorded some clumsy Light Brigade gameplay for y'all. It's funny how much different it looks in the capture vs in the headset. The FOV is smaller, for one, and it somehow looks kind of goofy, but I'm telling you, when you're in there, it's intense. Another thing I love about this game is that it combines smooth locomotion and teleportation, so basically Dishonored's blink mechanic. It feels great, best of both worlds.
[video=youtube;8pscbRZmnaU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pscbRZmnaU[/video]
henke on 10/5/2023 at 14:55
Light Brigade looks good! Reminds me a of In Death a bit, both in gameplay and the roguelite structure.
Aja on 10/5/2023 at 19:01
It's one of those games I find myself daydreaming about when I'm at work.
Renault on 8/6/2023 at 20:17
Had my eye on this one for a bit, came out today. Looks like great fun.
[video=youtube;q-OlIIXZ3zk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-OlIIXZ3zk&t=2s[/video]
Starker on 9/6/2023 at 03:13
Looks like the only thing it's missing is some conspicuously placed spike racks and heavy-duty kicking boots.
Renault on 9/6/2023 at 16:10
I saw it's getting some kind of iffy reviews, so not altogehter sure about it, but damn it looks cool from the trailer.
This game looks similar, but it's strictly an arena game, whereas UC has a story/campaign:
[video=youtube;Hn5xuJwFu1I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn5xuJwFu1I[/video]
woah on 10/6/2023 at 17:12
Quote Posted by Brethren
Had my eye on this one for a bit, came out today. Looks like great fun.
[video=youtube;q-OlIIXZ3zk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-OlIIXZ3zk&t=2s[/video]
Did you end up trying it? I've heard mixed things about the combat, which is somewhat surprising because they've been working on it for over 5 years afaik. Wielded objects remain an extremely difficult problem for VR unfortunately.
As for myself, I'm basically just setting aside all VR games until I get the bigscreen headset.
Renault on 11/6/2023 at 19:40
Not a lot of good to say. I did pick up it, played for about an hour, and then refunded. It has some potential, but the performance was terrible. Min Reqs is a 1070, and I have a 2080 TI, and it was a stuttering mess. Mostly unplayable, even after lowering settings to medium. This was probably the worst performing VR game I have played to date. I'll give it 6 months and then maybe give it another shot. Some of the gameplay seems promising, the archery in particular seemed like it could be a lot of fun. But it was a slide show for me, and when it wasn't, a lot of the weapon handling just seemed really janky and awkward.
Renault on 12/6/2023 at 16:05
I have to walk back my above statement - I seem to be having issues with VR overall at the moment. Not sure what's changed, but I'm getting significant stuttering on almost all games I've tried recently, which also includes Alyx, Hellsplit arena, and Amid Evil. Something is definitely amiss. Maybe it's something to do with Oculus/Air Link, so I'll try running them through Virtual Desktop and even hardwired to see if that changes anything.
Aja on 22/6/2023 at 16:31
Cool weather's come back, and I've been playing lots of VR. When I bought the headset, I was mainly thinking about big-budget, triple-A releases. But there aren't very many of those and not too many on the horizon, so I'm instead enjoying the low-budget but high-creativity grab bag that is the VR scene. When you only pay $40 for a game rather than 80, it takes away the pressure to wring the most out of it and makes it a lot easier to just enjoy what's there and not feel too bad about putting it down when you're tired of it. And in the end I'm probably spending more than I would on flat games!
First is Song in the Smoke, a Neanderthal sim where you make camp, hunt for food, and gather supplies. I'm not crazy about crafting in general, but in this game it's very physical: you drag your knife across a stick to make shavings and create an arrow shaft; you clink rocks together to make sparks, and you use a mortise and pestle to mash up herbs for tonics, and it all feels tactile and satisfying, with solid tracking and good haptics. And the atmosphere is spot on. Hurrying back to camp after sundown evokes the distinct feeling of being alone and afraid in the dark wilderness, a bit like The Long Dark but maybe more forgiving. It's got a great ambient soundtrack and sharp visuals at 90 FPS. I'm only a couple levels in, but I recommend it.
[video=youtube;ycvLm2r10zc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycvLm2r10zc[/video]
Also picked up Runner, an 80s anime-inspired motorcycle shooter, right down to the crunchy VHS-audio and lo-fi graphics. It's best played seated so that you can frequently check behind you for incoming enemies, which feels thrilling and novel to me. I doubt I'll spend too much time with it, but for 20 bucks you can't go wrong.
[video=youtube;JHvovSg85ZY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHvovSg85ZY[/video]
Next is Red Matter 2, a sci-fi adventure with startlingly high-fidelity graphics and polished gameplay. I didn't know PSVR2 could look this sharp, which goes to show the compromises devs have to make balance world detail and resolution and framerate. Here they went for max res and FPS with relatively simple environments, and the result is very pleasant. Anyway, the game is mostly escape room style with a bit of laser guns for good measure and a great Star Wars knock-off soundtrack. Intuitively, the in-game avatar is holding controllers that look at lot like the Sense controllers, with the same button layout, which alleviates the usual confusion when something asks you to push circle (it's not in the same place as a PS5 controller). Lots of propping stuff open with other stuff, rotating stuff with a virtual joystick, inserting fuses and pulling levers. It's good fun and doesn't seem like it will outstay its welcome.
[video=youtube;M0i332MB83E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0i332MB83E[/video]
More to say on other VR games, but that's enough for now.
