henke on 11/8/2025 at 09:28
I also played a bit of Maneater (it's in PS+) but I didn't like the shark physics.
Stuff I've been playing recently:
[video=youtube;jXQmJBsrciI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXQmJBsrciI[/video]
Öoo - a new puzzle platformer by the Elec Head dev. As I'm writing this it is sitting at 400 Steam reviews with a 100% positive rating. The reason for this rarely-seen perfect rating? Well, it's... perfect. I don't think it's possible not to enjoy this, so you should probably (
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2721890/oo/) just go buy it.
Primal Planet - 2D caveman metroidvania. Feels a lot like a more accessible version of Rain World in how systems-based it is and how the world is mostly open from the start (after the tutorial bit), and progress is a bit more maleable than most metroidvanias.
Arco - western story with quite good storytelling, wonderful art, and a so-so turn-based combat system. Well, it's more like real time with pause. Feels a lot like Ronin, but I liked Ronin more.
Keep Driving - roadtrip RPG with lovely pixel art. The main gameplay is a kinda card game deck builder thingy which pops up whenever a Driving Event happens. The aesthetic sold me on this game but I'm not digging the actual gameplay.
Lies of P - recently added to PS+, I played this all weekend. A really solid soulslike with great looks but kinda amateurish storytelling. Go read the thread in the Souls subforum if you wanna know more.
Thirith on 11/8/2025 at 09:45
Quote Posted by henke
I also played a bit of Maneater (it's in PS+) but
I didn't like the shark physics.Most henke quote of 2025 or of all time?
Also, you know that we now have to challenge you to make a shark game with good shark physics.
Tooth Fella?
JWSFSH?
henke on 11/8/2025 at 10:07
Ok since you ask, here's how it should be done:
Left/Right triggers - flap left/right fins
Left stick vertical - tilt up down
Left stick horzontal - rear fin (rudder)
Right stick vertical - jaw open/close
Right stick horizontal - tilt head
SIMPLE
Malf on 11/8/2025 at 10:21
Quote Posted by henke
I also played a bit of Maneater (it's in PS+) but I didn't like the shark physics.
Lies of P - recently added to PS+, I played this all weekend. A really solid soulslike with great looks but kinda amateurish storytelling. Go read the thread in the Souls subforum if you wanna know more.
Man Eater's shark physics get a lot better when you get chonkier, and while there's no "reward" for playing this way, it really captures the feeling of a shark "breaching" while chomping on a turtle/seal/hapless swimmer.
There's also pitch-adjustment once you've breached the surface, allowing you to perform spins and smooth arcs.
I should get back to Lies of P at some point; but I felt a bit soulsed-out after completing the cathedral level.
I also suspect they've tied the parry window to frames, meaning that at higher framerates, the parry window is smaller.
Either that or I'm just too old and slow for the minute windows it offers.
If games like this are going to make parrying such a large part of their overall mechanic, I wish they'd add a setting that makes the parry window larger or smaller depending on player preference.
I did eventually end up downloading a mod to extend the window in Lies of P; not drastically, but enough that it feels better now.
But even so, I reached that "Souls" burn out quite quickly with it. This burnout barrier has been with me ever since I first binged Demon's Souls. It takes a lot in these types of games these days to make me feel like it's worth persisting past a certain point.
Elden Ring overcame it through dint of being open world with spectacular sights, but even that took me a few tries to ge through, with a couple of false starts before I properly got into the swing of things.
Thirith on 11/8/2025 at 10:59
I'm thinking that a good shark game needs a full-body exoskeleton controller, made by MadCatz, and then it needs to have a rhythm game element and build on John Williams' Jaws soundtrack. That's a sure-fire hit right there. And for the sequels (Rock Shark? Deep Blue Band?), they need to add playable orcas, giant octopuses and... I'm not quite sure about the fourth band member. That watery shape-shifting thing from The Abyss? The Shape from Still Wakes the Deep?
Malf on 11/8/2025 at 11:48
There's also lots of hints that if they'd had the budget, they would have definitely included licensed music classics such as Hall & Oates' Maneater and Stevie Nicks' Barracuda.
It's at times like this that I feel artists and publishers can be a little too protective of their IP these days; I'm not saying they should have let Tripwire have access to these tunes free-of-charge; but I strongly suspect that Tripwire probably at least enquired about the cost of these licenses and were put off.
nicked on 11/8/2025 at 18:33
I wonder if it would have cost them more or less to settle for Nelly Furtado's Maneater.
Renault on 11/8/2025 at 20:33
Quote Posted by Malf
and Stevie Nicks' Barracuda.
Heart? (Plus that's technically not a shark).
How about The Tide Is High by Blondie?
Briareos H on 12/8/2025 at 06:22
Launched the Heretic + Hexen re-release. I hadn't played Heretic since it came out and did not recall it being so much of a pew-pewy fantasy reskin of Doom. It's fun though, the level design has a lot of really great moments so I'm not complaining, but I've always been more of a Hexen kind of guy. Where some players genuinely hated getting lost in these sprawling, magically connected hubs, trying to solve 1/32th at a time whatever nonsensical "puzzle" the game identifies as the next goal, I've always found Hexen's loose worldbuilding to provide just the right structure for my imagination to run free and immerse itself in the quasi-narrative.
Fresh music by Andrew Hulshult is always a nice bonus, a bit more intrusive and aggressive than the original soundtracks but nails the epic orchestral vibe they were going for.
A good release, looking forward to the new episodes.
WingedKagouti on 12/8/2025 at 06:32
Quote Posted by Malf
I picked up
Man Eater for cheap during the sale, so fired it up over the weekend.
...
I finished up the main game with a perfect 100% last night, and only had to use maps for a few of the more well-hidden collectibles.
I started the DLC that came bundled with it immediately after completing the game, and this goes even harder on the silliness, diving deep into conspiracy theory territory, and effectively lampooning such craziness.
I played and beat the main game 100% fairly easily, but some of the time trials in the DLC were too much for me. There's one where you have to swim through the canals and jump over certain bridges, which requires high speed and precise jumps. But fun game and DLC.
