rachel on 20/2/2022 at 19:05
The spacewalking/zero G aspect is indeed excellent, that's one aspect of the game I find bloody brilliant.
I've always wondered how a modern System Shock would tackle cyberspace and I think I got my answer here...
Mr.Duck on 21/2/2022 at 10:12
Finished Sekiro. Kicked Sword Saint Isshin Ashina's ass after less than fifteen tries. Finished Mighty Goose. Short and somewhat on the easy side, it was still fun and wore its MetalSlug influence on its sleeve.
Currently playing now:
* Ratchet & Clank 2: Going Commando (PS3) - Starting up this classic platformer. After several years, I am finally giving the series its proper due. Finished the 1st game in the series several months ago. Time to dig into their second adventure.
* Returnal (PS5) - Returning to this challenging 3rd-person, roguelike-meets-Soulslike Sci-Fi action game. I've already killed the first boss and gotten to the second biome. More pain awaits. Bring it.
* The Hex (PC) - Finally giving this little indie gem a try from the creator of Inscryption and Pony Island Express. Good times with meta-commentary and some freaky moments.
PigLick on 22/2/2022 at 15:27
Mr Duck my great friend, I would love you to post more interactively, than just dumping a bunch of stuff and then running.
I miss you man.
hmm well to offset the pathos I am playing RDR2 a second time on the ps4 and I must say there is a fuckton of foreshadowing for RDR1 that I never picked up on the first playthrough.
Jashin on 25/2/2022 at 20:06
Playing Weird West beta, under NDA.
Pro devs making an indie... It's interesting.
Yakoob on 27/2/2022 at 23:26
Dunno about you guys, but I've been playing some demos at the Steam Next Fest!
(https://store.steampowered.com/app/1121640/The_Wandering_Village/) The Wandering Village - the big winner of the festival with most wishlists. It's a city builder but you're on top of a living, wandering creature. So aside from the building, you also need to take care of your creature and help feed/treat/steer it. I only played one run, where I got overwhelmed by poison spores and my creature abruptly died of hunger, lel. It's a neat concept with great artwork, just needs a bit more communication/UI tweaks (which will, undoubtedly, come)
(https://store.steampowered.com/app/889910/Hell_Pie/) Hell-Pie - a platformer where you play as a little demo with a cherub chained to you, that you can use to "swing" in mid-air. Very Conker Bad Fur Day vibes. The camera/controls take some getting used to, but it has great setting and art style.
(https://store.steampowered.com/app/1599020/Tinykin/) Tinykin - a platformer meets pikmin where you're a little shrunk dude running around giant bedrooms and solving puzzles. Very charming and feels pretty good to control, with a really great attention to detail (feels like no part of the room is wasted).
(https://store.steampowered.com/app/1656780/Heros_Hour/) Hero's Hour - Heros of Might and Magic meets auto-battler? Only did the tutorial so far so can't say much about it.
rachel on 28/2/2022 at 00:20
Well I finished Prey. Honestly I am a bit let down, I appreciate its ambition and I obviously recognise its System Shock roots, but it didn't feel like a cohesive experience to me. Some parts are brilliant, like the zero-G, but I couldn't get past my first impression about level design that I mentioned in my previous post. Even in alternate history, the art-deco extravagance was too much to suspend disbelief (and I say this as someone who loves art-deco). The dissonance distracted me from fully enjoying it.
I can't say I will not replay it, there's certainly potential as I haven't explored all side quests, and in this first play did with zero Typhon mods, but I think I'll leave it aside now and give Cyberpunk 2077 my full attention for the next few weeks.
PigLick on 28/2/2022 at 02:46
Put all your points into wrench and hacking and the game is brilliant.
demagogue on 28/2/2022 at 05:20
Quote Posted by rachel
I think I'll leave it aside now and give
Cyberpunk 2077 my full attention for the next few weeks.
Quote Posted by rachel
Honestly I am a bit let down, I appreciate its ambition and I obviously recognise its
Deus Ex roots, but it didn't feel like a cohesive experience to me.
Saving this for you for future reference. :joke:
I really liked Prey's intro, but I quit 5-6 hours in or so once it got into the meat of the game. Actually same thing with Deathloop. The gameplay was a little too slick, if you know what I mean. I'm into when I'm into it, but it doesn't have the lightening in the bottle thing that the first Dishonored had. I'll get back to them though. I think it's a function of how much time I have to sink into them.
The recent game in this vein that I got the most into was Control.
I think its set pieces were well made for the kind of run & gun it had you doing. I don't know. I'm not good at articulating why games connect with me, but something about Control did.
rachel on 28/2/2022 at 07:16
Quote Posted by demagogue
The gameplay was a little too slick, if you know what I mean. I'm into when I'm into it, but it doesn't have the lightening in the bottle thing that the first Dishonored had.
Exactly this. Damn it's hard to express something so subjective.
Thirith on 28/2/2022 at 08:21
While I would say that I loved Prey, what demagogue especially is saying sounds similar to how I feel about the recent Hitman trilogy - I think the games are fantastic, and when I'm into them I'm *really* into them... but they require an up-front commitment, and without that they fall somewhat flat. Especially these days I often prefer having a game that I can dip my toes into as well as spend extended periods on. I also find that it's much easier to get into something that has more of a focus: do this now, do that after. That's not a criticism of such games - it's what makes them great - but it also means that if I'm not in the right mood and if I don't have enough time, spending just half an hour on them somehow feels like I'm wasting both my time and the time of the game.
To a large extent I'd say that it's especially the last two years that I've started to feel like this, and that the pandemic and everything that has come with it has resulted in me looking for something more immediate much of the time. I'm hoping that my enjoyment of longer-form gaming will come back, though.
The next bit might sound like a contradiction of this, but I've started playing Horizon: Zero Dawn again. (I'd previously played it on PS4.) It's mainly all the talk about the sequel that made me want to check out the PC version and how it looks, and it's pulled me in more than I would've expected. To some extent I think it's that the game, while gorgeous to look at and nicely enough written, is shallow in the way that most open-world games are: tons of activities, all of which feel pretty much the same. But it's something to play before going to bed or after getting up, for 15-20 minutes, setting myself small goals: do this sidequest, get those resources, explore this ruin.
In addition, I've started replaying Mirror's Edge, something I do every couple of years. It always takes me a level or two to get used to how Faith handles, but then I really enjoy the rush of navigating that particular world. I liked the sequel better than most people did (the open world falls flat, but I enjoy the main levels and some of the puzzle sequences a lot), but it's the streamlined simplicity of the first, its lack of skill trees and equipment, the way you have everything you need from the first and your objective is to become better at it, that keeps pulling me back.
And finally: I finished Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye over the weekend, and I love how it all comes together. It's eminently clever in terms of how its puzzles are designed, but there's also a strong emotional core there that resonated with me much like the original game did. I will definitely try to check out the VR mod soon, because I'd love to see what this world feels like when you're inside it rather than looking at it on a flat screen.
