WingedKagouti on 25/3/2024 at 23:07
Been playing Dredge, it has great atmosphere and passing enough gameplay. It's a fishing game with Lovecraftian influences, which makes for an interesting combination of chill and tense gameplay.
PigLick on 26/3/2024 at 03:19
I feel liked I ruined Outer Wilds for myself. I played about halfway through, and then life stuff happened and it was months before I went to go back to it.
But I couldn't remember enough to continue on, and the thought of re-starting was unpalatable.
Maybe in a couple of years when I have totally forgotten it all I will try again.
P.S. Love the game
Thirith on 26/3/2024 at 05:49
I had to learn how to play Outer Wilds in order to enjoy it. At first, I was too much torn in all kinds of directions, and the loopy nature of the game meant that I found it difficult to focus. I'd go to one planet one loop, to another the next - and as a result I felt like I was collecting random scraps of paper. Only once I decided that, no, I'm going to stick with one strand of this web of mysteries, did I really start to enjoy *playing* the game - and then I fell for it hard.
Mr.Duck on 26/3/2024 at 09:36
I'm sort of spread a bit thin all over my games.
I'm currently playing (in different stages of engagement):
* Castlevania ReVamped (PC).
* Alien: Dark Descent (PC).
* Thief Gold: The Dark Parade (PC).
* Wargroove (PC).
* Atomic Heart (PC).
* Path of Exile (PC).
* Helldivers 2 (PC) - Anyone up for multi?
* Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut (PS5).
Malf on 26/3/2024 at 12:22
I'd be up for some Helldivers 2 at some point Duck!
Although Dragon's Dogma 2 has consumed my life for the foreseeable.
Disagreeable microtransactions aside, this is exactly what I wanted from a Dragon's Dogma sequel. It's pretty much the same game, but bigger and prettier.
There's some great iteration on existing systems like pawns and classes, and the reduction of over-reliance on fast travel mechanics makes it a true adventure, with a real sense of exploration, amplified by pawns occasionally chipping in to let you know about nearby treasure or locations that you haven't discovered, but they have in other player's worlds.
I did start out trying to continue my attempt to break away from playing the rogue class in RPGs by going fighter initially. But the way the class system works, I cycled through to the Thief class anyway after seeing how effective my pawn was as a Thief, and I'm having a ball. Thief is basically the first game's Wayfarer class, just without a bow. So yes, you lose ranged damaging attacks, but you get a nifty grappling hook attack that can pull flying enemies out of the air, pull ground-based enemies towards you for a follow-up stab, and can even trip the big boys. And it still gets the Cutting Wind and Skull Splitter attacks which were so awesome in the first game.
But as the levelling system works in the same way, once I've maxed out Thief, I'll move on to another, and I've just unlocked "Mystic Spearhand", which looks very interesting.
A minor irritation is that there are certain puzzles and quests that require you to be a certain vocation, which isn't so bad in an open world where you can teleport and change your class at will, but quite often in this game, you'll discover one of these quests or puzzles, only to be miles away from anywhere you can change vocation.
And it's noticeably heavily tilted towards archer, with mage a remote second.
Things like locked doors where you have to shoot the bar holding it locked through an open window, or a quest that's given to you in the main town, but the next step is miles away, and only requires you to be an archer for a minute, enough time to shoot one target.
But these are minor irritations in an otherwise awesome game.
At the same time, I can appreciate that they require you to commit to a long trek, something the whole game is balanced around... which makes it doubly insulting that they've selling microtransactions that undermine this core concept. They're all things that you can get in the game, and require you to engage with its systems in order to get. If you do buy any of these microtransactions, you're depriving yourself of the game's main attraction.
Fortunately, the MTX are easy enough to ignore, and modders are already offering free versions. But that doesn't excuse their inclusion in the first place.
Edit:
Oh, and if anyone else is playing, remember, pawns from friends are free! And my pawn, Ian Kill Master (for all you Motorhead fans out there) is currently level 38.
Mr.Duck on 27/3/2024 at 06:14
Pass me your Steam ID, pls. <3
Malf on 27/3/2024 at 11:39
Pretty sure I'm already on your list, but it's Mungrul.
SD on 28/3/2024 at 03:16
What I been playing in the last couple of months.
We Happy Few: Strange first person game set in a dystopian alternate 1960s Britain, that feels like someone took BioShock (also an Unreal engine game), and mixed in a bit of 1984, Brazil, A Clockwork Orange and No One Lives Forever. Fighting is pretty basic, and mainly consists of battering people with an umbrella - there are no guns here. I completed the (lengthy) main storyline, and it was the intriguing setting that kept me coming back. The game itself is okay, and the story decent.
Hook: Well constructed, brief puzzle game that involves removing hooks by clicking buttons until there are none left. Later levels get increasingly complex, but not punishingly so. I don't remember buying this so it almost certainly came in a bundle, but it's quite good, particularly if you like the elegant, minimal puzzle style.
This War of Mine: Most will be familiar with this I think. I played through it a while ago and returned to it to complete the DLCs. There remains a degree of satisfaction in guiding your small band of civilians towards survival. It's nearly 10 years old now, but I suppose this type of thing is always relevant.
Sun Haven: If you've played Stardew Valley, this is extremely similar, and is clearly heavily inspired by that title. But look, if you're going to rip someone off, ripping off the best is always a good move. Nevertheless, this game has its own certain charm. There is a little less emphasis on farming, and a little more on combat. The setting is a little more fantastical. One thing I do particularly like is that there are two more towns beyond the initial starting location, both with their own distinctive style. Also there is no stamina bar, so you are bound only by the clock. I'm enjoying it quite a lot.
henke on 29/3/2024 at 09:37
Jedi Surivor - Finished it, tho I did turn down the difficulty in some of the later fights because they're annoying as hell. Overall tho, an enjoyable action adventure romp.
Shadowrun Hong Kong - I liked what I played of the previous 2 games, tho I never finished either. This is good. Engaging narrative, fun turn based combat. A lot of the systems and stuff feels unintuitive tho. I had a lot of troubles in early missions, and almost gave up at one point. Later on I find out things like OH, I can buy armor from this guy in the hub? OH, I can use trauma kits to revive downed characters? OH, I can actually level up my companions as well? It feels like this game was made for people already steeped in the earlier entries, with little regard for on-boarding new players. I'm playing on PS5 this time around. Gamepad controls work well, with the only hiccup being that your character easily gets stuck on objects when moving through the free roam bits.
WingedKagouti on 31/3/2024 at 15:13
Monster Sanctuary (Game Pass) - I completed this pokemon/metroidvania mashup over the weekend and mostly enjoyed the experience. Besides double jump, the various traversal options are tied to monsters you bring with you. You can thankfully bring your entire army if you want to, unlike Pokemon where you have to curate a team of 6. And all monsters have an ability that works for exploration, whether it's unlocking specific type of door, keeping switches pressed or more standard metroidvania abilities like extending your jumping capabilities and swimming. The story is passable and I was never really in doubt about what area to explore for progress.
The basic gameplay is metroidvania platforming for general exploration and progress with all fights with a style resembling pokemon, but once you have more than one monster in your party, you're both using and fighting against 2 or 3 monsters (outside boss fights). Each monster has a variety of abilities like pokemon, but aren't limited to only having 4, but instead learn new moves, improve old ones or get passives by spending skill points (1 per level up). The combat system also has a combo meter, that resets every turn and improves damage. With many moves being multi-hit, you're rewarded for using the ability which hits most times first and the highest damage ability last. You're also graded each fight on how fast you were, how little damage you took, how well you used the combo system + elemental weakness, as well as buffing and debuffing. Better grade means better rewards and eggs (which is how you get new monsters) are more common with a high grade.
My main criticism is the UI, which doesn't tell you the weakness/strength of your monster when putting together a team without going into the status or skill menus for each individual monster. You are shown this for both your own monsters as well as the opposition when starting a fight, so it's not like it isn't there. Also, despite playing it almost exclusively with a controller, the game insisted on showing keyboard shortcuts, so there was some functionality I just couldn't figure out how to do without switching to keyboard.