The best way to describe this game is that it's a good game but a horrible remake. It does give some improvements besides graphics but it lacks content that defined the original so hard.
Last night I started Resident Evil 3 Remake, and yeah, I can see already how it's trying to be a more, kind of linear action-horror focused … moreentry that a lot of fans didn't like because it deviated from the original's heavy survival-horror roots (and probably also removed iconic segments) as it continued off of RE2's theme.
Like, RE2, you get a slow spooky prologue section at a gas station where you're introduced to the zombies and controls, then are essentially let loose in the RPD to find your way around -- even if many paths are blocked off for now.
But RE3 wears its action themes on its sleeve, and already feels like a much different, guided, maybe kinda product-of-a-rush game than RE2 was.
Starts off with a dream sequence, then into a scripted chase sequence with lots of small cutscene interstitials, then a scene where you learn info by following a guy and in a cutscene, until finally the game starts to open up as I'm given my fir… [view original content]
I just hope the 3rd game doesn't do a predictable route where Cal mentors Kata like something you see in God of War or the Last of Us.
It would be stupid to pull off a TLOU2 by killing either Cal, Kata or Merrin at the beginning because it's cheap writing. It would also be too predictable to just kill them overall just because Cal is not in the original trilogy. Rogue One has already done that risk. Just let Cal and his group share the same category with Ahsoka and Ezra. It's not like we have enough Jedi characters who survived past Return of the Jedi.
So I just 100% Jedi: Survivor last night after that freaking nightmare of a double-rancor force fracture. Seriously, that was so ridiculous … moreI went from Jedi Master difficulty to Jedi Knight. It irritated the hell out of me.
Safe to say I loved the game. Now there were performance problems on my Series X. Crashed somewhere between 6-10 times over the game, almost always on Koboh. Sometimes lost progress. Textures would load slowly when turning fast, but...that was it. I was on Performance Mode the whole time and I am pleased with it. It is a lovely looking game. Koboh is really wonderfully imagined. I also enjoyed Jedha, though must admit it all started to blend in together. Coruscant is a great starting planet, and I like the contrasts between the Shattered Moon and Nova Garon. The saloon is really fun; I loved the collectibles and all the interesting characters you can recruit. Good conversations.
The combat is great, though I am annoy… [view original content]
It was... good! Just good, really. It was a pretty darn linear action-horror title, lots of scenes where Nemesis attacks but it's all clearly scripted or for dramatic effect, but overall I enjoyed the ride and loved seeing Jill's resilience against Nemesis just coming back again, and again, and again, and even again!!
Jill feels like the ultimate Final Girl. Like she escaped the horrors in RE1, but still they keep tracking her down, almost as unstoppable as she is. Love her uber-powerful skillset lol.
God damn, the game is gorgeous. That RE Engine is amazing, their artists are amazing. It all looks very high-quality and realistic. Damn good job.
Oh yeah, I also played the game with Ray Tracing on for those sweet shadows and accurate lighting. Spooky AF, plus the game mostly ran at/close to 60fps. IDK why because RE2 wasn't like that, but this is indeed a smaller game I guess.
The gore was turned down for some reason in this entry compared to the first, but the zombies and other monsters were still really ugly and gross-looking.
I liked that the "Regenerating" enemies near the end match the same style as the "Mold Regenerator" enemies in RE7 DLC. Very pale, blistering skin, but a lot of steam comes out of their body to show you they're healing themselves. It's a pretty cool detail to unify the games' monster/ability continuity.
I really liked seeing/hearing Jeff Schine in this game as Carlos.
I haven't heard that guy since he played Javier in the Walking Dead! Dude's got a really cool voice, and he played a kind of great wingman who's actually one of the very few nice UBCS soldiers.
Overall, I enjoyed my time. I got spooked a lot. I like that it's short since it means if ever I want to play it again it's not a big time-sink, but the pacing does feel pretty damn weird in the game.
There's a moment where Jill gets poisoned and knocked out, and I think "ohh, I'm gonna jump back to Carlos for some gameplay to fill the time"
Nope. The game cuts to "roughly half a day later". LMAO what?? Jill is just left unconscious for some reason for like 10 hours!
Since I'm done this now, I think I'll try out Going Under for my next single-player romp. Been in my backlog for a while, I need to get to it. The deaths in RE3 frustrated me, but I'm in the mood for a good roguelike where even deaths feel like some sort of progress (and each new life brings another randomized dungeon)
A good 8 of those deaths were in the Nemesis Stage 2 fight in the Underground Lab. Damn, man. I loaded myself up on bullets and few health items, and I never got a good hang on dodging.
Finished the original Assassin's Creed yesterday on PC.
TL;DR Version:
Overall, I enjoyed my time but it's a pretty mediocre game with very little to do outside of the main missions.
It felt like a tech demo (the detailed parkour concept) with a story added onto it, and then that's where the budget & time ran out.
The only other things are simple lead-up missions to each main target, saving civilians with only 4 voice-lines, and collecting hundreds of flags (yeah, hundreds) that offer ZERO benefit to you, the player.
The Long Version:
The parkour was a very fun, surprisingly complex and detailed system (It's pretty cool how realistically Altair grabs onto and places his feet on the environment to climb buildings), but albeit kind of slow and rigid sometimes which I hope the sequels improve.
This video makes me excited and afraid of the additions/removals to mechanics the rest of the series does.
The quests you need to complete to unlock the Main Assassination of the level are very repetitive, and tedious, which is probably made worse by the vague guard detection system that will either cause you to run and hide and reset the mission, or slow your gameplay to a crawl to blend in...
The Main Target missions are where the meat of the game's story and intrigue come in, as you're tasked with killing 9 important Templar people, all evil and cruel in ways, because they're seeking an item to cause world domination.
But, they also plant seeds of doubt in the main character's head about what his own organization may be hiding from him and controlling him to do...
The guard "social stealth indicator" is a small triangle on the top left of your screen.
Its either white when you're safe from a guard's gaze, turns yellow when you're being watched, and blinks red with an annoying noise when an "Informed" guard is spotting you, forcing younto either hide or hold "Blend" which causes you to very slowly walk in prayer.
But it's difficult to know which guard does this and honestly I can't figure out if there's any specific indicator (apart from when you're on rooftops, which is illegal)
Apparently the PC Director's Cut version replaces/adds certain lead-up mission types to the main assassination of each chapter, which are Archer-Stealth Assassination missions, Rooftop Time Trials, Escort Missions, and Merchant Stand Destruction missions.
That last one is a baffling inclusion. Merchant stands feel like set dressing or an occasional parkour-stepping-stone, and while there's a mechanic to throw an enemy into the stand to collapse it and insta-kill them, it's a pretty niche move and it's strange how simple/trivial/random this mission type is compared to all the others... doesn't exactly feel like anything useful for an Assassin or a Parkour fiend...
The story itself I enjoyed, even if it was kind of basic.
Basically, there's the Modern Day story where Desmond Miles is kidnapped by a secret group and forced to plug his brain into this magic-tech machine that can read DNA and recreate his ancestor's memories
...This is what you play in the historical setting where you're parkouring around the place and part of an Assassin Order.
The "Memory" story of the game shows the story of Altair -- a skilled but cocky assassin -- who is stripped of all his fancy tools by his Master/Handler because he was an idiot who broke the Creed by which the whole Assassin Brotherhood operates. (This is literally the first thing you see him do and his friends chastise him for - not a great first impression, dude)
He then uncovers a secret plot to install a New World Order by controlling the populations of Hebrews and Christians and must stop this mysterious enemy from fulfilling their goals.
Oh, and also get humbled along the way about how to behave like a good, noble person.
The ending of the game
has a shocking twist where it's revealed your own master - the Assassin Leader - is actually a secret Templar agent who wanted to kill off all his accomplices so he could have the magic treasure to himself.
Honestly a pretty good twist I didn't expect, and had a pretty tough final boss battle, since he does extreme amounts of damage and the counter timing is super tight.
However, the combat is pretty basic and I found myself wanting extra tools to get around annoyances like everyone always blocking attacks, barely getting a hit in because no one gives you time for offense, and the end-game throwing you into arenas with hugs amounts of enemies that always take way too many hits/counters to take down.
So... yeah. This was a neat introduction to how the whole series started and how all this Assassinating and Parkouring works, but you can definitely tell it was still in its early stages of being fleshed out. The main concept is there, but everything other than that feels extremely lacking.
The Modern Day Story ends on a cliffhanger too, and I hope to see the gameplay in that evolve in future entries, since they were essentially slow walking interludes.
Oh, I can assure you this is just the beginning. AC2 is where the entire concept shines with its execution which is a gigantic improvement.
I used to care for this franchise but after playing AC4 Black Flag, I lost all the interest and I made the right choice stop after that. Because all the games after it, you either like some of them or they are just a chore to play. Especially the latest one which I heard is the longest game in the franchise.
Finished the original Assassin's Creed yesterday on PC.
TL;DR Version:
Overall, I enjoyed my time but it's a pretty mediocre game with… more very little to do outside of the main missions.
It felt like a tech demo (the detailed parkour concept) with a story added onto it, and then that's where the budget & time ran out.
The only other things are simple lead-up missions to each main target, saving civilians with only 4 voice-lines, and collecting hundreds of flags (yeah, hundreds) that offer ZERO benefit to you, the player.
The Long Version:
The parkour was a very fun, surprisingly complex and detailed system (It's pretty cool how realistically Altair grabs onto and places his feet on the environment to climb buildings), but albeit kind of slow and rigid sometimes which I hope the sequels improve.
This video makes me excited and afraid of the additions/removals to mechanics the rest of the series does.
The quests you need… [view original content]
Oh my gosh -- okay, so I took a big break from DBD, but turns out there's a whole challenge/progression system for their Battle Pass, and in it you can unlock special lore entries about characters in the DBD universe.
Since this one is Alan-themed, there's a set of collectibles (photos, text pages) of how Alan got into the DBD world...
And man. They even got Matthew Porretta to voice the text logs. And he's so damn good.
Can't believe I missed/was slacking on this. Now I'm hooked to try and get better at the game!
Pacific Drive, my very first game of 2024 finished just now.
This game is unique but it's not gonna be for everyone. Unless you have a lot of patience and you are fan of a survival game, I wouldn't recommend it.
But for me, I liked this game a lot. I haven't felt such an immersive driving experience since probably GTA 4. It made me feel like I was driving a real car and I was addicted to loot stuff in order to upgrade it.
The story was okay but nothing to write home about. The "characters" are surprisingly memorable and charismatic, despite the fact that they are just voice-overs. But that's the only interesting part and the game doesn't do much with it any further.
The game was also surprisingly challenging, most of the enemies are just natural causes and some robots. But I don't think I ever died. I did have a close call but I got soo lucky in the last second.
One thing that frustrates me the most is that I have to do scanning for certain items in order to unlock the upgrades for the car and the game isn't being very specific about what I should look for.
Overall, I liked this game and it was worth the buy. We need more AA games like this one.
Started playing Road 96 yesterday. Very entertaining so far. It’s a choice based rpg that reminds me of life is strange somewhat. Would recommend if you like LiS.
Also playing As Dusk Falls. It’s a choice-based game made by one of the designers who worked at Quantic Dream. Characters are shown as moving stills in a 3D environment which took some getting used to but I eventually did. It’s good so far, if you can accept the moving stills style I recommend it.
I am so happy to see Sony put hidden gems from previous generations in the PS5 library. I already have it on PC but the performance was rough as hell. My marathon on the Alone in the Dark will finally continue.
I have been playing a game called Before I Forget. It follows a character named Sunita, who has dementia, and shows her trying to recollect the fragments of her past by exploring her present environment. Her environment is a dull, lifeless grey, and interacting with objects around her house brings back colour to her surroundings, as she remembers the memories and the emotions she felt in those past experiences.
Honestly the game did make me feel sad, and experiencing a somewhat sensitive feeling after completing it.
How it is crafted, it fully encapsulates the confusion and emotionality of an individual with dementia, discovering memories of their past involving friends, family, happy times, and discovering what happened, and having to live through that grief again and again.
It is an easy play, takes roughly an hour, gameplay is essentially like Firewatch, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Here's the description if anyone fancies a read: "Before I Forget is a BAFTA-nominated narrative exploration game. Players step into the world of Sunita - a woman living with early onset dementia. As you wander from room to room, you discover mysterious objects, each holding a fleeting, fragmented memory. Examine faded postcards, scribbled notes, photographs, and more to uncover Sunita’s past, piece together her life-story and understand her present."
I played another indie game by the name of A Short Hike, just after completing the story for it there now, I found it to be a very relaxing, charming game. You play as Claire, who is travelling to Hawk Peak Provincial Park, where her Aunt May works as a ranger.
In order to get phone reception, she needs to climb Hawk Peak and reach the summit. On her journey, she discovers several quirky and charming characters to interact with and talk to, race and fish with.
It's another easy game to beat, with collectible items to gather that aid in your venture to the top.
I personally like the artstyle a lot, it's not a Last of Us II in terms of graphically fidelity, but I think it, along with the rest of the game can be summed up in one word: charming.
My favourite aspect of A Short Hike has to be the soundtrack, it really calms you and mellows you out as you explore the island.
I haven't completed everything in it as I wanted to experience the story and beat the game, but I can see myself coming back to gather the rest of the collectibles and 100% the game to gather the achievements.
I've found myself going through indie games a fair bit lately, I'm trying to chip away at my backlog and I've been going for the smaller titles I have to provide me with a new experience and to break down my lengthy backlog. For today, since I've no commitments or anything clashing with my schedule, I'll play Fractured Minds, and Abzu, and perhaps if I have some time left over, I will play LIMBO
I played Fractured Minds, a very short game, only 30 minutes in length, and it was a grim experience. The game delves into anxiety and mental health, and how our anxious thoughts can haunt us, leaving us feeling immobilised, trapped, hopeless. There is a dark gloomy figure present in the game, known as simply "The Thing" that stalks you throughout the game. The same figure can be seen at the title screen, with white eyes. A smile appears on their face when you hover on the Play button, which was unsettling.
I interpreted the entity, The Thing, to be the embodiment of one's worries, anxieties, and negative perceptions, constantly ridiculing you, tearing you down, with its aim to consume you, to strip away what makes you who you are, and leave a hollow shell where you used to be. I found it to be an interesting exploration on mental health, I am someone who experiences anxiety regularly, and I'm trying to manage it better, the game resonated with me because of that.
Very easy game to beat, easy to obtain the achievements/trophies in one sitting, but an unsettling game to sit and play.
Next is ABZU, I played a bit of it years ago (2018 to be exact, it's mad it has been that long) via Game Pass, but dropped it and never went back to it until today, and I'll tell you what, it is an experience, you play as a diver that explores the depths of the ocean, you get to explore ancient ruins, meet and ride various large fish and mammals, like sperm whales, giant squids, great white sharks, sea turtles, the list goes on.
The graphics for ABZU are ridiculously stunning, it's a joy to look at, the controls can be a bit finicky when swimming, but you do get the hang of it. There is a story to the game, but there's no dialogue, you just experience it as you go along.
It's an easy game to play, very relaxing, gorgeous environments to roam in, and collectibles to be...collected. I missed four achievements in my first run so I'll be going back to it to gather them all as they are high in gamerscore. You can even sit and take in the scenery around you as there are certain statues located in the game that lets you meditate, which then lets you scroll through the various type of fish and mammals that are swimming around you, with their names.
I played another game titled When The Past Was Around, it's a point and click adventure game following Eda, a young adult who sought to accomplish her dreams, and succeed in her pursuit of love. The game is deep in the narrative it tells, without any actual dialogue, touching on themes of love, purpose, heartbreak and acceptance. I loved the story for it, and found the artstyle to be absolutely beautiful.
With it being a point and click adventure game, there is a bit of a challenge in solving puzzles, I did have to turn to guides in order to progress in a couple of scenes, but it's a fun sort of challenge.
The soundtrack is banging, really feeds into the atmosphere that the game is going for in each scene, it really supports the emotions you are experiencing, not dictating how you should feel, but accompanying how you are feeling in each scene.
The game is listed as being 1hr 30mins to beat on How Long To Beat, but you'll be spending more than that with the puzzles and exploring the scenes, trying to figure out how to progress.
Achievements can be missed, I managed to get all but three achievements, one of those three is essentially for getting all achievements, so technically two, but they're missable by not interacting with certain objects in a scene, I'll have to do a replay soon to grab the remaining achievements.
I've been so happy that I've played these games over the past couple of days, my backlog is scandalous, and it irked me how bad it is, that to take a good pop at it over the course of two days, I'm pretty thrilled with myself, I'm just currently going through my short games to get them out of the road, then focus my attention on the longer games, I'd like to give The Wolf Among Us a replay sometime soon, but I may move that if The Wolf Among Us 2 is out this year. I'll be jumping on LIMBO soon, then I'll go onto Down In Bermuda, then after that I'll do Inside.
I finished Alone in the Dark The New Nightmare on PS5.
This is easily the best game of the franchise so far and it's very underrated. BUUUT....it has some unfortunate flaws.
As far as the positives go, the game uses the RE2 style of duo character plotlines combined together (You have to complete both campaigns to get the full story) which is awesome and speaking of RE, it does use the exact same gameplay formula. Well, minus the safe rooms and item boxes. But the game does a great job at capturing the atmosphere, some enemy spawns can actually catch me off guard and I feel proud to solve some puzzles on my own without using guides.
Unfortunately, this isn't a game that I would rush to recommend to anyone because it has major flaws. First of all, the boss fights SUCK!!! They are all bullet sponge and the way you defeat two of them make no sense whatsoever. There is only one boss that I would say was very good. Also some puzzles were very fucking frustrating and the game is vague about the solutions for some of them. But the one that pissed me off the most is that one puzzle solution that is locked behind a character dialogue which can only be occurred once (You either save it on a paper or just restart a checkpoint to listen to the dialogue again). Also also, no new game plus, thus no replayability.
Overall, this game is underrated but not one of the best horror games ever made. You should only play it if you love survival horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. I do think this is much better than the original Alone in the Dark though.
I finished LIMBO, it is ridiculously difficult, I died 225 times in the entire game according to Xbox stats, certainly felt like it was more, but I feel accomplished, I beat that game and beat the secret level, and I'm very pleased.
It's a very depressing game, very gloomy, but the atmosphere is incredible. The scenery is horrendous in depiction, the monsters you encounter are terrifying, like the spider for one is insanely creepy, and very intimidating, the people aren't much better either, they lay on the ground and tie up beartraps for you to get absolutely demolished. This game does not play around with how graphically you get killed. Death by saws, breaking your legs from a high fall, crushed under hydraulics, impaled by a spider, it's grim.
The game can be very frustrating with its platforming, and the puzzles can be quite difficult to piece together and figure out, but it's so rewarding once you get through it. The secret level is remarkably difficult, for most of it you are literally in the dark avoiding traps, the only light on your screen is two small circles, your characters eyes, you'll have to rely on your hearing for a lot of it, so get the gum out of your ears and listen good.
There are collectible items that are difficult to reach, but thanks to guides, I managed to get them all. The collectibles are required to unlock the secret level, so if you ever wake up one day and decide "I'm going to play LIMBO and 100% it", then they're essential. And if you do wake up and think that, I think you'd be better off going back to sleep, I can't stress enough how difficult the game is. I experienced a number of heated gamer moments because of the game, but it feels nice to have it under my belt. There's an achievement for beating the entire game in one sitting without dying more than five times in your run, on Xbox it is worth 200 gamerscore, I want it, but I don't have it in me, mama didn't raise no quitter, but I think it's better to quit while I'm ahead
Now the story is very...hard to follow, I mean in like, it doesn't feel like there is a story being told, the game description itself however does go into excruciatingly in-depth detail on the games story, as you'll notice here: "Uncertain of his sister's fate, a boy enters LIMBO" - now is that informative or what? All jokes aside, the story does take a backseat for the majority of the game, it's doesn't feel present, it just feels like you're going through different regions without much thought about it other than the dramatic change in scenery when transitioning between two regions. The Ending itself is confusing, and it's something I'll spoiler tag to give my thoughts, or more so the thoughts of others.
So the Ending consists of the boy breaking free of LIMBO, coming full circle from the start of the game, he wakes up in LIMBO, traverses through it and breaks through the barrier, landing back into the same spot he was in at the start, but as he progresses forward, he finds his sister under a treehouse. She has shown up a couple of times in the game, and has always just been out of his reach, but now they are finally reunited. It isn't clear what happens, but I have read some theories on what may have happened, and they are interesting and do make some sense.
So I've watched a couple of YouTube videos, and the one theory I found interesting is that both the boy and the girl are dead, both were in LIMBO, which according to some religions, would be a middle ground between heaven and hell, like a purgatory of some sorts, and the boy confronted his fears, and overcame them to find his loved one, his sister, both wouldn't be at peace until they were reunited, so when they found each other, they were then able to pass on, together. Something that does support it is the change in the menu screen, which at the beginning shows the boy and his sister outside of the treehouse, and after you complete the game, the menu screen changes, showing a dilapidated treehouse, and two swarms of flies hovering over the grass, which to me would indicate that they died. The game doesn't put the story front and centre, but if that is the actual Ending, it's tragic and heartbreaking. I know that Arnt Jensen, who conceptualised LIMBO, hasn't given away the Ending and its meaning, but has said that fans have apparently came very close to what the Ending means, at this moment I cannot fathom what the actual Ending may be, so for now, the theory I stated is good enough for me.
I finished Alone in the Dark The New Nightmare on PS5.
This is easily the best game of the franchise so far and it's very underrated. BUU… moreUT....it has some unfortunate flaws.
As far as the positives go, the game uses the RE2 style of duo character plotlines combined together (You have to complete both campaigns to get the full story) which is awesome and speaking of RE, it does use the exact same gameplay formula. Well, minus the safe rooms and item boxes. But the game does a great job at capturing the atmosphere, some enemy spawns can actually catch me off guard and I feel proud to solve some puzzles on my own without using guides.
Unfortunately, this isn't a game that I would rush to recommend to anyone because it has major flaws. First of all, the boss fights SUCK!!! They are all bullet sponge and the way you defeat two of them make no sense whatsoever. There is only one boss that I would say was very good. Also some puzzles were v… [view original content]
I died 225 times in the entire game according to Xbox stats
Not to be rude but how did you achieve that lmao? I don't remember the game being that difficult.
I would definitely recommend the devs follow-up game, Inside. The gameplay there is much smoother, though admittedly the story while interesting, is actually a little less comprehensible and more open to interpretation than Limbo.
I finished LIMBO, it is ridiculously difficult, I died 225 times in the entire game according to Xbox stats, certainly felt like it was more… more, but I feel accomplished, I beat that game and beat the secret level, and I'm very pleased.
It's a very depressing game, very gloomy, but the atmosphere is incredible. The scenery is horrendous in depiction, the monsters you encounter are terrifying, like the spider for one is insanely creepy, and very intimidating, the people aren't much better either, they lay on the ground and tie up beartraps for you to get absolutely demolished. This game does not play around with how graphically you get killed. Death by saws, breaking your legs from a high fall, crushed under hydraulics, impaled by a spider, it's grim.
The game can be very frustrating with its platforming, and the puzzles can be quite difficult to piece together and figure out, but it's so rewarding once you get through it. The secret level … [view original content]
Honestly, I think it's more of a skill issue on my part, I'm really terrible at platformers, some key things to traverse the environments didn't really pop out to me straight away, I honestly had to use a guide I was already using to grab as many achievements as possible in my first go. Phil Spencer apparently isn't much better, I follow him on Xbox, he died 163 times, which, is vastly superior to me, but he struggled too
Even then, for whatever reason, I have no idea why, there were times I couldn't understand the guide, my reading comprehension must be on a steep decline it wasn't worded in a complicated way, I don't think I took in the information properly. It's not really something for me to brag about unfortunately, I can't see myself slapping that on my CV.
I made a start on Inside earlier, as you said, much smoother gameplay, the story is very interesting so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.
I died 225 times in the entire game according to Xbox stats
Not to be rude but how did you achieve that lmao? I don't remember the g… moreame being that difficult.
I would definitely recommend the devs follow-up game, Inside. The gameplay there is much smoother, though admittedly the story while interesting, is actually a little less comprehensible and more open to interpretation than Limbo.
Finished playing Horizon: Forbidden West and I really enjoyed it, even more so than the original game! So here are my mad ramblings.
The environments in this game are absolutely gorgeous. Might legitimately be the best looking open world game I've ever played. There's a ton of diversity in terms of biomes, and a lot of verticality as well, not to mention the underwater areas. I especially have to praise the architecture designs for all the different tribes, and the amount of variety to simple man-made objects around the map that really help make the world feel lived in. As you're travelling from one area to another you'll find different designs of objects like signs, fences, or bridges transition, letting you know you've left one tribes territory and entered another. I also loved that your actions as Aloy actively changed certain parts of the world around her. It really makes you feel like you're making an impact.
Like I mentioned, the gameplay has been improved from the first game. It feels as satisfying as ever to hit your mark, and the melee combat has been given the addition of combos and special moves that you could use to help deal more damage, tear away armour or immobilise human enemies. However, while this is a great way to get people to actually use the spear, the damage is still significantly lower than the bow regardless if you've maxed out your combat skills and risks you having to get up close and personal with enemies. It is also still virtually useless against machines. Because of this I only ever really used the spear when it came to the melee pits and that's just because you are actively forced to use it.
I quite enjoyed the story. It's got a lot of twists, turns, and intrigue, and it does a good job of continuing the story from the first game and building upon its foundation. I also enjoyed the new companions alongside Eren and Varl, who are more intertwined with the story than those of the original game. They are a lot more actively involved and you spend a good amount of time with each of them. Sylens of course makes his return, played by the late and great Lance Reddick, and he's as compelling and hard to read as ever.
My biggest issue would probably be the abysmal performance in the Burning Shores DLC, though it's mostly caused by the main base of operations. Whenever I leave the area, the performance does improve. Second issue would be the climbing and platforming is wildly inconsistent. Sometimes it's a gamble on whether or not Aloy will grab onto the right object or climbing point. It can be incredible frustrating. A much smaller complaint would be the inclusion of dyes. Not that I don't want them in, but they are incredibly limited (about 3-5 recolours depending on the armour), and honestly some of them don't look all that great in my opinion. I wish it was more customisable. Less of a complaint and more like something I hope gets added in the next game is mount combat. I just think it'd be cool to shoot my bow from a mount lol.
Aside from the horrendous performance, I did actually enjoy the Burning Shores DLC. It's a fun epilogue to the main campaign with some teases for the future, and introduces a new companion in the form of Seyka. I'd like to see her return in the future, I think she bounces off well with Aloy, despite their similar personalities.
Overall I really enjoyed my time with Forbidden West. Gameplay is a definite improvement, visually it's gorgeous, easily one of the best looking games this gen, the story is far more interesting and less predictable than the original, and I'm pleased to say that the PC port this time around is actually pretty good! Uh, aside from the Burning Shores DLC which unfortunately runs like molasses crawling uphill.
I'm looking forward to seeing how it all, assumedly, ends. People do love a good trilogy.
I was immediately impressed when I saw a few clips of it on the internet but now I am absolutely blown away after playing it for an hour and a half.
This is one of the games that I would actually consider NEXT-GEN because it has the best transitions for levels and models that I don't think anyone has ever done before. Not to mention how relaxing it is to play. I need to play something like this so I can overcome my stressful moments with my Graduation.
I hope you enjoy it, tried finding it on Xbox but no such luck, I find Slime Rancher to be a relaxing game, nice, bright vibrant colours, pretty slime models, soothing soundtrack, I used to play it all the time for a couple of years but pretty much did everything in it. Slime Rancher 2 is out and I unfortunately haven't dedicated much time to it, but it's a step up from the original.
I am playing an indie game called Viewfinder.
I was immediately impressed when I saw a few clips of it on the internet but now I am absol… moreutely blown away after playing it for an hour and a half.
This is one of the games that I would actually consider NEXT-GEN because it has the best transitions for levels and models that I don't think anyone has ever done before. Not to mention how relaxing it is to play. I need to play something like this so I can overcome my stressful moments with my Graduation.
I got Dead Island 2 and played a few hours of it, and honestly I'm just straight up not having any with it at all, and a big part of that is because of the broken enemy spawn rate.
The enemy spawn rate is absolutely atrocious. So broken that if you clear out a room, walk out and walk back in, there's a chance that it might just refill the room with enemies. Sometimes it's as simple as just turning away for a moment for them to spawn right behind you. I've even had zombies materialise right in front of me. I feel like I have to make a little prayer every time I make a quick detour to loot stuff because of how much of a gamble the spawns can be. It's especially not fun, when you cut your way through a gauntlet of enemies, walk into a room to pick up an item, walk back out just to see all your hard work diminished. The weapon degradation certainly doesn't help, I feel like I'm making negative progress.
I'm pretty close to dropping it all together because of how bad it can get. Even worse that it's been a problem for people since launch but the developers haven't done anything to fix it so I'm pretty much shit out of luck in hoping for a patch of some kind.
Shorter than I expected but it was worth the experience. Easily one of my favorite indie games ever made. It was more than just a game, it was a visual adventure.
The only downside is that it's too short and almost no replayability. But there are no puzzles which I thought were unfairly designed. Highly recommend.
I don't understand why I didn't play this game so soon. I've never played a stealth game that gave me so much freedom and the gameplay is extremely addictive. It was shorter than I expected but it was perfectly paced. Much better than wasting my time on big open world games with empty spaces. The story was fine but very cliched. But I don't care because this game reminded me a lot of Bloodborne, with the steampunk theme, the gameplay satisfaction and the affective outcomes.
Unfortunately, what keeps this game from being a complete masterpiece is the lack of New Game Plus. Why not let me have my upgraded stats right at the beginning of the game? Dishonored will share the same room with Batman Arkham Asylum, A Plague Tale Innocence and Control for wasting that potential. Love the games but not overly obsessed because of that.
Dishonored 2 and it's Death of Outsider DLC game have NG+.
But I don't care because this game reminded me a lot of Bloodborne, with the steampunk theme, the gameplay satisfaction and the affective outcomes.
If anything you'll love Dishonored 2 because it keeps that factor from the first. Will you play it next? Unless you read the books that tell the events between the first and second game.
I finished the first Dishonored.
I don't understand why I didn't play this game so soon. I've never played a stealth game that gave me so… more much freedom and the gameplay is extremely addictive. It was shorter than I expected but it was perfectly paced. Much better than wasting my time on big open world games with empty spaces. The story was fine but very cliched. But I don't care because this game reminded me a lot of Bloodborne, with the steampunk theme, the gameplay satisfaction and the affective outcomes.
Unfortunately, what keeps this game from being a complete masterpiece is the lack of New Game Plus. Why not let me have my upgraded stats right at the beginning of the game? Dishonored will share the same room with Batman Arkham Asylum, A Plague Tale Innocence and Control for wasting that potential. Love the games but not overly obsessed because of that.
Dishonored 2 and it's Death of Outsider DLC game have NG+.
But I don't care because this game reminded me a lot of Bloodborne, with th… moree steampunk theme, the gameplay satisfaction and the affective outcomes.
If anything you'll love Dishonored 2 because it keeps that factor from the first. Will you play it next? Unless you read the books that tell the events between the first and second game.
I've been playing a lot of Fallout 4 lately, started up the Far Harbour DLC and so far it's good, I've been doing quests mostly for the Far Harbour inhabitants, I haven't got that far into doing quests for Acadia or the Children of Atom, but mean to.
It's nice to see that The Children of Atom actually have a presence in the story, if I remember correctly they didn't really have any part of the main story, so being one of the main factions in Far Harbour does flesh them out a bit. They still are a cult, a militarized one, but their background is being explored in Far Harbour, in the mainline game they were just another occupant of the Commonwealth that was immediately hostile to you.
I've been farming crafting materials like fireworks to level up, I'm at 108 now I think? It becomes such a grind to level up after 80, that using what would be considered, at least in my eyes, an exploit, to level up is all fair game, I want to max my character out.
I bought some Creation Club stuff, mostly weapon skins and other quests to try and max out what I can get with the game, I was hesitant at first as I thought mods, including official mods, disable achievements, but I've read up on it and they don't thankfully. I think once I'm done I might make a new character and get a different Ending to the one I got in my main character, to get those achievements.
I bought some Fallout 3 DLC that I will play when I beat Fallout 4, that's a game I've had for years but never bothered to play.
I still need to finish INSIDE, I dropped it due to my work schedule last week so I need to get back into it.
Believe it or not, I bought New Tales From The Borderlands with a €25 voucher I redeemed from Microsoft points, only bought it so I could say I played it, which from what I've heard, isn't much to brag about, but I'll know for myself what the game is like and if I somehow like it, cool, if I don't, at least I'll get achievements out of it. I could never justify to myself having to use my own money for it because it just isn't a Tales sequel that was wanted, and from what I've heard, it's just not a good game.
Played Little Kitty Big City, an adorable open world sandbox where you play a cat who has to make their way back home after getting lost. Along the way you'll meet other animals including other cats, a dog, birds, a beetle, and even an interdimensional tanuki. The characters are really cute and fun to interact with. My favourite being a chameleon with an affinity for rhymes who's struggling to camouflage in his surroundings.
The game is pretty comparable to Untitled Goose Game, in which there's a lot to interact with and even some mayhem to be caused, though with an actual main goal in mind and characters to talk to. You can knock stuff off of shelves, there's a dedicated meow button, cat emotes, take naps, bother people and there's lots of platforming. It's pretty much the cat simulator some people thought Stray was going to be. The animations are pretty impressive, they do a good job of imitating the "liquidity" and malleability of cats.
There's quite a lot to do and achievements to earn, though don't go expecting a particularly massive game. It took me about three and a half hours to finish up the campaign (though you could definitely finish it way faster), and another hour to do most of the achievements. For the most part they were fairly easy to earn, but there are a handful that are admittedly a bit menial, such as recycling 100 tin cans, or any of the ones involving humans since a majority of them, in my experience, will simple ignore you or shoo you away.
Overall I really enjoyed the game. It's very cute, fun to play, and just simply a great palate cleanser. I'd honestly love an expansion of some sort, or even a sequel in the future.
I bought a PSVR2 a few days ago. Luckily I already own Tetris Effect, RE 8 Village, and TWD: Saints&Sinners (it's VR only, but I got it in a deep deep sale a while ago just in case I ever got into VR2.)
I tried it out last night. The setup can take a while (for me it took about 20-30 mins, since you want to be authentic "sweet spot" in the headset that is the most clear straight-on.
I then spent about 30 mins doing the VR tutorial for Resident Evil 8, but ooooh boy it's neat!
Pretty good quality textures. Cool 3d effect.
All your weapons are on your person, since there's no d-pad on the Sense Controllers!
Gun firing has to be aligned with your dominant eye, and reloads are by default all manual. Pretty neat! (And weird. I'm so used to games automatically pumping a shotgun or re-chambering a bolt-action rifle, but in this you have to do it yourself.
And there's such a cool feeling seeing a 3D environment around you, and digital hands to control! 🫲✋️
This afternoon, I started RE8 proper.
Oooh boy, this thing is FREAKY freaky. It looks really nice, it's cool how they handle the cutscenes with a full 360º view (but control ripped from you. Weird to be standing, when Ethan dives on the floor in a cutscene.)
I also only managed to play about 30 mins today. I am not immune to VR motion sickness it seems.
A lot of that time was spent walking around the prologue house and seeing all the cute details.
I half expected the baby to jumpscare me, since she's tethered to my left shoulder, it's cool but also freaky at times.
Then, once you get into the main snowy, mountainous area of the game, oooh boy, SPOOK CENTRAL.
Thanks to the VR's OLED screens, black is pure black. And since you have to walk through a dark forest at night, then an old clearly-lived-in cabin at night. It's terrifying.
I juuuust got to a eerily quiet village out in the daytime just before I started feeling queasy and needed to stop.
Playing RE8 for the first time entirely in VR is either gonna turn out okay, or will be the worst decision of my life 😂😰
Resident Evil is the only franchise that makes me wanna buy a VR set. However, what prevents me from it is not only the high price but the backwards compatibility. You can't use PSVR2 to play Resident Evil 7.
I bought a PSVR2 a few days ago. Luckily I already own Tetris Effect, RE 8 Village, and TWD: Saints&Sinners (it's VR only, but I got it … morein a deep deep sale a while ago just in case I ever got into VR2.)
I tried it out last night. The setup can take a while (for me it took about 20-30 mins, since you want to be authentic "sweet spot" in the headset that is the most clear straight-on.
I then spent about 30 mins doing the VR tutorial for Resident Evil 8, but ooooh boy it's neat!
Pretty good quality textures. Cool 3d effect.
All your weapons are on your person, since there's no d-pad on the Sense Controllers!
Gun firing has to be aligned with your dominant eye, and reloads are by default all manual. Pretty neat! (And weird. I'm so used to games automatically pumping a shotgun or re-chambering a bolt-action rifle, but in this you have to do it yourself.
And there's such a cool feeling seeing a 3D environment around you, and digi… [view original content]
Yeah the price is still stupid high, 😬 thankfully I'm in a spot where I can spend such a large chunk of cash (even if it's on sale at the moment, 120$ off)
And yeah the lack of PSVR 1 support is sad sometimes.
There's a pretty massive catalog of VR 1 titles that would be great to have upgraded/converted to the latest hardware.
Some companies are still going back and doing it, so there's always hope for it to happen to certain games...
I did tons of research the other day to make sure I was satisfied and knew exactly what I was getting into with VR2 before pulling the trigger.
Unfortunately VR1 ports are up to the developers to re-work the game to go from camera-based light tracking to inside-out sensor tracking. I wish it was as simple as converting inputs, but I guess I understand why it's not one-to-one.
Seems Sony gave Capcom a bunch of money to specifically make a VR2 mode for RE8 and 4remake, but nothing to do one for the PS5 upgrade to RE7.
But hey, from what I've heard the latest RE titles in VR are some of the best experiences for the device and really showcase what it's all about.
Resident Evil is the only franchise that makes me wanna buy a VR set. However, what prevents me from it is not only the high price but the backwards compatibility. You can't use PSVR2 to play Resident Evil 7.
Right now I am currently playing Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodhunt. It’s a really cool game and it’s just had its second anniversary. It’s a battle royale game but it’s unique and really fun to play! I love the customization and the gameplay it’s simple yet satisfying and fun.
Today I started replaying the Gears of War series, starting with the Ultimate Edition, and it's ridiculously fun. I have fond memories of playing it in co-op with my neighbour many years ago as a child, which probably was not appropriate, but I do look back at those times fondly as it really got me into Gears of War and it along with Halo pulled me into the Xbox ecosystem.
The first Gears of War games were very brutal and detailed. Never played it except maybe Gears of War 2, I can't remember its been a while. But I've seen gameplay and story vids on YT and honestly all their games still hold up pretty well to this day.
Today I started replaying the Gears of War series, starting with the Ultimate Edition, and it's ridiculously fun. I have fond memories of pl… moreaying it in co-op with my neighbour many years ago as a child, which probably was not appropriate, but I do look back at those times fondly as it really got me into Gears of War and it along with Halo pulled me into the Xbox ecosystem.
Comments
The best way to describe this game is that it's a good game but a horrible remake. It does give some improvements besides graphics but it lacks content that defined the original so hard.
It would be stupid to pull off a TLOU2 by killing either Cal, Kata or Merrin at the beginning because it's cheap writing. It would also be too predictable to just kill them overall just because Cal is not in the original trilogy. Rogue One has already done that risk. Just let Cal and his group share the same category with Ahsoka and Ezra. It's not like we have enough Jedi characters who survived past Return of the Jedi.
kay well I finished RE3 Remake tonight!
It was... good! Just good, really. It was a pretty darn linear action-horror title, lots of scenes where Nemesis attacks but it's all clearly scripted or for dramatic effect, but overall I enjoyed the ride and loved seeing Jill's resilience against Nemesis just coming back again, and again, and again, and even again!!
Jill feels like the ultimate Final Girl. Like she escaped the horrors in RE1, but still they keep tracking her down, almost as unstoppable as she is. Love her uber-powerful skillset lol.
God damn, the game is gorgeous. That RE Engine is amazing, their artists are amazing. It all looks very high-quality and realistic. Damn good job.
Oh yeah, I also played the game with Ray Tracing on for those sweet shadows and accurate lighting. Spooky AF, plus the game mostly ran at/close to 60fps. IDK why because RE2 wasn't like that, but this is indeed a smaller game I guess.
The gore was turned down for some reason in this entry compared to the first, but the zombies and other monsters were still really ugly and gross-looking.
I liked that the "Regenerating" enemies near the end match the same style as the "Mold Regenerator" enemies in RE7 DLC. Very pale, blistering skin, but a lot of steam comes out of their body to show you they're healing themselves. It's a pretty cool detail to unify the games' monster/ability continuity.
I really liked seeing/hearing Jeff Schine in this game as Carlos.
I haven't heard that guy since he played Javier in the Walking Dead! Dude's got a really cool voice, and he played a kind of great wingman who's actually one of the very few nice UBCS soldiers.
Overall, I enjoyed my time. I got spooked a lot. I like that it's short since it means if ever I want to play it again it's not a big time-sink, but the pacing does feel pretty damn weird in the game.
There's a moment where Jill gets poisoned and knocked out, and I think "ohh, I'm gonna jump back to Carlos for some gameplay to fill the time"
Nope. The game cuts to "roughly half a day later". LMAO what?? Jill is just left unconscious for some reason for like 10 hours!
Since I'm done this now, I think I'll try out Going Under for my next single-player romp. Been in my backlog for a while, I need to get to it. The deaths in RE3 frustrated me, but I'm in the mood for a good roguelike where even deaths feel like some sort of progress (and each new life brings another randomized dungeon)
A good 8 of those deaths were in the Nemesis Stage 2 fight in the Underground Lab. Damn, man. I loaded myself up on bullets and few health items, and I never got a good hang on dodging.
The Last of Us
Sword Master Story code
Finished the original Assassin's Creed yesterday on PC.
TL;DR Version:
Overall, I enjoyed my time but it's a pretty mediocre game with very little to do outside of the main missions.
It felt like a tech demo (the detailed parkour concept) with a story added onto it, and then that's where the budget & time ran out.
The only other things are simple lead-up missions to each main target, saving civilians with only 4 voice-lines, and collecting hundreds of flags (yeah, hundreds) that offer ZERO benefit to you, the player.
The Long Version:
The parkour was a very fun, surprisingly complex and detailed system (It's pretty cool how realistically Altair grabs onto and places his feet on the environment to climb buildings), but albeit kind of slow and rigid sometimes which I hope the sequels improve.
This video makes me excited and afraid of the additions/removals to mechanics the rest of the series does.
The quests you need to complete to unlock the Main Assassination of the level are very repetitive, and tedious, which is probably made worse by the vague guard detection system that will either cause you to run and hide and reset the mission, or slow your gameplay to a crawl to blend in...
The Main Target missions are where the meat of the game's story and intrigue come in, as you're tasked with killing 9 important Templar people, all evil and cruel in ways, because they're seeking an item to cause world domination.
But, they also plant seeds of doubt in the main character's head about what his own organization may be hiding from him and controlling him to do...
The guard "social stealth indicator" is a small triangle on the top left of your screen.
Its either white when you're safe from a guard's gaze, turns yellow when you're being watched, and blinks red with an annoying noise when an "Informed" guard is spotting you, forcing younto either hide or hold "Blend" which causes you to very slowly walk in prayer.
But it's difficult to know which guard does this and honestly I can't figure out if there's any specific indicator (apart from when you're on rooftops, which is illegal)
Apparently the PC Director's Cut version replaces/adds certain lead-up mission types to the main assassination of each chapter, which are Archer-Stealth Assassination missions, Rooftop Time Trials, Escort Missions, and Merchant Stand Destruction missions.
That last one is a baffling inclusion. Merchant stands feel like set dressing or an occasional parkour-stepping-stone, and while there's a mechanic to throw an enemy into the stand to collapse it and insta-kill them, it's a pretty niche move and it's strange how simple/trivial/random this mission type is compared to all the others... doesn't exactly feel like anything useful for an Assassin or a Parkour fiend...
The story itself I enjoyed, even if it was kind of basic.
Basically, there's the Modern Day story where Desmond Miles is kidnapped by a secret group and forced to plug his brain into this magic-tech machine that can read DNA and recreate his ancestor's memories
...This is what you play in the historical setting where you're parkouring around the place and part of an Assassin Order.
The "Memory" story of the game shows the story of Altair -- a skilled but cocky assassin -- who is stripped of all his fancy tools by his Master/Handler because he was an idiot who broke the Creed by which the whole Assassin Brotherhood operates. (This is literally the first thing you see him do and his friends chastise him for - not a great first impression, dude)
He then uncovers a secret plot to install a New World Order by controlling the populations of Hebrews and Christians and must stop this mysterious enemy from fulfilling their goals.
Oh, and also get humbled along the way about how to behave like a good, noble person.
The ending of the game
has a shocking twist where it's revealed your own master - the Assassin Leader - is actually a secret Templar agent who wanted to kill off all his accomplices so he could have the magic treasure to himself.
Honestly a pretty good twist I didn't expect, and had a pretty tough final boss battle, since he does extreme amounts of damage and the counter timing is super tight.
However, the combat is pretty basic and I found myself wanting extra tools to get around annoyances like everyone always blocking attacks, barely getting a hit in because no one gives you time for offense, and the end-game throwing you into arenas with hugs amounts of enemies that always take way too many hits/counters to take down.
So... yeah. This was a neat introduction to how the whole series started and how all this Assassinating and Parkouring works, but you can definitely tell it was still in its early stages of being fleshed out. The main concept is there, but everything other than that feels extremely lacking.
The Modern Day Story ends on a cliffhanger too, and I hope to see the gameplay in that evolve in future entries, since they were essentially slow walking interludes.
Oh, I can assure you this is just the beginning. AC2 is where the entire concept shines with its execution which is a gigantic improvement.
I used to care for this franchise but after playing AC4 Black Flag, I lost all the interest and I made the right choice stop after that. Because all the games after it, you either like some of them or they are just a chore to play. Especially the latest one which I heard is the longest game in the franchise.
Oh my gosh -- okay, so I took a big break from DBD, but turns out there's a whole challenge/progression system for their Battle Pass, and in it you can unlock special lore entries about characters in the DBD universe.
Since this one is Alan-themed, there's a set of collectibles (photos, text pages) of how Alan got into the DBD world...
And man. They even got Matthew Porretta to voice the text logs. And he's so damn good.
Can't believe I missed/was slacking on this. Now I'm hooked to try and get better at the game!
Pacific Drive is such an immersive experience.
Pacific Drive, my very first game of 2024 finished just now.
This game is unique but it's not gonna be for everyone. Unless you have a lot of patience and you are fan of a survival game, I wouldn't recommend it.
But for me, I liked this game a lot. I haven't felt such an immersive driving experience since probably GTA 4. It made me feel like I was driving a real car and I was addicted to loot stuff in order to upgrade it.
The story was okay but nothing to write home about. The "characters" are surprisingly memorable and charismatic, despite the fact that they are just voice-overs. But that's the only interesting part and the game doesn't do much with it any further.
The game was also surprisingly challenging, most of the enemies are just natural causes and some robots. But I don't think I ever died. I did have a close call but I got soo lucky in the last second.
One thing that frustrates me the most is that I have to do scanning for certain items in order to unlock the upgrades for the car and the game isn't being very specific about what I should look for.
Overall, I liked this game and it was worth the buy. We need more AA games like this one.
Started playing Road 96 yesterday. Very entertaining so far. It’s a choice based rpg that reminds me of life is strange somewhat. Would recommend if you like LiS.
Also playing As Dusk Falls. It’s a choice-based game made by one of the designers who worked at Quantic Dream. Characters are shown as moving stills in a 3D environment which took some getting used to but I eventually did. It’s good so far, if you can accept the moving stills style I recommend it.
This game got ported on PS5 this week.
I am so happy to see Sony put hidden gems from previous generations in the PS5 library. I already have it on PC but the performance was rough as hell. My marathon on the Alone in the Dark will finally continue.
I have been playing a game called Before I Forget. It follows a character named Sunita, who has dementia, and shows her trying to recollect the fragments of her past by exploring her present environment. Her environment is a dull, lifeless grey, and interacting with objects around her house brings back colour to her surroundings, as she remembers the memories and the emotions she felt in those past experiences.
Honestly the game did make me feel sad, and experiencing a somewhat sensitive feeling after completing it.
How it is crafted, it fully encapsulates the confusion and emotionality of an individual with dementia, discovering memories of their past involving friends, family, happy times, and discovering what happened, and having to live through that grief again and again.
It is an easy play, takes roughly an hour, gameplay is essentially like Firewatch, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Here's the description if anyone fancies a read: "Before I Forget is a BAFTA-nominated narrative exploration game. Players step into the world of Sunita - a woman living with early onset dementia. As you wander from room to room, you discover mysterious objects, each holding a fleeting, fragmented memory. Examine faded postcards, scribbled notes, photographs, and more to uncover Sunita’s past, piece together her life-story and understand her present."
I played another indie game by the name of A Short Hike, just after completing the story for it there now, I found it to be a very relaxing, charming game. You play as Claire, who is travelling to Hawk Peak Provincial Park, where her Aunt May works as a ranger.
In order to get phone reception, she needs to climb Hawk Peak and reach the summit. On her journey, she discovers several quirky and charming characters to interact with and talk to, race and fish with.
It's another easy game to beat, with collectible items to gather that aid in your venture to the top.
I personally like the artstyle a lot, it's not a Last of Us II in terms of graphically fidelity, but I think it, along with the rest of the game can be summed up in one word: charming.
My favourite aspect of A Short Hike has to be the soundtrack, it really calms you and mellows you out as you explore the island.
I haven't completed everything in it as I wanted to experience the story and beat the game, but I can see myself coming back to gather the rest of the collectibles and 100% the game to gather the achievements.
I've found myself going through indie games a fair bit lately, I'm trying to chip away at my backlog and I've been going for the smaller titles I have to provide me with a new experience and to break down my lengthy backlog. For today, since I've no commitments or anything clashing with my schedule, I'll play Fractured Minds, and Abzu, and perhaps if I have some time left over, I will play LIMBO
I played Fractured Minds, a very short game, only 30 minutes in length, and it was a grim experience. The game delves into anxiety and mental health, and how our anxious thoughts can haunt us, leaving us feeling immobilised, trapped, hopeless. There is a dark gloomy figure present in the game, known as simply "The Thing" that stalks you throughout the game. The same figure can be seen at the title screen, with white eyes. A smile appears on their face when you hover on the Play button, which was unsettling.
I interpreted the entity, The Thing, to be the embodiment of one's worries, anxieties, and negative perceptions, constantly ridiculing you, tearing you down, with its aim to consume you, to strip away what makes you who you are, and leave a hollow shell where you used to be. I found it to be an interesting exploration on mental health, I am someone who experiences anxiety regularly, and I'm trying to manage it better, the game resonated with me because of that.
Very easy game to beat, easy to obtain the achievements/trophies in one sitting, but an unsettling game to sit and play.
Next is ABZU, I played a bit of it years ago (2018 to be exact, it's mad it has been that long) via Game Pass, but dropped it and never went back to it until today, and I'll tell you what, it is an experience, you play as a diver that explores the depths of the ocean, you get to explore ancient ruins, meet and ride various large fish and mammals, like sperm whales, giant squids, great white sharks, sea turtles, the list goes on.
The graphics for ABZU are ridiculously stunning, it's a joy to look at, the controls can be a bit finicky when swimming, but you do get the hang of it. There is a story to the game, but there's no dialogue, you just experience it as you go along.
It's an easy game to play, very relaxing, gorgeous environments to roam in, and collectibles to be...collected. I missed four achievements in my first run so I'll be going back to it to gather them all as they are high in gamerscore. You can even sit and take in the scenery around you as there are certain statues located in the game that lets you meditate, which then lets you scroll through the various type of fish and mammals that are swimming around you, with their names.
I played another game titled When The Past Was Around, it's a point and click adventure game following Eda, a young adult who sought to accomplish her dreams, and succeed in her pursuit of love. The game is deep in the narrative it tells, without any actual dialogue, touching on themes of love, purpose, heartbreak and acceptance. I loved the story for it, and found the artstyle to be absolutely beautiful.
With it being a point and click adventure game, there is a bit of a challenge in solving puzzles, I did have to turn to guides in order to progress in a couple of scenes, but it's a fun sort of challenge.
The soundtrack is banging, really feeds into the atmosphere that the game is going for in each scene, it really supports the emotions you are experiencing, not dictating how you should feel, but accompanying how you are feeling in each scene.
The game is listed as being 1hr 30mins to beat on How Long To Beat, but you'll be spending more than that with the puzzles and exploring the scenes, trying to figure out how to progress.
Achievements can be missed, I managed to get all but three achievements, one of those three is essentially for getting all achievements, so technically two, but they're missable by not interacting with certain objects in a scene, I'll have to do a replay soon to grab the remaining achievements.
I've been so happy that I've played these games over the past couple of days, my backlog is scandalous, and it irked me how bad it is, that to take a good pop at it over the course of two days, I'm pretty thrilled with myself, I'm just currently going through my short games to get them out of the road, then focus my attention on the longer games, I'd like to give The Wolf Among Us a replay sometime soon, but I may move that if The Wolf Among Us 2 is out this year. I'll be jumping on LIMBO soon, then I'll go onto Down In Bermuda, then after that I'll do Inside.
I finished Alone in the Dark The New Nightmare on PS5.
This is easily the best game of the franchise so far and it's very underrated. BUUUT....it has some unfortunate flaws.
As far as the positives go, the game uses the RE2 style of duo character plotlines combined together (You have to complete both campaigns to get the full story) which is awesome and speaking of RE, it does use the exact same gameplay formula. Well, minus the safe rooms and item boxes. But the game does a great job at capturing the atmosphere, some enemy spawns can actually catch me off guard and I feel proud to solve some puzzles on my own without using guides.
Unfortunately, this isn't a game that I would rush to recommend to anyone because it has major flaws. First of all, the boss fights SUCK!!! They are all bullet sponge and the way you defeat two of them make no sense whatsoever. There is only one boss that I would say was very good. Also some puzzles were very fucking frustrating and the game is vague about the solutions for some of them. But the one that pissed me off the most is that one puzzle solution that is locked behind a character dialogue which can only be occurred once (You either save it on a paper or just restart a checkpoint to listen to the dialogue again). Also also, no new game plus, thus no replayability.
Overall, this game is underrated but not one of the best horror games ever made. You should only play it if you love survival horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. I do think this is much better than the original Alone in the Dark though.
American Truck Simulator.
I finished LIMBO, it is ridiculously difficult, I died 225 times in the entire game according to Xbox stats, certainly felt like it was more, but I feel accomplished, I beat that game and beat the secret level, and I'm very pleased.
It's a very depressing game, very gloomy, but the atmosphere is incredible. The scenery is horrendous in depiction, the monsters you encounter are terrifying, like the spider for one is insanely creepy, and very intimidating, the people aren't much better either, they lay on the ground and tie up beartraps for you to get absolutely demolished. This game does not play around with how graphically you get killed. Death by saws, breaking your legs from a high fall, crushed under hydraulics, impaled by a spider, it's grim.
The game can be very frustrating with its platforming, and the puzzles can be quite difficult to piece together and figure out, but it's so rewarding once you get through it. The secret level is remarkably difficult, for most of it you are literally in the dark avoiding traps, the only light on your screen is two small circles, your characters eyes, you'll have to rely on your hearing for a lot of it, so get the gum out of your ears and listen good.
There are collectible items that are difficult to reach, but thanks to guides, I managed to get them all. The collectibles are required to unlock the secret level, so if you ever wake up one day and decide "I'm going to play LIMBO and 100% it", then they're essential. And if you do wake up and think that, I think you'd be better off going back to sleep, I can't stress enough how difficult the game is. I experienced a number of heated gamer moments because of the game, but it feels nice to have it under my belt. There's an achievement for beating the entire game in one sitting without dying more than five times in your run, on Xbox it is worth 200 gamerscore, I want it, but I don't have it in me, mama didn't raise no quitter, but I think it's better to quit while I'm ahead
Now the story is very...hard to follow, I mean in like, it doesn't feel like there is a story being told, the game description itself however does go into excruciatingly in-depth detail on the games story, as you'll notice here: "Uncertain of his sister's fate, a boy enters LIMBO" - now is that informative or what? All jokes aside, the story does take a backseat for the majority of the game, it's doesn't feel present, it just feels like you're going through different regions without much thought about it other than the dramatic change in scenery when transitioning between two regions. The Ending itself is confusing, and it's something I'll spoiler tag to give my thoughts, or more so the thoughts of others.
So the Ending consists of the boy breaking free of LIMBO, coming full circle from the start of the game, he wakes up in LIMBO, traverses through it and breaks through the barrier, landing back into the same spot he was in at the start, but as he progresses forward, he finds his sister under a treehouse. She has shown up a couple of times in the game, and has always just been out of his reach, but now they are finally reunited. It isn't clear what happens, but I have read some theories on what may have happened, and they are interesting and do make some sense.
So I've watched a couple of YouTube videos, and the one theory I found interesting is that both the boy and the girl are dead, both were in LIMBO, which according to some religions, would be a middle ground between heaven and hell, like a purgatory of some sorts, and the boy confronted his fears, and overcame them to find his loved one, his sister, both wouldn't be at peace until they were reunited, so when they found each other, they were then able to pass on, together. Something that does support it is the change in the menu screen, which at the beginning shows the boy and his sister outside of the treehouse, and after you complete the game, the menu screen changes, showing a dilapidated treehouse, and two swarms of flies hovering over the grass, which to me would indicate that they died. The game doesn't put the story front and centre, but if that is the actual Ending, it's tragic and heartbreaking. I know that Arnt Jensen, who conceptualised LIMBO, hasn't given away the Ending and its meaning, but has said that fans have apparently came very close to what the Ending means, at this moment I cannot fathom what the actual Ending may be, so for now, the theory I stated is good enough for me.
I actually remember playing this for PS1.
Not to be rude but how did you achieve that lmao? I don't remember the game being that difficult.
I would definitely recommend the devs follow-up game, Inside. The gameplay there is much smoother, though admittedly the story while interesting, is actually a little less comprehensible and more open to interpretation than Limbo.
Honestly, I think it's more of a skill issue on my part, I'm really terrible at platformers, some key things to traverse the environments didn't really pop out to me straight away, I honestly had to use a guide I was already using to grab as many achievements as possible in my first go. Phil Spencer apparently isn't much better, I follow him on Xbox, he died 163 times, which, is vastly superior to me, but he struggled too
Even then, for whatever reason, I have no idea why, there were times I couldn't understand the guide, my reading comprehension must be on a steep decline
it wasn't worded in a complicated way, I don't think I took in the information properly. It's not really something for me to brag about unfortunately, I can't see myself slapping that on my CV.
I made a start on Inside earlier, as you said, much smoother gameplay, the story is very interesting so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.
Finished playing Horizon: Forbidden West and I really enjoyed it, even more so than the original game! So here are my mad ramblings.
The environments in this game are absolutely gorgeous. Might legitimately be the best looking open world game I've ever played. There's a ton of diversity in terms of biomes, and a lot of verticality as well, not to mention the underwater areas. I especially have to praise the architecture designs for all the different tribes, and the amount of variety to simple man-made objects around the map that really help make the world feel lived in. As you're travelling from one area to another you'll find different designs of objects like signs, fences, or bridges transition, letting you know you've left one tribes territory and entered another. I also loved that your actions as Aloy actively changed certain parts of the world around her. It really makes you feel like you're making an impact.
Like I mentioned, the gameplay has been improved from the first game. It feels as satisfying as ever to hit your mark, and the melee combat has been given the addition of combos and special moves that you could use to help deal more damage, tear away armour or immobilise human enemies. However, while this is a great way to get people to actually use the spear, the damage is still significantly lower than the bow regardless if you've maxed out your combat skills and risks you having to get up close and personal with enemies. It is also still virtually useless against machines. Because of this I only ever really used the spear when it came to the melee pits and that's just because you are actively forced to use it.
I quite enjoyed the story. It's got a lot of twists, turns, and intrigue, and it does a good job of continuing the story from the first game and building upon its foundation. I also enjoyed the new companions alongside Eren and Varl, who are more intertwined with the story than those of the original game. They are a lot more actively involved and you spend a good amount of time with each of them. Sylens of course makes his return, played by the late and great Lance Reddick, and he's as compelling and hard to read as ever.
My biggest issue would probably be the abysmal performance in the Burning Shores DLC, though it's mostly caused by the main base of operations. Whenever I leave the area, the performance does improve. Second issue would be the climbing and platforming is wildly inconsistent. Sometimes it's a gamble on whether or not Aloy will grab onto the right object or climbing point. It can be incredible frustrating. A much smaller complaint would be the inclusion of dyes. Not that I don't want them in, but they are incredibly limited (about 3-5 recolours depending on the armour), and honestly some of them don't look all that great in my opinion. I wish it was more customisable. Less of a complaint and more like something I hope gets added in the next game is mount combat. I just think it'd be cool to shoot my bow from a mount lol.
Aside from the horrendous performance, I did actually enjoy the Burning Shores DLC. It's a fun epilogue to the main campaign with some teases for the future, and introduces a new companion in the form of Seyka. I'd like to see her return in the future, I think she bounces off well with Aloy, despite their similar personalities.
Overall I really enjoyed my time with Forbidden West. Gameplay is a definite improvement, visually it's gorgeous, easily one of the best looking games this gen, the story is far more interesting and less predictable than the original, and I'm pleased to say that the PC port this time around is actually pretty good! Uh, aside from the Burning Shores DLC which unfortunately runs like molasses crawling uphill.
I'm looking forward to seeing how it all, assumedly, ends. People do love a good trilogy.
I am playing an indie game called Viewfinder.
I was immediately impressed when I saw a few clips of it on the internet but now I am absolutely blown away after playing it for an hour and a half.
This is one of the games that I would actually consider NEXT-GEN because it has the best transitions for levels and models that I don't think anyone has ever done before. Not to mention how relaxing it is to play. I need to play something like this so I can overcome my stressful moments with my Graduation.
I hope you enjoy it, tried finding it on Xbox but no such luck, I find Slime Rancher to be a relaxing game, nice, bright vibrant colours, pretty slime models, soothing soundtrack, I used to play it all the time for a couple of years but pretty much did everything in it. Slime Rancher 2 is out and I unfortunately haven't dedicated much time to it, but it's a step up from the original.
GTA San Andreas
I got Dead Island 2 and played a few hours of it, and honestly I'm just straight up not having any with it at all, and a big part of that is because of the broken enemy spawn rate.
The enemy spawn rate is absolutely atrocious. So broken that if you clear out a room, walk out and walk back in, there's a chance that it might just refill the room with enemies. Sometimes it's as simple as just turning away for a moment for them to spawn right behind you. I've even had zombies materialise right in front of me. I feel like I have to make a little prayer every time I make a quick detour to loot stuff because of how much of a gamble the spawns can be. It's especially not fun, when you cut your way through a gauntlet of enemies, walk into a room to pick up an item, walk back out just to see all your hard work diminished. The weapon degradation certainly doesn't help, I feel like I'm making negative progress.
I'm pretty close to dropping it all together because of how bad it can get. Even worse that it's been a problem for people since launch but the developers haven't done anything to fix it so I'm pretty much shit out of luck in hoping for a patch of some kind.
Finished Viewfinder.
Shorter than I expected but it was worth the experience. Easily one of my favorite indie games ever made. It was more than just a game, it was a visual adventure.
The only downside is that it's too short and almost no replayability. But there are no puzzles which I thought were unfairly designed. Highly recommend.
I am playing the first Dishonored now. My mood for it is increased now.
I finished the first Dishonored.
I don't understand why I didn't play this game so soon. I've never played a stealth game that gave me so much freedom and the gameplay is extremely addictive. It was shorter than I expected but it was perfectly paced. Much better than wasting my time on big open world games with empty spaces. The story was fine but very cliched. But I don't care because this game reminded me a lot of Bloodborne, with the steampunk theme, the gameplay satisfaction and the affective outcomes.
Unfortunately, what keeps this game from being a complete masterpiece is the lack of New Game Plus. Why not let me have my upgraded stats right at the beginning of the game? Dishonored will share the same room with Batman Arkham Asylum, A Plague Tale Innocence and Control for wasting that potential. Love the games but not overly obsessed because of that.
Dishonored 2 and it's Death of Outsider DLC game have NG+.
If anything you'll love Dishonored 2 because it keeps that factor from the first. Will you play it next? Unless you read the books that tell the events between the first and second game.
You betcha
Books are no option to me
I've been playing a lot of Fallout 4 lately, started up the Far Harbour DLC and so far it's good, I've been doing quests mostly for the Far Harbour inhabitants, I haven't got that far into doing quests for Acadia or the Children of Atom, but mean to.
It's nice to see that The Children of Atom actually have a presence in the story, if I remember correctly they didn't really have any part of the main story, so being one of the main factions in Far Harbour does flesh them out a bit. They still are a cult, a militarized one, but their background is being explored in Far Harbour, in the mainline game they were just another occupant of the Commonwealth that was immediately hostile to you.
I've been farming crafting materials like fireworks to level up, I'm at 108 now I think? It becomes such a grind to level up after 80, that using what would be considered, at least in my eyes, an exploit, to level up is all fair game, I want to max my character out.
I bought some Creation Club stuff, mostly weapon skins and other quests to try and max out what I can get with the game, I was hesitant at first as I thought mods, including official mods, disable achievements, but I've read up on it and they don't thankfully. I think once I'm done I might make a new character and get a different Ending to the one I got in my main character, to get those achievements.
I bought some Fallout 3 DLC that I will play when I beat Fallout 4, that's a game I've had for years but never bothered to play.
I still need to finish INSIDE, I dropped it due to my work schedule last week so I need to get back into it.
Believe it or not, I bought New Tales From The Borderlands with a €25 voucher I redeemed from Microsoft points, only bought it so I could say I played it, which from what I've heard, isn't much to brag about, but I'll know for myself what the game is like and if I somehow like it, cool, if I don't, at least I'll get achievements out of it. I could never justify to myself having to use my own money for it because it just isn't a Tales sequel that was wanted, and from what I've heard, it's just not a good game.
Played Little Kitty Big City, an adorable open world sandbox where you play a cat who has to make their way back home after getting lost. Along the way you'll meet other animals including other cats, a dog, birds, a beetle, and even an interdimensional tanuki. The characters are really cute and fun to interact with. My favourite being a chameleon with an affinity for rhymes who's struggling to camouflage in his surroundings.
The game is pretty comparable to Untitled Goose Game, in which there's a lot to interact with and even some mayhem to be caused, though with an actual main goal in mind and characters to talk to. You can knock stuff off of shelves, there's a dedicated meow button, cat emotes, take naps, bother people and there's lots of platforming. It's pretty much the cat simulator some people thought Stray was going to be. The animations are pretty impressive, they do a good job of imitating the "liquidity" and malleability of cats.
There's quite a lot to do and achievements to earn, though don't go expecting a particularly massive game. It took me about three and a half hours to finish up the campaign (though you could definitely finish it way faster), and another hour to do most of the achievements. For the most part they were fairly easy to earn, but there are a handful that are admittedly a bit menial, such as recycling 100 tin cans, or any of the ones involving humans since a majority of them, in my experience, will simple ignore you or shoo you away.
Overall I really enjoyed the game. It's very cute, fun to play, and just simply a great palate cleanser. I'd honestly love an expansion of some sort, or even a sequel in the future.
I bought a PSVR2 a few days ago. Luckily I already own Tetris Effect, RE 8 Village, and TWD: Saints&Sinners (it's VR only, but I got it in a deep deep sale a while ago just in case I ever got into VR2.)
I tried it out last night. The setup can take a while (for me it took about 20-30 mins, since you want to be authentic "sweet spot" in the headset that is the most clear straight-on.
I then spent about 30 mins doing the VR tutorial for Resident Evil 8, but ooooh boy it's neat!
Pretty good quality textures. Cool 3d effect.
All your weapons are on your person, since there's no d-pad on the Sense Controllers!
Gun firing has to be aligned with your dominant eye, and reloads are by default all manual. Pretty neat! (And weird. I'm so used to games automatically pumping a shotgun or re-chambering a bolt-action rifle, but in this you have to do it yourself.
And there's such a cool feeling seeing a 3D environment around you, and digital hands to control! 🫲✋️
This afternoon, I started RE8 proper.
Oooh boy, this thing is FREAKY freaky. It looks really nice, it's cool how they handle the cutscenes with a full 360º view (but control ripped from you. Weird to be standing, when Ethan dives on the floor in a cutscene.)
I also only managed to play about 30 mins today. I am not immune to VR motion sickness it seems.
A lot of that time was spent walking around the prologue house and seeing all the cute details.
I half expected the baby to jumpscare me, since she's tethered to my left shoulder, it's cool but also freaky at times.
Then, once you get into the main snowy, mountainous area of the game, oooh boy, SPOOK CENTRAL.
Thanks to the VR's OLED screens, black is pure black. And since you have to walk through a dark forest at night, then an old clearly-lived-in cabin at night. It's terrifying.
I juuuust got to a eerily quiet village out in the daytime just before I started feeling queasy and needed to stop.
Playing RE8 for the first time entirely in VR is either gonna turn out okay, or will be the worst decision of my life 😂😰
Resident Evil is the only franchise that makes me wanna buy a VR set. However, what prevents me from it is not only the high price but the backwards compatibility. You can't use PSVR2 to play Resident Evil 7.
Yeah the price is still stupid high, 😬 thankfully I'm in a spot where I can spend such a large chunk of cash (even if it's on sale at the moment, 120$ off)
And yeah the lack of PSVR 1 support is sad sometimes.
There's a pretty massive catalog of VR 1 titles that would be great to have upgraded/converted to the latest hardware.
Some companies are still going back and doing it, so there's always hope for it to happen to certain games...
I did tons of research the other day to make sure I was satisfied and knew exactly what I was getting into with VR2 before pulling the trigger.
Unfortunately VR1 ports are up to the developers to re-work the game to go from camera-based light tracking to inside-out sensor tracking. I wish it was as simple as converting inputs, but I guess I understand why it's not one-to-one.
Seems Sony gave Capcom a bunch of money to specifically make a VR2 mode for RE8 and 4remake, but nothing to do one for the PS5 upgrade to RE7.
But hey, from what I've heard the latest RE titles in VR are some of the best experiences for the device and really showcase what it's all about.
Right now I am currently playing Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodhunt. It’s a really cool game and it’s just had its second anniversary. It’s a battle royale game but it’s unique and really fun to play! I love the customization and the gameplay it’s simple yet satisfying and fun.
Pre-ordered Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.
Need I say more?
Today I started replaying the Gears of War series, starting with the Ultimate Edition, and it's ridiculously fun. I have fond memories of playing it in co-op with my neighbour many years ago as a child, which probably was not appropriate, but I do look back at those times fondly as it really got me into Gears of War and it along with Halo pulled me into the Xbox ecosystem.
The first Gears of War games were very brutal and detailed. Never played it except maybe Gears of War 2, I can't remember its been a while. But I've seen gameplay and story vids on YT and honestly all their games still hold up pretty well to this day.