Unique, interesting, and very fun. A few gross edgelord-ish bits, and some frustrating plot options that probably should have been blocked off until I could pursue them, but an overall homerun. The structure for character growth, conversations, and plot developments is amazing. It’s too bad the studio seems to be imploding, because there are plenty of loose ends in the world I’d like to explore.
I’ll probably play it again with less, er… rampant, aggressive savescumming, and more tolerance for catastrophe. But I’ll take a break from it for now.
It played great on the Steam Deck after jumping through some Proton hoops to get my GOG copy to show up in the standard interface. I also played significant chunks using Remote Play to stream from the Steam Deck to an iPad, an Ubuntu desktop, and an Nvidia Shield (while jogging on a treadmill like some sort of gym coach).
Just finished my third play through of Cyberpunk 2077 on the PC. On max settings it really is a beautiful game. I was always a fan of the RPG, and I thought that ProjektRed’s vision was strong. Still impressed with sheer size of the map (especially its vertical dimensions) and the profusion of small touches everywhere. Even on the third time through I found at least a dozen small things that I hadn’t found before, plus an entirely new mission.
I also finished the walking simulator The Suicide of Rachel Foster. I give that one a solid hmmmmm… Some good game play ideas, some nice art, and then a really strange ending that verges heavily into squick territory. I grew up in Europe, but there are some peculiarly European views on relationships that I will never be able to accept.
Finally, I finished the walking simulator/mystery game Tacoma. This one I can unequivocally recommend. You are trying to unravel a mystery on an abandoned space station by replaying the recordings from the damaged computer system. You see the recordings in a sort of augmented reality and can rewind to replay the recordings to follow different people as they interact and then go their own ways, as well as examining the current state of the abandoned facility. Not a long game and it is not a puzzler (just a few small collectible-type achievements), but very well executed.
There was a bug, found shortly after the game released, in one of the Pacifica missions that would trap you in a softlock; it didn’t occur in my initial playthrough but it struck in this recent one. The only recourse is to reload a save prior to taking on the mission. Not interested; I’ll revisit the game after the DLC drops.
Moved over to Steelrising. The best way I could describe it is “a slower-paced clockwork Bloodborne in France”. It’s not hookin’ me but there’s nothing else on deck to play and its currently on sale so, hey, why not.
For a game that is very clearly wanting to enter the pantheon of Soulsbornes (unintentional pun there), it just doesn’t get the formula right. It’s mechanically a Soulsborne – the expected controls, the risk of losing the in-game commodity if you die twice – but the careful pacing and deliberate balancing are missing. They also tried to iterate upon stamina meters where, now, it doesn’t just deplete but also causes an overheat and a choice on whether to rapidly vent and take damage. Not a fan.
I tried out Marvel Snap. It’s a fun mobile card battler.
I liked the short games – makes it easier to play quick matches while waiting on something else to finish, but the gameplay got repetitious (for me, at least) as I was frequently bumping up against the same deck builds.
Started playing Satisfactory about a week ago, now I’m seriously addicted to it. Miners, machines, conveyor belts, and pipes need to be built everywhere, exploring an alien landscape, some hostile creatures but so far no impossible battles, everything I love in a game.
We’re at my wife’s parents’ for the holidays, so I’ve brought the laptop I picked up during the month long Black Friday sales with me. I’ve been playing the new space expansion for Two Point Campus, which is pretty good, and Monster Hunter Rise. All of my laptops in the past have been work-focused laptops, so having one that can run a new game is a bit of a novelty.
Oh, I’ve also managed to build a basic but functional Dwarf Fortresswithout having to open the wiki!
Doing a replay of the original Metroid. I’m not one of those people with encyclopedic knowledge of the classic in terms of level design so I get lost pretty easily.
Steelrising hasn’t been finished yet but its end is right around the corner – all side quests are exhausted and the main story line is wrapping up. I do own the DLC for it but, oddly, nothing has opened it up yet for exploration (and, honestly, I don’t think I’ll take the time to dive into it whenever it does decide to become available).
Now with several hours under the belt, I feel confident in that prior suggestion that the game’s taking its cues from Bloodborne with just enough adjusted so that developer Spiders can say it’s “inspired by”. It’s more accessible of a title, for people who find Soulsbornes to be too annoyingly difficult, and it’s riddled with bugs that just barely break the game. The story driven boss battles are the one place where this game shines – the balance between challenge and fun is well done.
On the side, to kill time at work before the holidays, I started – and am about to “complete” – Vampire Survivors (insomuch as the game could be regarded as “completed”). Good gravy, it’s fun. AAA publishers can pump their titles full of budgets and cutscenes and dev hours and whatever… but all a game needs in order to be fun is to be fun and Vampire Survivors aims to just be that and nothing it isn’t. Yeah, runs can become mindless. But the game has a bit more going on and players who like to poke around and dig deeper will find their curiosity rewarded.
It’s gonna be time to choose the next game on deck. Unsure what it’ll be.
