What games did you complete? 2023 Edition

[HarryBizzle]

1 minute ago, Jamie John said:

 

How do you actually access this? Was it pre-installed on your Deck? I haven't seen anything about it on mine.

I’m not sure. I think the menus on the deck can be confusing and it just popped up while I was muddling through. It wasn’t preinstalled though. Just search for it on the store and you can download it for free. 

[LaveDisco]

Finished Bloodborne (& DLC) (5/5) on the 30th of December, so since then:

 

1. Last of Us Part 1 (PS5) - From a pointless Cash Grab, to an absolute fantastic experience that was worth every penny - it was like buying a fancy hard back edition of your favourite book. The end didn't hit quite as hard this time, but some earlier bit really got to me. Everything Part 2 discusses is staring you in the face in Part 1. Fantastic, hugely looking forward to the TV show. The digital foundary video shows the greater detail in the world, but starting Part 2 again after, I was blown away by the difference in facial acting quality in part 1. The subtly of the movements, the depth. Incredible. That and the core gameplay loop is as good as ever. 5/5

2. Last of Us Part 1: Left Behind (PS5) - See above. 5/5

3. Metroid Zero Mission (Analogue Pocket/GBA) - This was just a delight to play on the pocket - fantastic dpad and buttons, and growing up on an SP, the shoulder buttons are perfect too. Never played this back in the day (which is weird as fusion was one of my favourite GBA games, but boy is it great. Short, sharp, a perfect portable game. 5hrs for a game, really is the equivelant of 90mins for a movie. Glorious. 5/5 

 

Three real big hitters out of the gate. Nearing the end of Hob's Barrow, so suspect that might be the fourth, and still in Jan too!

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order - XSX - 11/01/23 - 7.5/10

 

2. Assassins Creed Valhalla - XSX

 

 

I've finally finished this - it feels like the end of a proper epic, I started playing last February and I've had to take a few little breaks from it, because this is absolutely gargantuan.  

 

It's even bigger than Odyssey - the previous AC game which I absolutely loved.  Although Valhalla never quite manages to hit the heights of that title IMO, it's still been a brilliant experience, even though it's massively saturated and by the end I was definitely suffering a bit from the overkill.

 

Saxon England is never anything but drop dead gorgeous.  The colour palette may be dull at times, but when the light is shining through the trees and the early morning sun reflects on the grass and the rocks, it's just stunning to look at.  So I didn't particularly mind the landscapes - it's not massively varied but it's Saxon England.  It wasn't all that varied!  I really enjoyed exploring the countryside between missions, coming across various puzzles, cursed altars, buried treasures, old artefacts etc etc.  There's so many of them that it would take a hell of a lot more than the 120 hours I've put into this.

 

I found combat to be rather different here compared to previous games, and it's not all positive.  It takes a long while for you to amass enough skill points to unlock the better, chunkier, fun moves and the redesigned skill tree is both daunting and frustrating, as you have to level up A LOT for your hard earned XP to make any real difference combat-wise.  That's a shame, because once it clicks and the weapon varieties come thick and fast, the combat system is a lot more complex than expected, and I ended up with 3 separate builds as each of them were loads of fun to perfect.  Though I always wished I could have crafted arrows when I ran out, rather than having to find spare ones littered across the landscape.

 

Story-wise, it's pretty good but yet again, the length of the game is to its detriment because by the end, it was almost a year since I started, meaning I'd forgotten some of the supposed important NPCs who crop up again in later missions.  I played as male Eivor, who is a brilliant protagonist, a close 2nd in the series to Kassandra, and the important secondary characters are mostly really good, well written characters.  But as for the next level of NPCs, there's a LOT!  And it does get confusing as a result.  The campaign's structure isn't perfect either, 75% of the main story missions sees you travelling to different regions of England to forge alliances.  Whilst there's plenty of variety in the people you meet and the tasks you need to do to complete each story, the fact that you know you've got another 4 regions to complete is a bit of a drag - it could have done with mixing it up a bit.  Having said that, there are plenty of viking raids to take part in, and there are absolutely tremendous fun, and never got boring for me.  Although aside from getting to raid locations, I didn't have as much fun in a viking longboat as I did in a Greek galley.  

 

There are a few missions that take place in Valhalla and acted in a similar way to the Atlantis DLC in Odyssey - but I never really took to these missions for some unbeknownst reason.  They felt a bit out of place - there's a reason they're in there which is explained at the end of the story but honestly, there's so much to take in with all the other main/side quests that it really does feel that there's too much going on!

 

When it's good, Valhalla really is like playing an episode of The Last Kingdom or Vikings, and as a fan of both shows, this really helped me to go back to the game after I had to take weeks/months away to play other things, or Valhalla-fatigue set in.  It looks, feels, sounds and plays brilliantly, and fans of Origins or Odyssey should absolutely play this one as well.  But it's just a massive, massive game that throws stuff at you constantly and it becomes overwhelming pretty quickly and fairly often.  It's not a game you're going to get through in a single weekend.  It IS worth your time, but you're going to need a hell of a lot of it!

 

It sounds like Ubisoft are moving away from this format, but I will always have wished that they did an AC set in Ancient Rome that is as long winded and full of content as this and the last few instalments.  So sadly, I'll never get that opportunity - but at least we have a proper epic Viking simulator, raids and all.  

 

8.5/10

[ImmaculateClump]

Cotton Rock n Roll -Superlative Night Dreams- - normal 1cc, fine

 

Spoiler

Cotton Rock n Roll -Superlative Night Dreams- - normal 1cc, cotton, appli, tacoot, luffee

[glb]

January

 

#1 - Golf Story (Switch)

 

A joy from start to finish, and actually plays a decent round of golf too. Well, except for the putting, but chipping in is pretty easy, so who needs a putter?

 

Enjoyed the story, enjoyed the quests and how the different areas offered up the need for different styles of play. The pullback to reveal the actual location induced a big grin too. Lovely game, and one that made me happy I treated myself to a Switch. Shame Sports Story is apparently a bit of a mess, hopefully it’ll get patched up as would be keen for more sport ‘n adventuring.

[DarkCrisis]

1. Cult of the Lamb - PS5 - 20hrs

 

 

I mostly enjoyed my time with Cult of the Lamb, however I found that looking after the cult became more of a chore the longer I played the game, with me getting by with the minimum setup needed to complete the game.

 

Additionally, I found the game a little buggy in places, my character got trapped in a room on a few different occasions as the pathways didn’t open when killing all the enemies leading to a  restart of the game to continue playing.

 

7.5/10

[shirubagan]

So far:

 

Spoiler

1. Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5)

2. Somerville (Game Pass)

3. The Eternal Castle (Steam)

 

 

 

Dimistrec-apades

 

4. Resident Evil VILLAGE (PS5)

I'm not really that much into horror games, but having played through VII on Game Pass and thoroughly enjoyed the silliness, I couldn't resist and picked this up in the sale.

 

This, much like its predecessor, were very front-loaded with the horror and more traditional Resi gameplay and slowly changing into a more action-based game for the last third. The starting village, Castle Dimitrescu and Villa Beneviento being the highlights for me, though I got unbelievably lost/stuck in a loop at the start of the game, which was a bit frustrating.

 

Graphics are stunning throughout with excellent lighting, though the realism played against itself in a lot of places with completely rigid fabrics and unmovable objects  regularly breaking the illusion. Audio is great, really loved the end credits song in particular. Overall gunplay felt weak, even with the Dual Sense trying its best.

 

Zipped through this in just over 8 hours on Casual mode to unlock some better weapons and stuff for my PSVR play through some time next month or early April. I missed a bunch of equipment, collectibles and achievements so will try and tack those on to my second run. I also have the entire back catalogue from a Humble Bundle, so will likely tackle one of those next. Maybe Resi Rev 2.

 

Recommended, even for non-horror fans and looking forward to round two.

 

 

[Vorgot]

3. Lil Gator Game - Switch

 

Absolutely lovely little game. Very Zelda vibes in visuals and sounds, plus Lil Gator has a sword, shield, hat, a glider etc. There are nods to loads of other games too.

 

It's a game about being a kid again and enjoying games for what they are, fun. But it's also about relationships between friends and siblings. Only about 5 hours or so long, but packs a ton of feels in there. Even the combat, which consists of whacking cardboard monsters who don't fight back is fun.

 

Highly recommended!

 

2023 to date

 

Spoiler

Jan

1 - Captain Toad Treasure Tracker- Switch

2 - Final Fantasy VII Remake

3 - Lil Gator Game

 

 

[CurryKitten]

1. PowerWash Simulator (XSX GP)

So this is a bit of a weird one for me.  In December I'd finished playing Mass Effect 3 and I wanted to play HIgh On Life that was coming out later, so I didn't want to start anything big, so I decided to give PowerWash a quick go after hearing people talk about it here.  I have to say that normally I would be very dismissive of this sort of thing and say "it's not a game" and that sort of stuff, but for some reason I got really into this.  I don't know why, but it seemed wonderful to take this horrible chaotic place covered with mud and make it shiny and new... putting things back in order, that sort of stuff.

 

I expected it would be good to play as I could just dip in and out of it when I didn't know what to play and had half an hour here and there, but I just kept playing it.  I've finished the main game and TrueAchievements tell me I've hit 49 hours on it.  I'm actually still playing it so I can finish off the special cleaning jobs (currently on number 2 out of 4)  I still don't fully understand why it became so compulsive and I can't say whether I'd suggest it to anyone else or not... I guess try it and see.

[thesnwmn]

Spoiler

1. 04/01 - Stacklands (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

2. 05/01 - Patrick's Parabox (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

3. 09/01 - FixFox (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

4. 10/01 - Lego Builder's Journey (Steam Deck/PC) [post]

 

5. 13/01 - Pentiment (XBox/Steam Deck via XCloud)

 

Started last year when it was released. But after getting towards the end of the first act I got distracted by real life and other games. What an idiot!

 

This one will stay with me for a long time.

 

I'm not generally a fan of most video game story telling. I love the idea of it but I think it's done so badly most of the time. Games that are too gamey have terrible pacing. Games that aren't gamey enough are too long or badly written. But the story Pentiment weaves is a belter. It has peaks and troughs as well as a few genuinely surprising twists, turns and laughs. It left me wanting just a bit more information at each stage but knew when to move on. So many characters I loved. So many characters I was left cold by. And at least a few I loved to hate or at least disagree with. But none I disliked as characters. They're all consistent. Even in my dislike I understood their perspective and motives.

 

The end of each of the first two acts rush towards you. Each hour and day feels slightly too short. There's never quite enough time to decide. Before you know it you're being asked for your view. To deliver a verdict. To direct "justice". And each time you feel stuck between trying to tread lightly or put the boot in. The Act III shift caught me. I didn't expect it. But it works wonderfully. Every section of that final chapter is a triumph. Each is a celebratory tour of everything that has come before.

 

I was moved to glazy eyes twice. I won't say I shed a tear but in many ways it's better because of that. It could have quite easily by adding some haunting music at the right moments. But its sombre mood delivers some real punches without being hackneyed. It doesn't have to use any tricks to make my heart ache because it simply tells a good story about good people well.

 

And oh my, that final shot. The pull away to show the completed work. The music. The texture of the wall. The pans across the figures. I felt so content with the end.

 

It isn't perfect but what I think it gets wrong is mostly in how it guides the player about how to play it. I started like a point and click adventure. Go everywhere everyday. Attempt to talk to everyone everyday. This slows the pace of the game a little. It makes it tricky to determine what I should and shouldn't be investigating. But once you discard this notion and let the game flow you see how well it's crafted. How, when you don't try to go everywhere you still feel like you have been everywhere you needed to. The subtle clues and gating to guide you to ensure you've done what you need to. I don't know how you tell the user all this at the start. But from now on I want all games that want to simply put "play me like Pentiment" on their main menu.

 

This is a masterpiece for me. I don't need Microsoft to ever make another Halo or Forza or Gears or Starfield. Fuck those dull retreats of tired gaming shit. Leave that to Ubisoft and the like. Just do this sort of thing. It doesn't have to be the same but make games that no-one else is. Or at least make those games in a way that no-one else is. Treat the audience like adults.

 

If I had finished this when I started it last year it would easily have made my GOTY top 5. In some ways I'm glad I didn't as I'm not sure what I'd have kicked out for it.

[DarkCrisis]

2. Kena: Bridge of Spirits  - PS5 - 12hrs

 

 

Played through the story, beating the final boss and I enjoyed my time with the game.

 

I could carry on collecting all the items to get more trophies, however don’t want to taint my experience of a fun 12hr game.

 

I would recommend for anyone that is looking for a story driven game with good graphics and a decent combat system.
 

8.5/10

 

Spoiler

1. Cult of the Lamb - PS5 - 20hrs

 

[Sprite Machine]

Now that I've got my new PC set up, I predict a PC-focused year for games.

 

Previously...

Spoiler

1.) Lego Marvel's Avengers - PC - 2016

2.) Abzû - PC - 2016
The first game I've played on the new system, not because it's some demanding raytraced nightmare, but because my crusty old PC dropped to sub-20 fps in places (even the PS4 version can't maintain a solid framerate - maybe it's just the engine!) and this is a game that needs to be done justice because it is absolutely goddamned beautiful. Crank the fish density to maximum and swim through 90 minutes of silent narrative underwater adventuring. Some of the most stunning use of colour and lighting I've seen in any game, and a pleasure to play through for the third or fourth time.
(As previously played in 2020 and 2021.)

[Unofficial Who]

Jan

 

14/01 Alien Syndrome (C64) Having downloaded the first episode of Zapped to the Past this year I played this to ease into following the podcast. I say ease but it was nothing of the sort. How to describe this? It's essentially Atari's Gauntlet combined with the movie Aliens but way more colourful. Back in the day I found this conversion of the Sega coin-op rock hard and playing it again now I got just as far. So I reloaded and played and completed this with trainers for infinite lives. Should I count this as complete? Why not? I give massive side eye to C64 arcade conversions that don't let you continue as the arcade game would. The upside, this is a solid conversion for the machine. It's fast, the presentation is bang on and I think the music is better than the arcade version. The levels are pretty much the same as the arcade game. The downsides? As mentioned the difficulty is way too high and I can't imagine anyone being able to finish this in one player mode without cheats active. Even with an infinite lives cheat on I found it a challenge, almost giving up on the level 5 boss. And the push scrolling leads to many unavoidable deaths. Technically great.

 

 

14/01 Alien Syndrome (Arcade) Having played the ultra hard C64 version I decided to have a look at the arcade version to compare it and found it much more enjoyable. Part of that was that it was easier, but also the scrolling is better keeping you in the centre of the screen at all times. To be fair it also felt easier because the C64 version is so accurate with level layouts and boss design that I just flew through this in little time at all. It's a slight game as most arcade games are but it was fun. Makes me wish Team 17 would re-release Alien Breed on new platforms.

 

 

Earlier this month

09/01 Nobody Saves the World (PC) 

04/01 Marvel Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)

 

[Popo]

Wave Race 64 (1996)

For a 27 year old game, this is still without equal. The physicality - the fine balance of skill and jeopardy as you carefully steer your jet ski over choppy, angry waters that want to throw you from your craft - can’t be found in other racing games. Similarly, the need to plan your cornering a few steps in advance in order to weave carefully and quickly through the buoys; the way the courses change with the ebb and flow of the ocean; the lack of a brake, emphasising full use of the analogue stick in control of the watercraft - Wave Race remains a singular and unique experience, it’s light undimmed by the passage of time, and it’s gameplay as fresh as ever. 
 

Slight confession - I played through all the championship modes to victory, but had to rely on save scumming for the expert and reverse courses. This does mean it’s my first time ever to race on the Glacier Coast track! Amazing that there was content locked away in this game that I was never good enough to experience on original hardware. 
 

If ever there was a game crying out for an HD remake it’s this - I’d love to see four player online racing, as the two player mode is so limiting given the USP of the N64 and quality of four-player modes in other games on the system. 

 

Spoiler

05/01/2023 - Resident Evil Village: Shadow of Rose

11/01/2023 - Ridge Racer 3D

14/01/2023 - Wave Race 64

 

[Gabe]

09/01/2023 - Pocket League Story (PC)

 

I've never played a Kairosoft game (either on mobile or PC) and from looking at their catalogue they really are wedded to their template, huh?

 

This is almost an offensively lo-rent port (when you load it up it says 'Loading app', for goodness' sake) and it's no looker (whether you like the style or not) but I guess there's not much polishing to do on such titles. It was all fine though, because I was intrigued by the premise. As it is, it's an incredibly basic and repetitive game and you can see how it works on mobile, where I imagine stuff is on timers to draw out your playtime?

 

That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. It's very easy to play and poses little real challenge until you win the National League, at which point the teams above you massively ahead of you and it where the real grind comes in. I didn't care for that though, and whilst I didn't realise it, I ended my involvement when the game 'officially' ends (after 7 in-game years). You can carry on, but I can't see why you would want to; nothing in the gameplay changes from the very first day to the last.

 

It hasn't won me over to their games - I can't see me playing any others - but it was a fairly relaxing way to dip into whilst watching TV over the course of the week I played it.

 

12/01/2023 - The Death and Return of Superman (SNES)

 

Like with idle/clicker titles, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with 2D brawlers and tell myself I'm not going to play any others and then, well, here we are.

 

I generally find them really dull as a genre - rarely do they do anything to sustain my interest, be they arcades or home console approaches. And yet sometimes it is fun to just punch somebody in the face, right? It's telling that I started Double Dragon Neo on the Series S on Boxing Day, but any more than a level at a time and I get really bored (and I haven't even gone back to it after completing the third level.) Anyway, I digress.

 

TD&ROS is like every other 2D brawler from the 16-bit era. Sluggish movement, very suspect hit boxes, cheap enemies, no moveset etc. Here the spin is that we play as different supermen, though they all play exactly the same with some different animations. There's absolutely nothing engaging going on here and so it's move right and punch. Those cheap enemies are incredibly annoying, too. I guess this was the time where Western releases were being deliberately made harder to stop people completing them so quickly, and everything here is against you. I found it pretty tough and by the 7th level (of 10) I couldn't be bothered fighting any further and just activated invulnerability. I mean, none of the enemies in this game should actually be able to harm Supes anyway, so I felt it was thematically okay 

 

This was rubbish though and, again, that's me done with 2D brawlers. Again.

 

Until the next one.

 

14/01/2023 - Cookie Clicker (PC)

 

And whilst on the subject of my own gaming kryptonite (ho ho ho), here's an clicker game!

 

This appealed because, from a brief dalliance with the free web version, there seemed to be plenty of things to deliver those endorphins by seeing meaningless numbers go up, and for a little bit that was true. But this is one of the original titles to massively boost the popularity of the genre (the original web version dates back to 2013) and it did so by keeping people active for a long, long time. I mean, there are many people with thousands of hours of playtime (albeit most of that will have been in the background). I feel with my rather more modest 140-ish hours since Christmas Eve that nothing further is to be gained.

 

The problem is that progress grinds to an absolute halt quite quickly unless you become an active player. That's because the benefits from the buildings and upgrades you own contribute so little to increasing the overall number, you have to wait for a golden cookie to spawn, which boosts production by thousands of %, and this is the only path to you seeing push through each wall. Given that golden cookies only spawn anywhere between 3-15 minutes, and that's a lot of time wasted staring at a screen (and stopping me from doing anything else on Steam.)

 

It's a curious title, because it has quite the community around it and a lot of mods - yes, a clicker game that has mods - and the only way I made any kind of progress at all is because I basically used some mods to automate clicking, buying upgrades, clicking golden cookies when they spawned and other things. Without that, I'd still be nowhere in terms of progression. And ultimately, there's no fun to be found here from quite early on (despite there being various mechanics to try and add some variety) and so there seems no point continuing - so I'm calling it here and now. It's done.

 

Now I wonder if I actually can avoid 2D brawlers and idle/clicker games for a bit?

 

Previously completed:

Spoiler

1. 01/01/2023 - Bladed Fury (XSS)

2. 01/01/2023 - Routemania (PC)

3. 07/01/2023 - Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (XSS)

 

[Gabe]

Might as well add today's completion to the list:

 

7. 14/01/2023 - Somerville (XSS)

 

On balance I think I did like this, but man it has some issues.

 

The good is that I think it has a wonderful opening, from the strangely comforting car journey up until the point we leave the house. The set-up was hardly original, but it was presented in a way in which I was engaged and eager to find out what the heck was going on. At times it really did look beautiful, and some of the sound work was really good, with some big, crunchy sounds along with more subtle notes. It struck me how unobtrusive the soundtrack was, too, and how restrained - there were a few moments it could've attempted to force some emotional engagement but it didn't. I found the game in the main did a pretty good job of communicating where I needed to go and what I needed to do - though there were some exceptions. And it broadly remained consistent in what you could and couldn't do throughout the game - that doesn't always happen with puzzlers.

 

The not so good though is also a pretty big list. Whilst I didn't have any performance issues (thanks I assume to the patch I had waiting when I started it the other night), the controls are, being generous, quite PS2-era and made it a pain/chore especially during the frequent long, slow walks that were thrown at you. Some of the puzzles are very badly signposted. The framing of a hell of a lot of the scenes were such that your character - and stuff they had to interact with - was really small. I was playing on a 50" screen, sat perhaps 6' away maximum and I had my glasses on and still really struggled to make things out. The biggest frustration - other than the ending - was that the above-ground stuff was interesting, poignant and helped tell the story. But then you get stuck underground for far, far too long (including the longest chapter in the game, by far) and you just feel disconnected from it all. I wanted to roam the land and have the environment show me the evidence of this big struggle and what happened to those left behind. There's a lovely bit at the end of the first chapter where you can just sit on a bench with a wonderful view where you can see the scars in the earth and destruction writ large, but instead you get to crawl around a small, dark tunnel for about an hour.

 

And then there's the ending. Now I'm quite a simple man, so a lot of stuff goes over my head anyway, but the last 15/20 minutes or so lost me. I've now read what it all means and I can understand it a bit better (though I don't see how the 'good' ending really makes any sense, but whatever), but I felt completely underwhelmed by that last bit.

 

It was a shame to end on such a bum note, because despite quite a number of gripes I was more interested/engaged with this than Inside, though Limbo is still my favourite (and yes, I know this wasn't Playdead, but I think it's fair to group them together given the shared heritage of the people involved). 

 

If nothing else, it's nice to know that there are now two studios that will be pumping out this type of content in future

 

Previously completed:

 

Spoiler

1. 01/01/2023 - Bladed Fury (XSS)

2. 01/01/2023 - Routemania (PC)

3. 07/01/2023 - Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (XSS)

4. 09/01/2023 - Pocket League Story (PC)

5. 12/01/2023 - The Death and Return of Superman (SNES)

6. 14/01/2023 - Cookie Clicker (PC)

 

[strawdonkey]

On 08/01/2023 at 07:32, strawdonkey said:

01 - Tiny Rogues

02 - Needy Streamer Overload

 

Difficult to know where to start with this one. Last year I played and enjoyed Long Live The Queen - a stat-building game where you have to try and stop the queen consort of a nation dying before her coronation. Needy Streamer Overdose shares some DNA with this in a modern day setting (filled with great pop-culture references and deep cuts, along with an amazing soundtrack that really embodies how deranged the rest of the game can be) but it is also horrifyingly bleak in places.

 

 

You play the part of some kind of partner or confidant to Ame, a girl who debuts as a streamer and then suddenly finds out that they have rent arrears to pay, leading to a push towards being able to monetize content as soon as possible. Your role in it all is to try and help her come up with new topics to base a stream on, along with managing her stress, affection and "mental darkness" levels. You can't get new fans without streaming, but it makes her stress go through the roof so that has to be managed with other activities and already this sounds like the most horrible existence.

 

You can only interact with Ame via text chat, and most of the time there isn't even a response to give; she just talks and sometimes you can send her one of eight predefined stickers, all of which are shit and basically never convey the thing you'd want to say. Ame is almost impossible to keep up with and the consequences for any of her stats reacing either end of the scale are usually pretty extreme. 

 

There's about 25 endings in all. I got a few of them, none of them were good endings even when I was able to get to the end of the allotted time period, and some of them were so bad-ending that it genuinely made me wonder how I'd managed to screw everything up so badly.

 

I don't see myself going back for the rest of the endings; partly because once you take the emotional side of things out of the game and are just trying to reach varying success states it kind of sidesteps what makes this game so good; but also because I don't think I can bear to repeatedly watch someone I am trying to help going through the downward spiral, even if they are not real.

 

Some really interesting theories on the lore of the game if you read around too. To be clear I do rate this game - I wouldn't call the experience "fun" in that I got enjoyment out of watching someone fall apart in the pursuit of fame, but it's one of those games that starts out a bit inane and then really worms its way into your brain.

[partious]

5) Guardians of The Galaxy (PS5)

 

I`m not a marvel fan and have never seen any of the GOTG movies. I`d also never even heard of this game until recently when I noticed a couple of people refer to it as "better than you probably expect" and "nothing like the avengers game" (which I had heard was bad and full of microtransactions). Anyway it`s on PSPLUS and is a PS5 game so I decided to give it a shot.

 

For me this game far surpassed the "better than you`d expect" faint praise I`d read. I think I’d say it’s the most fun I’ve had with a game in a while. 

 

I like the constant banter between the characters, the graphics are very nice, some of the jokes are actually amusing (which is unusual for a game), and the experience feels fairly tight. I appreciate the lack of open world bloat or other padding they could have forced on the player but didn`t. I’ve read complaints from people that this game “only” takes 16 hours or whatever, and I really can’t relate to that. The length of the game felt generous for the type of non-padded story experience it was. Anything longer would have been detrimental to the experience.

 

As I said, I know nothing about GOTG but I think that lack of familiarity may have been a good thing for me. It`s just a fun space story that doesn`t take itself too seriously with a bunch of interesting teammates. The setup lends itself well to an enjoyable videogame.

 

I actually quite like the combat. I`m not saying it`s anything amazing but it`s more entertaining to me than the combat in most big budget games I`ve played in the past few years.

This is pretty much the first psplus game that I`ve played recently that I would have been happy to have bought at a non heavily discounted price.

 

Previous Games

Spoiler

1) Spider-man: Miles Morales (PS5)

2) Ghost of Tsushima (PS5)

3) GTA5 (PC)

4) FF7 Remake (PS5)

 

[strawdonkey]

1 hour ago, strawdonkey said:

01 - Tiny Rogues

02 - Needy Streamer Overload

03. Yamafuda - 2nd Station

 

 

The latest entry in the overcrowded hiking-based roguelite card game genre, Yamafuda: 2nd Station is a game about hiking up a series of mountains with your friend and getting to the top before you get too lazy and decide to go home. It is super twee and lovely, has a very wonky translation from its native Japanese and while it's overall maybe a little bit easy, it's a lot of fun, and has the best roguelike attribute in that you can occasionaly do horribly broken things.

 

You draw a hand of three cards, and your "enemy" - the mountain - has a degree of steepness each turn. There's two types of cards - Cards That Hike, and Cards That Do Not Hike. Cards That Hike end your turn when played, and have a Hike and a Care value on them; the Hike takes you X steps forward, and the Care is your defence against the steepness of the mountain. If you have less Care than the steepness, you lose energy; once you're low on energy your little profile picture starts to look sad, and when you're out of energy you turn around in a huff and start walking back down the mountain regardless of how close to the top you were. Cards That Do Not Hike do things like draw you additional cards, boost stats, heal, and so on, and you can play as many of them as you like before you play a Card That Hikes.

 

 

Mountains are divided up in to nine "Stations" and you usually get the chance to heal and buy goodies that have permanent effects after every 2-3 stations. You can buy as many as you can afford (every Hike point you get gives you one money, which is stored in an inexplicable bucket on wheels that follows you around) but if you decline to buy everything available, you'll get an energy refill. Alternatively, you can buy everything but have to manage your health better during the stations.

 

It's not the most complicated of card games, but despite that I found that there was plenty of room to improve as I played. There's about 15 mountains to hike and you unlock new and fancy stuff as you go along, but a lot of the skill of the game comes from being familiar with the goodies you can buy and how everything fits together. Decks are often 10 cards or less even at the highest point of a mountain and being able to be consistent is really important.

 

 

Once you've hiked up Mt. Fuji (the final mountain in the game) you not only unlock some bonus mountains (so I guess it's not the last mountain in the game after all) but you also get to hike as another character, with a completely different set of mechanics surrounding mechanical helpers, a battery meter to manage, and so on. There's also a "Try" system which, like Ascension grades in Slay the Spire, lets you challenge previous mountains with added restrictions/challenges/etc.

 

I really loved this game - I kind of expected it to be a bit of a novelty but I hiked all the mountains with both characters and found it really engaging throughout.

[Sprite Machine]

Previously...

Spoiler

1.) Lego Marvel's Avengers - PC - 2016
2.) Abzû - PC - 2016

 

3.) Portal with RTX - PC - 2022 (2007)

Who would have thought a fifteen year old game would be one of the most technically demanding releases for modern hardware? This fully path-traced modification of the original Portal is pushing some seriously impressive tech. Not just reflections, but all light emissions and the entire lighting engine is all raytraced in realtime. This is literally the first game I've ever played with raytracing, so talk about jumping in at the deep end! I don't have the top-end Nvidia card, but the 4070 Ti can still run it at 1080p/60 on high settings with just a little bit of DLSS upscaling. I did try frame generation too, but it doesn't support vsync so it was tearing like mad. (I definitely need some sort of free-sync monitor in future.) Still, as a technical exercise, it was quite fascinating.

 

As an artistic pursuit, though? I'm not so sure. Yes, it looks absolutely stunning in places - the glowing energy balls casting their light across rippled shiny walls, the realistic reflections and refractions, the way light and shadow plays off everything. The cake even looks genuinely appetising! On the other hand, some sections don't look that much different. It looks like Portal, a fiften year old game, just much harder to run - and despite some of the art assets being upgraded, many haven't and the game has an old fashioned feel to it. I mean, they've literally taken the original Portal, the old Source engine, and just thrown a new lighting system in there. It still loads its levels in small chunks, it still stutters as it saves, I still can't get a controller working with it properly. You still can't see your own feet, and yet your character model casts shadows, leading to odd moments where you can see shadows of your body not connected to anything. Some of the new graphics even spoil the experience, like when you reach the empty office rooms and look through the glass to the test chambers you've been through - in this version, because the glass is so distorted, you can't really see the rooms below anymore, it's just a murky mess. And that's not even mentioning the cringeworthy product placement, Nvidia QR codes stuck on things and RTX graphics cards lying about on the floor.

 

It's so nearly the definitive Portal experience too, but I feel it could have been enhanced in more substantial ways and with a little extra care. As a technical demonstration of what can be done, however, it's really quite clever. Plus, it's always nice to play through Portal again, even if it is with a mouse and keyboard.

[Quest]

Should probably round up all the stuff I've finished so far this year:

 

04/01 - Chicory: A Colourful Tale (PS5)

A 2D Zelda colouring book with paintbrush and ink in place of sword and shield. Compared with something like TOEM, another little indie adventure that I enjoyed playing with my daughters, this does a better job of encouraging full use of the creative options through its quest and puzzle design, and we ended up colouring in every part of the map simply because it was an enjoyable thing to do over a few evenings.

 The only missteps are the boss encounters where the game's only combat appears. Narratively they make sense but are far too repetitive and overlong. Still, this is an otherwise brilliant little gem.

 

05/01 - Z-Warp (Switch)

Snappy, crunchy shooter that's simple enough for a severely-lapsed shmup player looking to ease back into things. It's got chunky pixelated guts, brains and eyeballs exploding in garish fireballs, and is just the right length to encourage repeat attempts when I really ought to be going to bed.  

 

06/01 - FAR: Lone Sails (Switch)         

A side-scrolling game in which you operate and maintain a ramshackle vehicle to traverse a desolate wasteland. I played the sequel late last year and loved it, so picked this up for a couple of quid in a sale.

 It's a leaner experience, the colour palette of rust and ash a bit more bold and some of its landscapes more painterly, but the puzzles are too basic and the upkeep of the vehicle is fairly rote by comparison. Both are surprisingly engrossing little games with a good line in environmental storytelling, though, and offer their own worthwhile take on the premise.

 

09/01 - The Council (PS4)

A narrative game of political and occult intrigue, set on a remote island where the world's most powerful gather to determine the course of history. 

 In what I assume was a deliberate artistic decision, all the characters look like horrendous mutant gargoyles moulded from spent candlewax. Less deliberate is the state of the voice acting, which threatens to undermine the game's focus on the nuances of NPC dialogue. The voice actor for the protagonist is particularly dreadful, delivering lines like he's reading them for the first time and stressing the wrong words in sentences. 

 I can cope with a bit of low-budget shoddiness though, and the core story is compelling enough that I enjoyed most of this. My absolutely reckless behaviour did result in  an abject failure of an ending, naturally, but that's all part of the fun.

 

10/01 - Novena (Bitsy)

A tiny pixel poem, barely a couple of minutes long and playable in a browser. The pixel art is neatly minimal and the music pretty, but this didn't exactly move me to tears or anything like some in the comments on Itch. 

 

11/01 - Franken (Mac)

The world really doesn't need more indie parodies of classic JRPGs, but this one is executed well enough that I'll allow it. Combat is trivial and it's really just about following the critical path and letting the NPCs do a funny, but it's an enjoyable way to spend an hour.

  Particularly fond of the dev lifting a load of old Bruton and KPM library music for the soundtrack:

 

 

12/01 - Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX (PS5)

 Spin-off of the Azure Striker series, two of which I played back when they came to Switch. I think this is better than those, if only because Copen's move-set of dashing between enemies and unleashing a load of lasers all over the place feels a bit more satisfying.

 No idea what the story is about as it's just a load of anime people shouting at each other, but it's easily skipped so you can get back to the aforementioned lasering.

 

12/01 - Star Parodier (PC Engine CD-ROM²)

 Cute-em-up parody of the Star Soldier series. Made for kids so it's piss easy, but still a fun ride and a good pad-swap game with the kids. Any game that lets you zip about as a little PC Engine and fire CDs at an angry sunfish is my kind of thing.

 

 

 

Currently Playing:

 

UnderDungeon (Switch)

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Series X)

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Series X) - Might drop this as it's fucking boring.

Air Zonk/PC Denjin Punkic Cyborg! (PC Engine)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (Switch)

 

2023 List:

Spoiler

12/01 - Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX (PS5)

12/01 - Star Parodier (PC Engine CD-ROM²)

11/01 - Franken (Mac)

10/01 - Novena (Bitsy)

09/01 - The Council (PS4)

06/01 - FAR: Lone Sails (Switch)     

05/01 - Z-Warp (Switch)

04/01 - Chicory: A Colourful Tale (PS5)

 

[Gabe]

And another one!

 

8. 15/01/2023 - Bujangai (PS2)

 

I believe this is quite well thought-of as a 3D hack-and-slash in the pantheon of DMC contenders and it wasn't bad, but held back by the perils of the PS2 era - awful camera and sketchy controls. Apparently the main character was some J-Pop star? Who knows. He says two words in the whole game, so I can only imagine his 'look' was what he brought to the title.

 

In its favour are that it is brief, has an interesting guard/counter system and there's a balletic grace to the character's moveset. Against it is the really terrible camera, some horrible platforming sections (hampered not just by the camera but the controls too) and a pointless 'map' (which is literally some blue graph paper that has a symbol for the exit - but no level structure at all.) That last point isn't an issue for most of the brief runtime as the maps are pretty easy to navigate, but the second map is just a mass of identikit corridors with some vague objective which meant I spent far more time (lost) on that map than any other level. It was annoying.

 

Whilst the combat doesn't have any depth - you don't get loads of combos, you basically have 4 - it was still quite entertaining (playing on Easy, of course) and the only real challenge outside of fighting the camera/jumping controls was on the penultimate boss who was a pain in the backside. But having slept on it, I beat it, and then the game, earlier this morning.

 

I do have a fondness for this type of game - which the PS2 had plenty of - so I don't mind some jank and so whilst this doesn't really hold up in 2022, it was still a fun little jaunt.

 

Previously completed:

Spoiler

1. 01/01/2023 - Bladed Fury (XSS)

2. 01/01/2023 - Routemania (PC)

3. 07/01/2023 - Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (XSS)

4. 09/01/2023 - Pocket League Story (PC)

5. 12/01/2023 - The Death and Return of Superman (SNES)

6. 14/01/2023 - Cookie Clicker (PC)

7. 14/01/2023 - Somerville (XSS)

 

[Sprite Machine]

Previously...

Spoiler

1.) Lego Marvel's Avengers - PC - 2016
2.) Abzû - PC - 2016
3.) Portal with RTX - PC - 2022 (2007)

 

And staying within the Portal universe for a moment, my next game is
4.) Aperture Desk Job - PC - 2022

 

Played through once, which took 30 minutes. Obviously, this is a demo for the Steam Deck (which I don't have), but it plays perfectly well on a Dual Shock 4 controller, even using the tilt and touch sensors. Taking you through all of the controls of your 'Desk' (Deck), a helpful talking robot, a sort of proto-Wheatley, helps you in your job as a product inspector for Aperture Science, during its Cave Johnson years. It's full of surrealist humour, a wonderful script and absurd situations, all viewed from behind your work desk.

 

There's not a lot to it, but it's a freebie and it's enjoyable and funny. If you have a Steam Deck, download it. If you don't, download it anyway. It's a laugh.

[LaveDisco]

On 11/01/2023 at 20:11, LaveDisco said:

Finished Bloodborne (& DLC) (5/5) on the 30th of December, so since then:

 

1. Last of Us Part 1 (PS5) - From a pointless Cash Grab, to an absolute fantastic experience that was worth every penny - it was like buying a fancy hard back edition of your favourite book. The end didn't hit quite as hard this time, but some earlier bit really got to me. Everything Part 2 discusses is staring you in the face in Part 1. Fantastic, hugely looking forward to the TV show. The digital foundary video shows the greater detail in the world, but starting Part 2 again after, I was blown away by the difference in facial acting quality in part 1. The subtly of the movements, the depth. Incredible. That and the core gameplay loop is as good as ever. 5/5

2. Last of Us Part 1: Left Behind (PS5) - See above. 5/5

3. Metroid Zero Mission (Analogue Pocket/GBA) - This was just a delight to play on the pocket - fantastic dpad and buttons, and growing up on an SP, the shoulder buttons are perfect too. Never played this back in the day (which is weird as fusion was one of my favourite GBA games, but boy is it great. Short, sharp, a perfect portable game. 5hrs for a game, really is the equivelant of 90mins for a movie. Glorious. 5/5 

 

Three real big hitters out of the gate. Nearing the end of Hob's Barrow, so suspect that might be the fourth, and still in Jan too!

 

4. Hob's Barrow (Steam Deck)

That's Hob's Barrow done. Mechanically a 3/5, but it's so creepy and British, and ugly, and beautiful and weird, and it's one of the those tiny games, that shouldn't really have been finically feasible to make, because who would make a game about a woman from Derby, going to a place called Bewly. It wasn't fantastic, but I'll still be thinking about it long after 'better' games are gone from my memory. I'm really happy I played it. Coming to Switch later this year, for those without Steam.

 

(5th Predictions:  I'm 3 colossi into Shadow of the Colossus PS4 Remake, which despite owning the PS3 version, I've never played. A big gap in my credentials getting resolved. I bounced off it at times due to the controls, but I think I'm past that now. It's stunningly beautiful, which I wasn't expecting, but I'm also pondering SOMA on deck, and Sonic The Hedgehog (SMS) on Analogue Pocket, so we'll see what wins out.

[strawdonkey]

19 hours ago, strawdonkey said:

01 - Tiny Rogues

02 - Needy Streamer Overload

03 - Yamafuda - 2nd Station

04 - Catlateral Damage: Remeowstered

 

Cute little game about being a cat and trashing everything.

 

 

This is a first-person cat-em-up in which you are given a list of tasks to accomplish, all of which involve being a giant dickhead. They are usually something along the lines of "cause $X worth of damage" or "knock over X of this specific item" or "find X of this item". To begin with the stages are small and compact, and you wear out easily; energy runs out each time you take any action, but you can restore mid-run by having a nap. 

 

And then after you have been a bit of a pain in the arse, you'll find that you've gathered enough stuff to be able to unlock upgrades to your stamina, jump height, and so on; once you've unlocked the double jump and a couple of stamina upgrades you go from a mischevious but easily-tired critter, to a relentless and unstoppable absolute fucking shithead.

 

And then they put you in a museum, and ask you to destroy the T-rex skeleton.

 

It's daft fun and one of the unlockable cats is "Fart Cat" who has a unique use for the context-sensitive button instead of meowing 

[ImmaculateClump]

Fantasy Zone - 1cc (2-4)

 

Spoiler

Cotton Rock n Roll -Superlative Night Dreams- - normal 1cc, cotton, appli, tacoot, luffee, fine

[Gambit]

15/01 - Marvels Midnight Suns

 

What a game. I honestly didn't expect to love this as much as I did, considering the Firaxis lineage. But I couldn't stop playing since I got it for Christmas. A wonderful mix of the Persona social links, card based combat, X-Com base building and the Krypt from Mortal Kombat 11. A combination of things that shockingly work together. Yes, it's rather buggy and could've done with another month in the oven. Graphical and audio glitches, sometimes missions just crash on completion (god bless the amount of auto saves the game generates), but it never dampened my enthusiasm for it.

 

I'm not sure of this game did particularly well seeing as it quickly gor reduced in price, but I really, really hope there's a sequel.

 

9/10

 

Spoiler

January

02\01 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution

 

[James Lyon]

3. New Super Lucky's Tale - One I've been dipping into occasionally on a lazy weekend so took a while. Despite the name, I didn't realise this was a do-over of Super Lucky's Tale in which they improved the original's mechanics and levels and released it as a new game . I reckon a few more games should have the opportunity to try this method; it seems to work here as this is a pretty decent 3D animal mascot platformer, the kind that ruled the roost in the PS2 games, but no so much now. Always had a fondness for those.

 

As these types of games go, it mixes up the platforming with a variety of different challenges and mini-games: auto-scrolling stages, block-pushing puzzles and marble rolling, etc. among differently-themed hub worlds. It shouldn't prove too difficult for anyone who's played these types of games before and it wasn't really until the final level (which was post-game DLC in the original) that I found myself losing a few more lives than I usually would when mopping up Achievements. One for those who miss the days of Vexx and Voodoo Vince, et al.

[Gabe]

9. 16/01/2023 - Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf (PC)

 

There are a few keywords that really put me off games: soulslike, roguelike/lite and, relevant here, deck builders. It's why I'm unsure about Midnight Suns, because whilst I love RPGs, I hate having my abilities in any given turn being determined, to an extent, but the gods of rng.

 

Of the many thousands of Warhammer titles, this then is a deckbuilding turn-based strategy RPG. I didn't like it, to the extent that this is 'complete' insomuch as I finished the first campaign of three and that's definitely my fill. I gave it a try, and it disappointed me - mainly due to a level I lost right at the death because I had to rely on my 1 card in 30 chance of the only 'Heal' option I had coming up, and it didn't. I was inclined to quit it then (I don't even know or care about Warhammer!) but decided I would try to at least hit the milestone I did (it wasn't worth it.)

 

Nothing much more to say really, other than it's been a busy week for completing stuff!

 

Previously completed:

Spoiler

1. 01/01/2023 - Bladed Fury (XSS)

2. 01/01/2023 - Routemania (PC)

3. 07/01/2023 - Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (XSS)

4. 09/01/2023 - Pocket League Story (PC)

5. 12/01/2023 - The Death and Return of Superman (SNES)

6. 14/01/2023 - Cookie Clicker (PC)

7. 14/01/2023 - Somerville (XSS)

8. 15/01/2023 - Bujangai (PS2)

 

[Jamie John]

1. Doom Eternal (2020) - Steam

 

 

This is excellent, don't get me wrong, possibly the best FPS of its type I've ever played - demanding, frenetic and oh, so very satisfying - but, at the same time, I feel like if I ever see another bloody Cacodemon again in my lifetime then it'll be too soon, you know? The whole thing is just so intense, and so long, too - the levels go on forever, there are about five more of them than there needs to be, and by the last few you're literally going from huge fight to huge fight with almost no let up in between. The final boss, in particular, is just a complete clusterfuck - it took me about half an hour to beat and there were very few moments in that time when I could really tell you what was actually happening.

 

The game as a whole is brilliant, but exhausting, to the point where I've got no desire to go back and hoover up the few bits I missed, much less to play the DLC or extra modes. I'd still absolutely recommend it, however, although maybe not to anyone with a heart condition.

 

I'm off for a lie down.

 

Played in 2023:

Spoiler

Completed:

 

1. Doom Eternal (2020) - Steam