I just picked up some games from Humble Bundle that I’m going to play while waiting for Unicorn Overlord to release. I think I’ll start on Loop Hero first, but some of the other games in the bundle look interesting too.
I’m trying to get back into Elden Ring, but I forgot how late I was into the game when I stopped playing last time, so I’m getting my ass handed to me. But the DLC trailer got my hyped to play again, and I never finished my first playthrough, so I have to beat the game. I am also working on Animal Crossing: New Leaf on my 3DS. No idea what I’m doing, but I’ll take the challenge.
I may also load up Tears of the Kingdom on my Steam Deck if I feel so inclined this week.
I’m also struggling with the itch to go back to ER, busy in a similar boat (around the Haligtree entrance, but it’s been around a year and I don’t think I have the chops anymore). I think I’m going to try and hold out until there’s more info on the expansion.
Alpha Protocol. A spy RPG released by Obsidian. I’ve only really gotten past the tutorial so far and I have no idea if I’m going to enjoy it. It uses the Fallout 4/LA Noire style dialogue system where you don’t really know what your character is going to say that I really hate.
That game is worth putting up with its jank. You may not know exactly what the character is going to say, but each option is always channeling either James Bond, Jack Bauer, or Jason Bourne.
So far it’s been pretty good. I find the patrols NPCs do a little odd. Kind of jerky and I can never really tell if they are going to see me. There haven’t been a lot of super unexpected outbursts from the protagonist thankfully so I feel like you might be right. Everything has been pretty subtle. I’m not choosing the Aggressive option and just having the protagonist responding with “Fuck you”.
Wandersong is a game about happiness that made me really happy while I was playing it. Not all the way through; there are parts that are sad too. But I’m thinking of replaying it because it made me feel really happy when I played it the first time.
I have one season objective left for Diablo 3: Season 30, and it's to complete another conquest. All three that I have left are driving me nuts because I just am not fast enough and/or get bad layouts. But I still have another month or so left before the end of the season, so I might be ok.
I finished my first run of Dead Space (2023), and it is absolutely amazing. I could rant on and on about it, but for the sake of sanity I'll just say, this is probably one of the best and most faithful remakes of a game I have ever played. They lift so much from the original, and every change in the story only adds to it, or makes it better. Plus, while I understand that the original never intended Isaac to talk, I love that they gave him his voice (with the same VA from 2&3, I might add, which makes it even better imo). It makes him seem more like a part of the Kellion crew rather than just some dude running around being told what to do. It's all just chef's kiss.
For this next week, I think I might find a quick one/two night game before I go into ng+ for Dead Space '23. I need a breather before I reboard the Ishimura.
Outer Wilds can get similar when you have transcended beyond the existential dread of lonely death in space. It’s spooky at times, but death is cheap, so you just look forward to the next attempt.
The soundtrack, art direction, color palette, and gameplay all come together in a relaxing loop. I have spent hours just drifting along spot to spot, taking care of the spirits in my care until their times came to depart, and still go back to it when I just want to have some time to relax.
As a warning, the game does deal with some emotional tones, so there’s a bit of melancholy mixed in. My wife and I both had times where we teared up because it felt like saying goodbye to someone again. It’s handled well, though. Really gives the feeling of everything being put to rest, and there’s still everything they taught you right there as a reminder of the effect they had.
I remember just sitting there after helping the first spirit depart and thinking - wow. Which doesn’t happen a lot in games, but the combination of the music, the storylines for each spirit and the time when I started playing (early in the pandemic) cemented the game in my mind as a piece of art.
West of Loathing. The RPG stuff is great and the comedy is great but really the main strength is I just enjoy reading its dialogue. The vocabulary and sentence construction have a real sincerity for the setting contrasted against the silliness of the rest of it that makes both parts hit harder.
Similarly, the first three Monkey Island games which achieve that same injection of the heartfelt into the wacky by way of their gorgeous art and music.
But as far as the joy of just doing something it’s hard to beat the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games, to just be dropped into a level and be told “do cool stuff for a while”.
bin.pol.social
Aktywne