Finally got the ng+ ending for Dead Space (2023), and... I'm not sure that I like it? It's not bad per se, but at the very least I wish it had been presented a little differently. There's something about it that doesn't sit right with me, and it makes me worried about a remake for 2. I thought about replaying it (again), but I think I'm going to let it simmer for a while so I don't get burnt out on it.
I've been trying to utilize GamePass a lot more lately. Thought Those Who Remain seemed interesting, but the controls were so jank and stiff that I couldn't enjoy it properly. Because of this, I thought it was an older game. Nope, 2020. After I kinda got used to the controls, I got bored. Just when I was thinking of quitting, I died. Which led to the nail in the coffin, the shit save system. I had to start all the way back at the beginning of the level I was on. No, thank you, I'm not running through all those rooms again.
Decided to try out Scorn even though I initially hadn't heard very many good things about it. Honestly it's way more fun than I thought it would be, but in a weirdly abstract way. The graphics are amazing, and the setting is fantastic, but that might be because I'm a fan of H.R. Giger. I'm not sure if it would have benefited more or less if there was a more fleshed out plot than... whatever was going on. Most of the game was me just going around doing "stuff". No other motivation other than to progress in its purest form. It's pretty nice if you dream about existing inside Giger's work, like an interactive art piece first, and then a video game second. The more I think about it, the more I like it lol.
Although I will say in case anyone is thinking about playing it, the last act has a whole lot of what-the-fuckery for a game based off of Giger, plus some. It's definitely not for the faint of heart or those with certain triggers.
The Steam version makes 90% of the learning curve (learning the UI) disappear because it is so, so much better than the legacy version lol
The game itself is really rather straightforward and easy to figure out. It was always the presentation and layout of the UI and hotkeys that made it a challenge to actually start playing since you could know what you needed to do, but not know how to reach the command for it.
Lunacid - King’s Fieldalike with a great atmosphere and PS1 era esthetic. Fun hidden secrets (sometimes a little too obscure, but whateva, still fun) that I fell in love with as a fan of the OG From Soft King’s Field/Eternal Ring games.
Signalis - A thought provoking horror sci-fi game about an android trying to find their missing ship captain on a far away planet. I don’t want to stay more to stay away from spoilers, but this plays homage to OG Resident Evil and other early survival horror games from a top down perspective.
Pyre - A sports game and VN hybrid made by Supergiant games. Not as popular (At least I think) as Hades, Transistor, and Bastion. Just fantastic story and world building with characters that you end up feeling so passionately for by the end of the game. Just a wonderful game and probably my favorite Supergiant game barely in front of Hades.
Dusk - A retro FPS ala Quake 1 era games. The game that kicked off the newest resurgence of “Boomer shooters” and is one of the best out there. Wonderful secrets and level design along with some solid atmosphere and scares by those New Blood boys that I love so much.
He’s a bit of a FromSoft fanboy, with his longest and most popular series being “Steam Dumpster Diving” where he searches the Internet for any games with a “Soulslike” tag and reviews them. He’s spent more than a few videos talking about King’s Field and FromSoft’s other earlier games.
Also he made some absolutely nasty For Honor vids a few years back that I think are worth checking out even today.
From Soft pulled me in with the first Armored Core because I’ve always been into massive robots, so I checked more of their stuff out using the library dial up and found out about King’s Field. I love slow dungeon crawlers and weird shit, so it was a match for me the whole way. Lunacid really plays it up too. You can tell the developer loves those old games.
I’m not normally into fantasy at all and I was gripped by Pyre’s story and characters. It’s a real testament to Supergiant’s writing abilities that I’d kill to see it picked up for a series by someone and it’s the game of theirs I most consider replaying just to spend time in the world again.
That ending video rolling and the absolutely beautiful personalized version of Bound Together playing is one of my favorite moments of any game I’ve played. I would love to go back to that world in other mediums.
I’ve been putting off playing Ultrakill until it finally releases, but from the little I had to check out when I bought it; I thought it was great. I’m excited to play it. Dusk is also just fantastic. It’s hard to pick a favorite from the New Blood games for me. Amid Evil is also up there.
Still playing Final Fantasy XV. I still think it’s weird, but I’m having so much fun! I have found the catboi outfit.
I started playing Star of Providence. What cool shmup roguelite! My hand eye coordination is mediocre, so I predictably suck. There’s so much charm in it that I want to endure though.
Just finished Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley This game is alright. Great visual style. Passable gameplay and nice music. Writing is quite simplistic but endearing with nostalgia. This is definitely a love letter to Moomin franchise. I loved to see Snufkin, Mini My and The Groke on screen with some cute cutscenes. I wouldn’t recommend this game if you aren’t already invested into Moomins. I enjoyed my time meeting beloved characters once again.
Still completely and unhealthily obsessed with F1 Manager 2023, nearing the end of my second season as Aston Martin. Hard/Hard difficulty has felt about appropriate thus far, at least on a team starting in a good position like AM. I was sweating at the start of this season since the board expected me to get second and I started the year a little slow, but it looks like I will pull it off. Still couldn’t touch Red Bull or Max this year, though I have taken a couple of race wins.
The development race has been tight so far, with Mercedes roaring back after a dismal 2023 season and Red Bull refusing to let me outdevelop them.
It’s a little sad that the first two installments didn’t sell well and F1 Manager 2024 looks like it will be the last entry in the series. Sure, the game has its issues, but there are a lot of good things here too, and a lot of systems that could be refined with time. I didn’t play F1 Manager 2022, but it seems like a lot of the problems with it were addressed in 2023, as well.
Overall, I still recommend the game if you’re an F1 fan, especially if you can find it on sale. You probably have to at least like racing (if not F1) to enjoy it though, as the main draw here is the race-day experience.
Aside from FTL (which I’m glad to see is well-represented here), my top ones would probably be Papers, Please and Disco Elysium. Papers, Please manages to pair a good narrative leading to many endings with oddly fun gameplay. Disco Elysium simply has some of the best writing ever in a video game and world lore that I can’t get enough of.
I also really liked The Binding of Isaac (Rebirth and later), Don’t Starve, Shovel Knight, and Hollow Knight.
I played Terra Nil, which was really enjoyable, but way too short! It only has four levels, and I would have played much more than that.
Also playing Against the Storm, which I stumbled across on Steam looking for something else to play after I finished Terra Nil so quickly. Really liking this one as well! The city building itself is fun, and the added aspect of the metagame/cycle outside of the city builder is a twist that I think works really well.
Hmmm… When I finished the four levels in Terra Nil it unlocked four more scenarios with different maps to play. You’re right though, more would have been fun to have.
I saw that something unlocked, but I thought it was the same maps with a chance to go back and get the species you missed or something like that. I’ll have to go look more closely!
I started and finished Stray today. It’s a bit short (5.5 hours) and imo not really replayable, but I had a really nice time with it. I found it akin to Outer Wilds in the sense that you get to discover the lore as you progress in the world. I recommend picking it up if you get it on sale (the full price is a bit much for the duration).
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