Honestly, I really fear for both kbin and mbin. I was really hoping for more substantial changes in both by this time, but honestly it's just staying largely the same.
Honestly, that's fair. Maybe I was being a little too harsh, plus this gen did come with more customizable settings (IE, setting to "performance mode" or "fidelity" mode)
I feel like we hear this every single time though. "Largest tech leap in a hardware generation" very much means "we'll bump the graphics a little, we're still targeting 30fps though"
Minecraft. There's always another automatic farm to create, a new cave to explore and a new mod to try out! Not to mention the fun that multiplayer brings...
I still play once in a blue moon, but only the tiniest amount haha. I'd say you should check out the subreddit for Discord links - there's a "Royal Para Regiment" Discord with quite a few people that seems to be very active
Yeah, you've really hit it right on the money. I grew up with H&D 2 and it really did have awful AI. The graphics also aren't doing it any favors in 2024 - it was mildly ugly even by 2003 standards, in my opinion. Still, it had some very imaginative levels and overall the vibes are right for a tactical WW2 shooter. Also, the multiplayer is (somehow) still going!
Oh, I almost forgot - Hidden and Dangerous and Hidden and Dangerous 2 are also great. They're very similar to Arma (but released before Arma afaik, and have smaller maps). Pretty solid, but I do feel that the controls have not aged well at all (for example, they use the "end" key to aim down sights by default). They are overall pretty enjoyable, but to be honest, nostalgia aside, you aren't missing a ton if you don't play them. There are a lot of rough edges, such as grenades not killing enemies that are close because a chair leg was in the way.
If you're gonna play any of the games I recommend, I would say play Vietcong and give it a real shot. The game starts slow but by the 3rd mission it gets intense
Honestly, try Battlefield 1942 on single player. It's not half bad - the AI is about as smart as you would expect, but it's still fun to fight them. Also, the multiplayer is still going if you wanna try that!
Also, not WW2, but I HIGHLY recommend giving Vietcong a try (both the base game and Fist Alpha). It's one of the most engrossing games I've ever played. If you can get past the derpy (by today's standards) character models, this game has a seriously compelling campaign and there are still occasional multiplayer matches. If there was ever a game to make the Vietcong and NVA scary as fuck, it's that one.
Probably Icy: Frostbite Edition. Pretty solid, not something to get full-price necessarily but it was pretty good when I played it like 5 years ago. Interesting turn-based combat.
Also, OneShot. My avatar is from that game, I really think almost everyone should play it.
I played the inspiration for years (Tenchu) and loved that so much, but Sekiro just feels hollow in comparison. I know it's not a stealth game, nor is it trying to be, but I can't help but feel like the cliffs and stuff are just "cheap" ways of making the game more difficult. Idk, maybe I'm just not ninja enough lol...
Speaking of stealth, Dishonored. I REALLY wanted to love this game. It's just not open enough for my taste. There's only usually one main walkway to the objective (I say walkway, but there are of course roofs and stuff you can teleport to - I'm just saying, I wish you could get on the actual roofs of buildings Assassin's Creed style or explore the city open-world style). Cool story, cool theme, but the gameplay falls through for me. I felt the same way about MGS4.
Also Red Dead Redemption was meh for me. Could have been better, could have been worse. Undead Nightmare was great though.
I just got my first gaming laptop, so I've been going ham on Planet Coaster when I have time. Such a fun game and I am loving every single second - it's like a grown-up RCT3, but 10x better.
I've been working my way through the Career section and I hope to finish it!