I finished Hellblade and am feeling ready for the sequel that’s coming soon. It wasn’t a perfect game, but I really appreciate what they tried for and I think a lot of it was successful. The visual and (especially) audio design was stellar and the narrative is really interesting and touching and the presentation was mostly great. The trials were my favourite part, in particular the blind one where you have to navigate by sound and controller vibration and ignore the scary enemies. I almost wish they went all in on that sort of thing. Or if not, that they tuned the combat encounters differently. I actually quite enjoyed the combat system but there wasn’t much of a reason to fully explore its nuances.
After that, I finally started Red Dead Redemption 2, which is my current game. So far it’s mostly living up to the off-the-charts hype, though as usual I had to tweak some things to taste through mods (yes even on a first playthrough). I’m really enjoying it so far and can see myself either spending 400 hours on this game or get completely burned out (as I was by Ghost of Tsushima). Curious to see which it will be. I also sadly got the ending spoiled for me (way back) and I’m really sad about it because I can already tell the impact it would have had on me and I’m deeply sad I’m never going to get to experience that.
Now does RDR2 need these mods? Of course not, it’s perfectly fine out of the box. But with all the great games out there I’ve yet to play (existing and upcoming), I probably will only play a game of this length once. Might as well tweak it to my tastes to get as good of an experience as I can.
I think I read about that remake. Did they also change the soundtrack or am I tripping? I loved Mafia 1 back in the day, and the Django Reinhardt songs in the original were iconic.
I’m enjoying it a lot, I’m maybe two hours in or so. The game is beautiful in HDR and with ray tracing on and the art direction and sound design has been immense, as has the voice acting. I’m interested in the narrative also, though I’m only at the beginning.
Combat-wise I’ve beaten the first big boss and although I’m enjoying it a lot, I don’t think it would suffice as the lone selling point. The combo system is cool (though the lack of tutorials makes it a little opaque) but there isn’t much need for subtlety or mastery (at least so far). It’s all been pretty easy. If you’re hoping for a souls-like challenge that requires you to really master the combat system you’ll be disappointed, at least that’s what I’ve seen thus far.
I recommend it if you’re interested after watching the trailer, especially at this price. The presentation is really unique and I love games that do their own thing and put more of an emphasis on art. As others have said, wear headphones!
Have you been spending hours trying to pass a level? Or maybe you are completely addicted to a newly bought game. Do you have a question about a game or would like to share something else? In the Weekly Discussion Thread, you can do it all!...
Playing Metro 2033 Redux at the moment, finally got my new gaming PC and Metro Exodus with full Ray Tracing has been on my radar but wanted to start from the beginning since I haven’t played this series before. You can clearly tell it’s made by ex S.T.A.L.K.ER. devs and sometimes you get weird almost deja vu, like the guitar playing around camp fires. Overall the setting and atmosphere is really cool. The lore seems interesting but the actual plot hasn’t been stellar so far. Gunplay is okay.
Just finished the Trolley Combat mission, and it’s been a hot minute since I played a level in a game that bad and unfun. Here’s hoping the final stretch is better.
I’m baffled that they mismanaged to get the team that made this and Prey to push out Redfall? Man.
It wasn’t actually the same studio, Dishonored was made by Arkane Lyon while Redfall was made by Arkane Austin. Arkane Lyon are the ones working on the upcoming Marvel’s Blade game, however.
Sales follow the tradition of supply and demand. Products come out at their highest price because of expectations and hype. Then, as interest wanes, the publisher continues to make some sales by reducing price to tempt the less interested parties....
In addition to this there is also occasionally the case where playing an extremely popular game right at launch lets you participate in the zeitgeist in a way you can’t really do if you wait a year and a half for a sale. I imagine whether this matters to you is extremely subjective, but I remember this being a big thing for me with both Elden Ring and BG3; being able to participate in discussions and discovery at the point in time when not everything about the game has been mapped out. Watercooler talk or chatting on Discord with others and sharing your respective findings during that early time when the Wikis aren’t filled in yet.
Alan Wake 2 is the reward for doing your Remedy homework, I feel. Like sure, the game is good enough that you can probably enjoy it if you just watch a story summary on YouTube and jump in, but it really has a different level of impact if you not only played the first one and Control, but are also familiar with Max Payne and Quantum Break.
I think what Remedy are doing is so cool and I’m glad they’re getting the recognition they deserve. It’s also a drop dead gorgeous game and a great advertisement for their Northlight engine.
Game of the year for me, despite having played BG3.
Hello all! I have played Ghost of Tsushima last year, and while I thought the visuals were stunning and the gameplay and atmosphere were tremendous, the game felt a bit too long and repetitive for me. The story was nice, but due to the slow pace it didn’t have the emotional impact it might have gotten if the game was a bit...
Good to hear that the DLC is different and better, I too finished GoT this last year and by the end I was so worn out by the game that I had zero desire to keep going into the DLC.
While it has good parts for sure, I think GoT is massively overrated by many. I keep hearing people say it’s one of the best games they’ve ever played and I just can’t see it. It’s a solid open world collect-a-thon with a fairly satisfying combat system but it’s way too long for what it offers and wears out its welcome pretty fast, especially since the quest design is so bland and repetitive. Almost all side stories are just “talk to person, go somewhere and kill enemies, return”, and main stories overuse walk-and-talk way too much.
The story is pretty mediocre and the consistently dour and overly serious tone makes the game a true slog once the novelty wears off. Kenji alone is not enough to balance it out.
The bossfight duels are cool though and good fun, often with really cool settings and gorgeous visuals, like floating lanterns in shallow water. I wish there were more of them, and that they were repeatable at will.
There is no way they actually gave “Most innovative gameplay” to Starfield. And on top of that Best Soundtrack to Last of Us Part 1? Did they change the soundtrack for the remaster? How is it even nominated in 2023?
As has been mentioned already, Disco Elysium should be right up your alley. Not exactly Sci-Fi but has very interesting alternative reality world building and suits your wishes perfectly otherwise.
Don’t be afraid to be wild and weird in dialogues and remember that failure is often just as good or better as success in this game (they pioneered a fail-forward type design). Basically, treat it like an interactive book and you won’t be disappointed.
This one hit hard, he was truly iconic. I haven’t played Max Payne 1 or 2 for decades but I still remember his performance vividly. I wonder what will happen now with both Alan Wake 2 DLCs and the Max Payne remake on the horizon.
I was so happy he got to return for that Ghost Recon cameo. I was pissed at Ubisoft for a while for replacing him for Blacklist, but then it turned out he couldn’t do it for health reasons and just wanted to keep it hush-hush.
I’m glad he’s doing better now, can’t believe he beat three different cancers.
I don’t play too many JRPGs but I watched the whole trailer. The story and writing didn’t convince me but I could believe there are some characters among the one hundred on offer that are compelling.
I do love the art direction. A really smart blend of pixel art and 3D that is perfect to appeal to millennial nostalgia. I wish we got to see more of the combat, but at least the game systems they previewed seemed failry interesting and a variety of mini games is always fun. I do love me some good fishing, and there was a card game too?
The art direction is on point and that goes a really long way. Hard to gauge how the gameplay feels from watching a video (though it looked a little basic and clunky?). If they deliver a good story and nail the humour this style calls for this could end up a surprise hit.
Best game i played this year was Alan Wake 2, though I can imagine it’s probably not for everyone. The Marvelesque “homework” you’re recommended to do before playing to catch all the references and understand the interconnected lore might seem daunting, but the world and narrative Remedy has built continues to impress me. A lot has been said already about how Remedy has been pushing innovation and mixed media, but I’ll also add how impressed I am with the level of writing in general. Not only is the narrative mind bending, but all the characters are compelling and distinctive and all the different styles employed are nailed perfectly and mesh surprisingly well, from the Noir-caricature Alex Casey monologues to the goofy Koskela brothers TV ads.
The worst game I played this year was Ghost of Tsushima. Okay hear me out. The game is beautiful, well optimised and the combat is solid and satisfying. The game is just roughly twice as long as it should be considering what it is. The story is only okay at best, but suffers from a consistently dour and overly serious tone which really starts to drag as time goes on. The only bit of comic relief is Kenji, and he is barely around. On top of this the quest design is 90% “talk to person, move to area, kill the enemies there, go back and talk again”. Main story missions overly rely on walk-and-talk and/or ride-horse-and-talk. There are a handful of missions with more to it than that and those are good, but there just isn’t enough variation to sustain interest over the playtime (especially if you’re attempting to do everything and thus have to chase down the Ubisoft level open world stuff). After about 10h playtime I was loving the game, but by the third act I was thoroughly worn out and bored.
Outer Wilds. I played this game through PS Plus, and it is the best game I have ever played in my life. The gameplay, the puzzles, the music (!!!), the characters, the story, the ending. Just a masterpiece. I’m not even sure if it was this year or last year that I finished it, but the soundtrack was number 4 in my Spotify...
The first 20 hours of Ghost of Tsushima. This game is absolutely amazing on all fronts. It’s just way too long with not enough variation. 9/10
I’m glad to hear someone else say this. I’m currently on a push to finish the game after having it on hiatus for over a year and I have to mentally force myself to keep going.
It’s strange because it’s a beautiful game and the combat is satisfying enough, but something about the story and the pacing just wore me out somewhere in the third act
BG3 winning the GotY was something we all could see coming I think and even though it’s not my personal pick I’m hard pressed to argue. It’s a great game, it opened up many in the mainstream to a new genre and Larian is a great company with consumer-friendly policies. It’s hard to be mad.
I’m very glad Alan Wake 2 got a couple of awards, though. Hopefully this recognition means Remedy keeps pushing the boundaries and keeps going with their crazy mixed media and weirdness. We need someone doing innovation in the AAA space.
I am a little pissed they lost out on best music to FFXVI though.
I’m convinced they had Cyberpunk win it because they don’t have a “Best DLC/Expansion” category (yet) and felt like Cyberpunk deserved to win something for the way 2.0 and Phantom Liberty revitalised it.
I just love what Remedy did for the music, and I’m not just talking about Poets of the Fall. Having a bunch of established artists write original music based on a bunch of story related poems written by Sam Lake was such a cool idea and makes the end-of-chapter songs land so well. But the competition was tough, for sure.
I haven’t heard those comments about Game Direction but I can’t understand that at all. The direction is absolutely first class, from the tension-release work to the cinematic shots and framings to the double-exposure overlaps and the reality rewriting and dream logic of the Dark Place. It was a masterpiece in my opinion.
When was the last major Rockstar release that came out simultaneously on consoles and PC? Max Payne 3 maybe? I assume it will be console exclusive and then PC a year later.
I don’t know, I think it’s more down to personal preference than that. I get that competitive FPS players want to push frame rates as high as possible, but for me personally I have the exact opposite opinion as you. I have no real need to chase hundreds of FPS, at a stable 60 games feel smooth enough (maybe my eyes are bad). On the other hand, several games have a dramatic improvement in presentation with Ray Tracing on, in my opinion, which I value a lot. Both Cyberpunk and Alan Wake 2 for example look notably better with RT on.
I used the modded Metro System for my playthrough along with a mod that adds basic primary needs (hunger/thirst/sleep). Many of my favourite moments were realising it was late after doing a gig, hopping on the metro and watching the city as I rode back to the apartment for a night’s sleep.
Small things like that really help me with immersion, so I’m really happy they added this officially.
I forgot, you also probably want to get a modded timescale. I made my own custom one, but if you use vanilla you risk getting on the train at midnight and coming back home at sunrise. Here are some to choose from if you don’t want to set up your own.
I’m not convinced by what I’ve seen just yet, but I’m happy we’re getting a game at all and I’m trying to be hopeful. Every fiber in my being is wishing for this to end up a GotY slamdunk after all the developers have been through.
I loved Shadow of Chernobyl and I probably have a couple hundred hours in Anomaly so I will buy it regardless, not least to show my support.
There are so many other games to play that I’m still probably on the plan to postpone my second playthrough until the Definitive Edition comes out (probably next summer), but this is a much needed patch.
The way Larian describes the new epilogue, I’m thinking this is them re-adding some of the “17 000 endings” they were talking about pre launch. In any case, more and better epilogues were sorely needed so this is great.
Hopefully they can keep salvaging cut content and polish up Act 3 until it reaches the same quality of the other two.
It brings up some valid points about how the PeopleMakeGames video frames the issues, as well as criticizes how they press the creator of the IP very hard while being extremely lenient in their interview with the corporate suit who did the takeover.
While the PMG video is very impressive (at least the first half of it), it derails toward the end in a way that sadly might influence the opinion of many viewers. Even if the allegations are all true and Robert Kurvitz actually was a terrible boss who was a bit of a jerk and created a toxic workplace environment, that does not mean he deserves to have his IP stolen from out under him.
It’s not just AAA gaming but all over Hollywood too, has been for a while. Nostalgia is a powerful force and churning out sequels or prequels or spinoffs off of recognizable IPs is just less risky an investment than trying to make something new.
Two games keep surfacing more than any other, Starfield, which landed a singular nomination for Best RPG, and Hogwarts Legacy, which got exactly zero nominations acros...
I watched some videos on it after it released and for about a week after my whole YouTube frontpage was full of Starfield-bashing (many with several hundred thousand views) so it’s definitely out there.
I’ve been hesitant to play it because I heard it’s existentially depressing and I don’t think my mental state is in a good place to deal with that. Otherwise I’d probably give it a go. I loved Return of the Obra Dinn and many people who love one of those games seem to also love the other.
It’s hard because it depends on the type of melancholy. I get what you mean about wistful melancholy and “good sad” if the stories are on the smaller scale. Human tragedy, personal failure, doomed relationships, lost love, that sort of stuff.
I have a harder time dealing with elaborations on an existential level: the ultimate end of all things, the futility of existence, the meaninglessness of life etc. I’m hesitant because I’ve gotten the impression this is the sphere Outer Wilds operates in.
For me, it’s the vast expanses of procedurally generated nothingness in Starfield that turns me off the most, especially combined with the menu-based fast travel heavy way you get around.
The magic of Bethesda games comes from their handcrafted open worlds, always full of things to see and explore and get sidetracked by. Its the feeling that kicks in when the horizon first opens up after you exit the sewer/vault/customs office and you realize that you can just pick a direction and start walking and you’ll come across something interesting.
Starfield doesn’t do that. You can’t just pick a direction and go, it’s all fast travel. And if you’re down on a planet you can, but there is no magic to be found because it’s all procedurally generated emptiness between copy-pasted points of interest.
In their ambitions to have a bigger scope than ever they sacrificed the very thing that made their games so compelling to begin with.
Much like Elden Ring last year, BG3 is a usually-niche game that actually broke through into the mainstream on the back of its sheer quality. I imagine it stands a good chance of winning, though I wouldn’t be surprised if TotK takes it (only disappointed).
There are some decent ones where you can find fragments of stories told through letters and/or environmental storytelling, but most of the question marks are just mindless monster nests, bandit camps and buried treasure. Skellige in particular is notorious for all the question marks in the water that are just vendor trash flotsam to collect.
In general exploration in TW3 would be more rewarding if the itemization wasn’t so scuffed. The only gear worth using is the Witcher sets (which you craft), which really lessens the excitement you feel when looting. There were so many times where I found a guarded treasure, defeated the boss and looked at a cool unique sword, only to realize its stats were beyond atrocious.
I wish I could play it, but I don’t think my PC could handle it, being right at the edge of minimum specs. Has anyone played it on a 2060? I can live with 1080p and no Ray Tracing but I’m scared of sub-30 FPS.
Forgot to mention I have a gaming laptop. So not equivalent of the 2060 in performance, although it contains the mesh shader support so it won’t literally refuse to run. But seeing as the desktop variant is minimum spec I’m not optimistic.
I think Welonz is great. She’s played Alan Wake 1, Control and the AWE DLC before so is well familiar with the story and always pays close attention to story games.
I’ve been hesitant to buy it out of performance concerns and have been watching her instead.
I was too young for this at the time, but I have fond memories of Dark Forces II and its FMV cutscenes, which blew my mind at the time. I hope they remaster that one too (though I’d love a full-on remake, if allowed to dream).
I bought Dragon Age: Origins on the recent GOG sale, and after spending a week or so assembling mods, setting up a load order and creating and fine-tuning a ReShade preset finally got to start playing it.
I’ve only done the prelude so far, but I’m really enjoying it. I’m hoping this series can keep me busy until some more content patches are released for BG3 for a second playthrough. It’s definitely scratching the same itch right now, with the added benefit of being unfamiliar to me. I’m actually quite impressed at how it holds up, though the difference in voice acting quality is definitely noticeable.
I like watching Let’s Plays for the same reason as you, and while it isn’t a group channel I heartily recommend Welonz. She is very thorough and approaches every game with great respect, usually giving a summary of her overall thoughts at the end.
I found her because of her VTM: Bloodlines LP, but her Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk ones are also fantastic.
I’m also a little sad that REDengine is getting scrapped after seemingly finally getting to a pretty decent spot, and I definitely wish there was more competition for Unreal.
That being said, it’s a very understandable decision given not just the capabilities and ease-of-use of UE5 but also its popularity, which means finding new developers competent with it is easier and onboarding is faster.
And as you say, it lets them focus on actually making games.
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of February 11th
What have you all been playing!...
How do you feel about the expression "updated for modern audiences" in remasters and remakes?
Do alarm bells ring or not?
deleted_by_moderator
The Weekly 'What are you playing?' Discussion (lemmy.world) angielski
Have you been spending hours trying to pass a level? Or maybe you are completely addicted to a newly bought game. Do you have a question about a game or would like to share something else? In the Weekly Discussion Thread, you can do it all!...
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of January 14th
What are you all playing? I’ve been playing a ton of Mario world ROM hacks. I beat super nothing world. Now I’m playing some hacks by the jump team
Many players have become "patient gamers". What are games people might miss out on by waiting for sales? angielski
Sales follow the tradition of supply and demand. Products come out at their highest price because of expectations and hype. Then, as interest wanes, the publisher continues to make some sales by reducing price to tempt the less interested parties....
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of January 7th
Happy new year!...
Ghost of Tsushima's DLC Iki Island is the best part of the game
Hello all! I have played Ghost of Tsushima last year, and while I thought the visuals were stunning and the gameplay and atmosphere were tremendous, the game felt a bit too long and repetitive for me. The story was nice, but due to the slow pace it didn’t have the emotional impact it might have gotten if the game was a bit...
Baldur's Gate 3 has won Steam's 2023 GOTY Award (store.steampowered.com) angielski
Game of the Year Award - Baldur’s Gate 3...
[F4 Mod] Fallout London - Official Release Announcement (youtu.be) angielski
Some highlights:...
Looking for a rec: story oriented RPG with minimal focus on combat
Preferably in the high fantasy or sci fi genre....
Max Payne voice actor James McCaffrey has passed away (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
All You Need to Know About Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes in 6 Minutes! - Key Features Trailer (www.youtube.com) angielski
Mouse is an upcoming FPS heavily inspired by old-school Disney cartoons (www.destructoid.com) angielski
What were the best and worst games you played in 2023? angielski
The title of this post made me think about the best and worst I’ve played this year....
Knokelmaat's Top 10 Patient Games of the Year 2023 angielski
Outer Wilds. I played this game through PS Plus, and it is the best game I have ever played in my life. The gameplay, the puzzles, the music (!!!), the characters, the story, the ending. Just a masterpiece. I’m not even sure if it was this year or last year that I finished it, but the soundtrack was number 4 in my Spotify...
The Game Awards 2023: List of Winners angielski
Here’s the full list of winners at TGA:...
Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 1 (www.youtube.com) angielski
Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.1 Patch Notes (www.cyberpunk.net) angielski
What game company from your childhood do you remember with fondness?
I was thinking about how I remember Maxis fondly, and I got to wondering what other people’s experiences were like!...
Whats your favorite Main Menu music? angielski
I’ll start it off - Legend of Dragoon has my heart with this one...
Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.1 Announced for Next Week (www.ign.com) angielski
Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl Has Entered the Final Phase of Development and Reveals New Trailer (techraptor.net) angielski
Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 5 Adds New Playable Epilogue With 3,589 Lines of Extra Dialogue, Much More (www.ign.com) angielski
About the Disco Elysium Investigation (www.youtube.com) angielski
Jamrock Hobo’s response to People Make Game’s investigation
What moment from a video game made you cry? angielski
For me, it was Princess Rosalina’s backstory in Super Mario Galaxy.
Kotaku Asks: How Soon Is Too Soon For A Video Game Remaster Or Remake? (kotaku.com) angielski
When should developers go back and remaster or remake their most popular games?
On Starfield And Hogwarts Legacy’s Single TGA Nomination Between Them (www.forbes.com) angielski
Two games keep surfacing more than any other, Starfield, which landed a singular nomination for Best RPG, and Hogwarts Legacy, which got exactly zero nominations acros...
From Outer Wilds to Core Keeper and a new Shantae, here’s everything announced at Indie World - Polygon (www.polygon.com) angielski
Here Are The Nominees For The Game Awards 2023 - Game Informer (www.gameinformer.com)
The Game Awards announces its 2023 nominees (thegameawards.com) angielski
Community voting is up as well. There are 31 categories this year....
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's open world is inspired by The Witcher 3 and Horizon (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
“Final Fantasy 15 also gave the development team valuable experience.”
Grown Adult Coward: 'I'm OK With Just Watching Alan Wake II' - Aftermath (aftermath.site) angielski
One of Star Wars’ best FPS games is getting remastered in February | VGC (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of October 22nd
Hey all! Whatcha been playing. I am recovering from surgery and have been playing a ton of Mario wonder. Loving it so far 😊
Can anyone recommend let's play channels or streamers wherein a group of multiple people play single player games together?
Examples include: Scary Game Squad, Gamegrumps, Team Double Dragon, and the like....
18+ Assassin's Creed Mirage Players Frustrated With Chromatic Aberration That Can't Be Turned Off (www.ign.com) angielski
Cyberpunk 2077 director says studio's switch from REDengine to Unreal Engine 5 'isn't starting from scratch' (www.pcgamer.com) angielski