CharlesReed

CharlesReed, 4 days ago

I've been working on Avowed and have been really enjoying it so far. My only real complaint is the weapons. Aside from some of the unique aspects, they all feel kind of same-y to me as far as damage goes.

CharlesReed, 14 days ago

I liked the investigating the first game, so I'm glad to see that they're keeping that aspect, even if it is as an optional part of the story. I hope the open world is similar to the first as well.

CharlesReed, 1 month ago

Same! I'm not usually into Soulslike games, but I really like this one.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago

Still going through Arthur's chapter in We Happy Few for achievements.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago

I don't play as much anymore, but I have roughly 1200 hours in Diablo 3.

In Steam, my top most hours played are:
Sims 3: 945
Mad Max: 609
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines: 230

Xbox doesn't tell me the time played for all of my games, but I know for sure I have a stupid amount of hours invested in Dead Space 2 and LA Noire. It does say I have about 650 hours in Resident Evil Revelations 2, but that's because I really enjoy Raid Mode.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago

Finished the Night Springs and the Lake House expansions, as well as Alan Wake 2 itself. I actually really liked The Lake House, and imo it was scarier than the main game. It got me really excited for Control 2.

Got through a few levels in Doom II.

Decided to have another go through We Happy Few, at least Arthur's chapter, as kind of a palate cleanser after spending so much time on Remedy games. I'm working on a few achievements, so it might end up being a longer playthrough than last time.

CharlesReed, 3 months ago

I started Alan Wake 2, and man, I forgot how terrifying and fun it is. I'm having a blast. And since the last time I played, they added photo mode! I'm particularly proud of this shot of Mirror Peak. But idk if it's just me, but after having fairly recently played the first Alan Wake, this game feels like there's a lot less enemies? Especially when walking through the woods. Like a couple will pop up here and there, but a lot of the walking from one place to another is just... walking. Maybe I should have bumped the difficulty up to Hard lol. I've also already gotten through two of the Night Springs episodes, since they added them in game, which I thought was pretty cool. I'm really excited to get to the Lake House expansion.

CharlesReed, 3 months ago

Found all the collectables and filled out the ability tree in Control! I'm a little sad to put this game away, but there's not much more I can do in it. I could try maxing out the weapon mods, but there really is no reason to do so, so I'm moving on.

I was holding off on restarting Alan Wake 2 until after the Thanksgiving holiday, so I've been back at it again with Subnautica. I've got three bases so far, and now I'm working on building out a bunch of ion batteries and power cells for my equipment and Cyclops sub. I really wish you could get the ion stuff earlier in the game, since it's fairly close to the end, but I'm going to see what more I can do before finishing this out.

CharlesReed, 3 months ago

I finished the main game for Control, and the DLCs and the side quests, and got all the outfits, but I'm still not ready to put it away, so now I'm just working on finding all the collectables and filling out the ability tree.

CharlesReed, 4 months ago

Popped in to Diablo 3: Season 33 for a little bit. Chose the Crusader this round, but I'm not feeling super motivated to get through the season quickly.

Finally got through the final boss in Quantum Break. I really wish there was a sequel. Beth deserves the best.

I'm not sure how canon Alan Wake's American Nightmare is for the overall Remedy Universe (the game itself says it's kind of a alt reality, like a dream within a dream), but, like with Quantum Break, there are references to it in Alan Wake 2, so here we are lol. Besides, it's a fun, short game, so why not. I was a little sad I couldn't re-pick up documents (as I've played this a couple times before), but going back through them there is a surprisingly large amount of lore that's dropped if you do consider this canon. Overall, I'm glad I played it.

Currently working through Control, and I've made a surprisingly large amount of progress story wise. It might be a bad idea that I am doing a replay, since I'll want to collect every single little thing again, and that might take a while, but I love this game, so I won't complain too much. Also, I absolutely forgot that they straight up mention Mr. Door. When I first played this game, it was before I played Quantum Break, so when "Mr. Door" popped up I was very confused, and by the time I got to Quantum Break I had forgotten the comment, I didn't make the Door/Hatch connection. So it was a cool light bulb moment that makes me glad I'm going through the Remedy games again.

CharlesReed, 4 months ago

I finished Max Payne but idk how I ever got through the first couple times I played it... I had so much trouble this round that I would be seriously stuck if it wasn't for console commands T_T I briefly thought about playing Max Payne 2, but thinking about the final fight in that game is kind of off putting, so I'll leave it be.

I originally wasn't going to go through Quantum Break again, but since I had already decided on playing Max Payne and Control, I thought, what the hell, it's a great game so I'll go another round in it. Besides, Alan Wake 2 technically does reference it, so... lore! Plot points! The game is still great fun, incredibly underrated, but I am a little miffed that I now had to install the show episodes to watch them. Not a huge deal, but having to stop and wait a few hours for all the versions to download took me out of the moment.

Started a new playthrough of Subnautica to do between Remedy games. I'm trying to explore more and utilize the beacons and the scanner room, and man, I've already come across stuff I haven't seen before. This might end up being a game I put on regular rotation as a "filler" game, like Mad Max or V:TM Bloodlines.

CharlesReed, 4 months ago

Popped back into Diablo 4 for a couple nights for their Halloween event.

Finished Alan Wake and its DLCs! I always forget how much I love this game. It makes me very happy to have replayed it again.

Next on the Remedy list is Max Payne, which I just started last night. I also love this game, but man, I always forget how terrible I am at it. I don't know if it's because it's an older game or because I play with mouse and keyboard, but my coordination is absolutely abysmal. But, I'm still having fun, and that's all that matters.

CharlesReed, 4 months ago

Yeah, same here. The mount was pretty neat, but I couldn't get the Butcher to spawn either. I should have put "event" in quotes, because it really didn't feel like I did anything. I kind of wish they had done something like the Midwinter thing they did last year where you had to complete world events for currency for the cosmetics.

CharlesReed, 4 months ago

The first two paragraphs of the spoiler is one of my favorite parts of the game. It is such an awesome detail and had me giggling like a crazy person.

CharlesReed, 4 months ago

Eh, I'd argue it's because of the modding community that Bloodlines 1 is still played today, especially with the unofficial patch.

CharlesReed, 4 months ago

I would love to see F.E.A.R. with updated graphics. Preferably just a remaster, but if it was remade in the same spirit as the Dead Space remake was, I'd be down for that too, especially if they brought back Fettel's voice actor.

CharlesReed, 4 months ago

Technically finished out the season journey and "campaign" rewards for Diablo 4: Season 6, now I'm just going for 100% completion and the rest of the battle pass rewards. I'm thinking it might take me a while, since for whatever reason ancestral items don't drop that often for me, and the last thing I have to do is salvage 100 of them. It might have to do with the Torment level I'm on, but since the season doesn't end until the end of January, I'm not too worried.

Speaking of Diablo, I was going to complete Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred with my OG campaign Necromancer, but I was having so much fun with my seasonal Rogue that I started working on and finished the DLC with her instead. Not sure how I feel about the ending of the expansion, since leaves a very big opening for more expansions (or d5?) and doesn't really feel finished as far as the story goes.

spoilersWe don't even get to fight fight Mephisto! Just like a concept of him or whatever. wtf is up with that? And where tf is Diablo? He's the one I'm here for.

Since The Lake House DLC came out this past week for Alan Wake 2, I've decided to replay (most) things Remedy, starting with Alan Wake, of course. I'm playing the remaster, which looks a lot better than I remember playing it for the first time. And while replaying it after having played AW2, I didn't realize there were SO MANY references they stuck in referring to the sequel. Hell, even the QR codes that were just fun little things in the pc port have been turned into straight up references. It's been so fun to replay.

CharlesReed, 4 months ago

Oh, that's good to know that the drop rate isn't just me then, haha. I'm on Torment 2, and thought about moving up, but if the drop rate isn't any better, I'll just stay where I am for now.

CharlesReed, 4 months ago

That's kind of where I am now: I have T3 unlocked, but I'm not happy with the rate at which I'm killing stuff at that level in the Pit, so I'm upgrading what I can until I'm more comfortable there.

CharlesReed, 4 months ago

Oh, I love this game! Really short and easy, and the narrator is fantastic. But I might be a little bias, since Dagon is my favorite in the Cthulhu Mythos, haha.

CharlesReed, 5 months ago

Finally started in on Diablo 4: Season 6, and it was a little bit of a pain leveling up with the new system, but once I got into the paragon boards, man, things really took off. I am in love with my Dance of Knives Rogue. She is mowing down mobs like they're nothing. It's only been a week and I'm already on the Slayer chapter for season objectives. At this rate I'll be done faster than my Necromancer last season.

Played Amnesia: The Bunker (again, lol) one night for a couple more achievements: never dropping/storing an item and playing through the whole game without saving. I was also trying to go for three with one about taking out a bunch of rats, but for some reason I could never get more than a group of 4. Oh well.

CharlesReed, 5 months ago

I second Quantum Break. When I first started that game, I wasn't sure if I would like it, but it was fantastic!

CharlesReed, 5 months ago

I haven't had much time to game any this week, but I have been working on what I have left for Diablo 3: Season 32 during down time. I'm not confident that I'll complete it in the next week when the season ends, but that's ok.

I'm really eager to start Diablo 4's Vessel of Hatred, but I think I'm going to work on Season 6 first this next week.

CharlesReed, 5 months ago

I've been trying to cross off some of my "in progress" games, ones I've been working on off and on over the past few months, so I can make room for new ones.

After sitting on it for months, I finally got around to finishing my second playthough of Lies of P. I went for the "Real boy" ending, and man, I really had to fight the urge to start a third round. I really like the combat and 99% of the characters.

Cleaned up the rest of the map for Mad Max, with the exception of collecting all the vehicles, since that's kind of a pain to do. Much like Lies of P, I was a bit tempted to start another playthough lol.

Maxed out all the glyphs for my Scorcerer in Diablo 4: Season 5, so it's set aside until I come back from a planned vacation this week. I'm not sure how I'll handle a new season and a new dlc, AND a new leveling system all at the same time, but I'll figure it out.

CharlesReed, 5 months ago

In one of the DLCs (Signal, I think?), you end up going through the kitchen, so that's probably why it's so fleshed out.

Man, you've reminded me that I need to replay this and the sequel before the Lake House DLC comes out this month! It's such a great series.

CharlesReed, 5 months ago

I agree with it being one of the greatest! I can't wait to see where they take the story next.

CharlesReed, 5 months ago

Working on a last hurrah for Diablo 4: Season 5, just finishing up max leveling glyphs for my Scorcerer before I completely set it aside for next season.

Right when I was getting bored playing Sims 3 in my current save, my eldest... disappears. I mean, I saw her die, the Grim Reaper showed up and got her, but that means nothing to this buggy mess of a game. She left no tombstone or anything. So, my current save now is now at four generations, due to an adoption. But, I'm at a point where I want to play other stuff, so this game's going back on the shelf for a while until I need another reset.

Finished Amnesia: The Bunker and managed to get a couple achievements out of it. I might do some serious achievement hunting, but I also kind of want to play a new game, so we'll see how this week goes.

CharlesReed, 5 months ago

I agree with D, and would also like to submit the Dead Space games.

CharlesReed, 5 months ago

Finished Doom and am about halfway through Doom II, but I'm kind of getting sick of it, so I might put it away for a while.

Decided on playing Amnesia: The Bunker again. I thought about doing some achievement hunting, but so far I've just taken things pretty chill. At least as chill as you can be hiding from a monster in a bunker.

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

The first Layers of Fear was pretty spooky, very PT inspired. The second one was decent too, but not as scary.

Outlast is the standard I hold walking sim horror games to. I can speedrun through it now since I've played it so much, but the first few times were terrifying.

Some people have mentioned Amnesia, so I'll throw in the recent iteration with Amnesia: The Bunker. It's like Alien: Isolation in a WW1 setting.

Speaking of which, Alien: Isolation is probably no. 1 for me. Between the alien, the androids, and even other people, that game is very stress inducing.

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

If it's any consolation, Amnesia: The Bunker has a different AI than the previous iterations. I mentioned it's like Alien: Isolation, and the monster works very similarly, like reacting to how much noise you make and stalking which parts of the bunker you're in. Most items with every run are also randomized, so you can't memorize where to pick up supplies. (You can also customize the difficulty, which I thought was really cool.)
But if you've already tried it, then my point is moot lol.

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

I've kind of been needing a "gaming reset" since lately I've just been dabbling here and there without really committing to anything, so I decided to check in on my current save in Sims 3. I forgot how addicting this game can be lol. I'll probably play this for a few days and then finish my second playthrough of Lies of P that's been sitting for weeks now.

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

I have 100% completed all the season objectives for Diablo 4: Season 5, so I'm setting aside my Necromancer and rebuilding my Sorcerer, just for fun. I thought about rebuilding my Barbarian as well, but after I heard about all the crazy changes coming to season 6 with character progression, I think I'll hold off for now.

I finally completed Alien: Isolation on PC with 100% achievements! I'm just gonna... ignore the other achievements that I have left on other platforms, lol. For now.

A re-re-released version of Doom is on GamePass since Legacy of Rust was released last month, so I've been hopping on every now and then to blast my way through demons.

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

But I also trust Remedy to have replaced it with a solid song.

I wonder if they'll replace it with an original song, like the music they did for Alan Wake 2. Either way, if playing Remedy games over the years has taught me anything, it's that Sam Lake (or his team, at least), has an excellent taste in music.

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

Man, I played this a couple months ago, and it is indeed tense. I had the same feeling playing this as I did Alien: Isolation. I was crawling on the ground most of the time, and I like that with every playthough the items are randomized. It's a solid entry to the entire Amnesia series (and better than Rebirth imo)

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

I second Alien: Isolation. I always like to call it the best stress I've ever experienced while playing a game.

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

The Painscreek Killings sounds like the open ended deduction that you're describing. You play as a journalist who goes to an abandoned town to try to solve a cold case murder. The game doesn't tell you where or what to do next, or how to do it. I liked it because it was just me trying to figure the story out and what to do, not the game telling me "Put x and y together. Oh, look, it leads you to z!" (Also it's currently on sale on Steam for like 5 bucks.)

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

I'm two missions away from the end in Alien: Isolation. This weirdly enough has been one of the most difficult playthroughs that I've done of this game. I accidentally soft locked myself while in the reactor area and spent waaay too much time in that area. But I'm finally passed it, so I hope things go a little smoother to the end.

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

I really want a Condemned 3 that wraps up Ethan vs SKX. They never got a proper final face-off in 2, and (spoilers) since SKX has joined the Oro and Ethan's unlocked his yelling power or whatever, it would be nice to have that loose end tied up.

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

I approve. It's a pretty decent game imo.

CharlesReed, 6 months ago

I've technically completed out the season in Diablo 4: Season 5, but I've decided to see if I could go for a completionist run and get every objective. I'm thinking about remaking a couple of my other characters in different classes, since I finished so quickly, but that depends on how motivated I'm going to be once I'm satisfied with the state of my current Necromancer.

Still crawling around in Alien: Isolation. I'm kind of stuck in one section because the androids keep killing me, but I don't have enough ammo or items to fight all of them. I've reverted to running around them and hoping they eventually give up following me, but since I don't have a map and it's been a while since the last time I played, I'm not sure where exactly to run to. I might have to give up and look up a walk through so I can get through this area.

CharlesReed, 7 months ago

Diablo 3: Season 32 and Diablo 4: Season 5 shenanigans. I'm doing pretty well in both, more so in D4 though; I am wiping the floor with my Necromancer.

I decided on playing through Alien: Isolation again. I only have two achievements left for it on my PC, so once I knock it out I can uninstall and free up some room for other games. But man, I forgot how terrifying this game can be. I always have called it the best stress I have ever experienced in a game, and it still holds up, even when I know where to go and what to do. I'm spending most of my time crawling around on the floor, lol.

CharlesReed, 7 months ago

There was a VR version that came out a few years ago that sparked a brief revival, and initially it was really fun. But of course Rockstar doesn't care to maintain it, so now there's a ton of issues if you try to play it these days. Last I checked a lot of people who bought it where full on locked out because of activation key issues.