There are several more. Some examples (light spoilers):
spoilerPick any room upgrades that give you extra dice. There are also two items that let you reroll, though they aren’t the easiest to acquire (but can be Coat Checked!). I also recommend looking into the Sheet Music puzzle.
There are some other ways to reroll or affect RNG, but I don’t know how to hint at them without spoiling too much.
There were a couple of moments for me that made me go “wait, how fucking big is this game actually?”, but otherwise yeah it’s more of a game where you gradually scratch at the surface and peel at the corners and bit by bit it keeps opening up and opening up and opening up beneath you.
I played it obsessively for a solid month or so following its release. One of the best puzzle games ever and still a GOTY contender for me.
I know some people didn’t like the RNG, but for me it never became a real big problem. You get some control over the randomness eventually, and I also just found the drafting part of the game enjoyable in itself.
Piecing together the story and the world building bit by bit and uncovering the mystery was also super enjoyable. It’s one of the most rewarding games ever for note-takers. So much so that keeping physical notes in a journal was like half my enjoyment.
Mapocolops played through Dark Forces II recently and it was incredible watching those FMVs again that blew my mind as a child. I will always love Kyle Katarn.
However… the level design is absolutely wild! I have no idea how I got through that game as an 8-year-old!
Finished playing F.E.A.R. for the first time and am now about halfway through the first expansion Extraction Point. Man, it really holds up incredibly for a 20-year-old game.
The particle effects look fantastic for their age, the lightly destructible environments add a beautiful layer of carnage and the gunplay is surprisingly great for such an old game. Every single gun feels satisfying to use (bar the bizarrely awful assault rifle), with the highlight of course being nailing people to the wall with the famous 10mm HV Penetrator.
The AI is also just as good as people say and it continues to surprise me with shockingly good dynamic behaviour for again a game of this age. Especially the way they interact with the environment in unscripted ways impress me: closing doors behind them as they retreat to wait in ambush or smashing windows and vaulting over to charge you for example.
The horror and story is actually the weak point, at least of the main game. It’s all pretty predictable, the horror is fairly mediocre and not even the jump scares really land. I will say it has been better in the expansion so far, though, even if it’s still only sort of okay.
But that doesn’t really matter. The atmosphere does enough to sell its pseudo horror identity, but the fantastic gunplay across these well designed claustrophobic levels is worth experiencing. It’s a classic for a reason and I completely get why. And with it frequently being for sale for like a dollar on GOG it’s a must play, I think.
Been keeping an eye on this for years, and every trailer it looks better and better. Looks like they really have found more of their own identity by now. Very curious to try it.
Fun! Keeping a notebook is like half the fun of Blue Prince, at least it was for me. Same with Obra Dinn. I ended up with like 50 pages of notes for Blue Prince, as well as hundreds of screenshots.
“Modern retro” games are such a vibe. All the charm of retro games but without the clunk. I played Skald: Against the Black Priory earlier this year and loved it and this looks amazing too.
This type of gore and body horror doesn’t really get to me, but the gunplay looks very satisfying and this seems like it could be a fun zombie horde shooter.
I had no idea it was today so I’m not looking forward to anything in particular. Having just finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 it would be amazing news if they had an announcement that they’re intending to release a DLC.
Would also love to see something from Remedy about Control 2 as I love those guys and the Remedy Connected Universe. Well, what I’m really desperate about is Alan Wake 3, but that’s surely not even in pre-production yet (sadly).
Would not mind seeing something from Bloodlines 2 either out of morbid curiosity, but I have no hopes it will actually be good.