Had a really weird few days with work and other stuff so I’m all mixed up now, sorry about the late post. My schedule is all over the place. Hopefully next week we’ll be back to normal.
Started playing Doom 3 and Avowed on the side.
Doom 3 is really scary, and immersive due to its PDA based story telling. The shooting is largely basic though. I love figuring out the codes for lockers.
Avowed, I just started to see if I like it, and so far I’m enjoying the looting in the game. Every nook is has some platforming puzzle to get to some treasure. I’ve not even done a single quest after reaching Paradis, but have looted maybe 50 chests alread!
I didn’t play much for a while due to life stuff, but lately I’ve been playing Shadow Hearts on the Odin 3 I bought last month. I’m like 18 hours in and probably past the first half of the game. It’s a PS1 RPG in execution but with higher quality assets and an interesting setting: it’s set in 1913, not many RPGs (or games in general) are set in that time.
I should probably finish Quantum Void, but it’s going to make me think of things I don’t want to, so I’ll probably leave it unfinished.
Playing some Tyr, believe it or not. Sci-fi Tank Game that is like a mix of Overwatch and WoT.
Also fired up my old copy of Freelancer.
Brief off-topic aside: This recurring thread has been a bright spot, for me, in a sad Internet, this year. Thank you.
As for what I’m playing - mostly Palworld. The late game has allowed me to try to breed perfect pals while getting as deep as I like into farm management and interior decorating. It’s been very fun. Well worth the sticker price.
I’m glad you’ve been enjoying it. It’s been hard to be consistent lately but hopefully it’ll be back to normal again now.
I’m back on the Warframe grind, still working towards my original goal of playing 1999
I played through Portal for the first time and I found it kind of underwhelming. I can see why it was a big thing two decades ago, but as a new player today the experience doesn’t really feel special.
One thing worth keeping in mind is the fact that the first game was a small experimental project made as part of the Orange Box rather than a full-fledged title. It’s short and a bit simple but it was more of a neat bonus in a pack of other games, not a star of the show. That’s not to say your opinion is invalid, on the contrary, it’s just… between years of hype and the scope of the project, having Portal blow you away would be more surprising than your current feelings towards it, in my opinion.
As BurnWits said, Portal 2 is more of a full-fledged title in comparison. If you enjoyed the first game, there’s a high chance you’ll like the sequel. Will it be closer to the mind blowing expectations you had for the first one? I don’t know. It is however a bigger and more polished product so it might satisfy you more in that regard.
I do understand the unwillingness to increase your backlog though, I know this feeling really well too.
Have you played Portal 2? I found that one to be by far the better of the two. Though with that being said I did still really enjoy the first one.
I have not, but I have too many other things in my backlog to add that one.
Replaying A Hat in Time after about eight years. I decided to get some cheap DLC in place of more games during Steam’s summer sale, and that includes A Hat in Time’s Nyakuza Metro. With that, I thought it was worth a full replay of the game.
Still really liking the game. With more hindsight, I’ve realized the game’s plot makes barely any sense. And it has an oddly dark sense of humour that contrasts with the game’s otherwise kiddy presentation, even outside the spooky forest.
I love Hat. There are community-made levels in the Steam workshop that are worth trying if you want more content.
Oh yeah. I never got around to that on my first run.
I’ve been playing Dredge and Night in the Woods this week for some nice autumnal vibes. I also played Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping, and while it’s not quite as good as The Secret Salami, I still enjoyed my time with it and I hope there are more games in the series to come.
Also, I plan to be impatient this week and get the new Control game. I know, blasphemy, but the heart uh wants what it wants.
The single-player (and lots more) update to Dune: Awakening released a few days ago, been wanting to try the game for a while but have no interest in multiplayer so had to wait for this. Started playing yesterday and it’s really fun so far! It’s certainly not a superb game but not bad either. Hopefully it stays interesting and fun.
I played through Axiom Verge again. I enjoyed it a lot more than the first time I played it, which was years ago.
Love that game, the audio design is so special and memorable. Axiom Verge 2 was only ok IMO, doesn’t really have that spark the first has.
I haven’t played AV2 yet, but I’m planning on getting it. Bandcamp Friday is coming on 4 October, so I’m going to buy the soundtrack because it is quite good.
The dev is on fedi too I believe.
I just played through that for the first time a couple weeks ago! I thought it was great.
I’ve been playing through Metroid Prime 2. It’s been pretty good, though keeping track of both the light and dark worlds is a pain at times. And now I’ve unlocked all the power ups I need to do a treasure hunt across the whole map for 9 more keys!
I played through Metroid Prime 1 a couple of years back, and I’m not sure if it’s rose-tinted glasses but I seem to remember enjoying the map and bosses in that one slightly more.
I played through the whole trilogy recently and I can confirm, while the light/dark worlds gimmick of MP2 is quite cool, it’s a pain in the ass, mostly in the early game. Good luck finding those keys, I recall I had to use a guide for one or two of them because of how weirdly it was hidden.
If you can play Prime 3 be sure to do so, it neatly rounds up the story across the previous games and has some good gameplay changes that make it more enjoyable (not having a gazillion weapons and visors for one example).
I’m gonna try a few areas to search for keys based on the hints the game gives you, but if I don’t find them after a while I’m just gonna use a guide. It wouldn’t be so bad if the backtracking didn’t take so loooong
Yeah I’m definitely gonna play MP3 at some point after this! I’m using Primehack which has been really great.
I actually had 3 on Wii when it came out, but never finished it. Honestly can’t remember much about it, besides religiously scanning everything in the worry that I wouldn’t get another chance. It’ll be interesting to go back to it and see if any areas feel familiar. And yes I’ve heard it’s a bit more linear and streamlined, which I’m actually looking forward to!
religiously scanning everything
I love and hate this feature from the prime games. It makes an amazing way to give you the lore and setting the ambient, but it is so annoying to have the scan visor constantly on and worrying about missing a one-time scan I didn’t have time to check because I was trying to survive.
I guess I quite like the ‘risk’ aspect to it - if you want to collect all the lore you have this one chance to scan the boss. It reminds me a bit of getting the dog tags in MGS2. Where it gets annoying is when it’s not clear that a new scan is available, like the bosses with multiple stages.
My dead cells save disappeared so I’m working by my way through again
I’ve been playing Valheim now that its finally 1.0. Lots of new stuff i dont remember from my last game ~3 years ago. I finished the Black Forest and I have been searching all over for Swamps. I only find these dinky ones with none of the interesting stuff in them. Its been kinda frustrating.
The new Bear armor is great for exploring on land. Boosts to stamina and speed.
I’m a few hours into Pragmata. I had to jump through a few hoops to get ray tracing working on Linux but the game looks great and has me interested in where it’s going.
I started Burnout 3. Enjoying how definitely mid-aughts it is. Crashing is not always as much fun as I was led to believe, lol. I mean, it’s gnarly at first, but after a while you just appreciate it as a fail state if you’re in a race or time trial. The game includes a Need for Speed demo, and that demo really contrasts - making me appreciate how snappy, fun, and clean-looking BO3 is.
This next game just came out, so in some ways it doesn’t qualify as patient. But at the same time, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is a remake of an older game I’ve wanted to play for a long time (and I’ve patiently waited since SC never got a physical release in my region before). Just got started, but it was immediately refreshing to pick back up right where the original First Chapter left off. Seeing the characters, hearing the music motifs, takes me back. In a way I miss the charm of the 2D, but the new coat of paint is overall quite seviceable.
I just did the same thing myself. Played Burnout 3 until Trails released.
It is crazy how well Burnout holds up over 20 years later.
Hah, what are the odds!
Agreed, it has held up exceptionally well. I never played it when it was newer, but I’m also not well-versed in the genre (outside of Mario Kart and some F-Zero). I guess maybe since it released later in the PS2 gen, the modern design patterns were already falling into place. Or maybe it’s just really well made.
