Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of March 3rd

Just helping sentient taxis find their way home and other miscellaneous gigs in Cyberpunk 2077. Making slower-than-usual progress on this one, even though I’m enjoying it a lot, because I’ve been busy lately (and have a really good book that’s stealing my time, ha ha!).

Also it’s more like what I’m planning to play, but I’m definitely going to start a new playthrough of Stardew Valley once the 1.6 update releases. I haven’t even done most of the 1.5 stuff, so I’m looking forward to a starting up a new farm!

I'm generally having fun with Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, but unlocking and upgrading all the weapons is a huge chore. Also, every time I'm finally blasting my way through all the bugs, the run is basically over, so I wish there was an extended or even endless mode, so I can just mow down everything for a while.

Then I played some more Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin, tried out a few different builds, but nothing really stuck with me. I'll give it a bit more time, but I might take another break soon.

Finally, I picked up Dyson Sphere Program again. I'm still really early, and the beginning in these types of games is always a bit slow for me, so it takes me some time to really get into it. However, if I get over this hump, I'm usually really addicted for a while, so let's see how it goes this time.

I have been overwhelming my brain with the progression structure of Minecraft Create Astral modpack and being annihilited by funny bugs for managed democracy.

Portal Revolution. It's a pretty good fan project. A few new mechanics to spice things up, and while I've heard better voice acting, I've heard a lot worse.

X3: Farnham's Legacy with mods and plots from the Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude.

This is gonna take me more than a week...

Still on Ace Attorney trilogy. Might take a break before heading into the second trilogy, but I'm about halfway through the third game.

While I'd played the first and some of the second game before, third is entirely new to me. The second chapter was pretty funny, even if it kind of went on a little too long.

I burst out laughing several times at how ridiculous it all was (which is saying a lot considering how ridiculous the series is), but the double jeopardy line at the end was the icing on the cake.

Like, I absolutely should have seen that coming because it was far too easy and I knew something was strange because of how obvious it was. Yet, I still carried on until a realised "Wait, what the fuck? I've just been played like a woodwind at a symphony."

DeLite is one of my new favourite characters. Unintentionally hilarious in the best way.

There've been a few great games to recently release out of Early Access, so these:

• Secrets of Grindea, a SNES-style action RPG with tongue-in-cheek writing and open character progression

• Spiritfall, a platform fighter roguelite

• Spell Disk, a roguelite with an interesting, intricate spell chain system

I've kind of been flip flopping between these games:

• Warframe
• Star Wars KOTOR 1
• Baldurs Gate 3

Disney Dreamlight Valley on Switch

The Monsters Inc update came out last week, so I'm busy unlocking all the cool stuff from Monsters Inc.

I played Signalis and really enjoyed it, I actually found it a bit inspiring, if a truly tragic game. The core gameplay was fun and engaging, the puzzles never felt grating or frustrating and completing them or figuring them out was quite rewarding. Although never obvious and requiring some thinking, they never felt like total moon logic like so many puzzle or adventure games. The combat was a good mix of resource management and brought just enough tension without interfering with puzzles.

The story and aesthetic was probably the highlight though, it wears its cultural influences on its sleeves, classic cosmic horror, evangelion, ghost in the shell, 2001 a space odyssey. It brings some new elements to the mix as well, notably an East German aesthetic and the existential personal dread of living in a totalitarian surveillance state. At once dread inducing and tragic, but also beautiful. I’m very curious to see more from the duo who made it, and am curious if they’ll do more in the setting or move on to something else.

Replaying Dragon's Dogma in prep for the new game. I had forgotten how much grind the game requires, honestly. I've been Mage 1-11, MArcher 6, Ranger 6, Sorc 30-40 or so, and my magic score is still low as hell. I'm purposefully delaying meeting the duke because I really want to give MArcher a try in the post-game, and it feels like I've already played for a long time but sheesh, levelling up is slow. I had never focused on building for stats, honestly. I know now though that most of your damage comes from your gear, so I might quit levelling Sorc when I reach 450 magic instead of the 600.

Hope it's a little faster in the second entry.

Apart from that, trying the Nordic Souls modpack for Skyrim, and Helldivers 2.

Still playing Dorfromantik. My map is so large now that it takes about a minute to load. I think my score is around 800k. I have 50+ tiles in my stack but am about to complete a bunch of flag quests so that number will shoot back up again.

I'm kind of tired of playing but also can't stop because I'm wondering if I can beat the record.

Automation and Beam NG. You can make cars in the former and it has tools to import them into the latter where you can drive them around.

I made a hot-hatch with a supercharged V6 that can go well over 300kph. Also have reproduced the Jaguar xj220 and an 1980s Camaro.

The former is insane, it's just raw power. I fiddled with it and now it is a mid engine supercar that does wheelies when accelerating.

The Camaro is just hilarious fun though.

Finally remembered my login for PokeMMO after 7 years so I've been finally going back and finishing the various regions. Starting the new (er... 1 year ago new) johto update soon!

Baldur’s Gate 3. I’ve never played anything like it, so I’ll be on the lookout for more games once I finish with it. That’ll probably be awhile since I can see myself doing a few playthroughs. Right now have a solo campaign and a multiplayer one going.

And in my attempt to get off social media some, I’ve gotten back into Slay the Spire.

I've been absolutely obsessed with Hypnospace Outlaw and Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath. The latter has gotten me interested in the retro shooter genre since its gameplay is genuinely really fun (but I don't really know many such games outside of Doom), while the former has been keeping me in a perpetual state of hype exhaustion waiting for its sequel to come out, which won't until next year...

I've been replaying Dead Space (2023) on ng+. This game is my life now.

I found a fun little walking mystery sim on GamePass called Return to Grace. It had a pretty neat little story for it being only a couple hours long. The ending (or at least the one I got) was a bit obvious, but I had a good time, and there were some nice screenshots I got out of it.

Also of course have been playing Diablo 4: Season 3, but nothing notable is going on there.

I beat the base game of The Outer Worlds and started the DLC. This game ought to have more eyes on it in the wake of Starfield. It's just a better version of that game. Each settlement you come across might have about 10 NPCs in it, and each one of them is connected to the other ones via quests that help you form a picture of just what happened here before you landed. It's excellent.

I also finished Penny's Big Breakaway. When you hit a flow state in this game, it's so, so good, but a bit of jank in the physics and controls for the game hold it back. Like last week, my recommendation is still to wait a few months to play it, in hopes that patches can square away some of these issues.

And then there's my usual fighting game shenanigans in Street Fighter 6 and Skullgirls, trying to be the FGC equivalent of "swol". The Capcom Cup finals for SF6 were a lot of fun to watch despite there being too many Lukes.

I've been grinding away at Yakuza: Like A Dragon. Spent the last few days running up against the brick wall of the Chapter Twelve Two-against-four boss fight that still manages to make you feel outnumbered. I was suspicious of just how the insistent the game was about checking out the battle arena, but it kind of feels mandatory if you want to get through that fight. Also managed to get spoiled for that Chapter 14 boss fight while looking up strategies, so I've got that to look forward to.