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Patient Gamers @sh.itjust.works
BurntWits @sh.itjust.works

Weekly Recommendations Thread: What are you playing this week?

Usually I’d be making this post from my main account, cod, but for some reason I’ve tried posting multiple times today and it hasn’t let me, it keeps giving me an error. So here we go! Weekly post from a different account this week. Hopefully next week I can go back to my main again.

44 comments

  • Not much time spent playing this week so just a few short sessions on Skate 3 when I have a spare 20 minutes. I normally just find some realistic spots and make some clips.

  • I'm still neck-deep in solving the mysteries of Blue Prince. Hopefully it's permissible to talk about here as it's hardly the most patient of gaming I've done (I bought it on release day). It did have a release week 10% sale though so technically I didn't pay full price?

    The game is absolutely great and it's extremely hard to talk about without spoilers, which would ruin your experience. It's a half-roguelite/half-puzzle game and it's so well made and so intricate. It will take you a little while to start peeling back the layers, but once you start getting into it you realise just how much depth there is under the surface.

    If you have any interest in puzzles you should play this game. Like right now. It's cheap too, not even €30 full price. It'll probably be a GOTY candidate and it's definitely the best new game I've played in quite a while. Absolutely beautiful distinctive art style too, which meshes perfectly with the themes of the game.

  • Been playing Remnant 2 and its so bad I genuinely wish I never bought it. Archetypes locked behind world triggers that just don't want to trigger, level design that is the same in each world, bosses that just spam the arena with summons and AOE attacks or have shitty gimmicks, enemies with shitty hitboxes, boringly repetitive enemy placement.

    Some of those things were there from the start but were put in the "it'll get better column" (it didn't) and others weren't apparent until later in the game.

    I'm at the point where it's shitty enemy swarm after shitty enemy swarm followed by shitty boss fights and I'm just done with it.

    • The Remnant games are a completionist's nightmare. Want a specific weapon or bit of kit for your build? You need to hope the right world shows up early (three of the worlds switch their order around each playthrough, so based on luck a specific world could be the first you go to after the tutorial, or it could only show up right before endgame), hope the right main quest for that world is picked (each world has two mutually exclusive storylines), hope the side quest and/or dungeon that drops that item is generated, hope the tile it spawns in is placed on the map (usually but not always guaranteed), hope you don't miss it entirely due to 90% of the world looking identical... and if it's dropped by an optional boss, you even have to hope that boss is picked from the pool of choices. It's insane how random it all is.

      And it's not just gear. As you noted, the archetypes (your character classes) are also gated this way, plus have absolutely ridiculous unlock criteria to boot. Have fun finding the archetype that requires a leap of faith off a random border of a specific map into an opaque cloud of poison, then a second blind drop immediately after to grab another item before you choke to death! Don't worry if you didn't know about it, it's only the best archetype for fighting bosses as a solo player. Better hope that world showed up early in your playthrough and you are the type of player who's okay dying repeatedly while exploring - which, as this is a Souls-like, revives the dozens of enemies between the last checkpoint and the spot you died.

      One of the archetypes was only found through data mining, the unlock criteria was so obscure. I shouldn't need out-of-game knowledge and to pass several dice rolls in a row just to have a chance at getting to content I enjoy.

      It's telling that the class dedicated to exploration and level grinding is unlocked by beating the game. You're expected to play through the campaign several times to see everything, but since it's all random you're just as likely to roll stuff you've already done. Which the developers clearly realized since you can roll individual worlds as side adventures.

      Though at least one thing that sets it apart from other Souls-likes is that you don't drop or lose anything on death. However, they compensated for that by making currency drops a miniscule fraction of what they are in other games in the genre, necessitating even more grinding.

      Edit: and I actually like Remnant 1 and 2. The gameplay and story are good, the worlds are gorgeous, and the voice acting is phenomenal, but it's all dragged down by the random generation mechanics. At least 2 is a solid upgrade on that front - the first game felt far more empty and lifeless.

  • Honestly? I just picked up Eternal Strands the other day, and have been pleasantly surprised at the thematic flow, level design, dialogue, and even the art transcends my assumptions. At first glance, it looked a bit Overwatch/Torchlighty in style, and the combat can get bouncy at higher power levels (it's a good thing, and super fun, but no spoilers)

    I'm enjoying it more and more each session. The kaiju hunting sequences have elements of a certain Colossus series with nods to Breath of the Wild, et al. Loadouts & equipment in general have a classic Monster Hunter feel, modulating elemental affinities to target mission/hunt. (eg. Optimizing weaponry for Force [grav ctrl], magic for fire, and maxing armor with fire resist is some ridiculous fun: pulling all mobs into melee, lighting the black hole effect around you on fire and immolating them in stasis? Good stuff.)

    The dialogue is well done, too, and I honestly don't miss the cutscene style conversations that're quickly becoming standard issue. The way this team pulled it off, with talented writers and evocative voice actors, I haven't skimmed a dialogue yet — actually look forward to them, in fact.

    Anyhow, give it a try. There's more under the surface than the trailer or any non-spoilery media's gonna show ya. 🤘🏼

  • Little time, little playing, short (?) post this time.

    I mostly played two games: Colin McRae Rally 04 and Star Citizen (it technically counts as old, right?). Didn't have time to try and fix NHL99 yet, maybe next week...

    On another note, I'm having some craving to give The Sims (original one) another chance. I love the second game and will go back to it as soon as I can but there's something special about the first title. I don't know, maybe it has to do with me listening to its soundtrack lately or perhaps I want some of the less wacky atmosphere for a change - either way, the game is calling out to me.

  • Assault Suit Leynos on the PS4 (and on steam). The port of the first game, not the "Saturn Tribute" port of the second game. It was on sale on the PlayStation store for $1.99 a few days ago so I snapped it up.

    Also probably Front Mission on Steam because of the current sale.

    I tried to play Metro 2033 Redux since it was free on GOG but I ran out of time on my lunch break. May dive back into that.

44 comments