I caved last week and got Sly Thieves In Time on my steam deck because for whatever reason the disc copy I have freezes up on 2 PS3s: one with and without PS2 backwards compatibility. So far still fun but not quite the level of Sly 3 yet.
I’ll also hopefully be playing Sonic Colors for the first time in general on wii if the SD card I ordered arrives by Friday.
Stardew Valley. I needed something kid friendly and I’ve ran out of rally games so I decided it’s time to check out what has been added since I last played it when it released. I know it’s had some big updates but I’ve never paid attention to what the updates have been about, so there’s a bit of wonder going into the game. There are already moments where I’ve gone “I don’t remember this being in the game”.
Elden Ring. About 40 hours into it, running a dex / faith lightning build with dual bandit curved swords. Lately I think I’ve been researching builds more than actually playing though.
Elden Ring is probably my favourite game ever. It’s got some tight competition but whenever someone asks me what my absolute favourite game ever is, I default to Elden Ring.
I’m playing Akimbot and it kinda sucks. I didn’t realize I was buying a kid’s game :/
I tried the demo for it during Steam Next Fest and the third-person shooting was interesting but wow, the two main characters have no chemistry with each other.
The characters and the story are so obnoxious dude. Pretty graphics/art and the music is good at least. I just beat Ghostrunner 2 and it feels like I’m still playing that game with all the wallrunning, grappling hooks, and last kill slo-mo lol
Having laugh out loud fun with “Promise Mascot Agency.” It’s basically all the wacky dialogue of the best Yakuza side missions with business management sim. Like Dondoko Island if you play those games. If you are into management sims, then play on Hard to start. I’m on normal and the gameplay offers almost zero challenge. But the exploration, characters and writing is excellent.
Mainly Balatro… I got the (remaster) of the original Fable on Steam, because they’re working on a new one. It’s interesting but failed to save correctly so i haven’t gotten back into it for a few days.
Path of Achra. Only recently found it and I love it. Roguelike, turn based, classic. About 2h for a full successful run. But every run it gets harder, up to 32nd difficulty.
Lots and lots of build combinations as it has races, classes & religions, pick one each and the bonuses are substantial. And 3 out of 9 skill schools. Item bonuses often scale crazy good with very specific style of play etc.
It’s the kind of game that gets broken easily and it actively encourages you to do it, cause endgame bosses are no joke too.
Ori and the blind forest, second playtrough
Into The Breach
It works perfectly with just touch controls. Eden emulator runs the Switch version perfectly on my phone. I hadn’t really played the game properly before (would just die quickly and not know how to proceed). Now I’m starting to get the hang of it and can play it for brief gaps in my day now that it is on my phone.
Continuing with SOMA. Just had a big revelation but now the base’s network is down, so I need to go reset the router.
I’ve also started Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo for when I’m in the mood for something more light-hearted. I tried the demo for it during Steam Next Fest and instantly loved it. It’s very obviously inspired by GBA pixel graphics. All the character sprites are insanely expressive. It even has the Pokemon Ruby-Sapphire-Emerald-style trumpets in the music!
And for extra verisimilitude, there are a bunch of graphics options to make it feel like a GBA game. LCD filter, a “strict” pixel mode, a rotatable 3D model to view the game in, and even screen glare if you really want it!
Dude SOMA was so good. I still think about the story and it’s implications. After you beat it, there was a Youtube miniseries about it that starts off strong and then gets pretty weak. It’s worth watching at least the first couple episodes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8I_J2VjsqQ&list=PLWjnM4fZ4U8wLxrFXjL-95ME0QJwdz8m8
Cataclysm DDA.
Terraria just got another update, so back to Terarria.
Just finished Ico. Heard it was really influential. Overall I really liked it, though it did make me appreciate the improvements in game design that have happened in the last 20 years
Salt and Sacrifice. Basically a 2D mix of Dark Souls and Monster Hunter, while Salt and Sanctuary was a more straightforward 2D take on Dark Souls alone. This is from the perspective of someone who ablolutely loves MH and who enjoyed Sanctuary even more than Hollow Knight.
It’s… fine. There’s basically zero use for the game’s currency, and I think chasing the Mages around the areas feels a bit more like annoying busy work without MH’s in-universe reasons for monsters to flee, especially with how quickly the Mages go down when you finally do catch up with them. Also, having so many different Mage resources dropping randomly doesn’t make as much sense when you can’t damage different parts of the Mages to influence drops like you can in MH. The Mages themselves, while effort has clearly been put in to make them feel distinct, still end up feeling samey somehow.
All in all, I think the whole thing doesn’t quite come together in the end, but I find it hard to criticize indie takes on the Monster Hunter formula when Crapcom has been enshittifying the IP so badly the past few years.
So, give it a try if you like Dark Souls and are craving more of a Monster Hunter-esque experience, but don’t expect it to fully scratch the itch. Hopefully this incentivizes more indie studios to try the MH formula - we desperately need more old-style MH-like experiences with Crapcom’s trend of empowering the players over the monsters to utterly ridiculous levels.
Interesting, the S&S games have been on my list for a while but I’ve never gotten around to them. I got Salt and Sacrifice with a Humble Bundle last year but didn’t play it because o figured I should play the first game first. Looks like I got the worse one then?
The nice thing is that Salt and Sanctuary is always dirt cheap during sales, and definitely worth picking up, but yeah, I think most people prefer the first game to the second.
If you don’t mind investing a couple more dollars, I’d definitely recommend playing Sanctuary first, and then Sacrifice if you have a hankering for more.
Then again, there are the rare reviewers who prefer Sacrifice, so shrug emoji.
Apart from the daily 20 minutes on Animal Crossing New Leaf I’ve spent more time tinkering and “fixing” stuff than playing. The best thing I did was setup Syncthing on my emulator handhelds which I should have done a lot sooner but didn’t even think to.
