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Been into this over the past couple of days. Retro-style side-scroller, reminiscent of Ghosts 'n' Goblins or the early Castlevania's, particularly Simon's Quest, it apes the Metroidvania-style gameplay and has the same day/night cycle of that game. It's also pretty brutal in its difficulty which lead to a lot of grinding, but it's still very enjoyable. There are also multiple endings depending on your actions throughout the game, gonna be pretty fun to do another playthrough and try for a different ending.

Oh, and if the game wasn't metal enough with its visuals, every achievement's name is a reference to rock and metal. So far I've got Thunderstruck, Regurgitated Guts, Hammer Smashed Face, Premonition of Pain and Master of the Pit. :edmetal:
 
Edington said:
There are also multiple endings depending on your actions throughout the game, gonna be pretty fun to do another playthrough and try for a different ending.
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Turns out there are at least eight endings, and I've just gained the second of them (which netted me the Reign In Blood achievement :devil:). Now I've started my third playthrough in an attempt to get the Ultimate Good ending and that sweet Hallowed Be Thy Name achievement.
 
I’m on a re-replay of Breath of the Wild. On my first 2 play throughs, I didn’t try to complete everything, mainly korok seeds. I was going to do it the second time, but I got impatient and ended up activating an unlimited korok seed glitch and like the first time, I stopped playing less than half way through. Now I’m truly trying to complete as much as I can and OOOOHHHHHH MY FREAKING GOD!!!!! It is the very most amazing, super extra special, beautifully wonderful gaming experience EVER!!!!! And I am experiencing some pretty crazy addition, unlike anything ever before! But it’s not completely taking over my life. Even hunting down seeds is fine. Something that really helps is to play with a very relaxed mindset and tell yourself not to be in a hurry. Wow again! Hopefully I’ll be done in time for the sequel.
 
Started a new Minecraft world a couple of weeks ago. First time playing since 1.17 so the game has changed a bit (new world generation, way deeper caves down to -64 etc) and this is the first time playing since 2016 where a new world is required to take part of the full extent of the update.

Miss the times when we were 8 players on a realm a bit, but I'm way better at the game because of that so I can do most of the things myself with just a little bit more time invested.

For all the kids-theme things, this is still the scariest game in the world. And the most unforgiving - die in lava and items it took you 3 days to get are gone forever.
 
Finally finished Cyberpunk 2077 after ~105 hours. I wound up doing all the side missions, cyberpsychos, and gigs, which padded out the time considerably, but they were all worthwhile. I didn’t bother with all the NCPD scanner encounters.

The game had a slow start, and it’s not very good as a twitch FPS; but once I built up some stats for stealth, hacking, and shotguns/LMGs I had a much better time with it. Hacking becomes ridiculously overpowered once you get near max stats and skills in that area, and I giggled my way through the endgame fights as I short circuited one burly foe after another through security cameras and from behind cover. You can’t always avoid a straight-up fight, though, and that’s where the shotguns and LMGs become useful.

The middle of the game was probably the most interesting in terms of story, missions, and overall challenge. The endgame was more bittersweet than I expected, and not particularly difficult, though it was nice to be able to reap the benefits of all those stat boosts.

Now I have to move on to my recent backlog of deep discount purchases, including A.I. - The Somnium Files, Hades, Carrion, and John Wick Hex. I also have the Demon’s Souls remake staring at me, and a backlog of PSVR titles that I really ought to finish before PSVR2 comes out early next year.

Remarkably, I’m also still playing Jackal Squad on mobile, where I had some equipment breakthroughs that allowed me to keep making slow but steady progress. I’m still very pleasantly surprised by the enemy variety and the constant stream of new combat styles and combinations you face as you progress through the game. I may run up against another equipment wall soon, though, as improving equipment is one of those exponential merge hierarchy deals, so it will take forever to level anything up again after I get all my equipment to my current highest tier. But for now I’m still enjoying it.
 
@Jer
I’m in act 2 of Cyberpunk now and I’m loving it. Reminds me of an open-world Deus Ex at times. I too have a lot of points in hacking… to the point where my guns are practically useless. I put my other points mostly in body and tech because I hate not being able to open doors (I must explore everywhere!)

Good to hear that the game is pretty consistently good after the opening act. What type of character did you play as? I’m a nomad and I wonder if it’s much different with another character background.
 
Detective Beauregard said:
I’m in act 2 of Cyberpunk now and I’m loving it. Reminds me of an open-world Deus Ex at times. I too have a lot of points in hacking… to the point where my guns are practically useless. I put my other points mostly in body and tech because I hate not being able to open doors (I must explore everywhere!)
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I built up every stat to 10, then kept pushing Intelligence, Technical, and Body higher. I think I finished with 18 Body, 18 Tech, and 19 Intelligence (out of 20). Honestly, most of the places that have door access have both a Body and a Tech option for getting in, so it's probably not necessary to push both that high, though having high Body lets you intimidate your way through certain dialog scenarios instead of forcing a fight, which can be convenient. It also unlocks a perk that lets you regenerate more health in combat, which is nice, and there are Body stat requirements for certain guns to get full use out of them. Tech also opens its own dialog options, and lets you sabotage certain equipment from up close (though Body often lets you do this as well, just in a more destructive way), and it's got some great perks related to crafting. I don't regret pumping both of them, but a person could just as easily pick one of the two and be just fine.

Intelligence really starts to feel overpowered around 16 or so, especially once you get a high-end cyberdeck and legendary quickhacks. But it's overpowered in a good way, and on some rare occasions you'll run into things that aren't networked, so you have to handle things the old-fashioned way. I actually wish they'd peppered some more off-network stuff into the game to force you to change it up a little more.

Detective Beauregard said:
Good to hear that the game is pretty consistently good after the opening act. What type of character did you play as? I’m a nomad and I wonder if it’s much different with another character background.
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I was also a Nomad. From what I've read, it sounds like it just changes your prologue mission and gives you some different dialog options, but nothing that fundamentally affects the overall narrative.

Amusingly enough, I actually got the PS4 version of Cyberpunk for Christmas in 2020, and it was in such rough shape that I never even installed it, waiting for the free PS5 native version update to be released instead. Even that version was a little rough at launch, but I got started for real with the 1.5 patch -- and aside from the occasional road geometry quirk, or a motorcycle flipping over itself when stopping for you to get on, or getting stuck in a wall once, it's been quite solid on PS5.
 
Jer said:
Amusingly enough, I actually got the PS4 version of Cyberpunk for Christmas in 2020, and it was in such rough shape that I never even installed it, waiting for the free PS5 native version update to be released instead. Even that version was a little rough at launch, but I got started for real with the 1.5 patch -- and aside from the occasional road geometry quirk, or a motorcycle flipping over itself when stopping for you to get on, or getting stuck in a wall once, it's been quite solid on PS5.
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I remember being excited when it was first released but heard it was a buggy mess so I distracted myself with other games. Then last month I suddenly realized it existed and figured the bugs were fixed, so I got it for Series X. I've had a few minor glitches, but nothing game-breaking and certainly nothing to ruin my immersion.

Thanks for the other info, too!
LooseCannon said:
I played as swords because swords are fun.
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Amazingly I've never used any melee other than for one mission where I had to (and for taking down enemies from behind, if you count that). I always default to stealth and long range whenever I can in any game, though I've been tempted to get those mantis blades and start Baraka'ing my way through the city.
 
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LooseCannon said:
Yeah the mantis blades rocked but I mostly used a katana.
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And you get some very nice katanas from certain missions.

I originally intended to be a katana guy, but once I got a pair of Gorilla Hands with my already boosted Body stat, I didn’t really see the point. Then I got a really sweet shotgun, which more than took care of my short-range combat needs, so the whole melee thing mostly fell by the wayside for me.

I do heartily recommend the leg enhancement that lets you double jump — this provided lots of additional entry and exit options, as well as a good way to quickly evade enemy attacks.
 
Finished up A.I.: The Somnium Files, which was from the same folks who did the Zero Escape games. Mostly a visual novel, with the only real gameplay being time-limited environmental puzzles and occasional QTEs, though you do get some agency in where you go, what you look at, and what you say to people. Definitely not as good as the Zero Escape games, and it’s really confusing and seemingly contradictory at first, though it does ultimately pull the story together in a very satisfying way as you get closer to the end.

The story can branch significantly at a number of key points, and the different variations on the story are interesting, though there’s some bleedover of knowledge between these possible paths that’s explicitly acknowledged within the game, but never explained, which was disappointing. There’s also loads of really cringey sexual humor peppered throughout the game, which feels really out of place; but it’s so persistent that it eventually wraps around and almost starts being funny because it’s so desperately not funny.

A mixed bag for sure, but the final third of the game is strong enough to warrant a playthrough if you’re a Zero Escape fan and you catch it on deep discount.

It looks like the sequel nirvanA Initiative got better reviews, so I’ll keep an eye on sale pricing for that one…
 
Just finished up Carrion on PS4, which was pretty great, albeit a little on the short side.

You play as a lab experiment that gets loose and is trying to get out of the military research facility it’s trapped in. You’re just a fleshy mass of tentacles, eyes, and teeth, and you can stick to any surface, so the movement is very free-form and feels squishy and bizarre, but spot-on for the character you’re playing. At first you can only lash out with your tentacle to smash things and eat people (and flip switches), but over time you find other lab experiments that you integrate into yourself to add new abilities, and additional body mass and HP. Eventually you have to start making tactical decisions about special abilities vs. HP, as the abilities are tied to your body size; but locations that allow you to shed mass and pick it up later are pretty common, as are save points, so you never lose too much progress when you die.

The game really captures the vibe of B-movie horror, with lab personnel screaming and running away from you on sight, and slurpy sounds as you tear them to pieces, smash them against things, and eat them to regain HP. Blood gets splattered everywhere. There’s also plenty of stalking your prey from air vents and underneath walkways, suddenly lashing a tentacle out and tearing them apart while their colleagues freak out. You do encounter tougher and tougher opponents over time, sometimes in really tricky combinations, but you also gain the tools to turn the tables on them with careful action.

The game is 2D pixel art, but it looks great for its style. It’s got some very light metroidvania elements (god, I hate how that genre name seems to have stuck), but it’s predominantly a semi-linear action game with light stealth elements and some environmental puzzles. I probably got about 6 hours out of the main game and maybe an hour out of the free DLC that came with the PS4 version, but for $10 I still feel like I got more than my money’s worth. A really unique and fun game that doesn’t wear out its welcome.

Next up, I need to decide between John Wick Hex, Hades, and The Last Of Us Part II…
 
Jer said:
Finished up A.I.: The Somnium Files, which was from the same folks who did the Zero Escape games. Mostly a visual novel, with the only real gameplay being time-limited environmental puzzles and occasional QTEs, though you do get some agency in where you go, what you look at, and what you say to people. Definitely not as good as the Zero Escape games, and it’s really confusing and seemingly contradictory at first, though it does ultimately pull the story together in a very satisfying way as you get closer to the end.

The story can branch significantly at a number of key points, and the different variations on the story are interesting, though there’s some bleedover of knowledge between these possible paths that’s explicitly acknowledged within the game, but never explained, which was disappointing. There’s also loads of really cringey sexual humor peppered throughout the game, which feels really out of place; but it’s so persistent that it eventually wraps around and almost starts being funny because it’s so desperately not funny.

A mixed bag for sure, but the final third of the game is strong enough to warrant a playthrough if you’re a Zero Escape fan and you catch it on deep discount.

It looks like the sequel nirvanA Initiative got better reviews, so I’ll keep an eye on sale pricing for that one…
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I think I played that for an hour or two and then became a bit bored. I'll definitely try to continue it one of these days though.
 
KidInTheDark666 said:
I think I played that for an hour or two and then became a bit bored. I'll definitely try to continue it one of these days though.
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Yeah, it could take 6-8 hours to start getting to the particularly interesting parts, and if you happen to go down a story path that focuses on an annoying character you could be in for a long slog. And you have to go down every story path to unlock the two most interesting branches that really wrap things up. So it definitely takes some patience to get any payoff.
 
I'm revisiting some old ass games and playing the original Master of Orion and Master of Orion 2, as well as Master of Magic. Never gave these a proper shake when they were new. Also digging into Remnants of the Precursors, which is a shiny new remake in all but name of Master of Orion Classic Original Flavor.
 
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