What You've Been Playing This Week

[fuse]

Axiom Verge 2. I remember that I liked the original enough, but quite quickly this one did a few things I've taken issue with. The exploration, the AI, the UI, the story, the combat in general, and the sound effects... they have all individually done things to aggravate me. It's made me question my fond memories of the original; perhaps I was just starved for this kind of game at the time? I'm sticking with it though and feel like I'm probably into the latter half of it, and I will admit I am warming to it a little as more traversal abilities get unlocked. It's a playable enough game in general but the 'indie metroidvania' space is pretty crowded of late, and this is not as strong as a lot of the glowing reviews it got would have you believe.

[Colin]

Finished off Serious Sam 4 yesterday. Have to say I really, really enjoyed it. Everything about it gameplay wise is admittedly old, OLD school, but that suited me just fine.

[CMcK]

Enjoying a bit of Z Warp on the Series X. It’s an old school shmup with heavy emphasis on using your recharging bomb system to take out bullets, popcorn, bosses and even collect power-ups. Interesting mechanic which really has you thinking about when to use a bomb for defence or attack.

[QualityChimp]

Mainly played that little Super Mario Bros Game & Watch as it was a perfect size to pop in a rucksack.
The only other thing was Tetris on the plane. Got the high score, obvs.

[Cassius_Smoke]

With the news of the Witcher 3 update being put on ice I though I'd fire it up after a long hiatus.
That damn game has sucked me in again. Here goes another couple of hundred hours...

[Neon Ignition]

Weekend roundup:

Getting into the last couple of chapters now on Enslaved whilst I'll be trying to make some head way into Resident Evil 4 VR. I've started mixing in some rounds of Fall Guys too and will also be aiming to restart knocking around Gran Turismo 7. As part of my daily rewards points routine I've managed to get very late into Paw Patrol Mighty Pups: Save Adventure Bay too

[Golgo]

Going off-script in Elden Ring and a marathon session of Divinity Original Sin 2. After around 25 hours and countless team-wipes I have almost inventory-managed my way to the final battle of Chapter 2.

[wakka]

This guy RPGs.

[Golgo]

This guy RPGs.

I need a break and to play something a bit more summery, tbh. Too much dungeoneering and inventory-porn, by half.

[fuse]

Played through Umurangi Generation and its DLC this weekend. It's an original and smart indie game that controls like an FPS but instead has you shooting photos of given bounties in each level. It builds on what you can do with the camera, giving you new lenses and allowing you to do more post-processing as things progress, but of more interest is the world in which its set - it starts off fairly subtle but the further you get in, the miserable, dystopian future setting gets more into view and clearer. There's no dialogue or cut scenes, you just... explore places and take photos.

What's really interesting is finding out that in the period between the main game releasing and the Macro DLC being developed, the COVID pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement happened. The DLC is a great deal more brazen about its politics, bearing some angry, full-throated sentiment, and it is fascinating to see.

[QualityChimp]

I started listening to a LitRPG audiobook (Barrow King) which is like someone playing an RPG game and it made me want to get back into Skyrim VR, so fired that up again last night.

Did a quest, then one-more-dungeon, then one-more-dungeon and ended up going to bed at midnight on a school night again.

I did one dungeon, which I recorded, but going back over the video, I realised I entered the tomb of the dungeon boss and watched as his ancient bones slowly rose from their centuries old slumber to face the mortal who has dared to defile his crypt and end his rest.
Basically, whilst he was getting up, I absolutely peppered him with arrows and killed him before he even could move and I said:
"Mother****er! Serves you right for getting up so slowly"
This isn't very kid-friendly, so haven't posted it.

I did record the last part of the "Break of Dawn" quest, which was a lot of fun as you go about activating the light panels in a dungeon to find an enchanted sword.

There's a lot of careful exploration and looting in the first ten minutes, then it gets real in the last 5.
It's pretty funny how I dealt with the dungeon boss and his henchmen.

Remember, all grunting is in-game sound effects, but there's the occasional talking to myself "What door did that open?"

[CMcK]

Crimson Clover has gotten it's claws into me again. I really need to get a proper stick for the Switch.

[wakka]

I'm ploughing into Elden Ring (note: do not google this sentence at work or you will end up like Neil Parish).

It's a really good game. I'm actually a little surprised by just how much it is Dark Souls 4, though. I mean I have no idea what George RR Martin contributed to this, considering it appears to have the exact same plotline as every other Dark Souls (world is fallen, player is Chosen One who has to kill all the bosses to restore goodness).

But I love Souls, and I'm very much enjoying it. One thing I will say is that there are some remarkably beautiful vistas. The world's design, even from the little I've seen in the opening couple of areas, is extremely cool.

[Neon Ignition]

Weekend round up:

Very much dabbling again, a few things I'm early on in but as yet nothing has got its hooks into me

[QualityChimp]

More Skyrim VR.

I own a house!

Had a hilarious trip from the house I was squatting in (could store stuff for free without the game forgetting it's there) to my new place to store it. I have a carry limit of about 300, but was carrying close to 4000!

Killed my first dragon too, which I suspect is supposed to be an early-doors major event, but I caned it with my magic bow, no problemo.