If its true, then the only one to blame would be the schmuck who buys it.

 

70 euros for a re-re-re-re-re-release. Schmucks indeed.

 

Bug Fables is the best indie game I've played in a while.

 

So I just got through "The Beginner's Guide" by Davey Wreden (guy behind the Stanley Parable).
It was an interesting 2-3 hours, and I'm still not sure what to make of it. It's not quite a spiritual successor to the Stanley Parable, but it does indulge in meta-commentary.
The plot revolves around the narrator taking you through the games made by the developer Coda and talking about their relationship and his interpretation of the games.

It's about €8 on Steam, worth the money, and I highly recommend going in blind, if you decide to play it.

 

Ghost of Tsushima got a 9.5 from gameinformer

https://www.gameinformer.com/review/ghost-of-tsushima/ghost-of-tsushima-review-a-most-honorable-epic

 

High score from a review website means nothing when they give mediocre games 7/10

 

Opinion from a polish man means nothing when you don't eat vegetables.

Spoiler

 

I cannot fucking wait to play this weekend.

 

Started playing at midnight, it's 4am... going to sleep for 2 hours before work lol...

 

Lucky. 6 hr.s before it unlocks for me.

 

Ghost of Tsushima is so pretty....

 

It's pretty and atmospheric, and the load times are handled well.

Looks like I'll go pretty heavy into Ghost early.

 

Man I'm adoring it more and more. You bet your ass I'm maxing the Ronin outfit first to get that badass full straw hat! The longbow is basically a 50 cal too, which I love - balanced by having limited arrows.

This is the first game that has basically made me want to finally upgrade from a 1080p 110' projector screen to an oled 4k hdr display...

It just hurts that a display almost half the size will cost me about 4 grand though...

 

Unrelated to the newest fancy releases, sorry.

I've been playing Hearts of Iron 4 since roughly 2017 (slightly after it's release) and having loads of fun. Currently at 487 hours logged in steam.

In particular, a major part of this time went to a specific kind of fun, of "losing is fun" variety. I like taking hard scenarios and trying to win them. (Playing as Poland, trying to survive as Ethiopia, etc)

In particular, one of these scenarios is trying to "win", that is, "survive" with Lithuania. It's possible to achieve something if you go either for a fascist-Lithuania or communist-Lithuania and start aggressively. I wanted to play as neutral-alignment Lithuania, where the game limits your options considerably (for one, you can't attack anyone for a long time, and then Germany and Russia come with their demands).

Tonight, I finally succeed, after years of trying, and multiple runs (lost the count, but definitely more than 30).

I have a small after action report on hoi4 reddit, if anyone wants more details and screen-caps.

Just wanted to share the exhilaration of the personal achievement.

Still not perfect, so I'll probably try and do it again, but...

 

Back to newest, fancy release:

https://twitter.com/joe_paras/status/1284641164084178945?s=19

Just me messing with photo mode, which I don't normally do...

I laughed when i realised it automatically put the link to the store...

 

What's the gameplay like? It looks a lot like the Soulsborne/Sekiro style parry/block, and attack.

 

It's not as hard. Personally I think the combat is sublime, but YMMV.

For sword combat, you match your stance to the weapon your enemy is using (stone stance for swords, water stance for shields, wind stance for spears and halberds and moon stance for brutes). Each weapon type fight in different ways and you play them and parry them differently.

Ultimately, you use the correct stance because you need to break their guard. Once you do that, bitches die quickly (that includes you AND bosses).

Parrying and dodging is easy. Perfect parry and perfect dodge comes with practise, and it opens up the enemy who gets dunked on to basically OHKOs.

You have a half-bow and a long-bow. Pretty self-explanatory and nothing really new here.

Then there's 'Ghost' techniques. Kunai, bombs and the like that supplement your fighting style. There's a lot to choose from and you rarely use them all, but as you're often heavily outnumbered, the theme of the game (which translates to gameplay) is you've taken on unorthodox techniques to level the playing field.

I also just unlocked a blow-gun. It operates similarly to the ones you might've seen in past AC games, with limited ammo.

Finally, and my favourite thing, is the Showdown mechanic.

You roll up on a group of enemies like a boss and then you stare each other down. Gameplay wise this translates to you holding down triangle as they try and juke you out. Release triangle in the middle of their attack when it finally comes and it's a OHKO, fuck it up and you're left with 1hp. Then the dead dude's friends come at you one at a time up to five (with upgrades and armour), you only need to tap square or triangle in the middle of their attack to OHKO them.

Basically, gameplay is sublime imo.

My only complaint is that they did the Sony First Party thing of a limited use grappling hook a la Uncharted, where you can only grapple at grapple points. If you could use that anywhere and the level design mirrored its place, I'd say this game is perfect...

Oh, you'll probably hear the enemy AI is kinda dumb. That's fair.

Edit:
Another knock against the game that's more a QoL thing. You get half a dozen or so different types of armour, which is cool. Problem is, 90% of the time you'll want to be wearing the 'Traveller's Garb' because doing so is so beneficial for exploration. This leads to a frustrating gameplay experience of using it everywhere, then when you get into a fight, you'll go into your menu and switch into the appropriate garb.

I've no issue with swapping armours for the right situation, but as I said, you're basically always using Trav's when you're not in combat, you'd be crazy not to.

I'd love it if, in the inevitable sequel, the benefits of Trav's are relegated to a 'shrine blessing' or, shit, just use an already existing mechanic like charms to get their effect.

 

Oh God, I'm getting excited for a new MMO again...

 

Been watching that game for around a year on and off since a friend talked about it. Genuinely looking forward to it, and the way the company acts so far is reassuring. Can't say yet whether or not it'll be good obviously, but the direction is promising.

 

Ghost of Tsushima is such a good game. It truly is an epic with which to end this generation of playstation. I would say its a mix of Skyrim + Assassin's Creed, set in Japan, but with the most gorgeous graphics of any game to date. Gengar's mentioned the few issues I have with gameplay, but I'd also argue the story is a bit cliche.

Either way, this game is a sublime experience and worth paying full price for. Just running around doing side quests and have barely touched t he main quest and I'm 15 hours in.