Control was a strong contender for my game of the year in 2019, even playing it with the framerate issues; it's brilliant, start to finish.

 

I think my only complaint (just finished. Got the platinum and just doing Foundation now) is that there's a few too many monster closets.

 

I recently picked up Dead By Daylight on Steam, and it's so swingy - the closest game I can relate it to is Evolve, although that's purely based on the asymmetric gameplay. Evolve has the 1v4, with the 1 starting out as prey and ending as the hunter, whilst DbD's 1v4 is a single killer the whole way through. But there's been games where as the Killer I've hooked one survivor once, and that's it; and then there's been some where I've killed three and the last escaped out the hatch. The resetting ranks each month means I'm currently less likely to be playing top-tier players, but it seems harder to predict which way the match will go at each point.

Still working on the ins-and-outs, but it's a nice change of pace to my standard 4X/farming games

 

After buying, downloading, cursing and consequently deleting it in late 2014, I have recently re-downloaded AC Unity. It was originally meant purely as a deterrent to buying Valhalla, which was discounted on the PS Store, but I found myself really enjoying the experience. I‘ve come to realise how much better I like the tighter narrative and environmental focus that having a game set in a single city or region brings with it. There are still quite a few filler quests, but I do enjoy knowing where the hell I am on the map and where I have to go at any given time.

Having played Syndicate before, it is now quite clear to me which lessons the devs apparently tried to learn from Unity back then. The combat in Unity is noticeably clunkier, the camera in fights is way too close to the action and movement seems to be a lot less smooth/precise in virtual Paris.

Quick note on the story, which I’m now 3/4 of the way through: While I like Arno as a protagonist, I do now have a not entirely insubstantial crush on Élise de la Serre. What can I say… I have a weakness for sassy redheads. I would have loved to see Arno and Élise work together and being playable together in a similar fashion to Jacob and Evie in Syndicate.

Spoiler

And yes, I know what happens at the end of Unity, even though I‘m not there yet. You try not having the ending to a six year old game spoiled for you in your YouTube Recommended list at some point…

 

As you say, it was ages ago, but I don't recall Arno being, at worst, a bit meh. Not as memorable as Jacob and Evie, but passable.

Odyssey I think was the best AC for me. The only big gripe I had with it is the lack of reaction to me systematically dismantling the Templars super early, but I loved everything else.

In the end, I got really annoyed with the controls of the OG AC formula, I much prefer the way it plays now. Though I despise Valhalla and haven't played Origins.

 

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/03/18/next-gen-vr-on-ps5-the-new-controller/

 

I was recently reminded that there's a Megaman Battle Network fangame called Chrono X. They've got a demo out so I gave it a try.

If you want more MMBN gameplay then this will definitely do it for you. It replicates the experience perfectly, nailing the chips, the combos, the enemies and the controls. The progression in power and skill feels good, there's enough variety to keep you sated, it just works really well. The difficulty feels about right given that I'm not great at action games and still had a fun time with it.

But otherwise the demo does feel a little lacking. The storyline is typical fangame shlock: lots of references to things from the canon games, lots of reused places from canon to visit, everything's a little darker, the new characters that are introduced are usually kind of bland and occasionally frustratingly mysterious in a way that hasn't paid off in the demo version yet.

All in all, given that it's free and I put seven hours into it easily, I think the demo's roughly a 3.5/5. If the game's ever completed (because it is and remains a fan work and we all know how often those get finished) I'll happily play the entire thing.

 

Question: Is Civ VI base game worth it? Or do you need the DLC for it to be enjoyable?

 

Base game and DLC is good until gathering storm. After which, all the mods that make the game worth playing break

 

Finally got around to playing Spiderman (2018). Goddamn is this game fun. Web slinging/swinging and combat mechanics are so fucking satisfying.

 

I'm patiently waiting for the inevitable PC release.

Sony is slowly testing the waters with PC ports. So I have no doubt that it will eventually come to PC.

 

Base game with mods 100% worth it. There is some stuff a lot of people don't like, one example is that workers/builders have limited charges. Personally I don't really like the religion systems too much, it can get very annoying having to fight 'religion wars' on top of everything else. As longtime Civ fan it is very hard to please me, so there are a lot of small things I might go on about. But generally it is a good game, even without any DLC. With minimal effort put into finding mods, it becomes a absolute great game where you can change everything you don't like.

 

I dunno if they'll do this with Spiderman. Just a feeling.

 

So Outirders released today. Anyone else playing it?

For those unfamiliar, it's a looter-shooter in the vein of Borderlands or the Division, except with none of the live service bullshit; the game's released and that's it. I've got 3-4 hours into it so far, plus another 6ish on the demo, and I'm having a blast. They've done the leveling experience much better than just about any other looter shooter I've ever played, and I've played just about all of them. Remains to be seen how the end game will hold up, but it'll be fun getting there, at least.

 

From the Demo:


I gave it a try and I just couldn't get through the first hour or so. The dialogue and tone swings wildly between very generic and utter cringe. And with the combat and movement feeling way to plodding and heavy for my tastes, I bounced off pretty hard.

I might give it another try if a couple of friends start to play. Or if I it's on sale and I hear good things about the endgame.

 

Yeah, the writing is joke, bouncing wildly between tone and the acting ranges from awful to chewing the scenery. It's very forgettable all around, but the gameplay is fantastic, and I'm adoring it.

 

As someone who finds the Borderlands loop pretty enjoyable, and pretty much everything else about it (bar the art style) pretty torturous, how would I like it?

 

The game sits somewhere between The Division and Borderlands in terms of gameplay style. Combat arenas have a bunch of cover, and there's "velcro yourself to the wall now" mechanics to take advantage of it, but for all but one of the classes, the cover is primarily for your enemies. You can use it to duck out of LOS and heal a bit, but the vast majority of the time, you'll want to be in the middle of things spamming your abilities and killing bitches.

The big difference between Outriders and other looter shooters I've played is that there's much more of an emphasis on your abilities and class than on the guns. The longest cooldown I've found yet is 22 seconds, when in every other looter shooter, that's among the shortest. The game design pushes you into using your abilities as much as possible, and it comes together really well IMO.

The way I've been playing (as pyromancer, the mid-range wizard class), there's a flow to the combat, where I wade into the middle of things, and as the shotgun and melee enemies rush me I throw a bunch of fire and stuns on them, then snap over to the ranged enemies with my fuck-off canon of a rifle and snag a headshot on an enemy sniper, then turn back just in time to stun the shotgun guy in my face and kill him, etc. The abilities are all viscerally satisfying, with great animations (including the hit animations on enemies), and pretty strong sound design. When everything's firing on all cylinders, it feels really good.

Now, with that said, you probably won't enjoy the story and narrative much at all. The characters are generally one-note and forgettable, and the tone waffles randomly between quasi-serious drama and borderlands-style "this whole universe is one big joke, so let's laugh at it" absurdity. It's also not super coherent; things are just sorta happening and you get dragged along for the ride. If you need a compelling narrative to pull you through a game, then I'd definitely not recommend Outriders. But if you're cool with zoning out the talking heads and blowing up bad guys to make your numbers go up, it's a very good time.

 

The thing with Borderlands is, it's at its best when the story doesn't get in your way. In the latest one, the gameplay stops ALL THE TIME to literally make you stand around for MINUTES and listen to it play out.

I don't care about dumb stories in a dumb universe, I care if they force you to sit and watch while they pause the gameplay.

 

The closest I've come go anything like that was a 15s cutscene of a giant labs spider crawling across a mountain pass a bit before I fought it. Pretty sure that cutscene was skippable too, but I didn't try.