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[Humdinger]

Just finished Oxenfree II. It took me maybe 8 hours. I bought it because I enjoyed the first Oxenfree.

I'd give this 7/10. It has more supernatural weirdness than the first game, but it isn't paced as well - they introduce the supernatural weirdness right at the start, no build-up; it was a gradual revealing in the first game, which was more effective. Visuals and music are good, though.

My main complaint is the dialog. First of all, there is too much of it. Jacob won't shut up. Second, it has what I'm beginning to recognize as "young writer" style. The characters almost always speak to each other using flippant, sarcastic or allegedly "witty" remarks. No one speaks naturally, like a normal person. I heard the same style in The Quarry a couple months ago.

It's just bad writing. If your characters aren't taking the action seriously - if everything provides the occasion for a joke - then why should I take it seriously? Unless you're writing a comedy, humor is meant to be a seasoning, not the main course. The humor rarely comes off as humorous, which is another issue. But the main problem is that the constant forced "witty" lightheartedness is at odds with what the writers want you to believe is a meaningful, serious story about important themes. You can't have both. And if you're going to lean so heavily on humor, at least have the courtesy to be funny. I think the writers tried to be both deep and funny, and they didn't manage either.

The game was okay. It was better than I'm making it sound. It was mostly an enjoyable distraction. People who enjoyed the first one might enjoy this one, too.

 

[bender]

I'm still hooked on EDF6. I'm up to mission 105 and have cleared every previous mission with each character on hard earning the normal/easy badges as well. That gives me a 42.75% completion rate. Long way to go.

I also finished TLOU PS5 remake this week. I went through it on Grounded as I've completed that mode on PS3 (that might have been added in a later patch) and the PS4 version. It wasn't nearly as challenging or frustrating as my memories told me. Maybe I just got better at exploiting the AI by utilizing certain choke points in the combat arenas. I mostly melee killed everything. The remaster is pretty buggy as I experienced object physics glitches and sporadic missing text in the inventory. I'm also not a fan of some of the redone character models with Henry being the most offensive to my eyes. The load times are zippy so that's a plus, but this kind of feels like a wasted effort. I also think the game is really starting to show its' age and I do think some of the story beats feel oddly paced and unearned.

 

[Jesb]

Started AC Valhalla. It’s been a while since I played this franchise. Maybe try out terminator finally.

 

[[Sigma]]

Finished Astro's Playroom with the Platinum. Also have all dlc trophies(at least the ones you can get right now). So im ready for Astro Bot at this point.

May or may not start Stellar Blade today or in a few days. CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is a possibly too.

 

[RAIDEN1]

Coming to the actual closing stages of Mass Effect 3 for only my 2nd playthrough of the trilogy....(on PS4 Pro) On the Xbox I decided to check out "Black" never bothered with it upon release, but so far 1 mission in it seems like a solid shooter..

 

[Corian33]

Spider Man 2 - Pushing towards the end of the game and enjoying the story and the ramp up of enemy types on highest difficulty. Lots of fun boss fights with decent variety of mechanics. I feel like the side stories in the first half of the game were much less interesting than the previous games, but swinging through the city fighting baddies never gets old.

Battletech - After years of playing the game off and on but never getting too far, I’m finally deep into the campaign with multiple assault mechs and decent gear. This is one of those games like was like a dream wishlist title come true, but I kept bouncing off of it. Glad to finally get into it a bit more. Wish they had made a sequel or big expansion, it’s good but still feels like the first draft of something with far more potential.

 

[Killer8]

Dino Crisis - replaying this after 25 years and all the remake talk. Time flies and yet this still holds up well as "Resident Evil with dinosaurs". The save room music is as iconic as ever. Now that i'm no longer 8 years old, I actually have the mental capacity to solve those devious DDK puzzles myself. I do think the last third of the game drags a little and over-complicates itself with a lot of puzzles. But that final chase sequence shooting the T.Rex with the grenade launcher to get the good ending C makes up for it. Onto DC2, which in some ways I prefer, once i'm done wrapping up the other endings.

Rise of the Ronin - Finishing up the last few missions of the first area. The map is now 100% complete so i'm ready for more. Not sure what it is that grabs me about this game. Maybe it's that the gameplay loop and combat is extremely fun, even if it doesn't look as nice as... other open world samurai games (that said, I recently discovered that my LG C1's sharpening is quite good, which has helped the visuals a lot). Between the bouts of intense combat, I find the music and atmosphere of the game very relaxing just to soak in. It's this gen's Days Gone in terms of a needlessly shit on open world game which is actually pretty good.

God of War (2005) - I want to play the newer GOW games but I can't remember much of the story. The original trilogy is not too long to beat so i'm replaying them as a refresher before diving into God of War (2018) and Ragnarok. I'm aware that the reboot is a fresh start, but I don't want any call backs to the old games to go over my head. Anyway, the original still holds up tremendously. It does things with the camera angles to frame the action in such an epic way that is just not done much any more. Despite almost 20 years of advances in technology, every part of the presentation is still just peak cinematic entertainment. The HD Collection version looks great on my OLED.

 

[T-0800]

Took me 9 years but I finally finished Arkham Knight.

 

[Bernardougf]

Lies of PI ... lords of the fallen is much better.

 

[Bernardougf]

.

God of War (2005) - I want to play the newer GOW games but I can't remember much of the story. The original trilogy is not too long to beat so i'm replaying them as a refresher before diving into God of War (2018) and Ragnarok. I'm aware that the reboot is a fresh start, but I don't want any call backs to the old games to go over my head. Anyway, the original still holds up tremendously. It does things with the camera angles to frame the action in such an epic way that is just not done much any more. Despite almost 20 years of advances in technology, every part of the presentation is still just peak cinematic entertainment. The HD Collection version looks great on my OLED.

The older games are so much better is not even a contest.. GOW3 is a masterpiece .. and in ironic fashion they feel more unique and fresh then the new GOW ... story driven games with over the sholder camera are everywhere ... but good journey my friend

 

[JohnnyPhats]

Mafia 2. Finished 1 on game pass. Bought the trilogy for $10 right after. 2 is cool but doesn’t look as nice as 1. Good game though.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Red Matter 2 | Quest 3

I’m absolutely loving this game. Only stupid family and sleep have kept me from playing this more. I love the immersion it brings.

 

[Duchess]

The Mobius Machine.

I don't imagine a lot of people have heard of this one, so here's a trailer:



It's pretty decent. Starts off easy, but then gets quite challenging. Dying quite a lot, and wondering if I've missed upgrades along the way..!

I'm playing on "retro" mode, which means you restart from the last save whenever you die.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

When I was 15 hours into Octopath Traveler, I wondered how people managed to play the game for 100 hours and still be interested. Well, here I am, 88 hours into the game and still hooked.

I am at most character’s final chapter. I have finished Therion and Ophelia. Currently finishing Primrose with Tressa next. Haanit is my main character, so I’ll do her or Olberon next.

Cyrus has been ignored since Tressa completely rendered him obsolete. Alfyn also ignored because he is just plain boring.

On my way to the latest town, I stumbled into a shrine of the runeblade. I backed out and will return after finishing with Primrose. If this shrine is what I think it is, I am excited to see what’s in store!

Started AC Valhalla.

This was my first AC game and it was a great time. It made me realize that open world games are something that I could enjoy. I had ignored them up to that point.

I'm aware that the reboot is a fresh start, but I don't want any call backs to the old games to go over my head.

For what it’s worth, I found only one major callback. There is a whole scene that would probably not have any impact on players who are not familiar with the first games. I’m glad I went into the new game blind, though.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Finished Super Mario Bros 2 - Doki Doki panic. An interesting entry in the Mario franchise. It's a one off, kinda like The Adventures of Link. Although Nintendo introduced new enemies such as Shy Guys, Bob-Omb and Birdo, which have become iconic since then, Nintendo never revisited any ideas from this game, except maybe the four player character selection. Instead they did SM3, which kinda set the foundation for Mario going forward.

I also finished the DLC for Sunset Overdrive. This game is so much fun. Love the traversal, the frantic action and the humor. Insomniac knocked it out of the park with this one. Even though it flopped, I can see this game become a cult classic. I think it would do better sales wise with a remaster for current gen. It deserves recognition for its excellent gameplay, fun exploration, crazy characters and the variety of weapons at your disposal. It also has great character customization with a lot of different outfits. Highly recommend if you're gaming on Xbox or PC.

 

[Jesb]

When I was 15 hours into Octopath Traveler, I wondered how people managed to play the game for 100 hours and still be interested. Well, here I am, 88 hours into the game and still hooked.

I am at most character’s final chapter. I have finished Therion and Ophelia. Currently finishing Primrose with Tressa next. Haanit is my main character, so I’ll do her or Olberon next.

Cyrus has been ignored since Tressa completely rendered him obsolete. Alfyn also ignored because he is just plain boring.

On my way to the latest town, I stumbled into a shrine of the runeblade. I backed out and will return after finishing with Primrose. If this shrine is what I think it is, I am excited to see what’s in store!


This was my first AC game and it was a great time. It made me realize that open world games are something that I could enjoy. I had ignored them up to that point.


For what it’s worth, I found only one major callback. There is a whole scene that would probably not have any impact on players who are not familiar with the first games. I’m glad I went into the new game blind, though.

IMO it’s not the best entry. I been on a AC binge lately and both Origins and Odyssey are better games from what I’ve played so far. They also surprisingly look better too imo.

 

[R6Rider]

Just completed Killzone: Shadow Fall for the first time.

+art design and style is nice
+still holds up visually*
+great sounds effects and sound design overall**
+weapons feel punchy and have nice reloads
+ good variety of missions and locations
-*despite visually being nice, there is lots of nasty motion blur
-**there are a handful of odd scenes in which there is no background noise or music
- swapping between the drones abilities and when you can use them in the middle of a fight is clunky
- only having two weapons at any given time and one of them you can't change out is an awful choice
- too many "stealth" sections and they're not good, per usual
- energy shield enemies are awful and ruin any flow to the combat
- no FoV option and while it's not super low, it's still not very good

 

[M.W.]

Avengers on PC. Fun, dumb podcast game.

Speed Freeks on PC. Fun, dumb podcast game.

 

[Dazraell]

God of War (2005) - I want to play the newer GOW games but I can't remember much of the story. The original trilogy is not too long to beat so i'm replaying them as a refresher before diving into God of War (2018) and Ragnarok. I'm aware that the reboot is a fresh start, but I don't want any call backs to the old games to go over my head.

I would also recommend playing or watching a summary of Ghost of Sparta before starting Ragnarok. It's nothing major or anything like that, but I feel it's something you may appreciate

 

[Crayon]

Jumped back into NMS VR this weekend. It's so nice. Didn't feel like standing so I mostly played in the couch. I've never played this flat. Seems like a natural VR game and it would lose so much on a tv.

 

[drganon]

Beat red dead 1 and undead nightmare. Now about to start smt v vengeance.

 

[95mellow]

Decided to head back home with a Dark Souls: Remastered playthrough. Going for a strength build.

 

[Hypereides]

The Mobius Machine.

I don't imagine a lot of people have heard of this one, so here's a trailer:



It's pretty decent. Starts off easy, but then gets quite challenging. Dying quite a lot, and wondering if I've missed upgrades along the way..!

I'm playing on "retro" mode, which means you restart from the last save whenever you die.

Never heard of this. Looks great. Adding it to my list of interest.

 

[adamsapple]

Playing some more Alien: Isolation.

The motion tracker is such a simple but effective game play mechanism. I also appreciate that the game lets you focus on the tracker, or focus on the foreground separately. It just makes the presentation a lot more 'flimic' when the motion tracker is has a depth of field so you can focus on the foreground, but the dots are still visible enough that you can make out where things are on it (the tracker).

Sad that this game never got Pro or One X enhancements, but at least it's playable at 60 FPS on modern Xboxes.

 

[Humdinger]

I tried Outer Wilds, but it's not my kind of game. I should've done more research on it before buying. Only paid $10 though, so no big deal. Picked up the Bayonetta/Vanquish bundle and Metro Exodus for $13. Seems like a good deal. I'm sure one of those three will click with me.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Mafia | XSX
Red Matter 2 | Quest 3

I’m really enjoying both games. I feel like I’ve crossed the halfway point with both games. Mafia is great for the story and action stuff, and Red Matter 2 is great for the story and puzzle solving stuff. I’m really having the gaming time of my life.

 

[stn]

Lately just my first run through Bloodborne (PS4). Great game and I've been killing it (so far, at least).

 

[adamsapple]

Alien Isolation's incredible sound design and the sheer terror of the Xenomorph have given me quite a few mini heart attacks.

 

[BadBurger]

Chivalry 2 on PS5r is hilarious

 

[EverydayBeast]

Flying through dead space 2, very good game.

 

[BadBurger]

Hopped over to the Resident Evil 2 remake, playing CLaire or whoever the woman is.

Man, this game looks good. Like really good.

 

[adamsapple]

If you see this, it's already too late.

 

[Dazraell]

Still playing Yakuza 0. I'm currently on Chapter 14 and wrapping up Real Estate storyline

 

[Mr Hyde]

Arrived at The Magic Kingdom up in the sky in Chrono Trigger. Fought Azala and his Golem in the Stone Age time period, which is probably my least favorite era in the game. But this new area seems intriguing and is probably filled with interesting characters and nice secrets. The setting feels more in line with Final Fantasy than Chrono Trigger, to be honest.

 

[Bond007]

Destiny 2
MLB The Show 24

 

[Quixz]

Currently playing and enjoying the following

 

[DragoonKain]

Finished Avatar. It had its moments, but got super repetitive eventually. I tried to start System Shock remastered, but I'm just not in the head space to play a game that makes you wander aimlessly to figure things out on your own right now. Also the controls took too much getting used to and I was getting bad motion sickness with it for some reason, so decided to scrap the playthrough and go back to it another time.

Went to Gravity Circuit instead.

 

[Duchess]

Still on The Mobius Machine.

It's actually a lot more challenging than I was expecting, and one boss fight has left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. I'm passed it now, so carrying on.

Right now, I'd say it's a good game, but not a great one.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Octopath 2 has been absolutely amazing. It just keeps going. I must be like 125 hours in.

I thought I was signing up for a 35 hour classic square rpg...all I got was a classic jrpg that's well over 100 lol

I've got wu Kong and elden ring to play.

And so many more
.someone help me.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

Avengers on PC. Fun, dumb podcast game.

Speed Freeks on PC. Fun, dumb podcast game.

Been playing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and I feel exactly the same about it.

The story is surprisingly decent, overall the game isn't bad.

 

[hemo memo]

Clearing my PS5 backlog before I give it to my nephew. Currently playing Tales of Arise

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Octopath 2 has been absolutely amazing. It just keeps going. I must be like 125 hours in.

I thought I was signing up for a 35 hour classic square rpg...all I got was a classic jrpg that's well over 100 lol

I'm saying the same thing about the first game. I'm almost 100 hours in. I'm getting close to the end.. maybe.

 

[adamsapple]

Finished Alien: Isolation.

Visions of Mana releases next week plus a few more days for gamefly to deliver my copy, so have some spare time.

Started Octopath Traveler II, let'se see how much I get through in the week lol

 

[DirtyBast8rd]

Finished Still wakes the Deep today. Bloody great game. Mix the movies The Thing and the criminally underrated Underwater together and you get the vibe. I kinda want the art book from the game but is to expensive for an art book. Will surely play it again some time.

Started Callisto Protocol which is free on Epic at the moment. Never bought it because in didn't wanna pay and play a discount Dead Space, but it's my kinda game genre so a free play through, why not.

 

[Gandih42]

Finally finished my first run of SMT V: Vengeance (Canon of Vengeance, Chaos Ending), utterly awesome game. Game looks great too thanks to the really strong art direction (despite mostly sparse environments).

Will probably keep at it a bit more for more endings and the superbosses (one is already kicking my ass...)

Also took a dive into the Discovery mode in AC: Odyssey after visiting Crete for a holiday. Actually a really cool feature and I appreciate the game a lot more for it's historical aspects, having seen a lot of it in-person. Though it is funny that in-game Knossos did not have one of most famous frescoes associated with it, which I instead saw in some random tomb elsewhere. Still cool though, good use of ancient Minoan art.

 

[Lunarorbit]

Does eiyuden Chronicles get difficult? I put it down a month ago after about 5 hours or so. I was just auto battling the entire time.

It was the most egregious waste of time in a turn based rpg I've had in a long time. I was down with suikoden when it first came here but I just wanna know if this is worth my time.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Chapter 11 in Spec Ops: The Line. I played this first on PS3 and I remember not liking it at all. Replaying it now on GoG and its actually pretty good. The setting of Dubai is cool. You traverse both the unforgiving desert, with sandstorms and sand dunes making life hell as well as miles high skyscrapers where one step on the wrong ledge spells sayonara. The skirmishes are pretty intense, with deadly shoot outs almost all the time. Its pretty difficult too. Graphics still holds up pretty well and it runs at 60 fps, whereas the PS3 could barely hold 30.

 

[Roberts]

Need to get back to Flintlock. I really like the game, but I have been distracted by other things and have a hard time committing to it once again.

But after finishing Creatures of Ava I switched to Kena and it's funny to see so many similarities despite both games not being really all that much alike. That said, Kena is way more pretty and tight from the gameplay perspective. Ava had a more unique approach to the story, though.

Saw that Atomic Heart is going to leave GP. I did finish it when it came out, but I wanted to check it again and see if I want to buy it. Man that game runs and looks so freaking good on XSX and compared to UE5 games it doesn't look like it compromises much when it comes to resolution - the game looks sharp.

 

[Rippa]

After Erdtree, I’ve been on a quest to clean up the trophies and platinum the Dark Souls series. I’ve got platinum for all other FROM souls games but them.

So I started with DS3 and achieved platinum.

Now I’m on to DS2 and I’m 2 trophies out from platinum.

Then it will be on to DS1 where I have about 16 trophies to clean up for the platinum.

 

[Neolombax]

Trying to finish up Midnight Suns before it leaves ps+. Ive got Nier downloaded as well since its leaving but I dont know if I want to start. I've finished the ps3 version a few times. Also playing Concord now. Much prefer this over OW2 or Xdefiant.