What are you playing? (2024 Edition)

[Thirith]

My impression is that there's definitely some political subtext to Nine Sols, but it'll definitely be less pronounced than in their earlier games. But I'm definitely looking forward to checking Detention out before long.

[Tomi]

I've been playing Immortals of Aveum. I wasn't expecting much from a pretty generic looking FPS from EA with mediocre reviews, but I noticed that the game is single player only, so it might be worth a shot. And it's actually pretty fun!

I don't think I've played an FPS with a fantasy theme since good old Heretic/Hexen, so this alone makes the game feel quite fresh. Having said that, I haven't played many FPS games at all in a long time, but I'm enjoying Immortals of Aveum a lot more than Deathloop for example. IoA is fairly generic fantasy, but they've thrown in futuristic spaceships and other oddities to make things a bit... weird. Then again the people of Aveum use traditional tools and wooden carts and other medieval kind of stuff, so the world design doesn't always seem that coherent. Visually Immortals of Aveum is a mixed bag. It looks good in the Unreal Engine way - everything looks awesome and shiny from a far, but it's all just an empty shell. There are invisible barriers all over the place which can be frustrating, and 99,9% of all the objects in the world are just there for decoration - you can't interact with anything. (That's only my impression of games that use Unreal Engine, so please don't be mad at me.)

The story is nothing special and it's quite predictable, but it's just an excuse to go kill more baddies in a game like this anyway, and I like it how it doesn't take itself too seriously. I've read a bunch of reviews where they call the protagonist Jak and the humour of the game "really annoying", but I think it's quite refreshing in a way.

How about the gameplay then? Well... it could be better. It's quite mediocre in just about every way, but it's not bad! Even though the game is set in a fantasy world and you have three types of magic to use, the gameplay doesn't differ much from any other fast-paced action FPS. Red magic is for powerful short range attacks that deal heavy area damage... just like shotgun, right? So, blue magic is the (sniper) rifle of this game, and green magic is of course the machine gun magic. To make things a bit more interesting, there are some lite RPG elements with skill points and new spells, and combo-based attacks spice up the hectic battles in a good way. For me the biggest problem is that the enemies aren't particularly interesting, and they barely seem to react when I hit them, which is no fun. Your spells don't feel very powerful at all. But the combats are usually quite well balanced, and there are some light puzzles and a lot of places to explore to mix things up a bit, which is always nice.

[Renault]

Played some Children of the Sun over the weekend. It's a sniping game, where you kill a bunch of cult members. It's pretty short, I'm 5 hours in and already on the last level, but it's also got some fairly unique shooting mechanics, so completely worth it IMO. It's very dark, and loud, and you'll mostly feel bad/ugly/evil playing it. But once I started, I couldn't stay away. It's sorta similar to Superhot, where you have to plan out your strategy on who you will shoot and in what order before the level begins. One cool twist I don't remember seeing before is that you get an achievement for each level but only if you complete it in a very specific way (your shot must travel through a certain open door, or you have to kill everyone by blowing up a vehicle next to them, etc.) so it's completely logical (and fun) to play each level more than once.

Now I've moved on to Pacific Drive, which is another story. My first car in high school was a station wagon, so this shit is feeling kinda personal. Anyway, it's got it's hooks in me already, but more on that later.

[Subjective Effect]

Stardew Valley! I've only started it really but so far it's just ace. I've got two sprinklers, that's how early on I am, but I've had a good explore and it's just so... nice.

[Malf]

In the face of a bunch of far-right assholes rioting in the UK, I've felt the urge to shoot some Nazis.

So I've headed back to one of my comfort games, Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

I still absolutely adore this game, even after all these years. And its first few levels, the escape from the titular castle, are still incredibly well-paced; it's still one of the best starts to a first-person shooter ever as far as I'm concerned, right up there with Half Life... although (whisper it), maybe even better for narrative economy.

As usual, I've lost impetus since reaching the tombs, with the zombies and their poor reactivity to being shot. But I'm going to push through this time, as there's still a lot of the game I want to revisit.

And it's very satisfying and therapeutic.

It's also good to go back and play a game from this era, before progression mechanics and achievements tainted everything, and when everyone knew that the best way to deal with a Nazi was to shoot them in the face.

I will get back to Gloomwood and CTRL-ALT-EGO at some point. But I'm in the mood for something that doesn't require quite as much thinking at the moment. Playing both at the same time is quite draining.

I just want to know what I am going to do with all this cheese, and RtCW has the answer.

[salass00]

I just beat chapter 3 obsession on Darkest Dungeon 2 despite going in completely blind against the final boss, not having a single clue what its gimmick was going to be.

After failing several runs using various B team compositions (I didn't want to risk the characters who had memories on them), none of them making it anywhere near the final boss, I decided to bring in the A team (hellion, MaA, PD, GR) who had pretty effortlessly beaten both chapter 2 and chapter 1.

Everything was going really well until I got to the second phase of the final boss. Just a few turns in and its effortlessly taking down both my frontline units to death's door even with the improved block tokens on the MaA. There's no way I'm able to keep up with this with the limited healing skills available in the game (the fact that the boss gets to attack more than once per turn definitely isn't helping) so I lose them both to deathblows quick enough (the MaA had a resolve check and went resolute at one point which helped him survive a little longer). After losing two characters, one of them being my main damage dealer, I honestly thought it was game over for this run but somehow the defiant plague doctor and stealthed dead-eye grave robber (I had her equipped with a trinket that gives stealth tokens every turn and massive +crit when stealthed) managed to both survive long enough to bring the boss down.

[henke]

Alrighty, finished Thief 2 (again) last night. The whole final stretch does somewhat drag the overall experince down. The Casing / Masks mansion is just not very fun. A lot of marble floors. Every door takes really long to pick. And the whole layout is just quite boring and repetetive. There's some hidden paths to spice things up but, eh. A mission where you case a joint is a fun idea, but here it kinda falls flat. I think a much better way to do a mission like this is set it in a space that's open to the public, ike the bank, for instance. Garrett could've gone in during daytime, mapped out the place a bit, maybe snuck into some off-limits areas to accomplish some objective, then had to come back during the night for the real mission. Sabotage at Soulforge was more fun than I remembered. A big intimidating space with lots of things that want to hurt you and no health potions. Karras has some great monologues here. The whole thing kinda drags on for a bit too long though, and I think that's why a lot of people end up disliking this mission.

Also been replaying another thief game... Uncharted 4: A Thief's End! I didn't think much of this back when it came out, but I'm enjoying it more the second time through. It's quite simplistic and on the rails, but the stealth/action gameplay is fun and the story is decent. I think back then my disappointment stemmed from high post-TLOU expectations, and a fatigue of these kinda cover-shooter games. It actually feels like these games are kinda rare these days? Can't remember the last new game I've played in this style.

[Thirith]

@henke: You might enjoy the standalone expansion The Lost Legacy. It has the strengths of Uncharted 4, but it’s more compact and focused, which I think is very much to its benefit.

[Sulphur]

I replayed Uncharted 4 recently, too, and I liked it more the second time around as well, not least because it plays a lot nicer at 60 FPS on the PS5. It's still a little too drawn out, and I appreciate the story they were trying to tell, but Nate and Elena's relationship jigsaws into the fun action-adventuring awkwardly because the two halves don't really work with each other by design, which lends the entire game a sort of anti-energy that pulls it down. The surprise brother wasn't something I was a fan of either, because we've had at least 3 games without a single mention of him prior, but beyond that he exists purely as a foil for Nathan - if Elena's the angel sitting on one shoulder, Sam's meant to represent the devil on the other. This is fine in theory, but in practice I felt it was at least slightly contrived without any winning chemistry to save it.

But that doesn't matter a lot, because the action and the set-pieces still sell the entire thing, and the latter are incredible and remain best in class across the medium. The environments to this day are gorgeous to behold, and technical achievements given the hardware they were originally operating on. And, most importantly, the game's fun when it's firing on all cylinders, which isn't as often as Uncharted 2, but it's still a fine enough play.

[Tomi]

I played Shadow Warrior 3 because it's leaving Game Pass in a week.

It's my introduction to the series, and I gotta say that it isn't exactly what I expected. I didn't expect the game to be one big joke, and it took me a few hours to warm up for the protagonist who's an intolerable idiot pretty much throughout the game. Everything in the game is so over the top that it seemed annoying at first, but once I decided to just go with the flow, I started enjoying it all a lot more. The action is a bit too hectic for me, but it's fun enough for a quick gaming session. And fortunately SW3 is a fairly short game so it manages not to overstay its welcome.

Now that I've finished the game I have no desire to get back to it, but I may be interested to try one of the older Shadow Warrior games some time.

[WingedKagouti]

Now that I've finished the game I have no desire to get back to it, but I may be interested to try one of the older Shadow Warrior games some time.

SW1 is a reasonably long single player game (with NG+ available), about twice as long as SW3. Gameplay wise it's the least complex of the three, but it can still be fast paced at times during combat.

SW2 leans more towards being a roguelite looter-shooter, with randomized level layouts and weapon/armor upgrades being random drops, though it's not quite as random as most roguelites. Combat is more frantic than SW1. It also has 4 player coop.

Compared to those two, SW3 feels more like the devs attempt at doing their own version of DOOM: Eternal.

Lo Wang being a total idiot is a constant in all three, though he does get some decent character moments in each game. I would wager it's harder to figure out which parts are meaningful to Lo Wang in 3 if you haven't played 1 or 2, simply because he yammers on in a way that makes obvious his ego is "a tiny bit" inflated.

[nicked]

And if you're a fan of casual racism, there's always the original Shadow Warrior on the build engine.

[vurt]

Terminus Zombie Survivors.

Eh. It's ok. I think i might like it better than Project Zomboid, graphically it's definitely worse though. 20 euro is also too much for what it is.
I'll refund, maybe i'll finally buy Dwarf Fortress, been planning to play it for years lol

[Malf]

If DF clicks with you, it'll literally provide years of great gaming.
Just make sure to install DFHack alongside it.
DFHack is now a free download from the Steam store, so auto-updates alongside the game and launches with it, requiring zero installation faff.

As for myself, I've had to change my gaming habits, potentially for the next 6-8 weeks, as I got a Mallet Finger injury while changing bedding over the weekend (apparently a common enough cause of the injury for it to be noted on the NHS website).
Basically, while tucking in a sheet, my left middle finger-tip went !POP!, and now won't straighten on it's own, as the tendon has come away from the bone.
So my W/S finger is splinted and restricted in movement, making games that rely on WASD style controls mostly out of the question.
Gamepads work mostly fine, and things with comprehensive mouse control, so I'm back to playing Streets of Rogue and Baldur's Gate 3, where I'm going to try and finally complete a Dark Urge Honour Mode run.

So yeah, PSA: take care when changing the bedsheets!

[vurt]

If DF clicks with you, it'll literally provide years of great gaming.
Just make sure to install DFHack alongside it.
DFHack is now a free download from the Steam store, so auto-updates alongside the game and launches with it, requiring zero installation faff.

Nice! The mods is where those games are at! I love Rimworld, but MUCH of that is because of the mods that makes it go from a good game to a really great game.

[Malf]

Well DFHack is more a massive suite of quality-of-life tools. It's so big, it's got its own wiki-style knowledgebase
For example, it adds the ability to queue up build orders for furnishings; the base game doesn't have that feature, which can be quite disconcerting after having played things like Rimworld or Oxygen Not Included.

[Briareos H]

Quick roundup of the summer gaming binge, limited to games I completed:

The Talos Principle 2: Strongly recommended if you liked the original or if you are not afraid of a first-person puzzle game being a narrative walking sim at the same time. I thought it took the first game's plot in a brilliant direction, this series might well be my favourite sci-fi story in video gaming.

The Talos Principle 2 - Road to Elysium: Strongly recommended if you liked the main game and want more. Lots of new puzzles, some of them seriously difficult (Road to Gehenna levels of difficult), some of them that take you off the beaten track. There is something for everyone.

Untitled Goose Game: Recommended if you like a bit of stealth and a bit of puzzle in your short & silly animal mayhem simulator. It was both more and less fun than it sounded initially. More because I just can't put into words how cathartic and consistently hilarious it feels to be a realistic asshole goose. Less because the actual stealth gameplay is a lot more frustrating that what it looks like on screen.

Ashes: Hard Reset: Recommended if you liked the previous titles, but if you haven't played Ashes or Ashes 2063 then play those instead. A more linear spin-off to the Ashes TC series, I felt it was more often unfair and unbalanced but it still has some pretty cool maps.

Dangeresque: The Roomisode Triungulate: Strong badly recommended if you're a fan and miss the gang. 3(+1) single-screen point & click adventures with the classic H*R humor.

Minds Beneath Us: Strongly recommended if you like East Asian cyberpunk and don't mind visual novels. Fantastic style, interesting themes tackled in meaningful ways (one of those being workplace dynamics, which I feel isn't represented enough in gaming) and solid characters. Lots of GITS influence. My only negative is that it runs out of steam and stretches its final chapters a bit much.

World of Goo 2: Not particularly recommended. Apart from one Frog Fractions-esque chapter that is a welcome departure from the rest of the game and if you'll pardon a crass comparison, World of Goo 2 is to World of Goo as The Force Awakens is to A New Hope.

Ori and the Blind Forest: Recommended if you want a light Metroidvania and can focus on gorgeous execution that hides somewhat bland style, story and mechanics.

Sheepy: A Short Adventure: Strongly recommended if you want a light Metroidvania and can focus on gorgeous execution that hides a bite-sized game that would deserve to be way longer.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake: Not recommended. I only got this edition for the possibility of co-op play. As a signature Josef Fares adventure it has obvious teething problems, being far too predictable and heavy-footed. As a remake (more a remaster, really), it's surprisingly buggy and the new style isn't very inspired. As a couch co-op game, it's tepid.

[salass00]

I beat the final confession/chapter of Darkest Dungeon 2 about a week ago. The final boss took me just over half an hour to defeat but wasn't all that difficult (I had a good team). IIRC it was: (from front to back) hellion, flagellant, grave robber, vestal.

Not long after I decided I would try to get the grand slam trophy for beating all five confessions using the same four characters without any of them dying. The team I chose for this was: leper, flagellant, grave robber, plague doctor. I started by doing the two by far most difficult confessions (3rd and 2nd) to get them out of the way early. I made it through them relatively easily with maybe a few lucky deathblow resists. Then I did the easier 4th and 5th chapters, leaving the easiest for last.

Starting the 1st confession again with my team of four champions who have defeated all the other four confessions the first region I pick to go to is Tangle. The region goal is to visit an oasis for two mastery points (easy peasy). My first cross road I have a choice between three unknown/quesion mark locations. I pick what seems like the most convenient one that will allow me to visit the oasis next. Turns out that the first node I get to is a shambler altar, and the only choice I get is between the plague doctor and the flagellant and they both want to fight the shambler. I really don't want to fight the shambler because it's an unnecessary risk and the rewards may not be worth it but as I don't have a choice I pick the flagellant's option as it at least gives a crit token on combat start for him. Well, what happened was that this team killed the shambler easily enough, only for the plague doctor to take a big crit just as they're cleaning up the remaining clapper jaws that brings her down to death's door from almost full health. As this is very early in the run I don't have any healing combat items and I didn't think to equip deathless on the flagellant, so the only option for me is to hope that she can survive the first deathblow proc from the DOT and heal herself with battle medicine. Guess what happened ...

[Tomi]

So I've headed back to one of my comfort games, Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

I still absolutely adore this game, even after all these years. And its first few levels, the escape from the titular castle, are still incredibly well-paced; it's still one of the best starts to a first-person shooter ever as far as I'm concerned, right up there with Half Life... although (whisper it), maybe even better for narrative economy.

As usual, I've lost impetus since reaching the tombs, with the zombies and their poor reactivity to being shot. But I'm going to push through this time, as there's still a lot of the game I want to revisit.

RtCW is awesome, and I agree with pretty much everything that you said. I haven't played it for years though, and I probably never will anymore, because I don't want the game to lose its magic.

The zombie levels were very atmospheric and I loved them for that, but as video game enemies the zombies just weren't too much fun. In general, all Wolfenstein games seem to have the same problem. They start off well and everything feels relatively "normal" in the beginning of the game, but then you get all sorts of occult stuff and crazy futuristic technology and super weapons thrown in, and suddenly everything goes way over the top.

The Old Blood is quite easily my favourite game in the series.

[Neb]

Is RtCW really that good? I heard that the VR mod is fantastic, so I was always going to get around to trying it out.

[Tomi]

Nostalgia plays a big role in here of course. It was a good game in 2001, but if you're playing it for the first time 23 years later, you probably won't be too impressed. RtCW had its flaws even in 2001; bullet sponge enemies and forced stealth being my least favourite things, but the atmosphere was incredible, the gunplay felt good and the delivery of the story was great. Too bad the latter half of the game turned a bit too weird and supernatural for me.

Did anyone ever play Wolfenstein (2009) by Raven Software? It's the only game in the series that I haven't played, and nowadays it's not available anywhere.

[Harvester]

I quit at the first stealth level. Even when done well, I tolerate stealth gameplay rather than like it, and this was a terrible stealth level. I joined TTLG because of System Shock and later Deus Ex, not Thief. I couldn’t even get through the admittedly very charming Beyond Good & Evil.

[Starker]

Even if you get past all the stealth sections in Beyond Good and Evil, there's a gimmicky boss fight awaiting at the end that many people hated passionately.

[henke]

I liked the stealth in RtCW. It wasn't very good, but I liked the fact that you could stealth some of it. I even tried stealthing some bits that really weren't meant to be stealth sections.

I've been playing a bit of Call of Chtulhu 2018. Made it through the sleepy fishing town section, got to the creepy mansion section and got so bored I gave up. Watched a bit of Grimbeard's video about it, got intrigued, played some more. I'm now in the spooky asylum and the game is giving me a proper challenge for the first time, with a stealth bit where you sneak around and try to figure out how to escape. It feels a lot like Thief 2014 actually, because of the aesthetic, a lot of hand animations, and the asylum setting.

[Malf]

Did anyone ever play Wolfenstein (2009) by Raven Software? It's the only game in the series that I haven't played, and nowadays it's not available anywhere.

I've played it through to completion before, and last started replaying it in 2020.
It's pretty good, although it goes hard on the supernatural stuff, and ends up feeling less well realised than other entries. It also suffers from coming from the era of games with different vision modes, resulting in you playing the game a lot of the time with an aggressive teal filter over everything as you swap to the "other world".
It's a perfectly fine Raven 7/10 game, much like Quake 4.
Interestingly, the town map in this version shares some of the street layout of RtCW, which is a nice throwback.

I've not played Youngblood, having been put off by the whiff of Live Service taint, but I would say RtCW remains my favourite, followed by The New Order.
I wasn't quite as taken with The Old Blood as most people, and The New Colossus left a nasty taste in my mouth, not being as focussed or complete as The New Order. This is also where they started playing with making the game "endless", and I feel the game suffered for it.

I would say that for me, Wolfenstein 2009 probably sits between The New Colossus and The Old Blood. Well worth a playthrough if you can get a hold of it somehow, but eh, doesn't matter if not.