Continuing my first ever Portal 2 playthrough. Currently I’m stuck, but I’m motivated to try again. There has to be a way to get through this level. And I want to do it without searching for solutions online.
You can do it!
I’m jealous. I’ve played it so much I have all the puzzles memorized. I wish I could be challenged by it again. I miss those days.
There was one (1) spot that got me seriously stuck in Portal 2, I think about halfway thru? Here’s hoping you can work through it better than I did (I had to look up the solution).
I’m still playing baldur’s gate 3. I don’t get a load of screen time do I’ve been playing it for over a month now. About 300 hours in and working through act 3. Never played dungeons and dragons stuff before but I’m really enjoying it. Also, occasionally, mewgenics.
I finished Silent Hill f:
Overall I give it a 7, nice atmosphere and graphics, the story isn’t bad but I didn’t have trouble identifying the underlying themes and therefore more or less predicting where it was going. This game is very… Japanese.
spoiler
They love their teenage protagonists and their coming of age stories, I liked their criticism of Japanese society, especially in terms of women’s issues. The folklore part flew over my head for the most part, but I knew not to trust the fox mask beforehand.
I hated the combat, I’m not a fan of souls-like games in general, I only finished Dark Souls 1 once many years ago and that’s it. I think it’s not hardcore souls-like but it goes that route which I didn’t enjoy.
After a fellow Lemmy user asked me about it, I checked out Routine and ended up playing it (and haven’t finished yet). I immediately liked the retro futurist setting, and the game doesn’t seem to be very long.
The gameplay is like a spooky hide and seek, it gets somewhat tense at some points, but I wouldn’t say it’s scary.
Except
spoiler
the very moment a robot catches you, that’s made me jump a couple of times.
The story is interesting and the puzzles aren’t hard to figure out in general, although some have given me a bit more trouble trying to solve them than others.
I’m also playing Quantum Void, another (mostly) walking simulator set in space with retro futurist aesthetics. Interesting story and nice visuals, it’s obvious that the game’s made by a small team but I don’t mind it, I’m enjoying it.
And I think I managed to advance in Arctic Awakening, so I might be able to finish it after all!
Glad you’re enjoying Routine! I was so close to buying it on the last sale, too. Looking forward to hearing your final verdict once you’re finished.
Sometimes I hate myself. I was pressing a repeatedly before getting to the main menu and started a new game by error, deleting my game completely. I wasn’t too far from the ending, so I just watched a video instead. The game’s story is divided in two. The second part starts slow again but gets a bit scarier than the first part. Not the type of survival horror I’m used to play, but the game is good and interesting. The best part is the setting for me, I’d give it a 7.5 or 8.
I have never met someone who lost their saves back-to-back before, hahaha. What nefarious spirit did you anger to call this curse upon you? Also that sounds like a remarkably bad save system in Routine, unfortunately.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I’ll definitely keep an eye out for it during future sales. I’ve heard others praise the setting too, that’s definitely one of the things I’m attracted too. Especially the interior and clutter design, which very few games get right.
I should have used more than one save slot, but no autosave slots is a design flaw IMO. I’ve never had this problem before as far as I remember. Maybe during the 5th or 6th generation, who knows.
I think the game makes you wander around a bit too much a couple of times, but it’s nothing obnoxious. It’s obvious that the game was made by a small team, but I think it’s very well done for what it is.
I’ll tag you when I’m done.
finally got my steam machine (yaaaaaaay) and am revisiting arkham asylum.
and I plan giving the Ys series a try! foes someone have a recommendation which one to start with?
Bruh wut‽ My deck says it’s not functional. Wonder what the difference is.
The first two games (sold as Ys I & II Chronicles+ these days) are simple but still hold up pretty well, especially graphically. I haven’t played later ones so I can’t say anything about the rest of the series unfortunately.
Fantastic game, I need to replay it soon.
Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale
I never managed to complete the third week payment and abandoned the game frustrated.
Now, years later I checked the internet and it seems that the best route to pay the debt is to ignore the dungeons and focus on buying and selling, which made it too easy.
Is The Talos Principle old enough to end up here? If it is, then I’m recommending it with great ease. Feels like such a great puzzler with little to no action or reflexes required, a lovely magnitudes of secrets to hunt, both apparently tied to progression and just Easter eggs, and a lot of optional reading if you’re into lore-diving.
It’s from Croteam, the people behind Serious Sam, although I can’t say how much of the original crew worked on The Talos Principle. Still, their own engine offers itself very well to puzzle-solving and exploration through walking (or sprinting).
Such a gem.
I would say yes, it is from 2014, playing it now is being more than patient.
Loved the game despite me being bad at puzzles.
I’m finding the progression to be very smart - earlier levels felt more difficult actually because I wasn’t accustomed to the way the developers set things up. I can’t describe it too well, but as you keep solving stuff, you kind of know what to expect and have the idea of the what the solution might look like sooner, and you sort of work backwards from there.
If you want more puzzles, The Witness is also a great title. Although I found it to be downright maddening at times despite being able to beat it. I really like the variety of puzzles there, realy unique in that regard and its design. Hunting for secrets and extra stuff there takes lot, tol, though, but it’s all so beautiful and rewarding.
I beat Evil West and Heartless & Dreadful this week. Fun games I will revisit for sure, especially Evil West. What a blast. Most fun I’ve ever had bashing through hordes of vampires/monsters.
That said, both had moments I’d take out if I could. Evil West had these mundane puzzle segments that just filled time in between enemy encounters, and, similarly, Heartless & Dreadful had tedious platforming segments I didn’t enjoy.
Combat is king though, and combat was good in Heartless & Dreadful and awesome in Evil West.
I hope we get Evil West 2 at some point.
Currently playing through El Shaddai and it’s pretty fun. I love the no HUD commitment. Your health bar is basically your armor: the more you get hit, the more pieces you lose. Same as your enemies.
You also could knock enemies down and steal their weapons, which weakens them greatly and forces you to cycle through weapons during combat encounters, which I like a lot.
I’m hoping to finish it on the weekend and start Lost Judgment afterwards, which I’m worried I may not fully enjoy.
I bought it because of the combat footage and praise for the combat system I’ve been seeing everywhere, but I have no interest in stealth missions, open world quests, dialogue trees or anything RPG, so IDK if combat will be enough for me to beat it and I may refund if I feel I know for sure I won’t like it within the refund window.
After finishing Hogwarts Legacy (bit of a bummer in the story ending, to be honest), I’ve started Kingdom Come: Deliverance and boy this is hard.
KCD so rewarding, when it finally clicks. It took me sevaral attempts, because it’s so weirdly different.
I love It because it’s basically a “Medieval time simulator” and I’m being beaten up every time I encounter someone 😂
Got through all the Hitman 3 mastery achievements and half the Hitman 1 ones. Gonna finish 1 and then go on to 2.
You’re talking about the IO interactive Hitman games, right? Can you play them offline yet? The games look very good but this has kept me from buying them.
The fans have made a local server replacement to emulate unlocks and such. It even lets you run the old timed FOMO missions, so it’s technically superior to playing online.
Sort of? The main campaign is playable but not the other game modes, and you can’t progress location mastery or get unlocks. The game also differentiates offline and online save files and you can’t go between them. It’s by far my least favourite part of this game. It’s one of my all time favourites but the online semi-requirement is awful. I really wish they’d change it.
How to Fish. Love being able to quickscope trout.
Got a new wheel and pedals, so back in to Gran Turismo!
Final Fantasy XIV
Whenever I play online games I tend to lean towards support gameplay - usually medic. That was also my plan for this attempt at getting into FFXIV but I wasn’t really feeling it and, since I don’t expect to play in a group, decided to play a combat role instead. Specifically: Pugilist (punch girl).
I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t fun under current circumstances but at the same time, it’s still FFXIV so I feel rather neutral about the whole experience. I’ll keep trying to stick with it, at least for now, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be moving on the moment I find something else that catches my interest. This game doesn’t really gel with me and that sucks, because I do think it’s a solid title.
Well, at least I don’t hate it.
FTL: Advanced Edition
This is more of a one-off as I installed it to check out whether achievement synchronisation between the Heroic Launcher and GOG works for this title (it doesn’t for the Croc remaster for example but that might be a problem with the game rather than Heroic). Still ended up doing a near full run, dying only to the final boss.
I’ll have to get back to this game for real some time but for now my experiment ended up being successful so I happy with that.
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
I love Shantae. It’s the only series I can say this about without a doubt - no ifs, no buts, just pure enjoyment. It’s something I didn’t expect to say about a game, let alone a series and yet here we are.
I played through the base game of HGH a year or two ago, now I decided to come back to complete the pirate mode. It’s the same set of levels with remixed challenges and played from the perspective of Risky Boots (Shantae’s main antagonist). She has her own set of mechanics - some of which might feel familiar for anyone who played Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, others completely new. All in all, it’s a rather different experience compared to the base game.
The early game was pretty rough, as base Risky (without her gadgets) can feel a bit limiting. The lack of options mixed with her levels relaying more on off screen and constantly respawning dangers can lead to moments that feel less like a challenge and more like a chore. Thankfully, finishing each level grants you new abilities, expanding your movement and attack in ways that quickly make you forget about the initial frustration. What started as a worrying session of annoyance ended up being a very enjoyable playthrough. I still have a few more modes to play through but considering they all make use of the same set of levels, I’ll leave them for the future to avoid burnout.
Shantae: HGH isn’t a perfect game nor is it the best title in the series. Despite its flaws however it’s still a part of my favourite series ever and a game I have a very hard time disliking. I hope the remaining games I’m yet to play through (original, Risky Revolution and the Seven Sirens) will keep this trend going.
slowly making progress in Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, it’s sweet and fun to experiment with every echo you learn
also just started Weird West on PC, the camera angle is… interesting
Been playing idle fantasy and unciv on Android while traveling. Really like the fact that these are foss games and don’t require a network connection.
Got a link for idle fantasy ?
Guessing it’s this: https://f-droid.org/packages/com.tristinbaker.idlefantasy
That’s it
Still playing Vintage Story, the hardcore survival minecraft for adults. I just finished my cementation furnace to make steel, so I’m prepping a lot of charcoal and iron ingots.
Also, a game I wasn’t patient for: Iron Nest. A pretty good dieselpunk tank game where the focus is on mapping, reconnaissance and calculating firing solutions. The sound of the massive cannons is just epic. Most satisfying BOOM ever.
