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[Naldrag]

I remember playing a bit of the DS version a long long time ago.  It's pretty good for what it is.  The HD versions of the Resident Evil remake and Resident Evil 0 have options for a control scheme that doesn't use tank controls kinda like the N64 version of Resident Evil 2.  Thought I'd mention that if it'd help boost interest in playing them.

[The Satellite]

Oh don't worry, I'm aware. I admit I've heard a lot of mixed things about Zero to the point I'm not sure if I'd even like it, but I do own it on Steam thanks to a bundle so I may end up at least trying it later.

[Shoshon the Elegant]

Beat Persona 3 Portable, 4 Golden and 5 Royal recently. Now I’ve jumped into Revelations: Persona, and plan on doing Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment afterwards.

This stuff makes me want to do a turn based battle system.

[The Satellite]

Well, my deep dive continues. Resident Evil 3 Remake down... in two nights. So, I'd wanted this on PS4, but it was only on sale on Steam. So I bought it, intending to start it when I finished my new PC... until suddenly it went on sale on PS4, so I quickly refunded my Steam copy and bought it there instead. Mostly for parity with RE2make, which I also played on PS4, and let's be honest, the controller light color changing to indicate your health is awesome.

 

Anyway, it's good! And disappointing. At the same time. It's a weird feeling. I've never played the original RE3 mind you, and I don't particularly intend to because by now I've had my fill of classic RE with predetermined camera angles and tank controls. Yeah, that's just one game, thanks to the N64 port of RE2 offering an alternative, but it's way too awkward and clunky, especially with combat. It might more be the angles than the tank controls if I'm honest, but together it compounds the issue. I'd like to watch a longplay of RE3, my only exposure to it otherwise is from SomecallmeJohnny's review, just so I can compare to the original.

 

As it stands, all I'm aware of is that the puzzles are stronger in the original, there's a missing boss, and Nemesis... was more of an everpresent threat. In Remake... he feels stunningly scripted, and that's one of the ways the game feels disappointing. Only appears under circumstances, and early on in Raccoon City streets, when it would make the most sense to have him chase you everywhere (barring safe rooms so you can breathe), there are still areas he avoids and it's really easy to lose him. I don't know, after Mr. X in RE2make, I would've liked something more, and yes, I realize I'm three years late to this realization. His boss fights are alright... except for the penultimate one, where he can combo you and give you zero time to dodge or heal if you get knocked down, which is fucking bullshit.

 

Otherwise... yeah, I like the game enough. Feels as good as RE2make, and the dodging mechanic can help navigate zombies while conserving ammo, although I swear it can be temperamental. I miss being able to throw zombies off you with the knife or a grenade, but I guess that's the tradeoff for being able to dodge as well as having an unbreakable knife. Will say I was annoyed when I saved a room for last at the end of my trek through the city streets at the start, only to trigger a cutscene event and get locked out of it permanently without realizing that would happen. Found out I missed out on a hip pouch. That fucking sucked.

 

Did I like it? Yes. Did something feel missing? Also yes. It's a bizarre mix of feelings, and I wonder if the game emphasizing horror less contributed at all. Oh it has its moments, and when it does them, it does them well, but it's definitely more actionized than RE2make. Not that this was really a problem for 4, I guess... ? I'm still enthusiastic for the 4 remake, and not just because I lack the nostalgic attachment most have to 4, but... I don't have that attachment to 3 and remain somewhat disappointed in its remake. While still liking it. It's bizarre and I can't really quantify my feelings in words, so I'll stop trying.

[The Satellite]

Resident Evil 4 Remake down. Happy to see reception is positive among even hardcore fans of the original. As someone who didn't have nostalgic attachment to the original, I thought the remake blew it out of the water in nearly every regard. Visually it's gorgeous, it feels amazing to control, the story presentation is much improved... There's not a lot I think the original did better. Krauser still sorta feels like he came out of nowhere, but they do a better job of at least setting him up and making things feel more personal between him and Leon. The merchant may not be as immediately hammy, but his abundance of lines easily endeared him to me more than the original; and let's not pretend he's not still hamming it up. Leon is just as good as the original and perhaps better, and Ashley... holy shit, she's so much better! She acts way more realistically, has actual interactions with Leon, has actual character growth, and now I'd actually like to see her show up again!

 

Bravo, remake. Now give us Mouse Ashley DLC.

 

Gonna talk some things in spoilers, mostly those few elements from the original I miss:

 

Spoiler

I do want to mention how much I loved that conversation Leon and Ashley had in the castle. It was great seeing Leon give her advice and try to be supportive. And the lead up to the conversation fixed up one of the biggest eye-rolls of the original: Why Ashley ran from Leon. Originally, it was just her coughing up blood and being like "omg get away from me" before running off and getting separated. In the remake, it's because Saddler took control of her to attack Leon, and she freaked out and ran, not wanting to harm him again and being terrified at not being in control of herself. Reasonable! That makes sense! Also her playable segment is so much better! And, again, full of little character moments that enhance the experience!

 

But now, the few things I think the original did better:

 

- Salazar. Not so much the appearance (although I miss the hat), since Leon does call him an old man in the original and he didn't really look like one whereas he does now. More so they cut a fair bit of the banter between them (including the "right hand" line, sadly), so he's not as enjoyable. I wouldn't go so far as to call him generic now, but he's lacking compared to the original. Also, the big statue is there, but never chases you?! C'mon! Maybe they're saving it for Separate Ways.

 

- Saddler. I preferred his older voice and his greater presence in the plot. I kinda like the build-up they give in the remake, and it does solve the plot hole of "Why did he even tell Leon his plan?" because new Saddler never once mentions said plan directly (he makes a few implications), but his voice direction is a bit more generic. His new boss fight is incredible, but that and the lack of plot hole are the only real improvements.

 

- U-3 is missing but was referenced in files, so it's likely he'll be there for Separate Ways. Which would be neat, a good way to give Ada some more unique things to do compared to Leon's campaign besides the battleship segment. Again, hope the statue chase shows up there too.

 

- Mixed about the lack of the bulldozer segment, but since they seriously upgraded the mine cart segment, and Ashley still gets to shine with the wrecking ball, it's not so bad.

 

- A minor one, but kinda miss that segment after the cabin defense where you picked a path in the original. However, seeing as I went through both to make sure I collected everything anyway, I don't mind so much that they did away with it in the remake.

 

But all in all, fantastic remake, looking forward to the inevitable reimagining of Separate Ways. I actually started a second run to grab some things I missed and just try for a good time. Not sure how far I plan to go in terms of completion but a second run could be good enough.

 

...

 

Oh yeah! I also played The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. For a game dumped on us for free on April Fools, it had... a lot of love and charm put into it? It's just a murder mystery visual novel with a lot of good art, solid music, and entertaining writing. I dare say it had more love and care put into it than the last several main series entries. Arguably Mania as well but only because of Sega's mandates upon that game, whereas here it felt like the creators had free reign entirely. Not to be like "This is the best Sonic game in years" obviously, it is a completely different kind of game. It's just cool to see Sega do something like this and I'd like to see more projects like this in general in the future. Definitely recommend for a fun 2-3 hours.

[Shoshon the Elegant]

Recently played through Danganronpa 1, 2 and V3.

Now I’m going to beat Master Detective Archives: Rain Code in the morning.

I love me a good mystery.

[Shoshon the Elegant]

So, I 100%ed Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. Good game. A little repetitive as time goes on, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Wife and I are playing the first Ace Attorney, and are in the final case, Rise from the Ashes. Also excellent so far.

Also started playing Return of the Obra Dinn. Loving it. The concept of exploring a the deaths of 60 people after the fact and figuring out who they are and what happened is brilliant.

[Lardinou]

Right now, I'm playing the 2nd episode of Saints Row having never done it and my old pc wasn't running it properly. Being a fan of the series, I had to get into it one day !

[Jamian]

I'm currently playing Chants of Sennaar, a clever and original point & click puzzle game that was released recently.

 

The main gimmick of the game is that, as you find yourself in a Tower of Babel kind of place with no backstory whatsoever (at first), you do not understand any of the words either written on signs, or spoken by the NPCs, as they are written using strange glyphs. In order to solve the puzzles, you have to guess the meaning of the glyphs, and write down your guesses in your journal, so that when you encounter the same glyphs again, you might begin to understand what they mean. Hovering your cursor over previously encountered glyphs will translate the sentences for you based on your journal guesses, and the translation might make sense or not based on how accurate you've been.

 

It starts easily enough with a tutorial section, where you encounter a lever opening a door. There are two positions for the lever, one that opens the door, marked with, say, glyphs "A C" and one that closes it, marked with glyphs "B C". You can then guess that glyph A means open, glyph B means close, and glyph C means door. A short while later, you meet an NPC which greets you by speaking glyph D as he raises his hand in a friendly manner, allowing you to guess glyph D is a greeting. And so on. 

 

But boy, it does get harder later on. Each floor of the tower has its own language, with not only completely different glyphs, but also different grammar. For example, on a certain floor, the language may repeat a word to make it a plural (say, "friend friend" will mean "friends"), while the language on another floor may instead use a specific glyph to indicate a plural. And while the bottom floors are not too labyrinthine, the upper ones certainly are (I started drawing maps on paper by floor 3, to avoid getting lost; the only complaint I have about this game, so far, is that a map feature would have been handy).

 

Aside from that main gimmick, there are also more traditional point & click puzzles, and some (thankfully forgiving) stealth sections. This game is definitely worth a try.

[klop422]

Beat Persona 3 Portable, 4 Golden and 5 Royal recently. Now I’ve jumped into Revelations: Persona, and plan on doing Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment afterwards.
This stuff makes me want to do a turn based battle system.

Dunno if you'll have beaten P5R yet, but enjoy it when you do. I went through it in April/May and it's a good time, if very long-winded. I'll admit I didn't enjoy it as much as the internet seems to (honestly I do think the plot has some issues) but it is a great game, and I've got P4 on my horizons.

Anyway, I've been playing through a few smaller DS and 3DS games. Mostly doing a randomised nuzlocke of Alpha Sapphire, which is going great again after some terrible losses on Mt. Pyre. Also played through a few hours of Pokémon Conquest, which I am really enjoying (need to get back to it).

[Shoshon the Elegant]

Recently I beat Symphony of the Night and the first Castlevania. I may have save scummed my way through the first game.
I also beat Persona 5 Tactica.

My wife and I beat Halo 1-3 together recently. And have been working on Gears of War. Currently beat 1, 2 and am working on 3.

I started Sea of Stars, but then started Hogwarts Legacy, and have been on that for my last 30 hours of gameplay.

[The Satellite]

Oh I haven't updated this in eight months, huh? Guess that comes with the territory of being more of a lurker.
 
So the Resident Evil deep dive fell off after RE4R. I mean, I definitely played it a couple more times after, even getting the infinite rocket launcher, and I would like to go back to it and extend my playthroughs even further. As well as get the Separate Ways DLC, which in fact did come to fruition. But a lot of other games fell on my plate!
 
Like the Xenoblade 3 DLC, Future Redeemed. Goddamn, was that a satisfying experience for fans of 1 and 2, and hell, the base game of 3. It ties everything together beautifully while sowing the seeds of what may come. I do wish a little more fanservice had been thrown in the way of 2, since it's swimming in 1 fanservice, but just... still, many emotions, and 2 isn't devoid of love. God I love this trilogy. I really need to get to the Xenosaga games.
 
Well, I didn't totally shy away from Resident Evil, when I played Save Room - Organizational Puzzle. Alright, it's a less-than-an-hour puzzle game where you have to arrange items in an attaché case using limited space. It's the RE4 inventory, as a puzzle game. Short, but that means it doesn't overstay its welcome. Very inexpensive, worth the play even if you're not a Resident Evil fan!
 
And then I played Tears of the Kingdom but I posted about that in its respective thread.
 
I also knocked off a long-term resident of my Steam library in Katamari Damacy REROLL, my first foray into that series. At first I gave the original controls a try, but was getting a little frustrated and swapped to simplified controls. Only for those controls' quick roll command to be impossible to pull off, so I went back to the original. I adjusted eventually, I wouldn't say I ever mastered it but I got comfortable enough I could clear the game. And I enjoyed it! Wacky, great music, I'd consider playing more of these.
 
AEW: Fight Forever came out. It was fun to play through for a bit, and there was some funny writing in the story mode, but it's ultimately way too barebones in character creation and other customization. Supposedly, they plan to support and update this game for a while, as opposed to WWE's yearly approach, so maybe one day we might see a fully-realized game. For now, they already have a second season pass for new wrestlers that should've been there on launch and. I mean. It's fun to play. But it needs more. I still haven't even touched the battle royale mode it has, and I was looking forward to it just for how bizarre it was.
 
I also played Zelda (Game & Watch) off of Game & Watch Gallery 4. Using a save file, because I wasn't taking the time to unlock that. For an LCD game (ignoring the small retouches done to fit on a GBA screen), it was somewhat impressive, although it's still ultimately an LCD game. Repetitive. I beat it. It was fine. For what it was.
 
There's a developer that goes by "Siactro." A while ago I played a game of theirs on Steam, Macbat 64, a simplistic but fun little throwback to, well, take a guess. This year, I went through the rest of their library on Steam, including Toree 3D, Toree 2, Beeny, and Super Kiwi 64. Toree is more like a PS1 title in its linear approach, Beeny is a vertical platformer with a DKC-esque aesthetic, and Super Kiwi 64 is like a very miniature Banjo-Kazooie. I enjoyed all of them, their aesthetics and audio match the styles they were mimicking perfectly, and honestly Super Kiwi 64 is a decent little game with a lot of music I just vibed to. You can buy all four of these plus Macbat 64 for $8 USD together on Steam, and there's apparently another Toree game coming next year?
 
In the vein of retro 3D throwbacks, Lunistice is another good one. It's more of a PS1-style 3D platformer, starring a tanuki with a double jump and a spin attack. This one's still simplistic but more substantial than the Siactro games, and at $5 USD, also an easy recommend. 
 
And then... Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Fuck, what a game. Now in fairness, there are ways I feel the game could have improved. Like having more and creative bosses than just Bowser, Jr. And... okay I was honestly not a big fan of the soundtrack, it was fine but it wasn't great. And I do wish there were more incentives for experimenting and using different kinds of badges across the game. But otherwise! It's such a breath of fresh air for 2D Mario. Everything's colorful and lively and expressive, there's a lot of unique level gimmicks on account of the wonder flowers, some of the badges are really fun to use, the world map actually feels immersive and is probably the best one in any 2D Mario... yeah. Great stuff here. I do wish you could just toggle an easy mode instead of designating specific characters as said easy mode, but I stuck to Mario the entire way; not that it's a hard voice to do, but Kevin Afghani did a great job here. Oh, and I actually thought the online was fun! A charming approach, especially when you can help each other find hidden goodies and stay alive. Bravo. Would love to see a followup to this. But I'm also pining for a new 3D Mario...
 
Oh yeah, I also acquired one of the Nintendo 64 controllers they made for Switch and tried it out, including playing F-Zero X for the first time. ... I came away finding that I liked the original more, and that's probably because I also played GX back in the day. I appreciate what it was going for and if I'd played it as a kid, I would probably have loved it and still enjoyed it. I probably should go give GX another go though...
 
Super Mario RPG Remake is one of the best remakes of all time. They understood the assignment so intimately that I have next to zero complaints about it. I miss the old UI and the parchment-style textboxes, but everything else is so lovingly recreated, the music so perfect, I even teared up at the very end of the credits. It's so fulfilling, as a longtime fan of this game. To see it get this treatment, and not just a drop on NSO. Which would have been fine, mostly because I never expected this game to get a remake, so the confirmation alone was exciting, and the playthrough, rewarding. Actually just last night I went back to it, got 100 super jumps, and cleared the postgame. Phenomenal experience. Strong recommend if you loved the original or have never played it.
 
Then there was a little indie game called Prodigal, sporting a pixel art aesthetic somewhat reminiscent of Link's Awakening, although character sprites and portraits have their own charm. And the game is quite charming! The character writing was actually interesting, although a couple of them antagonize you a bit too strongly for my taste. Others are more successfully subtle, and I really liked the character designs. These were the main driving point though, as the gameplay was... mediocre. So mediocre that I'd put off the postgame for a while, came back to it, cleared another dungeon and... really just didn't want to continue it. It has some neat ideas here and there, like an item that returns you to the beginning of the screen which turned some classic puzzle ideas on their head, but ultimately it just felt too tedious to get through, sadly. Also the music wasn't really anything to write home about.
 
And lastly, Link's Crossbow Training. I forget where I even picked up this copy of it, actually wait let me check the label. Alright I'm back at my computer, yeah looks like I picked it up from the retro games store that's in walking distance from me. Or was. Sadly went out of business, probably because it was an indie store that also sold music and movies, and in the modern age of streaming... Makes me sad. That depressing tangent aside, the game itself was fun! Though I wish I actually had the zapper attachment, which would have probably made it more comfortable to play. I'm also surprised it uses the GameCube geometry of Twilight Princess's world and not the Wii's, though I'm not complaining. I also heard this game came about because Miyamoto prompted the Zelda team to come up with ideas for a TP gaiden game, the team came up with so many it was basically a fully-fledged sequel, and Miyamoto instead said "fuck all y'all we're making a tech demo instead." I'm just saying maybe Miyamoto sucks sometimes. Granted, a sequel to TP made in that era would probably have been bogged down in the same gimmicky motion controls Wii TP and later Skyward Sword would suffer from, so perhaps he spared us. But seriously, make that sequel now.

Video games.

[The Satellite]

Is it time for my "whenever I feel like it" big dumping grounds post of all the games I've been playing since last time, fuck it here it goes.

 

I played Sonic Superstars before the end of last year. If it didn't have some of the worst bosses the franchise has ever had, it'd be a decent game. Level design is never truly exciting but it's mostly competent, having the larger cast of characters is nice, Trip is super adorable and I'd love to see her return, and the music... uh, I mean, it's sometimes good. It's such a weird mixed bag. Jun Senoue cannot compose Genesis-style synth songs for shit. What's weirder? The fact that the other composers working on this game didn't limit themselves to that style! So not only is it inconsistent in quality, but in sound. It's so weird. This alone wouldn't make me not recommend it... but the bosses, yeah. They're fucking awful. There's maybe exactly one that's fine and has some level of agency over it, but the rest are drawn out way too long and you cannot control the pace. Just have to sit through phases and strike the weak point. One time. When available. Then the three different final bosses (one per mode) are also all trash and infuriating. They actively make me hate a game I would otherwise say is just fine without them. Sigh.

 

I also played Quickie World 2 before the end of last year, a beginner-level Mario World kaizo hack. It's well put-together and a fun time, and it also taught me that I would not enjoy playing additional kaizo hacks.

 

Beginning of this year, I finally played Banjo-Kazooie start to finish. A game I loved from my childhood and never finished, because I was easily scared and couldn't make it past Mad Monster Mansion. I finally did, and hey it turns out it's one of the better levels. And Rusty Bucket Bay is not. But yeah, the game largely holds up and is probably just the best game made on the Nintendo 64 (from my experiences). It's still a Nintendo 64 game, so it suffers from some of the pitfalls of that era, but manages to avert so many others and stands the test of time better than most.

 

Meanwhile I finally dipped my toes into that other Xeno franchise by Tetsuya Takahashi, having already been up on my Xenoblade and Xenogears. Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht is definitely an early-mid-2000s JRPG on the PS2. Like yeah, I enjoy its story, its characters, its music, and its art design, but damn can its battles and overworld navigation drag on. I actually do own the rest of the trilogy, I did in fact shell out a lot of money for the third one (it was tax return money I'll do what I want with it), and will eventually get to them, but the first one... I mean. It's fine. It's neat seeing threads expanded from Xenogears and explored again in Xenoblade. But as a gameplay experience, you can do far better.

 

Speaking of 2000s Namco JRPGs, I picked up the Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster on Switch so I could finally play the first game. Neat battle system! Performance sucks and the characters and story are boring and I fell off only a few hours in, I'm afraid. Maybe I'll try again in the future, but for now, consider this one dropped. Shame, I had wanted to play these since seeing them in Nintendo Power forever ago. May have to just activate all the QoL options and speed through the first one.

 

Celeste 64: Fragments of the Mountain is a free game made in a week(ish) to celebrate the original's anniversary and it's a little janky but it's also wonderful and has nice music and you should play it.

 

Hey so did anyone want a sequel to the CD-i Zelda games (particularly the sidescrollers) that retained the wild and unhinged animation and story but actually had really good gameplay? No? Well that's what Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore is. Development led by Dopply, who apparently made actually pretty solid PC "Remasters" of the sidescroller CD-i games. He took them down to avoid a DMCA but they're easy to find if you just look. Anyway Arzette is actually a fun game, actually tickles my nostalgia for early 90s CD-ROM gaming, the music's fantastic, it's well worth playing.

 

Let's see, what's next on this big list of games I keep— Ah fuck here's the huge id Software deep dive I finally did this year. Right so hey, you ever heard of Doom? What? Stupidest question you can ask any adult who remotely enjoys video games? Well yeah. I finally beat Doom. No it's definitely not the first time I played. But I never sat down and played through the entire game. And it's not even the original Doom I beat first, but Doom (2016), a game I'd had in my Steam library for years and been meaning to play, and finally did, and fucking loved every goddamn second of it. One of my new favorite games in general, it feels so good, the graphics are fantastic, music's kickass, I have very little to say in the negative. It's also what made me finally go back to play the rest, although I streamed them to ensure I got through them. Save for Doom Eternal, which... mixed feelings. I think I might actually like the music more (pay Mick Gordon you fuckwits), but it seems like they were adamant on getting you to use every single gun and weapon mod instead of just letting you pick your gameplay style, and the massive nerf to the total shotgun ammo pool was not appreciated. I don't mind the platforming or returning to some of the aesthetics from the classic games, but the visuals didn't feel as consistently good and polished as 2016's, the lore was a bit too much at times (although fun at others), and the DLCs... sucked. I can at least appreciate what they were going for with the combat, I'd just rather feel more free to do what I want.

 

As for the other Doom games, time for some quick hits: The original may be dated but still feels really fun to play, timeless, music's great, it's addicting. Doom II is mostly more of the same, but can get overwhelming in level design and enemy placements and so I'm not as into it as the original. Doom 64 is a solid entry that doesn't quite reach the heights of the original, but is worth playing, just be aware it goes for a more atmospheric style of soundtrack rather than blood-pumping tunes. Doom 3 is the worst game in the series because it is so utterly mind-numbingly repetitive. Yeah the mood and lighting are cool, and it features the coolest iteration of Hell in the franchise, but you don't spend enough time there, the gameplay is slow, and all I felt finishing the game and expansions was relief that it was over. Mighty Doom has a fun gameplay loop but is bogged down by horrid difficulty spikes necessitating too much grind time or spending money to get over and as such I dropped it late. Oh and I guess John Romero's unofficial fifth episode to the original Doom, SIGIL, should count. It's pretty good! Save for the fourth level which sucks but the rest is solid.

 

Now let's get Quake out of the way: I didn't like it that much. I'll play the sequels later but I'm aware they are largely popular for multiplayer over their singleplayer campaigns, and I'm not much interested in playing them multiplayer. The original just didn't offer much in the way of meaningful gameplay advances that I genuinely thought Doom did it better. Er, "gameplay advances" in the course of its own campaign, not in general, because yeah, I'm more than aware of how important Quake is to gaming. Not denying that, just that the game offers little nowadays.

 

Speaking of that, Wolfenstein 3D. A game I have definitely played or at least seen played as a kid. The infamous SNES edition. Definitely mindblowing back then and why I wanted to pick it up and give it a run. And yeah, that's definitely a first-person shooter that came out before Doom made them playable. That's a little unfair but damn the samey corridors and limited enemies and lack of verticality really made it kind of a slog. I'm just glad I used a source port so I could use an automap or else I'd've quit even sooner. Although later I also played its prequel expansion, Spear of Destiny, and to my pleasant surprise found it was a decent step up in level design. For the limitations of that engine. It's still definitely 'the game that came out before Doom" at the end of the day, mind.

 

Staying on Wolfenstein, I played The New Order and, knowing little going into it, was not prepared for the wacky Nazi-killing series featuring guards that shouted "MEIN LEBEN" on death to suddenly become a super dark and serious take on just how awful the Nazis are and a world ruled by them would be. And like, honestly props, because it does not shy away from showing their atrocities, I just absolutely was not prepared going in. It did make slaying them all the more satisfying, not that it wouldn't already be; honestly sometimes I feel like the "wacky" stories may have numbed some of us into taking just how awful they were for granted. Then I played The Old Blood and, while it certainly isn't completely lighthearted, it's a little lighter as a prequel, and hearkens back to the classic game in some ways. Both good games honestly, I enjoyed their gameplay style and story.

 

That leaves two more, including what will be one of my favorite games this year. I saw a friend stream this having not heard of it (or possibly forgotten) and immediately upon learning its premise, I was in. I'm not normally one for Soulslikes but something about this one's theme got me hooked. Another Crab's Treasure is a fantastic game from the aesthetics, to the gameplay, to the music, to the writing. It's charming, but its tone becomes clear fairly early. The commentary is, frankly, necessary. And it's a high recommend; even if you're not very good at Soulslikes, it has assist options to ease the gameplay experience. Early contender for favorite game that came out this year.

 

Lastly, one I just completed, Little Kitty, Big City. A short little romp around a city, trying to get back to your apartment and solving little problems along the way. Nothing really special, just has a nice aesthetic and is completely wholesome from start to finish. Very cute, has some collectibles to extend the experience, although it overall won't last you very long. Sometimes all you need is a cute cat game.

 

anyway play Doom 2016 and Another Crab's Treasure and Celeste 64 and Banjo-Kazooie byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye

[Shoshon the Elegant]

You play a lot of games, Satellite.

 

 

I've recently beaten Little Kitty, Big City as well. Had a lot of fun with it. Also beat Little Hope, the Halo Series and the Gears of War series recently.

 

Right now, I'm jumping between a few games, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All, Another Crab's Treasure, Plate Up, House of Ashes, and some down time with One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 and 4.

 

However, the game receiving most of my attention is Chants of Sennaar. This game so good, you should all play it. That is all.

[The Satellite]

You play a lot of games, Satellite.

It keeps the sadness away.

I mean uh
 

... the Gears of War series ...

I was thinking about trying the first one on Game Pass before I finally cancel that sub. The first one has an Ultimate Edition and I did immediately wonder why a 2015 remaster of a 2006 game was a 50GB+ install. Might still do it, but I have other games lined up first. Like Dusk. And Metal: Hellsinger. Probably a couple others. But I'm curious what the Gears series was like considering how popular and influential it was, but I highly doubt I'll end up getting into it afterward. I still have Wolfenstein games to play.

Anyway I know I snipped it from this quote but yes Halo's one of my favorites, the defining FPS series for me. Yes I played GoldenEye as a kid and loved what I played, also that small aside mentioned in that block up there about Wolfenstein 3D, but Halo was the first I truly got into. Love all the Bungie-developed games. 4 was alright but I watched a friend played 5, hated the story, and soured on 4 as a result. Then I played Infinite and actually liked it but the grappling hook carried it, I thought it looked stupid at first but it was actually super fun. 5 remains unplayed for me but that's because it's locked on Xbox One (and Series S/X) but I have no intention of buying a console for it.
 

Another Crab's Treasure

🦀 CRAB GAME 🦀