I bounced off it twice (just too gruelling) but finally completed the last of us 2. Still trying to sort my thoughts on it. Gameplay was solid if extremely gruelling (why do the many people I mowed down need to respond so realistically)
Don’t think the story has the same punch as the original but it does explore the full impact of the first games ending well.
Glad I went back and persisted.
I’ve been told that Paladin’s Oath is basically Mage Knight with the serial numbers filed off. Will investigate
I have been playing Satisfactory… quite a bit.
I needed to purge my brain from thinking about the job hunt overly much. And so I ended up buying 1 game during the summer sale. It was 50% off and I think judging by play time I got my money‘s worth twice over already.
I have played a couple other „factory building“ games. They are all very different. I haven‘t played minecraft more than an hour, but by my guess this is a mashup of minecraft and logistics.
I think it is good at what it does but I guess what it does is still a niche thing, so probably only for people who already know they like this kind of game.
I always thought Mage Knight was Heroes of Might and Magic with the serial numbers filed off…
It is that. But the UI is horrible, the reskin is naff, and the person behind it pretending it’s not Mage Knight doesn’t sit right with me.
And there’s a ridiculously good TTS mod, so I’d rather use that if I were to play Mage Knight on my computer.
With the recent excitement around Hades II, but lacking a decent PC, I have been playing through all of Supergiant Games’ back catalogue. Having not played any of their games other than Hades, it was interesting to see where lots of the elements started.
Bastion. I loved the art of this game, and the narration as you play was really engaging. The game was just about chill enough that I could pay attention to what was being said while playing, so what in most games would have been conversations with gameplay effectively paused or lore text accessed via a menu was instead an engaging experience that elevated it above the sum of its parts. The story itself was fine and the gameplay was good, not spectacular but impressive for a debut game from a small team.
Transistor. The game takes place in a really intriguing world. The way that each ability could be used in one of three ways made constantly tinkering with the build I was using fun, but the switching between real-time and pseudo turn-based combat I didn’t find as interesting as their other games. Once again, great voice acting and narration.
Pyre. From looking online, I think this is regarded as their weakest game, but I enjoyed it more than both Bastion and Transistor. There’s much less narration in this one, most of the story and character interactions are through text, but on top of yet another interesting world I preferred the story in this game to the previous titles. I felt both the art and the music were taken to another level from an already high starting point. But ending credits that feature a song with words that change slightly depending on what happened during the game? Yes, please! I can why the gameplay - the closest thing I can think of to compare it to might be Speedball 2 - isn’t for everyone, but I loved it.
Hades. And now I’m back to Hades. The gameplay a super polished version of Bastion, with the mixing and building of abilities of Transistor, the character art and writing of Pyre, the superb music, voice-acting and narration of all their previous games, and a great story combine to make a wonderful game. I’m playing on Hell mode this time and I’ve just got my third clear, first without the bow, on about my fifteenth run.
Strangely, given recent comments, for my PC I did pick up Heroes of Might and Magic I, II and III a month or two ago. I bought the second one shortly after it came out in 1996, and it has been fun to revisit. I think I am definitely much better at it than I was back when I was a (pre-?)teenager! I’ve completed the HoMM I campaign and I’m currently halfway through Archibald’s campaign in HoMM II. I’m looking forward to trying the third game in the series, which I believe is viewed as the high point and which I’ve never played before.
These are great games to my memory from that time.
Supergiant Games is one of my favorite developers. All their games are good if not even great 
I was recommended Dredge by an acquaintance yesterday, being a NZ designed video game. Has anybody had a go at it? Looks interesting.
It was fun but it is not the most gameplay heavy game. A more relaxed game. Just so you know.
It was fun for about 75% of the game… the difficulty curve is gentle at first and gets very, very steep for the late-game.
I stumbled into the “good” ending because… well, let’s say that the “obvious” ending is pretty obvious. As a result I got to skip the last 20% of the game, for which I am grateful (it was getting to be a grind, honestly).
But, but… it was an enjoyable ride for the most part. One super annoying big monster near the beginning, but other than that very good. Thematic, clever, and despite everything I said I did have a good time with it and I’m happy that I finished it.
7.8/10. Would recommend.
I will definitely put in on my wishlist for the next round of sales on Steam. Thanks!
Oh man, Minecraft got ahold of me again.
I’m having a great time and I’m definitely not spending all my waking time contemplating voxel-centric architecture styles.
<pillbox blinks twice>
After going on an RPG nostalgia trip (Wizardry 8, Wizards and Warriors, turns out I’d probably been thinking of Wizardry 7) I played more Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO and checked out the latest No Man’s Sky update.
NMS has updated their graphics in a big way, especially for water and seas, but because the game is procedurally generated there’s no way to do this without slightly/hugely changing every single world. Which has annoyed a lot of the players who’d spent time finding a perfect view and building a base on it (like me).
It’s still one of the games I’ve spent the most time with, I just wish they’d bring the bright primary colours 50s SF aesthetic back, it’s moved more to industrial tech.
Yeah it felt grindy and I am not even sure anymore if I finished the game. I only have 16 achievements, not sure there is one for finishing the game but that’s an indicator I didn’t finish it.
Probably because it didn’t feel fresh enough anymore and the grind got to me.
Been playing some Redout 2, because it was free. At first everything felt too floaty and on rails, but then I realised that a whole heap of “AI assist” was on by default. Turned that off and now it feels a lot more reminiscent of the good old days playing WipeOut. It’s got it’s own style, and unique quirks, and that’s all to the good, it just lacks decent music. The WipeOut music is perhaps the only game music that has left a lasting impression on me, perhaps because it wasn’t game music.
Shapez.io 2 is here in early access
This is the most important thing I learned at my new job this week.
Apparently at least one of my new colleagues has an overlap with my gaming tastes.
Oh no, I sense lowered productivity in my future.
