Wormerine

Yeah and that's what makes me apprehensive. Recreating BGs (especially BG2) as they are would be a tall order, and reinventing it... tricky. So many things that could be improved, but also so many things that could go wrong. Especially if they would aim to cater more to BG3 crowd. It's tricky. It is a great game of its time, and trying to make it new could result in either dated or not as compelling experience.

I would love love for BG1&2 to get Diablo2 treatment but I also believe that likely whatever it will end up being I will probably dislike it. Also Baldurs Gate4? Whoever would be working on that would have a tough act to follow up on - I doubt Larian licenced out their engine to WotC.

HoM&M: Olden Era sold 1m copies. Woop, woop! There is also roadmap, though it is fairly basic. The most unusual thing is a plannned rogue-like mode, which... could be interesting. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3105440/view/716780409378046732?l=english Mina the Hollower, the next game from Hollow Knight folks is out. I quite liked the demo a while back, but wasn't blown away. We will see I end up loving it just as much as Shovel Knight: Final character for SF6 season 3, Ingrid is out, and with her come a lot of questions, hopes and fears. Capcom seems to be breaking away from tradition: no major patch was dropped balance wise, and apparently they work on something. They also announced that Ingrid is the "final character to receive additional World Tour story content [SF6 singleplayer mode] upon release." Playing through it, I can't tell if it's clumsy wrap up on the mode, or tease for something bigger coming in the future. There a rumors of Tifa being a guess character in the next season, and there is SF6 movie coming out. It could be a big year for SF6, finally doing some shaking up, as game has been quite samey since its launch and discontent is spreading among the playerbase - though the game still breaks its concurrent players records with each new update.

I decided to try to finish some of the almost finish games sitting on my drive. First one to go: Outer Wilds - got as far as to figuring out final solution, but with DLCs announced I stopped short of finishing the game. Time passed, bought the DLC, but didn't play it. Time to remedy it. The DLC (Echoes of the Eye) is a neat addition to the game, though I found it harder to crack then the base game. It also, however, make you think "is Outer Wilds a bad puzzle game, actually?". Something I noticed in EotE is that a lot of it is less about puzzle solving and more about wondering around, until you find pretty explicit information on what to do next. It's a bit as if game had a walkthrough in itself. I think I notices less of it the base game, as open universe feels more organic to begin with, both in terms of obstacles put in front of you, as well as how the hints are presented. EotE feels overall more contrived, so most solutions could at best be accidentally stumbled upon (hidden doors and invisible bridges, that sort of thing), and hints feel more contrived this time around. Still, some puzzles that require logical thinking are to be found, an atmosphere of Outer Wilds is special. Good game.

eh... I can't imagine Deathloop working without the heavy guidance. I don't think it would be a rewarding game to solve.

Xbox's murder of Arcane Austin is not something I will soon forget. Prey and Mooncrash my favourite Arcane's output. I also don't understand how Deathloop was received as well as it was.

I did I think 3 contracts so far. I am more or less the same boat. Enjoyed it so far and looking forward to playing more. I like some solutions (grapling gun seems like a sensible variations on Thieves' arrows or Dishonored blink), though feel it's utility is quite more limited then both examples. The game is pleasant, scratching Thief-lite itch, but as you said it feels very basic. I am still not clear if it is it, or if they plan to sell more content later. I wonder if harder difficulties will add any spice. I also find lighting to be somewhat vague - which part of the room is and isn't lighted doesn't seem well communicated visually, especially in the first level. Not so much issue now as enemies are few and far between, but I wonder if it will become a problem if difficulty increases density of guards.

What do you think of it?

I don't think I mind that. But it seems like they try to make games that will advertise like a AAA, just not deliver when you play them. I mean I hear Outer Worlds2 is solid. I didn't get past the first planet yet. Honestly I just wasn't in a mood for it, so I don't trust my judgement 100%. Also I can run it with more acceptable framerate now.

The only thing not exciting to me about Warhorse announcement is that two projects like that seems like a lot (unless they work on one while other is in preproduction etc). I love love KCDs, and it seems they finished with Henry’s story but might do another historical RPG in that vein - I am all for it. Lord of the Rings - I have never been a fan of the use of the IP beyond the books, but I am curious of Warhorses take on fantasy. Presumably they won’t change their DNA, similar to Larian not changing it for BG3 - and result might be a new fantasy RPG that I love. Maybe it will be what I wish Avowed would be. Yeah, Obsidian… I love PoEs, but I haven’t been feeling their later releases. It’s like they try to mainstream their titles so hard, they end up generic. I am yet to play OW2 post starting few hours. I am just not interested in it, and I find that somewhat disturbing. I will get to it eventually, I am sure. I picked up Thick as Thieves yesterday, but played just a tutorial. I liked what I have seen so far, though $5 does the heavy lifting - a single look at options screams barebone release, you can’t even rebind your keys. Also visually light and shadow doesn’t seem very well distinguished - when the game does and doesn’t light up feels somewhat arbitrary - we will see if it will carry on to game proper.

Ghost of Tsushima. It's alright. It is just a better done Ubisoft-like open world games. While "following GPS" is nicely hidden within game's presentation, it is still a game that expects you to follow map markers and as such doesn't really encourage curiosity and exploration. It also looses its charm fairly quickly due to extremely repetitive and predictable nature of the title. And while, I must stress, it is very well done, it still suffers from some pitfalls IMO. Ratio of repeatable activities vs story missions is highly stacked toward filler content, which results in a game which IMO is both wayyy too long if you try to 100% it, and narratively underdeveloped, touching some potential narrative themes, but never exploring them beyond the surface level. Still had a-ok time with it, and if someone if feeling a need for a decent check-list title to pass quiet evenings, this one is worth giving a go.

Never played older entries but Wizardry8 was a fantastic dungeon crawler.

i definitely run into it in my university days (so that would be specifically around 2012-2014). I didn’t have internet in my flat so I would play games on steam in offline mode. I had to bring my laptop to Uni and connect Steam to internet every couple weeks otherwise games wouldn’t launch anymore. But yeah, I don’t know what is Steam, what is optional DRM through steam, and what is third party drm.

Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era. Seems like a very solid, if budget HoM&M installment. I enjoyed the demo they released a while back, and this already feels stronger. Only spent a bit time in a custom match, and I am a very casual HoM&M player - very little multiplayer experience. Still, I really like it so far, especially for £25. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.

Not many details, but I like the pitch. I am glad they are returning to Metro setting. While I enjoyed Exodus, and I think a shake up was needed at the time, I did felt it lost quite a bit of identity in the process.

cough, Witcher TV show, cough. I think it is obvious after IP being successful, but I don't find it too difficult to imagine a suit claiming it's too unfamiliar for mass market to be a safe bet - not that Witcher1 was a mainstream pleaser anyway.

Disagree.

Or levaraging unique backgrounds. Sandfall doubled down on their fenchness to their benefit. CDPR did well meaning into easter european flavours with Witcher.

Well, as a professionally trained and working classical musician I tend to contemplate those things more then is normal :-). Yeah, don't mean it as a honest criticism of E33 soundtrack, just finding it curious how well received it is and if it will have impact on OST expectations going forward. Seems people still respond rather well to good tunes, and those are difficult to pull off if you OST is set up to transition from one bit to another at any moment. As to classical bit - it's pretty well defined and pretty flexible as it is. I just think due to streaming services some folks treat "classical" as anything with acoustic instruments in them... or something old. Potentially an existential issue from my perspective, but what can you do.

I have thoughts on the subject, which I might as well use this as an excuse to express them. I mean obviously the OST is pretty darn good. But I keep thinking whenever it is a good "video game soundtrack". I think it's greatest strength is that it is being in a way very "old school". There is no reactivity here, no dynamic soundtrack, no smooth transitions from one bit to another based on players actions. That gives E33 OST an advantage, which a lot of older games had - you can write more traditional music (with full phrases and direction) and not worry about awkward transitions if, for example, player engages in combat halfway through it. I think it very much makes it a better music to listen then a lot of video games OST, but does it make it a better video game OST? I suppose I feel about a soundtrack the same way I feel about E33 story - it's good, enjoyable stuff, but I will always have more respect for soundtrack and story that supports interactive nature of the medium. Still, considering the uninteractive tradition if jRPGs I can't really fault it for being conservative. (though I am also a bit bitter by headlines calling E33 OST #1 on Classical Music Charts.... it ain't classical music. Like none of it).

Enhanced....?! WTF. No, I played E33 through gamepass before the update. I was planning to pick it up on GOG at some point and give it another playthrough at some point, but now I am straight up scared😅

My enthusiasm is cooling down for Ghost of Tsushima. It is a very, very good Ubisoft-style open world game, but it is a Ubisoft-style open world game nonetheless. Great "filler" for tired evenings, but not a main dish. Too repetitive and shallow for that. So I am leaving it for evenings when I can't be bothered to do anything more demanding, and am returning to Kingdom Come2 which I a bit abandoned as I focused of testing my new GPU. Good game that one.

I am not particularly strong in abusing character building systems, so I powered through him with parries. Yes, you can parry/jump everything. Party switch for phase3 really messed me up, as I barely used Sciel and Monoco throughout the game.