Wormerine

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.

Well, yes. Even not as a long time Sc fan (played through it directly before Sc2), I did find mostly change in tone somewhat disappointing. I still like Wings of Liberty story stuff the most, and I think that's why I liked it best. I really disliked Swarm, and was completely checked out narrative wise for the Void. Still, pretty darn fun RTS campaign gameplay wise. I always meant to start playing Sc2 online at some point - never got around to it. ☹️

Wings of Liberty is still my favourite, but I loved Sc2 singleplayer campaign. I also like co-op mode in its own brainless grindy way. Which reminds me, I don't think I ever platinumed Legacy of the Void nor Nova DLC. Maybe should get back to it. God of War Ragnarok - it's a solid sequel. No real complaints beside what I already didn't like about GoW2018. Valhalla rogue-lite mode was an odd choice, considering how weak GoW combat and RPG systems are. Just spent enough time with it to see the story through and tick of achievements. Started Ghost of Tsushima, and I am loving it so far. The game looks stunning - I am usually not a "photo mode guy" but in my first session I already jumped into it couple times to better admire vistas. Gameplay looks simple but snappy and well put together. Movement feels good. Samurai epic vibe I like. Now I am a bit sad Sony cancelled sequels port to PC. ☹️ I suppose you gotta do, what you gotta do to justify SF5 price hike. Oh, played through Early Access of Solasta2. Not much content in there. It is still very janky and very charming. It seems they aimed to improve on weakest aspects of Solasta, that being a visual presentation and story - still, at this point I wouldn't recommend playing S2 for either of those reasons. I am a bit worried if they didn't loose a bit of their strength in the process - levels so far were far simpler and dungeons much... flatter. Without Solastas verticality and enviroment interactability, it felt a bit more generic - still, I know flying is in process of being implemented so maybe it will change in final release. Once again UI is pretty good, but with few complaints. They seemed to adopt something akin to BG3 chain system, and character boxing and custom grouping isn't a thing at least for the moment. That makes M&K feel a bit clunky to me, even if its still more efficient way to play. Controller felt much more natural, though much slower during combat. Still, I must praise UI design. I would think it obvious, but after a mess that is BG3 I don't think I will ever take decent UI design for granted again.

Final for now, noclip about Disco Elysium. Full playlist