What are you Playing Now? Volume XIX: The New Beginning of the End of the Middle

14 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Crimson Desert: Taming a pet requires "100 appreciation points" - you can only get 25pts per day (petting it). Dogs generally stay in place so you can return to a spot each day to pet it. The cats, so far, because you have to pick them up and pet while cradling them in arms, then put them down again, do not stay in place (they tend to run off) and if I return to an area I can't ever seem to find it again to pet it again.

Hadn't seen a cat I liked much anyway so I was eh. Then I saw --- a sleek black cat! It reminds me of Mr. Black! I must have it! So I picked it up. But if I set it down again, how would I find it again? So ... I never set it down again. Made Kliff stand in place, doing nothing, for 3 "days" while I did other IRL things, petting kitty each day. Until finally:

Forget anything else, this game is now a 10/10. Yes.

The cat looks adorable. Also, I've just noticed that the screenshots are uploaded to a private server. Thought for a second that it was the game's.

Finished Clash: Artefacts of Chaos. The "true ending" is disappointing. Otherwise, the game is as generic as it gets, excluding the visual style, which looks like something produced by a genAI model. While there are lore reasons, unless you consider it a completely symbolic abstraction, the practical aspects don't really work. The main gameplay loop is the usual action-adventure corridor with light "platforming" of climbing the clearly marked stone slabs (but not waist-high fences) and very explicit arena battles, with random loot scattered in the corners. The Night mode, which changes the time of day, offers mostly padding, unless one really likes the combat - everything met is hostile, but you are not locked into the encounters and can just run to the mini-boss, which I did. The only somewhat original quality of the combat is that the main means of attack is unarmed combat stances, while the weapons provide limited support (they break).

The story of a stoic warrior who adopts the Chosen One child and realigns with his emotions (that are not apathy or rage) is not exactly original either. In terms of narrative themes, the "we create our own imaginary cages" message with the artefacts working only because all participants agree that they work (apparently, including the bees which are summoned by some of them) was spelt out by the lore-dump NPC and hard to disagree with. Social constructs exist only as long as the complacent majority go along with it. The "no laws without justice" sentiment is welcome as well.

A relatively small detail I liked was that the enemies were able to damage each other, instead of clipping through.

The OST was fairly unpleasant in-game, but fine to listen to separately (no idea what the language is). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyP-AOAjVYM&list=PLfuHaTW9nnaBWUou9bklAyOviDKz19yJ0&index=1

So, overall, the execution was lacking, despite the ideas.

I have finished Oceanwork. The story is about a person sentenced to underwater mining for an unspecified crime. The pace of the exploration and upgrades is good and the environment is interesting to explore, despite the very few points of interest. The upgrades are visible on the character model and the UI is quite helpful.

The game is free, so it lacks saving or rebindable controls, but it is also short and uses only WASD, E, and LMB (might be uncomfortable for the left-handed players). It also lacks subtitles for the intro and any visual aid for the approaching sharks which you can only hear before they attack.

https://warrrkus.itch.io/oceanwork