Weekly Recommendations Thread: What are you playing this week?

34 points · 29 comments · view on lemmy.world

29 Comments

FippleStone@aussie.zone · 15 pts · 1d (1 reply)

I've finally gotten around to playing Control, I'm maybe half way through and so far it has not disappointed

mohab@piefed.social · 3 pts · 1d

I beat it last week and hated it so much. I had forgotten how bad gameplay density is in metroidvanias.

lath@piefed.social · 8 pts · 1d (3 replies)

Dunno. Finished Metro Exodus in the weekend and now I'm thinking on where to go next.

They added OpenMW and Tamriel Rebuilt on GOG, so I might give Morrowind another go. But I'm not into lengthy endeavors anymore...

lustyargonian@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 23h

I really enjoyed Exodus. Made me pause and enjoy, all that friction makes the game much more memorable than say Far Cry.

Coelacanth@feddit.nu · 2 pts · 1d (1 reply)

How did you enjoy Metro Exodus? I'm going to get to it soonish, and I'm very curious after loving 2033 and having very mixed feelings about Last Light.

lath@piefed.social · 2 pts · 1d

I liked it well enough. It's a mix of open maps and linear corridors. It still uses morality points for good/bad ending. It's like Dishonored in that. The intermission scenes are not cinematics, so they can't all be really skipped. It's all together kinda telling you to chill.

I only played on normal, so there weren't many issues with difficulty, more so if you stealth your way through it, and you can see there's an intended way of participating in the story even though the player has some freedom.

Have to mention, I played the enhanced version because I didn't really under the difference from regular one. And on the first run, it takes a very long time to compile shaders, so if the extra graphics don't matter, the non-enhanced version is reportedly the same.

Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 1d

::: spoiler Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Things are moving pretty smoothly so far, as I reached a bit over 50% last night according to the in-game progress tracker. I know it includes secrets and that I don't need 100% to finish the game but that's the most specific metric I've got so...

I'm quite happy with the game overall. I did start to notice some things I'm not a huge fan of but they're not enough to make we want to quit or even degrade my experience in a significant way. The main annoying element are probably the constantly respawning flying enemies - I know they are a staple of the series at this point and they aren't difficult to deal with but that doesn't make them any more enjoyable (especially when they try to block your climbing routes in certain rooms).

Still, game is more fun than I expected it to be before starting so that's good. ::: ::: spoiler Jack Orlando A Cinematic Adventure Ahh, another instance of a rare point-and-click adventure game. I played this one years ago and I'm pretty sure I even managed to complete it back then but I wasn't certain and that's not good enough. Because of this I decided to go through the game once again to make sure that yes, I did in fact play through the whole thing - it wasn't easy.

For those unfamiliar, Jack Orlando is a game about a private detective in 1933 America (something they really commit to with the writing, character prejudices etc). On his way home from a night of drinking Jack stumbles upon a murder, gets knocked out at the scene and ends up being the main suspect. Due to his status as a hero cop and years of friendship with the police chief, he get 48 hours to clear his name and find the real culprit - that's where the player steps in.

So yeah, I said I didn't remember much about the game, right? Boy was it true. I thought I remembered some bits and pieces from my old playthrough but besides the very beginning of the game everything else turned out to be a complete fabrication on my part. I'm actually shocked how wrong I was about the whole thing.
That said, while my faulty memory is one thing, there are some completely out there sections I would've never guessed they were from this title. Did you know prohibition era America had medieval-fantasy-like catacombs with an indoor fountain and automated, Indiana Jones style mechanisms in the middle of the city? Yeah.

My lack of experience with adventure games really shined here but even if I wasn't THIS bad at the genre, the strict and often extremely weird progress requirements, mixed with a ton of junk items strewn everywhere meant I would never finish this without a guide. A straightforward game this ain't.

Presentation is pretty good. We have nice looking backgrounds and smoothly animated characters (even if I'm not a huge fan of the art style used for them). Voice acting is pretty solid for the most part, except for some really bad accents here and there.
Music is also great though it can get a bit grating after one too many loops. That's probably just me though, as I have a hard time listening to saxophone and similar instruments for long stretches of time. Not great position to be in when playing a noir detective story.

I can't say it was my favourite point-and-click played so far but it was enjoyable enough. I'd just like to know where my completely fake memories came from... :::

_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 1d

Warframe: It's a free to play online third persion sci-fi shooter where you control characters with different powers. There are a wide variety of weapons and, while there is in-game currency, it's not necessary to play the game or unlock characters or weapons.

It's fast paced and fun enough that I've played it for years without completely ditching it.

mohab@piefed.social · 5 pts · 1d (2 replies)

This week I'm having a lot of fun unlocking skills in Lost Judgement. Swapping between styles and being in total control of the pace of almost every fight is so fun and free flowing.

Apart from the RPG elements, which I do not mind so far even though I typically do, my only criticism is combat is not challenging enough even though I'm playing on Hard, and I refuse to unlock any damage boosts because I wanna take my time styling on enemies.

Too had the highest difficulty isn't available on first playthrough.

Coelacanth@feddit.nu · 1 pts · 1d (1 reply)

Lost Judgement wasn't on my radar but it looks interesting. Might wishlist for later. I should probably work on the Yakuza collection I already own but haven't played yet before buying more games in its vein, though...

mohab@piefed.social · 2 pts · 1d

I have read it has the best combat in the Yakuza games/spinoffs, but I haven't played any, so I wouldn't be able to confirm that myself.

I can confirm the combat is super fun though: way too many mechanics for an action RPG… like, you can tell it's the same studio behind Virtua Fighter without looking at the credits.

That said, it's still an action RPG and I don't regret waiting to get it on sale.

NelDel@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 1d

Ace Combat 7 in VR! It's so much fun having to track targets by moving my head inside the cockpit is such a unique experience. I'm a way better shot in VR too

psx_crab@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 1d

Monster Hunter Wilds. This is a mix bag of "woah it's great" and "damn they ruined it" for me. The sound design is weaker for some reason, there's a lot of ride & talk sessions with the story, and lots of "look at that stuff, just look at it" instead of letting us explore ourself and discovering stuff like World, but then the actual gameplay is great. I like that they actually bring back character from past game instead of just referencing them, making the series feels connected instead of disjointed from each other.

Also the game dialog basically copied Witcher 3 for some reason, there's no real choice added either. So if you haven't played it make sure you create Geralt, you'll know what i mean.

HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 1d

Finished AC shadows after the DLC has been cracked. Reinstalled RDR2 because I never finished it.

Quazatron@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 19h

Reinstalled Control, slowly trying to progress. The story is interesting, the gameplay is hard for me.

Tried Tamriel: Rebuilt, a mod for Morrowind. I'd like to explore the world, but it's just so damn slow, and the combat is strange too. I guess that is to be expected for such an old game. I think there's an ongoing project to bring this world to Skyrim, maybe it will be more fun that way for me.

Still playing Dark Messiah. I like it.

YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 1d

I'm at the tail end of BotW. I first got it during one of the rare times it goes on sale a few years ago, gave it a few hours and it just wasn't clicking. But I was determined this time and it's been fairly pleasurable. I loved twilight princess, and did not like skyward sword at all, but I've enjoyed breath of the wild. I might try tears whenever/if ever it goes on sale.

strongarm@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 1d

I've been getting excited for Wardogs, the last playtest was working nicely with Linux, but they've just started a beta test and have disabled Linux access which is a huge shame.

So I've been playing ARMA 3 & Reforger with the King of thr Hill mod, this is the inspiration behind Wardogs and it's really bringing me back those old school FPS days I'm loving it

Coelacanth@feddit.nu · 3 pts · 1d (4 replies)

Have barely played any games this week, a few hours total if that.

I started on Roadwarden, and so far it looks promising. It's very slow though. It is pretty much just a choose-your-own-adventure book. I'm liking the writing and the world building and setting, but it's just walls of text upon walls of text. Not at all bad text (in fact it's quite good), but I have to be in the mood for reading to sit down with it, not gaming.

I also played a bit more Wanted: Dead. Still not in love with it but I want to finish it before moving on to a new game. Let's hope I can. The combat does get a bit better after you unlock most of the skill tree, but I would still not claim it to be good, even though it has its moments. And there are loads of questionable design decisions in there. It's a very bizarre game in every way.

mohab@piefed.social · 2 pts · 1d (3 replies)

It’s a very bizarre game in every way.

Absolutely, haha. Requires a lot of suspension of belief and it's a steep learning curve to get into it.

Which stage are you at?

Coelacanth@feddit.nu · 1 pts · 1d (2 replies)

Brother, there is no suspension of disbelief that can hold this shit together hahaha. It's a shame because it's sometimes managing to hit that "so bad it's good" vibe, but too often it's held back by the voice acting. It's quite literally the worst I've ever heard and it fucks up the whole thing. It isn't even bad in a hammy way to match the B-Movie vibe, it's just... absolute garbage. Like people who have never acted before doing roles in their second language while cold reading their lines off the page over Skype bad.

I'm at the end of the Police HQ stage. I can't tell if it's a learning curve or just a fucked up progression, though. The first level was by far the hardest, but there's just way too much shit locked behind the skill tree I think. Like, when I got to the 5 shield guy ambush after the miniboss in the first level I hadn't yet unlocked any of the tools to deal with shield guys. Almost quit then and there.

I also kind of hate the sequences of huge gauntlets with no checkpoints. It's not the kind of challenge I enjoy that much. I'm sure some do, and there are some elements of strategy and planning it requires of you that I'm sure some love. I don't, really, though.

I'm also glad the game isn't that long. I think this is the penultimate level. The lack of variety in melee and the combos and attacks you have is starting to feel noticeable.

mohab@piefed.social · 2 pts · 1d (1 reply)

Yeah, I think what helped me get into it is I didn't really care for anything other than combat, so I skipped most of the cut scenes except anything I felt important.

I also never bothered doing well in the mini-games. They were just not that interesting and poorly put together overall.

These long stretches without checkpoints felt fucking impossible at a couple of points throughout the game. I had to take a couple of long breaks to make it through on my first playthrough.

Unlocking shit definitely makes the game way easier. Some parts don't feel doable without grenades, for example.

I did end up having a lot of fun in the last stages and on a subsequent playthrough though. Unlocking everything + figuring out guard cancels to increase mobility + tactically using grenades/weapon pickups made it all click in my head.

Guard canceling into gun at close range in particular made minibosses a lot easier, especially when combined with grenades.

It's definitely one of these games that get better after the first playthrough. Issue is the first playthrough can be so rough it kills any desire to revisit the game for most people.

Coelacanth@feddit.nu · 1 pts · 10h

I only spent much time with the crane game, as that is the source of thousands of skill points and I wanted to unlock the skill tree faster. It's weird that the rest of the minigames don't give much in terms of rewards, but I'm not complaining, as I didn't enjoy them that much.

Grenades are definitely important, and in an attempt to copy Ninja Gaiden it feels like those long gauntlets are meant to test routing and planning. You're often punished for using grenades early, as there will come a later encounter before the checkpoint that almost require them, and sometimes it feels like it's intentional to force you to redo these a couple of time until you've seen enough to make a plan. But honestly it just makes a first playthrough kind of miserable.

There is some stuff you can do in the combat, even gun cancelling and alternating between the two combo trees, and the slide slash is pretty good for staggering, as is the running kick. But I don't know, it doesn't feel like there is enough juice here to make me want to do a second playthrough. I'd rather fire up any of the 4 Ninja Gaidens. Well, maybe not NG3.

EDIT: I am at the last level at the moment. I am having negative amounts of fun. I get the taking a break thing, I can only play this in stretches of 20-30 minutes before it pisses me off too much.

lustyargonian@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 23h (2 replies)

After having finished Witcher 3 main story for the first time (110 hours, including almost all side activities except Gwent), I thought of giving Cyberpunk 2077 a shot. Then CDPR told how they’re gonna remaster Witcher 3, so I’m going to wait for it to come out before I play the DLCs.

CP2077 threw me into a world, much like Witcher 3, where I don’t understand anything at all. There’s so much stimuli all around the world that I was really overwhelmed and hating the dystopian future. But after Act 2, game opened up a bit, and now I’m slowly taking it in and enjoying it.

It seems it will be off GamePass this month as well, so I’ll probably buy it as now I do like it a bit. I’m ignoring main quest as usual and only focusing on side quests right now. I collected all Tarot cards for example lol.

Apart from that I’m also playing Resonance plague tale legacy, it’s pretty cool. Combat is quite fun, and music is amazing.

Coelacanth@feddit.nu · 1 pts · 19h (1 reply)

I can't believe you completely ignored the main quest of playing cards with everyone in favour of the RPG minigame they put in as a side activity.

Seriously though I love Gwent hahaha.

lustyargonian@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 17h

lol. Maybe new game plus would be a gwent run

christian@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 17h

I recently played through Slice of Sea, which is an adventure game, a bit similar in spirit to the old LucasArts games. I could give a lot of criticism on the gameplay, but it was so artistically captivating that I'd call it worth my time regardless.

I got through it in about nine hours without a guide, but I think trying to play it in a couple sittings would be miserable. If you get stuck put it down and come back a couple days later.

the16bitgamer@programming.dev · 2 pts · 1d

Rounding out my Metroid playthrough with Fusion. Trying to play the classic games on my Anbernic and so far no issues. Even was able to play AM2R

kossa@feddit.org · 1 pts · 6h

Playing Rogue Trader. Just arrived in Act 3.

::: spoiler Tap for spoiler I hate games, where you know something is a trap, but you have to trigger it nonetheless to progress.

Such surprise, a trap, wow. Now my character lost all her inventory etc. yaddayadda...yawn.

That's so lazy, I hate it. My inventory and character build literally is my whole gaming progress and you strip it away mid-game, even when it's just temporary?! That's not fun. Especially if I could see it coming miles ahead. :::

Really slowed my progress, as I did not want to pick up the game, and thinking about ditching it completely, if this part is going to last that much longer.

FrugalBlue@discuss.online · 1 pts · 1h

Modded Fallout 4