Video game roundup thread! June 1, 2022 12:01 PM Subscribe
Hey, what video games are you playing lately? Come on in and talk about it!
i am approximately nine million years into pathfinder: wrath of the righteous, which really scratches my western CRPG itch
posted by dismas at 12:22 PM on June 1, 2022
posted by dismas at 12:22 PM on June 1, 2022
I am playing Warped Kart Racers on Apple Arcade on my iPad. It is surprisingly good for a MarioKart clone, although it doesn't have the depth.
posted by AndrewStephens at 12:25 PM on June 1, 2022
posted by AndrewStephens at 12:25 PM on June 1, 2022
Two games have occupied my time the most recently: Vampire Survivors, which I tried based on a recommendation from Justin McElroy, and boy is it fun. And cheap! I had every achievement as of a few weeks ago...they may have added more at this point, because it's an early access game and gets updated frequently.
More recently is "Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising", which is a weird one...some of the original developers and designers of the "Suikoden" series of JRPGs had a Kickstarter to fund a "spiritual successor" to those games, which, yes please. "Rising" is not that...it's a stretch goal of that campaign, however, a prequel to the real game, which comes out next year. It's an action RPG rather than turn-based, and boy howdy will you be tired of fetch quests if you're the kind of person who gets tired of fetch quests, because it's basically nothing but. But the characters and the dialog is very charming. I'm looking forward to the main event next year.
posted by Ipsifendus at 12:29 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
More recently is "Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising", which is a weird one...some of the original developers and designers of the "Suikoden" series of JRPGs had a Kickstarter to fund a "spiritual successor" to those games, which, yes please. "Rising" is not that...it's a stretch goal of that campaign, however, a prequel to the real game, which comes out next year. It's an action RPG rather than turn-based, and boy howdy will you be tired of fetch quests if you're the kind of person who gets tired of fetch quests, because it's basically nothing but. But the characters and the dialog is very charming. I'm looking forward to the main event next year.
posted by Ipsifendus at 12:29 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
The new Mario Kart 8 DLC and that new Kirby game for me.
posted by porn in the woods at 12:44 PM on June 1, 2022
posted by porn in the woods at 12:44 PM on June 1, 2022
walden rang
posted by Going To Maine at 12:51 PM on June 1, 2022
posted by Going To Maine at 12:51 PM on June 1, 2022
I am one of those people devoted to making the early access version of Timberborn more functional, even though it is a very silly game that has very little to do with actual beavers, who would much rather be swimming everywhere.
posted by hydropsyche at 12:52 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by hydropsyche at 12:52 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Spelunky. My god, so much Spelunky. So simple and soothing.
I play Stardew Valley co-op with my teenage son every week or so.
I just started Disco Elysium and don't quite see what the fuss is about but willing to stick with it.
posted by Twicketface at 1:16 PM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I play Stardew Valley co-op with my teenage son every week or so.
I just started Disco Elysium and don't quite see what the fuss is about but willing to stick with it.
posted by Twicketface at 1:16 PM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I am replaying Disco Elysium because sometimes you gotta wallow.
posted by cobaltnine at 1:21 PM on June 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by cobaltnine at 1:21 PM on June 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm still playing Noita, and because my kid is into it, I started playing Mario Golf: Super Rush. I have to say: It's really good and peaceful, and I don't even like golf.
At some level, it's like those Flash golf games where you have to stop the moving power bar at the right time, but built out from there beautifully. The animations are just delightful. It just does not get better than Bowser Jr. having a tantrum.
I've also been watching my kid play Pikmin 3. Goddamn that's a perfect game. I tend to spend a lot of time with either older games or newer indie games, so I'm not used to that kind of polish. It's really emotionally intense for a seven-year-old, so it kind of makes it really emotionally intense for me. We actually did a run back in December, but had to quit because the guy found losing Pikmin too upsetting. We just started back up again this weekend, and I made a point of reminding him that each session in it can be redone, and he seems to be handling losses much better.
(I just made it sound like a really sad game, but it's actually filled with happy stuff.)
My partner and I have been playing Slay the Spire at least once a week for about two years now. We actually refer to it as "Game".
Finally, because I need a deep escape because we've been dealing with tense real estate issues for two months now, I started playing Dark Souls again because I need to tie my brain up with the meticulous blocking of spear thrusts from armored skeletons.
posted by ignignokt at 1:26 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
At some level, it's like those Flash golf games where you have to stop the moving power bar at the right time, but built out from there beautifully. The animations are just delightful. It just does not get better than Bowser Jr. having a tantrum.
I've also been watching my kid play Pikmin 3. Goddamn that's a perfect game. I tend to spend a lot of time with either older games or newer indie games, so I'm not used to that kind of polish. It's really emotionally intense for a seven-year-old, so it kind of makes it really emotionally intense for me. We actually did a run back in December, but had to quit because the guy found losing Pikmin too upsetting. We just started back up again this weekend, and I made a point of reminding him that each session in it can be redone, and he seems to be handling losses much better.
(I just made it sound like a really sad game, but it's actually filled with happy stuff.)
My partner and I have been playing Slay the Spire at least once a week for about two years now. We actually refer to it as "Game".
Finally, because I need a deep escape because we've been dealing with tense real estate issues for two months now, I started playing Dark Souls again because I need to tie my brain up with the meticulous blocking of spear thrusts from armored skeletons.
posted by ignignokt at 1:26 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I played and really enjoyed A Short Hike which met three criteria that I find are increasingly important to me:
1. The stakes in the game are low. No-one dies or is ever in significant peril. (I don't need more things to be anxious about, even fictional things.)
2. It's sufficiently open-world that I don't feel railroaded, but compact and constrained enough that I don't feel like I'm just putzing around aimlessly forever. (I'm looking at you, Animal Crossing.)
3. The "main" goal is achievable in a reasonably short time. (I don't have a lot of time for playing games.)
4. No (required) part of the game is time-limited. There's no race, there's no ticking clock.
posted by buxtonbluecat at 1:28 PM on June 1, 2022 [8 favorites]
1. The stakes in the game are low. No-one dies or is ever in significant peril. (I don't need more things to be anxious about, even fictional things.)
2. It's sufficiently open-world that I don't feel railroaded, but compact and constrained enough that I don't feel like I'm just putzing around aimlessly forever. (I'm looking at you, Animal Crossing.)
3. The "main" goal is achievable in a reasonably short time. (I don't have a lot of time for playing games.)
4. No (required) part of the game is time-limited. There's no race, there's no ticking clock.
posted by buxtonbluecat at 1:28 PM on June 1, 2022 [8 favorites]
Deep into V Rising right now. Raising a castle in the woods has strong Netflix Castlevania vibes, I love the shapeshifting and how they handle the sun (tho garlic is.. a little much right now). I'm on vacation this week and should do things other than just run this game into the ground, and yet!
No Man's Sky has a new expedition which is.. okay? I'm not feeling this one as much, but that might just be because V's much more compelling at the moment.
A few weeks ago I spent an entire day playing through Citizen Sleeper, a stunningly evocative story. If anyone else has played and wants to have a spoiler-y chat about it, I'll spin up a Fanfare club post for it. Listened to the soundtrack almost nonstop for the following week. It's a game about mutual aid and finding community and building a life for yourself, after escaping what someone else condemned you to. So many beautiful moments and connections between characters, and some especially bittersweet ones as well.
I played Fix Fox a month-ish ago, and it's cute! Much more linear and hand hold-y than I was expecting, but it's a generally pretty wholesome game about making patchy repairs on a robot planet.
Still playing Deep Rock Galactic with my brother on a semi-regular basis, bounced off of Elden Ring several times and I think I'm just gonna let that one go, Insurmountable is a short-ish procedural exploration game about climbing mountains and escaping a time loop, Airborne Kingdom is a chill city builder + exploration quest. I'd been super stoked about OlliOlli World when it came out, played a lot for a few weeks, despaired of ever making any kind of dent in the online leaderboards and my thumb got a wicked blister, and really haven't dived back in since; new expansion is out soon-ish, tho, so may try and gently ease back in.
And I dip into Wingspan a few times a week, just to quietly play bird cards.
walden rang
Had a whole Elden Ring/Walden Pond/ringing phone/Pearl Jam thing happen in my brain just now.
posted by curious nu at 1:38 PM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
No Man's Sky has a new expedition which is.. okay? I'm not feeling this one as much, but that might just be because V's much more compelling at the moment.
A few weeks ago I spent an entire day playing through Citizen Sleeper, a stunningly evocative story. If anyone else has played and wants to have a spoiler-y chat about it, I'll spin up a Fanfare club post for it. Listened to the soundtrack almost nonstop for the following week. It's a game about mutual aid and finding community and building a life for yourself, after escaping what someone else condemned you to. So many beautiful moments and connections between characters, and some especially bittersweet ones as well.
I played Fix Fox a month-ish ago, and it's cute! Much more linear and hand hold-y than I was expecting, but it's a generally pretty wholesome game about making patchy repairs on a robot planet.
Still playing Deep Rock Galactic with my brother on a semi-regular basis, bounced off of Elden Ring several times and I think I'm just gonna let that one go, Insurmountable is a short-ish procedural exploration game about climbing mountains and escaping a time loop, Airborne Kingdom is a chill city builder + exploration quest. I'd been super stoked about OlliOlli World when it came out, played a lot for a few weeks, despaired of ever making any kind of dent in the online leaderboards and my thumb got a wicked blister, and really haven't dived back in since; new expansion is out soon-ish, tho, so may try and gently ease back in.
And I dip into Wingspan a few times a week, just to quietly play bird cards.
walden rang
Had a whole Elden Ring/Walden Pond/ringing phone/Pearl Jam thing happen in my brain just now.
posted by curious nu at 1:38 PM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ is one of the only games I've ever bothered to get 100% completion (well, of one save file). Repentance was released this spring. If I play it the rest of my life, and I might, I may not get to 100%. But it remains rougelite perfection.
posted by booooooze at 1:46 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by booooooze at 1:46 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
A few weeks ago I spent an entire day playing through Citizen Sleeper, a stunningly evocative story.
It's so good. I think it's my GOTY, which is amazing for a game that's basically a visual novel with dice.
posted by simmering octagon at 2:08 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's so good. I think it's my GOTY, which is amazing for a game that's basically a visual novel with dice.
posted by simmering octagon at 2:08 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Legends of Idleon is hitting the sweet spot for me between MMOS (which I tend to love, but seldom have time for) and idle games (which I also tend to love, but run out of complexity fast). It's really remarkable as a single-dev, free game.
posted by restless_nomad (retired) at 2:33 PM on June 1, 2022
posted by restless_nomad (retired) at 2:33 PM on June 1, 2022
I've been pressed for time and somewhat brain dead these past few weeks, and about all I've been playing is the Steam version of Dominion (base game is free, and a different expansion is made free to play every week right now) and learning that the strategies I developed playing at the table with family are not at all great against the computer. Also felt the need to fire up Rimworld for the first time in forever, and am having fun- where fun is defined as somehow keeping my pawns alive and base functioning despite my general level of rust & forgetfulness and the intent of the game to get the last laugh. Last night, the expedition I sent out to retrieve an item cache seemed to be going perfectly, until everyone in it caught malaria. When I stopped to set up a basic camp to treat that, one of the pawns had a mental break and proceeded to destroy the items they went to get...but it looks like everyone will get back alive. So I guess its a wash.
posted by nubs at 2:43 PM on June 1, 2022
posted by nubs at 2:43 PM on June 1, 2022
1250 hours of Warframe in the last year.
Playstation 5 arrived yesterday (haven’t set it up yet), so: Horizon Zero Dawn Forbidden West and Returnal are on the list.
Also recently acquired a top of the line full VR Kit (Vive Pro 2) for a contract that lets me keep the hardware; I’ve lost 800 hours of my life to Elite Dangerous and I don’t want to add to that but at some point I’m going to dive back in hard (might check out No Man’s Sky again as well).
VR kit also came with a new GPU (finally!) so Cyberpunk 2077 is finally, finally on the short list.
posted by Ryvar at 3:01 PM on June 1, 2022
Playstation 5 arrived yesterday (haven’t set it up yet), so: Horizon Zero Dawn Forbidden West and Returnal are on the list.
Also recently acquired a top of the line full VR Kit (Vive Pro 2) for a contract that lets me keep the hardware; I’ve lost 800 hours of my life to Elite Dangerous and I don’t want to add to that but at some point I’m going to dive back in hard (might check out No Man’s Sky again as well).
VR kit also came with a new GPU (finally!) so Cyberpunk 2077 is finally, finally on the short list.
posted by Ryvar at 3:01 PM on June 1, 2022
I picked up Supraland on Friday and have been enjoying that. It's a first person Zelda-ish, Metroidvania-y game with some interesting puzzles and mechanics. Beyond that, I've been working my way through Inscryption's Kaycee's Mod, doing the Elden Ring thing, and taking breaks with Planet Crafter, which gets pretty chill and relaxing once you're growing food and automatically producing water. And slowly making my way through Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Final Unity again. I've played through that several times (not nearly as many as either Star Trek: 25th Anniversary or Judgement Rites), and at this point it's safe to assume that I'll never understand the ship combat.
Also Switch Sports. Mostly bowling.
And Dorfromantik. Always Dorfromantik.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 3:07 PM on June 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Also Switch Sports. Mostly bowling.
And Dorfromantik. Always Dorfromantik.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 3:07 PM on June 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Elden Ring (level 50-odd), and futilely hoping that I will some day be able to judge distance when jumping with Torrent, instead of falling to my death 5+ times every time I play.
posted by minsies at 3:37 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by minsies at 3:37 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Rogue Legacy 2! It's just non-stop great. I'm on the final boss right now, and I can't wait to get stuck in to the NG+ modes.
posted by Braeburn at 4:00 PM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Braeburn at 4:00 PM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
After Cyberpunk 2077 I’ve moved onto Horizon Zero Dawn. I alternate between the “AAA” rpgs and Train Sim World 2.
posted by Jon from Rhode Island at 4:10 PM on June 1, 2022
posted by Jon from Rhode Island at 4:10 PM on June 1, 2022
Hardspace:Shipbreaker hit 1.0 the other week, so I've been putting more time into that. Early Access was fun, the "full" release fixes a ton of minorly annoying bugs and completes the story in the regular play mode. You're a lot less likely to randomly blow up the ship now which is good, but it also feels like the stakes have really been lowered for randomly cutting into a pressurized vessel.
Vampire Survivors is way more fun than it has any right to be. Maybe all the casino noises and flashing lights are doing something to my brain, I don't know.
Plodding through the new Kirby game which I am enjoying quite a bit, but my brain will not let me move on until I have completed every goal in a level so I'm now a little stuck.
posted by backseatpilot at 4:12 PM on June 1, 2022
Vampire Survivors is way more fun than it has any right to be. Maybe all the casino noises and flashing lights are doing something to my brain, I don't know.
Plodding through the new Kirby game which I am enjoying quite a bit, but my brain will not let me move on until I have completed every goal in a level so I'm now a little stuck.
posted by backseatpilot at 4:12 PM on June 1, 2022
Been sucked into playing Caves of Qud again. Trad roguelike + open world is totally my jam and CoQ does it better than any I've seen.
posted by aspo at 4:16 PM on June 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by aspo at 4:16 PM on June 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
Vampire Survivors, which I tried based on a recommendation from Justin McElroy, and boy is it fun. And cheap! I had every achievement as of a few weeks ago...they may have added more at this point, because it's an early access game and gets updated frequently.
Yes. Very yes. It's such a good wonderful weird little game, I love a reliably bounded "half hour at most" sort of situation and the one-stick simplicity of dancing around all the monsters while chasing a good build is so good. And yeah, it feels like they are keeping up a shockingly brisk clip of updates with new weapons/maps/cheevos, like every couple weeks or so. The game was fantastically playable when it first hit early access, a perfect case of "we already figured out the Good Game part, now we're just gonna add more rad content" optimal early access stuff.
Legends of Idleon is hitting the sweet spot for me
I played that for like a month and then set it down because I wasn't in the right groove for it, not because it wasn't wonderful. I think it's a game that would have hit me different now than when I was getting ready to transfer away from MeFi responsibilities, because I just didn't need a bunch more plates to keep spinning even though every little thing about it is deeply charming and surprisingly non-fuckery. Do recommend for folks who want a thing to poke for a few minutes every day.
Rogue Legacy 2!
Yesssss. I'm a fair way in, four bosses down and working on the fifth and a pretty good expansion of my castle. I played the hell out of RL1, which once you beat it had tougher enemies with new patterns for New Game+ and then ANOTHER set of new patterns and bulked up enemies for NG++, which was delightful. After that there wasn't new content per se but I think I got to, like, NG+++++ before I got tired of iterating on the increased difficulty.
I've been a little slower overall about RL2 but I like basically every change/expansion they made with it from the first and feel like they got and took a lot of good feedback. It's charming and funny and hard and satisfying.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:21 PM on June 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Yes. Very yes. It's such a good wonderful weird little game, I love a reliably bounded "half hour at most" sort of situation and the one-stick simplicity of dancing around all the monsters while chasing a good build is so good. And yeah, it feels like they are keeping up a shockingly brisk clip of updates with new weapons/maps/cheevos, like every couple weeks or so. The game was fantastically playable when it first hit early access, a perfect case of "we already figured out the Good Game part, now we're just gonna add more rad content" optimal early access stuff.
Legends of Idleon is hitting the sweet spot for me
I played that for like a month and then set it down because I wasn't in the right groove for it, not because it wasn't wonderful. I think it's a game that would have hit me different now than when I was getting ready to transfer away from MeFi responsibilities, because I just didn't need a bunch more plates to keep spinning even though every little thing about it is deeply charming and surprisingly non-fuckery. Do recommend for folks who want a thing to poke for a few minutes every day.
Rogue Legacy 2!
Yesssss. I'm a fair way in, four bosses down and working on the fifth and a pretty good expansion of my castle. I played the hell out of RL1, which once you beat it had tougher enemies with new patterns for New Game+ and then ANOTHER set of new patterns and bulked up enemies for NG++, which was delightful. After that there wasn't new content per se but I think I got to, like, NG+++++ before I got tired of iterating on the increased difficulty.
I've been a little slower overall about RL2 but I like basically every change/expansion they made with it from the first and feel like they got and took a lot of good feedback. It's charming and funny and hard and satisfying.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:21 PM on June 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
The hub and I are currently building a farm in Valheim and looking for that last stone marker for the last boss. I've looked a little into V Rising and it's definitely a contender for our next game.
posted by ljesse at 4:27 PM on June 1, 2022
posted by ljesse at 4:27 PM on June 1, 2022
Aside from the occasional incremental game, my currently active games are:
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - while I normally quite enjoy the TT Lego games, this one is a bit of a slog since they seem to have removed some of the fun somehow, but it still has its moments.
Syberia: The World Before - As weird as the rest of the series, but bittersweet, even moreso since it's the last thing Benoit Sokal worked on, and all his adventure games had a certain dreamlike quality to them.
Weird West - Isometric RPG-lite. Old west with heapings of mythos and pathos.
posted by Marticus at 4:33 PM on June 1, 2022
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - while I normally quite enjoy the TT Lego games, this one is a bit of a slog since they seem to have removed some of the fun somehow, but it still has its moments.
Syberia: The World Before - As weird as the rest of the series, but bittersweet, even moreso since it's the last thing Benoit Sokal worked on, and all his adventure games had a certain dreamlike quality to them.
Weird West - Isometric RPG-lite. Old west with heapings of mythos and pathos.
posted by Marticus at 4:33 PM on June 1, 2022
I play Vampire Survivors without sound and with the flashing graphics effects turned off, and I still love it for times when I have no brain. I have all the cheevos and look forward to each new update with excitement. They're doing great work on this game. It's great for when I have no brain at all.
When I do have brain, I play Elden Ring. I think I've got 130 hours in, maybe level 73, I think I have two runes, whatever those are. I keep exploring and finding new shit so, I have definitely gotten my money's worth.
If I could find a PS5 I'd be playing HFW but obviously that'll never happen.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:35 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
When I do have brain, I play Elden Ring. I think I've got 130 hours in, maybe level 73, I think I have two runes, whatever those are. I keep exploring and finding new shit so, I have definitely gotten my money's worth.
If I could find a PS5 I'd be playing HFW but obviously that'll never happen.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:35 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
elden ring and F1 2021, two games that on the one hand probably couldn't be much different and on the other hand both do a consistent job of kicking my ass without apologizing
I actually made a youtube video about it, though I have it scheduled to go live on Friday so I can't link it here -- but both games trigger a similar frustration-satisfaction sensation in me, where banging my head on a thing with increasing apparent futility just makes ultimate victory that much more satisfying. which is not always my mode of video gaming (before this I was playing God of War on easy mode and grinding out runs in Binding of Isaac: Repentance) but it's working for me right now
posted by Kybard at 4:51 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I actually made a youtube video about it, though I have it scheduled to go live on Friday so I can't link it here -- but both games trigger a similar frustration-satisfaction sensation in me, where banging my head on a thing with increasing apparent futility just makes ultimate victory that much more satisfying. which is not always my mode of video gaming (before this I was playing God of War on easy mode and grinding out runs in Binding of Isaac: Repentance) but it's working for me right now
posted by Kybard at 4:51 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Does Freecell count?
posted by kristi at 5:31 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by kristi at 5:31 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
vampire survivors rules so hard.
i have like 200 hrs in elden ring and am just JUST getting near the end game (just got to the forge of the giants.) i cant imagine rushing thru this game!
i WAS playing valheim but i left it for a while and i came back and it had all these updates and i don't know what is going on now!!!!!!! i think i might just restart my world from scratch but that makes me sad.
i WAS playing lonely mountains: downhill a lot until the gamepass update broke it 2 days ago! and i am sad about this! i was really enjoying that game.
(kybard, please link your video i think it's ok to do that in the comments!)
playing elden ring has made me want to go back and see if i can finally play bloodborne or dark souls -- i bounced uber-hard off of all those games even though i REALLY WANTED TO LIKE THEM!!!!!!!! i think elden ring potentially has taught me how to play those games but the jury is out until i work up the guts to try again.
This V Rising one sounds rad and i think i will get it.
I really liked HFW but it wasn't like.....as cool as HZD was. i dunno why. in HZD the story just consumed me. in HFW i'm like "yeah i get it..." i dunno i am like 2 seconds from beating the game but i sort of don't care that much about what i will learn from the ending.
OH! i have also liked Tunic. it's frustrating but not THAT frustrating.
(i really want to beat elden ring thoooooooo)
posted by capnsue at 5:35 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
i have like 200 hrs in elden ring and am just JUST getting near the end game (just got to the forge of the giants.) i cant imagine rushing thru this game!
i WAS playing valheim but i left it for a while and i came back and it had all these updates and i don't know what is going on now!!!!!!! i think i might just restart my world from scratch but that makes me sad.
i WAS playing lonely mountains: downhill a lot until the gamepass update broke it 2 days ago! and i am sad about this! i was really enjoying that game.
(kybard, please link your video i think it's ok to do that in the comments!)
playing elden ring has made me want to go back and see if i can finally play bloodborne or dark souls -- i bounced uber-hard off of all those games even though i REALLY WANTED TO LIKE THEM!!!!!!!! i think elden ring potentially has taught me how to play those games but the jury is out until i work up the guts to try again.
This V Rising one sounds rad and i think i will get it.
I really liked HFW but it wasn't like.....as cool as HZD was. i dunno why. in HZD the story just consumed me. in HFW i'm like "yeah i get it..." i dunno i am like 2 seconds from beating the game but i sort of don't care that much about what i will learn from the ending.
OH! i have also liked Tunic. it's frustrating but not THAT frustrating.
(i really want to beat elden ring thoooooooo)
posted by capnsue at 5:35 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm a very slow adopter, game-wise, so my current obsession is Witcher 3. I fully intend to play it all the way through to the end... assuming someday I finish perfecting my mod loadout.
I've also recently started playing Skyrim, above note re: modding applies to that as well. I was never able to get into it on mouse and keyboard, but I recently learned I can play it on a PC with controller and it is, in fact, way easier than the other way. With mods, the character isn't remotely hideous, which is what held me back from playing on console before.
I was playing WoW for a long long time, but it's pretty rough on a controller after years of playing it on mouse/keyboard... so I'm considering trying out Elder Scrolls Online. (I also play FFXIV, but... not very well, honestly, so I'm taking a break.)
posted by invincible summer at 5:51 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've also recently started playing Skyrim, above note re: modding applies to that as well. I was never able to get into it on mouse and keyboard, but I recently learned I can play it on a PC with controller and it is, in fact, way easier than the other way. With mods, the character isn't remotely hideous, which is what held me back from playing on console before.
I was playing WoW for a long long time, but it's pretty rough on a controller after years of playing it on mouse/keyboard... so I'm considering trying out Elder Scrolls Online. (I also play FFXIV, but... not very well, honestly, so I'm taking a break.)
posted by invincible summer at 5:51 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Oh, and I also recently mainlined several different versions of "The Room" on iPad. It's a beautiful creepy/eerie puzzle/escape room game that sucks me right in every time they put out a new installment. There's a version of it on Oculus, too, that I may have to try.
posted by invincible summer at 6:05 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by invincible summer at 6:05 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Portal 2, coop mode. Mr Nat and I played through it (at least everything except Art Therapy) back a decade ago when it first came out.
I am sad there isn’t more Portal, but I am happy to report that after a decade I forgot how most of the puzzles worked so it was fun to play through again.
(Would like more games like portal coop please, world)
posted by nat at 6:06 PM on June 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
I am sad there isn’t more Portal, but I am happy to report that after a decade I forgot how most of the puzzles worked so it was fun to play through again.
(Would like more games like portal coop please, world)
posted by nat at 6:06 PM on June 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Nat if you find any couch co-op games as perfect as portal 2 lmk please. It’s the ideal in my mind
posted by capnsue at 6:10 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by capnsue at 6:10 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Coop levels in Pikuniku were fun too, but it’s not Portal 2. Nothing else is, sadly.
posted by nat at 6:13 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by nat at 6:13 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've been playing Tiny Tina's Wonderlands with my son. It's a first person shooter wrapped up in a TTRPG wrapper. It's a lot of fun and my 15 year-old son and I have been enjoying playing couch co-op. We both really like the voice acting and the jokes are pretty hilarious if you're into D&D.
posted by plinth at 6:16 PM on June 1, 2022
posted by plinth at 6:16 PM on June 1, 2022
Shotgun King! It's my new favourite mini-roguelite. It's kind of chess, but you only have a king, and the king has a shotgun. It's great, and I don't even play chess.
I have also been playing a lot of Beat Saber. Rhythm games have just bounced off me in the past, but for some reason this one has its hooks on me.
posted by Dysk at 6:37 PM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I have also been playing a lot of Beat Saber. Rhythm games have just bounced off me in the past, but for some reason this one has its hooks on me.
posted by Dysk at 6:37 PM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
Angband. I've tried playing other video games in the past few years, The Outer Worlds, No Man's Sky, and some others that I should like given my gaming history, but I just bounce off them. I'm not quite sure why, but my brain can't deal with immersive environments lately, and I used to love them. So I guess my brain now seeks comfort in ASCII "graphics" in a game that I've played for 25+ years.
posted by mollweide at 6:39 PM on June 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 6:39 PM on June 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
I blew through The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe over the long weekend. If you played the original, I can report that the new one is basically what you would expect, and that the new content is highly entertaining.
If you're unfamiliar with the original, and you enjoy first-person narrative games and/or metafiction, I encourage you to give it a try without reading anything about it beforehand.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:16 PM on June 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
If you're unfamiliar with the original, and you enjoy first-person narrative games and/or metafiction, I encourage you to give it a try without reading anything about it beforehand.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:16 PM on June 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
There has been and there will always only be Kerbal Space Program.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:34 PM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:34 PM on June 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
derail... it'd be cool if Mefi had a little sub page on the profile page for gaming like screenshots and maybe a portal to a secret game I don't know.
posted by clavdivs at 8:01 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 8:01 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I played a bit of the free version of Vampire Survivors, and I loved it up until I'd built up the character enough that I couldn't really die unless my attention lapsed, and, well, it did. It sounds like I should try the paid version, though.
I took a long time off of games, going from not having enough time while trying to get a business going, to trying to remember what a day off meant after that ended. One day, sometime in 2016, I fired up my PS3 and went back to whatever Borderlands game I'd been playing non-stop in the before times, and after about ten minutes, I realized I was just sort of killing time until it was time for bed. That put me off games for a really, really long time. After that, just not being able to justify the cost of buying a PS4 had me dragging my feet until they just sort of disappeared entirely. Long story of agony and internal recriminations later, I managed to finally get one last winter. I played Spider-man, and loved everything about it except it being Spider-cop, the game. I played through Hades, and damn, that was pretty much everything I was looking for in a game. Absolutely beautiful, amazing artwork, great gameplay, solid soundtrack, and a story doled out piecemeal that was as beautiful as the game itself.
I went back to Zero Dawn waiting for Forbidden West, and got back into the hang of it, only to find that FW has a drastically different idea of how the game is supposed to be played (I miss being able to spam an area with my tripcaster). It is, like Zero Dawn before it, absolutely massive, and I've found myself avoiding pursuing the main storyline, hanging out in the central area of the map, doing side quests and such, just to keep the story going. I've found myself doing everything in my power to avoid dying (climbing up mountain faces and skulking along in order to avoid confrontations on the road, finding absurd sniping positions to attack bandit camps), as, for some reason in a game that absolutely does not punish character death in any way, I've become invested in keeping Aloy alive at all costs.
I'm finding myself creeped out by certain portions of the game (spoiler: A Drowned Hope had me feeling like I'd be attacked by machines at every turn, even though most missions in the game have enemies only in set encounter areas). I don't always like the game, and at times, it just feels like work (oh, look, everyone in town has an exclamation mark over their head, time for dialogue trees), but I'm invested in the story, and am completing as much of the game as I can to learn as much of the story as is there.
Also, it's purty. There have been a couple sunrises that caught me by surprise, and made me take a minute to enjoy them. (although, it would be kind of cool if the game took night/day differences into account, and made it easier to be spotted in the day)
I keep wanting to get sucked into Disco Elysium, but the slowness of the point, click, wait, no, wait, click over there, not over here mechanic is kind of a turnoff for me.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:09 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I took a long time off of games, going from not having enough time while trying to get a business going, to trying to remember what a day off meant after that ended. One day, sometime in 2016, I fired up my PS3 and went back to whatever Borderlands game I'd been playing non-stop in the before times, and after about ten minutes, I realized I was just sort of killing time until it was time for bed. That put me off games for a really, really long time. After that, just not being able to justify the cost of buying a PS4 had me dragging my feet until they just sort of disappeared entirely. Long story of agony and internal recriminations later, I managed to finally get one last winter. I played Spider-man, and loved everything about it except it being Spider-cop, the game. I played through Hades, and damn, that was pretty much everything I was looking for in a game. Absolutely beautiful, amazing artwork, great gameplay, solid soundtrack, and a story doled out piecemeal that was as beautiful as the game itself.
I went back to Zero Dawn waiting for Forbidden West, and got back into the hang of it, only to find that FW has a drastically different idea of how the game is supposed to be played (I miss being able to spam an area with my tripcaster). It is, like Zero Dawn before it, absolutely massive, and I've found myself avoiding pursuing the main storyline, hanging out in the central area of the map, doing side quests and such, just to keep the story going. I've found myself doing everything in my power to avoid dying (climbing up mountain faces and skulking along in order to avoid confrontations on the road, finding absurd sniping positions to attack bandit camps), as, for some reason in a game that absolutely does not punish character death in any way, I've become invested in keeping Aloy alive at all costs.
I'm finding myself creeped out by certain portions of the game (spoiler: A Drowned Hope had me feeling like I'd be attacked by machines at every turn, even though most missions in the game have enemies only in set encounter areas). I don't always like the game, and at times, it just feels like work (oh, look, everyone in town has an exclamation mark over their head, time for dialogue trees), but I'm invested in the story, and am completing as much of the game as I can to learn as much of the story as is there.
Also, it's purty. There have been a couple sunrises that caught me by surprise, and made me take a minute to enjoy them. (although, it would be kind of cool if the game took night/day differences into account, and made it easier to be spotted in the day)
I keep wanting to get sucked into Disco Elysium, but the slowness of the point, click, wait, no, wait, click over there, not over here mechanic is kind of a turnoff for me.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:09 PM on June 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Still seeking that Elden Ring… over 200 hours now and it hasn't become tiresome yet. I am exploring the fuck out of The Lands Between tho, a sensible playthrough could be finished in a fraction of the time. I did start Persona 5 as a non elden thing, not sure why I thought another 100+ hour game would be a fun little side diversion, but game also good.
posted by rodlymight at 8:14 PM on June 1, 2022
posted by rodlymight at 8:14 PM on June 1, 2022
I've been playing Dungeon of the Endless - heard someone describe it as "FTL meets tower defense meets dungeon roguelike" and I was intrigued - I know what all those things are but I've never heard them all to describe a single game. Also it was on sale.
The first couple games and the tutorial, made no sense whatsoever. Where am I going? Why am I doing this thing? Then after my third game, everything clicked perfectly together and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.
Also, the difficulty levels are "Too Easy" and "Easy". I would like to beat it on "Easy". It is not easy. There are no additional harder levels.
posted by meowzilla at 8:51 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
The first couple games and the tutorial, made no sense whatsoever. Where am I going? Why am I doing this thing? Then after my third game, everything clicked perfectly together and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.
Also, the difficulty levels are "Too Easy" and "Easy". I would like to beat it on "Easy". It is not easy. There are no additional harder levels.
posted by meowzilla at 8:51 PM on June 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm late to the party but hopelessly addicted to Slay the Spire (PC version). We went on a computerless vacation last week just around the time I'd put in about 24hrs of gameplay and I was itching to play again long before we got back (I know it's available on mobile, but I also know I wouldn't enjoy the game much in that format).
posted by terretu at 2:26 AM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by terretu at 2:26 AM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Slay the Spire is brilliant! The huge expansion mod Downfall that was recently released is excellent as well.
This has reminded me that I am a handful of victories away from A20 on everyone. I also still need to one-turn a boss...
posted by Dysk at 2:49 AM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
This has reminded me that I am a handful of victories away from A20 on everyone. I also still need to one-turn a boss...
posted by Dysk at 2:49 AM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
I still visit my Animal Crossing island once or twice a week, mostly so I can visit Redd. Bugs and fish are hopeless but i am determined to finish my art collection before I retire Dumpling Island for good!
posted by moonmilk at 4:41 AM on June 2, 2022
posted by moonmilk at 4:41 AM on June 2, 2022
I'm still playing FarmRPG, Cortex. Whose fault do you suppose that is, Cortex? When I wake up in the middle of the night to rotate crops and make twine, who do you think I blame, Cortex?
posted by jacquilynne at 5:56 AM on June 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 5:56 AM on June 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm also on V Rising and Vampire Survivors, and I'm having a fantastically spooky time. My non-vampire games are Backpack Hero and Raft.
posted by Akhu at 6:49 AM on June 2, 2022
posted by Akhu at 6:49 AM on June 2, 2022
I've been "playing" EarthRoyale bit lately. It's not really something you play, but rather watch, hence the scare quotes. It's sort of a randomized game of Risk with every country in the world (and even provinces for some countries, optionally) participating. Mesmerizing to watch and try to think up backstories for the sometimes bizarre outcomes.
posted by Ampersand692 at 6:57 AM on June 2, 2022
posted by Ampersand692 at 6:57 AM on June 2, 2022
Untitled Goose Game was updated with co-op play a while back. So my 7-year-old and I had a great time giving that another play-through. It's a lot easier to manipulate people into unfortunate circumstances with two players. It's a lovely day in the village, and we are horrible geese.
posted by rlk at 7:32 AM on June 2, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by rlk at 7:32 AM on June 2, 2022 [7 favorites]
After not really paying attention to video games for two decades, I bought an oculus quest on a whim a year or so ago. (Yeah, fuck facebook. . . but, it sure is fun.) I'm kind of amazed at how much I've enjoyed it.
I've recently become a fan of Robot Recall. It's a violent, first person shooter, but a really thoughtful and strange one. Each level can be completed normally and then also completed with 5 different very specific goals - e.g., complete the mission without ever firing a gun - which is right up my alley. I'm about 80% to completing them all, but the last few are really challenging. I do wish they would let you skip past the tedious 1.5 minute explanatory scenes with the final boss when you repeat a level the second time. But, it's a pretty minor complaint.
I really enjoyed Walkabout Mini Golf as well and recommend it. But, there aren't many surprises left after 10 or so hours of playing.
posted by eotvos at 7:44 AM on June 2, 2022
I've recently become a fan of Robot Recall. It's a violent, first person shooter, but a really thoughtful and strange one. Each level can be completed normally and then also completed with 5 different very specific goals - e.g., complete the mission without ever firing a gun - which is right up my alley. I'm about 80% to completing them all, but the last few are really challenging. I do wish they would let you skip past the tedious 1.5 minute explanatory scenes with the final boss when you repeat a level the second time. But, it's a pretty minor complaint.
I really enjoyed Walkabout Mini Golf as well and recommend it. But, there aren't many surprises left after 10 or so hours of playing.
posted by eotvos at 7:44 AM on June 2, 2022
A few weeks ago I spent an entire day playing through Citizen Sleeper, a stunningly evocative story.
It's so good. I think it's my GOTY, which is amazing for a game that's basically a visual novel with dice.
Yeah, it might be for me. I have one little branch to chase down that I might do this weekend, and then I might never spin it up again, but it feels like the kind of thing that will live in some little corner of my brain forever.
Been sucked into playing Caves of Qud again. Trad roguelike + open world is totally my jam and CoQ does it better than any I've seen.
I love Qud's whole Thing, and finally was able to get fully into it when I went with the Roleplay/checkpoints version, and then lost a couple of weeks to its world. There's this and a few other big things on the horizon (Skald off the top of my head, but I feel like there's more) that seem to perfectly hit "elaborate weird DOS game from an alternate universe".
I've been playing Dungeon of the Endless
I spent so much time with this game! Was my "got some time to kill before a thing" activity for a couple of years. It's great.
Does Freecell count?
Always and forever yes.
posted by curious nu at 8:17 AM on June 2, 2022
It's so good. I think it's my GOTY, which is amazing for a game that's basically a visual novel with dice.
Yeah, it might be for me. I have one little branch to chase down that I might do this weekend, and then I might never spin it up again, but it feels like the kind of thing that will live in some little corner of my brain forever.
Been sucked into playing Caves of Qud again. Trad roguelike + open world is totally my jam and CoQ does it better than any I've seen.
I love Qud's whole Thing, and finally was able to get fully into it when I went with the Roleplay/checkpoints version, and then lost a couple of weeks to its world. There's this and a few other big things on the horizon (Skald off the top of my head, but I feel like there's more) that seem to perfectly hit "elaborate weird DOS game from an alternate universe".
I've been playing Dungeon of the Endless
I spent so much time with this game! Was my "got some time to kill before a thing" activity for a couple of years. It's great.
Does Freecell count?
Always and forever yes.
posted by curious nu at 8:17 AM on June 2, 2022
I'm still playing Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG, aka Plunkbat), five years later. It's at least as much "this is what a certain group of friends and I do as a background for hanging out" as "this game is amazing," but the particular blend of fun tactics + relatively low stakes (there's no penalty for losing beyond starting over, and only one team out of 25 ever wins) is sticky.
I also built a simulator cockpit for the recently-released Apache attack helicopter simulator for DCS. Truthfully, assembling bits and pieces from ebay/surplus sales and building up the frame and circuit boards / microcontroller code to interface everything is at least as much fun as actually playing the sim. There's also some pretty serious cognitive dissonance being a lefty mclefterson playing a very military-focused simulator. The engineering and switchology and simulation stuff is interesting to me, the acts of war being simulated.. less so? It's been simultaneously extremely interesting and also profoundly weird to act as simulated copilot/gunner for some actual current and retired military aviators I know via friends of friends, who have a very different perspective than I do.
posted by Alterscape at 8:22 AM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I also built a simulator cockpit for the recently-released Apache attack helicopter simulator for DCS. Truthfully, assembling bits and pieces from ebay/surplus sales and building up the frame and circuit boards / microcontroller code to interface everything is at least as much fun as actually playing the sim. There's also some pretty serious cognitive dissonance being a lefty mclefterson playing a very military-focused simulator. The engineering and switchology and simulation stuff is interesting to me, the acts of war being simulated.. less so? It's been simultaneously extremely interesting and also profoundly weird to act as simulated copilot/gunner for some actual current and retired military aviators I know via friends of friends, who have a very different perspective than I do.
posted by Alterscape at 8:22 AM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
For something that seems like it should be right up my alley, I sure bounced off Slay the Spire pretty hard. I spent maybe a week or so doing runs, and it was addictive, and interesting, but not actually....fun? I dunno if maybe the nihilistic futility of "spending time on video games while the world burns" was a little too close-to-the-surface in Slay the Spire's whole vibe/aesthetic, or what, but for me it was just "here's a perfect gameplay loop that can keep you hooked for hours but that is also, somehow, not fun".
Vampire Survivor, however, has kept me pretty well hooked, despite the over-the-top loot-pinata graphics occasionally grating on me. The inherent time limit helps keep me from spending too much time on it (which is exactly why I haven't picked Caves of Qud back up lately).
Legends of Runeterra just dropped their new version of Path of Champions and while it's got some problems (mainly the inability to unlock the champions you want to unlock - the mode still has zero monetization at present, but it definitely feels like they're exploring the potential for eventually turning it into something gacha-ish) it is absolutely a ton of fun and I've been playing the heck of it this past week.
For a game that was (once upon a time, many moons ago) supposed to be just a fun time-killer on my phone, it sure looks like I'm shortly about to take over for my absent guild leader in Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes. So if anybody around here plays, or if watching Kenobi has given anybody an itch to start virtually collecting Star Wars action figures, I've got a well-established but very laid-back and casual guild over there.
posted by mstokes650 at 9:22 AM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Vampire Survivor, however, has kept me pretty well hooked, despite the over-the-top loot-pinata graphics occasionally grating on me. The inherent time limit helps keep me from spending too much time on it (which is exactly why I haven't picked Caves of Qud back up lately).
Legends of Runeterra just dropped their new version of Path of Champions and while it's got some problems (mainly the inability to unlock the champions you want to unlock - the mode still has zero monetization at present, but it definitely feels like they're exploring the potential for eventually turning it into something gacha-ish) it is absolutely a ton of fun and I've been playing the heck of it this past week.
For a game that was (once upon a time, many moons ago) supposed to be just a fun time-killer on my phone, it sure looks like I'm shortly about to take over for my absent guild leader in Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes. So if anybody around here plays, or if watching Kenobi has given anybody an itch to start virtually collecting Star Wars action figures, I've got a well-established but very laid-back and casual guild over there.
posted by mstokes650 at 9:22 AM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Does Freecell count?
Always and forever yes.
Quite possibly the most successful video game of all time.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:04 AM on June 2, 2022
Always and forever yes.
Quite possibly the most successful video game of all time.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:04 AM on June 2, 2022
My kid just got the new Evil Dead game and it is so rad, they're not having to twist my arm to play with them at all. Asymmetrical survival game, and you can choose to be the Kandarian demon. And if you're one of the humans, you can actually arm yourself and properly fight back, unlike some similar games. Story mode kinda sucks, because there are no save points, but otherwise, pretty awesome.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:12 AM on June 2, 2022
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:12 AM on June 2, 2022
What I've played by myself recently:
Kathy Rain: Director's Cut
Bard's Tale 1
Banished
Lonely Mountains: Downhill Racing
What I play socially (online and IRL)
Deep Rock Galactic
Wingspan
Streets of Rage 4
Huntdown
posted by FJT at 11:39 AM on June 2, 2022
Kathy Rain: Director's Cut
Bard's Tale 1
Banished
Lonely Mountains: Downhill Racing
What I play socially (online and IRL)
Deep Rock Galactic
Wingspan
Streets of Rage 4
Huntdown
posted by FJT at 11:39 AM on June 2, 2022
I am over 100 hours into Vampire Survivors.
Couple of weeks ago, inspired by a conversation in our work #gaming Slack channel, I did some digging and set up a Minecraft server in AWS, with an email trigger to start the server and a 4-hour running time limit, configured to accept both Java and Bedrock clients, so now my 11yo (who lives 2000 miles away) and I can play Minecraft whenever he wants (and, when I'm not around, he can start it up and play for a while himself). I've never played Minecraft before, so he has the opportunity to teach me something, and he's really enjoying it.
Finished the main story line in HFW a few weeks ago. At some point, I'll probably start a new game and try different weapon load-outs. I'm not sure HFW is going to have the replay value for me that HZD did, but we'll see.
Something triggered me to try to get back into BotW this week while recovering from COVID. It's a really good game but I feel, as someone who's never played a Zelda game completely through (I got, like, 5 hours into Phantom Hourglass and gave up), I am missing a LOT of backstory.
posted by hanov3r at 11:43 AM on June 2, 2022
Couple of weeks ago, inspired by a conversation in our work #gaming Slack channel, I did some digging and set up a Minecraft server in AWS, with an email trigger to start the server and a 4-hour running time limit, configured to accept both Java and Bedrock clients, so now my 11yo (who lives 2000 miles away) and I can play Minecraft whenever he wants (and, when I'm not around, he can start it up and play for a while himself). I've never played Minecraft before, so he has the opportunity to teach me something, and he's really enjoying it.
Finished the main story line in HFW a few weeks ago. At some point, I'll probably start a new game and try different weapon load-outs. I'm not sure HFW is going to have the replay value for me that HZD did, but we'll see.
Something triggered me to try to get back into BotW this week while recovering from COVID. It's a really good game but I feel, as someone who's never played a Zelda game completely through (I got, like, 5 hours into Phantom Hourglass and gave up), I am missing a LOT of backstory.
posted by hanov3r at 11:43 AM on June 2, 2022
Alterscape, "built a simulator cockpit" is basically screaming for a Projects post. DO TELL!!
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:51 AM on June 2, 2022
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:51 AM on June 2, 2022
I'm casually playing What the Golf? (link is to a video) which is sort of a surrealist take on mini-golf with a Crossy Road type aesthetic.
I'm still regularly playing Splatoon 2 on the Switch - it remains a great release valve for the stress of the day.
posted by mikepop at 12:20 PM on June 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm still regularly playing Splatoon 2 on the Switch - it remains a great release valve for the stress of the day.
posted by mikepop at 12:20 PM on June 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
Something triggered me to try to get back into BotW this week while recovering from COVID. It's a really good game but I feel, as someone who's never played a Zelda game completely through (I got, like, 5 hours into Phantom Hourglass and gave up), I am missing a LOT of backstory.
Not really, no. Except for the direct sequels, all the Zelda games are entirely independent. There are some recurring ideas: a recurring legendary hero (Link) and princess (Zelda), and some kind of Triforce of Courage (for Link), Wisdom (for Zelda), and Power (for Gannon / Gannondorf / whatever), and the Triforce and Zelda don’t always make it into the equation. There are recurring characters and character names, but these get swapped all over the place. BoTW throws you into the middle of something that itself has nothing to do with any of the other games. (Attempts to tie the games together into a larger narrative are a whole lot of unnecessary headcannon. If you have fifteen minutes to kill and want to see this taken to a delightfully absurd degree, Brian David Gilbert has a video for you.)
posted by Going To Maine at 1:23 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Not really, no. Except for the direct sequels, all the Zelda games are entirely independent. There are some recurring ideas: a recurring legendary hero (Link) and princess (Zelda), and some kind of Triforce of Courage (for Link), Wisdom (for Zelda), and Power (for Gannon / Gannondorf / whatever), and the Triforce and Zelda don’t always make it into the equation. There are recurring characters and character names, but these get swapped all over the place. BoTW throws you into the middle of something that itself has nothing to do with any of the other games. (Attempts to tie the games together into a larger narrative are a whole lot of unnecessary headcannon. If you have fifteen minutes to kill and want to see this taken to a delightfully absurd degree, Brian David Gilbert has a video for you.)
posted by Going To Maine at 1:23 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
I have a brother who has handicaps and has been lonely, so I got Switches for both of us. He lives far away, so I asked family to help him get going. My plan was that we could play Animal Crossing online. Last I heard, he says he needs computer upgrades. Family not replying. pretty sure they assume it's a cheapass toy, have abandoned it as a lost cause, and I am beyond frustrated, but have started with Animal Crossing. My brother's dystonia gives him severe speech issues and I am hearing impaired, so calling him doesn't work, and makes us both feel shitty. I was hoping we could play and chat. but Animal Crossing seems like it might be fun, though I'm way behind on the trends, obv.
What other Switch games can my brother and I play? I don't do shooting.
posted by theora55 at 2:00 PM on June 2, 2022
What other Switch games can my brother and I play? I don't do shooting.
posted by theora55 at 2:00 PM on June 2, 2022
What other Switch games can my brother and I play? I don't do shooting.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Warioware: Get It Together!
Don't Starve Together
Mario Party Superstars
WarioWare and parts of Mario Party are kinda twitchy - they're both mini-game heavy, and WarioWare REALLY leans into it.
posted by hanov3r at 2:05 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Warioware: Get It Together!
Don't Starve Together
Mario Party Superstars
WarioWare and parts of Mario Party are kinda twitchy - they're both mini-game heavy, and WarioWare REALLY leans into it.
posted by hanov3r at 2:05 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
the Steam version of Dominion (base game is free
This information just changed my upcoming weekend plans, thank you!
I've been looking for more couch co-op or local multiplayer games lately to play with the kid; they've outgrown the Lego games, and I'm not skilled enough to keep up with them in first person shooters. Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime is a good 'un; Towerfall Ascension likewise; Overcooked is quality but too stressful for either of us to really enjoy. I just bought It Takes Two based on reviews but we haven't had a chance to try it yet.
When I'm on my own I've been slowly making my way through RDR2 a few years behind the rest of you; occasionally try to defeat Hades a second time, but am beginning to think the first win was a lucky fluke; and, honestly, mindlessly making the progress bars get bigger in Adventure Capitalist
posted by ook at 2:07 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
This information just changed my upcoming weekend plans, thank you!
I've been looking for more couch co-op or local multiplayer games lately to play with the kid; they've outgrown the Lego games, and I'm not skilled enough to keep up with them in first person shooters. Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime is a good 'un; Towerfall Ascension likewise; Overcooked is quality but too stressful for either of us to really enjoy. I just bought It Takes Two based on reviews but we haven't had a chance to try it yet.
When I'm on my own I've been slowly making my way through RDR2 a few years behind the rest of you; occasionally try to defeat Hades a second time, but am beginning to think the first win was a lucky fluke; and, honestly, mindlessly making the progress bars get bigger in Adventure Capitalist
posted by ook at 2:07 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ohhhh RDR2, I just can't quit you. I never thought a FPS protagonist could beat my love for Geralt, but damn, Arthur Morgan, I swear. I'm in the Epilogue right now (which I'm not loving as much, should I continue?) thinking about starting all over again and spending more time as Arthur roaming and side-questing rather than following Dutch and his endless "I can fix it" plans. I'm halfway thru Disco Elysium too, with side breaks into the delightful and sometimes infuriating Lonely Mountains: Downhill. Up next, God of War? Dune? Dorfromantik? Cyberpunk? Book of Travels?
posted by ikahime at 2:27 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ikahime at 2:27 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
That free to play Diablo thing on the phone just released like yesterday. I'm not one to ever spend money on those things, but it's been fine without paying so far.
Also been poking at the latest FIFA since it showed up on playstation plus. I'll always prefer the Master League mode on old PES to FIFA's manager mode, but the be-a-player thing seems ok.
posted by juv3nal at 3:49 PM on June 2, 2022
Also been poking at the latest FIFA since it showed up on playstation plus. I'll always prefer the Master League mode on old PES to FIFA's manager mode, but the be-a-player thing seems ok.
posted by juv3nal at 3:49 PM on June 2, 2022
Switch co-op multiplayer: Overcooked holds a special place in my heart. Never thought I'd like it. Some of the DLC gets a little absurd but the base game is something ridiculous and fantastic.
posted by booooooze at 4:27 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by booooooze at 4:27 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Back at Valheim. Someone has put out a mod that populates the empty biomes so my group set up a server and are ramping up for the new content while we await the official expansion.
posted by Mitheral at 5:56 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Mitheral at 5:56 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Tunic was a satisfying play-through (especially getting the good ending), though YMMV on that; a friend of mine got frustrated at the big climactic puzzle and gave us. Also, the new Kirby is delightful and a lot of fun; it's one of the only games I've felt tempted to 100% clear recently.
posted by wanderingmind at 6:02 PM on June 2, 2022
posted by wanderingmind at 6:02 PM on June 2, 2022
I’ve got just around 1200 hours in Cyberpunk 2077, which is almost double what I had in GTA V. Got tired of swords and sorcery, I prefer swords and cyberware apparently, despite all the bugs in the game (still) and some of the unexplained oddities.
Would prefer to be playing Cyberpunk RED, but can’t seem to get a group together for the TTRPG.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 6:22 PM on June 2, 2022
Would prefer to be playing Cyberpunk RED, but can’t seem to get a group together for the TTRPG.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 6:22 PM on June 2, 2022
There's a version of it on Oculus, too, that I may have to try.
do! The Room VR is really fantastic
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 7:44 PM on June 2, 2022
do! The Room VR is really fantastic
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 7:44 PM on June 2, 2022
I've been playing Hades. I've... just been playing Hades. I'm finally, finally, not playing Hades with every moment of spare time I have. Now that I think about it, I haven't played for a few weeks. But it was an intense couple of months there.
posted by happyfrog at 9:57 PM on June 2, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by happyfrog at 9:57 PM on June 2, 2022 [6 favorites]
I spent the winter and the spring playing Witcher 3 again, only this time I actually played through the Blood and Wine expansion, and I feel like that has me sorted for Mercenary-likes for the foreseeable future.
Unexplored 2 just came out of early access, and I've been playing that for the past few days. I guess you could call it a roguelike explore-em-up, but you'd probably get the wrong idea. "Roguelike" doesn't mean what it meant anymore, and maybe it would be more accurate to say it is a Rogue descendant. The first Unexplored (which is on my all time favorites list) is aware of Rogue as a game, and Brogue is that game's direct ancestor, and it takes the ideas from those games and mixes them up a bit, and adds a few things (notably real time game play), and then Unexplored 2 does that again, so you have a game that is nothing like Rogue, but could not exist without Rogue.
You sort of wander around a procedural overworld doing quests and solving puzzles and making friends and exploring procedural dungeons while trying to figure out how to destroy the Staff of Yendor. When you die, your next character starts in the same world, a few years later. It's slow and weird, and not to everyone's taste, but I think I like it a lot. Here's the Rock Paper Shotgun review which might be helpful.
posted by surlyben at 10:29 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Unexplored 2 just came out of early access, and I've been playing that for the past few days. I guess you could call it a roguelike explore-em-up, but you'd probably get the wrong idea. "Roguelike" doesn't mean what it meant anymore, and maybe it would be more accurate to say it is a Rogue descendant. The first Unexplored (which is on my all time favorites list) is aware of Rogue as a game, and Brogue is that game's direct ancestor, and it takes the ideas from those games and mixes them up a bit, and adds a few things (notably real time game play), and then Unexplored 2 does that again, so you have a game that is nothing like Rogue, but could not exist without Rogue.
You sort of wander around a procedural overworld doing quests and solving puzzles and making friends and exploring procedural dungeons while trying to figure out how to destroy the Staff of Yendor. When you die, your next character starts in the same world, a few years later. It's slow and weird, and not to everyone's taste, but I think I like it a lot. Here's the Rock Paper Shotgun review which might be helpful.
posted by surlyben at 10:29 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Are there FanFare posts for video games?
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:36 AM on June 3, 2022
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:36 AM on June 3, 2022
Yes!
We have A Videogame Club over on FanFare. It's pretty new still and I'd love more participation from people if they are interested.
I also post the Besties Podcast regularly over on FanFare if people are looking for more games inspiration from a podcast. It's a pretty good one.
posted by lazaruslong at 7:53 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
We have A Videogame Club over on FanFare. It's pretty new still and I'd love more participation from people if they are interested.
I also post the Besties Podcast regularly over on FanFare if people are looking for more games inspiration from a podcast. It's a pretty good one.
posted by lazaruslong at 7:53 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Cool, thanks! 😎
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:17 AM on June 3, 2022
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:17 AM on June 3, 2022
(Also is this a Metafilter hidden feature? Are there other "clubs" I'm not aware of?)
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:18 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:18 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
RYVAR! I've gotten about 200 hours into Warframe since Christmas, mostly solo. I was joking with my partner the other day about how the only system they don't have in the game is a collectable card game ala gwent or MTG. They even have a music sequencer and a 2d fighting game within the game. I'm JarcatPrime on there if any other MeFites want to roll with a support Saryn :D
TLDR: Space Robot Ninja Wizards
posted by Jarcat at 8:57 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
TLDR: Space Robot Ninja Wizards
posted by Jarcat at 8:57 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I am still playing Minecraft. Clearly I will play Minecraft forever. I feel like the last adult survivor of a bygone and vanished era but it's really the only video game I need besides a dumb match three to play on the iPad before bed. I hate Microsoft as much as the next person but I have to say they're doing a good job adding content. Every time I get a little bored they add something new to explore. Now there are frogs. I can't stop playing until I see a frog.
posted by mygothlaundry at 9:57 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mygothlaundry at 9:57 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've been swamped by work for the past few months... in mostly a good way... though I'm looking forward to a breather. As such I've being playing only a normal human amount of video games (maybe half an hour to an hour a day). I'm still plugging away at Cyberpunk 2077, which I enjoy, but Rogue Legacy 2 took me away for a while.
I've gotten better at enjoying video games as I've gotten older. There used to be an inflection point where I'd kind of stop enjoying a game, and just try and beat it. This usually involved me playing it obsessively and reading guides and spoilers to beat it as fast as possible. These days though I've learned the power of... putting games away? It turns out I can play about 20-30 hours of a particular game before I tire of it. If a game is longer than that but I enjoy it, than I put it away for a month or two and return to it when I'm in the mood.
I also got a Steam Deck! It's pretty cool. That's where I did a lot of my Rogue Legacy 2-ing. Mostly my wife and son are using it though. My wife played through Disco Elysium recently, which I'm glad to report she enjoyed as much as I did. Now she's getting started with Horizon Zero Dawn. We'll see if that grabs her.
My son's been playing a lot of Sponge Bob: Battle for Bikini Bottom and Rogue Legacy 2. He's only 6, and RL 2 is kind of too hard for him... but I'm proud of his tenacity even though he has yet to beat the first boss. I haven't told him about the "House Rules" because I'm a terrible father.
posted by Alex404 at 11:15 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've gotten better at enjoying video games as I've gotten older. There used to be an inflection point where I'd kind of stop enjoying a game, and just try and beat it. This usually involved me playing it obsessively and reading guides and spoilers to beat it as fast as possible. These days though I've learned the power of... putting games away? It turns out I can play about 20-30 hours of a particular game before I tire of it. If a game is longer than that but I enjoy it, than I put it away for a month or two and return to it when I'm in the mood.
I also got a Steam Deck! It's pretty cool. That's where I did a lot of my Rogue Legacy 2-ing. Mostly my wife and son are using it though. My wife played through Disco Elysium recently, which I'm glad to report she enjoyed as much as I did. Now she's getting started with Horizon Zero Dawn. We'll see if that grabs her.
My son's been playing a lot of Sponge Bob: Battle for Bikini Bottom and Rogue Legacy 2. He's only 6, and RL 2 is kind of too hard for him... but I'm proud of his tenacity even though he has yet to beat the first boss. I haven't told him about the "House Rules" because I'm a terrible father.
posted by Alex404 at 11:15 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm not a gamer, per se. I grew up with Intellivision and SNES and have never owned a console. I have a Playdate that's apparently shipping soon, and I still haven't canceled my Amico preorder, although that would probably be wise.
For my birthday, my brother gave me something he's been enjoying: a Backbone controller for my iPhone. I have yet to sign up with any services yet, but it seems to allow me to play XBox and Playstation and maybe Windows games on my phone. It's a little overwhelming, and I don't know where to start. It works with Apple Arcade games that support controllers. I've determined that much so far.
posted by emelenjr at 12:04 PM on June 3, 2022
For my birthday, my brother gave me something he's been enjoying: a Backbone controller for my iPhone. I have yet to sign up with any services yet, but it seems to allow me to play XBox and Playstation and maybe Windows games on my phone. It's a little overwhelming, and I don't know where to start. It works with Apple Arcade games that support controllers. I've determined that much so far.
posted by emelenjr at 12:04 PM on June 3, 2022
Also is this a Metafilter hidden feature? Are there other "clubs" I'm not aware of?
There is no cabal.
posted by nickmark at 12:16 PM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
There is no cabal.
posted by nickmark at 12:16 PM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
After spending tens upon tens of hours playing BoTW and really getting nowhere at all, took a break and got the new Switch Sports, which is...really meh? The games, as few as there are, are remarkably superficial, and basically got bored after about an hour. Soccer may be the highlight, but I also have Rocket League which is way more fun. So switched over to playing Super Mario Bros WiiU, which at least is interesting, if not terribly challenging.
My wife and I just "finished" playing through Untitled Goose Game, which is a blast in co-op but kind of frustrating (to me at least) as a single player. We might go through and 100% it someday.
The Nintendo Online+Expansion Pack at least has some fun old games for this apparent geezer. Started a play through of Banjo-Kazooie a few weeks ago that I should get back to...
posted by General Malaise at 12:24 PM on June 3, 2022
My wife and I just "finished" playing through Untitled Goose Game, which is a blast in co-op but kind of frustrating (to me at least) as a single player. We might go through and 100% it someday.
The Nintendo Online+Expansion Pack at least has some fun old games for this apparent geezer. Started a play through of Banjo-Kazooie a few weeks ago that I should get back to...
posted by General Malaise at 12:24 PM on June 3, 2022
"I'm the face and you're the mule! Screw you, mule!" Yes, I'm still playing Borderlands 3.
There are just so many little gags in this game. Something I noticed only recently: there are pipes aboard Sanctuary labeled "COOLANT." Fair enough. But there are also pipes labeled "HEATANT." Which is about what you'd expect for a spacecraft cobbled together on Pandora.
Just starting with Wonderlands. Man, just being able to design the look of my character was a huge change!
posted by SPrintF at 12:54 PM on June 3, 2022
There are just so many little gags in this game. Something I noticed only recently: there are pipes aboard Sanctuary labeled "COOLANT." Fair enough. But there are also pipes labeled "HEATANT." Which is about what you'd expect for a spacecraft cobbled together on Pandora.
Just starting with Wonderlands. Man, just being able to design the look of my character was a huge change!
posted by SPrintF at 12:54 PM on June 3, 2022
Also is this a Metafilter hidden feature? Are there other "clubs" I'm not aware of?
There is no cabal.
posted by nickmark
If you know, can you just please tell me? I'm not joking.
posted by tiny frying pan at 1:02 PM on June 3, 2022
There is no cabal.
posted by nickmark
If you know, can you just please tell me? I'm not joking.
posted by tiny frying pan at 1:02 PM on June 3, 2022
Right now I am obsessed with Stardew Valley.
posted by all about eevee at 1:04 PM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by all about eevee at 1:04 PM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
There is a join this club feature but no link I can find to a page of clubs on MeFi, so I am confused.
Like a lot of Fanfare, it's somewhat hidden away. Here's the list of clubs.
posted by simmering octagon at 1:18 PM on June 3, 2022
Like a lot of Fanfare, it's somewhat hidden away. Here's the list of clubs.
posted by simmering octagon at 1:18 PM on June 3, 2022
Right before the pandemic I bought a gaming laptop. Up until then I had mostly played bethesda RPGs through bootcamp on my mac. I had a list of games I wanted to try out and I started with No Man's Sky and well, today I'm still playing No Man's Sky. About the time I begin to taper off another update drops with some new stuff and I'm sucked back in again. I think you could fairly criticize it for being miles wide and an inch deep but IT IS MILES AND MILES AND MILES WIDE and there are so many little inch-deeo rabbit holes to burrow into.
posted by gamera at 1:19 PM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by gamera at 1:19 PM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's been over 22 years and I'm still playing The Sims.
According to Steam I passed 700 hours of playtime in the Sims 3 this weekend. I was a long long longtime holdout on the OG Sims, but upgraded to Sims 3 when it all went on $5 sale on Steam in late 2018. That works out to 156 hours of Sims* a year, which feels like rookie numbers but I'm always seeking to improve myself.
I'm really hoping my predictions are right that they launch Sims 5 in 2023; I'm ready for something new but at this point I feel a very strong commitment to playing the odd Sims exclusively.
*But there's no way to know for sure how much original Sims should be added to that, because YES I'm still playing it sometimes, too.
posted by phunniemee at 1:25 PM on June 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
According to Steam I passed 700 hours of playtime in the Sims 3 this weekend. I was a long long longtime holdout on the OG Sims, but upgraded to Sims 3 when it all went on $5 sale on Steam in late 2018. That works out to 156 hours of Sims* a year, which feels like rookie numbers but I'm always seeking to improve myself.
I'm really hoping my predictions are right that they launch Sims 5 in 2023; I'm ready for something new but at this point I feel a very strong commitment to playing the odd Sims exclusively.
*But there's no way to know for sure how much original Sims should be added to that, because YES I'm still playing it sometimes, too.
posted by phunniemee at 1:25 PM on June 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
Thank you, simmering octagon!
posted by tiny frying pan at 1:36 PM on June 3, 2022
posted by tiny frying pan at 1:36 PM on June 3, 2022
I'm still regularly playing Splatoon 2 on the Switch - it remains a great release valve for the stress of the day.I love Splatoon 2, and still play it for the same reasons. Sometimes I will even plug in the Wii U and play the original.
posted by mikepop
posted by eckeric at 3:21 PM on June 3, 2022
I just bought It Takes Two based on reviews but we haven't had a chance to try it yet.
It's really fun! We're taking it slow so I don't think we're even halfway through, but really enjoying it so far.
posted by cozenedindigo at 5:36 PM on June 3, 2022
It's really fun! We're taking it slow so I don't think we're even halfway through, but really enjoying it so far.
posted by cozenedindigo at 5:36 PM on June 3, 2022
if someone would invite me to their valheim server i would be so stoked. just saying. THAT GAME SAVED MY ASS DURING THE PANDEMIC
posted by capnsue at 6:49 PM on June 3, 2022
posted by capnsue at 6:49 PM on June 3, 2022
As Far as the Eye is peaceful survival strategy game where your caravan of weird floating people who carry their stuff using balloons practice their eyeball-based religion, flee the rising flood waters that mark the end of the current cycle, and look forward to meeting with the other survivors for a big party at the center of the world to begin the new cycle. The visuals are lovely and it's extremely hard.
Like hydropsyche, I'm playing lots of Timberborn, and talking it up to everyone who will listen. It's very fun trying out the different maps. There are only two different factions so far, but they have significantly different technologies. I'm kind of addicted to beating the early game for now (i.e. build moar dams, survive moar droughts) but someday I hope to grow a great, thriving beaver society!
Mr. Tech and I are also playing the No Man's Sky Leviathan expedition, which we refer to as "doing our space job." It's a little tedious, but it's tedium you endure while wandering around in weird alien landscapes, so it is just slightly preferable to the tedium we endure wandering around in, you know, Wisconsin. I play on my laptop while he plays on the PS5, and we shout at each other, "WHERE ARE YOU? ARE YOU THERE YET? DO YOU HAVE ANY COPPER I CAN BORROW?" So, quality family time.
posted by BrashTech at 7:05 PM on June 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
Like hydropsyche, I'm playing lots of Timberborn, and talking it up to everyone who will listen. It's very fun trying out the different maps. There are only two different factions so far, but they have significantly different technologies. I'm kind of addicted to beating the early game for now (i.e. build moar dams, survive moar droughts) but someday I hope to grow a great, thriving beaver society!
Mr. Tech and I are also playing the No Man's Sky Leviathan expedition, which we refer to as "doing our space job." It's a little tedious, but it's tedium you endure while wandering around in weird alien landscapes, so it is just slightly preferable to the tedium we endure wandering around in, you know, Wisconsin. I play on my laptop while he plays on the PS5, and we shout at each other, "WHERE ARE YOU? ARE YOU THERE YET? DO YOU HAVE ANY COPPER I CAN BORROW?" So, quality family time.
posted by BrashTech at 7:05 PM on June 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
"I am still playing Minecraft."-- yes, me too! I only discovered it a few years ago, but it's relaxing and fun. Except for last night when I lost all my gear. But that meant (really this makes sense) that now I am building a drowned farm.
posted by zompist at 7:53 PM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by zompist at 7:53 PM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Still Skyrim, I've now sunk hundreds of hours into this one without ever joining either faction, just playing radiant quests. I am top of the thieves guild and the companions, but barely started in the assassins guild because I don't want to go out and kill people. Not sure where I am on the dragonborn, I find that bit boring so I've been ignoring those quests for a while. I hate killing dragons almost as much as I hate killing people.
I would still love to find an open world exploration type game with less violence, something with same scope of size and immersive graphics, but less killing.
posted by buildmyworld at 8:23 PM on June 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
I would still love to find an open world exploration type game with less violence, something with same scope of size and immersive graphics, but less killing.
posted by buildmyworld at 8:23 PM on June 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
Steam Deck has singlehandedly rekindled PC gaming for me. I was almost entirely a console gamer for nearly 20 years, but now I'm back in the fold with a vengeance. Haven't even touched my Switch OLED since getting it.
Elden Ring - ~60 hours in, only one Great Rune obtained. I'm playing slow and savoring it. It's my favorite Souls game, and therefore my favorite game of all time. No need to mince words.
Rogue Legacy 2 - they've fixed all complaints I had with Rogue Legacy 1, and it's damn near perfect now. I would be helplessly addicted if not for Elden Ring beckoning me ever closer.
Dungeons of Dreadrock - 54 floors in out of 100. This is an under-the-radar gem. Cheap at $4, and currently 50% off at $2. Or if you can't swing that, it's free with ads on iOS/Android. This is a puzzle game, with some fighting and timing elements, that plays a bit like if Eye of the Beholder or Dungeon Master was top down and emphasized the trapdoor / weighted floor tile puzzles almost exclusively. The presentation is slightly rough around the edges, but the puzzles are clever and made with love.
Games I'm dipping into here and there:
Kirby and the Forgotten Land (emulated via yuzu)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (emulated via yuzu)
Dead Space (replaying)
Morrowind (replaying)
posted by naju at 9:39 PM on June 3, 2022
Elden Ring - ~60 hours in, only one Great Rune obtained. I'm playing slow and savoring it. It's my favorite Souls game, and therefore my favorite game of all time. No need to mince words.
Rogue Legacy 2 - they've fixed all complaints I had with Rogue Legacy 1, and it's damn near perfect now. I would be helplessly addicted if not for Elden Ring beckoning me ever closer.
Dungeons of Dreadrock - 54 floors in out of 100. This is an under-the-radar gem. Cheap at $4, and currently 50% off at $2. Or if you can't swing that, it's free with ads on iOS/Android. This is a puzzle game, with some fighting and timing elements, that plays a bit like if Eye of the Beholder or Dungeon Master was top down and emphasized the trapdoor / weighted floor tile puzzles almost exclusively. The presentation is slightly rough around the edges, but the puzzles are clever and made with love.
Games I'm dipping into here and there:
Kirby and the Forgotten Land (emulated via yuzu)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (emulated via yuzu)
Dead Space (replaying)
Morrowind (replaying)
posted by naju at 9:39 PM on June 3, 2022
(Also is this a Metafilter hidden feature? Are there other "clubs" I'm not aware of?)
No (though it isn't super obvious) and probably! Here ya go
posted by lazaruslong at 12:49 AM on June 4, 2022
No (though it isn't super obvious) and probably! Here ya go
posted by lazaruslong at 12:49 AM on June 4, 2022
Alina of the Arena, which is like Slay the Spire crossed with Into the Breach.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 1:50 AM on June 4, 2022
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 1:50 AM on June 4, 2022
Spirit Island! Sometimes the multiplayer beta (haven't spotted a bug in quite some time), sometimes just a solo two-hander. Those dirty European colonists don't know what hit 'em.
posted by aihal at 2:22 AM on June 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by aihal at 2:22 AM on June 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
TLDR: Space Robot Ninja Wizards
Indeed. Friend request sent, I’m a Mesa main (absolute min-max, a few Velocity Arcanes aside), and my Saryn (tertiary) is pretty much maxed out. Prefer Titania (secondary) over Wukong on speedruns, though I’m happy to run Capture Relics with anyone except Volt (that team speed boost pushes Titania’s flight speed well beyond what is feasible for human reaction time).
“Ryvar, every frame you just named is one with a major gimmick that completely upends gameplay: Mesa’s literally a dedicated aimbot class so the cheaters needn’t bother. Saryn does a background damage virus that slowly builds until you outpace the spawning system, effectively smartbombing the entire map and forcing the spawner to reset every couple minutes. Titania plays every map in openworld flight mode like an insect-sized fighter jet. I’m getting the impression that what you love most about playing Warframe is…avoiding playing Warframe. At least as intended.”
To which: yeah, guilty. In defense of my engagement with normal frames: I did make the Hydroid flying puddle build.
God I love this fucking game.
posted by Ryvar at 2:30 AM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
Indeed. Friend request sent, I’m a Mesa main (absolute min-max, a few Velocity Arcanes aside), and my Saryn (tertiary) is pretty much maxed out. Prefer Titania (secondary) over Wukong on speedruns, though I’m happy to run Capture Relics with anyone except Volt (that team speed boost pushes Titania’s flight speed well beyond what is feasible for human reaction time).
“Ryvar, every frame you just named is one with a major gimmick that completely upends gameplay: Mesa’s literally a dedicated aimbot class so the cheaters needn’t bother. Saryn does a background damage virus that slowly builds until you outpace the spawning system, effectively smartbombing the entire map and forcing the spawner to reset every couple minutes. Titania plays every map in openworld flight mode like an insect-sized fighter jet. I’m getting the impression that what you love most about playing Warframe is…avoiding playing Warframe. At least as intended.”
To which: yeah, guilty. In defense of my engagement with normal frames: I did make the Hydroid flying puddle build.
God I love this fucking game.
posted by Ryvar at 2:30 AM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
for some reason I finally decided to pick up Vampire Survivors and wow it's good!
Post up in A Videogame Club on FanFare if folks are interested in chatting about it.
posted by lazaruslong at 4:52 AM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
Post up in A Videogame Club on FanFare if folks are interested in chatting about it.
posted by lazaruslong at 4:52 AM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
BrashTech : So glad to find someone else playing Timberborn! I'm currently playing on the Beaverome map and having a ton of fun with dynamite. It really works for me as a destress game.
posted by hydropsyche at 7:13 AM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 7:13 AM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
One day I might play Timberborn but it, along with several other games, aren’t working on my computer. I had a friend look into it but he couldn’t figure out the problem. I did play a few months of Lord of the Rings Online a while back after the last games thread.
Now I am back to occasional bouts of Planetbase and Oxygen Not Included. Because they work. They Are Billions may tempt me back for a fourth try. Or maybe not.
posted by Glinn at 10:19 AM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
Now I am back to occasional bouts of Planetbase and Oxygen Not Included. Because they work. They Are Billions may tempt me back for a fourth try. Or maybe not.
posted by Glinn at 10:19 AM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
God I love this fucking game.
Same. I'm still working on unlocking helminth and just got my first primed mods this week, but I have a Saryn Prime build that lets me afk elite sanctuary onslaught. I've found I enjoy Gara the most, I like the unlimited scaling potential there too though.
posted by Jarcat at 11:48 AM on June 4, 2022
Same. I'm still working on unlocking helminth and just got my first primed mods this week, but I have a Saryn Prime build that lets me afk elite sanctuary onslaught. I've found I enjoy Gara the most, I like the unlimited scaling potential there too though.
posted by Jarcat at 11:48 AM on June 4, 2022
I have just noticed glancing at Steam that Klei's masterpiece of a turn-based spycraft tactics game Invisible, Inc. is on sale for five bucks for the next day and a half. Klei has never made a bad game and this is imho the best they've ever done. You know how sometimes when you do something successfully in a game you feel not so much led by the hand as like you are the smartest human in history? This game makes that happen in a wonderful way. If you like hard turn-by-turn press your luck decisions where you scrape out a win against impossible odds by being EXTREMELY cool and clever, go buy this thing.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:22 PM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:22 PM on June 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
I finished the Leviathan expedition in No Man's Sky recently, and figured out pretty quickly why I don't usually play permadeath. And weirdly, though I'd been in a big NMS phase lately, I just don't want to go back to it now. That expedition was downright stressful, and some of the relaxing quality of the game has gone out of it now. Hopefully temporarily, it really is a lovely game.
And I just found out there's a Mario Golf game out for the Switch, and I don't have a Switch and I don't want to buy one as I'd get a lot more use out of a Steam deck if I had that kind of money which I don't, but damn I had so much fun playing Mario Golf Toadstool Tour on the GameCube I'm almost tempted to buy the whole system just for this one game.
Just realized I picked up The Room 4 a while back but never got around to playing it. Off to creep myself out...
posted by MrVisible at 10:12 PM on June 4, 2022
And I just found out there's a Mario Golf game out for the Switch, and I don't have a Switch and I don't want to buy one as I'd get a lot more use out of a Steam deck if I had that kind of money which I don't, but damn I had so much fun playing Mario Golf Toadstool Tour on the GameCube I'm almost tempted to buy the whole system just for this one game.
Just realized I picked up The Room 4 a while back but never got around to playing it. Off to creep myself out...
posted by MrVisible at 10:12 PM on June 4, 2022
I have over 1000 hours in XCOM2: WOTC. I'm still playing it.
posted by Splunge at 5:52 AM on June 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Splunge at 5:52 AM on June 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
I have absolutely ruined myself playing Synergism, an idle game that manages to get a satisfying cycle of parcelling out new mechanics, and then letting you buy the right to automate away earlier bits that are going to involve lots of clicking. There is a certain amount of poking around to figure out which of the dozens of ways you can spend resources will be the one that lets the number go up in a meaningful way, which is what keeps it entertaining once the thrill of number going up wears out.
posted by Merus at 3:36 AM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Merus at 3:36 AM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm several hours and about sixty levels (after starting over once) into Elden Ring. I was originally very meh about it, but once I reconciled myself to having to google pretty much everything in order to figure out what the hell to do next, it got a lot easier.
For instance, I've found a pretty spiffy rune-farming spot, and I'm working it like a Gold Rush prospector to try to beef my character up a bit. He's an astrologer (i.e. very much a glass cannon), and for a while there anything that looked at him funny basically disintegrated him. He's a little more robust now.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:48 AM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
For instance, I've found a pretty spiffy rune-farming spot, and I'm working it like a Gold Rush prospector to try to beef my character up a bit. He's an astrologer (i.e. very much a glass cannon), and for a while there anything that looked at him funny basically disintegrated him. He's a little more robust now.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:48 AM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
I had so much fun playing Mario Golf Toadstool Tour on the GameCube
I missed out on the GameCube originally (I went ... N64->PS2->PS3->Wii ...), but managed to pick up a working one via the Goodwill auction site recently. Over the weekend, I got my hands on various homebrew bits and bobs and now I have a GC that runs off an SD card. Mario Golf Toadstool Tour was the first game I tried to play, and it's (still?) an absolute blast.
posted by hanov3r at 8:14 AM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
I missed out on the GameCube originally (I went ... N64->PS2->PS3->Wii ...), but managed to pick up a working one via the Goodwill auction site recently. Over the weekend, I got my hands on various homebrew bits and bobs and now I have a GC that runs off an SD card. Mario Golf Toadstool Tour was the first game I tried to play, and it's (still?) an absolute blast.
posted by hanov3r at 8:14 AM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Planet Crafter provided me a few solid days' entertainment, and after that I just wanted more from it. (I'm still playing a bit, but finding it a bit of a grind and also wanting more from it. But that's not uncommon for me with survival games, including Dysmantle and Project Green. Sadly, I'm not sure what more I want from them so it's hard to say what game would satisfy me more.)
Other than that, the other big game for me right now is Marvel Puzzle Quest.
posted by johnofjack at 12:55 PM on June 6, 2022
Other than that, the other big game for me right now is Marvel Puzzle Quest.
posted by johnofjack at 12:55 PM on June 6, 2022
So ... Warframe. Is the FtP version a good introduction for single player or would one need to purchase one or more of the dizzying array of add-ons and DLCs?
posted by Mitheral at 6:01 PM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Mitheral at 6:01 PM on June 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Warframe’s model is a little different. The whole thing is free including all DLC, but there are “Prime” variants of most frames (character classes) and many weapons that are 10~25% better statwise than their “normal” version. You can either buy these outright with ingame currency, or you can crack relics - basically roll for parts of the Primes through nornal gameplay and assemble them once you’ve collected all 4 parts (you can trade rare parts you don’t want or need to other players for ingame currency).
Which Prime sets are currently available through cracking relics is a sort of rolling window on a ~2 year cycle. If you don’t feel like waiting for something you’re interested in you can just buy the parts or a complete set from other players using warframe.market (trade is secure but completely unregulated, I’ve never once had an issue).
Over the course of … just ticked over 1300 hours, I’ve spent about $90 total. Every three months or so your daily login reward is a 70% off coupon for the ingame currency. I drop $10-15 each time that comes up, and just generally treat it like an MMO subscription.
The other things you can buy with the currency are cosmetics (endless jokes about “Fashion Frame is the true endgame” abound) and inventory slots. You’ll naturally accrue a lot of both as time goes on both through gameplay and free giveaways every 3-6 weeks, but if something catches your eye or you don’t feel like waiting then you can almost always solve that with $6 of freemium ($2 with coupon purchases).
It’s a good system, and the fact that you can select the relic drops from any of your teammates at the end of each relic run mission (typically for a very desired part you team up with 3 other players who all have the same relic - if any of you roll the 11% for the rare, all four of you can select it) is a big part of why the community is so positive. Other players massively boost your odds of a great reward, just by being there.
posted by Ryvar at 2:33 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Which Prime sets are currently available through cracking relics is a sort of rolling window on a ~2 year cycle. If you don’t feel like waiting for something you’re interested in you can just buy the parts or a complete set from other players using warframe.market (trade is secure but completely unregulated, I’ve never once had an issue).
Over the course of … just ticked over 1300 hours, I’ve spent about $90 total. Every three months or so your daily login reward is a 70% off coupon for the ingame currency. I drop $10-15 each time that comes up, and just generally treat it like an MMO subscription.
The other things you can buy with the currency are cosmetics (endless jokes about “Fashion Frame is the true endgame” abound) and inventory slots. You’ll naturally accrue a lot of both as time goes on both through gameplay and free giveaways every 3-6 weeks, but if something catches your eye or you don’t feel like waiting then you can almost always solve that with $6 of freemium ($2 with coupon purchases).
It’s a good system, and the fact that you can select the relic drops from any of your teammates at the end of each relic run mission (typically for a very desired part you team up with 3 other players who all have the same relic - if any of you roll the 11% for the rare, all four of you can select it) is a big part of why the community is so positive. Other players massively boost your odds of a great reward, just by being there.
posted by Ryvar at 2:33 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
To put some rough numbers on it: Mesa Prime, my favorite frame (aimbot turret class, highest DPS ingame) costs about 95 platinum for the full set on warframe.market, which is like $3 of currency with a 70% coupon. Might see a slightly better price weekend afternoons but not below 80p. Every 4-5 relic runs (5-10 minutes each) I’ll find a drop worth 15~25 plat to someone. So figure 2~4 hours total to drum up that currency via 4-6 trades without buying anything. You do need to setup a credit card/2Factor Auth with the game to enable trade with other players, but you don’t have to spend a cent if you don’t want, and people have racked up 25K+ plat entirely via free play.
posted by Ryvar at 2:46 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Ryvar at 2:46 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I want to have a spoiler-y chat about Citizen Sleeper, curious nu! Thanks for the recommendation, I've been enjoying it.
posted by happyfrog at 5:23 AM on June 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by happyfrog at 5:23 AM on June 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
I've been working my way through Immortals Fenyx Rising. If you're not familiar with it, it's a decent stab at a Zelda-like game, but set in a world of Greek mythology. The voice acting and humour is outstanding, at least in the main game, and while the gameplay can get a bit repetitive, there's enough variety to provide a nice diversion that can be tackled in short sessions. The main game was sufficiently good that I picked up the DLCs, which were very cheap. 'A New God' is basically just an extra set of 'dungeons', held together with a mini-story about completing tasks for various gods in order to join their pantheon. I was a bit disappointed as I liked the open-world part of the main game. After completing that one, I'm now most of the way into 'Myths of the Eastern Realm'. This one is better, although I think a different team worked on it, and that shows in the dialog, which is a bit lacklustre compared to previous stuff. I'm not sure the puzzle design, especially in the 'dungeons', is quite as inventive, either. But it's a solid enough extension to the game, I suppose. I wouldn't list the game or DLCs among my all-time favourites, but for anyone looking for a Zelda-like game with a lot of visual and mechanical similarities, it's a very pretty game, and worth a go.
posted by pipeski at 6:10 AM on June 7, 2022
posted by pipeski at 6:10 AM on June 7, 2022
The video game club seems cool but so sparse, probably because few know about it. Is there a reason main FanFare doesn't do video games? At least not stated that you can?
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:37 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:37 AM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
So ... Warframe. Is the FtP version a good introduction for single player or would one need to purchase one or more of the dizzying array of add-ons and DLCs?
The FtP version contains literally all of the content in the game, in terms of playable areas, mission types, quests (the later story quests are actually really drawing me in). I've heard the cash model described as "pay-to-skip" rather than pay to win, and this feels very accurate after my 300ish hours in game. The community is much less toxic than pretty much any MMO type game I've experienced in the past 20 years, which I attribute to the cooperative benefits as Ryvar explained above.
I also found a third party market site that is pretty extensively used by in game players. After about 3-4 hours of leveling/progressing, I flipped a bunch of random loot I wasn't going to use into 2 new warframes (basically like 'classes' or characters in another RPG) in exactly the kind of scenario Ryvar describes above.
The learning curve for all of the in game systems is pretty steep, but third party/google gives you all the info you need.
posted by Jarcat at 1:58 PM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
The FtP version contains literally all of the content in the game, in terms of playable areas, mission types, quests (the later story quests are actually really drawing me in). I've heard the cash model described as "pay-to-skip" rather than pay to win, and this feels very accurate after my 300ish hours in game. The community is much less toxic than pretty much any MMO type game I've experienced in the past 20 years, which I attribute to the cooperative benefits as Ryvar explained above.
I also found a third party market site that is pretty extensively used by in game players. After about 3-4 hours of leveling/progressing, I flipped a bunch of random loot I wasn't going to use into 2 new warframes (basically like 'classes' or characters in another RPG) in exactly the kind of scenario Ryvar describes above.
The learning curve for all of the in game systems is pretty steep, but third party/google gives you all the info you need.
posted by Jarcat at 1:58 PM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Warframe is a game I've thought about getting into quite a few times but I don't know anyone who plays and each time I've tried I quickly felt lost and confused and bounced off hard.
It looks so fun though! I just have NO idea what to do.
posted by aspo at 2:02 PM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
It looks so fun though! I just have NO idea what to do.
posted by aspo at 2:02 PM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I just bought It Takes Two based on reviews but we haven't had a chance to try it yet.
We have now had a chance to try it out.
The game itself is a cute 3d platformer based around "you and your partner have been transformed into miniature dolls, now survive!" It's wrapped in a godawful heavy-handed narrative about divorce that the kid and I tried extremely hard to ignore; we gave up when an anthropomorphic book about relationship counseling showed up as a new character. It might have been singing. I'm not sure, we noped right out and switched to playing Dominion.
Dominion is great! No resemblance to our personal lives at all!
posted by ook at 2:45 PM on June 7, 2022
We have now had a chance to try it out.
The game itself is a cute 3d platformer based around "you and your partner have been transformed into miniature dolls, now survive!" It's wrapped in a godawful heavy-handed narrative about divorce that the kid and I tried extremely hard to ignore; we gave up when an anthropomorphic book about relationship counseling showed up as a new character. It might have been singing. I'm not sure, we noped right out and switched to playing Dominion.
Dominion is great! No resemblance to our personal lives at all!
posted by ook at 2:45 PM on June 7, 2022
Fanfare Warframe Thread
Figured since there seemed to be interest I'd also try to utilize the Video Game Club
posted by Jarcat at 2:56 PM on June 7, 2022
Figured since there seemed to be interest I'd also try to utilize the Video Game Club
posted by Jarcat at 2:56 PM on June 7, 2022
Been playing Horizon Forbidden West on PS5. So far most of the new mechanics are Zelda inspired -- you get a paraglider, but the mad lads also went and added a functional hookshot you get in the tutorial area.
If I could find a PS5 I'd be playing HFW but obviously that'll never happen.
My one piece of advice is to enroll in the Sony preorder email list program, and --this is key -- enable the commercial emails. Otherwise they can't (won't?) send you an invite to buy. Waited over a year with emails off, and 2 weeks after re-enrolling with them on.
posted by pwnguin at 3:59 PM on June 7, 2022
If I could find a PS5 I'd be playing HFW but obviously that'll never happen.
My one piece of advice is to enroll in the Sony preorder email list program, and --this is key -- enable the commercial emails. Otherwise they can't (won't?) send you an invite to buy. Waited over a year with emails off, and 2 weeks after re-enrolling with them on.
posted by pwnguin at 3:59 PM on June 7, 2022
It looks so fun though!
Uploaded some footage of typical Warframe gameplay with Mesa Prime. Just eight and a half minutes of me stomping on lower-mid-tier content with a high-end frame (mind you everything except Steel Path goes just as easy, and this build crushes SP pretty readily). Did some artillery mech mode stuff around 5 minutes in, didn't do a lot ofgameplay, though.
I just have NO idea what to do.
I've linked several resources, starting with a simple power curve progression overview, over in the Warframe fanfare Jarcat just linked. Happy to go into as much or as little depth as you'd like on anything.
posted by Ryvar at 6:29 PM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Uploaded some footage of typical Warframe gameplay with Mesa Prime. Just eight and a half minutes of me stomping on lower-mid-tier content with a high-end frame (mind you everything except Steel Path goes just as easy, and this build crushes SP pretty readily). Did some artillery mech mode stuff around 5 minutes in, didn't do a lot of
Spoiler Mode
Inner psychic-ghost-child referred to as the Operator and which is diegetically you, the playerI just have NO idea what to do.
I've linked several resources, starting with a simple power curve progression overview, over in the Warframe fanfare Jarcat just linked. Happy to go into as much or as little depth as you'd like on anything.
posted by Ryvar at 6:29 PM on June 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Wow, this thread is long.
I have a fancy game blog now (I think it's pretty good!) so I often play things for it. The thing I'm playing now is classic-age roguelike Omega, and I'm having rather a lot of fun with it. A nice thing about classic roguelikes is that each reinvents the wheel with so many game systems, so they're all really different, but also the same.
I still check in with my Animal Crossing island every single day. Me and friends do the NYT crossword everyday as a group thing. We got up to a 16 day streak a week ago, and am slowly building it back up again.
posted by JHarris at 12:17 PM on June 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
I have a fancy game blog now (I think it's pretty good!) so I often play things for it. The thing I'm playing now is classic-age roguelike Omega, and I'm having rather a lot of fun with it. A nice thing about classic roguelikes is that each reinvents the wheel with so many game systems, so they're all really different, but also the same.
I still check in with my Animal Crossing island every single day. Me and friends do the NYT crossword everyday as a group thing. We got up to a 16 day streak a week ago, and am slowly building it back up again.
posted by JHarris at 12:17 PM on June 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
I came across unusual games on tiktok.. There's some really interesting stuff there. If you're looking for new, creative games, look there!
Haven't played it yet but the 3d fractal marble game Marble Marcher looks amazing!
posted by plasmatron7 at 7:59 PM on June 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
Haven't played it yet but the 3d fractal marble game Marble Marcher looks amazing!
posted by plasmatron7 at 7:59 PM on June 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
I just got a Switch for my birthday so I’m playing a lot of stuff people were into a year ago. I’m having a ton of fun with Mario cart 8 and Animal Crossing.
posted by PussKillian at 12:33 PM on June 12, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by PussKillian at 12:33 PM on June 12, 2022 [3 favorites]
hell yes! welcome to the best fucking console nintendo has ever made!!
don't miss the retro stuff too, like the NES and SNES stuff. amazing.
posted by lazaruslong at 3:36 AM on June 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
don't miss the retro stuff too, like the NES and SNES stuff. amazing.
posted by lazaruslong at 3:36 AM on June 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yes! I used to be able to fly through the older Marios, and now I'm old and have no reflexes. I paid for the online account, but do I get a different experience for the vintage games if I get the online expansion? Right now it looks like all the levels are open and I can just navigate to whichever one I want to play. Some of the graphics are a little different from what I remember too. But maybe that's not what the expansion gives you.
My husband has rediscovered his love/hate relationship with Techmo Bowl.
posted by PussKillian at 10:35 AM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
My husband has rediscovered his love/hate relationship with Techmo Bowl.
posted by PussKillian at 10:35 AM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
If your only prior experience was playing on the console with CRT, it's possible your difficulty is coming from the slight lag that flat screens introduce to the action. It makes all games slightly, and some games like Punch-Out!! much, harder.
posted by JHarris at 2:57 AM on June 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 2:57 AM on June 14, 2022 [3 favorites]
TV's are getting better about detecting when a console is connected and automatically skipping image enhancement steps that would add lag. Not sure how it knows I'm using a PS5 to play a game and not like, watch a blu ray movie, so maybe review your TV's manual for "game mode" or similar.
posted by pwnguin at 3:23 PM on June 14, 2022
posted by pwnguin at 3:23 PM on June 14, 2022
Game mode is better but it is not perfect, very many TVs and monitors introduce lag intrinsically.
posted by JHarris at 4:00 PM on June 14, 2022
posted by JHarris at 4:00 PM on June 14, 2022
I'm a few hours into Twenty, a jewels-esqe game.
Miserable thing. Only play it because of how good it feels when I stop.
posted by sebastienbailard at 1:29 AM on June 15, 2022
Miserable thing. Only play it because of how good it feels when I stop.
posted by sebastienbailard at 1:29 AM on June 15, 2022
Oh, I guess my comment in the weekly free thread about Supraland being free this week on the Epic Games Store should have been here instead. Supraland's great. Check it out!
posted by straight at 1:10 PM on June 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by straight at 1:10 PM on June 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by cortex (staff) at 12:10 PM on June 1, 2022