Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of December 15th

TUNIC.

My goodness this game feels like it was made for me. I feel the magic of Zelda (LttP, maybe Link's Awakening) and Dark Souls, and I would say the game wears those influences on its sleeve.

The game drops you into the world with no explanation. Signs are in a foreign language. You can collect pieces of the instruction manual which includes map pieces. The manual is littered with the occasional word in English, just enough to guess at what you can / need to do. There's basically no hand-holding at all. Combat is similar in that it can be difficult if you find yourself in an area you aren't ready for yet (like I did).

There are lots of hidden pathways, ladders and chests to find. They do a good job of showing you treasure chests and shortcuts that are just out of reach, and you have to really observe and think about how to navigate to get there. To me the world design has big Dark Souls 1 energy in that way - already I've had that same "omg it's Firelink Shrine?!" experience as I explore and open up paths.

A very kind soul gifted me Soma today.
I will be turning the lights off, upping the sound system, and enjoying that after I eat.

Edit. Holy shit this game is good.
I went in knowing the basics of the story and who you are, but that's about it. This game must be amazing in VR

The new Indiana Jones game which is fantastic

I finished "The Return of the Obra Dinn", an absolutely great puzzler. I really loved it. Anyone who likes Sherlock Holmes style deductive reasoning should give it a try. And the art style is really unique and beautiful.

I also finished "Conarium". It was... meh. It's got the Lovecraft vibe down really well, but it's not much of a game. More of a walking simulator / visual novel. The few puzzles are very easy. Luckily it's also very short.

Right now I'm trying to get the hang of "Astroneer" which has been a lot of fun so far (20-ish hours in)

Currently playing Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Forgot how addictive this game can be.

Just got Legend of Spyro: Dawn of The Dragon working on RPCS3 last night on steam deck. Absolutely love that trilogy, even if I did play the games in reverse order. Only problem is how I cannot properly save and need to save state any time I wanna save. Hope I can reload those save states easily from the steam game mode thing.

Other than that, played through a short Christmas themed side story VN for Brok the Investigator called "Natal Tail" last night. Short, simple, expanded a little bit of world lore, and was in general a fun enough experience. Didn't have voice acting, but it was more than okay without it.

No Man's Sky. Again. It keeps sucking me back in.

EU4 with Anbennar mod -- update just released with a bunch of new stuff.

Caves of Qud, baby. I don't have much free time, and it is endlessly entertaining AND it boots super fast. Nice.

Been back into Satisfactory for the Ficsmas event. Thinking about trying Marvel Rivals later this week. Seems like Overwatch with Marvel characters

Been playing a bunch of stuff lately! Still deeply in love with Caves of Qud, a modern (ish, 14y of development) rpg in the classic rogue format. A true rogue like. Beautiful music, cool setting..

I got a steam deck so couch-compatible games like Cobalt Core, Get to Work and Enter the Gungeon.

Besides that, the usual rounds of Tarkov, and some Delta Force to try it out post release

I've replayed Metro 2033 after ~8 years, this time the Redux version. It felt much less atmospheric than what I remembered and a bit too easy (I think I never ran out of ammo and in the end I had around 300 extra military bullets.

I found a used copy of Bravely Default and I've been playing that, along with FFXIV where I was planning on starting endwalker but got distracted leveling crafters.

A bit more World of Warcraft. I got most of the anniversary items I want, now I'll do some more achievements.

Then I started Windblown, the next game from the Dead Cells devs. I guess it's coop, isometric Dead Cells. It's very fun, but I feel harder than Dead Cells. I finished my first run today, and the end was pretty nerve wracking. As for the coop part, that seems pretty dead right now. The game's in Early Access, so that doesn't help, but I only ever a saw a single open lobby. I might check it out a bit more, now that I have won once.

Then I was about to re-play Disco Elysium, but got sick again, and was in no mood for any story games (which I why I started Windblown). Maybe this week, maybe next, but definitely this year.

Also, pretty good timing with me re-playing FF7R last week, since Rebirth is coming to PC end of January. I'm really looking forward to it.

Recently got back into "Colony Survival", I've played it a few years ago and I'm surprised about how much the game progression changed since then and how many new mechanics were added. Even the way you progress has changed

Dorfromantik. I had bought the award-winning board game as a gift for a relative and figured I'd try the videogame version. Please send help, I can't stop playing. This game is so addictive, it should be classified as a dangerous narcotic. I have deliberately not installed it to my Steam Deck (which it's verified for), because I need at least a few hours per day that I'm not playing it. In completely unrelated news, who knew birds are waking up this early?

I've also been playing a bit of GTA Vice City and San Andreas, not the botched remasters, but the original PC ports with mod packs (Reviced and SA Enhanced Edition Plus) that restore features from the PS2 version and overhaul them a little. I'm having a blast, unsurprisingly. These are games you can replay forever. San Andreas in particular absolutely glows (both figuratively and literally) with the restored lighting and holds up incredibly well. Since it's been a while since I last played it, I noticed just how incredible the architecture in this game is. Weird thing to focus on, I know, but every building has the right proportions and, by PS2 standards at least, a remarkable amount of variety and detail, in large part due to the photo textures. Even most newer open world games don't even come close, like the entire Saints Row series or the recent Mafia 1 remake (which I actually enjoyed quite a bit otherwise). It's a huge step up from Vice City in this regard, which is however still a ton of fun. The attention to detail in SA remains impressive in every way, like how radio talk hosts will comment on story events.

I tried a bit of the classic hacking game Uplink again, with the brilliant UplinkOS mod that modernizes its UI and makes the game usable on modern display. I haven't done many missions yet, but it's still as enjoyable as when it was new 23 years ago. It's remarkable how little this old Indie darling needs to set the right atmosphere: Some appropriately beepy Hollywood sound effects, a charming electronic soundtrack and just the right amount of well-written text.

Parking Garage Rally Circuit: Little retro arcade racer with a delightfully limited scope. If you like the old Sega arcade racers, this one is a well-crafted throwback and even if you don't, it's the perfect game to play in short bursts. The difficulty is old-school hard too - and comes with tons of filters and resolution options to make it look like it's playing on your parents' crappy old tube TV.

I've been playing Marvel Rivals since it came out and I'm hooked, lol. It's such a good blend. I put a lot of time in Paladins but it's been a long time, so it's nice having a little group of friends to play with again. Solo queuing also has been pretty good overall, but once in a while there's a team that is clearly better and it's just a stomping ground for 5 minutes.

It's also funny how heavily it's being compared to overwatch when it's just hero shooters as a whole, and OW is hardly the closest match lol