I’ve been learning Monster Hunter and am a little ways in - I started out with SnS but am trying out some other tools too. I kinda interspersed it with trying out Dark Souls too (which definitely feels like the more punishing of the two!) and it’s been pretty interesting to try out a more Japanese perspective on combat that’s often described like “watching animations and taking turns”. I’ve also been doing a bit of the Gower MMO Brighter Shores from time to time. It’s been lovely to see Andrew’s particular sense of understated humour in the quest dialogue, and I’ve slowly got a few hundred levels here and there idling away for XP.

Ocarina of Time (Ship of Harkinian). It’s amazing to play at 60fps, texture packs, ans using a thumb stick for free cam

Doom 2016 and Alan Wake 2. Enjoying both of them!

Wreckfest has been big for the last week or so. The only reason why I picked it up again in the first place (after having only played about an hour of it before, mostly on the Steam Deck) was that I got a new controller (from 8bitdo), more or less replacing my worn out Xbone controller, and the idea was that I wanted to test it properly with a proper racing game - and proper racing it is! Hard and punishing, but not really unfair. I’ve been a fan of Finish developer Bugbear ever since the first Flatout (which this is a clear spiritual successor to), so it’s not exactly surprising that it finally clicked with me.

Driving physics in particular are sublime. Even with just a controller, you can feel the mass of the vehicle shifting around, you notice tires losing grip as springs are decompressed on top of a hill. Add to that the second best crash physics after BeamNG and delightfully aggressive AI drivers and the end result is pure carnage. There is some frustration (most races are decided in the first three corners and a single mistake can eliminate any chance of victory at the second highest and highest difficulty), later races are getting too long (since it’s not particularly interesting to lead for five laps after having basically won the race in the first lap) and the gameplay surrounding the races themselves is bare-bones to say the least, with a very basic campaign, upgrade and leveling system and some live service (ultra)lite challenges sprinkled on top, but it does the job.

There are destruction derbies (fun, but laughably easy, all of them) and wacky events like racing a tiny three wheeler against a field of school buses, but the majority of those are really more fun in theory than actually playing them, since most of these unusual vehicles are just slow, fragile and control purely. Worst example so far: RV racing. Nothing fun or interesting about that and the Top Gear segment they copied this from wasn’t exactly a high point in the series either. Normal racing is downright exhilarating though at the best of times, when you just edge out a victory on a slippery, brilliantly designed dirt track, worn out tires barely holding on, opponents trying to spin you out in every corner. I hope there’s more of that in the upcoming sequel. I have not tried the multiplayer yet, but I might in the future. Graphics are excellent - save for the complete lack of driver animations - and there’s a banging soundtrack that would be perfect if it had less screamo, but that’s just my taste. The soundtrack doesn’t quite reach the same heights as Flatout 1 and 2’s, but it’s close.

This really applies to the whole game. It’s not just nostalgia, since I replayed both relatively recently. Wreckfest has better driving physics than its predecessors (or really most other racing games), but that’s about it. The wackiness is more grounded, with plausible or almost plausible and no strictly unrealistic events that involve the driver being hurled into targets anymore, but this also means that, since there is really no “innovation” outside of ultra-basic leveling and daily events compared to the predecessors that it feels like they didn’t really have any ideas and were just doing it by the numbers. Bugbear are masters at the craft of designing tracks, vehicles and the physics that tie it all together, but outside of the immediate racing action, there really is nothing of note there. A campaign system that was below average 21 years ago is now hopelessly outdated. I’m not saying that they should try and make a dirty, ratty version of Forza Horizon with more of those lovely banged up real cars that handle so brilliantly, but… - okay, they totally should, that would be amazing! Anyway, 10/10 racing, 6/10 other events, 3/10 surrounding stuff for a weighed average of 7.99999/10. Don’t check if my math is correct.

Okay, and I also played a few more hours of Balatro (more hours than Wreckfest, I mean), because, well, I was forced to. Yup. I didn’t do it willingly, I swear! Is there a “Balatro players anonymous”? Asking for a friend.

The controller I mentioned (8BitDo Ultimate 2C Wired) is great, by the way. It’s a simple wired-only thing (there’s also a Bluetooth variant) that closely mimics the Xbone controller, except for two additional small shoulder buttons that I haven’t found any use for yet, as well as a turbo and remap feature that allegedly works without any software (don’t care about either, so I haven’t tried them). PC and Android only, just FYI. It has the best sticks and triggers I’ve ever used (both Hall effect, so I hope they’ll last) and the buttons and d-pad are also outstanding, despite this thing costing less than half as much as a first party controller. It feels exactly as solid as an original controller, even down to the plastic making the same noises at precisely the same level of grip strength when some hick from outta town spins ya out in the last corner of tha race for some goddarn reason, which is one hell of an achievement for the price. I’ve already had a Super Famicon style Bluetooth controller from the same company for a few years, so I knew their stuff was high quality. The only aspect about it that might put some people off is that for some reason, it’s only available in bright, almost garish pastel colors, but I quickly got over that. There is a branded Black Myth Wukong version with more muted colors, but it didn’t mention having vibration on any of the spec sheets on any site, so I avoided that one.

I just started Deathloop over the weekend.

The VA work is amazing, and it controls a lot like Dishonored, but there’s less emphasis on stealth and more on playing how you want. I’ve been able to blend stealth and regular gunplay, and it still feels nice and balanced. The AI seems to have much more awareness and combat ability, so picking how and where to pick people off or start a gunfight is fun!

And since the game is based around time travel, choosing not to kill some people might open up future paths. It’s great!

I dropped Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire for the time being. It’s good, but I just don’t feel it right now. The ship travel does suck though.

Then more coop Baldur’s Gate 3. We are now in Act 3, about to go into the city.

BG3 is part of the reason I stopped playing Pillars 2, since I got a lot more into it than I thought. That’s why I started another solo run, trying to make it through Honor Mode. So far, I died twice in Act 1. First time was the three Intellect Devourers shortly after the tutorial. Second time was to the Gnolls that siege the two dudes in a cave. That one, I could have survived, but did some dumb misplays and paid the price. The current run is going pretty good, although I had some really close moments. The Spectator fight almost took out my party, same with the Robots in the Underdark Tower. If I die again, I’ll probably change to a custom difficulty, where I can save, just to learn the game and fights more, before I try again. I severely overestimated my game knowledge.

I also beat Windblown a few more times, and moved up to the final difficulty, but barely did any attempts since then.

I’m about 160 hours into Pathfinder: Kingmaker and I can’t say for certain if it’s a good game or not. It’s certainly captured my obsessive attention, and there are parts of it that I really enjoy. However, the game is also frustrating and messy and the two halves of CRPG on one side and kingdom management sim on the other really don’t mesh well. It’s also a complete nightmare for any completionist with the huge amount of timed quests, many of which never announce their timer publicly. The encounter design also doesn’t feel great and the difficulty is often unfun - though there are some menu settings that can mitigate some of that.

The writing also feels very hit-and-miss.

Woohoo!! 💛 I’ve been curious, I know some of them didn’t make it until the new year. How’s it been? They recently asked devs if they wanted to test web request support so it’s exciting times!

My partner and I got Baldurs Gate 3 and it has been a delight. We pass the ps5 controller so we each get an npc during combat and do splitscreen for the world. She’s a dragonborn paladin and I’m a tiefling warlock, we spent the weekend clearing out a dungeon of goblins!

I should get back to Great Circle, but I dug my 3DS out recently and started Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy. My first time playing the series and I’m enjoying it.

Also slowly making my way through the Sega Ages version of Phantasy Star - a game I’ve been enamored with since the SMS days, but never given a lot of time. The Ages features make it so much more accessible.

No Man’s Sky and Stardew Valley (modded).

I had a vastly different experience with the great circle.

I’m trying to get through the Phantom Liberty dlc of CP2077. It keeps crashing and I find it annoying.

Baldurs Gate 3

Chromehounds, trying to squeeze as much nostalgia fun out of it to compensate not having been able to play more than three times online (as the game was intended).