5 studded rocks it is! I’m sorry I was only half listening, but I’m told that’s a good quality for a cult leader. Which is basically how I landed the job, I thought I was applying for a position at the Yakult factory.
A car would be nice but I don’t know how to drive so I’ll need you to come pick me and the car up.
What a lineup of buyers… 
Rumor that Red Dead Redemption 2 might be getting a visual upgrade for newest consoles.
That game made me cry.
Spent the last few weeks finally catching up on my backlog, revisiting old favourites and the occasional random selection (I had the PSN mid tier package for a month, whatever its called, with the game library thingy)
In no particular order but close enough to the order I played em in/am currently still playing
As fun as I was expecting, got pretty far and figured out what to do for a good few things. However, I’ve not returned to it in a while to attempt a final run to get to the last room. That’s a task left for future me to figure out, however past me got distracted by other games…
Primarily…
I was going to avoid this one because I love supergiant games specifically for their unique IP, instantly recognizable art direction and incredible soundtracks.
A sequel to what I consider one of their weakest games lore wise, since it’s just running the Greek Pantheon, wasn’t something I wanted from them considering their track record of new game, new IP. (it being their weakest is just an observation when compared to their other games, what they do with the pantheon and how they weave a gameplay narrative around it is second to none)
Then I saw the guest musicians on some of the tracks and decided to buy the game on its release. And it is fantastic. I’ll just leave it at that. Downright fantastic. I have 100%'d all of their games except for Hades. I never got the prologue. I have 100%'s Hades 2. It’s THAT good. (okay I have one more achievement to get but I’m CLOSE!)
I played this on release, got my ps5 just for it. One of the greatest soundtracks from my childhood has become the greatest VG soundtrack of my adulthood. Absolutely stellar work done, here’s one of my faves, 1:37 gets me pumped every time.
Revisiting it as a friend got a new PC and they can finally run it (it was an RTX card minimum affair for the PC port) and now I have someone I can talk to about it so I thought why not play through it again too while they make their own journey.
I decided to switch it to Hard Mode and do the new game plus. It was a steep learning curve, I have all the gear and materia I collected from a year ago, but no idea whats best or how to use the games mechanics to their fullest anymore, with no tutorials since the game knows its my second time around.
After brute forcing through the earlier sections I eventually found my flow and I’m nearing the end of the game on Hard Mode but hitting some seriously cruel boss fights as I approach the last handful of Chapters. Almost every battle requires a well thought out setup, definitely would have helped playing through a second time closer to my first, since I have to get killed by the boss first to remember what it was I even need to prepare for.
Currently taking a break as I hit a slew of boss battles in Chapter 11.
Gaming historians will easily tell you what the original plan for Portal 2 was. A brand new device from Aperture Science that wasn’t even portal gun adjacent. it was about a magical camera and perspective.
That game never got made but there have been a few inspired by the myth. Superliminal was one that came out a few years ago and now we have another similar attempt that may be even closer to that original portal 2 prototype. Viewfinder.
Placing photos causes them to become real geometry you can walk into, all based on your perspective when originally placing the photo. Throw in concepts like photocopying photos and the degredation that can cause and you’ll see where this game can go and the places it will open up.
It’s one fun Escher trip with a friendly cat as guidance. I will admit, I played ZERO attention to the story, it felt fairly run of the mill and while acting like it was hiding some big secret it felt kinda of obvious from the get go.
This is one that was played via the PSN game library list, it was one I had been wanting to try out for a few years now. I had the ending spoiled on my a long time ago but I was curious about the journey up to that point.
I hate this game? Or it hates me? I’m not sure. It’s really hard. and cruel. and dark and grimey. Not a pleasant planet. Absolutely sells that point. In a better mindframe I would have been able to give this more time but present me had other more colourful distractions. So I didn’t get very far nor have I returnal’d to it in a few weeks.
Claymation and point and click? I thought they stopped making adventure games like that in the 90’s. This was an obvious no brainer for me, some of my favourite games were both claymation and p&c.
While its beautifully animated and has interesting characters and good dialogue, it’s barely a point and click. I dont even recall picking up items or solving puzzles. It’s closer to a walking simulator. Exhausting dialogue options will open up new dialogue options elsewhere which will eventually progress the story and… thats it. You just walk and talk.
I got close to the end but have yet to go back to it. A pleasent game but at the same time was lacking one of the major elements I expected it to have…
To Scratch that itch…
When I was 9 years old I had a demo of Broken Sword. It was maybe the 3rd point and click game I had played but never had I seen animation like this in a game like this. My dad had a drinking buddy who worked in the distribution centres for such things at the time and was able to get it for me 3 weeks before release. I remember at the time thinking this was suspicious, but what a cool job perk. I’m still pretty sure what happened there was extremely dodgey and suspicious. Either way I gave this man an akward handshake in front of our fireplace and thanked him.
Must ask my dad about that guy actually, what was the deal there? Maybe he was a Templar!! ;0;
The remake is basically what it sounds like, the game redesigned so all of the background and sprites look as good as the hand animated cutscenes from the original. It also comes with the option to change between the new and original like a lot of those classic remasters allow.
The main reason this game stuck with me so long is because parts of it are set in Ireland, with really bad accents and stereotypes I found hilarious as a child.
Was nice to revisit that place all these years later. I still remembered the game like the back of my hand too, finished it in 3 hours. I think I was able to do it in 30-40 mins when I was younger.
This has been the one I’ve been meaning to get to the most. I was wondering what the games conceit would be or what sort of mood or tone it would want to put the player in.
This game is extremely painful and cruel in its mechanics. Which is the point.
This game could be incredibly helpful or cathartic depending on the person playing it and whether or not they’ve conquered the art of letting go of control. If you haven’t mastered accepting change this game could be a very difficult experience, or it could be just the thing that person needs to get through those sorts of struggles. Everything it does seems to fly in the face of what gamers would consider QOL and good game design.
I can’t say how or why because it just needs to be experienced. Having dealt with some of the biggest losses in my life thus far in recent years, and currently my uncle who has down syndrome is entering the extreme phases of dementia, this game was just the therapy and catharsis I needed to distract.
I love it and I hate it. I come to games to escape and it’s making me confront some things my currently unemployed ass is using games to alleviate.
Its the good kind of hate though. Highly reccomend this game, no other game hs put me in that position before. It doesn’t play it safe and takes a big risk with the player but also good to see a dev put their trust in the player like that. I can see a lot of people coming away from this early with the wrong impression and those who stick with it might consider it one of the greatest.
Honorable mentions to FBC Firebreak and Chivalry 2. I’m not a big MP guy but since I had the months worth of PSN++(++?) I tried out some MP games with the only friend I know IRL who also has a gaming console.
Viewfinder was really fun. I loved the uniqueness of it.
Finally bought Assassins Creed: Shadows.
So long as you are prepared to set it up just right to your tastes & then put MANY hours into an immersive playthrough, its actually very good.
I found myself partially playing through & adjusting the multitude of settings until I was pretty happy…& then did a fresh start. Youtube had a few useful tips without spoilers.
Aesthetically, its beautiful & gameplay is familiar to A.C. players but has quite a bit more going on. I like that it is very customisable & more complex now. If played with ‘cannon’ off, your decisions matter & things can change, which spices things up for multiple playthroughs.
If it has a downside, it would be the stark contrast between the chill ‘zen’ bits while wandering, watching cut-scenes or just aimlessly exploring, vs the frantic fight sequences which had me fumbling a bit, trying to adjust.
I have no idea why there seems to be a bit of ‘hate’ on this game as it is every AC experience I’ve enjoyed with extra toppings. It’s great.
If I have any tips, it would be to be very prepared for a LONG game & to dedicate time to relax into it once you get the feel. A restart after 10 hours was a game-changer for me. Do as much side-questy, exploring & skills mastering of different weapons to get the most out of it.
The ‘hide-out’ is important so levelling up the early buildings will make things much less grindy. With the map resetting with the seasons, resource harvesting becomes a fun way to learn new skills, by infiltrating locations you’ve been to before but with weather variations to mix it up & different weapons to learn.
In all I’m very happy with AC Shadows & have had zero issues during my 30 odd hours on PS5.
My winter lineup kicks off Oct 23 with
Followed by the Katamari @toddumptious showed above
Then Oct 29
November 6
November 10
December 4
Add Silent Hill 2 remake to the list for me. It got added to the PSN++ library this week (I almost paid full price for it a few times over the year 
) and I had just paid for a month of the fancy version n all 
Halloween spooks have been sourced, all set now.
It’s been YEARS since I pre-ordered anything, especially on console. I was starting to wonder why I even bothered pre-ordering things in the first place during my console exodus to PC.
Last night I remembered why I used to pre-order all my games…
Midnight digital launches on console. I forgot they were a thing. I had gotten so used to the afternoon to 6pm PC platform roll outs I forgot there was a better way.
Long Story short, I got Once Upon A Katamari at the stroke of midnight when I realised this was possible and stayed up until 5am rolling up history with my boys and the queen! <3
I wannnaa waaaad yooou up iiiin tooo myyy liiiife! Lets roll up! to be! aaa single staaar in the skyyyyyy!
*runs off into the wilderness slapping trees *
Yep. I was busy power washing when my PS app popped up, It’s ready to play. So I did. Was up til 2am….
Deus Ex is one of my favourite games of all time. It comes from a time before there was a formula for such games - which means a lot of it is still pretty innovative. I still play it frrom time to time..
It possibly needed a re-make, rather than a remaster - the original had very little detail in the graphics, which was forced by the system resources of the day.
There does seem to be a growing fashion for recycling old games, doesn’t there? Are developers running out of ideas?
They don’t make ‘em like they used to.
And, a whole generation of players have never experienced some of the best games ever made.
I do wonder - why do they want us to pre-order? If I want a game, then I buy it.
The only time pre-ordering might change my behaviour is if a game I wanted gets absolutely terrible reviews - and even then, I might still buy it.
OK, pre-orders give devs some idea of what demand is going to be - but since games are all distributed electronically these days, it’s not like they have to anticipate how many DVDs to press, or boxes to print. They can sell as many electronic copies as they want - they don’t need to know how many will be required.
Wish listing does the same.
I agree. Pre-ordering digital makes no sense unless it gets you early access or additional items.
Sometimes, I still do it anyway…
Not only is Microsoft providing the Halo series to PS5, there’s also going to be a remake of the original “Halo - Combat Evolved”.
Everybody’s remaking / remastering everything. I wonder where this is all heading - there’s only so many people who can buy so many games.People have limited time and money.
