Weekly Recommendations Thread: What are you playing this week?

⁨40⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨BurntWits@sh.itjust.works⁩ to ⁨patientgamers@sh.itjust.works⁩

original

Comments

Sort:hotnew top

miseducator@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Finally got Blue Prince up and going. Didn’t really like it at first, but after the fourth in-game day or so, I started enjoying it.

Also, playing the new next-gen remaster of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North with a friend. It’s pretty mindless hack-and-slash, but it’s fun.

original
- Coelacanth@feddit.nu ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Blue Prince definitely takes a while to hook you. I can think of a couple of somewhat early “wow” moments that tend to do it for people. Are you taking physical notes? Note taking was like half the fun for me, haha.
  
  What an amazing game it is, duking it out with Disco Elysium for my favourite of all time.
  
  original
  - miseducator@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Big Disco fan myself. Currently taking screenshots and jotting on them if needed. Whipping out the ol moleskine and drafting pencil certainly seems thematic, so maybe I should start doing that.
    
    original
    -> View More Comments
- anakin78z@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  That lotr game looks kind of fun. I’m always looking for good co-op games.
  
  original
  - miseducator@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    It’s a nice little co-op game. Not really deep in rpg elements and the skill trees are basic, but it’s not grindy and there’s quite a bit of loot to be found.
    
    original
- ISOmorph@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Do you know if the LotR game has couch coop?
  
  original
  - miseducator@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Haven’t played it couch co-op, but according to the description it does.
    
    original
    -> View More Comments
  - anakin78z@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Not on PC, but it has split screen on consoles.
    
    original
CTDummy@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Shadow of Mordor - Got a steam controller recently, still very satisfying and fun to play even if I prefer the sequel.

Quake - The first instalment got a remaster for the 30th anniversary. I’ve always been a Q2 guy personally and have many fond memories playing it at a mates place in primary school. Very much appreciating 1 again with the remaster though.

Factorio - Every so often I still get a craving for this even if the space age release really took a lot of the shine off it for me personally. Still enjoy it but doubt I’ll even make it to rocket launch this run.

Vintage story - Not really a patient game. Very much enjoyed it, very comfy, managed to get a good farm going, some chicken/boars and to Bronze Age. Will probably scape through winter but having recently started the search for iron will probably drop it until further updates.

original
- e0qdk@reddthat.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  Factorio - Every so often I still get a craving for this even if the space age release really took a lot of the shine off it for me personally.
  
  I played it about six months ago and sometimes get the craving too. Does Satisfactory scratch that itch or is it too different? (Haven’t played it but was thinking of picking it up next time it’s on sale – or the itch gets itchy enough…)
  
  original
  - CTDummy@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    It did in good part for me but full disclosure I’ve only played a few hours on a free weekend but still intend to pick it up. I’d say it definitely will but there’s something to be said for the transition from top down to first person. There’s a specific feeling to setting up an entire block in factorio to be a nuclear power plant and block clearing artillery trains that I’m not sure exist in satisfactory. That said I largely haven’t picked up satisfactory yet because I strongly suspect it will consume a month of my life at least when I do.
    
    original
- Pomal@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Oooooo, how is the steam controller? I’ve been tempted to get one for couch gaming…. And for playing shadows of Mordor. The nemesis system 🤌🤌🤌
  
  original
  - CTDummy@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I rate it hey, I spent ages um’ing and ah’ing over a new controller when my old one died. Really solid for its price, zero complaints so far. Oh man, I love the nemesis system, so annoyed it was patented. Especially in the second game, video game crack for me.
    
    original
Apeman42@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’m back on Rogue Trader. Between DLCs releasing mid-playthrough, my chronic restartitis, and forgetting what I was doing when I took a break and got sidetracked, I’m on a new character again.

But, rest assured, this will be the sixth time we have saved the von Valancius worlds, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it.

Also, his special features confuse me a bit, but new companion Eogunn is great. I was worried about too much overlap with him and Pascal, but they play off each other wonderfully in dialog, and in combat you can spec Pascal into plasma while Eogunn handles arc rifles. I’m actually using him as my primary Officer this time instead of Cassia or Jae.

original
- unbanshee@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Glad to see I’m not the only one afflicted by the restartitis.
  
  It’s the kind of game that makes me want to pull apart allllll the threads. Haven’t been this absorbed in 40k in like 15 years and boy has it got its claws in good.
  
  original
Coelacanth@feddit.nu ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I finished The Séance of Blake Manor, which I’ve been playing on weekends with my sister and brother-in-law for the past few months. On the whole I must say I was disappointed, especially given the hugely impressive reviews it has garnered.

We can start with what the game does well: it’s a very well-researched game about mythology, particularly Irish mythology but also some 19th century occultism and mysticism. This is by far the most interesting part of the game. If you view it as a glorified few hours of stumbling through Wikipedia pages about Irish folklore and mythology then maybe you’ll enjoy it.

Unfortunately it’s an absolutely lousy deduction/detective game. Actually maybe that’s too weak a word. I found it to be complete garbage. I’ll go into more detail, but the short version is this: at every single step of the way the game fundamentally fails at the central principle of a deduction style game - making the player feel smart.

Now, I do concede that constructing a detective game is very difficult. A central challenge is the interface with and verification of knowledge: how does the game know you’ve figured something out? Obra Dinn had an elegant way of solving this, Blake Manor does not. You will constantly be frustrated, shouting expletives at the moronic protagonist as you’re clicking on every interactible object you can find in the hopes of the game finally accepting that you know the thing you as a player figured out three hours ago. The “hypothesis” mechanic is terrible. 90% of the time you already know the hypothesis long before you’re allowed to actually input it by the game, and the rest of the time there is usually only one word in each slot that makes grammatical sense. Again, never making you feel smart. Also the protagonist farcically exclaims ‘Wait! I know what happened here!’ every time, which is less euphoric when you’ve known what happened for hours as a player.

And this poorly implemented mechanic of what “clues” unlock the state of something being known leads to further problems, too. You have a myriad of discussion topics available to you, but there is no real throughline or logic about which topic leads to actually unlocking new “clues” or “evidence”. If there was a sound logic here, this would be an opportunity to make the player feel smart: “Wait… I need to talk with this person about that subject!”. That would be good design. Unfortunately Blake Manor does not have good design. Sometimes a completely random person-topic combination gives you the clue, sometimes a very clearly important person-topic combination gives you nothing. The end result is that you’re just kind of talking about everything with everyone, exhausting every available topic until you finally talk about the one random thing with the one random person that the game decides will give you the next piece of “evidence”. It doesn’t make you feel like a detective. And that is the central defining trait of Blake Manor mechanically: it fundamentally fails at the raison d’être of the genre. You’re never really investigating or deducing, you’re just walking around clicking on things until the game gives you the next thing to click on, which gives you the next thing to click on, etc etc.

The only actual deduction in the whole game is related to who the central “culprit” is, and that is so laughably easy I hesitate to call it a puzzle even.

I also had a lot of issues with the writing. Especially the “character arcs” of each NPC are bizarrely written, with almost all of them doing a complete 180 after you simply confront them with their own plan. Like imagine you have someone plotting to consume the soul of another person to obtain magic powers, which they’ve desired their whole life. This would be actual dialogue in game:

Protagonist: You plan on murdering Johanna and consuming her soul to obtain her magic powers! Previously magic-obsessed woman: Oh no! I see the error of my ways! How horrible! I must give up on this, and never again pursue the allure of magic!

Also the voice acting wasn’t great either, or at least very uneven. Especially one climactic moment in the endgame was let down by poor delivery. And it felt like most of the cast struggled with the Irish accents?

Anyway, I could go on but I’ve probably ranted enough.

original
sunsofold@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Got my first win in Noita recently by stopping attempts to do more interesting variations and just going to the ending boss. Now to figure out New Game +, the metaprogression of the orbs, the suns, parallel worlds, and the myriad ‘lesser’ bosses.

original
- theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I have about 40 hours in Noita and I still don’t think I’m close to making it through a single run xD
  
  Great game, just unforgiving as fuck!
  
  original
  - pebbles@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I have a couple hundred hours in noita. It all comes together when you spend about a week on a single run. That’s when you start feeling like a proper alchemist.
    
    Pretty much every super run I’ve had as been lost to being impatient and teleporting quickly without having polymorph immunity.
    
    original
lustyargonian@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Got laid off this week. Sucks. Severance is good enough for few months, will just work my backlog I guess.

Finished Witcher 3 main story, will start DLCs after the remaster is out (I thought I was in the safe 11 years post release, guess not lol).

I am trying Helldivers 2, not into multiplayer but thought I could see if it is something I like.

I wanna get into Cyberpunk 2077 next, but I feel decision fatigue after Witcher 3 (my first CDPR game). I actually like linear games with not many choices, makes me anxious that I’m playing game wrong, just like I feel I’m living life wrong. Especially when games are 40+ hour long. Let’s see if I can get over it.

original
- Coelacanth@feddit.nu ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Ah, I’m so sorry you got laid off! Take a digital hug, if you want it.
  
  I definitely feel the decision fatigue. I do like a choice based game or an RPG at times, but it can definitely be exhausting. Sometimes you just need a linear and concise story that’s cinematic and well told and that you can just follow.
  
  original
  - lustyargonian@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Aww thanks.
    
    Yeah I hear you. Idk why I didn’t mind it in Kingdom Come Deliverance, but did in Witcher 3. Somewhere I feel Witcher 3 doesn’t tell you everything exactly and something massive happens coz of your choice, while KCD being so grounded seemed very straightforward, and you could hope your skills would influence the chances of getting what you want.
    
    I am looking forward to Fable, because it too feels like a KCD like experience where you get to be who you want to be, and almost always know what your dialogue choice will end up doing.
    
    original
    -> View More Comments
MindMovie@feddit.dk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
These weeks I binge play OpenTTD (stable, waiting for the opcoming 16.0). Such a stressless game when plaing solo with no competitors, i.e. just playing with my choo-choos.

Though if there was something similar which plays well on rhe iPad, I’d do that instead for the couch convenience (thereis something called OpenTTD for iOS, but it is hprrible).

original
ISOmorph@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Still playing FO4. I’m pretty busy lately and just jumping it, raid a base, horde some mats, maybe do a quest fits in perfectly in my schedule. Still think it’s the worst FO mainline entry by a large margin

original
JustARegularNerd@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Started playing Getting over It with Bennett Foddy with my partner - I completed the game a few years ago but it’s fun reliving the first time playing in watching (and helping sometimes!) my partner play. Their reactions when seeing stuff for the first time, trying to problem solve how to approach the next area, its awesome. Oh, and they do rock climbing IRL so their commentary is also very interesting too.

original
BurntWits@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Still going through Hitman achievements. Got the rest of Hitman 1 except Colorado, which I’m really putting off. I’m now doing Hitman 2. I’ll get to Colorado eventually.

original
mohab@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I think I’m almost halfway through Control because the new one looks like an action game and I got tired of people asking me to play it… and I’m bitter.

Context: The three games I beat before picking up Control are Evil West, El Shaddai, and Homura Hime.

WTF is that gameplay density? Most of what I’m doing is going from point A to point B looking for stuff. The way the game dolls out powers sucks so bad… I feel as if I’m slaving away just to pay the toll to start having fun… I have about 8 hours in the game, I unlocked only 3 powers?

The upgrade system sucks too… it’s so boring to collect resources for % increase in damage, health… etc. And weapon/personal mods feel tacked on, and don’t offer anything exciting past more % boost.

And oh, God, the puzzles… I feel like at least 1 of the 8 hours are my spending time overthinking puzzles that turned out to be way dumber than I thought and less interesting that I wanted them to be. Everything is basically match A shape to shape B.

The enemies so far have been painfully generic. Not only in look, but in behavior as well. None so far made me think or strategize to get through them past the basic: take cover and target the higher priority enemy first.

That sequel better drop the metroidvania BS and give us a proper action game with much higher gameplay density because this is boring AF. It better be a more heightened experience overall.

Also, Dylan better be more interesting to play than this “Temu Scarlet Witch with a gun”

I was gonna move on to Lost Judgment after this, but I think I’m gonna need a proper action game or a shmup to cleanse my palate first.

original
Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
I have no attachment or personal feelings towards the Castlevania series. I appreciate these games from a historical perspective but I never really spent much time with them outside of playing Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for a few hours as a kid (it was a pretty random purchase at the time).
I’ve been eyeing a bunch of various older (mostly 2D) games recently and decided to buy Castlevania Advance Collection to finally give the series a proper try - it was on sale and fit the criteria so why not? I was a bit worried about getting into Castlevania as many of the games (especially the early ones) look like they wouldn’t really be up my alley in terms of gameplay and controls. That may as well be true, as I said, I never really played the series, but going with the Advance Collection turned out to be a good choice - even if I needed a moment to get used to how to play “properly”.
While I’m still in the middle of my playthrough, I can safely say that Circle of the Moon is pretty great. It plays amazingly well, looks and sounds fantastic - it’s a genuinely fun title and that’s not always a given when going back to old classics. It might be one of my favourite “new” titles I’ve tried this year. I can’t wait to get back to it.

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
This is my… second attempt at playing this, I think? This time with a more “no pressure” attitude though it didn’t help much to be honest. Game runs and looks beautifully on the Deck - stable performance, no technical issues (except for a single crash), great image quality. Can’t say I’m a fan of the art style (stylised LEGO blocks mixed with more “realistic” environments) but I don’t hate it enough to make it a problem.
Gameplay and story presentation on the other hand… I’m not gonna lie, this title puts me to sleep (literally). Both elements are well made but they also feel extremely flavourless and plain. “Inoffensive”, maybe? I somehow managed to finish year 1 and have zero desire to go back for now - I might have to try playing it in chunks instead of normally. It’s not a bad game but it’s sooooo boring - enough so to make me wish I was playing the old Harry Potter and The Sorcerers Stone instead.

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc
Ah Rayman… it’s a series I like even though, if I think about it, I didn’t really play much of it. I played Rayman 2 as a kid but only finished it a few years ago, tried (but never finished) 3 a bunch of times, spent some time with Jungle Run and dabbed a tiny bit with Origins - suffice to say, my attachment is more emotional or memory based rather than having to do with my actual experience with this franchise. It’s weird. For years, Rayman 3 has become something of a “cool game I want to go back to and finally complete”. Well, I did just that. I initially tried to play with the “Better Rayman 3” mod but something about its widescreen fix broke both the pre-rendered cutscenes and UI so I opted into using Ray3Fix and playing in 4:3 instead. It worked well enough though I can’t say it was worth it. R3 is a pure downgrade from the second game. Camera control is more finicky, constantly shifting between full control, static placement and a weird in-between with partial control. It’s also physically constrained by the level geometry which makes it feel even more stiff and constricting, especially in smaller environments (which there are quite a few of). I’m genuinely not sure there’s another game where I fought the camera this much, even though I’m pretty sure R2 had a very similar system (it’s been a while since I played that one but I know it wasn’t this painful).
Gameplay feels worse than R2, with enemy lock-on often aiming at a completely different enemy (or even direction) than you intend to, unimaginative level design and pretty boring enemies (including bosses). It’s not all bad (there are some decent sections here and there) but it’s not enough to elevate the experience into something enjoyable. Finally, there’s writing. Oh boy, the writing. It leans way bit too much into the snarky and edgy “attitude” era as if it was afraid to commit to itself and play things straight. This makes it feel very dated and, in my case, difficult to sit through. After finishing the whole thing I can’t say it was worth it. It’s a mediocre title and a bad sequel, I’m glad I can scratch it off my backlog but I won’t be coming back.

original
- Coelacanth@feddit.nu ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  My only exposure to Rayman was Rayman Legends and that was absolutely dope, especially the musical levels.
  
  original
  - Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I want to say I played legends but it’s the only game in the series I’m not sure about playing - these 2D titles kinda mesh together in my mind. What I am sure about is that Rayman Origins is similar and also pretty solid so it could be worth checking out if you’re ever interested in more 2D Rayman.
    
    original
    -> View More Comments
crunchy@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Spider-Man: Miles Morales. I keep playing super-long JRPGs back to back and I wanted a nice fun palate cleanser before starting the next one. And there was a sale to go along with the release of Brand New Day.

It’s fun. Web-slinging feels good. Miles’s unique powers are great quality of life improvements over the first game.

I would have waited a couple more months if I knew it was set around Christmas time. I’m the Christmas champion!

original
RaoulDuke25@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’m currently hooked on Yet Another Zombie Survivors. I can’t believe it’s only $15. Well worth it.

original
Drasglaf@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I haven’t had much time this week, I’m still playing Quantum Void and still figuring out what to play after the Routine mishap.

original
zerofk@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Unfortunately I haven’t had much time to play, but I picked up Detroit: Become Human again after a very long hiatus. The story and characters are great so far, and I’m very interested in where it’s going to go.

original
Pomal@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Finally beat the Rimworld quest line for the technexus! With over 1k hours in the game it really was a very satisfying capstone.

original
tedcurran@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I just started Have a Nice Death and it’s so instantly appealing! I love the action, the art, the story. It stands besides the best action roguelite platformers I’ve ever played like Dead Cells, Blazblue Entropy Effect X, Rogue Prince of Persia, and Astral Ascent.

original
Bleki@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
After a long time i started playing games again, finished a few games recently. Hoped into divinity original sin 2 for the first time now and having a blast

original