What are you playing now? [2023]

Finished The Callisto protocol on PC (free EPIC games giveaway).
The game has occasional hiccups, great graphics, gameplay mechanics are almost non-existent , too similar to Dead Space.
The game loading is blistering fast, IMO faster than PS5.
 
I thought Dead Space had great gameplay
I did not wish to imply Dead Space did not have good/great gameplay.

In TCP , there is only the lean left/right mechanic, it gets one through the initial no gun phase, gun phase, normal enemies and boss fights, the usage is necessary and the animations are basically same.
Similarity is story wise, desolate setting, protagonist arrival, cult machinations, infestation, stomping, spider like monsters with appendages.
UI, etc.

Dead Space (original, haven't played the new one), had great atmosphere , this by the same people not so much.
 
I really enjoy Space Marine 2. It reminds me about the "ol days" from the Xbox 360 area. A straight forward action game, with simple but satisfying mechanics and moment to moment game play. Campaign, PVE and PVP mode. It just works for me and is great. Shows me again, what games I personally really like and that less and less of these are made nowadays.

This game is in my opinion also interesting from another perspective. It is my personal opinion that it clearly shows the massive brain drain that must (have) happen in the games industry in the last decade/years. The online systems this game provides are (a bit exaggarated) from PS2 area it seems. The makers of the online/match making/server system are clearly not experienced and have no expertise in what is currently accepted state of the art in online gaming. These persons are new to their job. Even more astounding overall, as the company itself has published games with online functionality alreay. It is missing so many QoL features that it is indeed baffiling how a modern gaming company manages to release it like this. It is working, do not get me wrong, but it feels like software from the stone age :)
 
Still banging away at The First Decendant. Kind of gave up on Harold Halibut, I think that is a perfect deck\ally\go game.

Got quite a way into Star Wars Outlaws but then just kind of ran out of steam. It just seems to be missing whatever magic that I find so enthralling with other openworld Ubi games e.g. Avatar, AC, FarCry etc.
 
Just finished Unreal and the outstanding Fallout London (free on gog). Currently playing the career mode of Grid AutoSport and GT Legends (a serious workout with a forcefeedback wheel)
and God of War Ragnarock
 
Forgot about that game. Looked amazing, but not a lot of reviews on Steam suggesting not a lot of sales. Isn't it a point-and-click adventure? If so, an iOS port is necessary.
It's a strange game, the stop-go claymation makes it look pretty unique and it has some depth to it but it's just lacking something that made me want to jump back in. I think it would make an excellent mobile platform game, though I have not yet tried it on any of my toys.
 
Playing Red Dead Redemption for the first time and am really enjoying it. You only get to play a game for the first time once and this has that novel feel to it. I was up until 3:30a without even knowing it and I had things to do this morning that I was almost late for. Gotta go mow the lawn and cook before I can play again and I'm already impatient for it. :love:
 
I managed to tear myself away from Lord of the Rings Online long enough to try Ara History Untold on PC and it has a lot of potential. I'm trying to wean myself to sub-20 hours per week of LOTRO so I can squeeze some other gaming in.
 
Playing Red Dead Redemption for the first time and am really enjoying it. You only get to play a game for the first time once and this has that novel feel to it. I was up until 3:30a without even knowing it and I had things to do this morning that I was almost late for. Gotta go mow the lawn and cook before I can play again and I'm already impatient for it. :love:
Definitely envious of you, especially if you haven't played RDR2 yet, either. The first RDR is a special game, and I hope that we never get a RDR3 simply because Rockstar can clearly do amazing things if they take their blank check resources and open world design and attention to detail and apply it to some new IP. I'm sure a theoretical RDR3 could be a great game, but I'd just so much rather see what they could do with a new setting. That's part of what made RDR so great to begin with. As you say, it's super novel and I want that feeling again. RDR3 wont do it.

And just to piggyback on this theme, I'm playing Weird West currently. No, not Evil West and not Hard West. Weird West is the one from the ex-Arkane folks. An isometric immersive sim. Having a good time with it overall, as it really rewards thorough players who scrounge around and explore all the gameplay options available. But its limitations also show through fairly early. Progression is decently rewarding, but you're able to get many of the best abilities and items fairly quickly. I think they should have either slowed down progression more(especially on the ability side), while perhaps expanding the item progression with more deliberate pacing over time. I get they want people to have options available, but it's perhaps a little too easy to get overpowered. And then of course you start running into a decent amount of repetition in terms of location and enemy designs. Still, a really good first attempt at what's a reasonably ambitious game. Looking forward to what WolfEye do next. These are the kinds of AA developers we really need more of.
 
Just getting into Modern Warfare (2019). I’m a sucker for a good bombastic COD campaign and it’s a good time so far. The RT shadows are nice, weird that they were dropped in the later games.
 
Definitely envious of you, especially if you haven't played RDR2 yet, either. The first RDR is a special game, and I hope that we never get a RDR3 simply because Rockstar can clearly do amazing things if they take their blank check resources and open world design and attention to detail and apply it to some new IP. I'm sure a theoretical RDR3 could be a great game, but I'd just so much rather see what they could do with a new setting. That's part of what made RDR so great to begin with. As you say, it's super novel and I want that feeling again. RDR3 wont do it.

You do know we already know the time frame and main playable characters for RDR3, right?

RDR = 1911 with Epilogue taking place in 1914. Follows John Marston, then his son Jack Marston. You start as John and hunt down the old gang members that betrayed him, and then hunt down the Pinkertons as Jack.
RDR2 = 1899 with Epilogue taking place about 1906. Follows Arthur Morgan then John Marston. You start as Arthur and play through the fall of the Van der Linde gang. You then hunt down the rat Micah who caused it all in the Epilogue

RDR3 will be 1877 with the Epilogue taking place about 1885. Following the hints from RDR2, you will start the game as Lyle Morgan, Arthur's father, and play through the end of his gang and his death, and then the Epilogue will be Arthur joining Dutch and meeting John and end with the creation of the Van der Linde gang and Dutch making promises about his great visions for their future, and how they're going to run away from the horrible civilization that they came from.
 
Back
Top