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If ever a game needed online play, then this is the one. You play as 1 to 4 people all doing jobs in a kitchen making meals for people to order. If you had a full crew then you could designate jobs like, "you wash the dishes, I'll slice the veggies", etc but I played it with 2 of us and it's tough going. The idea of playing it solo just baffles me. Strictly offline co-op though so I may never see a 4 player game happen. It gets pretty ridiculous as well when the stages start shifting and suddenly all your plans go out the window when you can no longer get to each other because the two trucks that you're cooking on top of have moved lanes and there's no way to get to each other. It's only 2 button and stick game, so if you're on the Switch you can use a Joycon each. Good fun but fucking stressful.

So I got on the beta. For all the fucking good that did,haven't even got it to work yet. I'll give it another try after work tonight. But my initial impressions so far are, if it doesn't work for a beta,the full release is hardly promising.

I'm surprised there's no thread for this. Ghostwire: Tokyo is an open world first person action adventure game. Obviously set in Tokyo, I think all in the Shibuya region. It means that it's not so oversized and it's a relatively interesting place to explore and pretty detailed. It's nice. Some kind of supernatural event has happened which has "killed" everyone but one of the things you do is harvest souls of the population to keep them safe while this event gets sorted out. But anyone who is roaming the streets are ghostly figures who need to be busted. You do this with elemental spells that have a number of different properties and are fun to use. "Ammo" for the spells is pretty limited and you can only carry so much but you can get a little amount back from enemies. It does mean extended fights require you to switch it up and try to use optimally. There are some stealth mechanics as well that help thin out a group if you can manage being a bit sneaky. This part of the game is pretty well done. You're able to do this stuff because you are possessed by the ghost of a guy who's history is kept secret so far. He does have knowledge of the supernatural and how to fight it so you share your body with him to help bust some ghosts. He's pretty entertaining in a gruff way as well so he's good company. Tokyo is really well realised, it looks great and the various ghosts, yokai and ghouls are really well designed so it has a unique look. Exploring is well rewarded but its weakest part is probably when you go high to the rooftops and the jumping around isn't great. You have a glide ability but what you can grab onto and mount is hard to judge and jankily implemented. It is the time the game looks and feels a bit rough. I've been enjoying it quite a lot so far. Unless it all goes wrong I'm happy to certify it a Cool Game.

The very quickest of impressions as I've only gone through bootcamp (which I did in the beta) and played less than an hour of the campaign (as fucking work was calling) Obviously the game looks stunning, Gears was always an Xbox showpiece and this is no different and on the X it sings... 60fps in campaign means it feels a little more spritely in movement too. The first act has you controlling JD making your way through a destroyed Azura (from Gears 3) complex searching for a way to bring the Hammer of Dawn back online. It's a by the books start to the game... It's apparently chapter 2 where the differences kick in. Shooting feels tweaked but still has that weight behind it and we still have the best headshot in gaming.? I'm hoping this turns out to be an ode to Gears, I know we're returning to past area's, I know past characters are returning... I want lore from this game and answers. Old man Marcus is such a badass. I have a eight hour night shift that finishes at 7am, the missus will be leaving for work at 8am... You'd better fucking believe I'll be staying up until God knows when playing this tomorrow.?

I bought this on Steam today at a discounted price. Now it will sit in my Steam library and mock me till it's June release. Anyone else looking forward to or planning to get the new Shadowrun game next month?

So, this has been out a while on PC and is soon coming to consoles and now i've finally got around to giving it a go. Like the first game, It's an insanely open CRPG where you can pretty much tackle most situations anyway you like and has an excellent elemental based combat system (cast a rain spell and electrocute it to shock everyone, poison clouds are combustible - that sort of thing). The customisation is nuts - you can spec out your starting character any way you like, even specifying the main instrument used for dramatic musical moments (I went for the cello). You can even choose which specialty you want any other characters who join to have. Once your past the first 'tutorial' area your left to your own devices exploring an area around a fort. There's very little hand holding here and every NPC is worth talking to - the writing is fantastic. The detail level in the areas is bonkers. I'm only a few hours in, and the fights have kicked my arse a few times (still working out a solid character load out) but it's awesome. Oh - and it has full co-op as well which i'm hoping to start up this weekend with three others.

a few of us have been chatting on twitter about this, and it's a bit late at night to write too much (and I'm 15 hours in so there's too much to write about). I never got around to playing the pc version prior to the Enhanced Edition patch so I've no idea what's changed, but fuck me this is a good looking, and really enjoyable game. You get a tutorial at the start that teaches you the mechanics, a few of them are beyond what you'll get at the start of the game (countering for example isn't open to you until you hit at least level 5). It's tough and shows you that combat needs you to be fully concentrating all the time, dodging behind, laying traps, picking the right magic type for the right situation (it generally plays like a normal adventure rpg game). I didn't do very well on the tutorial so was told to play on easy, which I have and it's a much breezier. You can still plan ahead, taking potions before big fights (done because potions take their toll on Geralt and so he needs to be concentrating on recovery), using your shield and trap magics, but really it's about comboing between light and heavy attacks and keeping an eye on your health. I'm getting to the end of the first proper chapter (there's a prologue that sets up the games plot), I don't want to spoil much but I guess I can say that I've fought the kingslayer. I've met a troll, who looks great. Fantasy always seems really one note to me, trolls generally look like trolls, orcs look like orcs, elfs look like elfs, so it's nice that the troll in Witcher 2 looks unique. It's good too that they've captured the tone of the books, the first two of which were short stories, kind of like fairy tales, the side missions really feel like part of that world, so for example the troll is an alcoholic and as such isn't doing his duty in keeping the bridge he lives under maintained. One of my favourite stories was stumbling across two 'scientists' who'd got themselves in a bit of trouble. It turns out they were actually soldiers stationed at a mental hospital who tortured and murdered a spy in front of the patients. This huge trauma created a curse, and they've been brought back to the hospital to face their death. It's quite creepy, really well done, and gives you a choice at the end, one that I went against my better judgement on because I've read the bloody book http://www.mfgamers.com/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/wave_smiley.gif

I’m about seven hours into this and I’ve finished the first act of the game so I thought I’d share some thoughts. Pentiment is a very unique game. It’s not a point and click adventure, it’s a basically a visual novel, or an interactive book. It’s set in the early 1500s and is clearly a labour of love for the team that created the game at Obsidian (I guess they must have several teams now). It was written and directed by Josh Sawyer, who I’m guessing must be a massive history buff, or at least must have done a lot of research for this game. Many reviews made comparisons to The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco which is a good comparison I guess. It’s a very highly quality game. I don’t know if the music is strictly made by instruments of the time period or not, but it sounds like it, and it’s very impressive. The art and presentation are excellent as well. The game is unapologetically slow. It moves at its own methodical pace. It feels very much like the result of one person’s strong vision (although that’s just my assumption). I’m really enjoying it. I think it’s great. The time period setting and whodunnit mystery nature of the game make it somewhat comparable to The Case of the Golden Idol, but that was much more of a game and requires much more effort and thinking on the player’s part. Time will tell which I prefer.

Started this last week, putting about 12 hours into it and it’s safe to say it’s been a bit of a mixed bag so far. At the very beginning of the game you’re free to create your character as you so choose, there’s about 7 different classes (one of which is locked away behind a pre-order bonus for some reason) - like a Psychic specialist, ranged weapon specialist, all rounder and melee specialist - about 8 different animal-like races you can pick which have various strengths and weaknesses. Along with a way of picking various elements - like Heat, Cold, Radioactivity and Biohazard - you’re strong or weak to and the degree in which you’re resistant or vulnerable to said elements. The classes you pick, resistances you choose and breed of animal you pick seem more like starting points than a set class as you can put as many points into any stats you want to, deviating from your starting point drastically, sticking rigidly to it or ending up somewhere in between if you so wish. You’re then introduced to your mysterious protagonist, who has seemingly come back to town for the first time in awhile but doesn’t remember too much about who he/she is and what happened to the place he/she grew up in. Along with your Protagonist you’re also introduced to the Narrator, his dulcet tones permeate through an awful lot of the game, particularly in the early going. He is reminiscent of Stephen Fry’s performance in Little Big Planet, explaining a lot of the games various systems to you along with acting like a translator to the many weird and wonderful anthropomorphic characters you’ll meet along your journey. It starts off super slow in lots of boring industrial, factory type areas that attempt to introduce you to some of the basic elements in its eclectic crazy mix of various systems. It ends up holding your hand too much though to an annoying degree where you’re stopping to watch a cutscene or some kind of dialogue after every fight or action, not letting you off the lead so to speak until you’re about 2-3 hours in and even then the game still wants to explain a lot of stuff to you. Once you’re out of the early factory area and let loose into the open world things get much better. The moment you step out of the dull factory and gaze upon this luscious, striking world filled with greenery and bathed in sunlight it is a real wow moment that immediately put a smile on my face, it is reminiscent of coming out of the Vault in Fallout 3. I don’t know how they’ve done it with a team of 20 people but the world is an absolute sight to behold, it quite frankly looks ridiculously good and with the added photo mode you can't help but stop and take a snapshot every few minutes. There is a clear Eastern influence running throughout the game with the music, ‘Wung Fu’ combat and design of the characters and world, from the Buddhist shrine-like Tribe outposts to certain enemies wearing Samurai-like armour. The good/bad scale (represented by two light and dark sprites) is a clear nod to the Asian concept of Yin and Yang as well. Even once you’re outside the factory the game still loosely holds onto the reigns for awhile pushing you towards making your first big choice in the game, aligning yourself with a Tribe. On the face of it the choice is a clear cut good vs evil but there’s shades of grey in there with good parts of the seemingly ‘evil’ choice and bad parts to the seemingly ‘good’ choice. I really like this as the whole Renegade/Paramore good/bad swinging scale stuff has been done so many times before and rarely gives you pause for thought, some of the events so far feel a bit like New Vegas where you’re damned to some degree no matter what you choose. The world itself is absolutely massive, as said above I’ve put 12 hours in and have barely made it out of the opening Southern zones you first get to as you get out of the factory. At the centre of the world is the Tree of Life with the different biomes located around it much like a Clock, I haven’t explored much of the world yet but it’s clear there is a lot of variety in its design from the mountainous greenery of the first area to the flooded plains of the next, with the latter being explorable by a makeshift jet ski. There are some biomes that are locked off due to being too hot, cold or radioactive which requires you to get a special suit to be able to venture there safely. The game throws so much stuff at you that it is hard not to be bewildered by it all. There’s about 4 different types of upgrade points you can put into things (character stat upgrades, Psi-points, Bio Points and combat move upgrade points), a loot system where you can find and equip better equipment depending on its rarity, a crafting system where you can make pretty much anything providing you have the right materials, numerous strange animals you can recruit as mounts, numerous machines you can pilot to make your job easier and a multitude of other bits and pieces. The combat is perhaps the most interesting part of the game as it is extremely customisable and it’s possible to play the game however you want once you master or unlock the right elements. On the surface of it, it’s a bit DMC mixed with Max Payne, you have a ranged weapon and a melee weapon (or two) you can use in combination with each other. It’s super fun to just mess about with an experiment, but can feel a little loose and imprecise at times, with hits not quite registering with the required oomph to make them truly satisfying and a somewhat delayed response to your button presses. The world design is possibly the least interesting part of the game. It is very much like a Ubisoft game of 4-5 years ago or perhaps a better comparison would be the Mad Max game of 2015 or Just Cause (as this is made by ex-Avalanche devs), filled with lots of meaningless shite you can do, pickup, explore and engage with. Me being me, I can’t leave these symbols sitting on the map untouched so go around looking for 6 billboards out in the world when my time would be better spent doing a story mission or some of the more interesting side quests. It is a truly fascinating, beguiling and bewildering game that has plenty of promise to it in these somewhat early stages but I’m not sure if all that promise will add up to something in the end or not. I will say again though how astounding it is a game this large was built by 20 developers, it is crazy how big this world is and how much detail, dialogue and character development it has going on in it. The story is genuinely intriguing too which I didn’t expect and I can’t wait to see where things go next.

Heretics Defeated! So far, very good. Only got in an hour today (for now) but I'm enjoying everything about this. From the "Happy Tree Friends" aesthetic. To the distinctly Isaac/Gungeon feel to the combat. The cult building aspect so far is the newest gameplay to me and the most intriguing. It reminds me of both Freedom Fighters and the base building of Suikoden. I have fought one boss and indoctrinated three followers into my Cult. While grinning from ear to ear at the presentation.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is a visual novel detective game Sega put out on April Fools day, and it's actually pretty good The gist of the plot is that the Sonic gang (which along with the regulars includes Vector, Espio and Blaze, if you're wondering how obscure we're going) hire an event train for Amy's birthday to play a murder mystery. You are the assistant to the conductor, and your job is to keep everyone safe and happy, which means you're rolling around with Tails solving puzzles and interrogating people The gameplay is fairly basic, but there's enough to it that it's a fun ride while it lasts. You click around a room for evidence, then you present it to people as part of the interrogation. You then need to get your thoughts in order which involves a short Sonic level. These aren't proper levels, they're more like the bonus stages from Sonic 2, but isometric like they're being played on an old phone. They're less about platforming and more about picking the right lane to collect the most rings. Hit the target and you make your case, eventually moving on to the next room and the next set of characters to speak to It's quite well written, not laugh out loud funny but with better humour than you might expect. It probably helps that it's only a couple of hours long, but yeah, it's a decent little pallete cleanser, or a good weekend afternoon game

The easiest way of describing Nine Years of Shadows is that it's a Metroidvania without the rpg levelling up and stats based equipment. It's a very Castlevania map, with a pretty Castlevania moveset. If you want to get stronger you have to find the various collectables around the map and cash them in. So far I've not managed to upgrade my health, just my magic meter, and only 1 of my status types, which now does more damage. On that note, where Nine Years of Shadows differs from the many other Metroidvania games is in its magic system and its statuses. There's a number of different elements, you eventually find them and can switch to them, so the electric type does increased damage to enemies tinted yellow, water blue, plant green etc, you also have switches you can't activate until you have that element type. A few of the element types also have moves tied to them, so the water one you can switch to a mermaid, and cam swim up running water. The plant one means you can breathe in the poison area, and eventually you can travel along tracks a bit like the morph ball The other big difference is the magic. You have strong and medium attacks, but you also have a magic projectile, some enemies and doors can only be damaged using the magic. So far so normal, but you only have 2 pips of health, your magic acts as a shield, get hit and it can all be gone, leaving your health directly vulnerable. You can hold a button to charge your magic back up, but this leaves you vulnerable so you're definitely going to die regularly. Eventually you get a power that's like a quick reload, but they could really do with a flash or something to tell you your magic has all gone (either from damage or attacks), so you're ready for the prompt to pop up to quickly refill your magic It's good so far, no idea how long it is but I feel early in even though I've got 3 elements (I think there's probably 4). The biggest criticism I have is that it it can be a bit vague as to what you do next, there's no missions as such, the map doesn't mark things you've seen but can't interact with yet, so it can be a lot of wandering around hoping you're heading somewhere useful. It is a good Castlevania clone though, glad I picked it up

Spent about 5 hours with this yesterday and just left the first planet. I really like that sort of game design in open world games. A complete but bite sized chunk to get you ready for the rest. Places like White Orchard in The Witcher 3. As for the game, it's okay. Crushingly okay. There's nothing in the game I don't like but there is nothing I love either. The writing is pretty good and there have been a few funny moments but there hasn't been a character introduced yet that really connected me to the world and the world itself is your generic capitalism gone wild scenario. Which I like, I'm an easy sell on that sort of thing but it's been done so often that it's just okay. Combat is okay. Loot is okay. Graphics are okay. Character creator is okay. Skills are okay. Player choices are okay. You get it. I'll be putting some more time into it today so hopefully it just starts off slow because there is definitely potential but I worry that they have spent so much time on giving the player a million different choices that none of them really mean anything.

Started this early this morning, put in 6 hours over 2 sessions. The start is possibly one of the most harrowing starts to a game I've ever endured, it's fucking horrific. Luckily it goes back to the present day after this, with you on a U-Boat after the culmination of the first game (which I barely remembered to be honest). BJ is in a bad way, in a wheelchair and you have to wheel yourself around the U-Boat whilst killing tons of Nazis (of course) and kick them off the ship, events conspire and you have to rescue one of your team members (one of the prominent members of the squad in the first game) from a Nazi ship. You naturally make your way around the U-Boat, which is your resistance base this time around, eventually making it to the US to attempt to make a dent into the Nazi scum here. I think what impresses me the most about it is just how natural it feels, none of the levels feel like game levels if that makes sense, there's no lava, ice, fire etc. level thrown in there with a questionable explanation, everything feels natural and all the levels feel like exactly where you'd need to be if you were in BJ's shoes. The gameplay loop is very reminiscent of the first game and DOOM 2016 really. You pick up health, armour and collectibles whilst sneaking or shooting the fuck out of people, the guns have a good weight to them at times but the sound seems a little off, all the guns seem a little quieter than they should be to me? But maybe this is an early bug they can iron out. It has that fast pace about it that DOOM had, running around levels at breakneck speed dodging Nazis and delivering punishment dual-wielding some sub-machine guns or similar. It's just such an engrossing game to play, I've never once got bored or wanted to put it down, I want to continue on and see what's next in BJ & co's story, it just feels so natural how the game progresses that you stay immersed the entire time. The only niggling issue I've had is repetition, most of the combat arenas involve you sneaking/shooting your way through a load of enemies in a set stage, there'll be a commander up ahead that the game will point out on your map, if you take him out you stop reinforcements. The problem is is that almost every combat arena I've gone into has gone the same way, you walk in, discover a commander on your HUD and know exactly what to do, it's just rinse and repeat really and there's no surprises. If this continues for the rest of the game it will get very old very quickly, I do hope they mix things up a lot as it goes on. The last level I played was the Roswell (Diner Milkshake) that was in all the previews around E3. It's such a powerful image being dumped into this idealistic Americana town and seeing KKK milling about the streets and Nazi regalia everywhere, you're free to walk about at your own pace and some of the conversations you overhear about slavery and other such topics are incredibly hard hitting too, this game definitely pulls no punches when it comes to taboo topics that's for sure.

Spent a few hours with the game during this afternoon, suffice to say it's bloody amazing to look at... The whole driving to the festival segment right at the start of the game just put a massive smile on my face, it's so stupidly over the top that you can't help but grin. So far there's not been anything massively different from the 4th game but to be honest that was already the best open world racer by a huge margin so this just has to build on that. So far I've I think the game has been hand holding me through the early parts but not enough that I can't decide to put whatever the game is suggesting on hold and do something else, which is nice. I also think that the map is definitely going to encourage going off road far more than Britain did in the previous game. Anyway, so far so gorgeous!

Got stuck into this earlier today, only played the Prologue (Act 1, Scene 1) but so far I like it. You can definitely tell it's by the same guys that made Max Payne and Alan Wake that's for sure, the attention to detail in the Prologue Level and how great the character models are, it's definitely been made with a lot of love this game, not got onto any action bits yet, so can't comment on that, but the storytelling and environs have been great thus far. Also really like that collectibles they've put into the game, explored every nook and cranny of that Prologue and still managed to miss one though think this may be the kind of game I'll obsessively have to go back to via Chapter Select just to make sure I've picked everything up. Also found a really cool Easter Egg in the Prologue level that references another of Remedy's games...but I won't spoiler that. So, yeah, very early days but it definitely left a good first impression.

Started this on GP over the weekend after hearing a few good things about it but not really knowing what it is. Turns out it's a survival horror game with a PS1 graphical style heavily inspired by Resident Evil. The setting is a bit Dead Space though, in that it's set on an otherworldly space mining facility. All the typical RE accoutrements are present here, you'll be combining objects to fashion a key, using the sparse save rooms as the only way of saving your progress and managing your 6 inventory slots with the help of storage boxes. You'll also be shooting, dodging, whacking and running away from Zombie-esque enemies dotted around the mining facility that creepily glitch out as they approach you with your Pistol and Shotgun (complete with laser pointer) and Stun Rods. You will of course also be solving a few puzzles (none of which have vexed me as much as previous RE series puzzles though) and gradually making your way through the mining facility, trying every door to try to find a path forward, going back to previously discovered wall safes and the ilk, finding keycards and all that good stuff. Unlike RE (I think) you are equipped with a Radio and can tune in to different frequencies which then help with puzzles and other mysteries around the facility. I think I'm only about 2.5 hours in so far, it's not meant to be overly long (HLTB says 8-10 hours) but I'm very much enjoying it. The atmosphere is spot on and the PS-era visuals somewhat unique in a day and age where 8/16 bit visuals still seem to be so popular. I struggled to put it down last night, highly recommend it so far. Pics:

I’m a bit late to the party on this one, just got my rental copy. But I notice it’s only recently come out on Xbox, so better late than never I guess. I’ve done the first two missions so far, and it’s quite fun. You play as either a male or female kung-fu student, seeking revenge on an enemy gang. The twist is that every time you die, you get immediately resurrected, but age one year. You start off at age 20. Supposedly as you get older, you get stronger, but age too much and you get weaker. The combat seems straightforward enough so far. I’ve enjoyed smashing bottles on people’s heads, slamming them into walls. It also turns out you can attack people in mid conversation. So while enemies have been giving me exposition, I’ve dashed in and punched them in the face. Good times.

Apparently this was a Stadia exclusive, but is now on Steam. They've just released a sequel, and but the first Figment was free for a while to promote it. The game takes place in the mind of an adult man, who is driving and gets in to an accident. The game isn't about the accident so much as the state of his mind. You play as the manifestation of his courage, the mind's protector, who has all but retired. You and your companion (a bird or something) travel around the different areas and see the state the brain is in, rather than creativity and energy its all stress and spreadsheets Gameplay is simple puzzles, things like putting batteries in a different socket to make a route through. Taking a platform from one area to another while still leaving yourself a route back. There's combat too, but not loads. The mind has been infested by nightmares, dark thoughts that are themed for each section, there's small ones that take a few hits and bosses at the end which require a gimmick of some kind to beat Figment is good, but it's greater than the sum of its parts. The combat and puzzles are fine, but the game has loads of character. It's full of absurd over the top songs, with some good dialogue. It's worth playing

Yay! Mine came. Dope delivered it to wrong address. Neighborhour just dropped it off. Let the survival begin ?

So far, it's pretty good. Very responsive, means early on you can spin around and attack enemies coming from behind, you can feel good at the game the way I felt I'd mastered SOR2. I like the juggling, I've seen people coming up with stuff I'd never think to do, but again, you can start to put some stuff together that shows you're learning and improving. I do kind of wish, as much as I'd accept that changing too much might be a detriment, that there was a parry in there somewhere. You don't have a lot of options defensively, even the special attack doesn't quite work the same way as it did in past games as an escape, some sort of counter, or even a roll like in (but better than) SOR 3 would help on that front. I've only played as Axel so far, I've just unlocked another character but I'm only 5 levels in. It's relatively tough, Iv'e used a continue, it puts you back to the start of that stage, but it did mean I had to learn the boss battle. A couple of the other levels I've beaten on my last life. Streets of Rage 2 I could beat on hard without losing a life, I don't see that happening here

It's difficult to talk about this game here since we don't have many Monster Hunters here. There are many nuances that are different to previous games; are they better? at this point I'm undecided. Some ways yes and others no. I dunno how to talk about MH to you guys. Just sack off whatever mediocre shit your playing now and get into this. Fuck your story based games. They're not good: play a few hours of this then watch something from the Criterion Collection. You'll be better for it. The weapon types are made in a way where you need to sink serious time into them and defeat the enemy types optimally. There's true satisfaction in that. The variety of play is so broad and also has so much depth. How ever you prefer to play you're covered, unless you're a stealth pacifist type then either get eaten or disappoint your comrades. But this has been the case this whole time with MH. I can't help you if you're not cool enough to be into it. And I'm sympethetic; I'm also a relative newcomer, but I saw the error of my ways and I hate to see people making the same mistake I did. This is a hard follow up to MH World and not only because of the obvious technical limitations, although a shift in gameplay and level design make up for it since the mobility options make every inch of the map explorable. But I will say that the ground, intuitive routes feel like classic MH so when you start to fuck around with your mobility for a moment it feels like a whole new world is opening up to you. It's so smart. We're here to fight monsters, though. And that's great. Always has been. But what Rise does different is okay. I just say that because the big drama mechanic is mounting monsters and taking control of them, which is really cool to do, but it's rarer, and less immediate than what you can do in Iceborne with the clutch claw. It just feels a bit weird this lesser console having a mechanic (which is literally having control of a monster) more advanced but it just doesn't feel as good as just being able to slam them into a wall from the position you mount them. But there is also a lacking in drama to the gameplay compared to MH World. It's not so lacking it feels like Dauntless, there is definitely more gameplay driven drama here, no doubt. And I can't stress that enough. I guess it just lacks the flourishes I got used to. I always feel like I gotta be more down on something I'm actually hugely enjoying. I'm just countering strawmen in my head. But I'm super enjoying it overall. I would talk more about how the bugs you control give you mobility but I've still not got used to them despite being 15 hours in. I've been doing okay but that new mechanic has a lot of depth I've not been able to figure out yet. Early on you can play like an old idiot and get away with it. But one of the last fights I had was against the new, flagship beast and his fight is clearly designed with high mobility in mind so I guess I gotta work on that.

Played and finished this over the weekend, absolutely loved it. I don't want to give too much away about it so I'll just say it's a Text Adventure game with some twists and turns along the way, it sometimes feels like one of those educational games too as it gets you to input Morse code and do some algebra at some points. It's Published by the Hotline Miami folks (Devolver Digital) too. It's split up into 4 short-stories, each around 30-45 minutes in length, no tutorials at all, all very much gets you to learn on the job and provides the materials in-game to keep you immersed in the scenario presented. Got a cool Stranger Things/80s vibe going on too. £3.50 on Steam at the moment and I cannot recommend it enough for that price, it really is a fantastic little game. Pics:

it's like an fps puzzle game, think portal, actually the game structure has a lot in common with portal. but the puzzling is a bit different, you use various items to open doors/activate/disable baddies/stuff, and lasers. lots of lasers. it's good. it's supposed to be really good, and it sort of is, but it outstayed its welcome a bit for me, steam says it took 17 hours, a lot of parts of puzzles are similar to other puzzles so it could have been cut down to a better length imo. i mean it's still really good, just a bit too long, i was really close to using a guide near the end but just managed to work out the last one i was stuck on before resorting to the guide. maybe there's more puzzles because of the extra puzzles to collect the stars which require . i got a few stars but not loads - maybe they unlock a super secret ending or something. the story is pretty cool too, maybe more so if you're into philosophy and stuff like that (which confused me a bit, but i think that's the point), although you sort of know what's happening at the end if you read the computer files. found a few hidden secret bits that were pretty odd/funny too.

yeah so, i like this, it's a bit different to previous mgs games, in that the map is massive and you do missions in smaller parts - and you get a horse to ride around on - bit like the witcher 3. controls are confusing like normal, but pretty well explained. there seems to be a lot of scope for sneaking and doing things differently which is cool, but i am a bit rubbish at it and often get spotted while trying to be sneaky and end up killing loads of people - which is what i usually do in mgs games. doesn't seem to be an easy mode but it's not been too difficult so far. there is a chicken hat you can equip that stops you getting spotted a few times after you fail once or something - that might be the easy mode - unclear. you can hide while riding your horse by sort of hanging off one side of the horse, i thought that sounded ace so... the into/prologue part is a sort of long interactive cutscene, which has some funny/cool bits, and some rubbish/boring bits imo. after the first bit there hasn't been that much dialogue/cutscenes which is odd. but i'm not too far in so there's still time. extracting stuff is awesome.