Search the Community

I'm not very far in, I just thought there should be a thread for it. It's a Crpg, not sure what that stands for, but it's the kind of rpg where the game pauses when combat starts so you can select who to attack and what with, or just let it play out in real time. A bit like Dragon Age, only more fun As a pc game, unless I'm missing something, it seems to be missing a few things. There's no graphics options that I can tell, and I have an issue with the mouse cursor not moving the screen around when I go towards my 2nd screen, but you can use the cursor keys for that seems alright, recent events suggest that potential party members don't have a long lifespan around me, not my fault. On that note, there's text options in the game, choices and the like, one very early on got someone killed, I think it was unavoidable that someone was going to die, but on well The plan id to play the vast majority of Easter, should be fun

I'm surprised there isn't a thread for this as I think a few people here have played it. I'm not too far in, a couple of levels in to World 2. I get the feeling I'm going to undersell this when I describe it Astro Bot is a pretty standard 3D platformer, only in VR and the VR is kind of key to it. You exist within the world, it's never really explained but I guess you're a head (I think you might be another Playroom robot, which is what gets destroyed at the start), anyway, you have a physical presence in the world and are dragged along behind Astro Bot, who you control with the controller. He has attacks, he can jump, fairly standard stuff. The levels are built in such a way that you're generally heading away from the screen, however the route to get there isn't that simple. Astro Bot will have to go around blind corners, you as a floating head, can lean and turn your real head so that you can look around the corner. This is important for finding the collectable robots, they'll quite often need you to turn and look behind you. It doesn't sound like much but it's a good use of the VR, particularly as it gets you to use the controller as an item within the game, to fire hookshots or a water cannon. My only gripe so far is that I don't really want the levels locked behind finding the little robots, it's not been an issue so far, but the ones I've missed I haven't seen, it's not like I need to just take another stab at working out how to get to them. The only other thing, the first time I played it I felt ill because the world moves, I've been fine since but it's meant I've only been doing a couple of levels at a time

Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling is an absolutely delightful RPG inspired by Paper Mario. It's an indie title developed by Moonsprout Games (who I have never heard of) and has been on Steam since November last year, and has just come to Switch, PS4, and Xbone. I've put around 5 and a half hours into and am really enjoying myself. I'll write more later, but I'm struggling to type right now.

Hyper Light Drifter was one of those games funded way back in the hey day of Kickstarter in 2013 (and eventually released this year). They had a goal of $27,000 and raised $645,000. It's not hard to see why when the game looks like this: I've played 90 minutes so far. The game is clearly inspired by games like Zelda, Metroid and Dark Souls. Characters don't speak and there is no text in the game so basically you learn about the world from your interactions with it. The difficulty of the game is certainly pitched at challenging. It's not one hit kill like Titan Souls (a game HLD resembles a lot) but at the same time I've already died a few times. Especially in the dungeon like areas you warp down to in elevators. Exploration is very Zelda like and there are lots of places to find off the main path. The audio is quite minimal in the game.

I haven't got much time today to properly delve into what this has to offer, but I've done the intro sequence (which is pretty great, honestly) and played some game ideas by other people. There's some really smart people out there. I've played a faithful remake of PT, and Alice in Wonderland 3D platformer, someone recreated the art from the beginning of Dark Souls. I might never make anything myself but I'm happy enough just to have access to what other people can create. Hopefully when I have more time I'll dig in and see what I can do.

Picked this up last week after reading lots of glowing impressions and very positive reviews. It definitely hasn’t disappointed that’s for sure, I’ve had an absolute blast with it for sure and it’s definitely one of the best platformers I’ve played in recent years. The game takes on two dimensions. The 2D side-scrolling platforming takes up the majority of your time with it and I think the easiest way to describe how it looks, feels and plays is heavily inspired by Retro’s DKC series and Rare’s original DKC series, seeing the game at a glance in motion you’d be mistaken for thinking it’s one of Retro’s games. From the roll Yooka-Laylee do to the hidden coins dotted around the map, the similar way Laylee takes a hit through a level, the hidden doors into puzzle rooms, even the iconic barrels that rocket you around certain platforms. There is an awful lot of crossover here. Some may worry it’s a poor imitation or an uninspired clone but I assure you, to play, it’s every bit as good as it’s DKC counterparts. Worth noting there’s no rocket or mine-cart levels yet though. The second dimension to it and the biggest difference is the world map. With this the World Map is incredibly interactive and inviting, almost a game unto itself. It features a rather large Zelda-esque map filled with charmingly different locales, Pagie challenges, little puzzles to find tonics and new areas, little caves and mysterious little nooks and crannies. By changing the landscape in some way by doing the Pagie challenges you often reshape the landscape to unlock new areas to explore and alter the makeup of a previously unlocked level. A level variation is then created whereby a level can become frozen, overgrown, invaded by new enemies etc. Essentially creating an almost entirely new level to explore based on the outside environment of the world map and where the level marker is placed. The way it feels to play is incredibly reminiscent of the DKC games during the 2D levels, it just feels so incredibly tight to play and definitely has that same difficulty curve. But I think the Interactive World Map is almost just as compelling, you can completely lose yourself in the map just wandering around trying to figure where things fit together and where certain paths will take you. These two dimensions create an incredibly cohesive whole. If you’re getting bored of doing the levels then you can just wander off and explore to your hearts content, if you’re bored of exploring you can enter a level of platforming bliss in seconds. My only real criticism with it would be the level design really. The actual platforming is sublime but some of the level designs themselves are a little generic and nowhere near as joyful, varied, distinct and charming as the likes of DKC. I highly recommend it though, to anyone that’s into tough 2D platformer’s this is nirvana.

To celebrate the home release of The Mummy starring Tom Cruise, Wayforward have made a "demastered" game based on the events of the film. What this actually means is using this license got them money to make whatever they wanted within budget. They just went ahead and made a 2D "Metroidvania". And boy is it loosely based on the film. It harks back to a time, in the 90s, where video game adaptations took a lot of liberties. I remember one from personal experience. I rented the Megadrive Universal Soldier game a few times as a kid, I liked it quite a bit. I actually played it before I saw the film and was kinda disappointed Jean Claude Van Damme never turns into a Morph Ball, dropping bombs, shooting monsters and Dolph Lundgren wasn't 30 feet tall at the end. And is Universal Soldier a good action film? I feel like its never talked about when either actor's work is brought up (the game looks bad from looking it up again to check it wasn't some fever dream). Sorry, going off topic. The Mummy Demastered! It's kinda cool, I guess. It wears its influences clearly on its sleeve. It's laid out like Super Metroid, or maybe more like the more recent GBA games. Something about enemy layouts and patterns are more Castlevania and movement and controls lean towards Contra. It really can be broken down like that in a worryingly accurate way and also that it is based on a property like The Mummy means it does lack an identity of its own. The only sort of unique thing it does is you control a characterless grunt, and if he dies he actually does die and becomes undead, and you have to deal with them to get your stuff back (Like ZombiU I suppose). And they even did something similar in their own Alien game they made for the DS (so not that unique then...) I don't even think the pixel art is up to their usual high standard, but the music is surprisingly great. It's also just not that fun to play. Well, it can be, but I find its a little too much of a chore to get around with back tracking and respawning enemies, which is staple of the genre, but like I said, the conflicts maybe take a little too long so become a chore. I think I'll stick it out. I'm a little lost at the moment, which is surprising as it does hold your hand a bit in terms of telling you where to go but it just hasn't told me I need an ability I don't have yet to progress.

Its pretty tough. Same sort of progress as Demon Souls, so see that thread for the gist of this game. In case anybody plays this and is really stuck, i'll share what i know so far:

After and introduction all in German but with English subtitles, whats before you is pretty much an old school Castlevania. Its side on scrolling action that plays alot like Super Castlevania 4 with its moonwalking up randomly placed stair cases and the enemies are all pretty much the same. At first i was thinking the difficulty is alot higher than SC4 but upon reflection the difference is that ive played the ass of SC4 and know it backwards. The graphics are superb, i forget what a sound peice of kit the PSP is, and alongside remixed classic Castlevania tunes its a treat for the senses. I found a few secret areas already, there seems to be dual routes through every level. You'll walk past an ominous looking statue or an oddly placed bell that scream of puzzle and begged to be solved. Im fighting death on top of an old sailing ship but he bested me with his already being dead shit, which means i have to do the whole level again but ce la vie, when it looks and sounds this good i really dont mind.

This is a Limbo/Inside kind of deal, more Inside but there would be no Inside without Limbo, you know? You play a young girl (so I read, it's in no way apparent) that awakens in the dark with a lighter as a solitary possesion and a raincoat on her back. Then it's all on you. It's dark and ominous, mostly slow paced. You make your way throughout the game, slowly discovering the place where you are seemingly trapped and avoiding/running from it's inhabitants. There are stealth sections that arent too long but there are a few of them, I actually enjoyed them. There are also running sections which can be a little frustrating if you fail as you have to do the whole thing again but they job, they're a little scary and come at the right times. Music is pretty cool as well. The only downside for me was the camera angle. It's set in the foreground and as usual it makes depth perception a bit of a pain sometimes, I had a few avoidable deaths because of it. I don't know if it's just because it's the more recent title I've played but I felt like I enjoyed it more than Inside. It's just as mysterious but it just felt like it was a tighter game. I beat it in two sittings so it's not long, maybe four hours although there's an achievement for beating it in less than one hour so that's obviously possible when you know what to do well enough. Recommended.

seemingly the gaming press' favourite game ever, and it's actually not bad so far. As a highlight from the first 3 levels I've done, I jumped out of a plane and caught a girl, then as we were parachuting the plane tried to ram us, so I told her I was going to shoot the window, kill the pilot, kick the bad dude in the face, grab another parachute then jump back out of the plane and catch her again. Sure enough that's what happened and it was fucking awesome Beyond the set up things I'm less convinced. The gun play is fine, though it could do with more aim assist I think, and a melee attack button would be nice rather than having to switch out (which is admittedly just a button press). I've yet to do any real GTA stuff, a few minutes driving but that's about it, but I should be at that point now. One problem I have encountered, and I think this is down to A. Playing via OnLive and B. playing via OnLive wirelessly. The driving wasn't great. You aren't punished for killing people, or at least I haven't been, nor for accidents, but I found myself correcting a lot and having crashes caused by the AI drivers. But yeah, compared to the rest of the game it was very jerky (though it might also explain the feel of the shooting) I can see why people love it and I'll definitely be putting in a bit more time over the weekend

I'm only a couple of missions in so far. Very much what it said it was - a Diablo clone in a Minecraft skin. Very simple, at least so far. The reviews have been all over the place, from slagging it off, meh, to highly recommended. Early on, seems fine to me. It's on GamePass so worth a download regardless.

I've only played the first couple of bounties, but so far I'm really liking this. As per the trailer, it captures that 80's violent action film vibe really well. The 16-bit style graphics look really good, and the the synth soundtrack is great too. It has tons of character. Gameplay wise, it's a run and gun platformer. You fire forwards in the direction you're facing, you have a jump, a dash and a thrown weapon, and can duck or take cover from enemy fire in doorways. You have a pistol weapon with infinite ammo, and can pick up more powerful sub weapons with limited ammo, or a melee weapon. Each bounty (level) is a short action platforming section that leads up to your target, which is a mini boss fight. It's fairly straightforward, but is smooth and plays very well. I've only tried one player character so far, so don't know if they have gameplay differences. It's Epic exclusive on PC at the moment. With the £10 coupon thing in their sale going on right now it only cost me £7.99.

This is this month's PS+ game. Its been on my Switch list but I'll have it here for now. It's been a good, chill game to play at during these times and I reckon I can do better than those that run things now. Its kinda cathartic. Yeah, my first attempt I fucked up the water lines and poisoned everyone but it's a learning process... I've built a fairly well functioning city. Its a modest little place but everyone's happy and healthy. It's bustling and pretty green; it's nice. I've bought up some more land to expand but I need more money to build. I could really do with a university as occasionally a place goes out of business due to my undereducated population. But industry keeps complaining when I tax the dirty, polluting fucks. Maybe they're just mad because there was a point their building kept burning down and fire engines couldn't get to them because of my incremental and patchy expansion. It is a bit of a mess. But my next section will be city planning perfection.

I've just done a journey in Journey and it's... just what I expected. Flower surprised me. With Flower I got it maybe 6 months after it came out after listening to game critics swing a gladiola around, waxing lyrical about how emotional it was. I was unsure of that myself but I was surprised to find myself thinking it was a rather fun game. It had a sense of freedom which was really enjoyable. Journey is exactly how I imagined, which is weirdly disappointing. Now Journey, I think it's less game-y than Flower. Judging by the lack of trophies I picked up I guess there is more to the exploration than I saw but it still feels a little lacking. I'd of liked more to do. Though there are times where the pace picks up and some Flower style fun turns up. It's actually really well paced come to think of it: quiet, fast, tense, back to quiet and all that. I had the multiplayer turned on so I could be visited and it did add something to it.. I'll hide this stuff just in case. Thinking about it now, I suppose I like it more than I think I did while playing it. There's an issue with the price and if you want my tuppence I think it's only worth if you do really want to play it. I don't think I'd try and get anyone to get it if they were unsure. I didn't think about it a great deal. I saw it ages ago and liked the look of it, and then I just thought "fuck it" and got it. Best way I think, sometimes.

Started playing this this evening. @Nag will be pleased to know the servers are still a bag of shit. Once it finally installed I completed the first... Mission? Then it logged me out and proceeded to get itself stuck. The game play seems like a lot of fun though.

I'm glad this is (reportedly) a short RPG. Not that I'm not enjoying it, but it's incredibly simplistic. Everything is telegraphed to keep u on the right path; every time u get to a new town there's one, just one, upgraded weapon waiting for u in the shop, same with armour. The enemies are perfectly scaled for, and u never take a wrong turn and find some beast far out of your compass (who u can get your revenge on later). And I'm going to have to read up on the upgrade wheel, where u spend experience points. It seems simple enough. You have many things to upgrade in the usual strength, intelligence etc paths, but then you seem to have to assign these various upgrades to your character, and u only get a couple of slots, rendering most of your upgrades meaningless. I'm pretty sure I'm not quite understanding it tho. It can't be as I've described. There must be something I'm missing.

Ok, so I wasn’t sure about this one. Sure, the Predator license is ideal for a quality gaming experience. But I was a bit weary, as the team’s previous game, Friday The 13th was a mixed bag. A fun concept, let down by a toxic community, general jankiness, and lack of consistent support (though that was due to the court battle relating to the franchise). So, I downloaded the demo for this last night. And it’s definitely made a good first impression. There’s no team-killing for a start, something that constantly ruined the experience for Friday. You have a choice of either Fireteam (4 humans), or Predator. The fireteam has to complete various objectives (hack computers, take over control points). Multiple enemy AI will try to stop you, so it’s most effective to team up, and defend objectives when you’re capturing them. It plays like pretty much any FPS, with your typical selection of weapons (Assault Rifle, Shotgun, Pistol). Firefights can feel pretty tense, especially if an alarm gets triggered and you start getting swarmed with enemies. Then....you hear THAT sound. The tell-tale clicking of the Predator. Or it’s cloaking device activating. Or worst of all, see the red beam of its laser cannon pointing directly at you. At that point, all hell breaks loose. The Predator takes quite a lot of damage to take down, spraying recognisable green blood all over the place. Taking it on, one on one, is an extremely bad idea. If you get downed, there’s a chance your team can get you back up. Unless the Predator rips your spine/head off. Though that’s a gamble, as in doing that, you’re locked in place for several seconds, giving the rest of the team time to pump the Predator full of lead. Once the Predator finally dies, two things can seem to happen. If you’re quick enough to shoot it in the head after pulling it’s mask off, you can capture its body. Though you’ll get attacked by a ton of mercenaries for a few minutes, who can shoot up the body and decrease its value. Or, the Predator activates it’s self-destruct mechanism. A large red circle appears on the map. Anyone left in it after it detonates, is going home in a matchbox. If a member of the fireteam is killed, it’s possible to respawn them by “calling for reinforcements”. Which involves legging it to the specific radio point on the map, and defending it for a short time before your team-mate respawns. Though again that’s a gamble, because if the Predator is attacking you, you’ll have your hands full as it is. I spent last night purely as Fireteam, and had a bloody great time with it. I played as Predator for the tutorial, obviously it’s more complicated to play in comparison to Fireteam. Practice will certainly help, no doubt. There’s also a decent ammount of customisation options for both sides. Some are locked behind level progression, others in lootboxes. Lootboxes are earned in game, or bought with in-game cash. The game seems quite generous with money, and duplicate items give a decent bit of cash. Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this. More than I thought I would to be honest. I’ll certainly sink some more time into it over the weekend. And I had that much fun playing it with Gary, that I’ve preordered the full game. Well, I’m hardly spending money on petrol travelling to work for the next few weeks.

I know no one's probably interested in this game on here, but thought I'd put up some impressions nevertheless. Been playing this since Wednesday, I'm 19 hours in, Level 6. My first 6-10 hours with the game weren't great I must say, the start of the game is just awful, the first two missions just don't give you a great introduction to the characters, the story or London at all, you're thrown in at the deep end with a Piece of Eden being mentioned within the opening hour and then left head-scratching afterwards. Once you get into London things get a little better, but mandatory mediocre story missions continue, still tutorialising a lot of stuff, showing you how to liberate areas, do gang wars etc. through the story missions (like in past AC games). Once you're set loose in London things get a lot better, and the game pretty much leaves you to explore, but the side-missions just feel a bit more formulaic and less free-form or interesting than in Unity, they're also required to 'conquer' areas and rid them of 'Blighter' control, rather than just having to synchronise areas in past games. I know they weren't to everyone's cup of tea but I loved the Paris Stories missions in AC:Unity and the Murder Mystery stuff, but here it almost feels like they've pulled everything back to a more simple, methodical approach, with less heart and soul and more formulaic busywork for the player to do. Unfortunately, the city just doesn't feel that interesting either, Paris (in AC:U) was so vibrant with so many unique, interesting areas with their own distinct personalities, the art design in that game was phenomenal as well, but here the areas I've spent the most time in so far (Whitechapel, Lambeth, Southwark) are all kind of similar and nondescript in their design, there's loads of workhouses, factories, loads of shack-type houses (I swear the assets were just ripped from AC:U), markets, rows and houses etc. that just repeats ad nauseum and just becomes a big sprawl of nothingness and devoid of a lot of personality other than 'looks a bit Londony'. I will say though that the 'The Thames' area is amazing, with a load of different ships making their way up and down the Thames all carrying various different materials and going about their business, it's the only really unique area I've explored thus far, and almost impossible to traverse without the new grappling hook (more on this below). I did have a quick run through The Strand earlier though and that was pretty cool, seeing Nelson's Column and Trafalgar Square for the first time was surprisingly awe-inspiring, didn't find the Mall or Buck House yet though, may have a look for them tomorrow. The map itself seems much smaller than Paris too, Paris just seemed bloody huge and this seems quite small really in comparison, maybe they are the same size in reality, but there's only 6 Boroughs in this and I'm sure there were many more than that in Paris in AC:U. The two biggest changes in Syndicate though are the Carriages and the Grappling Hook, the Carriages work surprisingly well, are very well implemented and work well in missions and side-missions, they handle alright as well, like cars in other games really, no better or worse than the handling of a car in Far Cry or something I reckon. The Grappling Hook though, I'm not sold on, it's cool and it is convenient now to be able to just fire this thing and climb to the top of a building, and you definitely need it to cross the wide streets a lot of the time, but unfortunately I just think its implementation makes AC lose some of its charm, to me anyway, instead of looking at a Viewpoint, thinking 'how do I get up there' you just hammer LB until it shoots up, and when it doesn't want to attach it's just frustrating. It's implementation is nowhere near as handy as Arkham City/Arkham Knight, and you definitely can't rely on it to work all the time, when you need it to, but it has its place I guess and is used to balance the wide-streets and lack of ropes across buildings in this, I'm sure Ubi will make it better in the future as well. They've dialled back the whole collectibles stuff from Unity too in this, the map is back to the pre-Unity set-up, so you can't peer into buildings and look for collectibles by tilting the map, the maps not in 3D, and the way they indicate the level of a chest or other collectible is that is shows up bright when you're on the right level, rather than the Unity method. Jacob and Evie are cool though, they're probably the highlight of the game, I've spent the majority of my time with Evie, but Jacob is a cheeky chappy with a big mouth and jack-the-lad persona, and Evie is the more sensible 'let's think this through' type, the dialogue between the two is pretty cool and the dynamic works, some of the best Protagonists in an AC game I think. Despite all the relative disappointments, I am still enjoying it, but nowhere near as much as Unity or AC4 at the moment, and I can't see that improving any the more hours I put into the game.

I don't usually sit down and play a game for two hours when I'm trying it for the first time but I've just done that with this game, the kickstarted "classic point and click adventure" from Ron Gilbert and co. This game is great. It's funny. Of course it has references to previous adventure games. It looks lovely and everything works really smoothly. There are two difficulty modes, hard and casual, but they read more like normal and "simplified". You're not allowed post in this thread if you chose casual. Anyway, I don't want to spoil anything that's happened in the opening couple of hours but I'm strapped in for the ride.

Ok, so this is pretty cheap on PSN right now (under £4). I remember enjoying the first T&E back in the day, so I figured I’d give this a go. If you ever played the first one, you know what you’re in for, as this is kind of a remake. If you didn’t? Well, how to explain it.... So, you accidentally blew up your spaceship into 10 different parts, and sucked the Earth into a black hole. Now you have to traverse multiple levels, slowly rebuilding your ship. There’s various types of humans that want to kill you, which you can dodge by either jumping in a river, or hiding in sunflowers. There’s tons of presents throughout the levels, which do either good things (jet powered skates, spring shoes) or bad (damage you, set off an alarm so enemies home in on you). You can gain XP from finding items, or taking part in a rhythm-action music game. Its weird, definitely. But then the rest of the series was too, so I’d expect no less. And at £4 (on PSN, other formats will vary) you can’t go wrong really.

Started this earlier with @Sly Reflex we probably got about half way to 2/3rds of the way in at the 3 hour mark. I like it, I was actually a bit bored at the beginning but thankfully it picked up in the last half of our session. The first part just felt like if David Cage made a co-op game really, there are tons of QTE’s, some shonky writing and it just felt a bit like a pastiche of famous prison break films/tv shows over the years rather than its own unique story. It’s an ambitiously original game though, but perhaps not as unique as I was expecting, a lot of the co-op stuff is the standard ‘boost me up here’, ‘turn valve to progress’ etc. That we’ve all seen before in numerous other games and the focused split-screen action windows we’ve seen before in the likes of 24. Where the co-op split split screen stuff shines though is when it pushes outside the norm. Moments like one player being a lookout whilst the other digs a hole in his cell or having to coordinate paddling, take downs or door smashes so you time them just right and don’t alert the guards/police really shine. There’s another sequence where you have to keep swapping a tool between both characters to avoid detection by the guards and another involving a laundry basket that are both fantastic. The setting has been done an awful lot of times and carries a certain amount of baggage with it. Despite attempting to put it to the back of my mind I kept being reminded of Shawshank, OITNB and Prison Break. The entire thing feels an awful lot like Prison Break series 1-2 and if you’ve seen those it may take some of the mystique away from the story beats. Probably my favourite moments in the game are when you’re left to just mess about and compete with your co-op compadre. There’s this place where you’re left to your own devices for awhile and I was staggered that every little detail you wanted to look at or interact with was available to interact with. Go up to the sink and you’ll get a monologue, you can set a fire or turn the tv on and relax, go up to some musical instruments and you’ll be put into a music rhythm game and compete for a high score against your partner or even compete in a game of horseshoes. Just that freedom to explore and the way every little detail had been thought about and given the individuality and creativity to shine was great to see, even the responses to the two characters changes depending on the piece of equipment you’re interacting with and one of the characters can even wipe out the actions of the other or have wildly different results. The graphics and engine are astounding though. I believe I read this is Hazelight’s own engine which is even more impressive, and for a game built on a modest indie budget it really shows, particularly in the lighting and particle detail department. Foliage and texture quality has impressed too but NPC character models and animations are where you can see the money being saved. Still about half of the game left to go but at the moment I’m enjoying it without being overawed.

I'm a few hours in, and I don't want to Ed all over the place, but I think this might be a really really good game. Basically they've taken Uncharted 3 and fixed a bunch of stuff. The framerate is solid, which makes shooting easier, plus they've tweaked that a bit anyway. It's still a little awkward, but you're aiming with analogue sticks, it's never going to be perfect. The melee combat stuff has been massively improved, so far it's not as drawn out as in 3. In 3 I felt like if I didn't just spark my enemy out I was definitely going to be shot in the back by everyone else enough times to kill me It looks amazing. It's not as funny as previous games so far, but the interactions are really well done, they've really spent a lot of time, and presumably money on it. I've been in maybe 4 locations, 5 if you count the 2nd part of one, and I feel it was only in the last chapter the game really got going.

Well. I usually enjoy Rebellion’s output. Sniper Elite is always good for a laugh (who doesn’t enjoy shooting Nazis in the bollocks?). Strange Brigade was a lot of fun. And I mostly had a good time with Zombie Army Trilogy, until I got close to the end, and the massive difficulty spike really pissed me off and stopped me from playing it further. So, I was certainly interested in renting this. First impressions were good. It has the satisfying combat of the Sniper Elite series, and at first, it seems like it could be fun. However, there’s a significant problem: it’s fucking ridiculous, even on Easy. I’m playing Solo, but it’s quickly becoming clear that its going to be nigh on impossible. Most games are generous with health packs, or regenerating health. Not so here. You can hold one medkit maximum, and they’re pretty rare. Your health doesn’t regenerate at all. Well, there is a way to get some health back, by performing a melee kill, but the ability to regain health from that requires you to have killed 10 enemies in a row. There is an ability that lets you get back up after being downed, Borderlands style. But you can only use that once per level. Each level consists of 4 chapters. I just finished Level 2, and that really tested my patience. Especially when the “special” zombies start making an appearance. Those often require to hit a specific weak point. Good luck doing that when you’re constantly getting ganked. I fluked my way through the last two chapters of Level 2, the final one consisting of having to defend two generations, for a stupidly long time. All while horde of zombies keep damaging them, meaning you have to repair the bloody things. All while constantly running out of ammo, or health, or both. The words “for fucks sake” were uttered multiple times. With a team, it would be more bearable. But as per usual, Rebellion don’t seem to understand how to make a game fun in single player. With at least 4 more Levels to go, I don’t imagine finishing it. I play games to have fun, not have my patience tested to breaking point. A challenge is one thing. Taking the absolute piss, is another.

This game is an absolute gem. I’ve played it for five hours since yesterday. It’s a first person exploration game, with no combat. Instead you play as a painter, exploring an island, talking to its inhabitants and painting pictures of various things on the island. I’m hooked. It looks and sounds beautiful. The island of Eastshade is a fleshed out world with its own history, visiting the opening village of Lyndow and the large city Nava is as impressive as the first time you arrive in Oxenfurt or Novigrad in The Witcher 3. All of the characters are animals. I’ve been playing on PC using the Xbox controller. Top stuff so far.