Recently Completed Games

Ulythium Maybe you could try to combine these two interests, either write about games (like you do here) or write for games (scripts, dialogs, etc.)! Who knows, a long and prosperous career could be in the wings

I hear Continue Play are looking for writers

You never know. Sin used to be a regular on the RPS forums, and they ended up writing for RPS.

Though being a games journalist doesn't seem like a good career choice these days. Most of them are writing *for* games these days.

AI: Somnium Files

A visual novel thing made by the people who made the Zero Escape trilogy. You play as an amnesiac detective, investigating a murder by going into people's dreams Inception-style. It becomes very complicated when you start getting into the story, but there are some interesting sci-fi twists and turns, multiple endings and all of that.

The non-VN part of it involves you trying to unlock repressed memories and other stuff in people's dreams, by interacting with things much like you would in a (Zero) Escape room.

The puzzles follow a kind of dream logic. Which is a neat idea in theory, but is actually the biggest problem I had with it. Because dream logic doesn't make sense! You've got a time limit in these things, multiple things to interact with (all of which use time), and often no idea as to what thing is going to be the key to unlocking everything. I was pretty fed up by the last couple of these sequences, so just looked up guides to finish them.

Anyway, it's still an interesting game, I'd still recommend it if you're a fan of 999 and the like. I just found the actual game part a bit obtuse at times.

Doom 64 8/10

Just finished a playthrough of Doom 64 on the PS5 and despite the age of the game I really enjoyed it. Going back to the simplicity of the earlier titles was refreshing, no complex mechanics, just pure action. I loved being able to blitz through levels, mowing down enemies and navigating the maps. The horror aspects of the game have lost something over the years, these old Doom games used to scare the shit out of me.

The final boss gave me a bit of a scare though, I thought I'd screwed myself over by missing the keys, but after about 50 attempts, I managed to cheese it. Highly recommend if you’re looking for some classic FPS nostalgia.

Astro Bot - 9/10

Run, jump, punch and....blow? your way through a series of highly colorful, creative levels with Sony's mascot platformer. The platforming feels very tight, the levels are generally quite easy to complete, with the challenge left to additional levels that do test the reflexes somewhat. The game comes to life with the animations of the bots, enemies and the environments, it's a real joy to look at. As you progress you get to rescue bots, some of which are cameo characters from other games across the PS History. I've seen some grumpy guts complaining that this isn't a good thing, essentially parading around dead IP, weaponising it for your nostalgia with no hope of bringing it back. But it doesn't really hold weight when they're pitching it as Sonys fault even though some of the most obscure ones are third party. Much as I love , I can concede they aren't coming back and that's ok. Some of the joy of playing the levels is rescuing the bots going "Is that...it is!"

Very fun platformer, took about 15 hrs to 100% it all, definitely one of the games of the year.

Ace Combat 7 - 8/10

Kept hearing about this game over the years and felt in the mood to take on my pilot skills to the test. I've never played any game in the series at this point but the game did a decent job at getting me into it and finding myself G-turning dodging missile lock ons and retaliating with a few of my own. All in all it's a very fun, varied campaign of 20 missions that asks you to do a number of objectives to keep things interesting. One of the most fun being a Death Star esque trench run through mountain valleys to avoid a radar. Died a few times on the run so repeat attempts made me tackle it as fast as I can, it's exhilarating and the reward is being able to unleash destruction on an unsuspecting base. As you progress you can buy better jets, special weapons and customisable parts. It absolutely builds up the power fantasy of being an ace pilot, your reputation grows over the campaign to the degree that enemies fear seeing your insignia. And it is still a pretty visual tour de force for a PS4 game, descending on a battleship and causing it to explode will kick up water and dirt to muddy your cockpit view in an instant, it really sells that sense of speed.

There are aspects to the game like multiplayer and VR I wasn't able to try, but I understand those are good. One aspect I think didn't live up to expectations was the soundtrack, it's generally very good but I had heard from sources that it uses the soundtrack in the same way as something like FFXVI, Nier Automata, MGR Revengeance, where it adds to the hype as the story shifts and turns. That is something I love to experience in games and felt this game would be prime for it. And I didn't quite get that experience. Still, an easy recommend to anyone wanting to try it

Whoever recently mentioned Jusant in this or the 'currently playing' thread, thank you. A lovely little game it is. Reminded me of Ico and Zelda with an overall length that is much closer to the former than the latter.

Citizen Sleeper - 5/5

After cycling through a few games recently I eventually found one that clicked, so much so that I completed in 2 sessions (6hrs total). Even for a such a short game this is rare for me. 

A thing of pure beauty. My description won't do justice to how precisely and perfectly the systems combine to create such a strong connection to the material. It's Disco Elysium X Papers Please X Neuromancer. You start each day with up to 5 dice, and you use those dice to attempt tasks. Once your dice are gone you end the day. Each day drains your energy and your condition, which you must replenish with drugs and food, or by completing tasks. If you let these meters deplete too far you start losing dice, which limits the tasks you can attempt. Each day presents you with harsh, life or death choices. You must choose whether to earn money to support yourself, or attempt to help others, all the while being pursued by human and AI hunters. It's so tense! The stories are heart-breaking. A clear indictment of the gig-economy, but never one that feels preachy. 

It's the core dice mechanic that is so simple but perfectly formed that brings everything together. I can't remember a recent game that succeeds so brilliantly. 

It is short but there are multiple endings - I think I got the best one. Might not be for everyone but it really hit me emotionally.

Read Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

I can’t really put this in the 52 Game thread, as it’s DLC, but I spent 14 hours and 55 minutes completing this game, 100%, for Halloween this year. It’s a great little package that doesn’t forget that it’s a game at heart, rather than a cinematic experience.

It feels even more like a sandbox game, given there really isn’t a strong narrative pulling you towards your conclusion. Main missions are delivered like Stranger missions and are broken up into small chunks. You can save at any time and you’re not ever funnelled into a linear narrative-focused mission that takes you away from whatever else you might have wanted to do. It’s very refreshing for the genre and it suits the portability of the Switch/Steam Deck beautifully.

There are a few more bugs in this game, compared to the main game. I’ve fallen through the environment once. I’ve had a horse randomly die whilst galloping down an empty road. I’ve had a blue ‘friend’ dot stuck in my map for nearly 3 hours (a random encounter that seemingly failed to resolve itself).

But it’s been great fun for the most part. It’s nice to see the map put to better use in this game. Although you spend more time fast travelling, you’re constantly referring to the names of the locations, which helps you better acknowledge them. You revisit them a lot too, so the DLC actually makes better use of these areas than the main game does! They even highlight other areas of interest that the main game seemingly ignored. It kinda shows how much a world map can be wasted, or just how much of it can go under utilised.

Anyways, I ramble on. This DLC was excellent. The end.

Return to Monkey Island

Having never played any other entries in the series, I missed some of the jokes and nostalgia, but was still really good fun to play.

The ending though… I see what they were trying to do but I think there were better ways of executing it. So left me slightly disappointed at the end.

Overall it was excellent though.

Did you play either of the other 2 RE remakes?

Call of Duty: MWII remaster on ps5 (well ps4 game)
Completed campaign on ps5 earlier today. Really enjoyed, loads of fun and varied scenery to shoot bad guys in! I mentioned on the 52 games thread, this is my 38 completion of the year, I might break 40 games for the first time.
9/10