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Post by Hanimalle on Jan 23, 2024 17:31:12 GMT
Totally agree, such a memorable gaming experience mildly marred by the wet fart of a finish. Absolutely should not have the final bit as a brief series of QTEs, instead making the player have to find a way to kill the last alien on that ship themselves. It would have necessitated a slightly different layout of the location to allow for the final tense game of cat and mouse (kind of like what we get in the Nostromo dlc) but it would have made for a much more fitting 'final boss'. I like your idea though I don't have any of the DLC, which of them would you say is worth buying ?
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Post by Samildanach on Jan 23, 2024 19:17:11 GMT
Totally agree, such a memorable gaming experience mildly marred by the wet fart of a finish. Absolutely should not have the final bit as a brief series of QTEs, instead making the player have to find a way to kill the last alien on that ship themselves. It would have necessitated a slightly different layout of the location to allow for the final tense game of cat and mouse (kind of like what we get in the Nostromo dlc) but it would have made for a much more fitting 'final boss'. I like your idea though I don't have any of the DLC, which of them would you say is worth buying ? Definitely the two Nostromo missions. They are short and sweet. I wouldn't bother with anything else unless you really want more. The rest of the dlc is a set of challenge maps with a bare minimum of storyline. The locations are new, but basically just old assets rehashed into new layouts. The alien comes across a lot more aggressive too, and I personally found it more stressful than enjoyable so I dropped them.
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Post by Aunt Alison on Jan 23, 2024 21:01:16 GMT
Dead Space Amazing from start to finish. I don't think there's anything I didn't like about it. Loved the introduction of the Scientology Unitology stuff towards the end and the Marker
I already knew the twist but I still thought it was well done. Did have to laugh at Kendra's big double cross and daring escape plan that was foiled about 5 minutes later
Only weapons I really used were the Plasma Cutter and Line Gun. Kept the Contact Beam on me for most of the game because of the way the game handles item drops and the ammo was worth quite a bit to sell. Both guns feel great to use though and the dismembering stuff is really cool
Say it quietly, but it might be better than Resident Evil. A masterclass in survival horror either way
Quite looking forward to playing through the rest of the remake now. Dead Space 2 next though - hopefully learn more about Unitology and everything in it. Really like it
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Post by dangerousdave on Jan 23, 2024 21:16:38 GMT
South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Series X)
This was a pleasant suprise! You’re never sure what you’re gonna get with Ubisoft games, but this one deserves its place in the good pile. The combat is not too simple or too convoluted. The town is faithfully charming and fun to explore. The humour was great (even if it relies heavily on references to old episodes of the show). Character development is straight forward, but also rewarding if you take the time to experiment with the upgrades and move sets.
All on all, it’s hard to fault. It is perhaps a little on the easy side, but I realise the difficulty partially depends on the race of your character and my asexual, cis-male, Hispanic-Czech super hero was barely a step up from the easy difficulty. I did however turn up the combat difficulty as it was great fun trying to combine particular move-sets to maximise damage or control the battle. The boss battles in particular were all pretty varied and challenging in their own ways.
Not an all-time classic, but a great game in its own right. I will have to give Stick of Truth a chance at some point, but I’ve really got an itch to go back to the TV show, which I haven’t really followed to consistently for a number of years now.
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Duffman5
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big cook, little cook welcome to our cafe
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Post by Duffman5 on Jan 24, 2024 7:38:00 GMT
South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Series X) Not an all-time classic, but a great game in its own right. I will have to give Stick of Truth a chance at some point, but I’ve really got an itch to go back to the TV show, which I haven’t really followed to consistently for a number of years now. I enjoyed both but SoT is the better game (for me) I'm sure you will enjoy loads. Oh Yeah!
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Post by dfunked on Jan 24, 2024 21:12:52 GMT
Leon B playthrough of RE2R also done now, which was fantastic as well (still a solid 9/10) I'm torn between starting Leon A/Claire B or just moving straight on to RE3 instead.
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zagibu
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Posts: 1,853
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Post by zagibu on Jan 24, 2024 21:48:10 GMT
Finished Children of Morta. Took me a little less than 20 hours. Game started strong, then got a bit grindy as I was trying to take down the first spirit guardian (you have to repeat a pretty lengthy area everytime you fail before you can fight it again), then got great again.
A small problem with the game is that the ranged characters are much more powerful than the melee ones, so there is no real point in leveling the melee ones. They tried to offset this by giving every character group skills that unlock improvements for the whole team, but they aren't really that important. The difference is so blatant, that I was not able to get the last boss down to 90% health with melee chars, but easily managed to kill him in the first try with a ranged one.
Also, they included a "get more gold" global skill, which you basically have to level first, if you want to get anywhere with the other skills. This just adds needless grind and provides nothing of value. Same for "get more exp" skill.
But besides that, it's a nice little game with short but touching story blurbs. Completely linear, though, storywise.
And there is coop play, so might be nice to play with your kids/spouse.
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malek86
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Post by malek86 on Jan 25, 2024 16:42:49 GMT
Leon B playthrough of RE2R also done now, which was fantastic as well (still a solid 9/10) I'm torn between starting Leon A/Claire B or just moving straight on to RE3 instead. I wouldn't bother tbf. I really like RE2 Remake, but the two routes aren't nearly as different as in the original game. Even if you start it again the other way around, it's more or less like playing the same game again.
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Vortex
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Post by Vortex on Jan 25, 2024 16:50:55 GMT
turnip boy robs a bank
The first game is really good but in this, they double down on the worst aspect - the combat and they sort of make it into easy roguelike. Only some rooms move around and it becomes annoying when you want to hand in tasks. Also the list of tasks is day 1 broken, so if you want to view it again, you need to quit the game and reload. The game feels very short even with the roguelike padding, without it it would be 1 hour and a bit game, with the random rooms its few hours more. The first game was better in every way, it feels it was crapped out for gamepass
5/10
This saddens me a lot. I really liked the tax evasion one. It was simplistic, but fun. Probably one of the games I had most (utterly unexpected) fun with last year tbh.
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Duffman5
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big cook, little cook welcome to our cafe
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Post by Duffman5 on Jan 26, 2024 6:39:03 GMT
turnip boy robs a bank
The first game is really good but in this, they double down on the worst aspect - the combat and they sort of make it into easy roguelike. Only some rooms move around and it becomes annoying when you want to hand in tasks. Also the list of tasks is day 1 broken, so if you want to view it again, you need to quit the game and reload. The game feels very short even with the roguelike padding, without it it would be 1 hour and a bit game, with the random rooms its few hours more. The first game was better in every way, it feels it was crapped out for gamepass
5/10
This saddens me a lot. I really liked the tax evasion one. It was simplistic, but fun. Probably one of the games I had most (utterly unexpected) fun with last year tbh. I thought this would you saying you have completed FR6 mate Re TBraB Shame, I also had a lot of fun with the first game. Speaking of fun gamepass/daily cheveo game, I'm enjoying Ravenloc a great deal.
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Vortex
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Harvey Weinstein's Tattered Penis
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Post by Vortex on Jan 26, 2024 8:02:13 GMT
Nearly there with FC6. Just a few more missions to go i think.
All the other regime schmos are gone.
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Post by pierrepressure on Jan 26, 2024 11:17:03 GMT
Just finished the RE4 Remake DLC, worth a tenner if you enjoyed the main game.
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Post by dfunked on Jan 26, 2024 23:27:32 GMT
RE3 remake - 8/10 It looks like I made the mistake of going into the power substation near the start far too soon and triggering Nemesis, so I missed out on one of the inventory upgrades. Spent the rest of the game battling that absolutely fucking miniscule inventory! Short and sweet. Much more action focussed than RE2, but I can see it being fun to blast through a few more times. I did a little fist pump when Jill picked up the railgun at the end... Such a cool moment
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malek86
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Pomegranate Deseeder
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Post by malek86 on Jan 27, 2024 8:30:40 GMT
Tron 2.0 (PC) with Killer App Mod
Now there's an oddball game. It's Monolith to start with, so you know it's going to be a weird shooter. Even weirder, it was the officially official sequel to Tron, until Disney decided to make Tron Legacy and bury this one away. Anyway...
It works like a shooter of course, but you get to use the energy disc from the movie (which can also block) and some other fun toys, that vaguely resemble normal shooter weapons but with some interesting twists. The game itself is structured in levels, pretty small by themselves, with different missions to complete in each. You can equip yourself with subroutines that add or increase your abilities, but only as long as you have enough free memory, so you must choose. And free memory changes with each server you go in (for example, an old server will only give you few blocks to use). There's also a stats system that you can improve as you gain levels (sorry, "version upgrades"). All in all, it works kinda like an RPG-lite. You also need energy to get items from boxes. It's a bit difficult to come to grips with it all at first, but after a while you are coasting just fine. There are even some light cycles sections, which look very cool but are actually super difficult.
There's a story, and a convoluted one. It's fun, but it's pretty obvious that it often bends to the needs of a videogame (go there, destroy these objectives to proceed, etc) despite the fact that they try to hide it with technobabble. It's pretty interesting as a sequel to the movie, if predictable at times, but so was the movie itself after all. And some sections are actually quite ingenious (for example, at one point you enter a PDA, which is a very small level where the main enemy is trying to conserve energy at all costs). Shame it ends on an open note though.
Best parts are the visuals and level design for sure, and how, much like in Shogo, the devs have their fun adding all kinds of references and dialogue to the source material, while making it more modern. It's worth playing just for that. The shooter part is peculiar, certainly something you will remember, but not terribly fun by itself. It's okay enough, let's say.
Plays like a 7, but I'll give it an 8 to hopefully encourage people to try it. The Killer App mod increases the available resolutions and adds widescreen support, while also making some welcome gameplay changes (it autosaves, for example).
In short: it's weird, but mostly good weird.
8/10
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Post by RadicalRex on Jan 27, 2024 8:46:21 GMT
I love Tron 2.0 for the visual style and atmosphere. At least that part is amazing.
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Rich
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Post by Rich on Jan 28, 2024 7:36:09 GMT
ControlHad it in my library from PS+ for ages but knew nothing about it and decided to give it a go after some posts here said it was good. Really glad I did as it was brilliant. A really fun shooter set in one of the best (and most realistic) locations I've ever explored. The majority of The Oldest House genuinely felt like a real office rather than a game environment and every memo, audio message and video helped to build the world despite getting more and more bizarre as they go on. Combat was mostly fun but a bit frustrating at the start when you don't have any powers and did get very repetitive towards the end*, although by then I felt like a god. The plot was good for the most part, with a great cast of characters. It did seem to end quite abruptly though and I'll admit to not really knowing what was going on all the time, especially at the end. It was great fun though and exactly what I needed as I was a bit of a gaming slump. 9/10*Didn't help myself with the length by doing the excellent but long Alan Wake dlc.
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apollo
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Post by apollo on Jan 28, 2024 8:59:02 GMT
Saints row 3 remastered
While they improved the character models, its a shame they didn't do any quality of life improvements to the game as there is rough parts or missions where they can improve it. Also still some graphic glitches and odd crash or 2.
But the game is fun to play and still is better than the deeply shit saints row 2022. SR3 is OTT action with lots of great set pieces like early on with the attack on the penthouse while Power plays
8/10
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Jan 29, 2024 16:03:30 GMT
Fallout 4 (85+ hours):
I went in with the expectation that I would likely be having some good fun with an open world shooter rather than an RPG for a few dozen hours and that turned out to be more true than I had thought. Now, I definitely hadn't planned for my playthrough to take quite this long, but with these games it's so easy to get distracted and once I started pushing the main story again it turned out to be a little harder to get to the ending than I would have wished. Still, I enjoyed most of my playtime, so I have little reason to complain.
The main reason for this are the environments and atmosphere. The day-night cycle is decent enough and the weather system actually really enhances the atmosphere with the way everything can combine into unique moods. I wasn't completely sold on the soundtrack at first, but it really is another good set of music by Inon Zur that often combines quite well with the other elements. And it's unique enough that it can stand on its own instead of trying to pander to fans.
Aside from that there are some decent quests out there in the wasteland of the Commonwealth and even when that was not the case, there were always the shooter elements, the loot and the various progression systems. Being able to adjust guns to the playstyle and the chosen perks was something that helped to keep the incredible amount of combat interesting. Which is why I don't begrudge the designers setting the carrying weight as high as it is. It's easier to carry around various heavy options for combat that way. And thus to keep things interesting.
But it really is a bit of a mess of too many systems and especially too many unexplained options and mechanics, especially when it comes to the settlement-building. I overlooked certain quality of life features for a long time and even then the UI still isn't exactly great with lists of items that get longer and longer and a sorting feature that wasn't always helpful. I could probably list many more issues, but to be frank, I just got used to a lot of it or simply stopped caring. But I will never understand how they ended up not having an easy option for disassembling items.
The story was fine and I frankly also enjoyed a lot of the optional little stories out there. There are a lot of locations that are mostly about combat, but even when that is the case there are often terminals, holotapes or some dialogue to add some narration. And even some reactivity, like a few terminal entries containing recent entries about the player's actions. Sometimes exploring the location itself was reward enough.
The side quests seemed mostly decent with some longer strings of quests and I'd even say that I absolutely didn't mind the main story either..... until it completely falls apart once the player gets to the Institute. At some point it all turned into a huge clusterfuck of everybody fighting each other and there wasn't too much setup for it. It felt a lot like they were going for an ending like Fallout 3, except that it was pretty straightforward there. Good guys use big robot to destroy bad guys. But here things were more complicated and the same approach just didn't work because of that.
End game spoiler:
Oh yeah, and when me and the Minutemen stormed the Institute, Preston said something about him not wanting to commit mass murder, but the civilians are marked as hostile by the game, so the Minutemen and my companion Nick were shooting at them just like at the combatants. I clearly saw Nick flamethrower some of them... as if he were trying to make my point for me
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Post by theguy on Jan 30, 2024 14:47:09 GMT
BlacktailFirst person RPG (lite) set in the fantasy world of Baba Yaga and talking mushrooms. Had a bit of a mixed experience with this. Early on I wasn't thrilled with it. There are some design decisions I didn't get along with too much. Gathering resources and crafting felt tacked on, fast travel is crap and works only in pairs for whatever reason, healing could ONLY be done by finding flowers, and the world was filled with a lot of the same activities. So much of my exploration wasn't really all that fun initially. Especially given the hazards in the world and enemies that just wouldn't leave you alone if you so much as sniffed in their vicinity. But then once I understood more of how the game works, and got upgrades that mitigated some of these issues (like increasing the resources I collect/carry and allowing me to heal in ways other than mindlessly running around for flowers) I actually got quite into it. Much of the game is the combat. It's done with your only weapon, the bow. along with some special attacks. It's functional. It's a chore early when damage output is low, but this is another thing that felt better later on. Some fights are pretty fun, you'll see a lot of the same enemy types but even though it can be a bit repetitive, I enjoyed it enough anyway. There's a morality system in place, and this ties into some of the repeated activities you can do in the world to build your bar one way or the other. Killing insects, freeing birds helping/refusing to help recurring characters etc. These activities are just littered across the world, it's the same each time and basically a press of a button. Also in the world are collectibles, a few enemy camps, caves and hidden loot. None of it's exactly groundbreaking, it's more just filler in the way of your main goal, the quests. They're the best part of the game. The main quests are straight forward, the side quests you have to find the quest giver first. There aren't many, but they're all well made and never feel like blatant padding. Focusing more on these instead of dallying around the world for new things was more enjoyable as it opens up some of the cast of characters while also having unique encounters. There are some nice choices to make in these to contribute to your morality. As for the morality system, other than upgrades, it doesn't really have a bearing on anything, not even the ending. I maxed it out early on, after which I didn't really have to worry about it, but if I'd have known it meant nothing at all then maybe it'd have been more fun to choose some of the Evil options on my Good playthrough. I didn't mind, but could be massively disappointing for some since it's an entire mechanic that doesn't really lead anywhere. The game and world clearly has a lot of thought behind it, the bestiary is full of detail but I wish they put some of that into the game itself instead of locking it behind walls of text. It loves being vague instead. Putting those stories in the game world in some other fashion could have made it actually interesting to explore since it's otherwise just a bit of a standard fantasy setting. The voice acting and writing is very mixed, some strong parts, some really weak to the point I skipped a lot of lines having read the text, but it is a small studio after all. I think it could have really shone if it was just more focused and less bloated. Cut the pointless crafting and resource gathering, improve the combat, even making the game linear or at the very least, a smaller world could work wonders because a lot of wandering around in it just felt pointless. Even with all this babbling, honestly I don't think I could really point to anything truly exceptional in the game, especially gameplay wise. I guess the world is charming. It's not exactly bringing much new, but for whatever reason I still began to like it a fair bit after that initial slump, even enough to do a full NG+ playthrough which was actually a bit disappointing, because this is a New Game+ that doesn't transfer any of your abilities or skills, just pointless collectibles. Not sure what the idea was there. I completed it anyway just doing the quests as the opposite moral stance.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Jan 30, 2024 15:08:24 GMT
0_abyssalSomewhere:
Very short 3rd person walking simulator off of itch.io. Dark, gritty environments inhabited by shadows and narrow corridors and decrepit halls and such. Some obscure narration and surreal imagery as well. Not half bad, I just wish the soundwork had been better. But some of it was still effective.
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Post by dfunked on Jan 30, 2024 15:31:15 GMT
A short hike (GP) - 6/10
That was OK I guess. Got to the top of a mountain after getting sidetracked a few times, then had a nice little nap. The end.
Gliding around the place was fun when you can actually see where you're going, but awful when you're battling with the camera.
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Duffman5
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big cook, little cook welcome to our cafe
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Post by Duffman5 on Jan 31, 2024 14:54:01 GMT
Mass Effect Andromeda (xbox)
After last playing years ago I decided to actually play and complete it towards the end of last year. Glad I did, lots to like, we all know it is not the same level of brilliance of the trilogy but I still found it a fun game and enjoyed the main story. I still have loads of loyalty and side missions to start, so doubt I am done yet. Some of the planets and monsters looked really great. Gunplay was good, traversal improved. The one area I thought let it down was the "dumbing down" of how much you could organise and control your two ai buddies. I hope we get more control (again) when ME4, or I suppose it will be ME5 comes out.
7.5/10
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hicksy
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Post by hicksy on Jan 31, 2024 15:27:28 GMT
Bramble: The Mountain King (XBS via GP)
If nordic horror fairytales are your thing you could do much worse (especially on GP) battling this very good indie game.
Some floaty control issues in parts and some tricky bosses to overcome aside this game seriously delivers the chills in many places!
Not suitable for young players or those with heart conditions!
An eyes wide open 7.5/10
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JonFE
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Uncomfortably numb...
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Member is Online
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Post by JonFE on Jan 31, 2024 15:31:15 GMT
Bramble: The Mountain King (XBS via GB) ... Not suitable for young players or those with heart conditions! An eyes wide open 7.5/10 Now, you've got my attention!
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Post by Matt A on Jan 31, 2024 15:41:03 GMT
Fallout 4 (85+ hours):
snip
I've played through it a few times on various devices and I can never bring myself to complete it as the Institute because you have to be such a cunt.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Jan 31, 2024 18:05:03 GMT
Perhaps I'll go with the Brotherhood next time. Probably full auto. Heavy weapons seem cumbersome and melee would probably often be a problem with all of the verticality and longer ranges that fights often happen at.
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Vortex
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Post by Vortex on Jan 31, 2024 22:01:08 GMT
Far Cry 6.
6/10 maybe. It killed some time, but the template is old. They need to change it up.
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Duffman5
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big cook, little cook welcome to our cafe
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Post by Duffman5 on Feb 1, 2024 7:11:43 GMT
Far Cry 6. 6/10 maybe. It killed some time, but the template is old. They need to change it up. Morning mate Reasonable score, I'm trying to remember which I had more fun with 5 or 6 ? The last cannon one I really enjoyed was 4.(I still have to play the dlc on that) As for changing the template, do you think they actually will though ? and if they did what could they do before it becomes GR or AC. I hope we get 3rd person driving in 7, I hate the driving in FC games. I could go for a Primal 2 or BD2.
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Vortex
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Post by Vortex on Feb 1, 2024 7:48:05 GMT
I liked 6 more than 5.
I think the best bit of 6 was the alternative dimension thing in the bunker. That was unexpected and quite fun. The rest was all cut & paste really with overly over the top villains with fairly terrible dialogue.
If it hadn't been on game pass i doubt I would have touched it with a tarry barge pole.
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malek86
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Post by malek86 on Feb 1, 2024 9:23:50 GMT
Bramble: The Mountain King (XBS via GP) If nordic horror fairytales are your thing you could do much worse (especially on GP) battling this very good indie game. Some floaty control issues in parts and some tricky bosses to overcome aside this game seriously delivers the chills in many places! Not suitable for young players or those with heart conditions! An eyes wide open 7.5/10 Bramble was good. I expected it to be an uninventive Little Nightmares clone. I ended up liking it more instead. Whereas LN seemed a bit too Ghibli-esque in its horror design, Bramble actually delivered the creepiness.
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