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Just a little guy interested in videogames, reading, technology and the environment.

I’m on Telegram - feel free to ask for my details :3

My other account is @[email protected]

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Joined 1Y ago
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Cake day: Jan 04, 2024

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Not sure if it counts as a patient game, but I’ve just started Persona 3 Reload (the original game came out in 2006 and I never played it, so maybe that’s acceptable?)

I love how stylish everything is - the music, UI and animations. So pretty. The story has quite a different vibe from the other persona games I’ve played too.


Oh it’s great! The devs have added a few new things (slightly different boss battles, the addition of side missions) but all of this adds to the experience. I played through the original the other year and it holds up well, but the remake certainly felt like the definitive experience. So personally I’d go for that if you’re new to the series.

I also played DS2 a while back, and that felt much more polished/higher budget than the original. After you’ve played the remake of 1, definitely give the second one a go.


A friend let me borrow their PS4 version. Word of warning: Do not play it on PS4. I got through it, but damn if that cobbled together abandoned mess didn’t take away from the experience at times. I dread to think how bad it must’ve been at launch! It was the side content that was mostly broken; I recall the taxi missions just constantly glitching out. The music on the radio didn’t work properly and I was teleported to the other side of the map for no reason at one point.

Despite that the story, atmosphere, design of the city and characters are all great. I’m tempted to get it on PS5 or Steam (with the DLC) at some point to play through it again properly.


Man Uncharted 4 is such a pretty game. Great shots!

I’ve got nowhere else to post this, so here’s a random screenshot from the Dead Space remake which I’ve been playing recently. Love the detail on the suit


It seems like a fun little distraction. I’m not gonna spend any money on it though


I think it’s a really clever game, though sometimes a bit too clever for its own good. The ‘aha’ moments I had throughout were extremely satisfying, especially the ones that made you think outside of the box (like one particular puzzle that made you look somewhere you wouldn’t expect). But as you say, those last few characters did require some guesswork because the clues were extremely vague/esoteric, and that made the game fizzle out a bit at the end.

Overall though it’s among the best puzzle games I’ve ever played.


I’m playing through the Plucky Squire. It’s lovely to look at, and really wholesome! Feels a bit hand-holdy with some of the puzzles but nevertheless I’m enjoying my time with it.


I guess there aren’t many older games because it’s a list of games that are available on current hardware. Those older games that do appear are there because they’ve been ported/emulated.


What an interesting concept for a game! Reminds me of Before Your Eyes, in which you have to keep your eyes open - but quite the opposite in this case.

Will check this one out.


Yeahhh the boss fights weren’t that great - just dodge attacks, fire, repeat. I did enjoy the final boss though!


That sounds really fun! The combat in the game feels best when each hit hits hard. So satisfying


Funnily enough I was looking to try one of the recent Assassin Creed games (Black Flag was my last). I heard good things about AC Odyssey, but it also sounded a bit overwhelming in its scale. Ghost of Tsushima perfectly filled this niche and was way better than any AC game I’d played before - I’m really glad I gave it a go!


I can understand that feeling regarding the activities of GoT. I skipped a fair amount of the side content and focused on the stuff I found interesting (such as the mythic tales), which I think helped. The ‘main’ side missions that involved specific characters I thought were quite engaging. What difficulty are you playing on? Perhaps it’s worth bumping it up to make the combat harder.


Have you played Ace Attorney or Danganronpa? It’s definitely going for something similar. I was a bit disappointed by it after the hype I’d seen, but it’s still a decent game. If you want something along the same lines of ‘weirdness’ I’d recommend Hypnospace Outlaw - I think that’s a better game overall.


A few more games I’ve played recently
Earlier this year I posted some thoughts on the games I'd been playing. Here are the ones I've completed recently. **Paradise Killer** As a fan of the Danganronpa series, I’d heard great things about Paradise Killer. And the ways in which this game was inspired by the former are obvious, with an eclectic mix of characters embroiled in a complex murder plot. It heavily leans into the vaporwave aesthetic and soundtrack, often crossing that border into the satirical (Hypnospace Outlaw springs to mind). Unlike Danganronpa, it’s quite open ended and allows you to draw your own conclusions about the true resolution to the case. On the whole I enjoyed my time with this game, though I didn’t feel quite as drawn in to the story or attached to the characters in the same way as other detective games. **Inscryption** I don’t really want to say too much about this game for those who haven’t yet played it. Please go in blind if you intend to play it! But at the most basic level, it’s a card game that plays with and bends its rules in very interesting ways. Undertale vibes in the best way possible. If that sounds at all interesting to you, I beg you to give this one a go. **Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart** A few years back I played the excellent Ratchet and Clank (2016) and had a blast. It was just pure, classic gaming fun with lots of silly weapons and scenarios in which to use them. Rift Apart continues this formula in a beautiful sequel that shows off the capabilities of modern hardware while refining the nostalgic gameplay style of the series. The introduction of a new Lombax didn’t necessarily add much to the game (she’s essentially a reskin), but it made for an interesting story in a range of unique, beautiful locales. As always, the weapons are great fun to use and the game encourages you to swap your arsenal constantly, keeping things exciting throughout battles. I was able to 100% the game relatively quickly, but doing so was a real joy. **God of War** Many people have recommended God of War to me following the game’s release in 2018. And wow, now I can understand why! This was simply an incredible experience in terms of gameplay and story, with deep characters and plenty of customisation that has a significant impact on your moveset throughout the game. By the end of it you really feel like a god. I got the impression that Santa Monica Studio had taken notes from the Last of Us and Uncharted (in terms of a large open world with puzzles and character development), and from that they crafted something incredible. Impressively satisfying to play and I can’t wait to give Ragnarok a try. **Dave the Diver** This is a wholesome game that doesn’t take itself too seriously as you alternate between diving to catch fish and then selling said fish at your sushi restaurant in the evening. I enjoyed my time with Dave the Diver, though I couldn’t help comparing it to Stardew Valley throughout. Yet it never quite scratched the itch and hooked me in quite the same way as Stardew. I think the issue is that the many faces of DtD (fishing, cooking, growing vegetables) all felt like separate disconnected systems or minigames, whereas Stardew was much more holistic. This is probably why I had no motivation to continue playing once I’d completed the main story. But don’t get me wrong – this is a charming game with a fun gameplay loop and beautifully hilarious pixel art cutscenes. **Ghost of Tsushima** A friend of mine described Ghost of Tsushima as an Assassin’s Creed clone. And I totally see what he means, but I don’t think that does it justice! Let me just get this out of the way: this is an absolutely stunning game to look at. I was constantly using the game’s photo mode to stop and take screenshots of, say, a golden sunset, the glint off Jin’s katana in the moonlight, the mist over the hills and many other gorgeous environments. The way in which the game captures the different weather changes is incredible, really providing the backbone for the atmosphere during my journey. Whilst the story didn’t do anything ground-breaking, I liked the exploration of honour in a world where the protagonist has to be dishonourable in order to survive. The combat was fun and varied, with a range of different sword techniques and tools at your disposal. Playing stealthily is a big part of the game and it would have been nice to see a bit more variation in the gameplay here (press square to assassinate etc.) but despite this I found myself enjoying these sequences until the end of the game. I’ve just finished playing the DLC content too, with which I was pleasantly surprised at the way certain gameplay elements were remixed and expanded upon. This was an excellent game which I'd recommend to anyone. Obligatory GOT screenshot collection below! ::: spoiler spoiler ![](https://pawb.social/pictrs/image/2146c6d0-b7d4-46f9-bf3c-5d8d9f1e8c91.jpeg) ![](https://pawb.social/pictrs/image/1a2433ec-2bbc-48e9-bd55-7965fa1ecbce.jpeg) ![](https://pawb.social/pictrs/image/806b288c-eecf-46c5-bd30-b692c5712185.jpeg) ![](https://pawb.social/pictrs/image/443ca64b-277a-48f0-9529-2197a452f2f5.jpeg) ![](https://pawb.social/pictrs/image/b20bed1e-52a4-4db9-b435-8d595e204258.jpeg) ![](https://pawb.social/pictrs/image/6848e17d-ca71-492e-8bdd-e0741a9142ca.jpeg) ![](https://pawb.social/pictrs/image/10caaef3-273c-4a41-83cc-00137db0ccb4.jpeg) ![](https://pawb.social/pictrs/image/70f4f66d-bede-4253-ab37-dac1b7449cd6.jpeg) ::: Has anyone played any of the games above? Let me know what you think :)
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I feel like this is an even trickier task than porting 2 & 3 too. MGS4’s reliance on the weird architecture of the PS3 means you need a powerful CPU to emulate it. Assuming then that it’ll be a port, I imagine the process of porting it would be particularly complex. And seeing how poorly they did with the HD collection it worries me.


Crosscode was incredible, and this is looking equally as great! Really love the pixel art style of this studio - just stunning.


I don’t find a lot of the things in the video that relevant to be honest. Not many people speaking online in games? Sure, but I never spoke with randoms to begin with. Discord seems to work fine on the PS5 from my experience. Do either of those things really affect the decision to buy a console? Games taking a while to download - you have the same thing on Steam.

I could definitely see that developers being shackled to the previous generation is an issue. Having to develop/optimise for 11 year old hardware must limit creativity.

Being a patient gamer, I think a lot of the issues people have with lack of current gen games isn’t so much of an issue for me. There are a ton of previous gen games that I never got round to playing, and the PS5 experience in playing them is superior. And there are a ton of current gen games I’ve now got my eye on - GTA 6, Spiderman 2, GoW Ragnarok, Dragons Dogma 2, Baldur’s Gate, FF7 Rebirth, Death Stranding 2, Astrobot, Monster Hunter Wilds, Resident Evil 4 remake and MGS3 remake.

I agree that PC is the best option in a lot of cases. For me, I like sitting back on a sofa with a controller. The Steam Deck is really great for this but it’s not powerful enough to play a lot of modern games at full res. The PS5 is filling that niche for me.



I was wanting to play something ‘Assassin’s Creed-y’ and this has really fit the bill! I like how easily you can be killed.

Should I play the DLC content after I’ve beaten the main game? It looks like I can go to the additional island whenever I want.


Ghost of Tsushima - Took a while to click, but now I’m really enjoying it. Pulling off some of the sword moves perfectly feels so satisfying. And it’s gorgeous to look at.

And also Dave the Diver. Very charming game and it keeps adding more and more layers to the gameplay. The gameplay loop is really fun so far.


Ah neat! The first Splitgate was fun and I put a fair few hours into it. It felt like it had been abandoned by the devs after a while though (and cross progression wasn’t possible, which put me off playing it after I got a Steam Deck). I’m interested to see what they do with a bigger budget.


I’m not sure if this is the best recommendation looking at your criteria, but Slime Rancher (1 and 2) are chilled games that have beautiful and colourful visuals. To me it feels like a summer vacation - one where you’re staying at a farm and catching adorable slimes.

Another recommendation I’d have is Tearaway unfolded. It’s a super charming adventure in a papercraft work. It really stuck with me and felt like an adventure. It’s only on PS4/5 as far as I’m aware though, but if you happen to have one of those I guess you could cast it to your Steam Deck using Chiaki. Or on the off-chance that you have a PS Vita, the original version of the game was on there.


Amazing game, but I’m not sure I’d describe the gameplay as chill!


It does feel so easy to get distracted nowadays with the infinite amount of content available online. If you’re pretty certain that there’s a game you’ll enjoy - yes, just give it a go rather than putting it off. If you don’t find yourself enjoying it, at least you gave it a go! On the other hand, maybe you’ll have found a new favourite genre.

Best of luck :)


I’m yet to play Elden Ring, but a friend offered to lend me the PS5 disc. So many people have told me it’s great, can’t wait to experience it.


Yeah definitely, wanting to complete every game 100% is a bit much. I’ll only ever do the side content that I actually enjoy. Ratchet and Clank: RA was great for this as it was easy and fun to complete everything (hence it being the only game I’ve managed to get all the trophies for).

In terms of keeping my to-play list short, I’ve done a pretty good job of not buying any games in Steam sales recently. Because 99% of the time they’ll be on sale again in the near future - buying them now only causes paralysis like you say.


I think that’s a fair way to play a game like that. I like to explore as much as possible, but when there’s a ridiculous amount of side content don’t feel guilty for playing the bits that interest you most. The game was probably designed assuming most people would skip the majority of the extras.


Your labelling system is a good idea! I do have plenty of games from bundles, but I only add the ones to my library that I’m actually interested in. So everything in my backlog is something I want to play at some point. Personally I don’t feel that there is any negative connotation to the word backlog, but maybe that’s because mine is full of stuff I intend to play.

I have a spreadsheet listing the games I’ve got to play, and whilst I do usually set an ‘up next’, this can change depending on how I’m feeling at the time. So it’s rare that I play a game I don’t like or doesn’t fit my mood :)


It works for me at least, and I guess it can’t hurt to try. Best of luck!


Yeah I think having just one big game on the go is a good idea - spreading your attention too thin between games probably lessens your enjoyment of all of them!

I’m a little bad for this as I’m currently playing one game on PS5, Steam Deck and Switch each. But I stick to one game per console and it seems to work ok. I like having a variety of games to play depending on my mood - 3 seems a good limit. But when I do play each, I make sure to focus on that particular game for a while and not let myself get distracted by the others.


The joy of not eking-out games
Things have sort of come full circle for me. When I was younger, I recall playing a copy of Super Mario Bros 3 on Game Boy Advance and never being able to complete it (in fairness I eventually got to the final world). This was the case for a lot of games for me; essentially they’d have infinite replayability. As I got a bit older I was exposed to more games with linear single player campaigns. Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 spring to mind. At the time, I couldn’t afford to buy that many games so I’d find myself doing a mission here and there, and focusing most of my attention on the multiplayer. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to play the campaigns, but rather than I felt like I needed to savour them. Sure, I could just blast through it in the space of a weekend - but then it would feel like I’ve blown all that money on something short-lived. This mindset stuck with me as single player games became longer and longer. GTA IV, Red Dead and Skyrim for example took me months to get through, as I’d just play the occasional mission as a treat. But nowadays I don’t have as much spare time as I once did. And it feels like the number of games in my backlog is growing each day. I actually replayed GTA IV and its DLCs last year, and really enjoyed the experience. But only recently did I work out why it was more enjoyable than my first playthrough all those years ago – and I think it’s because I didn’t eke out the missions. The story felt a lot more coherent because it was fresh in my mind. The characters that appeared at the start of the game no longer elicit that ‘wait who were they?’ response when they turn up in the second act. And I was able to better understand the ways in which the three stories cleverly intertwined. Recently I got the gamepass-style subscription on Playstation (‘PS Plus Extra’) which includes a bunch of older games I’ve been meaning to get through. And the fact that there’s an artificial time limit to playing them (i.e. I don’t want to pay for this tier of subscription any longer than I need to) has helped me to avoid wasting time. Just to be clear, I’m not advocating for speedrunning single player games and missing all the side content. On the contrary, I’ve just platinumed Ratchet and Clank: RA, but did so in half the time than it would have taken me before. Previously I might have thought ‘I’ll just do the one mission’, and this was often an excuse to get distracted by crap on my phone for the subsequent 30 minutes. I feel like I now have a reason to focus for games for a little longer instead of wasting time. And as a result, I’ve enjoyed my time with them so much more recently. So perhaps if you’re struggling with your backlog, try to set yourself a realistic time limit for each game. And don’t treat games like a treat – if you have the time, play them now!
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Cute! Clearly Shovel Knight inspired (or Ducktales I guess) with the sword jumping. Always happy to see more mouse-themed games :3


I finally got round to picking up a PS5 this week and have been really enjoying Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart - it’s just beautiful to look at and genuinely fun to play. Looking forward to more of that over the weekend! I’ve also been trying out Astro’s Playroom, the free tech demo that comes with the console. I was half expecting it to be a gimmicky piece of advertising - but it’s really well made! The platforming is excellent and all the little references to games are cute.


Fuck yeah - there have been some great homebrew plugins for this, but having a dedicated tool with the ability to trim clips is awesome.




I wasn’t sure what to make of ‘gay furry Mario-like’… But the gameplay actually looks pretty polished - clearly inspired by SMB3! I’ll give the demo a go.


Yes you’re right about having more time and better reflexes back then, but at the same time I feel like I pick up on cues and understand more what the developers intended for the player the older I’ve got. I remember playing the same levels over and over as a kid and eventually losing motivation to continue (this is somewhat balanced out by the fact that yes, I’d have more time, and also I didn’t have as many games - so I had more incentive to keep playing one to completion). Whereas nowadays I’ve got more patience and I can work out ‘oh I’m probably meant to go that way’ based on my experience of playing lots of different games over the years. I’ve built up more of an intuition for these things.

That said, I’m not sure I could beat many NES games!


If I’d played it when I was younger, I don’t think I’d have made it very far to be honest! I’ve probably got a bit more patience and experience nowadays, hence finishing it on Switch. But I’m in no rush to 100% the game unlike some other Mario games (which tend to actually be fun to complete).


That’s fair, although I’ve always considered Galaxy to have a pretty good moveset. What was it missing compared to 64?

Odyssey gives you an insane level of movement, which I love. It’s fun to just run around levels.


Lol! Do you just feel that 64 is a better game, or has better level design?


What is the consensus on Super Mario Sunshine?
I always got the feeling that this game was seen as a classic. I never owned a Gamecube growing up, but I'm pretty sure I remember my friend having one and playing Sunshine a bit (although he was way more into Zelda and Smash). Eventually I got round to playing Sunshine the other year when Nintendo released a triple pack on Switch. It was fun! I loved the aesthetic and interesting water spraying mechanics. However the other day I had a friend round and we were emulating the game, taking turns to beat levels. It struck us how frustrating the game was at points - especially those platforming levels in which you lose the FLUDD. You really notice how slippy and floaty Mario feels in this. In Mario 64 and Galaxy, the movement felt so precise in comparison and you knew exactly how the character would react to your inputs. The levels too seem quite harsh at points. The Ricco Harbor level which introduces the rocket nozzle has frustratingly narrow platforms with constantly spawning wind enemies. My attempts to get back up to the top after falling off felt like cheating - i.e. lining up the rocket to land on different ledges rather than going all the way around the map again. I couldn't tell if that was what the developers intended. Overall I do really love the game, but it feels like an awkward transition in the 3D Mario series. As if Nintendo were trying to innovate with new mechanics before they'd perfected the basic 3D platforming. Is it just me, or do others feel the same?
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Thoughts on a few recent games
**Mirror's Edge** - This is a game I've been meaning to play for some time. A few years back I played the first couple of levels on a friend's PS3 and recalled it being a fun experience. So when it went on sale for under £2 on Steam I couldn't say no. It holds up exceptionally well for a game from 2008! The stylised graphics look beautiful to this day, and the gameplay manages to feel fresh and unique. Parkouring around the landscape soon becomes second nature - you feel like such a badass by the end of the game. **Spyro Reignited Trilogy** - Sadly I missed out on the original games, but this trilogy does a perfect job of remastering them for the modern era. The animations and art style are incredible; It really feels like a lot of love has gone into this remaster. All three games are a joy to play. The first one is a classic - basic but fun, the second tries out some new ideas, and the third one perfects them. Each instalment is fairly short, so packaging them in a trilogy was a great idea. **RealMyst** - Myst is regarded as one of the original, archetypal PC puzzle games and was very clearly ahead of its time. I think it's the sort of game I would've appreciated a lot more if I'd played it 20 years ago (although there's no way I could've beat it back then). Some of the logic jumps in the puzzles felt tenuous at best, though others were very cleverly designed. This was a frustrating game at times and I was pleased to get it over with, but I did enjoy the interesting world-building and innovation for its time. **Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night** - Symphony of the Night is the only Castlevania game I've completed*, partially because it's a bit easier than the others and partially because the music and graphics are so great that I wanted to see it through. Bloodstained continues this legacy and does an amazing job of it. Although graphically it's no where near as nice as the pixel art of SotN, I still found the graphics to be quite charming. The soundtrack is amazing, gameplay is smooth (with a lot of customisation in terms of equipment and spells) and exploring the castle is a treat. As with SotN, in order to beat the true final boss you have to find some items that would be near impossible to locate without a guide. Despite that, this is well worth playing. *Mostly completed **Skyward Sword** - Although I owed a Wii, I never picked up Skyward Sword. I think you had to buy an attachment for the Wiimote, and either way I wasn't a massive Zelda fan at the time. Since then I've played nearly every Zelda game and loved them all. So it was about time I got round to playing SS. Luckily a few years back they announced a Switch remaster which removed a lot of the clunky features from the original. Woo! I picked up a cheap copy and played though it late last year - And wow, this game exceeded my expectations. The dungeons in particular are some of the best I've played in a Zelda game (the time manipulation ones in particular stand out). Slashing around in specific directions is a neat mechanic, with the added benefit of now being able to do so by flicking a joystick. Surprisingly lengthy with a lot of great ideas! Give this one a go. **Spiderman (2018)** - Not sure how I missed this one when it came out! I guess I've never really got into the Spiderman series. After watching the Spider-verse films though I decided to give this a try. And now I can't wait to play the sequels! Insomniac did a incredible job making web swinging around the city feel fun. There's plenty of side content littered over the map, which often side-tracked me on my way to a mission. The combat feels very similar to the Batman Arkham games, with lots of moves and tools to unlock. Whilst the story isn't anything special, it kept me entertained and I was particular impressed by the facial capture and voice acting. All in all, this was a incredible experience throughout. Would be interested to hear what everyone else thought of these games! I've still got quite a large backlog so I'll continue onto the next ones :)
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