Discussion What are you currently playing? (Week 4 of 2025)

[Cacher]

New week, new thread! What are you playing?

Final Fantasy XVI: I have probably reached the second arc of the game, at the point where Clive (progression spoiler) goes to the Iron Kingdom. As mentioned in the Steam thread, the English script and dub are great. On the other hand, I wouldn't say the story is incredible but it is good enough. The presentation continues to be fantastic. The (huge spoiler of Arc 1) Accept the Truth moment is bloody awesome. (further elaboration of previous spoiler) Fighting against your own demon is not particularly new in videogames, but this moment is so hyped because of the awesome music and the fact that the players have to actually press the button. It kinda reminds me of pressing F to pay respect, but this one is done in a good way. Looks like Jill story is coming up soon so I am excited towards it. She deserves more screen time.

Girls' Frontline 2: Just finished the newly-added chapter 8 of the main campaign. Posted my impressions in the OT. It was awesome!

 

[curi0usBystander]

The Great Ace Attorney: Finished the first 3 cases, It feels that they've created so many new mechanics for this game that makes it at least more interesting.
Also, the story seems to flow as a continuous story rather that a bunch of disjointed cases like other AA games. We'll see how it progresses.

 

[Arc]

I'm hooked. I might go ahead and buy the sequel at launch since AC Shadows got delayed.

I have also been playing Marvel Rivals. I grinded up to gold rank to get the Invisible Woman skin and I'm probably backing down on playing that for a while.

 

[dummmyy]

Currently playing 2 games.

I just realized I've been playing this for a few weeks and have been talking to friends about it while saying the name incorrectly LOL. I'm sure i'm shooting in the dark here, but its reminiscent of Dead Cells. Not nearly as fast, but the art is incredible. Kicking ass while playing in this art style is a nice change. I usually LOVE pixel art games, so this one is a nice departure from that.

I've also picked up Yakuza 3 Remastered again on the Steam Deck because I was off this past week, but I'll continue through these.

edit: Actually I lied, I'm playing three games. I just started 9 Monkeys of Shaolin (Game) about two nights ago and literally just played it this morning, I can't believe I had forgotten so quickly. But this game is a nice change of pace, its pretty easy so far so it's nice to just start it up finish a level or two and put it down. Nice to have a little bit of an accomplishment easily and a little bit of respite before doing something else.

 

[Parsnip]

Finished Tunic!

Planning to clean up ReCore DLC (and achievements?) now while I decide what to start next.

I grabbed the Zero Escape games for cheap few days ago so maybe I'll start the first one of those. Also Miasmata came up in a discord discussion some time ago and I might take a look at that next too.

 

[Durante]

I''m playing Atlas Fallen:


This is a game that I didn't even know (or forgot) existed before it was in the Humble Bundle.
It's the kind of game I probably still would have added to my library and never played, but I randomly saw that it has co-op.

So now I've put 13 hours into it and honestly, I can highly recommend it to anyone interested in a co-op ARPG.
Obviously, it's not like there is a huge number of choices if you want that, so that gives it a big leg up already, but it also surprised me in several aspects:

• Traversal is fantastic, honestly some of the best in any RPG I've ever played. Super fast sand sliding, double jumps, triple air dash, you name it, it's there and feels great.
• Combat feels awesome when you get used to the "momentum" system and really start using it. It has a good amount of core moves -- not too many so that each one feels meaningful and has its own niche, and the enemies are very varied and do each need their own strategies.
• At a technical level, at least on a high-end PC, it looks and feels really good. This is not a UE5 or Unity game, and for one, it has absolutely zero shader or traversal stutters. Apparently this was much worse at release, but now it's incredibly smooth for a "modern" game.

The story is nothing to write home about, but serviceable enough, and the exploration strikes a decent balance between having enough to do on the one hand and not falling completely in the Ubisoftification trap on the other. They have a few common open world challenges, and some of them are very clearly inspired by BotW, but mostly for the better I'd say.

So yeah, overall, you can absolutely do worse, and there really aren't many options for doing better if you want a full-fat campaign coop RPG.

 

[Parsnip]

It's great that Deck13 is still using their Fledge engine, a rare thing these days.
I don't remember how it was back on the first Lords of the Fallen, but I feel like in Surge and Surge 2 it was pretty alright (at least when I played them so definitely after some patches).

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

Synduality: Echoes of Ada


I bought the Deluxe Edition which gives Advance Access to the game and I am enjoying it. It's an extraction shooter like Escape from Tarkov, but a bit more chill than Tarkov. It's anime and a prequel to the series.

 

[bobnowhere]

Finished Rogue Trader so I'm not sure yet!

Maybe Costume Quest 2 and The Invincible.

 

[Panda Pedinte]

I'm replaying Psychonauts 2

 

[einstellung]

Recently finished playing two 1st person precision platformers similar to Neon White, Hell of an Office and Kick Bastards. HoO is based on primarily on rocket jumping and air dashing. Kick Bastards is about using a powerful kick to propel yourself through the air and perform Mirror's Edge parkour while conserving momentum from your kicks.

It's an emerging indie genre I really enjoy. Doing 20 second long obstacle courses with fast and skillful movement systems as fast as possible. Finding faster routes. Going for shortcuts that can only be done with precision and some luck. Meditatively flowing onward until that confluence of luck and skill strikes to give you the perfect run. Chasing the highest medal times.

Not sure where this genre came from. I guess it's an iterative offshoot from 2D precision platformers like Super Meat Boy. Takes those short, tough levels and puts them in 3D and changes the goal to speed away from completion. The earliest examples I've played are Cloudbuit, Clustertruck and SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell. Weirdly, even Klei has made one of them, called Hot Lava. I need to try it out.

Hmmm, I guess the Trials motorcycle games could be the earliest example, but it's in 2D, 3rd person, so, I dunno.

 

[Ascheroth]

Played a lot of Star Rail 3.0. Basically only that, lol. Really happy with the start of the new story chapter. It's long as hell (probably around 10 hours just for the main story part) and there's a ton of side stuff on top. Characters are good, pacing has been solid, world-building interesting and there's some intereresting set-up and mysteries.
Still have a lot of side stuff to do, but tomorrow Zenless has a new big update and on Friday Infinity Nikki has a big update. Eating good right now.