Community What are you currently playing?

xinek

日本語が苦手
Apr 17, 2019
738
1,346
93
Thanks to the new 3D Kirby game announcement, I got out my 2DS XL to play Kirby Planet Robobot which has been sitting in the backlog for years. Still at the beginning but I love it!
I had a blast with this game, but wow, am I bad at finding secrets. It's so charming, though!
 
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MegaApple

Just another Video Game Enthusiast
Sep 20, 2018
1,445
3,664
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Bunch of recent ones
  • Far Cry 5 - My first AAA game in a while. Just the opening 2-3 hours. I needed some comfort trash, and Ubisoft delivers on that at least. MMO like missions littering map, with activities like fishing, treasure hunting etc.
    I'm not familiar with rural Americana side of things, but I know that this is all a big caricature (plot and characters), so I'm not fully invested into that.
  • Dicey Dungeons - Banger time passing game. Must play for busy folks.
  • Sonic SEGA All Stars Racing - (Not the Transformed version) While step back in mechanics and roster size, this is still oozing with charm and content.
  • Ys VIII - Just wanted to see how combat worked in this, so I skipped all the initial scenes. I really liked the feel of the combat.
    I'll revisit it, once I played a couple of older Ys games.
  • Distance - Pretty much a "race course" video game, ie you have to run a obstacle course filled with set pieces. What keeps me engaged is the dark Sci-Fi horror atmosphere and soundtrack.
  • Bloodstained - Fuck 505Games for hiking it's regional pricing (and thanks to Humble for putting it on the bundle). Apart from that, first hour give me the impression, this was made either w/ small money or w/ small manpower. Because it doesn't feel... "premium". Other than that, I'm impressed how much it stand on it's own despite clearly taking the Castlevania structure.
  • XCOM Chimera Squad- Finally, XCOM that clicked with me instantly. The main XCOM game have either too much stakes (permadeath), or have too much on base management. I just want cool tactical action, and this one delivers.
    I've heard this will make the OG XCOM 1 + 2 unplayable, since they rely on different tactics.
  • Tetris Effect Connected (Multiplayer)- First time tried the multiplayer component, got paired with two console players.
    Just... beautiful.
Thanks to the new 3D Kirby game announcement, I got out my 2DS XL to play Kirby Planet Robobot which has been sitting in the backlog for years. Still at the beginning but I love it!
Also played this last week. Holy hell, I was not expecting it to be this fun. Polish and charm is through the roof, and has moments comparable to the best action games.
AND THIS IS A CUTESY PLATFORMER!
 

Halo_Killer64

Junior Member
Sep 23, 2021
1
4
3
Death stranding DC. Only got 40% thought eh first time so hopefully stick to it this time around. There's really nothing like it.

F1 2021. Love it. On a bit of a time trial kick ATM.

The procession of cavalry. Oh gee what a clever game. I'm glad they added to it Gamepass cos I'd never heard of it before so they have a new fan.

Animal crossing NH. Got a switch lite so starting from a new island. Great game.
 

Rogue Agent

Takes too damn long to finish games
Apr 4, 2019
191
458
63
38
Finished with The World Ends with You: Final Remix. Completed all the extra content and unlocked every monster in the Noise menu (bestiary) except for one.

Will start playing Metroid Dread today when it gets delivered.
 
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Rogue Agent

Takes too damn long to finish games
Apr 4, 2019
191
458
63
38
Finished with Metroid Dread on the Normal difficulty with item completion at 100% . Will try to unlock the other ending rewards and replay on Hard difficulty in the future.

Will start playing Shin Megami Tensei V once it gets delivered.
 

Cacher

Romantic Storm
Jun 3, 2020
4,133
12,610
113
I have been replaying GTA4 lately. I remember some key events vividly even after all these years but forgot most of the details. Now, I am around halfway to go but the writing has already floored me. Niko has lots of great and witty quotes, and there is not a single wasted line even during banters between Niko and friends. It is difficult to find such good writing in an enormous game like this.
 
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FunnyJay

Powered by the Cloud
Apr 6, 2019
1,458
3,801
113
Sweden
I really need to replay GTA IV someday. I remember only small parts of the story.
I remember the bank robbery, the kidnapping of the woman (which was quite horrible in itself but more so when you saw it from another perspective in The Ballad of Gay Tony), something about a diamond heist that was supposed to be a big part of the story? And you chasing the war criminal but finding someone that was innocent instead.

The story did really not stick so well with me, so it would be interesting to experience it again.
 
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Cacher

Romantic Storm
Jun 3, 2020
4,133
12,610
113
I really need to replay GTA IV someday. I remember only small parts of the story.
I remember the bank robbery, the kidnapping of the woman (which was quite horrible in itself but more so when you saw it from another perspective in The Ballad of Gay Tony), something about a diamond heist that was supposed to be a big part of the story? And you chasing the war criminal but finding someone that was innocent instead.

The story did really not stick so well with me, so it would be interesting to experience it again.
Sounds to me you remember the latter half of the story pretty well. I surely didn't remember the kidnapping lol. But the whole thing around the war criminal is really good. :)
 
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Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
3,984
13,796
113
Belgium
Mordheim: City of the Damned. I love a good hardcore experience, but this game is something else...
 
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Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
3,962
11,271
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Finished with Metroid Dread on the Normal difficulty with item completion at 100% . Will try to unlock the other ending rewards and replay on Hard difficulty in the future.

Will start playing Shin Megami Tensei V once it gets delivered.
Been playing Metroid Dread on and off for the last week or two as well and it's really impressive how the game continues to get more interesting to play. I wasn't really into the EMMI thing initially, but it's growing more and more on me, and the large amount of boss fights and mid-bosses is pretty impressive. Especially how fair the game is about them. You never lose much progress if you mess things up, and each fight felt incredibly compelling, forcing me to improve and improve until you nail it.

The only real issue to me is the forced linearity. Of course Metroid is always linear in its story beats, but previous games weren't this extreme about blocking your backtracking so often. I feel this takes away the exploration aspect of Metroidvania games. I hope this is something that fully opens up near the very end of the game. If not, it would lower my personal rating of Dread by quite a bit.
 

Rogue Agent

Takes too damn long to finish games
Apr 4, 2019
191
458
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The only real issue to me is the forced linearity. Of course Metroid is always linear in its story beats, but previous games weren't this extreme about blocking your backtracking so often. I feel this takes away the exploration aspect of Metroidvania games. I hope this is something that fully opens up near the very end of the game. If not, it would lower my personal rating of Dread by quite a bit.
I agree, it does double down on shuffling you into going a specific way and blocking you. Sometimes I appreciated it but most of the time, I wish it was a bit like when you got the power bombs in Super Metroid and it really opened up. Super Metroid also had some forced linearity sections like when the security bars blocked your backtracking once you opened them, but never to this degree.

Once you reach the final area and get all your powers, you can go back to each area and complete it 100%, but that's nothing really special as every Metroid does this. Sadly, the game will force you to go a specific way right until the near end when you can go anywhere. There are a lot sequence breaks in the game, which is one way you can overcome the forced backtracking, but I suck at that.
 
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MegaApple

Just another Video Game Enthusiast
Sep 20, 2018
1,445
3,664
113
Ever Oasis, an action RPG + life Sim hybrid from director of Mana games.

It's a slow game, but once you get in the groove of dungeon crawling and town building, you can lose the track of time.
 
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MegaApple

Just another Video Game Enthusiast
Sep 20, 2018
1,445
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OUTRIDERS
What is flipping snorefest. Playing it solo was a chore, so glad I skipped all the cutscenes. The shooting is fun, environments can look pretty, but that it.
Everything else is barebones.
 
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zonk

Junior Member
Mar 29, 2019
38
60
18
Giving Forza 5 a try. After finally getting it to work (Xbox App on PC is a mess) I've now sunk an hour or two in and it's... a Forza game :D I don't think I'll play it extensively, since I'm still busy playing some Path of Exile this league, but I can totally see myself squeeze in a race here or there.
 

Cacher

Romantic Storm
Jun 3, 2020
4,133
12,610
113
Super Robot Wars Original Generations (PCSX2)
Native Resolution / Reshade CRT scanline

Mecha Porn


Sick combat sequence


And super-young-looking mum of our protag



Edit: The game has fan translation, too!
 
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MegaApple

Just another Video Game Enthusiast
Sep 20, 2018
1,445
3,664
113
Monster Hunter Stories 1 (Android)

I love it. Handheld turn-based games are great, and the controls here are fairly good.
And the art really make this game timeless
 
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PhaZZe

MetaMember
Mar 12, 2019
758
1,364
93
yakuza 5, really i want to play 6 and 7, still a great upgrade from 3/4 (still 4 its really really good)
 
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Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
3,962
11,271
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Been replaying Darksiders 2 after having quit the game years ago, Not sure if it's the remaster from Nordic, or playing it on the 21:9 monitor I use over the holidays, but it's been really fun so far. It's a great combination of classic Zelda dungeons and pretty blatant (old) God of War style combat. and it works really well.
 

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
3,962
11,271
113
Started playing Bulletstorm (the remaster) recently. I'm pretty impressed how wild the campaign is so far. Absolutely non-stop action, from one insane moment to the next. Can't play the game for much more than an hour or so, but so far it's kind of impressive how imaginative People Can Fly was with this. Hoping it can maintain this momentum throughout.
 
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Cacher

Romantic Storm
Jun 3, 2020
4,133
12,610
113
I am at late game of Wild Arms alter code f, and its story is just awesome. The writing is elegant in the way that lore is slowly revealing to players not only through main story but also books and NPCs' dialogues, and the feeling of seeing puzzles falling into places is really good. It is such a joy to go adventure in a world that feels complete and can stand on its own.

The characters also act in realistic ways. Rather than playing heroes and beating bad guys around the world, many often the main characters are weak and got defeated or failed to stop the plot of the enemies. Also the game doesn't pull the "oh you defeated me but actually I am reserving my power" trick at these moments. It actually has villains laughing at the main characters for how weak they were. But throughout the adventure there is a feeling that they are slowly but surely gaining strength, so that they can eventually stand face-to-face to the villains. On the other hand, the villains are also not brainless maniacs. They calculate and weigh their own interests against each other. One plot point mid-way to the game even has one villain who aided the main characters so that they can defeat the other villain.

The story and writing of this game can withstand the test of time. Honestly it is better-written than many recent JRPGs that I have played. If this game is not regarded as a masterpiece, I don't know what else can.
 
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EdwardTivrusky

Good Morning, Weather Hackers!
Dec 8, 2018
7,278
12,382
113
Skyrim AE as the last i played was Skyrim launch vanilla. Stealthy Archer build because i find it difficult to change my style. I've a TON of levels cached up tho so i may look at changing my style to something a bit different to get out of my comfort zone... but stealthy archer is so satisfying to me.
 

DrShrapnel

Shuwatch!
Oct 14, 2021
177
409
63
Outriders- Picked this up after falling in love with it on Game Pass. Trying not to let it completely dominate my limited playtime though, as I want to get more Game Pass games in, before it expires in March.

Gears of War Hive Busters. - Really impressed with the environments. The artists really knocked it out of the park.
 
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Anteater

Hentai Specialist
Sep 20, 2018
1,405
2,358
113
www.pixiv.net
Actually kinda finding some bosses challenging in Yakuza 7, I can get by so far but I definitely needed to plan some of my turns because the damage was just too high with some attacks, currently in chapter 9. It's a really good game so far though, the combat can be better but the change made a lot of items/progression meaningful again, and making the world more immersive, the characters are great and Ichiban is a good protagonist, it might be my favorite Yakuza if it keeps up.
 

Virtual Ruminant

MetaMember
May 21, 2020
515
1,770
93
Trying to play Moonglow Bay and the game is literally putting me to sleep. Today I managed one hour of playing, followed by a 2.5 hour nap.

Last time I only managed 30 minutes and just went to bed because it was night anyway.
 

EdwardTivrusky

Good Morning, Weather Hackers!
Dec 8, 2018
7,278
12,382
113
Trying to play Moonglow Bay and the game is literally putting me to sleep. Today I managed one hour of playing, followed by a 2.5 hour nap.
Last time I only managed 30 minutes and just went to bed because it was night anyway.
I might pick that up then!
Honestly, Forza Horizon does that to me, i had several snoozes, naps and crashes while driving before the christmas hols. I need to get back into that game after a few weeks away.
 

Virtual Ruminant

MetaMember
May 21, 2020
515
1,770
93
Honestly, Forza Horizon does that to me, i had several snoozes, naps and crashes while driving before the christmas hols.
LMAO, I can see that. The only reason it doesn't have that effect on me is that I get too angry about all the resources wasted (and undeserved praise heaped) on that driving time-waster sold as a racing game.
 
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Crayon

Schizofantastic
May 25, 2019
120
243
43
43
I started paradise killer over the weekend and I'm loving it.

I've never tried much in the way of visual novels. I've played some hatoful boyfriend, and all of 13 sentinels. Never played any kind of detective game. This game rules.

It's a detective vn with first person open world (little world) exploration and light platforming. That's.all good.

The setting tho. Omg. Im sure vaporwave isn't cool anymore but games that embrace the aesthetic are here and there. This one goes in hard on it. So you are on vaporwave island with the music and the pyramids an all that, but then storywise it's got this cryptic cosmic horror thing going. No horror, tho. Just the cosmic.

I'm pretty far in and I'm starting to worry that these detective games make you actually think at the end. I had been assuming for awhile that the crime would solve itself once I found everything and talked to everyone. We'll see about that.

Overall... Super into it so far. I also loved 13 sentinels so I should clearly be looking for more vn's.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
3,992
11,886
113
I started paradise killer over the weekend and I'm loving it.

I've never tried much in the way of visual novels. I've played some hatoful boyfriend, and all of 13 sentinels. Never played any kind of detective game. This game rules.

It's a detective vn with first person open world (little world) exploration and light platforming. That's.all good.

The setting tho. Omg. Im sure vaporwave isn't cool anymore but games that embrace the aesthetic are here and there. This one goes in hard on it. So you are on vaporwave island with the music and the pyramids an all that, but then storywise it's got this cryptic cosmic horror thing going. No horror, tho. Just the cosmic.

I'm pretty far in and I'm starting to worry that these detective games make you actually think at the end. I had been assuming for awhile that the crime would solve itself once I found everything and talked to everyone. We'll see about that.

Overall... Super into it so far. I also loved 13 sentinels so I should clearly be looking for more vn's.
Without spoiling how the end plays out exactly, the game gives you great liberty to reach your own conclusions, and those will be accepted as the facts of the case provided you can evidence it. There isn’t a “true” route or a mystery that linearly unravels at the end.

Part of what makes it great in my view. I’m gasping for a sequel or some sort of continuation.
 

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
3,962
11,271
113
Booted up Amid Evil, and immediately fell in love with it. This type of fast paced shooter is what I would have loved from Doom Eternal. No silly restrictions on ammo, no requirement to optimise attacks on each enemy, just simple mindless action. Hell, Doom 2016 understood that well enough.
Love how the retro look of Amid Evil is nicely elevated by modern rendering elements like ray tracing.
 

Crayon

Schizofantastic
May 25, 2019
120
243
43
43
I started Elex yesterday in the morning and played alllll day. It's fun so far. Very old-fashioned interms of the learing curve, which I love. 9 hours in, I'm basically just starting out. I'm sure I could have got a stronger start with a guide or something, but I don'ty want to miss out on learning by myself.
 

Virtual Ruminant

MetaMember
May 21, 2020
515
1,770
93
I'm playing SkateBIRD on Game Pass and I feel like I'm already part of an exclusive club of total weirdos for having made it into the fourth level of the main story. The drop-off for this game as evidenced by the achievement stats for the "Progress to level X" achievements is incredible. Even on Steam, where every game finds a fan, the numbers aren't great. On the Xbox ecosystem (which includes Windows 10 Game Pass / Microsoft Store), only 0.5% of players have the achievement for getting to level 4 (out of 6).

0.5%!

This game is a veritable flop. People give up on this game in droves. And I kind of knew it beforehand, having tried every Steam Fest Next demo release and having found them not really getting better or fixing any of the obvious issues over the course of 1.5 years. But I've got Game Pass right now and I had to check again.

There's gotta be some poor impressionable 9-11 year olds who got a shiny new Xbox Series S for xmas and Game Pass on top and found this game because it has cute birds. They think now that this is what a skating game plays like. And they don't know better! They don't know what a PS2 is! They don't even know who Tony Hawk is! (SkateBIRD of course makes a joke reference to Tony Hawk, by mentioning a character called Anthony Hawk. Who is a literal hawk).

Mentally pressing F for those kids.

This game is irredeemable junk with a really, really attractively cute and whimsical paintjob. I might end up becoming part of the 0.27%(!!!) who finish the main story. No way I'm joining the 0.22% of insane people who completed every optional mission and gathered every collectible as well though.
 

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
2,949
7,386
113
Austria
Im once again game-hopping:

Cities Skylines
since I really wanted to build a city again! Im just bad at traffic management at this game. I love it in principle but its too micromanagy; at some point its just constantly fixing traffic flows and loses its appeal to me (who likes simpler city builders...thats why I still play the old SimCity games)
Anyway, this time I build a city that I pretty much immediately flooded by accident :p Managed to salvage it tho. The unlimited money helped, of course :p

Hitman 3 (including the locations from Hitman 2016 + Hitman 2)
having played it when it came out (on Stadia), replayed the campaign and doing the location mastery stuff and seeing what achievements I missed the first time around,. (they have some really hidden weird stuff), and just generally messing about in the locations, and maybe I'll try to speedrun some stuff and see how far in the leaderboards I can be. In Chongquing I managed to be at #40 (although probably lower now), for example. On Stadia, due to lack of players, I managed to be in the top ten for some locations :p

Rise of the Tomb Raider
Sometimes I replay story-driven games Ive finished before, this time I started replaying Rise of the Tomb Raider (in my opinion, probably the best TR game) – not sure if I finish it again, but thats not the point, its just to play something I enjoy playing :)

Life is Strange True Colours
I still havent finished Life is Strange True Colours. For some reason I cannot play it for more than 15 minutes, I dunno why. It kinda feels like the same game, but slightly less interesting and I cant be bothered, and the story so far didnt feel that intrigueing.

Vampire Survivors
I havent played a run in a while, since I reached almost 30 minutes and now it get a bit repetitive, but regardless...its a great game I recommend to anyone :)

Baba is you
I wanted to play some more but I think I hit a roadblock where the puzzles are just too obtuse for me to solve. I love this game otherwise.

Overwatch
In between for a few matches at a time, or whenever they got an event where there's new skins to be had (like right now).


Otherwise, God of War is on my list, as soon as I feel like it :)
 

BadAniki

Junior Member
Jan 22, 2022
29
62
13
Just finised Warhammer 40K: Spacemarines and had an absolute blast. The combat and the setting are great. Really gives you that power fantasy of being a spacemarine while you're running through hordes of orcs and other enemies. Was recommended by a friend and now really hyped for the sequel coming up in the future.
 

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
3,962
11,271
113
Started playing takes breath Shin Megami Tensei, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers on the 3DS.





It feels like a combination of visual novel (for the story parts) and first person dungeon crawler, where the combat is basically using SMT style battles, with demons that you summon fighting along side you. As usual, talking to demons is a pretty funny element that adds a nice twist to things. If you do well, you might skip combat, or even gain demons to summon. If not, well, you just go through the normal combat.
It reminds me a lot of pokemon, though I guess the SMT series have been doing it before Pokemon was even a thing.
 

derFeef

Cthulhu dreams.
Apr 17, 2019
380
675
93
AUT
Thanks to Steam Deck I am currently playing more games than I should, heh.

Shadow Warrior 3
Neat so far but VERY linear. I checked the first game (reboot) again and it was filled with open levels, secrets and actually neat melee combat. This seems a bit too straightforward to me, like stripped down Doom 2016.

Mass Effect Andromeda

Yes, that game. I kinda like it? It's goofy and I have the fear it might be too bloated with side stuff, but when you look at it from a "alternate reality" kinda way it seems good. The dialogue is often hilarious bad and (intentionally?) self-aware, that makes me looking forward to every story beat. Also the combat is really good, lot's of abilities and "synergies" to try out. (tech+sniper is godly, always loved Infiltrator)




Dead Island: Riptide

Apparently the worst of those but I can live with the tedium. I love Dead Island so this kinda-addon game is made for me.
Also there is a one-punch mode? Have not checked that out yet though.




All games run good to great on the Deck, especially surprised about Mass Effect.

(I hope embedding my personal tweets is okay, please let me know if I should not do that)