My tour of single-named-indies-from-a-few-years-ago continues with the completion of 2016’s Inside.
I have not played Limbo but I have played Somerville, and… didn’t like it. Gave it a 6/10.
This was a lot better I think. I def enjoyed the puzzles more as it felt like they were more telegraphed and better balanced. I found the tone to be the most oppressive in a game, and the whole gameplay felt like it was well balanced, despite a few times being confounded. I am not against using a guide, and I wanted to know what was going on, so the few times I was stumped the guide told me the right thing to do and every single time I didn’t think that I could have worked it out.
Loved the level with all the zombie things and the lift, loved the pulsing sound level, and the level going through the facility at the was great. The stuff at the start with the dogs running around after me and the swimming enemy were deeply worrying though and very stressful, I didn’t like them but I found them to be interesting, and worked as a way to build out the “world” as such as it is.
I didn’t like the ending. At all. It really undercut the stuff before and… well, i just didn’t get it. I mean, it was fine, but it was great riiiiiiight up to the point where i became a fucking blob. Are you kidding. Anyway, liked it. Don’t think I’ll play it again mind you.
i did not like it at all. it looked and sounded gross, controlled like a fucking chore, and completely muddled what i was expecting from the resolution of the game (which there wasn’t one).
Jan 13th - Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)
Feb 7th - Hi-fi Rush (Xbox Series S)
Feb 10th - Goldeneye (Xbox Series S / Switch)
Feb 20th - Halo: Combat Evolved / The Master Chief Collection (Xbox Series S)
Feb 25th - Bayonetta 3 (Switch)
Apr 10th - Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch)
Apr 30th - Dishonored + The Knife of Dunwall / The Brigmore Witches (Xbox Series S)
May 1st - Tron Identity (Switch)
May 10th - Elden Ring: NG+ (Xbox Series S)
Aug 5th - Streets of Rage 4 (Switch)
Aug 7th - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
Sep 11th - Astrobot’s Playroom (PS5)
Finally decided to bite the bullet and get a PS5 now it’s available for just over £400 with two controllers, despite not being massively fussed (on paper at least) by a lot of the exclusives to date. It’s a lovely machine though; runs quiet, loads so much faster and with a better interface than PS4. I can see myself using it loads.
And what a delight this game was! I’d heard good things about Astrobot’s past endeavours, but this was my first foray into that world.
Proper Nintendo vibes going on, eh?
Charming. Funny. Great music. Top in jokes. Slick platforming. Inventive level design. Ingenious mechanics.
And the way it shows off the controller is quite something. I came away thinking it’s probably the best controller of all time. Some of the sensations it conveys is staggering. When that PS2 tray extended, it genuinely took me back to loading up a game with my friends and waiting for that delayed opening.
Tying it all into the history of Playstation is a delight too. And very moreish. It made me want to do it all and I might go for the Platinum, something I NEVER do, because I just don’t feel done with the game yet.
I could happily have taken another 20 hours of it.
1 - God of War Ragnorak - PS5
2 - Citizen Sleeper - Switch
3 - Cultist Simulator - Switch
4 - Tinykin - Switch
5 - Hogwarts Legacy - PS5
6 - Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty - PS5
7 - Resident Evil 4 Remake - PS5
8 - Tails of Iron - PS5
9 - Dark Souls - PS5
10 - Dredge - PS5
11 - Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Switch
12 - Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - PS5
13 - Norco - PS5
14 - Sekiro - PS5
15 - Final Fantasy 16 - PS5
16 - Viewfinder - PS5 17 - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Switch
Picked this up relatively cheaply after finishing Tears of the Kingdom as I had never played this one and really enjoyed this despite the terrible controls that are adapted from the Wii motion controller. It was nice to play a Zelda game that had the traditional dungeons and collection of weapons/tools after TOTK. I really enjoyed the story to this and there were some really great boss fights in the game too.
Really enjoyed the first 20 hours or so, but then it became a real chore. It’s so long and so repetitive. I didn’t mind doing some stuff at first, but you just do the same activities over and over again. I didn’t find enough depth in them to enjoy it. Deciding to pack it in felt like a relief.
Baldur’s Gate 3 – 4/5
The things that are good about this have been well documented. As for the less good - I do think the writing isn’t always great, and is sometimes actively bad. It can be very pandering, bloated, and bland. Not enough to ruin it by any stretch - it’s still almost a 5 stars. But the standards for videogame writing are pretty poor and for me it’s a shame that a game as lauded as this still has a lot of issues.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon – 5/5
Easily my favourite game of the year so far. The story gets really engaging. The presentation is really slick. Most of the missions have clever spins on them. The final chapter is a proper spectacle. Great boss fights. I could go on. There are so many weapons and mech parts to play with, I feel like there’s still loads I haven’t tried. Will be doing the NG+ and seeing what the other branching paths in the story are like.
I love that game despite the padding and repetition near the end. The story is hugely underrated, the characters are great and the tools you get along the way are genuinely wicked.
The motion controls worked on Wii well too once you realised you had to be deliberate and sparing with them, Vs waggling your arms around wildly
The first two episodes are great and the final one is good, but the 3rd and 4th… woof. The fourth one is especially dull - it’s basically moving down a long corridor with no choices to make. Feels like they only had stuff for 4 episodes and stretched into 5. I’ll also say, don’t buy this if you aren’t a fan of the show. If you are, wait for a sale. It’s quite pricey for 5 hours/6 hours most. There is replay value there (seems like the choices stack in a fun way)… but I’m not keen on playing the middle portion again. So there are things I really like this, the production is a real step above other Telltale games, but it feels like a missed opportunity. This is 3 stars from me - just.