Gaming 2023

Happy New Year gamers!

Still getting stuck into Elden Ring. Ancient Steve wishes you all well from the Lands Between

Might eventually get to play FF7 Remake and Metroid Dread this year if I ever finish this. What have you all got lined up?

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Downloaded Grim Fandango for my recent point and click kick. I’ve not played it since the original back in the day and it ran like shite on my PC. I also bought it on Switch, but this is on Xbox.

Also downloaded Far Changing Tides, and will play some High on Life and Minecraft. Good stuff.

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Based on first 5 hours or so, Kirby is easily 2nd fave of 2022 releases in this list:

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Any big gaming plans for 2023 aside from new releases? I would really like to get one FF (probably 7) under my belt just so I can fucking reference and understand them. Also hoping that I can get Resi Village and Rift Apart on the cheap now they’re 18+ months from release. Tunic an absolute must in sweeping up last year too.

Aside from FF7R and Metroid Dread mentioned above, Tunic is definitely on the list. The new Zelda too.

Gotta catch up on Xenoblade Chronicles 3 too.

Definitely not going to do all of these this year

Still on Dead Cells. I think my experience with Hades (hell yeah) and Returnal (hell nah) tells me I need a good reason to stick with Roguelikes whether that’s story or some form of mechanical satisfaction. I’m not sure if Dead Cells has enough to keep me going to the end but I’m still attempting runs here and there.

Haven’t started any of them yet but I’ve already got a backlog because of the Switch sale and I traded in a bunch of stuff to CEX shortly before Christmas. Looking like this atm

Switch: Unpacking, Loop Hero, Bug Fables, Art of Rally, Spelunky
PlayStation: The Pathless, Mass Effect, GTA Trilogy, Nier Automata, Redout

Probably won’t play GTA for a significant length of time outside of nostalgia factor but interested in trying the rest.

No plans/hopes and dreams outside of getting to Sekiro and Elden Ring, and Tears of the Kingdom ofc. I’d like to play more RPGs so could finally give Dragon Quest, Xenoblade or Fire Emblem a go. Also want to give emulation a shot if I’m in a decent enough financial situation to get a suitable system this year.

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After playing Sable I am going to work my way through the From games on my new beast PC (have only played DS1). On Switch I need to finish Disco Elysium and make it through Hades and Blasphemous before the new Zelda drops. Possibly squeeze Tunic in at some point. Vaguely intrigued by that Dwarf Fortress game too.

If I can finish Red Dead Redemption 2, The Witcher 3 and Elden Ring, it will be a good year.

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*decade

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Dead Cells just feels so good. I have no expectations to progress (I beat the HOTK once) but still occasionally jump in for a few runs.

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Kind of all over the place at the moment with anything other than daily Animal Crossing, Fortnite, and Marvel Snap. Highly recommend Marvel Snap btw, I know it looks gash but it’s secretly really, really clever. New season starts tomorrow. I’m rank 91 today and can’t be arsed seeing if I can push to Infinite (i.e. 100) today but I think I probably could, and I haven’t spent a single penny on it because the monetisation is a total joke.

Started playing Pillars of Eternity II, which seems good but I know I’ll get bored before finishing it, as is the way with these things.

Also playing The Surge 2, which the From Software Metropolitan Elite really should have on their radar as it’s, imo, the best non-Souls Souls game. It gets so much of the formula right - while it doesn’t have a sprawling world, all the discreet areas are connected in shortcuts you unlock that make you go “ohhhhhh, that’s where I am”, and the combat is weighty and excellent. Plus it has this neato directional block/parry system that is far more forgiving than e.g. Dark Souls. And gear is acquired mostly through crafting, but if you want materials for e.g. a new helmet, you target enemies’ heads to farm the materials that way. And it’s got this battery thing as a secondary resource that you can use for healing, like Bloodborne, or spend it on other things, and aaah it’s just a really clever Souls-like you guys.

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I don’t want to suggest that anyone is wasting their time but my first gaming session of 2023 involved killing a very famous creature from Ancient Greek mythology.

I definitely won’t have AC Odyssey finished before I go back to work but I think end of January might be realistic.

I might get FF7 as a placeholder until the summer when I’ll have some real free time to sink into Bloodborne.

Game Pass and the dozens of games I’m 10 hours into on Switch weren’t enough apparently so I’ve ordered a Steam Deck ffs.

I plan on using it partly for Xbox remote play to make more use of Game Pass. Won’t be perfect for all games obviously but the streaming works well enough on my phone so just want that on a proper handheld. A lot of GameCube games I want to play too. I also have no laptop or PC so I’m convinced it will be of some use outside of gaming when docked with the monitor, keyboard and mouse I use for work.

But, I have no games on Steam apart from Football Manager 2011 (don’t even remember having that) so I’m starting a library on yet another platform.

The steam sale ends on Thursday. Are there any any must play games that I won’t have played through Xbox/PS/Nintendo (indies or older games probably) that I should be looking at?

I might get a valve bundle for the Half Life games and also Death Stranding as I’ve not played that and it’s down to £20.

Did you play the first The Surge? I liked it but for some reason never felt compelled to play 2. Interested to see if it’s an improvement.

Narp

Or to be more helpful: the story and setting and environments and stuff are not particularly compelling imo, it’s the mechanics that I like, so I guess it depends on what floats your boats

I am playing:

  • Loop Hero on Switch. It has a satisfying gameplay… loop but the systems aren’t as transparent as I would like. Must have played for a couple of hours and I’m still not sure how difficult I should be making it for myself given that the loot drops feel fairly random? I might need to read a guide.

  • Outer Wilds Echoes of the Eye on PS4. I love this game and the DLC so much but I get limited console time and dipping in for a quick go is not really conducive to solving an epic space mystery.

  • Vampire Survivors on Android. Obviously a great game but it’s not suitable for mobile gaming at all imo. Unless you’ve got 30mins spare which I very rarely have you’re running the risk of the game randomly losing your progress when you put your phone down, which has happened to me more than once. Annoying.

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Got Ori&Wisps in the Switch sale - ÂŁ8 or something. Feels absolutely beautiful to play and sunk 90 minutes in without even realising. Love me a good metroidvania too, so feels like this is going to be a home run.

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Overwatch 2

Spent about 3 hours over the last two days attempting to set my kids up on the Switch Online family membership and get their Minecraft worlds they created on various different IDs to sync.

I officially give up. Between Microsofts complex menus and Nintendo’s antiquated backend, it’s nigh on impossible.

Yeah i found this whole process absolutely baffling and it is maddening as someone who has grown up learning all sorts of complex computery stuff that some of this stuff is just utterly counterintuitive and seemingly designed to be so.

Is it my age when i go into the menu of something like that modern warfare 2 online thingy and just find there is too much going on and it seems to be deliberately confusing?

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