Project Cars 2 (40.2 hours): Primarily playing this with IC on Friday as part of Pandemic Playtime. Some of the most consistent fun I have had wit the group in the past couple of years. Even if I spend most of the race racing alone just listening to others start saying 'shit shit shit on shit watch out.....crap' is hilarious. Previously I have played a bit of Burnout1/2/3, GRiD, DiRT, and a few random games but never a sim. I have not dumped a huge amount of my hours into the campaign because that is not the primary reason I purchased the game. Online racing with friends in this has been fantastic even when I hated the race. @Sonorous runs our weekly games with a lot of thought put into it, he knows what he is doing and if you have any interest in racing with friends we would love to have you. The graphics look fantastic cranked up but I do get a bit of stutters on a regular basis as I watch the FPS jump from 130 down to < 90.
Borderlands The Pre-Sequel (18.6 hours): I thought it wasn't that bad. Still felt like a borderlands game with some weird bits because you on a moon. They tried to make fighting have a little more depth because of it; people won't burn in space and you can cause people to suffocate in space. What they didn't tell you is this game takes place in a kitchen and you are trying to kill a sponge as the final boss. I didn't come here to play FF7 where the final boss has 5 final forms. Literally rage quit because I was tired of the overall squish everything at the end and finding a boss that does several one hits so you are expected to pull off half a dozen second wind recoveries is just dumb. Hrmph Uninstall
Deep Rock Galactic (26.6 hours): Still haven't spent any time in high level play which is my biggest gripe about the game, you have to grind for so long to unlock some things and it is actually super annoying. Concept of the game is 4 dwarf squad co-op mining game. You launch from a space station/ship into a big rock that has several different biomes in it. Each one has as different environment but effectively they are still the same just reskins. Environmental dangers are the only thing that really changes.
You have 4 characters engineer/gunner/scout/driller each with different weapons but the skill tree is shared. Each character must be leveled up independently and each level the character increases it helps level up your player level which allows for unlocks in cosmetics and some basic items like higher difficulty. This gets into my biggest issue with the game since it takes so long to level 4 characters, promote, and start it all over. There is a whole segment that requires you to promote one character after level 25 which moves them back to level 1 to do it all over again.
Out side of that the graphics are good enough, their usage of light in the game is spot on since you are mining, and the cave systems are procedural so it is always fresh but lately when I have been host games as driller there is a lot of BS placement on ceilings. Worth the $30 especially if you have a couple friends that play. The devs just released a new update and there are a lot of details or explorable elements in the game that they didn't have to put in but gives it a nice 'we cared about this' feel.
Ski Sniper (2.4 hours) : This is not a game where you ski and then snipe things. This is a game where you snipe ski jumpers. They reuse the Sniper Elite bullet time effects and set goals for shooting kidneys, left foot, spleen, etc. You get money for completing special task or back to back snipes. The money is then used to unlock new guns or drugs to help improve your focus. Fun for about 30 minutes then it is played out despite having half a dozen sniping locations to shoot from. Easy enough to 100% the game if you don't mind spending a half dozen hours ensuring you hit a jumpers kidneys instead of their spleen.
DOOM Eternal (15.4 hours):
You can't just shoot a hole into the surface of Mars. This is a masterful game. Prior to starting the game I replayed 2016 and my biggest complaint was how slow and heavy the DOOM Slayer felt. They fixed that with Eternal, now I was a nimble little butterfly zipping through the air landing on heads while raining sticky nades on demon's faces. Eternal takes place after 2016 with a continuation of the story line. The demon invasion of Earth has been completed but between it starting and now you acquired an space battle station that serves as the hub for all missions and viewing any of your items you have collected in the levels. Starting this straight off from 2016 I hated the controls and push to using abilities like a flame thrower, nades, and a high damage punch but after playing several levels back to back it didn't matter because it just gives you the ability to dump more dmg on demons while doing weapon switches.
Being able to dash, double jump, and do extreme latches to perform glory kills or a chainsaw murder meant movement speed was double to triple what it felt like in 2016. The story felt a lot more engaging as I would pause mid mission to read text pages I found because I became very interested in the narrative and back story. This doesn't mean there are some weird ass holes like being introduced to the betrayer in game but has no real value. Plus nothing like making the slayer swim through some radioactive water to drain a room but everyone loves water levels. By the last set of missions in game I had to turn down the difficulty because I kept getting swarmed and juggled into a death spiral with several of the fast and cheap demons that also had long range power attacks; snake ladies, teleporting demons, the dual sword wielding weeb. But that also lowered the difficulty to much because I rolled into the final boss with 16 extra lifes.
The game brought in the old idea of 1Ups in a very good way. You can find and stock them so when you are in the middle or end of a big fight that is tough and you die you just auto spawn in place with a few seconds of invulnerability to try and recover. Being able to just carry on through a fight saved me a lot of frustration and time in long big fight sequences. At the same time I learned to exploit the glory kill mechanic when I was getting swarmed bad to pull the invulnerable frames when a big attack was hitting.
This game was choice and HIGHLY addictive. At points I had to keep myself from pounding on the desk and screaming RIP AND TEAR because I was so pumped. They slayers furry knows no bounds and the legions of hell stand no chance in the onslaught of his unequaled rage.
The Ultimate Doom (5.1 hours): I have never actually played Doom besides a level or swapped in for a few minutes. This version is the original Doom game plus one extra episode. Nothing like some old 16-bit music because that is what you had. Also rather fun playing a game that is not about anything besides shoot things in the face while sprinting around. There is a story and information in the handbook but of course I do not have those, it always makes me hot and bothered when I think of the red alert inserts with keyboard shortcuts and tech trees. Honestly the game wasn't very hard despite running on difficulty 3 until I had to deal with things like the cyberdemon and mastermind just because of one shoting. That changed in the new episode because that is where I turned it all the way down because starting in a room with 12 enemies is not fun plus then having to run around a lava/poison floor. Who the hell decided that is a good video game mechanic, it is cheap and designed just to bleed health. Episode 4 honestly felt like doom because there were a bunch of demons to shotgun in the face and you had to be aggressive to live. Looking forward to Doom II.
Idle Champions The Forgotten Realms(384.4 hours): This is a DnD based idle game. You have a set of 12 heroes that can be switched around but the max 'bench' slots you have is 12. Just like any other idle game you attack waves of enemies and progress forward. The difference is this game uses formations that change depending on rules or what campaign you are running which is interesting and requires min/max theory instead of just a pure max math theory like Clicker Heroes. Do not like how they run timed events for unlocking new heroes because they are trying to keep engagement high since you can spend plenty of money on this free game. Relatively fun but it takes a decent amount of interaction. Kind of done with it at this point with 45. 18%, of the achievements complete because now there is just grinding on some campaigns to progress. I have over 3,000 on Clicker Heroes and was running an autoplayer program I modified to keep working as the game was updated.
Doom II: Hell on Earth(5.2 hours): Now this is more Doom. Action is faster paced, plenty of puzzles, and platforming elements all over the place. Some of the levels have shoved their own head up their ass since they have arrows pointing the way or secrets that are only possible to find from hitting every wall with a pistol shot. Had a bit more fun with II but I had to start forcing myself to play after about level 15 because of the level design. When it takes thinking 'I hope there is a portal or door down in the lava' before jumping in a pit because there is no other way to progress is just dumb. Almost would rather replay lemmings levels that require building a massive ladder than play some of these levels. Several of the gun fights are very rewarding because it feels very much as though just pure rage filled desire not to die is the only reason you managed to slaughter all of the enemies. Some moments are funny to go back and read about because there is such a strong need to use your imagination.
Furry Love (1.83 hours): 100% BABY. @Obsidian gifted me this game two days ago in a Christmas fit of lewdness. The game is a mash of clones centered around beating a level to reveal an adult image with a furry theme. Pac-man, falling image catch, rock-paper-sissors, and image cutter(hard). It does have a censored version in game. The steam store page does display some of the adult art work if you want to check it out.
Kids of Hellas: Back to Olympus (6.9 hours): I thought this was an off shot from the 12 laborers game series and thus was shocked when I started playing the game and saw different art assets plus different queue rules for assigning task. After checking the steam reviews people stated it was a reskin of another game made by the same publisher while trying to pawn it off like a 12 laborers game..........yup. No idea what the plot of this game is since I don't care any more after 10 of the previous ones. I hit 100% achievements with 5 levels left on the game.
Battlefront II (6 hours): Played a few hours with a friend in multiplayer which was kind of fun since we would both go on runs in the more open maps but indoor maps had such terrible chokes the general lag and some of the faster paces animations made playing the game unfriendly. I was just going to finish the campaign before hanging everything up since the game was free however the game crashes any where between 10 to 30 minutes for me. I dragged my ass through the first campaign and started the second one but couldn't hang on when dealing with 3 crashes in the first mission. So done and get away from me. I think I need to stop playing online multiplayer games and just have a happier single player experience like Mass.
Control (25.6 hours): I really enjoyed playing this game. The plot seemed to just drop characters and sub stories pretty regularly which was aggravating since it felt like huge holes were left in their wake but the atmosphere was extremely enjoyable. Only caveat I have with this game is you need the DLC because it provides a whole campaign with Alan Wake cross over plus some origination background for the Bureau of Control. Several of the boss fights felt like utter cheese BS where you have to get lucky and good. The main story was probably 10 hours while all the side missions and just exploring was the rest, and I didn't finish everything. There is apparently a super secret outfit unlock of cat ears and some of the secrets you have to figure out are pretty crazy.
Battlefield 1 campaign(5 hours): The campaign is freaking rough. I picked the game up through Prime Gaming for free and super glad I did, funny enough I bought the special edition statue a couple years ago for $15 and gave it to a friend after holding it for awhile. The campaign is 5 separate stories that you play through trying to illustrate the different types of fighting along with the different theaters. All the cut scenes had stutters in the playback, some times loading campaigns would fail, AI would cause NPCs to run across the map or in circles for no reason, the horse is glitchy, etc. Not a very good experience at all.
Alpaca Staka(9 minutes): Free, cute, fun, unity plat-former. An alpaca was going to a party with a hen but the squirrel wasn't invited and he was jelly so he let the hen's chicks out of their pen. Now the alpaca must find the kids and return them home. Super basic plat former but cute.
Gunfire Reborn (12 hours): This is a rogue game but with guns and a skill tree. Weapons can be upgraded or better/worse version will drop during the play through. The maps are technically procedural generated since some times the paths change but realistically things never change. When so much of your play through hinges on RNG for weapons and buff upgrades it feels frustrating unlike a true skill only game. Since there is only one map and only three levels you spend all night doing the same thing just to grind more points to burn on the skill tree. You do get different characters with a small variety of special actions or buffs but it doesn't change the run and nature so once you figure out a strong gun combo you use that with every character.
Battlefield V (6 hours): The single player is what Battlefield I should have been, a snippet with a decent story from a different aspect of WWII. There was still a lot of reflex sights on guns which bugs me plus other exotic hardware just all over the place. Had several technical issues with video stutters despite running 90-140 fps, game stuck loading, a crash, and unable to actually exit the game without a forced kill of the exe. When you have the same very specific issues between different games it really shows how much you care. It was free.
Little Nightmares (2.9 hours): Not a long game but a really well done game. A dark platformer that doesn't tell you anything besides what you can learn from the visuals in the game. There is a lot of care and detail on everything and the game rewards you with finding all the little special things. The plot could best be described as Spirited Away, consumerism that eats the young and binds people into an ugly future.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution(17.4 hours) : Yes yes Dois Exquise. I played this game for 2 hours years ago and got frustrated with the shooting so I uninstalled. Now I have no idea what happened in those two hours besides something caught fire some place, other characters telling me about people getting kidnapped or a factory being attacked is my only knowledge at this point. Wouldn't say I liked the game but for some reason I just kept playing it, every 45 minutes I felt like I was getting close to the 'last chapter' but the game would always been syc not really. It makes the writing feel cheap but at the same time it is on point for square/metal gear styled games. SO MANY LADDERS FOR REAL YO, and then you die from fall two stories onto your robot legs come on. The game was enjoyable and it was pretty fun to see what a peak game was from 7 years ago. Plus punching holes in walls to find a candy bar occasionally was choice. All the sex trafficking and the occasional racial slur was interesting.
Games Completed: 168
Time: 10 weeks 141.9 hours
Prey (19.3 hours): More recent Prey not crazy ghost alien native american awesome Prey. Crazy weird alien stuff making copies of coffee mugs. Learning new skills by jamming stuff into your left eyeball. The story didn't feel that compelling but for some reason I got enough enjoyment of the gameplay that I just kept going. Really annoying to have enemies respawn in areas that were previously cleared since it just sucks up resources that are rather limited so the game is passively telling you to sneak but to do a bunch of the missions in the game you have to use combat soooo....... Very interesting endings to be had. The game basically lets you climb on everything and there is a weird hacking game.
Ghostrunner (6.5hours): Picked this game up free via Prime Gaming, almost bought it months ago but the demo felt too cheap in the game play. Warning: I didn't finish the game because it kept crashing at the same point and I am not going to spend an hour troubleshooting how to get around the bug while also having to play 10 minutes just to get to the point of the bug in the level every crash. The intro and outro are pretty basic you get a short story that some lady tried to kill you but you survived. Now you have to collect all your stuff while fighting your way back up this tower that is humanities final outpost after an apocalyptic event that has made the outside lethal to humans. There is a mix of stages in each level with platformer, battle arenas, and virtual worlds which are more platform stages. Visually the game is fantastic all the way around. There are some weird things they did like everyone grills brawts but they put so much detail across all of the game it is very impressive. You can wall run on everything so I have simply avoided some platform sections by running on top of the problem obstacle or the opposite wall, kind of funny when you can run on top of the electrified section of wall cause my game my way . The music is jamming too. Great environment all the way around in the game.
The big issue outside of the crashes that blocked me and some people. The battle and hit detection. I tried to make this game as easy for me when I did start playing and it still felt like bullshit. Hits that didn't hit, getting shot around corners or as soon as I pop out, warping and immediately shot in the new location, watching rapid fire shots have a normal spread and then when I warp seeing the aim jump 40 degrees to where I was going; super lame and frustrating. Like running on a wall and jumping away but I am apparently still close enough to be shocked and die. Plus coupled with the normal crap like the game deciding to not wall run me or jumping on a rail and then immediately decoupling me to kill me. At the same time it is very generous with me hitting enemies but when you jump over a ninja by 10 feet and still get killed by them it just turns you off. Apparently most of my screenshots are too big so here https://wall.alphacoders.com/by_sub_category.php?id=325288&name=Ghostrunner+Wallpapers
Halo Infinite Multiplayer(110.9 hours): I never played Halo growing up except for a couple random days with a random girlfriend and her father. Dude how do you release something that is so fundamentally wrong(battlefield dropped at the same time so you see large game companies objectively don't care right now). Server-client desync issues so they apparently never do resync or client->server validation once you spawn in for a life. Big team battle broke and they had no idea why after launch which still has issues going on 2 months. Since multiplayer went free to play they have serious issues with hackers and they pushed the responsibility onto the player to video record and submit evidence and I don't think they will do anything besides ban the specific account. Originally launched missing a bunch of modes that they apparently didn't want to release. The scoring system is all pointless in the different modes so might as well just merc enemies no matter what the objective is. Win or lose a match you get the same points so they aren't incentivizing mode play. Uh so many negatives but I have still put in 100+ hours and almost lvl 100 for the season so got them unlocks.
Can't stop won't stop when I can miss a shot over someone's shoulder and it gives me a HS kill. Plus some silly halo shens when you get a bunch of people together for weekend frag sessions.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (22.8 hours): I really enjoyed playing this and thought I went through most of the side stories but apparently not since there are bunch of achievements I didn't hit. This game follows up on Human Revolution after a 1 year break while you were in a coma. The majority of all actions take place in Prague which makes the story elements feel a little tighter. You still jump outside for a few activities but they are enclosed chapters that are advancing the main plot lines.
With my knowledge from playing the previous game I spec'd out my dude for hacking and jumping which makes me unbeatable as long as I don't have to shoot anyone. Even by the end when I had max'd my defensive buffs and pumped the dmg on my weapons getting in fire fights was not a great idea, so I just sneak around and silently merk half the dudes before putting sniper rifle to the back of the rest's head.
They did tease a follow up game for it which I am excited to play after it releases and goes on sale for <$10; rumors say the follow up is cancelled but the studio denies. Initially when I launched the game my FPS was sub 60 and it was apparently the MSAA doesn't function in the game. Also as I progressed through the game I kept having to deal with silent crashes or ledges my character wouldn't walk over which is super annoying when it means you can't walk into a vent.
Lost Ark (10 hours): That was enough of that. Crowned someone, defeated some evil king, steam rolled pretty much every battle without real effort.
Is this game suppose to be challenging at all because so much of it is walk over there and pop a high DPS spell and return. Very overwatch press Q to win. No idea what the real plot is because it was so generic. Weapon vendors only sell one weapon upgrade but no armor vendor. The entire game feels super shallow and cheap but don't worry because there is rapport and that takes real effort. After you finish 10 years the real game apparently begins because you get your own island to do stuff with. You are the orcs at Helms Deep. I don't know, Torchlight was better.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order(21.7 hours): STAR WARS STAR WARS BBRRRR WWWUUUUZZZZ SSSHUUUUUUTTT. Dark Souls in the star wars universe. The game is not super new and there have been plenty of reviews of it so far and all of the critiques are pretty on point. During battle it felt like I was playing Tekken because of all of the stun locking and general bullshit. Started the game at Jedi Master difficulty but ended up doing the final fight in Story Mode because I was done dealing with spending 30 seconds waiting for a counter attack chance some times. They nailed the Star Wars look and feel on everything. My only real complaint I have is that they force you to backtrack on worlds to get collectibles after you unlock abilities to access those areas and since you can't quick travel it turns into something very cumbersome and time consuming to go collect a poncho or light saber hilt.
The main antagonist was perfect
8/10, worth the time and money.
Games Completed: 174
Time: 11 weeks 165.1
It Takes Two(13.8 hours): Lots of fun. Lots of things to explore and look at. Every chapter has new gimmicks for game play to keep everything fresh. There are also extra mini-games to find and secretes to discover. Even while playing online two player you can always see the other person's screen which makes it a lot easier to work together and plan when timing is the most critical. The last two chapters felt a little smaller than the rest of the game play regarding the grandeur scale but still very nice and well done. The game is polished and leaves pretty much nothing lacking. Both main characters kind of don't mend their relationship by the end but who cares since they are so toxic to each other via dialogue throughout the game.
The Banner Saga(8 hours): Oregon Trail in Norse mythology. Voice acting is sporadic. Kind of turn based table top battles, computer gets to cheat because turns alternate between P & E meaning as you are winning the computer gets extra turns. The story is choice driven so you can kill or get characters killed. 2 and 3 are already released because I took so long to actually play and finish this game but not sure if I am going to pay full price, $25. Seemed silly that characters shared the same design when there are only a couple dozen of them.
Rollers of The Realm (5.3 hours): This is a game I have owned for a long and find very aggravating. A pinball game with characters, unlockables, a story, campaign progression, deaths and revives, and a lot of bullshit. Instead of a tilt the different characters, which are actually pinball's, have different agility values so you can move them on the board instead of tilting. This results in some balls being able to literally climb up slopes after being upgraded. You can collect gold and mana. Gold is used to unlock some characters and items to enhance. Mana is used to deploy ball's ultimates or revive balls after they die. There is no save after ball launch so good look on some small levels where enemies you have to kill are sitting right in front of the flippers AND the flippers are basically gone because they can take dmg. Seriously the kind of bs that killed me in this game is super annoying but its done and I am free. Shrek IRL pinball is top 5 tables don't @ me @UPSLynx
ROARR!!(72 minutes): Calling this one short because it doesn't appear you can beat the final level in this game solo and I don't have 4 friends just hiding in my closet ready to play. Simple beat 'em up where you are a sleepy T-Rex that gets woken up and decides to kick everyone's ass so you can get some gosh darn peace and quiet. There are different costumes and for some reason you can double jump.
Games Completed: 178
Time: 12 weeks 25.4 hours
Back 4 Blood(52.3 hours): This game was meant to be a spiritual successor to L4D as the company who made it is the one behind the L4D series. The zombies are a generic virus based 'ridden' creature and the survivors are immune from infection. All of the elements are there: survivors that are stereotypes, safe rooms, minimal plot, melee and shootie weapons, special infected, and 4 acts with segments to break it up. A new component are cards. This is for the ridden and the players so you get variation on the obstacles you have to face every play through but your cards are from a 15 card deck you build after unlocking cards. Here is where things go off for me because there are about 5 cards you have to have in your deck to be effective and survive in the game so quickly you feel handicapped as you can only pick a new card after getting to a new safe room and you spend half an act getting your base cards. Now to continue on the theme of variation weapons have attachments you get randomly and weapons are random drops but attachments are not transferable so if you get a gold early on but the base gun is white you will lose that gold component when you finally find a blue or purple gun and seems stupid. The computer appears to always have an advantage in regards to the variation. Aiming is very tight and things play well enough but it just doesn't feel great and at only 50 hours the game seems played out to me.
Comments
Project Cars 2 (40.2 hours): Primarily playing this with IC on Friday as part of Pandemic Playtime. Some of the most consistent fun I have had wit the group in the past couple of years. Even if I spend most of the race racing alone just listening to others start saying 'shit shit shit on shit watch out.....crap' is hilarious. Previously I have played a bit of Burnout1/2/3, GRiD, DiRT, and a few random games but never a sim. I have not dumped a huge amount of my hours into the campaign because that is not the primary reason I purchased the game. Online racing with friends in this has been fantastic even when I hated the race. @Sonorous runs our weekly games with a lot of thought put into it, he knows what he is doing and if you have any interest in racing with friends we would love to have you. The graphics look fantastic cranked up but I do get a bit of stutters on a regular basis as I watch the FPS jump from 130 down to < 90.
Games Completed:151
Time: 7 weeks 134.87 hours
Borderlands The Pre-Sequel (18.6 hours): I thought it wasn't that bad. Still felt like a borderlands game with some weird bits because you on a moon. They tried to make fighting have a little more depth because of it; people won't burn in space and you can cause people to suffocate in space. What they didn't tell you is this game takes place in a kitchen and you are trying to kill a sponge as the final boss. I didn't come here to play FF7 where the final boss has 5 final forms. Literally rage quit because I was tired of the overall squish everything at the end and finding a boss that does several one hits so you are expected to pull off half a dozen second wind recoveries is just dumb. Hrmph Uninstall
Games Completed: 152
Time: 7 weeks 153.4.7 hours
Deep Rock Galactic (26.6 hours): Still haven't spent any time in high level play which is my biggest gripe about the game, you have to grind for so long to unlock some things and it is actually super annoying. Concept of the game is 4 dwarf squad co-op mining game. You launch from a space station/ship into a big rock that has several different biomes in it. Each one has as different environment but effectively they are still the same just reskins. Environmental dangers are the only thing that really changes.
You have 4 characters engineer/gunner/scout/driller each with different weapons but the skill tree is shared. Each character must be leveled up independently and each level the character increases it helps level up your player level which allows for unlocks in cosmetics and some basic items like higher difficulty. This gets into my biggest issue with the game since it takes so long to level 4 characters, promote, and start it all over. There is a whole segment that requires you to promote one character after level 25 which moves them back to level 1 to do it all over again.
Out side of that the graphics are good enough, their usage of light in the game is spot on since you are mining, and the cave systems are procedural so it is always fresh but lately when I have been host games as driller there is a lot of BS placement on ceilings. Worth the $30 especially if you have a couple friends that play. The devs just released a new update and there are a lot of details or explorable elements in the game that they didn't have to put in but gives it a nice 'we cared about this' feel.
Games Completed:153
Time: 8 weeks 12.07 hours
Ski Sniper (2.4 hours) : This is not a game where you ski and then snipe things. This is a game where you snipe ski jumpers. They reuse the Sniper Elite bullet time effects and set goals for shooting kidneys, left foot, spleen, etc. You get money for completing special task or back to back snipes. The money is then used to unlock new guns or drugs to help improve your focus. Fun for about 30 minutes then it is played out despite having half a dozen sniping locations to shoot from. Easy enough to 100% the game if you don't mind spending a half dozen hours ensuring you hit a jumpers kidneys instead of their spleen.
Games Completed: 154
Time: 8 weeks 14.47 hours
DOOM Eternal (15.4 hours):
You can't just shoot a hole into the surface of Mars. This is a masterful game. Prior to starting the game I replayed 2016 and my biggest complaint was how slow and heavy the DOOM Slayer felt. They fixed that with Eternal, now I was a nimble little butterfly zipping through the air landing on heads while raining sticky nades on demon's faces. Eternal takes place after 2016 with a continuation of the story line. The demon invasion of Earth has been completed but between it starting and now you acquired an space battle station that serves as the hub for all missions and viewing any of your items you have collected in the levels. Starting this straight off from 2016 I hated the controls and push to using abilities like a flame thrower, nades, and a high damage punch but after playing several levels back to back it didn't matter because it just gives you the ability to dump more dmg on demons while doing weapon switches.
Being able to dash, double jump, and do extreme latches to perform glory kills or a chainsaw murder meant movement speed was double to triple what it felt like in 2016. The story felt a lot more engaging as I would pause mid mission to read text pages I found because I became very interested in the narrative and back story. This doesn't mean there are some weird ass holes like being introduced to the betrayer in game but has no real value. Plus nothing like making the slayer swim through some radioactive water to drain a room but everyone loves water levels. By the last set of missions in game I had to turn down the difficulty because I kept getting swarmed and juggled into a death spiral with several of the fast and cheap demons that also had long range power attacks; snake ladies, teleporting demons, the dual sword wielding weeb. But that also lowered the difficulty to much because I rolled into the final boss with 16 extra lifes.
The game brought in the old idea of 1Ups in a very good way. You can find and stock them so when you are in the middle or end of a big fight that is tough and you die you just auto spawn in place with a few seconds of invulnerability to try and recover. Being able to just carry on through a fight saved me a lot of frustration and time in long big fight sequences. At the same time I learned to exploit the glory kill mechanic when I was getting swarmed bad to pull the invulnerable frames when a big attack was hitting.
This game was choice and HIGHLY addictive. At points I had to keep myself from pounding on the desk and screaming RIP AND TEAR because I was so pumped. They slayers furry knows no bounds and the legions of hell stand no chance in the onslaught of his unequaled rage.
Games Completed: 155
Time: 8 weeks 29.87 hours
The Ultimate Doom (5.1 hours): I have never actually played Doom besides a level or swapped in for a few minutes. This version is the original Doom game plus one extra episode. Nothing like some old 16-bit music because that is what you had. Also rather fun playing a game that is not about anything besides shoot things in the face while sprinting around. There is a story and information in the handbook but of course I do not have those, it always makes me hot and bothered when I think of the red alert inserts with keyboard shortcuts and tech trees. Honestly the game wasn't very hard despite running on difficulty 3 until I had to deal with things like the cyberdemon and mastermind just because of one shoting. That changed in the new episode because that is where I turned it all the way down because starting in a room with 12 enemies is not fun plus then having to run around a lava/poison floor. Who the hell decided that is a good video game mechanic, it is cheap and designed just to bleed health. Episode 4 honestly felt like doom because there were a bunch of demons to shotgun in the face and you had to be aggressive to live. Looking forward to Doom II.
Games Completed: 156
Time: 8 weeks 34.97 hours
Idle Champions The Forgotten Realms(384.4 hours): This is a DnD based idle game. You have a set of 12 heroes that can be switched around but the max 'bench' slots you have is 12. Just like any other idle game you attack waves of enemies and progress forward. The difference is this game uses formations that change depending on rules or what campaign you are running which is interesting and requires min/max theory instead of just a pure max math theory like Clicker Heroes. Do not like how they run timed events for unlocking new heroes because they are trying to keep engagement high since you can spend plenty of money on this free game. Relatively fun but it takes a decent amount of interaction. Kind of done with it at this point with 45. 18%, of the achievements complete because now there is just grinding on some campaigns to progress. I have over 3,000 on Clicker Heroes and was running an autoplayer program I modified to keep working as the game was updated.
Games Completed: 157
Time: 10 weeks 82.97
Doom II: Hell on Earth(5.2 hours): Now this is more Doom. Action is faster paced, plenty of puzzles, and platforming elements all over the place. Some of the levels have shoved their own head up their ass since they have arrows pointing the way or secrets that are only possible to find from hitting every wall with a pistol shot. Had a bit more fun with II but I had to start forcing myself to play after about level 15 because of the level design. When it takes thinking 'I hope there is a portal or door down in the lava' before jumping in a pit because there is no other way to progress is just dumb. Almost would rather replay lemmings levels that require building a massive ladder than play some of these levels. Several of the gun fights are very rewarding because it feels very much as though just pure rage filled desire not to die is the only reason you managed to slaughter all of the enemies. Some moments are funny to go back and read about because there is such a strong need to use your imagination.
Games Completed: 158
Time: 10 weeks 58.17
Furry Love (1.83 hours): 100% BABY. @Obsidian gifted me this game two days ago in a Christmas fit of lewdness. The game is a mash of clones centered around beating a level to reveal an adult image with a furry theme. Pac-man, falling image catch, rock-paper-sissors, and image cutter(hard). It does have a censored version in game. The steam store page does display some of the adult art work if you want to check it out.
Games Completed: 159
Time: 10 weeks 60 hours
Kids of Hellas: Back to Olympus (6.9 hours): I thought this was an off shot from the 12 laborers game series and thus was shocked when I started playing the game and saw different art assets plus different queue rules for assigning task. After checking the steam reviews people stated it was a reskin of another game made by the same publisher while trying to pawn it off like a 12 laborers game..........yup. No idea what the plot of this game is since I don't care any more after 10 of the previous ones. I hit 100% achievements with 5 levels left on the game.
Games Completed: 160
Time: 10 weeks 66.9 hours
Battlefront II (6 hours): Played a few hours with a friend in multiplayer which was kind of fun since we would both go on runs in the more open maps but indoor maps had such terrible chokes the general lag and some of the faster paces animations made playing the game unfriendly. I was just going to finish the campaign before hanging everything up since the game was free however the game crashes any where between 10 to 30 minutes for me. I dragged my ass through the first campaign and started the second one but couldn't hang on when dealing with 3 crashes in the first mission. So done and get away from me. I think I need to stop playing online multiplayer games and just have a happier single player experience like Mass.
Games Completed: 161
Time: 10 weeks 72.9 hours
Control (25.6 hours): I really enjoyed playing this game. The plot seemed to just drop characters and sub stories pretty regularly which was aggravating since it felt like huge holes were left in their wake but the atmosphere was extremely enjoyable. Only caveat I have with this game is you need the DLC because it provides a whole campaign with Alan Wake cross over plus some origination background for the Bureau of Control. Several of the boss fights felt like utter cheese BS where you have to get lucky and good. The main story was probably 10 hours while all the side missions and just exploring was the rest, and I didn't finish everything. There is apparently a super secret outfit unlock of cat ears and some of the secrets you have to figure out are pretty crazy.
Games Completed: 162
Time: 10 weeks 98.5 hours
Battlefield 1 campaign(5 hours): The campaign is freaking rough. I picked the game up through Prime Gaming for free and super glad I did, funny enough I bought the special edition statue a couple years ago for $15 and gave it to a friend after holding it for awhile. The campaign is 5 separate stories that you play through trying to illustrate the different types of fighting along with the different theaters. All the cut scenes had stutters in the playback, some times loading campaigns would fail, AI would cause NPCs to run across the map or in circles for no reason, the horse is glitchy, etc. Not a very good experience at all.
Games Completed: 163
Time: 10 weeks 103.5 hours
Alpaca Staka(9 minutes): Free, cute, fun, unity plat-former. An alpaca was going to a party with a hen but the squirrel wasn't invited and he was jelly so he let the hen's chicks out of their pen. Now the alpaca must find the kids and return them home. Super basic plat former but cute.
Games Completed: 164
Time: 10 weeks 103.6 hours
Gunfire Reborn (12 hours): This is a rogue game but with guns and a skill tree. Weapons can be upgraded or better/worse version will drop during the play through. The maps are technically procedural generated since some times the paths change but realistically things never change. When so much of your play through hinges on RNG for weapons and buff upgrades it feels frustrating unlike a true skill only game. Since there is only one map and only three levels you spend all night doing the same thing just to grind more points to burn on the skill tree. You do get different characters with a small variety of special actions or buffs but it doesn't change the run and nature so once you figure out a strong gun combo you use that with every character.
Games Completed: 165
Time: 10 weeks 115.6 hours
Battlefield V (6 hours): The single player is what Battlefield I should have been, a snippet with a decent story from a different aspect of WWII. There was still a lot of reflex sights on guns which bugs me plus other exotic hardware just all over the place. Had several technical issues with video stutters despite running 90-140 fps, game stuck loading, a crash, and unable to actually exit the game without a forced kill of the exe. When you have the same very specific issues between different games it really shows how much you care. It was free.
Games Completed: 166
Time: 10 weeks 121.6 hours
Little Nightmares (2.9 hours): Not a long game but a really well done game. A dark platformer that doesn't tell you anything besides what you can learn from the visuals in the game. There is a lot of care and detail on everything and the game rewards you with finding all the little special things. The plot could best be described as Spirited Away, consumerism that eats the young and binds people into an ugly future.
Games Completed: 167
Time: 10 weeks 124.5 hours
Deus Ex: Human Revolution(17.4 hours) : Yes yes Dois Exquise. I played this game for 2 hours years ago and got frustrated with the shooting so I uninstalled. Now I have no idea what happened in those two hours besides something caught fire some place, other characters telling me about people getting kidnapped or a factory being attacked is my only knowledge at this point. Wouldn't say I liked the game but for some reason I just kept playing it, every 45 minutes I felt like I was getting close to the 'last chapter' but the game would always been syc not really. It makes the writing feel cheap but at the same time it is on point for square/metal gear styled games. SO MANY LADDERS FOR REAL YO, and then you die from fall two stories onto your robot legs come on. The game was enjoyable and it was pretty fun to see what a peak game was from 7 years ago. Plus punching holes in walls to find a candy bar occasionally was choice. All the sex trafficking and the occasional racial slur was interesting.
Games Completed: 168
Time: 10 weeks 141.9 hours
Prey (19.3 hours): More recent Prey not crazy ghost alien native american awesome Prey. Crazy weird alien stuff making copies of coffee mugs. Learning new skills by jamming stuff into your left eyeball. The story didn't feel that compelling but for some reason I got enough enjoyment of the gameplay that I just kept going. Really annoying to have enemies respawn in areas that were previously cleared since it just sucks up resources that are rather limited so the game is passively telling you to sneak but to do a bunch of the missions in the game you have to use combat soooo....... Very interesting endings to be had. The game basically lets you climb on everything and there is a weird hacking game.
Games Completed: 169
Time: 10 weeks 161.2
I love your commitment to this. I always enjoy your mini-reviews. Thanks for keeping up on this!
Ghostrunner (6.5hours): Picked this game up free via Prime Gaming, almost bought it months ago but the demo felt too cheap in the game play. Warning: I didn't finish the game because it kept crashing at the same point and I am not going to spend an hour troubleshooting how to get around the bug while also having to play 10 minutes just to get to the point of the bug in the level every crash. The intro and outro are pretty basic you get a short story that some lady tried to kill you but you survived. Now you have to collect all your stuff while fighting your way back up this tower that is humanities final outpost after an apocalyptic event that has made the outside lethal to humans. There is a mix of stages in each level with platformer, battle arenas, and virtual worlds which are more platform stages. Visually the game is fantastic all the way around. There are some weird things they did like everyone grills brawts but they put so much detail across all of the game it is very impressive. You can wall run on everything so I have simply avoided some platform sections by running on top of the problem obstacle or the opposite wall, kind of funny when you can run on top of the electrified section of wall cause my game my way
. The music is jamming too. Great environment all the way around in the game.
The big issue outside of the crashes that blocked me and some people. The battle and hit detection. I tried to make this game as easy for me when I did start playing and it still felt like bullshit. Hits that didn't hit, getting shot around corners or as soon as I pop out, warping and immediately shot in the new location, watching rapid fire shots have a normal spread and then when I warp seeing the aim jump 40 degrees to where I was going; super lame and frustrating. Like running on a wall and jumping away but I am apparently still close enough to be shocked and die. Plus coupled with the normal crap like the game deciding to not wall run me or jumping on a rail and then immediately decoupling me to kill me. At the same time it is very generous with me hitting enemies but when you jump over a ninja by 10 feet and still get killed by them it just turns you off. Apparently most of my screenshots are too big so here https://wall.alphacoders.com/by_sub_category.php?id=325288&name=Ghostrunner+Wallpapers
Games Completed: 170
Time: 10 weeks 167.7 hours
Halo Infinite Multiplayer(110.9 hours): I never played Halo growing up except for a couple random days with a random girlfriend and her father. Dude how do you release something that is so fundamentally wrong(battlefield dropped at the same time so you see large game companies objectively don't care right now). Server-client desync issues so they apparently never do resync or client->server validation once you spawn in for a life. Big team battle broke and they had no idea why after launch which still has issues going on 2 months. Since multiplayer went free to play they have serious issues with hackers and they pushed the responsibility onto the player to video record and submit evidence and I don't think they will do anything besides ban the specific account. Originally launched missing a bunch of modes that they apparently didn't want to release. The scoring system is all pointless in the different modes so might as well just merc enemies no matter what the objective is. Win or lose a match you get the same points so they aren't incentivizing mode play. Uh so many negatives but I have still put in 100+ hours and almost lvl 100 for the season so got them unlocks.
Can't stop won't stop when I can miss a shot over someone's shoulder and it gives me a HS kill. Plus some silly halo shens when you get a bunch of people together for weekend frag sessions.
Games Completed: 171
Time: 11 weeks 110.6 hours
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (22.8 hours): I really enjoyed playing this and thought I went through most of the side stories but apparently not since there are bunch of achievements I didn't hit. This game follows up on Human Revolution after a 1 year break while you were in a coma. The majority of all actions take place in Prague which makes the story elements feel a little tighter. You still jump outside for a few activities but they are enclosed chapters that are advancing the main plot lines.
With my knowledge from playing the previous game I spec'd out my dude for hacking and jumping which makes me unbeatable as long as I don't have to shoot anyone. Even by the end when I had max'd my defensive buffs and pumped the dmg on my weapons getting in fire fights was not a great idea, so I just sneak around and silently merk half the dudes before putting sniper rifle to the back of the rest's head.
They did tease a follow up game for it which I am excited to play after it releases and goes on sale for <$10; rumors say the follow up is cancelled but the studio denies. Initially when I launched the game my FPS was sub 60 and it was apparently the MSAA doesn't function in the game. Also as I progressed through the game I kept having to deal with silent crashes or ledges my character wouldn't walk over which is super annoying when it means you can't walk into a vent.
Games Completed: 172
Time: 11 weeks 133.4 hours
Lost Ark (10 hours): That was enough of that. Crowned someone, defeated some evil king, steam rolled pretty much every battle without real effort.
Is this game suppose to be challenging at all because so much of it is walk over there and pop a high DPS spell and return. Very overwatch press Q to win. No idea what the real plot is because it was so generic. Weapon vendors only sell one weapon upgrade but no armor vendor. The entire game feels super shallow and cheap but don't worry because there is rapport and that takes real effort. After you finish 10 years the real game apparently begins because you get your own island to do stuff with. You are the orcs at Helms Deep. I don't know, Torchlight was better.
Games Completed: 173
Time: 11 weeks 143.4 hours
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order(21.7 hours): STAR WARS STAR WARS BBRRRR WWWUUUUZZZZ SSSHUUUUUUTTT. Dark Souls in the star wars universe. The game is not super new and there have been plenty of reviews of it so far and all of the critiques are pretty on point. During battle it felt like I was playing Tekken because of all of the stun locking and general bullshit. Started the game at Jedi Master difficulty but ended up doing the final fight in Story Mode because I was done dealing with spending 30 seconds waiting for a counter attack chance some times. They nailed the Star Wars look and feel on everything. My only real complaint I have is that they force you to backtrack on worlds to get collectibles after you unlock abilities to access those areas and since you can't quick travel it turns into something very cumbersome and time consuming to go collect a poncho or light saber hilt.
The main antagonist was perfect
8/10, worth the time and money.
Games Completed: 174
Time: 11 weeks 165.1
It Takes Two(13.8 hours): Lots of fun. Lots of things to explore and look at. Every chapter has new gimmicks for game play to keep everything fresh. There are also extra mini-games to find and secretes to discover. Even while playing online two player you can always see the other person's screen which makes it a lot easier to work together and plan when timing is the most critical. The last two chapters felt a little smaller than the rest of the game play regarding the grandeur scale but still very nice and well done. The game is polished and leaves pretty much nothing lacking. Both main characters kind of don't mend their relationship by the end but who cares since they are so toxic to each other via dialogue throughout the game.
Games Completed: 175
Time: 12 weeks 10.9
The Banner Saga(8 hours): Oregon Trail in Norse mythology. Voice acting is sporadic. Kind of turn based table top battles, computer gets to cheat because turns alternate between P & E meaning as you are winning the computer gets extra turns. The story is choice driven so you can kill or get characters killed. 2 and 3 are already released because I took so long to actually play and finish this game but not sure if I am going to pay full price, $25. Seemed silly that characters shared the same design when there are only a couple dozen of them.
Games Completed: 176
Time: 12 weeks 18.9 hours
Rollers of The Realm (5.3 hours): This is a game I have owned for a long and find very aggravating. A pinball game with characters, unlockables, a story, campaign progression, deaths and revives, and a lot of bullshit. Instead of a tilt the different characters, which are actually pinball's, have different agility values so you can move them on the board instead of tilting. This results in some balls being able to literally climb up slopes after being upgraded. You can collect gold and mana. Gold is used to unlock some characters and items to enhance. Mana is used to deploy ball's ultimates or revive balls after they die. There is no save after ball launch so good look on some small levels where enemies you have to kill are sitting right in front of the flippers AND the flippers are basically gone because they can take dmg. Seriously the kind of bs that killed me in this game is super annoying but its done and I am free. Shrek IRL pinball is top 5 tables don't @ me @UPSLynx
Games Completed: 177
Time: 12 weeks 24.2 hours
ROARR!!(72 minutes): Calling this one short because it doesn't appear you can beat the final level in this game solo and I don't have 4 friends just hiding in my closet ready to play. Simple beat 'em up where you are a sleepy T-Rex that gets woken up and decides to kick everyone's ass so you can get some gosh darn peace and quiet. There are different costumes and for some reason you can double jump.
Games Completed: 178
Time: 12 weeks 25.4 hours
Back 4 Blood(52.3 hours): This game was meant to be a spiritual successor to L4D as the company who made it is the one behind the L4D series. The zombies are a generic virus based 'ridden' creature and the survivors are immune from infection. All of the elements are there: survivors that are stereotypes, safe rooms, minimal plot, melee and shootie weapons, special infected, and 4 acts with segments to break it up. A new component are cards. This is for the ridden and the players so you get variation on the obstacles you have to face every play through but your cards are from a 15 card deck you build after unlocking cards. Here is where things go off for me because there are about 5 cards you have to have in your deck to be effective and survive in the game so quickly you feel handicapped as you can only pick a new card after getting to a new safe room and you spend half an act getting your base cards. Now to continue on the theme of variation weapons have attachments you get randomly and weapons are random drops but attachments are not transferable so if you get a gold early on but the base gun is white you will lose that gold component when you finally find a blue or purple gun and seems stupid. The computer appears to always have an advantage in regards to the variation. Aiming is very tight and things play well enough but it just doesn't feel great and at only 50 hours the game seems played out to me.
Games Completed: 179
Time: 12 weeks 77.7 hours