Video games and gaming

[Billy no mates]

I got the platinum trophy for Blue Prince which I am very proud of. It was a really fun platinum to get apart from the 'Complete on Day One' and 'Complete Cursed Mode' trophies but I knuckled down to get those as they were the only trophies I needed for platinum.

I rate the game very highly. It is a very unique game which is always a good thing to me and it was really fun building up a house each day and using synergies with your items, rooms and blessings. I had a fair bit of help on the puzzles from a friend who had already played it and was able to give me hints rather then the answer, I did work out most of it for myself and it was really satisfying getting the puzzles right.

A gripe I have is that you are so underpowered at the start meaning it's hard to get very far in the house so the secrets reveal themselves to you very slowly. I thought about replaying the game as I thought it could be fun playing again knowing what I know now but I don't think I could enjoy going back to having no money or other resources so I think I'll leave it unless I find I'm really missing it.

After Blue Prince I went back to God of War: Ragnarök - Valhalla. I had completed the main quest before I got absorbed in Blue Prince but I went back to get the remaining trophies. It didn't take long in the end, just 3 runs, it was fun smashing a few enemies up with an axe after playing the non-violent Blue Prince for the past few weeks.

After that, I started playing Citizen Sleeper which is another game I've wanted to play for a while but been put off about how hard it is to get into. After beating Blue Prince I thought I'd try and tick off another game that seemed mysterious. I'm a few hours in and it seems okay-to-good. It's heavily text based and I heard comparisons with Disco Elysium. In Disco Elysium you got to walk around and explore locations but in Citizen Sleep you just click on nodes and you have a text based conversation with the characters there, then roll some dice to fulfil a task. It feels a lot more dumbed down than Disco Elysium. I'm still early in the game so maybe it will get more exciting. It's a short game so even if the tone stays the same for the duration I should have enough fun with it before it gets too repetitive.

I feel you’re a man after my own heart when it comes to gaming.

I’ve played neither Blue Prince or Citizen Sleeper (or Disco Elysium for that matter) but all are in the ‘to do’ list.

Currently playing …. Far too much

Recently completed…. All the Picross games available in the Switch
                                 Clare Obscure Expedition 33 (excellent game story second only to Neir Automata)

Need to finish the Divinity series so I Am ready for the next instalment.

[Rick2468]

I finished up Citizen Sleeper. It was good but I thought I would enjoy it more than I did. I found the first half of the game too difficult and I was spending most of my daily roll just staying alive so only had one or two dice rolls left to progress meetings. After some upgrades and getting some cash in the bank I was able to progress missions much quicker. I think the game could have benefited from having different backgrounds for each area or even different music. It felt like it would be a good mobile game or one for the Switch but was a bit undercooked for a PS5 on a huge OLED screen.

I then started and finished Rain World. This was the shittest game I've played for a long long time. Avoid. Reason being is that it is brutally and unfairly difficult. I like difficult games in general, but the random elements of Rain World take your fate out of your hands. You can play perfectly only for a vulture to appear on screen with no warning and eat you. There is a bullshit karma system so if you die unfairly you have to loop around in a pointless and boring circle for around an hour to build up enough karma to get to the next section. This is a real kick in the teeth given more than half the time the reason you have bad karma is due to random enemies that you can't kill randomly spawning next to the only exit in an area and they don't move about so you just can't get past. On top of this the controls felt really iffy.

An unfavourable comparison for Rain World would be Celeste. I found Celeste very difficult, but you could practice and learn the layouts and raise your skill level and the game rewards you by letting you progress. If you play well, you will progress. In Rain World, you can play well but there is a 50% chance a vulture comes in that you can't avoid and then a 50% chance enemies will be camped by the pipe you need to exit through. So even if you play perfectly there is a >50% chance you won't get rewarded with progress so you have to play perfectly 3 or 4 times and THEN make good the karma. Fuck this game, I'm going to make it my mission to make sure no one I know plays it.

I then started the PS5 version of Red Dead Redemption which is a game I've been saving for Christmas as I thought it would be a fun and nostalgic game to play over Christmas. I was a bit tentative whether to play it, as I have played the GTA definitive edition and the controls were janky, and likewise I played Assassins Creed 2 on PS4 and it very much felt like an old game and was no way as good the second time. However after a couple of hours I have to say that RDR is glorious. It looks great, controls feel good, so much fun riding around and doing cowboy stuff. The writing is top notch and it's a pleasure just riding between missions. I'm not into AAA titles in general but Rockstar really know how to make incredible games. I think I will have a lot of fun replaying it all.

[Rick2468]

Finished Red Dead Redemption and the Undead Nightmare mode. Had a thoroughly good time. Good story, a fun world to explore even to do the hunting challenges. Started to get a bit lethargic towards the end of Undead Nightmare but think that was just due to the hours put in by that stage, so a case of too much of a good thing.

Then started and finished Skate Story. Was unsure if I'd like it but I really did like it. It looked great and the story was just so random. The soundtrack was a bit of a disappointment, as I think the soundtrack for these sort of arty games is normally one of the highlights but it was not memorable. It was also a bit rough around the edges with clunky controls and it was hard to keep combos if you travelled fast so I ended up taking the levels slowly which probably ruined the fun a little bit but overall I liked it.

Then I picked up the Silent Hill 2 remake. I know the original is a classic but I never played it as I took a break from gaming towards the start of my working career which is when the game came out. I'm about 3 hours in and I do like it, it's got that Resident Evil vibe which is great as I love the original game. Found the controls a bit frustrating in places where I've been trying to position my character right so the game recognises I'm trying to move a cabinet to escape and in that time I get a whack from an enemy.

An ex-girlfriend from years ago was a gamer (does Twitch streams now mainly playing modded versions of Final Fantasy VII) and she used to drop in loads of Silent Hill 2 references. I didn't get the references at the time as I hadn't played it and she knew that but kept going. I am now making the connections playing the remake over 10 years later. Everything about this game reminds me of her... I'm totally over it but I found it funny I'm thinking about her so much the past few days.

[sparkus]

Glad to see this thread has now overtaken the dating app one among its principal players 

[Rick2468]

Has anyone played Children of Morta? I started playing a couple of days ago so early days but I kind of love it. I find levelling up the stats and going back for a dungeon run really good fun and the graphics and your home base are presented so well. I can see the game getting boring at some point unless the later dungeons are different but right now I'm loving it. All the levelling up and runes etc are intuitive so I didn't have to spend ages being confused whilst I learned how to play the game.

Last week I finished Silent Hill 2 remake and did a NG+ run to get the other endings which was fun with the chainsaw. I really enjoyed the game but I don't think it's as good as a typical Resident Evil game. Main gripe is that half the game involves going through apartment buildings and the rooms and corridors felt samey which really started to grind in NG+. The bosses were really interesting but very easy with only one taking me more than a few goes.

I also whipped through Still Wakes The Deep which I also really enjoyed. It's not actually my type of game as it's too story driven and the gameplay is very basic, just walking and pulling levers or moving carts out the way etc, there aren't even any puzzles. However I loved the setting on the oil rig and the graphics were excellent, almost photo realistic in places. I'm the type of person who would love to go on a guided tour of an oil rig so I think this game just clicked with me. The atmosphere was good too, with your crew mates screams and scary noises echoing through the tinny hallways. I thought the horror elements were done well and the ending was decent.

[Billy no mates]

Has anyone played Children of Morta? I started playing a couple of days ago so early days but I kind of love it. I find levelling up the stats and going back for a dungeon run really good fun and the graphics and your home base are presented so well. I can see the game getting boring at some point unless the later dungeons are different but right now I'm loving it. All the levelling up and runes etc are intuitive so I didn't have to spend ages being confused whilst I learned how to play the game.

Last week I finished Silent Hill 2 remake and did a NG+ run to get the other endings which was fun with the chainsaw. I really enjoyed the game but I don't think it's as good as a typical Resident Evil game. Main gripe is that half the game involves going through apartment buildings and the rooms and corridors felt samey which really started to grind in NG+. The bosses were really interesting but very easy with only one taking me more than a few goes.

I also whipped through Still Wakes The Deep which I also really enjoyed. It's not actually my type of game as it's too story driven and the gameplay is very basic, just walking and pulling levers or moving carts out the way etc, there aren't even any puzzles. However I loved the setting on the oil rig and the graphics were excellent, almost photo realistic in places. I'm the type of person who would love to go on a guided tour of an oil rig so I think this game just clicked with me. The atmosphere was good too, with your crew mates screams and scary noises echoing through the tinny hallways. I thought the horror elements were done well and the ending was decent.

Yes I played Children of Morta, and I loved it and never once got bored. In the end I played all the family members and maxed out each one’s skill tree (or whatever it was you could max, very long time ago).

It played like an arpg, very enjoyable.

I played Slormancer recently very similar game, especially the moment to moment gameplay.

[Rick2468]

Yes I played Children of Morta, and I loved it and never once got bored. In the end I played all the family members and maxed out each one’s skill tree (or whatever it was you could max, very long time ago).

It played like an arpg, very enjoyable.

I played Slormancer recently very similar game, especially the moment to moment gameplay.

I beat the 2nd boss earlier today. It's great and there always feels like there is something going on. When I posted yesterday I think I only played as the John character. Now I'm mixing it up, I love how certain upgrades boost the whole family.

It's a game that feels very easy to get into but the way the upgrades work is well designed to keep it interesting. I genuinely take a few minutes to decide which upgrade to buy next. Sometimes I play games like these and the first few hours are a slog as I am worried about messing up my characters by making certain choices. Not with Children of Morta, I was loving it in the first 15 minutes. I like the bits of story too which are very evenly mixed into the action.

Already a contender of my favourite game that I played during 2026. If it stays this fun until the end it will take some beating.

[Rick2468]

Started The Talos Principle 2 over the weekend. I think it's great. I played the first game and remember thinking it was good but not quite as good as the reviews suggested. I think that might be because I played it immediately after The Witness which I loved or I was just puzzled out.

The sequel is a very well polished game, it's got high budget vibes on the graphics and how it feels to play. They have introduced more characters to talk to and it gave me memories of Mass Effect even though it's a very different game. It's got a nice thoughtful and peaceful vibe to it. The puzzles are fantastic and have the perfect level of difficulty. For most of the puzzles I walk in and think it looks impossible, but I try a few things and work it out before it gets frustrating. Not been tempted to look up any solutions so far and want to end the game without doing so.

Most puzzles take me around 5 minutes, the longest one took me 10. There is scope for it to get harder but so far it's stayed at the same level of challenge and I hope that continues. The challenge arena are small which I like because it doesn't mean lots of possibilities. I hope the challenge arenas don't get huge (I recall they did in the first game) because it becomes overbearing to me. I also dislike challenges where you have to time when things switch on / off and move for the same reason. I suspect at least one of those things will happen and I can't resent the developers for making it challenging so I'll just make sure I enjoy the game at the moment whilst it is hitting the spot.

[Billy no mates]

Currently playing Cast n Chill, and Is this seat taken?

Also have started playing through a load of 80/90’s jrpg’s, that I missed the first time round using emulation on the Steamdeck. Finished Alundra (PS1) now on Phantasy Star IV (Megadrive)

[Rick2468]

I finished The Talos Principle 2 and it gets a thumbs up for me. The puzzles were a perfect level of difficulty. Most had me stumped initially but rarely took longer than 5 minutes to complete. I only looked up a guide once, for the Gold Puzzle on N2 but annoyingly I had worked it out, I just wasn't executing it quite right. They added a load of story to the sequel which I didn't care about as I was just solving the puzzles and not thinking about the story. The designers did a great job of coming up with so many different types of puzzles.

I started playing Prey (2017) because it had been on my list for a while. I'm about 5 hours in, and I'd say it's okay. The game itself is good but reminds me of Bioshock and Dishonoured and so far I think those are better games. There is potential for Prey to get really good though. I think the enemies are a bit too tough and take a lot of ammo to take down. I have to make liberal use of quick save and get lucky, I took down a phantom with one shotgun shell after my blast forced him to tumble over a railing down a stairwell. I like the space setting.

[Rick2468]

I am still working my way through Prey (2017) and think I'm getting close to the end. In my last post I said I felt it was okay, it was a good game in itself but it is also very similar to Dishonoured, Deus Ex and Bioshock and I thought those games were much more atmospheric and therefore Prey was just okay by comparison.

Now I'm further into the game, I am enjoying it a lot more, although still probably not as much as the other mentioned games. A big turning point was getting an upgrade to my weapons which meant I was able to take on baddies confidently. In the first part of the game I felt so incredibly underpowered so I had to hide from enemies which just is not my style. Although at one point I did blast a Phantom with a shotgun when he found my hiding place and he stumbled back and over a railing, down a stairwell and died which was very cool and satisfying.

Now I have some whack in me I am progressing through the game at a decent weight as opposed to my sneaking and reloading saves during the first 5 hours. The other upgrades make exploration more fun, for example being able to lift large shelves etc means you uncover more secrets and paths. I also really enjoy the hacking mini-game and usually hack things even if I have the passkey just to play the game.

So overall, I like the game and glad I played it. I would say it's good but not great. There are two approaches to the game as I understand, one is using powers and saving everyone, the other is no powers and killing everyone. I think I'm intrigued enough to play through on the other path but also skip the collectibles.

[WDFORTE]

High On Life 2, Gamepass.

Same old same old but not that thats a bad thing! more nonsense on a grand scale.  Im a couple of hours in and enjoying it.

[Rick2468]

Finished up with Prey (2017) a few days ago. Did a second playthrough but with killing all my crew mates rather than saving them. Did it pretty much as a speedrun so I didn't have to explore everything to get enough ammo to fight things. I think I enjoyed avoiding the enemies more than fighting them as it was fun finding pipes and walkways to sneak past. I spent a few weeks in total playing this game as it is long if you explore everything and I was a bit shit at it as well.

Overall thoughts, it's good but not great. Other games like Dishonored (which I just found out is by the same studio) are much more atmospheric. I felt all the areas in Prey were the same, the Crew Quarters looked the same as the Cargo Bay etc etc. Apart from a few signs it just felt samey. I also felt there were too many side quests which makes you forget about the life-critical main story. It felt like I was just going from waypoint to waypoint which was fun but possibly lacked some immersion.

I liked the game despite the negativity. I find when I review games I tend to focus on what is not good, but there is lots of good stuff in this game too.

After that I played Viewfinder which is a puzzle game and I fancied playing a short game as Prey and The Talos Principle 2 both felt really long. I do like playing a long game when it's good but also like variety. Reminded me a bit of Superliminal which I really enjoyed. Viewfinder was pretty good, difficulty a bit random. There were some super easy puzzles tucked inbetween some really difficult ones. I loved the music and general ambient sound but the characters in your earphone wouldn't stop talking, I wish I had switched voice audio off. What I really loved was the section where the simulation breaks on you and you find yourself back in the office. It's just so random and thought it was cool.

For next game, still deciding but might go for Ultros, Cat Quest 3 or Thank Goodness You Are Here.

[Rick2468]

I played through Cat Quest 3. I really enjoyed Cat Quests 1 and 2 and part 3 was more of the same. They are very cosy RPGs where you get the satisfaction of levelling up your character and equipment but no complex skill trees. It always felt there was something cool to do on the map. I like RPGs but most take me a while to get used to the mechanics but you can jump straight in with Cat Quest. On the flip side they are short games.

Then I played Pyschonauts 2. I never played the first game and 3D platformers aren't my thing but I hear the series referenced a lot and it had a 'Mighty' rating on OpenCritic (my go-to review site) so I gave it a go. I really enjoyed my playthrough. Each level had a very different setting so it felt fresh throughout. The bosses were fun (although easy) and the cutscenes were entertaining.

I went through Thank Goodness You're Here after that. I had been looking forward to playing this and it was brilliant. The humour was great, I played on my own and wouldn't say I was bellowing out loud at any point but I did have a smirk on my face throughout. I think it would have been a fun one to play through with a partner or friend as it's short and lots to talk about.

There were lots of references to bygone England with Lady Di commemorate plates, and something I really liked was the autosave icon which was the chequered black and white strip at the top right of the screen like they used to have on TV shows just before the advert breaks. Slight gripe was there was no mission objective list that I knew of so at a couple of points I didn't know what to do and just had to wander until I found out, I possibly should have paid more attention to the conversations! However I really recommend this.

I then started Spider-man 2 which is a game I was very much looking forward to playing as I loved the first game. The second game is more of the same but gameplay feels more polished and New York looks incredible, it reminds me of being there!

However, hmm I am trying to put my finger on how I feel about this game. It's really good in places, quite boring in places. I found the combat fun in the first game but there is too much of it in this game and it's a bit tedious. They throw in more enemies from time to time but it's pretty much just dodge, stun, hit, do a finisher. The combat looks great through and is smooth, it's just too samey.

There are also too many exploration and sneak missions. There is one mission when you are looking through a research complex and you need to examine enough artifacts until the game let's you move the plot forward. It feels like a Life Is Strange game during these parts. It's to build the plot but they go on too long and I turn my PS5 on to play a game rather than watch a film.

The best bits are the action sequences in the main missions where you are webbing through falling buildings or tonnes of sand and fighting huge enemies in tandem with your allies. I like the puzzle bits too. Those bits make it all worth while. So on balance I rate this game good on the basis that I love some of it but have to go through the tedious parts to get them.

[Billy no mates]

I’ve played Cat Quest 1 and Psyconauts 2 and both are great games.

I just bought Thank goodness you’re here last weekend cheap on Steam and looking forward to starting it.

[Rick2468]

I’ve played Cat Quest 1 and Psyconauts 2 and both are great games.

I just bought Thank goodness you’re here last weekend cheap on Steam and looking forward to starting it.

Let me know what you think on Thank Goodness You're Here. I think I will replay it at some point.

[Billy no mates]

Let me know what you think on Thank Goodness You're Here. I think I will replay it at some point.

It was Ok, I’ve completed it, don’t really feel like a game for me, reminded me of old fashioned adventure games, just going round trying everything until something works.

There were some funny parts, it’s difficult to do ‘funny’ in games consistently and constantly.

I did really like the ‘feel’ of the game, it reminded me of that hidden gem on Channel 4 ‘don’t hug me I’m scared’ with the over the top comical and throwaway disturbing imagery.

[Rick2468]

It was Ok, I’ve completed it, don’t really feel like a game for me, reminded me of old fashioned adventure games, just going round trying everything until something works.

There were some funny parts, it’s difficult to do ‘funny’ in games consistently and constantly.

I did really like the ‘feel’ of the game, it reminded me of that hidden gem on Channel 4 ‘don’t hug me I’m scared’ with the over the top comical and throwaway disturbing imagery.

First off, sorry to hear you didn't enjoy Thank Goodness You're Here as much as I did. Particular given I recommended it!

Secondly, I love Don't Hug Me I'm Scared! Did you know there is a web series of it also that came before the Channel 4 series? It is where is all began. I even contributed to one of their Kickstarter campaigns and got some branded goodies for that which I still have and sell for more than I contributed to the Kickstarter now it got popular.

I did mention DHMIS on the TV and movies thread on here but it didn't get picked up by anyone, which isn't a surprise as it is so niche. I love the surrealness of it and genuinely find it hilarious too.

[Billy no mates]

It really is/was a brilliant bit of tv.

Yes I did see the original web series first, and I’m quite a bit jealous you have merchandise.

I didn’t ’not like’ the game, it was OK, I did not love it tho.

Currently playing Skyrim, and Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3.

[Paul9144]

My current list of my favorites:

- Football Manager 24 (PC - Although, I've got FM26 but it's truly shocking in mine, and it appears so in many others opinions).
- Mount & Blade II Bannerlord (PC - Heavily modded).
- Sims 4 & most expansion packs added in (PC - WickedWhims & Basemental drugs mods also installed).
- All GTA Games (Between PC & Consoles).
- Resident Evil Games (Between PC & PS5).
- Metal Gear Solid (I recently purchased the Vol 1 master collection on PS5 and MGS 3 Snake Eater remake on PC).

Plenty of other games in my PC and consoles libraries, but these are my main ones.

It's having the time to play them these days around work, but I have put a bit of time aside for them the past few days, and probably should do a bit more often, as I grew up with gaming from a young age. They have kept me going through dark times.

[Billy no mates]

My current list of my favorites:

- Football Manager 24 (PC - Although, I've got FM26 but it's truly shocking in mine, and it appears so in many others opinions).
- Mount & Blade II Bannerlord (PC - Heavily modded).
- Sims 4 & most expansion packs added in (PC - WickedWhims & Basemental drugs mods also installed).
- All GTA Games (Between PC & Consoles).
- Resident Evil Games (Between PC & PS5).
- Metal Gear Solid (I recently purchased the Vol 1 master collection on PS5 and MGS 3 Snake Eater remake on PC).

Plenty of other games in my PC and consoles libraries, but these are my main ones.

It's having the time to play them these days around work, but I have put a bit of time aside for them the past few days, and probably should do a bit more often, as I grew up with gaming from a young age. They have kept me going through dark times.

Kevin Toms football manager is on steam, that was my first football management game, I should probably check it out again.

I agree gaming can be a great hobby, I’ve been doing it since the late 70’s

I completed Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3, there is a lot of dialogue about making a game, and getting it cancelled all fourth wall stuff, once completed, it turns out the makers of the game were in fact sacked and had the game cancelled, and the story is an exaggerated reflection of what happened to them

[Paul9144]

Kevin Toms football manager is on steam, that was my first football management game, I should probably check it out again.

I agree gaming can be a great hobby, I’ve been doing it since the late 70’s

I completed Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3, there is a lot of dialogue about making a game, and getting it cancelled all fourth wall stuff, once completed, it turns out the makers of the game were in fact sacked and had the game cancelled, and the story is an exaggerated reflection of what happened to them

Since the late 70's...now, that's a dedicated gamer right there!

I'm not familiar to be honest with some of the titles mentioned above, but I'll search about them & will have a look into them

[Rick2468]

Kevin Toms football manager is on steam, that was my first football management game, I should probably check it out again.

I agree gaming can be a great hobby, I’ve been doing it since the late 70’s

I completed Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3, there is a lot of dialogue about making a game, and getting it cancelled all fourth wall stuff, once completed, it turns out the makers of the game were in fact sacked and had the game cancelled, and the story is an exaggerated reflection of what happened to them

I swear you and I are very similar! I know you commented we play the same indie games. You know about Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. I have to tell you, my first football management game was...Kevin Toms Football Manager 2! How random. Guess it doesn't take much if you are from the same generation and share a couple of hobbies you are bound to like the same things!

On the gaming front, since my last post I finished off Spider-man 2 and my opinion didn't change. In short I could tell it's a great game but I think I was just bored of the combat after playing the first game and Miles Morales. I couldn't explain what happened in the story as I wasn't following it. There were a few enemies and didn't know who the main enemy was. So wasn't invested.

After that I played Neva which was another disappointing game. I really liked Gris by the same developer but Neva just didn't hit with me despite looking and sounding great. I did enjoy having a dog though.

Next up was Subnautica Below Zero which I thoroughly enjoyed. I don't play many survival games as I worry they might feel like work but I liked the first Subnautica. I think I enjoyed Below Zero a bit more as I knew what I needed to do whereas I spent hours faffing in the first game. It was really fun building equipment to either progress the story or make life easier for you (example a bigger air tank so you can dive deeper).

The end section (might be called the 'Foundation'....the bit in the caves) was seriously confusing and I got so horribly lost. It was a nightmare to find where you needed to go, then just as hard to get out again. I hated that but it was a small part of the game. I also had to use guides to learn where the blueprints were etc as I just couldn't be bothered to explore endlessly to find them. But despite those gripes I really liked it and would play another Subnautica game.

I recently started Blasphemous 2. A game I was really looking forward to as I absolutely adored the first game. I tempered my expectations, as didn't want to set the bar high, just said to myself have some fun with it. The first hour was amazing as I quickly remembered how much I loved the first game. It just looks....amazing. I love the dark themes alongside the religious architecture etc and the bosses and NPCs are just so random. If you like the bizarre (David Lynch etc) then you will like how this game looks. I also find the controls and combat solid although note that some reviewers thought this was a weak point.

[Rick2468]

Infinite Wealth: Like a Dragon. I am loving this game so far and it could end up being something special indeed. It is an RPG with a fairly vanilla setup with levelling up and equipping weapons and clothing but the fights are still so much fun. You get fixed stat increases when you level up so there is none of that stressing about whether you are wasting your level-ups on the wrong stats which screws you over later. It is just very easy to get into so you can jump straight into the action.

The graphics, gameplay and script are very polished, it just feels like a nice game to play. The script is funny with dark humour, it kind of reminds me of a GTA game and the Japanese characters give me a bit of Final Fantasy VII vibes. So plenty to love! The opening scenes when you are just doing your office job was hilarious. I am only about 5% through so plenty of time to get bored of it but so far so good.

I had never played a Like a Dragon or Yazuka game before and never felt like I'm missing out so I didn't have much expectation for Infinite Wealth. I set myself a policy of playing any game that came on PS+ that also got a OpenCritic rating of Mighty (OpenCritic is my go-to review site) regardless of any previous conceptions. So I jumped in not expecting much but have been very pleasantly surprised.

I also started playing Neon White on the side, a game I wanted to play for a while but was put off by the difficulty. I think it could complement Infinite Wealth quite well, if I only had 30 minutes for a gaming session I could play Neon White with the short levels. If I had longer I could get stuck into Infinite Wealth.

Neon White is fun. I am currently trying to get the highest ranking for each level, which involves beating it then trimming your time down. In order to get the high ranking you have to have a polished run with no mistakes, but it does not require you to have perfect racing lines and perfectly timed jumps or anything. It is very fair. In fact you can sometimes beat the required time by several seconds as long as you do the right path.

Neon White has a good natural feel and rhythm to it. When you play a level for the first time you have a very decent chance of beating it as the courses and powerups shepherd you the right way. If you pick up a certain powerup you know you will have to use that power up in a certain way to do a double jump or smash a wall etc. So it is challenging but very very fair and nothing feels impossible.

[loner]

Resident Evil 9 Requiem was a pretty solid game. I would still rank RE4 abit higher for the superior replayability but enjoyed myself on the PS5 PRO.

[Rick2468]

Resident Evil 9 Requiem was a pretty solid game. I would still rank RE4 abit higher for the superior replayability but enjoyed myself on the PS5 PRO.

I have such a soft spot for the Resident Evil games. I played the originals on PS1. I held off playing the more recent titles as the thought of a first person RE game just did not feel right to me. But I eventually played RE7: Biohazard and it was amazing. I will get to Requiem at some point. I have PS+ and the RE games always seem to make it on there eventually and I'm prepared to wait so I'll get to it some day. Village arrived on there quite recently so I need to play that one as well.

Not had much gaming time recently as suns been out and also my boss has been unexpectedly off work and pretty much phoned me up to say 'I have a family emergency can you pick up.....everything. Oh and by the way, it's all f---ing urgent'. I was being sympathetic and said 'Yes of course, please don't worry about work' which I still think was the right thing to do but seconds later I realised I had to work 3 hours extra a day, and a bit over the weekend to get everything done. I am glad he saw me as his go-to person but man it completely wiped out my spare time.

In my limited gaming time I did manage to finish Neon White. It ended up being a good game to play even if you only had 30 minutes as it's broken up into small stages. I completed the main campaign, got all Ace medals (fast times on each level), the secret gifts and companion missions. I really enjoyed the game, I died a lot but it's all instant reload and the levels are short so you don't feel like you lost loads of progress. I didn't follow the story at all, I completely skipped the cutscenes so I had no idea which characters were good or evil but the gameplay itself was awesome.

The only thing remaining is the Level Rushes, and whilst I enjoyed the game a lot and would like to continue playing in some way, the level rushes seem too unforgiving so I think they'll stress me out so I'm going to pass. I don't mind hard challenges, I just don't like hard challenges that make you replay 20 minutes or more to get back to the stage where you made one slip ending your run.

I then went back to Infinite Wealth: Like a Dragon. And man I forgot how good and polished this game is. I had been playing it a bit but parked it last week due to time and to finish off Neon White. It didn't take me long to remember where I was. I'm not in Hawaii where the game opens up a lot. So the last few sessions have been spent going around exploring and not exploring the story but it's all good.

It looks great, and the characters are so well written. I find it comparable with a GTA game with the humour. There is some laddish humour too, with women with huge chests in bikinis flirting with you and women sending your character raunchy selfies, it feels a bit outdated as games seemed to have moved away from that sort of thing, but I don't mind it and it feels nostalgic as there was a time when all games were like that.

A friend told me that Infinite Wealth is very grindy towards the end. If that is the case I have a programme that lets me record PS5 inputs and replay them, I basically used it to level up when I played Final Fantasy IX. I will use it again if I can find a good spot. I actually enjoy grinding up to an extent, but not if it takes 3 hours or whatever.

[Billy no mates]

Still playing Skyrim, also playing Dungeons of Hinterberg.

[Rick2468]

Sony announced that Control: Anniversary Edition would be leaving PS+ next month. I played the base game on PS4 and it's possibly my favourite game from the PS4 era so thought I would pause my Infinite Wealth playthrough and play the PS5 version of Control and also do the DLC.

I was prepared to think it would not be as good on a second playthrough, but within minutes I remember just why I loved this game. It is so random and weird, and I thought the FBC building is awesome. Even though you spend most the game indoors it is just such a cool layout with random stuff going on in different bits. I am sure the writers are fans of Twin Peaks as I get very similar vibes from this game.

I thought the ashtray maze was one of the most exhilarating gaming experiences I have had when I played this game the first time. I was looking forward to that part in particular although I have to say it was no way exciting. I expect that is because on the first playthrough it completely came out the blue and was so random but this time I knew it was coming.

I felt the DLC was a bit disappointing. AWE was okay but it just felt like one drawn out side mission. The boss battle was in 3 sections spread across the DLC and they felt the same. I thought The Foundation was boring. The setting was in a barren red dusty area with a few caves and the astral planes. I just did not like the setting as much as the FBC building. I thought the train ride side mission with the projector was frickin awesome though as it was so random.

So the DLC wasn't great but overall I'm glad I replayed it.

I am going to wind down the gaming now that summer is here and I expect to be busier in the evenings and weekends and need to adjust to my first full summer of married life. I will play Infinite Wealth on the side but expect it to be a slow burner that will take a few months due to it being a long game and me playing less.

[Billy no mates]

I also loved control, fantastic game. Unfortunately it fell into that trap of getting easier as the game went on, once you had unlocked a few powers and skills the tension of the game was lowered as I didn’t have and ‘fear’ of what was around the corner. Bioshock was the same actually, scary and hard at first but by the end I was face tanking the Big Daddies.

I’m not sure I remember exactly what the ashtray maze was, is this the bit where there is some music playing like a band playing a song, and the floor keeps falling away from you, and it’s all weird and existential?

Now I’m retired I hope to spend even more time gaming, and seeing WG’s of course 

[Rick2468]

Control did have what I call a 'reverse difficulty curve'. Something that I really noticed with Bioshock in particular. I actually quite like that in a game. If you spend time exploring and getting all the stuff you need to get the level ups then you get rewarded. I loved how I had to hide away from the Big Daddies at the start, but at the end I was running up to them and smashing them to pieces. It felt like payback for the grief they cause you earlier.

The Ashtray Maze is the section you are  thinking of. Here is a link to the train mission I mentioned (watch from 1 minute onward): External Link/Members Only although you probably only need to see 30 seconds to get the vibe of it. I just found it weird that I was suddenly on a train and there was synth wave music playing out.

I was surprised to read you were retired. I am in my early 40s and I always felt we were similar age given we have similar interests, and I think my interests are of my time. Did you just retire early? I did work out I could retire now as I have had a well paying job for years and not been overly extravagant in life. But I wouldn't know what to do and if I keep going I could have a cosier retirement. My Dad retired at age 50 so maybe that's a good target.

[Rick2468]

Been gaming less over the past few weeks as work has been busy, been making the most of the sunshine and basically continuing to settle into the cosy bliss of married life. When I have been gaming I have been chipping away at Infinite Wealth: Like a Dragon and enjoying it. It's a long game and fairly cosy by RPG standards as it doesn't feel like you can mess anything up as skill trees are decided for you. So it's a perfect game to dip in and out of.

I have a lot of good stuff to say about this game. It's top quality and obvious a lot of time, love and money went into the game. The city is alive. The writing is top notch, the humour is on a similar level to the GTA games. The missions are whacky and varied, a lot of fun.

Loads of content too, there is a Dondoku Island section which is basically a whole game within a game. At first I couldn't be arsed with it, and even now I think I would have prefered if the game didn't have that big divergence in the middle but even though the resource management side mission isn't normally my kind of thing I did enjoy it. I've done most the side content and I am just before the final mission. I peeked at a guide and I'm underlevelled for the final bit so I am currently levelling up.

This is mega nerdy, but because I have less time for gaming I decided to use a macro to grind battles for me. I did something similar for Final Fantasy 9 a couple of years ago as I wanted to get a final trophy for 100% completing by killing 10,000 enemies. It would have taken me 8 hours to grind myself, and I saw someone had written a macro to basically do it for you so I downloaded it.

I basically took that macro and adjusted it to replay a particular battle in Infinite Wealth, then save and reload and fight the same battle again. It took a bit of tweaking as it kept getting stuck, but I got it working well and I even went out for 2 hours and left it on  and it was still working when I got home. I just need to keep it going for a couple more hours until I get to what I need.

I know some people might think it's odd I'm doing this, as I got a game and I'm not even playing it. But I did actually find building the macro and tuning it to get the timings right lots of fun and it was satisfying to see it pay off.

[Punterperson1971]

Bought a pS5 recently anyone played resdent evil requiem stated playing it but not for long is it any good

[Billy no mates]

Bought a pS5 recently anyone played resdent evil requiem stated playing it but not for long is it any good

Not myself, yet.

I have two gamer dad friends who both loved it. It (according to them) opens up after completion, adding new story elements to explore on further playthroughs. This sounds annoying, however I was informed by that there’s enough ‘new stuff’ and playthroughs get quicker/easier due to carrying over stuff from previous runs.

They also both mentioned a scene in the game which is a bit ‘rough’ and would advice not playing in front of kids.

[chuck_88]

Bought a pS5 recently anyone played resdent evil requiem stated playing it but not for long is it any good

Bought a PS5 recently aswell but all I play is Fortnite ha 

[Punterperson1971]

Not myself, yet.

I have two gamer dad friends who both loved it. It (according to them) opens up after completion, adding new story elements to explore on further playthroughs. This sounds annoying, however I was informed by that there’s enough ‘new stuff’ and playthroughs get quicker/easier due to carrying over stuff from previous runs.

They also both mentioned a scene in the game which is a bit ‘rough’ and would advice not playing in front of kids.

Thanks mate I’ll have to find time to stay playing it properly

[mr.bluesky]

Bought a PS5 recently aswell but all I play is Fortnite ha 

I thought you'd be playing FC26 as Celtic 

[bigden40]

Bought a pS5 recently anyone played resdent evil requiem stated playing it but not for long is it any good

Resident Evil Requiem is a great game.  It’s also highly rated and has sold well.

[bigden40]

Not myself, yet.

I have two gamer dad friends who both loved it. It (according to them) opens up after completion, adding new story elements to explore on further playthroughs. This sounds annoying, however I was informed by that there’s enough ‘new stuff’ and playthroughs get quicker/easier due to carrying over stuff from previous runs.

They also both mentioned a scene in the game which is a bit ‘rough’ and would advice not playing in front of kids.

Multiple playthroughs has always been a thing for getting the most out of RE games. 

[Paul9144]

Resident Evil Requiem is a great game.  It’s also highly rated and has sold well.

Good to know for when I reach it. I'm at the back end of RE5 on PS5 at present, working my way through all of the RE games. I purchased the RE games (up until RE Requiem) when they were on sale between PS store and Loaded (formerly CD-Keys) for PC.

Multiple playthroughs has always been a thing for getting the most out of RE games.

Yeah, I agree on that but it can feel a tad tedious at times, say RE2 for example with Leon, then playing through with Claire.

[The0neAnd0nly]

Good to know for when I reach it. I'm at the back end of RE5 on PS5 at present, working my way through all of the RE games. I purchased the RE games (up until RE Requiem) when they were on sale between PS store and Loaded (formerly CD-Keys) for PC.

Yeah, I agree on that but it can feel a tad tedious at times, say RE2 for example with Leon, then playing through with Claire.

Absolutely love RE5. Playing it online co op with friends was an absolute blast. Used to fight who's Sheva and Chris 😅

[loner]

Bought a pS5 recently anyone played resdent evil requiem stated playing it but not for long is it any good

I got the platinum trophy and whilst the first run through I thought it was a solid 9/10, after getting platinum, i feel its more a 7/10.

The issue is that its very easy to get platinum and the replayability right now is not great. Like after 3 run throughs, im bored. Compared to say RE2, I played that like a dozen times at least. They just released a sort of add on game mode for RE9 but its not that fun. I think the hospital ward area is very interesting but as soon as it reaches Racoon city, the map just feels lacking and not as interesting.

[WDFORTE]

Started playing First Light - new 007 game.  Got it free with my new graphics card.  Seems a solid 9/10 so far!

[nbarnes]

Currently playing Stalker 2.

I absolutely loved the originals, and now it's had a year or so and the developers have actually got somewhere to finishing the game it's a great experience. (was buggy as hell when it first came out)

Fun Fact - I've also been to Pripyat and the Chernobyl dead zone, so seeing some of the buildings in the game is cool as hell.

In other news, I've been loving Teknoparrot, which plays every arcade game from about 2009 until recently on the PC and I've picked up a Retroid 4 Pro, which is a lovely Android handheld that plays pretty much every retro console up to Switch (lower powered Switch games only).

The new android handhelds have changed the game, and have reignited interest in retro games for a lot of people again. Not every system is supported (xbox, PSVita and Wii U are bad) but that's the software rather than the hardware, there's a big race on to get everything that is available on Windows recompiled and stablised for Android now.

[nbarnes]

Started playing First Light - new 007 game.  Got it free with my new graphics card.  Seems a solid 9/10 so far!

I really want to play First Light, it looks amazing.

[Paul9144]

Absolutely love RE5. Playing it online co op with friends was an absolute blast. Used to fight who's Sheva and Chris 😅

I'm not as much as a fan of RE5 as say RE1, and I feel RE0 has a good story line with it too.

I was struggling with Wesker at the end of RE5. I had to do a sneaky YouTube search on how to defeat him

[The0neAnd0nly]

I'm not as much as a fan of RE5 as say RE1, and I feel RE0 has a good story line with it too.

I was struggling with Wesker at the end of RE5. I had to do a sneaky YouTube search on how to defeat him

Shooting the rocket launcher into his face from the helicopter (yes really) must have been very satisfying 😅

External Link/Members Only

[Paul9144]

Shooting the rocket launcher into his face from the helicopter (yes really) must have been very satisfying 😅

External Link/Members Only

Indeed, it was highly satisfying

[Rick2468]

Since my last post I've played:

Ultros - a colourful metroidvania game where you grow different types of plants to reach platforms or breakthrough barriers. Main purpose is to link up various nodes. Overall the game was average and frustrating mainly because the map is huge and it was not obvious to me where I needed to go next. Combat was pointless, would have about 10 rooms with no enemies at all then one slow baddie that took 2 or 3 hits to kill. It was a lot of fun connecting the networks though. If they made a sequel that ironed out the bad points it could be an excellent game.

Moonlighter - rogue-lite dungeon crawler, do a dungeon run and use the resources you gain to improve your equipment. I like these kind of games and had fun with it. Only about 10 hours long but think that's for the best as the 4 dungeons were quite samey.

Risk of Rain 2 - remember trying the first game and not really liking it. I clicked with the sequel much better. Enjoyed starting a run with no equipment and getting super strong by the end so you are wiping out bosses in seconds. The game has artifacts which let you choose with upgrades you get, rather than using RNG to decide. This breaks the game as you can pick what you need but I did enjoy becoming very powerful, but it meant I completed all the achievements in about a week.

Lies of P - only played an hour of this so far, I love Souls games and haven't played one for a while. Early impressions are this will be one of the better ones. Love the atmosphere and whacking the enemies feels very satisfying. Been busy over the past week so not had the chance to have a good run at it yet but looking forward to doing so when I get the chance.

[Rick2468]

I've been playing Lies of P for the past week and really liking it. It is one of the best Souls games I played outside of the From Software catalogue. It has copied heavily from the From Software games which a lot of games do, but Lies of P feels much more similar which as a player is no bad thing.

The Belle Époque art style is gorgeous, I even spent time looking at the fonts on notice boards in the train station at the start. I also thought walking into the Opera House was an epic moment as it looked so stunning, it reminded me of seeing Anor Londo for the first time in Dark Souls. The Opera House also looked amazing as it was burning to the ground after I had finished in there.

The game has an eerie vibe, the puppets have an uncanny valley nature to them with their crazed grins and glitchy movements. The game really reminds me of Bloodborne, particularly the NPCs scattered about and talking to citizens through their windows. I even got a heavy weapon that is slow but does loads of damage just like the one I got in Bloodborne. The hotel hub area is also very cool and I like unlocking the secret areas.

On the flip-side, the boss battles feel unimaginative, especially compared to From Software games where the bosses are the memorable moments. They just seem like beefed up versions of normal enemies and they feel quite similar to one another, it's just one might electrocute you whilst the next will set you on fire.

It also feels quite easy. This surprised me as I recall reading that Lies of P is one of the harder Souls games. Most enemies are very easy to bait into an attack before you go in and wipe them out. I usually get to the next stargazer (the bonfire equivalent) with lots of healing left to spare. There are enemies hidden behind most corners that jump out at you, but it happens so often that it becomes predictable so you just creep around each corner and get them first.

In a way, I don't mind the lack of challenge as it I am able to progress the game without getting stuck for ages on a particular boss. However it does mean my playthrough lacks those moments of satisfaction of getting through a tricky waypoint or boss. I thought it possible that I just got good at these games as I have played a lot of them.