Whatcha Been Playing?

[Alex79]

I've just started Control. I knew literally nothing about it going in other than the player character has abilities. I don't know what I was expecting, but I definitely wasn't expecting horror...

[DomsBeard]

I've just started Control. I knew literally nothing about it going in other than the player character has abilities. I don't know what I was expecting, but I definitely wasn't expecting horror...

Make sure you play it with headphones. I really enjoyed it even with one bit near the end that almost ruined it for me.

Chapter 11 of Yakuza Kiwami 2 now I have 3 to follow straight into. I played this after losing the will to live with Shenmue 3 and it was the perfect remedy.

[ratsoalbion]

Oh no, what’s the problem with Shenmue III? You were so excited for it.

[DomsBeard]

Oh no, what’s the problem with Shenmue III? You were so excited for it.

I got to a room where I am looking for something. There are around 20 different drawers and cupboards. You have to press a button to pull open the drawer and then another button if there is something in the drawer to examine and/or the button again to close the drawer. After the 8th time of doing this I had had enough. I think I need to be in the right headspace to get back into it as I had been enjoying it up to that point.

[stvnorman]

I really wanted to like Ori & The Blind Forest but I just didn't take to it. Played it for about an hour and really couldn't get in to it at all. Maybe I ought to try it again if you're putting it up there with Hollow Knight. Does it get better when you get more abilities? It annoyed me moving the spark thing round with the other stick though which I guess is a big part of the game?

EDIT: Uh, hang on. I'm talking about Child Of Eden. Doh. I haven't played Ori & TBF.

EDIT 2: LIGHT! Child Of Bloody Light!! Dickhead Alex strikes again...

For a minute there I thought I’d spent four hours really enjoying a game I was playing completely wrong. Which wouldn’t be the first time - see Missile Command podcast forum thread!

Never really fancied Child of Light but I’d forgotten all about Child of Eden, which I did like the look of but never got around to. Currently £8.99 on the PlayStation store for PS3...

[Alex79]

Child Of Eden was good, I have it on 360, but it's not as good as Rez.

[dezm0nd]

Played a few missions of 8 bit armies which is only a couple quid on xbox one. Seems like a decent, simple RTS for consoles! Very cathartic

[Jon Cheetham]

Hitman 2

Technically I've started with the missions for Hitman 2016, as I managed to get the full version of this game with the GOTY Legacy Pack in a sale. So I did Hawke's Bay from 2, then went back to the 2016 stuff and did the training missions, Sapienza and Paris.

It's so damn good. Glad to have ended up with such a huge amount of this stuff to go through because I can see myself falling head over heels for this game in a big way. The environments, the open-ended objectives, the actually very satisfying gunplay when push comes to shove... fantastic. Would unashamedly drink from a mug with "I'd rather be playing Hitman 2" embossed on it.

Thief Gold

Booted this up as I just have to play all the Looking Glass Studios games I can. Fortunately you can rebind the games however you want, as you start with an old timey layout where A and D swivel the character rather than sidestep, and S walks you forward rather than moves you back. After modernising my WASD however I found that this plays extremely well even today, with some great feeling movement and jumping in particular.

The first level, Lord Bafford's Manor, is a belter. Break into the titular lord's ritzy house and "liberate" everything that isn't a guard or a crate. It's very open, a box-shaped level rather than a line which is always a treat in games like this. I had a lot of fun sneaking around, and the shadow cover system is really clever. The second level was less good, sadly, more of a long climb up through some mines and a factory into a prison, which I imagine is the game asking you to apply your stealth abilities to a more direct break-in but it wasn't as much fun.

[dezm0nd]

Thought youd gone way back with Hitman 2 and Thief Gold but realised it was the more recent Hitman 2.

Videogames are funny

[Jon Cheetham]

Haha I did go way back with Thief Gold... and since this is my first experience with the Hitman games, I am pretty tempted to delve back into the oldies eventually.

[dezm0nd]

Shame they haven't quite nailed thief for a modern market but maybe skyrim as a per-person stealing stuff suffices instead?

[Stanshall]

I've started playing Bloodstained: ROTN, and put about five/ten hours into it on the Switch. I've never played a Castlevania game for more than twenty minutes, I don't like Metroidvania at all, found Hollow Knight a slog, didn't find SOTN at all appealing and I bounced off this on Game Pass...but I'm loving it. And even better, I've just seen that there's a C&R issue coming up in a few months so I'll have someone motivation to actually finish it. I've cleared a third of the map apparently so if it keeps up this standard, I should get there!

Beyond that, a couple of games which I'll start new threads for.

[dezm0nd]

I liked the game itself but man that story was just wallpaper to me and found losing context harmed the game when I skipped the cut scenes.

[Stanshall]

I liked the game itself but man that story was just wallpaper to me and found losing context harmed the game when I skipped the cut scenes.

Yeah, I've literally no idea what's going on with the story. It seems like a load of generic nonsense about shards and vampires and Betelgeuse and whatever. I'm just loving the physical mechanics of double jumping around flinging my flying sword and listening to that gorgeous music.

[Jon Cheetham]

Shame they haven't quite nailed thief for a modern market but maybe skyrim as a per-person stealing stuff suffices instead?

Funny you should mention that as I've been meaning to go back to Oblivion and do the Thieves' Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines as a sneaky Khajiit sometime. I haven't done an Elder Scrolls game stealthily but I'd like to now.

There is Thief Simulator but there is no combat option, and it can be quite grindy and drawn-out with the missions being level-gated. I guess for me I would just do a no-powers run of Dishonored 2!

[stvnorman]

Thought the PS4 Final Fantasy 7 remake demo was stunning. Played through it twice just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything and am tempted by a third time! That said, I’m not sure I want to sink dozens of hours back into an epic story I went through less than two years ago when I played the original rerelease on Switch. Will probably see how the episodic stuff pans out and jump in again when it’s less fresh.

Saw the credits roll on original PlayStation Classic Destruction Derby 2 for the first time in many years! Took 28 seasons to win the top league since I recently started playing again, so about 10 hours, and I had no hesitation in immediately starting again once I’d done it. It looks a little rough now, but it still plays just fine and the chaotic nature of every race is still unsurpassed for me.

And still enjoying Doom 3 on Switch and Ori and the Blind Forest on Xbox One.

[Suits]

Funny you should mention that as I've been meaning to go back to Oblivion and do the Thieves' Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines as a sneaky Khajiit sometime. I haven't done an Elder Scrolls game stealthily but I'd like to now.

Ah, man, every TES game I play I always end up playing sneak - it’s a bit of a pain in the bum really, but is a tact that I always end up falling into .

I do love it though.

My first play through was a sneak archer in Skyrim and it was sooooooo OP.

I’ve seen some really cool RP Khajiit builds that would be super fun to play .

[Flabyo]

Stealth archer is basically easy mode in Elder Scrolls. Hell, I even play it in Fallout.

[Alex79]

Oh man, I totally broke Skyrim for myself. After about 80 hours through so much crafting and alchemy I managed to craft a bow that could one shot every enemy in the game, including dragons. (OK, some dragons took two). It wasn't as much fun after that!

[dezm0nd]

Destruction Derby 2. Now there's a great game