i was more a Big Brain Academy fan but yes Brain Age is screaming out for a phone version but isn't the Dr already in another series on phones?

I might be mis-remembering.

Chopper wrote: ↑August 22nd, 2019, 12:09 pm Remnant: From the Ashes sounds really intriguing from the reviews - a souls-like with guns, some proc gen, 3-player co-op, the ability to 're-roll' a level if it's not to your liking/becomes repetitive.

Hey, did you ever follow up on that? I've stumbled upon some interesting footage / information about the game and I was thinking about buying it in a PSN sale at some point. If enough elements are as solid as they appear at first glance I might even be able to look past the procedural generation.

Interested in hearing some first-hand impressions, in any case.

KSubzero1000 wrote: ↑January 12th, 2020, 10:49 pm

Chopper wrote: ↑August 22nd, 2019, 12:09 pm Remnant: From the Ashes sounds really intriguing from the reviews - a souls-like with guns, some proc gen, 3-player co-op, the ability to 're-roll' a level if it's not to your liking/becomes repetitive.

Hey, did you ever follow up on that? I've stumbled upon some interesting footage / information about the game and I was thinking about buying it in a PSN sale at some point. If enough elements are as solid as they appear at first glance I might even be able to look past the procedural generation.

Interested in hearing some first-hand impressions, in any case.

I co-oped through what felt like 2/3 the game with my brother. The Resident Evil 4 style over the shoulder combat is a lot of fun, and they really nailed the feel of the guns. They all feel really great to use. Plus, the art design is at times pretty spectacular with Stargate and Dune seeming like visual inspirations (although you start off in a sewer level which, meh.)

Unfortunately we ran into a boss that was just absolute nonsense levels of difficulty. Every death felt cheap. Apparently you can re-roll just the world you are playing and hope for a different boss, but we couldn't find that option.

We might go back to it eventually, but just thought I'd chip in with some impressions. I couldn't give it an unqualified recommendation, but it is mostly good co-op fun if you get it cheap and have someone to play with.

Jon Cheetham wrote: ↑January 13th, 2020, 1:26 am I co-oped through what felt like 2/3 the game with my brother. The Resident Evil 4 style over the shoulder combat is a lot of fun, and they really nailed the feel of the guns. They all feel really great to use. Plus, the art design is at times pretty spectacular with Stargate and Dune seeming like visual inspirations (although you start off in a sewer level which, meh.)

Unfortunately we ran into a boss that was just absolute nonsense levels of difficulty. Every death felt cheap. Apparently you can re-roll just the world you are playing and hope for a different boss, but we couldn't find that option.

We might go back to it eventually, but just thought I'd chip in with some impressions. I couldn't give it an unqualified recommendation, but it is mostly good co-op fun if you get it cheap and have someone to play with.

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

There are a handful of red flags for me in there, so it's certainly not something I would buy at full price. But I'll keep it on the watch-list just in case.

KSubzero1000 wrote: ↑January 13th, 2020, 2:37 am Interesting, thanks for sharing.

There are a handful of red flags for me in there, so it's certainly not something I would buy at full price. But I'll keep it on the watch-list just in case.

Most welcome

@Jon - was it Gorefest?

I haven't played but I believe he has already ascended to the pantheon of Asshole Bosses. If you're in co op, I believe the 'easiest' way is for one player to go upstairs and take care of the shooting, while the player downstairs keeps him distracted. You still have to deal with all the mooks though.

@KSub - yeah, no first hand experience so Jon's is a good starting point. It looks really good, if we can get you over your aversion to AA gaming. I believe the world is generated at the start so it's pretty static, so for example if a dungeon is Level 5, then it stays Level 5, so for example if you're struggling, you can eventually out-level it by gearing up, so it doesn't become a complete roadblock. Then within that world there are dungeons, which can have random bosses according to your circumstances etc - so the game chooses from different bosses and you may not fight the same guy all the time. A lot of the difficulty is from crowd control issues where each boss has a bunch of quite dangerous minor enemies thrown into the arena to distract you during the fight. That's just my impression, I could be wrong.

It sounds really interesting and the reports are mostly good. I'll pm you a couple of links.

@ Chopper, it was not Gorefest - he was quite early on and not too much of a problem for the two of us. I'll spoiler it, as it's one of the possible bosses quite late on, in case anyone is currently playing through (though yes, almost every boss has tons of respawning adds which swarm you in waves during the fight).

Spoiler: show

It was Ixilis! Which is in either the third or fourth world... can't remember. So you're on a narrow, small bridge. The boss swipes at you with swords and can knock you off. It launches bombs that track, and can make areas of the bridge untenable. It has a charge-up attack that triggers if you don't do enough damage during the wind-up, and if I wasn't topped off would one-shot me.

Once you've done about a third of its health, an identical copy arrives. Yep.

We had a few good runs, but it just stopped feeling in any way worth our time. It was more of a protest-quit, haha.

The grinding to increase avatar strength would be feasible, but in a procgen world with a limited number of possible layouts it is easy to get lost unless you are continually pushing forward (like you will pass through the same room several times in a world, and it's only differentiated by the encounter you face). To add to that not all the bonfires have fast travel, so there's quite a lot of accidental backtracking and wandering around if you're doing anything other than trying to directly progress.

Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection (PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch) – January 21
Temtem – Steam Early Access (PC) – January 21
Kingdom Hearts 3: Re Mind DLC (PS4, Xbox One) – January 23/25
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD (Switch) - January 23
The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners (PC) - January 23
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth (PC) – January 23
Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception (PC) – January 23

dezm0nd wrote: ↑January 18th, 2020, 7:38 pm Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection (PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch) – January 21
Temtem – Steam Early Access (PC) – January 21
Kingdom Hearts 3: Re Mind DLC (PS4, Xbox One) – January 23/25
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD (Switch) - January 23
The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners (PC) - January 23
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth (PC) – January 23
Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception (PC) – January 23

Mega Man Zero/ZX Collection was delayed until the end of February. Not entirely sure why, but them's the ropes.

The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters [PC] – January 28
Journey to the Savage Planet (US) [PC, PS4, XBO] – January 28
Kentucky Route Zero: Act 5 [PC] – January 28
Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition [PS4, XBO, Switch] – January 28
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire [PS4, XBO] – January 28
Warcraft 3: Reforged [PC] – January 29
Bookbound Brigade [PC, PS4, Switch] – January 30
Not For Broadcast [PC] – January 30
PUBG Season 6 [PS4, XBO] – January 30
Sisters Royale [PS4, Switch] – January 30
Terraforming Earth [PC] – January 30
Through the Darkest of Times [PC] – January 30
Heroland [PS4, Switch] – January 31
Hockey Manager 20|20 [PC] – January 31
Journey to the Savage Planet (EU) [PC, PS4, XBO] – January 31

Has anyone actually played K.Route Zero? I'm really tempted by it, but don't know anyone who's ever tried it. It looks right up my proverbial street.

It was episodic on the PC, and they were spread over *years* so it’s not tended to stay in the conversation.

Alex79uk wrote: ↑January 26th, 2020, 7:35 pm Has anyone actually played K.Route Zero? I'm really tempted by it, but don't know anyone who's ever tried it. It looks right up my proverbial street.

It's superb. Fundamentally it's a point and click 'adventure' but there are no puzzles, dead ends or resistance of any type. It's all about the writing and atmosphere. There are definite nods to David Lynch and also moments of pure fantasy. It contains a handful of music sections and each of them floored me. Easily some of the most blissful, transcendent sequences I've ever encountered in a game.

It's not for everyone. It's very weird, frankly. The writing and plotting is obscure and deeply thematic. You'll have to work at it. In fact if there is a puzzle then it's in piecing it all together.

Ryan from the team is a huge fan so I suspect he'll be pushing hard for a future podcast!

I'll be buying the console edition today. There's not a lot of pixel hunting etc. so I expect it will have ported over very nicely.

Thanks, definitely want to play it at some point. Annoyed with myself that it was discounted for pre-order on Switch and I had enough credit to cover it, but now it's creeped just above my impulse buy amount. I also have enough to play at the moment so are being strong enough to wait for a sale.

Alex79uk wrote: ↑January 28th, 2020, 6:14 pm Thanks, definitely want to play it at some point. Annoyed with myself that it was discounted for pre-order on Switch and I had enough credit to cover it, but now it's creeped just above my impulse buy amount. I also have enough to play at the moment so are being strong enough to wait for a sale.

Yeah wait for a sale. That's a wise policy with all unknown propositions and this game is certainly that!

Alex79uk wrote: ↑January 28th, 2020, 6:14 pm Thanks, definitely want to play it at some point. Annoyed with myself that it was discounted for pre-order on Switch and I had enough credit to cover it, but now it's creeped just above my impulse buy amount. I also have enough to play at the moment so are being strong enough to wait for a sale.

This also screams Game Pass at some point. Always had my eye on this so will pick it up in a sale if not.

Kentucky Route Zero has been calling out to me this week, saying “I’m your game of the year” and I really don’t know why because I don’t like point and click! Loads of other stuff on the go so at its launch price I think I can wait for a sale though.

Bit niche, but Arcade Archives Tecmo Bowl is out tomorrow too. Never even seen an arcade version of this before, but I’ve grown very fond of the NES version over the last couple of years so will definitely pick this up.

stvnorman wrote: ↑January 29th, 2020, 9:40 pm Kentucky Route Zero has been calling out to me this week, saying “I’m your game of the year” and I really don’t know why because I don’t like point and click! Loads of other stuff on the go so at its launch price I think I can wait for a sale though.

I think it's more interactive story than actual point and click puzzler. Think 80 days rather than Monkey Island.

Dawn of Fear [PS4] – February 3
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch] – February 4
Life is Strange 2 Collector's Edition [PC, PS4, XBO] (US) – February 4
Monster Energy Supercross 3 [PC, PS4, XBO, Switch, Stadia] – February 4
Monster Jam Steel Titans [Switch] (Retail) – February 4
The Sims 4: Tiny Living Stuff Pack [PS4, XBO] – February 4
Zombie Army 4: Dead War [PC, PS4, XBO] – February 4
7th Sector [PS4, XBO, Switch] – February 5
Battlefield 5 - Chapter 6: Into the Jungle [PC, PS4, XBO] – February 6
For Honor - Year 4, Season 1 "Hope" [PC, PS4, XBO] – February 6
Ghosts’n DJs [PC] – February 6
Knights and Bikes [Switch] – February 6
Throw Anything [PSVR] – February 6
Wargroove: Double Trouble DLC [PC, XBO, Switch] – February 6
The Turing Test [Switch] – February 7

Trying to remember if the Dark Crystal game is a gamepass one or not. Either way, I love me some tactics so it’ll likely get played.