Coelacanth

I’m about halfway through Pentiment and I’m not sure what to think of it. There are lots of things I love about it: the art, the characters, the writing (mostly) and the historical research that’s gone into making it. All the running around and back tracking hasn’t been great. The first murder was also very unsatisfying, and it’s only now that I realise that that was the point. And I’m not sure what to think of that. It’s a strange game, with its central message seemingly being how powerless we are in the face of history and how restricted we are in our lives. Or at least people were back then. I’ll probably have to wait until I finish for my full judgement of it though.

I also snagged Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree on the Steam summer sale at 25% off. As a passionate VTM: Bloodlines fan I’ve been waiting for a reason to buy it. I’ve felt obliged to check it out as it was also written by Brian Mitsoda. Plus the game itself looked interesting. I’ve only just started playing it, but I’m enjoying it so far. The writing seems okay (not Bloodlines level) but the presentation is beautiful. I really like the splash art for characters and the cutscenes. It’s a Metroidvania Soulslike with a skill tree inspired by Path of Exile, and I can already tell I’ll have a lot of fun crafting builds here. Probably huge replayability too. The combat has felt solid so far, but I’m only at the beginning.

Anything of note? I am considering A Plague Tale Collection at 65% off. Dishonored: Complete Collection is also 80% off. I’m considering buying it to replay on PC, I only gave it on PS4 and the performance wasn’t great.

I had a similar thought while playing through Skald: Against the Black Priory earlier this year. There is something of a best-of-both-worlds about retro feeling and looking games, but without all the retro clunk.

Two of my favourite games being mentioned? I have been summoned.

Disco Elysium is an absolutely amazing visual novel+. Treat it like a novel whose pages you can read in any order. It doesn’t really behave like a classic RPG, the dialogue options are very un-punishing. Feel free to explore them, feel free to be weird, feel free to commit to wacky ideas. The game rewards that. Lastly: the murder case exists as scaffolding, not purpose. Don’t tunnel vision on it, enjoy exploring the world building, the characters and the protagonist.

If you’re only playing one of those two Fallout games then New Vegas should be a no-brainer, especially if you haven’t played its DLCs. Those are, in my opinion, the very best content New Vegas has to offer and should definitely not be missed. Each DLC is extremely different, and they’re all so good that I can never decide which is my favourite.

I’ve just seen both reactions a lot, and it mirrors my own experience. I played DS1 as my first soulslike and it was completely mind blowing. I’ve seen other streamers have similar experiences. Then I’ve seen lots of people who got introduced to FromSoft through Elden Ring try DS1 and react with “…that’s it?” to all the bosses. It’s an unfortunate reality due to the boss design evolving over time.

It’s not really that you won’t have the patience later. It’s more like this: Dark Souls 1 is extremely basic in its boss design. If that’s your first soulslike, it doesn’t matter because you have no frame of reference and you’ll have a great time. Come back to it later and you’ll react with “…that’s it?” to a lot of bosses, which is a shame. This is something I’ve seen a lot from people whose first soulslike was Elden Ring.

The world and level design in Dark Souls 1 is still on an absolute top tier level so skipping it altogether would be sad. Many consider the first half of DS1 to be the best level designs FromSoft has ever done.

It is dated, and the last third of it does suck. In truth it would probably be a good candidate for a remake.

Even then, it is a wonderful game that you can only really enjoy fully if you haven’t played any later soulslike first. To me, that first time experience is worth trying to push for.

I like to try to recommend people who are interested in Souls games to start with Dark Souls 1. If that’s your first soulslike the bosses will still feel epic and it will be a magical experience. If you start with Elden Ring or DS3 and go back to Dark Souls you will get completely underwhelmed.

Between Pyromancy, Zweihander and Poise DS1 is also by far the easiest of the games, even for newcomers.

Don’t expect RDR2-but-cyberpunk (in terms of the open world) and don’t expect a blank slate character RPG: you have some choices for characterization but V will always be V.

If you can get on board with that it’s a great, immersive action game with a good story and some well written characters.

Ah thanks. That’s what I thought.

Outer Wilds at 40% off again. Does it ever get lower? I know I should pay full price because it’s supposed to be a masterpiece but I’m afraid I’ll bounce off it. Also a bit hesitant to play it because I’m afraid it will just give me more existential dread and anxiety and I have too much of that already.

“Hasn’t improved” is a very polite way of putting it, but wouldn’t “gone to shit” be more accurate?

I have definitely come across what your first paragraph describes. Both sealioning and concern trolling definitely happens, on this site and on others.

Only just started Pentiment. And by that I mean I got through the background selection, and I’m now trying to decide if I’m happy with my choices or want to go with something else. The game looks really good so far, I’ve heard good things and I’m excited to see how it plays out.

I finished Deus Ex: Mankind Divided this week, and I’m not trying to decide whether I want to push through the DLCs or not. I’m kind of done with the game but if I don’t do them now I probably never will.

Overall I found MD to be good, but uneven. The main story overall suffers immensely from being the second game in a planned trilogy, but the side content is very very good. Gameplay was a step up from Human Revolution in most regards and there were some pretty good level designs strewn around as well. The final mission felt absolutely awesome to me and was one of my favourite Deus Ex missions, and Golem City was another highlight. The running theme of apartheid was also extremely well executed and the climax to that arc with martial law at the end felt very impactful.

Overall I think Human Revolution is probably better as it’s a more self contained and complete experience, but the highs of Mankind Divided are definitely higher than those of HR, in my opinion.

They are indeed. Very curious how they’ll end up solving the Max Payne remake with James McCaffrey passing.

Though the game I really long for is Alan Wake 3, but I’ll probably have to wait 5-7 years for that if not more.

You tried, Remedy. Now can we please get back to you guys making the type of games we actually want you to make again?

!gameart@sopuli.xyz

Dishonored: Complete Collection at 80% off, amazing deal if you haven’t already played these games.

Sam Lake is still out there fighting the good fight. Kojima too - whether you think he’s a genius or think he produces incomprehensible nonsense you can’t deny he is at least flying the flag for the weird.