I’ve been playing a lot of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Absolutely brutal, best combat system of any game I’ve played (and I’ve been doing this shit since the late 80s). Just when you think you’ve mastered it, got the parries down, grinded out a load of levels for skills and bought loads of items, along comes a boss that wipes the floor with you over and over again. Then you beat that boss in a moment of clarity, feel great about the achievement then it happens all over again. It’s like Bloodborne meets Tenchu, beautiful and deadly, magical and visceral.
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25% again for the 1.0 release. It still evolved a lot.
Fantastic gameplay and massive content.
75 well-designed circuits,
51 vehicles with various behaviors.
And still its beautiful low poly.
If you like the genre, go for it.
Ho yes… I really hope Elden Ring will include more of Sekiro’s combat system than the “usual” Dark Souls one.
I managed to get the “true” ending ( with the help of the interweb i must confess, some of the steps to get it are pretty obscure ) and i’m still amazed i did it.
Sekiro is easily the most exhilarating experience i had with a game.
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My daughter just got me sucked back into Terraria again. 
I went to load up our multiplayer server, because we had a huge world around 75% terraformed, with minecart infrastructure at sky, ground, and subterranean levels with stations to move between levels, etc.
It seems to have died at the last update, so we started a new one
I think I have about 500 combined hours in there.
There are a ton of new things even since the last time we had a Terra-Bender TM.
Also I have nearly completed Axiom Verge 2. Excellent game!
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Exhilarating is the perfect word to describe the experience, it’s different enough from anything else that the high-stakes combat is a constant challenge, and the world is beautiful and magical that I ended up exploring every nook and cranny - after murdering its denizens of course.
I have few preconceptions of Elden Ring, though I am expecting it to be a bit of a disappointment… Not sure why, might be the endless hype train and the fact GRRM is involved. I like the Song of Ice and Fire books a lot but I love FromSoft’s implicit storytelling and worry Elden Ring will feel less like a From game as a result of the partnership.
I’ve also been playing Spider-Man recently, the PS4 version. It’s pretty good, not into comic book spinoff media at all though I was fan of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Spider-Man features an excellent set of controls that make city traversal both efficient and acrobatic. You can’t just web swing off the clouds, there are rules behind the movement which rewards quick thinking. Overall I think the difficulty is unbalanced - combat can swiftly end in failure as a big guy can knock a huge chunk off your health bar, whereas timed missions like webbing air vents or aligning radar dishes provides the player with a seemingly endless timeframe. Overall while the combat is reminiscent of the Batman games, I feel the Dark Knight was more fluid and balletic in his melee skills, whereas Spider-Man gets a bit chaotic with controls that seem somewhat unintuitive. Still, a fun game and an easy platinum trophy.
Now that Elden Ring is confirmed with it’s release date, i’m avoiding any infos or speculations or anything, we’ll see when the game will be in our hands.
In the meantime i have other games to play …and The Radiance to beat.
Vaati put a video out about Elden Ring which has some interesting details but yeah, you’re better off waiting and finding out without preconceptions. Did you play Otogi back on the Xbox? That was my first FromSoft game and I didn’t even know it.
If you’re talking about what I think you’re talking about, that’s a game which I never completed but which is part of a genre I am very fond of.
Anybody played Fez on iOS?
I just realized that I’m already a fan of the soundtrack (by Disasterpeace).
besides the soundtrack - is it solid?
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I played it back in the day on Xbox Live, was pretty good if you like that sort of thing.
@Claid the last game i played on a video game box is FFVIII (yes, i’m that old) and i started to play games again a few years ago on PC. So no Otogi played on my side.
I may be talking about what you’re thinking i’m talking about…and it’s also a favorite genre of mine (can’t wait for Silsong and Salt+Sanctuary II)
@shankiphonic i played FEZ but i went too soon in the final level and got the 32 cubes ending (also known as 2001: a cube odissey) i have to play it again to get the 64 cubes ending.
The backtracking is a bit heavy, but the game is marvelous, if you like puzzle games ( and platforming)
About the soundtrack, it’s totally normal…don’t be afraid, Disasterpeace is a master (dare i say a genius ? )
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Having played FFVIII doesn’t make you old! I also played FFVIII when it came out, and FFVII, not to mention Super Mario World, even Super Mario Bros 3, Rastan… And I’m not old! Otogi was awesome, I did everything possible on that game. I also got 100% on Salt & Sanctuary, it was great but a bit samey towards the end. I didn’t really get into he gameplay of Hollow Knight, loved the music and atmosphere though. I’m up for the sequel though!
Hollow Knight’s music is one of the elements that kept me playing the game.
It really is one of the most gorgeous OST I know.
But I have a strong love/hate relationship with HK.
I love the world, the art and the Metroidvania classic tango, but there is so much rage quit enablers…like, seriously.
I completed the White Palace using the “cheating” way (hiveblood), but i’m not a masochist to the point i’d try the Path of Pain.
Technically, i finished the game with the generic ending and managed to beat Nightmare King Grimm (a.k.a Cuphead Boss on speed) but i still have the last trial to win ( eventually) and the infamous moth to beat if i really want to claim that i vanquished.
But yeah…i’m so ready to play Hornet.
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That’s how I felt about it too. I love a game that’s ball-breakingly tough as long as it’s super fair and can be mastered. I didn’t enjoy fighting the bosses in HK, it felt like a slog to die over and over again. Technically it feels the same way in Sekiro (currently putting off the fight with Owl, holy shit that’s tough) but the combat is so rewarding that I love every second of it.
Cuohead is a game I haven’t played. I intend to give it a shot though. For some reason it reminds me of Alien Hominid, a game that made me actually smash a controller into pieces…
Don’t know about Alien Hominid, but there are a lot of games that didn’t last long because of artificial difficulty or fair difficulty but no joy.
Cuphead was one of the hardest games i’ve played, but the whole package :
Artistic design, tight gameplay, creativity, glorious Music, handcraft mastery and most of all, fun oozing from every bits, made me loose over and over again with a smile on my face…until i managed to get to the end.
To me the Boss fights in HK are one of the good things…with a few exceptions, but the list of annoying things is in tiny details and too long for this post.
About Owl in Sekiro, i don’t want to spoil the game so i’ll just say this :
Yes, “Old Owl” is one of the hardest boss.
Yes, Harder fights awaits you.
One thing that helped me with the fights is Katiecakes Channel on YT.
She gives awesome tuts and guides and she pwns !
And if you are unaware of the “true” ending and unless you’re thorough by nature, i suggest to grab tips from Youtube or whatever to know how to get it.
It’s even harder, but ridiculously epic.
Totally worth it.
One Steam Game Keys to give away from this month’s Humble Bundle Choice.
Do not hesitate, it’s better that it serves!
There is still two left from last month …
And on GOG:
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Recently returned to No Mans Sky after first playing it on release and quickly giving up and… wow! What a different experience.
Still a little maddening at times (I typically can’t be arsed with minecrafty type games) but regularly stunning in scope and grandeur. Can see myself sinking a chunk of hours into it
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…not into videogames at all…
…mistake?..i know…
but recently, and i’m pretty sure it was already mentioned here before, i was fallin’ in shocklove with PORTAL…
my goodness…what a masterpiece of dark 'n dystopian black britishy fun…
this female ai is sooooo evil…and cold clever calculated…
will never hear the end song…u survived, though…
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One of the best ! Epic progression !
You should play half life 1 & 2 as well. Great eerie liminal spaces and a surprisingly good scifi plot. For a game
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I played Portal with my kid, our first together I think. And Portal 2.
He was very fond of the humor, nice times.
He also discovers 90’s rock because of the end song, singing aloud all day 
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