Last Game You Finished and Your Rating

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:The Legend of Zelda : Tears of the Kingdom...

Your assessment felt like such a mixed bag of pros and cons, kaz. I was a little surprised to see a [9] tagged onto it; from reading through I was thinking maybe a [7]. Anyhow, it seems that there were good aspects that you enjoyed :-).

dmin wrote:Huntdown (Switch) - 9/10
A fun and atmospheric retro scifi run and gun (lifting from the warriors and a bunch of other classic scifi films), with a surprising amount of challenge. The visuals are a bit on the small side, but they've got a surprising amount of detail and the music is excellent. An unexpected treat!

I haven't heard too many folk chatting about this and it was good to read that you had a blast with it, dmin. A pal on Twitter very much enjoyed this one, too.

Met wrote:I would like to confirm to everyone who may be wondering: Symphony of the Night is still a good game. A couple of things have aged or been done better, but for being the game that defined "Metroidvania" as a genre it's still extremely solid.

I've not played it myself but it seems to be held in high regard, Met. Were you playing the original or an updated version?

The Requiem version on PS4/5, which I believe is the slightly updated PSP version rather than the original PS1. Though outside of some bug fixes and translation updates it's the same from my understanding.

jawa_ wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:The Legend of Zelda : Tears of the Kingdom...

Your assessment felt like such a mixed bag of pros and cons, kaz. I was a little surprised to see a [9] tagged onto it; from reading through I was thinking maybe a [7]. Anyhow, it seems that there were good aspects that you enjoyed .

I think its probably because the pros are so widely talked about and known at this point I would focus on the things that make it less than perfect.

It's an absolutely astounding game, and I will be pleased for it when it wins GotY across all the major outlets in a few months time, but I think I would rather see something in the mould of Wind Waker / Twilight Princess / Skyward Sword (!) next.

jawa_ wrote:

dmin wrote:Huntdown (Switch) - 9/10
A fun and atmospheric retro scifi run and gun (lifting from the warriors and a bunch of other classic scifi films), with a surprising amount of challenge. The visuals are a bit on the small side, but they've got a surprising amount of detail and the music is excellent. An unexpected treat!

I haven't heard too many folk chatting about this and it was good to read that you had a blast with it, dmin. A pal on Twitter very much enjoyed this one, too.

It was cheap as chips too, think it was about 3 quid on sale.

Suzerain

Outstanding game. The shear volume of choices you make, coupled with the tangible impacts on the story itself and the excellent writing made it really hard to put it down.

After 20+ hours I am (usually) ready for a game to wind up. I have seen all the main mechanics and know the "loop". This game, whilst almost devoid of any traditional mechanics, kept me thoroughly absorbed and wanting more after the credits rolled.

I can absolutely see myself going back to this for another playthrough and can't wait for the DLC to release.

Loses half a point because (once again) I unlocked a "centrist" achievement and it has made me reflect upon myself. Disco Elysium did this also, but that was not docked because, well, it was Disco Elysium.

9.5

The Entropy Centre

Take Portal but replace the portal gun with a gun that rewinds objects through time and space and that's the game. Everything else is Portal; waking up alone, completing puzzle rooms, talking with a cheeky AI companion, even the aesthetics are similar. It's very good though and well worth playing. The story is satisfying as well and it doesn't outstay its welcome.

So yeah, if you like Portal, check it out.

Having had a fairly harsh dose of the Covids, I put TotK on hold and played some seriously casual stuff - my brain couldn't take all the complexity of Hyrule!

So I've played and completed a couple of hidden object games:

Faircroft Antiques - The Mountaineer's Legacy
A solid entry to the series, very much more of the same variation of types of hidden object, with a lot of asset re-use by this point. There's now a scoring system/multiplier if you're quick enough at finding stuff amongst stuff, but it has no impact on the game, so just chill! It had a couple of crashes which I've never had before with the other (4!) entries in the series, so it was a little less relaxing than before. There's a ton of content, a lot of which isn't covered by the main 'storyline' so good value at just under a couple of quid (on sale). I'd give it a 7 (if you like this kind of casual game)

First Time in Paris
By the same people as the Faircroft games, I have to say this was actually better. The puzzles in between the hidden object screens were a bit more interesting/challenging, and overall it just seemed a bit more interesting - that may be because I've got very used to the Faircroft template. It did crash on me a couple of times though. Again, a ton of post-story content.
I'd give it a 8 (on the casual game scale!)

Then a wildcard choice:
What Lies in the Multiverse
Odd little platformer with a mechanic a little like the Giana sisters dark world/light world that you change between on the fly.... with a few elements I recognise from Celeste thrown in.
I kind of enjoyed it - more of a puzzler platformer than a pure 'skills test'. Just as it started to get really inventive with multiple elements it was over. But for 89p I got several hours of fun out of it, so I cannot complain really. I had a crash with this game too. I'm not sure what's happening with these recent purchases, or if my switch is starting to creak.
I'd give this a 7 at this price.

All of the above were played solely in handheld mode.

Marvel's Midnight Suns - PS5 - 37 hours and finished the main story. Still a lot of side stuff to do and all the season pass. Excellent game and very good value for money.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:

Zilnad wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:

Zilnad wrote:The Case of the Golden Idol: The Spider of Lanka

What an absolutely brilliant bit of DLC. Three delightful murder mysteries to solve that are satisfyingly tricky. The puzzles are just as good as the main game, if not better. And now I'm sad I've solved them all again, I just want more, more, more!

If you enjoyed Return of the Obra Dinn, you absolutely have to play this game and its DLC!

One of my all time favourites. If this does not come to console (ideally Switch) soon, I’m going to have to get a Steam Deck so I can enjoy it.

Switch would be a perfect fit for a port. Using the touch screen to click and place words into the solution would work really well.

I’m amazed it’s still stuck on PC only - it’s been such a massive hit.

I guess Obran Dinn, Loop Hero and Inscryption also took a long time to make it over.

Memento Mori wrote:

Zilnad wrote:The Case of the Golden Idol: The Spider of Lanka

What an absolutely brilliant bit of DLC. Three delightful murder mysteries to solve that are satisfyingly tricky. The puzzles are just as good as the main game, if not better. And now I'm sad I've solved them all again, I just want more, more, more!

If you enjoyed Return of the Obra Dinn, you absolutely have to play this game and its DLC!

It was good DLC to one of the best games of last year but case 2 requires too much guesswork.

I think it's asking a bit too much to deduce that the Prince is lying in his personal diary. And the demon code is tenuous bullshit.

I would buy a sequel on day 1 though.

Not sure if you guys were aware but I only just found out that another £4.99 DLC pack released for The Golden Idol at the end of August! The Case of the Lemurian Vampire, another three parter.

Zilnad wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:

Zilnad wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:

Zilnad wrote:The Case of the Golden Idol: The Spider of Lanka

What an absolutely brilliant bit of DLC. Three delightful murder mysteries to solve that are satisfyingly tricky. The puzzles are just as good as the main game, if not better. And now I'm sad I've solved them all again, I just want more, more, more!

If you enjoyed Return of the Obra Dinn, you absolutely have to play this game and its DLC!

One of my all time favourites. If this does not come to console (ideally Switch) soon, I’m going to have to get a Steam Deck so I can enjoy it.

Switch would be a perfect fit for a port. Using the touch screen to click and place words into the solution would work really well.

I’m amazed it’s still stuck on PC only - it’s been such a massive hit.

I guess Obran Dinn, Loop Hero and Inscryption also took a long time to make it over.

Memento Mori wrote:

Zilnad wrote:The Case of the Golden Idol: The Spider of Lanka

What an absolutely brilliant bit of DLC. Three delightful murder mysteries to solve that are satisfyingly tricky. The puzzles are just as good as the main game, if not better. And now I'm sad I've solved them all again, I just want more, more, more!

If you enjoyed Return of the Obra Dinn, you absolutely have to play this game and its DLC!

It was good DLC to one of the best games of last year but case 2 requires too much guesswork.

I think it's asking a bit too much to deduce that the Prince is lying in his personal diary. And the demon code is tenuous bullshit.

I would buy a sequel on day 1 though.

Not sure if you guys were aware but I only just found out that another £4.99 DLC pack released for The Golden Idol at the end of August! The Case of the Lemurian Vampire, another three parter.

Cheers - I had spotted it on Steam, though I have not seen it promoted anywhere else. I really need to make a start on the base game.

Zilnad wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:

Zilnad wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:

Zilnad wrote:The Case of the Golden Idol: The Spider of Lanka

What an absolutely brilliant bit of DLC. Three delightful murder mysteries to solve that are satisfyingly tricky. The puzzles are just as good as the main game, if not better. And now I'm sad I've solved them all again, I just want more, more, more!

If you enjoyed Return of the Obra Dinn, you absolutely have to play this game and its DLC!

One of my all time favourites. If this does not come to console (ideally Switch) soon, I’m going to have to get a Steam Deck so I can enjoy it.

Switch would be a perfect fit for a port. Using the touch screen to click and place words into the solution would work really well.

I’m amazed it’s still stuck on PC only - it’s been such a massive hit.

I guess Obran Dinn, Loop Hero and Inscryption also took a long time to make it over.

Memento Mori wrote:

Zilnad wrote:The Case of the Golden Idol: The Spider of Lanka

What an absolutely brilliant bit of DLC. Three delightful murder mysteries to solve that are satisfyingly tricky. The puzzles are just as good as the main game, if not better. And now I'm sad I've solved them all again, I just want more, more, more!

If you enjoyed Return of the Obra Dinn, you absolutely have to play this game and its DLC!

It was good DLC to one of the best games of last year but case 2 requires too much guesswork.

I think it's asking a bit too much to deduce that the Prince is lying in his personal diary. And the demon code is tenuous bullshit.

I would buy a sequel on day 1 though.

Not sure if you guys were aware but I only just found out that another £4.99 DLC pack released for The Golden Idol at the end of August! The Case of the Lemurian Vampire, another three parter.

Thanks yeah, thought I'd posted about it on release. I preferred it to the first DLC, was good.

I'll probably play it the next time my son wants cradling for 3 hours at 1am. Played a lot of Into the Breach last night with him in my arms

Turrican 2 - The Turrican Collection Vol 1 - PS5 - only taken me 31 years discovered the infinite lives cheat and was finally able to beat the brutal game. Music and level design is top tier, the last few levels are based heavily on Aliens with face huggers and xenomorph faces everywhere.

Marvel's Midnight Suns - DLC - PS5 - Finished it all, short but enjoyable. 4 new heroes but none of them are as good as the base roster.

For a Vast Future 7/10

I think the post apocalypse world makes this. I found it interesting to explore. I wish the combat was sometimes more fast paced and the characters and plot are a bit simple, but apart from that, not bad! Short RPG, never out stayed its welcome. Some absolutely banging chip tunes in it as well.

Spider-man: Miles Morales (PS5) - 8/10
First game on PS5! Bonus it was a free upgrade too. Visually wonderful and Miles plays differently enough to Peter, but the villain and story were a bit meh. Pretty much an extended dlc, that's more of the same really. Not necessarily a bad thing, I'm just glad I had a gap between the two.

Astro's Playroom (PS5) - 7/10
Lots of fun with some neat ideas and plenty of spit and polish. However, it definitely feels like a technical demo; it's just not fully fledged enough.

dmin wrote:Astro's Playroom (PS5) - 7/10
Lots of fun with some neat ideas and plenty of spit and polish. However, it definitely feels like a technical demo; it's just not fully fledged enough.

I mean, it's a free game (that did indeed start off as a technical demo) that comes in the box, how fully fledged do you expect it to be?

I get that, just wasn't enough in it for me to give it a higher rating. It's not like I gave it a Jawa 5!

Astrobot is still one of my top 3 PS5 games