#this game is ridiculous it’s wild that the main gameplay loop is PLAY IT AGAIN and we all went ohhhhkayyyyyyyy

[un-pearable]

no art but i do have sky screenshots which are basically the same thing

[andhumanslovedstories]

Please can you describe outer wilds to me in terms of plot/gameplay/whatever? Is it a horror game or is it just terrifying to you personally? I could look it up but I am certain your explanation will be better

I’ll do the best I can to explain the game. Basically everyone will tell you that it’s best to go into this game as blindly as possible, and I do agree with that, but also as someone who is very scared of a lot of the things the game involves, I found a little research after I started helped me out. (I also have truly no idea how far in I am. I suspect not very far in, but it’s a very opaque game that is entirely self-directed.) 

In short, it is not a horror game. However when I was googling “outer wilds very scary???” after a few hours playing, I found a bunch of people who basically said the exact same thing and agreed that the particular cosmic scope of the game and the alien nature of it can be very frightening. 

It is a game about exploration in space.  You play an astronaut on a small planet on their first voyage into your little galaxy. It does not have any gore, but you can die. (boy. you sure can die.) The graphics are cartoony and very pleasant aesthetically. If you get motion sickness easily in games, this one probably isn’t for you. 

In long, if you want the slightly more spoiler-y (but still vague)

you are in a time loop that ends when the sun explodes. You then wake up back where you started with the knowledge you have gained in your previous runs. Also your runs can end waaaaaaaay sooner than just the sun exploding because it’s ridiculously easy to die but flying into the sun or falling off a cliff or running out of air or a thousand other ways--I just got killed by something that I’m not even sure what happened. But it scared the shit out of me. I’m less scared of the game now but that’s largely because I’ve been avoiding the two main planets that scare the shit out of me. 

Basically in terms of fear, there’s the cosmic fear of the inescapable death via sun exploding. Then there’s the specific terrors of different planets. There’s a planet with massive weather events for example and I get really freaked out by the enormous water tornados you have to navigate around. Then there’s a plant planet that is MUCH larger on the inside and navigating into that infinite abyss of white void fills me with so much creeping dread. And then there’s a planet that has a black hole at the center. I’ll be real, the black hole doesn’t scare me too much any more because I’ve accidentally died because of it so many times. But BOY. That one freaked me out. 

The controls also add to it. You’re often weightless or navigating with less gravity so it’s really hard to control your trajectory. I’ve finally gotten semi-comfortable with the controls, but a big sense of the dread in the game is how out of control you feel of your own movements. You see something that you want to avoid but you have to rapidly figure out how to avoid it or if you even can. And that’s really hard because boy moving in zero-g is like. remember Newton’s laws? No you don’t. Oops you flew into the black hole again. 

Meanwhile, the aesthetics are so gentle and cartoony and soft, and the music is like bluegrass with sad piano interludes, and the story of the world (that I’ve found so far) is really really interesting. But the dread. Everywhere, the dread. 

If the idea of a game with almost no instructions and just exploration as a way to figure out the story and the world appeals to you, I’d recommend this game. If you have cosmic horror fears (you might not know you do! If I had not started playing this game, I would be incapable of understanding how freaked out it makes me) I’d say playing might be rough. And if you get motion sickness easily, I’d say this game might be unplayable. I’m enjoying it but also it gives me anxiety. Part of me wants to give up and just watch someone else play it. The rest of me is like “just one more time loop really quick tho”

[bmaxwell]

Number 28: Monster Hunter World

Demon’s Souls was my first souls game. It immediately pushed me away, as souls games are designed to do. The very first enemy in the game killed me. I felt stupid, then thought “Oh, I have to actually take this seriously” and tried again. And died again. My gamer dick fell clean off. I said “Okay, fuck this game then” and shut it off. Then I thought “Demon’s Souls doesn’t give a shit. It defeated me and I slinked away with my tail between my legs.”

I picked the game back up, defeated that enemy and slowly progressed through the game, being knocked down and getting back up again and again. I eventually grew tired of the abuse and quit the game, but I developed a thirst for that slow, deliberate combat that made me work for it, and rewarded that perseverance. Dark Souls 2 didn’t do it. Neither did Dark Souls 3. Nor Bloodborne. I told the people at Gamestop to keep my picture on the wall with the phrase “DO NOT SELL SOULS GAMES TO THIS MAN.”

Monster Hunter World, though not nearly as punishing as the Souls games and their brethren, finally scratched that itch for me. The combat is slow and deliberate, and once you start an action you are locked in until the animation finishes. It’s not just about quick reflexes, it’s about quick decision making and pushing your luck. The game is an endless series of boss fights against enormous monsters. You track them, kill them, harvest their bodies for materials, and use those materials to make new weapons and armor so you can fight stronger monsters. Repeat ad nauseum. 

It’s a familiar gameplay loop, but a few things stand out to me:

- You’re fighting for your materials, and the new gear that you craft is visually represented on your body. If you see me covered in scales and spikes and teeth, you know I’ve taken it all from some Anjanaths.

- The uncertainty of exactly which materials you’ll get from a given battle can be frustrating if you are focused on getting something specific; I never much cared because the hunts were so much fun. I’d spend a few hours doing hunts, then go back and see what I could craft with whatever I’d found.

- Earning your gear this way feels rewarding in a different way than having random loot drops. There’s always that suspension of disbelief that has to happen in order to accept a wolf dropping a suit of armor when it dies. In Monster Hunter Worlds, you’re going to get fangs, bones, and a pelt.

This is not to say that Monster Hunter World is Serious Business, it’s very much not. It’s frequently got a goofy awww shucks vibe,* from the flamboyant characters that populate the town, to the tiny humanoid kitties that cook your meals, to the comically huge anime swords that transform into shields and axes and back again. It’s also hard to take anything seriously when your character is decked in equipment forged from a variety of monsters. My hunter would head out into the wild wearing a butterfly skirt, metal greaves, armor made of bones, and a leather helmet. You see that person coming after you, you know they don’t give a fuck about anything.

There’s a wide variety of weapons, which acts as the game’s version of classes. Each one comes with its own move set and play style, from the straight forward bow or longsword, to the complex and tough to master switch axe or hunting horn. It took me a few tries to find a weapon that I liked, and I eventually settled on 3 or 4 favorites. That’s one of the good things about hunting the easier monsters: it’s a good excuse to try out a weapon you’re less familiar with.

I was able to ass my way through the first few hunts in the game, and my “put actual effort in or quit the game” moment came when I had to hunt a Barroth. I looked at my in-game hunter’s journal, which fills in details such as elemental weaknesses, damage types, and weak points as continue to track and encounter enemy monsters. I brought weapons that did water damage,** attacked its weak points, and used what I’d learned about its habits to take it down. At that point I was sold on the game.

You track a new monster, learn its habits both by fighting it and through your hunter journal. You then eat a hearty, delicious looking meal prepared by kittyfolk, gear up accordingly, and get to it. The game’s environments are huge, sprawling, and gorgeous. The monsters are well animated and the world really feels alive - never more so than when two or more monsters encounter each other. They’ll often fight each other, which can be a pretty dangerous thing to be around. 

It’s also a great game to play with friends, with the biggest caveat: the game really puts a lot of ridiculous roadblocks in front of multiplayer. Players can’t go on a hunt together unless they’ve both watched any cutscenes that occur for that part of the story. Once players are on the same page, or as long as they’re doing non-story hunts it’s fine. But trying to play the main game together from the start is a logistical nightmare. That’s a real shame, because the experience of finishing a tough hunt with a friend can be exhilarating; I’ll never forget taking down an Anjanath with a friend, it was one of those hunts that is on a razor’s edge and when it ended (there are time limits, and any player in the group getting knocked out a total of 3 times fails the hunt) we weren’t sure if we’d won or lost for a moment. 

Anjanath is a giant firebreathing T-Rex, the first monster in the game that really strikes fear into the players. It’s a fierce, aggressive enemy that can kill you in a few hits if you aren’t careful. Getting my ass kicked by it repeatedly, then eventually getting better, coming back and manhandling it was a fantastic feeling. Monster Hunter World isn’t just about getting better gear, it’s about learning your weapon, learning the behavior of your quarry, gaining mastery over the game world. It’s challenging, silly, and rewarding all at the same time.

     I could have just not written anything and linked this video instead.

*in direct opposition to the game’s underlying colonialist story. **When Barroth dives down into the muck and comes up with a layer of hardened mud covering him, water damage fucks him right up.

[timsim26]

Hey Tim - Whatcha Playin?

So I am in the middle of a whole bunch of games right now and haven’t had a chance to review them. However, I do want to share a few thoughts on them. Thanks for the title Ash.

Mass Effect Andromeda

No doubt this will be my next full review, as I am well on the way with this game now. It took me a lot to get into the story of Andromeda and I can’t put my finger on why. It may have a lot to do with the huge amount of negative press, middling reviews and heaps of bugs that were reported.

A heads up I am playing with the current 1.06 patch and this has made the game look and run much better apparently.

I am absolutely loving this game. I adore Mass Effect 1-3 and love the story, characters, gameplay and world. So many brilliant moments are highly ranked from the original trilogy and so far Andromeda is delivering this same feel and connection. While Female Ryder is so far pretty blargh, the universe and mystery of the new galaxy are fascinating. Discovering new worlds, new enemies, building weapons and having great freedom in terms of combat choice is really refreshing. So many times in previous games I would hate it, if I had made a poor squad choice due to enemy types and lacking the appropriate abilities to take down shields or armour. Now you are free to enhance whatever ability you like, choose and change classes and take on combat situations.

This game is also huge. My goodness, I thought there was a lot to do on the first main planet (not to mention the beginning hub world that sets the tone of the enemies), but that was nothing after the game opens up. Heaps of sidequests, which so far have been mostly entertaining, but very fetch quest heavy, are keeping me highly engaged with the world and character building and then there is a lot of other great exploration throughout the planets. Each world I have visited so far is unique and makes each journey to a new section of the map feel as if I am the pathfinder that the game continues to tell me I am.

The only thing that has surprised me so far is that some of the writing and character building as been very cringe worthy. Mass Effect 1 and 2 in particular are so well written, that this really stands out. The fact that Ryder reacts so strangely to an early traumatic experience so soon after the event really threw me from the believability of the whole situation. I am really looking forward to exploring more of the world, upgrading my character and developing the promising relationships with my squad. There is a lot to like in Andromeda and I am really keen to dive into the multiplayer if it is as good as people are saying it is.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild

One day I will be ready to say goodbye to this game. But that would mean saying goodbye to potentially the best video game I have played in my life. Zelda: Breath of the Wild surprises me, engages me and challenges me with every new step. The world is gorgeous, the characters are interesting, the combat is rewarding, the level design is fantastic, the secrets are plentiful, but it is the world that continually stops me in my path and makes me reflect on every other open world game.

This is the standard from now on. Nintendo have looked at what other developers are doing well, taken everything and made it better in each and every way. The huge open worlds of Rockstar, the unpredictability and emergent narrative of Ubisoft games like Far Cry and Assassins Creed, the outstanding level design and creature encounters that From Software provide with Dark Souls and Bloodborne, the deep and open environments of Bethesda games, that surprise you with lore or a new quest at every turn, the creativity of a game like Just Cause, encouraging traversal in weird and wonderful ways and add in Cd Projekt’s world design of a deep and dense forest terrain and you have Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Some big statements, but this game does everything better than those games and adds in its own quirky flavour and of course the deep lore and passion of the Zelda universe. Whether you are a new or old fan this game is a must play. Every opportunity to experiment with the systems to solve a puzzle, take down an enemy of find a new part of the map is an absolute joy. The controls are simple and intuitive and the fact that this level of game can be played on the go, still astonishes me.

This is the future of open world games. Great exploration is encouraged by having the ability to traverse the world in a huge number of ways and this is what so many other games lack.

This is going to be hard to beat as Game of the Year. All eyes are on you Rockstar and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Walking Dead: A New Frontier

Telltale’s latest entry to the Walking Dead episodic series is right there with some of the best work they have ever produced. Once again the future is bleak for all characters involved, Telltale have done another fantastic job of introducing great characters, building them with solid foundations and tearing them away based on the choices that you make, the mistakes that occur and the general terrifying nature of the world. Every episode has ended making me want more. There have been a number of solid twists and turns that have been more predictable than Season 1 and 2, however they are still leaving me, mouth wide open in some form of horror and shock. Clementine makes a return and builds already on her impressive variety and depth as a character. God you feel for this poor girl and now the issues of being a young teenager are mixed well with the Zombie Apocalypse issues that she faces on a day to day bases.

While this is far and away from the level of quality that Season 1 was when it released in 2012, the enhanced performance, quality of visuals and the great integration of new characters in Clementine’s world makes this well worth dipping into if you were a fan of Season 1 and 2. I really hope Telltale stick the landing of episode 5, as they have certainly set up an intriguing series of events.

More Modern Warfare Remastered

It may as well be 2007 again. I cannot stop playing Modern Warfare Remastered. The same gameplay loop has be absolutely and completely hooked and the little tweaks and additions that are being added by Raven Software really have added extra reparability without radically shifting the experience one way or the other.

I haven’t yet purchased the map pack, as I am unsure how this will divide the player base at the moment, but I am really hoping Activision release the game as a standalone and get as many people as possible playing. The same gun on gun gameplay that really made me fall in love with Call of Duty returns and while there is plenty of bullshit remaining in the game, it doesn’t bother me as much as the absolutely ridiculous flying and jet-packing that irks me even more.

This is the definitive multiplayer experience for me and the additions made to new camos, updated visuals and now the new weapons, have been the icing on the cake to making this game just as fun as it was years and years ago. The fact that a 10 year old multiplayer game has its hooks in me again is utterly remarkable.