I beat Dungeons of Aether, both in the story mode and in the roguelike challenge dungeons mode that I didn’t realize was there at first. The story mode is structured more like an XCOM or Midnight Suns, with a home base to buy upgrades at between missions, while the challenge dungeon mode is more like the Slay the Spire structure that the game’s combat system sets expectations for. I wish I liked this one better. There are some decisions they made in late-game enemy design in the pursuit of adding challenge that I very much disagree with, where in lots of situations the game can just always react to what you do with the mathematically correct decision rather than allowing you to bait out attacks like the game teaches you to do. Also, one of the playable characters, Hamir, just seems way better than the other three. I beat the roguelike mode on my first try using Hamir. I got my money’s worth out of this one, and it’s got some really neat ideas, but it lacks the replay value you’d expect out of a roguelike. I think they need to take another go at this one and let it bake some more.

I then moved on to Backpack Hero, which I played in early access before they added its own story mode with a more macro structure, and I guess that’s just what the roguelike market is doing these days, huh? So far, I don’t think it’s quite as good as just doing a regular run, but this game does have that replayability that you come to a roguelike for. I’ll see the story mode through before moving on to the other games I’d like to finish before the year is done.

Playing through CP2077 for the 4th time now, this time with the dlc. Really does change the flow of the game, just a couple missions in so far.

In a couple weeks I’ll be spinning up a new factory with friends in Satisfactory too! Getting excited for that.

Shameless plugs for both [email protected] and [email protected] for those interested

Finished up Return of the Obra Dinn earlier.

I’ll admit I started getting a bit frustrated about halfway through, but then some more stuff started clicking and I managed to get through the rest.

I had looked up a couple of hints to point me in the right direction when I was stuck, which I ended up only needing for about three cases. Admittedly, I did also brute force some shit with pure guesswork, but I don’t really mind all that much.

Still, it was interesting. Might hit up some other detective game soon, not quite sure.

I’ve been watching some GPW3 gameplay, but I also would probably not be able to play it lol. I just beat Jedi: Survivor yesterday. I waited a while to pick it up because of all the performance issues and it really did run like crap, but at least I got it on sale and it was still quite fun.

I’ll probably either go back to Sea of Stars, which I only played for a couple hours so far, or maybe I’ll play The Messenger, which I bought at the same time in a bundle.

Also, with the release of the Rivals 2 Kickstarter, I’ve been playing a bit of Rivals of Aether with friends. It’s one of the greatest platform fighters out there, but I feel like it’s still very underrated

I felt an urge to play Skyrim again, had a lot of fun for a day or two, but eventually after I added some more mods I started getting frequent CTDs and have been trying to figure out what the problem is (and how to fix it) through the crash logs.

I might just have to remove Immersive Citizens from the load order but I really don’t want to because it really makes the NPCs feel so much more “alive”.

Edit of original comment:

Loaded up Vampyr after ditching it a while ago. Remembered why I didn’t enjoy it and ditched it again.

Took a break, listened to some podcasts, saw Jusant finally got an accessibility update which makes it actually playable for me, so going to spend some more time with that, since I can actually enjoy it without destroying my wrists now.

I reluctantly pulled the trigger on PS+ with the Black Friday discount because I have to have it to play Madden, and downloaded Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart because it’s included. It does a beautiful job leveraging the PS5’s features, and it’s really fun. I also love the art style. Too many games go too hard at “realism” instead of just making a beautiful game.

Also, because I got it as a PS+ game years ago and just regained access without buying it, started playing COUNTER SPY again. I don’t think it ever got the attention it deserved. It’s a fun 2D stealth platformer smoothly combined with a cover shooter mechanic where you can aim and shoot in 3D from fixed cover points. Dying raises the threat level, and if you raise it past DEFCON 1, you get a countdown timer to complete the level or fail your mission. There are a couple mechanics to lower the threat level, and you can choose to gain your intel from US or russia themed enemies who are otherwise the same. Levels are procedural, and there’s meta progression by unlocking guns. It doesn’t really get to rogue lite because there aren’t random powerups, weapons, skills, etc, but it feels similar otherwise. I would have loved a sequel expanding on the premise, but it’s still worth a run every now and then.

I beat Hyper Light Drifter for the first time. And I think I spent some time on the new Mario kart levels, though that might have been last week.

HLP is a fascinating game with a novel approach to gameplay and world building. A few controls issues annoyed me, but they were growing pains and not fully learning the system. I love games that use that particular art style. I think I’m doing Mario Galaxy next.

I’m trying to figure out my second Voucher game to get.

My top choices are: Arceus - I enjoy pokemon, but it sounds like a lot of “research” busy work. Pikmin 4 - I haven’t clicked with Pikmin demos previously, but the idea has always seemed pretty interesting if I’d let it go farther. Mario Wonder - feels shorter, and more peripheral to my interest, but I’ve heard great things. Xenoblade 3 - I’ve only played XBX before and not all the way through. RPGs aren’t completely my thing, but I’ve heard great things.

None of them are THE game I’m after with pros and cons to each. The decision paralysis is rough and I don’t see anything worth waiting for before May.

I’m playing cyberpunk with the phantom liberty and 2.0 update. I think they’ve done a fantastic job fixing the game. It’s not perfect but I enjoy it nonetheless.

Some Super Mario Wonder, GT7 and I just started Horizon Forbidden West. Probably those along with my usual FC 24 and MLB The Show. Those last two are great for a quick 15 minute session.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is my main game currently after taking a break from it for a while. If I just need something where I don’t have to think too much I boot up Risk of Rain Returns.
Also been in a kind of MMO mood recently so I tried out Neverwinter, World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV, but found myself not really having fun with those.

Witcher 3. For like sixth time. I think I might need some help, because I’ve bought around 5 games last month and I didn’t even open them.

I haven’t been playing as much since I’ve been prepping for Thanksgiving, but I still had some time for Diablo 3: Season 29. I spent nearly all week looking for a Treasure Goblin to open a portal to The Vault so I could slay Greed for one of the Conqueror chapter tasks. I came across quite a few of those lil guys, but they kept being stingy with the portal. Then I finally found a Puzzle Ring, surprisingly the first one I’ve found all season. Popped it into Kanai’s Cube and finally got into The Vault. Now I’m back to working on Rifts, honing my time down to below four minutes for Torment 13. I’ve also hit that point where it feels like I’m leveling up suuuupppppeeerrr slowly, so, uh, that’s fun.
Haven’t done too much with Diablo 4 this week, but I’m hoping to get a few tasks done between family visits this coming week.

I’ve gotten back into Minecraft lately, after not playing it at all for at least a year. I finally reached a couple major milestones, like defeating the Enderdragon and obtaining netherite scraps (still don’t have any netherite equipment yet–obtaining smithing templates is a real pain). Playing on a couple SMP servers has also motivated me to put actual effort into beautifying my bases, rather than just living in a tiny wooden shack I made on day one or two.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 with my wife. A holiday break cut off our first game at the end of act 2, so I hope we make it through this time.

Soulstone Survivors by my lonesome. I’m on a bullet heaven binge, and this one seems pretty good.