Had a really weird few days with work and other stuff so I’m all mixed up now, sorry about the late post. My schedule is all over the place. Hopefully next week we’ll be back to normal.
Brief off-topic aside: This recurring thread has been a bright spot, for me, in a sad Internet, this year. Thank you.
As for what I’m playing - mostly Palworld. The late game has allowed me to try to breed perfect pals while getting as deep as I like into farm management and interior decorating. It’s been very fun. Well worth the sticker price.
I’m glad you’ve been enjoying it. It’s been hard to be consistent lately but hopefully it’ll be back to normal again now.
Replaying A Hat in Time after about eight years. I decided to get some cheap DLC in place of more games during Steam’s summer sale, and that includes A Hat in Time’s Nyakuza Metro. With that, I thought it was worth a full replay of the game.
Still really liking the game. With more hindsight, I’ve realized the game’s plot makes barely any sense. And it has an oddly dark sense of humour that contrasts with the game’s otherwise kiddy presentation, even outside the spooky forest.
I love Hat. There are community-made levels in the Steam workshop that are worth trying if you want more content.
Oh yeah. I never got around to that on my first run.
So this is technically a new release, but Pokemon Ghost Grey. I think it’s the best romhack I’ve played in years. It’s so creepy and really shows off how Pokemon’s Gen III engine can really work for item-management survival horror. Lots of great psychological horror and dystopian themes. The protagonist looking intentionally different in his/her metagame character portrait vs. actual mirrors and photographs is, um, relatable 😅.
Oh, Summer is the best rival too.
I started Burnout 3. Enjoying how definitely mid-aughts it is. Crashing is not always as much fun as I was led to believe, lol. I mean, it’s gnarly at first, but after a while you just appreciate it as a fail state if you’re in a race or time trial. The game includes a Need for Speed demo, and that demo really contrasts - making me appreciate how snappy, fun, and clean-looking BO3 is.
This next game just came out, so in some ways it doesn’t qualify as patient. But at the same time, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is a remake of an older game I’ve wanted to play for a long time (and I’ve patiently waited since SC never got a physical release in my region before). Just got started, but it was immediately refreshing to pick back up right where the original First Chapter left off. Seeing the characters, hearing the music motifs, takes me back. In a way I miss the charm of the 2D, but the new coat of paint is overall quite seviceable.
I just did the same thing myself. Played Burnout 3 until Trails released.
It is crazy how well Burnout holds up over 20 years later.
Hah, what are the odds!
Agreed, it has held up exceptionally well. I never played it when it was newer, but I’m also not well-versed in the genre (outside of Mario Kart and some F-Zero). I guess maybe since it released later in the PS2 gen, the modern design patterns were already falling into place. Or maybe it’s just really well made.
Red Dead Redemption 2; just reached the Epilogue.
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
I’m about 65% into the game (well, map exploration) and grinding a bit in preparation for the next boss fight. I’m also trying to unlock as many skill cards and new items as I can (without gunning for 100%) so progression slowed down a bit. Still, I’m getting there.
Saints Row 2
As much as I love this game, I’m not planning another playthrough just yet. I simply wanted to try out the Saints Row 2 Juiced Patch which promises huge performance improvements, mouse fixes, graphics improvements and a bunch of other things. It delivered quite nicely and the game runs and plays much better than it ever did.
Add a few other mods (Gentlemen of the Row for fixes and various additions, Made 2 Measure for better clothing customisation, PS3 Audio for better audio quality etc) and the whole thing becomes a joy to play. Not that the vanilla version wasn’t fun but its technical state leaves a lot to be desired and does affect the overall enjoyment.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly
I didn’t forget about this! I’m still a bit busy and can’t start my role-play focused playthrough just yet but I’ve been doing some additional prep for that in the meantime. I decided to set the game up from scratch using Heroic Launcher instead of Lutris as the former tends to give me better stability and performance lately (I also want to move away from Lutris in general). Additionally, I figured out how to configure the Amethyst Mod Manager for the game on Linux which makes the mod list setup and debugging much easier and cleaner.
I was planning to include my full mod list here but it put my comment over the character limit. I’ll add one once I’m done modding and ready to start playing.
I’m still not sure when I’ll start the actual playthrough but it’ll most likely be around December or January - I hope I’ll be able to wrap up my current time-consuming black hole of a project by then but we’ll see how it goes. It will happen, that’s all I can say for certain.
Playing some Tyr, believe it or not. Sci-fi Tank Game that is like a mix of Overwatch and WoT.
Also fired up my old copy of Freelancer.
Still working through Hitman achievements. Just 4 locations left to master I think, all on Hitman 2 maps. I’m not really sure what I’ll do when I’ve got these done. I’ll probably take a break from Hitman for a while so I don’t get too burned out, maybe go back to Elden Ring or something again. We’ll see.
I played through Portal for the first time and I found it kind of underwhelming. I can see why it was a big thing two decades ago, but as a new player today the experience doesn’t really feel special.
Have you played Portal 2? I found that one to be by far the better of the two. Though with that being said I did still really enjoy the first one.
I have not, but I have too many other things in my backlog to add that one.
One thing worth keeping in mind is the fact that the first game was a small experimental project made as part of the Orange Box rather than a full-fledged title. It’s short and a bit simple but it was more of a neat bonus in a pack of other games, not a star of the show. That’s not to say your opinion is invalid, on the contrary, it’s just… between years of hype and the scope of the project, having Portal blow you away would be more surprising than your current feelings towards it, in my opinion.
As BurnWits said, Portal 2 is more of a full-fledged title in comparison. If you enjoyed the first game, there’s a high chance you’ll like the sequel. Will it be closer to the mind blowing expectations you had for the first one? I don’t know. It is however a bigger and more polished product so it might satisfy you more in that regard.
I do understand the unwillingness to increase your backlog though, I know this feeling really well too.
I’ve been playing Dread Templar.
It’s an indie shooter with a Quake like aesthetic.
Mafia 3. Struggled to get it working on my Steam Deck because of its controls, but now it works. The first few hours were great but now I’m scared the repetitive tasks are gonna appear…
