What Game Are You Currently Playing?

[Bugg]

I finished the main story of Assassin's Creed Origins last night. Loved the ending. Overall a thoroughly enjoyable game. I can see they picked up a lot of design tips from Witcher 3. As open world games go it's in my top 5 behind W3, GTA V, probably slightly ahead of Horizon Zero Dawn, purely because the recreation of Ancient Egypt is breathtaking. I've still got loads to do in terms of side quests and also the expansions but, after nearly 70 hours on it I need something different.

So next up is Dishonored: Definitive Edition.

 

[Bugg]

Finished Dishonored, the main game anyway. Still got the DLCs to do.

Now making a start on Prey, thanks to the Steam Summer Sale.

 

[ChatBot]

Subnautica was a very welcome addition to my collection of sci-fi games. Features a company man marooned on an open world aquatic planet. A great effort from a little indie outfit, but sure, it's marred by some bugs and development shortcuts as you'd expect.

2017's Prey was also brilliant. Perhaps the spiritual successor to System Shock 2 for those who remember that then ground breaking narrative based fps: An infested space station, lots of back story to uncover with an unhealthy dose of existential paranoia. Also set in a largely open world, it features some really good zero-g areas.

 

[Toby Frost]

Two old games on my PC: Dead Space and Fallout 3.

Dead Space isn’t frightening so much as drably gruesome. The graphics are very good for its time but not very interesting: it all feels pretty generic. The character moves as if he’s trying to get home after a few pints. For all the jump scares and limb removal, I actually find it a bit boring.

Fallout 3 is also drab, in that the world is so washed-out that it looks almost sepia, but the humour and potential for adventure still make it very entertaining. It’s a very detailed game, where even the objects in an abandoned shed can tell a story about what happened to the people who used to live there. It's a classic as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Bugg]

I loved Dead Space at the time, played it on 360. Never bothered with the sequels, though.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Working my way through a survival mode Fallout 4. This is exactly how to play the game - I feel - instant death on hitting a mine, barely being able to survive a dozen .38 rounds being half-heartedly thrown at you by a toddler and only saving if you can sleep.

Just spent three hours today doing a dozen attempts at HalluiGen...managed it eventually! Warm glow of satisfaction.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I thought the survival mode added a lot, but did have some gripes. The cycle for food/water seemed too quick, and in certain situation it seems ill-fitting. If you're in a confined space where you're very likely to encounter multiple enemies or just a few with explosives, it's difficult (and not the 'challenging' type of difficult so much as the 'annoying' variety).

That said, I did get a fair way into things before stopping, and I hope that my grandchildren enjoy survival mode in the next Elder Scrolls game.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I thought the survival mode added a lot, but did have some gripes. The cycle for food/water seemed too quick, and in certain situation it seems ill-fitting. If you're in a confined space where you're very likely to encounter multiple enemies or just a few with explosives, it's difficult (and not the 'challenging' type of difficult so much as the 'annoying' variety).

That said, I did get a fair way into things before stopping, and I hope that my grandchildren enjoy survival mode in the next Elder Scrolls game.

I'm just at level 24 on the run, but still enjoying trying to balance the various demands. Plus I've just picked up my first 50 cal sniper rifle (swoon)...

Frankly there's enough food lying about to not worry so much, as long as you explore thoroughly and don't mind a few rads...purified water is tough at first, but I enjoying trying to find beds and purified water sources (although for water it's easy enough when you find a workstation) deeper and deeper into the commonwealth.

As for the fights, it can be annoyingly quick to get mashed - but I'm still at the stage of enjoying working out each situation and how to deal with it. It feels a bit old school - like trying to complete levels/sequences on chuckie egg or games of such ilk

Still to finish Skyrim properly mind you, so this run is likely to meander into oblivion....

 

[Bugg]

They need to get Fillion on board for the actual movie!

 

[Anushka Mokosh]

Playing The Witcher 3. Late to the party, but my brother got a really good laptop now and lets me play it on those rare weekends when I go for a visit. It is an engrossing game.

 

[Toby Frost]

I'm replaying the third Shadowrun game, Shadowrun Hong Kong. While the first game, Shadowrun Returns, is nothing very special, the second (Dragonfall) and third have been really good. One of the main improvements is that you work with a team, from which you can pick people to help you with missions. Team members often have issues of their own that, if discussed properly, can lead to additional side-quests.

Anyway, the writing is good. I particularly like the way that Dragonfall and Hong Kong both feel as if they've taken in the feel of Berlin and HK without turning them into a complete caricature. The combat system is very much like Xcom. The roleplaying elements are quite decent, although I've found it much easier just to be a bloke with a gun than anything especially fancy. Good stuff.

 

[Bugg]

I'm replaying the third Shadowrun game, Shadowrun Hong Kong. While the first game, Shadowrun Returns, is nothing very special, the second (Dragonfall) and third have been really good. One of the main improvements is that you work with a team, from which you can pick people to help you with missions. Team members often have issues of their own that, if discussed properly, can lead to additional side-quests.

Anyway, the writing is good. I particularly like the way that Dragonfall and Hong Kong both feel as if they've taken in the feel of Berlin and HK without turning them into a complete caricature. The combat system is very much like Xcom. The roleplaying elements are quite decent, although I've found it much easier just to be a bloke with a gun than anything especially fancy. Good stuff.

I loved Dragonfall, such a good game. I've had to re-start Hong Kong as I wasn't happy with the character class/build I'd chosen, so it's still a work in progress, which is shameful really, as I jumped onboard with the Kickstarter so really should have played it through by now.

 

[Lucien21]

Bah the first Shadowrun game was brilliant

 

[Toby Frost]

I like the way they kept some of the music for the new games!

 

[Toby Frost]

Dragonfall is terrific. I think I prefer it slightly to HK, especially in the way that it deals with the hacking parts. Dodging the security programes in real-time feels rather out of place compared to the rest of the game.

In fact, I'm going to say that if you're writing a book and your main characters aren't as well-rounded as the ones in Dragonfall, something has gone wrong.

 

[biodroid]

I bought a sim racing wheel and got Project CARS 2, it's awesome. Waiting for F1 2018 the game, it looks better and sounds better than 2017 with a better career path etc. Apparently the AI is a lot more racy, they don't give up if you try passing them and each season doesn't start off with Ferrari or Merc being the top teams, they have built it in such a way that Sauber or Toro Rosso can be the top teams in the next season due to upgrades to the team and car. That means you can race a previous backmarker team for the championship in a Merc team that is now a backmarker team, sounds like fun.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Returned to a fairly late-on Pillars of Eternity playthrough. After finishing, on Easy, as Pengel, the world's nicest man, playing as Selena, the godlike ex-shopkeeper who is very rational. If/when I finish that, I might try an evil playthrough.

 

[Bugg]

Decided, finally, to try No Man's Sky with the 'Next' update, especially as it's half price or less on Steam and the PS Store at the moment. I'm finding it pretty boring, tbh, but I've yet to try multiplayer, and my main reason for doing it now was to play with friends, so we'll see what that's like.

Also got Monster Hunter World on the way to try the multiplayer on that.

Otherwise I am still playing Prey, which is fantastic, and the Dishonored 'Knife of Dunwall' DLC, which is also fantastic.

 

[Toby Frost]

Yes, I was disappointed with No Man’s Sky. While the visuals and the generation of the planets were great, I found myself not doing much except landing and then desperately trying to find enough fuel to take off again, while my life support system slowly ran out of juice. It made me realise that I really don’t like games that are continually prodding me to do things before a time limit runs out, whether it’s finding fuel, defending the base, rescuing passers-by from zombies and so on. For me, it’s too much like having to keep feeding coins into a parking meter. It discourages experimentation and exploration for its own sake.

The Dishonoured add-ons are pretty good, I thought.

 

[Bugg]

Yes, I was disappointed with No Man’s Sky. While the visuals and the generation of the planets were great, I found myself not doing much except landing and then desperately trying to find enough fuel to take off again, while my life support system slowly ran out of juice. It made me realise that I really don’t like games that are continually prodding me to do things before a time limit runs out, whether it’s finding fuel, defending the base, rescuing passers-by from zombies and so often. For me, it’s too much like having to keep feeding coins into a parking meter. It discourages experimentation and exploration for its own sake.

Yes, you've just summed up exactly my feelings about it. I've only played for about three hours but that side of it is already exasperating. At the moment it's got me running around a planet trying to find buried technology, but there was none in the area where I first landed, so I decided to fly around and try other areas, which resulted me running out of both the take-off fuel and the regular fuel (whatever they're both called), so I spent more time running around shooting at rocks and plants just to be able to take off again.

Naturally, when I actually found some buried technology, I didn't have the resource I needed to actually activate it, so off I went again.

Pretty tedious. I can't imagine the multiplayer is going to change my opinion but we'll see.

The Dishonoured add-ons are pretty good, I thought.

I'm certainly enjoying this one. I loved the main game and I'm keen to get onto the sequel, too, so thought I'd better play these first. I highly recommend Prey if you enjoyed Dishonored, as it's by the same developers and has a similar approach to exploration and experimentation, just in a more open environment (a space station).