[GreenBow]

Playing ELEX. Not sure how to rate it. Probably 7.8/10 with reservations.

It's quite immersive. Like on negative comment that ELEX receives is that it has too much dialogue. I find that not the case. There's enough to draw the player into the world. .. Exploration is rewarding.

One negative I have with it, is when you set off running, your first four steps are walking pace. Total pain in the neck at all times, including combat.

I like the game though. It is a Punkbuster game throughout, in that it takes ages to get going with combat. Combat is best avoided for quite a long time. Excluding all other aspects, the pacing of the game is identical to the Risen series.

Lastly, ELEX can be a long game. I am doing all the side quests and a lot of exploration. Have played for almost ninety hours, and there is a long way to go yet.

-----------

Halo 4 from The Master Chief Collection. 8.2/10 easily. It might not be be on par with modern titles in terms of graphics and mechanics. However I feel fully back in the Halo world I knew from Halo 1 and 2. Master Chief and Cortana.

 

[Kukuk]

Been putting some serious time on Cyberpunk 2077. It's not without its issues, but it's a very enjoyable experience.

Its biggest weakness is its bugginess. There's little thing here and there that make it clear it's not a polished experience. I constantly die from just walking around, or climbing up buildings, like there's some physics bug that's applying lethal falling damage to me or something. I die more to that than to actual enemies. There's graphical and animation glitches here and there, which are noticeable, but they're rare enough to not completely ruin the immersion. I think overall, from a bug perspective, the game is in a better state than, say, a Bethesda game. It's not as polished as I would have hoped, but I expected a lot worse considering the delays.

The gameplay loop isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea; I think there's an expectation that this should compete with games like Deus Ex or something like it, who's levels are narrow and carefully crafted, but I think that's somewhat unfair. I think it would be more appropriate to compare it to something like Fallout 4, where it's much larger, and there's a lot of dynamic systems going on. In that regard, I think Cyberpunk is a clear step up. Gunplay feels better, stealth works much better, and you just have more ways to go about doing missions. It feels more like Far Cry, but with a proper RPG backbone.

Story, and general immersion are the main draws of the game, though. Story seems really solid at the moment, but I really don't want to comment on it until I can see how it actually plays out. There's a lot of decisions to be made, and I have no idea if those bear fruit. The basic premise of the story is compelling, and keeps you wanting to push through it with a nice ticking clock element, as well as a pretty strong cast of characters. No complaints about story so far, though. The immersion is really something else, and a clear cut above any game that has come before it. I really do think it's the most immersive game ever, and I think a huge part of that is the technology the game is built on. It's obviously the most technically impressive game on the market, but more than that it does an incredible job capturing scale. It's hard to explain what it is that other games fail to do to give them a sense of scale, but I never really "buy" that cities in games are actually cities. In this buildings tower above you, warehouses seem to go on for miles, and everything just has a proper sense of space.

Screenshots don't quite do it justice, but maybe it'll illustrate a little what I'm talking about. And of course there's the hustle and bustle of the NPCs, paths through the city that don't go any place in particular, but exist solely to flesh the world out. You can get lost for hours just wandering around, seeing the sights.

The game isn't for everyone, but there's just nothing else like it. At this point I'd probably give it an 8/10. With some bug fixes and some tweaks I could see this pushing closer to a 9 or 10, but for the time being it's still a solid game.

 

[GreenBow]

Can't wait to play Cyberpunk 2077. However am going to let it them get maybe the DLCs done and more fixes, and optimisation first. Thank you for your write up, (without going into spoilers).

 

[SilverEars]

A bit disappointed with Cyberpunk 2077 after finishing. Too many bugs, avg gameplay mechnics and AI, and story wasn't great. Gameplay is an issue because you can easily get though combat with a Katana. Not much challenge.

Finished Devil May Cry 5, and I like it. Visuals were stunning (I'm a huge visuals guys). It's action oriented so not for everybody. I like the stylized action combinations. I recall being blown away when I played the first DMC. The dialog is cheezy and makes no sense, and I couldn't understand the story due to this. If they can make a good story for it, it would certainly improve as the production seems very high looking at the visuals. Monster designs were A+. I guess Capcom has a lot of experience in this department. Gameplay mechanics isn't challenging, but the attack combinations I found fun, but the game does get a bit repetitive.

Playing Ori and the will of the Wisps. Wow, the visuals are stunning as a side scroller. It's very addictive, and I can't put the controller down. It's a Metroidvania style game I get really engrossed with due to being a Nintendo generation child. Very enjoyable, and highly recommended. I see why it has such high ratings.

Medtroidvania
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroidvania

 

[SilverEars]

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is an excellent game. The game mechanics are just flawless. Quite deep and on the similar level with Metroid and Castlevania. Very original. Metrovania aspect seems to have taken inspiration. This game is like Metroid, but with a different clothing. It does bring it's own original gameplay mechanics and it's very creatively done. Balance of learning the controls for challenges are well done, but later on the game the challenges get really difficult and balance breaks apart. The Sandworm chase is damn near impossible! I originally thought they balanced the difficulty well until this impossible chase. Dear Lord. Oh yeah and bosses get really difficult as well. Just play on easy (because you can't change difficulty mid game) and make sure to get all the powerup items. This game isn't so friendly with powerups like Metroid. They are hidden. Another unforgiving Western game IMO. A lot of the non-Japanese games I've played provide more options for users, but at the same time the user can be setup for failure later on. Most Japanese games they think about such consequences to avoid them to happen.

 

[GreenBow]

Strange Brigade.

Only done two maps. 5.3 hours playtime - absolutely love it.

Very good level design and graphics, that doesn't need a monster GPU to run fast frame rates. I have 1080 Ti and 1440p monitor with the game completely maxed out. I use a frame rate cap of 110fps, and my GPU maintains that always.

 

[judson_w]

Hades - I have been enjoying this game. Got it at Christmas and already have 40 attempts. I have been enjoying the narrative and exploring various character's storylines casually. While I have not completed a full run yet, I like the progression that can be made. Sometimes I will do as serious attempt and other times I do more a run to gather resources I need for improvements that make future runs easier or to progress a character's story line.

I am also a huge fan of all the other Supergiant Games soundtracks and Hades is no different. First time I met Eurydice, I had to sit and listen to her song as I knew that once I talked to her it would either stop or reset.

One other thing I enjoy is that things unlock in a nice progression. There are things that are still locked in the game for me, but thus far the game has showed me that if I keep playing and progressing, it will be unlocked when I get there; there do not seem to be any tricks of "do this very specific sequence of actions to get this result" progression stuff. At least not that I have seen.

While yes, you start at the beginning of the run each time you fail a run,that is part of the genre and I think Hades does a good job of working it in thematically and mechanically a number of ways. Back at home, there are a lot of characters that have interesting narrative lines to follow which generally only progress after you attempted a run (and sometimes you need a gift, but the game tells you in the Codex when gifts are needed for progressing things). During the runs themselves, given that Zagreus is becoming more powerful with upgrades and the player is learning more about areas, oft traveled regions should be easier and faster. There are a few mini-bosses that I hated fighting but have more recently found that I can handle them better now. Also with runs, the bosses of each realm have some variations after you have defeated them a few times.

While the game can be challenging, if a person wants a more relaxed time playing, there is a 'God Mode' which can be toggled on and off to make subsequent runs easier. I have not yet used it, but given how much I am enjoying the story, I am happy they put this in there for those who want to enjoy the story with less potential frustration.

 

[wjb812]

Just picked up Asassin's Creed Valhalla, enjoying it so far. I have about an hour into it.

 

[Kukuk]

Just picked up Asassin's Creed Valhalla, enjoying it so far. I have about an hour into it.

I'm going to have to give it another try at some point, but I had a really hard time loving what I played of it. It seems like stealth has really taken a back seat, and the combat doesn't feel as responsive as Odyssey's. I didn't hate it, but it just didn't really seem like it was an actual Assassin's Creed game, though that may have been by design...

 

[MSA1133]

Yakuza: Like a Dragon (9/10)!

The story is touching, funny and adrenaline filled all at the same time! Want to do exams? You can. Want to drive a Kart? You can. Want to work on your gardening skills? You can. Want to fight as a homeless with unique skill-sets and fill your encyclopedia of pokemon-like enemies such as 'Red' 'Blue' and 'Green', you can too.

Overall, these guys remind me of Gintama, but middle aged men.

A definite must buy if you love JRPGs and wanted to try something unique and funny. Having knowledge of some of the series characters is a good thing to have but not a must. You could enjoy this fully as a first timer to the series.

 

[ThanatosVI]

Since I saw a few mentions of Ori: And the will of the wisps I'd like to mention another excellent Metroidvania.

Hollow Knight: Absolutely amazing game 9/10. Not much to complain about except for the difficulty of something (e.g. path of pain)
It has also been free on PS+ for Dezember, if you didn't get it there it is most definitely worth the 15 bucks they ask for it.

 

[Slaphead]

Control on the PC - Fantastic, nuff said

FTL and Mini Metro on the iPad - both perfect for shortening a long train commute.

 

[JR1911]

Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)

Just finished CP2077 yesterday after around 70 hrs and I absolutely loved the game. Sure, there were some minor glitches and bugs (playing on the 1.06 patch) but overall the game was extremely enjoyable and ran very well at 1440p ultrawide resolution, though I do have a somewhat beefy gaming rig that I built specifically to play Cyberpunk (Ryzen 5600X and RTX 3070). I can't say that the game lived up to the hype but then again I never expected it would, also I had doubts about having to play in first person but now I can't imagine playing the game any other way.

Spoiler: The ending

The ending of the game however left me somewhat unsatisfied, though I got the 'good' ending I didn't really like how it ended on a cliffhanger, but I suspect that's going to expanded on in the future expansions. The main story is also quite short and I was surprised when the game suddenly notified that I'd reached the point of no return.

9/10

 

[GreenBow]

Not sure any game could live up to the hype C-2077 had.

 

[Slaphead]

Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)

Just finished CP2077 yesterday after around 70 hrs and I absolutely loved the game. Sure, there were some minor glitches and bugs (playing on the 1.06 patch) but overall the game was extremely enjoyable and ran very well at 1440p ultrawide resolution, though I do have a somewhat beefy gaming rig that I built specifically to play Cyberpunk (Ryzen 5600X and RTX 3070). I can't say that the game lived up to the hype but then again I never expected it would, also I had doubts about having to play in first person but now I can't imagine playing the game any other way.

Spoiler: The ending

The ending of the game however left me somewhat unsatisfied, though I got the 'good' ending I didn't really like how it ended on a cliffhanger, but I suspect that's going to expanded on in the future expansions. The main story is also quite short and I was surprised when the game suddenly notified that I'd reached the point of no return.

9/10

Not sure any game could live up to the hype C-2077 had.

The biggest problem that CDPR had with CP2077 is The Witcher 3. The hype surrounding CP2077 didn't really come from CDPR themselves, but from every Tom, Dick and Harry that had a social sewage account, and also from dickhead tech journos/influencers. All were hyping it into oblivion based solely on the fact that the aforementioned Witcher 3 was a absolutely blinding success, and deservedly so. But let's not forget that The Witcher 3 was itself an absolute buggy mess on release.

Also CDPR is a publicly traded company - since 2009. And that means shareholder profits come above absolutely anything else, such as little things like delivering a fully working product, which would have put pressure on the CDPR staff to get the game out of the door.

I'll wait for a year or so until the GOTY edition is released. That means I get to play it with all (ok, most) of the bugs removed, with all of whatever additional content is released at half the price. My Steam backlog is so large that I've got more than enough to do in the meantime.