What are you playing?

[the54thvoid]

You just remembered how baffled I am with Game Pass on WoA. My Lenovo X1E laptop came with a 3-month trial of GP Ultimate, which I was considering activating now with some of the latest releases on the catalog... except it is cloud-only on ARM. What the hell?
I know the hardware is no heavyweight, but I can (AND DO) run many games no issue (and many others with workarounds) with Steam and Heroic. Hell, Persona 3 Reload (demo) plays easily via Steam, why isn't Xbox able to install it locally?

It is installed locally. But I'll give up. Atomfall next.

I should remind myself, this is the 'what are you playing thread.'

 

[Nikhar]

This is the 'what are you playing thread.'

Noted - I shall not post about what I attempted to play

 

[Splinterdog]

I'd really like to get my hands on Wreckfest 2, but for the time being I'm trying to finish TRII Remastered and have reached Floating Islands, the weirdest level in the series.
Lara falling into the void and shrieking for the umpteenth time.

 

[Sithaer]

Well, bought PC Game Pass (Xbox), and played Avowed (enjoyed, no issues), then played through Doom, The Dark Ages (enjoyed - no issues), and tried Stalker 2 (v1.4).

OMFG.

Several CTD's within a minute of playing. Someone said turn of Afterburner. Did that. Still crashed. Web said to disbale DLSS and Reflex - did that. Still crashed after a minute or two. I know it was buggy, but this is a whole new level. Will uninstall (again) unless anybody has any constructive ideas. I expected it to be glitchy. But I've not had a game CTD on me like this for ages.

Interestingly enough Stalker 2 was stable on my system, mind you I've did not play it much like only the first ~2 hours of the story for benchmarking purposes but I've did not have a single crash tho that was the earlier versions of the game. 'I have it uninstalled since cause I wasn't really interested in playing the game for real'

Personally I've found a lot of value in gamepass in the past years and it saved me a nice sum of money but I might be biased cause I've been using it for free for 3 years already. 'perks of having a good friend..'
Talking about Atomfall, I also have it installed on pass and its actually kinda interesting but damn it they need to manage their engines better.
The game has zero form of AA nor any kind of upscaler and its a flickery mess unless you crank up the resolution scale to ~130-150% at least.

50% sharpness to maximize that fan service! DLAA is lovely, and DLSS' Transformer Model does a great job keeping hair rendering intact.

Thanks for that tip, I was wondering why the game is a bit blurry even when its ran natively.
Set the base sharpness setting higher from the base 0 and now it looks so much better at least to me.

O ye scratch my previous RT comment, the game wont have RT it was just a confusing/lazy Nvidia press relase tech video of the game where they simply slapped the RTX enabled logo on it but that did not mean RT just that it supports the other RTX features.

I've finished the demo+ that boss challenge and it was really nice so now I'm 100% positive about buying the complete edition.

 

[Nikhar]

Thanks for that tip, I was wondering why the game is a bit blurry even when its ran natively.
Set the base sharpness setting higher from the base 0 and now it looks so much better at least to me.

O ye scratch my previous RT comment, the game wont have RT it was just a confusing/lazy Nvidia press relase tech video of the game where they simply slapped the RTX enabled logo on it but that did not mean RT just that it supports the other RTX features.

I've finished the demo+ that boss challenge and it was really nice so now I'm 100% positive about buying the complete edition.

Yeah, some games look better with different levels of injected sharpness with the upscaler... It's not a universal setting since some look good best at 50%, some look best at 70%, etc. depending on the art style and the look you're wanting from it.

Ah I was wondering, as they could easily migrate the engine to use RT but I didn't hear of that plan - the baked in lighting/shadows/cubemaps/etc. are tuned to look great as-is.

The demo was such a satisfying tease. Plus your progress carries over to the full game! Some people might like that idea

 

[purecain]

Im on the last two bosses in Khasan. I think cutting my right hand off would of been about as much fun as this game... The pain is real!!!! This is me doing the impossible

 

[nomdeplume]

I'd really like to get my hands on Wreckfest 2

I'm wary of tying this into a short paragraph about the original Wreckfest, SnowRunner, and Hardspace: Shipbreaker that all released within the same week or two. Lot of potential that in my eyes signaled the final bend in shift from insanely perfected Japanese lead design into consumer QC/QA of lowest common denominator publishing standards. What I'm saying is the interior is probably greatly lacking in what should be a game that would only continue improving if the full effort had been put in. A second time.



SnowRunner has taken over majority of gaming time lately. Since release it has consistently received updates and new content that fulfilled everything above while managing to draw itself onto a slightly upwards trajectory due to momentum of player input through directly incorporated modding platform. That and bucking the trend of making games too easy by consistently doubling down on ways to keep instating a larger challenge while further softening the entry learning curve. Both through paid DLC.

Ended up with two vehicle DLC and base game + 12 "Season" DLC maps. The former can only be explained as failure to spend the first 40 hours holding a trigger for gas while moving forwards exactly -.000001 in your favored unit of measurement. Having reached approximately the place I left off previously. A near full amount of difficulty was reinstated. This is a game that is very very fun to fail at consistently or (in terms Splinterdog is sure to understand)...

Spoiler

Which brings me fully back into mind why I put this game down for my own continued health. Every (I own no DLC) vehicle in the area you start at is mediocre to task at best. They are staged there to make you learn the game well enough to appreciate what lies in the next area(s). Being the dummkopf I am, I decided turning early game into an endgame like scenario by pushing through it was going to be fun and challenging. One mission intended to be dealt with after progressing much further ended up breaking me when skill and patience proved inferior. All of this was done in hopes an update would arrive bringing certain behaviors more closely into line with previous releases in this series.

Sadly, at what is probably close to EOL. A level of gameplay refinement that should've been present at launch in May 2021 has been reached. Typical of the development cycle this entire post gnawed at like a bone.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Well, bought PC Game Pass (Xbox), and played Avowed (enjoyed, no issues), then played through Doom, The Dark Ages (enjoyed - no issues), and tried Stalker 2 (v1.4).

OMFG.

Several CTD's within a minute of playing. Someone said turn of Afterburner. Did that. Still crashed. Web said to disbale DLSS and Reflex - did that. Still crashed after a minute or two. I know it was buggy, but this is a whole new level. Will uninstall (again) unless anybody has any constructive ideas. I expected it to be glitchy. But I've not had a game CTD on me like this for ages.

Have you tried the GOG version?

 

[the54thvoid]

Have you tried the GOG version?

PC Pass suits my minimal budget. I have almost zero income. Not the thread for that chat, though.

 

[Apocalypsee]

I wanted to like Expedition 33 but really I don't fancy turn base game at all. The music is great, the story seems interesting but turn based just..... turn me off.

Played this game that everyone knows, it wasn't as bad as I thought it will be. The shooting in this game is a bit janky though sometime the aim is a bit off. Some questionable decision the protagonist take, but I just get a long with it. I try to make her wear decently, its just off to see her close to naked fighting zombies.

 

[Vayra86]

Finished Clair Obscur, all bosses down. New Game Plus seems like busywork so far and Im waay overpowered

Bit of a rollercoaster experience but in the end gave me genuine FFX monster hunter vibes which is a great thing. The game keeps surprising. Story 10/10. Combat 9/10. Pacing of the game is fcking weird, it takes time to figure out that 80% of the content is side content, and you're left completely in the dark as to when you can actually beat it.


Now I really kinda want to replay Final Fantasy X... but it keeps crashing on Deck and PC.

 

[Nikhar]

Are my standards too low for 2025? (Monday morning @ 1am)

 

[SN2716057]

Deliver at all costs. I wasn't too thrilled with the demo but I gotta say I do enjoy it now.

 

[Vayra86]

Are my standards too low for 2025? (Monday morning @ 1am)
View attachment 402142

Still waiting on the RTX version of this

 

[Splinterdog]

I wanted to like Expedition 33 but really I don't fancy turn base game at all. The music is great, the story seems interesting but turn based just..... turn me off.

View attachment 402138

Played this game that everyone knows, it wasn't as bad as I thought it will be. The shooting in this game is a bit janky though sometime the aim is a bit off. Some questionable decision the protagonist take, but I just get a long with it. I try to make her wear decently, its just off to see her close to naked fighting zombies.

View attachment 402137

What's the game in the second screenshot?

 

[Nikhar]

Still waiting on the RTX version of this

Minesweeper RTX Requrements:

Minimum:
720p 30fps
Upscaling: Performance
CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7995WX
GPU: NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 96GB
RAM: 2TB DDR5 ECC RDIMM
Storage: 69TB Gen5x4 SSD

Recommended:
TBD...

Release date:
Annoucement planned before Half Life 3

I would absolutely pay to have the original remixed with RT

What's the game in the second screenshot?

I'm guessing Resident Evil 2 (2019)

Or maybe Claire Redfield is clouding my head again...

 

[Apocalypsee]

What's the game in the second screenshot?

The Killing Antidote, a Resident Evil clone or some sort.

The Killing Antidote on Steam

This is a TPS game. Shooting, fighting, dress-up, puzzle solving, and more. In the future, a special germ causes humans to be constantly infected and mutated. The protagonist, Jodi, is a brave journalist who goes on her way to find the legendary antidote and is in danger.

store.steampowered.com

 

[beardedragon]

Only one game on my computer: Mahjongg Solitare. LOL. Not a gamer!

 

[Nikhar]

Only one game on my computer: Mahjongg Solitare. LOL. Not a gamer!

But did you play it?

 

[Bloste]

Tainted Grail: The fall of Avalon.

Bought the tabletop game back in their kickstarter campaign, and the PC games were included as freebies. They were collecting dust in my backlog until I tried this one. It's like an old Bethesda game, kinda klunky at times, but quite inmersive. The story an lore are quite good imho. The combat is... well, it could be worse. At least is not game breaking.

But anyhow is quite adictive. Let's see if it can mainain my interest until I finish it.

 

[Chomiq]

Stellar Blade demo, not my cup of tea but if you're going to try it beware - god damn defender caused massive stuttering on my rig, like 2 second freezes due to controlled folder access even when doing something as simple as entering menu. Once I whitelisted it all of the stuttering went away.

 

[arni-gx]

finally, after more than 100 hours via steam, has completed all main questline for the emperor, fighter guild, assassin guild, thieft guild, mage guild, knight of the nine.....

 

[Princess Garnet]

I wanted to like Expedition 33 but really I don't fancy turn base game at all. The music is great, the story seems interesting but turn based just..... turn me off.

Then don't force it. Yes, it's a good game, so it's unfortunate when something is good in all areas except for one which is a deal breaker. But there's plenty of good games out there for most tastes, so don't play something just for FOMO reasons. Play something if it naturally appeals to you.

I know that well because I have the opposite issue. I've bounced off a number of JRPGs (Tales of Berseria and Visions of Mana) because they weren't turn based combat and it was unfortunate because everything else was great.

Finished Clair Obscur, all bosses down. New Game Plus seems like busywork so far and Im waay overpowered

Bit of a rollercoaster experience but in the end gave me genuine FFX monster hunter vibes which is a great thing. The game keeps surprising. Story 10/10. Combat 9/10. Pacing of the game is fcking weird, it takes time to figure out that 80% of the content is side content, and you're left completely in the dark as to when you can actually beat it.

The balance (and to a slightly lesser extent, the pacing) is definitely one (two) of the things that certainly isn't perfect in this game. Neither are bad enough to ruin it, but both are examples that this was a newer studio still trying to dial things in.

I found that limiting yourself to level 15 through 21 pictos and weapons, and not using the cheater lumina (and perhaps avoiding painted power lumina before the end) makes it a little more balanced if you did most of the side content before completing the story. But at that point, if everyone is still hitting for the damage cap with most attacks, then it becomes "just use people who have skills with more hits" so finding a way to use painted power but reducing your power (level 10-ish weapons?) might feel better.

Who knew Lorien Testard would come out of nowhere as a Nobuo Uematsu tier composer!? Oh my goodness, the music is that good. Few games have great music. This is one of them.

But yeah, I love the game and the story. The plot twist near the end will be hit or miss with people so you'll either love it or hate it, and the term "plot twist" is often overused for any story beat shift, but it's apt for this game. The change near the end is a literal and real twist here. I personally loved it, but it was also apparent to me it was coming.

SPOILERS FOR AN ENDING, DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE GAME OR OTHERWISE DON'T WANT SOME THINGS SPOILED!

Spoiler

LAST CHANCE TO TURN BACK!

Spoiler

What ending did you choose? I went with Verso, and after watching Maelle's, I find his to be the one I'm happier with... although neither seems entirely happy.

I couldn't help but swoon when he'd give "this look" throughout the game... (I'm not sorry!) but wow, I knew there something he was hiding every time he showed it. Chills.

"It's time to stop painting."

Even with my aforementioned restrictions, I did that to Maelle's health in one attack. I think I was already overpowered before act III, but rather by the end of act II because the supposed difficulty spike at the end of act II is where it got easier for me. Probably because that was the first (yes, first) time I respeced my character stats, used proper point allocation, and upgraded to higher level pictos for stats instead of effects. So I auto attacked for the rest of the battle.

There's an obvious universe set up here, even if a sequel (or prequel) in this canvas is also possible, I'd rather not see it (but I wouldn't mind DLC for this game of it). The point of the game is moving on; let's see another universe, perhaps from the perspective of the writers? Of another family? What is this "war" or feud about? A lot of unanswered potential.

"For those who come after." (Right?)

 

[blinnbanir]

Paid early to play Evil West. Game is actually fun to play

 

[Nikhar]

Still don't feel like committing to more than the main story in The Elder Stutters IV: Frustration Remastered
It's beautiful, but, I just can't.