Lurker > paperwarior

Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island (PS5)
It kind of blows the FF7R Yuffie episode out of the water if we're comparing them. Seems like a lot of expansions now are brief and flimsy, while this has just about the right running time, a compelling narrative, and in some ways offers a better experience from moment to moment than the base game.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Deltarune Chapter 1 (Replay) (PC)
Still a neat opening to this "sequel" but very much an introduction. Aside from the optional boss it just kind of shows off the setting and party dynamics before letting you walk through town and speak to friends new and old.
Deltarune Chapter 2 (PC)
This is where it kicks off, from establishing your home base to introducing more characters, a new, very different Dark World, and a lot more unexpected twists to the gameplay. There's another great optional boss (if not as tough as the first) and even a darker route if you're into that. There's quite a sense of mystery and foreboding from the way it ends. I'm eager to see more chapters. Hopefully it won't take as long for the next one to be released.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game (PC)
Cute, short and easygoing. I guess it would be considered a walking sim as there aren't exactly puzzles.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

WarioWare: Get It Together! (Nintendo Switch)
It's a WarioWare game with a different gimmick, this time not based on hardware. It serves well to amplify the chaos, even if it sometimes feels like you rolled a particularly bad disadvantage. I think the campaign of any game in the series is beatable in one sitting so I'm not alarmed about that. We'll just see if it holds up with the rest of the content.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Swallow the Sea (PC)
Short Shark! Shark!-like but creepier. I actually played it twice expecting multiple endings but I don't think there are, at least based on the achievement list. Fine for a free game.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Death's Door (PC)
I beat something on my own! A nice overhead hack & slash game, very charming. Not ambitious exactly, not long. But worth playing.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Bloodborne (PS4) (Platinum get)
I loved it. I briefly attempted it in the past but bringing my Souls experience helped, even though it plays quite differently. The setting and enemies, transforming weapons and uniqueness all helped to make it stand out in an already great series.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (DS) (Replay)
Holy shit. That's not something you see every day. Anyway, I guess it seems better than I remember it, but still not that great. I also want to emphasize that Spark Brushell is scarier than anything in Resident Evil.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Splatterhouse (PS3) (replay)
Jason Goes to Development Hell
I guess nostalgia wore down the edges on this game, because a lot of the edges are rougher than I remembered. There's still a lot here to like, and it deserves credit for being as good as it is considering that development was killed by Bandai Namco and the studio disbanded. I think it would all be a lot more tolerable with shorter load times, though.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

I also didn't particularly like Iconoclasts and eventually quit playing.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

The Hex (PC)
Another big explosion of meta weirdness from the creator of Pony Island. Thumbs up.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Guilty Gear -Strive- (PC) (Story Mode)
This isn't even really a VN so much as a movie, but it's the closest thing the game has to a completion state. And it's not bad. It's an improvement over Xrd's, in part due to being a movie instead of a somewhat dry VN attached to too much fighting game lore.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PC)
I didn't play much myself. Yeah, I didn't feel it. The melee combat design is very frustrating, and bosses tend to be either recycled or indistinct.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

God of War: Ascension (PS3) (replay)
I was right the first time. Okay, sure, the combat is questionable (but as good as any of the others pre-reboot) and I got a good number of "whoops" deaths on jumping/swinging/QTE segments and sweeping zoom outs during combat, but this delivers everything I want from the old series. The complex, absurd mechanisms! Time reversal puzzles! And some nice bosses too. No comment on multiplayer since that's gone I'm sure. It doesn't have a sex minigame, though. Maybe that's what the critics were missing.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Oh yeah, we got 100% on Dark Souls Remastered as well. Pausing before moving on but between us we now own 2, 3, Bloodborne and Sekiro as well.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Dark Souls Remastered (PC)
A weird case since it's newer than Demon's Souls and older than Demon's Souls Remake. I think it wasn't as strong but still a solid experience. And we played offline on the advice of some others, which is disappointing.
Final Fantasy VII Remake InterMISSION (PS5)
An enjoyable, if short expansion. I thought it was funny to have FFVII Remake nostalgia throwbacks already.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Little Nightmares (PC)
Between this, Limbo/Inside, and Never Alone, I think this was the puzzle death platformer that I was most irritated by, not so much from difficulty as from the inconsistent stealth mechanics and stingy checkpoint placement. But it's not bad. Some really grotesque monster designs help.
Come to think of it there are more punishing Japanese ones like Dokuro and A Rose in the Twilight, but they earn it better.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Resident Evil 4 (PC)
Yeah, it's as great as everyone says.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors (PS4)
The enhanced port of one of my favorite beat-em-ups, The Ninja Warriors Again. Enough changes to keep it interesting, but this time I just played through as Ninja to unlock one of the new characters.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Demon's Souls (PS5)
Okay, I pretty much cheated via cloud save backup at the end because the final boss's level drain attack, and my first failure to recover the souls from it caused too much stress to my BF who was watching and occasionally participating. I regret it, but it really wouldn't have been an enjoyable grind to try to cope with that properly. Other than that it's a great game and I look forward to playing more of the series.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Bloodroots (PC) (Replay) (All achievements)
This game owns. It's like Hotline Miami but different, providing you with an almost limitless arsenal of disposable weapons to pick up off the ground, challenging you to optimize your route and never stop moving.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (via N. Sane Trilogy) (PC)
I have to say it's more forgiving than the first game but it's still really hard. I got like half of the gems during the playthrough and I'm done.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

The Room 4: Old Sins (PC)
On par with the others or better, if more straightforward. Weird that it was only recently ported to PC. I like how multiple rooms are open at once here, creating more of a classic adventure game feel compared to the discrete puzzles in 1 and 2.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch)
Shining Get! Er, sorry. I gave up on playing it co-op pretty early but the duo-based gameplay was pretty fun anyway. A quality Nintendo game.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Astro's Playroom (PS5)
And all trophies. What a fun tech demo. It's very cute and really shows off the controller. But it's a tech demo, about 16 levels long, which you can run through in a minute or two each if not searching for collectables. It's also the most Nintendo thing not made by Nintendo in recent memory.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Dragon Audit (PC)
The production values are through the floor (Playing it on a brand new desktop before anything else is outright silly) and the aesthetic and tone can only be called weeb teenager. But damn if it isn't cute and endearing. I hope they make that sequel.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
It's nice to play a Zelda game that's just good without any weird gimmicks from the Wii/DS era. The verticality and the wall-merge mechanic are great. Buyable tools don't matter much in practice but it's a nice twist that sets it apart.
Rance Quest Magnum (PC)
Figured I'd wait for the true ending. I really do love these characters and want to spend more time with them, including the new ones.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Ah, that's disappointing but oh well, if they improve it then it's for the best.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Wii)
I really would've preferred the GCN version but I couldn't lay hands on it. So once again I went with "normal" mode in the interest of fewer motion-control-induced headaches. Despite that, I may have actually enjoyed it more than the first. Something about the light and dark worlds gave a good flow to the gameplay, and areas were more self-contained, meaning less lengthy trekking. Ammo isn't much of a problem and Sky Temple keys are 9 things to collect at the end, barely registering as different from cleaning up upgrades. I'm not quite excited for 3 but at least I'm used to the controls.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Return of the Obra Dinn (PC)
A unique experience of detective work by way of supernatural abilities. Looks great and is a great premise as long as you don't mind a lot of violent deaths and figuring things out on paper.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Back to AC+R. It's still pretty dead at the moment.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

GGs. Is there a reason it teleports me when I try to enter looking? Also could use a looking that doesn't actively matchmake.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

I'm there now.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Is park 7 the outside?

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Trying again. Anyone want to try to join me in US East 7?

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Anyone want to try to play a match? I'm in... US East Coast 5F.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Hopefully there will be friend lobbies or something to bypass it in the full game. Yeah, that's the best thing I can say about it.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Well right now it's down. If you have a PS4 at all you can download it for free, once it's working again. I wasn't so sure where to buy it but went with PS4 because a PS5 is probably happening sooner for me than a new desktop. It says I can run it on my laptop, now that I look, so I may end up buying the PC version too if it's good.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

_stingers_ posted...

So if I preorder right this second how long do I have to play it?

Right now preordering doesn't actually impact anything. You can just download and play until Sunday 7AM Pacific, if they don't change anything.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Yeah, I was gonna play more today and then I couldn't. It'd be nice if they extended it a bit. I have time on Monday!

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Just to get it out there
The Beatles - Maxwell's Silver Hammer

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

I am the Hard Drive headline about the man who's just good enough at fighting games to be poorly matched against both friends and good players. Fortunately there are many like me online.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Oh I am not good at this yet.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Well Smash is a bust. Holding out for Silksong I guess.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

You should just buy one off Fanatical though. AC+R doesn't have an in-game tutorial but it has rollback.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

It's only getting easier!

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

I preordered, not really realizing it was just an extra day of the beta. Was gonna buy at launch anyway.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

Is Sol Badguy plausible? He seems more plausible than Captain Syrup.

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

I'll go with
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLshJTgV6ZA

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Switch) (Replay)
Now you may ask, does it live up to the original? In some ways it doesn't. It's not as quirky and rough. Some of those quirks are nice not to have to deal with anymore, mind you. And as an action game it's serviceable, probably all around better even. It's also still really fuckin' weird and edgy. The writing struggles a bit in a way that may not have been meant to be as stupid as it was, but it's still got a lot of absurd charm to it. We'll see how the next one turns out. (What was with that spinoff? Some people said it just sucks, but others said it's worth it for a look into the director's mind.)

---

"God Hand is the ultimate expression of the joy of humanity, specifically the punching part of the joy of humanity."-Shigeru Miyamoto