Board 8 > Post Each Time You Beat a Game: 2022 Edition

(+) Yeah! (+)

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (PS5)
Alright, so everyone had a good laugh at this game from the start, between its less-than-stellar production values, ridiculous shlock plot that was somehow supposed to be inspired by Final Fantasy 1, and curmudgeonly FPS action man who really doesn't want anything but to KILL CHAOS. And rightly so. By the end, though, the story isn't exactly "good", but it's... like Kingdom Hearts in quality. If you can enjoy a stupid story like Kingdom Hearts there's no reason you can't enjoy this. And it never strays far from Jack's original scenery-chewing appeal. Actually it leans into it really hard. It helps that the gameplay is pretty fun once you get a handle on enough of the million fine-tunable little components to survive. It's like a Brutal Final Fantasy 1 where you rip and tear your way through classic enemies like Bombs and Tonberries, but instead of a BFG you have ULTIMA.

Shadow Warrior 3 (PC)

Ah well, at least it doesn't suck.

After the success of its initial reboot the sequel Shadow Warrior 2 attempted to cash in on Borderlands and create a pseudo-open world hack slasher RPG while also adopting its brand of crude humor. Unfortunately this also ended up making every character into an unlikeable jerk. Gone was the witty banter and stellar writing and plot. They turned Lo Wang into this manchild who spouts dad jokes once in awhile.

So when I heard that a third game quietly came out sometime this year I was intrigued. Even moreso when they decided to go back to its linear roots. Does it live up to the hype? Meh.

This time Flying Wild Hog decided to ape not Borderlands, but Doom Eternal and Mirror's Edge, giving the game more emphasis on parkour and gladitorial style arena combat complete with finishers. I'll admit it was fun. You only have 6 weapons but they had 3 levels of upgrades as well as a myriad of "gore" weapons you can acquire from each kind of enemy.

The fact that the final area had a 3-wave gauntlet of bad guys did not even bother me at all; there is enough variety here however...and I don't know since I played it on Medium, but a big part of the fights just amounts to relying on infinitely spawning mooks to heal. The real targets took ALOT of damage and I feel like that's the wrong way to go about things. Moreover, your finisher bar depended on collecting "Finisher Powerups" but not from doing well but from environmentals (which had to be unlocked btw) and the occasional pickup. Doom Eternal's flow was great because it rewarded skill for skill to finish. This game was just a bullet sponge exercise where everything was trying to kill you and it just amounted to shotgunning the right mook to keep fighting. Hotswapping was encouraged because it auto-reloaded your weapons and there wasn't much ammo per gun so I know for sure this dakka dakka bs was the intended way to play this game.

The plot was ridiculous. And simple. They literally dialled it back so much more than the first game. Honestly, this felt like Wolfenstein Youngblood levels of storytelling returning a popular character from the first game all without the wit of the conversations. Story is the last thing you should care about which would be fine if the first game didn't set the standard.

So what does that leave us? Gameplay is stellar if you can forgive everything I just said. Its beautiful ya know actually wallrunning and jumping around like a ninja in this nigh post-apocalyptic setpieces, and you get to fight this massive ass dragon that coils around you in some levels just to show you how miniscule you are. The 2 boss fights were also amazing, no slouch there. The final boss was utterly epic since you finally get to take down that dragon that's been bothering you all game. Extremely cathartic.

And then it just ends.

No new game plus. No multiplayer. No stage select. The secrets are the upgrade points but they don't carry over so what's even the point? Nevermind that that design was stupid because if you're not encouraged to secret-hunt, you could never do marginally cooler things with your weapons. I finished it in 2 days and now I'm thinking this should've just been billed as a spin-off or DLC. Why did it take so long for them to get from SW2 to this?

Honestly there didn't really need to be an SW sequel. The first was perfect and I know I've brought it up three times in this writeup now but that's just how awesome it is. Play that one instead, then get this when the price drops if you want some "bonus content".

Hitman 3 (PC)

Pretty disappointing, to be honest. It feels like IOI didn't really want to make this game but they had to because of story reasons.
It's still a good game but it just feels like it has "less" than the previous 2 games. Less maps, less story missions, less escalations, less dialogue, less humor, less easter eggs, less unique locations, less costumes. less challenges... really, it has less of everything

But it's still a game in the new Hitman trilogy so it has everything that made the two previous games so good, just on a smaller scale

Raging Loop (PS4)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79987801

A very good visual novel that mixes in Mafia/Werewolf game theory with a Japanese mythological background. Having played many mafia games over the years on both Board 8 and other websites it was definitely an enjoyable read just for that alone, but it also had a great story for most of the runtime... though I thought the ending was pretty bad compared to the rest of the game. The journey there however was a great ride, especially the Darkness portion. There's a lot of Revelation Mode scenes I still need to see besides the two joke endings that were required for the platinum, and I'll definitely take a look through it before I stop playing the game all together.

Secret Files 3 (PC)

I'm so confused by the Steam reviews for this game saying it is the worst of the trilogy. Nothing can be worse than the 2nd game and this one was eh serviceable. One thing at least they got right finally was the voice acting and writing. Nina finally sounds like she's to be taken seriously although once in awhile the writing is still stupid like when asking the bad guy where her husband was, this guy megalomaniacal ceo replied that Max was "chilling out" lol.

This time the game has equal parts indiana jones and miscellaneous plot. Good ol fashion saving the end of the world and the tried and tested theme of betrayal; there's always that one ally who does it every game. There was also alot more experimental stuff here; minigames, precursor to QTEs, even a shoddy pokemon battle sequence that sometimes remove you from the moment. I would say this one's fine. Not too bad but salvageably adequate compared to the last.

Yakuza 3 Remastered (PS4)

This game really needs the Kiwami treatment. It's commonly called Blockuza 3 a lot, and it definitely lives up to that, as enemies block so much that it turns 2 minute fights into 20 minute ones because they just don't stop. It's not a hard game though, it just doesn't respect your time and isn't fun to play like the two Kiwamis or 0 was at all. The highlight of the game was the characters, Rikiya especially. Mine was a decent villain, but I don't feel he was as good as Ryuji was in the previous game.

Also, the karaoke was the worst set of songs so far. Hopefully a more interesting batch is waiting in Yakuza 4.

Cat Museum (Android)
Surreal dark adventure(?) game. Lots of weird imagery and cats. Puzzles range from something like Warioware activities to fetch quests to puzzles, including near the end that I didn't understand at all and cleared by trial and error. I didn't exactly follow the story either. There were the protagonist's past experiences with cats, leading to his employment at this metaphysical museum of horrors, but then there were various other characters who weren't explained beyond their introduction, and the heavy use of textless comic panels and achronological structure didn't clue me i or even make me all that curious. I appreciate any game I can find on mobile that isn't a recurrent user spending sink, though.

Control (PS5)

Now that I have a PS5 I can start clearing out some of these free PS5 PS+ games I got.

Control is the first on the list, I've heard a lot of good things about it and I was pretty excited to give it a try. The gameplay was fun, it's fast, fluid, and responsive, which is everything I really need from a game like this. The story is interesting as well, but I will admit it lost me a bit near the end. Overall was a pretty fun game.

Contrast (XB1)

I wasn't sure what to think going into the game knowing this was the first title by Compulsion Games, and I was disappointed with their second in We Happy Few. It caught me by surprise, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It bugged me for so long who voiced the two major male characters because they both seemed awfully familiar. I looked it up after beating it, and one voiced Adam Jensen in the Deus Ex games and the other voiced some prominent characters in a cartoon from my childhood in Arthur.

Mighty Goose (XB1)

Fun and silly run-and-gun game that is quite forgiving unless you are someone who tries to go for max stage rankings

Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition (Switch)

My first ever playthrough of Chrono Cross, which is a game I've been feeling attached to my entire life due to the soundtrack and having heard certain songs at certain stages in my life. I felt that right away as I started and heard Dreams on the Shore of Another World and Another Arni. I literally bawled my eyes out for some strange reason for a while every time I heard them ingame, especially coupled with some of the dialogue in the early game. It just took me back to my younger years, made me think about everything that has happened in between.

That strong emotion mostly caused by the soundtrack was quickly changed into a divided feeling of appreciation and boredom when it comes to actually playing the game. The battle system is unique, but also couldn't hold my interest for longer than a couple of hours. The many characters in the game are enjoyable to get as it feels like amassing a big army, but they're also mostly bland, blank slates with similar stats. The level up system has a bit of a Fire Emblem satisfaction and frustration for me, and it made the battles even more uninteresting as they don't give anything useful after maybe gaining a few stats here and there. There is a lot to explore and discover, yet so much of it feels like you need a guide. The story pacing is...wow. Everything gets dumped on you in just a few hours, making it even more convoluted than it already is by nature. Yet it's also intriguing and has some beautiful moments. Heck, even the amazing music is divisive; as good as most of the tracks are, the battle themes aren't great and you hear those (it's mostly the same two) a lot.

It's just very hard to decide how I feel about the game. There is much more to say, but I'll leave it at this. I think I appreciate the game without necessarily finding it that fun to play.

Also, this remaster is super lazy (they didn't even bother to upscale the ending credits), but everybody knows that by now so no need for me to talk more about it.

Gnosia (Switch)

Other than needing to consult a guide on how to unlock certain character data and AI behavior (even if the truth is staring them right in the face, they will sometimes act like idiots), this is an excellent time-looping, pick-up-and-play mafia game.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (PC)
Well, we're definitely not in Liberl anymore, folks.

Little bit of a tough game to talk about because it's such a setup-heavy game in the same vein that Sky FC was and so the most fair way to look at it would be in comparison to FC individually, but it's been a long time since I've played FC and I now have the rest of that trilogy altering my perception of it a bit. But with that said, it certainly doesn't feel like CS is gonna hit the heights that SC and 3rd did. The cast doesn't seem quite as interesting (although some characters have great potential) and I don't know if the overall plot is gonna be able to quite pack in enough intrigue to make it feel truly different from the "shadowy organization prompts upheaval with complex machinations" story that we already got in the trilogy, but hey - there's three games left, I could always be proven wrong. The ending was an odd mix of twists that had been pretty obvious (i.e. C's identity) and some that came a little out of nowhere (i.e. Misty) so we'll see where that goes. Don't know how I feel about the whole ancient mech combat stuff; maybe I'll have a more firm opinion on it eventually but given that that still hasn't happened with Scrapped Princess long after I watched it, who knows?

Gameplay was mostly more of the same. Trails battles never blow me away but are always fun enough. One thing I can say definitively that I prefer in Sky, though, is the orbment system - I have a much more fun time determining Arts through Quartz with different values and figuring out that optimization puzzle than I do just setting Quartz that straight up give you set abilities.

Thors Academy is a pretty good setting and maintains the typical Trails charm of following the lives of all of the NPCs as they develop, especially as you get to know some of them super well considering you spend the whole game in one place as opposed to the short bursts that generally defined Sky.

I expected to really hate the whole dating sim/Rean harem aspects because I usually do, and they definitely weren't my favorite part of the game but I think their prevalence may have been a little overstated. I will say, though, that I'd be getting a little concerned if I was the adopted sibling of any of the writing staff of the series, because this is now two different settings in the same universe with an adopted siblings romance subplot and it's really not getting any less weird the longer I play.

I feel like I don't have many more super interesting takes to give here but if any big Trails fans that are around in this topic are curious about something, feel free to fire questions away. I plan on playing Zero next when it officially gets released in September because I always need a little break from the series after I finish an entry.

Master Reboot (PS3)

I'm not really sure if this is considered a "walking simulator" or not. It's a first-person narrative game with some light platforming and puzzles, and some horror elements. The setting is a virtual world for dead people, a little like that San Junipero episode of Black Mirror. The story is fine, but nothing special. The player character is trying to deal with some problems in the system, and you learn about the history of the people who were involved in creating it.

I did not have a lot of fun playing the game, as most of it is just walking around and clicking on things. The finale involves a lot of first-person platforming, which is rarely handled well in any game. It's no better in this one, and especially when the game adds some time constraints. Altogether it's a mediocre game.

Sonic Adventure DX (PC)
AMATEUR HOUR! I hate to say it about a popular game like this, but I have the right to after taking the time to beat it. It isn't that hard so it's usually more funny-bad than anything, but what a disaster. I'd hate to see the non-DX version.

It's 3D Sonic, so were you really expecting a good game?

Anyone who likes the Sonic series will say that those Dreamcast ones are good, maybe Sonic Heroes, and various sporadic newer ones. Nobody says SA is as good as SA2, but it's not treated like a black sheep either. I wasn't expecting a good game, but I wasn't expecting this bad a game.

I think most people here, Sonic fans included, will look back at SA and say it is not a good game. It was a bit of a spectacle in 1999 and that made it pass a lot of scrutiny, but it aged absolutely horribly even a few years later.

Sonic Adventure is a good game but I think the PC port is screwed up? I could be remembering wrong though.

Astro's Playroom (PS5)

Finally got around to finishing this. For a free game that comes with the console, it's pretty fun. Showcases a lot of the controller's features and also celebrates PlayStation history. Not much to dislike here.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS)

So following up Kirby Mass Attack, here is another DS game that I've put aside for many MANY years that I finally brought myself to actually beat.

I don't remember a whole lot of the game because it's been like 7 or so years since I last picked it up.
The whole plot explanation was the usual Layton absurdity that I've come to expect, but I thought the game was fine in general.

In all retrospect, it was odd that I even put it aside for so long because I was already pretty close to the end of the game. I literally picked it back up today and finished it.
But more importantly, since it's still April I still keep my 1 game beaten a month quota for the Year of 2022. Hopefully the next game I beat won't take 'til the end of May.

Don't know when I'll ever get to Miracle Mask, but I do know it's when the series starts using 3D models.

Haiku, the Robot (PC) (100% achievements)
Actually Hollow Knight with robots, but not really. It's pretty good, as your indie Metroidvanias go. I have a few complaints, but hey, I got 100% for a reason.

TUNIC (PC)
Alright, I haven't played it for a bit but I got a bad ending, I can't figure anything more out, and I don't feel right turning to a guide in a game like this. So maybe it's done.

paperwarior posted...

Anyone who likes the Sonic series will say that those Dreamcast ones are good, maybe Sonic Heroes, and various sporadic newer ones. Nobody says SA is as good as SA2, but it's not treated like a black sheep either. I wasn't expecting a good game, but I wasn't expecting this bad a game.

I think Sonic Adventure is better than 2. At least if you just play the fun stuff (Sonic and Tails and even Amy is alright) and cut out the rest.

But yeah, they're both bad games. Going back and playing them as an adult was...a mistake for my childhood nostalgia. (E: Actually, I'd be comfortable saying Sonic Adventure is an okay game and SA 2 is bad.)

Sonic Colors and Generations are legitimately good 3D Sonic games though. So they actually exist!

I wonder if the PC port is broken, though, beyond obvious stuff like text not scaling at all with resolution and UI elements getting cut off by the edges of the screen. It seemed broken. The camera is so intrusively bad, and controls aren't much better. I thought Sonic had the worst campaign though, with the most random deaths and setbacks due to nonsense like the camera. Tails can fly, as janky as that feels, and the others have less to deal with in general. Fewer stages, for one thing.

Big's campaign is the worst and the reason I'll likely never beat the game.

Big's campain is top 2 worst I'd say. It's got uh, big problems.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Switch)

This game is still so good. It's so good.

I think the thing that struck me the most replaying this for the first time since its Wii release is just how much better it handles the ideas of life and death than other JRPGs, and other video games in general. Characters and the world are actually impacted when people die, and they grieve and it changes them. It's such a contrast from the typical JRPG attitude of "oh no, my hometown! Anyway." I think this is why the High Entia genocide in the late game doesn't land well, it very much IS an "oh no, my hometown! Anyway" situation. There's also a lot of weight given to the very few times the heroes actually kill anyone, which is helped by a complete lack of random encounters against bandits or knights to butcher by the dozens. (Uh, as long as we don't count tirkins, and hodes, and ignas, all of which are clearly intelligent species yet get massacred freely, but, well. The game isn't flawless.) The game's plot goes a little off the rails in the last 15% but for the first 85% where it's a story about loss and revenge, it just nails it.

I 100%'d the game this time, or at least 99%. It was a questionable decision. The grind to level 99 to kill the superbosses did not have terribly much payoff. On the other hand, I think the first time I played this game I got all of like 5 heart-to-hearts all game because they're locked behind an absurd amount of party switching and affinity grinding, so it was nice to see all of them this time.

The biggest strength, and weakness, of the definitive edition is definitely the updated graphics. I've come around on it to the extent that I'll admit it definitely looks way nicer, but I still really dislike the character redesigns. All the characters look about seven years younger and 40% more anime, and a few of them are definitely whiter too, and overall I'm just left wanting for the more mature and muted-color look the cast had originally. The rest of the world looks great, though. Overall it's a trade up, I'm just being picky.

It's on to Future Connected for me next, and then probably a break before I try to squeeze Xenoblade 2 in before 3 comes out.

The Adventure Pals (PC)

They could have easily cut the content in half as it is a pretty basic action/platformer that hardly changes from beginning to end, but it was still quite charming and fun.

Days Gone (PS4)

I never thought I would enjoy a biker zombie game, but I guess anything can happen. Yes I know that it's technically not zombies, but they might as well be. I'm not going to go deep into this one, but suffice to say, it was a mostly fun, if repetitive, game. The open world could have benefitted from a greater variety of mission types. Doing bounty hunting and clearing out camps is only so interesting the umpteenth time.

I have mixed feelings about the story. The big plot reveals were no real surprise to me. It seemed pretty obvious from early on that Sarah would not be dead, and that her work was what caused the outbreak. I liked the story overall, even if it does drag out way longer than it should. I thought the game was pretty much over after the Lost Lake act, and then it turned out there was a whole huge third act that was almost entirely disconnected from the rest of the game before it. It seemed weird that after they went through the trouble of establishing all the interesting Lost Lake characters, the story would just ditch them for most of the rest of the game.

One of my other main story complaints is the Sarah and Deacon relationship. It seems completely implausible that they would ever be together, and all the flashbacks to their past just seemed to reinforce my confusion. Genius scientist and criminal biker do not make a logical couple. They just seemed to love each other because the game wanted them to, but then when the new world makes Sarah become more like Deacon, he has a problem with that? And I was thinking that maybe the game was setting things up for them to break up after reuniting. Although that would have been a less "happy" ending to the game, I think it would have been more interesting. They also hinted at some stuff with Rikki that never had a payoff.

Deacon was fine but I thought their attempts to make a deplorable character likable were kind of goofy. I wish they had just let him be a straight up antihero. "Yes he's a member of a skinhead gang but don't worry we will make sure Deacon constantly remarks on how inclusive they are! And don't forget he's an honorable war veteran, too!" Funny stuff.

I liked the tease in the epilogue, but it doesn't matter because I guess a sequel is never going to happen.

Wirewalk() (PC)
It has been high on my Steam wishlist for awhile and decided to buy it when I say it on sale earlier this week. It's a really neat action-adventure game meant to emulate the GB/GBC Zelda games.

Kraken Academy (XB1)

Really silly adventure game with an awkward implementation of QTEs, but I think there might be an option to disable them.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected (Switch)

I'm never going to complain about more Xenoblade, but this was really kinda weak in comparison to the main game. Bionis Shoulder felt like a retread of Bionis Leg, and it didn't help that there were zero new enemies. No visions or skill trees or chain attacks makes the combat significantly less fun. The writing felt pretty weak at the start, but thankfully improved a lot over time -- the Melia and Tyrea plot was especially good. Unfortunately the main plot was weak, especially the villains -- Gael'gar might be the worst Xenoblade villain of all, and the big reveal that the Fog King is completely unexplained and inexplicable was just a baffling decision. What were they thinking.

I liked Kino and Nene a lot more than I thought I would, and seeing Shulk and Melia being BFFs was great. The voiced Quiet Moments (and the fact that they unlock just based on story progress instead of affinity grinding) were nice. Overall this was solid but it really didn't feel like something special the way the main game does.

Record of Lodoss War -Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth- (PS5)

So this is a good game, I just wish there was more of it. It's very short (I beat the game with 100% map in 4 hours) and there isn't much optional content. It's also very combat heavy without much focus on platforming or exploration.

That being said, the combat is super good. There's a polarity switching mechanic like in Outland, but each element (polarity) can be leveled up by killing enemies or damaging bosses and delevels when you get hit, sort of like the weapons in Cave Story. A higher level element does more damage and, crucially, heals you over time if it's max level. This system encourages aggression in boss fights and caution against regular enemies and it's just really fun to play around with. Unfortunately the game is very easy, but maybe it's just me -- I play so many of these games that I can't really judge their difficulty anymore.

I've never seen Record of Lodoss War and the plot was completely over my head. *shrug*

Gears 5 (XB1)

It reminds me a bit of Metro Exodus in that it does quite a bit to change up the series' formula. I liked it, but it also seemed sort of pointless.

Martha Is Dead (PC)

An interesting game for about 2/3rds of it and then it just plows the car right over a bridge. Unfortunate

Greak: Memories of Azur (PS5)

Overall I liked this game. It's more of a character switching puzzle-platformer than a true Metroidvania, but it has a little bit of Metroidvania flavor and I did think the puzzles were fairly intuitive. They felt more like natural uses of each character's abilities than explicit puzzles, which I guess may or may not be a good thing depending on your taste in puzzle-platformers.

One thing I really liked was the, not story per se, but atmosphere? Conceit? Basically the world is being overrun by Corruption and there's also a huge invading army, and your goal isn't to stop either of those things but just to find your family and gtfo. You have one day. Good luck! Given that the game is only about 4 hours long (and I did all the quests and got all the upgrades, even...) it actually feels like a rush to accomplish everything, too, even though there's no actual time limit.

I will say that the third character was a big disappointment. He's supposed to be the combat character but almost certainly has the worst combat of the three, and honestly it's not even very close.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II (Vita)

After Cold Steel I set up the Erebonian Empire setting for this game, it expands it into this game, which is a really good game to play through. I enjoyed almost all of it, though parts of the ending seem a bit tacked on and don't really provide much to the game's overall story. (Though knowing the Trails series, it might be relevant later on at some point.) I happened to miss one enemy scan and one character note, so I'll have to clean those up when I do my Nightmare play through to finish up the rest of the trophy list.

Untitled Goose Game (PC)
Yeah, it's cute. I don't feel compelled to do postgame but it's an original and fun premise.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (XB1)

Pretty good for a game that combines something I don't care about (Star Wars) and something that often frustrates me (souls-like mechanics)

The Last Campfire (XB1)

Very good bite-sized puzzle game whose pretentiousness and unskippable narration got old fast.

Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-shot Adventure (PS4)

I absolutely loved Borderlands 2. It was a fantastic game for one player or four players or anything between. I wrapped it up in 2019, coming back only for the free yet lackluster DLC that came out ahead of Borderlands 3.

Revisiting the game for this standalone bite-sized piece was really fun at first. So fun, it made me seriously consider doing the whole BL2 things again for real. But, by the time I finished, that urge was gone. I might play Borderlands 2 again, but not for a while at least. I got my fix here.

I think that the Dragon Keep DLC is still probably the best one from Borderlands 2, but it still has some flaws. The level design for the mines and dungeon areas is pretty bad. The dialogue/narration at the beginning gets really old after you play a few different characters. Despite it all, I had a fun time, though.

NeoGeo Battle Coliseum (360)

Seems like a pretty bog-standard 2D fighter, ridiculously unfair final boss included. Thankfully, they gave me the option to give them quarter health after a continue.

Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark (PS3)

This is a 2D stealth puzzle platformer. I disliked the game at first, but once I stopped going for 'S' ranks on every level it became a lot more enjoyable. Trying to be a perfectionist in this game is too annoying as it requires incredible precision and timing, and the controls in this game do not make that easy. It's no Meat Boy, that's for sure.

The Procession to Calvary (PC)
Bizarre point-and-click with graphics crafted from Renaissance paintings, Monty Python-style. A female knight sets out on a mission to assassinate the monarch of a hostile state because it's her only opportunity to keep murdering now that the war is over. It's darker comedy than a lot of point-and-click fare, and just a bit edgy on religious subjects. The title is a reference to crucifixion and it er, features heavily, along with other brutality. The puzzles are pretty simple but still in the mindset of the classics of the genre. And there are a few different endings. Worth it for the weird visual style and humor, I'd say.

Have you played its predecessor Four Last Things? Both are excellent

Nah, I just saw this in a video and impulse-bought it. I may go back and play the other now.

God of War (2018) (PS4 via PS5) (Replay)
Did hard mode this time on a new save, and my BF played more this time when last time it was just me. Glad I didn't do Give Me God of War because this is already rough at the beginning until you get enough abilities to balance things out. Got the platinum again. Still a terrific action-adventure game with excellent characters and story. Playing all the Souls games since last time didn't make it easier. They're completely different games. On a side note, the HDR color balance is broken, which was unfortunate to have coincide with a new TV that already doesn't work how we want it to.

Aliens Infestation (DS)

Short and sweet Metroidvania with a permadeath gimmick that makes you actually care about the dozen or so space marines you can play as.

Gameplay was great, story was solid, and there are plenty of great winks at the Alien franchise.

Only grip is the lack of collectibles and replay value. I 100%-ed the map with ease and there's virtually nothing to do once you beat the game (no Hard Mode, no Boss Rush, no secrets, etc.)

Infernax (XB1)

It seems pretty faithful to the NES era of sidescroller action games but a lot more fun and with plenty of quality of life improvements