So, what're you playing?

[Jeff Kelly]

Ori is much more about the jumping puzzles in my opinion. You can clearly see that it takes its inspiration from games like Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV or 1000 spikes (?) with sprinkles of Metroid added on top. You'll die a lot while traversing the levels but the creative save point system makes it so you can restart, die, repeat and even use it in clever ways.

Axiom Verge is all about the exploratory aspects of Metroid, the creative item use and the "how the fuck do I get over there" aspect while subverting almost everything you know about Metroidvanias. You'll see what I mean once you get to the item after the second boss. It combines this with enemies and boss battles that remind you of Contra or similar games right down to the very satisfying way they blow up. It also uses the "retro" factor to lure you into thinking that you kind of know what a game like this is about while subverting your expectations along the way.

They are both very different games operating in the same general space. Ori is all about the challenge of overcoming the obstacles the game throws at you, Axiom Verge about exploration, uncovering secrets and the boss battle set pieces. Both are hard in their own rights. Both nail their respective control schemes to a 't'.

Watch the quick look on Giant Bomb for Axiom verge but stop when they switch to the late game save if you want to play it. It will give you a good impression of what the game is about.

[murdoc]

Ori is much more about the jumping puzzles in my opinion. You can clearly see that it takes its inspiration from games like Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV or 1000 spikes (?) with sprinkles of Metroid added on top. You'll die a lot while traversing the levels but the creative save point system makes it so you can restart, die, repeat and even use it in clever ways.

Axiom Verge is all about the exploratory aspects of Metroid, the creative item use and the "how the fuck do I get over there" aspect while subverting almost everything you know about Metroidvanias. You'll see what I mean once you get to the item after the second boss. It combines this with enemies and boss battles that remind you of Contra or similar games right down to the very satisfying way they blow up. It also uses the "retro" factor to lure you into thinking that you kind of know what a game like this is about while subverting your expectations along the way.

They are both very different games operating in the same general space. Ori is all about the challenge of overcoming the obstacles the game throws at you, Axiom Verge about exploration, uncovering secrets and the boss battle set pieces. Both are hard in their own rights. Both nail their respective control schemes to a 't'.

Watch the quick look on Giant Bomb for Axiom verge but stop when they switch to the late game save if you want to play it. It will give you a good impression of what the game is about.

Great, thanks Jeff.

I actually picked up a PS4 last night so might grab this now.

[Falconeer]

FreeStyle2: Street Basketball. It's a Korean pay2win street basketball "MMO" (for some reason, on Steam). And it's insanely fun. Too bad to see it ruined by the blatant pay2win formula. Because it is really, really fun. You know sports games up to the middle 90s? That kind of fun.

[Sky]

With zombies on, 7 Days to Die turns into the sweet love child of Minecraft and Day Z. Might be my new favorite zombie game or at least tied with Project Zomboid. How to Survive is nice but not as deep as either of the others.

[Druzil]

Probably lots of Hearthstone this week.  It only took me ~30 minutes to beat the first blackrock wing and class challenges, so that was pretty disappointing.  Hopefully the next wing is better.

Finally got my City to 100k in Cities Skylines and then it promptly went to shit.  I'm pretty sure every graveyard I have is full and there are hearses clogging all my major highways. 

Also playing Ori and a little Ziggurat both of which are really good.  I do feel like the difficulty ramp between levels 3 and 4 in Ziggurat is a bit harsh.  I still keep unlocking new stuff though so maybe I'll eventually get some abilities that make levels 4+ a bit easier on the higher difficulties.

[murdoc]

Still playing Guild Wars 2 quite a bit but Bloodborne is taking over all my gaming time. Grabbed Bloodborne and NHL 2015 and got The Order 1886 thrown in for free, which is almost exactly the right price for it.

[HaemishM]

Trying to make it through a restart of Dragon Age: Origins in between Hex and Rocksmith 2014. I'm trying it as a mage now because it's something I never do and I hated the game as a 2-handed melee. So far, I'm not convinced I'll be able to finish it. It just feels like I'm playing a weirder, more obtuse version of Mass Effect with terrible terrible combat.

[Jeff Kelly]

Finishing up Axiom Verge. It's a really great game and I've already put more than 20 hours in. It has one flaw in my opinion though. It doesn't nail the mobility aspect of Metroid. It has a few really creative ideas to spice things up regarding the itemization but there's no fast travel and you also don't have the movement options you have by the end of most Metroids. It also doesn't really have shortcuts. So traversal between zones becomes a real hassle in the end game when you go item and secret hunting.

Metroid usually opens up a lot once you have screw attack and have "shine sparking" and wall jumping down and it makes traversing zones and going back and forth a very fluid and quick experience. Also the color coded exits and the tools open up a lot of quick shortcuts. Axiom Verge doesn't have that, allows for fewer sequence breaks  and it is also much more rigorous with locking away secrets until you get end game items which makes the end game and the item hunting for 100% much more of a chore than it should be esopecially since you'll do a lot of back and forth between zones.

[lesion]

Forgive me gaming world for I have sinned. While it's nice to see a final (?) content patch for Dark Souls 2 the last time I spent $100+ on a game without in-app hat purchases was the Hellgate CE. That didn't go so well.

Luckily SotFS is super fun like the game should have been at launch.

[Yegolev]

Axiom Verge is at least as great as Jeff says it is.  It causes me to think blasphemous thoughts, such as how it might be better than Super Metroid.  I'm not sure of my own identity now.

[Signe]

I've decided to play DCUO right now.  I need the action!  Nothing is satisfying my computer killer instinct at the moment.  This might be enough like CoH to fix me for a while.  :(  So far it's fun to level 7.  :)

[Yegolev]

Destiny because I still need boots.
Bloodborne because I only use the Xbox to play Skyrim.
Axiom Verge.

I think I'm done with Dragon Age MP until they add something interesting besides dogs and disappearing keys.  And druffalos.

[schild]

Axiom Verge sounds like a perfect game for getting free from PS+.

[Jeff Kelly]

Developer stated already that Axiom Verge won't be on PS+ and likely never will be. At least for the foreseeable future though it won't though.

[schild]

What he says and what happens have nothing to do with eachother.

[Signe]

I'm jealous.  I can't afford a PS4 and I want to play all these games you lot talk about.  By the time I can afford a new console they'll be on PSHoloDeck.  :(  Every time I save up enough money to buy one, I end up getting a tattoo.  I can't help it.  I'm obsessed.  I'm starting on my right leg this summer.  Maybe we should ditch the Depression thread and have an Obsession thread?  I want to play Bloodborne.   

[Falconeer]

PS4? There's still nothing for the PS4. The only worthwhile game is Bloodborne and it's a 50 hours affair, top. All the good Japanese stuff is coming out for the Vita, which infuriates me.

[Signe]

I've never actually even seen a Vita in person.  It's really small, though, isn't it?  It will annoy me, won't it?  I don't even like gaming on a laptop for the most part.  Little things just don't seem to get in my face the way I want them to.  It has to be big.  My little 27" inch monitor isn't even big enough.  I'd save my money for a bigger monitor but I'd only end up getting another tattoo.  :(

[Falconeer]

Same here. On all accounts.

[Trippy]

There is the PlayStation TV option though it doesn't play all Vita games and the resolution is up sampled so it doesn't look that great.

[Yegolev]

Axiom Verge sounds like a perfect game for getting free from PS+.

I'm not at all sad about the money, and I'm an enormous Super Metroid fan-child.  I'm told that there will be a cross-play coming out eventually so I should be able to get it on Vita.

[Velorath]

Playing Mortal Kombat X on the PS4 (apparently the PC version launched almost completely unplayable). The Mortal Kombat Jr. characters they introduced in this game are surprisingly pretty good.

[Kail]

Finally got around to trying Dungeon of the Endless.  I was thinking it was going to be another Nethack clone, but it turns out that it's their own unique thing (note to devs: please stop calling your shit "roguelike" if it's not actually like Rogue).  It's like a combination tower defense / RPG / 4X game and I'm really enjoying it so far.  The art is gorgeous (even if the rooms are beating that  "coincidentally, everything in the world is a square room with vertical walls perfectly aligned to the camera so we don't have to draw anything except the back wall" trick to death) and the game's got a lot of dry humor to it.  It's technically set in the same universe as Endless Space and Endless Legend, so there's characters from there in here.  The company's running a free-to-play weekend for all three titles, so if anyone wants to check it out (or Endless Legend) then now's a good time.  There's in-game rewards coming out depending on how many people boot up the game this weekend, too.

[Fabricated]

Dungeon of the Endless is pretty good but there's not a lot to it after you get it down. It's still good though; and was kickstarted IIRC.

[Falconeer]

Convoy just got released on Steam today, and it's as good as I hoped. It's what I am playing and put everything else on a forced break. I foresee long, pixelated nights. What's Convoy you ask? Think of FTL and Mad Max, plus some Autoduel...

[Rendakor]

Is anyone else getting Killing Floor 2? My friends are hyped for it so I'll probably buy it tonight. It's similar to Horde mode from Gears of War, as a standalone game.

[HaemishM]

I'm going through more gaming ADD at the moment. I'm flipping around between Dragon Age: Origins (trying hard to play it for more than 1 hour at a time but it's tough), Pro Rugby Manager 2015 (Cyanide shows how bad it is at UI in a game other than Blood Bowl), Heroes & Generals (only level 3 and already feeling the SEVERE grind that will either cause me to spend real money or drop it altogether - probably the latter), F1 2013 (goddamn this game is hard and/or I'm really bad at driving).

[WayAbvPar]

Finally got around to trying Dungeon of the Endless.  I was thinking it was going to be another Nethack clone, but it turns out that it's their own unique thing (note to devs: please stop calling your shit "roguelike" if it's not actually like Rogue).  It's like a combination tower defense / RPG / 4X game and I'm really enjoying it so far.  The art is gorgeous (even if the rooms are beating that  "coincidentally, everything in the world is a square room with vertical walls perfectly aligned to the camera so we don't have to draw anything except the back wall" trick to death) and the game's got a lot of dry humor to it.  It's technically set in the same universe as Endless Space and Endless Legend, so there's characters from there in here.  The company's running a free-to-play weekend for all three titles, so if anyone wants to check it out (or Endless Legend) then now's a good time.  There's in-game rewards coming out depending on how many people boot up the game this weekend, too.

I bought the bundle this weekend when it was half price. I haven't had time to dive into Dungeon or Legend yet. Any good resources I can use to learn about them?

[Senses]

I bought the divinity bundle from GOG.  It included the first 3 of them for just 6 bucks, awesome.  The 3 of these should give me a month of rpg fulfillment.

[Kail]

I bought the bundle this weekend when it was half price. I haven't had time to dive into Dungeon or Legend yet. Any good resources I can use to learn about them?

Not that I've seen, I generally figured stuff out via the Dwarf Fortress method, I.E. play, die, restart and try to avoid whatever killed me last time.  Dungeon of the Endless has a pretty solid learning curve in that the tutorial is crap but pretty short and most of the unexplained systems (of which there are a lot) are pretty organic and straightforward to figure out.  There are some guides on Steam but a lot of them are outdated and inaccurate in the specifics.  The main thing you want to pay attention to at first is which heroes are good at what, specifically who's got the "Operate" skill because that is a game changer (most heroes who get it, get it at level 3 or 4).  Also, "too easy" and "easy" are apparently code words for "normal" and "hard."  There's a wiki but recently something about wikia's ad software makes my computer completely shit itself so I don't know how complete it is.

Endless Legend should be fairly straightforward if you've played Civ and Master of Magic.  There's lots of differences but most of it is fairly understandable once you've got the basics down.  At least, as far as I know, but then I'm pretty horrible at it.  Other people on this board could probably answer your questions, though.

[Rendakor]

So KF2 is pretty good, even if the boss is a giant dickhead. The game doesn't seem to scale the difficulty very well for solo though, so I'd avoid it if you don't have friends to play with.

That said, it feels very polished for Early Access. No crashes, it runs really well and looks good. Might be a bit content light (I'm not sure how many levels there are but there appears to be only 1 boss) but I'm having fun. If you like Horde (Gears) or Zombies (CoD) you could do worse for $30. I'll be playing more tomorrow (Steam name: Rendakor) if anyone wants to join me.

[Signe]

I'm still playing DCUO, ffs.   

[Paelos]

Playing Van Helsing finally since I bought it like a year ago. It's good!

[Comstar]

Was playing Pillers of Enterity last week.

Then I got married. Nothing since.

[Cyrrex]

Because of all the intercourse you're busy having, or is it more down to the fact that now THERE ARE GOING TO BE SOME CHANGES, MISTER.