So, what're you playing?

[Yegolev]

After a very long break, I did some multiplayer with my one friend I play MP games with. We tried Nom Nom Galaxy for a while, then Overcooked 2 until we both raged-out. Path of Exile lasted basically 2-3 maps. Diablo III was veto'ed early, as was Warframe. We joked about Minecraft. Eventually we had the most fun with 40k Inquisitor Martyr.

Downloaded BloodBowl 2 but have not played it yet. Considered Mordheim MP for about 20 seconds.

The boy picked up Terraria with a friend due to a new update that I know nothing about.

We are going to try to convince a friend that works in a kitchen to take an evening off so he can work in a fake kitchen (Overcooked 2). Might lose a friend!

[Rasix]

Trying Outer Wilds. I guess it's fine? Controlling your guy in space is a damn nightmare.

[Khaldun]

I loved the art style and I insanely hated the control scheme. Couldn't get over that.

[Sky]

Getting a bit burned out on AC:Origins finally (well north of 70 hours, so that's fine). Finished up the main quest as soon as I got to the area it occurs in, since I had been feeling the burn come on. Still several regions to explore and both DLCs left, what kind of person plays these to completion!?

So I tried a couple things to see what sticks. South Park 2 slid to the floor, not feeling it. Fired up the Sinking City and I kinda like it but it's a weird one, which makes sense. Camera is pretty atrocious (different speeds for H/V, but only one slider = nausea), the world seems rudimentary. Traversing the sunken areas (they give you a boat) seems cool the first time. Then never again. There is a fast travel system, but even that you can't just do the AC 'click on place to go there', you have to find a phone booth to travel to a phone booth. Seems like a developer that hasn't really been keeping up on QoL stuff. I even had to turn down the ambient and music because it was just too oppressive (I get that it fits the theme of the game, but it became intolerable after the first hour).

Still, there's a decent game lurking in the depths, straining to be free...if you can survive the madness caused by the developers...

So I'm playing more of my 'side' game, Madden. Decided to have some fun and try recruiting a fantasy team in franchise mode by editing salaries down after winning my 2nd SB. Playing as the Pats, signing free agents and playing some draft trading, then age-regressing new hires. My D is faring better, I now have Sherman hanging out with Gilmore in the back and Suh on the line. So far only able to get TY Hilton as a new star receiver. Turns out it's pretty hard to create a fantasy team in franchise :D

[Trippy]

I loved the art style and I insanely hated the control scheme. Couldn't get over that.

Yeah the mechanics are challenging without a lot of practice, I'm assuming. I struggled with the Zero-G tutorial, trying to launch my ship resulted in damaging the landing gear on the launch pad (fortunately repairing that was simple), landing on the first moon/planet was basically a semi-controlled crash landing (again, easy to repair), but I ended up basically on the other side of where I was supposed to be and you drain oxygen pretty darn fast walking around on the surface so I didn't think I could make it there and back on foot and I didn't want to try and take off and re-land so I haven't played since.

[Hawkbit]

I was on vacation at the coast and got caught up in Children of Morta during the nights. It's a rogue-lite in a sense.

I enjoyed the art and story even though the game itself is very simplistic. Two things kept me coming back. First, the randomness felt good paired with the persistent upgrades through each run. It made it so each run provided some small upgrade that made each subsequent run push further. Second, the way the game opens the story with each run is 100% awesome.

It's not a perfect game by any means, but they did such a great job with how there is always something to look forward to after each dungeon run.

[Sky]

Oddly Persona 5 is a pretty enjoyable game. Like Dead Cells, it's the kind of genre I've generally disliked, but I think it's such an excellent example that it transcends genre.

Of course, having a cat companion and having to keep a stash of books in your backpack really helps just about anything.

[Soulflame]

re: Children of Morta: And by "upgrade" you mean "I unlocked fire girl and then it was ezmode from there"?

 

[Rasix]

Dying Light is pretty fun so far. Zombie models could have used a bit more effort, but this'll do.  I think I actually paid money for this at some point. Seems like I'll get my money's worth.

Who knows if this will placate me until the new PoE league.

[Mandella]

Dying Light is pretty fun so far. Zombie models could have used a bit more effort, but this'll do.  I think I actually paid money for this at some point. Seems like I'll get my money's worth.

Who knows if this will placate me until the new PoE league.

I played the crap out of Dying Light when it first came out, but then about halfway through the game they "fixed" something that ended up screwing up the ziplines in my (and a lot of others) game. I took a break to give them a chance to actually fix it, and I think that was about five years ago.

So, do you play on PC, and how are those ziplines working? I may have to head back in and finish up the storyline...

[Rasix]

Ziplines appear to work just fine. I've used a couple. I am playing on PC.

I wish the zombie killing was a bit easier. I did not expect them to be this damn resilient, but i"m still pretty early on.

[Typhon]

So bored of everything I'm playing!  Did Wolcen (I think I am spelling that right) get any better with the patch?  More stable? Worth getting yet?

[rattran]

Wolcen: It's stable and responsive online, but the endgame is still lacking. I think worth it nonetheless.

[ezrast]

The game-breaking bugs are mostly better. The balance and skill tree issues are mostly not.

Still a lot of fun if you're looking for something to play now. Will be a lot more fun if you're looking for something to play in a few months, assuming the company doesn't collapse.

[Trippy]

1.0.4.0 still has a personal chest item eating bug:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/424370/discussions/3/1744520030588559030/

[schild]

1.0.4.0 still has a personal chest item eating bug:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/424370/discussions/3/1744520030588559030/

This is a non-exhaustive list of critical issues that we’re currently working on for Patch 1.0.5.0 and Patch 1.0.6.0.

lol

[Cyrrex]

Dying Light is pretty fun so far. Zombie models could have used a bit more effort, but this'll do.  I think I actually paid money for this at some point. Seems like I'll get my money's worth.

Who knows if this will placate me until the new PoE league.

I played the crap out of Dying Light when it first came out, but then about halfway through the game they "fixed" something that ended up screwing up the ziplines in my (and a lot of others) game. I took a break to give them a chance to actually fix it, and I think that was about five years ago.

So, do you play on PC, and how are those ziplines working? I may have to head back in and finish up the storyline...

Dying Light is great, but I remember getting to the "new area" and then losing all interest for whatever reason.  I could see myself starting this game from scratch again.

[Druzil]

I played Monster Hunter World a bit on PS4 when it first came out.  I liked it but I fell off before I made it to the end game, I think Persona 5 came out and derailed me.

I picked it up again the last Steam sale and I think I'm fully addicted.  The game looks and runs great on PC and the load times are SOOOO much better on an SSD.  It really cuts out a big amount of the waiting around.

There is just an overwhelming amount of stuff to do in the game.  Even when I thought I was near the end of the base game, there were still like 5 more new monsters.  Plus I haven't seen any of the Iceborne monsters or areas yet.  So many item sets and weapons and trinkets and builds, it's actually crazy.  The game is really obtuse though, they just don't explain some of the systems nearly enough.

I was planning on starting Cold Steel II but instead I decided to do a New Game+ run of the first game again.  I'm not sure why I did it but I got all the achievements.  Totally worth it     

[Hawkbit]

I wish the game was more hunting monsters and less inventory management. Baits, traps, food, potions, sharpening stones, ammo, [other things] - it's just too much. Or maybe they just threw too much at me in the start and I got overwhelmed.

[Falconeer]

Exactly that. I had plenty of gripes and I couldn't enjoy Monster Hunter World even though I was hyped before it came out. Inventory management is one of the things that killed it for me.

[Hoax]

MHW is fun with friends. But yeah its a stupid game with tons of hidden info and silly features that fuck with QoL for no reason. I'd tell people to add me but iirc the friendlist system is one of those retarded things so easiest way is to just do a steam friend add. I think my name on Steam is Hoax415

[Mandella]

Dying Light is pretty fun so far. Zombie models could have used a bit more effort, but this'll do.  I think I actually paid money for this at some point. Seems like I'll get my money's worth.

Who knows if this will placate me until the new PoE league.

I played the crap out of Dying Light when it first came out, but then about halfway through the game they "fixed" something that ended up screwing up the ziplines in my (and a lot of others) game. I took a break to give them a chance to actually fix it, and I think that was about five years ago.

So, do you play on PC, and how are those ziplines working? I may have to head back in and finish up the storyline...

Dying Light is great, but I remember getting to the "new area" and then losing all interest for whatever reason.  I could see myself starting this game from scratch again.

Is the new area the DLC? Yeah I never even downloaded that.

@Rasix on the difficulty of killing zombies: Yeah I think they are supposed to be hard because you are supposed to parkour your way out of conflicts with more than just a couple at a time. And also yes the mission structure does not always stay honest to that design goal.

But a fun game, and now I'm thinking about jumping back in and finished it up too.

[Trippy]

I wish the game was more hunting monsters and less inventory management. Baits, traps, food, potions, sharpening stones, ammo, [other things] - it's just too much. Or maybe they just threw too much at me in the start and I got overwhelmed.

It's probably the latter. Once you have most of the stuff you'll be using unlocked / available and you spend some time up front setting up loadouts, dealing with inventory between missions is mostly just reloading the loadout from a chest to restock (and also put in the chest stuff you picked up) and stopping by the Research Center occasionally to manage your inventory crafting materials.

[Khaldun]

Tried Metro Exodus. I find it disappointing. It's not really open world, in fact, it's quite (literally) on rails.

[Falconeer]

The Metros were totally on rail. Not sure why Exodus was pushing for open world, it's not what I was looking for in games like that and I would have been disappointed if it really were open world. All they are meant to be is Russian Half Life for god's sake.

[Khaldun]

I didn't like the others much, but Exodus was sold as open-world, so I thought maybe that was the case. Combat is just kinda boring too.

[Raguel]

I got EU 4 on Humble Bundle and I really enjoy it so far. I was a bit stubborn though and took as my first country a tribal duchy. Hopefully Paradox will get their CK 2 converter to work so I can use Kanem to colonize America. 

[Teleku]

EU4 is great (and you should get most of the expansions if you can, on sale at least).  They've stated that they are going to end support for the CK2 converter, however.  Every time they do any upgrade to the game (which is constant) it results in a ton of work to update that thing so it works (for zero profit, and few people actually use it).

Mind you, this really upsets me as I fucking love the thought of doing really grand campaigns (And have had some awesome converted CK2 to EU4 games)...... but I also understand it at a practical business level.  Maybe someday somebody will create a series of super mods that lets me take my Imperator, CK2, EU4, VIC3, HOI4 campaign all the way to conclusion.   

[Rasix]

Dying Light's main quest line is baaaad. Too many guns. Too many bad boss fights where they take away all of your weapons (plus you lose survivor exp if you die during them). Too much cheeseball, cliched story beats. The only saving grace is that some of the quests (side quests especially) can have decent emotional impact and manage to handle the subject matter well.

Otherwise, this game is a mess that comes together fairly well into something that's enjoyable. Kind of like any other survival sandbox, where the individual pieces themselves aren't fantastic, but the overall composition is satisfying to play. I might blitz through to the finale, although I can imagine the last boss fight being an exercise in frustration and overall resolution being not worth the effort. 10-15 hours is what I figure this game is good for, which clocks in close to The Forest for enjoyability.

10 days until PoE league start. I need a good 20 hours of something to tide me over until then. Nier: Automata or X-Com: War of the Chosen are what I'm leaning towards or maybe some Pokemon.

[Falconeer]

I can't overstress what a pleasant surprise going back to SWTOR was. I loved and hated this game in 2011 for too many reasons, but still ended up playing it for 7 months straight until Guild Wars 2 came out.

Never touched it again until now. Turns out they released 4 expansions in the meantime, some of which are almost fully fledged new chapters of Mass Effect in the Star Wars lore. The amount of cinematic content and character development including some hard choices is unheard of in any MMORPG, and that's its best part: it can be played 100% single player including the dungeons and you just have tons of story, all voiced. On top of that, you have the normal MMORPG stuff and everything has gotten the Quality-of-Life things you'd expect from an 8 year old game. Itemization is also very cool and what's impressive is how much freedom there is to play it both alone or with friends, as there are a lot of mechanics for everyone to play together regardless of levels.

The gameplay is unchanged. It's a tab targeting MMORPG. But it's Star Wars, and it's Bioware, and it's the only MMORPG that is also a vast single player Star Wars game with multiple storylines. And it's free, unless you want to pay $12 a month to unlock extra content.

EDIT: Trailer to the last expansion, released a few months ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaYnNdte3I4

[Viin]

Thanks, I'll probably check this out again. Haven't played in ages either ..

[Rendakor]

Rasix, the new Pokemon is complete shit; if you haven't spent money on Sword or Shield yet, don't.

[Khaldun]

Not having played it, I would say that I have rarely seen something familiar produce this degree of radical divergence in strongly held views. People I know who like the new Pokemon love it; people who hate it feel that with a dark, deep passion. Nobody that I know seems to be "oh yeah that it's kind of ok, I suppose, I sort of enjoy Pokemon nostalgically so ok".

[Rasix]

I got it for Christmas. It's fine.

edit:
Played some Nier: Automata. Interesting game. The gameplay itself really isn't that great so far, but the story and setting are interesting.

[Sky]

Between the flu and then catching a cold after coming back to work, I've got 45 hours into Persona 5 already. Just opened up the 4th palace last night. This is a long game. Really digging it, which is so bizarre to me.