What We Played #451 – Crucible, Maneater & The Last of Us: Remastered

Another week in the bag, and this time, though it’s probably more relevant if you’ve been working and not on the eternally weird furlough, it’s a bank holiday! That’s right, it really is! Still, if there’s ever been a better time to be into games I think this is it, and I’ve converted my whole household into gamers. Which is fine, apart from now I need to buy another Switch as everyone is playing on mine.

So I’ve been playing a load of Crucible the last couple of days, as well as Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, 51 Worldwide Games, Embr,  NBA 2K20, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne and probably a bunch of other stuff I’ve forgotten.

Tuffcub went back to try and finish the final tank boss battle in Arkham Knight, but things didn’t go to plan; “I HATE THE BATMOBILE LEVELS. So frustrating, gave in, deleted it”. He didn’t really cheer up much after that either, saying “I played more Vanquish, but I’ve not touched Destiny 2 because the season pass has just ended with a whimper, nothing new near the end. Rubbish. Played Darksiders Genesis, that was dull and empty. Yawn.” But wait, there was a bright point! “However, I’ve gone back to TLOU Remastered to get ready for Part II and started playing Factions again, forgotten just amazing that is.” Hooray!

Gareth has played Super Mega Baseball 3, Dungeon of the Endless, Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire, and Gorn for review. Outside of those, he’s also played some Terraria 1.4, some Superhot VR, and a touch of Left 4 Dead 2 versus, which he has, quite rightly, missed greatly. Aran meanwhile finished The Outer Worlds this week, saying “It was an enjoyable game that I had fun with. I think I managed to track down every side quest and do those before getting the good ending”. He also started Jet Lancer last night and should have a review coming up next week.

Nic B is between reviews, which means that he’s squirrelled himself away in front of Monster Hunter and is refusing to come out until he has a full complement of Rathian armor. That said, he’s also played a little Embr with the team, ahead of the review coming out… at some point in the near future. Jason dropped in to tell us that apart from his Earth Defence Force 5 (very good) video, he’s actually been playing Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, explaining quite why by saying “They recently added an immersive mode that strips out a lot of the RPG mechanics and it’s actually rather good.”

Jim has slowly been chipping away at Final Fantasy VII Remake saying “I think I’ll just take my sweet time with that one. Really enjoying how Midgar has been vastly expanded and the combat system is growing on me as explore more tactical options”. He’s also dabbled in some more Deep Rock Galactic as well as some KartRider Rush+ and Maneater, the shark RPG. Drea meanwhile has been replaying Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood; “I’m trying to 100% it as I didn’t really complete it when I originally played it. Bit of a ball ache but having a good time. I’ve also been playing Curious Expedition as it’s lighthearted and fun but also challenging to 100%!”

Miguel has been playing a bunch of Apex Legends and doing his daily check-ins with Animal Crossing. “Crazy Redd hasn’t shown up in almost two weeks so I’m convinced he’s dead. I also beat Ape Escape, that game was cute for a while and then became insanely punishing out of nowhere”. He’s also played Utawarerumono Prelude to the Fallen for review, too!

It’s been another eclectic week for our Steve: “Got far more sucked into I, Dracula: Genesis than I expected and have gone back to it through the week. I also really enjoyed the retro-immersiveness of Pixel Ripped 1995 but was far less impressed by the buggy Old Gods Rising.

“Alongside those review titles, I finished Dickwads of War [sic] but hated the end boss with a passion, and then messed around on the cute freebie Island Saver with my kids. It’s a semi-educational game that teaches about banking and environmental concerns with some super-cute animals. Works as a great introduction to first person perspective games as well.

“Next step Call of Duty… Trying to rattle through Forbidden Siren: Blood Curse as the last PS3 game before I return it to its owner but finding the controls really loose. And finally, going back to Song of Horror ready for the final episode and the long-awaited (by me at least) review. Oh, and finally, I started Yoshi’s Island on 3DS when the kids were watching rubbish on TV.”

So then, what have you been playing?