It’s been both wet and warm in the north of England, but I guess we should be thankful that it’s not freezing cold. I’ve been finishing off my uni course this week, and have somehow made it through to the end, despite all sorts of ‘interesting’ challenges along the way. I’ve even found a tiny bit of time for playing games, enjoying some Ratchet & Clank: A Rift in Time, Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood, and Planet Zoo too.
Ade also played some games, but he’s actually been finishing them. He polished off Mighty Goose – “an enjoyable Metal Slug styled run n gunner” – and completed the main story of Ghosts of Tsushima. He’s not done yet though, saying, “Now, just to mop up the thousands of side quests!”
Steve has been back on his “demo BS” through the Steam Next Fest, but was more restrained than last time. He says, ” I’ve rattled through about 30 upcoming games on Steam and found a few gems. I’ll set up a Twitter thread with impressions that you can retweet/link to next week.
“Aside from that I’ve been making solid progress in Hollow Knight, but am a bit boss blocked at the moment. Will need to concentrate and ‘git gud’ I think. As a complete change of pace I’ve returned to Forager, this time on Xbox and it’s proving addictive again. Not sure I’ll have the patience to 100% it, but am enjoying the clicker loop to the gameplay. Started Astral Chain too but only played the first 15 minutes or so.”
Jason played Scarlet Nexus, which is great and you can read about it in his review. He’s also been playing Rocket League, because of course he has. He finishes, “Alongside a few other bits, the main standout is Dark Deity, which is basically an old-school Fire Emblem on PC, which is a very hard thing not to enjoy.”
No one can be surprised to find that Nic B played a whole bunch of Pokemon Go. Tsk. Nick P got the plat on Persona 5 Strikers, saying “A thoroughly enjoyable experience despite being a touch grindy towards the end. I’m now taking a break from big games so I can put some time into other things like Hitman 3, Guilty Gear Strive and Fortnite. I also started Returnal which I’m liking so far.”
Reuben has mostly been playing Fortnite, for his sins, racking up levels in Season 7 and “being terrified of the alien spaceships on the map that just appeared”. Otherwise, he’s picked up the new Dark Alliance game with friends, “which is a fun but very janky experience”, and started Shin Megami Tensei IV on 3DS as he’s really wanted to clear that console’s backlog for some time.
Aran has been playing Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 and Out of Line for review so those thoughts will probably appear next week. He’s also been playing Football Manager 2021 where in his first season he’s managed to get Ebbsfleet back into the National League, though he’s peeved at Aberdeen for poaching his star striker who netted 45 goals in the season. It’s tough at the top!
Miguel got really absorbed in the unlockable guns in COD Cold War and spent a bunch of time doing challenges to unlock those, plus the Fortnite battle pass grind, and some sprinkles of Apex Legends and Battlefield V! Tuffcub did of course fit in some Destiny 2 but added in some Just Cause 4 “just to run around and blow shit up which is fun.” I think we can all agree that blowing stuff up in games is super fun.
And finally, Tef reviewed Mario Golf: Super Rush for us, finding a decent and accessible golf game, but one that’s not quite a slam dunk. Alongside that, he loaded up Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition to check out the transformative new ray tracing effects – which you can read about here – and started playing the new Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life storyline, which was very slow through the first of its five chapters. He’s hoping it picks up when he dives back in.
Now then, what about you?
MrYd
Finished off several things this week. Sort of.
Did all the races in Dirt 5, then realised I’d only driven 500 miles. And there’s a trophy for driving 1000 miles. Several hours later, leaving it running on a special track just to get the miles, I’d got another Platinum. And discovered that the fancy DualSense triggers are so powerful you need plenty of rubber bands to hold them in place for that sort of thing.
Then AC Valhalla. Finished the story, realised I’ve got a map plastered with a million icons still. I’ll come back to that one later, I think.
And Observer. Definite Bladerunner thing going on there, and not just because Rutger Hauer. Think I need to play it again and get a different end and do lots of other bits. Which is fine. It’s wonderfully weird, and looks nice on the PS5.
Still addicted to Slay the Spire.
A lack of online stuff this week though, due to internet troubles. Which are still ongoing and any attempt to get them sorted will be met with “you’ve got to wait 10 days while it learns how fast you can get”. Which should be a lot faster than what I’m getting. And shouldn’t be reconnecting every 15 minutes. On the other hand, it’s still 30 times faster than 20 years ago, so, erm, that’s something, I guess?
gazzagb
I built a new PC (well, everything new but the GPU) so have been enjoying the improved performance in Flight Sim!
doomsday619
Finally completed Days Gone for a second time. Still on the hunt for the platinum. Played the new Tokyo Olympics 2020 against my sons. Completed Metro Exodus and all the DLC on PS5 and myself and my wife finally got to the 4th world on Sackboy A Big Adventure.
willbuchanan
I got 100% (platinum plus completing all DLC) for Borderlands The Pre Sequel. You can definitely tell Irrational Games were essentially behind it, despite being renamed 2k Australia by then.
I’m planning on going through a couple of smaller games in my backlog as a bit of a break before diving into Borderlands 3!
My wife said thank you for the well wishes last week, she’s thankfully much improved!
Congratulations on completing your uni course Dominic L!
hornet1990
Just Need for Speed this week. Becoming a lot less frustrating now I’ve upgraded my car and figured out how to drift with it… I’m far to heavy fingered though to race or drift with any finesse :(
Crazy_Del
Played and Platinum Resident Evil Village a 2nd time on the PS4 Version. Breezed through the Mercenaries Mode even though I did struggle on the PS5 version a month ago.
Also played Moss through VR and that was an enjoyable wee game. Need to replay again for a no death run and them pesky collectibles.
tactical20
Bit more Valhalla. Now exploring the thrilling region of East Anglia.
Mario Golf arrived today though, so that’ll be all I play for a while.