It’s been real chilly, but that’s not the end of the world when your gaming PC can pump out enough waste heat energy to keep your gaming room warm, is it? Or maybe that is a sign of the end times… I don’t rightly know.
My PC’s actually been relatively silent this week, and my gaming in general rather limited. I did try to boot up Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, but foolishly thought that would be possible on launch day, and haven’t managed to get back to it. That’s on my to-do list for the weekend, though, alongside checking out the Gran Turismo 7 PS5 Pro update.
We’ll start with Dom this week, who’s been playing a wide range of games out of Japan. There’s the adorable platforming of Astro Bot, the Persona-like JRPG-ing of Metaphor: ReFantazio, and he’s done a “let’s watch Eastenders from the start” with a fresh Final Fantasy XIV run. But the highlight of the week has been being able to talk about Dynasty Warriors: Origins, which he had a great time previewing ahead of the demo release.
The big release of the week was STALKER 2, with GSC Game Worlds’ journey culminating in a game that Miguel found incredibly immersive and compelling. No, it’s not quite perfect and there’s a menagerie of oddities and bugs, but they didn’t really bother him that much while reviewing, and the devs new adventure is trying to patch as much of the problems out ASAP.
Steve’s had a typically heady blend of different things as well. He’s enjoyed “the philosophically fascinating Threshold, the wonderfully scary Beyond Hanwell , the cosy Flock and cleared the extra trophies and speedrun levels on Astro Bot.” Add some Mario & Luigi: Brothership to that, though he’s found it a bit disappointing so far. Then again, he’s just managed to get some hammers.
Aran’s booted up his PS Vita for a play through of Tearaway, which “is still a fantastic experience that a lot more people should try and revisit.” Nic B might disagree, but he’s a complete reprobate and shouldn’t be listened to.
Not Aran’s hands.
Now with around 40 hours in Phasmophobia, Gamoc is still surprised by how much he’s enjoying it, and has started to unlock some of the higher end gear to help. That’s been joined by some Rimworld, Necesse, and Noita.
The birthday boy Ade was lucky enough to get Super Smash Bros. and Bayonetta 3 for his birthday. “Super Smash Bros has been a massive hit (pun totally intended). My family and I enjoying unlocking a seemingly never ending roster of iconic characters. I’ve been enjoying Bayonetta 3 too, but seeing as I missed Bayonetta 2, the plot has me utterly bamboozled! Though, judging by my hazy memories of playing through the original game on PS3 and the sheer madness of that story, the bamboozling sounds about right!”
And finally, Jim sadly didn’t have “Dynasty Warriors: Origins being pretty great, actually” on his bingo card for 2025, so hasn’t won this week’s jackpot, but did enjoy the demo.
TSBonyman
Saw Peter Hook last week – great gig and had good craic for the few days in Belfast. On return i’ve been fiddling with some muzaks in Dreams and started replaying Dishonored Knife of Dunwall dlc.
Andrewww
Chilly is bad already, but we had about 20cm of snow last evening, and I struggled making it home. I dream of sleeping until March…
I finally reached the end of Horizon Forbidden West, and of course, there’s far too much content, the game is overly long, but given most missions, even outside the main story path, are quite good, and the world is so beautiful, I cleaned up most of the map, collecting most logs, flowers and stuff. An excellent game, I enjoyed it a lot.
Mid of the game I switched on some accessibility features, it’s such a good thing they’re there, which made it a lot more enjoyable. Who likes to press a button every time you pick something up, with an annoying game-delaying animation? I guess there’s a lot of these unnecessary input requirements, just to keep gamers busy, but the older I get the less I can be bothered with this annoying stuff.