The rerelease of Doom 1.
This time with Pistol Start, as I recently learned that the levels were balanced around that. It is challenging, but feels so right. The beginning of a level often plays like a little puzzle. Who to kill in what order to get to a decent weapon, before your 50 pistol shots run out. Can’t wait to play the new semi-official expansion they added with the rerelease.
Conscript requires a lot of time set aside to play it in order to make any progress, so instead, lately I’ve been playing Divinity: Original Sin. I had put it down toward the end of act 2, and it took a good deal of looking at a walkthrough to figure out how to progress from where I left off, since the quest log only helps so much, but I wrapped up act 2 and got to act 3. As combat-heavy as this game is, I do really enjoy the cut of Larian’s jib, even when it’s not as good as Baldur’s Gate 3.
I also picked up Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, or the MvC Collection for short. I never had a Dreamcast back in the day, and I had probably only played a couple of hours of these games in arcades or via emulators in my entire life, so I never got to dig into these games before. I put together a ratio team using Justin Wong’s 2024 ratio list of Dhalsim/Juggernaut/Thanos and even won some matches online with it, so that felt good. For a high-tier team, I do want to avoid as many of the mainstay characters as possible, not just because I’m not a rushdown player but also because it’s more interesting to see anyone other than Magneto, Storm, and Sentinel on screen, so I might run Dhalsim/Dr. Doom/Cable. I don’t imagine I’ll stick with MvC2 for too long, since Skullgirls is, in my opinion, just a better MvC2, but it’s fun seeing what I might have been playing if I had a Dreamcast in the early 00s instead of a Gamecube, especially with the next fighting collection on the way too. I also tried out X-Men: Children of the Atom in this collection, and boy can I not figure out how to stop the CPU-controlled Colossus. That dude expertly dodges my ice beams, seemingly can’t be stopped once his armor is up, and will air grab me the second I try to super jump out of the corner.
I just got into death duel VR wich is a PVP VR physics based sword fighting game where if you get hit on the arm it gets disabled or legs or spine… it’s been pretty fun. I also got back in skyrim VR with my conjuration build that just revives my last strongest enemies as undead thralls so i have 3 companions fighting for me. :)
Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes] - Haven’t had a whole lot of time to practice, but I’m working on charge partitioning. Managed to get double ball a few times in a match.
Mahjong Soul/Riichi City/IRL mahjong - After getting demoted to Expert I went on an even worse losing streak for a bit, but I seem to be clawing my way back now. It’s just sample size, or so I keep telling myself.
Splatoon 3 - Grand Festival was rad. Not the Turf War part, Turf still sucks, but it was the second best concert I saw all week.
Yakuza 3 Remastered
I’m about halfway through it, so I probably won’t finish this week, but I’m really enjoying it. I’m hoping to finish it before the new Zelda game releases, which is what I plan to dive into next.
I also plan to play a few indies as well, so please reply with any you think are worth checking out. I have a list, but I’m always up for recs.
+1 for Yakuza. I hope you have played 0, Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2 before 3.
What genre of indies are you looking for?
Yup, started with 0 and working my way through.
Some genres I especially like:
- puzzles - Return of the Obra Dinn, Manifold Garden, etc
- platformers - absolutely loved INSIDE and LIMBO, currently enjoying A Hat in Time, loved Psychonauts (Psychonauts 2 is on the list, but it’s not really “indie” anymore), little nightmares
- metroidvanias - Blue Fire, Hollow Knight, etc
- point and click - Darkside Detective, Deponia, etc
- fighting/souls-like - Furi, Titan Souls
- story - What Remains of Edith Finch
- other - Recettear, Grand Mountain Adventure, Human Resource Machine
Basically, if it has really good gameplay or story, I’ll probably like it.
It’s probably more interesting to point out what I tend to not like:
- roguelikes
- city builders - I like high quality builders like Cities: Skylines, but indies tend to not have the budget
- rhythm
- stealth
- shooters - very samey; I’d rather play AAA, such as Doom
But then again, there’s an exception to each of these (e.g. I loved Slay the Spire and Black Mesa). So honestly, I’d probably enjoy anything that really stands out as being unique or interesting.
Nice. Of the classic Yakuza games I liked 4 the best, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
I will just mention some of the games I played from the genres you like. They are all pretty well known, so you probably played them already or have them on your list.
Puzzles: Does Turn Based Combat count as puzzles? Tactical Breach Wizards and Into the Breach (A rogue like, but it is sooo good).
Platformers: Celeste, Horace, Dustforce and Little Nightmares
Metroidvanias: Guacamelee
Point and Click: Everything by Wadjet Eye Games. Seriously, everything they developed or published.
Story aka Walking Simulators: The Suicide of Rachel Foster, Firewatch, The Beginner’s Guide, Dr. Langeskov (It’s free!), Jazzpunk, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
I haven’t played Obra Dinn yet, but I keep hearing that anyone into that game is also into The Case of the Golden Idol, which I can confirm is fantastic. I’d recommend the DLC as well, which has a neat story hook to it after the main game.
I’m not sure how literal you meant the “fighting” tag, as opposed to something like a boss rush, but I’d call Skullgirls the best game ever made if you’re into the multiplayer aspect.