What are you playing?

[kamikazekeeg]

Ended up picking up a couple smaller games just as something more casual as I was feeling a little burnt out with multiplayer games like Arc Raider and Battlefield 6 for the moment...

Peak is a part of this big indie, co-op, friend game boom alongside others such as Lethal Company and REPO, but built around surviving the climb up increasingly harder mountain sections.  I think it's procedurally generated, but handled on the devs end, as it only changes every few days or week (I don't know exactly), which I think is done so you have a chance of learning a section to get better at it again, and then if you've completed a climb, it'll change and be refreshed.  It's a cool way to do it.  There's multiple zone types, and these will be randomized as there's a checkpoint after peak of the mountain section, so after Shore, you have a chance to get Tropics or Roots, or after that you get a chance to do Mesa or Alpines, all with unique environmental threats and other unique things.  I still haven't completed a run yet after nearly 5 hours, but got close on my second run, but the Caldera is rough lol  It's fun even as a singleplayer, it has some good humor to it and it's kinda one of the perfect "just a quick run" or "one more run" sorta deal as you can get rewards for achievements that give you new clothing options.

The other game was Cassette Beasts, which is something I've been meaning to check out.  Pokemon games suck, they've sucked for years, I want to like them and I love the actual creatures, but they are very poor games and I also missed that oldschool aesthetic they got rid of after Black/White.  This is basically what I would have loved for them to do is to keep the sprite era, but do the Octopath Traveler method of 2d sprites and 3D backgrounds and it looks great.  Fun retro aesthetic, it's Pokemon while having it's own unique flair (You do collect and fight as the monsters, but you distinctly transform into them rather than being a trainer on the sidelines which is a fun gimmick).  I haven't been huge into turn based games in awhile, but this is fun so far, a lot of charm to it.

[bizzgeburt]

Disneys Interaktive Abenteuer mit Disneys Hercules (Game Boy)
https://vgcollect.com/item/161114

I once started playing this game a few years ago but threw it in the corner after I got stuck very soon and didn't know how to progress any further - well, that's the problem sometimes, when you collect cartridges only for a system and are lacking many manuals: you simply have to learn moves on the go and can get stuck in a game if not figuring this move out.
This time I somehow managed to realize the protagonist can ram obstacles out of the way, and suddenly I find myself at the gates of the last boss fight 

Maybe this game will be the 16th game I finish in 2025.

[covfefe2020]

I am back home for my last ever college break, and have been engaging in my favorite activity, sitting at my gameshelf and reorganizing my games, this almost trumps playing them...

I don't have access to my switch of handheld games right now, so every night I have found myself returning to my PS3 to find something to do instead of reading my history book. So far I have downloaded tons of demos and free games from the Playstation store and had fun trying them out. Minecraft and Terraria ps3 somehow feel much smoother and cleaner than they do on the Switch. 

I put all of my ps3 discs in just to check if there was any updates for them (I haven't played most of them after buying them used) and ended up checking out if they had working online. Its shocking that you can still get matches in modern warfare and modern warfare 2 (which is surprisingly really fun, as a diehard Halo fan, I was shocked by how much of a blast I was having getting pwned by all the maxed out rank players). Even Red Dead Redemption still has players online having shootouts at 2AM!

 I really love Destiny on ps3, and really want to squeeze all I can out of the game content while the servers are still up and working smoothly, including the non-pvp achievements. I am, however, not sure how I can do any of the raids all on my lonesome.

[bizzgeburt]

After almost 15 years, I replayed Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PlayStation3) for some more trophies, and lost some sweat on the Konami DanceMat playing DanceDance Revolution (PlayStation3)  with my stepdaughter

Now I enjoy my very first playthrough of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PlayStation3).

[alligo]

I tried the MediEvil demo, but the game isn't smooth and has frame rate drops. The weirdest thing is that it only happens with this game.

The controls and camera are pretty awful.
I hope the game will be released on PC someday...

[kamikazekeeg]

Picked Dead Island 2 up again, I played it once back when it came out like 2 years ago, but never touched any of the DLC and I just feel like it's a good time to replay it as I did enjoy the game.  It's certainly fun to play after going through Dying Light 2 and The Beast, which were much more serious with its story stuff, and I felt like the open world was kinda overwhelming, and not the most satisfying to always explore, despite being someone that's quite big on open world experiences.  Dead Island 2 scales that all down and I think it's better for it, it's just enjoyable to roam around, explore the nooks and crannies for secrets and such.  It's just more enjoyable to get around in.

Decided I'll do a full replay of the game and then go do the two DLC packs as it worked out that Steam was selling it insanely cheap, so I basically double-dipped on the game (Had it on Epic), and got the ultimate edition for something like 10 bucks or around that, which is a great deal.  It's hit that a few times I've seen now, so if you were ever got a mood for some zombie smashing, I do recommend the game.

[alligo]

I finished Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and it was excellent.

I completed most of the side quests : I still have a few minigames left (which I probably won't play because they're awful), some chests, and the Red Mail to obtain.

I love the mural painting gimmick, it integrates perfectly into the gameplay and level design. Speaking of the level design, I find it quite clever, as are the dungeons, which are well-designed, even if some are rather short. The puzzles are good and the ideas are ingenious.

The painting really adds something special.
The item system, besides being varied, modernizes the gameplay wonderfully. The remixes (OST) are very good.

I know it's possible to buy them later at a high price, but I don't like the idea of ​​renting items and losing them when you die. Thankfully, rubies aren't a problem in the game.
In fact, the game reminds me more of a remake of A Link to the Past than a sequel, but more varied, fleshed out, and improved.

[kamikazekeeg]

Doom: The Dark Ages dropped down to a decent price, so figured why not, could use some arcadey run and gun action.  I didn't really love the last one, Eternal, it wasn't bad, but it moved away from what I thought was a way better and more engaging experience with Doom 2016, where it felt more chunky, "realistic", a bit slower, less arcadey than what we have here.  I do feel like because the games have gotten faster and built around gimmicks like shoulder blasters, grapple hooks, now speed running and shield bashing stuff, that it loses that kinda pure, ultra-violence of Doom 2016.  Still very violent, but not quite as satisfying.

Music is solid though, I know it's not Mick and it's functionally trying to emulate what he was doing, though not exactly for the sake of being its own, but it's still solid heavy metal.  I'm never gonna say no to that lol

Kinda makes me think since I'm mostly just really waiting on the first big new game of 2026, Resident Evil: Requiem, I might go and replay Doom 2016 after this perhaps.  Haven't played it since it released, so we'll see how I'm feeling on Doom after this.

[kashell]

Thanks to its third person option, I've been playing a ton of Resident Evil Village. I was so bummed about them moving the game to first person with VII, so seeing this option for VIII was nice.

[kamikazekeeg]

Thanks to its third person option, I've been playing a ton of Resident Evil Village. I was so bummed about them moving the game to first person with VII, so seeing this option for VIII was nice.

I prefer the first person view in the series, but I do appreciate they are making third person an option now and Requiem is meant to have it at launch which means it was built with both in mind from the get go as I know VIII in places could be a tad wonky.  I see it as just a possible means of replay value, in that I'll play most of the game first person and then on a random replay, I'll choose to do third person for variety sake.

[kashell]

That's good to know about Requiem. I knew the Leon segments would at least be in third-person, but wasn't sure about the other characters'.

Games in first-person make me nauseous so third-person is a requirement.

[kamikazekeeg]

Tried playing HumanitZ, it's basically like a less hardcore Project Zomboid, which is what interested me. Zomboid just has too many intricate, hardcore, elements that would drive me kind of wild, and particularly it has viewing limits, so anything you can't see with your eyes, can't be seen.  I hate things like that, it's an understandable realistic aspect, I just don't like it.  Often you then get games like this, which are similar to it, but often abit less hardcore or try different things.  I think the hook of this was less hardcore and I think there's more build freedom in that you can make your own buildings, rather than Zomboid, that I think is mostly about house reinforcement and some stuff to build like fences.

Unfortunately it's very much "We have Zomboid at home" levels.  It's okay, but movement and controls feel bad.  I think it's maybe meant to be built around controller, but it's very unsatisfying to me.  Even with a 1.0 release, it just feels abit lacking, zombies don't really make much noise attacking doors, the "music" was like one long droning note I had to turn off, combat was basic, but clunky...It's one of those things you quickly realize in a half hour won't be for you, but thank goodness for steam refund lol It's not terrible, I'm just way more easily annoyed with wonky feeling controls that aren't immediately satisfying to use these days.

[marvelvscapcom2]

Recently bought every football game ever made for the sole intent to rank and curate them.  Since most are cheap as chips I felt it was a fun venture.   So far I have Madden Original and 92 through 2026.  Every NFL xtreme, blitz, street abd gameday games. ESPN 2K5.  Nfl fever. The 4 mainline tecmo bowl games.  Troy Aikman football. Prime time football.  Among many others.


And also GTA San andreas. The iconic classic

[nintendopresents]

Currently, Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero on PS2. Man is this game fun and the music kicks ass, i love how non-traditional it is compared to other racing games. Racing in this actually feels like a battle if that makes sense. I recently beat the first one on Dreamcast and looking forward to getting a copy of the sequel, just gotta get lucky and find one not super expensive.

Also playing Postal on Dreamcast, i've beaten this game several times but finally put my big boy pants on and attempting it on hard mode. It's too bad the Dreamcast controller doesn't come with twin sticks, may have to look into getting a PS2 adapter cause the official twin sticks for DC is ridiculous in price.

[kamikazekeeg]

Picked up Palworld since it got a sale and it's supposed to hit 1.0 this year.  I played it a little when it first released and was more barebones on Game Pass, but I could see what they were going for, so figured I'd just wait to play more till it neared or hit release.  The game is very creatively bankrupt, the company is not shy about it with Pal designs feeling very bootleg Pokemon and a lot of the games vibe and design is just straight up Breath of the Wild (A thing the company making this has done twice, as their previous game was functionally the same game, just without the Pal's), but it's not the worst.  I think maybe I care less about that just because the state of Pokemon is so garbage, I don't care if someone else is ripping them off lol

The game is a generally fine crafting and creature collector, nothing amazing so far and I think it still needs some work in areas, music is kinda non-existent, only popping up in certain situations (Breath of the Wild again), a lot of sounds effects and creature sounds feel very placeholdery, and there's still some bugs and such strewn about, but very playable.  Not perfect, but fine so far.  Not sure if I'll stick with it through all of the content or just play abit and then wait for 1.0, might just play till Resident Evil 9 releases and then call that good until the game fully comes out.