Messages

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 12, 2025, 02:12:13 am »

37 - Arc Raiders PC 2025) - ENDLESS - I'm about 13 hours in and while I'm sure there's an "end point" in terms of quests, functionally it's just an online multiplayer game and isn't really a "hit credits" sort of game.  Overall I like the game, it has solid gameplay and there's been a good mixture of people in solo's trying to play nice or be ruthless and bloodthirsty.  I'm often one of them lol It's a casual extraction, which is why I like it, a lot of the other games like this either are more hardcore or don't have good solo action.

PVE is okay, I think there's abit of a lack of variety in enemy types, either some form of ball robot or drone robot and then some crawlers, but of the 15 enemies, two are turrets, two only sound an alarm to bring enemies, 3 you avoid unless you have a ton of higher level gear and you don't get jumped, and one is a "boss" that you'll probably never fight, so not a lot of standard enemies.  They can be intense to fight if you get swarmed by more than one of the smaller ones, and depending on the weapon type, you might not be able to beat them as light ammo is only for the weakest ARC's or Raiders.

One bad thing that I don't like, as it was an issue with their other game is that the game has AI voice work and it's not great.  I'm not sure if every NPC is AI, some seemed okay while others sound horrible, so cutscene stuff could be actual actors and then some of the minor stuff is AI.  They did pay some VA's to do voice bank stuff that is then built off GenAI, but I don't support that either, there's a lot of issues with this.

Other than that, it's a decent enough time.  I will say their microtransactions are really high for pretty basic, middling, outfit, options.  I appreciate they aren't turning it into goofy nonsense, and it all feels right, much like Helldivers 2, but some of the outfits are like 15 to 20 bucks or something, which is crazy for a non-F2P game.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Fortnite | The Simpsons

« on: November 09, 2025, 08:49:46 pm »

It's a pretty neat crossover, a complete overhaul visually, they put a ton of work into it.  A shame I stopped playing Fortnite months ago because the game got way too boring with every match having far too many bots in them lol

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General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: November 09, 2025, 06:32:44 am »

Ended up putting the money I got back from Sonic Frontiers into ARC Raiders as I kept seeing stuff on it and couldn't wait lol I had played the stress test and enjoyed it a good bit, it has a good solo play option and while I was gonna wait because the Battlefield BR came out, it doesn't have a solo option and I think it needs a little cleaning up, even though it's not bad.  Already back to enjoying it, it's maybe the best looking and best running game I've played lately? Especially for a multiplayer game.  Like BF6 runs good, but Raiders is just like...smooth, they optimized the heck out of this game.  I also still dig the kinda chunky weight and movement of the gameplay, it's not something I've seen a ton from third person games in awhile, I don't even know if there's one I'd compare it to, maybe Gears of War if it was trying to be a tad more realistic? Satisfying is how I'd put it.  It's nice having two multiplayer games I'm into right now as I feel like I really haven't had one in awhile.

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General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: November 07, 2025, 11:01:42 pm »

Gave Sonic Frontiers a very short chance again since I saw it was on a deep sale on PC, and the last time I tried it was on PS4 I think and I didn't like it much back then...still don't like it now lol Cutscenes are really low rez, like they feel 720p or something with their quality.  The game is then locked at 60fps and I thought I might've been to harsh on the item pop-in for the game, I now know I wasn't, it's horrid, just watching rails and platforms pop in right in front of you.  I know there's a mod that can force better distance detail, but its limited to how far as it'll just end up breaking the game.

I like the idea of an open world Sonic game and this isn't the worst thing ever at its core, but it's just a Breath of the Wild Knockoff, but with far less to do in the world and just a bunch of random platforms and rails strewn haphazardly in the air, it feels like a game that has map modding and people just made their own levels.  I wouldn't be against a sequel overhauling a lot of this with a far better engine, but I'm done giving this game a chance lol

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 07, 2025, 01:38:43 am »

36 - Poppy's Playtime: Chapter 4 (PC 2024) - BEAT - This was an interesting shift after the third chapter.  The game stayed pretty PG-13 up to this point, relatively speaking, a few things were kinda dark, but they usually avoided showing real dead bodies, but not this time, 4th chapter had dead human bodies all over.  It's nothing gory or extra violent, but it was not something I expected after the first three chapters.  Definitely the complete realization of its gameplay experience, though they didn't add anything new in particular gameplay wise, which was odd.  Decent enough puzzles, a lot more character stuff as you get to hang around with Doey a lot, talk to Poppy more, they didn't kinda flop with the Safe Haven concept, as you don't get to interact with anyone.

I think I like this chapter less than the last one, because the facade of a friendly place is all gone now, which makes sense for the story, but that means I'm just running around kinda caverns, and tunnels, and this big jail place and it's way less interesting than either the Game Station or Playcare. Once again good animations and character voice acting.  Think it's coming up on the end of the series, I can't imagine they go much further than one more chapter at this point as it all seems to be leading up to this I think.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 06, 2025, 05:10:36 am »

35 - Voices of the Void (PC) - ENDLESS - Thought it was last year when I last played, but it was actually earlier this year, but couldn't help it, new update dropped (Game has been a free WIP for quite a long time now) and it added some really cool features, overhauling mechanics, adding more detail, it's not a super different game, but it's apparently now the functionally "final" design of the base, no more big additions or changes, just tweaks from here on out.  There's a lot of control differences with this update that has been hard to get use to when you get so use to the muscle memory from previous versions.  Love this game, it's weird, creepy, and super engaging and I like that there's been more depth added and there's still a ways for the game to go, but I love it.

Don't know if I'll get to the end of the available story moments this time, it's actually an unstable update for the moment, so it has a number of bugs right now, but I was just way too interested to see the new stuff to wait.  Either way, I'm dumping hours into the game.

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Off Topic / Re: What TV/Netflix show are you currently watching? (Megathread)

« on: November 05, 2025, 02:11:04 am »

Nice to have Hazbin Hotel back for Season 2, it's a weekly thing, so its just beginning with two episodes, but decent start so far as they setup the clear threats of the season, Episode 2 killing it with two really good songs (Gravity in particular my standout, but I'm biased with it being a rock song).  I feel like in the nearly 2 years since season 1 ended, the show kinda went down that path that sorta happens to really popular things, where all the popularity and fandoms starts to clash, the "Is this show actually good?" or "What's wrong with Insert Show Here" videos pop up, and there's a lot of negativity, but it always felt abit forced to me. 

Not that people don't have valid reasons to dislike it or maybe have some issues with the creator, but for me, I'm on board, and looking forward to the rest of this season and whenever Helluva Boss Season 3 happens.  I just love that alongside Glitch now, there's also this really good adult animation happening that's super enjoyable for all sorts of different reasons.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 05, 2025, 01:38:57 am »

Pretty much where im at with it.  The strength of Vampire Survivors is the pure simplicity (and amount of content). The base building in BxP isn't bad by any means, but it's a hurdle when all you really want to do is play the levels.  Theres too much to think about, comparatively.

I really wanted to like the base building more, I think it's an awesome way to make upgrades come across as "physical" instead of just a menu option, but what I found was that I'd just put buildings anywhere they'd fit and then when needing to build, I'd create a tiny cul-de-sac of upgrading/construction buildings that they couldn't get out of, and once those were built, they'd get thrown somewhere else to make room for a new batch of buildings that needed a little place to bounce around in, so the village never really took off in the way I think they thought it would.  Cool idea, but in the end not as engaging as it could have been, but an interesting attempt to try and set itself apart.  Sorta feel like they could've added more like roads that could speed up bouncing, or more general decor for the sake of driving people to want to spiffy up the village instead of just throwing buildings wherever.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 04, 2025, 10:51:37 pm »

I hit credits on Ball x Pit today.  It was a really fun Vampire Survivors timed survival style game, that played like Breakout or Arkanoid.  It's not quite as streamlined as VS, though, with some base building stuff that drags down the early game a little.  It gets kinda grindy towards the end and kinda boring if youve been keeping up with upgrades, as you can be pretty overpowered if you are staying on top of the upgrade system.  The VS comparisons really don't help my feelings about it, since it cost 3 times as much, but wore out its welcome way faster.  Worth picking up on sale, at least.

It is interesting how a game that I think is mechanically and visually better than Vampire Survivors, isn't as good as VS, because the draw to these sorta mindless shoot-em up style games is the ease of jumping in and kinda losing yourself to the power creep, but you spend less time in rounds, then have to do base upgrades (Which I generally liked) and then you have to be more engaged with the gameplay because you want to get those ricochets or get behind tougher enemies and such.  I liked it quite abit, but hit 15 hours with the ending and that was sorta good for me, having unlocked all the characters too, while I have currently 105 hours into Vampire Survivors and I'm gonna put more as I'm still not finished with the Castlevania DLC, some other free update stuff, they just added more to the Castlevania DLC, and just did a Balatro free update lol

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: November 01, 2025, 08:35:34 pm »

33 - Poppy's Playtime: Chapter 2 (PC 2022) - BEAT - After this and the first chapter, I was gonna go through all 4 chapters and count them as one game, but these really aren't like "Chapters", they release around a year apart and get progressively longer and improve on things quite abit from gameplay to quality.  The first was more of a demo than anything.  Chapter 2 is kinda just the first chapter, but more of a proper game length at like 2 to 3 hours, it feels like a realization of the first chapter's test experience.  I actually was going into this series kinda middling on it, sorta due to its influence I've seen on a lot of mascot horror that are just copying like the first chapter or two, and are usually awful, and while Chapter 2 is fine, it's nothing special, it really stands out in like animation quality and voice acting for the monsters.  Mommy in this is incredibly well animated and the voice acting is pretty great, it almost feels out of place in kind of a very basic minigame/walking sim sorta game lol  It's still quite short, I think I beat it in like 2 hours, but it's fine.


34 - Poppy's Playtime: Chapter 3 (PC 2024) - BEAT - This was a huge leap to me, pushing the atmosphere, the quality, there's genuinely creepy moments and they probably could've gone harder (Especially with where they take things in Chapter 4 so far), but it was actually a Chapter I really enjoy (Aside from a bug halfway through that almost caused me to reset the chapter, but I found a workaround).  This is way darker than anything going on in the first two chapters and you can see them doing some pretty clear nods to other horror ideas, from a section that is like a very light version of P.T., and introducing a threat for an area that is basically Weeping Angels, yet they made it work.  I really enjoyed this one.  Currently part way through Chapter 4 that I think is the longest one, but should finish it this weekend.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Limited Run Games Showcase 2025 discussion/predictions/wishes

« on: October 30, 2025, 04:27:49 pm »

My initial reaction to the Little Samson reveal was excitement, however I then remembered I have this game on my NES flashcart. It's a fun game, no question, but I don't know if I like it enough to buy it separately for $40+. No way in hell I'd be one of those crazy people paying $1000+ for an original cartridge, but that's collectorism for you.

I'm just gonna buy it digital so I can at least play it lol That it's super rare and I can technically get a physical version is kinda neat, but I'm not paying whatever the cost would be, I'm only doing that for collections to justify the cost.

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Modern Video Games / Re: Limited Run Games Showcase 2025 discussion/predictions/wishes

« on: October 29, 2025, 09:33:50 pm »

Cool to get Little Samson finally, I played it once years ago at someones house for a real short bit and it seemed fun, but was crazy how stupidly expensive of a game it was lol

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General / Re: Halo is going multiplat...end of an era

« on: October 25, 2025, 02:36:05 pm »

I'm just bummed that this feels incomplete without the original multiplayer.  They did the same thing with the Anniversary version I believe when I think for many people, including me, the original game was made what it was because of the multiplayer.  I loved the original campaign and I didn't get around to playing the Anniversary edition, so this is the perfect time to replay it, but I'm fully expecting this to be like a full price or near full price game for what is generally a not very long campaign that tons of people have already played multiple times in the past.  Cool for people that never played the game, hence it being on Playstation now...

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: October 25, 2025, 05:03:13 am »

32 - Bendy and the Ink Machine (PC 2017) - BEAT - This was always one of those games I meant to check out, I think I played the 1st chapter at some point, I feel like it was free before release, sorta like Poppy Playtime has the first chapter free and then you buy the rest.  It's basically got some very, very, light Bioshock vibes, mixed with a little mascot horror.  Honestly kinda wished it picked one or the other, because it's not a good action game like Bioshock and its not a good mascot horror game because there's not much in the way of puzzles or non-action stuff that's very engaging.  The art is pretty great, visually has a decent aesthetic, performance could've been better, because for some reason Steam said I was running at 120, but the game felt lower than that.  Not unplayable, just something I noticed.

Like I said, gameplay isn't great, the action is stiff and kinda bad, some areas drag, it's sorta just fetch quest type things, it really could've used some puzzle solving.  Some decent voice acting for some characters, though could've used more characters throughout and the game is quite short, I beat it in under 4 hours.  You do get a bonus thing that adds a little replay value if you go through the game again, but I didn't like it enough to want to do that.

Not a bad game, but definitely not something I would've spent 20 bucks on, which I'm glad I got it for I think under 10 bucks (And its going up for free on Epic soon, because of course it is even though I bought this like 2 weeks ago lol). 

I am going to check out the sequel, Dark Revival eventually, need it to go on sale (Kinda hoping a few horror games go on sale next week), but will get there eventually and the third main game is on the horizon.

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General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: October 25, 2025, 04:55:08 am »

Played the Cronos demo and it seems interesting.  I had heard it was kinda aggressive with its survival horror aspect, very tight with resources, which I don't love. I know that's a notable part of survival horror, but often it's not quite this bad, even Resident Evil could give you a decent ammo if you were careful with your shots.  There is like a charge shot attack, but even if you get a couple of those in, it can still take more, and I was not getting much more ammo.  The game feels like a mixture of Dead Space and Resident Evil, but I can see it being solid.  Not sure when or if I'll get it, at least not anytime soon, I don't think I'm getting much else other than maybe Arc Raiders soon, not sure.

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 - Struggling through this one now. I  thought I was gonna cruise through this one as mechanically it's vibes are very similar to FNAF 2, you just get a nice set execution of checking things and you'll probably be okay, but its hard even on Night 3 and not from timing.  There's way less to the audio cues I feel compared to like FNAF2 where you had things very clearly setup, you'll sometimes hear walking on either side, but it's not a guarantee of something being there, and then if Foxy gets into your closet, you now have a third door way to worry about and it's really annoying getting him to settle down as you can spend like 5+ seconds just getting him to back off, which can be enough to screw you on the doors, so far getting nailed by Chica/Cupcake is my normal go to.  I am frustrated, it's hard to tell what the path is for this.

I thought it was just rotating door to bed to door, and then put closet in the middle if Foxy shows up, but once Foxy shows up, he takes up so much time and leads to someone getting in, usually Chica for whatever reasons.  I did get one night that didn't get Foxy at all, but then I botched it by hitting flash light instead of closed door, great idea putting two important, conflicting, mechanics right next to each other with no keybind options.  I also swear there's points where the breathing audio doesn't play or is so quiet it's impossible to hear, because I've had moments where I sat for a good two seconds maybe, heard nothing, hit flashlight, dead.  So annoying.

I then tried to do the listening for just steps, but it's very clear that the steps don't always mean something is and I feel like that risks you getting something coming up both sides, specifically Foxy, and if they get in too soon, you just deal with him for too long.  Kinda curious if the idea is to try and calm it down a lot when you can, rather than calming him a little with every rotation.  I kinda just pop in for like 3 to 5 games, then get pissed and quit lol