Currently Playing

[Raid]

Tunic

I enjoyed the demo of this a few months back, and the full version released today on Gamepass. It's a wonderful game, an obvious love letter to TLoZ: A Link To The Past (one of my favourite 16-bit games) but with a few of the trappings of the Soulsborne series thrown in. It's all very mysterious, in much the same way Elden Ring is, but eliciting more wonder than dread. ..and you just go out and explore the world. There's very little guidance as to what you're meant to do, but at least in the first few hours that I've played it keeps you on a relatively linear path. There are shortcuts to unlock as you progress, and bonfire-esque statues that you'll resurrect at should you die.

Very little of the text in the game is actually in English, replaced instead by a runic language which may well be readable after you find an item, I'm not sure. You pick up pages from an extremely nostalgic game manual as you go, with little snippets of English in there when the pictograms don't quite suffice. The presentation is lovely, with a soothing soundtrack, adorable animations on your little fox character, and the visuals are pleasing.

Definitely one to try given that it's free for Gamepass subscribers.

[Sly Boots]

Was just eyeing this on Steam, didn't realise it was on GP, I'll definitely grab it there

[Sly Boots]

By the way, just saw Paradise Killer is also now on GP. People should definitely play it, providing they can enjoy something deeply weird. Such a good game.

[DjchunKfunK]

I'm interested in giving Tunic a look, it was a game I was really looking forward to until I played the demo last year which really soured me on the game as I thought the combat was straight up bad. It was going for something like Dark Souls but really missed the mark. Hopefully they have tweaked it a bit.

[Raid]

I didn't remember the demo combat being quite as smooth as it is in the release version. Did the demo have a lock on ability or has that been added since? Either way it's still a little clunky, but perfectly decent in my opinion.

[Raid]

DCS World: AH-64D Apache



About as far from Tunic as a gaming experience you could get, this is a flight sim module I've been looking forward to since it was announced a couple of years back. It's telling that they sprang for AC/DC for the trailer music, Eagle Dynamics don't usually use well-known licensed music for their trailers - this is a big release for them, and they've done an incredible job with it.

There's an Apache fact that gets repeated online a lot - that Apache pilots can move their two eyes in opposite directions. It's not true of course, but operating this aircraft does require you to constantly shift focus between either eye, then between the outside world, the cockpit, and the helmet-mounted display hanging an inch from one eyeball. It's replicated in the VR version which I play (as in VR you can have true binocular vision), and it's pretty overwhelming. It's complete sensory overload, and when flying at night where you can have one of the nose-mounted night-vision cameras displayed in one eye, you're even doing it all with two entirely different levels of brightness or contrast, and from two entirely different angles (you can fix the camera forward, and so you get the forward view even if you're looking out to the side). There were times where it made me slightly dizzy when I took my first flight last night, and on one occasion I ended up plummeting out of the air because I was fixated on the helmet display and hadn't noticed I'd pitched downwards.

And then there's the multiplayer aspect; it's a two-person aircraft, with one handling the flying and the other the main targeting system. The test flight I took last night with a friend was more to do with controls setup (those of you who've seen my flight sim setup - this uses every bit of it), but having two people co-ordinating to run one machine is going to be a real highlight.

I know this isn't a genre that I think anyone else here enjoys, but I'm honestly rather giddy about it. I'd love to be able to record a video to show what the experience is like, but it's not something that comes across well on a flat screen.

[Animalmother]

I don't play flight sims but must admit that looks amazing and horrendously complicated

I've seen a few DCS videos of large Russian convoys getting obliterated by various aircraft, it's strangely unnerving to see what modern weapons might be able to do.

[Raid]

Yeah, the scope for killing in modern warfare is terrifying, but at least in the West there's been a lot of money poured into developing weapons that kill as few people as possible. Case in point, there's a variant of the Hellfire missile (the guided anti-tank weapon that the Apache carries) that operates like any other, but instead of a warhead it carries several blades that spring out from the side of the missile, and it's intended to kill single individuals without causing any damage to anyone or thing around them. The US used them to assassinate militant leaders a few years ago; they killed the occupants of a car without the car actually exploding. If it weren't so utterly horrible a concept it'd be straight out of a Roadrunner cartoon.

I've spent a good few hours in the Apache now, and while it's certainly got a lot of depth to the systems, it's actually the flight mechanics of helicopters that have posed the biggest learning curve. Because the primary flight surfaces are also the primary propulsion, you have to balance out any increase in power with control inputs to stop the aircraft rotating. The module is in early access and isn't feature complete, so while it has stability systems functioning, the autopilot modes aren't yet present. I'd flown the Vietnam-era Huey and the Soviet KA-50 prior to this, and didn't have half as much trouble (the Huey has significantly less power, and the KA-50 has contra-rotating rotors instead of a tail rotor, which automatically counteracts any torque effects).

[Abs_McBain]

Not sure whats up with Cave, the developers of shumps, being a bit piss poor when marketing their games.

Anyway I learnt that DoDonPachi Resurrection was released on the Switch last year and just grabbed it. Stretch the screen to fit and rotate for Tate and woah, it works well in portable mode!
Now whens the Switch port of Battle Garegga gonna appear?

[Animalmother]

So Days Gone is still my jam at the moment, it's The Last of Us mixed with Red Dead and doing it's own thing is the best way I'd decide it.

Now in the second area of the game which has new enemies and weapons available. I never got any of the previous settlements to level 3 so feel like I missed out on a lot of cool gear. I did get myself an LMG and just mowed down a medium sized horde in a few seconds which made a change from avoiding them constantly. Have unlocked the majority of the skill points so I'm a literal one man army in most situations.

Still has it's annoyances and moments of frustration but overall it's a very sold game. It's a real shame that it's unlikely to ever get a follow up, once you get past the first few hours it's a very enjoyable game. It's probably available for buttons now so pick it up if you can.

[Sly Boots]

+1, really enjoyed Days Gone.

[Solitaire]

I'm distracting myself from the news by playing The Riftbreaker, a kinda crazy mashup of Robotron, tower defense, and city building/alien planet destruction, er, renovation. I gotta say, six hours went by before I'd even stood up to take a break. There's an enormous skill tree that isn't brutally difficult to advance. The graphics are top-notch - looks great on my 4+ year old HP OMEN desktop.

[Animalmother]

I gave Riftbreaker a bash a while ago and it just didn't grab me. Looked fantastic alright.

[Alan]

Not sure whats up with Cave, the developers of shumps, being a bit piss poor when marketing their games.

Anyway I learnt that DoDonPachi Resurrection was released on the Switch last year and just grabbed it. Stretch the screen to fit and rotate for Tate and woah, it works well in portable mode!
Now whens the Switch port of Battle Garegga gonna appear?

Do you have the flip grip? I bought a knockoff 3D printed one because it’s never in bloody stock! It’s more basic but works great. It’s one of the few things the switch does great.

[Abs_McBain]

I grabbed my laptop riser stand and slotted some card to prop up the Switch. It works, although not very portable though.

Uhh i've also been playing some stuff on the Sega Saturn. Gave Bulk Slash a try and got hooked. Got so hooked onto the game that I strained my left thumb tendon.
The Saturn has a good d-pad but the frantic arcade action and constant holding down the d-pad did no favours for my aging thumb.

No gaming for a while now!