Currently Playing

[Wrathbone]

For me, Obsidian has the same issue as modern-day Bioware, trading on a name they no longer qualify for, as all the talent that earned them their reputation has left.

I don't think that's as true for Obsidian as it is for Bioware, as Obsidian still have the likes of Josh Sawyer, Tim Cain and Feargus Urquhart. Obsidian have lost their consistent spark of brilliance, though, and I think it's because they're too comfortable. Their best work came under the most strained of circumstances, such as New Vegas and its infamous 18 month development period. Now they know they can pootle into the future with reasonable safety by producing B-tier games on a modest budget. I don't blame them - job security is not to be sniffed at, especially in game development - but it's still a sad state of affairs. It's like if Turner realised he could make money with more certainty by painting walls than by revolutionising the use of light in artworks.

[DjchunKfunK]

Have to say I disagree quite a bit regarding Outer Worlds 2, I think it is a massive improvement on the first game. The writing is much better, the skill implementation is better, combat feels a lot better, companions are an orders of magnitude more interesting and the variety and breadth of areas and how to tackle things is also improved, across the board I think it's a massive step up. In terms of the factions not being likeable, I can see how someone might feel like that but I'd say the same about Fallout New Vegas' factions and that didn't seem to be an issue there. I found that there were redeeming people within some of the factions but ultimately I don't think a game like this has to have likeable factions to work.

On Obsidian more generally, they put out Pentiment a few years back and that's one of the best games they have every made and the Grounded series of games are some of the most interesting survival games out there. I think they are a long way from being near the depths Bioware have sunk to.

[Lenny Solidus]

Horizon Forbidden West

I'd like to get this segment out of the way firstly...

Do you recall jumping to ledges in the very first Tomb Raider game? I'm quite certain that the mere mention of such a thing opens up a portal in your mind to when you'd be taking specific note of different grey and brown coloured pixels on the screen to perfectly set a lined up to jump from one position to another. The game's very own 'dated by technical limitation' design and execution back then actually equipped you to never miss a single jump. Simply put everything had squares and due to this it became widely known that a standing jump was 2 squares exactly, a running jump was 3. And done, continue on, heroic adventurer. This was in 1996 when open world games we now tend to venture so readily were nothing but a pipe dream. You could of course slap me silly and tell me how many years apart one is linear one is not etc etc my point stands that having a game any game for that matter that has scaling involved by all rights needs to be as tight and proficient as it possibly can, he muttered quite obviously, anything else will only serve to strip back the pleasures of all else you are taking in at the very same time.

Thing is the actual platforming design in itself is really well orchestrated/designed so it's a damn shame that the control system can never seem to react to it correctly as it does.

Horizon 2 is a terrific game marred by one of its main mechanics quite honestly being at times near comedically unreliable. You will (I promise you) instaquit this game out of sheer bloody frustration at some point feeling cheated and head straight for the mini bar. And given just how much I'd be having to clear near pyramid style structured climbing puzzles with no reset other than starting all over once more - I was nothing short of deflated before I'd even had the chance to sink my teeth into it properly. If you are supposedly presented with better, you expect better in all aspects. Now I do not mind whatsoever being given obstacles in a game, but the kind that make you not wish to load up the game again afterwards knowing that a flawed system is the one thing preventing you from making the progress you would have had it been implemented properly and executed sufficiently whenever however it was required, well that is surely the very worst kind of obstacle of all.

Story wise it's the usual tropes you would expect, lots of exposition and talky heads, but it's all a bit more engaging this time around I have found and less skipping material though there's obviously lengthy amounts of it to get through. You will skip at some point, perhaps.

Combat wise I do believe it's much more of a positive than the first, outside that is of being able to completely cheese some of the boss encounters without much fuss enemy encounters out in the wild have been much more fun and having use of the grapple to gain the higher ground is obviously very useful. AI in the first always felt like somewhat of an afterthought for me whereas this very much matches the combat in other open world games, your choice of method to deal with them directly or indirectly is both plentiful and again far more fun than engaging them in the previous. Taking on robodons has never not been a cheek clenching experience but now taking on the human types can too lead to engagements you can thoroughly enjoy also getting into scraps with, finally.

Horizon 2 has brought me about a fair bit of frustration but also plenty of joy at the 30 hours in point though I'd like to think more the latter because it is without any doubt at times a blissfully fun, engaging at times even wondrous game to play and need I have to say anything about the mind-blowing graphical presentation? Of course not. The last time I played I'd stirred up several robodons (which I'm now completely obsessed with getting as close to them to screenie as I possibly can they are just that impressive looking) to start attacking one another as I sat crouched amidst the weeds and simply enjoyed the pure splendour of them attacking one another via stunning animations and a veritable cool as hell light show on full display (it was in fact still going on well over 20 minutes after it began) and that right there is just one tiny aspect of what makes the game so great.

Now that that's out of the way I can say most of but not all of the sequel to a game I did enjoy though admit I very much laboured through it for the final 20 hours or so Forbidden West has given me a much better designed and far more elaborate and downright bloody beautiful crafted world full of surprises, dangers, and a place that adventuring within organically without always following waypoints and orders attempting to take on elements that you know deep down you aren't quite ready for but know will be fun to engage with anyway, fuck it. Being able to study from afar one larger robodon after another that all have to be taken down in very specific manners and if I get it wrong I'll get stomped on set on fire frazzled by electric, choked by gas, melted by acid or just straight up punted into the abyss as Aloy crumples in that classic Tomb Raider style that came before, yes give me all of that. Being able to now swim makes you aware that there's a real actual current down there, being able to now jump off of a high up perching point and glide your way down though doesn't last as long as I'd like is still a set positive.

One thing I have noted more than anything is that I've very much taken to running everywhere this time in comparison to the original, yes sure riding a huge intricately detailed and lovingly animated behemoth of a mount around is cool and all, but for one they aren't the best to control exactly and there's just so much to miss if you do decide to take that path. I may well start using something much bigger once I'm able to directly take them on (I mean that's a given, right) but for now just leisurely running is much more for my pacing concerns allowing me to come across all sorts of things I'd miss otherwise.

Snowy has mentioned that the weaponry this time around tends to lack some of the oomph power and variety this time around and I can't exactly agree nor disagree at this point as I've only began to unlock some of the more exotic based arsenal offered in the game. As I've gone with the Infiltrator class a little more primarily (11 points spent) I'm sure you can imagine the kinds of things I am getting up to yet the game taught me fairly quickly that balancing out many classes is the order of the day. The same thing that did bring me joy in the first aka hiding in grass and stealth killing anything that came close is much more rewarding now giving you health and valour points as well as some super cool takedown animations on top. I do so enjoy using both the grapple/grapple launch and the pullcaster though both make for excellent more outside the box approaches.

The valour system which I've only just unlocked not long ago incidentally allow Aloy direct temp buffs that truly can tide the turn off a fight you are on the losing end of and is but one other addition to the game that sets it well above the original. I should mention the Focus before I end, yes the world is filled with 'stuff' you can scan prise information from and generally go oooooowaddat over there at, and yes I know that sounds like no big deal but it 100% makes you take note of everything surrounding you rather than just race through them as you so often typically do in such large environments. If you get an inkling that there's something juicy sat waiting for you in a cave you just spotted above or below ground, you're more often correct than not. Everything you scan is useful in some regard, including the newly introduced explosive areas that hide things.

There are many more aspects I could cover, but I feel I've rambled enough except that is. Then again I have rewritten this several times (as I'm sure it shows unfortunately) and removed quite a lot to spare you, so do please share my suffering.

Lastly then the games' performance has been simply stellar for me, never would I have expected my 70w gpu to be able to allow such sights as this is gracing me with every single time I boot it up. And as the game is made up of several quite amazingly realised biomes the way they have tackled so many satisfying different ways to get around, get up, get down and simply take in this massively dense filled with things that want you to fuck off immediately camp fires are your best friend and the world they have created I can't praise the game enough, what an amazing game engine.

For £20 this game has been quite the marvel for me and I've plenty of hours ahead of me still, I do so love what open worlds offer you and feel that as gamers today we quite possibly take them a little too much for granted. Again if you can deal with (I won't say overlook) the flawed climbing system you would have expected a patch would have well taken care of by now to not become a death by a thousand cunts every single time it lets you down (I will stress it's not every time but it sure as hell is way way wayyyyy too often) there's more than enough positive elements that can and should keep you going.

There's a ton of stuff and extra mechanics I've purposely left out as this is longer than it needed to be already!

[Wrathbone]

I've been playing the early access of Bladesong, which is a sword-smithing game with a pretty good narrative RPG side to it in a grimdark setting. At first glance the smithing comes across as quite basic - set the blade length, width, cross-section and point, then add a guard, grip and pommel - but you quickly get more complex features and requirements to meet, based on the commissions you accept. Some are straightforward, others are tricky to balance things like weight and mobility while retaining the blade's impact.

I was surprised how much it engaged me, particularly with the story, and you eventually realise that there may be consequences for forging swords for certain people. If they come in your shop cackling manically about how the voices told them who to slay, they better be paying well.

It took me 10 hours to get through the main quest available in early access, with more coming in a future update. Looking foward to it!