What are you playing?

Grounded on game pass.

Picked up Brotato and had fun for about 5 hours before I got bored so I got my $5 worth =O

Just beat Fenyx Immortals Rising. Solid Zelda BOTW style game, but the humor was not for me.

Metal: Hellsinger is going to be next along with diving deeper into Grounded.

Nola said:

Grounded on game pass.

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I dislike survival games, but this one is actually pretty solid and the first one since subnautica that I've been willing to put time into. I do wish there was a like a pure adventure mode that let you skip the gathering and building stuff though. I need to buckle down and get over chopping shit down for a couple of days.

Terraria's new update. upside down world!

Rajaah said:

Does BOTW have as much puzzle-ing as Fenyx?

I played Fenyx around when it came out and enjoyed some things about it (the visuals, the combat) but all of the extensive puzzles got old. Every time I'd reach a new area I'd be excited for some battles, then within a minute or two I was solving another extended block puzzle. All I remember about the game was moving blocks around.

Haven't played BOTW, want to but Fenyx kinda warded me off from it.

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Yes and no. All of the shrines in BOTW involve some form of puzzle or combat, but I doubt I even did half of them before I beat the game as they are more of a completionist thing than a necessary thing. I hated BOTW at the start too. Once I had about 10-15 hours into though it became one of my favorite games.

I played similarly in Fenyx where I did just enough to get the stuff I wanted then focused on story progression. If I hadn't played BOTW first I think I would have liked Fenyx more, but it felt uninspired. It may be similar going in the other direction for you unless you're a big Zelda fan in general.

The physics and creativity in how you can approach things in BOTW are superior to Fenyx, but I'd say Fenyx has an easier time getting good with it's combat/abilities than BOTW. Both worlds were neat to explore, but BOTW definitely had more of a "wow" factor for me than Fenyx.

Went down the modding rabbit hole with Skyrim again, so most gaming time is that. Occasionally dota 2 with it's lackluster battlepass.

Skyrim mods have come a long way. The game is still very enjoyable after all these years due to the modding community.

Jackie Treehorn said:

I still have never at any point actually finished Skyrim or Witcher 3. But I’ve thought about installing Skyrim again with mods.

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Give it a try. Take it slow and test frequently, like after every few mods installed. I've had zero CTDs this playthrough by taking my time and carefully reading mod descriptions/install instructions. Use Mod Organizer 2.

Downgrade to 1.6.353. After the essential Unofficial Patch, I highly recommend the "simonrim" mods as a gameplay foundation to build around. Also, True Directional Gameplay, TrueHUD, and Precision by Ershin. And some of DeltaRider's. Then Open World Loot for a loot and encounter overhaul. Together these mods are like "vanilla +" as they freshen up the gameplay without going so far that it becomes ridiculous and unbalanced.

SKYUI, NordicUI + Nordic...ish + Compass Navigation Overhaul + Quick Loot RE for UI.

SMIM, Noble Skyrim, Granite Mountains, Realistic Water 2, and "Cathedral" mods for weather, environment, and landscapes. I don't use any tree mods as vanilla trees look just fine.

Lux, Lux Via, and Lux Orbis for interior/exterior lighting.

JKs Skyrim, Ryn's, and Arthmoor (on AFK mod site) for enhanced but balanced locations.

Unofficial HD Audio Project, The Northern Diaries, Immersive Sounds Compendium, and Audio Overhaul for Skyrim for audio.

AI Overhaul SSE

Conditional Expressions, EVG Animation Variance, Immersive interactions, and UNDERDOG's death animations.

powerofthree, wskeever, johnskyrim, and jayserpa have some great smaller gameplay/realism mods.

Lot of other smaller mods for realism and small gameplay tweaks.

Check for patches between mods. Follow this guide to get leveled lists to work well together.

Run DynDOLOD at the end.

Finished Yoku's Island Express on the Switch.

Fun little Metroidvania game, reminds me of Hollow Knight except very colorful, but there is barely any combat in this so the similarities stop there. It's a mix of exploration/platforming and pinball, of all things. It works in context, and it's a fun little adventure that can be finished in a handful of hours, and double that if you want to get everything 100% (collectibles, upgrades, quests, etc).

You play as a dung beetle postman on a tropical island, and shenanigans happen right as you get there and you have to save the island and make sure the mail always gets through.

It was on sale on the Nintendo Store for 4.99 so definitely worth it at a low price if you're into a whimsical little adventure.

Warr said:

Picked this up earlier this week. Been waiting for the PS5 upgrade of it to see what all the fuss is about since no one will give a straight answer for fear of spoiling it. It's a pretty neat timeloop space exploration adventure.

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My GOTY for whatever year it came out.

PS: Finished Brain Lord and boy oh boy did they cram all the annoying ideas they could think of in the last quarter of the game. Without save states I probably would have stopped playing. Not really a difficulty thing resulting in possible deaths, just insane tedium like navigating huge rooms in total darkness, rooms with random block placement that can lead to unbeatable layouts you have to reset, platforming over pits with gravity altering monsters flying around, multi phase end boss with pits that sends you waaay back and reset the fight.... and a few other niceties of the same cloth.

Just finished The Mummy : Demastered on Switch.

Simple and to the point Metroidvania game, very much like Super Metroid or Axiom Verge. Cool pixel art and animations, nothing incredible but it works. It's run and gun mostly, a little exploration, not too many collectibles (just skills, upgrades and 50 relics, found nearly 40 on my first playthrough without much looking around). End screen said I played for a little over 5 hours to finish it and died only 3 times so it's definitely on the short and easy side, but it scratches the itch if you're looking for that kind of game.

It was 19.99 on the store and I'd say that's a little steep for that kind of content, I'd recommend waiting for at least 50% sale.

I just tried the Soulstone Survivors demo on steam. Seems like it may end up being the best Horde Survival type once it releases in November...

Brikker said:

I just tried the Soulstone Survivors demo on steam. Seems like it may end up being the best Horde Survival type once it releases in November...

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Yeah this was good, right up there with Rogue: Genesia and Brotato. Rogue has more RPG elements and can't wait for him to add more cards and levels. Brotato is a little more action oriented but the game play and variety of builds is pretty great. Brotato's soundtrack is also amazing.

Soulstone is pretty basic atm but in addition to all the unimplemented stuff its supposed to have like another ~100 or so skills too when it enters early access. A lot of potential there.

Boneraiser Minions is pretty sweet. You play a necromancer and raise minions to fight for you instead of fighting yourself, although you still have to dodge/collect stuff.

Fogel said:

Yeah this was good, right up there with Rogue: Genesia and Brotato. Rogue has more RPG elements and can't wait for him to add more cards and levels. Brotato is a little more action oriented but the game play and variety of builds is pretty great. Brotato's soundtrack is also amazing.

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Gavinmad said:

Soulstone is pretty basic atm but in addition to all the unimplemented stuff its supposed to have like another ~100 or so skills too when it enters early access. A lot of potential there.

Boneraiser Minions is pretty sweet. You play a necromancer and raise minions to fight for you instead of fighting yourself, although you still have to dodge/collect stuff.

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I have Brotato on the wishlist but haven't gotten it yet. I find myself playing a shitload of this genre because they're typically under $5! Also have on the list: Nomad Survival and Mobmania.

Boneraiser is great, had a lot of fun and it looks like they're consistently adding stuff to it. Soulstone Survivors has a Nov 7th release date (EA or full?).

Best part is these are the perfect games for my Steamdeck which is set to arrive on Thursday.