whatchu playing now

diablo 3 on pc! oh nooo

I thought of something else I played recently: WSOP Full House Pro poker on xbla.

I am in a bad place. ;-)

GTA5 in the evenings, still searching for those hidden items
Or Lego City Undercover on occasions.

Any other time I struggle to find time or energy to play anything else right now, I'm trying to design and develop my own games and I find that a struggle in itself.

Games that I *should* be playing anyway...

Pinball FX, really really should fire this up more often
Rayman, not even installed this yet
Red Dead Redemption (still not bothered to attempt the final mission)
Fallout3, embarrassingly never finished this either
Fuel, after having to purchase new PS3 I'll have to start all over again.
Just Cause 2, dropped off the radar a bit, dip into every now and again to get that 100% status
Minecraft/FTB, my only reason for not playing this more often is its just too daunting. In terms of time wasting goes this is the mother of all. FTB packs have basically kicked this game into mind blowing status imo.

(With the exceptions of Pinball and Rayman you might notice a distinct pattern in the games I like)

picked up gta 5 again just to round off the epsilon missions. i was convinced there would be a big heist at the end of all of it, because ripping off the scientologists seemed to make sense and how else would i ever get the cash to buy the golf course etc. so the only one getting ripped off was me :( officially done with this game.

also just finished xcom enemy unknown which i loved to bits. besides it was just long enough to keep my interest through the whole thing.

not really sure what to go with next. ps+ gave me lots of options. i'll probably get going on tomb raider, as soon as i stop struggling to like pes2014.

dayZ and nothing but dayZ. the slow small little updates that come out every couple of weeks just make it that little bit more appealing every day. i try not to think that's there's no real goal or 'end' to it.

Dude, FRACT OSC is out. It's fun, but giving me a lot of flashbacks to Myst, due to heavy puzzles with occasional symbolic language hints. You're exploring this long abandoned machine world and you restoring operation to a giant synthesizer that you wander around in.

SMT4, the soundtrack for this game is so good, running around a post-apocalyptic Tokyo to synthy krautrock <3 http://youtu.be/SG_gB4kb2oA

Oh, FRACT sounds great, might have to grab that.

The only thing I'm playing at the moment is Letter Quest on my ipod. It's quite good but nothing mindblowing.

portal 2 (3rd time), ni no kuni, assassins creed 4, dork souls

FTL and could be on this for a while now that I feel like I finally understand how to play it

im obsessed

so many ships still to unlock and haven't even touched advanced mode...

I've been playing Kingdom Of Amalur, a game that apparently lost the taxpayers of Rhode Island $75m, recently. I kind of hate myself as it's another massive Skyrim-style time sink, but it's quite good fun.

what IS advanced mode

i havent even begun boarding as a tactic yet

sorry "advanced edition"

As a reminder, FTL: Advanced Edition is a free content expansion for FTL. All current (and future) customers will receive this update regardless of where they purchased it. Prior to release, we will post detailed instructions on how to get the update from whatever digital vendor you originally purchased FTL.

http://www.ftlgame.com/?page_id=106

New systems (clone bay??), new race, new ships, just lots more stuff, and it was released as a free sort of patch. It's a toggle option when you start a game, you can choose standard or advanced.

I've been playing Kingdom Of Amalur, a game that apparently lost the taxpayers of Rhode Island $75m
― Yuri Bashment (ShariVari), Thursday, April 24, 2014 3:45 PM

ah yes the curt schilling rpg

oh yeah i'm playing dragon's dogma. i've given up on it twice before so i'm determined to finish it this time. the controls are lacking but it has some of the best gfx i've seen in an rpg. makes dark souls 2 look like shit by comparison anyway.

http://cdn.destructoid.com//ul/266639-curt-shilling.jpg

dragon's dogma was good fun, at its best early before everything becomes too easy, so i encourage you to not progress the story at all until you have been everywhere. one of the best and most unique things it has are the giant wandering monsters that really felt like epic fights, at least until my gang quickly got OP'd. helps if you resist the temptation of the broken pawns that are available early.

infinity wars + starbound

helps if you resist the temptation of the broken pawns that are available early.
― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, April 24, 2014 4:29 PM

what are the broken pawns. i've just been using the free low level ones and trading them in every so often. groups of bandits on the roads are still kicking my butt

i got one real early with an ordinary woman's name, Karen i am fairly sure, and her owner had limited her level but she had maxed-out, late game rare gear and was a total powerhouse

whatever the fighter class is. i got another midway thru with a more forgettable fantasyish name, also a female fighter.

Dammit, Fract really _is_ like myst. I can't find the symbolic to detangle the tune I'm supposed to play to solve the final puzzle in one of the areas.

Final Fantasy - NES
Assassin's Creed IV - PC
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - PC
Castlevania: Rond of Blood - T16
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - PSX
Metal Gear Solid - PSX
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance - PC
Metal Gear Solid 2 - PC

you livin' the life, Adam, respect

finished saints row 4
tried diablo 3 again - meh so spammy
maybe back to metro 2033

"Finished" Portal and Fez, loved both. Seems like there's still aftergame stuff for me to do, which is cool.

I'm a good way into the first God of War, and I can't be sure but I think I might kinda hate it. The brutal waves of super tough enemies are awesome, and some of the puzzles are pretty good, but creating Indiana Jones-esque deathtraps with a shitty camera and sketchy controls was the fucking worst idea ever. I've wasted so much of my playtime on failing to kill everything onscreen within a set time before falling to my death or being crushed or sliced up by shit that I can barely see in front of me that it's kinda become a chore for me to continue. I might just be hating the PS2-ness of it, though.

I've been surprisingly digging a lot of arcade-y stuff that I've gotten cheap from PSN recently. Super Stardust and Wipeout took me a little while to get used to but they're amazing once I'm in the zone. Just got Retro/Grade, which I haven't played much but which has an awesome conceit (basically a rhythm game disguised as a shooter that runs in reverse). The Space Invaders update also seems like good value.

This weekend, I hit 50% completion and the 100 hour mark near-simultaneously on Just Cause 2. Clearing a few areas in the game has become such a reliably perfect way to decompress at the end of the day.

kotor + bg2

getting myself psyched + ready for pillars of eternity i guess

xps I played GoW 1 for the first time... a year ago? Maybe two? Felt some of the same frustrations as you, but I'm still planning to truck on through to the others at some point. I can see how it all would've been far more impressive back in 2006, but some of those levels and dungeons are awfully designed.

What build you going for in KOTOR, Mordy?

i guess soldier guardian. tbh i'm kinda more interested in my bg2 half-elf cleric/ranger build (so OP apparently it's ppl's fave for soloing the game). (thought about playing a wild mage too.)

Streets of Rage 3
Bare Knuckle III

So BKIII is the Japanese version of SOR3 and it is WAY easier. This does not mean it is easy though, it only means it is possible to get through stage 1 without using a continue. American version of Streets of Rage 3 is one of the more difficult games I've ever played.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VWsJPJ19DA

That level with the bulldozer is all-time unfair.

all that and he's beat by a girder

i love the energy meter for 'wall'.

i guess i only played Streets of Rage 1 & 2.

man why doesn't axel just jump over the damn walls

sor3 is weird. it seems like it admits to tactics then it doesn't really.

I think after you get past the stage where you are fighting kangaroos and evil dominatrix clowns they just figured they could get away w that.

Played 2-player Hyperstone Heist for the Genesis last night. Got to Super Shredder and then we died and we were out of continues! The music in that game is incredible. Orchestrated speed metal.

i'm still playing bg2.

eu4 always with the eu4. genovese colonial empire.

wish i could get into eu. each time i load it up there are like 300 tutorials

if it helps you still won't know what the fuck is going on if you sit thru the tutorials

Sadly not as into Mirror's Edge as I'd hoped (hinges way too much on barely-disguised quick time events, which fuck that). Surprisingly way more into the first Metal Gear Solid than I expected (tough but mostly fair, cutscenes and dialogue that are reasonably well-written and not totally perfunctory, generous with the game saving, and the controls and camera, while occasionally obnoxious, are better than those on a lot of the PS2 games I've played). I still haven't been able to get past the first boss yet, though, so we'll see how long my admiration lasts.

is there some kind of amazing online tutorial that will teach me how to play?

there is a lot of user and wiki content so possibly but i'm not aware of anything myself. i think you just need to start playing it with the expectation that you won't know what you're doing for a long time. start with france: raise a big army and start some beef. you can go a long way with them without having to worry about some of the more arcane stuff for a while and you will pick up a good foundation in manpower/supply, tech advancement, diplomacy, religion. you can dip your toe into trade and colonies if you want but you'll still be able to do plenty without. and you'll have the immediate objective of unifying france to get your teeth into, which definitely helps the transition into the sandbox. you'll always have something to do with them and that is certainly not always the case elsewhere.

If you have PS+, Skate Story is one of the free downloads this month and is worth a look. Skateboard game (loosely, other shit going on) set in a psychedelic, vaporwave-y PS1-y looking world. Not far enough in to give a proper verdict, but interesting enough so far.

It would be generous to call the end of "Dead Island 2" a cliffhanger, because that would imply you might care about what comes next, but nah. Still, I appreciated the gradual shift into sorta sci-fi, which the first (shortish) DLC "Haus" really emphasizes. Funny that I should play it right when the trailer to "Control 2" was released, because boy is it clear the Dead Island guys were into "Alan Wake" and "Control," which "Haus" kinda has as more in common with than "Dead Island 2." Once again, some fun writing, and if I were the sort to play games multiple times I'd be curious how different the other characters and their dialogue/personality is.

Angeline Era - cryptic ps1-core action-adventure game with Ys bump combat, by the devs of the Anodyne games. i went from not being sure if i like it to playing for 6 hours today. i don't think it makes a great case for bump combat being as fun as plain old zelda hack and slashing, its a lot more finicky to keep the hit detection in your favor, but everything else going on with the world and progression is compellingly weird and cool enough to keep me retrying the action gauntlets

KOTOR

Coincidentally been playing a little Dead Island 2 lately after my brother picked it up on sale. Good, low investment background silliness for catch up sessions on voice chat.

Enjoying Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 now that it’s out on PS5. Some jank around the corners, but undeniably an awesome thing to behold once you’re in the sky.

Think I'm finally burnt out on Hades II, my new obsession is the absolutely batshit Tingus Goose. Is it worth spending money on what is essentially an idle game? In this case, yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaZJj-bWNnA

Sektori worth it just for the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcTAuqglcBo

Just started Baby Steps. I have to say, it's pretty fun so far. Not sure how tedious it will get though, but I'm enjoying it as a gestalt pastiche of Death Stranding

Etrian Odyssey HD. Sometimes I just want to waste time grinding for levels and drawing maps. The skill point system is interesting in that some skills are worthless and others are game-breaking -- I liked experimenting to find the good ones. fuck the postgame nonsense - there are quests where you have to search every square of every map again. no.

Hades (1). I didn't get into it when it was released because it seemed like I had to grind for permanent upgrades to win, and if I wanted to do that I'd prefer not to have the fighting part. It turns out that the fighting is more interesting than I realized. There IS some grinding (for example, one death defiance is virtually required), but after beating the final boss once, the grinding is to unlock interesting weapon variations.

Cobalt Core. FTL with the deckbuilding from Slay the Spire. It could become another addiction.

Various metroidvanias. Nine Sols, Blasphemous 1 and 2, Ender Lilies, The Messenger. Comfort food gaming.

I learned something hilarious about Baby Steps: if you skip all the cutscenes - which is apparently a tricky thing to do - you are forced to watch/listen to a 28-minute cutscene of the actors rambling about random stuff: "Rather than, you know, do a proper cutscene, Nate and chill donkey-guy Moose will acknowledge the player's lack of interest in their narrative, sit down, drop character, and embark on a cutscene that puts even Kojima to shame. What proceeds is effectively a 28-minute podcast between Nate actor Gabe Cuzzillo and Moose actor Bennett Foddy, in which the pair discuss everything from The Joker, to Foddy's Game of Thrones rewatch, to the proper definition of a broccoli rabe while chatting about how the player will almost certainly just skip this cutscene too. As the pair note, quite a lot of work goes into making these scenes, you know, and here you are just barreling through them. How rude."

Baby Steps ended up driving me back to Death Stranding 2, lol. If I'm going to fall off cliffs...

Yeah it's stupidly difficult. Like, one of the first challenges (after you learn to walk in a straight line) is having to climb on top of an old carnival cart. I fell so. many. times. And I still couldn't do it.

back on my apex bullshit. nothing scratches the itch for me quite like it - the whole player base is super cracked these days tho

i've been playing spiderman (2018). just wrapped up the main story and will probably move on to the dlc. the face animations are hilariously outdated and the gameplay does get repetitive but it's hard to deny the combo of the web-swinging and the city design. it's fun just to walk up to stores/restaurants where you can look in the window.

My own standard of "outdated" is pretty dated, lol. I thought it looked pretty great! Miles Morales sequel was fun, too, and that reminds me that I still need to play the second Spider-man game.

spiderman, the hero famous for his expressive face. they did him dirty

Been really into Nioh 2. I had tried playing it before and couldn’t get into it but this time everything clicked and im loving it. Looking forward to Nioh 3 in Feb.

… otoh, no other game is as singularly annoying, frustrating, RAGE-INDUCING as apex. still mmmmm moreish tho

zelda oracle of seasons. they should bring the subrosians back, they're my favorite weird little guys in the series

Cobalt Core. FTL with the deckbuilding from Slay the Spire. It could become another addiction.

i’ve been playing this as well! i’d add Into the Breach as a reference, too - each turn, you can see what the enemy is going to do, and you get the first move.

very similar to FTL and Into the Breach, i like it, but i sense that i suck, and i’m not committed enough to look online for strategies and and stuff, so it’s gonna be curtains for me soon i think! but would recommend to people that like FTL/into the breach, and if you felt like you were good at those i bet you’d be good at cobalt core as well

i loved cobalt core. has way more deck variety than other deckbuilders I've played. i played on the 2nd difficulty level though, the default was too easy. and even then i sometimes managed a combo deck that basically one-shot all the enemies. but that's still fun to execute

I played Cobalt For for a bit but didn't feel compelled to stick with it because the combat didn't offer a whole lot of variety for me, but I really like the art style.

The Roottrees Are Dead" [...] This is a Golden Idol/Obra Dinn-esque puzzle game about genealogy.

― reggae mike love (polyphonic)

i played that one, it was okay but felt a little dry without the cool staging and "on-site" investigation of an obra dinn or golden idol

― ciderpress

This turned out to be a perfect holiday break game. Short and sweet.

I didn't mind the lack of staging. First person makes me queasy (I think I'll always be a bit annoyed that I can't play Obra Dinn and probably not blue prince or Blake Manor either) and I didn't miss having Golden Idol style scenes. The early-web search format works well for this game I think.

Not sure I loved that the art looks AI generated (even though it isn't). It's not offensive or ugly, just not super memorable.

It originally did have AI art when it was a free game but they hired an artist and replaced it all for the paid version.

https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/686651/roottrees-ai-original-illustrator-replacement

AI version infamously started with a puzzle about a "plaid shirt" where the aigen shirt wasn't plaid.

I bought Road to Empress as part of the Steam winter sale -- it's an FMV choose your own adventure drama set in medieval China -- and the too stupid to live failure options are hilariously literal and possibly the hardest I've laughed at a game in a while.

I watched a few streamers play Road to Empress. It is a wild ass game

Roottrees is awesome. I'm enjoying it more than those other detective games, including Golden Idol and Obra Dinn.

The follow up/post-game Roottreemania is even better imo. It also gave me a chance to come around to the art a little bit, mainly for the effort put into designing characters that look related (or not) and embedding them in their timelines e.g. their photos from the 70s look like they're of that era

Bought Animal Well in the sale and really digging it. Creepy 2020s Jet Set Willy. I guess it always comes back to Jet Set Willy for me.

I also picked up Animal Well, along with the Grandia HD collection (I started playing Grandia II on PS2 and it just runs terrible). Jet Set Willy is way outside my frame of reference so I'll take your word for it.

UFO50 is just so so great. I wonder if we ought to have a separate thread for it? It's so sprawling and there are so many fantastic games.

Baby Steps is addictive and infuriating. I seem to be spending 15-30 minute sessions each night trying and getting absolutely nowhere. I honestly don't know what I'm meant to be doing, but just walking in a straight line is tough enough.

Hell Is Us - not sold on this so far. It's got some nice touches, but the general pitch seems to be: "If you loved God Of War, Dark Souls, Returnal, Zelda and Alan Wake then you might like this", in that it seems to borrow liberally from all these games and others without really being its own thing. It's not a bad game, but it fails to really cohere into anything very original. There are Zelda-style puzzles. The aesthetic is Medieval-futurism. You even get the twin ax blades from GoW. I just don't really know what it's trying to be.

Death Stranding 2 - picked this back up. It's pleasant to play. Never too taxing. I can sink a lot of time into this game without realising. Overall, it doesn't present quite the same awe as the first game because it is very much a continuation of the first one except with more "stuff" going on. There are a lot of quality-of-life improvements, some of which are welcome, others of which seem to make the game a lot easier and less contemplative. The vehicles are good now! There's a spaceship you can ride on! The BB is a ghost that can't necrotise even if you really piss it off! It does take a lot of the challenge away, I must say.

there's a ufo 50 thread
UFO 50

Ah thanks. I must've searched for it without the gap

my JRPG of the month is Tales of Destiny (PS1)

this has a full remake on PS2 with the symphonia style 3d graphics and more involved combat but i was more interested in the 2D original. i've always liked the look of these PS1 rpgs that are still sprite-based but unbound from 16-bit restrictions. it's fine and breezy so far. the combat is more of the way to the modern Tales thing than i expected, i've poked at phantasia in the past unsuccessfully and this is basically the same but i guess it took playing the newer ones to understand how to play these older ones. the story is more where it's primitive unless theres a turn i haven't gotten to yet but i'm a decent ways in. tales games usually build their story around a big high-concept twist but maybe that started in the ones after this.

Started "Little Nightmares." That game is creep AF.

Yeah. I played the first one back when I first got my PS4 and found it all a bit too mu just tbh

*a bit too much

i've been playing viewfinder. cool game, love the look and the mechanics. don't really love how it doesn't get challenging at all until at least halfway through the game. and i'm procrastinating on finishing the game because the last level is timed and frantic instead of chill like the rest of the game

but also you all convinced me to get UFO50. i haven't really played it yet though

pleased to announce 2025's inductions to the ciderpress hall of game

Citizen Sleeper (2022)
Crypt Custodian (2024)
Keep Driving (2025)
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders (2025)

overall i completed 50 video games in 2025, probably my most ever. lots of good stuff but these were my strongest favs.

I think Nightreign has finally released its fiendish hold on me after doing all the dlc content (my internet has been taking a dive for some reason, I've lost my edge for Depth of Night bosses that can one-shot you, etc).

I went back to Ninja Gaiden Ragebound and it's great fun, really looking forward to playing through it. 2D action platformers seem to be my backup genre these days if I'm not playing a From game.

I bought Hades II and Dispatch on the same day a couple of weeks ago and Hades has hooked me so hard that I’ve not even booted up Dispatch yet. Bit surprised because I liked but didn’t love Hades I, and this one isn’t that different, except for the darker vibes, plus I guess a slightly smoother progression path.

Jordan, are you mostly playing Nightreign with other people? Or are you braving it alone? I have a small group of friends who are only available sporadically. One of them is exceptionally good at navigating, so we rely on her to find the best loot. I haven't tried going it alone yet.

I play with randoms, which is its own roguelike challenge. Usually they're pretty good, sometimes they're great, and sometimes they're terrible. There's always a bit at the beginning where you sort of figure out who's going to be the leader - if no one pings while you're dropping in, I'll ping the nearest church or fort. Ideally people stick together and agree on routing, making accommodations for the wizard who wants to hit towers, or if someone wants to go to a mine to upgrade their starting weapon. Every now and then you get people going off on their own trip and dying, then quitting (and quitters are the only real bummer, but I haven't had too much of that lately).

I have done some solo play - now that I'm used to the game, it's actually pretty easy until the Nightlord, because everything is so much squishier compared to the 3-player version. But honestly I'm not good enough at most bosses to not get hit, and their damage gets pretty crazy in Depth of Night mode. Solo is good to experiment with characters and get used to the map though.

Now that I'm back to two dimensions I wanna play that Terminator 2 sidescroller once the price goes down.

I like Ragebound, though one of the gimmick boss fights did have me reaching for the damage scaling setting just to get it out of the fucking way

Also curious about that T2 one and the current vogue for things that look and play like souped-up deluxe SNES/early 90s arcade games in genral; both T2 and the Marvel side scroller are pretty pricy for the amount of gameplay they offer at the moment tho yeah