replaying postal 2 an the headliners
So my impatient gaming is over for the moment. I’m finally finished with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Well, I say finished but that is a bit of a lie. It still lives rent free in my head and I’m still watching people play it to relive those first playthrough moments. But I’m done playing for now. I was actually tempted to go straight back and do NG+ immediately after seeing the credits, and that is a very rare feeling for me. Last time I had that feeling was Alan Wake 2. Anyway, the game is great: play it, wishlist it, whatever - just don’t miss it. I think it will be a shoe-in for Game of the Year, and it’s one of the best games I’ve ever played.
As my repentance for being super impatient two months in a row with Blue Prince and Expedition 33 back-to-back, I’ve gone back to an old classic for my next game: F.E.A.R.. I never actually played it back in the day, I remember trying the demo but my PC at the time couldn’t handle it and it fell to the wayside later as I played other games. I’ve installed a couple of mods: upscaled textures (didn’t get the actual Rivarez Mod, just the textures) and the Echo Patch for stuff like HUD scaling and FPS fix. I’m also playing on DLDSR 1.78x and with RTX HDR.
With all that said, the game holds up incredibly well. The lighting and atmosphere is phenomenal, but what is really striking is the gunplay and enemy AI. This really doesn’t feel like a 20-year-old game. Even if you completely ignore the horror elements, the game is just an incredibly enjoyable shooter, with every engagement feeling thrilling as enemies flank you, hide, flee, sneak and flush you out with grenades. The bullet time is cinematic, but a little overpowered. Though you can just elect to not use it.
If you haven’t already, pick it up on GOG and play it. You can probably get it for like a dollar on sale and that’s an absolute steal. Now if only I could get EAX emulation working…
I’m with you on Clair Obscur (I need to check tbe spelling literally every time I write that). I usually don’t risk the money on new games or things not-on-sale, but after all the positivity, I decided to go for it. And what a game! I’m still in Act 2, and I am loving it so far.
I’m with you there on Expedition 33, what a bloody game. GOTY for sure for me.
Deltarune 3 Bahbee…
Might also dip my toes into Look Outside
I strangely haven’t been in the mood recently to play anything other than emulated NES/SNES-era games. I’m open to recommedations (yes, I already played CronoTrigger).
I assume you’ve already played Final Fantasy VI?
Actually I think I haven’t played that one yet.
If you want the SNES emulation flavour I am a big fan of the Woolsey Uncensored romhack. So much of the 90s Final Fantasy charm (in the west) came from Woolsey’s uniquely creative translations, and it’s a shame to miss out on it in my opinion.
If you prefer the Pixel Remaster version there is a mod to use the Woolsey Uncensored script instead for that one too. I haven’t tested that one personally but it could potentially be the best of both worlds if it works.
Kind’ve an odd suggestion, but if you like more arcade-y type games, and think you’d an enjoy a more advanced sorta spiritual successor to dig-dug, I’d recommend checking out Mr.Do! On the SNES. Weirdly good.
Sunset Riders is a fun and short western arcade shooter, as is Wild Guns.
There’s also a pretty neat Shadowrun RPG on the SNES.
Ah yeah I played Shadowrun as a kid. I think I might still have that cartridge somewhere.
Mr. Do doesn’t seem to be in my list of roms though. I may need look for that.
Earthbound!
Mirrors edge. Started a few weeks ago and been getting a couple of sessions in since. Its quite fun but also very frustrating. The controls are almost there but its just janky enough for me to die stupidly at the same spot over and over if it requires some combination of actions that is difficult. I somehow survived jumping from a subway cart to another without understanding how i actually was supposed to do it properly. And the combat i dont like. But will likely try to play thru it.
I also just discovered that xenia has a linux build now so i will be exploring some x360 games in the near future to see the state of it.
Flintlock: Siege of Dawn.
Caught it on sale along with Mummy Demastered and Ghostsong, which I have 100% both.
Also going through Cathedral
Playing dredge on the deck.
The theming is great, and the gameplay loop is satisfying. Creepy as though.
Runs great on the deck via epic.
Currently playing Talos Principle Reawakened (the UE5 remastered version). For anyone wondering whether it’s worth it, yes if you have the hardware for it. Because they also massively improved one of the most complex but also most frustrating mechanics in the original game (with the recorder thingie). So there are very useful improvements overall. Also, it has an entirely new DLC I think, which is again noticeably harder than the 1st DLC Road to Gehenna. Game looks great as well, but you need serious hardware for it. It’s not very performance efficient anymore. :) The Talos Principle series are probably the biggest and best 3D first-person puzzle games out there, together with the Portal series. Absolutely recommended.
Other than that, I’ve played The Ten Bells and Exit 8. These are great small anomaly-hunting games. I’ve never played this genre before so it was a great discovery for me. If you’re curious about this genre, start with Exit 8. If you liked that and prefer more horror elements in it, as well as a bigger “map”, play The Ten Bells. Awesome small games, needing only like 2-3 hours to finish.
The Talos Principle series are probably the biggest and best 3D first-person puzzle games out there, together with the Portal series.
I think Blue Prince needs to be added to this list going forward.
I’m a huge fan of the Portal games but never played any Talos Principle. I’ve had them on my Wishlist for a while now, maybe I’ll pick them up on the next sale.
Seconded on Talos Principle; it’s a great game. It takes a more philosophical spin on the story rather than a comical spin like Portal, but it does scratch that 3D puzzler itch that Portal accomplishes so well
Thanks for the warning.
I have the original Talos plus the DLC and love it but I’ll wait some years until I have the iron to run the remaster.
Subnautica. I’ve still never beaten it.
I also learned first hand that Space Engineers really really does not work on the steam deck. It’s kind of amazing how broken it is on the thing.
I decided to throw Mega man Legends 2 on my miyoo mini, as I had fond memories of renting the first game as a kid, and never tried the sequel.
It’s an odd spinoff of the Megaman series that turns it into a 3rd person dungeon delving shooter, complete with story and fully voice acted 90’s anime style in-game cutscenes!
Thoughts on the sequel:
It has some improvements over the original, such as the ability to fly around the main ship on a world map! I liked the globe trotting aspect (the OG takes place in one city), and the art style and controls were pretty good.
It held my attention for about 4 or 5 hours, until I came across an underwater level, where things went downhill.
Even equipped with a missable underwater specific speed upgrade ability, movement speed underwater was cut to about a third of normal speed, and this was combined with large open spaces and the need to throw around some finicky boxes to reach high ledges sometimes were dead ends.
I just don’t have the tolerance for that sort of thing like I used to, so I deleted it and finished it by watching the cut scenes on YouTube! The ending is pretty cringe, so I’m glad I bailed, honestly.
I picked up Monster Train 2 and I am so happy with it.
I recently got back into Batman Arkham City. The last time I played it was 2016 or so, and I forgot what it was about. I remember it being really good, but I’m enjoying it even more this time around. They really nailed all the characters spot on (coming from reading the graphic novels and comics)
I have very strong memories of that game for some reason. I replayed it last year and had a huge wave of nostalgia for some reason, far more than any other games I had played at that time.
The whole series is great, especially the first two. I kind of want to go back and replay them again now.
Doom Infinite on the Steam Deck, it’s a Rogue Like mod for GZDoom, what a ride!
Is it out yet? Last I checked it was a demo only.
That sounds cool!
I’m starting to get decent at Mindustry. If I’m not back in a month, send out a search party for me, because I’m probably lost in a tangle of slag refinement pipelines.
Mindustry is such a gem. It’s my most played game on Steam and for good reason
We started Resident Evil 5 with a friend today, so far it’s pretty good coop experience
