[karajorma]

Replaying Prince of Persia (2008). I did use the skins to get the Sands of Time prince and Farah though. The runny, jumpy stuff is still pretty good fun. Combat is still as **** as I remember it being last time though, possibly worse.

[0rph3u5]

I'm just surprised that you can get that far in a game with as much gameplay as that and call it "hollow".

"We surveyed 100 people on that question and the most frequent answers is .... 0rph3u5 is a pretentious prick."

As I said there is enough to keep me engaged, it just wasn't the gameplay.

[Det. Bullock]

Rise of The Tomb Raider (PC)
I got to the first campire for now, mostly because an erroneously skipped cutscene (why skip the cutscenes with the same key for jumping!?) got me OCD enough to replay the first part of the game just for that, though it was quite a while before the campfire at least.
Is the Blood Ties DLC set before or after the main game?

[Scotty]

Rise of The Tomb Raider (PC)
I got to the first campire for now, mostly because an erroneously skipped cutscene (why skip the cutscenes with the same key for jumping!?) got me OCD enough to replay the first part of the game just for that, though it was quite a while before the campfire at least.
Is the Blood Ties DLC set before or after the main game?

Before.

[0rph3u5]

Putting down In to the Breach and Prey (2017)

- In to the Breach is fun esspecially due to how speedy it is as rouge-like; but it feel not as varied as FTL or other stand-outs of like Rogue Legacy ... some of it comes from how unlock new stuff across playthroughs (like FTL you do most your unlocking via gameplay-feats aka achievements) which can grind the gears of the flow it has going for it. It might actually be cool as pass-the-controler-game when you need to kill some time with friends.

- Prey I've concluded it is not for me, after trying to start it 3 times and getting unmotivated some 2-3 houres in each time. It's not that its horrible but it is also not very interesting ... I've think I read too much between the lines to actually enjoy the narrative they are setting up; a narrative without suprises can be fun of course but I think I don't want to spend any more time here.

[Colonol Dekker]

I played the first hour demo of prey and felt entirely underwhelmed by it all.   It all feels like they're trying to make a new bioshock in space (I won't insult system shock by associating it with prey).

[0rph3u5]

It's not an insult ... it an imitation that's missing something ... if I had a reason to (aka paying me to do so) I would make the deep dive to find out...

EDIT long after the fact: Maybe it is about immitation itself; that would be an interesting point considering some trends in gaming both past and present - but also kinda too meta for have survived a board meeting, even at ZeniMax/Bethesda _{(get out of my hand and stop trying to make an 0rph3u5-video essay series happen)}

[Grizzly]

The ability to turn yourself in a coffee cup?

[Det. Bullock]

Rise of The Tomb Raider (PC)
Apart from me being an idiot for not noticing a climbable ledge in one of the easiest optional tombs yet to the point that I had to look it up and the game failing to signpost you need an additional gadget to get to an area (note: the game until that point always signposted when you needed additional gadgets to reach a place especially when it wasn’t obvious) with a collectable in the Baba Yaga DLC (which was a very nice sidequest) I'm really enjoying it.
I also like that apart from all the DLC ones (which I won't use as a matter of principle) there are additional outfits you get in-game for completed missions or just because the story called for a change of clothes not unlike the old Crystal Dynamics trilogy, that some of those give slight advantages doesn't hurt.
The plot is cheesy enough to make the twist about a certain character obvious from the start but is enjoyable in a "b-movie knock off of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade" way.

[0rph3u5]

Following the intriguing recommendations in this topic last month, I too decided to give Doki Doki Literature Club a try ... and it was jolt to the system; I hardly scratched the surface and, despite being "one of the faint of heart", I gonna let my curiosity take me further in ... as soon as I finished building a literal comfort zone on my couch...


Meanwhile, I am going to start the Life is Strage-prequel later today... Given how I devoured Life is Strage on the frist go and the intersting (not euthemism) ciritical reception of the prequel, this shouldn't take long 

... and tomorrow I am going back to FREDing ... cause releases don't just magically happen

[Akalabeth Angel]

Finished Banner Saga 2 and started Shadow Run Hong Kong.  Put that on hold, as my wife got sick and instead played through Duke Nukum while in the hospital.

Started Duke Nukem 2 though the graphics are a bit of a turn-off, have that 16-bit too busy feel to it.

[MP-Ryan]

Replaying Prince of Persia (2008). I did use the skins to get the Sands of Time prince and Farah though. The runny, jumpy stuff is still pretty good fun. Combat is still as **** as I remember it being last time though, possibly worse.

Never played that, but I did play Sands of Time and that was *also* console-port **** in the combat sections.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Replaying Prince of Persia (2008). I did use the skins to get the Sands of Time prince and Farah though. The runny, jumpy stuff is still pretty good fun. Combat is still as **** as I remember it being last time though, possibly worse.

Never played that, but I did play Sands of Time and that was *also* console-port **** in the combat sections.

Console-port ****? I played that on PC and didn't have a problem.  The combat was repetitive and not great but not because it was from console, rather because it was the first iteration of the modern franchise.  Second game was much improved except for theming.

[Mongoose]

The combat was the part of Sands of Time you tolerated to get to the next god-tier platforming section.  I've heard people whine that the final boss was cake, blissfully ignoring the fact that the true final boss was the absurd tower climb you perform immediately before it.  Still one of my favorite games of all time.

[karajorma]

I actually liked the combat in Prince of Persia. I regularly replay just the Tower of Dawn lift sequence. I do agree that the platforming was much better though.

The 2008 game on the other hand has great platforming but the combat is almost unplayable. One enemy in particular can only be beaten by a quicktime event that requires you to hammer the attack button as quickly as possible for about 5 seconds. Not since the days of Daley Thompson's Decathlon have I seen a game with such lack of concern for the hardware you might break playing it.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Check out Forgotten Sands if you never got round to it.  It was pretty good
Much better than the orb scavenger hunt that came before it

[karajorma]

I've played it before, but it's not available on GOG and I'm not installing Uplay or Steam just to play it.

[MP-Ryan]

The combat was the part of Sands of Time you tolerated to get to the next god-tier platforming section.  I've heard people whine that the final boss was cake, blissfully ignoring the fact that the true final boss was the absurd tower climb you perform immediately before it.  Still one of my favorite games of all time.

I ended up skipping a bunch of the "final" combat sequences between the next checkpoint - because OF COURSE console-port controller-centric combat mechanics were compounded by checkpoints - by downloading saves.  I'd run the whole game in platforming and combat as far as I could, and after reloading the same ****ing checkpoint 6 or 7 times I'd load the save and continue from there.

That game is the absolute pinnacle of "we designed this for a controller and can't be bothered to actually test if its playable with a mouse and keyboard."  It wouldn't have been as bad if some of the checkpoints were better placed.  The platforming was utterly amazing, and is what kept me actually playing.

[karajorma]

I played on a mouse and keyboard.

I will admit that at first I also hated the combat in Sands of Time, but around halfway through it clicked and after that I found I was actually enjoying it.

I will still say that Sands of Time has possibly the best ending of any video game I've ever played.

[Vidmaster]

Subnautica - I waited years for it, stopped playing the early access on purpose because I did not want to ruin it for me before it was complete.

40h over the last three weeks. I am rarely getting that much playtime together today.