So, before I begin, I just really want to thank everyone who supported me in my last post. This past week has been a rough one for me, but looking forward to writing these things has helped keep me from succumbing to temptation. For those that didn't see my last post
What is this?
At the start of this year, I made a commitment to not buy anymore games for the whole year. This is my experience so far in the 2nd quarter. First report is here. With that out of the way
Hey Noconverse, Whatcha Played?
STALKER - Shadow of Chernobyl:
There’s a point about ¾ of the way through this game where you have to turn off a machine deep inside a long abandoned bunker. It’s dark, your flashlight barely illuminating 20 feet in front of, and the only sounds aside from your footsteps are the creak of ancient rotating lights and the occasional rattle of pipes. But as you near the opening to a large storage area, you start to hear a faint, low growl. You enter the area and there, right in front of you, stands a terrible monstrosity, a beast standing taller than a man with black, leathery skin and a mass of tentacles where its mouth should be. As it sees you, it roars and disappears, its glowing eyes the only thing now visible as it barrels towards… then it makes a hard left turn and runs into a wall while you shoot it dead. This is STALKER in a nutshell. It’s a game that absolutely nails the creepy atmosphere of exploring a twisted environment that’s constantly trying to kill you, but frequently ruins it with AI that can be incomprehensibly dumb at times. A game where the developers lovingly recreated many of the iconic landmarks of Pripyat, then makes the only mission in that area to find the quickest way out. But despite all this, I really liked it, though I’m fairly certain it’s because I’ve always been a sucker for urban exploration stuff. And hey, now I know that if I ever get exposed to deadly radiation, I just need to get wasted on vodka and I’ll be fine.
My verdict: Smirnoff / Absolut
Orwell:
I feel like this game was made to validate people like me who’ve always paranoid about social media platforms with your real name attached to them. A lot of people have criticized this game for being too on the nose with its commentary about life under a pervasive surveillance state and I think those are fair criticisms. But I still really enjoyed it and I think it did a great job of showing how easily innocent people can get swept up and have their lives ruined when the police can see everything you ever say or write and are under pressure to produce results. I also really dug its art style.
My verdict: Instagram / Facebook
Rochard:
I bought this game a very long time ago because I clearly remembered people talking about how great it was when it came out. But playing it now. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this game, it had some really cool mechanics and some of the puzzles were really fun to solve, I just can’t see anyone calling it amazing. I think a lot of the high praise it got at the time had more to do with the fact that it came out when people were still coming around to the idea that games from small indie studios could be just as fun and enjoyable as those from the AAA top dogs. Oh and, not to spoil anything, but remember that guy who appeared on all those alien conspiracy history channel shows? Turns out he was right about everything.
My verdict: Elevated / Ascended
The Witness:
Man, fuck this game! Fuck its lack of hand-holding, fuck its hard as shit line puzzles, fuck its unique use of environmental clues for solving them, fuck its interesting art style, but most of all – HOLY GOD I FINALLY SOLVED IT! slams desk YES! . . . . This is one of the best games, and THE best puzzle game, I’ve ever played. If you enjoy challenging puzzles even the slightest bit, you owe it to yourself to play this game.
Subnautica:
I’m usually not a big fan of survival games. I tried getting into Don’t Starve Together a long time ago with a friend, but it just never really clicked for me. This game though grabbed me right from the start. At first, I was drawn in by its gorgeous and varied aquatic environments, but then I discovered that this game had an actual story to tell and an end goal to work towards. And it does an amazing job of telling that story in a way that feels natural for the setting by largely relying on audio logs left behind by other survivors and environmental clues you find as you try to find a way off the planet. But the thing that stuck with me most was how it, by keeping you too weak to fight back against the various apex predators you encounter, forces you to learn how to adapt and live with the planets environment rather than dominate it. And the ending to its story was a heartwarming and fitting, albeit flawed, realization of this theme. It reminded me of all those feel good, nature-focused TV shows and movies that came out in the 90s and I absolutely loved it. On a side note, there’s now a NoClip documentary on it that I recommend anyone who enjoyed this game watch.
My verdict: Ferngully / Dances With Wolves
INSIDE:
The moment I started this game, I immediately felt like it was made specifically for someone like me. I love dark, dystopian atmospheres, I’m a sucker for all things creepy, and I’m the kind of person that likes weird shit because it’s weird. And this game hits every one of those beats perfectly. I don’t want to say much more than that, because it’s really one of those games best experienced by going in blind, but I will say this. This game only took me 2 and a half hours to beat, but I felt it was well worth the $8 I paid for it and would still say that even if I’d paid the full $20.
My verdict: 1984 / A Brave New World
Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild:
Well I suppose it’s appropriate that I start and end this list with games I feel conflicted on. For everything I love about this game, there seems to be something else that annoys the crap out of me. The game’s art style and environments make exploring the world a visual treat, but the story that’s supposed to motivate you to explore it is so basic and filled with 1D characters that it almost feels unfinished. I loved all the unique puzzles in the divine beast dungeons, but found most of the shrine puzzles that make up 80% of the non-exploration content just plain boring. I loved that the combat takes a sort of Soulsborne-lite approach while giving you numerous ways to approach any fight, but your weapons are so damn fragile that I mostly avoided combat once I got good ones because I didn’t want to waste them on trash tier enemies. I still enjoyed this game overall and am really happy to see Nintendo take the Zelda franchise in a totally new direction, but I also know that I beat the game without even bothering to explore one of the zones because I was just so ready to be done with it by the end. Maybe I’ve just played too many open world games.
My verdict: Tingle / Link
Hey Noconverse, Whatcha Playin?
I'm now working my way through Mario + Rabbids, a game that so far has been surprisingly enjoyable.
Hey Noconverse, Whatcha Plannin?
Once I beat Mario + Rabbids I think I'll go back to my PC for a while. Right now I'm thinking I'll go through What Remains of Edith Finch and then SOMA, but we'll see how I feel when I get there.
Submitted July 01, 2019 at 03:53PM by noconverse https://ift.tt/2JhxLtg
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