Starfield (PC)

I played through the main quest of Starfield shortly after it came out. Playing through side quests now.

Fallout 3, New Vegas and Fallout 4 were all fun games with a ton of content to explore, and this was more of the same.

Lots of content, and chill exploration of different worlds. Also a lot of mods coming out, so I'll take another look in a few months. Hoping for a Sim Settlement type of mod.

Really enjoyed it, this was exactly what I was looking for in a Bethesda Studios game and they delivered.

Stray (PS5)

I enjoyed the first couple hours of this game. But I stopped playing at Midtown.

The game goes from a novel and relaxing walking simulator with a couple simple puzzles, to un-fun and  tedious really quick. Spoilers below.

In the main story line you're asked to procure a hat and a coat. This quest is when I stopped playing

• The hat store isn't open, because NPC 1 (the owner) is waiting on NPC 2 (a worker) who is waiting NPC 3 (his co-worker) to stock shelves.
  
  NPC 2 says NPC 3 is at a bar. I head to what looks like a bar, but NPC 4 (the bouncer) says it isn't open. I then think my game is bugged, but it turns out there is a bar and a club, I went to the wrong place.
  
  I go to the actual bar and then have to speak to the NPC 5, NPC 6, NPC 7. NPC 7 says somebody is in the back drunk and I can wake him up with a hit to the head. Drunk guy is NPC 3 (they are wearing same outfit as NPC 2). I knock bottles onto drunk NPC 3's head, then he and NPC 2 start bringing in boxes to the hat shop. I still can't get into the store until they are done. I wait 5 minutes, they never stop bringing in boxes.
  
  Turns out getting into boxes is a new mechanic and I can sneak in this way. Figures I guess, cats love that, but I was still kind of frustrated by this point. Why not introduce this mechanic earlier in the game so players know they can do this? Why can't I sneak in and just grab the hat without so much conversation with NPCs?
  
  
• Then I try to steal the coat from the coat store, but am stopped by NPC 8 (the store owner). A game mechanic in the first town was to collect stuff to sell and get quest items, so I look for stuff around the level for 45 minutes that I can sell. There is nothing. I look for a way to sneak past NPC 8, I can't.
  
  I'm about done with the game at this point and look up what needed to be done. Turns out I had to talk to NPC 9 carrying a boombox in a different area, and do a quest I thought was optional, that I ignored previously - to destroy security cameras.
  
  Once I do this I'll get a cassette tape from NPC 9, I can take that tape to the store, put it into a boombox (another new mechanic the player would never know about unless they tried to interact with everything in the area) in a back room, NPC 8 will get distracted and then I can steal the coat.
  

I gave up at this point. The game went from solid and enjoyable to super tedious and not worth my time. It's hard for me to explain why really. The main reason I think was that I didn't find the quest structure logical or intuitive, it felt disjointed from the theme that the first part of the game established. 

Especially for the coat quest - how is the player supposed to know they'll get a cassette as a mandatory quest item? How is it relevant to the story? How are they supposed to know to put it into a boombox to distract an NPC? Why do I have to talk to every NPC in town when there are really only a handful that give quests? How is any of this related to being a cat or any of the fun cat mechanics? Why do none of the NPCs say anything interesting that would be at all memorable? Why not just sneak around the shop and steal these things without having to chat to the entire town?

It's too bad really, the game is great looking with solid sound design and the store has a solid beginning.

DOOM Eternal and DLC - The Ancient Gods - Parts One and Two (PS5)

I bought DOOM Eternal for my PS4 a while back. The original game didn't sit well with me. The platforming was tedious, the combat was similar to the DOOM 2016 version which I liked, but added a few mechanics I wasn't a fan of like invulnerable shields that slowed down gameplay and stopped playing.

Fast forward about a year, and the ray tracing version came out a few days ago. I installed it on my new PS5 and blasted through it on easy to experience the graphics.

Graphics and Performance

They look great. Performance in ray tracing mode was a pretty consistent 60 FPS. Lots of nice reflections. Sometimes there were a lot of really cool effects on screen at the same time, like when you chainsaw an enemy.

Gameplay

The base DOOM Eternal game was decent here. I eventually got used to the combat mechanics. Different enemies have different weak points, but for the most part it doesn't get in your way. 

The DLCs are where gameplay started to go downhill. New types of enemies that can only be killed with one weapon, or even worse one specific mod on a particular weapon. I don't understand why the game gives you this awesome arsenal of fun weapons, but doesn't let you use them to suit your play style.

The final boss of the second DLC is the worst example of this. The player must wait around in a boring arena, and play exactly how the game wants you to play - by not using your weapons for minutes at a time. Even worse, if you do use your weapons when the game doesn't want you to, it will punish the player by healing the boss. It is the opposite of everything DOOM 2016 was and to a degree opposite of the base game experience. It really makes absolutely no sense.

DOOM Eternal: 7/10 looks great on PS5, plays smooth, pretty fun mechanics

The Ancient Gods Part One: 4/10 removes abilities from the player to artificially increase difficulty. Still looks great though

The Ancient Gods Part Two: 1/10 it's half baked, tedious, and not fun. The only thing going for it is the graphics, but really nothing new when compared to the base game or DLC 1.

State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition (XBox Series S)

Recently I was searching for a base building game, ideally one that didn't have much of a plot. This came up in a search result, so I gave it a go.

Gameplay

The basic gameplay loop is to gather loot from abandoned houses, fighting  zombies along the way, and then dropping the supplies off at your home base. Layered on top of that basic loop are systems like character development (leveling, skill trees) and rudimentary base building (selecting about five different types of buildings to place in defined areas).

These systems are what really drove me to keep playing a couple of hours in. Tweaking different things and finding out how different systems interact with each other is pretty fun, and can reduce the tedium of doing supply runs.

As for the actual base building mechanics, as a stand-alone feature there isn't a lot of creativity that you as a player can express in this area. You select presets and options for objects like kitchens, armories, bunks... but overall the game gave me the feeling that there are only a limited number of these base building options that would ever work together. Once you find the right mix of beds/gardens/outposts in your base, there is little incentive to set up new buildings or tweak what already works.

Story

There's no story really. You complete the usual open world quests like go here and kill a guy, and about 12 hours later you'll complete the game. Not a negative really, if you keep this in mind going into the game.

Graphics

I played this on my new XBox Series S. The graphics for the game look pretty dated at times, and sometimes the FPS dropped below 60.

Definitely not a 'next-gen' type game.

Conclusion

Overall, I found the experience enjoyable enough. The grind of bringing supplies back and killing zombies was propped up with a few different systems that can at times interact in interesting ways. Base building has a part to play, but not as much as I hoped it would.

7/10

The Outer Worlds (PC)

I picked up The Outer Worlds shortly after it launched. Played through it during a week of vacation.

Expectations

I was a huge Fallout New Vegas fan. This game is intended to be a spiritual successor, so I had high hopes for a new action RPG single player experience with a deep story and lots of opportunities for character customization.

Gameplay

Overall the gameplay was very similar to what I was expecting. Interesting places to explore, solid weapon mechanics and different ways to tweak my character.

Graphics and sound were solid. Nothing spectacular but I didn't find them distracting.

One thing that stood out for me playing through this game, was the lack of bugs. I only encountered one real issue, that was resolved by re-loading a save. The whole gameplay experience felt cohesive and polished.

Story

The writing in the game is excellent. There are several companions in this game, and you can have up to two join you during the campaign. They have different personalities that contribute to the overall story and branching dialog options.

Character customization

The companions that add to the story and dialog also add to the character customization. Different companions can add increased damage, defence, etc when they're travelling with you.

Negatives

I did like the base building in Fallout 4, nothing like that exists in this game, but I can understand why that wasn't added. It seems like the developers were focusing on adding polish on core aspects.

One thing I didn't expect, was that there was no big over-world like a true open world game. This game has a lot of large maps, interconnected by spaceship flights. Again, not terrible, and the maps did look nice.

Conclusion

Overall, a very solid and fun game with nice character customization and a great story, Lived up to my expectations, 9/10.

Nintendo Switch: Breath of the Wild

I was hesitant to get into this game. I'm not a huge Zelda fan, I did play Ocarina of Time and enjoyed it overall. My main problem with that game was just staying interested in the story over what I consider a long duration.

I started the game, put it down for a long time, used a gameshark somewhere in the middle, then put in a real push to beat it. Didn't feel very satisfying to complete due to what I considered cheating with a gameshark and forgetting the story before finishing it.

With this newer Zelda game, I figured I'd learn from my mistakes with Ocarina of TIme. Going into it, I made a decision to not look anything up and to play it through without a large gap in the middle. 50 hours later I finished and enjoyed it overall.

Spoilers below:

I started in the big open world, really enjoying everything that was happening. Progression was slow, but still satisfying enough that I'd keep playing for hours.

Around the 30 hour mark I started getting impatient. Along with the awesome open world, were tedious game tropes that degraded my experience:

- A _stealth escort_ mission, where certain actions over a 20 minute period had to be done in a sequential way. I missed a small thing early in this mission, got to what I thought was the end twenty minutes later and there was nothing to do. Had to back-track. Escort missions are bad enough, but the two additional layers of forced sequential actions and stealth (I dislike both mechanics) made this immensely frustrating.

- To expand your inventory, a NPC in a random location (I spoke to a lot of NPCs trying to find out where exactly) has to be given items. Collecting stuff is super fun, why they decided to wall it off behind a random encounter is beyond me.

- The final boss fight has a boss-mode that can only be beaten with a few moves in the game (moves that I rarely used and didn't think to try). I could have spent a couple hours trying every conceivable attack, dying and getting frustrated until the stars aligned... but invincible attack-specific bosses are pure cheese. Give him more health or something, instead of breaking the mechanics I've been playing the entire game with for the last 49 hours.

- (not as bad as the others) To get some exposition around the story, I had to find random places and take pictures.

I had to look up the first three issues, and didn't finish the last. Why there couldn't be a hint via simple exposition for these? Spirits literally telepathically talk to you throughout the game, it wouldn't have been that much of a stretch.

Anyway aside from those three issues, I found the game to be otherwise perfect and extremely addictive. The graphics despite being primitive were good, combat was fun, puzzles were simple but fun, and collecting items was fun but not great (durability negated getting cool weapons).

7/10

Far Cry New Dawn (PS4 Pro)

I've been on a bit of a Farcry kick recently. I picked this game up a couple months ago and decided to give it a shot.

New Dawn is on par with Far Cry 5 (review) and Far Cry 4 (review), with some minor subtle differences.

Since Far Cry games share core gameplay (collect stuff in a big world, kill enemies, capture bases, ridiculous story)... there's not much to say other than comparing it to others in the series.

Cons

• No annoying capture scenes like in Far Cry 5
• Instead of cult members or rebels, in this game there are millennial enemies in paintball outfits, who drive around listening to stereotypical millennial music
• There is a tiered weapon leveling system, meaning you can't explore the map freely without first grinding for better weapons
• NPC dialog is awful
• The graphics seemed downgraded. Texture pop-ins and 2D tree sprites really stood out. There was also a lot of dust blowing around, I found distracting

Pros

• No tower climbing to reveal the map
• Expeditions are short side missions that give a change in scenery
• The companion system is carried over from Far Cry 5, it's still good except for their dialog
• The protagonist isn't over-the-top annoying or cringe-worthy
• Wraps up the Far Cry 5 story nicely
• The endgame is more enjoyable and open-ended than in previous games

Conclusion

This gets a 7/10. It's the best Far Cry game I've played yet. It's got the simple addictive gameplay loop that the series is known for, with some nice minor enhancements for the endgame.

I'm hoping Ubisoft reduces the amount dialog and story in their next game, instead focusing on cool combat with unique enemies.

Far Cry 4 (PS4)

Intro

A few months ago I completed Farcry 5, it was the first game in the series that I finished.

I had started Farcry 4 years ago in 2016, but just got bored a few hours in. Decided to pick it back up and give it another shot as it's successor was pretty solid fun, after putting in some time.

Gameplay

Overall, the gameplay was similar to Farcry 5, traverse a big world collecting stuff, kill bad guys in outposts, a few dream/hallucination sequences, and an over the top main villain.

The combat is solid and satisfying.

The story was meh. I can't really remember any details about the protagonist.

When it came to traversing the map, there was only one powered aircraft, and it could only go to a certain elevation. Given that there are a ton of large mountains in this game, traversing the open world was tedious at times. One other point about traversing the world, they really went overboard with the grappling hook mechanics.

Before picking this game back up, I had read that the tower climbing was tedious. It wasn't too bad, I would have preferred more combat focused outposts instead of towers though. They're not fun to climb, they are just something that kind of exists in the game.

Crafting was a larger part of the game than I realized at first. I found myself having to spend a lot of time hunting to get skins so I could carry an adequate amount of ammo, health packs, etc.

Graphics and Sound

I played this on the PS4 Pro, and the graphics were absolutely terrible compared to any other PS4 game. It definitely looked like a PS3 game.

Sound was good.

Conclusion

It was alright, easy to play and never really too difficult. Fun to waste time with, 5/10 due to the enjoyable combat and collectables... but completely forgettable story and terrible graphics.

FAR: Lone Sails Review (PC)

I was looking for a quick game this weekend, came across FAR: Lone Sails on GOG.

Graphics

Some stutters, but after turning off v-sync things seemed to run smoother. Great artwork and a consistent steampunk theme. Nothing spectacular but very enjoyable and atmospheric.

Gameplay

There were no 'Press X to operate the vehicle' in your face tutorials, which I found very refreshing. The gameplay mechanics were built up in a gradual manner.

Gameplay consists of some very simple puzzles that are fun to solve. It contained just enough interactivity to keep me entertained for a short afternoon gaming session.

Sound

Very atmospheric soundtrack and effects. All nicely fitting with the mellow steampunk theme of the game.

Conclusion

If you're looking for a way to unwind and take in the scenery, without super challenging gameplay, this is the game for you. It's a mellow experience the game provides, and to get the most out of it I had to be in the right mindset on a relaxed Saturday afteroon, very similar to Journey.

9/10 (one point off for the graphical stuttering)

Conan Exiles (PC)

Conan Exiles is an open world crafting and building game. I like to play these games on easy, and just chill out base building / grinding for resources.

The good

Something I wasn't expecting, this game doesn't appear to have a fast travel system, or any way to see location markers outside of the full-screen map. This made traversing the environment a lot more satisfying compared to other games, as I was actually plotting a course and avoiding enemies.

Building mechanics are pretty good, on par with what I expected from a building/crafting game. Similar to every other one I've played.

The meh

The graphics are okay. There were a lot of weird graphical glitches. Passable at best.

Combat takes some getting used to. I'll press a button and my character will do something for four or five seconds before I regain control. It feels clunky...  however maybe that's the intent, as the weapons I'm using are pretty heavy.

The bad

There is apparently a plot to this game. However, I have yet to know what I'm supposed to be doing or where I should be going. It kind of bugs me that I have absolutely no direction or way to plan for later parts of the game.

Conclusion

Conan Exiles is scratching the itch I get for games of this type. It's comparable to 7 Days to Die. I can see myself putting in a decent amount of hours just building stuff and leveling up my character.

Monopoly Family Fun Pack (PS4)

This is the perfect game to just chill out with when I'm tired.

Monopoly Family Fun Pack has a few different versions of Monopoly, I stuck to the classic one. The game is exactly what you'd expect, a polished implementation of the board game.

You can customize all the usual rules, and if you're on PS4 can use the PS4 Second Screen app to control the game. They've got a nice GUI for it... I didn't even know this was possible.

Overall very solid. My only gripe would be the trading system is slightly clunky, but other than that, definitely getting a lot of enjoyment out of this purchase! 9/10