A positive thread about what you're currently playing

I reinstalled The Division for the third time. Godddamn I love The Division. It's FAR from perfect but I feel similar to how Brad was always describing his obsession with Destiny 1 - the shooting mechanics and progression loop overshadow the game's quirks and annoyances. And Ubisoft has done a really good job of improving it and smoothing out the rough edges over the last 2 years.

Sea of Thieves. I hear the calls for more content or that the game is too thin, but for me it's the perfect chill (and occasionally very stressful) hangout that I wanted.

Just beat Fractured But Whole, great game....but the Token Experience trophy glitched and didn't fuc...uh...it didn't pop.

Still positive over here, though.

Suuuuper positive.

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I got into the Dark Souls III DLC finally. The Ashes of Ariandel was really challenging at times; cold, harsh, completely hopeless, and kind of a Dark Souls worst-of (in a good way). The final boss was pretty fantastic, also, design-wise. There's an emotional element to it, like a lot of the best bosses in the series. I found the environment blander than the original painted world, though.

I'm close to the end of The Ringed City DLC, and that is much more what I was looking for. It's a breathtaking chunk of From level design at its absolute finest, referencing the first game like DS3 did a lot, but in more consistently profound ways, arguably. I love it.

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Not so positive, but I bought Ghost Recon: Future Soldier in the Ubi sale, and . . . my god. It runs terribly on PC for me: lots of slowdown, tearing, iffy controller support. On top of that, I was stunned at how ugly the game is; it's aged horrifically. It looks like an early 360 game. The faces are so, so bad. The voice-acting and writing match that. I got three missions in and had to stop, which is not common for me. Shame.

Burn victim number 3.

Im playing Assassins Creed origins and i love it. the setting is amazing and it looks so damn good on pc!

Still making my way through Persona 5 and it’s still very stylish although sometimes I go through stretches of buttoning through dialog for weeks at a time.

I've been struggling with depression and some health issues lately, and Assassin's Creed Origins has been one of my few respites. I just platinumed the main game yesterday and am moving onto The Hidden Ones soon.

Graphically it's gorgeous. I love how games like this, Breath of the Wild, and Witcher 3 are figuring out the lighting of a day/night cycle passing over water and terrain. The incidental views of a vista just happening to hit early dusk are surprising and wondrous.

The new melee combat is mostly fun, and the Predator Bow is hilarious. If you'd pitched that bow I would've said it was a terrible idea. The instant I used it, I was in love. I have a flaming bow and delight in watching red pots pop like dominos and ruin a camp site.

I also loved that Bayek and Aya still had passion in their relationship. Usually stories about losing a child mean the parents are headed for divorce and misery. That they still cared so much for each other in affirmative ways lifted the game's story up from standard stuff.

I know I talked about this game before on this thread, but I went back to Celeste to collect more strawberries and complete some B sides. As difficult as that game can get, it really is extraordinary. The gratification you get to beating those B sides or even finally getting through a part of a level that has you thumped feels wonderful. Once again, its my front runner for GOTY.

Slowly moving through my PS4 backlog. It's not large, about 5-6 games, but I love the feeling of progress and beating games! Yesterday I beat Dishonored, low chaos playthrough. What an atmosphere, level design, artstyle and setting, all extremely good and quite unique. Right away I started the DLC, first Knife of Dunwall, and managed to beat it 30 minutes ago. A different character and perspective really feels like a new game. I think the way the story is presented and written is better in the DLC. Gonna start Brigmore Witches tomorrow and then finally cross out Dishonored Definitive Edition from the backlog list!

The beginning of the year was somewhat slow gamewise, so I installed World Of Warships and have been playing it with some friends. It's surprisingly fun but has been losing steam after about 40 hours. Clearly this is the point where I'm supposed to shovel in some cash to keep progressing at a satisfying pace. I'll probably buy premium with a few bucks as a thank you for the hours of entertainment, but will only keep playing occasionally with clanmates.

Vermintide 2 was also fun with a shockingly friendly playerbase. It scratched my Left 4 Dead itch very well. Playing the special enemies like in L4D would do wonders for how longevity of it.

There was a sale so I finally bought Endless Space 2 after adding it in and removing it from my steam shopping cart something like 50 times. Space has been in my mind a lot lately and Civ6 didn't satisfy my 4x needs thoroughly enough, so i figured this might hit that spot. The tutorial flew fast through dozens of in-game systems like the impossible looking tech tree, politics, voting, laws and ship building and oh no what have I done. After the initial shock I'm getting the hang of it pretty fast. The game is beautiful and the little stories and quests make it far more interesting than Civ ...just...one..more...turn.

Got Watch Dogs 2 Gold Edition on the easter PSN sale since it's been on my wishlist for a while. OMG this game is sooo fun! I liked WD1 but this is such an insane improvement! Ubisoft does it a lot of the time! AC 1 to AC2 was a similar jump! This game is just so much more vibrant, the aesthetics and vibes are really appealing to me, the cast of characters is awesome, the activities are varied and plentiful and there's tons of QOL additions. It's a really incredible mix of serious stuff and fun stuff while WD1 was a lot more dark and devoid of humor (Despite that I still liked WD1 because I love open worlds). And you can pet doggos and take selfies with them, so that's automatically 10/10. Can't wait to play more, it's so amazing!

Attack on Titan 2 has some decent movement and combat. And, for a sequel, it just starts the fiction from scratch again so I no longer need to see the anime.

Been playing Dragon Ball Fighterz with my brother for a few weeks now. We've both played some fighting games over the years but this is the first time we've ever really gotten into a game like this.

It's been great getting into a fighting game with someone else as it's lead to a very natural progression of learning all the mechanics of the game. One of us learns to abuse ranged attacks and that triggers the other player to learn rush attacks, and then launchers for punishing rushing attacks etc, etc. 40 hours in and I feel like we're actually using all of our tools halfway intelligently, and are now starting to focus more on specific characters. We still use a lot of auto combos but have started to learn other combos as well and are starting to work them in.

The only question now is if we should stick to fighterz or get into guilty gear...

Turns out Trackmania with an analog stick is way better than with a mouse and keyboard!

Having fun with that. Mad Max so far is exactly the type of thing I was in the mood for. Wish Max was more like Fury Road Max, but Chumbucket is a-ok so far. Also still playing dress up in Monster Hunter: World. Constantly checking the internet for word on when the DMC collaboration will drop so I can get that charge blade.

Played some of the Destiny 2 update and it's cool, but I pretty quickly remebered why I dropped off (did pretty much all there was that I cared to do).

Finally finished Yakuza 0. Wasn't expecting to take as much time as it did (boy there's a lot in that game) but was pretty enthralled throughout. Cutscene direction is so consistently on point. Was planning to take a Yakuza break, but I might start up Kiwami sooner than later.

Superhot VR. I can only play it in short bursts because it's so physically exhausting and I have a bad back, but holy hell, is it fun. I kept putting off buying it because it's so expensive for a game that can be finished in an hour or so, but I grabbed it on a whim and I'm glad I did. I'll get way more than one playthrough out of this.

Also, the life-sized glass guys (do the enemies in Superhot have a name?) just look awesome. Abstract art direction in VR is underappreciated.

@thewildcard: Going from Yakuza 0 to Kiwami, you'll probably see that Kiwami is a bit more bare bones (obviously), but you'll get a nice appreciation for how the series started out and shaped into what it is today. The mini games and side missions aren't particularly good, so you'll most likely get to enjoy the main story and beat up Majima a few times as he pops out of trash cans or giant traffic cones. It's still an enjoyable romp overall and I hope you have a blast!

Dragonball Xenoverse 2 on the Switch. Somehow I got to the point of paying 100 dollars for the game and all the DLC this last week. It is a weird game but man there is something monster-hunter ish I like about it...

Been playing X-Com: Enemy Unknown. Holy hell is that game addictive. I wish there was slightly more variety. I also think the story is pretty boring - very standard alien invasion stuff that's a bit corny. I wish they would either go with a more provocative, serious plotline or else go full-on Mars Attacks/Starship Troopers-style camp. I also think the dogfighting minigame should've been left on the chopping block. But overall, it is great! I'm tempted to buy X-Com 2 after I finish the campaign, but I don't know if it will run well on my machine (a gaming laptop from a couple years ago). Anyone know if all the bugs and performance issues have been ironed out since release?

Finished Persona 5 recently and despite some hngups I gotta day I really fell in love with that game a little.

@joedangerous: Well I dove into Kiwami and haven't felt any Yakuza fatigue as it's still really good too. Definitely shows it's age in terms of writing (plotting and pacing) but I'm actually enjoying how much brisker the side stories are. Also, the Majima Anywhere System = best gimmick I've seen in a long time. Absolute riot, I cannot get enough of it.

Took out the 3DS for The Alliance Alive too. Really liked it's predecessor, wasn't sure adding a more fleshed out story would actually benefit it but it's premise is actually pulling me in pretty well. Pretty impressed with the cinematics in telling it's story too, definitely goes farther than most vaguely throwback-y handheld jrpgs in making the presentation immersive. It's actually written by the creator of the Suikoden series, and there's definitely things about the worldbuilding and npcs that is reminiscent. There's something about it that evokes PS1 era (aka the good ol' days) without shilling nostalgia. So yeah if you're the type of person that seeks out under the radar turn-based rpgs I'd recommend checking it out.

I was hankering for a new game after finishing X-Com: Enemy Unknown, and I wanted to pick up God of War since it got great reviews (despite previously having almost no interest), but it turns out that game doesn't come out for another week. So instead I picked up FAST RMX for the Switch. It's pretty great! AND IT IS REALLY FREAKING FAST. They aren't kidding with the title. I have to take a little break now and then because it is so intense I can't even blink when I'm playing. Basically an exact clone of F-Zero, complete with boost strips. They work exactly the same way as in F-Zero, except that there is an Ikaruga-style color changing mechanic to get the boost. The game is amazingly fluid, especially in handheld mode. The vehicles don't grip as much as they do in F-Zero, so you have to use the triggers to lean into turns, which takes a lot of getting used to. I find myself slamming into obstacles frequently, which gets frustrating, but maybe I'm still not used to the controls. It is one of the prettiest games on the Switch I've seen, especially with the rain effects. Since everything moves so fast and you rarely slow down to notice the details, you could easily mistake the game for a PS4 title. At least, I could. It's been a very long time since I've played a racing game, so this is a nice change of pace, a good game to play for me since lately I tend to lose interest in more drawn-out RPG/adventure games (that aren't Zelda), and then they are hard to go back to once I've lost that momentum. I can imagine myself playing this one on and off for a long time, especially since it's portable.

The new Overwatch PvE mode is fun. It's worth playing if you already own the game. Doesn't last long but they put some effort into making new enemies and a new area.

Dishonored 2

I’ve only played for a few hours, but this game has some organic moments so far...

I psychically linked two guards on a roof and snuck up to knock one out. My stealth failed as I was heard and the near guard drew his sword as the far guard took a shot at me with his pistol. I managed to parry the near guard’s attack and grab him. I went to knock him out with a choke, but the far guard took another shot at me. He hit my human shield in the face. Both their heads exploded.

Pretty cool for a first time playing.

Hellblade

Digging the story so far. Cool combat. GREAT mood and atmosphere. The best looking game I’ve ever seen (playing on an Xbox One X on an OLED screen).

There’s this lineage of Gears of War, Ryse, and now Hellblade where I just couldn’t believe I was playing something that looks so good. While I bet Ryse holds up as a great looking game (if not mind-blowing), the sacrifices made in Gears of War 1 are super apparent if you go back to it all these years later.

I finally found time to start A Way Out with a friend. Cool game, if not overly simple so far. The parts are all sort of lacking, but they add up to something greater as a whole.

This also makes me REALLY want a co-op Hitman game.

Almost done with Infamous: Second Son. Cleared out the whole city, I think I have about 5-6 missions left. Overall it's pretty fun, still looks nice, especially for a launch title. It's incredible how well Sony's first party games hold up. The particle system is awesome, neon powers are so beautiful and cool. The story is ok, nothing crazy, a few lines here and there were really bad, but the rest is ok. I enjoy the game, even though side activities are not very varied. I love open worlds so I'm glad I'll soon add another title to my list of completed ones.

Another game I've been playing alongside is Yonder: Cloud Catcher Chronicles. Very chill game, extremely pretty to look at. There's no combat and the game encourages exploration, crafting and doing quests. I wish more games were devoid of combat and violence, an experience like that is needed every once in a while. I'd say Yonder is a mix of Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. It's a great game to just jump into for a bit and relax.

The Legend Of Zelda : Breath of The Wild is utterly, utterly fantastic.

Undertale ! Amazing storytelling, humor, mechanics, absolutely everything ! Love the game so far :)

I dug into Dark Messiah: Of Might & Magic finally! I remember excitedly looking at gameplay footage on Gamespot back in '06. Great days.

Anyway, the game is completely ridiculous -- broken, even -- but I'm having a lot of fun. Kicking fools into spiked walls, off of cliffs, through obstacles, into campfires, you name it, feels extremely satisfying. The story is forgettable clichéd fantasy nonsense, but that isn't a detriment, because it gives you more ridiculous shit to kick!

I'm only about five hours in, but I give it an unashamed 7/10 so far. I had a feeling I'd be a fan of this dumb thing.

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I'm also six hours in The Fractured But Whole; wow, ain't that game the very definition of more of the same? (but way less funny than Stick of Truth). I would've made this a big expansion for the first game and charged $25 for it, because that's what it feels like, but I am definitely enjoying myself nonetheless. It's grown on me a lot slower than the first one is all.

I've been playing a lot of Far Cry 5, I enjoy the game a lot. It's fun just blowing shit up.

I've been playing Dynasty Warriors 9. It's not a good game, but I have a soft spot for DW games so I enjoy it anyways. It's cool playing this game with Chinese voice acting too.

I also just started playing Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice, this game is so good, it's crazy playing Hellblade with headphones on when Senua starts experiencing psychosis .

I just finished Recore: the Definitive Edition. This game is a lot of fun.

The traversal feels great, to the point that I finished the story but kept playing. I had to finish all the dungeons. I ended up getting all the achievements for it.

Even the tower in the endgame, which I heard is “repetitive”, was a lot of fun to get through.

I don’t know how much better it got with the update (I didn’t play the original enough), but this game feels great. I can’t help to wonder how amazing a sequel built on the foundation of the first game could be.

Game’s not perfect, the story feels a but thin and it does look rushed at the end, but it’s not a bad game. At all.

I really liked it.

Started re-playing Red Dead Redemption since they did that One X enhancement. Here's a shocker....... that game is still amazing!

And, as of now, the Xbox One X version is as close to a PC port as we're gonna get. Looks fantastic.

Picked up the Metro Redux bundle off Steam a couple weeks back for $6. Never played them but people seem to speak somewhat highly? I only remember them being some kinda monster FPS, scary thing.

Fast forward, I just finished Metro 2033 tonight. It was pretty good. Took about 10 hours? I played it rather casually, just a couple hours some nights. Decided to run it out to my lovely TV, try out the 7.1 system, use a controller, set the difficulty to easy and just lay back and enjoy. I was just there for the cinematic experience, not so much the survival-horror hardcore thing people keep saying is the "right" way to play Metro. Was also weird playing a linear, non-open world FPS game again. Reminded me of the glory days of Half-Life. I liked it. Having specific crafted levels of differing types.

Anyway, I'll probably fire up Last Light tomorrow. Not much time til God of War shows up so tight on time.

Oh also, Monster Energy Supercross, the sort of game that doesn't get coverage on GB :P Thoroughly enjoying, or should I say enjoyed it. Won't go through the whole story but yea. Good, fun stuff. I think it's about to become my 4th ever Platinum trophy, mostly because it wasn't that hard to get, you just have to play the game a bunch. Still, that puts it in very exclusive company. Check it out if your into solid dirt bike games.

The Curse of the Pharos DLC for Assassins Creed: Origins. While in reality its more of the same from the main game. I can pretty confidently say its the best piece of DLC I've ever played. The new areas are large, dense and gorgeous, much like the main game. The side quests are fun and pretty well written for the most part (even though they all start cool and end the end, just like the main game, it basically ends up with you going into a bandit camp to get back something that was stolen. Hey Egypt, maybe there would be less god damn bandits if you had more than ONE Medjay for the entire kingdom?) Each "afterlife" is amazingly realized and unique and dense as well.

The one thing that makes me chuckle every time is the NPCs comments on heretics, spirits and demons, all the while they are talking to a blackened, flaming man dressed in a terrifying Anubis outfit

Vermintide 2 is incredible! I've always sort of admired the Warhammer universe from afar but never actually gave it a shot. Every level has a ridiculous amount of detail and coming through each one looking for secrets is a ton of fun. I love digging deep into worlds like these so hoping this is my gateway into stuff like total war and maybe the tabletop game too.

Heeeelllllll yeah, HoMM2 rules!

Out of curiosity, how do you have your Steam controller configured for mouse-heavy games like that?

@bbalpert I'll be honest, I can't get my own configs to work for GOG's DOS games. It uses the default desktop configuration. Luckily, the desktop config is mouse-orientated and the DOS games I play pretty much only use the mouse. You can change the desktop controls but they're spot on as they are.

This is the default desktop config:

Been playing Warframe again after a good 8 month break. Still one of my favorite games to relax and listen to podcasts to since I can be fairly mindless, much like a Diablo 3. 650 hours and counting on it!