What are you playing now, and would you recommend it to others?

I'm pretty sure this kind of thread has been made before, but I thought I'd make a new one; see what people are currently into. For me, I don't have much to play as I've beaten all the games I've wanted to play this year so far, so the last new game I played was Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. I would recommend it to those that love Deus Ex, and sci-fi, stealth fps'. I enjoyed it for the most part, but felt it lacked in the story department, not because I thought that what was there was lacking in quality itself, but that there wasn't more of it, and I was disappointed that you don't go to as many places in the game as you did in Human Revolution (or really, any of the Deus Ex games). The issue with the game for me was just how much content was there, and how much I really wanted to continue playing it. Human Revolution I beat multiple times, and I can't really muster up the motivation to do that again with this game, at least not right now.

Since I couldn't find motivation to do that, I thought about other games I could play as I read Bioshock: Rapture, because the Bioshock Collection is honestly the game I'm looking forward to next. The game I came upon was to go back through Metro Redux. I went through Metro 2033 only, and stopped less than a quarter of the way through Last Light Redux, but along with 2033, I recommend both. Redux is a better game than the original 2033 that was on the Xbox 360 and PC, but it does have some worse aspects. In the update, they made the voices of the children voiced by adult actors (I'm pretty sure), and for a game that wants to make the player feel for the world and its inhabitants, it made it a lot harder to do so with the goofy sounding voice work, when in the original, it was children doing the voices from what I remember.

They took a couple (okay, maybe one) NPC interactions out, like where someone jokes around with the player character Artyom about helping out with his pigs. It lent humor to a dark world, and even though it was a small bit, it stood out that they chose to take it out of Redux. Though I love that they made the game play pretty much exactly like Last Light, they took even the soundtrack to Last Light and inserted into 2033, and though I liked Last Light's soundtrack just fine, it is an aspect that disappointed me, because I felt that where the tracks were placed in the original 2033 were suited better, and its own original tracks should have been left in. They change that, but don't change the voice work to prominent characters, which makes it jarring when you go from 2033 to Last Light.

Yeah, those are the issues to both those games, but otherwise I do recommend them. They're actually quite similar in how you play, Deus Ex is just more open, while Metro is more linear.

I would definitely recommend Hitman: Absolution to fans of stealth games. I've had the itch to play the new Hitman since watching the HitBrad series and I remembered this was in my library. It definitely filled the void I was needing.

Most of the mechanics are pretty in line with the new Hitman and the graphics still hold up, in my opinion. The mission settings are pretty varied so far which keeps things fresh. I particularly enjoy that the game switches up from open area stealth to liniar stealth every so often for story purposes. There was a particular sequence that blended gameplay and cinematic directing real well. I haven't yet tried out the contracts but I know I will.

I don't typically replay levels in games because I have so much in my library and backlog that I want to play, but I'm going to be replaying the levels (and hopefully contracts) in this game for the variety of the hits. There have been multiple times where I've wanted to try different tactics and styles out and I'm itching to go back. That's how I know it's a great game that I should recommend to others.

I'm playing Rimworld, and I just had to restart a colony. After my cannibalistic researcher got married to my nudist chef, a cargo pod full of cocaine and weed crashed nearby, and everyone decided to celebrate by getting as high as possible. During the revelry, mutated maneating antelope attacked the colony, and with everyone overdosing on yayo or so high on smokeleaf as to be defenseless, the boomalopes overran my turret defenses by exploding on contact, causing massive widespread fires that burned the entire place to the ground.

You should probably play Rimworld.

@flashflood_29: I only have Silent Assassin, Blood Money, and Absolution. Many say Absolution strayed too far from how Hitman is usually played, and that's not entirely incorrect, but that said, it's probably why it's the only one I ever beat. I liked Absolution, and I do enjoy Silent Assassin to some degree, but Blood Money I was never too fond of. I've got to the third or second to the last stage a few times, but never beat it. I kind of wanted to go back to Absolution. I got it late, at a time when I was again looking for games to play as at the time I had played everything I wanted to in early 2014.

I've got 2033 in my Steam library, but those games have always seemed so darn bleak and oppressive. That's the one where bullets are currency right? God, just thinking about that's stressin me out haha. Excited to eventually play Mankind Divided, but it's a bummer to hear about its length. A Deus Ex game that's light on story, length, and locations. Wonder what the impetus was for making it what they did.

I'm currently playing through all 8 class storylines from Star Wars: The Old Republic. I always remember that old marketing bit where some dev was all "this isn't KotOR 3, it's KotOR 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. . .," and you know what? It's not. But it's kinda. There's a looooooooot of stuff here, and I'm having a real great time with it. Getting through the content's kind of a breeze with the changes they've made to companions. Any companion can fulfill any role, so always having a competent healer around means dying isn't much of an issue. It all feels like a single-player MMO, which is obviously a very strange thing. Occasionally I'll group up for a non-instanced heroic boss, just so we all get the quest and don't have to wait, but other than that the only group stuff is when I dive into Flashpoints (dungeons).

As for gameplay, it's you're standard WoW-style holy trinity stuff. You know, hit the buttons, watch the bar go down, interrupts, blah blah. There's nothing especially revolutionary there, so if you don't like an MMO-ass-playing MMO, know that this plays like that. It's no Guild Wars 2 or anything. Then of course there's the BioWare conversation stuff, which is fun. Figuring out what sort of personalities my characters would have is a big part of what's keeping me going, even for the more so-called boring storylines (all of which are so far keeping my attention). The only actual plots that're interesting to me are the Imperial Agent and the Sith Warrior. The Agent is basically a terrorist spy-thriller, while the Warrior storyline has you searching for a Padawan who can sense a person's true nature; a power that's causing quite the headache for your master's interstellar spy ring. But really, picking whichever class I'm in the mood for and developing out how good/evil/dignified/crazy they are is what's got me most excited to keep loading in. I'm focusing on the main story as well, only occasionally checking out a sidequest or two (if at all). To be honest, for most of the characters except one or two I'll skip most of the sidequests, and also the planetary questlines. I figure they'll still be around if I wanna go back and check it all out with each character anyways.

But apparently the current expansion "Knights of the Fallen Empire" makes it so you can't go back? Or maybe that's just if you create a level 60 character. Speaking of the expansion, apparently that thing's just a straight-up single-player campaign. Super weird to have to subscribe to an MMO to essentially get access to a single-player episodic series. I heard you can cancel your subscription and keep all of the expansion content though, which would be accessible even when you're bumped down to free-to-play status (or "preferred," as the case may be). So you could just drop a 20 once all 16 episodes are out and play through it like a KotOR-lite or something. I dunno, all-in-all it seems pretty fair, which is odd considering this game can be pretty restrictive if you don't pay a dime. I guess as a 20 dollar RPG it's a lot more reasonable a sell, but even if you wanna keep it free it's worth a look. There's a fuckton of content here.

Also maybe one of the best produced MMOs I've played (the other being FFXIV: A Realm Reborn). The game's just gorgeous, and the character creator's fantastic. They've also added an outfit system that allows any class to wear armour of any weight purely cosmetically, so you can be a tanky Powertech Bounty Hunter that's cloaked in robes, or be a Jedi Shadow stalking around in Republic Trooper armour. So that's fun!

Excited to try out Lords of the Fallen and Journey soon.

@theht: Well, the length of the game is fine, it's just the content that's in the 20 - 30 hours isn't as much as I'd like. As for Metro, it has a great atmosphere, and yeah, it is bleak, but it's not overwhelming or anything like that. As for the bullets that are also ammo, it's bullets that you can use alternatively as more powerful ammo, which are never used. At least, I've never used them, so it's a non-issue. As for MMO's, and with the word Star in it, I'm downloading Star Trek Online on the PS4. Have you played it?

I've been playing through Wolfenstein: The New Order. I'm enjoying the shit out of this game. I think the shooting and stealth mechanics are great (I do wish it had the Dishonered hidden while peeking signal). The writing is actually really good as well. They add some real humanity to B.J. and his friends inside this wholly absurd story.

I've also been playing Galak-Z off and on. I love the look of this game. I think the spaceship mechanics are really unique and tactile, even though I sometimes struggle to do what I want in the heat of a big battle.

Really I haven't been playing much the past few days. I've been binge watching Shameless on Netflix. I'm on the second to last season so soon I will be free of the grip of William H. Macy's charm.

Elite: Dangerous (Horizons)
I have a HOTAS Thrustmaster X so just the act of flying around is much more fun then mouse and keyboard (I can't imagine playing it that way).
I've come back to it this week after not playing it for about half a year, started a new character/save and I must say, they did add a bunch of things that help with the feeling loneliness and aimless... The new mission system adds a bit more character to the whole thing so it's not so sterile, and the starting "zones"/systems seem to be populated with enough players as well...

If you have some kind of HOTAS and a couple of friends to fly with, and were disappointed by No Man's Sky, give it a shot. Just be prepared to have to FIND FUN and content on your own, it won't jump at you or present itself. But for me, the feeling of awe when you comprehend the scale of the Universe this game presents really well was alone worth the price of admission.

ArmA III
This is also a game I come back to every few months. With great online communities, a bunch of Dayz/survival/roguelike mods and DLC, this game is practically ENDLESS.
You can join a mil sim community, do training based of real world military tactics, do custom made missions utilizing said tactics, enroll in many types of squads, learn to pilot tanks, be recon, call support and artillery strikes, pilot helicopters, learn to become a sharpshooter/light machine gunner/engineer/medic etc.
You can play Breaking Point, a Dayz type mod that has factions, reputation, leveling and perks...
You can play Exile, a DayZ type mod but with random missions and NPCs, currency and trading, base building and much more... (those are just 2 examples of mods I like to play alot, there are dozens more)
There are also a bunch of custom made scenarios available via the Steam Workshop, if you want to play as a 911 Rescue Pilot for example, you can...

This time around, when I started playing it again a couple of weeks ago, I'm also using my HOTAS to practice piloting helicopters, and maaaan, that's a game within itself. It's pretty damn hard...

As for a recommendation, I WOULD WHOLEHEARTEDLY RECOMMEND this game. DON'T BE AFRAID TO GET INTO IT, it's not that complicated as it seems from the outside. Elite and Arma are the only sim games I've ever played, ARMA was my first and when you find a good online community to play with, they will show you anything you need... heck, contact me, I'll show you the ropes.
If you give it a chance, you're in FOR SOME OF THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE, EMERGENT, UNIQUE and EXHILARATING moments in video games.

@ntm: I have, on PC though. The ship combat's great! Managing your shields and positioning while launching torpedoes at exposed enemy hulls and popping crew station skills is a blast. The ground stuff was never that great, but when last I played they'd hacked together a shooter control scheme that was half-way decent. Made it somewhat more engaging, but it's the space stuff that really shined for me. Never got much Star Trek vibes from it though, but then I guess the sort of Star Trek game I'd wanna play wouldn't really be an action-MMO. Still, I had fun with it for a good while, even if nothing about it entices a return.

Didn't know it was on PS4. Funnily enough, I literally just got to the part in the Bombcast where they mentioned it. I imagine it'd fare well with a controller.

I only have a few missions in Deus Ex Mankind Divided left to go and I'm saving them for a two or three hour session this weekend.

The short answer is: If you wanted more Human Revolution, Mankind Divided is your game. If you wanted more out of Human Revolution, Mankind Divided isn't going to do much for you.

The long answer is: As a game, I think it's pretty good, but a lot of what I've heard surrounding its development and release sounds like it was plagued by executive meddling. Someone said it has to be a trilogy of games. Someone forced micotransactions into the game at the last minute. Someone forced them to make Breach just for the purpose of having a free-to-play esque game tacked on.

Even with all of that, it's a pretty well-made game. The city of Prague is well-designed and well-laid out, with plenty of interesting nooks and crannies to stumble across and explore as well as some awesome locations to poke your nose into - the Palisade Bank, for instance, or the cult that operates out of underground catacombs. The side missions are generally interesting, if sometimes too brief and there definitely aren't enough of them. The main quest does meander and this close to the end of the game, I definitely feel like Human Revolution did way more with what it had. But hey, what's here in Mankind Divided is more of what was there in HR, and if that's what you want, that's what you'll get.

Right now I'm playing through The legend of zelda: a link between worlds and am absolutely loving it! It's one of the best zelda games I've played since wind waker! That HD release is still in my backlog...I need to get to that at some point!

MLB The Show 16

Do I care about baseball?No, not really. Doesn't change the fact that MLB The Show has been one of the most reliably entertaining strategy games of the past few years. Would I recommend this game at this point in the year, though? No, I wouldn't recommend it. The most fun mode in the game is Diamond Dynasty, their ultimate team configuration that solves every problem I've had with other versions of this mode by not requiring contracts. Unfortunately, a lot of the best cards are locked behind missions that are essentially XP/innings grinds, which is fine if you just want to play some of the custom made bad CPU teams.

But if you just want to use your best players and play against another human online, almost every team you face is going to be loaded up with several of the best cards in the game even if the player themselves is mediocre just because most sports gamers that aren't wholly invested in baseball will have moved on to Madden by now, if not NBA 2K and NHL 16 in the next few weeks. Newcomers could play Road to the Show, and their save carry over feature is seriously cool in that you could start your RttS character on this game, play a few weeks and then just wait until next year's game to continue with a fresh Diamond Dynasty opportunity as well, but that mode has fallen behind others in recent years by resting on its laurels. It's all stats, no character.

AdVenture Capitalist (PS4)

Would I recommend this game? Yes! What's not to recommend? The only negative to this version of the game (I haven't played others, just enjoyed Jeff talking about it in the past) is that if you leave the application running while you go do something else like Netflix or HBO Go, the app will suspend and will not make forward progress while its suspended. However, if you close/quit the app whenever you've run out of quick moves and don't want to sit silently watching the numbers go up, the numbers will go up without you. It makes it the perfect thing to just check in on a few times a day for a quick little adrenaline rush, or just a small bite in between bigger games.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Even just chipping away at it for months and months it's a great game. But you likely have already formed your opinion on it. I find the stiffness of the animation work in cutscenes off putting and have sunk so deep into Novigrad side quests and Gwent/horse racing missions after attempting to roughly follow the main path through to Skellige that I'm not entirely sure where the main plot is at or where it's going (and I have to admit I don't like present-day Dandelion very much at all) but I'm pretty overpowered for everything I do which has made for a pretty fun if not arrogant romp through these side quests. I think they padded this game out with a lot of filler contrary to most folks' opinions on the game, there's so much unnecessary junk tucked into every container in the world, so many weapons and armor items that are irrelevant, and missions that just don't make much sense (why would I be asked escort 30 witches through the sewers fighting level 5 monsters when they can shoot fire and ice from their hands, for example?) and are immersion breaking, but overall it's a just a fantastically realized world with great sound and, aside from animation, graphics. I'm curious for the DLC content to start creeping its way into the game and see how that changes things.

Grand Theft Auto III

Would I recommend a 2003 PS2 open world game in 2016? Only if you have nostalgia for the original. The controls are bonkers compared to modern video games, let alone open world third person action games, and the first island of this iteration of Liberty City would barely constitute a neighborhood in Grand Theft Auto IV. I've been having a blast with this game due to the amount of time and energy I sunk into the franchise as a teenager, especially this one with which I pirated rips of all the radio stations, burned them and listened to them in my room while I read, thus memorizing the cadence and DJ banter of each one (even Chatterbox!). But some of the mechanics are almost impossibly dated, particularly the constant need to hit Pay 'n' Sprays or Ammunations (not to mention the lack of an in-game map to waypoint you there) so newcomers to the series may as well skip this one and move on to the vastly superior Grand Theft Auto: Vice City if you're looking to do a little reconnaissance on what made the original PS2 trilogy so industry transforming.

Batman Arkham Knight

Hard to recommend to people that are not fans of the other games in the franchise, and even then... The main (non-technical) issue I had with this game is that they force feed the Batmobile everywhere. You have the standard races and burnout-like car combat scenarios, but you also have tank based puzzles, tank based combat, tank based detectiving and even tank based stealth. All that robs the game from one of the strongest points of the series: making you feel like Batman. Still, the sections where you are not forced on a car are still pretty good. Recommended with some caveats.

DOOM

This game is really good, although I feel like it takes some time to get to full steam. In the first levels I wasn't feeling it, but once you get sent to hell, the game picks up the pace and hardly let go. If you are a fan of fast paced shooters, this is the game for you to play this year. Highly recommended.

Overwatch

Speaking of fast paced shooters, in my opinion, this is the online experience of the year. Think of it like Team Fortress 2, before it became the land of hats. Also it is one of the easiest to pick games of the genre. Fairly easy to feel like you are awesome and doing awesome things, and the game reinforces that. Recommended.

Grim Dawn

Only game in contention with Xcom 2 for game of the year. I'm almost 200hrs in and on my second character (haven't even maxed out the first). Like diablo 2? Like titan quest? From my understanding this is the closest to those games of any modern ARPG (besides maybe Path of Exile but that is F2P and always online). I think where the meat of the game lies is in the damn near infinite amount of customization with classes/gear/devotions(extra abilities/defenses). It has it's issues, as it feels oldschool even in the bad ways, with a terrible inventory system that makes crafting and gear management more of a pain than it should be. I play with a steam controller and don't have to do the dumb clickity clickity to move stuff which is great as i hate that about Computer rpgs, but that is there as well if you do like it. Voice acting isn't great but the story is much better than diablo, animations aren't as robust but the weapon strikes and AOE attacks FEEL GOOD and it's a blast to play. The end game right now is all about replaying at higher difficulties but they have just introduced the crucible which may replace that or enhance that with futre patches, there are also new DLC's both free and paid coming later. Honestly, i have no idea why more people aren't playing this game.

Actually i think this may be my GOTY, all the AAA games i've played this year besides xcom have felt disappointing. I didn't enjoy doom longer than 10 hours, I spent more time in Deus Ex tweaking settings than enjoying the gameplay, haven't tried hitman but it's never been my thing, Dark souls 3 is good but not as good as Dark souls 2 and 1.

I am currently playing DOOM and Trails of Cold Steel. I would highly recommend both games to anyone who enjoys their respective genres :)

@mirado:I just lost my first colony, and so far, I wholeheartedly agree with your endorsement. Holy shit.

So, RimWorld:
I had an air conditioner fire destroy half of the compound, including a bunch of batteries and all of the medicine and food. Without proper medical care, or, you know, even four walls to protect them, a mad ibex killed off all but one of my colonists. The losses drove her into a fury, and she began to randomly knife the nearby cattle, until one hit back so hard they finally went into shock and died.

I play a little Hitman every few days. I do an escalation or a contract as I have finished all the main material released so far. Almost endless content there. Really get a rush of adrenaline when I near the end of a perfectly executed run of a complicated multi-step mission (with no save backing me up).

I just finished Human Revolution two days ago. Really liked it the story and characters and multiple ways of doing things, but I thought the controls could be a lot better. Going from the slick Hitman controls to the clunky Deus Ex controls was tough. Do they may you hold a key to stay in cover in the new one?

I then started Trails of Cold Steel as it was on sale on PSN last week and before Human Revolution I had finished Trails in the Sky and really liked that. Can't say anything about Cold Steel yet other than that it is anime as fuck. And for me that is a good thing. If you are any kind of fan of old-school Japanese turn based RPGs like Xenosaga, definitely play Trails in the Sky. It starts really slow and is dialog intensive, but both the story and combat systems are very good.

Bouncing between a few games right now:

Jets'n'Guns Gold:

A side-scrolling shooter by Rake In Grass software, with one of my favorite game soundtracks done by Machinae Supremacy (whose name I think is super rad, fitting for their music). Real dumb/great story, funny, hard (and I'm usually not a fan of hard games), and there are many times where the screen is just pure nonsense. Eventually you slowly get to a tipping point where your weapons start to be real dumb (especially if you find certain hidden weapons) and it turns into a reverse bullet-hell where you're the one filling the screen with particle effects, but that takes a while.

If you like side-scrolling shooters, it's a good one, if a bit hard. Also, again, the soundtrack is pimp. And the game's like $7 on Steam.

Rimworld:

Other's have put this one up. I haven't played it in a few weeks (mostly due to a few other games I got sucked into) but plan on going back pretty soon. My first colony died because I didn't know how food worked until it was a little too late. Second run was better, but fire loved my place. Three different save reverts ended in immediate fiery doom: One by some conduit exploding in the middle of base, another from a raider with an incendiary grenade, and the third by Odin getting pissed and throwing me a nice, dry, concentrated-solely-on-my-base lightning storm.

If you like Dwarf Fortress and want something else, or want an easier-to-get-into DF, then it's a good game to play.

Fallout 4:

Mostly for the DLC. Automaton was real cool and fun to do, and now all my settlements are linked by pink, electricity-infused sentry/murder bots (with personality!) who tend to show up during any raids and make them even more hilariously futile than normal. Far Harbor was really good and I'm super happy I brought Nick along for it. Also I got this radium rifle that shoots exploding rounds, which is ridiculous. Nuka World seems interesting, though I don't really like helping the...inhabitants at all, and the only other option kinda sucks and would make the DLC almost worthless. But I found a work-around through the Internet that involves using the console that'll help later on. And I'm saving the Vault DLC until after Nuka World as a nice little closer for the DLCs.

You probably already know if you want to play Fallout 4. I recommend it, but I'm not even close to tired of Bethesda open-world RPGs yet.

Fire Emblem: Awakening:

The combat's pretty good, I'm enjoying the story and I really love the support conversations. It's my first foray into Fire Emblem and I'm really enjoying it. Also the DLC allows me to be stupidly overpowered and rich so that's always a plus. Also I'm not playing perma-death because I hate that idea in games. I think I would recommend it to those who might be on the fence, or enjoy the genre.

And a few I've put on hold for a short while, or that I've been playing on-and-off:

Overwatch - Team based FPS. I usually don't like those, but damn it's a good one.

DOOM - DOOOOOOOOOM. Everything about it is pretty great. Do you like FPS games? If yes, you should play DOOM.

The Witcher 3 - I only played partly through the first game but, damn, 3 is great. Extremely well written, fun to play once you get used to how it all handles (basically hit-hit-dodge combat for me, very close to how I played Dark Souls, but now having Quen to abuse). The soundtrack is nice, and the game is kind of absurdly beautiful. Playing it on the Xbox One and I would definitely recommend it. Probably PC if you can, but the X1 version has been treating me well.

Kind of seems like all the games I play fall into the "Yeah, I would recommend it if you're interested in the genre." opinion for me.

Playing Dragon's Dogma on PC, after playing it two years ago on PS3. No, I wouldn't recommend it to others. It's a huge waste of time (Lots of walking and busywork.) with trashy presentation, story, dialogue, voice acting and cutscenes. I've skipped most of the cutscenes so far.

@choi:

Seconded on Elite: Dangerous. Bought it near launch when the grind was pretty unreal and I burnt out. I was one of the ones to pick it back up after the NMS bubble burst and I'm very glad I did. You are very right, the quality of life touches they have added go a long way in rounding out the game. I recently started exploring (at Jacques Station at the moment) while listening to audio books (The Three Body problem) and it has been incredible all around! I tried it with a HOTAS but was so spoiled from how flawlessly an xbox one controller works with it that it was tough fully converting over. A HOTAS makes combat feel incredible but landing and menu navigation takes a big hit vs the controller.

While one friend I recommended the game too has fallen deeply into it, and is actually the one who got me to come back, I've had many more bounce off it. They admire it but just can't find the fun. @choi nailed it really, if anything, watch a scott manley video on it and give it some honest consideration.

Did you know Microsoft 10 Solitaire is really fun?! The free card games from the store are actually still wonderful and you can't go wrong!

Deus Ex: MD: Finished it on normal a few days ago, and now going for another play-through on the highest difficulty (a.k.a. ironman mode). I think it's pretty great, but probably not the best game for you if you're looking for great shooter mechanics. It mostly shines if you're into stealth.

Stellaris: I love this game, but I'd recommend giving it another few patches/another year before diving in. Once they've added trade, improved diplomacy, and fleshed out the late game it'll be the space 4x it was meant to be.

Titan Quest Anniversary Edition: I bought this originally a couple of years ago, but the tiny interface drove me crazy. This update adds UI scaling and a crapload of other stuff. It's ancient Greek Diablo. In other words, pretty cool.

@skald said:

It's so good. I just watched a video of someone get overrun by a pack of mad boars, and I don't think I've laughed that hard at a game in a long time. The dynamic storyteller does a great job of making the failures feel entertaining, and the modding support has been excellent for an Early Access title. I've got two good ones: a mod that adds fuses and circuit breakers to help mitigate fires from short circuits, and one that adds craftable bionics and synthetic organs, with the balancing chance of graft rejection. That last one adds a few new research options; I just unlocked brain surgery, which I'm sure is going to go well.

It's an amazing game. It has something like 80% of the depth of Dwarf Fortress but 10000% of the usability.

Grim Dawn. Got it via the Humble Monthly Bundle, as just getting it for that game alone is already a 50% discount.

So far I think it's great, especially after playing Titan Quest. I know that TQ gets a lot of love from people that played it at the time, but I don't think it holds up particularly well. Grim Dawn is basically Titan Quest with about 10 years worth of progression in the genre. I was playing TQ with it's 'Very Fast' speed setting and even then I felt like the game was really digging it's heels in, with very little interesting stuff going on for what seemed like a significant amount of gameplay.

I also really dig the dark fantasy setting Grim Dawn has got going on. I like Diablo 3, but the entire setting just washes right over me. Your main character starts with being hanged due to being possessed by an evil spirit and the first quest is to deal with a sudden resurrection of the dead from a place called Burial Hill. Iron bits are traded in place in gold. My guy is already running around with a crow friend on his shoulder and spreading a plague that causes all of his enemies to bleed from every orifice.

Total War: Warhammer: Giving things another go with the latest DLC. Volkmar the Grim is the most probably powerful legendary lord I've seen so far. My Bretonnian allies are under attack from Estalia, so I declared war in an attempt to turn the tide, even though I only have about 1.7 armies to spare for the effort. Chaos is coming and Estalia almost never helps with the end game, so any territories that are added to my empire or to my allies' will help the cause. I'm subsidizing Middenland in the North to help them hold back the chaos hordes, and the Vampire Counts are slowly growing more powerful to the east - I'm not sure the 3 stacks I have there will be able to stop them if they come at me, making it all that much more important that I crush Estalia's resistance as quickly as possible so my economy can support another army. (I love this game, though my minimal interest in playing evil races makes it less of a mainstay than some Total Wars of the past.)

Heroes of the Storm: After a break from competitive gaming, I tried to come back to Overwatch, but I found myself drawn more toward Heroes of the Storm instead. It's a more varied and generally lower stress level experience (or at least, the stress comes in spikes). I guess that its short games and varied maps will keep it from ever being a being as seriously competitive as DOTA 2 or League, but having tried all 3, it's much more my speed.

Ark: I only play this sporadically with friends in sort of an open world, non-competitive setting. Some of the adventures we've gotten up to have been really fun, but the game's mechanics are totally stupid and its physics engine is broken. Seeing that they are selling a $20 expansion rather than investing in correcting those issues gives me the idea that game is headed in the wrong direction.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires Kind of lied to get this on the list, since I gave it up a week or two ago, but I can't act like I like every game I try. I've gotten kind of roped back in by some of Omega Force's recent entries and the "more strategic" approach of Empires seemed like it would play to the game's strengths. Unfortunately, the extra freedom it gives you in choosing your allies and your battles only highlights the many arbitrary restrictions that are forced on you, and you can't help but wonder why none of those troops you recruit on the campaign map seem to be around to help you in battle.

I've mostly been playing Evochron Legacy recently. The sequel to the space sim Evochron Mercenary that was quick looked by Dave and Vinny a few years ago. I really like it, but I certainly won't change the mind of anybody who was turned off by Mercenary. It's a one man project, and while it's incredibly impressive in scope, it certainly shows in parts.

The UI is a bit of a mess, and parts of the games are deliberately obtuse. The game doesn't explain its long range navigational system at all, and learning to plot a course for the jump drive takes a lot of trial and error and checking wiki tutorials. Beyond the obvious stuff the game has a full on crafting system hidden in a menu that you can only access while docked at space stations, and require crafting recipes you're unlikely to stumble upon in the wild unless you read up on how to find them - based around a NPC interaction mechanic that could totally pass you by while playing the game as a traditional space trading sim.

There's also the whole thing that while you have access to a star chart, it actually only shows a small portion of the game's universe, and you could play the whole story part of the game without realizing there's actually a vast universe beyond the star chart which you can only access by taking note of the navigational grid (unexplained by the game as noted above) and from which direction lights hits your ship in space.

So, yeah, if you love space sims, there's a whole lot to love about it, but without looking stuff up you'll ever only see the surface of what the game has to offer, so I wouldn't recommend it to someone who isn't already pretty well versed in the genre.

I would recommend World of Warcraft: Legion to every living thing on Planet Earth, be they man, woman, or child. Even your cousin. Even your mom! Your mom's so nice. Doesn't she deserve the gift of WoW?

Recently bought a new gaming laptop so going through the past few years of oc releases. Recently finished Portal 2 and yes i would definately recomend it. Also playing through Far Cry 3 (didnt want to play it on PS3 and liking it much better than 4) but its kind of redundant, so id give it a yes, but only if you can find it on the cheap. Also giving Dark Souls 1 a run through on PC with DSfix installed and i would most definately recomend that. Best game of all time in my opinion. Next on the list are Darkest Dungeon on PC and Journey on the ps4. Also if you havent tried it yet, Salt and Sanctuary. An amazing indie title.

I'm certainly getting a real kick out of still knowing where the shops are, and the best routes to get to certain mission markers, after all these years. I had to retrain my brain that the shops were required busy work more than they are in later games with larger maps to lose the police on, but afterward it's been a lot of nostalgic giddiness firing off every time I need to get some more ammo for my submachine gun and navigate myself to the Ammunation without a second thought, or when I drove over to grab a Bullet as soon as I had freedom to go as I pleased in the environment.

@mambogator: I just played RE6 last night. I really enjoyed the game on last-gen (I'm in the minority), enough to buy it again in remaster form. I got it around release, but I haven't gotten around to beating it. I am at the beginning of Sherry and Jake's campaign. I do enjoy the game, but the reason I haven't played more is because I played a lot of it on last-gen. I got RE5 remaster as well, and like last-gen, it's probably a great game still, but I've only gotten up to the executioner part. Also, though not from the get-go, you can select to be Sheva in solo play. I don't remember how. I think you have to beat the game first. I don't like being her though because she's inverted over the shoulder, and unlike in six, you can't change from side to side.

@memu: No, it doesn't make you hold it for cover in Mankind Divided. I don't know what system you're playing on, nor does it really matter I guess, but I played it on PS4, and I used the 'standard' controls, which is pretty much Call of Duty controls. The cover is a toggle, where you just press L1 to get on it (and honestly, it took me a little bit of time to get used to that, but it's more in line with what you're looking for). You can do a Mankind Divided control scheme, as well as Human Revolution's. I was fine with the controls in HR, but my biggest issue with it was that it has an archaic, R3 toggle aim down sights. The PC version has a toggle too, but at least I can set it to the right mouse button. I much prefer the LT/L2 hold aim. The cover system is slightly better in MD as well, due to being able to move from cover-to-cover, similar to the recent Splinter Cell games.

Stardew Valley and yes.

The world needs more people discussing sick farming strats. Although v1.1 is coming out soon, so maybe wait for that?

I've been dumping a lot of time into Prison Architect lately. Just a stupidly fun game. Showed me that I am stupid and don't know how to run a prison, at all.

Also Team Fortress 2 is still great.

Fallout 4 - maybe?

2nd time playing it - put 20 hours into it when it first came out and got bored. Started again now and am enjoying it a bit more - dialogue, map and inventory mods have been useful.

Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth

• Can you stand a game that has a shitload of poop?
• Do you want a game where there are hundreds of items that can interact with eachother in crazy ways
• Do you like procedurally-generated games that can be extremely difficult?
• Do you like games with (mostly) fun daily challenges?
• Are you okay with spending 100s of hours playing a single game?

I've been looking at WET, but I think I'll be dropping that one here after getting into Chapter 3. It's a cool idea, but not enough of one to carry a game through.

Also, WoW and I'm blaming @rorie for it. Curse you and your streams making me pick this up for the first time!

I started a playthrough of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix a few days ago. It started to grab my attention earlier than when I tried Kingdom Hearts II on the PS2 a number of years ago. A 30-40 hour Main Story in an RPG is a pretty good level for the time I'm able to put into a game these days. I haven't been able to play recently, but I have a feeling that I might jump back in over the weekend and check in with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. If someone is like me where they enjoy an RPG every now and then, wouldn't mind playing a 30+ hour story, and can get into the combat features, then I'd recommend the game to them.

I just finished Deus Ex Mankind Divided, and it just so happens that half of my most recent blog is about that game! It's as well made as it is entirely unsurprising!

Titan Quest Anniversary Edition: an updated/remastered version of the best post-Diablo II Diablo-clone that I've ever played, and I've played most of them, as I consider Diablo II my favorite game of all time.

Trails of Cold Steel 2.

And absolutely. Assuming you have any love for JRPGs. (Especially Persona or Suikoden.) And also already played Trails of Cold Steel 1, since it's a direct continuation of that game. (If you have not then I can also wholeheartedly recommend that game, having actually finished it.)

Anybody impatiently waiting for Persona 5 like me should give these games a try, because it does a very good job of scratching that itch.

Been playing madden mostly and killing floor 2. If you like football of the American variety I can't recommend it enough. This is the best madden to date so that should speak for itself.

As for killing floor. This is a satisfying wave based zombie killing game that focuses on classes and teamwork. Just about everyone online is friendly and once you get to level 5 in a class to unlock your first perk the game just takes off from there. It also has THE best reload animations in video games in both normal time and slow motion. Don't believe? Go play the game yourself. Just make sure you turn on gibs and fluids if you have an nvidia based card. Thank me later duders.

Ps. I need to finish doom so I can finish fallout. And then try to finally get back to witcher 3. But it's going to be hard!

I just finished Mankind Divided. If you liked HR then you'll like this. It's more polished but more of the same and the main story and setting are a bummer.

Have also been playing Madden 17 and if you haven't checked in on madden in a few years I'd definitely check it out. It's the best Madden in about a decade and they've made smart changes the last few years that have finally paid off.

I've also started playing Smite on Xbox again. If you can't get into MOBAs because of the top down view then you should give Smite a shot. The graphics aren't nearly as good as Paragon but it has much better art design. It's also easier to get into than Dota or LOL imo.

Finally, Im dipping my toes back into Halo 5. 343 has done an incredible job of supporting this game and listening to the community. It's easily the best online Halo game since Halo 2. The gameplay is definitely the best it's been in the series but now it has the online content it lacked at launch.

Im going back through all Gran Turismo games starting at Motor Toon Grand Prix2 (Moto toon GP for you guys in the USA, 1 never came out in the west). All the way through to GT6 including the psp one. Im playing Gran Turismo 1 now mostly (and I play GT6 with a t150 a couple times a week but I've been doing that for a while now, its what made me interested in seeking out the history of the series)

Both Moto Toon GP2 and GT1 came in one box and were only 6 euros (less than 10 dollars more than 6 :P). I didnt necessarily want to start at one of the moto toon gp games but since it was included I figured what the heck. All the other Grand turismos were also dirt cheap(Watch out with GT5 prologue though, you cant even update that fucker anymore and the updates added a TON, even very basic stuff like 1080p support and proper wheel settings, dont get GT5 academy edition either as everything that is added to that version is just dlc that you can not even download anymore)

Now Disclaimer: I have a hard time enjoying most racing games without cockpit mode or wheel unless they are EXTREMELY arcade like outrun or ridge racer (with a few exceptions, and yes I know I'm awfull :D ) so I didnt know exactly how enjoyable this escapade to the past would be but I went in anyway......

Long Story:

Long story short:

Both Moto Toon Grand Prix 2 and Grand Turismo are still to this day very much enjoyable today and I can start to see where Grand Turismo got its mystical status from, back in the day it must've been a mindblowing game. Nowadays the Grand turismo series sadly doesnt seem to be THAT much better than other driving games being released, but back in the ps1 days they just didnt have any real competition on the same level.

If you are the kind of person who can still enjoy a ps1 race games and somehow havent played grand turismo, its a no brainer. I wouldnt recommend it to anyone looking for some some serious ass simulation obviously. And moto toon gp is like an actually good mario kart with car-physics and too little content, if that sounds appealing to you, it is! And if you are interested in old games out of interest of evolving gameplay and the like I'd definitely recommend both games as well.