noboners

@bigsocrates: this is the most important information on this thread. Cannot wait to go buy timesplitters when I get home.

I've been playing through perfect dark the last few weeks, so jumping from that to Goldeneye has really just confirmed that I find perfect dark to be a better game in every aspect. It's cool that Goldeneye has online on the Switch, but it's a bummer they couldn't make something similar work on Xbox. Without online, this just doesn't seem like it will get the same response. Like most have stated, it's nice from a game preservation standpoint, but not as big of a deal as it would have been five-ten years ago.

I'm pretty awful at finishing games, but I've stopped beating myself up over it. Most recently, I was playing High on Life and got to the 3 Brother's boss fight before realizing I just wasn't enjoying playing the game. I uninstalled it right then and didn't look back. There are just too many games out there to play that I don't feel like it's worth spending the little time I have playing ones I don't find fun. Sticking through something I'm not enjoying makes my hobby feel more like a chore.

This past year I started to dive deeper into this mentality to see why I stop playing games and I realized that I was spending so much time doing side content that I just kinda lost the thread on what the game actually is, especially in open world games. So I'm trying to be more focused on mainlining the story and saving the side stuff for later, if I want to keep playing a game after "completion."

1. The legend of Tianding

2. Coffee Talk

My #1 takeaway is that it's targeting 4k/60fps with some ray tracing. I'm excited to finally see the real capabilities of the XSX.

As for the game, I think they just showed more Forza. We already knew it'd look good, but I also wish there was longer gameplay sequences as opposed to this constant sizzle reel/talking heads. Like you mentioned too, there was barely any cockpit view or discussion on how the driving improved over 7.

Still very excited for it, but no release date despite a previous Spring 2023 announcement has me concerned this is getting pushed back to Fall.

Great write-up. I wasn't as fond as this one as you were, but it was a solid little romp nonetheless. I think I just judged its shortcomings harsher than I needed to because of how much I enjoy the SteamWorld games.

But I really wish they had just removed combat all together. Because the enemy variety never changes, I would end up just groaning my way through so many of the battles. If sucking up the gunk wasn't so satisfying (especially, as you mentioned, the way the world returns to its lush state once gunk is removed), I don't think I would have even bothered to finish it. I also found the jump to be similar to the Kingdom Hearts jump that is notoriously bad. But even with all those negatives, I would probably still rate this game a solid 7. It still keeps me excited for whatever Image & Form does next, and shows that they are perfectly capable of making games outside of the SteamWorld Universe.

I'd like to throw out a single nomination for the next voting cycle:

The Legend of Tianding: Castlevania-like with a pretty slick looking style that reminds me a little of Viewtiful Joe, hltb lists it at 5-8 hours

@borgmaster: the fake ending got me too, to the point that I had actually decided to stop playing for the night right after. So I selected quit game and left the room to go grab a snack, before coming back to my PC and the game being mid cutscene. Considering how much time was still left in the game, I'm kind of surprised it happened so early? And I definitely missed the point, story-wise.

Also, did you know you could change your radio station outside of the menu? It didn't help much in those fights with the enemies that require you to tune to identify them, but i found that it made those puzzles you mentioned a little bit less tedious.

I just finished this right now so my thoughts are a little scattered. Overall, I really enjoyed my time with it, but the 6 item slots really made the back half of the game a little tedious. Especially in the last area where you're collecting the tarot cards. It always felt like I only had two inventory slots free when I'd start exploring, so that just ended up making me backtrack more than I would have liked. I'm sure I could have played differently and pushed my luck more when exploring, but I didn't.

I got the ending titled "Memory." Looking at the other endings online, I'm kind of expecting most people to get that ending too, but I'd love to hear if someone got something else.

The vibes of this game were definitely the star of the show for me though. The enemy design is creepy and the sounds throughout help create a great atmosphere. I even think the CRT filter was effective, though I only turned it on briefly to see what it looked like.

All in all, I'd score this an 8/10 and I think it was a great first game of the year.

1. Tinykin

2. Olija

We've still got another week before the discussion opens, but I gotta say I'm thoroughly enjoying my time with this so far. I'm just a couple hours into it but the style and sounds are great and the breadcrumb trail of story so far has kept me going.

On a separate note, I purchased myself an XSX last week and this is the first new release I'm playing on it. I think my involvement in the UUGPGC is going to rise significantly with the addition of a dedicated console instead of trying to play on a computer after spending all day working on the same computer.