Been playing Mario Kart DS for the first time. Did all of 50cc and just have a couple cups left on 100cc. I forgot these older entries tie unlockables to difficulty.

Been playing some Battlefield 3 after it went on sale, mostly multiplayer. It’s still fun! There are occasional hackers but they get vote kicked within a few minutes.

I’m impressed how well it stands up graphically, and aside from a few control quirks it plays great. The biggest problem is that everyone else on the servers has been playing for the past 15 years so I’m pretty outmatched 😆 though I can occasionally get a nice sniper kill with my recon loudout

I finished Blasphemous. I didn’t go through the DLC as I apparently missed the chance for the True Ending by not doing it early anyway, so I couldn’t be bothered as I wasn’t really enjoying the game that much. Also I’ve heard it’s even more annoying. I’ll save it for a hypothetical second playthrough. I did beat the one optional DLC boss I had access to - Isidora - and the difference between the main game and the DLC is staggering. I first tried the last two bosses in the main game, but Isidora took me probably 50ish attempts. And I’m not sure it was “fun difficult” either, that second phase sure was something.

My notes remain the same: terrible platforming (and an overabundance of it) and design elements that are deliberately meant to waste your time and/or piss you off hold back what could otherwise have been a great game. I respect the artistic vision, I just didn’t have a lot of fun playing it.

As a palate cleanser I played through LIMBO, which I bought solely because it is supposedly an indie darling and was being delisted on GOG. I was assured by somebody on here that it wasn’t really “that bad” as puzzle platformers go (I hate platformers) and that it was “mostly vibes”. That was a lie - this is clearly a puzzle platformer. And it didn’t feel like a particularly good one either. Fortunately it was only a couple of hours long or I would never have been able to force myself to finish it. YMMV but it’s a solid 5.5-6/10 for me, I’m glad I only paid a dollar for it. I hope INSIDE is better as I foolishly bought both.

Finished Final Fantasy XVI. I liked the story. The gameplay tho was serviceable at best and started getting really boring for the last 20 hours.

Started Persona 3 Reload. Played FES a few years ago and loved it. I like the new additions like Linked Episodes and the fully voiced Social Links. I kinda wish the combat kept the “tactics” from the PS2 games, but instead it’s just P5’s with a few things from SMTV. Also some of the cutscenes are a downgrade from the original, as I think they based them on the Portable version.

Bayonetta. Beat the first level last night; this game is ridiculous in the best possible way. I’ve had it on Steam for a while, but never played it. I recently cobbled together a 2010-ish PC out of parts from various family members’ old computers, and installed Linux on it, so now I’m wanting to see which xbox360/ps3 era games it can play. Bayonetta runs perfectly fine.

Alone: Rimworld, WH40k Rogue Trader

Multiplayer: ArmA Reforger (just found a group who’s pretty chill, haven’t vetted them for politics yet though), SCP 5k, Peak

I just finished Far Cry 5…Seemed like a fitting time for some cult destruction.

Overall it wasn’t too bad. Maybe a 6 or 7 out of 10. I found it getting repetitive after halfway through the second (of three) regions. The side stories weren’t very interesting any more, so it was just a little grindy to the end.

I will say, this was one of the few games that got me on the disgust (not sure that’s really the right word for it) meter a couple times. No spoilers, but the story Jess Black shares about the cult’s doings is quite revolting.

Probably on to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 next for me.

E: One thing I just remembered that was quite well done that I don’t often (literally) hear in other games was the quality of sounds coming from afar. A commotion in the distance actually sounded like it was in the distance, and not just a less quiet sound. Some mushed directionality while a little bit of reverb and reflection really made it sound realistic.

I had an amazing run going earlier on Dungeon Clawler using Toxicarl and the kiddo pets. I could stack millions of stacks of poison on the enemies. Got to somewhere like floor 70 or so before dying.

Other than that, I have been on and off with most every other game I’ve attempted to play due to me finding them more boring nowadays.

The exception being a pokemon fangame: Pokemon Decay, which is kinda cool. Whole thing of the region you are in is the result of the first 4 regions being smashed together due to a decade prior the 3 legendary Hoenn creatures causing things to go chaotic and causing lots of chaos. Has new forms of pokemon, new evolutions for some, and for the most part they all look like well designed sprites.

Just finished The First Berserker: Khazan earlier today. For some reason, the final boss was extremely hyped up in the game’s subreddit, and it ended up just being alright. Overall a good game, I had fun with the combat, but the story is trash and the characters are nothing, not even cardboard cutouts.

I have been obsessed with Rimworld since the new DLC, Odyssey, dropped. That, and a little bit of Peak with the wife.

RW is my digital crack - I cannot get enough…

Kiddos took interest in Beyond All Reason so have gotten back into that one again. Just practicing against bots so far; good times regardless.

Also figured out firewall settings to play online with Mario Kart Wii Deluxe so that one’s been dominating use of the TV.

I’m finally playing Celeste and honestly it’s living up to the hype. The art style is amazing, great soundtrack, solid platforming mechanics, and just the perfect balance of challenging and rewarding. The storyline is really endearing too, I have a huge crush on Theo.

I’ve also started Cyberpunk 2077. It’s the first big AAA game I’ve played in a while, and I’m honestly kinda overwhelmed by the scope of the game. 7 hours in and I still felt like I was going through a tutorial. GTA-style open worlds aren’t usually my fav kind of games but I really dig the cyberpunk setting so far.