Age of Wonders 4. I’m so glad I finally pulled the trigger on this during the recent sale. It’s so much fun.

Started playing Split/Second on the PSP after I couldn’t get the main PC version to work fully with my controller.

Also Typing of the Dead Overkill since I just got a new keyboard it seemed like the perfect time to play it.

I’ve been playing some Minecraft lately, both solo and with my wife. On my own, I’m mostly doing creative mode, currently building a village. I don’t have a ton of time for games but I’m having a blast when I find time. It’s coming very slowly though. With my wife, she’s played the game lots, always survival, but never actually beat the game before, and I haven’t beat the game since probably 2012 ish if I were to guess, so I’ve been looking forward to seeing Ms Ender Dragon too. It’ll probably be a while for that though, we don’t get to play together much.

Last week I mentioned wanting to play Project Wingman campaigns in VR so I did just that. I started a new campaign on hard, as usual, and with the “Budget Cuts” modifier (less ammo, more damage to everyone and reduced handling) for additional challenge. Difference in ammo counts was a bit shocking at first (I didn’t expect it to go THIS low) but it’s still doable and fun. Each mission requires more precision and patience, other than that, it’s not that different.
I also tried playing one of the missions on the “Mercenary” difficulty (without the modifier) to give it another shot but… yeah, it’s just not for me.

Since I’m in a flying mood I decided to try a little experiment as well. I set up my flight-stick as a controller for PCSX2 and started playing Ace Combat 04 with it. It was alright.
It obviously isn’t as fun as playing a game created with HOTAS support in mind - controls feel a bit stiff and the cockpit view is rather limited but I don’t hate it. That said, I’m not the biggest Ace Combat fan (never grabbed me as much as PW) so I’m sure someone more dedicated could have more fun with this setup.
I only did 2, maybe 3 missions so far so I’ll play a bit more before deciding whether I want to continue or not. At the very least, playing it like this is an interesting experience.

Subnautica

I already played it through once, but with a Phenom quadcore (and a gtx 970, but heavily bottlenecked). The difference is refreshing: from around 720p 20ish fps I went to 1080p 60.

A great crafting game, but I won’t waste words on a 10 year old fan-favorite, unless prompted (and then I can gush!).

Portal Stories: Mel

Going through all the Portal 2 mods recently

I spent about a year eyeing Gori: Cuddly Carnage from afar until I picked it up a few days ago thinking I’ll just beat it in about 8~10 hours and go back to playing Homura Hime… I’m 17hrs in… beat the game and going for the 100% because it seemed very doable and the game is fun.

I don’t even know who to recommend it to… technically speaking it is an action game, but does not play like any other action game I know. The platforming isn’t exactly Tony Hawk Pro Skater/Jet Set Radio either… it’s not even Rollerdrome… so IDK. It is fun though… just requires some suspension of belief and embracing it for what it is.

I’ve started playing Kingdom Come Deliverance 1 the other day because I am eager for the Gothic 1 Remake (where I won’t be patient) and people have often compared the two franchises for their freedom and immersive mechanics. And of course the inherent Euro-jank.

I really like it so far and can handle it much better than I expected.

And incidentally for this community it is currently on sale on GOG. I’m playing the free version I got on Epic a while ago.

My kid learned about Stardew Valley from a friend, so we’ve been into that. The split screen co-op has turned it into a great family activity.

Shining Force

It started out really slow, but now I’m mid-late game. I’ve got a band of characters I like and I’m on the cusp of promoting most of them.

It’s older and less refined than other games I’ve played in the genre (ie, Fire Emblems), but it’s been a good time.

I recently finished playing through Itorah, a side scrolling action platformer. It’s been on my list for a while. The game is beautiful, the story and art are influenced by Aztec, Incan and Mayan art and culture. There’s no voice acting, but each NPC feels different. There’s little backtracking, and in the areas you do travel a lot there’s usually a new path you can take through it.

I enjoyed my time with the game. The mechanics are fun and varied, and the boss fights are all different and challenging. My playtime was about 20 hours and I didn’t rush it. There are achievements for speed running the game too. I didn’t get all the achievements on my first play through, so there would be more to do for achievement hunters.

Hades 2, been a lot of fun. A coworker and I just started playing it so we compare notes at lunch. We’re both going through blind so it’s pretty fun when one of us uncovers something the other hasn’t.

Domina

Its a gladiator simulator sandbox game. It is possible to control individual gladiators but I find it more fun to let the cpu do it for me and watch the fights instead. You can choose a fighting style, equipment and stats to train and it’s a lot of fun.

Train gladiators -> fight gladiators -> repeat!

Forza Horizon

The first game is my favourite so went back and played a bit. Currently on the orange wristband.

I’m playing Arc Rise Fantasia, as part of the Wii RetroAchevements event. I never even heard of it but 15 years later, I think it might be my favorite “Tales Of” game while not being an actual Tales Of game (the scenario writer did Symphonia and Abyss but was allowed to go darker and more serious with this).

It flopped tremendously because of a terrible English dub and being a JRPG on Wii. The English VAs are practically reading from a script in one take and the hundreds of skits aren’t voiced. The undub patch is a must, as the Japanese VAs are phenomenal and most of them are still working so you might recognize them.

Its IP is under Marvelous but developed by a defunct developer so it’s probably never going to see a rerelease… though, I guess anything is possible. Even if it did, I’d wait for a sale, hehe.

Done with Iceborne last week, so it’s cities skyline this week. I feels like, every map i build the fun is really on “how you gonne fix this mess of a city that you’ve made” instead of “how well i can plan the city”, so it’s now i’m back to fixing the traffic jam for the junction coming into the city, where i put everything too close to the entrance and traffic will backed up a bit from time to time. At least it isn’t kilometers long like last time, which backed up to the existing highway.