Patient Gamers

I haven't made a new thread weekly exactly, but with the amount of activity it might need to be fortnightly, here's another recommendations thread.

Let everyone know below a game (6+ months old), that you have played recently, are currently playing or intend to play soon.

Just started playing GTA IV on the Steam Deck after having it sitting in my Steam library for years. It's really fun. I really like the protagonist, the setting, and it's openness. It's a bit more tame than GTA V which I have played as well and I prefer the more subdued tone.

Edit: Thanks so much for all your awesome recommendations and feedback. Based on sheer popularity it looks like my next 3 franchises will be Mass Effect (5 votes), Dead Space (3 votes) and Batman Arkham (3 votes). I love Lemmy!

So since picking up my steam deck last year I've been slowly but surely working through some old trilogies that I never got round to playing. I'm a very casual gamer who plays when opportunity strikes, so it's taken me a year to play all 3 bioshock, mafia and tomb raider games. I played them in alternating order of release (bioshock 1, mafia 1, tomb raider, bioshock 2, mafia 2, tomb raider 2 etc) and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of watching each story unfold and graphics improve.

So as I approach the end of Mafia 3, I'm looking to repeat this exercise. The Assassin's creed collection just went on sale on steam, so I'm thinking I may start there, so am looking for recommendations for another 2 franchises to compliment (or change up) my playing experience over the next year.

Any help much appreciated!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1977735

Wow. What an experience.

It wasn't all smooth sailing. I even took a month break thinking I might not come back to it, but boy I'm glad I did.

I'm new to souls like, only having played Elden Ring before this (which was amazing). Sekiro was a game that I picked up afterwards, and struggled with early on. It felt like a departure to everything I'd learned in gaming to this point. You don't want to dodge, you want to deflect. Holding block helps you recover. Parrying will beat a boss quicker than trying to drive down their health. Once these things start to click, defeating bosses feels like a true accomplishment.

Fighting the end game bosses had my heart rate going like no other boss battles I can remember. Elden Ring had some memorable and awe inspiring bosses, but the feeling in Sekiro when you're about to break the posture of a boss for a final deathblow was indescribable.

If there's anyone left who hasn't given Sekiro a go, do yourself a favour. It takes some time for it to click, but when it does, it's something special.

For me it's Chrono Trigger. I always want to play it. I want to show it to my children. I hope it will be regarded as a masterpiece for generations to come.

I'm finally getting around to playing through the series and I'm wondering if the side games are worth it or if I shouldn't stick to the numbered instalments.

The epitome of what I’m trying to refer to is the Playdead games (Limbo and Inside). Dark Souls and BioShock both hit on this idea but not quite so directly. The game BADLAND is also a great example of this, too. The mobile game The Silent Age also did this exceptionally well. Never quite knowing what’s going on, and maybe some tension without release, but again not straight up horror. A feeling of uneasiness is what I’m looking for.

When playing through Inside, there’s never any moments where you’re scared, but you’re never sure what’s going on and there’s always a level of unease. What are all the mindless zombie-like people? Why is everyone hunting the player? What happened to this city? What’s the goal of the character the player controls? What exactly is going on here? That’s what I’m looking for. If you know of any other games which do this, I’d greatly appreciate hearing about them. It’s a very specific niche so I’m not sure how many games do this, but the games that I’ve seen do this tend to be some form of post-disaster or dystopia. I’ve seen some great artwork do this too. Zdzisław Beksiński had done some stuff like this. Some great dystopian novels also do this quite well.

Another week, another recommendations thread.

Let everyone know below a game (6+ months old), that you have played recently, are currently playing or intend to play soon.

I thought this was a really intriguing video essay on how the old Thief games from decades ago stack up against more modern (at the time, anyway, the video is nearly 10 years old itself!) AAA Games.

For example, I didn't fall in love with Titanfall 2's environmental art design---it felt a bit generic to me, like it was meant to be the backdrop for a shooter, as opposed to the Sevastopol in A:I or the station in SOMA that felt like existing locations.

Ditto BioShock: Infinite. The world felt like it was built around the premise of being an arena shooter, not the other way around.

BioShock 1 & 2 are exactly what I'm talking about though.

Even Borderlands 2 has great world-building: the corporate history that can be inferred from the level design, the weapons & the NPCs makes it one of the richer games I've played.

Would love to hear others' thoughts on your favorite FPS environments!

1. The Last of Us

2. Dark Souls

3. Persona 5

4. Portal 2

5. Mass Effect 2

6. Uncharted 2

7. BioShock

8. Red Dead Redemption

9. GTA 5

10. Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition

11. The Walking Dead

12. Wolfenstein: The New Order

13. XCOM: Enemy Unknown

14. Journey

15. Dead Space 2

16. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

17. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

18. Yakuza 5

19. Resistance 3

20. Burnout Paradise

21. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

22. Batman: Arkham City

23. Hotline Miami

24. LittleBigPlanet 2

25. Tokyo Jungle

I liked those games so much when I was a kid, the strategies you have to do to pass the games were so cool

TL:DR at the bottom for the impatient.

When I sit down to play a game, I want to be completely immersed. I want to completely forget about the world I'm in, and believe, for just a few hours, that the world I'm experiencing in the game is genuine. I want to care so much about the characters and environment that I feel actual emotion as the story progresses because in that moment, it's all really happening. And no game has ever accomplished this in the same way that OneShot does.

Somehow OneShot achieves this with a fairly short, 5-10 hour session. The game is a pixel-style top-down RPG that details the adventures of a young child named Niko that has been trusted with the sun of a dying world. The mission you're given is to make sure Niko arrives home safely. Her memories are gone, so her only guide through this land is you. Together, you and Niko must return the sun and restore life to the world.

Now, if what I described sounds pretty underwhelming, it's because that's not even 10% of what the story has to offer. I will attempt to refrain from any spoilers, but OneShot is a game best experienced completely blind. If you're even a tiny tiny bit interested, stop reading now and go buy it. It's currently $6 on Steam.

Throughout the story, the game continues to demonstrate that the world is not just a game. Niko speaks about motives and desires with a naivety that I'd expect from a real human child, while the game continues to remind you that she is, in fact, very real. As the game progresses, it becomes more and more alive, until the program itself is breaking boundaries and lashing out through the screen. All of this is done in an effort to make sure Niko goes home safely.

The game culminates in a terrible choice that will leave you crushed. And if the game ended there, then I'd say this was an amazing, 9/10 game that you should really play. But the game doesn't end there. You're in fact, only halfway done with a story that will make you question everything you thought you knew about what a game can be. And once you complete that, then you've completed what I believe to be one of the greatest games ever made.

TL;DR: OneShot is a game that will throw you for a loop by saying and doing things that I guarantee you've never seen in a video game. Immersion is not something that is talked about a lot in the medium, but it goes a long way in selling how truly real a world feels. In that respect, OneShot is easily the most immersive game I've ever played, with characters and plot threads and dialogue that will have you question if what you're experiencing is just a simple game. OneShot is tied with Stardew Valley for my favorite game of all time, so of course in my book this game is an absolute perfect 10/10. You'll never look at pancakes the same way again.

Hello fellow patient gamers, this is a cheeky self-plug for [email protected], a community I've created to post limited-time full-game free giveaways. The reward for being patient is that sometimes you get freebies; post them here if you spot them first, or comment to say whether it's a must play for everyone or if zero cost is still too expensive!

Update: As pointed out by Twitter user @videotechx, Rockstar actually spoke to releasing two “new iterations of previously-released titles” that are strictly ports or remastered titles (and not sequels) in Rockstar’s FY 2024, which is any time between March 2023 and March 2024.

Sekiro is possibly the most well-made game I’ve ever played. I know that’s a bit of a high praise, and I’d like to point out that I’m going to be going through the Dark Souls trilogy again soon, and getting 100% completion on all of them for the first time, so my opinion may change in the future, but for now, Sekiro remains the best game I’ve played. It’s also the closest thing to perfect I’ve ever played as well.

I’ll be honest, when I first played Sekiro, I thought it looked awesome but was just too frustrating to play. Being a Souls veteran, I found the deflection mechanic too difficult to figure out and my dodge instincts were too strong to undo. I quit it for a while. But eventually I was drawn back to it, and I gave it a real chance. I’m glad I did. Once it finally clicked, it quickly became an obsession. 100 hours later and I had all achievements, played through a number of NG+ and did almost everything I could do in the game other than challenge runs or modding. I’ve played it more since then and it’s never gotten boring, despite not being an RPG which is the only genre I’d usually replay. The combat is immensely satisfying, and the rush I felt after killing bosses is unlike anything I’ve felt in another game, Souls or otherwise. I think that’s largely due to the combat really requiring you to be good at the game. With Souls games you can sort of get away with dodging away and only attacking when you’re ready and then backing off. If you’re patient you can beat the game without needing to become tuned into the game. With Sekiro it demands you to git gud or you’re not getting anywhere. What this means is that once you finally do beat a tough boss, you know it’s because you’re good at the game. There’s no over-leveling or upgrading your sword or anything like that. The only way you’re beating the boss is by getting better at the game.

Another point to touch on that I’ve only briefly mentioned so far is the visuals. Man, this game is stunning. It’s only 4 years old so the graphics are obviously still holding up, but the art style is also just so good (though, that’s no surprise, FromSoft are masters of art design). I won’t spoil anything but assuming you do the good ending, the last area of the game has one of the most breathtakingly beautiful scenes I’ve ever seen. The colour palate is just incredible. If you’ve ever played Elden Ring and can remember that first time seeing the royal capital, when the music kicks in and the area message pops up, it’s like that, but somehow sustains that feeling all the while you’re exploring. Truly incredible.

I could count the flaws of this game on one hand, and none are very big, which I think is the only time I could ever say that about a video game. As I already mentioned, the closest to perfect I’ve ever experienced.

I could go on but at some point people would probably stop reading, so I’ll wrap things up here, but if you’re reading this just after I’ve posted it, the game is currently on sale on Steam for half price and I’d highly highly highly suggest picking it up. I’d also be more than happy to help out anyone with this game if you’re stuck, I’ve got a good amount of experience playing it. I’d also be happy to answer any questions anyone has. I’m making the poor decision to post this shortly before going to bed so I might take a few hours to respond but I suppose that isn’t too bad for a patient community, eh?

• BioShock Remastered $4.99 / A$4.98 (-75%)
• Bioshock: The Collection $11.99 / A$15.99 (-80%)

Games included:

• The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition

• Temtem

• Yakuza 4 Remastered

• Roadwarden

• Kraken Academy!!

• Merchant of the Skies

• Ozymandias: Bronze Age Empire Sim

• Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/740791

When I got into HLL back in 2021, it was a one of a kind experience of strong community, teamwork, and a balance of realism, strategy, and "arcadey" enough to not get boring. I am fairly concerned that T17 will not be able to maintain the games popularity / enjoy-ability going forward.

My hope is that they can turn it around, but knowing how modern game development goes from larger studios, it's not looking good imo.

Anyone who's lurking around here, I'd like to hear your thoughts on what you think the future holds for this game, whether it still has a chance or is really doomed.