Currently Playing

[Lenny Solidus]

Lords of The Fallen 2024 Edition.

My entire actual Souls history comes down to playing Dark Souls PTDE never getting past the immediate Asylum Demon that I encountered, aaaaaaaaaaaand never going back again. Sure I've delved into other titles outside of Dark Souls such as the Remnant series Nioh and The Surge, but the dream was to always one day gel with something either within the DS universe or alternatively something that was as close to being DS as I could possibly get - LOTF I'm happy to announce is finally that game and one that manages to do it with its very own unique blend.

I had been attempting and miserably failing to defeat the first boss in a directly similar manner known simply as Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal I managed to get her down to roughly half health before she devoured me whole. Something was different this time however, this time I actually felt deeply compelled to not just give up and walk away instead and at over six hours now spent in the game I can honestly say that's something I never thought I'd see listed on my Steam library. Though I only have two discovered vestiges to my name, I'm loving every moment - in short, it feels like it's much more catered to gamers exactly like myself a little more casual for the noobies while still offering that authentic enduring DS all important challenge like experience.

Upon sharing my story on Discord Raid gave me one single bit of advice, go back and level up. So I did exactly that, raising my character from level 14 to level 24 and picking up better gear weapons and helpful assist buffs from random drops, I went from getting absolutely wrecked by a single dominant enemy to being able to wipe out not only them but 3 or 4 of their minions at the same time. Did I cheese some of it along the way? Damn right I did. I know that might not sound particularly dramatic but to me feeling that sense of power progression raising my hopes that I might just beat my first ever Souls type boss in a true Soulslike - well, I assure you that is everything I ever wanted.

The Lords of the Fallen genuinely overall is just incredibly intuitive, the UI is streamlined and not at all confusing, progression is simple and navigating is all down to memory, which I love. On top of this everything from how the trusty ever useful Umbral lamp is used switching between two worlds or overcoming platforming challenges to enemies you encounter that can only be defeated within the umbral itself having little invisible floating drones that shield them in the regular world. The longer you spend in that realm, the more difficult the enemies that spawn but of course the more bountiful the rewards when slain as the all seeing Umbral eye studies your progress. Dipping out via the use of an effigy you must eagerly locate at the very last possible moment is always a fun time. Combat is responsive and fun to boot and the world itself - utterly gorgeous often haunting UE5 powered by FSR 3.0 meaning 60fps is a thing all the way even with my somewhat meagre specs.

I'd always been terribly jealous of everyone playing and loving Elden Ring, that much I can quite easily admit. I'd always wanted in on the genre but it felt as if it were never meant to be for so long. LOTF has changed all of that for me, and I honestly could not be more grateful.

Ps No I've still not defeated Pieta - but her end is most certainly coming.

XDefiant

It's possibly as close as can be to taking me back to my beloved Dirty Bomb playing days of old, not in game design exactly but when it comes down to feel and fun factor most certainly.

[Animalmother]

Severance: Blade of Darkness
I played this originally on release in 2001. It's basically the precursor to the soulslike gameplay being stupidity difficult and having to learn enemy attack patterns. It had a pretty good dismemberment system and you could instantly behead enemies with a well timed strike (then pick up the head and throw it at someone...). Huge confusing level design and no save points. Was a huge flop on release.

Got a console rerelease so picked it up to see if they improved it. So they basically appear to have just ported the original PC game without updating it in any way (aside from controller support). Very clunky to play with inputs feeling literally hit and miss in combat, it really needs a crosshair to tell you where the fuck your character is looking! Even basic enemies can one shot you with a lucky dismemberment strike. It's also extremely stringy with health items after a point. Manually having to save the game from the menu is a ballache.

Moaning aside there's still a good game in there I'm sure and I'll plug away until I get too frustrated. I remember in the original game I could never get past a huge Minotaur boss that had a ludicrous amount of health....

[Wrathbone]

I loved Severance back in the day, especially the Conan-inspired world design and music, and the fact that it let you dismember enemies and set things on fire. It was nails tough and clunky even back then, and when I tried the GOG version last year I found it almost unplayable. One that’s best left to memories, I think.

I also remember the original disc version came with a transparent gel mouse mat with ‘blood’ inside that moved about. Fun novelty, absolutely useless as a mouse mat.

[Animalmother]

I wonder if mods have made the original more playable?

The music is great alright, very much influenced by the Arnie Conan film.

[Maturin]

Yeah it was an interesting curio back in the day. I bought it and had some fun with it, before it all got a bit frustrating. I probably only got about halfway through it.

[Alan]

MO:Astray
I'm absolutely loving this little game. I don't know why I've never heard of it before but its up there with the best of them. I can only imagine its because of the terrrrrrible name. Its a puzzle platformer where you play a little blob guy in the wake of some mass tragedy and you have to make your way through some well thought out puzzles, some bouts of precision (but not that hard) platforming and some novel boss fights while piecing together the story of what happened. Its beautiful, I love the relaxed soundtrack (I have fallen asleep to it ¬_¬) and its just a wonderful little gem. You will die a lot but its instant restart that makes it still feel like a relaxed experience. It was in the May 2020 humble choice so if you happen to have picked that up defo give it a go!

[Animalmother]

The Callisto Protocol
Just arrived on Gamepass. Played about 2 hours and enjoying it so far. The graphics are very impressive and highly detailed. I know the game got mauled during release and I can't really remember why, bad PC performance was it? Think it's made by some of the original people behind Dead Space and it's basically the same game. You're trapped on a prison moon overrun by nasty mutants that enjoy ripping you apart. Only died twice so far so haven't experienced the OTT death animations the game is known for. So far so good. My one complaint is the camera is way too close to the character and enemies seem to just materialize out of thin air behind you.

[Sly Boots]

IIRC it was also the combat mechanics

[Animalmother]

Yeah...the combat system sucks in this. Fine for one on one but if you get surrounded you're fucked. Also the manual save option appears to be pointless as it'll just drop at the most recent autosave when you restart a game regardless of progress. I lost a chunk of gameplay because this. So glad I never payed for the game now.

[Lenny Solidus]

Assassin's Creed: Mirage

8 months. A whole 8 months since the so-called back to its roots Assassin's Creed: Mirage first released and the game is already 50% off in the official Ubisoft store, I actually managed to pick it up for just £17 in total, I'm very glad I held off as long as I did after really wanting to buy it at launch. You would think with such a dramatic decrease in price after less than a year that the game is somehow bad, so let me dispense then of any curiosity and let you know outright - it isn't. After seven hours played, I think I can confidently say that it's almost every bit the return to form you hoped for and a true Assassin's Creed game - with some minor caveats.

What truly makes Mirage something a little bit special compared to all the rpg heavy titles we have had over the last few years is that it's so very stripped back of all the additional noise clutter and unnecessary bumf you had got so used to and because of this it gives you the one thing you were looking for - that is no frills very solid and very traditional hide and seek stealth based gameplay. If you get spotted, the likelihood is you are most certainly about to die, no longer can you simply just fend off an onslaught of enemies from all directions with various tricks and op attack shenanigans. You bloody run, you climb, you hide and then you wait. And the enemies themselves are extremely clinical in hunting you down, I've witnessed them climb up several levels of buildings and hunt in small patches of flowers directly across from me, add to this civilians pointing out directions they saw you last run in because they are all so damn pissed off with getting constantly pickpocketed. Wanted posters of your face adorn many a wall up and down the map and try as you might to blend in or remain inconspicuous you can safely bet someone will recognise you and loudly call out to any nearby guards to come and swiftly kick your fucking teeth in.

The streets of Baghdad themselves are not your friend, patrols are plentiful so you think to yourself well rooftops it is, not so quickly my hooded friend. A returning feature with Mirage are heavily spiked out unclimbable and unpassable walls, forcing you to alter your route on the fly - often leading you into areas where wild beasts roam and are very unhappy that you are being invasive on their own turf. Quite literally, every area of the city as much as you can climb and clamber is no longer completely in your favour, the days of being able to climb practically any surface gone. Once more you must secure a step for step climbing area using only the more visual cues of old, cracks and jutting out bricks, not to say it wasn't partially this way in some of the rpg titles it just somehow feels far more natural and better designed within the world that is Mirage. Enemy ai sometimes suffers from the usual how did they not see me/hear me issue, but I can't say it's particularly lessened any enjoyment, being detected actually feels like you slipped up rather than being magically spotted somehow and having to quickly react as you scream out THAT'S FUCKING BULLSHIT RIGHT THERE. No such bullshit here.

I will admit I found the combat initially janky uncoordinated and a little underwhelming but after messing with the controls and camera I've found a very nice sweet spot, though combat I feel is very secondary in general and best to be avoided as much as possible but it does pay off with some superb kill cams ala Breakpoint at times.

Stealth in Mirage is best described as being what you sort of remember the first game being but is actually improved considerably improved overall, due to the design of Baghdad in which every new street or area is nothing but dense dense dense building rooftop and integrated enemy base - you are very much reminded of what it is you have been missing out on so much in the likes of Odyssey and Valhalla, those little nooks and crannies and many a well-placed haystack to either help conceal or dive into. The parkour in this game already feels second nature and much more consistent with games such as the excellent Rogue though still I must add far from perfect. There are still times when an animation bugs out or a sure fire climbable surface fails to trigger and you end up with half a dozen blades in your back unable to get away. You do have some toys of course, but they don't always guarantee the tide turned in your favour any longer.

A quick note on performance - newer versions of both FSR and XeSS are included yet I found performance very, very uneven almost as if neither were working correctly, luckily I had the inclination to back up the game config from the two-hour trial version prior to release and after replacing the updated version it put the option to set your own level of upscaling back into the game ie performance quality etc. Whereas the newer only had an option to select which type to be used, and with this I've been playing at 60 with no drops ever since.

I doubt it's difficult to decipher that I am thoroughly enjoying my time on Mirage, there is a clear sense of it being somewhat of a passion project for developers Ubisoft Bordeaux that much is evident. Again it's that memory of playing the original you still have stored away only rediscovered improved and even elevated in a lot of very obvious places. The sheer sense of reaction that the world around you has to your actions being one incredibly simple but highly effective new mechanic, it all adds to that uneasy sense of being a socially well known heavily hunted and very dangerous assassin/criminal doing your best to pickpocket civilians at only the most opportune of times risking being seen and almost instantly chased down once again.

So yes, this honestly feels like a real stealth game once more overall and not just a pure action game with somewhat wonky stealth tacked on. I hope not to make it sound too good be true or anything, the entire tutorial and introduction honestly had me questioning if I had bought the right game but once you enter into Baghdad itself and start making your way around it really comes into its own extremely quickly, of which there are the options for "Apprentice", "Assassin", or "Master Assassin". I decided to stick it on Assassin, it's serving me well enough so far. I do think many will appreciate the still vast but not overly offered up fuck me where does this map end design, it's all rather compact while retaining many of the aspects you loved in previous outings such as sand dune areas small boat areas docklands prisons and bases, some of which are much larger and way more intricate than the little poxy camps you are probably used to. It's not a 100 hour game by any means, but for once that's ok.

The classic AC filter is a very nice touch in helping you really relive a lot of what you loved about the first game, though I find it can make some areas a little too garish looking at times but can be turned on or off at your leisure.

Glad I bought this, it's the kind of game you look forward to jumping back on after a previous session, preplanning every move you are set to make in the next step of your ongoing adventure.