Last game played...

[Apestrife]

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1-2, Defiance

Soul reaver is a classic in my book. Finished it numerous times. Still a very unique experience with it's gameworld morphing between the live world and spiritual realm. Outside the block puzzles, it hard to believe it was a psx game. Well written with a fantastic voice performances. Especially the fallen vampire/zombie (and main character) Raziel.

Soul reaver 2 was a first for me. Propably a last as well. The story and voice performances are ace, but I didn't like the gameplay. Too big and empty enviroments, with too few save points all too far between (came close to drive me crazy trying to finish before bed time). The fighting feels cheap, easy and weightless. Was really hoping to like this game. I took comfort in really liking the story. The end twist especially. Pure brilliance. I might give it another chance in a couple if years.

Defiance was another first, and luckily had all and all okay  gameplay. The fighting is a bit repetive and easy , but has weight. Biggest hurdle is the camera. The worst I've battled (and I've played a fair share of ps1-2 era 3d platform games hehe). Luckily I got used to it, because as with Soul Reaver 2 the story and performances makes the frustration worth it, and luckily it wasn't as painful as the former game. The ending is also as good at it's. Especially for the big bad anti hero vampire tyrant Kain. .

Soul Reaver intro https://youtu.be/4DOKzTHaPfM
Soul Reaver 2 trailer https://youtu.be/D0crSCNXXss
Defiance trailer https://youtu.be/387hULWKC9E

I'm likely to give Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain a try sometime soon. Not having played that one 

[Link Prime]

Might give Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain a try someday. Perhaos Blood Omen 2 as well.

I have a lot of fond memories for that series, and I would definitely recommend playing Blood Omen 2 to expand upon the story, from Kain's POV.
If I recall, it was released quite close to Soul Reaver 2 and they complimented each other very well (both featuring the voice talents of the late, great René Auberjonois).

[Apestrife]

Might give Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain a try someday. Perhaos Blood Omen 2 as well.

I have a lot of fond memories for that series, and I would definitely recommend playing Blood Omen 2 to expand upon the story, from Kain's POV.
If I recall, it was released quite close to Soul Reaver 2 and they complimented each other very well (both featuring the voice talents of the late, great René Auberjonois).

I'll look for both during a steam or gog.com sale

Would be interesting to see Kain's beginnings. He became more and more interesting and many sided as the story went on.

Ive heard that BO2s gameplay is quite similar to SR1, especially when it comes to puzzle heavy boss fights.

[Keef Monkey]

Had been playing the remastered version of Sleeping Dogs on and off and finished it this morning, I really liked it when it originally came out last gen and while some of it definitely feels a bit clunky and aged now it's still one of the better attempts at a GTA-style thing. The combat in particular feels pretty great when you're in full flow vaulting cover and getting those slo-mo headshots, plus the melee system is a decent enough stab at the Arkham style (albeit nowhere near as fluid as something like Mordor or Spider-Man then took it).

Seems like it's pretty overlooked (and the studio unfortunately doesn't exist anymore), but worth a play if you like that sort of thing, especially as it'll be dirt cheap no doubt.

[repoman]

I'm likely to give Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain a try sometime soon. Not having played that one 

It's excellent.  My fave game of the series.  Being a top-down game that relied a bit on having good cutscenes that will now look very dated, it might be a bit tough to get into but it's such a good game.

Had been playing the remastered version of Sleeping Dogs on and off and finished it this morning, I really liked it when it originally came out last gen and while some of it definitely feels a bit clunky and aged now it's still one of the better attempts at a GTA-style thing. The combat in particular feels pretty great when you're in full flow vaulting cover and getting those slo-mo headshots, plus the melee system is a decent enough stab at the Arkham style (albeit nowhere near as fluid as something like Mordor or Spider-Man then took it).

Seems like it's pretty overlooked (and the studio unfortunately doesn't exist anymore), but worth a play if you like that sort of thing, especially as it'll be dirt cheap no doubt.

The story missions in the game are excellent.  I really liked the wedding bit.

Currently playing through some Darius arcade game compilations, a twin-stick shooter called #funtime (a cheap and cheerful Geometry Wars clone that's pretty good) and god help me I rediscovered 2048, the most addictive puzzle game (is it a puzzle game?) of all time.

[Dandontdare]

god help me I rediscovered 2048, the most addictive puzzle game (is it a puzzle game?) of all time.

I like a good addictive puzzler, so I'm currently downloading this on my phone to give it a try. Hopefully, I won't sink as many hours into it as I did with Ballz or Rise of Empires!

[Dandontdare]

oh you bastard

very little has gotten done since my last post, except me shouting things at my phone like "I need another 16" and "no, not that way you fool!"

[shaolin_monkey]

Treated myself to an Oculus Quest (this lockdown has meant no pubs, no holiday, no conventions, no festivals, no concerts, no weekends away etc etc so I was able to stomach the price) and played the first chapter of Vader Immortal.

Fuck me, it's good.

Sooo goood.

There is nothing more threatening then having the dark lord of the Sith march right up to you, and lean over you and have James Earl Jones (or a bloody good impersonator) give you a good, hard, intimidation. At one point I had the [spoiler]tip of Vader's lightsaber in my face, and I flinched backwards because I thought it would take off my [/spoiler] nose.

Jesus H Christ, it was impressive. The game as a whole was more of a kind of interactive experience rather than anything with deep gameplay - Walk here, pull that, use this tool etc etc - but the lightsaber combat was so much fun, very satisfying, and just felt pure STAR WARS, know what I mean?

Definitely inhabiting that universe - very well done indeed.

[repoman]

oh you bastard

very little has gotten done since my last post, except me shouting things at my phone like "I need another 16" and "no, not that way you fool!"

it is ruinous!

[wedgeski]

Carrion on Switch. I saw a review of this and quickly reached for my wallet. A brilliant metroidvania explorathon where you take the role of a disgusting flesh beast, squeezing its way around a military complex eating everyone you find. Great looking, great feeling, but the lack of map is annoying. Stil highly recommended.

[Keef Monkey]

Carrion on Switch. I saw a review of this and quickly reached for my wallet. A brilliant metroidvania explorathon where you take the role of a disgusting flesh beast, squeezing its way around a military complex eating everyone you find. Great looking, great feeling, but the lack of map is annoying. Stil highly recommended.

I really like the look of this, spotted it on Game Pass and was looking forward to giving it a go so good to hear it's decent.

[pictsy]

I have found myself playing Tekken Tag Tournament 2 over the weekend.  I'm mainly playing it so I can unlock and buy the customisation items so I can dress up the characters.  Although I think iirc there is better customisation in Tekken 6.  I'll have to look.

[Keef Monkey]

Carrion on Game Pass, loved it! My brother described as 'what if someone had made a game for the Amiga where you play as The Thing' and that turned out to be pretty accurate. You control an amorphous meaty blob of tendrils that can increase and shed mass and there's a lot of puzzling focussed on switching size to use different abilities to deal with different situations. You evolve and unlock different powers as it goes on and can eventually control humans and all sorts and The Thing comparisons get even more apt.

The puzzling is decent and even when there isn't a puzzle to solve it just feels great to tear through rooms absorbing the lab staff and freaking them out. I can't really think of another 'reverse horror' game where you play as the monster like this, and controlling it could have been incredibly unwieldy but they've really nailed the game feel of moving that big meat lump around.

I did get lost a couple of times because it allows backtracking to old levels Metroidvania-style but isn't always clear enough about where the path forwards is (I had to check a YouTube video once just to find where to go after the last main level because I couldn't figure out how to then finish the game) but that's a small gripe in a game that I largely loved for its 5hrs or so.

[wedgeski]

I'm loving Carrion but the lack of a map is frankly p***ing me off.

[Link Prime]

Carrion on Game Pass, loved it! My brother described as 'what if someone had made a game for the Amiga where you play as The Thing' and that turned out to be pretty accurate. You control an amorphous meaty blob of tendrils that can increase and shed mass and there's a lot of puzzling focussed on switching size to use different abilities to deal with different situations. You evolve and unlock different powers as it goes on and can eventually control humans and all sorts and The Thing comparisons get even more apt.

Sold.