What are you playing right now? (1 Viewer)

[bmasters9]

Sonic Mania-- have a cleared save file, so I can now practice any level I want to try to get better at it (before I got that, I had to endure a long, hard haul to finally beat out the boss of Titanic Monarch [that level and its boss are something else, and believe you me, that game throws everything it has at you and then some; it's not for the casual gamer; you've got to be the seasoned player to handle what it does]).

 

[Ruz-El]

I "finished" finished Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PS4/5, meaning I did all the post game stuff I wanted to. It was kind of hard to stop? I just really like that world. I connect to these much more than the GTA series, I never did get GTAV and 6 is around the corner in a few years.

Currently playing Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Switch SNES online. First time playing it, I'm enjoying but cheating by using a guide to lead me a bit when I feel stuck. The Swamp Palace is my next destination for those who have played it before.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Sea of Stars on PS+. It's excellent. I bought a PS Portal and have played most of the game on it, perfect match.

 

[Ruz-El]

Sea of Stars on PS+. It's excellent. I bought a PS Portal and have played most of the game on it, perfect match.

Based on how much I use the Switch in handheld mode, I am tempted to pick up a portal.

One of the free games this month on the PSN is POWERWASH SIMULATOR and good lord it's embarrassing how much I enjoyed power washing a stupid van last night. I want to finish ZELDA LINK TO THE PAST on the SNES, but admittedly, between having Mario Sunshine, Mario RPG remaster and now this stupid Powerwash game, it's hard to be motivated to play it since it hasn't really grabbed me like I thought it would.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

That's why I focus on one game at a time. If I'm motivated to start playing something else, I either power through whatever I'm currently playing to just get it over with or I quit and move on because it clearly wasn't holding my attention. That said, I have a big backlog now because of this strategy and I try to prioritize PS+, NSO, and GPU games before they disappear.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I’m slowly working through Baldur’s Gate 3 when I’m home from work trips and wifey’s asleep. I started a game right after I bought my PS5 and stopped playing after a few days because the RNG was being a bastard to me and I was getting TPK’d over and over again on almost every encounter on the easiest gameplay setting. It was like I was playing Dark Souls or something. After starting a new game, the RNG is being much more friendly… firm but fair. I still get my ass handed to me occasionally and have had to save scum a few times, but nothing like before.

 

[Ruz-El]

Over the holidays I finished LEGEND OF ZELDA A LINK TO THE PAST on the Switch Online SNES and it was fun. Glad to finally play it. I prefer turn based RPG compared to action, but this was still fun and I can see why it's so beloved. I'll play more of these old school zelda's

On the sale front, I couldn't resist Atari 50 on the Switch and love it. I haven't sat with all of it yet, only having "played" a bit of the Beginnings section, and with it really being a pretty legitimate museum presentation, I'm okay with poking around with it when I feel like it so as to really absorb the content.

My real proper current game is... Super Mario Odyssey. I planned on playing the either Wonder or Mario RPG which I just picked up, but this has been downloaded for ages so I figured I should give it a proper spin since it's an iconic game on the Switch. I don't know if I'll 100% it, or even finish it, but I am having fun exploring the few levels I've played so far. I'm not huge on it's insistence to use the shake the controller to climb faster type controls, but I can live with it and understand the want to include the gimmick.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

I don't know if I'll 100% it

Lol, good luck with that. When you 'beat' the game proper, you are like 10% done with the collectibles...

 

[Ruz-El]

Lol, good luck with that. When you 'beat' the game proper, you are like 10% done with the collectibles...

Knowing the way I play, I will 100% not 100% it haha. I've already ran into a timed gimmick I'm struggling with due to being not great at 3D platforming

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Over the holidays I finished Sea of Stars (excellent, highly recommend) and Cocoon (way overhyped but still good, not amazing). Started Hi-Fi Rush last weekend and really enjoying it, even though I knew it was good I'm still surprised.

 

[Steve Y]

I didn't like Sea of Stars, but I loved the visuals and animation. I also started Cocoon this week! It's not groundbreaking, but it's very cool.

I started the game Jusant on PS5, a climbing simulator set in an apocalyptic world. It uses games like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus for inspiration, down to the cell-shaded visuals and the wordless protagonist. There's some dexterity needed to reach and grab and rappel at the right times, and some brain cells needed to spot collectibles along the path, but is not too challenging.

It's a worthy addition to the "climbing" subgenre, joining titles like Spike's Peak, Crazy Climber, Catherine, Cursed Mountain, Grow Home, Celeste, Getting Over It, Call of the Mountain, etc.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Steve - how much of Sea of Stars did you play? There were a few moments in it that wowed me and it had some very good ideas. Huge evolution of the SNES RPGs its inspired by.

 

[Steve Y]

The game broke my heart because it's doing so many things right. Mostly in the gameplay and visual space (and in some of the world-building). Admittedly I only got halfway up the icy mountain in Chapter 2. Do Valere and Zale get more compelling? Garl was the only character in whom I felt invested. Sadly, I was also distracted by the writing. The game has some of the best pixel art and animation I've ever seen (and despite a few nits about early-game mob imbalance, I loved the battle system), but I found the writing to be bad... bad to the point of distraction. I think I remember reading that it was translated into English from another language. I would LOVE to play a re-translation someday.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I believe the company that made it is French so maybe that's part of it? The writing never bothered me. Yeah, the two main characters are relatively generic but...I mean...most 90s/SNES-era RPG heroes were. Garl being the star is kind of a big plot point overall.

The game, however, keeps getting better and better as you play it. I turned on the things (relics?) that made it easier to play and was much happier for it. Not that it's hard but I didn't need too much friction from numerous encounters when I want to explore the world.

 

[Edwin-S]

Sea of Stars is made by a French-Canadian company based in Quebec. I suspect that could be why the writing might be clunky.

 

[Ruz-El]

I "finished" Super Mario Oddysey, which means I finished the main story, then went back and did a little post game fiddling. I understand there's a ton more to do to collect all the moons. Problem is once I finish the story stuff I lose interest. I got other games to play, so I'm moving on unless someone tells me I'm missing some big deal.

Before starting a new major game to play, I've been going through the Atari 2600 years on ATARI 50 collection and really loving it. I've gotten the flashback collections on numerous platforms but this one is really a chef's kiss for presentation. Only real complaint is no third party games and the paddle games don't really translate to a analog stick. Both understandable. Would love to see this team getting other licenses for Activision 2600 games or something. Intellivision sounds like an obvious choice but those gamepads would be even worse to translate to a current controller and all the classic games used them

 

[Morgan Jolley]

In Mario Odyssey, there's a couple hidden levels that are really fun to find and play, but I think going all the way to 1000 Moons (at some point you're just collecting coins to buy the rest) only gets you new outfits.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Yeah, there's the dark side of the moon levels to still unlock, but calling them 'fun' is very subjective...

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I love getting the Mario 64 Castle level.

 

[Steve Y]

I'm addicted to Balatro. Don't let the fact that it's been described as a "deck-building poker roguelike" dissuade you. Despite it being about playing poker hands, it's NOT poker. You can play strange joker cards (there are 150 in total) for various effects, or increase the value of hands or abilities using tarot and planet cards.

It reminds me a little of Slay the Spire in terms of the depth of its strategy and appeal. The game has no microtransactions and is out for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC.