No time sinks. It’s a sandbox game that ties progress to exploring. Everything else is optional.
@lordkosc there is a bit of an ending with scrolling credits, but you can continue ranching afterwards. I’m not sure if that’s the end. Haven’t finished the newest stuff :)
A lot of great games this month. I want to highlight Life is Strange: Before the Storm - Episode 2: Brave New World. I was skeptical about this prequel when it was announced and remained so throughout the first episode. The latest installment melted my heart and won me over completely. It occurs to me now that my relationship with the game seems to mirror the relationship between the main characters. I can’t wait see what episode 3 does with them, and with me.
Ok, so last month I posted that I liked Crashlands but it was too grindy so I was quitting after three hours. I lied. It’s charm grabbed me for several more, but I eventually did give up after about 10 hours.
I’m still playing Has Been Heroes, but it’s been tough to win a second game. Still, neat design and fun when I have 20 minutes free.
In October I was utterly consumed by Total War: Warhammer II and Opus Magnum. Two beautiful games that feel like they were made specifically for me and my tastes.
On the tabletop, I’ve returned to Star Wars: Armada as my son is utterly Star Wars obsessed right now, and he wanted to play it with me.
I’ve been playing Witcher 3 (for the first time). Clearly high quality in more ways than I can list here.
One unique negative: I have taken a strong dislike to the moments in the game where I am switched to Ciri’s perspective.
Negatives that apply to the genre: 1) The concept of continuous slaughter as a mainstay of gameplay… it really doesn’t cut it for me, and undermines any sense of reality. At least in this game, the experience points come from completion of tasks rather than inflicting random deaths. 2) Use of the HUD undermines a sense of being there in that world… but the quests are designed in such a way that the HUD is really necessary. As my son has told me, that’s just the way games are nowadays.
In The Witcher 3? One of the things I liked about that game is that I’d go for hours without a fight. But Geralt is a traveling monster hunter, he should fight occasionally.
My video game of the month is Super Mario Odyssey.
My tabletop game of the month is Warhammer Underworld: Shadespire.
We definitely did not play the same game called The Witcher 3.
Lots of invading side-on procedural spaceships for me this month, as I completed Cryptark early in the month, made steady progress in Steamworld: Heist, and then played a bit of Flinthook toward the end. All quite good!
Besides that, I did some Pinball FX3, though not as much as I thought I would, between the continued stutters and the way the competition here melted away after a couple tournaments.
It was a pretty huge month…
I’d have to give it to Elex which I absolutely loved this month. PB games always tick the right boxes for me and this one’s no different.
But the last week saw Assassin’s Creed: Origins and Super Mario Odyssey, both excellent games that have been monopolising my time since they arrived. If they’d hit just a bit earlier they’d be on top, and I’m thinking one of them may appear next month -
unless the unlikely scenario of Battlefront 2 being sublime comes to pass. :)
Andromeda all the way baby
Thugging your opponent in isn’t so effective any more thanks to the backdoor/guild house passthrough mechanic. Wharf can still be a problem as shown by @lordkosc’s screenshot above but I had a few unfortunate occurrences early on (getting lanterns when I needed coins and an assassination contract and henchmen blocking my path towards the bank). It’s counter-able. Those kinds of games are very rare for me these days!
Oh and there’s a new map coming later today, woo!
I played a bunch of Elex, but now i’m playing Zelda on the switch.
This is on sale today, if anyone like me is SUPER interested in it.
Elex for me. I was a bit sceptical of Gothic 3 meets Fallout 4 but so far (hour 53) it looks like they’ve made it work.
I keed. I keed.
Guild Wars 2, again. Honorable mentions go to Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Heat Signature, and Opus Magnum.
Dungeons 3, missed all the Dungeon Keepers remakes over the years but decided to jump into this one. Its silly but I’m having fun so I say its a winner.