[Most Recent Entries] [Calendar View]
Friday, March 18th, 2022
| Time | Event |
| 1:00p | TFI Friday: three new indie games to distract you from external stressors 
It's been a hot minute since we were last together, reader, and that's because I have been, as the kids say, hella busy. I've obliquely mentioned it elsewhere on the site and podcast, but in two short weeks I am emigrating, and I don't know how many of you have tried that but it turns out it will consume your life. I am aware that my journey into Ireland could be way more stressful than it is (especially because a fringe benefit of being a UK citizen is having the right to live and work in Ireland, no questions asked, no visa required), but still, I have been in need of focused distractions. Here are three new indie games to focus your attention on something other than whatever is stressing you out this week. |
| 1:08p | Hearthstone's next expansion has creatures so big, they spread across multiple cards  Recognising that land was a mistake and our ancestors should never have left the oceans, Blizzard have announced that Heartstone will rectify that with the next expansion, Voyage To The Sunken City. The watery set of 135 new cards will visit the city of Zin-Azshari with new Naga critters and a monstrous new keyword, Colossal, which is for creatures so big that their body is spread across several cards. Unfathomable megafauna is my favourite part of water. |
| 3:00p | Trek To Yomi is a samurai saga that oozes style and simplicity  From the small slice I've played of samurai slasher Trek To Yomi, I'm convinced it's going to be the most Instagrammable game out there. Every frame looks gorgeous, capturing feudal Japan through a grainy black and white lens that evokes classic samurai flicks. Thankfully, there's some substance to match this style too. Combat is elegant and the story seems refined, not bloated, which makes this a ronin romp worth watching out for. |
| 3:27p | Inscryption's free "mini-expansion" has added an endless version of Act 1  The wonderful and spooky card game adventure Inscryption has launched a free "mini-expansion" which adds an endless roguelikelike mode based on the first act. Kaycee's Mod (not a mod) will let you hang out in that spooky cabin on and on and on, unlocking new things and fragments of story along the way. After this, big boss Daniel Mullins says, it's time to start on his next game. |
| 4:30p | One month with the Steam Deck: what’s changed and what I’ve learnt  It’s been a little over a month since I got my WASD-calloused fingers on the Steam Deck, Valve’s ambitious and mostly successful attempt at a portable gaming PC. In that time I’ve taken it on day trips, chatted to Gabe Newell and the Valve dev team about it, and been laughed at in a pub for inverting the Y axis on it. And all the while, the Steam Deck itself has been getting better - considerably so. |
| 4:30p | Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a Soulslike that swings so hard it misses  Before we get stuck in, here's the sitch. PC code for FF Origin went out a bit late, so the thoughts below are my initial impressions of the game based on the chunk I've played so far, which is about half the game. This isn't a full review, but I also can't see my thoughts changing. Anyway. Let's embrace Chaos. Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a Soulslike Final Fantasy spin-off that swings so much it misses. Your sole focus is to kill a bad guy called Chaos and the game provides fights and loot in their hundreds, possibly thousands, to ensure you're beefy enough when the time comes. But cut away the combat and you're left with little, really. Search for anything other than Chaos and you'll find there's nothing else driving you forwards. You'll finish the game and part as strangers still, probably. |
| 4:59p | Thy Creature brings together Frankenstein and bullet hell at last 
Thy Creature is an odd one. I want to make several comparisons to other games that probably aren't very accurate or fair. I think that's because it's one of those that's made up of the gaps in between other genres. Right from the start of its anime goth girl intro I knew this wasn't really my kind of thing, and yet its striking art and sense of sincerity felt compelling. And it was a bit weird, which is sometimes enough. It depicts a frankenstein cast out by villagers, left to wander the wilderness, across forests and mountains, still peppered with arrows, turning up at a sinister tower that seems to welcome them. And just a few minutes in, it reveals itself as a mystery puzzle game with bullet hell parts. Almost none of this is my thing at all, but here I am playing it. Hmm. |
| 5:28p | Reaching the end of FAR: Changing Tides was like shaking hands with my pre-pandemic past  Last week I took a bit of holiday to, you know, catch up on some housework, have a bit of a rest and, to change the habit of a lifetime, play some video games. I knew straight away what would be first up on my video game playlist: FAR: Changing Tides, the sequel to Okomotive's beautifully melancholy roadtrip adventure, FAR: Lone Sails. While Changing Tides tells a separate story to its predecessor, putting you in the shoes of a new protagonist and swapping its desolate wastelands for a watery seascape, the hot, beating core powering the game remains very much the same. With nothing left for you at home in the wake of an unknown disaster, it's time to pack up and head on out for a new beginning, with only your hulking great boat/steamtrain contraption for company. If you still haven't played FAR: Changing Tides, I'd urge you to stop reading now and come back later. There are big spoilers about the game's ending coming up in this article, and I really don't want to ruin that for you. So, fair warning, okay? If you're still here I'm assuming you've played and finished Changing Tides, because holy moly, isn't it just the most perfect thing? |
| 5:40p | Total Warhammer 3's next patch will slow the Souls race  At the heart of Total War: Warhammer 3 is an extremely relatable struggle to murder four members of the monarchy, claim their souls, and cash them in so you can meet a really big bear. I would like to meet a big bear. I'm willing to do a lot to meet a really big bear. But many players have felt that this 'Souls race' forces the game into an unpleasant and uninteresting shape. Thankfully, the devs have plans for the next patch which they say should "make the Souls race less urgent". |
| 7:30p | Ukraine Humble Bundle offers Satisfactory, Back 4 Blood, and dozens more games  As one amazing fundraising bundle for Ukraine ends, another begins. Humble Bundle today launched the Stand With Ukraine Bundle, raising money for relief efforts by offering almost 100 games including Satisfactory, Back 4 Blood, Slay The Spire, Metro Exodus, Kerbal Space Program, and the Spyro remastered trilogy. Pay at least £30.58 and you'll get all those and dozens more. It's a wild deal for a good cause. |
| << Previous Day |
2022/03/18 [Calendar] |
Next Day >> |