Just thought I could get a discussion thread going. What is everyone playing lately?
I just finished playing Metal Gear Solid Delta, it was great! I decided to play through the series finally after years of watching video essays on the game, and I’m glad I did! I played Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Subsistence through emulation (4k HD for the win!) It was a great experience and I can see why the series is so highly venerated. It holds up remarkably well, and the long cut scenes were really enjoyable. I thought it would be annoying, but I actually found myself looking forward to them. Delta was like jumping forward in time 30 years, but still extremely fun. I’m glad they stayed so close to the source material so I could just play the new release instead of booting up Snake Eater through emulation.
Now if I could just play IV without a PS3, that would be awesome. I might have to try emulation on that, but from what I read, the experience isn’t great.
Regardless, now I’m replaying Max Payne 3. This game IS SO FREAKING GOOD. I had forgotten how good it is. The noir narration is just amazing. The gameplay is tight as a snare drum. The art style and visuals are still amazing even when compared to modern games. Rockstar really knocked this game out of the park. I still haven’t played Max Payne 1 or 2, and maybe I should. Also, I found out that one of the bands I’ve recently discovered and have been listening to like crazy, Health, did the score for Max Payne 3. The music is fantastic. If you haven’t played it, I highly recommend giving it a go.
Other than those games, I plan to play through The Last of Us 1 for the first time soon. Not sure how “retro” it is, but I think it is borderline given the original release date and hardware. Looking forward to trying it for the first time. I’ve never had Sony consoles, so I’ve missed out on a ton of first-party Sony games over the years. Trying to make up for that by playing modern PC releases and through emulation.
So yeah, what do ya’ll have going on right now? What do you recommend playing and why?
You must log in or # to comment.
Hey friend, cheers for the thread. I’m strangely happy and relieved to have found something chill enough to engage with in the midst of all the crazy political drama around the place.
I’m glad you’re enjoying Max Payne 3. I liked it too, though It had to grow on me, especially after having played MP1 and MP2. The first one especially blew me away even when I played it for the first time back in 2008 - its combination of beautiful, prosaic noir writing, the modern incorporation of Norse mythology, and innovative (for the time) gameplay, among other traits, continues to make it stand out amongst the rest.
- If you get to play it, I’d highly recommend checking out the PCGamingWiki page for the fixes to help it work better in general and on modern systems.
Currently, I’m playing RoboCop: Rogue City and Schedule I. Playing on both sides of the law by the looks of it, haha.
- Rogue City is a great experience as far as faithfully adapting the dystopian, mega-corporatised, hyper-violent world of RoboCop to the gaming screen;
- Schedule I has you build a drug empire through a surprisingly addictive (heh) gameplay loop of producing and distributing different types of drugs (I found myself staying up til 4AM while crafting all-new marijuana strains with kickass names like the Ninja Witch).
I’ve also been revisiting old PS2 games on PCSX2 emulator. Currently replaying:
- WWE games - Here Comes the Pain, and SvR’06/07 (peak of the franchise, imo)
- Dog’s Life - the adorable yet disturbing, fantastically scored, janky GTA-flavoured canine adventure still entertains.
Glad to have you here to chat with us! I tried to play RoboCop twice now, but couldn’t get into it the way I had hoped. It seemed like a really well-made game, but I think that either I wasn’t in the right headspace for it at the time or maybe it’s just not quite what I’m looking for. It’s one of those games I feel like I should like, but just don’t yet.
I’m getting so many recommendations to go back and play Max Payne 1 & 2 that I’m going to prioritize them in my next round of games.
As for wrestling games, the two I owned were WCW-NWO Revenge (N64) and WWF Warzone. Both were interesting and I still go back and play them every once in a while through emulation. I really like the mechanics for WCW-NWO Revenge. It’s the best implementation of grapple controls I’ve played in a wrestling game. The rest is a bit rough around the edges, though.
Thanks! Yeah, totally understandable about RoboCop RC - it isn’t without its flaws and is certainly rough around the edges, one would have to be a big fan of the franchise to forgive all the bugs. Thanks to the mods that bring back the original movie SFX, the game feels much more immersive. A major hook to play it for me is Peter Weller returning to voice Robo, if anything I’ll try to finish it for that reason alone.
I hope to try out that WCW-nWo Revenge game, sounds interesting. My other one I’d like to try would be WWF No Mercy, it’s still touted as the crème de la crème of wrestling games and there’s a loyal and active modding community for it to this day, amazingly.
balaro, hunnie pop, breath of the wild, mario kart.
trying to get everything off my computer so I can install linux. Suggestions for Debian based , easy install, rock solid distros are welcome here :
I’m playing through hollow Knight for the first time! I have always enjoyed Metroid and most of Castlevania, and with the silk song hype I felt it was time. I have no idea how far along I am, I don’t suspect very far based on how full my inventory screen is. And I’m using the strategy of “re explore old areas once you learn a new move”, which is working okay, but I’m getting a little annoyed by how much back tracking I’m doing. I want to find the map for the jellyfish area, but I can’t get past this black barrier.
There are fun optional platforming areas that remind me of Celeste. Now if I only I had unlimited tries like she did. And the boss battles are challenging and punishing in a way that reminds me of elden ring - everyone has a pattern, and they will hurt you if you are too greedy with your attacks.
Overall I recommend it if you enjoy Metroidvanias
Very nice! I tried to play Hollow Knight a while back while I was exploring 2D games. I think it was right after I finished Elden Ring, now that you mention it. The mechanics and platforming felt amazing, but the setting just didn’t speak to me. These aren’t really the kind of games I have been drawn to in my life, so it was definitely out of my wheelhouse, but it was getting such acclaim I figured I owed it to myself to at least try it.
Maybe I’ll go back to it one day and give it another shot.
Playing Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon on 3DS. Cute but not loving it as much as the original. Not sure why.
3 was great on it’s own merits as a game, but the noir elements were ratched way down compared to the first and second.
Max Payne 2 was… I dunno… damn well perfect for what it was supposed to be in the era it was developed with the technology of the time.
Really? I thought 3 was heavy on noir, but then again, I don’t have much experience with that genre. I really should play 1 and 2 when I can.
I probably played Max Payne 2 from start to finish three or four times. It’s superb.
I’m pretty sure if you played mp2 in an empty sealed room for 14 hours straight you’d somehow come out reeking of whisky and cigarettes.
🤣
deleted by creator
Azure Dreams, PS1 and GBC, I was really surprised how good both versions were when deciding which to play so I’m playing both.
This seems awesome. I’m learning about all kinds of games I’ve never heard of before. Thanks!
I completely forgot I purchased this game like a decade ago. I need to actually go play it.
You sure do! Hope you have a great time. I am!
Dude! I was so fucking surprised at how well Max Payne 3 still holds up. Better than most shooters nowadays.
It’s unreal. Just the feel of the game is amazing. Modern gaming is great and all, but something about that 6th/7th generation just hits. It was like the perfect mix of player-focused design and modern tech. There’s a lot of games with amazing potential nowadays, but they are ruined by silly design choices like always-online implementation or micro-transactions. The games from the 6th and 7th generations are just so feature-rich and laden with game modes and statistics tracking that it’s disheartening to see how far we’ve regressed in those areas in modern games, seemingly all in pursuit of making the walls have 5% more fidelity than before.
I got goblin cleanup but my work hours are too many to play it much before digimon comes out.
Playing through Golden Sun again after picking it up and dropping it an hour in for the last few years. I remember getting into the Djinn/class system a lot when I played it growing up, and its still a pretty unique system. Im kinda regretting not playing the QoL/reworked ROM hack, but thats for another play through in a few years
Not retro, but retro pixel aesthetics. Songs of Conquest is a fantastic RPG
Balatro till I’ve beat it
I’ve been on a Balatro kick lately too! My nightly routine is to play Mad Skills MX 2 and do all my versus races against my friends, and then boot up Balatro till I fall asleep. Good stuff. I’m working through doing all the red stakes challenges right now. I’m on the Telescope? deck. I think that’s the name of it.
🙌
I’ve beaten all decks on red stake and all challenges. Now I’m working through them to get them all to gold stake. I’m shooting for completionist++, but I have a feeling I’ll get through all the decks and just not want to get gold stake on all jokers. That part sounds brutal.
Yeah you’re light years ahead of me. I’m still figuring out new strategies and stuff. Like, there are certain hands I pretty much never play because it never seems to line up for me. Straight flushes, four of a kind, and trips are the hands I play the least. But I’m finding new ways to increase my score all the time through combinations and different ordering of jokers. It’s been really fun to discover.
Straight flushes, four of a kind, and trips are the hands I play the least.
Yeah those hands are in a kind of middle ground where they are difficult to compose, but don’t scale well enough to necessarily be able to build around.
Like, its way easier to build around flush or straight; you can guarantee yourself the ability to get those in a given blind. And so for those hands, you can augment with jokers/ scaling mult to win.
And hands like five of a kind, flush house, five of a kind flush, the value of these hands is so much higher, you can make a run at ante 8 just through scaling those hands (not even worrying about jokers, just through deck management). I mean this is basically what you have to do to win Jokerless.
So those hands sit in a middle zone where you’ll have to throw economy at them (costing you the ability to build/ manage your deck, or to buy jokers/ rerolls), but alone, they don’t scale well enough to get to a victory.
The challenges are really good for learning because they force you to play in manners you wouldnt’ normally.
I can’t stop playing Enter the Gungeon, this is a cry for help. /hj
Also I decided to try Flashback again (Genesis version). This game always seemed really cool but I never progressed far on it since it’s so unlike anything else from the era. Kind of surprising more indies don’t take a crack at this formula.
I’ve never heard of Flashback before. That game looks sick! I’m huge into sci-fi and cyberpunk stuff, so I think that might be right up my alley. Thanks for the suggestion!
Max Payne 1&2 still hold up I think. The upshot of using comic book style slideshow sequences instead of cutscenes is that it’s aged really well. Story, mood and atmosphere is great in both and I think the gameplay is still pretty decent. Keep in mind 1&2 were Remedy games while 3 was Rockstar, so they will feel noticeably different for better or worse. Most Max Payne fans will say it like: Max Payne 3 is a great game, it’s just not a great Max Payne game. It doesn’t have that Remedy touch, it isn’t good at the things that made the first two so special. Amazing 3rd person gunplay though.
Speaking of, there is a Remedy-themed Humble Bundle online right now with their whole catalogue minus Firebreak for like 30 bucks. Not a bad way to get your hands on MP 1&2. Pretty remarkable value, although with the two caveats that Alan Wake 2 is (1) only playable through Epic and (2) coming to PS+ next month if you have that platform and service.
