What PC games are you playing?

Associate
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Jury still out on WoW. I probably wanted it to work too much, but just not feeling it.

I cracked and bought Shadowlands last week, felt I had to scratch that WoW itch after stopping playing towards the end of Battle for Azeroth.

Shadowlands has certainly answered whether I want to continue playing, with a resounding no! It seems like four patch zones flogged off as an expansion. The new ‘land’ has no soul or character and they could even be arsed to stitch the zones into one continuous continent and you have to portal everywhere. Regardless of systems, gameplay, balance etc. WoW has always excelled at delivering an excellent world to play in which grabbed you before anything else. Shadowlands seems so lacklustre and nothing about it is enticing me to continue playing. If it was on Steam I would have refunded it.
 
Soldato
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I have to say (and may have said before), this will probably be the last WoW expansion I play. Started playing just as Wrath of the Lich King came out and have played regularly since, but I'm just not feeling it anymore. I don't think it's anything specifically about Shadowlands but I don't have the interest in playing for more than about an hour or so a week. I think the problem is I spent so much time grinding to get enough gold for tokens to avoid paying for the sub it's just not fun to play anymore, though I have always liked the storyline and FMV cutscenes. I think they should just start making WoW movies using the trailer style animation they use for each expansion, which is frankly awesome :)
 
Associate
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23 Apr 2021
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Back on Endless Space 2, trying to branch out from just playing Unfallen and Umbral Choir. Reset the game tens of times trying to work out an optimal start playing as Horatio

Odd games, the Endless series. I got them cos of the quirky setting, aesthetic etc and have enjoyed them more than other 4X games I've tried in recent years (though my ability to learn new things and use them well slows with age lol) All the same though, my grasp of and understanding of how the mechanics mesh isn't 100% so restarts were common for me. Like as with Stellaris, My time and attention gets spread thin and I really need a period of intense motivation, focus and isolation to get the most and do the best with these. I'll come back to them some day though.
 
Associate
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Behind You
Agree with both of you regarding WoW. In the meanwhile I have a couple offline games to screw around with. Space haven just did a big update. Heres hoping at least one of the new MMO releases due this year turns out half decent.
 
Man of Honour
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Just to the left of my PC
I bought Dead Age yesterday when browsing on Steam. A surprisingly enjoyable mash of old fashioned turn based party fighting game and survival game with a slight roguelike flavouring. The UI's a bit rough around the edges in a few places, notably inventory management, but it's a fun game. Well worth the £11 I paid for it.

After about 7 hours of play, I went back to Steam and bought Dead Age 2 for £7. Dead Age had gone on sale at £2 a few hours after I bought it for £11. Oh well, these things happen. I thought it was worth £11 anyway.

Trudograd's up to 0.8.1 now. I'll be buying that as soon as it's finished. It's the sequel to Atom RPG, which is the best game I've played in the last couple of years.
 
Associate
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Just a few more bits to do and I'm finished with FFXII. One last Technick to locate, two super bosses to finish and then the final dungeon. Not sure I can be bothered trying to get every single achievement at this point
Only taken me well over a month due to lack of time and motivation and I REALLY want to play something else at this point. I'm thinking maybe Plague Tale next



Odd games, the Endless series. I got them cos of the quirky setting, aesthetic etc and have enjoyed them more than other 4X games I've tried in recent years (though my ability to learn new things and use them well slows with age lol) All the same though, my grasp of and understanding of how the mechanics mesh isn't 100% so restarts were common for me. Like as with Stellaris, My time and attention gets spread thin and I really need a period of intense motivation, focus and isolation to get the most and do the best with these. I'll come back to them some day though.
I bought Stellaris and ALL the DLC a while back and refunded the lot because I just couldn't grasp it at all. I've since rebought the base game only on sale.
Must try to wrap my head around it some time

Grabbed Chronicon on sale yesterday. A few hours in and finding it a very satisfying ARPG looter.
The endgame loop isn't the most compelling, but it sure feels good when you get something working.
Always love when a thorns build is viable in an arpg as well
 
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Soldato
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East Lothian
I recently started fallout 4 because I loved the previous games, but this one is not as engaging - just my opinion
I think we're all still waiting for a modern Fallout game to equal or better New Vegas however Fallout 4 still has a lot to offer so it's worth sticking with it. Personally I played the entire game listening to the Diamond City Radio in the background; there was something so satisfying exploring and fighting to those old tunes. That's what I remember most fondly looking back on it.
 
Caporegime
Joined
8 Nov 2008
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29,016
Bought The Witcher 3 GOTY and although I'm not yet actively playing it, I'd thought I'd fire it up just to see how my ageing video card handles it.

Perhaps due to it not being a fast-paced fps type of game which I usually indulge in, it felt surprisingly playable with just about everything turned up to the full.

Maybe during an extensive length of play, I'd drop down a setting or two but quite often I was seeing performance well into the 40s.

I expect some areas will vary considerably, though. :D
 
Associate
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Despite having The Witcher 3 first on PS4 at release, then complete on Steam late 2015, and since then on the Switch, a Christmas prez in 2019... still not played past the first hour or so. Tbh at the time I tried it I was having a hard time health wise (what's new?) and realised that maybe I couldn't give such a potentially awesome game the full focus it deserved (both to enjoy it, story wise anyway, and do well at playing it)
For all that though, my only grumble with it is the combat system and Gwent eluded me, probably something I'd grow into maybe but the combat at least was more reminiscent of the Assassin's Creed games than anything (and I never got on with those)
Tbh my favourite hack and slash combat of recent times is that of a number of Warner Bros games (Arkham trilogy, Shadow of Mordor/War and Mad Max)

Anyway, like oh so many games, it's on the list for someday. Right now though, and while waiting for new PC, I'm trying/messing around with lower requirement things of interest I've picked up over the last few years, and saving the ones (mainly actiony, shooty, open worldy deals) that'll be a flashy big name blast on new specs etc for later. So far this week it's Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock. Not bad tbh... different from usual 4X combat while not strictly speaking being a 4X game and does the realtime action/pause orders/action formula that the UFO (Aftermath/Aftershock/Afterlight) series did well enough in the noughties (though they were flawed elsewhere) Tbh I kind of wish that new XComs/Phoenix Point did something similar. BSG: Deadlock does do a great job of expanding on the awesome series lore though.
 
Associate
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I just bought The Witcher 3 off steam! Looking forward to missing sleep in the first few days :D
Despite having The Witcher 3 first on PS4 at release, then complete on Steam late 2015, and since then on the Switch, a Christmas prez in 2019... still not played past the first hour or so. Tbh at the time I tried it I was having a hard time health wise (what's new?) and realised that maybe I couldn't give such a potentially awesome game the full focus it deserved (both to enjoy it, story wise anyway, and do well at playing it)
For all that though, my only grumble with it is the combat system and Gwent eluded me, probably something I'd grow into maybe but the combat at least was more reminiscent of the Assassin's Creed games than anything (and I never got on with those)
Tbh my favourite hack and slash combat of recent times is that of a number of Warner Bros games (Arkham trilogy, Shadow of Mordor/War and Mad Max)

Anyway, like oh so many games, it's on the list for someday. Right now though, and while waiting for new PC, I'm trying/messing around with lower requirement things of interest I've picked up over the last few years, and saving the ones (mainly actiony, shooty, open worldy deals) that'll be a flashy big name blast on new specs etc for later. So far this week it's Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock. Not bad tbh... different from usual 4X combat while not strictly speaking being a 4X game and does the realtime action/pause orders/action formula that the UFO (Aftermath/Aftershock/Afterlight) series did well enough in the noughties (though they were flawed elsewhere) Tbh I kind of wish that new XComs/Phoenix Point did something similar. BSG: Deadlock does do a great job of expanding on the awesome series lore though.
 
Associate
Joined
14 Jul 2005
Posts
568
I am near the end of A Plague Tale and Half Life: Alyx. Both are pretty good games and worth playing. I am also trying to start and finish ME:Andromeda for about the 10th time - it does look really good all tricked out but the dialogue is so lame in parts.

Swithering to either get Resi 8 or Subnautica 2, may even end up getting both.
 
Associate
Joined
23 Apr 2021
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I am near the end of A Plague Tale and Half Life: Alyx. Both are pretty good games and worth playing. I am also trying to start and finish ME:Andromeda for about the 10th time - it does look really good all tricked out but the dialogue is so lame in parts.

Swithering to either get Resi 8 or Subnautica 2, may even end up getting both.

Tried ME: Andromeda 2-3 weeks ago through EA Play with gamepass. Nice enough but I wasn't getting too excited with it after 3-4 hours. I'd just decided to stop and give it at least another evening to see how it goes when it crashed hard and blue screened me cos I jumped over a rock...
Haven't gotten back to it since but tbh there's bigger pulls for me elsewhere in my library. Doesn't bode too well for trying the original ME games (no, I didn't play them before... yes, I know... where was I etc?)
As for RE8... that's one for sale, gamepass etc but it's a sure thing, RE2 remake and RE7 were fantastic. Subnautica comes across as a survival/aquatic alien No Man's Sky... cool but not entirely my cuppa.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Feb 2009
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3,824
The endgame loop isn't the most compelling, but it sure feels good when you get something working.
Always love when a thorns build is viable in an arpg as well

Out of interest, which of this type of loot-based ARPG has the best endgame loop in your opinion? I have played a fair few and always disengaged fairly early on in the endgame loop for those I've completed. I think maybe Titan Quest was the furthest I got with pulling together an endgame build and running through NG+ cycles and even then I didn't make it to the end-endgame. Grim Dawn was shaping up nicely after finishing the main story, but I started dying too much and never got past that. Still have DLCs to add to that one too.
 
Associate
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Out of interest, which of this type of loot-based ARPG has the best endgame loop in your opinion? I have played a fair few and always disengaged fairly early on in the endgame loop for those I've completed. I think maybe Titan Quest was the furthest I got with pulling together an endgame build and running through NG+ cycles and even then I didn't make it to the end-endgame. Grim Dawn was shaping up nicely after finishing the main story, but I started dying too much and never got past that. Still have DLCs to add to that one too.
Path of Exile, although I wouldn't say its been quite as good as of late. That said, a new player probably wouldn't notice since a lot of the issues are with the more complex systems that new players tend to skip over

I am near the end of A Plague Tale and Half Life: Alyx. Both are pretty good games and worth playing. I am also trying to start and finish ME:Andromeda for about the 10th time - it does look really good all tricked out but the dialogue is so lame in parts.

Swithering to either get Resi 8 or Subnautica 2, may even end up getting both.
Just started Plague Tale myself. Only a few chapters in but it's very compelling so far. Andromeda was mind numbingly boring when I tried it.
 
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