What Game Are You Currently Playing?

I think I heard of that ages ago. Not my cup of tea, but looked competently made.
 
I’ve tried stealth games and Invisible inc. looks very interesting, but I always get to the stage in these types of games where I just want to jump out of the shadows and gun everybody down. I guess I’m just a killer at heart.
 
It's very much not that sort of game, but I know how you feel! Even knocking the guards out is only a temporary solution.
 
Foxbat said:
I’ve tried stealth games and Invisible inc. looks very interesting, but I always get to the stage in these types of games where I just want to jump out of the shadows and gun everybody down. I guess I’m just a killer at heart.
Click to expand...
Ha, see that's why I liked the original Splinter Cell as a kid - normally a shoot them down guy but when they only give you a handful of bullets for the entire level you're left with no choice but to be stealthy. Have you ever played the Dishonoured games? Absolutely wonderful in almost every way and you can literally complete the missions in either stealth or brutality :) Edit: SAVAGE BRUTALITY!

Toby Frost said:
It's very much not that sort of game, but I know how you feel! Even knocking the guards out is only a temporary solution.
Click to expand...
I've had that for years, opened it up once, saw some kind of countdown timer and was like naaah. I kept meaning to give it a shot but you know how Steam libraries can get - too many games, too little lifetime.
 
.matthew. said:
Have you ever played the Dishonoured games? Absolutely wonderful in almost every way and you can literally complete the missions in either stealth or brutality :) Edit: SAVAGE BRUTALITY!
Click to expand...

I haven’t. But as you say, so many games, so little time. Maybe one day:)
 
Currently into my best playthrough on King difficulty of Civ VI yet*. As China, Mali immediately disliked me so I took advantage to take them out super early with a pair of warriors. Then Cyrus did what Cyrus does and attacked me, forcing me to brutally conquer his entire empire.

At that point, with Alexander on my doorstep and denouncing me, the path was clear. There's nothing quite like carpet-bombing an opponent whose idea of advanced technology is about a thousand years earlier than my cutting edge weaponry. Just got Rome and Georgia to go, and their capitals are conveniently close. Should win in about 300 turns or so, which, for me, is very good.

Mildly puzzled it's going so well. But it's very cathartic to annihilate my enemies.

*Yes, yes, it's not that high, but given my previous full game was Civ II in 1999 I think I can be forgiven for being less than stellar.
 
I'm currently playing Spec Ops: The Line, which, awkward title aside, is proving quite interesting. It's one of those games where you play a tactical black ops spec ghost recon man, and you hide behind cover a lot. In this, you're hunting a spec recon black ghost deniable ops man who has gone rogue in ruined Dubai. The gameplay is fine, if a bit repetitive, but it's clearly trying to do something clever with the story. There are a lot of references to Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, and you're frequently forced to take questionable choices that seem to involve blowing up the local residents and then arguing with your men about it. (I strongly suspect that I'm going to have to kill my own men at the end.)

Clearly it's attempting to make you question the validity of pretending to kill people as a form of entertainment, and the idea that one side in a war always makes the right decisions and is morally perfect, but I'm not really sure that this works. There's a longer article to be written that vicarious simulations of violence are fun (at least for a lot of us) and that actual violence isn't and shouldn't be. In fact, by appearing to recognise this issue, Spec Ops: The Line becomes less disturbing than something like Call of Duty, which ends by telling you that 60m people died in WW2, and you have now unlocked the zombie levels. Yay, zombies!

Ultimately, I think it's a good game if you like that sort of thing, and attempts some new and interesting things. But it's not as successful in that as, say, Bioshock or The Last of Us, and I wonder if its attempt to do so is fundamentally flawed.
 
I finished Spec Ops: The Line, and... hmm. The story spirals down to a bleak, morally-compromised conclusion, but slightly fudges what's actually happening. Perhaps it's necessary to tell gamers that war is complex and sometimes Our Guys aren't perfect, but the end moral feels rather weak. I was reminded of Far Cry 2, which tries to put shooting soldiers and a moral dimension together, with slightly more success.

Ultimately, it was more satisfying than enjoyable. Blowing up the enemies from cover is a fairly slick - but not perfect - experience, but rather dreary. When you've heard the hero shout "Kill ****ing confirmed!" for the hundreth time, you just feel tired. It's almost like a satire of the stupider flag-waving sort of cover-based shooter. Well-executed (as were the enemies) but wearying. Perhaps that's the point.
 
Finally took the plunge and bought Shadow Empire. Jeez! It looks complicated...so much to do...so much to think about....and I've got a planet to create. Tempted to create a Dune style world just to see what happens.

I may be a while:)
 
Planet simulator/strategy game, is it?
 
Foxbat said:
It's a sort of hybrid strategy/4X/management thing. It's getting good reviews but it's not for the faint hearted.

Matrix Games

www.matrixgames.com www.matrixgames.com
Click to expand...

Looks very deep, but I wish (and call me shallow) games like that would spend a little more time on polishing the aesthetics (it's not the 90s anymore). You can have basic style sure, but visible pixels are just a joke at this point...
 
I'm running the game at 1920x1080 and there are no visible pixels. Don't take the video as an example, the game resolution is better than shown. I'd say the manual is the weakest aspect so far. There are in built advisors and help tabs within the game but I think just playing it through is probably the best method of learning.

It should be borne in mind that VR Designs (the game creator) is essentially a one man operation. The artwork is nothing special but other than that, I think he's doing pretty well.
 
Toby Frost said:
I've been playing a game called Invisible Inc, which is a sort of stealth game in which a team of agents has to infiltrate a building. It's like the turn-based combat from XCOM, but with the emphasis on going unseen instead of fighting. The system is slick and the missions can be very tense. Although the background is nominally cyberpunk, the art style reminds me of Saul Bass' pictures from the 1950s and 60s.

Because the buildings are procedurally generated, the layout of the rooms can occasionally throw up a mission that's near-impossible to complete. The story of the game only takes place over 5 or 6 missions (although you can alter this). Overall, Invisible Inc is a very good stealth/strategy game and definitely worth a look if that's your sort of thing.
Click to expand...

I loved Invisible Inc. As you say, very XCOM/X-COM-like in many ways. I think the time limit is an interesting addition. I highly, highly recommend another of Klei's games, Mark of the Ninja. It's not turn-based, but it's easily the most enjoyable stealth-based game I've ever played. This is the Switch trailer, but it's available on PC etc as well.



I'm currently finishing off Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC. I strayed away from it for a while but so glad to be back to it, and can't wait to get to all the other games in the series that are sitting in my backlog.

Also playing Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, which I'm starting to think is something of a masterpiece.
 
Shadow Empire is starting to make a bit more sense to me now. Had a few border skirmishes but no major war yet. Been concentrating on building infrastructure and replacing militia with regular units (raising their fanaticism levels by assigning mystics from a religious cult to each formation). My main advisor isn’t too happy because I gave the workers a big wage rise. I’ve got too much to build right now and I need to keep the union leaders on my side. I’m financing the wages by sending out military advisers to any nearby regime that asks for them and cutting a little cash from the various research councils. Gave the advisor a wage rise too and that’s raised his happiness a bit.

Had to turn away thousands of refugees because I couldn’t risk a fight yet with a nearby major power and taking them in was going to upset my opposite number. Left them to fend for themselves in the wasteland. It’s hard work being president...
 
The remastered Command & Conquer, takes me back!
 
Still playing Shadow Empire. It's just a small planet test game with no alien lifeforms (just other human factions...didn't fancy starting out as a newbie on a planet of giant arachnids...). I'm just trying get to grips with everything. It's compelling but frustrating. There's a ton of information and the hardest thing is actually finding it. There are so many tabs and sub menus to go through to find what I want...and then the next time I play, I forget where the information was again. I think it's time to buy an old fashioned note book and start writing things down.

Despite all that, it's been years since a game has gripped me thusly - as Sheldon would say. As a matter of fact, Sheldon Cooper would love this game. He could finally become Sheldor The Great, ruler of Sheldonia.

Me, I'm happy running New Carthage:)
 
Just passed 200 hours on Assassin Creed Odyssey. My Kassandra is kicking serious a*** agasint the entire Greek world.

Finished the main 'family' quest a while ago, but so much more content to even come close to the real ending. Of which I'll probably need at least another 50 hours. Plus the game is gorgeous, really love the world they've put together.

But also have discovered Satisfactory. So...it's a first person Factorio set on an alien world. Horribly addicitve. If you like industry real-time construction and management simulators, this might be for you.
 
I did some very early access satisfactory. It was definitely a fun time sink then. I can only imagine it has added depth and life-sucking built in now :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Elckerlyc Game of Thrones Movie in the Making? General Film Discussion 1
B How is it That Games of Thrones Is As Popular As It is With Its Cast Of Less Than Heroic Characters that Populate The Seven Kingdoms and Beyond ? George R R Martin 34
B Books that Would Make Really Horrible RPG Computer Games Game Discussions 5
Foxbat The USA's First Boardgame? Game Discussions 0
Vladd67 Is this the game for us? Game Discussions 2

Similar threads


Back
Top