General Videogame Thread

[Tricky_Trev]

I absolutely loved Inside and Limbo and am currently playing a bit of Little Nightmares which is in a similar vein. In my opinion, there's a lot to be said about games with an emphasis on style and atmosphere, such as these.

So are the three favourites you mentioned even better than Limbo and Inside? Those two were - pardon the pun - game changers for me.

They are totally different types of platformers to Limbo and Inside, so it really depends on whether you like metroidvanias (Ori and Hollow Knight). They are both games where you have combat as well as the platforming. And there will be areas of the map that you can’t reach to begin with and as you progress through the game, you gain abilities that allow for better traversal around the map, making those areas reachable. They are both 10/10 games for me. But then so is Inside, and Limbo I’d probably rate as 9.5 - I just slightly preferred Inside.

Celeste is a different type of platformer in that it is a precision platformer. It’s difficult, but fair. You die a lot, but it is never annoying as you spawn immediately in the same room that you died in. You just keep trying until you make it to the next room. My words can never do the game justice. It’s another 10/10 game. You struggle even early on with some rooms but as you persevere, you learn the mechanics of the game better and better and then eventually, once you go back to those earlier chapters you struggled with it is a breeze, just demonstrating how much better at the game you have become.

If you specifically want a puzzle-platformer with a similar style/atmosphere as Limbo/Inside, there have since been several games that have taken inspiration from them in some way, be it art style, atmosphere, or the type of environmental puzzles. You could try Stela, Planet Alpha, Little Nightmares 1 & 2 (as you say), The Swapper (it’s atmospheric), Toby: The Secret Mine (art style is clearly inspired by limbo). For me, all of these games fall a little short of Limbo and Inside, but they might scratch an itch. Little Nightmares in particular is excellent. Nothing quite compares to Limbo/Inside though for me.

 

[meltonblue]

We had lockdown over here over the summer, so I managed to complete Assassins Creed Black Flag, then Origins and then Odyssey. I would get Valhalla, but I'm a cheap bastard, so I'll wait until they cut the price.

But since then I've really got into Cities Skylines. I managed to find the Mayors Edition which contains almost all of the DLC for less than 20 quid. It's horribly addictive.

That’s the kind of game that makes hours just disappear, inevitably then ending with me being slightly disappointed with something in my city and starting again!

 

[HelloCity]

Almost finished Metroid Dread. Easily my game of the year.

Also:

 

[BigOscar]

Is anyone actually asking for a Witcher 3 next gen update? It looks and plays great already, what's the point? It loads so much faster on next gen, so it no longer takes ages to respawn when you die, that was already pretty much the only thing it needed

 

[twosips]

They are totally different types of platformers to Limbo and Inside, so it really depends on whether you like metroidvanias (Ori and Hollow Knight). They are both games where you have combat as well as the platforming. And there will be areas of the map that you can’t reach to begin with and as you progress through the game, you gain abilities that allow for better traversal around the map, making those areas reachable. They are both 10/10 games for me. But then so is Inside, and Limbo I’d probably rate as 9.5 - I just slightly preferred Inside.

Celeste is a different type of platformer in that it is a precision platformer. It’s difficult, but fair. You die a lot, but it is never annoying as you spawn immediately in the same room that you died in. You just keep trying until you make it to the next room. My words can never do the game justice. It’s another 10/10 game. You struggle even early on with some rooms but as you persevere, you learn the mechanics of the game better and better and then eventually, once you go back to those earlier chapters you struggled with it is a breeze, just demonstrating how much better at the game you have become.

If you specifically want a puzzle-platformer with a similar style/atmosphere as Limbo/Inside, there have since been several games that have taken inspiration from them in some way, be it art style, atmosphere, or the type of environmental puzzles. You could try Stela, Planet Alpha, Little Nightmares 1 & 2 (as you say), The Swapper (it’s atmospheric), Toby: The Secret Mine (art style is clearly inspired by limbo). For me, all of these games fall a little short of Limbo and Inside, but they might scratch an itch. Little Nightmares in particular is excellent. Nothing quite compares to Limbo/Inside though for me.

Another thumbs up for Celeste. Loved it. Just brilliant platforming, good soundtrack too and I sorta liked the story. Just a nice, intimate and sorta surprisingly charming look at a serious subject.

 

[Summerbuzz]

Platform-puzzle wise, I'm definitely feeling:



Shortish game, the early bits are nowhere near as tricky in precision terms as Celeste (which was a bit much for me from the Hotel on), but it's very satisfying platforming for sure, with a lot of hilarously brain scrambling timing tricks and other awesome puzzles.

Also Webbed, another short one.



This is so much fun, unique controls and web mechanics, looks and plays fantastic.

Shout for Carrion. Again, unique controls and gameplay. Awesome sci-fi & gore.




Personal favourite would be;



I don't normally like this sort of comic book treatment of 'le epic' sci-fi stories, but this one was done so well I won't have a word said against it. Fabulous balance between satisfying puzzles, unique controls, and exploration. Setting and design 10/10, Music and graphics absolutely top notch too.

Played them all?



Really underrated. Perfect arcade controls and powerups, the whole thing is a perfect take off of Metroidvanias, the feel of each ability is genius but it's all some utter hilarious nonsense. And yet it has somehow has more heart than a million Symphony Of The Nights.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

Platform-puzzle wise, I'm definitely feeling:



Shortish game, the early bits are nowhere near as tricky in precision terms as Celeste (which was a bit much for me from the Hotel on), but it's very satisfying platforming for sure, with a lot of hilarously brain scrambling timing tricks and other awesome puzzles.

Also Webbed, another short one.



This is so much fun, unique controls and web mechanics, looks and plays fantastic.

Shout for Carrion. Again, unique controls and gameplay. Awesome sci-fi & gore.




Personal favourite would be;



I don't normally like this sort of comic book treatment of 'le epic' sci-fi stories, but this one was done so well I won't have a word said against it. Fabulous balance between satisfying puzzles, unique controls, and exploration. Setting and design 10/10, Music and graphics absolutely top notch too.

Played them all?



Really underrated. Perfect arcade controls and powerups, the whole thing is a perfect take off of Metroidvanias, the feel of each ability is genius but it's all some utter hilarious nonsense. And yet it has somehow has more heart than a million Symphony Of The Nights.

Nice! I had stumbled across ElecHead and Webbed before as they’re both on my Steam wishlist. I’ve added MO: Astray too, like the look of that!! Cheers.

 

[SWP's back]

Anyone into Star Citizen or Elite Dangerous and can point in the direction of the best?

Fair amount of time on my hands, 3080 GPU and new Tobii Eye tracker set up so I thought I may as well make the most of it but can’t decide which one to get.

 

[grunge]

Well, I’m no hardcore gamer, my son put an end to that! But off the top of my head, in the last year or two, I’ve played:

Celeste
Hollow Knight
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Ori and the Blind Forest
Gris
Inside
Limbo

Different types of platformer there, some puzzle-heavy, some adventure, some metroidvanias, but all variations of platformers and to be honest none of them score below a 9 for me. I intentionally cherry picked them based on reviews and all the reviews are bang on. Incredible games.

But if I had to choose, my favourite 3 have been Celeste, Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Hollow Knight. Hollow Knight and Celeste are both really difficult but brilliant games.

Ori is amazing. preferred Blind Forest over Will of the wisps as it seemed more structured but both are excellent. Be prepared for Joystick gymnastics as some of the manoeuvers needed are insane.

 

[ultimateharold]

Anyone into Star Citizen or Elite Dangerous and can point in the direction of the best?

Fair amount of time on my hands, 3080 GPU and new Tobii Eye tracker set up so I thought I may as well make the most of it but can’t decide which one to get.

I've got more than enough hours in ED (2k or so), although less so since the last major update with all the walking around stuff. It's great for passing a few mindless hours, exploring especially. It does get repetetive, and fast, but there are plenty of little stories you can go and take in. Wouldn't touch PVP as the grind to get good enough stuff is just too much for me, although aside from a decidacted section, the MP is on its way out anyway.

I can't particulary comment on SC as not touched it for a while, but I'd say it has more lengevity than ED right now, and is probably more of an experience story wise, I might resinstall it and see what it's like now and get back.