Aneres11

Yup it’s a bit of a hidden gem really. Lost in between the watch dogs / cyberpunk / Valhalla trio. I didn’t play those but I’d imagine people would get more enjoyment from this than most of them. Not one technical glitch on it yet either. Runs so smooth, but I have chosen a lower frame rate (30fps) for higher fidelity. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed BOTW, but the story in this is definitely taking it up a notch above.

I picked this game up in the Xbox sales. Was going to buy the disc copy as that was also on sale and I had real concerns over whether this would be a game I’d enjoy. In the end I couldn’t be bothered standing outside Argos to queue up for click and collect lol, so went with a digital copy. I have been playing it on and off in between Christmas and working and I am absolutely loving it. I had read a lot about it being a Breath of the Wild rip off, but I’ll be honest - I’m enjoying it more than I did that game. I think anyone who has any sort of interest in Greek Mythology will get even more enjoyment from this. I know nothing about it really other than very basic knowledge, and even I am taken with it all. The game looks absolutely gorgeous. It does remind me of BOTW with its art direction, and I remember doing nothing but taking screenshots when playing that game because of how utterly incredible it looked. Well, I’m doing the same here. And I NEVER screenshot games I’m playing. Ive freed the first mythical God (Aphrodite) and am on to the next area of the map now. The gameplay has Zelda elements with climbing terrain and the stamina meter etc. There are ‘Vaults’ in the game which I think read people saying was another Zelda rip off, but they’re really not. They do lend some gameplay ideas, moving platforms with a special ability, or shooting an arrow that you guide through fire etc but it’s done very well. It’s a very satisfying game to play. Here are some screen grabs from my time with the game so far! Because I don’t have as much time to game these days, I generally prefer more linear games that I can play through and move on to the next. Games like this where you can spend a lot of time in the world discovering puzzles, new enemies, new areas etc I often avoid. Or I just go straight for story objectives. With this game though, I’m just loving the exploration and the slower pace I’m playing the actual story. I have been really impressed with it. Definitely recommended so far! Hopefully i feel the same once I’ve sunk more time in!

I finished Call of the Sea at the weekend. It was a nice change of pace after the last couple of games I’ve played. I did find the puzzles to be really difficult at times though, and I am not ashamed to say that I did YouTube a few of them! Very interesting story. Now I need to decide what to play next! I am tempted to play through Gears 5 again, as I co-op’d that game earlier this year on my Xbox One and I don’t think I have ever encountered a more buggy game. It was really a chore to play. So may give that a go as I’d like to play the new DLC too.

Hmm I had that much earlier. And I never used it, not even once. You can’t even use your weapon or any other ability whilst using a shield (or I couldn’t, anyway) so found it pointless.

I started this on Saturday night. I'm enjoying it so far. I like the relaxed nature, as you say. Coming from Control which was very intense and annoying in parts it's a welcome break! I downloaded Yooka also which I will dive into once I’ve boxed off Call of the Sea. I do intend to go back to Control to do the side missions but want a little break first!

Aaaand that's Control done. I enjoyed it overall, but there were some definite frustrations that really hampered my time with it. Mainly what I've already whinged about on here. It's a great game to play. The more abilities you get the better it becomes. Story wise, I still have no idea what happened even after the credits rolled. It was very weird and wonderful. I see there's DLC on sale in the Xbox store which ends today. Don't think I will bother yet though. There's side missions aplenty it seems so they would keep me busy but right now I feel like something else. Call of the Sea or Yooka Laylee me thinks!

I’ve reached the Astray Maze and I have died about twenty times. Really starting to piss me off and make me hate the game. 😡

I think the name belongs to Valve who have shelved it? I could be wrong I don’t know the ins and outs. Think of this as the Yooka Laylee to Banjo haha.

Spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead, from Turtle Rock Studios who developed the first Left 4 Dead game. Hyped.

Nearing the end of Control and niggles have started to work their way in which has affected my enjoyment slightly. The biggest issue is going between control points. The fact the game throws you back to one every time you die is a bit annoying, as when it does so you can be right near the next one and die in the fight trying to clear enemies to activate it. What’s worse though, is that it throws you all the way back and you end up having to clear the same area of enemies all over again when you already did it. But sometimes the game is random and doesn’t always respawn enemies and you can have a clear run through. Die again in the same spot though, and the next time they’re everywhere. Bit odd. I’m still not sure on the story as in I still don’t know what’s happening haha, but those few things aside I am still liking the game!

I really don’t understand why in this day and age all of these new blockbuster games need day one patches and are full of bugs. I can understand the PS5 and Series consoles having bugs with games like CoD and AC:V (to a degree) because they’re new consoles etc. So there will always be some bedding in. But it’s just ridiculous that this is a common thing these days.

Thats pants that they didn’t return your box. Did you hand to return it with the box out of curiosity or could you have kept it? Glad it’s back with you though!

Played more Control today. There are some real difficulty spikes with this game that kind of appear out of nowhere. I’ve managed to get past two of the enemies that I really struggled with and had to retry a number of times. Been a great game to play over a weekend though. Hoping to wrap the story up this week then go through the side missions.

Yooka Laylee is absolutely fantastic. One of the best games in the genre IMO. Can’t wait to play it again. Ps5 is gathering dust over here with all these games. Haven’t touched it since I finished Spider-Man. 😬

Played this pretty much all day (between eating and bits of work etc). It’s an amazing game. Just reached the Black Rocky Quarry which is an impressive setting. Don’t even think I’m half way through yet but it’s been great so far. 👍🏼

Yeah I think it’s supposed to be that way. Glad I stick with it as the first hour or so I was really not sure. Enjoying it now way more than I thought I would.

Having said that, a few more hours in and I’m actually really enjoying the game. Still don’t know what’s happening, but who cares when it’s so much fun to play! Downloaded ‘A Plague Tale: Innocence’, to start once Control is wrapped up. Had my eye on that one for a while.

Downloaded Control and have only played about two hours so far. It is the weirdest game I’ve ever played and I have absolutely no idea what the f*** is going on.

I agree. I would like a ‘Quick Resume’ tab that shows what games are currently active within it. Makes more sense than just presuming and the game reloading from scratch. Even though load times are improved across the board. Im really enjoying the small tweaks to the Xbox controller. It’s so comfortable and I still prefer the design over the new PS5 which feels a bit too big. But I do have small hands. 😳

I bought Crash 4 on disc when I got my Series X and played a bit of it before buying CoD and taking the disc out to play through that instead. Once I was done with CoD, I then bought Dirt 5 (again, on disc) and have bee playing that for the last week and a half. Ive just wrapped up with Dirt and ejected the disc, put Crash back in over two weeks later and quick resume kicked in and took me back where I was! That is madness. I have no idea how it did that seeing as the disc hasn’t been in for two weeks but still, very neat. Really like my Series X. Spending way more time with it than Ps5 but I’m done with Spider-Man now so until Ratchet I’ll likely just play a bit of Astro as and when.

Finished this just now. It was ok. Felt like DLC really more than a fully fleshed out game. Starting to get a bit tired of cookie cut sections in games. That’s TLOU2 now and this where I feel like I’m basically playing the same game all over again. It was still fairly enjoyable, the game looks great and runs really well but there was just too much combat. It was my biggest complaint with the first game and it’s the same again here. Have little desire to go back and tidy up the map when I imagine virtually every side mission will be more of the same.

Haha I noticed that last night but didn’t mention it. You must have thought it on the same section as me. Very iffy.

Currently working through ‘A Way Out’ with @LegoMan1031 (formerly Mike1988uk) and we are both enjoying it! Story is interesting, likeable characters, gameplay mechanics are decent enough. We have had this game on our radar for ages, and finally got round to starting it last week. Can recommend!

Didn’t know that pressing and holding the mute button on the controller muted all gaming noise from tv and controller itself...! Pretty neat.

Ookkkk I played some more and did two other worlds and nooooww I get it. That first world wasn’t that interesting but these others have been great! It plays a bit like Super Luckys Tale which I also really liked even though it too was a simplistic platformer. This has much more about it with all the user interactions though. The rain has been my favourite haptic feeling so far. Amazing.