Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 12-13)

Silent Hill 2 Remake for me this weekend. I don't have much experience with the franchise, but I'm loving this game so far.

Yakuza 0 and FF IV for me this weekend.

Diving back into some Trackmania to get some better times.

Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred all day & most of the night. On the whole this dlc is a good refresh to the game & brings enough to the table that I am excited to play.

The story campaign for the dlc is ok but suffers from a main protagonist I find to be a whiny b ...um ...person so it did drag a bit for me at times.

The new class, the Spiritborn, is insanely strong right now and has some busted op skills which i guess was always going to happen. However while it is strong i don't enjoy the play style as its too fast & twitchy for me. It will be interesting to see how Blizzard balance the class going forward.

Everything else has been great the new skills for existing classes, paragon refresh, game modes & all the other QoL stuff has really breathed new life into Diablo 4. Its not a stretch to say this is the best D4 has been since launch.

I'll be finishing off The Talos Principle 2 this weekend, plus starting a co-op run of Dying Light 2. For once, this weekend will be unlikely to see me undertaking my usual Horde in Gears 5...

Desperados 2

This weekend I’m playing the iconic Silent Hill 2 (Remake). This is my first foray into this franchise, despite owning the original on PS2 back when I was a kid. And I have a lot to say.

The beginning two hours were incredibly dull to me. However, once I got to explore the apartment complex—and having just completed Brookhaven Hospital—it quickly became a tour-de-force in the survival horror genre once I tasted what this game had to offer.

The game has a unique setting, where the town of Silent Hill is a character just as much as you are. One thing that stuck out to me was how there is quest log or an objective marker. This allows a sense of freedom in a relatively linear experience, yet vast at the same time, so there’s a sense of feeling confined and trapped, but always rewarding.

All of this is enhanced by its brilliant art direction and visuals. The fog surrounding the town makes each step feel purposeful. When you enter buildings, each location feels different but believable. Brookhaven Hospital—more or less a psychiatric ward—is a perfect example of this. There is a sense of dread and abandonment, and you can feel the anguish of those who resided there. It felt old-timey and unsanitary, providing an extra level of immersion. A lot of games I feel suffer from making you feel as if you’re truly in this fictional world, but this remake manages to capture that essence.

Furthermore, I really appreciate the approach of no jump scares. The horror comes from the tension of discovering the truth about what’s occurring in the town, the characters that inhabit it, and why. But it’s also the idea that something could happen. It plays with you psychologically. It masterfully teeters the line of reality and paranoia, particularly since enemies are humanoid in nature.

As for the story, it immediately compels you because the main protagonist, James Sunderland, is self aware of his situation and how absurd it is. However, he is still grieving the loss of his wife and those types of processes can make people do inexplicable things they otherwise wouldn’t. Regardless of the dire situation he is in, his calm demeanor draws you in. He has determination, and is willing to see his journey through to the end no matter the cost, all the while not going off in the deep end mentally. It’s a really interesting balance. He is casually dressed which also lends to his personality.

The moment to moment gameplay is also fantastic. Combat has a real crunch to it—but it never feels janky or unintuitive. You can feel the weight behind bludgeoning enemies with melee weapons, and you can even hear the exhaustion in James’ voice when he finishes them while they are squirming on the ground. You’re also never overwhelmed with enemies, so each encounter feels unique. It’s simple, but effective.

So far, I’m only halfway through the game but I’m very impressed, top to bottom. I’m deeply invested in the characters and unfolding story. In a space where there are a ton of survival horror games, this one stands out amongst the rest. I can see why the game received high praise in 2001, and I will now sing its praises for the first time in 2024. It might go down in my top 10 of all time.

I'm gonna continue my playthrough of Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance this weekend.
Nothing else will be played until I beat it, I think.

I’m continuing my Dark Urge play through of BG3 on Series X. Just about to defend the grove against the goblin warband. I appreciate it’s a battle that needn’t be fought, depending on how you play, but it’s such an entertaining fight that I didn’t want to miss it!

Possibly unwise to get back into such a huge game with Life is Strange Double Exposure due on the 29th, DA Veilguard on the 31st, Rise of the Golden Idol on 12/11, Flight Sim 24 on 19/11, Stalker 2 on 20/11 and Indiana Jones on 6/12, all of which I intend to play, but we’ll see how I go!

Astro Bot - Its done, and I got the platinum. I feel like everything has already been said about this game, simply amazing! The last challenge level took me some a couple of runs (many) but it made it even more satisfying when I made it and the last trophies poped 🤩

Termintor Resistance enhanced - also finished and platinum. Very good AA game, great Terminator feeling and nice tie ins with the first two movies.

the Plucky Squire - very nice and cosy game, especially in the 3D bits, but it has some gameplay mechanics and a pace that takes away from the other really good stuff. Still, enjoying it 🙂

GTA v campaign kifflom!

Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Finished 1, so I'm with 2 now. My favorite.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita) - Time for the showdown with evil general.

Plants vs. Zombies (Android) - Still making my way through the first levels.

Free Slots Fun Factory (Windows Phone) - Still watching some videos on YT.

Very likely nothing for me, we are in Maine for one last weekend before they close the cottage. I brought my Steam Deck so if I can’t sleep I’ll jump into Skyrim. Otherwise, I’ll dream of Metaphor.

I just finished EoW the other day so on switch, I'm waiting for crow country to drop.

On xbox, I'm playing Evil Within 2

Finished Like a Dragon: Ishin! yesterday so I believe I'll be testing some games this weekend until one of them grab my attention.

Already finished 33 games this year. My goal is to beat at least 40 until the end of the year.

Metaphor
RE
Fantazio

I'm on the fence about picking up the Tomb raider remastered trilogy, which I may grab, but if not I'll be starting Dead Rising 3 again for spooky season

PS5 - Sniper Elite 4 & 5 / Sackboy
NS - Double Dragon

But mostly this week I was playing :

XSX - Marble It Up Ultra, FH5 & Gravel (SE with all DLC- €3 and very enjoyable if you like FH)

PC - A Little To The Left while watching some TV

I've been playing through all the Halo campaigns on the MCC. Finished Reach yesterday and started Halo 4. I've never played any of the 343 Halo campaigns, so I'm looking forward to it, despite the lower review scores it got compared to the original trilogy. My Gamepass subscription ends next weekend, so I've got to get through it this week.

So I recently bought Star Ocean the Divine Force and it turned out to be a rather good JRPG with a decent budget. There’s not much side activities but nowadays I appreciate a game that gets right into it 😂. Also bought the mass effect trilogy for 9$ it was a deal I couldn’t pass up, going to the 2nd one this weekend. Refantazio looks great but at 70$ I think I’ll wait until I finish these 2 and hopefully it gets down to the 60 or 50$ range 😌.

Fallout 76. Truly, truly awful. And I say that as a huge BGS fan. Has none of the role play, atmosphere, immersion of other BGS games. People say you can enjoy it as a single player game and that the game is now good - I strongly disagree.

I pre-ordered Metaphor Refantazio, but Best Buy didn't ship it til release day, so I won't get it til Monday. What happened to release day delivery?

Just finishing up SMT V Vengeance though.

Of course, Metaphor: ReFantazio!

Playing "Rime" and "Nioh" lately...

Ive gone to my backlog and Im playing Avatar. Its a beautiful world thats well crafted and I like the efforts the devs went to to portray the culture of the Navi. If you trully hate ubi open world games with lots of side quests and a map full of markers, this will not be the game to change your mind. But I dont mind that style of game at all, and the Navi culture and a beautiful world have seen me trully become engrossed in this gem. Im glad Ive gone back to play this.
I have the Diablo 4 dlc to install and play, but having only finished the original campaign first time last week, taking over 100 hours to do so, I feel like I need a little break before diving in again!

Whatever you are playing this weekend I hope you have fun!

Solo Starfield DLC and Baldur's Gate 3 (its just not grabbing me, I think it threw the companions at me to quickly).

Coop: replaying the gears series, we're part way through 3.

VR: Zero Calibur 2.

Nothing. Tendinitis in fingers, haven't played video games in almost 2 weeks, hoping it goes away soon. Old people problems.

@IGN_Commenter fully agree with you about both F76 and people who say the same thing about people who say the same thing about Elder Scrolls Online. If you think ESO is a good single player RPG... I mean good lord. You might as well argue Zynga Farmville mobile trash games are good single player games.

Decides to go back to RDR2 after finishing it many years ago.
It is truly a gem of an narrative experience.
I'm fully immersed again

Between Echoes of Wisdom and Silent Hill Sequel Remake I havent been using my Xbox but Looking forward to that Indiana Jones game

Metaphor. OMFG Metaphor. Thing will destroy me.

That aside I feel like I may put pancake gaming behind me for a long time except certain titles. Getting used to full pcvr means do turning back. Elden Ring, flight sim, racing, Elite, Sniper, LaD Ishin, Assassin's Creed, Hitman I'll jumping around titles like crazy, it's insane. Skyrim....ohh man Skyrim modded. I'm adding the AI mods so you can have full verbal conversations with NPCs.... That's the true next gen right there. DD2 supposedly has a mod but runs very poorly. Cyberpunk.

I probably have 10,000 hours of games just from that small selection of games without ever needing to buy more. It's insane.

@Titntin That's a cool take to hear on Avatar! I actually bought it a few weeks ago on ubis store because it was dirt cheap in their fall sale and although I care so little and avatar I've never even seen the movie the game world looked interesting enough. It's in the backlog though. With like 5 AC games....

Otoh while I had zero interest in outlaws, the vr modder guy just released an outlaws VR mod.... Judging by how awesome elden ring and got is in his mod, that's gonna be a must!

(Side note about Ubisoft launcher I actually almost liked it until I found out it logs you out on every machine when you log in on a different one, including console, and makes you type your password every time.... And they tricked me with a 40% sale on Rocksmith only on PSN and the ad hyped that the subscription is valid on every platform. What they didn't tell you is that you have to keep logging in on PS to validate your subscription every time you launch on PC. Wish I could refund and pay full price to avoid that. Could just play on console but audio interface is pc only, and ubis cable that works on console just sucks)

Back 4 blood I picked up in sale for spooky season. Single player run through. Also finish SIFU and really enjoyed it. Relatively easy 1000g from tha. Hope you enjoyed weekend all

Well here we go with another fantastic WAYP. Been an absolutely amazing and cool week around here. Most of the week was just the usual games like Dawntrail and Zenless Zone Zero. Played two brand new simply amazing games those being Silent Hill 2 and Dragon Ball Sparking Zero. Silent Hill 2 is honestly a perfect game for this time of year and I’m absolutely loving it. While Dragon Ball is simply just pure immaculate fun and lovely. Didn’t game much this weekend outside of some Ace Attorney Investigations 2 and The Plucky Squire but that’s because I had one of the absolute best days ever going to the city with one of the greatest people I’ve ever known. Said it before in these WAYPs but there are things way better than games and this was one of them. Did play some board games with this girl and hey they were super fun. Thinking the rest of the weekend will be some more Zelda and I guess Silent Hill 2. Otherwise I’m thinking this week is mostly gonna consist of some Ace Attorney, Trails Through Daybreak, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, Paper Mario, Bakeru, Dawntrail, Astro Bot, Emio, Star Wars Outlaws, Silent Hill 2, DB Sparking amd Visions of Mana. Think on my day off I’m gonna crack into Metaphor ReFantazio since I got that collector’s edition coming and so I’m super duper hype for that. Only wrestling thing this week is short and simple. WWE Crown Jewel is coming up and eh the hype levels are low beyond hey some RAWs and Smackdowns will have cool crossover moments with the champs like Liv and Nia. Anime of the week gotta go to Nokotan. Yep just one anime this week because of the date in NYC. Gonna give that Dandadan a try tho it’s amazing apparently. Podcasts of this week gotta go to Castle Superbeast, Big Think Dimension, Into The Aether, RPGsites Tetracast, Minnmax, Jeff Gerstmann, Kit and Krysta, Last Stand Media, Easy Allies, Second Wind, Nextlander, Cultaholic Wrestling, Weapon Wheel, Aetheryte Radio and Remap Radio. As always yall stay safe, be extremely spectacular to each other. Have a totally spectacular weekend and of course Happy Gaming.

Metaphor: ReFantazio, the only correct answer.