everynowandben

Callisto Protocol for me. Getting close to halfway through it. It's uhh... not even close to as good as Dead Space. Feel like about 1/4 of the game is crawling through vents and shimmying through narrow passage ways.. Strange they don't seem to understand what made Dead Space fun to play. Still, I'm enjoying it enough to keep going.

Mostly Alan Wake 2. I'm right around the halfway mark now. What an incredible game. I played a couple rounds of The Finals with the guys last night. Seems a little stingy on the cosmetics. I refuse to purchase mirco-transactions (with my own money) so I'll probably look like a white-flagging noob for a long while. Maybe I'll spend some MS reward points on a Xbox gift card and nab a new shirt at least. Maybe.

I'd say Remnant 2 is the probably the most underrated game of the year, but there are a lot of other contenders. I feel like Jedi Survivor didn't get enough praise for how good it is. People seem to have forgotten that it even exists. Amnesia: The Bunker is a gd masterpiece, and I never hear anyone talking about it. Redfall too was more fun than people give it credit for. Not a great game, but I had a lot of fun with it. Atomic Heart was okay at best in my opinion, and not underrated at all. That's my 2 cents anyway.

My friends and I finished up the Remnant 2 Awakened King DLC last night, and I started Wolfenstein: Youngblood with my gf. Solo, I'm still going through Alan Wake 2.

Gotta play the first one soon. And maybe the other 2?

Happy to see they brought back the original. My friends and I never finished it when it was on GP in the past, and now we can finally see it through at no extra cost

Remnant 1 and 2 just shadow dropped on Game Pass!

Planning to play a bunch of the smaller David Szymanski games this weekend, starting with The Moon Sliver. Then likely some more Remnant 2 Awakened King DLC with the guys, and also just started House of Ashes with my gf

This week I finished up a bunch of Switch games like SMB Wonder, the Pokemon Teal Mask DLC, and the new Mario Kart DLC. I just bought Alan Wake 2 on PC and can't wait to dive in!

@PhilKenSebben I haven't played it solo, but personally I would say no. I don't think I could have beaten this one by myself without grinding levels for endless hours. That being said, my buddy beat it solo, so he obviously would say yes, though he was pretty obsessed, and did sink a ton of time into it.

Heading over the my buddy's house tonight so we can play in person for once, hahaha.. definitely Mario Party Superstars, 2-on-2 NHL Open Ice Challenge, and probably a bunch of arcade beat-em-ups like TMNT, Simpsons, etc.

I finally beat Starfield the other day, and I meant to play Separate Ways with a friend, and also some more Darktide with the guys, but none of that quite worked out. I did however play through X-Men: The Arcade Game with a stranger at a local barcade last night, with the double screen and everything. Some rando gave us the rest of his tokens as he was leaving, and we used them all to do it. Fun times. They had Mario Kart 64 hooked up to a projector there too and I schooled a bunch of drunk people in that too lol.. I might try and get through some more of Bayonetta 3 tomorrow before work.

They should do games with better IP. Why not get something popular and that people actually like? Star Wars or Harry Potter would be awesome. Or go back to Batman. Where is Wolf Among Us 2?

Played this last night with the guys and had a blast. It was a little more tough than expected, but that's not a bad thing. Looking forward to putting more time into it. I'm playing on PC with maxed out settings, and it is just gorgeous to behold on top of being very fun to play.

Just finished Weird West a few minutes ago, right before the cutoff. Phew! Great game! I played it on PC with the first-person mod, which was great for the most part. Really made it feel more immersive for me.

I'm planning on diving into the RE4 Separate Ways DLC next, and I might knock out another chapter in Bayonetta 3 this weekend too.

I want to be playing a bunch of stuff, but I am pushing my way through Weird West as much as possible to finish it before it leaves Game Pass.

Immersive sims are my favorite genre, and Dishonored 3 confirmation would make me incredibly hyped.

Well I guess I'm dropping everything for Weird West now! Ugh. I'm in the middle of like 4 other games.

Anyway, just to throw it out there if anyone is interested, there is a first person perspective mod for the PC version of Weird West that was made by one of the actual developers of the game. This is how I'm planning to experience this one to really push for that immersive sim experience on all levels.

Starfield. There are a lot of little things about it that I'm not particularly enjoying (too many junk items, too many loading screens, teleportation tedium), and I don't find the gameplay to be very much fun so far to be honest (feel like I cant free myself from sitting in menus), but it's getting a little better as I keep playing and understanding what the game wants out of me. I'm still learning how it works. I've never played a Bethesda game before.

I would consider it for 1/3 of that price

I picked A Short Hike, which was decent overall. I played Celeste, Limbo, and Quake 2 RTX all within the last couple years, and my buddies and I have only played a couple rounds of Texas Chainsaw Massacre so far.

Is it a great game? No
Did I enjoy playing it? Yes

Wrapping up System Shock 2. What an incredible game. I don't think it's quite as good as Bioshock or Dead Space, but it's very clear how influential it was.

I'll probably play some more Remnant 2 with the guys tonight. My buddy finished his campaign a while ago now and is going for the final archetype. I think we are a little over halfway through my campaign, but we have all been playing each others without too much repetition considering how different each area can turn out from the procedural generation.

Might play a bit more of Bayonetta 3 when I finish up SS2. Still only 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through that one.

@JoakimZ You're in luck. Sortof. Unfortunately its not on Xbox, but they did remaster Blood a few years ago. Also, though not from Night Dive, and also not on Xbox, Shadow Warrior was remastered in a similar way about 10 years ago.

Played a bit of Remnant 2 last night with the guys, but I decided to start System Shock 2 yesterday, and I'm looking forward to spending more time with it today.

I started Alan Wake's American Nightmare earlier this week but haven't had time to make much progress. Hopefully I'll be able to get through a bit more of it this weekend. Might spend some time tonight with the guys going through more of Remnant 2.

Edit: Ended up finishing Wolfenstein RPG via emulation on my phone, which was fantastic. This and the Doom RPG games are massively overlooked and underrated. Also played a few rounds of Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the guys - pretty fun game once we got the hang of it.

@Wiiiiiiii Not sure if you've played it already or if you're into immersive sims, but I would highly recommend Dishonored. Whenever I'm in a "don't know what to play next" funk, a good immsim always pulls me out of it.

Yesterday I knocked out another chapter of Bayonetta 3 and also played through RE4 Separate Ways for the first time. Today I just played a bunch of Atomic Heart and have honestly been enjoying it more than I had previously. It helps that I have a lot of upgrades at this point, but unfortunately overall it just doesn't reach the heights it seems to have been aiming for.

I just want gyro

This weekend I'm going to try and see through A Short Hike. Seems short and sweet, and I love the artstyle. Maybe some more Remnant 2 with the guys, and maybe another chapter or two of Bayonetta 3 if I have any extra time.

Thankfully nothing on this list I'm worried about

I'lll play A Short Hike. Already played Limbo and Celeste.

@Cashews The Origins game is still on my wishlist until I finish Bayo 3, but I'll definitely give it a go at some point down the road. I have to agree that its a bit unfortunate the newer Bayonetta games are stuck on Switch. I'd love to see what they might look like with even flashier and fancier effects and lighting.

Yesterday I finished Portal: Prelude RTX which I really enjoyed outside of a couple "puzzles" that were just annoying rather than being actually challenging. The story was decent, and obviously a lot of effort went into the mod. The path-tracing looked incredible and ran beautifully at 1440p on my 4080 + 13700k setup. I would still say that Portal: Reloaded is by far the best Portal mod, but this one was pretty dang good overall.

This weekend I'm going to jump into the new Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC, and chip away at Bayonetta 3. Might play some Remnant 2 with the guys too if they are willing to stay up late with me tonight.

I'm on vacation so I'm not specifically playing anything in particular, but I was showing my brother A Plague Tale: Requiem and Resident Evil 4 Remake on my gaming laptop since he really only cares about how games look, and we played both games for a little while. We tried to play Portal: Prelude RTX too, but it turns out it will not work with a controller, even in Steam's big picture mode, so I will have to save that for myself when I get back home.

I'm playing Eldritch on PC which is a rogue-like FPS with immersive sim elements made by a couple of guys who (separately) worked on Bioshock 2 and Borderlands. I'm enjoying it. Fun little game.

I would not recommend wasting your time on this one. The concept is cool, but the game is not good. It's not well designed, the story is terrible, and it just isn't fun to play.

They could certainly make a prequel or sequel with deeper/expanded mechanics. There is plenty of room and a big enough world for the series to continue and evolve.

I finished the Alan Wake Remastered DLC yesterday, which was not great IMHO; gameplay or story wise. I just thought it was a bit tedious and not nearly as interesting as the main game.

Late last night I started Amnesia: The Bunker but I only played until the first checkpoint. That will be my game this weekend, alongside chipping away at Bayonetta 3.

I played most of these on PC to be honest, but my Xbox games of the year so far are:

1. Resident Evil 4 Remake
2. Dead Space Remake
3. Jedi: Survivor
4. Hogwarts Legacy
5. Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath
6. Redfall
7. Bramble: The Mountain King
8. Atomic Heart (did not finish, probably will)
9. Hi-Fi Rush (did not finish, probably won't)

This weekend I'm playing Bramble: The Mountain King, which is pretty interesting so far. It's very atmospheric. That's about all it is really. I'm also still playing through Bayonetta 3 on Switch, but it's not holding my attention nearly as much as the prior 2 games.

Thanks everyone who recommended Road 96! Had a good time with it

I just finished Road 96. Thank you to everyone who recommended it in the other article! What a great game! It totally would have passed me by if not for people on here talking it up.

Also, while yes, its undeniable that PC gaming is not as convenient in certain aspects, I have found that 99.9% of the time I have much better experiences on PC than I do on console (and I basically have all of them). My PC is in my living room, and I play with a controller 99% of the time. I don't know why people think they need to play on PC with a mouse and a keyboard at a desk. You really don't. Also, basically every game launcher allows you to import games from other launchers - Pick your favorite and go from there. There are easy solutions to every "issue" people talk about. I'm not trying to be an a**, play however you want, I'm just saying that all of these "problems" are solvable and well worth the increase in framerate, fidelity, modibility, extra options, free online play, free games, cheaper games, and access to a much, much bigger game library than any singular console by incomparably wide margin.

Still playing Wolfenstein The New Colossus (nearly finished) and Bayonetta 3 (1/3 of the way through), but I picked up Road 96 before it leaves Game Pass and am enjoying it so far.

Looking forward to Bramble!

I got F.I.S.T. for free on EGS, and I was not a big fan of it. Hope other people like it more than I did.

I wanted to play Omori, but I'm not in the mood for it and never have been since it came out on Game Pass, so, I guess I didn't want to play it after all.

I didn't know what Road 96 was, so thanks for the recommendations, people. It looks cool. I'll play through that one before it goes.

I took a couple days off from work to burn a little vacation time, and ended up playing through the entirety of both Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and PT yesterday.

Dark Messiah is now my least favorite Arkane game. I really didn't expect it to be so linear, and I like linear, but it's simply not a very fun game imo. It has some elements of the genre, but it's a stretch to call it an immersive sim. Similar to Bioshock in certain ways with the magic being similar to plasmids, and the skills being similar to tonics, but Bioshock just did it so, so much better. I ended the game with 20+ skill points I didn't even want to use. And though Dark Messiah came out a year earlier than Bioshock, it looks and plays like it came out a decade earlier. It's easy to see the inspiration drawn from Thief (and I appreciated the little Easter egg in the description of the master thief's outfit), and even how it led to Dishonored, and where the kick in Deathloop came from, but the game just didn't turn out very well. I felt like in a lot of ways it was even a step backwards from Arx Fatalis. And the dialogue... simply terrible, especially from the succubus lady. Maximum cringe.

PT... where to begin. Okay, to beat PT, you do absolutely need a microphone/headset. Based on my experience, I am convinced of it. Anyway, I spent almost an hour trying to 1.) not change my pants, and 2.) trigger the second laugh. So I'm going through practically every guide and youtube video on the internet, only to see someone comment about how they didn't realize on PS4 there is a seperate volume control menu you can access by holding down the PS button (vs going through settings) where there is an option for "mute all microphones" they had turned on... Wow... Yep. Me too. I felt so dumb! I unselected that option, and almost immediately I got the second laugh to trigger.

So now I'm playing Bayonetta 3, which is not nearly as funny or OTT as the previous game so far, but I'm still having fun with it.

I'm also playing Wolfenstein: The New Order which is fantastic so far.

I did also just learn that Amnesia: The Bunker is an immersive sim, and while I wrote off the franchise after Machine for Pigs, I will take a look at The Bunker. I heard Rebirth was terrible, reaffirming my choice to give up on the Amnesia games, but I might go back if I like the Bunker enough, just to round out my experience with the series. Would anyone actually recommend Rebirth? If so, why? Any reason to play it before The Bunker?

I will check out Neon White. Not really interested in the rest, but glad there's a lot of variety.

Still going through System Shock. I think I'm probably about 3/4 of the way through it. I'm having fun with it, but its not very easy to get into. I've got a couple pages full of notes, and even then, I still felt compelled to look a couple (fairly minor) things up.

Tonight the guys and I will likely return to Back 4 Blood. We're on act 2 now and enjoying it enough to keep going this time.

On Thursday I rolled credits on Zelda: TotK. Of course I didn't do everything, but I don't plan on going back in until the inevitable DLC releases. Too many other games to play!

Yesterday I played through the entirety of Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath - Vengeance of the Slayer which was amazing in so many ways. It's a 5-hour comedic gross-out boomer shooter made by a fictional character from the game Hypnospace Outlaw. Being in my late 30s, I thought it was hilarious.

I also started up the System Shock remake yesterday, and got through the first level. This game is tough! The original is often credited as the grandfather of immersive simulations, and I can see how this game inspired the likes of Bioshock and Prey (2017), but it's not really an immersive sim in and of itself. The remake doesn't seem to have updated the old school design philosophy at all, for better or for worse. Looking forward to diving back in and running around with a very limited sense of where to go and what to do next!