gravelmonkey

I liked the story but didn’t get on with the gameplay nor combat. All these elements are subjective for sure, and they seem very Marmite to many people.

I’d like to see the devs given greater investment and scope to do something bigger and ‘better’.

Not enjoying it TBH despite there being many things to like about the game, eg story/theme, setting and environmental visuals. Movement is clunky - in an early 2000s type of way - and combat is both dull and annoying, especially with multiple enemies hitting you from off-screen.

I’m glad people are really getting into it. Not my cup of tea sadly.

@Westernwolf4 Cheers for your reply. Sounds close to my expectations… and one of those games you have to play to get the feel of it. I’m liking AC Shadows a lot at the moment, but like all of the bigger AC games, I’ll soon tire of doing the same thing and need to switch to something else.

How are people finding the movement and melee combat? I’ve heard the former can be clunky, especially when manoeuvring in a fight.

And does the free form exploration/investigative element work only if you have a lot of patience?

Like others have said already, I want to continue with AC Shadows before having a go at Atomfall. That’s mainly because I’ve subbed to Ubi+ and paused GP. I also think Shadows deserves my attention because the visceral combat and stunning environment in particular are really drawing me in.

Away on a rugby tour this weekend but managed to put a few hours into AC Shadows on Friday morning. Visually stunning and the combat is slick and fun. Lots of other positives and a few quirky bits that might grind over time.

Will probably end up being another of those big games that I enjoy up to the 20 hour mark then feel like I’ve seen/experienced enough of it.

Judging by the YT reviews thus far, it’s looking like another Marmite game. Was thinking of trying it via Ubisoft+ but not sure I’m feeling it right now. Recently stepped back into Black Flag so that might keep my focus for a while… or it may not…

I bounced off of Avowed big time on release day - disliked the feel of both 1st and 3rd person POVs, found combat uninspiring, along with various other issues. Decided to give it another go the day after and it started hooking me in after 4-5 hours. I figured the world looked pretty cool and wanted to explore it, so I began adapting to the 1st person POV whilst experimenting with different forms of combat.

But I think the real reasons I’m vibing with it are because of little quality-of-life elements;

• exploration is fast paced, ie you can sprint around forever without any stamina penalty
• fast travel tends to drop you 30 seconds to 2 mins from your quest destination
• quest/bosses are skull-marked for difficulty
• inventory management and upgrades/enchantment are pretty simple
• upgrade requirements are listed
• incumberance is rarely an issue

Basically, you can pick up and play for as little as a few minutes or commit to a full on session without having to spend time strategising or faffing around with micro-management. That’s why Avowed works for me. It’s a pretty cool place to explore, and - once I’d got over the initial bounce - it makes it easy to progress and continue doing so.

Wanted to like it but can’t get on with it.

Biggest gripe is the floaty controls/movement - feels like it’s an early prototype built by devs to demonstrate the basic gameplay to senior bods. Both 1st and 3rd person are equally awful.

Combat feels more basic and clunky than games from 20 years ago. Magic is dull and uninspiring.

Characters, dialogue and voice work aren’t doing it for me either.

All in all it’s completely meh.

I hoped this would get me away from Veilguard with its exploration and allegedly best in class combat, but instead I’m going to uninstall it. Veilguard has its shortcomings, but it feels and plays with real fluidity that encourages immersion. Avowed feels awful in comparison.

Have become increasingly intrigued about this one since release. So many Marmite reviews and commentaries, eg

• story is too dialogue heavy and full of expo dumps vs just right
• quests are little more than fetch this, fetch that vs interesting
• art style is way too colourful vs aesthetically stunning
• characters are boring and generic vs passable
• levelling up is time consuming, grindy and requires you to do side quests to properly progress vs just play the main quest and you’ll be fine
• reactivity to decisions is almost non-existent and there is no jeopardy vs the world reacts to your choices
• enemy variety is poor and quickly gets boring vs lots of variations
• bosses are just bullet sponges with no new move sets vs good and challenging
• items and rewards are sparse and unoriginal vs cool and interesting
• combat is boring and repetitive vs the best 1st person combat ever
• replayability is non-existent due to boring story and enemies vs pick a different character and explore totally different decisions

And the list goes on.

I’ve pre-installed it so I’ll give it a go later. Only way to know is to play it - and that’s what GPU is for.

Watched a few YT reviews and it looks pretty Marmite so far; some love the combat, the story, the visuals etc, while others dislike them. Getting Veilguard vibes, not as in it’s the same type of game, more regarding how it’s being received.

Will probably pre-install it and give it a go on GP. Not sure I’m going to like it, but I felt the same about Veilguard and kind of enjoyed that more than expected.

I watched some playthroughs earlier and the animations looked very stilted/clunky. I wanted to like it but found it hard to watch TBH.

Somehow managed to set aside some time last night to do the prologue in KCD1 (which I bought months ago for about £3). Didn't connect with it at first but reminded myself to slow down and acknowledge it's a slow burn. Started to get it at the end of the prologue (those who've played it will know which scene I'm referring to), so I'm going to continue when I can and see how it goes. This seems the most logical approach rather than throwing £50 at KCD2 for now.

@gollumb82 I bought Ryse for a fiver a while back but the game wouldn’t install past the menu page. Hope you have better luck.

No time again this weekend for any game play. Have watched a few YT vids on KCD2 this week and I might be swayed to buy it soon. Have way too much life stuff to sort out first though.

Yep, I think there’s a particular audience for this and they’ll love it. The rest of us won’t have the time or the patience or the desire to invest the hours necessary to learn the ropes and get the most out of it.

Would happily play a demo as a taster, but I’m not forking out the RRP.

Kudos to Warhorse for achieving what they have and wish them every success.

Can't finish Indy until my 80yr old MIL comes round because she's so invested in it.

So, I'm continuing with Veilguard. Paying more attention to combat, ie primers and detonators, combos etc. Lots to like about the game and not going to dwell on the negatives for now. Reckon the gameplay might get boring after 20+ hours though.

Managed to squeeze in a couple of hours of Veilguard last night. Enjoying it more than expected. Really fluid feel (although combat can get a bit messy) and the ongoing chatter between your party makes it quite immersive. We know it’s not DA in the purest sense, so I’m approaching it from a more casual perspective.

Heading away now for a few days so no gaming for me. Have fun y’all.

@burntends She’s bonkers TBH. Enjoy your time with Indy and go at whatever pace works for you. I can’t invest the time I once had but sense the side quests are generally worth doing if you have the time and curiosity.

Hoping I can wrap up Indy having arrived at Ur on Christmas night. Been playing a few hours this week with my missus and 80 yr old MIL watching on and being completely immersed - both can’t get enough of it and have been staying up to 2am with me!

Most enjoyable game I’ve played in a long time, with each of the 3 main chapters ramping up the fun and cinematics - eg some real tension and jump moments in Siam once you’re past the cog stuff.

BTW: my MIL is not a normal 80 yr old 😜

IMO I feel Indy is more of an experience than a game, maybe a bit like Hellblade. Dialogue, scripting and cut scenes add to this and are absolutely next level. Plus the risk they took on going 1st person has really paid off.

Just started playing Elden Ring for the first time, and not liking it as much as I expected. DS3 is one of my favourite ever games so I figured an open world version would be on another level, but something about it isn’t clicking for me. It might be the open-ness of the world.

Will wrap up Indy over Xmas - that’s my GOTY.

Indiana Jones. Defo my GOTY.

I’ve gone with Indy as my number one too. Highly polished - and not without its issues - but none of them detract much from the overall experience which is refined, immersive and properly Indy-esque.

I've just reached the airship and have to admit this is far better than expected. Incredibly thematic and cinematic, environments are stunning, puzzles are pretty good (and sometimes satisfying), scripting is great, voice work is excellent... and the gameplay is solid.

Stealth, combat and enemy AI have been talked about a lot, and they're a mix bag TBH. Thankfully they make the game easier if anything, which at least means progression isn't halted.

High production values for sure - proper Indy vibes throughout and fun to play. Possibly my GOTY.

Player 30 mins after release last night. Whilst it's too early to comment on the game per se, the first person vibe is far better than I expected - feels weighty but responsive (so far anyway).

I've been tempted to get the early access upgrade via CDKeys for £22 but TBH I've got too much other real world stuff to get done.

IIRC it's available in the UK from Sunday at midnight, so I might stay up late and see what all the fuss is about.

@Rangers420 I had no idea Veilguard had dropped that much. £39 for Xbox which is very tempting. Ta for the inadvertent PSA.

It really does look great on the walkthroughs and I'm starting to convince myself to pick up the premium upgrade for £22. Would like to know more about the Giants DLC first though - nothing really available online so far.

Games are subjective, and not everyone is going to feel the same vibes. I can see the reason for scoring it a 6-7 if the combat is clunky, the stealth is repetitive, unimaginative bosses, and the world becomes a slog to explore. I'd probably feel the same, especially as I have neither the time nor the patience to commit to that time of game. AC Valhalla? I loved the first 20 hours or so, but quit because I didn't want to do another 80 hours of the same stuff - even though IMO it was still a highly polished experience.

I watched some of RadBrad's playthrough this morning and it looks great. But I also think it'll be one of those games where I'll get bored once the honeymoon period is over, regardless of how fantastic and thematic it looks.

Luckily I'll be able to play it on GP, which for me is perfect because I'll probably put 10-20 hours in and call it a day.

I'll have to uninstall STALKER 2 first, which I can't say I'm unhappy about. Didn't do it for me.

Really hard to know what Indy is going to be like. Not going to pre-install it in case an equally big update/replacement comes out around launch day.

Trying to keep myself busy with BG3 whilst waiting for the reviews to kick in.

Please let the first-person POV work.

Got a bit tired last weekend with DA Inquisition becoming a bit repetitive, so I tried Stalker 2 but didn’t get on with it. Yesterday I went back to Baldurs Gate 3 (via GeForce Now on my M1 MBA) to pick up wheee I left off after 25 hours in Act 1. Really enjoying it again, and having to experiment with all the spells and cantrips to remind myself how they work.

Concerned with the 1st person view more than anything. Just played the Tainted Grail Fall of Avalon demo (same view) and found it too floaty and janky. I’m sure the budget and skill behind Indy will be far greater so hopefully that’ll demonstrate itself.

Going to dip back into STALKER 2 this afternoon to see if I’m feeling it more than before. If not then it’ll be back to DA Inquisition or Witcher 3 tomo night.

Was hoping to get access to Veilguard on EA Play Pro but found out yesterday that it’s only for PC users.

Bugs aside, STALKER 2 isn't going to be to everyone's liking. I'm not sure what to make of it from my own play time. I reckon it's likely I'll get frustrated and bored in a few more hours at most. The dialogue and storytelling isn't up to much, and the game mechanics are not what I would normally enjoy. I want to like it but don't think I will.

Not sure what to make of it thus far as it's a real mixed bag. Great atmosphere at times, but some of the design choices and bugs are taking me out of the game. The bloodsucker thing in the prologue was infuriating, plus some kind of stick drift or weird sliding around with no control, quest updates not updating or just being out of sync, markers not updating, getting attacked by invisible 'things', enemy walking alongside me not attacking, etc.

Obv the bug fixes will make a difference, but I just don't know if the game design is my kind of thing.

Feels like a game for hardcore STALKER fans and those who like hyper-real / tactical / survival games where you have to be patient, work things out, be prepared to fail (a lot).

I'll have another play over the weekend and see if it grabs me.

Shout out for the Ukrainian voice work. Sounds great, but it does mean you have to pay attention to the subtitles, ie that's one more thing to process when you're in a gunfight etc.

EDIT: on the flip side, this does feel like the devs have created a real labour of love. I hope they patch the bugs (and maybe listen to feedback from all types of players)... because for some people this will be an incredibly immersive experience and their personal choice for GOTY.

All the PC reviews on YT are saying the same ie bugs and glitches etc. General gist is that the game has potential to be a great survival RPG, and whilst it is playable, it's better to wait for a while.

Like others have said already, would love a Black Flag 60FPS remaster or remake.

Put a fair few hours into Syndicate on my PS4 Pro a few years back. Loved the Victorian vibe. Not sure I could start again on my SXS for the sake of 60FPS, but it’s certainly one to add to the ever-growing backlog.

Heading off to Skellige in Witcher 3, alongside gaining some side quest power points to start Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts in DA Inquisition.

Did have a go at Origins a few days ago after hearing so much positivity around its storytelling etc. Doesn’t do it for me unfortunately - dialogue feels stilted, combat is clunky and the overall experience IMO is very 2010s.

Am curious about dipping into Veilguard via EA Play Pro, even if only to experience the combat and environments. Keep telling myself to invest more in Witcher 3 and Inquisition first though.

I picked up AC Origins Gold for £10 and Mass Effect LE for £5. Have some others in the wish list but not in any hurry.

Glad you guys are bigging up Veilguard. I’m still put off by the more childish/lightweight tone, dialogue and handholding. It looks great in many ways, especially the combat. I may well drop the £50 or so at some point - I can always sell it on if it’s not for me.

Hoping to put another couple of hours into Witcher 3. Doing some side quests and monster hunts to escape the Novigrad stuff. Hoping to get to Skellige soon.

Have fun everyone

I have Veilguard pre-installed but none of the reviews or playthroughs are convincing me to part with £60. Will wait a while. Have gone back to Witcher 3 - still an incredible experience even after all these years.

Hmm, this is receiving incredibly Marmite reviews so far. I like your take on it and I have it pre-installed, but I'm going to wait for a few other peeps to do their walkthroughs and feedback before I make a decision.
I'm still working through DAI and part of me wants to return to DD2. I also know that if the vibe around Veilguard is genuinely up there as a 2024 banger, then I'll probably drop the cash and jump in.

@Retrokingdan Mirage is a very tightly put together AC game IMO. Baghdad and surrounding desert areas are incredibly atmospheric. Parkour is sticky - in a good way - a lot of the time (just hold down one of the buttons IIR). Quest markers and knowing what to look for can be a PITA, and frustrated me the most.

Hopefully a couple more hours of DAI - I think I’ve wrapped up Western Approach.

Dipped into Fallout 4 last night. Mechanics haven’t aged well compared to similar games of that time. I kind of like it but don’t know how much more I’ll invest in it.

Hopefully wrapping up Crestwood in DAI and continuing with the main quest.

Bought this a few months ago but it wouldn't install properly. Can't remember exactly what happened, but the game wouldn't launch. Seems to be a known issue that can't be fixed for everyone.

Installing it now and keeping an open mind. Not sure the cartoony visuals are doing it any favours, but I’m prepared to dismiss that if other elements are strong.

Currently putting a few hours into DAI for tue first time and there’s a lot to like about it.

Squeezed in some AC Mirage before everyone else got up this morning. Really liking the pace and vibe.

Thinking about dipping into Dragon Age Inquisition when I’m next free. I know it’s a behemoth but I’ve listened to some podcasts around the quests and am curious.