March, 2024

10

Restarted more than resumed, really. Just 30 minutes in, the last time. Gotten a good chunk now, though, so looking like I'll keep playing.

It's doing some interesting things so far to keep me engaged beyond triggering some pale version of nostalgia.

February, 2024

10

Finished

It's a great game. The production is more impressive than Control, no question, but I think I was slightly more compelled by the actual events in Control's story. So I kind of come out of this having enjoyed both of them about the same.

The Final Draft thing is a little quirky. Not sure I'm quite on board with needing to replay the entire game to see the "true ending". But since I don't actually need to do that, I'll let it slide.

I know one thing. I'll play the next Remedy game.

Finished

08

maybe halfway. Remedy really have done excellent work here. curious how they're going to tie up all the ends on this one

also looking forward to coming back in five years and playing it at native resolution. DLSS is capable tech, but the amount of artifacts is still rough

07

Started

Kinda alright? It's just compromised by a presentation that's... nothing. You could practically do anything given the source material, and I don't think they took much of a risk.

If I exclusively cared about gameplay, I'd probably have a decent time. But I like risks.

Started

Started

Finished

I always appreciate when someone is clearly executing on a specific idea. It's admirable.

I'm not always able to communicate with that idea, or maybe it's being conveyed in a language I understand. But that's alright. Not everything's for everyone.

This does next to nothing for me, in other words.

Started / Finished

02

hope they figure out a shader pre-compilation process
Alright, ready to start this thing. It's honestly trivial in the grand scheme, and I'll be the first to admit that, but for a game that looks this incredible, I just couldn't stomach the atrocious LOD pop-in.

After confirming it wasn't some quirk with my setup, and was in fact universal - people apparently don't see it, lucky bastards - I found out FlawlessWidescreen has a memory patch that lets you increase the limit. Non-zero impact to performance, but at least geometry that's next to my feet isn't changing quality as I move. I still think it's a little surprising more people haven't flagged how aggressive the pop-in is. All 3D games have it to some extent, this case just seems unusually extreme.

Part of me really wishes this shit didn't bother me. But it's also kinda cool to be playing an even better-looking version of the game.

For posterity: https://flawlesswidescreen.org/ - Main software is old, but the game-specific plugins have been updated. Simple installation, just needs to run concurrent with the game.

January, 2024

I don't see any STALKER here at all. It's more or less an uncluttered path from HL2 to this. Not bad, just not especially compelling.

23

Yeah, not really having enough fun to keep playing.

22

Started

People are understandably forgiving of indie games that position themselves as spiritual successors to games from a bygone era.

Because aside from the very basic aspects of moment to moment gameplay, this is all deeply uninspired. I don't think it's doing anything sufficiently better than FEAR. Which would be fine, but it's been 20 years. Without some kind of hook, it falls flat.

It's fine! I just want more than fine. Of course, I like first person shooting so much that I'm sure I'll end up finishing it regardless.

Wish they could've gotten some good writers for it. Not that FEAR was a bastion of storytelling, but they were trying something. This... isn't so much.

Started

20

Through no fault of its own, I dropped Elden Ring a month into playing it, roughly 100 hours deep. I have returned.

I guess it makes sense, I ended up diving back into the first Dark Souls four years later to round it out, and on that scale I'm not doing so bad.
Appreciate what this is trying to be, but I disagree with some of the choices they've made. And I don't think I have the patience for a player character this agonizingly slow.

16

Finished

Really good. Might pick it back up at some point to do the challenge mode.

Almost didn't play it due to my lack of familiarity with the series, but glad I did.

Finished

13

One of the most delightful games I've played in a long time. And kinda unbelievably gorgeous with raytracing and HDR. As someone who's never played a game in this series, the combat is doing a lot for me. Simple, definitely, but fundamentally elevated by the presentation.

11

1:00:54.35
didn't have the timer enabled, and just happened to throw in the towel at exactly 1 hour. those 60 minutes and change pretty much vanished into the ether. fun little thing

my eyes are tired now

10

Relatively sure I can see why people love it, just not connecting with me.