Just started Dragon Age Veilguard. I LOVED Inquisition and was excited to hear it continues the story.

I am struggling a little bit. So far it's very "and then" in its storytelling and I'm finding it hard to see the connection between all these people, the blur of locations it's throwing at me, and how to connect the two. It's a bit ADHD compared to the previous game and I'd like it to just slow down a bit to let me enjoy what's happening. We'll see how my feelings evolve as I get through the game...

God of War (2018)

I'd been meaning to try the series and wasn't sure where to start, nor do I usually play hack n' slash games due to them bashing and mashing my fingers. The same for beat em' ups. God of War on the other-hand seems to respect the fact that I do need my fingers and the axe being throwable essentially adds some much needed range. The rotation is simple R2 (throw) Triangle (boomerang it back to Kratos's hand) The first thing I noticed was how good it looks and performs. That's difference between playing so many ports, simulators and janky strange titles, you forget how well a game built for a specific machine plays on that specific machine. I'd just deleted Dragonwilds (my previous post) because it definitely wasn't built for console and when it was ported over they ported over a memory leak too. That was the moment where I decided to switch games and go for something more stable and highly recommended.

Performance wise the game is fast, responsive and it did very well with it's PS5 upgrade. It's running in sixty FPS, 4K and 2160p, it looks beautiful, it feels smooth and I've seen not one stutter of frame drop. One of the most impressive things so far has to be the lighting and the textures, particularly skin, fabric and gear. Facial expressions are also top notch. The combat for the most part feels tight and has a great flow, from throwing the axe and calling it back so that it tears through an already stunned enemy, to letting Krato's rage meter hit boiling point so his fists do all of the talking. For some reason dodge was defaulted to the cross button, changing it was hidden away in gameplay options, I'd been checking controls. They'd called it invert evade so I'd been struggling with the dodge button and instinctively pressing circle once a threat indicator notified me of a fist coming towards my face or an inbound high velocity projectile. I like the gear system, the menu isn't all that overwhelming. It feels like that older approach to upgrading and skill selection. There seems to be plenty of drops from both enemies and the environment itself. There is no shortage of chests for Kratos to punch his way into either. The man never heard of a key.

The score is perfectly composed and weaves itself like a fine tapestry throughout the story, combat and exploration. I should have known it was Bear McCreary, I know his work through 'The Singularity', a concept album that involved some of my favorite bands/musicians like Gojira, Meshuggah and a couple of others. He had a live European tour too but other than Wacken all of the other dates got cancelled, I probably heard his music at the Sony Live show too and again didn't know it was him. The more I listen the more I can hear his particular influence and presence in each piece. I'm really enjoying the story too, the dynamic between Father and son is something I haven't seen in a game before. Kratos seems like and acts like a grumpy ogre of sorts but the tremendous voice acting perfectly conveys his genuine care for his son. It's been a busy weekend though so progress-wise I'm not going as fast as I'd like, but don't want to rush it either. I might eventually try Ragnarok too, after all of these upcoming games and this one of course.

@GirlVersusGame I'm glad you're enjoying it and saw some of your thoughts in the comment on the main page of the site too.

They did such an amazing job of keeping the core of Kratos' character but completely reinventing the game too, particularly the combat. Plus, there are plenty of little nods back to the old games for long term fans. The Leviathan axe is such a cool weapon and feels so great to use. The skill tree for it is really good fun too with some many different options to augment your play style. The semi open world works really well with some slight Metroidvania elements with areas and enemies to come back to later (fair play to you for beating those three guys who you were well under levelled for!)

The Norse mythology was such a great setting too and I can't remember a bad character from the full roster across the two games either. The mythology is such a vast subject but it seems as though Santa Monica did their homework and respected the lore. I read Neil Gaiman's book on the topic afterwards which was interesting to hear some other parts to the lore and bits that contribute to the game too.

It was cool that there was also a fair bit of endgame stuff too in both of the new GoW games too. The optional boss fights in 2018 are great fun (I'll avoid naming them just in case they can be considered spoilers), although pretty frustrating at times too, and the two optional realms were fun too.

@GirlVersusGame The Leviathan axe is new for this series. In the original series the signature weapons are the Blades of Chaos which are magically attached to him as a servant of Ares, the God of War. They're much faster than the axe which lends itself to the more hack and slash style of the series.

The Norse games have a much more mature and in depth story which is a real strong point (and was somewhat of a surprise when it first game out) with the original games more a story of all out revenge. I didn't play the original two until they were remastered on PS3 and they had dated a little by then but they're still good games and the third was brutal. Some pretty epic fights in the games and they're quite short by modern standard so I'd still say they're worth playing at some point.

The armour stuff takes a little getting used to but just go with what seems to suit your play style best. Loads of the armour can upgrade too later on but it's pretty easy to change around what you're using so don't get too worried about it.

Oh, and the term "Metroidvania" relates to games where areas of the game are locked off until you obtain abilities later on. Classically something like wall climbing for instance. So things like the Guacamelee games are a pure example, Hollow Knight uses it heavily, while something like the Jedi Survivor games also uses it to a slightly lesser degree. Rougue-lite/-like is more based around a cycle of dying repeatedly but with your character making progress each run, and typically with levels that change on each run so Hades, Dead Cells would be classic examples.

I was able to platinum Silent Hill 2 remake before it left PS+ Extra in October, making it the first SH game I've beaten.

I'm currently playing thru Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, hoping to plat it before Sony removes it from PS+ Extra.

Finally here are the other PS5 games I've platinumed in 2026 so far, that I forgot to mention in here.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage - March 28
Sand Land - May 19
LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy - May 27
Red Dead Redemption 1 - June 15
Deltarune: Chapters 1-5 - August 21

Ah, excellent, didn't know (or had forgotten) you'd already played that one! Although you're right, if you're already struggling to get through some of the extended cutscenes in Snake Eater, you'd best brace yourself for Guns of the Patriots and its seventy-minute epilogue. I don't mention that to scare you, just to set your expectations. I think you're right, pick your moment and meet it on its own terms. Did you struggle with the pacing in Sons of Liberty at all, or do you think it struck a better balance?

I'll be honest with you, I never gave the Hades games a second thought, although I have at least heard of them before. A strong endorsement from you is more than enough to get me to reconsider them, and so I'll do a little research when I'm next browsing around, thanks!

Again, I don't think I'm against the concept itself, more instances of its inclusion or execution where it feels deliberately spiteful and counter-productive. I'm sure Galactic Racer won't be the last time I ever stumble across it, given its popularity in modern game design, so it'll be interesting to see whether a like-for-like example in another game / series / genre works better for me.

***

@DemonStar89 Just wanted to wish you the best of luck with Dragon Age: The Veilguard and to say that I hope your opinion of the game has since improved. As somebody who rushed through its first few chapters, I totally get where you're coming from, but when I later slowed my roll and had a choice of branching quests, everything came together for me. Here's hoping it does the same for you!

As for me, when I wasn't engaging with the Godzilla festival in Sonic Racing CrossWorlds this past weekend, I've been playing Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered and having a roarsome time chucking skyscrapers around and melting tanks with my atomic breath.

I do agree with the criticism levelled at the new unlock system. There's a lot of grind, and I mean a lot of grind, and many of its XP and research project layers feel unnecessary. In a game so basic, it really shouldn't have taken me twenty hours to unlock its twelve playable kaiju (and I still haven't gained access to all of the arenas, either) but it's a credit to its "game feel" that I stuck with it and did so regardless, and that I'm sitting here tempted to boot it back up and keep working towards its platinum.

Hopefully it'll be enough of a success to get its sequels similarly remastered, as I'm a relatively new Godzilla fan and so missed them back in the day, and they're reportedly huge improvements. At the very least, I'd wholeheartedly support some cosmetic DLC skins for Goji. Would love to play as 1954, Late Showa, Shin, Minus, or Legendary Evolved. Or the Legendary MechaGodzilla.

I’m close to the end (I think) in Blood of Dawnwalker. I have 10 days left to save my family. I adore this game. I’ve unintentionally, but organically unlocked two secret endings already which have been cool. I’m really looking forward to how my story plays out.

I've come to the conclusion that God of War is huge, what started off as a simple jaunt up to the mountains summit has turned into 'I suppose I'll see what this side quest is about', and then I'm in whole new hidden areas playing what feels like a whole other game. The lake itself had hidden areas all over it and I'm not complaining, just very surprised. I'm also loaded down with gear/enchantments and back to 'what even should I use'. I think surely those areas in the teleporter room can't be as big as Midgard. I'm at the point in the story where Mimirs head came back to life and we have to do something with a chisel to travel to Jotunheim (the land of the giants)

• Also I cheesed more enemies that were hugely over-levelled. My trick was to run away and climb higher then when they climbed up I 'this is Sparta' them off the top and throw the axe at them, rinse and repeat until they were no more. It worked too.

@Kraven what happens after those days are up? does the game end?

@Kraven I really liked the game too! I still can't defend the combat (even after the patch) but just like KCD you learn to over come it! Have you tried Dualist difficulty? that's where you really have to lock in during the boss fights. I'm really curious to see the sequel (or whatever) because your choices in this game carry over, which is so cool.

@GirlVersusGame I’m not sure what happens after the time limit is up. I’m assuming you can still roam the map, and you’ll get a bad ending but I’m not sure. At first it seems like you won’t have enough time to really enjoy the game, but you do get plenty of time to see a lot of content.

@Oram77 I honestly really like the combat! It does get repetitive, but it’s still fun for me. I haven’t tried the Duelist difficulty. I might check it out during NG+!

@Kraven Oh yeah do it on NG+, I did when then wasn't a thing and you know how brutal the first 10 hours can be, well on dualist you get no directional arrows so you can imagine the deaths that followed 😬

I just saw a dead giant and he's huge, he spans across the mountains. I didn't expect that at all, or to think a giant was that big to begin with, it's really impressive this game.

@Kraven I didn't know it had an exterior game world until Ravix said it. I thought the whole thing played like From Dusk Till Dawn because I read an article and some parts were lost in translation. I thought the game takes place during one night in a castle and you have to survive until dawn while trying to at the same time reach the heart of the castle to fight what ever big bad is waiting there, a Master vampyre basically. I put it aside for a rainy day, it does sound good though, I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Warhammer Survivors PS5 and Raccoin PS5

I'll add some feedback later, it just went live on the PS Store.

Edit: After one-hour with Warhammer Survivors.

• What I like:

The music, the map, the enemies (especially the Elite/special enemies their buffs to their friends make it so much more threatening) the chainsword is a lot of fun especially when you start to increase it's size/power, the enchantments seem to go above the regular limit meaning Rares and Legendaries (I see blue and orange after the usual green boxes) I like that I can kite big enemies into the terrain so they get a little stuck and get chainsworded and bolt gunned. The sound effects are great when I can hear them over the music (I have it loud and blasting, it's very Metal) I haven't tried Raccoin yet, for obvious reasons.

• What I don't like: Nothing, it's so far perfect.

• The influence and aesthetic of Vampyre Survivors is hard to hide and I'm glad they didn't try to. It feels familiar enough to feel comfortable with right from that first run, but packed with enough new features/items/characters/enemies and power-ups to feel fresh and new.

Edit: After almost twelve-hours, wow this game is amazing. I might try Raccoin after this run.

It has a tutorial and I still have no idea what I'm doing, coins can mate with other coins, shoot other coins. I like the colours, aesthetic, animals, the coins, the sounds and the music but it will take some time to learn. Other things to note: CRT settings can be adjusted, pixels can be adjusted and smoothed, there are a lot of number settings/options but I need to try to learn all of that after sleep.

@GirlVersusGame I've started Vampire Survivors. 👀

Should tide me over until GTA VI day.

@JohnnyShoulder Oh brilliant. I keep forgetting they added it to Plus+ and it's crazy to think that there are people who can play it but still haven't. I wouldn't even try to offer tips because really the game tailors itself to the player and there's no wrong way to play it. I'd love to know how long your first run lasts, mine was (checks) I found it.

18/4/2026 Mad Forest
Antonio Belpaese
Survived: 07:53
Gold Earned: 322
Level Reached: 8
Enemies Defeated: 753

• For Warhammer Survivors

10/11/2026 Imperial Bastion
Malim Caedo
Survived: 20:30
Coins Earned: 2597
Level Reached: 23
Enemies Defeated: 8029

I'm playing Warhammer Survivors right now. God of War (the book) is almost over it's on chapter 48 at 7:54:22 of 9:46:40. I'm going to try 2000AD Slaine after this. Vampyre Survivors gets better and better, the unlock system makes each run so much more fun too, I don't want to spoil anything.

@GirlVersusGame I played it a couple of years back on mobile and got quite addicted to it. Had some late nights (for me anyway) playing it in bed on my phone.
I remember garlic being one of my go to weapons, and just have a few levelled up rather than a load of weak ones.

A good portal game too.

There are loads of Survivor-likes around at the mo, but have heard the Warhammer one is decent.

How do you find out your previous runs?