Topic: Games you've recently beat

Just finished Papo and Yo on PS3. I've been wanting to play this game for almost a decade and now I have. The game is fairly good, besides from heavy frame-rate issues. It has a lot of good ideas and fun puzzles to solve but it's a bit all over the place with its direction. Fortunately, the ending wrapped things up nicely. So overall, I enjoyed the experience. I'm glad that I finally got to play it after all these years of wondering what the game is like.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs PS3.
It was fairly easy 3D platformer game from DreamWorks franchise.

Just finished Onee Chanbara Origin on PS4. Never expected to play this game. I honestly didn't even know it existed until I discovered it on PS+ Extra. I recognise this series as I bought one of the entries on Wii when I was a kid but I still haven't played it yet. So to find out that they've released a remake of the first two games, I just had to play it. And I'm glad that I did! It's a very fun game, the combat is reminiscent of Devil May Cry/Bayonetta. There are different combos, when you dodge you build up a meter for special attacks, you can parry foes, you unlock different weapons and you can even switch between two characters on the fly later on. The story and the characters are fairly good as well! The major issue with the game is its lip-syncing, of which there is none. Characters will stop talking but you'll frequently see their mouths move. It definitely gets annoying but it didn't ruin the experience for me. Anyway, if you're looking for a decent hack 'n' slash game, I'd recommend checking out this one. It's also very short, it only took me around 5 hours to beat.

When you read about this series, you'll find out most of the games pretty much suck. It's a low-budget franchise, you might even go as far as to call the games shovelware. But Origin seems to be considered the best game in the series so far and I'm glad to see that the developers are finally turning the franchise into a decent one. After having played Origin, I'm actually quite tempted in checking out the other entries. The third game is backwards compatible on Series X, so you can buy it there digitally. The fourth game is on Wii, which is the one I already own. And the fifth game is on PS4, which you can also get digitally. So I might continue playing through this series. It's pretty dang fun hacking and slashing away at zombies.

Resident Evil 7 and 2. RE7 is really a great horror game.

Just finished Trials of the Blood Dragon on PS4. I can't believe I haven't heard anyone talk about this game. It's awesome! It's a sequel to Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon but it's a Trials game instead. Although it's not purely Trials gameplay. There's also platforming, shooting and everything in between. The gameplay is incredibly varied and the story is just as 80s and bonkers as FC3:BD. It's just so much fun and it's crazy to me that not many talk about this game considering how many people loved FC3:BD. It's definitely a hidden gem and I highly recommend playing it. It's on PS+ Extra and it's only a couple of hours long.

Just finished Astro's Playroom. Excellent game! You can clearly tell the developers had a lot of fun creating it. There are just references to franchises and PlayStation history everywhere. It's also a fun 3D platformer with tons of variety. I absolutely loved it and I think I'll actually go for the Platinum trophy. Shouldn't take more than one hour to grab the last dozen trophies.

@LtSarge
Agreed. What a wonderful joyous gem of a game, and for free too. A great way to start out life as a PS5 owner and a nice introduction to some of the Dualsense features. I can't remember another game that made me grin as much as when I played through that one... and I don't usually go anywhere near 3D platformers!
Don't remember that plat being too much extra effort, and the activity card vids showing collectable locations is pretty useful as I recall.

@sorteddan The thing is that consoles rarely come with a free game. The most known "recent" example would be the Wii with Wii Sports and that game was fun as well. Games like Wii Sports and Astro's Playroom are so appreciated since you want to experience all the features of a new console with a game that showcases them. Astro's Playroom goes above and beyond that.

I'm really hoping Team Asobi is working on a fleshed out sequel. Very talented studio! Which shouldn't come as a surprise since it's also the remnant of Studio Japan.

@LtSarge
I remember getting a SEGA Master System that came with a free game. It was Alex Kidd. A long long time ago!

@sorteddan Altered Beast that came with the Mega Drive. Always thought that game was awful.

@RogerRoger If they do make a sequel, I don't expect them to continue the theme of celebrating PlayStation's history. That feels like something they only did for this game since it came packed in with the PS5. The next game should just be something on its own entirely. I'd still enjoy a game like that a lot!

Just finished Here They Lie on PS4. It only took me about 3 hours to complete but it was such a great experience. It's a horror game and I have to admit, the first hour was absolutely frightening. You were constantly running away from enemies as they were everywhere. There were plenty of jump scares and they were all so good.

It's a very surrealistic experience and the more I played, the more I didn't understand what was going on. But that's honestly my favourite type of horror game. Plenty of scares and bizarre scenarios. I love it! I highly recommend playing this game.

@LtSarge Unless you plan on sending us your PSVR headset, I'm good.

@KilloWertz You don't actually need PSVR to play the game. I think it was PSVR exclusive when it first came out but now you can just play it on your TV, which is what I did.

I don't even have PSVR nor am I planning on getting the headset. Horror games are frightening enough on their own. I would never play them in VR, lol.

You could also check if you have the game in your PS+ library if you've been adding titles to your library for a long time. I think I got it through PS+ maybe 6-7 years ago. Always wanted to play it and I'm glad that I did now!

@LtSarge I was going by the listing for the game here, which hasn't been updated.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I know I don't have it. I only add something I think I have a chance of playing most of the time, and I would have skipped it if it was listed as a VR title at the time. There was also about a year where I stupidly didn't pay a whole lot of attention and didn't add anything while I was using my Xbox One X exclusively for a long while a few years ago or so. Not sure if the times line up, but it is another possible reason.

@KilloWertz It sucks that it's not clear that you can play the game without PSVR. I'd wager a lot of people skip the game because they think they need the peripheral. Well, it is what it is.

@RogerRoger That is true. Sony has something good here, they just need to give Astro a proper shot instead of only using him for "demos" so to speak.

Just finished Bound on PS4. Very short game, it only took me two hours to complete. Even though the game is short, I did feel like it overstayed its welcome a bit. It's a very creative game, but the gameplay isn't the most appealing once you've played a few levels. I'm still glad that I got to experience it as I've had my eyes on it for a long time now.

On a side note, the trophy list sucks. The game has almost 30 trophies and I only got one during my entire playthrough lol. You don't even get a trophy for finishing the game.

@LtSarge Or maybe you're in the minority that think it's actually good.

Seriously though, it almost has to be what you said that people probably don't know that they can actually play the game. That and it's a small game, and sometimes they get lost in the shuffle even if it is a Sony published game. I would have never known it existed if you didn't mention it.

As for Astro, I agree. Given how much love the VR game and then the PS5 one got, there's no way a full fledged PS5 game wouldn't be a hit. Just please make it a regular PS5 game and not another VR game.

Just finished Erica on PS4. Another short game, roughly two hours long, but it makes sense with this one considering it's an interactive movie. At first I thought it would've been better to just watch this as a movie. But you do make enough choices towards the end that change the outcome and I ended up with a good ending, or at least one that I was happy with. When it comes to choice-based games, I rarely get a good ending on the first try. So it made me very happy to do so with this game and it enhanced my experience a lot.

I remember playing a game called Hidden Agenda on PS4, which is a similar game like Erica. They were released as part of Sony's "PlayLink" initiative back in the day where you control PS4 games with your smartphone. Anyway, when I played Hidden Agenda, literally every choice I made was bad and I probably got the worst ending that you could get. After that point, I was completely upset with the game. I got the impression that they didn't make it clear what was good and bad. You could make a bad choice but there was no indication of it beforehand. I didn't have an issue with this with Erica because the game gave enough clues about what's good and what's bad.

So yeah, this playthrough could've been an absolute disaster just like with Hidden Agenda. But it wasn't and I'm very thankful for that. Really glad that I got to finally experience this game!

Dead Space. It was a such a great remake. It rebalanced some of the weapons in the best ways, added a few features from DS2 in the best way possible with the impalement, and made adding Issac as a speaking character so natural that it didn't feel like the conversations were really even changed, and I say that having played both within a year of other, but months apart, so not close neough to remember each word, but enough for something off to feel odd.
It kept all the best parts, and just updated some of it to really match the original vision even better.
I really hope DS2 gets a remake as well.

Just finished my second playthrough of True Colors, this one being my first time on Steam Deck. Feels kind of a waste to cram all those gorgeous visuals and incredible facial animations down to a handheld screen, but I had experienced in its full glory once already and this became like a bedtime story for me this time around. Usually playing around half of a chapter before going to bed.

I contemplated doing a full review of this, but I feel like I sorta have so much to say and nothing to say about this, all at the same time.

I'm in my 30s now, I grew up in a world of art and nerdy *****. Because of that, I've been blessed with consuming a LOT of media in my life, and getting to experience some of the best works in mediums or genres at a young age. The by-product of that though now I'm older is a weariness of feeling like I've experienced everything before, and as such a lot of media just kinda washes over me now. Something to fill the silence when I'm eating my dinner, swiftly forgotten about the moment it is over.

It is because of this, that when things even make me feel just a little, that feels special these days. When something makes me feel as strongly as this does, and as often as this does, I can't help but just fall in love with it.

Like, you can tell me it is badly paced, or messily plotted, or anticlimactic, or full of smoke and mirrors or whatever, and maybe I agree with all of that. But I also don't care. I don't care, because I laughed until my belly hurt, I cried until it hurt, I cried through sheer joy, I grew a deep sense of connection to these characters and this place.

To me, that matters more than anything.

As polished as your title may be, as refined as its mechanics may be, if it doesn't make me feel anything at all, then what is the point of it?

@LtSarge It'll never be considered a great game, but I loved Erica when I played it back on the PS4 when it originally came out. It was my first FMV game, and while I have yet to play another one since, I will always regard Erica higher than it's Metacritic score and be glad I played it.

@Pizzamorg I can't say I got that emotional during my time with True Colors, but it will always be on my list of the special gaming experiences I've had on my PS5. Granted I loved both Life is Strange and even the often disliked Before the Storm, but I thought this was easily the series' best and an overall really well done game.

I know some have just dismissed it as a walking sim, and I get it that these kind of games aren't for everybody, but obviously I don't mind these kind of games. Something different from the usual blockbuster game is never a bad thing if it has a really good story with really good characters like Life is Strange: True Colors or Detroit: Become Human, two gaming experiences I would put up there with some of the blockbuster gaming experiences I've had.