Topic: What (Non-PS4) game are you playing??

@BentIeyma That makes sense, I wasn't even sure that the first game ever had a Playstation release. Or that a PSone could be modded, I do know if I use Alien Resurrection with my Playstation One I can force the console to stop then switch the disc out for copied discs. It has a hidden developer exploit that lets the official retail disc function as a boot loader for burned backup CD-Rs without needing a physical Mod-chip. So really it's the same thing. I haven't used it for that, my aim with Retro is preservation, sometimes I play them too, but have to balance them with wanting to play other games. There are only so many hours in the day.

• That's the game, I'm not sure people know it can be used to do that.

I think with Diablo 2 it filled the kind of gap that Diablo 4 didn't for me. I wanted to play a Diablo game that was simple in it's game-play loop and that didn't seem huge. It's really the RNG that held me back, the difficulty balanced out with the right items but getting them to drop was easier said than done. I really liked Diablo 3 too, it was a kind of Vampyre Survivors for me long before I'd found that game, numbers, loot, colours and so on. Also on the microwave, one time I saw something chrome in a person's picture so I asked if that was a car. I've seen them in living rooms before in Dubai and China, they turned around and said it was a washing machine, we both laughed and then they gave me a goPro tour of their kitchen. I'd seen kitchen appliances in The Sims/Project Zomboid/etc, just not in real life. I've never used either appliance either but I know my way around most Retro consoles so that's something. Do you play a lot of older games and when Modded is it just a case of downloading an original file/burning it to a Disc and then playing it? Did you make your own Diablo box?

@Tjuz So I've played Well Dweller for a couple of more hours and now I'm having mixed feelings about it.

The good news is that I don't find the game nearly as hard as Hollow Knight anymore, even on Normal. The boss fights actually get easier and easier. It takes me 2-3 tries before I beat them, compared to Hollow Knight's boss fights which could take at least a dozen tries for me. Not to mention that the boss fights aren't that long and you can easily cheese your way through them by spamming, even if they still require a lot of attention in order to avoid their attacks. Their attack patterns are very easy to remember.

The bad news is that you don't get a sense of progression after a couple of hours, which is a very serious issue for a Metroidvania. Let me first compare the game to Super Metroid, a well-executed Metroidvania:

You're constantly finding upgrades in the form of missile tanks, super missile tanks, power bomb tanks, energy tanks, armour upgrades, beam upgrades and so on and so forth.

In Well Dweller, you rarely find anything of worth while exploring. The main items you find are trinkets, which are perks you equip to limited slots, and trinket points, which open up more slots to equip said trinkets. The problem is that the trinkets aren't really that interesting or feel that meaningful. I've equipped one that increases my damage output, upgraded it several times so that the damage output is significantly increased, and I feel like I don't even do that much more damage to the enemies. Even enemies from the starting area still take several hits before they go down.

Moreover, I rarely feel like I'm making progress in this game. The main goals in this game is to collect golden feathers in order to get access to the final area as well as saving your siblings. I've cleared three areas now, done three boss fights, and only found one sibling as well as gotten one upgrade. This is a very serious issue because you're supposed to be rewarded for exploring and clearing areas. You really don't get that in this game. Not to mention that the recent upgrade I got is very stupid. Now I can hover in the air for a second. Great, the protagonist, who is a bird, is now able to fly for a second.

The thing is that the previous upgrade you get is one that lets you fly indefinitely when there are upward wind drafts. Why couldn't they just combine both of these upgrades into one, i.e. a hovering upgrade? It doesn't make any sense why the protagonist suddenly can fly in wind drafts but not fly for a second when there aren't any. That's also how it was in Hollow Knight Silksong, i.e. you get the hovering ability, so you can hold down the jump button to hover at any time and you could also use it to fly upwards in wind drafts. On top of this, I haven't been in a new area with wind drafts since the first one that had them. So what was the point in separating this into its own ability? It's just so stupid.

But to go back to my previous issue with progression: it really is discouraging. I mean, Metroidvanias are typically very addicting to me because I'm constantly being rewarded and constantly getting a sense of progression under a short period of time I might add. Now it just feels like I'm walking around endlessly without making any progress. I'm clearing areas but my character isn't getting any stronger. I haven't either found any health upgrades or ammo upgrades since the start of the game. The entire game design is just baffling to me, considering how progressive and modern the game has been otherwise.

I'm still finding enjoyment from this game. It's a very cozy Metroidvania: the music is really soothing, the environments are very relaxing to be in and the enemy as well as boss designs are unique and frightening respectively. It feels like the perfect October game in all honesty, which is why I want to keep playing it. It's just embarrassing that it excels in all areas except for being a good Metroidvania.