GirlVersusGame

That was a really good travel game on the Switch, I also need to add Fruit Mountain to the list. Right next to the recent Turnip Mountain, I liked the name and made a note. I also want to try a clicker game but don't know where to start, just something for the background while I do other things.

That's okay I keep forgetting to play the last one. It's one of those 'I need to play that' games which keep falling by the wayside and I'll probably never get to. I did like Inquisition and I have the originals on PS3 too. If anything I'd ask for remasters of the originals, there's definitely a market for the originals.

Sony are pushing vinyl the same way they are pushing physical in their music division because the label just like every other major music label is slowly losing control of their newer artists. Digital is a thorn in the side of the music industry. I spent quite sometime in that industry and listened, watched and saw just how desperate labels are to hold their own in that space.

Streaming is giving artists control over their work and most importantly distribution. Previously an artist depended on the label to get that music out there and to manage exposure in different regions. Now it's all digital and people are being discovered through streaming and social-media, areas that labels and studios are trying to penetrate because they want that talent for themselves. The alternative is to push the material they already hold the rights too, especially in vinyl. It can look tone-deaf to anyone who is approaching this from just their games division but this is something that's been happening in their music division for quite some time now. I saw it with many major labels, streaming is slowly strangling the music industry. Vinyl and other physical formats are their way to maintain the balance.

With gaming Sony can say 'we're making hand over first with digital, we can control and hold a monopoly over distribution' and then announce they are killing physical. With music they can't.

I respect the fight but I'm not unplugging my console for a week. Not making purchases on the PS store/digital store-front makes more sense. Gaming shines a light into my world, I don't need to sabotage that with a blackout.

@DennisReynolds Thank you but part of it is admitting that you can, no other game makes base-building as easy. I'm not sure what level you are but after that sixty mark you'll start to see a lot more sets and decorations. I usually spend some time with sketches/notes before I commit to a build. One big achievement was when the Developers of one game wanted to make one of my builds a point of interest in an update but it was made on console and they needed a PC file. It's called 7 Days to Die, the original PS4 version was an early Alpha (even on Disc) and was torn apart by reviewers. Which I agree with, it was a scam to dupe console players. PC was updated, PS4 wasn't.

The PS5 version is about eight-years ahead in patches. It's a great game but crafting and building take a lot longer. Some of my favorite action in a survival gaming too. I was in some buildings for hours fighting and looting. The Developers redeemed themselves in a big way. Kind of a secret too and very hidden on the Store.

That's all custom, all I had was a hilltop to work with. It took weeks of gathering, crafting, and there were so many hordes to deal with, I like the results. It's fully defended for end-game, layers and tiers of automatic guns/mines/CCTV activated turrets with 360 coverage, it can go into automatic lockdown and is 100% safe from anything that game throws at it. The wiring almost finished me, there's a maze of cables buried under the hill and I had to do it all with a shovel. I was digging for days and nights. There are farms for food, water, cooking, an airstrip for my gyro-copter, garages, living and work-spaces. I'd never been contacted by a Developer before then, someone saw some screenshots on Telegram, they ended up on another site and eventually I was asked for a PC file, it was the only time I kicked myself for playing on console. I have so many bases and builds on that game but it's too addictive so I've not been back in months.

@Northern_munkey Hopefully a speedy recovery, he's rocking that Marathon aesthetic too.

@Ravix Rub it in (races) the one from the original game was impossible, I watched someone do it on Youtube over and over again, I'm pretty sure he was high at the time and over and over again he did it with no problems. All of the comments were asking what he was smoking, they couldn't do it either.

@Northern_munkey Thank you I couldn't help it. I hope you and Bozzer have a good weekend of gaming planned, I'm going to guess Marathon because my PC friends are running around on a new update too and had some really good things to say. (I just saw you mention Avatar) I do want to try Blueman Group Far Cry but I've yet to watch any Avatar movies. I paused my Cameron consumption after Titanic and now there are multiple Avatar movies. Far Cry Primal is a lot better on PS5 than it was on PS4, it looks a lot like Avatar, so I'd be interested in seeing how well they did with Avatar. Mandragora looks great too, I hadn't heard of it until now.

@Onearmbandit Long time no see, are you rocking any Metal to accompany your gaming journey this weekend? I'm mostly going with Sabaton for all of the raids in Palworld. It looks cute and cuddly but there are guns, lots of guns and Sabaton compliments the battle.

@DrVenture69 Glad to see you stuck with Graveyard Keeper and I still don't know if that's with the DLC? Those add so much life to an already packed game. We still have the second one to look forward to later this year too.

@Mr-Cage Glad to hear you're giving the series a try. I was joking about combat by the way, it's like Ravix said manageable with more and more practice. But I did get constantly murdered until I put a couple of hours into the training feature, and of course switched to warhammers and maces. You are in for an incredible journey.

I've been hearing some disturbing reports this week from the land of Palworld. Apparently players have been (checks notes) treating their Pals poorly. There are countless incidents of overworking and two of the main culprits seem to be @guacguacboo and @DennisReynolds. The conditions are too dreadful to mention so I decided to build a tower/resort (that absolutely isn't hiding many ore processing and lumber sites, nor is it housing an assembly line of everything from jewellery to assault rifles and guided missile launchers)

Here at the Hotel Paliforniya we offer only the finest accommodation for our visitors (workers) including luxurious beds and beautiful vistas of the bay (and the oil-rig to remind them of the job) high quality hot springs (for when their backs give out) Fully stocked bars (potions, hot-milks, anti-depressants) Kitchens stocked with only the finest cuisines with meats sourced locally (from Pals who attack me and leave me no choice but to shoot) They can try our delicious Munchill Steak, Pancakes, Grilled Lamball and of course various varieties of cakes (for when they suffer mental breaks/depression and need a Sanity boost) enroll them in our fun filled Expedition Centre where they'll run dungeons to their hearts content (x100 at a time, forever on an endless loop of loot) we're protected around the clock from pesky raids by a battery of rocket placements and machine-gun nests (Sabaton too for morale) so safety shouldn't be a concern.

• Bring your Pals today, our AI systems are waiting to take your booking and are programmed to receive. At the Hotel Paliforniya you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

This is my second build for 1.0. My brief was simple enough, to use elevation and for the interior Fusui 風水 (Japanese Feng Shui) to create a free-flowing, open and bright space for my Pals to enjoy. As with all bases I don't like the idea of taking Pals from their lives and enclosing them in captivity so I try to focus on beautiful comfortable surroundings. Elevation has (is/work in progress) allowing me to build tiers of production, bedrooms, facilities for relaxation and my current project a fully functioning Japanese village that contains an abundance of crops (I need to feed fifty Pals) little houses with kitchens for cooking, dining areas, flora to suit the region (cherry blossoms everywhere)

I also built a library for myself and I'll be putting in a pent-house that doubles as a Buddhist temple, for my second residence. Possibly a landing pad for my flyer Marina Raskova (Night Witch from WW2) Feng Shui was also used to better control the natural pathing of the A.I. and to better control the movement of materials and items. All of my bases are small passion-projects, this one is no exception, I really don't want to rush it so at the moment it looks rather scuffed but it's getting there. And that's about it, happy gaming weekend Folks.

• Also there are currently no residents yet hence it looking empty of Pals. I'm level 60 and I get raided three times per hour, I'd rather not play Die Hard in my own tower.

@Oram77 I really hope people jumped on when it landed on Plus+, it took Ravix telling me to play it (for months) before I did, it's incredible but I think the combat put a lot of people off. I kept reverting to fencing techniques and got absolutely murdered by the game until I found the warhammers and maces. Technique went out the window.

That's how my screen looked for the majority of early game. The memories though, like finding a hidden door and using it to sneak down the hill full of loot. The mill was so close, then I tripped, broke both legs and slowly expired. The game was full of memorable moments, and surprisingly enough accommodated so many play-styles. I borrowed everything not nailed down just like Skyrim.

@Mr-Cage Yes, you'll get beaten black and blue and be dragged kicking and screaming through combat and in the end you'll thank WarHorse. It's a hard game but patience pays off, the humor is some of the best too.

It's gorgeous too, the world is really beautiful. The lighting, the landscape and it really does do those parts of the Czech Republic justice, I'm sure the movie will too.

I'm sticking with what I originally said. Sony had the physical market to fall-back on when LizaRdSquAd and Guardians of Peace took them down the last time. People don't like hackers and get that but ethics are taken seriously on that side of net and what Sony are proposing to do with the physical market really is painting a big target on their back. Sadly the customer too. And those are white hats, both rarely collaborate, now both sides see what Sony are doing as serious.

It was only last-week when I was in a chatroom over there when someone dumped a pack of U.S. Army tank schematics (secret specs) in the room, for the LulZ and to protest their military presence in their region. Just a drive-by, I didn't know them. Again today too music from an artist that I love but unreleased and for sale to the highest bidder. I mention music because that too has gone digital and the system the Industry use to share files was once again compromised. I don't trust that Sony entirely understand what a digital only system could do to them if it does suffer massive downtime. Nor do I trust that they can protect their infrastructure, or their customers.

I'm definitely stepping up my retro preservation.

@Americansamurai1 There's no word of a hack in any of the usual places. I was the one who mentioned a lot of people, both East and West who are disgruntled about Sony's choice to kill physical as it does impact censorship/government regulation/etc. I also said Sony need to prepare themselves for a breech or attack on their digital deliver system, but no one's taken responsibility for what's currently happening and responsibility is a big part of doing it in the first place. Reputation is everything with those groups. Better to wait and see.

@Oram77 True, I really like how good the dropship looked too, it's a shame they never did something with Predator for DLC. And if you haven't tried Dark Descent you should, it's really faithful to Aliens, the sound library, lighting, the weapons, it's really impressive that they actually pulled it off. I played it at launch and it had a lot of problems, by the time it got to Plus+ it was sharper and a lot more responsive. A guide does help though, at least to get the right team composition. I'm hoping it's a franchise that keeps getting good games, I played the PS3 one not long ago and oh boy was that something else. I never finished.

@Oram77 When I saw the thumbnail I thought it was a sequel to Aliens Dark Descent, my heart skipped a beat for a second. The original was clunky and slow to start but it got much better with the right unlocks and items. Fireteam was good too but I think it might need a co-op playthrough to shine, my AI team were pretty awful. Hicks would do a better job in his sleep than they did fully awake and pumped with adrenaline.

This whole article is like taking a hit of concentrated happiness. The joy behind one train route is something that's been missing in the gaming world for a while now. I like that I was placing cherry blossoms in Palworld at the same time too.

@For-Kier You're probably right.

But there are almost nine-thousand game related books and collaborations, reference books, gaming history books. Many of peoples favorite games have tie-in novels that they aren't even aware of. Assassins Creed has stacks of them, Deus Ex, Dishonored, Dragon Age, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Diablo, Metal Gear Solid.

Edit: I should probably mention that Cyberpunk novel by the Polish novelist Rafał Kosik, he also worked on the script for Edgerunners. It's one of the best tie-ins I've read (audiobook) I wish it had been made into a DLC. There's a whole new wealth of additional content in so many of those official novels. That Mortal Kombat one 'Round 1' was one of the best books I've ever read to sum up gaming of the time, it talks about the impact the game had on the world, censorship, politics, the fans. Dark Souls 'You Died' is another great one, easily the best companion book I've seen for a franchise.

Marvel need to prime themselves for this climbing the download charts, they could have made more money on this by simply releasing a physical in-store copy. It's going to get ripped like the rest of the service. Infamous Special Edition had a whole comic built into the packaging, that's how you do it. Or just package a small comic in the box. Every publisher who's gone digital has had their entire collection ripped and shared.

@Oram77 You need to try Alpha Protocol on PS3. I played it a while ago, went by the box-art like so many random PS3 games I bought and didn't expect the absolute janky wonder that Obsidian had created. The dialogue, characters, it's really something.

@DennisReynolds With a little Grand Theft Auto thrown in for good measure.

@guacguacboo If are new to survivals you might enjoy Abiotic Factor. It doesn't get a lot of attention but like Palworld has humor and respects your time with the game, it has fully customizable world settings too so you can go at your own pace. The whole game is one big love letter to Half Life. What surprised me was how well the story was implemented and how fun and intuitive it was to loot and gather materials in an interior, and not like a traditional survival game. Deep Stranded, The Long Dark, so many focus on being in the wild (like you'd expect) but Abiotic Factor did things differently and it really shines because of that. It's on Plus+ if you are ever stuck for something random to try.

I'm going to provide a couple of small tips for anyone new to the game and to the genre.

A big one like I said is storage and item sorting. The easiest way is to place your container and add whichever item you want stored. Once you get a Transport Pal (cardboard box icon on their stats/traits) you can just hit Drop in your player inventory and they'll do the rest.

Turn off Decay settings (set it to zero) it won't affect trophies but it does mean building outside of your base, high walls especially for when raids start. It also prevents a rookie mistake, building a base without placing a Palbox. If you do it without the Box your base will start to silently decay and you'll wonder why you fell through the floor or are buried under rubble.

Don't discard lower level schematics (blueprints for gear) eventually you unlock an item that allows you to combine them for Epic/Legendary versions.

Once placed a Palbox allows you to fast travel from anywhere in your base, some Folks run to the box and use the button, it's not necessary, others run to a nearby Eagle statue.

Use the guild chest to store food, it won't spoil there removing the worry about freezers and so on.

Merchants can be grabbed and zapped away into a Pal sphere (yes Humans) but it's seen as an illegal action and the game will send reinforcements to kill you. I captured them too. There are the wanted stars, just like Rockstar. The reason for catching a merchant is simple, ease of trade without going far.

One for building. Use the Triangular wall if a wall isn't playing ball or if you want to clip it through terrain, just use the replacement tool on that placed wall and you should be good to go.

Food matters, try to focus on food with high Sans (sanity) they'll get depressed less.

Don't stop with just one of each type, you'll eventually unlock the condenser and be able to combine multiple Pals into one making them Godly. Place the Statue of Power as soon as possible. It allows you to upgrade your stats, your Pal's too.

Use the Expedition Station as soon as you unlock it. Place the Pal Gear Station as soon as you unlock it too, saddles are hidden in the Technology Tree as are many things. Make a habit of scrolling up not just down, many items have prerequisites.

The Ring of Mercy is the best way to grab Pals. It will stop you from killing them and therefore increasing your catch chance. I can blast them with a rocket launcher and with the ring they stay at 1% HP.

Hacking Stations offer some of the best rewards and are easy to find and complete.

Wooden Bases can burn, most Folks learn that the hard way.

Another sneaky food trick, if you don't want food spoiling and you are very lazy use the sort button in your player inventory, it resets the timer, even in 1.0.

Don't sleep on the Pal Labor Research Lab either. It's a great system that allows you to unlock upgrades like faster task completion/faster expeditions/it's one of the best additions to quality of life.

@RomanRiz I absolutely agree and also spoken dialogue which I understand comes down to localization. I've seen people write music for the game, fan created just like Rimworld and if they can do it then the Developers should be able to. You probably notice it more coming from other games, I use Spotify for most games so it's not as obvious but to a new player it definitely would be.

@RomanRiz I listen to Spotify as I play or rip books from my Audible account and play them through the consoles music player. It's never had much of a score. It ramps up when you start a battle, it was more subdued in early access though, it's a little more apparent now. The same for NPCs, there are a lot more now, merchants/traders etc. The original build of the game was kind of barren, not sterile but there weren't as many Pals or biomes.

Great review and I love that someone on here played it and did a write-up. I don't usually do this but I just paused the game to clear some small things up.

Bloated number of items and workstations.

• This is true but a lot of those workstations in the Technology Tree exist as replacements of the previous. So for example the forge, the updated versions allow the crafting of both older materials (iron) and newer (reinforced iron, Pal metal) it appears bloated when it's taken at face value. The same for crafting materials, of which there are many but crafting can be automated as can storage of all those items. When I return from a dungeon I drop it all on the floor and a Pal scoops it up and sorts/stores it. Another gets crafting underway and I relax.

Lengthy level up grind

• The fastest and intended way to level are story dungeons and the capturing of new Pals. It's possible to gain one level by capturing three to four (if they are your level) Right now one-hundred of my Pals are off running dungeons and getting experience. It's done by an item you can unlock called the Expedition Center.

Poor terrain texture resolutions

• True, I'm at the moment building yet another new base. This one is really tall and the game is arguing with me about render distance. This on the Pro too, my PC playthrough looks flawless.

It gets a little smudgy down there, compared to the ground and it looked a lot worse last year, it's definitely improved.

Occasionally janky traversal

• Traversal improves with upgrades to your grapple, and glider, the Developers put a lot of emphasis on mounts too.

Like a lot of games, especially survival there are tips and tricks, mechanics too that make the game easier or harder on the player. Palword will respect peoples time but it will devour it too, there is a lot under the surface and unlike most games base-building is very intuitive and not at all demanding in materials. I'm basing all of that on two-thousand hours with the game, they've been adding to it with each update but 1.0 really is the best way to experience it.

@Ravix I forgot to mention I finished tower, it's bigger than expected and still needs an interior, I can actually see it from my other base. It's become an almost point of interest on the map. I'm going to put in a pent-house and live there too.

Also Simon why are you watering your crops yourself? (In the picture) If you pick up a water Pal and throw them (gently) at the plot they'll do it for you, that little elephant you see in the starter area? that's what they are for. Others will plant, harvest and even cook those meals.

Unicorn Overlord is one of the best games ever made. I say that as someone who used that game as a way to test the genre, it took my life over for an entire week. It's absolutely brilliant and you'll be kicking yourself if you miss the opportunity to experience it. Honestly one of the biggest losses for Plus+ this year.

Wildlands was one of the last multiplayer games I played, it was really good with a responsive team that communicated. Then I played it on PC with the real life Mods (it looks incredible) and solo, it felt like an entirely different game. I'll try it again with the update, Breakpoint on the other-hand was a lot like Payday 3. The Developers replaced so many human threats with drones so I stopped playing. The story was all over the place too.

@ShadowRJ If you have a copy try it with the update, it's a really good game even solo. I played The Division with a group and solo too, Wildlands was so much better. It allows for real strategy and planning, it's more like a series called Operation Flashpoint. It pays to plan ahead/use reconnaissance and rewards using your brain. The story is great too.

This sound good, a lot better than expected.

@lacerz People need to try them more, I did a couple of months ago and was won over by Everybody's Gone to The Rapture, Edith Finch and of course The Invincible. Each one did something differently and really shone with their scores and soundtracks.

There we go, some love for Ignite. It's so niche that I know already who the other vote was without even having to ask them. I'll probably try Smurf Far Cry too. I've recently heard good things about Citizen Sleeper 2, too.

Indie Developers are the last people who need that hate, and probably the first people who do want a physical box sitting proudly in their office. The ultimate 'I made this'. It's on Sony for being well aware of their current reputation and instead of running damage-control ignoring the situation. Someone over there has to know that if their official page tweets something it's going to be a platform for that kind of behavior, or they simple don't care. It certainly seems so.

They need to start preparing for a cyber-attack, their choice to kill physical is seen as unethical by a lot of people. It does affect freedom, censorship, regional availability, people depend on that escapism and platform to connect with others outside of those strictly controlled regions. All it will take is one group to decide to show Sony what happens when their digital delivery system is taken away. They had the physical market to fallback on last time, if it happens again they won't and they'll hemorrhage money. I did have a lot of respect for the company, but not when they are making all of the wrong moves. burying their head in the sand won't work.

@Ravix I almost didn't get the screenshot I was laughing at the same time, I hadn't seen it before. Such is the way of sub missions.

Other players can invade and there's PVP if you play on a multiplayer server but you can host your own solo world too and not have to worry about player raids. Invites are done through a code system and every setting you can think of can be tweaked (at all times)

The game itself will raid you with human enemies, the Pals get stronger but it's easy enough to stay on-top of and as your base grows you get to add more Pals to work/defend it. Even if I didn't have those guns once a raid started my Pals would stop what they are doing and fight. One of them is as big as a London bus, he alone could probably turn them to dust. He's a boss Pal, you can capture those too, even humans. Humans are harder but if you manage to capture a merchant he'll stay in your base and open a store.

Resources are easier than any other game I've played. This man Bushi for example, if I'm out and want lumber I just summon him and he starts slicing (you can have five in your party and summon whichever you need at the time, good for elements like fire/water/mining/flying/etc) The second one Digtoise will make short work of ore nodes by spinning around, both of them do their thing and I just drink tea or reply to your post, then when they are done grab the materials.

Thank you it's taken some hours. That one base has an iron, coal, sulfur, tree farm. Once placed the ore are infinite and you no longer have to worry about it. I need to craft some antidepressants though, it's possible to overwork them. Moods are easy to manage, good food, hot-tubs, some pettings, a little murder, their needs aren't much. There's also a placeable for dungeons. Called the expedition center, once down you can use it to send x100 Pals into a dungeon and then come back and collect all of the loot. They get experience too and even if you are away from your base they'll all keep working.

I think the Developers understand that not everyone likes spending their time punching trees and kicking rocks, it's a balance of adventure and forced labor. This current base will probably be my home/farm for food. I'm growing berries, wheat, tomatoes, lettuces, potatoes, onions, hopefully carrots next. The Pals plant, water, harvest and sort it all, they cook too. Technically I don't even have to sort my loot, just drop it on the floor and one of them will come grab the items and put them in each container. I've moved onto shipping containers, there's that much.

It's a really easy game to pick up, but very hard to put down. My Partner was standing behind me for I don't know how long a couple of nights ago trying to get my attention but not wanting to jumpscare me either so he waited, and waited, and waited until my concentration finally broke, I wasn't even fighting a boss, just decorating.

Another goal for the weekend is to catch an Anubis he's amazing for crafting. Oh and you can build factories for even more items/gear. I tried to catch that Anubis but he was twenty-five levels higher and he hit me so hard I died in one shot. Then walked away. I think I'll aim to craft a gattling gun or flame thrower. He's really strong.

@Marquez You mentioned the game recently too and I was really close to reinstalling. I haven't played it since launch day. I started around nine in the AM and it was deleted by about midday. I'd played so much Civilization 6 and every DLC, over and over again conquering the entire planet and each playthrough was fun and challenging. Especially the Eco DLC since it loves to crash on console. I only ran into one or two bugs in the new one but the whole game felt so barren. Also the forced switch really didn't feel like something I wanted to embrace. There was a lack of Leaders too. I think I might have to move it up the list (there is no actual list) I'd love to see the game redeem itself. I was so excited for the game that I even watched the Developer streams but didn't realize they were talking about the future of the game not the current release build. I probably wasn't being realistic in my expectations and I doubt Civilization 6 launched complete either. It sounds like you are really enjoying it and to call it a comfort game is definitely high praise.

I'm getting it done early this weekend instead of Sunday night like the past couple of weeks, so here goes.

It will probably come as a shock (not really) but Palworld again this weekend. The latest update brought me back to the game in a big way. It's packed full of new content and it's been a lot of fun to start again with nothing. That struggle is a big part of why I play survival games, few other genres really make you earn the basics which makes them a little niche too. As with every playthrough I immediately focus on base-building. All I had was an axe, a lot of trees and a crude sketch of what I'd planned to build drawn on a sketchpad. The foundation went down first and the rest followed.

The build like all builds started to really come into it's own with every new material/resource I found or unlocked. The raids started fast and I was hit with everything from ponies to the oh so deadly Relaxasaurus, don't let the name fool you he can wipe a base if he gets in there and starts stomping around. The Relaxs stormed the beaches with superior numbers but we were ready with superior fire-power. Those are machine gun nests, I'm working on missile defense.

It's been adventure after adventure and I've lost count of how many times I set off to farm a certain material or to capture a certain Pal and then got side-tracked for hours, and come away with so much loot and new Pals. The goal at the moment is to properly furnish my new home, I started in the bedroom and I'm working my way down each of the five floors. It's one of what will be many bases. Soon I'll start to work on one for mining ore, perhaps a farm for crops too. then there's the matter of unlocking the rest of the technology tree, dungeons, the story and capturing the other two-hundred Pals who are running around out there. Or breeding Pals, combining Pals to make even stronger Pals, tweaking traits, basically going endgame. That's about it, happy gaming weekend Folks.

@Ravix You'll appreciate this. He tasked me with finding that and giving it to him. I searched everywhere and couldn't find one to give.

@8th_Observer Thank you I just saw, I need to scroll down more. Fallout 3 was the first RPG I played then Oblivion. The person who recommended them introduced me to both on the same day. I didn't know what a developer or publisher was, I thought Bethesda were a regional body that released games. It's a thing in Eastern Europe, one company will publish for example every Ubisoft and Blizzard game along with many others. It helps with localization, that's what I thought Bethesda were.

Then I started playing both and kept finding similarities. It wasn't all that long ago, after that was Fallout 4 and then New Vegas. Skyrim is harder to nail down, I own four copies or five, they released it so many times on so many systems and as much as people don't like that Oblivion Remaster I got about five-hundred hours out of that one. I had to stop playing because it was becoming addictive. I did run into bugs but so did the community and I found fix after fix by simply asking people. It became part of the adventure.

My biggest problem with Starfield was that I already had a reference point for a space game, and it worked. I'd played a lot of No Man's Sky, experienced update after update, watched the developers improve the game in ways that no one ever expected. It became a template for treating the players right, expanding on a literal universe and listening to player feedback. Then I played Starfield at launch, I had expectations, I fell for what was genuine deception in their advertising and decided to go back to No Man's Sky.

Someone above mentioned Star Trek, I haven't seen it. For me it was about the planets, flora and fauna. I was there for the exploration and base building. No Man's Sky offered infinite of both and when I played Starfield (at launch) I felt like I was in that Willy Wonka Experience they did in Scotland where the actors looked like extras from Breaking Bad. My eyes felt starved of colour, it was so sterile and broken.

Disclaimer I'm not hating on the game nor do I want to get into some kind of back and forth about the game in it's current state. Someone tried to do that in a previous (long) thread about the game and I had to block them. I'm happy about where the game is now, and might return to it one day. I've seen some people defend it to the point of sounding feral, all while others had genuine grievances. All it did was put me off returning to the game, completely counterproductive. If you are going to defend a game and want people to play it? listen their feedback and then form a response, maybe they'll gain a new perspective and try it again. I've seen only two sides to Starfield, people who hate it (they have their reasons) and the ones who will literally fight you to get their point across and try everything to tear your opinion down. Valid or not. Hopefully these updates cut down on some of that nonsense.

Good for them. I played it at launch, then again with various updates. There was promise and potential that at the time I never saw realized. It sounds like they turned things around. Now they just have to remaster Fallout 3 and all will be forgiven.

Edit: I just refreshed and saw multiple Fallout articles.

@Starkei Other than the decapitation you just described Palworld perfectly. I'd almost be tempted to try Rise now, other than Sekiro I never dipped into the Samurai/Ninja roster of games. If it has repetitive enemy camps to clear then that's a bonus.

@darylb24 I don't suppose you tried the other Fire Simulator game they added to Plus+ before? or Police Simulator? The Fire one was really buggy and janky but if Police Simulator is still available you might want to give it a try. You start off writing tickets but soon rank up. It's fun running after perps or illegally stopping and searching citizens or their vehicles, yeah you'll get reprimanded at the station (especially if you taze them) but it's worth it. You can shoot people too but they have to draw on you first. There's a call-out system and you even get to investigate accidents. It's an easy enough platinum too, the hardest was to catch a certain amount of cars in speedtraps but there are guides online for where they find the perfect catches.

The vehicle models are really good too. It's still smoking as I'm mirandizing them. Ignite has driving too, and you get to chop through walls with axes. Those games might sound boring to some especially Ignite but growing up it was illegal for women to be fire fighters (old Soviet law that lasted until a couple of years ago) I think it still is for construction work, labor laws like that are really strict so I like experimenting with simulators that offer at least a look at the profession. Previously there were about five-hundred banned jobs, now it's more like one-hundred but it's rising again. It's basically to protect reproductive capabilities, we only allowed women train drivers a couple of years ago. Hence why I played Train Simulator, and then found I really liked it. Either way it's good seeing someone else even mention Ignite, they are usually the lowest rated on Plus+ polls after the games are announced but I always give them a click.

@AgentCooper I played them all but backwards. Second Son was first which I honestly remember nothing about, First Light which felt like a tech-demo to show a lot of pretty lights and I forget that one too except maybe I spray painted a wall or something. I remember climbing the Space Needle in one of them too, everything else is a blur. I'm sure they weren't bad games, I just can't remember them at all. They either never hit a cord or weren't at all relatable.

My favorite was the first Infamous but those trophies were painful and not in a good way. The collectables took forever and the stunt trophy required something so specific for the enemy to do and of course they wouldn't do it.

The game itself was brilliant and really well written. It made me care about each choice and play-style, the city was really fun too. A game like Spiderman 2 can throw together a really faithful rendition of New York but Empire City in Infamous actually had something to do there. It felt more like a graphic novel than a comic book, there was an edge to the game. I think it was a game of the time and that's why I liked it. The morals of the game were black and white, right and wrong were easy to follow, it didn't complicate things and I appreciate that. Which is why I'd prefer to play a remake than a new one, if Sony pushed modern concepts and trends that I didn't understand I'd probably turn the game off.

I suppose I prefer those dated tropes and archetypes that many of those early 2000s games did offer, most of the music I like is from that era too and the soundtrack was great too. I don't really trust modern Triple A studios after those Spiderman games but a remake would be day one. Wolverine probably will be too, I'd rather watch a hairy armed man run around with claws than be preached to by whatever Spiderman 2 was, the last half of the game was great but the first half was dreadful. At least compared to Infamous. It's probably an unpopular opinion but Cole (without spoilers) didn't have an easy life, the game tackled real themes and vulnerabilities but intelligently and all Peter Parker did was complain, Myles was more interesting. It's extremely rare that I relate to a character in any game, if it happens a connection is made and it gets etched into memory and Infamous is. I admired the character, his history and his sacrifices, I'm trying to avoid spoilers, they just don't make games like that anymore and what I'd like to say about it I can't.

@AgentCooper Congrats.

@TheDarts We'll never get that lucky but I remain cautiously optimistic, it's shaping up well.

@SuperSilverback Which is exactly what I thought, but then I saw Palworld and calm set in again.Also Roblox only has eight trophies? I have all of the InFamous games on disc and don't remember any online trophies. Only one trophy for the game sticks out in memory, the one for all of the stunts which sounds straight forward, it took me three nights.

I feel bad for anyone who doesn't get the From Dusk till Dawn reference. Considering someone said (for Rogue City) that they hadn't watched Robocop, it's possible.

I'm there for another Fire Fighting Simulator, the AI was awful in the last one. The worst I've seen in a long time. Surely Ignite must be better. It's the same Developer as Construction Simulator which was really good, I ended up playing the DLCs too. Possibly Eiffel 65 Far Cry too, though I'd probably have to finally watch the movies.

I'm still waiting to finish Soulstone Survivors (which just got a free update) in some ways I prefer it to Vampyre Survivors, blasphemy I know but it's so good. Then there's Halls of Torment and it's DLC (both in the sale right now) and Army of Ruin. Arriving late to Survivors meant there were so many updates and extra DLCs to support the Developer. I think I can hold off a little longer for Crawlers. I tried also Spirit Hunters and a couple of others but it was Soulstone Survivors that really kept me playing.

@PaperAlien Depending on when you bought your PS5 you might have a copy of Monster Hunter World in your library. It was part of the PS5 Plus+ Collection and my introduction to the series, I couldn't stop playing. Absolutely brilliant game.

I have less than zero interest in the Call of Duty series but I am genuinely curious why when I looked at the store today both were half price for Plus+ members. Why does my subscription entitle me to that much of a discount when someone without would have to pay twice that? It's ridiculous enough not having demos free but that pricing is pure predatory.

Also loving the mini-review format, and the personal POV.

@CheesyOatcake If you get stuck again there's a great content creator called City Planner Plays. He uses his actual profession to teach tips and tricks and he's very beginner friendly. My first few cities turned into chaos, now I'm a lot more confident with each playthrough and a lot of that came from watching his videos. Evolution 2 is really good, I didn't expect much either but when I realized I had two copies it made sense to move it up the list.

Palworld is extremely addictive, I told myself I'd spend an hour to go gather ore, three-hours later and I'd gone through multiple dungeons, captured some great new Pals and collected so much loot. It's really easy to get sidetracked. Pro tip though, disable structure decay in your world settings. If it's enabled structures you built will slowly despawn over time unless they are within the radius of your base. It's something that gets all new players. Once you unlock and place a palbox you'll be able to claim the land properly but many people don't realize that, they then build, and can't figure out why they fell through the floor. I was building a bridge base the first time it happened to me, the foundation was the first thing I'd placed so it was the first to despawn. My whole base came down and buried me underneath.

@The_Elder 35hrs sounds about right, I better not say my hours. Relaunched has the DLC so you're all set. Like a lot of Paradox games we had to wait for each DLC and then like Relaunched they finally bundled them all with upgraded performance and graphics, especially for Cities Skylines.

I still need to try Stranded: Alien Dawn, I was ready to and then found Space Engineers, those next couple of weeks went by fast, I'll have to go back and try it. I love colony sim games but they often go unnoticed on console, many still don't know Rimworld is on console. If Dwarf Fortress ever makes the jump I'll switch with that game too. That's if I ever break free of Palworld. Have you played much of Cities Skylines or Jurassic Park Evolution 2, the former is challenging for newcomers but is a lot of fun once you get to grips with the basics and the Industry DLC is a game changer. I thought I wouldn't try Evolution 2, then I did and got hooked. I had to rewatch all of the movies again too, it's a really good game.

There's only one answer for me this weekend, Palworld 1.0. The game feels better than ever and I've already found and captured some of the new Pals. I've said it before but if anyone was on the fence (over the years) now is the time to jump in. It's a lot more forgiving when it comes to time spent on things like gathering and resources. The reason being each Pal has worker abilities. For example one will plant crops, another will water them, the same for harvesting and you can set what materials/resources go where, in no time at all the basics like food/stone/lumber are covered by automation. Combat and exploration too, they can fight, fly, gallop and so on. My Fox below doubles as a handheld flamethrower, then there are guns lots of guns. The world feels fully fleshed out now too, they added so much.

I haven't done much with building on this new playthrough yet. It's mostly all wood but it's coming together nicely. My home is located on the middle plateau between two waterfalls, great for defense too, eventually the raids will come. I like to focus on the aesthetics and so gone for a kind of Japanese kabuto helmet shape for my home. I haven't been playing enough to unlock stone, but soon hopefully.

That's about it, happy gaming weekend Folks.

@The_Elder Great choice, in a sea of Black Flags this jumped out. Are you playing the DLCs too? It's really satisfying turning the Red Planet green. It's a shame the trains weren't a little more interesting, Surviving the Aftermath is a lot of fun too but more brutal in-terms of events. It's a little like Frostpunk, just not as hardcore.

From my last playthrough.

@anubisvel And it's had a lot of players since then too, I've been on 1.0 for a couple of hours now, it's still the same game but feels more beefy. The worst early access survival game I played on Playstation was the earliest Alpha of 7 Days to Die, I still have a disc copy, the Developers removed it from the store. If you play it today it's the PS5 version and up to date with PC, it's barely recognizable and that too just had a significant update for Summer. It turned into a great game over many years, Palworld was great from the start.

@naruball What I meant about easy materials, I only had to hit that tree once and my new Pal decided to take over. He's one of the new ones from 1.0 but lots of them do logging, mining, water crops etc, in my previous playthrough they manufacture assault rifles and other weapons. That's something the game does really well, automation so you can go explore/etc.

@naruball Did you try For The King 2 after? I've done two runs so far. The first ended after four-hours, I lost all my lives. The second went so much better, really good gear, many levels, artifact weapons but I wasn't paying attention to the campaign and at turn 94 the game auto ended. Having the right classes really helped too, Ranger, Blacksmith, Herbalist and I unlocked the Astrologer. I'll probably try a third run eventually. Those early reviews don't reflect where the game is now, I really enjoyed it. Also getting materials in Palworld is easy. Survival is my favorite genre and Palworld is one of the easiest for gathering especially when you can use Pals as slave labor. I have camps where they mine etc, the same for food, they do all of the work so you don't have to.

He's called Depresso for a reason.