PWB September 2025 - OK you win

No-one liked my idea of having a single ongoing PWB thread so let's go back to the monthly threads.

Play

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - still working my way through this, my word it is absolutely huge isn't it? I'm really enjoying it though, it feels like I've finally realised what everyone else was raving about all this time. I keep trying to follow the actual plot but getting sidetracked by random stuff constantly. This seems a lot better than Breath of the Wild to me, or at least it's more gamey: more things to do, more side quests, just generally a lot less aimless, and while it's not exactly gone full Ubisoft, it is far more to my tastes than the earlier game was.

Donkey Kong Bananza - yes it's fun but I'm a bit surprised by how well it's been received, launch game over-enthusiasm maybe? It's firmly in 7/10 territory for me, while smashing stuff is entertaining and there is plenty to do, the awful camera is a constant problem and there's far too much stopping and talking to uninteresting NPCs when you just want to get on with playing the game.

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - a mash-up of two game series that have been really neglected lately, why aren't we getting regular new instalments for both of these? This is really surprisingly good, it's an excellent Phoenix Wright game with the investigative sections replaced by Professor Layton-style exploration and puzzles, all set in a mad medieval setting that's a real contrast to the usual games in both series. It's also the only Wright game not to have made it off the 3DS, and with the eStore closed and physical copies now stupidly expensive, it feels like an underappreciated rarity. Very good fun.

Want

I'd like some more Switch 2 patches for existing Switch games, mostly, as I feel there's a whole library there that I've under-appreciated. If they could start with Luigi's Mansion and the Xenoblade Chronicles games that'd be lovely, thanks.

I guess I am looking forward to Power Wash Simulator 2 (don't judge me) and Anno 117 Pax Romana the most, but we're getting into the Xmas silly season now so there's bound to be other stuff I've forgotten.

Bin

We've been quite light on flagshagging nonsense round here (it's a pretty diverse sort of area) but I left London at the weekend and almost immediately saw a load of tatty St George's flags and Union jacks strung up in random places. Fucking idiots.

I was fine with the idea, for the record! I do like the idea of capturing monthly thoughts in their own bubbles though.

I've started PW2 Justice for All and I'm not far but it's already a good game to be playing right now, I still think it's nice to play a game like this now where the whole point is that the bad guy commits a crime and you stop them getting away with it. A wide umbrella alot of games fall under, just not in the way Phoenix does it here.

Play

Metal Gear Solid Delta - Just play the Master Collection version, I am however, feeling like it's time to try the 3DS version of this timeless story.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance - So far this is probably like, my 2nd place in the GOTY running. It looks great and mostly it just feels really fun to play, it's not too difficult so far but you might need to wear a combo hat and memorise the game macros to use ninpo and ultimates and whatnot.

Pokemon Fire Red - #SANDSLASHSWEEP

Bin
We've been quite light on flagshagging nonsense round here (it's a pretty diverse sort of area) but I left London at the weekend and almost immediately saw a load of tatty St George's flags and Union jacks strung up in random places. Fucking idiots.

We saw a lot of flags on motorway bridges on our way back from holiday, and they've been festooning some of the estates near us (not our street, yet, but we'll see), and there was a red cross on a roundabout on the way to L's swimming lesson tonight.

It's so fucking embarrassing, and I'm actually not even from 'round here.

---

Play
Despite all the apparent dissatisfaction in The Community, we've been enjoying this season of Sea of Thieves so far. The Smugglers' League (is that what they're called?) could do with a bit more infrastructure - not getting any Guild rep for dealing with them is especially bullshit - but it's kinda fun having a group that you need to actively seek out again, instead of hanging out with everyone else on the same seven outpost islands.

Want
007: First Light is maybe the only thing I'm genuinely excited for. I just read that there's a State of Play focusing on it on Wednesday, which I'm hoping won't ruin it for me.

Bin
I'm about done with Sword of the Sea, I think. I've got two trophies left, and I think I could probably manage them both, but I'm not sure I can be bothered right now. Maybe I'll come back to it at some point, but Spoiler - click to showtrying to beat the last boss without taking a hit is incredibly tedious - it's a four-phase encounter, each phase goes on for far too long, and every time you do get hit, you have to quit back to the main menu, hit Chapter Select, and then sit through an unskippable two-minute cutscene. No thanks!

I was looking forward to Lumines Arise until I played the demo - but the music was crap, the visuals were overactive and distracting, and I just don't think they're ever going to top Electronic Symphony (AKA the best reason to own a Vita) for me.

What, you don't have several flags raised not just outside your home but also inside your own home?

Want
Several PS1 games are making their way to PS5/Switch/PC, the RE PS1 trilogy and now recently Fear Effect 1. But the ports have no upscaling options so from what I've seen Fear Effect looks crunchy as FUCK. I'm all for preservation and that but can we not also take into account where we are sending these games to? It kinda' sucks that it looks way better through emulation but I kinda' have to support this game especially if I want the sequel, which I really really do because both Fear Effect games are great, especially if you like classic Resi.

What, you don't have several flags raised not just outside your home but also inside your own home?

I think growing up in Norn Iron gave me a lifelong distrust of flags and those individuals who use them as territorial markers.

(I am aware, of course, that marking territory is probably the principal purpose of a flag in the first place, but that's on a national or diplomatic scale.)

Back at work now so too much of a shell for a long post, but I am back on Kotor 2 which is really a beautiful mess of a game. Really interesting story at time and great character writing, then all that is farcical the next moment.

As I am back at work I have made myself play 10-25 minutes per night of the massive stack of Nintendo DS games I picked up last month, and that's been going well. I find something very charming and twee about finding and seeing other people's save data too. One of the touchmaster games we have the previous owners have put up some frankly insane scores, and then in the 42 classic games collection thing, the previous owner has inputted their name as "Deadly D" - which we found very amusing and constantly make jokes about.

Oh, I'm back to Dragon Quest 8 on the 3DS again after I somehow stopped halfway through (Probably the fact that I played DQ4 and 5 in a row before it) and despite how much time has passed, it's just like slipping into a comfy warm bath. I had to use a guide to remember where I was of course, but as far as gameplay goes it was like I never stopped playing, and in an instant I was reaquainted with all of Toriyama's iconic monsters and character designs and that feeling of adventure DQ just does so well.

As much as I love the Switch and ROG Ally, did love the Vita, there is something nice about playing on a DS/3DS despite it not having an amazing form factor on anything. I do think it's the dual screens.

What, you don't have several flags raised not just outside your home but also inside your own home?

I think growing up in Norn Iron gave me a lifelong distrust of flags and those individuals who use them as territorial markers.

(I am aware, of course, that marking territory is probably the principal purpose of a flag in the first place, but that's on a national or diplomatic scale.)

As I live near the border to NI and the Republic now (and lived near Belfast for a year) I agree 100% with this. The creeping appearance of English flags everywhere on the mainland as territorial markings should terrify people. Because at least in Ireland you see other memorials and reminders of where this sort of nationalism eventually ends up.

So I just loaded up MGS3 on the 3DS and it let use one of the photos of Yangus I took on DQ8 and make a camo out of it, how cool is that?

As much as I love the Switch and ROG Ally, did love the Vita, there is something nice about playing on a DS/3DS despite it not having an amazing form factor on anything. I do think it's the dual screens.

The 3DS is in a really weird place now because it's got an amazing library of games yet working hardware to play them on is becoming rarer and rarer. The unique features of the device don't translate well to emulation and the stereoscopic display technology is unlikely to ever be used for any consumer device ever again.

If you've got a 3DS (especially one of the New 3DS models that actually had the decent 3D support with eye tracking) then treasure it, it's a very unique way to play some really great titles.

I think this 3rd/4th attempt at Hollow Knight is going to stick, the slick movement is drawing me in again and I'm going to try and stay open minded about the map system. I am not trying to bumrush to Silksong or anything because why would I? Apparently Hollow Knight is an insane amount of content, I doubt I'll even wanna' play Silksong immediately after but who knows? I should see if I can acquire a taste for this game first after all.

EDIT - it's £16 on Humble, fuck it that's worth a leap of faith imo

Play
Clair Obscur. I'm late to the party but yeah this is brilliant. And it's brilliant for a very obvious, very copy-able reason; the turn-based combat zips along, and parrying is fun. Every game would be improved with a good parry option. Even Tetris.

Ryza 3. This is alriiiight, but playing it alongside Clair Obscur makes it feel very clunky. Plus I think I'm alchemy'd out. Might drop this.

UFO 50. I've played about half of the games now (some for mere minutes) and I've found some reliable favourites. I just wished Magic Garden liked me as much as I like it.

Gears of War Reloaded. Considering this is 20 years old (vomit) it hasn't really aged. I mean it's stupid, machismo-filled nonsense, but it always was. A sign that shooty action games haven't really moved on in the last 20 (vomit) years?

LotRO. I'm still surrounded by open plains and horsey men. I've been surrounded by open plains and horsey men for the last couple of years. I'd give anything to escape the open plains and horsey men. Probably Tolkein's fault for not anticipating the linear 'main quest' design of noughties MMOs.

Want
My littlest to stop waking up at 5.30am. And by extension, to enjoy my evenings, rather than going to bed at 8pm to catch up on sleep.

Aaaaaaaaah there it is, Hollow Knight starting to feel like it's disrespecting my time a bit, I remember now. It's whatever though, the feel of everything is just so sharp and polished that I am finding myself not caring that much, the last boss I fought of all people was Hornet (the protagonist of Silksong) and it was just one of the coolest metroidvania 1v1 boss fights ever, relatively speaking.

Combination Play/Bin: the demo for Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion.

It wants so badly to be Vanquish, but it isn't even close. It's so lightweight; the guns lack any punch in the visuals or audio and movement has no oomph to it. The soundtrack is pounding dubstep/metal, which sits completely at odds with the lethargic pacing of the interminable, constant-interruption cutscenes and persistent yapping of NPCs.

Can't believe there's anyone out there happy to have paid £60 for the full thing.

PLAY ARMORED CORE 6 INSTEAD

Pretty sure I'm locked in with Hollow Knight now, after like three or four tries I finally enjoy the game I always knew was there. I still think the first few hours are maybe a bit too rough, you go one way and not the other and you won't even have a Map function for several hours. Besides the general difficulty navigation is probably the main cause of people giving up, I know it pissed me off at first.

That said, someone tell me if I'm forgetting something huge but this probably has the best atmosphere in a Metroidvania since…. Super Metroid?

I just beat the Mantis Lords and they weren't hard but man, absolute perfect combat, it's like Mega Man Zero but more fun.

I couldn't get on with Hollow Knight at all, it felt 100% more Souls than it did Metroidvania. Forcing you to run back to a boss every time from a bench several screens away got old really quickly, and the whole thing was so hard it actively discouraged exploration. "Disrespecting your time" feels exactly right.

Yeah the atmosphere is second-to-none. The sound design in particular is incredible. Although agree about the game disrespecting my time, I gave up after a couple of hours.

Gears of War Reloaded. Considering this is 20 years old (vomit) it hasn't really aged. I mean it's stupid, machismo-filled nonsense, but it always was. A sign that shooty action games haven't really moved on in the last 20 (vomit) years?.

I played a tiny bit of this just to see what it was like, and I also had a similar reaction. In many ways it's actually better than some modern games, as it has a real kinetic THUD to every movement and everything makes sense within its fictitious gameworld. Games like Division 2 emulate it nearly exactly, but when you're a thin weedy soldier, rather than a 9ft steroid-muscled chainsaw wielding maniac it doesn't make quite as much sense.

Play
I finished Celeste again. I'm now going back through collecting strawberries and unlocking the harder hidden levels. Even after thirty hours in still reaching new rooms, thinking "this can't be possible", dying twenty times and then getting to the next room.

Want
I saw the cover art for Metaphor ReFantasio and it called to me. I should probably try to play more than five hours of Persona 4 first though.

Or Clair Obscur. That looks good too.

Bin
Mario Kart World. It's not bad, I've had a lot of fun with it I'm just at the point now where I can only get better trophies if all the other karts don't shoot me on race 4 lap 3.

Metaphor ReFantasio … called to me. I should probably try to play more than five hours of Persona 4 first though

As someone who loved P4G, Metaphor is the best thing Atlus have done. Don't force yourself to play something else first.

There's also the fact that I can play Persona 4 for free on the Switch. Metaphor is £60 and I'd have to plug in the Xbox.

Metaphor, Clair Obscur and Persona 4 are all on Game Pass at the moment - a month or two of that might be the cheapest way of playing them all if that's what you fancy.

I bounced off Metaphor a couple of hours in but it was good, I think I just wasn't in the mood for it at the time. It's calling to me again though.

I love Metaphor. It's coherent in a way that the Persona games aren't; the pseudo-medieval fantasy lets it do the big, melodramatic, life-and-death stuff without jarring against a modern Japanese setting. It's more flexible in how you can set up your party, and every party member is great, tied into the story (and backstory) in ways that deepen both the world and the characters. Creature designs inspired by Hieronymus Bosch rather than the Freudian/Jungian stuff that Persona goes for.

The music is spectacular, too. I've got a soft spot for Persona's jazz-funk fusion stuff of course, but it can't hold a candle to an actual buddhist monk rapping in Esperanto.

Fuck sake. That does sound great.

@Garwoofoo I doubt I could get through even one of those in six months!

Gonna throw in Shin Megami Tensei V into that mix, it's not got as good a story as Metaphor but the combat is even more customisable and a bit harder at points, I still need to buy the Vengeance release

I've discovered Luma Fly, which is a brilliant, easy-to-use mod manager for Hollow Knight. It works on the PC Game Pass version too, with zero faffing.

So now I'm playing Hollow Knight with double damage, double health, boss-room checkpoints, enemy health bars, a better map, and a hundred other little QoL things designed for old, tired people.

Very excited to finally experience this game.

The abilities for Hollow Knight abilities are starting to pour in now after a long stretch of just a spin2win move, got a super slam, super attack and the ability to shoot the little dude sideways until he hits something (he's so tiny <3)

I'll tell you one mechanic that I feel adds nothing to the game though: the death/corpse run, even in Souls I think it's a useless mechanic when you stop giving a shit about losing Souls. But whatever, who cares, the more I play this the more I question if it's actually the best Metroidvania or rather just an amazing game overall that happens to have Metroidvania elements if that makes sense?

Also, I hear another Metroidvania is coming to Game Pass, called Nine Sols. Although it's supposed to be quite rough too, it has parrying apparently, a rarely seen mechanic nowadays that they should add in to every game ever IMO.

Still catching up on the Direct but I just want to say I do not like the look of those biking sections in Metroid at all.

It did look quite Metroid Dreadful but hopefully it was just a bad trailer. I'm sure it'll get a dedicated Direct before release so we'll see then, I guess.

Other than that, I loved the sheer insanity of releasing the Virtual Boy library on NSO together with a dedicated headset accessory - that's the kind of crazy Nintendo we don't see too often these days.

I'll definitely be getting the Galaxy 1 & 2 remasters, Hades 2 is a no-brainer, Age of Imprisonment looks amazing (but then I'm a huge Hyrule Warriors fan and currently in the middle of a Tears of the Kingdom playthrough, so no surprises there) and I'll be keeping an eye on the new Fire Emblem game, so overall I thought it was a pretty good Direct.

That price for Mario Galaxy is a bit insane considering I have Galaxy 1 on Switch already. Other than that it's been a really good direct, although I will hold true to the course and play DQ7 on the PS1 after I finish 6, then try the remake another day, it looks great though because it's not HD2D gain so it stands out from the 1, 2 and 3 remakes imo.

Bonus points for the Pokemon DLC announcement before ZA is even out lol

Apparently they're selling Galaxy 2 separately for those who've already got the 3D All-Stars collection.

I've got DQ7 on the 3DS and not even unwrapped it, I have no idea which version to play now. It seems quite well-suited to a handheld though.

Ah then I'm all on board, Galaxy 1 is fucking amazing.

I've heard a lot of horror stories about Dragon Quest 7, I hear it's the 'most' Dragon Quest (this was before 11 which I can't help but feel has to overtake it in both length and DQness surely) and has a very slow paced opening that they sped up considerably in the 3DS version. After beating the 3DS version of 8 a few days ago I'm all for the series on the console, but for this game specifically I need to see the original vision.

I couldn't play Galaxy when I first tried as made me unbelievably motion sick. Is it going to work handheld with no motion? As not caught the direct.

I believe its mouse mode now right?

I doubt it, it’ll have to work with a Pro Controller at least. How did Galaxy 1 work on the Switch?

That's a good shout actually, I have that collection and never touched Galaxy on it due to the prior issues, so will give it a try. If all else fails can try and get my kid to play it whilst I watch and see if that makes it better or worse.

Oh we're on about controls for Mario I meantthe little star that collects trinkets, Mario's normal moveset was just buttons at least, I think there was some gyro action in there. :thinking:

OK, a quick Google suggests that you can play it docked with a Joycon in each hand, in which case it works much like the original Wii version, or using the gyro in the Pro Controller. Or, handheld with gyro or touchscreen. So a wide range of options.