PWB 2019: October 2019

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Yakuza Kiwami 2: nearing the end of this now and it's been a blast. It's much, much closer in tone to the peerless Yakuza Zero, and while it doesn't quite hit that game's heights (it is a remake of a much older title, after all), it still offers up the same mix of gurning gangsters, ridiculous twists, endlessly silly sub-stories and mini-games. As before I'm far more invested in my side-activities as the manager of a dodgy cabaret club than I am with anything happening in the main plot, and that's absolutely fine. On the other hand, I've now played two of these very long games back-to-back, and while I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with both of them, I'm a bit Yakuza'd out now and need to take a good long break before carrying on with the series.

Dragon Quest XI S Definitive Edition: Echoes of an Elusive Age which has a title nearly as long as the game itself. This is seriously lovely though, an ultra-traditional JRPG with incredible production values that runs perfectly on the Switch. It's pure comfort gaming, and ideally suited to a handheld. In fact it's one of the few Switch games I've taken to playing exclusively in portable mode even when the TV's right there; it just suits the game better.

Also played a bit of Cities Skylines on Game Pass; I've got this on PC but the Xbox version is surprisingly good, runs really well on the X and the pad controls are really nicely done too.

Want

Not sure there's much coming out that I'm especially desperate to get on release. I'll keep an eye on Luigi's Mansion 3 but other than that what am I missing?

Bin

Previous posts on depression: turns out sobriety and daily exercise are helping more than I expected. Thanks everyone. It's a work in progress but moving in the right direction.

Play

Having polished off Untitled Goose Game (still thinking about it every day, though!) and Sayonara Wild Hearts (an okay game, with a soundtrack that is my album of the year), I'm back to just Trails of Cold Steel 2, which is ticking along much more steadily than its predecessor. I feel like much more has happened in this one already, and I've just finished the first Act. (It weirdly has a whole bunch of references to an event that happened during the first game's storyline, but was only released as a Drama CD in Japanese, which was deeply confusing for a while.)

A D&D game I was in has fallen through after one session (due to one player's ongoing health issues and the DM's busy schedule), so the only other thing on my plate gaming-wise lately is the 13th Age session I run – which has also been hit with timetabling conflicts recently. Two of our players are off to Disney World for 2 weeks, meaning a month between sessions. I'm not too bothered by it, though - there's a boss fight-type encounter planned for next session (they opened the door at the end of the last one), and then I've got some vague notes for what happens next but nothing like enough to run the high-society-murder-mystery-slash-heist that I'm aiming for.

Want

I feel like I've picked up a lot of new games recently, even though most of them have been very short, so there's nothing on my must-have list of videogames right now.

That said, I played a couple of matches of a board game called The Rose King earlier this week, and it was really great - a mix between chess, Go and a card game. I'm sorely tempted to pick it up, but it'll have to wait until next paycheque. I've also heard really good things about an upcoming board game called Detective Club, which apparently plays like a competitive Mysterium/Spyfall.

Bin

Incompatible schedules of TTRPG players is my only source of frustration right at the moment, but at least I've had advanced warning in most cases. Not much more demoralising than a text at 4pm that cancels a 7pm session.

Play
Link's Awakening Switch – Brilliant, lovely, and practically perfect in every way. It also has the best (only?) translation of a Gameboy soundtrack to modern tech that I've ever heard.

DQ11 Switch – Playing this alongside Gar (or rather, it feels like that; every time I'm playing I see 'Garwoofoo started playing Dragon Quest…'). I never normally get along with JRPGs, but the speedy battles and surprisingly good voice acting in this have hooked me.

Destiny 2 – Its new incarnation (free to play, rejigged) launched yesterday, so I've gone back after abandoning the retail purchase 5 hours in. It's a weird jumble of ideas, even more than before. They've done away with any pretence of story – you seem to be able to tackle any quest in any order, World of Warcraft style. This leads to some very confusing moments where they've re-used the old dialogue, and someone will reference a quest you haven't actually done yet.

As always though, it survives on the strength of its combat. On the One X especially it's lovely – with none of the slowdown or jagged edges that plague the PS4 game.

Yakuza Kiwami – Ignoring all sidequests now and just ploughing through the main quest, which is keeping things fresh.

Want
Luigi's Mansion 3 and the new Pokemon.

More time in the day to play the crazy amount of games.

Play
DQ11 Switch – Playing this alongside Gar (or rather, it feels like that; every time I'm playing I see 'Garwoofoo started playing Dragon Quest…'). I never normally get along with JRPGs, but the speedy battles and surprisingly good voice acting in this have hooked me.

Ah, I've just worked out who you are on my friends list! I was wondering who that was who kept playing Dragon Quest all the damn time.

Play

Old PS+ games, for some reason - having just finished Dust, I now find myself trying Rebel Galaxy, which is… okay, I guess? Why the fuck I'm playing it instead of No Man's Sky or Elite Dangerous I'm not entirely sure, but to be honest I could comfortably play those alongside it (hold that thought), because if anything it plays more like the boat bits of AssCreed IV:BFF than either of them - "space" is a 2D plane, at least for your craft (which is a capital ship, of sorts, and only lighter enemy craft move in 3D), and combat is largely focused on broadsides. It's a bit rough around the edges, but also quite absorbing. and quite possibly the closest we'll ever get to a Firefly game, what with the Western stylings and trading elements. I like it, anyway.

I also started Galak-Z (2D roguelike shooter set in spaaaace, with a 80's Saturday morning anime vibe) last night, on a whim, so I'll see what that's like too, but what little I played was more appealing than I'd anticipated..

Oh, and I quite fancy trying the latest Deus Ex too.

Everspace - basically a roguelike spin on Elite, which feels somehow reminiscent of Descent in the way it controls. If Rebel Galaxy is a slower, simpler alternative to the other spacefaring games, this is a faster-paced, shorter lived, still simpler one.

Apple Arcade - not so much a game as a collection of games, of course, and with more than a couple of weeks left of my free trial month, I find myself still wondering if I will continue with it; it's got a few gems on it, and I've really enjoyed what I've played, but I'm not sure I'll be too bothered unless the releases keep coming, or I'm still not done with one of the games I've already started.

(Some recommendations, if anyone's planning on doing the free trial - Grindstone, What the Golf?!, Bleak Sword, Pinball Wizard, Cricket Through the Ages, Chu Chu Rocket, Dear Reader, Assemble With Care.)

Want

To actually pick a "main" game or two to play alongside all the comparitively complementary games I've found lately. I find myself wanting to give Fallout 4 another chance (or perhaps to start Deus Ex, as I said above), and I've also got Control, DMC5, Dishonored 2, and any number of other things just sat around, but I never seem to actually start anything that at the moment.

Bin

Anything even vaguely related to politics in this country (and several others). I'm just constantly bewildered and disgusted by the whole thing at this point.

Play
Uni. 3rd year Software Engineering. Data Analytics is fun. AI could be interesting but so far it's taking it's time. Software Engineering, more Agile.

D&D Well, not so much. Illness and holidays are interrupting my main game. I have been running some old school Basic D&D (using the new Old School Essentials revision) for my daughter (7) and her friend (8). Running for kids that young is a very different challenge. I am also occasionally running 5e D&D for my son and his friends.

Want
A decorator. I've been trying to get organised for ripping out and reinstalling our whole bathroom for ages.

Bin
The relentless progression of time and diminishing returns from trying to do more in less time.

Want addendum
My Switch controller back. Sent back to Nintendo for a fix. Haven't heard anything yet.

Play - still finishing of MGS V. Enough has been said about that game. Also playing Fractured but whole after really enjoying stick of truth but this month is all about…
Want - The Return to Obra Dinn. Been waiting to play this game since it came out on the PC last year. Today they have announced the console versions will be released on 18/10/19. Also more time in the day so I can play this and the new Hitman 2 level.
Bin - The idea now that 32inch tvs are small. I need a new gaming TV, was going to get a 32 inch one for space concerns. But now Im reading that because these are considered small now that the manufacturers are not paying any attention to them, and they are releasing basic low quality crap. Do I need to go up to 39 inch? Any recommendations for someone on a budget?

Play: With that 7/10 topic rolling along I was playing Viking again on PS3 so had a look into the PS3 store and ended up buying Splinter Cell: Blacklist. So far so Splinter Cell. I've only really played Pandora Tomorrow and Conviction before and realised that possibly most of the fun I had with them was playing with other people in a flatshare and passing the controller around. I'm not sure how much milage I'll get out of it now as an old bloke who's hooked up a very long extension lead to the telly for headphones so the gun shots and explosions don't wake the kids.

Want: God of War – delighted it's getting a price cut as of tomorrow. Really looking forward to playing it.

Bin: Viking: Battle for Asguard – think I've made it to the same point as I did first time round. The problem I have with it this time is the combat is really tedious. I don't even think this is compared to modern standards, this was out years after God of War and the sequel so how they managed to make combat so basic and tedious is baffling. I already had a lot of love for Shadow of Mordor but playing this put that into sharp relief, Viking just doesn't have enough going for it to keep plugging away.

Mad Max: Overall I liked the game but it's definitely split into two parts. The first where Max is under powered and there's more risk in attempting missions/side quests and it feels exciting and a bit aimless. This first part of the game is really refreshing in some ways because it does away with the tutorializing that goes on in most open world games.
The second part is where Max and the car have leveled up, can take most all comers and, when you decide you've had enough, it's possible to quickly zero in on the end game without any obstacles. After playing for a reasonable amount of time I was surprised how little difficulty there was in the last set of story missions and also how I managed to never need to go to fairly large swathes of the map.
The worst thing about finishing the story is there's a text box which basically says 'hey, you did it! Now your car that just got totaled is back along with a bunch of dead characters so you can mop up all the shit you missed. Hooray.'
Somehow that was disappointing to me, the opposite of the ending to Red Dead Redemption where there's been no impact on the world.
Also, my girlfriend came home during the last cut scene. She pretty much ruined the ending because it's quite violent so I felt I had to make some attempt to justify it when I didn't really care all that much about it.

Play
DQ11 Switch – Playing this alongside Gar (or rather, it feels like that; every time I'm playing I see 'Garwoofoo started playing Dragon Quest…'). I never normally get along with JRPGs, but the speedy battles and surprisingly good voice acting in this have hooked me.

Not sure if you've realised but there's some free DLC on the store. It's mostly a bunch of costumes but it does add the ability to switch out the somewhat grating overworld theme for the DQ8 music, which is much more soothing. Once you've downloaded it you need to "Claim" it from one of the menu options.

Additional PLAY:

Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition - Platinum'd the first not long back, and the third was just on PS+. As I never finished the second one, I figured I'd go for it. It's okay! Not great. Definitely a solid 7/10… maybe a 6. But it's my jam, so I'm enjoying it.

Why is Death such a bitch errand boy though?

Hey, he could say no. He's just too nice.

From what I've seen, Fury in DS3 is a lot more like War and willing to tell people to fuck off, I like that. I'm a god damn Horseman of the Apocalypse. One of the main reasons I prefer DS1 to DS2, good game but stuf like 'less fun protagonist' was a thing.

Play
DQ11 Switch – Playing this alongside Gar (or rather, it feels like that; every time I'm playing I see 'Garwoofoo started playing Dragon Quest…'). I never normally get along with JRPGs, but the speedy battles and surprisingly good voice acting in this have hooked me.

Not sure if you've realised but there's some free DLC on the store. It's mostly a bunch of costumes but it does add the ability to switch out the somewhat grating overworld theme for the DQ8 music, which is much more soothing. Once you've downloaded it you need to "Claim" it from one of the menu options.

Oh thank god. Thanks for the tip.

The music is SO bloody repetitive.

Yeah. The orchestral versions in this version are much better than the MIDI versions used in previous releases but that overworld theme is far too brash and it’s really disappointing that every town uses the same theme. The DQ8 theme is a huge improvement but the music overall is the only black mark against what is otherwise a really great game.

Additional Play: PS Now.

Everyone else in our house has the cold so were in bed about 8 last night which left me to fire up the PS Now trial. It's pretty good. Not sure I'll keep it on much past playing God of War but it works surprisingly well, it's much slicker than the last time I looked at it back in 2015 when a mate was showing me Bloodborne and convincing me I needed a PS4.

God of War ran really nicely, it's as responsive as I'd expect from any game and looks great streamed. I really went in expecting some loss of fidelity or lag but neither were noticeable. When you load any game a big message pops up informing you that for the best experience you should download the game but I was just testing the waters so wanted to see what the stream was like. I did a lot more mucking about than I'd probably have done if I'd bought the game just to test out the limits of the stream and it all held up admirably.

The downside of playing an hour of the game and then thinking 'I'll download this' is then you get a message saying stream saves and download saves are different (unless you have PS+) so your progress will be lost… Which would have been good to know at the start. Also, not everything can be downloaded.

Ended up playing a bunch of things via stream over the evening; mainly games that I'd be curious about but never commit to buying like Mudrunner: Sprintires, Earth Defense Force 4.1 (how is this series still going and not really developing at all?!), Shadow of the Beast, Guilty Gear Xrd and a couple of odd looking Japanese titles. It all worked well, I was genuinely surprised and could see myself dipping in to the service for the odd month if something gets pushed onto it for a limited time (like God of War). There's a surprising amount of junk on there though, real bargain bin dross but probably enough quality titles to scratch most gaming itches on demand.

The experience was so good I'm totally prepared to embrace this as the future of gaming.

The experience was so good I'm totally prepared to embrace this as the future of gaming.

Subscription services definitely seem to be the way things are going. Xbox Games Pass, PlayStation Now and Apple Arcade are all pointing the way - they offer great value to the end user and I think they also benefit the console manufacturers by tying you into a particular platform more strongly. I'm already more inclined to go Xbox next gen thanks to Game Pass, which is something I never thought I'd say a year or two ago. I'm less convinced by streaming - even trying in-house streaming I find there's a noticeable drop in image quality, and input lag can be noticeable on some games if not others - but I'm undeniably curious about things like Stadia even if I can't see myself going down that route any time soon.

Subscription services … offer great value to the end user and … benefit the console manufacturers by tying you into a particular platform more strongly.

I can't help wondering if it's any good for developers, though. I've seen numbers from musicians on what they get from the likes of Spotify, and it's not great; I can't imagine Stadia or PS Now are handing out fistfuls of cash to devs.

Some will come with big exclusivity payouts, I'm sure, but only for big, established AAA studios – the healthy community of indie developers who've found an audience on console are going to end up retreating back to PC.

Play

Final Fantasy XIV - Shadowbringers - mostly levelling my alt as a WHM, and I have to say, White Mage is one of the most fun classes in the entire game, you protecc but you also attacc. Nothing feels more impactful than dpsing as a healer and still keeping people alive.It helps that WHM kit is super fun and they can nuke everything with Holy. When I get to Lv80 I'm going to try FF8 inspired tank class, Gunbreaker. I haven't tanked seriously since the start of Shadowbringers so I'm itching to get back. Also, Nier Automata raid soon hype.

Final Fantasy VII - This is such a well directed game. From the fast paced intro of you blowing up a Reactor to the scene of you storming Shinra Headquarters everything feels designed to keep you hooked into the story and events. I started this after beating FFVIII and wanting to confirm something and they're miles apart in terms of quality and design, words that come out of people's mouths don't make me cringe, Tifa and Barret are miles better than Zell and Selphie and Quistis could ever be as characters and it's just so much more fun to actually play, since FFVII isn't super busted like VIII is.

Also…imagine playing this on release day and someone telling you the series will you:

1)The series will double in size
2)People will still play the old FF that are more than 7 or 8 titles behind

Silent Hill - spoopy

Want

I guess I want the new Pokemon. I don't give a fuck about the Pokedex.

Bin

Ghost Babies in horror games. Please, just no. I don't think they're ever explained are they? Like the ankle biters in the School are manifestations of Alessa's fear of the bullies at school but I dunno' what they represent.

Additional Play: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Been watching Fellowship of the Ring with the boy over the last couple of evenings so I was in the mood for some orc-slaying and found this on GamePass. It's actually pretty great, though it's weird going back to an open-world game from the start of this gen: more than any other genre, they've really progressed over the last couple of years, so getting used to this (which is essentially a straightforward clone of the earlier Assassin's Creed games with a LOTR skin) takes a bit of adjustment. It throws you right in at the deep end, with icons absolutely everywhere and about four different types of things you need to level up to unlock things on different skill trees, and a constant stream of tutorial pop-ups; but once you get used to what the different icons mean, it starts to make sense and it's already descending into a familiar but enjoyable process of climbing towers and clearing out map markers. Combat's lifted straight from the Arkham games, and it's the brownest game I've seen since the 360 days, but running around stabbing things is always fun.

I really liked Mordor, though it started to drag a little towards the end; the sequel is more of the same, only a lot bigger, a bit baggier, and a smidge more complicated than it really needs to be. I still had quite a bit of fun with it, even as it throws a gigantic middle finger up at actual Middle-earth lore, though I have to admit I haven't finished the "Shadow Wars" endgame grind, which just sounds kind of exhausting.

Can't comment on the lore as I'm far from a scholar of Middle-earth, but I'm surprised just how closely aesthetically it's based on the films: your character's basically not-Aragorn, the Orcs in general look like they do in the movies, Gollum's an exact match and so on. Even the music sounds familiar. I thought these things had to be "interpretations" of the source material - in the same way that the upcoming Avengers game isn't an exact match for the MCU, or Lord of the Rings Online is explicitly based on the books - so is this an official licence or is it just winging it and hoping no-one notices?

I mean, it's published by Warner, who own the movie rights.

Additional: I think the first game isn't too bad from a lore nerd's perspective, but then Shelob turns up in the second game as a hot chick in an evening gown.

We got our first free DLC monster In Iceborne a few days ago, an old classic, Rajang the Massive Bull Gorilla with fucking huge muscular arms he uses to beat things to death. This thing is savage as fuck, he throws out savage punch flurries, can fire a beam out of his mouth and his enrage has his fur go gold and makes him hit faster and harder (sounds familiar…) and his tree trunk arms can swell to such a degree you will bounce right off them until you snap him out of it by hitting his tail (again, very familiar this).

His intro has him fighting long time rival, Kirin and he snaps his horn off and eats it…

Additional Play: Yooka-Laylee. The claim that this is like Banjo-Kazooie are a bit off the mark; in fact it's much more like Banjo-Tooie, with large sprawling areas, lots of things you'll run across without having the abilities to deal with them at that time, plenty of backtracking and a million slightly rubbish mini-games. It's too in thrall to its inspiration - for every thrill of recognition (the same font! the same music!) there's an equal frustration (oh god why isn't the camera better?) But I always liked these games, and I like this, even though I can tell while I'm playing it that it's not exactly brilliant.

Additional Play: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

I still think of this game very fondly. Only platinum I've got this generation. The nemesis system is still probably one of most fun game systems I've played with this generation. I really jumped into it before doing anything else so leveled up quite a bit before starting the main quest. I'm going to play Shadow of War at some point but all of the release window controversy put me off at the time.

Still Playing: God of War. The PS Now trial ran out, I'd been talking to a mate about the game who said he'd loved it and reckoned his playtime was up around the 60 hour mark so bought a copy which maybe betrays previous claims about how comfortable I am about not owning games.
My current hot take on it is it's by far my favourite game of the generation which has been a surprise because… It's God of War.
I've played the opening section twice and the second time went off and explored the Lake of Nine rather than following the main quest. Really enjoyed all the side quests so far and am surprised by how easy it would be to miss these if a player followed the main quest marker. Back at the Lake and having another look about, struggling slightly to level up but absolutely not concerned about it, really enjoying poking about the map and the combat has really developed from something fairly one note into something quite spectacular and satisfying.
Also, Atreus is an excellent addition – I'm not far past a significant change and I'm surprised how affecting that has been to the mood of the game.

Yeah, God of War was a huge surprise for me, I loved it and I've always been slightly indifferent to/vaguely appalled by the earlier games. As you say it's surprisingly open and all the different areas you open up for the side quests are genuinely unique and worth visiting: it completely avoids all the repetitive fetch questing that other games routinely fall back on. My only real complaint with it was the extraordinary noise it caused my PS4 to make, which is hardly the game's fault but it was genuinely quite alarming at times.

I think it would hold up very well to a replay, and if it doesn't get a 60fps remaster pretty early in the next gen I'll be very surprised.

If the rumors on PS5 back compatibility are true, it won't even need a remaster.

My only real complaint with it was the extraordinary noise it caused my PS4 to make, which is hardly the game's fault but it was genuinely quite alarming at times.

I had to play with the door shut. It scared the cats.

Play: Star Wars Pinball, on Switch. This is really just Pinball FX3 with all the Star Wars tables included, but FX3 is great and this is good value with all 19 tables included (they're not available for the base game on Switch as they are on other platforms - licensing issues have prevented a lot of tables coming to the platform, so far, although they are trickling out). It's Best on Switch[TM] because you can play handheld in vertical mode, allowing you to see the whole table, which is by far the best way to play it (I guess PC owners with fancy swivelling monitors can probably do the same thing). There's a single-player campaign mode included with various challenges on different tables, or you can just play your favourites in the normal way.

I think it's sold appallingly though, even my hamfisted first attempts at tables I've never seen before are getting me in the top 500 players on the leaderboard. Ah well.

I thought that it looked fun. Do you just lay the screen down somewhere, or is there some vertical fictionally of the Switch which I've missed?

There are various ways of doing it (and a demo if you want to try it out; plus FX3 is free, with a table or two thrown in).

I've gone with the devs' recommendation, which is to remove the top joycon to make the thing better weighted, hold it vertically and use the touchscreen to control it. Works nicely and the HD rumble makes it more tactile than you'd probably expect.

Or of course you can prop the Switch up however you like / lay it in your lap and use the joycons/Pro Controller. Or just play it in landscape mode.

You can get a FlipGrip, which is a third-party accessory designed to allow you to use the Switch vertically with the joycons on the side, but it's not essential.

I remember seeing a picture of the FlipGrip, or something like it, but I couldn't find out what it was. I thought it would be great for SHMUPS.

I'll give the pinball a go. I've still only got a right joycon, but if I can play with the touch screen I'm good to go.

It’d be good to get someone’s scores to chase. Mart’s normally a reliable pinball buddy but as he’s already spent a small fortune buying all the tables on the PS4 version, I doubt he’ll be double-dipping on the Switch.

This must be another Mart I haven't met.

Finding Shadow of Mordor very hard. It's great fun but the Nemesis system can lead to some pretty impossible situations. One of the Warchiefs I have to defeat is called Zogdush the Unkillable and he's living up to his name: he's immune to range, immune to stealth, summons bodyguards (so there are always about four other captains trying to take me down) as well as reinforcements (so I'm constantly swamped with grunts). Oh, and he regenerates health. And of course every time he beats me, he comes back stronger. I honestly don't have a clue how I can possibly take this guy down.

EDIT: ohhhh, I'd misunderstood the Nemesis system. You can see who the bodyguards are on the army overview, and go take them out separately before facing the Warchief. Much better. There are so many systems at play in this one that I'd completely missed that.

EDIT: ohhhh, I'd misunderstood the Nemesis system. You can see who the bodyguards are on the army overview, and go take them out separately before facing the Warchief. Much better. There are so many systems at play in this one that I'd completely missed that.

Yeah, this – there's a power you get/have where you can mark bodyguards and then have them fight for you. Can't remember how far through the upgrades you need to go to get it but it's a(nother) good mechanic.

I'm astonished nobody's attempted to add a Nemesis-style mechanic into anything else yet. It's by far the best and most interesting thing about the series.

Hold on Bri….. do you only have a right Joycon? I just had to swap mine over and now I have a spare functioning left Joycon! Swaps for the book maybe?

I'll be getting mine back. At some point. Nintendo have been repairing it for two weeks now.

Additional Play - Return of the Obra Dinn hit the PS4 store today. Bargain price of £18.99.
I am so all over this.

Ooh, never got around to that on PC.

I didn't even know I was coming to PS4… bought it on PC at launch, but hardly played any of it yet.

Yep, announced only through Lucas Pope on Twitter a couple of months ago, and I've been counting down the days.

I really need to get back to it.

On a whim, brought Valhalla (Or Va-11 Halla-A if you wanna' write that every single time) which describes itself as 'Cyberpunk Bartender Action'. This means it's a retro styled visual novel set in a dystopian like city in which you choose to serve drinks to a range of characters ("time to mix drinks and change lives"), from a foul mouthed Newspaper Editor to an Android Sex Worker to a literal 24/7 streamer and the type of influence you are supposed to have is in how you serve your customers (Pretty sure I got the Editor wasted and he divulged secrets). The game will live and die in how you feel about the writing, it's not really 'realistic' dialogue it's more that everyone is larger than life and really memorable. Jill, the main character in particular is extremely likable because she is surrounded by absolute clowns sometimes and the way she deals with them is very endearing.

Played a lot of Obra Dinn this weekend.
Took me a while to get in to it, but its fascinating. One of the few games recently which had been reaching for the old notepad and pen.
It has some great mechanics, such as blurring out the faces of people you haven't gathered enough clues to guess at yet which narrows things down a bit. Also, once you have made a guess at who they are, how they were killed, and by whom/what, it does not immediately confirm you are correct. It only confirms this once you have made 3 correct deductions on separate deaths, which means you can't brute force any solutions.
Also clues come from many different places. When viewing most deaths, you'll have to get information from other deaths (e.g. someone committing suicide declaring they just shot their brother, gives you the solution to an earlier murder). Sometimes you have to investigate the environment or what people are wearing.
The graphical style just works with the story and type of game. If I had any gripe it would be sometimes you are hurried through a series of deaths (as some link to others) which means you can get a bit lost.
Also, some of the features which you really need (and I'm looking at you Bookmarks), aren't explained well enough in game and some web searching was needed.
It an English version of vegimite type of game.

Also clues come from many different places. When viewing most deaths, you'll have to get information from other deaths (e.g. someone committing suicide declaring they just shot their brother, gives you the solution to an earlier murder). Sometimes you have to investigate the environment or what people are wearing.

This is easily the thing that makes me love this game. My favourite examples are:

Spoiler - click to showtrying to work out which of the Chinese people are which, or recognising that the four guys playing cards together are all friends and the only ones who speak their language, meaning they have to be this group on the register… but then realising that one of them gets sick, so which one is he? Plus, singling out the relatives…

Great game. Bought it on PS4 today, even though I already finished it on Steam. Damn those trophies. I hope the last one I missed on Steam isn't replicated, but I suspect it is… funny but fiddly.

Finished Valhalla, if you don't mind Visual Novel type gameplay (lots of reading, little 'gameplay') then give this a try. The writing is seriously good, if you don't fall in love with Jill and Dana I'll punch myself in the face. I can't think of much comfier gaming experiences than maybe this on the Switch in bed with a warm drink.

Yes, that is a Dog with a Hawaiian Shirt and Sunglasses who does part time at the Bar. He's adamant that you will pet him.