PWB-ruary

Play
Vampire Survivors. I'm totally hooked. I'm pretty shit at it though.

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order - i stopped playing this for a couple weeks and now I keep getting my arse handed to me. I think I can leave that inquisitor waiting and go do some other stuff to remind myself how to play though.

Planescape Torment - I've never played this before, I'm about an hour in and so far loving it.

Want
Some of the new Switch games are looking good. I've got so much I want to play on GamePass though that I think I'm good for 2022.

Bin
This month I would like to shuffle the pile of shit around so that Covid is at the top of the pile. A week ago it killed my wife's granny, this week it has finally, inevitably, found it's way into our home. Little Miss Bloodaxe has it, I guess it's only a matter of time until the rest of us do too.

Maybe I'll take a moment to wish Boris into the bin too.

Play
The occasional round of Halo, still, though Sea of Thieves is back as the main distraction at the moment. I've also started Kingdoms of Amalur on PS4, which requires about the right level of attention for my currently-available mental bandwidth.

Nothing on the want pile, so moving straight to Bin:
+1 for Covid. It hasn't claimed anyone that I know, but it's very slowly kicking my ass, in a lethargic sort of way; I can breathe fine, but I'm constantly just hot or cold enough to be uncomfortable, and I've been tired for about 6 days straight. Not fun.

I took my day 5 test this morning to see if I could stop self-isolating, but that came back positive, so I guess I just try again tomorrow..?

Also, Boris. I hope he gets arrested.

Play

Final Fantasy XIII - truly a game of two halves, this spends twenty hours in a blizzard of cut-scenes and linear corridors, then the next twenty in a completely open area with hardly any plot at all. It's quite the tonal whiplash. Originally I much preferred the open world section, these days I think I quite liked the first half for all its character stuff and the different environments you go through. It's still a good game, though more combat-heavy than I remember.

The Witcher - having very much enjoyed the Netflix series recently, I toyed with the idea of going back to The Witcher 3, then thought I'd start from the first game instead. That decision got me an incredibly janky PC game from 2007 that probably looked pretty terrible even back then and insists on being played in a top-down Neverwinter Nights sort of style with some very strange timing-based combat. However, the writing is on point, the world is atmospheric and after the intro and the first chapter I am, slightly surprisingly, completely on board.

Want

I realised the two games I'm looking forward to most this year are Slime Rancher 2 and whatever the Mario & Rabbids sequel is called. Other than that it's just a case of seeing what lands on Game Pass. I nearly bought Disco Elysium recently but then thought, nope, that's prime GP fodder.

I'll be getting my Quest 2 in a couple of weeks though and am very much looking forward to trying it out.

Bin

Oh just fuck off Boris.

Also, +1 for Covid: my son has it now, so that'll probably be all three of us in a few days' time.

Play

Very very little, beyond the occasional foray into co-op Mario Odyssey or Kirby with the kid.

Want

Of all things, Pokemon Legends: Arceus has grabbed my attention. It just looks nice and relaxing, and above all like something I can play with the kid watching without worrying about inappropriate content.

Bin

Gave the opening level of Deus Ex: Human Resources a shot after picking it up for £bugger all in the Xbox sale, but Hitman has spoiled me for clever manipulation of hostile NPCs, so after spending about half an hour sitting on top of the same stack of shelves, repeatedly reloading in an attempt to non-lethal my way past six guards, I just packed it in.

Little Miss Bloodaxe has it, I guess it's only a matter of time until the rest of us do too.

Also, +1 for Covid: my son has it now, so that'll probably be all three of us in a few days' time.

Sarah has somehow managed to completely avoid it - 5 days in a row, now, all negative results.

Play
Started off the Uncharted collection on PS5. I've always wanted to like Uncharted 4 a lot more than I actually did playing it and this feeling remains. It's janky, tonally all over the shop and hasn't aged particularly well. But the 60fps is good and it has a sort of breezy feel to it, which is welcome as I'm not sure how much Last of Us 2 I can take (it's basically a far better version of the same thing, but about 150 times more depressing).

The usual online titles - Apex (which I found I have 330 hours on Origin alone on, and I only started playing it on PC 3 seasons ago, and not only on Origin….), Valorant (new agent Neon is great fun), Rounds (not quite Towerfall, but not far off) and Super Auto Pets (best videogame of all time? I think it might be).

Want
To reach next weekend without contracting Covid. I'm heading over to France for two weeks and it all hinges on my lateral flow on Saturday.

Season 12 of Apex - looks interesting, a new Legend designed to stop passive play should make for a horror show of third partying and getting rushed.

Horizon and Elden maybe…..

Bin
Fuck the lot of them into the bin (I'm sure we all know who)

Apart from that - The Expanse. I tried again. I really did. I reached the same part (where it jumps the squid). The bad acting, the terrible scripts, the degenerating plot and the shit accents mean I don't think I can ever get through Season 3.

Play

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - basically a PS2-era Castlevania that seems to occasionally run surprisingly badly on the Switch. I really like it, and have played it for several hours a night since I started.

DOOM ETERNAL - is the whole thing supposed to be capitalised? I'm really not sure. I've also only played for about half an hour, but it seemed like DOOM (2016), so I'm sure we'll get on fine. Hopefully.

Monster Hunter Rise - apparently I can't stop. Now I play Switch Axe. It's fun!

Miscellaneous corner - I really like Dicey Dungeons, after a few runs, and need to play a bit more Monster Train and Deathsmiles. Otherwise I'm still just occasionally dipping into one of the usual ones (Into the Breach, Dead Cells, Binding of Issac, and so on).

Want

Erm. Elden Ring. Wrath of the Lamb looks interesting. I'll probably play the new Horizon, and God of War when they show up. iPad versions of Dicey Dungeons and Monster Train would be good. I feel like I'm forgetting something, but really I'm just not that hyped about anything, I think.

Oh, and all you lot with COVID in the house to stay free of it. We had a case in the house, he tested positive 11 days ago, and the other three of us have stayed clear so far, so there is hope (he says, jinxing himself horribly).

Bin

The ridiculous spam scarecrow at Number 10, the shower of cunts propping him up, and the system that allows it all to just fuck off into the sea already.

Anything to do with COVID, Brexit, general stupidity, and the wilful negligence surrounding climate change - and any number of other social issues, for that matter - can go too.

So can a couple of the commas in this post, probably.

I really like Dicey Dungeons, after a few runs, and need to play a bit more Monster Train

I bounced off Dicey Dungeons quite quickly in the end, it's just a bit basic and too random to have much long-term appeal. Monster Train though is absolutely superb, in ways that aren't necessarily immediately apparent, and it really comes into its own once you start working your way up the Covenants - I've put hundreds of hours into that game now and overall I'd put it ahead of Slay the Spire.

Dicey Dungeons is, indeed, a bit shit. As Gar says, randomness outweighs player agency too much. Anyone else tried Inscryption? The art style is a turn off, as is the breathless Twitch streamer baiting with some sort of meta-story, but the core mechanics seem sound enough (Gwent crossed with Hearthstone crossed with MTG).

Anyone else tried Inscryption?

Waiting for the inevitable Switch version. I really want it.

Ahh, that's a shame. I've only played a few (successful) runs on DD, with the first three classes, but I quite liked it. I was mildly concerned about the balancing (the Thief seemed crap, and I only think I won that run because I somehow turned into a bear), but otherwise it seemed like a fun, if slightly lightweight, alternative to the other two. I'll give it a bit longer, anyway.

Slay the Spire just amuses me now - I think I have it on just about every platform, and it was genuinely funny finally playing it on iPad, and winning the first run on every character, just because I know bits of it so well now. Well, except the Watcher; I've barely played it since she came out, and didn't mesh with her immediately, so I still don't really know what's what there. A really good run with the Silent, or especially Defect, are among my favourite things in gaming though.

Monster Train I've barely scratched the surface of, having played for a good few hours when it first hit the Switch, but then getting distracted, but I've loved what I've played. Feels less deep than StS in some ways, but I suspect that's because I have much to learn/unlock.

I guess I'm back in the mix now, so I'll add my 0.00002 American cents (which is how much my opinion is worth, really):

PLAY

It's a bit older, but why didn't anyone tell me Nuclear Throne was such an amazing game? I completely overlooked it. Basically a roguelite shooter and man, it feels great.

Streets of Rage 4 kind of went through the same SoR motion the old games did and there was a lot of fun there, but… meh? I guess? I guess I was expecting something better than the same old "find a predictable cheap attack pattern for every boss, rinse, repeat" than the old games had, which was fun for a couple of games but by SoR3 and now for 4 is kind of old.

Lumines Remastered: Eh, I dunno about this one. Maybe I am just not getting it yet, but I feel there's not a lot of depth to this like the falling pieces puzzlers of old like Tetris and especially Columns. And the music just gives me a headache. I didn't think videogame music got any worse than the random noise of Hotline Miami but I guess I was wrong. Or maybe I'm just too old. Yeah, we'll go with that. Dang kids and your crazy new music. :)

Dead Cells felt like most modern non/semi-linear platformers do to me these days: sort of unfocused with finicky combat and really not that interesting. There was some fun to be had but I really lost interest fast. SteamWorld Dig and its sequel was the best of this kind (even though it was a bit different in many ways, including its upgrade system and collectathon stuff) that I have played recently.

And look at that, no (really) old games. Of course, I have been playing some, but not going to mention them for once. There's more I've played in the recent past but I'll just limit it to this month, but I have to mention: ***k Risk of Rain 2. I loved the original but found 2 to be a really cheap, poorly executed "LOOK AT ME I'M IN THREE DEE" inferior version of the original.

WANT

Here's the thing: I don't even know any more. I know I still have interests in games, but what kind? It just seems very random as to whether I'd really like something or not. I've shown huge interest in certain games and have them turn out to not interest me at all, and others I either know nothing of or don't think is good, I play and they're fantastic. So the answer of course is, I don't know what I want. I'm a fickle old man.

BIN

Joining all of you in the [expletive deleted] Covid party. In the basically two years of this nightmare, I never ever felt like I had it and never felt bad enough to think I needed testing. The US of A have graciously sent everyone four quick test kits so now I can just do it here if I think it's necessary. It's still been a huge pain especially since no one takes this horribly deadly disease seriously any more especially here in the US, and basically everyone in my extended family has gotten it at one point or the other. I'll continue to hide out and curse the subhuman masses who refuse to get vaccinated, refuse to wear a mask, and especially who will thoughtlessly crowd into stadiums and concert venues and clubs spreading this crap around and inevitably trying to create the variant that will absolutely kill us all.

Sorry for the length, but ranters gotta rant.

Combo system in SoR 4 is amazing, it's basically Tekken 2D light.

Yeah, I’d concur, think maybe you might’ve overlooked SoR4 a little there Dok; there’s a lot of depth to that game, and it’s not quite so easy to cheese as the old ones either. I need to get back into it, but it’s a great game.

Definitely agree on Nuclear Throne though, it’s a brilliant game, though I am terrible at it, so I haven’t delved as deeply there as with a few of the others of its ilk. I do prefer Risk of Rain to RoR2, too.

Lumines is a weird one for me - I think my problem with is that it just takes so long to play? And because a normal game is so chill for so long, it takes forever to ramp up, and therefore get to the stage you need to play it at to improve, perhaps? I just think it’s balanced oddly, and time-consuming.

It’s a good game at its core, and because of that I’ve always liked it, and tended to pick it up on most formats I own once it’s in sales, but never really gotten into it properly.

I've never got into lumines at all, for exactly the same reasons.

Steamworld dig 2 is definitely my favourite "little" game of recent years. I found it utterly compelling, loved every minute of it.

Lumines Electronic Symphony > Lumines Remastered in every way, but I think ES is only on Vita, and I assume music licensing will keep it that way.

Maybe I just expected too much out of SoR4. Just seemed like "yep, here's another SoR game", which I admit isn't a bad thing exactly, but it really felt like I was going through the exact same motions yet again. Not really disappointed by it exactly, just… I wanted more.

Play: Vampire Survivors but I think I'm over it now. There's no Mac version so I was playing the Itch demo and got to the end a couple of times but that might be enough now.
It coincided with a vague effort to play Castlevania games after listening to an episode of Retronaughts ranking the games. It took until the Megadrive one for me to feel like I was enjoying the game but hear the GBA games are good.

I also bought a Miyoo Mini (https://www.keepretro.com/products/miyoo-mini the white one with coloured buttons). Thought it looked nice, by the sounds of things it was hard to come by so the pre-order didn't look like it would be fulfilled for a while and it was £40 when I bought it. Anyway, to my surprise it arrived at the weekend. I've managed to update to a custom OS without bricking it and changed the menu music to the Wii Mii Parade tune. So far it seems similar to the RG280v but with a different (can't say better/worse) screen, a slightly more comfortable form and a much better d-pad for fighting games. The OS not as nice/user friendly but it's early days and I get the impression it doesn't have the same pedigree as the Anbernic devices.
I've not had to justify the purchase to anyone yet but if I did have to I'd say that each of these small handhelds excels in slightly different areas despite doing the same thing overall. After some of the trials associated with getting the 280V running to a point where I felt I was 'finished' the Miyoo was a breeze to poke about with. There was one point where you're warned that you could brick it (ironically in updating the OS from the manufacturer) but after that it's been plain sailing.

Anyway, it's just another thing to tinker with.

PLAY
Nobody Saves The World - Just hit the first twist, unlocked a load more quests for all my forms (which I'd maxed out as much as possible up to then), and I'm off into the top half of the map. The grind is quite grindy, but I'm still enjoying it. Randy the Rad is a hilarious douchebag.
Sea of Thieves - Content from the next big update kicks in next Thursday, and then season six is mid-March. Very exciting.
Kirby - SHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

WANT
Time - Lots I want to play (more Hitman, that F2P YuGiOh game, I got a free code for the GTA trilogy just for starters), but there's no time.
Various games - Hope you'll be watching the Direct tomorrow (or catching up on Thursday morning).

BIN
BoJo the Clown - I don't even live there any more and I find this cringeworthy. You're never getting rid of him, he's going to be PM forever.

I beat the main story of Pokemon Legends and that last part is the most kino moment I've ever seen in a Pokemon game holy shit. I know Pokemon stories are a bit of a meme, they're not the focus usually but while this game isn't quite there it shows how much better the games are with an actual RPG level story. Not quite finished with the postgame as I'm still catching every Pokemon for but the post story cleanup was pretty enjoyable too aside from the Wisp and Unown hunts, which are multiple map spanning treasure hunts in a game that gives you no minimap or compass so I have no idea how they expect you do that shit without a guide.

Anyway this is basically the best game in the series since Soul Silver for me, it's the template every game should build on now and if they smoothed out the many rough edges here and improved upon it then it will be practically untouchable. I'm glad this selling shitloads because it deserves it.

New Plays

Advance Wars: Dual Strike -I never completed this because it gets insanely hard later on, or at least I remember it doing so, time to find out! The remakes for the first two GBA games have me interested in the series again and it's great as its ever been.

I really love how it has this 'Saturday morning cartoon' feel to it, everything is nice and colourful, nations are called stuff like 'Blue Moon' and 'Yellow Comet' and the main cast are all Commanding Officers who are similar to Fire Emblem characters in their personality, but toned down a bit because there's not as much dialogue in this series in comparison.

It's the atmosphere that sells it though, even though you lose men on the battlefield on the regular people will treat each other in mild contempt like they've just lost some kind of tabletop and scream at the villains as if to say 'Get back here you nuisance' whilst shaking their fists. It's as if each level is an episode of a cartoon where the only relevant parts are the beginning and the end and the part in between didn't happen story wise. Or to put it another way, like they're two players on a tabletop toy soldier game…

This is the remake for those who don't play AW

Lost Ark
A Korean Free to Play Isometric Diablo whatever. The combat is really fun but man, every time I play another game that isn't FFXIV I instantly get reminded of how fucking good that game is at what it does. The levelling experience just doesn't compare IMO, I have done a few dungeons in Lost Ark now and I felt completely superfluous, I'm playing a support class and my support isn't needed and sometimes outclassed. I don't have much more to add yet but I'm not really enjoying this levelling experience, it's a Korean F2P game so it's also insanely grindy too so who knows how far I'll get.

Want
To play Final Fantasy XI again

Confession: I've never played a pokemanz game before. I don't know how I missed them when I was younger, I had a game boy and I think I'd have really liked them… The last few seem to have been fan service/nostalgia exercises rather than anything new but this one has me interested. How do you think it would play for someone who is a confirmed jrpg fan but new to the franchise, with no idea about the pokemen and which ones do what, what the previous gameplay loops were actually like to play, etc? A good starting point?

That's pretty impressive, to have dodged them for so long!

If you have zero knowledge of the Pokemon and the general gameplay loop, I'd recommend playing Fire Red or Leaf Green (they're GBA remakes of the first two games). There are probably better games, but I can't think of a better starting point.

If you have zero knowledge of the Pokemon and the general gameplay loop, I'd recommend playing Fire Red or Leaf Green (they're GBA remakes of the first two games). There are probably better games, but I can't think of a better starting point.

Maybe more realistic these days to recommend Let's Go! Eevee, or Let's Go! Pikachu, which are also Gen 1 remakes (in this case of Yellow) but on the Switch, with all the graphical bells and whistles that entails.

The GBA games are pretty easy to get running on a mobile though, which makes them nice and handy.

Yeah that was my thinking. 👍

Thank you! I'll try a sneaky gba emulation first, then have a look at the Switch version(s) if the loop looks like it might snare me.

Play: Art of Rally. My GF was away last week so I did what I always do: hook up the PS, browse the store, buy something then remember that it'll take 120 minutes to DL 4gb on Granny's wifi. Bought Art of Rally. Quite like it. Has a Lonely Mountains: Downhill feel to it. Annoyingly it's pretty heavy on the Rally Sim side in terms of the driving. I think SEGA Rally really ruined my perception of what a rally game should be. I've never played another one where you go as fast as you can and drift round all the corners but that's always the expectation.

Anyway, this is kind of fun, the sound is great, the graphics are really nice the collision detection is a bit weird but forgivable. Sits well with Lonely Mountains and Islanders in terms of simple games for quick plays.

While waiting for it to download I went back to Scott Pilgrim Vs The World and a quick look at Streets of Rage 4 – both still lovely – and finally finished off a play through of Huntdown. I really like Huntdown and would very much recommend it.

I love Scott Pilgrim. I'm just annoyed that the online achievements are virtu impossible since no-one ever plays it online. At least on Xbox, anyway.

gaming Tinder has found you both a match

Anyone else tried Inscryption?

Yes! It's really good. It's intriguing, and goes some places. It's by the guy who made Pony Island, and that's still one of my favorite games from the past few years for the odd stuff it pulls towards the end. I haven't finished Inscryption yet, but I'm curious to see how it messes with you.

Play
Mass Effect Collector's Edition - It's the same brilliant game it always was. The combat in part 1 is better than I remember it being. The Bioware dialogue tree bait-and-switches, where you pick one slightly ambiguous statement from three, and Shep says something completely different to what you were expecting, are still infuriating. I remember in Dragon Age 2 I was trying to be supportive to one of my team, and accidentally propositioned a wizard. Anyway, great game.

Total War: Warhammer 2 - The third game is out in a couple of games, and my excitement for that (which will be on gamepass on thursday) has lead to me starting a new campaign on the second game. They released an update that added a mode with the map and all the races from the first game into the second, which gives you a huge scope for a campaign. It's brilliant, the best use of the Total War engine and game style ever, in my opinion. My Dark Elves are getting pounded by their haughty cousins at the moment. Leave me alone! I'm trying to breed hydras ffs.

The Forgotten City - I actually finished this a few weeks ago, but it deserves a mention for being probably the best game of 2021, and the best time-loop game ever made. It's brilliant, definitely worth playing. It's on Gamepass, and doesn't outstay it's welcome, so there's no excuse not to play it.

Want
Total War: Warhammer 3 as mentioned.
Slime Rancher 2.
I've just seen an advert for The Wolf Among Us 2. I had assumed that series was dead, which was annoying considering the first game (or series of episodes) ended on a spoiler. Telltale have gone out of business and been exposed as bastards as well since then, so it's a bit confusing. How is this sequal going to relate to the original, which I rather liked, in story and quality?

Bin
I mean, the usual.

Advance Wars Dual Strike is an addictive masterpiece, I missed three tram stops playing it the other day. The Tag mechanic is OTT and maybe a bit much, it feels like you have to take at least one enemy tag in the face at least once so it is imperative you take your turn setting yourself up for that inevitability. The upside to this is that you can clap back with your own tag and this where one of AW strengths lie, the varied COs and their inherent qualities and 'powers'. Max has great attack power in his tanks but his artillery sucks, Jake has great infantry and can extend artillery range. My favourite team are Sasha, who turns damage into money and her brother Colin, who turns money into damage, the tag synergy speaks for itself but you will end up recruiting people who have aerial superiority and the ability to take turns in a row with every unit.

Catch me in a few missions when it stacks the deck ridiculously high against you and see how I feel then.

ur such an AILF

I feel I've only got this reputation because I am utterly unable to write a concise post lol, one day…

I wanna' say Brian knows more than me about Advance Wars though, but I'm not sure. Maybe I just imagined Brian saying he used to travel as a speaker from School to School to warn youths about the dangers of Advance Wars and has lobbied for the series to be rated 18 for it too, who can say for sure?

I know little about Dual Strike, because it's shit.

Days of Ruin however is GOAT.

Concise.

That's how it's fucking done.
<div>from Imgflip Meme Generator</div>

I love Scott Pilgrim. I'm just annoyed that the online achievements are virtu impossible since no-one ever plays it online. At least on Xbox, anyway.

I just play it for fun. Managed to rope a visiting 9 year old into playing it for a couple of hours the other day. Only a few more years before I can play it with one of my own children.

I know little about Dual Strike, because it's shit.

Days of Ruin however is GOAT.

Concise.

Played a lot of DS when I got my DS. Was PUMPED for Days of Ruin but it never grabbed me because it was so bloody dreary.

Days of Ruin struck me, at the time, as a bit too tryhard grimdark – especially in a series known for its bright colours and cartoony aesthetic.

I bounced off it pretty fast, though I probably should go back to reevaluate it some day.

(I won't, obviously; life's too short. But I should.)

Played a lot of DS when I got my DS. Was PUMPED for Days of Ruin but it never grabbed me because it was so bloody dreary.

The graphics are kinda grubby, but the gameplay is great. Give it another go, when you aren’t expecting cute toy tanks it might not bother you so much.

That's what I hear, I've played like 5 secs of DoR to test if it worked but from what I gather the consensus is: DS Tag is fucking stupid and DoR has the most balanced gameplay in the series, I am going to assume this is partially why Brian said what he said.

TBF the whiplash from DS and Jake going 'Are you sure? I wouldn't want you you to get owned?' and 'You just got served' and the weird Mad Max whatever vibe I got from DoR must be pretty big if you go straight from one to the other…

Total War: Warhammer 2 - The third game is out in a couple of games, and my excitement for that (which will be on gamepass on thursday) has lead to me starting a new campaign on the second game. They released an update that added a mode with the map and all the races from the first game into the second, which gives you a huge scope for a campaign. It's brilliant, the best use of the Total War engine and game style ever, in my opinion. My Dark Elves are getting pounded by their haughty cousins at the moment. Leave me alone! I'm trying to breed hydras ffs.

I'm a long-standing fan of the Total War games, although I've dropped off them in recent years (probably post-Rome 2) - partly because my PC can't quite do them justice but mostly because there's about a thousand hours of gameplay in each of them and I could pick any of the ten or so I already own and have fun with those rather than buying more. How the hell they release a new one every single year genuinely amazes me.

The appeal for me though is totally to do with the historical settings though, I love the amount of research they put into these things and all the different units for each of the factions and so on. I'm not sure I want to play Total War: Generic Fantasy Gubbins.

… I was trying to be supportive to one of my team, and accidentally propositioned a wizard.

Ah, the 90s, right? Great times…

I love Advance Wars but had completely missed Days of Ruin, it was only in the last few years I even discovered I had missed it.

Some dude in FFXI literally just waited like 20mins without telling me as I slowly made my way through a dungeon full of Tonberries so he could let me skip a mechanic intended for a full party by opening the door from the other side for me, then proceeded to destroy the boss fights for me.

Love this game.

New Play

Phoenix Wright Trilogy

Or whatever it's officially called. It was on sale on Steam so I couldn't resist, I have errr, a few issues with the visuals, sometimes it's fine sometimes it just looks a bit off in a way that is kinda' distracting. I've heard the excuse of 'how else would they blow up a 240p DS game to 1920 x 1080?' and maybe they have a point, but this feels like a completely stylistic thing to me, whatever it's not a gamebreaker for me. (I swear I'm not on copium again like I was with the GTA Remasters!!!!!)

What an absolute delight it is to forget everything you used to love though, for now you can just enjoy them all over again! I am like 'ohh this is a bit familiar' but not everything has come back to me, so it's like I'm semi-spectating myself if that even makes any sense….

Games themselves still hold up, music is all bangers, characters are charming as hell, writing is great and like I said with the Ace Attorney Chronicles posts, something about a game whose objective is basically standing up for people who have no one to stand up for them has a feel good aspect to it for me.

New Play….. Deathloop

I have no idea what the fuck is going on, everything is very Arkane and my head hurts. But it is very good.

Phoenix Wright Trilogy

Agreed on the visuals front, it's hard to know what they could have done really but it never looks quite right. It is at least better than the first attempt they did on the iOS versions (they may have updated these now) which just looked wrong. It's a shame they couldn't use the 3D animations from AA5 and AA6 but I guess the amount of work involved would have been prohibitive and it's only a quick port of a niche title overall.

The games do still stand up, they're so much snappier than GAA. The second one is still very weak though.

I watched a bit of Phoenix Wright on Youtube, and I don't think I'd be able to play it for one very specific reason. That awful beeping when the text is coming up on screen.

Bad sound design seems to be such a big part of Japanese games, and I've never really understood why. Confirmation sounds, dialogue noises, menu beeps… they're usually shrill, unnatural, unpleasant sounds. Considering how much time you spend listening to them, you'd think they would ASMR them up a bit.

I like the bleeps. :<

Just had a quick check and there's a 'SE' option for adjusting the volume of the sound effects and the lowest is no SE at all. Off the top of my head I dunno' if that disables any other SE like the very satisfying 'Objection' noise or just the blips, I'll report back on that next time.