Play
Star Wars Outlaws - you know sometimes you get a game that's obviously a 7 but for you personally it's an easy 10? That's Star Wars Outlaws for me. It's an open-world game set in the bounty-hunting underworld of the Star Wars series that relies just a little too much on janky stealth missions, but it's absolutely the most engrossing thing I've played for ages. The world itself is one of the most convincing I've seen for a while, run-down and lived-in and alive-feeling, and the story is impressively open-ended with a range of missions to pick up and dodgy cartels to betray. The stealth isn't the most sophisticated but you get a range of tools to deal with it (including adorable kleptomaniac alien companion Nix) and it reminds me a bit of Hitman so that's all good too. Missions are found in the open world by general exploration and listening in on conversations, so it avoids the usual Ubi icon bloat too. Basically I think this is absolutely marvellous and given that I've already persuaded Ninchilla to buy it, I hope he likes it too.
Cyberpunk 2077 - near the end of the main story on this (I'm at the point of no return, so could finish it off in an evening) but still with a big chunk of Phantom Liberty to do and an absolute metric shit-ton of side content. I'm cooling on this a bit - I mean it's good, excellent even, but its tone is relentlessly grim and Night City is not always a place I want to spend time in. I'm sure I'll finish it, but I doubt I'll see all it has to offer.
Anno 1800 - just marvellous, never ages, the best city-building game ever made.
Want
Star Wars Outlaws was one of my big ones for this year so I'll be busy for a while but I'm sure I'll find the time to check out The Plucky Squire on release and I'm quite tempted to get Final Fantasy XVI on PC even though I'll only ever really be able to play it via GeForce Now. There's Assassin's Creed Shadows too although I still need to catch up on Mirage. And there's a new Life is Strange game too. Basically we are approaching the end-of-year rush.
Bin
Can't think of much at the moment.
Play
Thanks to Gar (and a lot of social media gifs), Star Wars Outlaws. Well, soon - it's installed, but I haven't started it yet.
I've decided I'm definitely going to finish Assassin's Creed Mirage and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but at this point it'll probably just be a case of mainlining the story to get to the end. I just don't have the time, and neither of them quite clicked with me to the point of engrossment.
Want
The closer it gets, the more interested I am in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I was trying to go through Inquisition again in preparation, but despite having some great characters and decent plot stuff, the mechanics and structure (and the extremely shonky character creator) do their damnedest to kill that game stone dead.
Play
Still trucking along with Skies of Arcadia, though I reckon I'll see the credits in short order.
Been dipping in and out of Timberborn, taking things and getting a little further – but of the two settlements I've got, one is pretty much completed and the other is running on fumes after I overextended on a massive build project earlier than I should have attempted it. Might just scrap it and start the map again.
Want
I don't feel like I have much enthusiasm for games at the moment. Timberborn and SoA are nice, comfy, familiar worlds that I can spend a few minutes in when I get the time. I don't really want anything big and time-consuming right now.
I recently picked up Tactical Breach Wizards and Disco Elysium, but haven't found the spark to get me staying either of them yet
Bin
I gave Flintlock a bit more time than I should have, but there's nothing tempting me back. It feels like a Frankenstein's monster of mechanics and design that don't quite fit together, and I never managed to feel like the controls were working for me.
Thanks to Gar (and a lot of social media gifs), Star Wars Outlaws. Well, soon - it's installed, but I haven't started it yet.
Just finished the opening mission, and so far it's exactly what I expected (and wanted) from it. Stopped right before I had to get on the speeder bike, because I hear that's awful and wanted to end on a positive note. Looking forward to getting into it properly!
Play
I finished Pikmin 4 and wanted more so immediately repaired Pikmin 3. I'm going to have to buy Tinykin now. I wonder if Overlord still holds up, I'll bet it only costs pennies on Steam.
I noticed that the first three Borderlands games were very cheap on the Switch so I've gone right back to the beginning. I'm having fun but I could do with a better controller.
Want
I'd like to give Pentiment a proper shot. Currently my Xbox SS has been replaced with my PS3 so that we can watch Buffy DVDs.
I guess I should be playing Deathspank while the PS3 is still attached to the TV.
I wonder if Overlord still holds up
The gameplay's not bad, though it feels a bit small. Some of the writing, however, has aged like milk.
Maybe I'll just stick with Tinykin then.
Pikmin 1 & 2 are still well worth playing.
I played though Pikmin 1 not so long ago. I should play Pikmin 2 though.
Tinykin is great but it’s more of an N64-style 3D platform game than a Pikmin clone. Still very much a Brian game though.
Yeah I played the start of it when I had Xbox Live Ultimate Gamezflix. I really liked it.
Tinykin is Pikmin without the threat, I loved it.
PLAY
I couldn't have got back into Balatro at a better time… rumour has it the mobile version is dropping tonight at the Apple event. Best be Android too or grrrrrrr. Got myself one of those Switch N64 controllers, so going to rediscover just how bad N64 games were the way that God intended. Also playing a bunch of old-ass games because I've actually made progress with my arcade machine. Still a way to go, but at least I'm getting more working games than error messages now. Full CPS and NeoGeo library for the win! Oh, and Mario & Luigi: Brothership because work shhhhhhh.
WANT
I played the demo of Bakeru and it's not bad? Not necessarily £30 good, but worth considering. Definitely getting Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom after next payday… kind of want Super Mario Party Jamboree because it's fun, but don't know when I'd play it. I want the story expansion for Mortal Kombat 1 but fuck paying £50 for the privilege.
BIN
People lacking common sense can get in the bin, so much of that around me lately. Scumbag conmen can get in the bin - a hotel I stayed at overcharged me and now mysteriously is having trouble issuing a refund, and a website I bought a record from that didn't bother doing anything for ages suddenly shipped the item after I made a PayPal refund claim, despite me emailing them over a week ago saying I wanted to cancel the order. Binmen can get in the bin - three weeks and no cardboard bin collection, meaning my shared building bin is overflowing and my office is full of empty boxes I can't get rid of? Jeeeeeeez.
It is actually already possible to run Balatro on Android, without any piracy. You need the Steam version and the patience to deal with what looks like a right load of faff, but I'll link the instructions for those with more patience than me, but not enough patience to wait for the Android version.
https://retrohandhelds.gg/how-to-install-balatro-on-android-and-ios/
Fucking about with my arcade machine proves to me I have no patience. 
Edit: That's actually… not that hard? Hmm.
…okay, so that took approximately five minutes. Android build made, running and flawless from what I can tell? That's insane.
Anyone wants the Android APK, just shout.
Awesome! 😀
If I asked for the APK would it look like I manipulated the whole situation to get it?
I should do it myself really. I have the Steam version of Balatro.
It's a 60mb file, and it's in my Dropbox. It's no bother to provide and if you have the Steam version, it's not piracy. DM me. 
YOU WOULDN’T DOWNLOAD A CAR
YOU WOULDN’T DOWNLOAD A CAR
I bloody well did, Burnout Paradise was a fiver in the Switch sale.
Just bought my first gaming PC in about fifteen years. It's a 4060, so not bleeding edge, but I'm having fun turning all the settings up to get vaguely shinier grass.
I'm so out of the loop with graphics settings. Between DLSS, FSR, frame gen, reflex and everything else, the drivers have gotten a lot cleverer since the days of my 8800gt.
Also it's fun getting a real-time demonstration of how pointless ray tracing is. Halve the framerate for slightly less visible shadows, yes please!
And because of the above, a new Play.
Riven is a remake of one of my all-time favourite games, and I can't quite believe this is real. Cyan, the developers, have always seemed a little bit financially unsafe.* They're the oldest indie company as far as I'm aware, and it's been a long while since their last big hit. (Although their biggest hit, Myst, was the biggest PC game of all time.) But somehow they keep to themselves, pumping out a very specific brand of cerebral adventure game.
Riven was always their best game, and this remake is simply stunning. It's full 3D now, with all the modern bells and whistles, but perfectly captures the look and feel of the original still frames. Being able to properly explore this world after being in awe of it for 20-odd years is quite the experience.
It's only 26 quid on GOG at the moment. If you have any interest whatsoever in slower, more cerebral games, I'd urge you to pick it up. If only to keep Cyan going for another few years.
*Their money troubles led to my all-time favourite headline: Lack of green makes Cyan blue.
Only in the first few hours of use, but I got a Asus ROG Ally yesterday. Was gone to 450 on Amazon and had vouchers for half that. So far enjoying it. I went for this because of the vouchers but it's already impressing me to be able to download and play the GamePass titles. I did try some streaming too and it was potentially a tad worse that when I played on my tablet streaming. Although it was more comfortable as with the other method I had a controller synced to my tablet so was harder to get a comfortable sitting place.
And because of the above, a new Play.
Riven is a remake of one of my all-time favourite games, and I can't quite believe this is real. Cyan, the developers, have always seemed a little bit financially unsafe.* They're the oldest indie company as far as I'm aware, and it's been a long while since their last big hit. (Although their biggest hit, Myst, was the biggest PC game of all time.) But somehow they keep to themselves, pumping out a very specific brand of cerebral adventure game.
Riven was always their best game, and this remake is simply stunning. It's full 3D now, with all the modern bells and whistles, but perfectly captures the look and feel of the original still frames. Being able to properly explore this world after being in awe of it for 20-odd years is quite the experience.
It's only 26 quid on GOG at the moment. If you have any interest whatsoever in slower, more cerebral games, I'd urge you to pick it up. If only to keep Cyan going for another few years.
*Their money troubles led to my all-time favourite headline: Lack of green makes Cyan blue.
You're definitely not a PC gamer yet if you use the sentence "it's only £26".
You need to get some cdkeys into your veins.
I do love a cdkeys deal, but Riven wasn't in stock.
No lorries carrying disc codes must've crashed recently.
I wouldn't spend 26 quid out of principle. If the key teat is dry, keep sucking until a cheap one appears. Never give up, never surrender.
That's the original, from 1997. Keep up guys!
I wouldn't spend 26 quid out of principle. If the key teat is dry, keep sucking until a cheap one appears. Never give up, never surrender.
Yes, because as we all know, the second you click "buy" on the more expensive option, the cheap key will come back into stock. In fact, I suspect that they only ever appear in stock as a direct result of someone somewhere buying the expensive version.
If the game ends up in a Humble Bundle, then oh my, the key harvest is often plentiful.
You were once vaguely interested in a game but not anymore?
You know you'll never play it?
It's part of a Humble Bundle with a load of games you don't want?
Click that Buy button!
(and please don't look too closely or mess with the price share sliders, we're trying to fuck charities over quietly thanks)
Anyone played 'The Darkside Detective'?
I got this ages ago but started it last night on my Switch backlog quest. Really enjoying it. It's effectively a modern point and click but it's spilt into mini cases rather than one continuous story. The first one took me about 10 minute and this evening about 30, so perfect so far for some end of the day gaming.
Additional Play:
Astro Bot. Two and a bit worlds/galaxies/nebulae(?) in, and it's just lovely. It's occasionally borderline punishing, but importantly, 1) it almost always feels like it's my fault, but I just missed it, and 2) respawns are so fast it hardly matters.
It throws new stuff at you practically every level, but even the zaniest mechanics - springy-frog boxing gloves! A jetpack that's also a dog! Slowing down time! - are so well-designed, they become almost second nature within a few seconds, and then you're straight on to bouncing around madly, swinging from jam-covered rollers and battering skyscraper-size octopodes with nary a thought. Absolutely worth the price of admission for me already; plus, the kids are blasting through it, too, and having a great time.
Additional PLAY
Darkest Dungeon 2 - I bought it finally, as it was on sale. I finally have it on my own console, and have been feeling it out while also actually reading the tutorials. As a reminder, here's what happened when it came out in July…
My partner's been looking forward to this for ages, because she's a massive fan of the first one. I got it for her on Steam when it was cheap, but we don't play PC games so she only really scratched it once. It hit Switch on Monday, and we spent all evening playing it.
She absolutely hates it.
I'm a bit disappointed that she feels that way, because a) I spent €35 on it and b) I actually really enjoyed watching her play, and look forward to diving into it myself when I get paid next and can get my own copy. But I can also see why she's not a fan. In going down the Slay the Spire route (runs that aren't connected, the branching map, the upgrades which are entirely structural and not connected directly to the heroes you're using to give that connection to them), it's not really Darkest Dungeon as it was. You lose all sense of relationship to the heroes, because you're only fighting to keep them alive in that particular moment, not across an entire campaign. There's very little agency there, so it's easy to wonder what the point of it all is. I think she was just looking for DD, the sequel and not a totally reimagined game. The evening ended with her entire party getting wiped by a group of enemies featuring a boss who did nothing but heal his team - she wouldn't accept the praise of her getting right to the end of the first mission on her first try - then being really cross, turning everything off and going to bed stressed out.
In fairness, she has to shoulder some of the blame here. You can't spend the entire time ignoring tutorials (which it absolutely bombards you with initially), then complain you don't know how stuff works or don't understand what all the little icons mean when there's a list of them right there in the pause menu. You can't complain about the buttons or menus not reacting properly if you're trying to play it like a different game (namely, the first one) or not reading on-screen text that says 'You need to do THIS first'. You can't just expect something to be what you want, and then be annoyed when it's not. But still, the result is the same: I doubt she'll ever play this again, and I'll have to enjoy it on the side instead. Oh well. At least she can go back to the original and keep playing that instead…
Sorry, Debs - I fucking love it. It's a much deeper experience than the first, but also makes enough changes to break up the campaign in a way that absolutely works for me. So, I'll take that as a win.
This isn't really a PWB, but would anyone like a Steam key for the weird, grim metroidvania Blasphemous? I have ended up with a spare as a result of buying it from CD Keys without first checking whether or not I already owned it. PM me if you want it.
Not I, because I already have it on Switch. But I can vouch for it being fabulous in every way (big fan of the art style, gameplay and hideously dark religious theme).
It has now gone, sold to the mysterious phone bidder with the Russian accent.
Play
Still reading the Steam edition of Fate Stay/Night on the Steam Deck at night when I can, if no one has read a Visual Novel I think the Steam Deck/Switch are good places for them. Not sure my types of VN are up anyone's alley here I think, unless you're excited about the prospect of who would win a fight between Hercules and King Arthur, or teenage romance dramas. 
FSN is kinda' actually about Shirou learning what it means to be a hero, and also a story of two broken people fixing each other…it's really good tbh. ;(
And yeah, King Arthur can shoot sword beams out of her (dont ask) Excalibur!
Still trying [b]Persona 3: Reloaded[/b[ and itseems good but I'm not deep in enough that I can't back out just yet.
Want
Man, the Dead Rising remaster sure snook up on me, I don't know if I should get it day one but the reviews have all said it's good so I kind of want to. Stand by the first game a true Capcom Classic, can't wait to see if I remembered all the routes.
Want
Man, the Dead Rising remaster sure snook up on me, I don't know if I should get it day one but the reviews have all said it's good so I kind of want to. Stand by the first game a true Capcom Classic, can't wait to see if I remembered all the routes.
Concurred with this. I was never great at the original (I seem to recall never beating a single psycho) but I loved the concept. Very tempted to give it a spin, if a cheap code pops up somewhere.
Well I'm getting mixed reviews on Steam Deck performance for it so I just loaded up Dead Rising 2 for the first time ever, didn't get very far but I hope you don't need to do that opening every loop? That aside, I found a Fire Axe and spent several minutes just hacking zombies apart with it, then I found a store that had a bow and some arrows and spent several more minutes marvelling at how fun it is to shoot Zombies with arrows (and throw a whole ass Fire Axe at them) like some sort of specialised zombie killing merc who's lived in the Mall for months, and THEN I found the MMA shop and put on some boxing gloves and chuckled to myself as I gave a Zombie a good what for with a one-two and floored him with an uppercut, eat shit scrub you just got knocked the FUCK out.
This was like less than a half hour and a few stores in the plaza and it's already a blast.
Dead Rising 2 is actually really good. It sticks closely to the formula of the first game and while there’s something intangible missing (you can tell it’s made by a Western studio, somehow), it hits the mark more often than not.
It’s also got a prequel chapter which is excellent and a sequel chapter which is decent, they were separate downloads originally so not sure if they are still available but worth looking out for. Plus the Off The Record game which is a remix of the whole thing starring Frank. So they definitely milked this one for all they could.
Don’t bother with DR3 or DR4 though. DR3 started the process of dumbing the series down and DR4 is just tragic.
From what I remember seeing DR4 seemed to double down on zombie carnage at the expense of everything else. I could be wrong but if not I'd say for me there's more to DR than killing a ton of zombies, it's kind of all about the whole structure too.
I found a code for the Xbox One trilogy bundle (DR1, DR2 and Off The Record) for €8. Go on then.
A quick Play - Chu Chu Rocket on the dreamcast remains possibly the funniest game ever made.
now teach me how to play space channel 5 holy fuck i just want to like that game so bad
Still making my way through Astro Bot. Still really enjoying it, too, even when it takes me uncounted attempts to beat the bastard-hard challenge levels.
It took two repeated tries of dying and reloading but I finally got three Survivors to the safehouse in DR2 in a single run. I at first found the woman behind the counter but couldn't find her husband until after I escorted her to the safehouse (yes I know he's like a few steps away) and then I found the guy with the Shotgun outside and died trying to find his daughter and get them both back. Eventually I had enough guns on loop 3 to give them all a piece and we took a time saving single trip there (there being to the furthest survivor) and back.
I know the routing and retrying and finding the best weapons to increase survival isn't going to be for everyone and probably what people did not want from the first instalment even, but for me it kinda' adds to the game, even mindless exploration can have a purpose if you are taking mental notes and still be fun in and of itself.
