What game are you playing?

Games Video Games
8642

Even though I watched the Waypoint stream directly comparing the two games and am well aware of the differences, I’m loving how 2023 Dead Space feels just like my memories of 2008 Dead Space.

Huge fan of those first two games (and something of an apologist for 3, which I think caught a lot of only slightly deserved flak for grafting an unnecessary co-op/online component onto the story, as was the fashion at the time).

Sucks that EA dismantled Visceral but seems like EA Motive have done a good job picking up that legacy.

2 Likes
8643

Dead Space (2023) isn’t so much a remake as it is a renovation, specifically one of those renovations where the layout has been kept virtually the same except for the open plan dining area and contemporary fittings (can you tell I’m house-hunting right now?).

And in the manner of most modern renovations, I’m happy all these mod-cons and updates are here but if I had done the work myself, I’d have made different choices.

Aesthetically, it is what it is. It’s definitely a gaudy and flashy-looking interpretation of the Ishimura and I miss the overtly Japanese decals and signage of the original. This feels like you’re in the bowels of a god-machine less than an actual ship. I do appreciate how disgusting it is though. Really gives The Callisto Protocol a run for its money in the showers of gore department. Also, contrast! Lighting! Darkness! All things that they amped UP in this game versus the original. Glad they took that path versus The Last of Us Part 1’s Netflix vision.

I’ve also been very vocal in this thread that I don’t really like RE2Make. That’s my cross to bear. I know I’m wrong, but I don’t like traipsing around places to go find that one thing I couldn’t access previously due to arbitrary reasons. This is also why I can’t do the Metroidvania thing. In Dead Space (2023) it’s more contrived but less onerous. You’re not really going out of your way to backtrack to some locked doors from previous areas. I do love that the game constantly populates old areas with enemies. Makes the Ishimura feel much more hostile than before. Nevertheless, it does put the brakes on the narrative momentum as you’re often thinking less about what’s next and more about where you need to revisit now you have Level 2 access.

While we’re griping, this game feels worse than Dead Space/Dead Space 2!! The Plasma Cutter does not go hard! The sound design and impacts just don’t hit like you’re doing an industrial accident at something. It’s all fine. Game feels nice in the hands, but I’m not getting the kinaesthetic nirvana sensation you get from Dead Space 2. Similarly, the menus and UI are not as crisp and satisfying as the original games. This was a big part of what felt so confident about those early games and it just feels less responsive here.

Overall, I’m ambivalent. I’m having a very good time, but Motive are not on Capcom’s level of galaxy-brained reflexivity. This is not a playful or subversive remake. It’s much closer to the Bluepoint remake of Demon’s Souls (boo hiss!), except for the fact that Dead Space (2008) is a much less classy and thematically complex work than Demon’s Souls (2009), so the yassification of the former feels less tasteless.

Remakes have venerable place in horror media, so I will not entertain the idea that this game is in anyway superfluous or unnecessary. I do think that this is the quintessence of a corporate remake. It smoothes over all the friction and dated aspects of the original, and adds more Content. There’s a real aversion to cut content here, presumably because of how mad The Gamers were when they cut the Clock Tower from RE3Make. Cowards and losers all! A surgeon cuts to heal, and there are entire sections of the two good Dead Space games that could be left on the floor. Here, no gaps have been left. If it’s different, it’s been replaced, which I think is overly cautious.

I like it! It’s a good time. I’m just very picky about my horror media!

3 Likes
8644

Hitman Freelancer came out with that new World of Assassination update/rebranding and it’s great fun, they changed a lot of what I wanted them to change from the closed test, and is better at telling you what i didn’t realize when i first played it: you ain’t supposed to be a SIlent Assassin, just one that gets shit done by any means necessary. Though there’s still some unnecessarily obfuscated elements that’ll hamper the enjoyment for some.

Being a whirlwind of improvisational cheese and murder is fantastic, but some tactics I use the most often I only know from learning game logic tidbits and patch note minutae. A lot of people don’t yet know the non-target money penalty is only -50 per head and only applies to unarmed civvies, and it fundamentally changes how much freedom people will feel they have. Game design’s hard but so is communicating it, I guess.

Still, I already finished a campaign, getting better at choosing Syndicates with objectives/maps I actually wanna do + what maps I aim to have final showdowns on, and i’m doing more side objectives + bolder prestige objectives as my arsenal expands. There’s no other mode that’s both rewarded and subverted map knowledge as satisfyingly as this. Not to mention rewarding sheer chaos, I’ve had my messiest missions reward me the most because I hit every safe, courier and objective while weaving past or hiding from panicked guards alerted to very public murders.

On my most recent mission, I was on my way out of Santa Fortuna and merc’d a courier standing right next to the helicopter exit, and the end screen freezeframe was 47 casually looking past the sparks and dust puffs from all the gunfire hitting the cockpit as my total merces passed 100,000 for the first time. New peak for Hitman, tbh.

also hey EA, now that we got hot metacritic scores on a modestly funded reboot of an IP you flailed around and threw out a window 10 years ago, and are willing to make it with no chance of the original devs’ involvement, can we get a rerelease of aggressive cyberpunk campaign + L4D shooter Syndicate (2012) too. It’s literally the two pitch/SEO bait concepts that’ve been all the rage since 2020 and Cyberpunk’s quickhacking cribbed the bejesus out of Syndicate’s breaching stuff while doing less cool shit with the concept anyway. money on the table. thank u dearest soulless corpo :heart:.

3 Likes
8645

Syndicate (2012)'s multiplayer was so fucking good.

2 Likes
8646

Its co-op is allegedly still functional, but it’s not even included in EA Play, might be fully delisted for Skrillex licensing issues? and is near impossible to run on modern Windows (possibly due to SecuROM :upside_down_face:) so there’s barely even a chance to get a Discord group going without getting brickwalled by tech issues. Never even got the mercy of Xbox Back Compat. Damn shame.

1 Like
8647

Came to also shout out Hitman, the new freelancer mode is exactly what I wanted out of this game after beating the campaign! If anyone has been looking for a reason to play more Hitman this is it. I really hope that this mode is an indication of what is to come from future IO games whether it be Hitman or 007.

2 Likes
8648

I can’t decide if I think the new Hitman Freelancer mode is brilliant or if I hate it. It does a ton of stuff that I theoretically want from Hitman (earning cash, upgrading a safehouse, amassing a collection of weapons and gear, taking contracts that all contribute towards an ongoing meta campaign), but certain aspects of the implementation completely rub me the wrong way.

I’m not against going loud with a shotgun or whatever to complete a featured contract or elusive target when shit hits the fan, but Freelancer seems particularly geared towards forcing that outcome, even when the bonus objectives aren’t specifically lined up for it. There’s minimal ability to plan as you’ll never know where the targets are going to be or even where you’ll spawn in - I’ve had several missions effectively screw me over instantly where I’ve brought a sniper rifle to get a bonus or prestige objective, but the game has decided to spawn me smack in the middle of hostile territory. Meanwhile, the target will be sitting indoors in a windowless room.

Now, I’m not denying it’s fun having to deal with complications and roll with things when it all goes wrong, but considering 47 is not terribly nimble in combat going loud can be pretty high risk. And even if you can bottleneck the guards somewhere and make it easier to mow them down, I don’t find doing that particularly fun over and over again. Then the consequences for failure are awfully steep whether you fumble the combat or attempt something more stealthy - not only do you lose your gear (OK), but half your money (uhh), and you earn little or no experience (so don’t even advance the meta campaign).

It’s definitely a different way to play Hitman, and in line with the way IOI has been broadening what the game can be with stuff like contracts, escalations, and elusive targets that all open up different playstyles and place varying levels of emphasis on just getting the mission done rather than doing it a certain way to get the best rating. But for me, while I’m not ready to write it off yet - perhaps there is some hump I need to get over in terms of access to gear that would make approaching the levels more fun, or something else I’m not aware of - it really doesn’t feel like what I was looking for from an ‘endless mode’ being added to the game.

1 Like
8649

This is something they really need to change and have options for, and I should prolly add the caveat to my prior gushing that I’m unashamedly cheesing how they let you force-quit the game (from home screen on consoles and alt+f4 on PC) to restart a mission if things go sour. The fact they acknowledged this, have logic to support it without breaking things, and consider it an “allowed exploit”, combined with how Elusive Targets have had similar leeway for quitting to avoid full consequence since forever, makes the punishment for rolling with failure in Freelancer feel especially unnecessarily harsh. A lot of inevitable hiccups or annoyances in the game/AI logic can go from “haha dammit” to “fuck this game” when you take away the accessible choice of a reset button.

I’ve always played Hitman as the cheesiest fucker, been using the bullets coming from the camera instead of the gun to wipe rooms n set up challenges since the first game, but I understand how that’s just boring for some. I really think they should’ve given you a smattering of baseline tools so it isn’t so skewed toward distracting and blasting your way through maps hoping you eventually get those water canisters and shock items the trapping objective sets seem to really want. Plus they really need to let you choose entry points and have objectives influence enemy placement, like if i take a Silent Assassin prestige objective it should probably make sure the target spawn/route isn’t forever in LoS of other NPCs. They could even use the system they already have for spawning Showdown Suspects (and sometimes regular targets, I think) with semi-procedural routes.

Here’s hoping there’s some post-launch support for this thing, cos they did use a lot of data and feedback to change it significantly from the Closed Test already. It’d be a shame if it stays in this state of a decent thing that some like me click with, but a lot of people reasonably bounce off of due to IOI’s often weird difficulty priorities.

1 Like
8650

Ironically it crashed on me once during a showdown and I was able to re-enter the level knowing exactly who and where the target was - I guess it randomises and saves that at the safehouse stage - but I didn’t put it together that yeah I could probably close the game myself and replicate that.

I hope you’re right that they tweak it further following the technical test changes.

1 Like
8651

I have been adoring Hitman Freelancer, although I’m very bad at it. I can understand the roguelike aspects being offputting, it can be a little frustrating, but I’m used to rolling with it. I think it also adds a really interesting layer of wanting to bring as little gear as possible on missions, unless it’s an alterted mission. In that case you can go all out, since you’ll lose your stuff if you fail regardless of whether you bring it. (At least I think that’s how it works, at least for the tools.)

I have been liking how the mode encourages rolling with bad situations. If I had redirected a train through a warehouse only to miss every target, I’d have just reloaded in a mode that allowed it, but it was fun to keep going. I ended up having to knock out a woman and her bodyguard on a staircase as she fled, killing her with the bodyguard’s shotgun and weaving between pillars to dodge gunfire as I make my escape.

2 Likes
8652

My first Showdown in freelancer was following a failed mission where I lost every gun I had. It took place at the Colorado map and it placed me at the front gate right in a patrol route. I tried to stealth kill someone to get a uniform but got caught at which point it became bullet hell as people poured in guns firing. I made it into the compound and was alerted to the target rightfully deciding it was time to leave so I just started spraying down range towards one of the icons moving for a car and managed to land a head shot with the incredibly inaccurate guard rifle and got told target eliminated. So I turned right around and walked out the gate. One of the messiest jobs I’ve done in the game but one of the most exciting.

That mission is what really sold this on me and is why I like the punishment it dishes out. I like that I do not have the option at all to take my normal gear setup of lockpick and silenced pistol. Yes I could force myself not to use those but I won’t. I need that forced hand aspect.

1 Like
8653

Well, I finished One Route of Disco Elysium and, well, I’ve got to stew on this a bit before catching up on the earlier discussions of the thread plus the Waypoint pod. My current mood is a mix of sadness and the elation of life. Is that disco?

7 Likes
8654

It’s basically the emotion Disco Elysium wants you to feel, at least.
(Also: the title is sort of a pun - both “Disco[teque] Elysium” and also the Latin “Disco Elysium” (I learn (or possibly I teach) [of] Paradise) )

1 Like
8655

Oh shit.

(15 characters)

2 Likes
8656

I may have judged the Dead Space Remake a touch harshly.

The last third of the original Dead Space is one of the least consistent and enjoyable. There’s another of the infamous turret sequences, there’s the arrival of the Valor with its scittery enemies and frustrating environmental puzzles, THE RADIOACTIVE BALLS, and steep decline in the detail and quality of the level design.

The Remake shows EA Motive’s hand as not just another Bluepoint. They rework the turret sequence into a genuinely fantastic boss battle set piece, they ditch or rework all of the annoying environmental puzzles on the Valor, and they add new mechanics to the stasis necros. When the moment calls for confident changes, Motive steps up to the plate. I was impressed!

5 Likes
8657

I’d almost completely come around on Hitman Freelancer: I was getting used to the quirks, as well as being bolstered with advice from @Breadtopia on how to game the mode’s sometimes egregious difficulty and punishing consequences. I finished a campaign and was merrily stocking my safehouse with gear.

Then I put a proximity mine down in a bathroom stall, because I needed to slip through a frisk checkpoint. I… I didn’t realise they armed if you dropped them rather than throwing them.

3 Likes
8658

Truly one of my least favorite puzzles in any game I’ve played over the past few years! I immediately knew how to solve the puzzle, but the actual doing of it was SO cumbersome. I’m glad it was reworked.

I’ve completed a few games since the last time I posted. They were all bangers too! I beat Yakuza 6. What an EXCELLENT game! I’m not super plugged in to the fandom, so I don’t know how this one is usually received, but I get the impression it’s seen as a downgrade. I didn’t get that vibe at all! The new engine and combat mechanics are great. Getting back to just one protagonist was nice as well. The whole thing felt more streamlined and thematically whole, which was a breath of fresh air after the maximalist game that came before. 5 is still my favorite in the series, but it’s just so overstuffed!

Anyways, RGG Studio have perfected this kind of game! Kiryu is just such an excellent character. If your only exposure to this series is memes, it can be easy to see the juxtaposition of goofiness and seriousness and see it as camp. While you could definitely read it that way, I think its deeper than that. Kiryu is such a complete character that the goofiness, seriousness, and anything in between never come across as out of place. We see this man react so earnestly to such a wide gamut of human experience that it’s hard to see any of it as dissonant with any other part. It’s a true achievement!

Oh, also, I finally mastered the tiger drop after like 7 games. It’s ridiculously OP. I wish I would have figured that out sooner!

I also played Hi-Fi Rush, which was also really great! It’s so rare to see a game with this fidelity stay enjoyable from start to finish. It’s the definition of all killer, no filler. I see a lot of people saying that is due to the length of the game, but I think that underestimates the excellent pacing of the game. You’re still being introduced to new enemies and mechanics well into the end game, so it never stops feeling fresh. Everything else about this game is great too. The bosses are excellent from beginning to end! it looks FANTASTIC. Also, there’s a level with a Number Girl track on it, which was incredible! I’m just glad this game got made!

I’m glad to see so much praise for the new Hitman mode in this thread! I’ve been replaying all of the levels in the new engine between games for the past 6 months or so, which has been great. I’m excited to finally get to the new level they released last year so I can beat that and then dig into Freelancer.

3 Likes
8659

I would like my life’s work to be like that of an RGG Studio game: help everyone I meet reach their full potential.

4 Likes
8660

I’ve been fearful of this forever because I almost never use proximity explosives and don’t know their logic. Thank you for being the canary in the coal mine for this, your sacrifice will not be in vain.

…I got uncheeseably nuked way more embarrassingly, I ran headlong into Whittleton Creek’s explosive vault room while absentmindedly running around tryna find a third nearby safe code clue. Goodbye, my sweet Collector’s Sieker and like 40,000 merces :cry:

gamer karma is real

2 Likes
8661

Building off of @Korlis picture in the context free screenshot thread I realized last night that there are no penalties at all for killing most NPC’s in most missions. So I did end up murdering just about everyone in a part of Mumbai so I could kill the target and hide their body without being spotted. In fact if it’s not one of the Showdown missions the target I found will not flee the map. They kind of just stand there cowering as you murder everyone else around them.

I’m surely not the first person to realize this so I’ll be interested to see if they introduce a mechanic of the target fleeing the map in a patch or severely reducing the XP gain for exploiting that mechanic.

1 Like