Topic: What Game(s) are You Currently Playing?

I just tried the Switch demo of Adventures of Ben: Rabbit Run. I generally don't like to knock indies, but that was probably the worst demo I have ever played.

I thought it was going going to be a cute 3D platformer as it advertised. The demo looks vaguely 3D, but I could only walk left and right. B is jump and X is run which is a remarkably bad button combination for a game about jumping and running. The jumping seemed extremely janky getting stuck on walls and such. To interact or talk you have to press A at fairly inconsistent times (being too close or too far are both bad even when it says 'press A' in the middle of the screen). After a few minutes of painfully running up and down floors of a house (you go up stairs with the annoying A button), you get turned into a surprisingly ugly rabbit and talk to your pets who have disturbingly ugly voices. And then the game says something about Karma and then it... not exactly crashed but no button combination would get me out of the Karma dialogue. There was probably more in theory, but I uninstalled instead of trying again.

@NintendoByNature I used to not love Turn-Based JRPGs, but after playing a good amount of other RPGs like Xenoblade, FF6, and Crosscode, I’ve definitely grown to appreciate them more. SoS is pretty high on my backlog right now; everything I’ve seen from it so far looks fantastic!

Just beat Blasphemous 2 this morning - great Metroidvania and very nearly as good as its predecessor. I'd give it a solid 8/10 (and give B1 8.5/10)

I'd say it was a little on the easy side, and some of the boss battles were lacking a bit for me. However, the penultimate boss (Evernisto?) is a ridiculous difficulty spike.... absolutely horrendous, the worst boss I've face sinced Sekiro's Isshin the Sword Saint! Honestly took me a couple of days and ~60-70 tries to beat Evernisto...

Finally got him, then moved on to the final boss who was ridiculously easy. Overall though really enjoyed my time with B2, and it is up there for me with HK, B1, Dread, Salt&Sanctuary, Ender Lillies etc

Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival Wii U.
I personally enjoy this Wii U game than my other Wii U games, even the Windwaker.

Just dabbled in about an hour's worth of Slay the Spire thanks to it being currently available through NSO Game Trials here in Europe and I definitely concur with the general consensus on this one: it's really damn good.

I wouldn't be the most experienced with card games myself (the only one I've really played has been Pokemon TCG on NSO XD) but I'm absolutely loving what I've played of StS so far. Constantly pitching stuff for a better hand, carefully considering energy-to-effect ratios and launching barrages of attacks/block effects have all felt fantastic to pull off in real time. Combine this with a bunch of little tweaks to accomodate the roguelite formula, like your entire discard pile returning to your deck when you run out of cards to draw or being able to upgrade card effects at rest points, and a killer OST (I can already tell that the Boss theme is going to be stuck in my head for AGES) has me eager to keep coming back over and over again. And considering how it's also currently on sale for the lowest price it's ever been? I might end up taking the plunge and getting it outright 😁

So yeah, very high recommendation from me and I'd implore you to give it a go if you live in Europe and have NSO right now!

@Fizza So funny that everyone, including myself, goes into this game with some trepidation... "will it be for me?" etc - then ends up loving it!
Everything about the description of the game made me think I would hate it, and having never played a deck-builder I was extremely worried... but I adore this game and it deserves every ouch of the critical acclaim and player consensus it has received.

IMO - Up there with Hades, Dead Cells, Gungeon as one of the great rogue-style experiences

@Fizza My experience with NSO trials so far has varied from insta-buy after playing for a few minutes (Stardew Valley) to almost instantly uninstalling (NBA 2K). Splatoon 3 was a middle experience where I loved it in some ways but never bought it.

I've never played Slay the Spire and my assumption has always been I wouldn't like it because I don't generally like video games with card games inside. But if it comes to the US as a trial, I'll try it.

Trying out Eastward from the NSO game trial. It does seem to be pretty good, but its pacing seems to be pretty slow for a game like this. I do intend to play more of it though, and I like its pixel art.

@MarioLover92 This is the 2nd or third trial which made me buy the game before the trial was even over. It's such an adorable game. Far better than I thought it would be.

While I have like 7 games on the go at once, the one that's getting the most attention right now is Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Having finally finished the other three routes, I'm just starting on the Silver Snow route. Trying not to use the main students this time, fousing on the fauclty member and Ashen Wolves to make it different. Also going NG+ and recruiting all the students I can so I don't have to fight them again.

On switch I've been playing superliminal because I'm a fan of first person puzzle games like Portal. On PC I been playing Left 4 Dead 2.

I tried playing Eastward via the NSO trial thing. Honestly I am really glad to have tried another indie game after instead wasting my life with just the same handful of Nintendo series. But the game just wasn't doing it for me. I didn't dislike it by any means, and there was a lot to like but there was really not enough for me to latch onto despite playing 5 hours of what is apparently a 20 or so hour game. Unless the story improves more than even JRPGs do in their 2nd half, there was too much of a focus on story with not enough to enjoy about said story. Like I kept waiting for more than one or two characters to get any reaction from me and it basically never happened.

Incredible looking though, I'll give it that.

Since I got my Super NT, I have been replaying my SNES library. One of the games I have been playing is Ken Griffey Jr. I started a new season and surprisingly the game still holds up well. I am thinking of starting a playthough of Super Mario World next.

I will start another Soulslike journey, Demon's Souls

I really wanted my first PS5 game to be Spider-Man 2 but I couldn't help it

I'm a little over thirty hours into Cyberpunk 2077, simply amazing. If you enjoyed Deux Ex: Human Revolution and/or Mankind Divided, it's that but better. A bigger open world, better gear progression, a test bed for new game development tech (RED Engine). This would be a Game of the Year candidate...if it weren't released three years ago in a broken state.

"When it's ready" indeed.

On Switch I've been very into Everspace and just started Hades. Both are amazing games and always so excited when I start a session. I've been so dedicated to getting through the backlog and not having a time sink 'main' game (looking at you Monster Hunter Whatever). So far it's been so rewarding

Since Nintendo announced the closure of 3DS/Wii U online play, I've been playing Mario Kart 7 and Kid Icarus: Uprising with a minimum of 10 matches a day.

World Class Leader Board Golf (Game Gear)

No interest in golf in real life, but I do like a good golf video game. This one looks a bit basic, but still plays great.

Dragon Quest VII (3DS)

Been playing this one for a while now, but haven't really had the urge to pick it up much recently. Need to get back into it before I forget what's happening.

Cuddly Forest Friends.
But I felt sleepy quickly when I played the game for 30 minutes.
Something weird.

Been replaying Harmony of Dissonance, for the first time in like 15 years. Dunno what anyone says, this game still rules, even if it is kinda Igavania Easy Mode. But I don't wanna play a hard game all the time, certainly not for this genre, I'd save difficulty for the classic series if anything.

Also hot take: there's some good music in this. Not all of it, but the stuff that leans into intentionally 8-bit sounding music is really good. It's mildly weird for a GBA game this good looking but 8-bit is a safer bet than leaning into what the GBA can and cannot do in terms of music quality.