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It's taken a long time (a couple of months?), but I'm finally nearing the end of Demon’s Souls on PS5. It's been fun, and a struggle, and occasionally I've regretted looking up help rather than battling through. I don't think I chose the easiest path as what's apparently called a quality build, but it let me try lots of weapons and use bows to get past the Giant Depraved Ones (😭). I'm looking forward to some more Souls-likes at some point as Nioh's the only other one I've played. I own Another Crab's Treasure, Bloodborne and Elden Ring, and may pick up the Dark Souls trilogy one day.

As a bit of a palette cleanser I think I'll try Arranger or The Plucky Squire next week before picking another big title from my backlog... Perhaps that'll be Triangle Strategy?

I own 17 physical Switch games and 48 digital ones. So that's roughly two physical and six digital per year. Those purchases were fairly front-loaded as I began to feel bad about having a growing backlog towards the end of its life. There're eight more physical games I'd like as well as a few digital games.

After getting a PS5 last year my backlog jumped back up, so I've been buying very few Switch games. I've bought 12 PS5 games in the last year, of which roughly half were second-hand and the rest were heavily discounted.

I'm yet to buy a Switch 2 game despite buying the console. Bananza will be my first, but I'm holding off until my backlog is mostly depleted.

@gwyntendo /mɪˈlɪnoʊiː/, which is something like mi-LIN-oh-ee (I think)

I played and enjoyed the demos for The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales and Mina the Hollower last week. Perhaps due to choosing the hammer, I didn't love how the latter felt, but I'll give it another go with another weapon closer to release.

My current game is Demon’s Souls, which I've just started. I keep hitting square to attack, wasting healing items, and can't really get parrying down. Nioh is the only similar game I've played so far and they feel completely different. Since I found the start of that really hard and then got into it, I'm hoping I'll get used to the controls and enjoy Demon’s Souls.

I just completed Rayman Origins on the Wii, which I really enjoyed after the initial simple levels gave way to a decent challenge. I think I'd have liked it more if I'd played it before Rayman Legends, which did many things better. Some aspects of the game that were probably very creative at the time have been copied elsewhere and lack some of the wonder they presumably once held. I still dislike water levels in pretty much every platformer. The last few levels (Tricky Temple Too, LotLD and, especially, Risky Ruin) were a serious challenge and I had to spread them over several days to avoid getting too frustrated. I'm not going to do the time trials as getting through many of the levels without dying sounds nightmarish. Definitely recommended.

I'm not sure what to play next. Demon’s Souls and Hades are on top of my PS5 and Switch piles respectively, but I may try the demo of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales first.

@Kingy I'm not strongly against the name, but I don't particularly like it either. I think my problem is possibly that Adventures and Tales are synonyms. It feels a bit like The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Adventures. The other examples you raised don't have this problem and generally refer to some item or event in the world of the bit before the colon. I'm not sure if that explains what people don't like, but maybe it contributes?

The Japanese name 冒険家エリオットの千年物語 (bouken-ka eriotto no sennen monogatari) means something like The Millennium/Thousand-Year Story/Stories/Tale(s) of Elliot the Adventurer, which doesn't have the synonym problem.

Last week I finished Pepper Grinder, which was a lovely little game. The drill mechanic felt great and the game was a good challenge. The first couple of bosses were rather annoying, but I enjoyed the rest of them. I didn't enjoy the non-drilling mechanics all that much and thought there could've been more of the crumbling and cold environments encountered later. Recommended.

I'm now playing Rayman Origins on my Wii. It's fun, but blurry. I'm not enjoying it as much as Rayman Legends so far, but it's still good.

Testing via Wi-Fi: I pay for 900/900, the Switch speed test gave me 400/200, and I got 700/500 on my Mac, but I've seen higher depending on the time of day. Since I recently upgraded from 36/10 everything seems incredibly fast. I've no idea whether or not the speed test reflects the speed seen when downloading games, of course, but the hardware seems fine.

I just finished Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker on Wii U. It was a lovely break after the challenge of Tunic and I'm grateful to whoever it was here that encouraged me to buy it. It was mostly very relaxing, but there were some challenging aspects that occasionally led to frustration. I quickly decided I didn't need to complete Mummy-Me Maze Forever… I also decided time trials would ruin my relaxation. I'm glad I bought the Wii U version as it was useful to be able to interact with stuff using the touchscreen whilst playing on a TV.

I'm now playing Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart on PS5. Everything loading instantaneously is great and I like the wormhole mechanic despite it being a little disorientating as it doesn't move you as a hookshot would. It's pretty early, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it.

I finally managed to beat the last boss in Tunic after a couple of hours. Tough and rather frustrating, but satisfying, like most of the game. Just the final special secret left and I'll be done. I suspect I'll be needing a guide. Overall, I enjoyed my time with Tunic and I really appreciate the manual mechanic now that I've finished it. However, I wish the game had done a better job of easing me into both the more challenging combat and the puzzles as well as mixing the puzzles more into the main story progression. I played through it so slowly I've forgotten specifics, but I feel like the only real puzzles during the main game were noticing occluded paths.

Since Tunic was rather challenging I thought I'd play Rayman Origins on Wii, which I recently acquired, but I've discovered that my Zelda Wiimote doesn't work and my others are in storage :'( So instead I'm playing Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker on Wii U, which I'm enjoying.

I've continued to play Tunic on my Switch 2 😁.

I've been enjoying working through the puzzles for the secret stuff and I'm happy that I managed many of them without a guide once I'd got into the right mindset. I ended up looking at guides to see if I was on the right track for some that I'd figured out because the mechanics seemed sufficiently annoying to make me think I was missing something (e.g. the path rotating on a wall reflecting off a pool and the skulls in the graveyard that just wouldn't roll). I managed to figure out all but one square of the golden path and managed to translate Trunic, which were both satisfying. I have no idea what's going on with the place teleported to from the treasure room. I'll try to figure out what's going on there before facing the final boss.

Overall, it's been a more mixed experience than I'd have expected since on paper everything about it really appeals to me. I think the game would've worked better if there'd been more gentle puzzling in the main story to get me into the right frame of mind.

@Yalloo I've equipped a couple of those assuming I'd figure out the effect they have, but I've not noticed a difference. I'll have to see if I have the right manual pages to see what they do. Thanks for the tip.

I'm enjoying Tunic, but I've found it hard to tell whether the difficulty is expected or due to me missing a mechanic. Some bits before the Quarry were pretty hard, so I thought the devs were just testing players with the OHKO stuff.

@Oldstalk Aha, I played a few hours of that years ago, but didn't finish it. Maybe I got too frustrated and quit. I think the problem with Tunic is I treat it as a Zelda, but it's more puzzle-y. When I'm playing an actual puzzle game I can get in the right mind and appreciate the challenge more. Not that I'm having a terrible time with Tunic

I'm still playing Tunic, which I'm enjoying, but continuing to find frustrating. That appears to be in many ways my fault, but I still think the game is overly abstruse. I just made it through the Quarry after a dozen attempts. I thought it was a ridiculous difficulty jump, so I looked at a guide and discovered that there's an item to prevent the miasma from making the whole area OHKO. The guide also reminded me about using fruit to restore mana, which I haven't done at all whilst playing. I've definitely not made my life easy. Perhaps it'll be much easier now.

I've just started playing Tunic, which I'm finding a bit frustrating. The difficulty isn't a problem since it's fairly generous with shortcuts and I'm learning enemy patterns, but revealing certain mechanics through manual pages has annoyed a few times.

Most recently I got stuck in the entrance to the Forest Fortress since I had no idea I could pray at the metal things to activate them. I hadn't found the page and don't think I could even leave the area to find it. I had to use a guide to learn the mechanic, which isn't something I like to have to do. Puzzling out mechanics is a nice idea, but locking something so fundamental behind a missable page rather than hinting at it or through experimentation is annoying.

I like pretty much everything else about the game, so I'm sure it'll grow on me more as I learn the remaining mechanics.

The orange example is more aesthetically pleasing, as lower contrast designs often are, but I found it nearly unusable as I'm visually impaired. I'm happy to see a higher contrast design, even though I doubt accessibility was a consideration. Whether or not I start using the store is uncertain as I've grown accustomed to just buying things on the Nintendo website, which is probably the right choice anyway given everyone's constant complaints about the eShop.

I got the email at 13:00 today. I have about 1600 lifetime hours on my Switch in case anyone's curious. Since I'd already ordered from Argos and I quite like the idea of supporting a store (not that Sainsbury's needs the money), I won't be ordering directly from Nintendo.

@kmtrain83 (Only just noticed your reply.)

Which biome have you made it to / how long have you played? It took me about 9 hours to complete the first and 8 to complete the second, but then something clicked (I had a good enough idea of enemy patterns or I felt sufficiently confident or maybe I'd unlocked the right weapon perks) and it was much smoother sailing, whilst still presenting a good challenge. I haven't played many rogue-lites (Hades is still in my backlog), so I don't know how well the sense of progression compares to other examples.

(Some tips I found useful: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2025/02/housemarques-new-ps5-game-will-be-a-little-less-punishing-than-returnal#comment8498047)

I discovered I was most of the way to the platinum in Returnal, so I spent a few hours running around hunting for the last few collectibles. It was really freeing being able to go through levels without worrying about the need to get to the boss in a reasonable state. I also completed Ascension, which let me upgrade some weapons to absurd levels. The speed of progress, ridiculous power, and lower stakes again made for an incredibly enjoyable time. Highly recommended.

I then moved onto and completed A Short Hike, which was lovely. My only really problem with it was a sometimes irritating camera. The feeling of flying was wonderful and it was nice playing something relaxing after Returnal. I didn't collect everything because there wasn't enough guidance to avoid needing a guide and it wasn't really the sort of game I feel compelled to 100%.

I'm now onto Yakuza 5, which has been slow to start in the typical Yakuza fashion. I'm too early to judge it though. It, like 3 and 4, feels janky, so I probably won't be doing much side content.

After a little over two months, I'm nearing the end of Returnal. I was in love at first, but the challenge of Phrike and the mountain in the Crimson Wastes drove me pretty close to quitting. With a bit of stubbornness, and only playing when I felt especially alert, I pushed through, something clicked, and it's become wonderful again. The rest of the game, whilst hard, was never so frustrating and it took less time to complete than the first biome alone. If my next run goes well, I'll be getting the secret ending and then I'll finally have a look at the Tower of Sisyphus. I don't see myself getting the platinum as it looks more like a time sink with the RNG than anything challenging.

I think I'll then play a quick game (maybe A Short Hike) before going back to Yakuza with Yakuza 5.

Adjusting for inflation, the original Switch would now cost ~£370. The adjusted price for the Wii U would be ~£415. I'll be optimistic and hope it's priced to sell: £349.

I've paused just before the fourth boss in Returnal on PS5. I'm only playing when I'm in the right headspace to tackle something intense, so it's taking me a while, but I've figured out how to progress fairly consistently after really struggling with the first two biomes. We'll see how things go with the boss today or tomorrow. It's a little less fun now that I'm being really cautious, but I'm still enjoying it.

I'd love a mode after completing the whole game where I can choose whatever weapons and perks I want and just have fun since the movement is so satisfying. I suppose I won't have the fear of failure then, so maybe leaping in and messing around will be more achievable even without a special mode.

I’m playing Returnal on PS5 and it's amazing. It took 9 hours and who knows how many deaths to finally beat Phrike, so I'm not exactly great, but it feels so good to play and I'm having to resist having just one more run. The need to take a break to stop my heart hammering quite so wildly after a particularly intense attempt is also keeping me from playing it too much. We'll have to wait and see if my countless failures during the remaining biomes wear me down, but for now I'm loving it and I've found myself thinking about it when I'm not playing, which hasn't happened with a game for a while.

Amazing news. I finished Okami HD a couple of weeks ago. I loved the world and art style, but found the gameplay to be repetitive, the storytelling style overly infodump-y, and the pacing increasingly glacial. I can see this being incredible if the experience gained since the first can fix those issues. Modern QoL should also help streamline gameplay.

I've been playing Astro's Playroom on PS5, both as a palate cleanser after a few longer games and as an introduction to the PS5. It's been utterly delightful, plays wonderfully, and does some very cool things with the controller.

I think I'll play Returnal next. I'm not really into shooting games (Metroid Prime, Uncharted, and Horizon are the closest I really get to them), but it looked intriguing enough to be worth a go.

I'll get back to the Switch eventually. My (purchased) backlog for it is now really small (Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Hades, Triangle Strategy, and Tunic), but I have quite a bit of eShop credit.

@dugan Thanks very much. I'm certain Astro Bot'll be in my future; platforming games are my jam. It'll be a while though as I've built a small backlog in anticipation of buying a PS5.

@Jhena Ah, I wish I could love it that much. The art and atmosphere are exceptional. I just finished it and it's a pity for me that it ended with repeated bosses as it really reinforced the bits I didn't like rather than the bits I did. I wonder what games exist with such a well executed artistic vision, but gameplay I enjoy more...

I think I'm nearing the end of Okami HD. Unfortunately, it's been starting to drag over the past few hours and I'm ready to move on. The art style is the highlight; the mythology has been interesting, but is often just an info dump; and the gameplay has become repetitive. Oh well. I've realised that I only made it a little past the first big boss when I played it back on PS2, so perhaps I felt the same back then.

I caved and bought a PS5 in the Black Friday sales, so I'll be playing something on that next. As Okami was fairly long, I think Astro’s Playroom will make for a nice first game.

I've put Rayman Legends for Wii U on hold for now. I've managed to track down Rayman Origins for Wii, but I'm having a break from platforming with Okami HD on Switch.

It's very pretty and I'm enjoying myself, but it isn't as amazing as my hazy memories of the PS2 version suggest it should be. The battles let it down most. The art style, brush mechanics, and overall atmosphere more than make up for that though. And perhaps battling gets better later on.

I'm moving on from Rayman Legends for now. It was great, but rather easy. I'd recommend it to anyone into 2D platforming.

I still haven't touched the Back to Origins levels, but I've got everything in the main gallery other than a few gold cups, which I'll come back to after I play Rayman Origins.

I've just managed to get the last Teensie from Infiltration Station - Invaded. The Dark Rayman Invaded levels were tough.

After really struggling with Mariachi Madness, 8-Bit Edition and fearing the 8-Bit levels would take longer and longer, I ended up finding them pretty easy. Grannies World Tour, 8-Bit Edition was pretty wild.

Now I'm trying to decide between Okami, which I played back on PS2, and Bloodborne. I'm not sure I'm in the mood for something super tough.

I'm still playing Rayman Legends on Wii U. It's definitely become a bit harder, but it's extremely forgiving with checkpoints and not losing anything when dying almost feels like cheating. I've collected almost every Teensie from the main levels and plan to play through the Invaded levels next. It's great fun. I'm still thinking I'll hold off on the Origins levels until I've played that on Wii.

I just got my Wii U out of storage to play two newly purchased games (Rayman Legends and Captain Toad). I sometimes wish Nintendo provided a way to send them Wii U games, pay them a bit, and receive the Switch equivalent. But I also like owning and playing this weird console.

And yeah, Yoshi’s Woolly World is spectacular.

I'm having a great time playing Rayman Legends on Wii U. After the initial weirdness of going back to the gamepad, I've found the gameplay, level design, graphics, and music to all be wonderful. It's perhaps a little easy so far, but it's getting tougher and I keep unlocking bonus levels that I expect to be more challenging.

I'm wondering whether or not to track down Rayman Origins on Wii. Legends has some Back to Origins levels that I imagine would be more fulfilling if I played Origins first. I've also got a copy of the original Rayman on PS1 that I never played, so I might give that a go at some point.

I played Kiwami shortly after completing 0 and I can't really disagree with the review's complaints. I gave it a 7. It's a fun game, but compared to other entries it really does suffer with pacing issues and other rough edges.

Honestly, it may be better not to play 0 first since the (so far) four games I've played since haven't lived up to it. Then again, whichever game you play first gets the advantage of being novel.

I can't say much about the difficulty as I've mostly played the Yakuza games weaponless, and if possible without healing during battles, which has made them tough. The game offers to reduce the difficulty to Easy if you fail a boss a couple of times in a row. (I believe it records that you changed difficulty, but I don't think it penalises you.)

Anyway, I love the series and recommend it.

@JohnnyMind I love puzzle games. I was just concerned it'd be a bit easy, but you're right that it's worth trying at such a low price. I went back and it was still available, so that'll be nice next time I want something gentle. Thanks

I found Rayman Legends for Wii U in a charity shop, so I've got my Wii U out of storage. I've only played it for a few minutes and found the need to move my attention between the TV and the gamepad rather annoying, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

There was also Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for Wii U for £5, but I've always looked at it and assumed it'd be too simple. Should I have bought that too..?

My Switch and PS4 each cost me £280. I'm hoping the Super Switch will come in at around £350.

I'm hoping to see some movement towards that for the PS5 Slim Standard edition as well. I've built a small library of deeply discounted second-hand PS5 games in anticipation, but maybe I'll just keep putting off buying a PS5 until the PS6.

@Archius9 You need to add VAT since US prices don't include it whilst UK and European prices do. Adding 20% to the converted US prices makes them £642 and €762. They're still rounding up to the nearest 100, but it's not as absurd as your numbers suggest

@Pillowpants Nice to know. It's the RPG I'm most likely to replay. I think I tried a few years ago and bounced off the intro section and perhaps wasn't in the mood to persevere. I'd love a remake of it more than pretty much any other game

I expect that RPGs I played as a child would hold up less well than pretty much anything else as I suspect gameplay ages better than story / characters / presentation.

Skies of Arcadia: Legends, Tales of Symphonia, and Golden Sun are probably the games that best fit the question. Other RPGs may also hold up poorly, but I don't have such fond memories of them. I think this feeling stems mostly from disliking Tales of Vesperia, which seems to be considered an excellent Tales of game. Grinding and missing QoL would probably also contribute.

I know that older Mario, Zelda, and Metroid games hold up because they're some of the few games I've replayed. Pokémon Red doesn't really, but more because it's missing so much that Gold added and that does hold up rather well.

I'm pretty sure I'm about to finish Ratchet and Clank (2016), which was my first R&C and has been a very fun, light game.

I'll probably start Okami HD. I loved the original on PS2 and I wonder whether it holds up.

My (purchased) backlog is down to Bloodborne, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Hades, Triangle Strategy, Tunic, Yakuza 4, and Yakuza 5. I think I'll probably have to buy some shorter games to use as breathers between them 🤔

Great direct.

• Prime, Zelda, and Mario & Luigi are definites.
• MIO, DQIII, and Fantasian are maybes.
• Prime 2 and 3 would've been nice.
• I'd have liked an update on Plucky Squire. (And Silksong, of course.)

I lost the last two weekends to the flu and a bad case of tonsillitis. I've mostly recovered, but not to the point of being able to tackle the last few bits of Tiny Thor, so I'm going to play Ratchet & Clank on PS4, which I assume'll be more casual. (I've never played Ratchet & Clank before, so who knows?)

I beat the main levels of Tiny Thor during the week, so I'm going to attempt a few of the challenge levels now. I recommend the game to anyone who likes really tough platformers. Some of the levels towards the end were frustrating as the gaps between checkpoints were a little long, but it was really satisfying managing them. I'll be playing something much easier next, but I'm not yet sure what.

I started Tiny Thor last weekend and I'm having a good time with it. It's challenging, but fair. The controls aren't as tight as, for example, Celeste, but I tend to feel that it's me and not the game failing when I don't pull something off. The hammer mechanic is fun, but I sometimes get a bit overwhelmed trying to jump and throw it with enemies all around. I'm going through some ice levels, which I always dread, so hopefully there won't be too many. Recommended.

The weather’s pretty nice, so I may not be playing anything. The weather took a turn, so:

If I do, I’ll be finishing Yakuza 3 Remastered, which has been fine, but the worst Yakuza I’ve played so far. I’m planning to move on to either Tunic or Tiny Thor after that.

My (already purchased, non–Humble Bundle) backlog is down to 9 games

@WiiWareWave https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/04/as-switch-approaches-the-ps2s-lifetime-sales-sony-moves-the-goalposts

I recently finished Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling, which was great. The world, music, and badge system were really cool. The writing, story, and characters don't live up to TTYD, but still work well. I played it on hard and it got a little frustrating, so I didn't finish some of the optional bosses. Recommended.

I'm now continuing my journey through the Yakuza franchise with Yakuza 3 Remastered. Its gameplay is a bit of a step backwards after 0 and the Kiwami games and it has a very slow start, but I'm sure it'll pick up soon.

I finished Psychonauts 2 last week, which was pretty great. The quirky world designs and amusing writing were the standouts. The overall story was a bit disappointing (maybe due to pacing?) and the game's mechanics feel rather janky versus other recent platformers. It's been so long since the first game, I'm unsure how they compare. I hope there's a Psychonauts 3.

I'm now playing Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling, which is off to a good start. I'm struggling a bit with depth perception (missing platforms when jumping, etc.) and targeting the boomerang is finicky, but the gameplay is enjoyable otherwise. I've left the hard badge equipped and it's been pretty tough. I'm not far enough in to judge story or characters. It doesn't have the immediate charm of TTYD, but it also doesn't have the existing IP advantage.

I decided to avoid buying new games until my Switch and PS4 backlogs were empty. I'm down to 12 games and I'm still resisting the new and shiny. Of course, there're now a few dozen games waiting to be purchased to replace that backlog.

I finished Nobody Saves the World last week. It was fun moment to moment, but ended up being a bit underwhelming. The checklist levelling up system was very addictive.

I'm now playing Psychonauts 2 on PS4. I'm finding the controls a little frustrating, but the world design is great and the writing is super fun(ny).