Malazan Empire: The game I'm playing is... - Malazan Empire

Making steady progress with that Korean campaign. Finished scenario 5 (of 7). That was a protracted naval struggle against the Japanese Wakou pirates. Rooting out their bases 1 island at a time is... questionable fun. Especially cuz the devs decided to add in triggers that spawn a wave of defenders each time I'm attacking a new base, which is... annoying to say the least.

Next I got to recover an island south of the Korean mainland from an allaince of Mongols, Koreans and more Japanese Wakou. The entire map is one big island we all share, so the fighting's gonna get nasty in this one, since I'm on a timer.

Want to finish this campaign to get the review done; Then gonna take a break- "Pronty: Fishy Adventure" is out on Thur, and it's an awesome underwater metroidvania that's like a love child of Ori and Hollow Knight, set in a not-Rapture. I had a lot of fun with the demo, so can't wait to grab it.

Had to jump back into Assassin's Creed Valhalla (yeah yeah, I know) because a free update introduced something called "Tombs of the Fallen". We're all about the fallen around here, amirite? heyooooo.

Anywhoo, it's a pretty cool add on. Basically you find these hidden cave complexes that are (not so difficult) puzzles to solve that earn you gear. The little narrative and lore tacked to these tombs is kind of neat. The add on is very brief, as there are only four tombs (I wonder if they will keep adding in future updates?). I still have one to complete and I think there is a main area to unlock back at the very first one when you solve the other three. I think that is how the flow is, but not for sure until I finish it.

Treasures of the Aegean is AWESOME.

22 loops, I've explored most of the map, and was just barely our of time to unlock the last major secret.

I've already figured out how to activate all 3 machines that unlock King Minos' tomb, so right now I'm just trying to collect the leftover treasures and fill in all the lore bits.

The platforming is super-fluid. the artstyle is gorgeous, and the puzzles are mostly brain teasers. There's a few challenges that require you to get to an unlocked door on a timer, but these's only a couple of them, and they aren't that frustrating.

This is easily gonna be my Top 10 this year. It's a small but extremely well put-together game.

Mentalist, on 19 November 2021 - 08:17 AM, said:

Hmmm. The gameplay trailer makes it look pretty... budget platformer... dime a dozen Steam game... ish. But the user reviews seem pretty pumped.

Not gonna pay 20 euros for this but maybe if it hits 50% off by Christmas, I'll take a look.

What with Forza Horizon and Halo Multiplayer being out at the same time I'm pretty sated right now.

Finished Treasures of the Aegean. Just under 12 hours for 100%, and it's a great game. Fun map to explore, clever puzzles, charming story. Doesn't outstay its welcome, but delivers everything it's set out to do.

Went back and wrapped up "Guardian of Lore" as well. Figured out how to get the last story solved, and then it was just one more boss fight.

It's a neat game, but floaty jumps and janky combat sour the experience a bit.

Started "Pronty: Fishy adventure" , but didn't get far past basic tutorial before we had a power outage last night. So far gameplay feels smooth, though. Having the game set underwater and most enemies being fish is interesting- the enemy AI isn't 100% static, and sometimes they potter into hidden areas, and then launch themselves at you from walls. Should make finding those false wall areas easier, which is always a big plus in a Metroidvania.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 20 November 2021 - 03:12 PM

92% of the map explored in "Pronty". This game gets weird. My main quest giver in the hub identified 3 areas with stuff I need to unlock the doors that lead to the final boss challenge; so I get 2 of them, and enter the area where the 3rd one should be. I identify the route directly to the boss room, and go the opposite way and start exploring, which is what you do in a Metroidvania to map out everything. The background lore is getting really Bioshock-y at this point, (in addition to the already obvious parallels between the underwater cities of Royla and Rapture) delving into the origins of all the mutated fish and sea creatures.

So i'm merrily exploring, and I find the 3rd and final, combat challenge room- the Expert one. Obviously I do the challenge, and my reward is a perk that lets me enter the insta-kill read mist of death zone. So I do, and... there demon ghost rabbits, whose souls power portals? and the area boss is a cybernetic telepathic rabbit..thing? that fights me across 5 lanes connected by portals and channels laser on these lanes, so you gotta hop in the portals to avoid death? At least the reward is nice (vampiric life-steal perk!). But then there's another portal, so you kill another demon rabbit to power it, and... there's the game's first 2 phase boss? And when I kill him I get the power to teleport? So I can access even more random places, and there's a psychedelic maze now?

And all this optional stuff is like, a good quarter of the map. and it's weird . I thought the base concept of "sea creatures crossed with garbage items mutated" was a good enough basic concept, but this is a whole other level.

Finished Pronty. 18 hours to 100% on Moderate difficulty (no achievements for playing on Hard specifically).

The demon rabbits stuff is all extra stuff that leads to a secret ending. It's... not a happy one.

2 main endings, after you beat final boss, you either finish him off, or... not. Depending on if you did everything.


Need to see both endings to get 100% completion, but similar to "ender Lilies", the last save is before the final boss room. And with the life-steal and health regen perks, the last boss fights become a cakewalk.

Feel good ending is really feel good. Amazing game, overall.

Still feeling the cartoony look, so probably gonna play "8 Doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure" next.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 24 November 2021 - 01:35 AM

About 7 and a half hours into "8 doors". Played through 4 of the major areas so far.

This game has a 2-pronged progression system. The "keepers" of each area grant you "traditional" traversal powers- Air-dash, double jump, wall climb, etc- while defeating bosses gives you additional weapons, that can also be used to bypass certain obstacles, or kill certain enemy types that block the way. There's also 3 skill trees, but the only way to get skill points is to either find skill altars, or to bring in "fugitive souls"- each 4 souls are worth 2 skill points.

Game is decently fun so far, but nothing earth-shattering.

Wrappped up "8 doors" The last boss challenge is a gauntlet of warm-up boss, multi-forms, and also a timed mini-platforming challenge for good measure. Haven't had to deal with this much since the last boss in Sekiro.

Because I'm feeling like doing more side-scrolling combat after that, started "Eastern Exorcist". It's like The Witcher, but combat is soulsy stamina-based, but set up like a beat'em'up against mobs, and like Sekiro against bosses.

I have a feeling from this I might pick up "Yuan Xuan Sword VII" again. I'm really digging the Chinese demon-slaying.

So over the Thanksgiving break I didn't have a lot of time and was feeling nostalgic so I jumped into one of the short Headhunter DLC packs for Borderlands 2, the one that is themed for the Thanksgiving holiday - The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler. Man, did it bring back some great memories. Remember Mr. Torgue's grandma ("Grandma Flexington") and her quest after you defeat the main boss? Man, she goes on and on and on.

Eastern Exorcist definitely takes a turn for the Witcheresque with its storytelling about the whole "monsters from curses" thing. Combat is... weird. Good, but weird. Not sure how to describe it.

Finished Chapter 2 on the 1st character's path last night. Figure this game should take me most of the weekend's gaming time.

Played the demo for CHORVS

I am SO buying this game.

it's got all the great Freelancer arcadey space sim vibes, but also you have psychic powers, and your ship can teleport behind enemy ships for a quick kill.

I died like 15 times or more, because everything is super-fast; the frame-rate is rock solid, though my external HDD was spinning for its dear life; and the game looks SO PRETTY.

Wrapped up Act I for the second char in "Eastern Exorcist". The last boss is tricky, but my half-demon fox girl for some really neat magic tricks to make things easier.

Then I spent the rest of the night digging through my Steam demos pile. And then I found the demo/prologue for "Project Morpheus". Which is like Resident Evil, but with a sci-fi backstory.

There's some clipping jank, and the combat isn't amazing; but I spent over 4 hours criss-crossing the mansion/observation facility area, solving key puzzles, and I'm still not done. So... yeah. It's pretty damn good. Also, free.

Finished "Eastern Exorcist". Decent second story, fun bosses, and a pretty different-feeling protagonist.

Still feeling that Chinese mythology itch, started " Xuan-Yuan Sword VII". Played for 3 hours, and the pacing is waaay slower than it was in the demo. Spent most of my time not in cutscenes killing direwolves. Hoping the game picks up once I go into an actual temple dungeon, at least. Still unclear how big the Gy is, the world map doesn't really give me a good indication of the scale.

Still, it's nice to play one of these Witcher 2-esque more linear action games once in a while.

And then, with all these new games to play, I somehow found myself replaying Darksiders III. Trying a Classic Mode run, so I boosted the difficulty up to Apocalyptic.

Skeletons are annoying AF on this difficulty, but at least I get to use proper hack'n'slash combos.

And Fury is still such a fun character. The voice actress did a phenomenal job.

Just being out in Haven and seeing all the places I can't access due to lack of powers makes me feel giddy;
I found the life-steal weapon enhancement, so now I just gotta get back to Ulthane and fix my gear; already made it out of The Hollows, so now I gotta fight Avarice again- should be fun.

Took 3 fucking hours to beat Lust last night. The mid-game boss with a summoned partner halfway through the fight, before you have any good places to grind souls for quick levels.

So annoying, trying to keep that stupid archangel swinging a frigging church bell alive, while trying to get hits on Lust. That idiot can 2-shot me with his swings if I'm not at full health, and he has a habit of launching his attacks while I'm doing my Arcane Counter animation- which is so stupid, since I can cancel out of that to dodge, but half the time I don't see him coming in from on-screen (though the hit indicators are there). Not a hard fight, just frustrating, esp if you get caught against walls and camera goes mental- which is a thing with most behind-the-back 3rd person camera games, to be fair. But now at least I get to see the underwater caves, the prettiest level in the game.

I'm saving the inner subway levels for the end, since there's that miniboss there that you can only fight once, and I wanna get my slo-mo sword before I get into that fight again.

Still, despite some things killing me way too much on this difficulty, I like this game a lot. Now it's gonna be a long wait till the summer announcements season, hoping to hear about the next sequel.

EDIT: Gluttony is also annoying, for different reasons. Mostly because I forgot how Phase 2 works, and that one leads to a 1-hit death if yo screw up. But now I got my last Hollow, and can explore everything, which is awesome. Need to level up my slo-mo sword now, maybe start the DLC dungeon now.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 12 December 2021 - 07:09 PM

Been a while since I spent time in Stellaris. The new DLC where you can become the galactic crisis intrigued me however. And it was fun! My death obsessed Necroid faction exploded from their tomb world home onto the galactic stage, and slowly grew into a terrifying empire enslaving all in their way. Eventually I detonated every sun in the galaxy to fuel the ascension engine for my nobility.

Dec 16th post that was put in wrong thread: Darksiders III replay update: wrapped up The Scar (except for the side-boss)- killed wrath on first go.
Before going after Sloth, I figured I'd grab the Abyssal Armor, which is the reward for fishing the Keepers of the Void DLC. But the final boss there is one tough mofo. Had to upgrade my lightning spear so that I could do ranged counters against him. Got to Phase 3 a few times last night, but called it quits there, b/c could've been up half the night trying to finish it.

Crucible (the wave-based Arena) sucks. Highest I've gotten so far is Wave 21, cuz keep dying to stupid backstabs, or some on-screen range units. It's exasperating.

Dec 18th: Chopping my merry way through The Crucible challenge in Darksiders 3, made it to Part 4 (the last 25 waves)

Oddly enough, aside from Wave 25, the boss waves were fairly easy- got the giant spider at 50 and the angel champion skin at 75 on first tries.
It's the random "enraged" versions of regular enemies that can really sneak up on you and kill you faster than you'd notice.

Also, angelic enemies in general, either the teleporting or the flying kind. They can all go far, far away.

I'm basically done the main game, with only the last 2 bosses left, so wrapping up the Crucible is literally the only other thing left. Unfortunately, the reward tokens I'm supposed to be earning appear to be bugged, which sucks.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 22 December 2021 - 07:49 PM

Played about 2,5 hours of The Gunk.

It's a very chill game, with minimal challenge and lots of simple exploration and ressource gathering.

Great fun to play through but I wouldn't pay more than 10 USD for it if I wasn't using Gamepass.

Ugh, got wiped on Wave 90. A chunky demon monster, and an enraged basic one- 2 fast enemies, both of whom can basically one-shot me.


Feel I'm underdeveloped, but don't really want to grind souls, now that a single level costs me about 40k. What a dilemma.

Played a bunch of TPS demos on Steam instead. Some interesting games in development, loads of things to look forward to.

EDIT: went back to Xuan-Yuan Sword VII. Went through the dungeon, fought a tiger-demon thing (had to turn the brightness all the way down/ because fighting a big-ass demon in a small circular room with a single spot of light in the middle when you can't see the wall you're bumping into (The default brightness the game set for me) is NOT FUN), and now it's my attack pet? I think?

Also, my sister's spirit is now riding an automaton, and can do a projectile attack.

Guess it's time to actually learn the combat system now, since I'm starting to see real enemy variety.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 20 December 2021 - 06:19 AM