[polishgenius]

I think I might end up liking Silksong even more than HK, though only replays will tell - it's so rewarding, and once you get past a certain point you get way more customisation and ways to engage with the difficulty than the first game ever gave you. But it does take a lot of blood sweat and tears to get to that point, and there is one questionable decision in the game's structure that is definitely gonna put a lot of fans off.


Like, I don't think it's actually more difficult than HK, but the ways to mitigate the difficulty are harder to find than the difficulty which you just run face-first into.


It's very, very satisfying though. Hornet moves like a dream.

[champ]

Tiste Simeon, on 25 September 2025 - 06:17 PM, said:

champ, on 25 September 2025 - 02:10 PM, said:

I don't say this lightly but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the greatest games I've ever played.

The story, the music, the combat and gameplay mechanics, I am just totally blown away. It's one of those games that everyone should play and if you cannot play it, watch a playthrough of it.

It'll be a tragedy if it doesn't win GOTY though I think Hades 2 could have something to say about that.

I've seen some gameplay for it and I think it looks stunning but I would be TERRIBLE at the combat. I may just watch a full gameplay of it like I would watch a TV show or something.

I wouldn't rule it out straight away.

There is a story mode (easy) and it is designed for beginners to be able to pick up and play through the game. It makes any dodge/parry window very forgiving and with some levelling half the time enemies don't even get a go as it's still turn based combat.

Watching it would still be an awesome experience though if you preferred not to play.

[Tiste Simeon]

Thanks man I think for me it'll be a "keep an eye out for it on sale" type thing!

[Maark Abbott]

polishgenius, on 25 September 2025 - 07:01 PM, said:

I think I might end up liking Silksong even more than HK, though only replays will tell - it's so rewarding, and once you get past a certain point you get way more customisation and ways to engage with the difficulty than the first game ever gave you. But it does take a lot of blood sweat and tears to get to that point, and there is one questionable decision in the game's structure that is definitely gonna put a lot of fans off.


Like, I don't think it's actually more difficult than HK, but the ways to mitigate the difficulty are harder to find than the difficulty which you just run face-first into.


It's very, very satisfying though. Hornet moves like a dream.

I actually played HK very close to the release date (started roughly in April) and the difference in the early game is very pronounced - it reminds me to some degree of Metroid Prime 2 which is noticeably harder than Prime 1 (given it expects players to know what they are doing already), but at the same time the difficulty curve in Prime 2 is more of a steady incline with a couple of spikes here and there (the infamous one is the Boost Guardian, although he's never given me any issue personally). The comparison is not great, I'll admit, but it's the best I have. A lot of the issue with Silksong is that because the opening is so very punishing, it felt like exploration was discouraged (a common thing in romhacks to gate players out of areas the developer doesn't want them in yet is to just make it horrible to go to that area), and so I never felt like I could go off of the beaten path without being slapped for it. For some context, the first part of HK I found sweaty was the Mantis Lords - but I still got past them first try, then went straight into Deepnest. With no upgrades. Because I didn't find that city place until after I had the monarch wings and the crystal dash.

It does bring back the dialogue around difficulty options, I guess - whilst I'm not interested in Clair Obscura, seeing that it has a mode that makes it at least accessible to play for people who don't really care about parry based gameplay is neat. I would have liked it if Silksong had done that but in its current state it was the least fun I have had in a game in a very, very long time, and given that HK was as good as it was it's a very bitter aftertaste left by that. Maybe I'd try it again if the developers made it more reasonable on the early game difficulty, but in its current state? No chance.

Anyway, on my end I'm in my retro PS2 horror era. About to starty on the second Fatal Frame game. The first was neat, if janky as heck, so I'm looking forward to the second.

[QuickTidal]

I have pretty much finished HOLLOW KNIGHT now (I have the Grimm Troupe Nightmare King fight left, have not collected the flames; oh and I still have to take a stab at Trial of Fools in the coliseum)...I think last I checked I had about 96%? The White Palace (to get the other half of the king soul, and then the VoidSoul in the abyss) took me days, but I managed it...used hive blood to make sure I had pretty much unlimited tries at certain areas.

I would call this game one of top five games I've ever played in my entire life. I adored the look, the gameplay (even when it was tough, I kept telling myself I'll get through eventually and I always did), the score, the story...all just top top tier....and I paid $15 for it. Just like Stardew Valley (also in my top 5) I am getting so much more for the money they want me to pay for it...for dollar value, you can't beat this.

I will 100% be buying SILKSONG in the next few weeks (I want to finish the Grimm Troupe stuff in HK...note I have no interest in the Radiant stuff...the dream bosses were hard enough)...and it looks like even that is only like $25? Amazing. I don't mind the steeper wall learning curve either...

[polishgenius]

https://store.steamp...20/Iconoclasts/

Iconoclasts is on sale, for anyone who hasn't played it. That's a much-underappreciated all-time classic, genuinely one of my favourite stories ever in gaming. It's also a metroidvania, but a much more story-driven one- Cave Story is a clear influence and Metroid Fusion a cited one for the creator, though it's a bit more puzzle-platformy than either and nowhere near as hard as Cave Story. Though it's no cakewalk. Anyway, highly recommended, it's incredible.

[Mentalist]

champ, on 25 September 2025 - 02:10 PM, said:

I don't say this lightly but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the greatest games I've ever played.

The story, the music, the combat and gameplay mechanics, I am just totally blown away. It's one of those games that everyone should play and if you cannot play it, watch a playthrough of it.

It'll be a tragedy if it doesn't win GOTY though I think Hades 2 could have something to say about that.

Hell is Us is GOTY for 2025 when it comes to non-AAA games, sorry.

(I kid, it's gonna be Silksong, b/c game journalists are as addicted to the hype as anyone else, and we'll both be disappointed).

We are still like 2 weeks away from the Steam NextFest, but there's so many demos for my wishlisted games coming thick'n'fast. Motorslice, Psycho Dead, now The Directorate: Novitiate.

Waiting on the release of Blood of Mehran next week. Picked up a bunch of stuff over the sale, pruned down my wishlist, grabbing most things that were over 60% off, or under 10 CAD.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 04 October 2025 - 01:43 AM

[polishgenius]

QuickTidal, on 02 October 2025 - 04:07 PM, said:

I have pretty much finished HOLLOW KNIGHT now (I have the Grimm Troupe Nightmare King fight left, have not collected the flames; oh and I still have to take a stab at Trial of Fools in the coliseum)...I think last I checked I had about 96%? The White Palace (to get the other half of the king soul, and then the VoidSoul in the abyss) took me days, but I managed it...used hive blood to make sure I had pretty much unlimited tries at certain areas.

I would call this game one of top five games I've ever played in my entire life. I adored the look, the gameplay (even when it was tough, I kept telling myself I'll get through eventually and I always did), the score, the story...all just top top tier....and I paid $15 for it. Just like Stardew Valley (also in my top 5) I am getting so much more for the money they want me to pay for it...for dollar value, you can't beat this.

I will 100% be buying SILKSONG in the next few weeks (I want to finish the Grimm Troupe stuff in HK...note I have no interest in the Radiant stuff...the dream bosses were hard enough)...and it looks like even that is only like $25? Amazing. I don't mind the steeper wall learning curve either...

Oh yeah, just on the subject of dollar value for indies, because I got it in summer and have been digging into it since: have you played UFO 50? Absolutely absurd achievement in game design, and because there's so many games in it, and pretty much all of them are good, unless one has an aversion to retro/pretend-retro gaming in general, there's bound to be at least a few of interest.


The skinny for those not familiar: UFO 50 is a 'retrospective' collection of games from a fictional console developed by a fictional game company in the 80s. It tracks game development in that period in the most brillantly nerdy possible way, by both iterating on actual trends and developments of the time but also by taking ideas that were really later or more modern and stripping them back to the parameters of 80s development, essentially inventing fictional precursors for modern gaming trends. It also shows developing trends and running series within the company itself. Both directly in sequels to earlier games and in things like how Vainger is a metroidvania that iterates on a gravity-flip mechanic the 'earlier' game Warptank, or how Porgy and Divers are both '1986' releases focusing on diving and heading back to the surface as a gameplay loop, but with very different tones and styles.

There's several games in it that could genuinely have released as individual titles. Runs the gamut too, from strategy (quite a strong focus actually) and puzzles and more full, structured action games through to pure arcady type experiences of various sorts.






Here's a trailer, though it really doesn't get across quite what a nonsensical achievement UFO 50 is.

[Maark Abbott]

Picked up a neat little visual novel in the steam sale called The NONexistence of You and Me. Deals with themes of self, loneliness, reality. Pretty heavy topics and was done quite intriguingly.