Unreal Tournament '99 is really the only other left-option game that jumps out at me and, as an FPS, that was just shifting the gun to the other side of the screen as usual; pretty sure it did nothing to your character model as viewed by other players. But it's the first time I ever saw the option and I thought it was cool that it was there.
Like, even as a boring ol' righty I think this is an option that should be far, FAR more prevalent than it is, at least in games where you're creating (or having any kind of say in creating) your own character.
I know, typically awful thumbnails, but informative videos.
Spoiler alert - almost all positive. The speakers got singled out for extra praise, apparently the soundstage is unbelievable. He wants Valve to make a gaming headset.
Apparently the haptics (& rumble emulation) from the touchpads is not great, but Valve are saying they're still tuning that in software. Also it had a slightly odd rubberbanding effect and odd background movement in Forza Horizon 5 specifically. Everything else (so far that's not embargoed) running fine. Control in particular seemed to be running a treat.
I have an aversion to videos unfortunately. But did anyone mention anything about the glass in the top tier model?
I preordered the 2nd tier model but am often thinking of bumping it up.
Yes, the reflectiveness is noticeably reduced but with (in Linus' opinion, at least - not really any concrete way to back it up) no reduction in sharpness of visuals. Probably not a dealbreaker but gloss vs matte (or "matte-ish" in this case, I guess) screens is very much a subjective thing. It's one of those things that makes me a little sad that it'll be hard to sample one of these things in real life if you don't know someone who has one.
The screen as a whole was praised; on paper it doesn't seem all that impressive, but in use it worked very well, with both a high enough level of contrast at full brightness (400 nits IIRC), and clarity and good color still in evidence when very dim for night-time play - and it gets very dim if you want it to while staying clear, which is good for playing in the dark of course.
A huge massive mega thank you to @Viking for Vampire Survivors, and @Karoz for bloody Elden Ring! You are both amazing and unbelievably classy! Thank you so much!
I have an aversion to videos unfortunately. But did anyone mention anything about the glass in the top tier model?
I preordered the 2nd tier model but am often thinking of bumping it up.
the anti-reflective screen is an etched display that (in some cases) can be more prone to scratching and cracking, since it's essentially pre-scratched. That alone is why I went with the mid tier model.
Also, another thing worth noting is that if you've reserved a model, you have to buy that model. If you want to buy a different model you need to cancel your reservation and make a reservation for another model. So if you're in the earliest group, you are delaying the opportunity to buy the Deck by months.
Well fuck, appears that season skipping is a common thing in the caves, thank you don't starve.....I still have no gears. Now I have to worry about my base catching on fire.
Semifinal - In a fairly well played game between Canada and New Brunswick, NB made enough small mistakes that Canada was able to force them (keep a team to one point) each time NB had the hammer. Canada mostly got their deuces with the hammer and NB went to handshakes after the 9th end. 8-4 Canada in yellow stones.
Final - The final between Canada and Northern Ontario started off a little one sided. Canada took 1, then 2, then 3 points with last rock while forcing NO to 1 point each time it was NO's turn with the hammer. After 5 ends it was 6-2 Canada. Then Northern Ontario started to come back taking two points in the 6th and 8th end while forcing Canada to a single point in 7 and 9. 8-6 Canada after 9 ends. Down 2 points with the hammer in the final end, Northern Ontario had to take risks, but Canada controlled the end getting a steal of 1. Final score 9-6 Canada and with Einarson team winning the Canadian championship for the third straight year.
A very big thank you to all those that entered. I had a lot of fun doing the contest and I hope everyone enjoyed following along for the week!
I think that the internet has been for years on the path to creating what is essentially an electronic Necronomicon: A collection of blasphemous unrealities so perverse that to even glimpse at its contents, if but for a moment, is to irrevocably forfeit a portion of your sanity.
Xbox - PearlBlueS0ul, Steam
If you ever need to talk to someone, feel free to message me. Yes, that includes you.
It's crazy how rare that is in games, especially as an option - you'd think it wouldn't be crazy hard to implement in many cases.
It's like, my most desired feature. I can really only remember one other game that had the option and that was Dungeon Lords from like 2006 or something. I'm sure there's others but I can't think of any.
I'd like to see more left handed characters in videogames. Things get kinda weird with left handedness in FPS games though.
There are a few that let you choose, but in terms of canonical characters Bruce Willis is left handed, ergo John McClane is left handed. Most Die Hard games screw this up, but Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza gets it right:
Unfortunately they modeled the gun incorrectly - the cocking lever is on the wrong side. I'm ok with this though, because it means that in the game McClane does the "HK slap" (hitting the charging handle) onscreen with his right hand and it looks cool as hell.
As an aside, in the Die Hard movie, after he gets the MP5 (the machine gun, ho ho ho), he doesn't really use its attached weapon sling because its designed to be worn on the right side of the body. I don't remember him ever shouldering the weapon to fire it either, because it could cause him to be hit with expended casings. I've never fired an MP5, but I have fired a full auto M16 A1, and got a face full of hot brass while doing so. It wasn't until the A2 that they saw brass deflectors installed behind the ejection port.
Speaking of M16 pattern rifles, the guy who modeled most of the weapons for the original Counter Strike was left handed, and modeled the player firing the guns that way. To make the models usable for right handed characters they simply mirrored them, so you got goofy stuff like right handed Counter Terrorists running around with M4s that had a left handed upper receiver (zero chance of this being military issue, and even if it was you wouldn't give it to a right handed shooter) as well as a left handed lower receiver (lol wtf):
But Counter Strike is also the game that had the player character not only charging the M4 after every reload (regardless of whether or not a round was still chambered), but pulling on the forward assist to do so. If you don't know why this is ridiculous imagine if the guy who modeled the cars for a driving game thought that the car's horn would honk every time you switched gears.
Actually now that I think about it that would be hilarious.
If it helps, I give no craps about gun model accuracy, but would like more games to recognise the existence of the Order Sinister.
Oh, I forgot to mention one of the more glaring issues with the M4 from that Counter Strike screenshot - in newer versions of Counter Strike the weapon is modeled with the safety on.
That is going to make it exceedingly difficult to shoot terrorists.
Rumble emulation has always been crap on the Steam Controller so I would not expect any improvement.
It's meant to add a bit more tactile feel to the touchpads when configured to certain modes. Like feeling a border that divides the pad into 9 zones which each trigger their own key. Or feeling a trackball roll to give an idea of its inertia once your finger leaves the pad. It's basically a tool to improve your input into a game, not for the game to give you much useful feedback like an adaptive trigger might.
Rumble emulation has always been crap on the Steam Controller so I would not expect any improvement.
It's meant to add a bit more tactile feel to the touchpads when configured to certain modes. Like feeling a border that divides the pad into 9 zones which each trigger their own key. Or feeling a trackball roll to give an idea of its inertia once your finger leaves the pad. It's basically a tool to improve your input into a game, not for the game to give you much useful feedback like an adaptive trigger might.
Yeah, it's not a feature I'm expecting miracles from. Granted the haptics were, at the first hands-on, supposedly an improvement from the Steam Controller, but that certainly doesn't make them likely to miraculously be brilliant at rumble emulation. As haptics for the touchpads (you know, their primary function), I expect they'll be absolutely fine.
Actual discrete rumble is something I'll miss on the Deck (YMMV, natch), but at the same time I understand its omission.
The adaptive trigger, as in PS5 I assume you mean, is something I've not used yet, not having a PS5; so not a feature I'll miss.
I played a couple rounds of Paladins because I'm just reinstalling fucking everything now that I have a shitload of extra space, and man. These changes to Cauterize are fucking nutballs. I cannot see how anybody thought this was a good idea. Everybody automatially gets 25% Caut at the start, and it goes up 5% every minute of the round (including the minute it takes just to even get to the point), capping out at a ridiculous 90%. The previous cap was 80%, and you had to actually buy it, which meant foregoing other things, like being able to shred shields. So now there's more Caut since everybody, even supports get it, higher Caut, and more sustained damage being shit out as well. Trying to play a dedicated healer past about halfway through the second round is pure misery.
Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
Oh hell.
I love one step from eden, but its one of the few games ever to really break my brain. Its so hard to keep up with. The concept of PVP scares me in that. I am sure some people will be freaking gods at it though.
ok, Jragghen decided to send class my way. I am not even over here much. I got the surviovolists; and installed and played for a bit. i forced myself to put down for a second to send this thank you. loved survival crafting games.
@DyasAlure I'm not either, honestly. You just happened to be added onto my friends list easy back when. So enjoy
there were some good tmes indead. i have spent a lot of time playing this game all readyd. I am very happy. thanks again.
I know, typically awful thumbnails, but informative videos.
Spoiler alert - almost all positive. The speakers got singled out for extra praise, apparently the soundstage is unbelievable. He wants Valve to make a gaming headset.
Apparently the haptics (& rumble emulation) from the touchpads is not great, but Valve are saying they're still tuning that in software. Also it had a slightly odd rubberbanding effect and odd background movement in Forza Horizon 5 specifically. Everything else (so far that's not embargoed) running fine. Control in particular seemed to be running a treat.
thanks for this. i have waznted info on the steam deck; and want to get one.
Managed to beat that messed up Nod mission by switching to 11B - that map has the enemy base reachable early on, so with great sacrifice I took out the building required for airstrikes. Plenty of trial and error. Almost through the Nod campaign now!
A huge massive mega thank you to @Viking for Vampire Survivors, and @Karoz for bloody Elden Ring! You are both amazing and unbelievably classy! Thank you so much!
Karoz is a monster, it's known. (I cannot wait for Elden Ring)
A huge massive mega thank you to @Viking for Vampire Survivors, and @Karoz for bloody Elden Ring! You are both amazing and unbelievably classy! Thank you so much!
Karoz is a monster, it's known. (I cannot wait for Elden Ring)
This is the way.
+3
ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Hey. Hey hey. You posted this and you didn't tag @ArcticLancer
You're a damn monster!
Oh lord. While I have fond memories of MMBN games in high school, I'm not sure my heart can take multiplayer OSFE since I've basically doubled in age. XD
Glad this will exist though~
Idx86Long days and pleasant nights.Registered Userregular
A little late here but wanted to thank @Jragghen for the copy of Project Wingman last week ! I love love love Ace Combat and have been looking forward to giving this one a go as well.
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
A little late here but wanted to thank @Jragghen for the copy of Project Wingman last week ! I love love love Ace Combat and have been looking forward to giving this one a go as well.
It's super good! Not quite as pretty or with the extra refinements to gameplay that Ace Combat 7 had, but still fantastic.
I watched all of the videos on the Steam Deck last night, and I'm very encouraged. As long as you don't expect miracles of the device, it looks like it's going to be pretty solid.
the 30fps limiter looks like it'll be important.
If there's one worrying thing it is the software situation. Gamers Nexus mentioned that during the 6 days between them receiving the device and this first embargo lifting they got an update to the deck every day. The software is still embargoed but Gamers Nexus did say that the software situation is coming in very hot. Be interesting to see how good/stable/done the software is in 3ish weeks when people start receiving retail units.
Being embargoed on software also meant that no one could test the settings that limit the GPU/CPU performance and TDP, which I'm interested to see.
And lastly, battery life results do not surprise me, but I do wish they were able to squeeze just a bit bigger battery in there. Though with the device being so big, it's not a super portable device so it isn't likely that it'll be far from a power outlet most of the time. It's something that most people will probably be able to live with.
Semifinal - In a fairly well played game between Canada and New Brunswick, NB made enough small mistakes that Canada was able to force them (keep a team to one point) each time NB had the hammer. Canada mostly got their deuces with the hammer and NB went to handshakes after the 9th end. 8-4 Canada in yellow stones.
Final - The final between Canada and Northern Ontario started off a little one sided. Canada took 1, then 2, then 3 points with last rock while forcing NO to 1 point each time it was NO's turn with the hammer. After 5 ends it was 6-2 Canada. Then Northern Ontario started to come back taking two points in the 6th and 8th end while forcing Canada to a single point in 7 and 9. 8-6 Canada after 9 ends. Down 2 points with the hammer in the final end, Northern Ontario had to take risks, but Canada controlled the end getting a steal of 1. Final score 9-6 Canada and with Einarson team winning the Canadian championship for the third straight year.
A very big thank you to all those that entered. I had a lot of fun doing the contest and I hope everyone enjoyed following along for the week!
I finished Ori and the Will of the Wisps late last night after picking it up during the Lunar Sale. It's game of extremes, with bits I disliked being extremely disliked and parts I enjoyed being ones I really loved with very little in between.
I played about 5 hours of the preceding game but lost interest for some reason. It was fun, but one of those games with a really great art style with wide appeal that's also challenging in a way that put off many players. It leaned hard into the platforming side of Metroidvanias with spiked surfaces to navigate around galore and some of the difficulty was alleviated by the ability to set your own respawn checkpoints.
Will of the Wisps still has the platforming aspect and lots of spikes but playing it reminded me of Hollow Knight a lot. They always had some similarities in tone with both being set in a land beset by a decaying force (literally called The Decay in Ori) and a certain moodiness about them but gameplay now also feels like a hybrid between Hollow Knight and Ori and the Blind Forest. Instead of a skill tree of passive buffs, you equip spirit shards into a limited set of slots like Hollow Knight's charms. You also now engage in melee combat with a Light sword instead of the Light beams in the original. This is not a complaint though as I enjoyed Will of the Wisps far more than either Blind Forest and Hollow Knight. Your starting sword attack actually has decent reach and combos and you're far more mobile than in Hollow Knight so fights feels more dynamic and less like you're slowly poking a boss. There aren't as many boss fights given it's a much shorter game (I spent about 35 hours in Hollow Knight and 16 in Will of the Wisps) and it's admittedly easier in combat. It's platforming is much more challenging though.
The platforming gameplay is both what I love the most and what I have the most complaints about. Most of it feels great. Ori is nimble and the movement abilities feel good to chain together in midair. You can be extremely acrobatic and will be forced to at times. That does mean when it doesn't work, it's extremely noticeable. While you have great aerial mobility horizontally, you don't vertically. You have two primary ways of moving up and down and both have issues. One of your earlier abilities lets you bounce off some light sources including enemy projectiles and some enemies. It feels great and crisp when you use it on a lantern. It's a lot less precise when you have to do it from an enemy or projectile as they sometimes aren't where you need them to be but you won't find out until you try and needing to wait for an enemy or projectile to be in the exact place you need really breaks up the flow. You also get a grappling line ability fairly early on which can be fun to use but it autoaims and the angles you need and get slung feel erratic. You will need to use both of these in long aerial sequences and it can be an unwelcome reminder of how much worse vertical traversal feels compared to horizontal. You will be reminded of this a lot in the second half of the game. I ended up face tanking a lot of spikes and just healing myself after to get through things.
The game is really fond of escape/chase sequences that send you back to the start if you fail. These get tiresome, both because they keep popping up and stop being surprising but also because while you get punished for falling behind, you're limited from getting ahead as often the big monster chasing you has to knock over some scenery to give you the next set of platforms to move through. In the last chase of the game, I had multiple times where I was waiting for the boss to catch up and push something over so I could continue running. These didn't go over well with a lot of people in the first game and I recall at least one forumer giving up on the game when unable to get through the first one so I'm a bit surprised they just doubled down on them in the sequel.
A more minor niggle is that the art style can make it hard to keep track of yourself in some boss fights. The art style uses beautiful colors to achieve a saturated picturebook look but your model being a small glowing white critter made it blend a bit with the saturated colors and lighting of really big bosses.
Additionally, the story feels kind of cliche at times, going for emotional responses I'm not sure it's earned. Plus some of the were done in the first game so it feels excessive now.
One thing I did really appreciate though is that there is a triple jump in the game as a purely optional upgrade and because the game was designed to be beaten if you never got the triple jump it feels like an actual upgrade to make things easier and enable some sequence breaking. All too often in Metroidvanias you'll get a double jump and suddenly it seems like every jump you now need to do can only be barely made with a double jump. That applies here to the double jump, but not the triple.
All in all I enjoyed the good parts of the game so much that I was willing to deal with frustrations I wouldn't put up with in a lot of other games. There is a difficulty setting in this one but I don't see an easier setting alleviating my issues as I doubt it would affect vertical navigation and outside of the very first boss fight I never found combat particularly tough.
I'd peg this at a 7.5 or 8/10 on average because there's a lot that would be a 9 or 10/10 for me that then gets weighed down but the frustrating bits. And I strongly suspect some of those frustrating bits will cause some to put down the game entirely.
Posts
Like, even as a boring ol' righty I think this is an option that should be far, FAR more prevalent than it is, at least in games where you're creating (or having any kind of say in creating) your own character.
Steam | XBL
I know, typically awful thumbnails, but informative videos.
Spoiler alert - almost all positive. The speakers got singled out for extra praise, apparently the soundstage is unbelievable. He wants Valve to make a gaming headset.
Apparently the haptics (& rumble emulation) from the touchpads is not great, but Valve are saying they're still tuning that in software. Also it had a slightly odd rubberbanding effect and odd background movement in Forza Horizon 5 specifically. Everything else (so far that's not embargoed) running fine. Control in particular seemed to be running a treat.
Steam | XBL
I preordered the 2nd tier model but am often thinking of bumping it up.
Upside, killed the Bearger....Badgear by baiting it into the woods and some treeguard.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Yes, the reflectiveness is noticeably reduced but with (in Linus' opinion, at least - not really any concrete way to back it up) no reduction in sharpness of visuals. Probably not a dealbreaker but gloss vs matte (or "matte-ish" in this case, I guess) screens is very much a subjective thing. It's one of those things that makes me a little sad that it'll be hard to sample one of these things in real life if you don't know someone who has one.
The screen as a whole was praised; on paper it doesn't seem all that impressive, but in use it worked very well, with both a high enough level of contrast at full brightness (400 nits IIRC), and clarity and good color still in evidence when very dim for night-time play - and it gets very dim if you want it to while staying clear, which is good for playing in the dark of course.
Steam | XBL
the anti-reflective screen is an etched display that (in some cases) can be more prone to scratching and cracking, since it's essentially pre-scratched. That alone is why I went with the mid tier model.
Also, another thing worth noting is that if you've reserved a model, you have to buy that model. If you want to buy a different model you need to cancel your reservation and make a reservation for another model. So if you're in the earliest group, you are delaying the opportunity to buy the Deck by months.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Final - The final between Canada and Northern Ontario started off a little one sided. Canada took 1, then 2, then 3 points with last rock while forcing NO to 1 point each time it was NO's turn with the hammer. After 5 ends it was 6-2 Canada. Then Northern Ontario started to come back taking two points in the 6th and 8th end while forcing Canada to a single point in 7 and 9. 8-6 Canada after 9 ends. Down 2 points with the hammer in the final end, Northern Ontario had to take risks, but Canada controlled the end getting a steal of 1. Final score 9-6 Canada and with Einarson team winning the Canadian championship for the third straight year.
A very big thank you to all those that entered. I had a lot of fun doing the contest and I hope everyone enjoyed following along for the week!
No new top shots added today, but here's the last one posted. Christina Black from NS with a double takeout to score 4.
If you ever need to talk to someone, feel free to message me. Yes, that includes you.
I normally prefer glossy as personally I find the colour saturation ‘deeper’ I guess. I don’t really know the best term for it.
But good to hear it’s positive regardless of choice.
If it helps, I give no craps about gun model accuracy, but would like more games to recognise the existence of the Order Sinister.
Goodreads
SF&F Reviews blog
Left-Hand Path?
Steam Badger A greasemonkey script for better gifting and peering
That is going to make it exceedingly difficult to shoot terrorists.
Regretted it and was better off cheating
Overheating
Far from base
Incoming firehound attack
#dontstarve
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
It's meant to add a bit more tactile feel to the touchpads when configured to certain modes. Like feeling a border that divides the pad into 9 zones which each trigger their own key. Or feeling a trackball roll to give an idea of its inertia once your finger leaves the pad. It's basically a tool to improve your input into a game, not for the game to give you much useful feedback like an adaptive trigger might.
Yeah, it's not a feature I'm expecting miracles from. Granted the haptics were, at the first hands-on, supposedly an improvement from the Steam Controller, but that certainly doesn't make them likely to miraculously be brilliant at rumble emulation. As haptics for the touchpads (you know, their primary function), I expect they'll be absolutely fine.
Actual discrete rumble is something I'll miss on the Deck (YMMV, natch), but at the same time I understand its omission.
The adaptive trigger, as in PS5 I assume you mean, is something I've not used yet, not having a PS5; so not a feature I'll miss.
Steam | XBL
Aw hell, it's back.
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
I love one step from eden, but its one of the few games ever to really break my brain. Its so hard to keep up with. The concept of PVP scares me in that. I am sure some people will be freaking gods at it though.
I was a bit behind on idle master.
there were some good tmes indead. i have spent a lot of time playing this game all readyd. I am very happy. thanks again.
thanks for this. i have waznted info on the steam deck; and want to get one.
Karoz is a monster, it's known. (I cannot wait for Elden Ring)
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/thezombiepenguin/
Switch: 0293 6817 9891
Hey.
Hey. Hey hey. You posted this and you didn't tag @ArcticLancer
You're a damn monster!
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/thezombiepenguin/
Switch: 0293 6817 9891
This is the way.
Glad this will exist though~
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
It's super good! Not quite as pretty or with the extra refinements to gameplay that Ace Combat 7 had, but still fantastic.
the 30fps limiter looks like it'll be important.
If there's one worrying thing it is the software situation. Gamers Nexus mentioned that during the 6 days between them receiving the device and this first embargo lifting they got an update to the deck every day. The software is still embargoed but Gamers Nexus did say that the software situation is coming in very hot. Be interesting to see how good/stable/done the software is in 3ish weeks when people start receiving retail units.
Being embargoed on software also meant that no one could test the settings that limit the GPU/CPU performance and TDP, which I'm interested to see.
And lastly, battery life results do not surprise me, but I do wish they were able to squeeze just a bit bigger battery in there. Though with the device being so big, it's not a super portable device so it isn't likely that it'll be far from a power outlet most of the time. It's something that most people will probably be able to live with.
I loved Bioshock, and I'd love to play it again with enhanced shinyness.
Many thanks, J!
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Thanks for running these!
How do you stop Canadian bacon from curling in the pan?
ED: ...
WOAH!
And:
I mentioned those as the two games I might like for winning. Did not expect both!
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
@Lars was kind enough to donate some extra keys they had acquired. Open to both PA groups and goes till Friday 3:00pm EST. Please sign up!!!
I have two more keys as well from Lars, I'll create those once these expire as I've hit my creation limit.
I played about 5 hours of the preceding game but lost interest for some reason. It was fun, but one of those games with a really great art style with wide appeal that's also challenging in a way that put off many players. It leaned hard into the platforming side of Metroidvanias with spiked surfaces to navigate around galore and some of the difficulty was alleviated by the ability to set your own respawn checkpoints.
Will of the Wisps still has the platforming aspect and lots of spikes but playing it reminded me of Hollow Knight a lot. They always had some similarities in tone with both being set in a land beset by a decaying force (literally called The Decay in Ori) and a certain moodiness about them but gameplay now also feels like a hybrid between Hollow Knight and Ori and the Blind Forest. Instead of a skill tree of passive buffs, you equip spirit shards into a limited set of slots like Hollow Knight's charms. You also now engage in melee combat with a Light sword instead of the Light beams in the original. This is not a complaint though as I enjoyed Will of the Wisps far more than either Blind Forest and Hollow Knight. Your starting sword attack actually has decent reach and combos and you're far more mobile than in Hollow Knight so fights feels more dynamic and less like you're slowly poking a boss. There aren't as many boss fights given it's a much shorter game (I spent about 35 hours in Hollow Knight and 16 in Will of the Wisps) and it's admittedly easier in combat. It's platforming is much more challenging though.
The platforming gameplay is both what I love the most and what I have the most complaints about. Most of it feels great. Ori is nimble and the movement abilities feel good to chain together in midair. You can be extremely acrobatic and will be forced to at times. That does mean when it doesn't work, it's extremely noticeable. While you have great aerial mobility horizontally, you don't vertically. You have two primary ways of moving up and down and both have issues. One of your earlier abilities lets you bounce off some light sources including enemy projectiles and some enemies. It feels great and crisp when you use it on a lantern. It's a lot less precise when you have to do it from an enemy or projectile as they sometimes aren't where you need them to be but you won't find out until you try and needing to wait for an enemy or projectile to be in the exact place you need really breaks up the flow. You also get a grappling line ability fairly early on which can be fun to use but it autoaims and the angles you need and get slung feel erratic. You will need to use both of these in long aerial sequences and it can be an unwelcome reminder of how much worse vertical traversal feels compared to horizontal. You will be reminded of this a lot in the second half of the game. I ended up face tanking a lot of spikes and just healing myself after to get through things.
The game is really fond of escape/chase sequences that send you back to the start if you fail. These get tiresome, both because they keep popping up and stop being surprising but also because while you get punished for falling behind, you're limited from getting ahead as often the big monster chasing you has to knock over some scenery to give you the next set of platforms to move through. In the last chase of the game, I had multiple times where I was waiting for the boss to catch up and push something over so I could continue running. These didn't go over well with a lot of people in the first game and I recall at least one forumer giving up on the game when unable to get through the first one so I'm a bit surprised they just doubled down on them in the sequel.
A more minor niggle is that the art style can make it hard to keep track of yourself in some boss fights. The art style uses beautiful colors to achieve a saturated picturebook look but your model being a small glowing white critter made it blend a bit with the saturated colors and lighting of really big bosses.
Additionally, the story feels kind of cliche at times, going for emotional responses I'm not sure it's earned. Plus some of the were done in the first game so it feels excessive now.
One thing I did really appreciate though is that there is a triple jump in the game as a purely optional upgrade and because the game was designed to be beaten if you never got the triple jump it feels like an actual upgrade to make things easier and enable some sequence breaking. All too often in Metroidvanias you'll get a double jump and suddenly it seems like every jump you now need to do can only be barely made with a double jump. That applies here to the double jump, but not the triple.
All in all I enjoyed the good parts of the game so much that I was willing to deal with frustrations I wouldn't put up with in a lot of other games. There is a difficulty setting in this one but I don't see an easier setting alleviating my issues as I doubt it would affect vertical navigation and outside of the very first boss fight I never found combat particularly tough.
I'd peg this at a 7.5 or 8/10 on average because there's a lot that would be a 9 or 10/10 for me that then gets weighed down but the frustrating bits. And I strongly suspect some of those frustrating bits will cause some to put down the game entirely.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Also, my cats are unimpressed with new place.
I have done enough work for one day. Time to videogame. Woo!
I should not be surprised really.
Thanks @LD50 for some Unpacking to do...
It was either that or catlateral damage.