Coelacanth

Yeah but it's not really the same thing years later when most people are long finished with the game. Was the same with playing BG3 around release last year, participating in conversations with friends and strangers alike about discoveries in the game as it's happening and everyone is talking about it and playing it at the same time. I'm sure similar things happened this year with Black Myth Wukong and Silent Hill 2 Remake to some extent, though I didn't play those.

It's not about spoilers so much as participating in the buzz and culture and community that only really occurs around release.

Interesting read! "Fuck" is such a modern sounding word to me that in fascinated to see it used that far back, even though it did indeed take a couple of centuries for it to catch on.

I'll have to feel out the Mirage changes but 8 seconds longer between each Scarab in lane sounds like a pretty impactful hit. That skill was the bread and butter of his smooth laning stage.

Still feels a bit pricey but I'm happy to hear about another season. Some day I might get one just to play the Lucas Pope game.

They threw out the original writer and composer, and seem to have changed most characters and the whole script. It also apparently plays more like Dishonored now.

While I admire the ideas behind patient gamers and think it probably works out really well for some people, I personally also enjoy participating in the zeitgeist from time to time. Playing Elden Ring on launch was fantastic - you really felt like you were exploring the world alongside everyone else as you're finding Ashes and weapons that don't even have wiki entries yet.

It's also surprisingly atmospheric (and just a little bit tense) for a game with rudimentary LCD-style visuals, virtually zero animation, and minimal sound.

Have they... not played a Lucas Pope game before? How is it surprising at all? Obra Dinn already showed what he can do with 1-bit graphics and almost zero animation.

I'm sure they are and I'm sure they're doing their best, but such a huge part of why the original has become a cult classic was Brian Mitsoda's script. They had him on board and threw him out. I really wish I knew what was going on behind the scenes. Did he piss someone off? Was the functional parts of the game not... functioning? Or was the script really that bad? They seem to be keeping basically none of it, but the characters in the Chinese Room trailers have none of the charm of Hardsuit Labs trailers...

I think we'll get a mediocre Dishonored-like with a Vampire theme that is Bloodlines only in name, and fans will forever wonder about and mythologize that Hardsuit Labs version with Mitsoda and Rik Schaffer (which may well have sucked in reality).

I have literally zero hopes. But then again all the things I wanted from the sequel are the things Paradox threw out when they handed the game over to The Chinese Room. And looking at the character changes in this trailer compared to the Hardsuit Labs trailers I can't say I'm hopeful things have changed for the better.

A miraculous wind like what saved Japan from the Mongol invasions would indeed not have been uncalled-for.

And not only that, but I think if we're considering what goes into extracting full value out of the kit Pocket is better represented by the Sweating Speedrunner meme.

After my rather disappointing adventure with Metro: Last Light recently I ticked off another backlog game in the way of a third-of-a-trilogy I'm really looking forward to this week with Bioshock 2. I adored the first game back when I played it, and I've been really looking forward to Infinite, with 2 being a kind of red-headed stepchild in the way.

Overall I enjoyed it and found it alright. The novelty of playing as a Big Daddy wore off pretty quick, and after that it was kind of just "more Bioshock" - which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The setting was still fantastic, and using the Nvidia RTX HDR feature the game looked stunning. The voice acting was great and the shooter gameplay felt as tight and entertaining as the first game. Lots of plasmids that kind of sucked in the first game were surprisingly great here which was fun. I did kind of miss the hacking mechanic from the first game, though.

While I liked the story, it doesn't really hold a candle to the first game in my opinion, but that is more of an effusive praise of Bioshock 1 than an indictment of Bioshock 2. It served its purpose and wasn't in the way of me enjoying the game, though it's not something I'll think back on time and time again and heartily recommend like the first game, I think.

Finally - and most sadly - the game suffers extremely from instability. I even played the Remastered version, but crashes were frequent, sudden and unpredictable and from looking around online this is apparently a common problem. I tried all the various fixes online but only managed to slightly reduce their frequency. Very unfortunate.

Still, I'm glad to have played it and am looking forward to Infinite sometime in the future.