Jamie John

I don't think I've ever played a Paper Mario game, so I won't be unfavourably comparing it to TTYD anyway. Sounds good. One for the list.

So is the order of what cards you get randomised each hand, or at the start of each battle? Can you see what you're going to get in your next hand and plan accordingly, affecting an enemy with the vulnerable status, for example, because you know in your next hand you're big attack card is coming up?

Cheers all I played it for a while again this morning and was getting into it a bit more, although against the tougher enemies I often find that I'm in a race to see whose health depletes first, mine or there's, but it's early days yet. Is it available on Android? I get the impression it would make an excellent mobile game, playing a couple of hands here and there when you've got a spare five minutes.

The lacklustre reviews for this put me off, but this thread has got me thinking I might pick it up at some point. Is the general consensus that it gets better as it goes on?

If it only took you 25 hours to complete then I'd wager then there's that much content again that you've missed, all of which is very much worth seeking out, especially if you like a challenge Superb game.

(Man, this thread is complete gobbledegook if you don't know this game.) I started this for the first time this evening, playing on Switch. I've never really played a card game like this before, and at first I was put off by the overwhelming nature of it all, plus the horrible art style, but then all of a sudden I looked up at the clock and two hours had evaporated. Hmm. Anyway, I died in the first act on my initial go, but on my second run I got as far as getting the final boss in act three down to 8 bollocking HP in his 'awakened' phase before he got me, the twat. Having to start again from the beginning each time is pretty galling, but I definitely felt like I was learning a lot as I went, and it's all very satisfying when everything comes together. It reminds me of Into the Breach quite a lot, in terms of its rogue-like, turn-based design and the way it forces you to think ahead, although I suspect that the RNG elements - which cards you draw and receive, for example - will lead to lots and lots of swearing in the future. Still, I'm intrigued to see why this was voted the forum's GOTY last year over Sekiro and will definitely keep playing! Any tips for complete newbies?

This is cool. DS3 bosses done in a Hollow Knight style:

This week's free games iny the Epic Game Store are now live: 20XX, Barony and Swords and Sworcery. I've only heard of the last one, to be honest, but it's got a 82 average on Metacritic. I'm pretty sure I've already got it for Android, but I've downloaded it anyway.

I've just put about half an hour into this but I doubt I'll be coming back. It's very clunky and feels like it's still in beta form (the version number constantly displayed in the upper left-hand corner suggests as much, too). Perlman's performance sounds a bit phoned in, too. What a shame Has anyone actually completed it?

Did Gato Roboto - forgot to mention that one. Is Minit actually fun?

I've got four days left of PC Game Pass before my sub runs out and I'm not going to be renewing it for a while. What's the best, short game from the service that I can realistically complete in about 6 hours? I've already played/tried:

23. Ape Out (PC Game Pass) I completed this in one sitting and it was quite fun for the 1 hour and 40 minutes it took me to get to the credits. Any longer than that and its lack of variation may have worn a bit thin, but as it was it was perfectly fine. Some levels definitely work better than others, and the mechanic where the player's actions controls the music doesn't always work, but the responsive controls and instant restarts kept me playing. On the whole it felt more like an interactive art piece than a game, but it's still worth two hours of your time. The final level made me smile 7/10

Definitely picking this up at some point. Loved Machinarium.

22. Observation (PC Game Pass) Screens: This was interesting and quite different from the other games I’ve been playing recently: a point and click adventure set on an abandoned (OR IS IT?!) space station where you play not as a person but rather as the station’s AI. It owes a huge debt to 2001: A Space Odyssey in terms of its characters (instead of playing HAL, you play SAM), aesthetic, sound design, tone and the particular sub-genre of sci-fi to which it belongs, but I love 2001, so I didn’t mind so much. What I did mind, however, were the number of times where I was entirely unclear on what the game wanted me to do, or where it wanted me to go. The puzzles themselves I didn’t really have a problem with - they’re all pretty simple, and there are only a dozen or so in the entire game - but triggering the chain of events that would allow me to actually access the puzzles was often frustratingly obscure. The controls didn’t help, either; you spend the majority of the game ‘possessing’ a floating communication sphere with a camera on it that you have to gingerly guide around the space station using its gas thrusters. The way that you move, however, means that it’s very easy to become disorientated, especially when the rooms you’re exploring look very similar to one another, have doorways in the walls, ceilings and floors, and everything is floating about due to the lack of gravity. I guess it’s arguable that this is kind of the point and that the developers were purposefully trying to make you feel discombobulated in this way, but when you’re attempting to figure out what you’re supposed to be doing, then floating back and forth between the same rooms over and over, clicking on anything and everything in the vain hope of moving the game on, isn’t very much fun. I got fed up at a few points and used a guide. Overall, though, I enjoyed it, mostly because it’s not really a setting or narrative I’ve seen in a videogame before, and I was prepared to forgive it its flaws. I’m not really sure if the ending landed for me, but your mileage may vary, and at less than 6 hours from start to finish, it’s definitely worth a go. 7/10 Completed this year:

@FiveFootNinja, re Stalker teeth: if you have a scanner room in the shallows where the initial pod landed, set up a search for metal salvage and then look for clusters of 3-4 pieces, as these are often Stalker metal 'caches' and there will be teeth nearby. I can't say I had too much trouble finding that particular item. Yep - this is the best way to go. Have you discovered any of the PDAs yet? Doing so will lead you to some interesting places.