Steerpike said

One I can strongly recommend is Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. I'm working on an article about it but in advance of that, it's definitely worth the money. Very intense, gorgeous, well-done. Ninja Theory at its best!  

I just finished Hellblade a few days ago, after playing the first half on my Extra Life stream. I almost quit near the end during the Fenrir boss fight. I then realized I could lower the combat difficulty, and did so. Way better. To anyone going into that game, play it with the combat on Easy. The combat is the least interesting part of the game and goes on too long every time it happens.

Also, the game seemed too long to me in general, which is surprising since it's relatively short. I guess I thought it was going to be shorter. The run toward the end (with the 4 stone things you do before getting Gramr) seemed repetitive. All that said, it was one of those cool experiences that I didn't necessarily love playing, but am glad it's out there. Kinda like Papo & Yo.

Oh, and Steerpike, if you liked the demo of Nier: Automata, you'll probably like the game. The demo (intro section) is easily the crappiest part.

The hype probably hasn't helped!

Nier: Automata ultimately didn't live up to the hype for me, but there's a lot I loved about it, particularly how its direction constantly surprised me. I was somewhat underwhelmed with the first playthrough, finding the antagonists laughable and the story arc intriguing but kind of shallow perhaps? But the thing that kept me going was the cracks of something greater peeking through every so often, questions left hanging and knowing that this was just the beginning. The second playthrough (obviously) opens up more and from there you should be intrigued enough to want to continue down the rabbit hole... but if not, then I'd probably say just move on. I mean, the third playthrough is... yeah, it's hard to talk about.

I'd like to add that the side quests are worth doing, even if some of them stumble over into busywork. They often explore the themes of the game in ways that the main story doesn't really slow down for. I wish the difficulty had been tuned better so that the looser and more forgiving combat was a little crunchier but otherwise it helps keep things progressing at a fair clip.

I was surprised to see aspects of SOMA in Nier: Automata. I preferred SOMA; it was shorter and more focused but it was grounded too so I found it a lot more conductive and affecting. Nier: Automata explodes in so many directions that it's hard to process. The memory of it is fading now so I wonder how I'll feel about it over time.

I can't remember, Dix, what's the machine to which you're referring?

I've found myself looking back on my time with it more fondly, in contrast.

Oh okay, that was the fight in the desert? I think that's right around the point where I was very curious and certainly hooked.

Right around the "this cannot continue" moment.

Interesting. What else would you say it's similar to, or borrowing from, if anything? I'm curious!

xtal said
Interesting. What else would you say it's similar to, or borrowing from, if anything? I'm curious!  

I don't know that it's borrowing from anything specific because to me the themes feel so common to sci-fi. The notion of machines developing or possessing emotions is something that sci-fi has hit hard since basically the moment robots became a thing in fiction, with some great stuff among Asimov, Gibson, and more than a few Star Trek episodes.

Similarly, the notion of some sci-fi thing facilitating soldiers fighting a war against an enemy who is not quite what they're told is also reasonably well-trod: Ender's Game (and arguably Speaker for the Dead) has a similar premise, many military sci-fi stories have at least an incidental technological tweak (a drug, an implant, etc.) to drive soldiers to fight and not question why, etc. Right now I'm fully expecting this to have a situation similar to a third series Black Mirror episode:

Dix said

I don't know that it's borrowing from anything specific because to me the themes feel so common to sci-fi. The notion of machines developing or possessing emotions is something that sci-fi has hit hard since basically the moment robots became a thing in fiction, with some great stuff among Asimov, Gibson, and more than a few Star Trek episodes.

Similarly, the notion of some sci-fi thing facilitating soldiers fighting a war against an enemy who is not quite what they're told is also reasonably well-trod: Ender's Game (and arguably Speaker for the Dead) has a similar premise, many military sci-fi stories have at least an incidental technological tweak (a drug, an implant, etc.) to drive soldiers to fight and not question why, etc. Right now I'm fully expecting this to have a situation similar to a third series Black Mirror episode:

Reveal Spoiler

In "Men Against Fire," the military uses implants to have their soldiers see their targets as vampire-like creatures who are not capable of communicating intelligibly. In reality, they are normal people who have simply been deemed genetically inferior.

  

All fair points. I've never read Ender's Game but have only ever heard good things. I should but am currently trekking through the works of one Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Might put EG after that!

I do have notoriously low standards sometimes (ardent defender of Lost and the last season of BSG, here) so maybe it's just that I mind that stuff less. I really did find the world and characters intriguing; not necessarily original, but uniquely coloured at least. I connected strongly with the more sombre, bizarre and weird moments, while connecting much less so with the more anime qualities (Adam and Eve were a bit much, even though I empathized with them).

I think most if not all of my favourite moments involved the various pockets of civilization that the machines had formed. I especially loved the forest machines. Strange in a wonderful way. Not many of my favourite moments involved the androids, with exceptions for the main characters 2B, 9S and A2 who all had their moments.

Anyone played Celeste? I'm enjoying that on the Switch. I've seen it compared to Super Meat Boy, but it seems less grueling than that game, to me at least.

I'm also curious about Sea of Thieves. It seems like Guns of Icarus Online, with a few more wrinkles (and in a boat, obviously).