I see you completed Subnautca Botch! My other friend got distracted by Hades so who knows whether he'll make the last push to finish it. He was so close too! I loved the final third as far as the game's plot and trajectory goes (with the deep descent and the contained leviathan) but the final 'fetch quest' tested my patience given I'd already done a lot of logistics to make the Cyclops, PRAWN suit and all their upgrades possible. Still, a wonderful experience.

I enjoyed Metro 2033 but I couldn't follow what was going on so didn't have much investment to start Last Light, though I own the Redux version. One day I'll get back on to that series! My favourite thing about 2033 was the HUD-free design and how you had to manually check your weapon's ammo and... mask quality and oxygen? Stuff like that.

I have some criticisms of some of the plot points but they're minor.

You know, I really enjoyed Firewatch but there was one plot point that undermined the whole thing for me and I now can't remember what it was.

I'm probably way off here, but it didn't make any sense and was a fundamental part of the story/mystery. Pretty much everything else I was on board with.

If you liked that, check out What Remains of Edith Finch if you haven't played it already. That will be on my Games of 2020 list, if I can pull myself away from Phoenix Point to continue writing it! 🙂

Regarding Firewatch: yeah, that sounds about right.

Yeah, god, I hate the phrase 'walking simulator' and always have done, because while it's not the derogatory phrase it once was (to describe games like my beloved Proteus and not so beloved Dear Esther) I still find it hugely reductive and kind of disrespectful. It's a very popular Steam store tag now though so I think it's here to stay. Bleurgh!

What Remains of Edith Finch feels a lot more involved than your usual minimalist exploration/story-based game in the sense that it has all these vignettes with their own concepts, stories and controls. Some of the sequences are glorious and simultaneously haunting. I'm not so great at reading into the meaning of some things but I found Joseph Anderson's video about it really interesting and insightful.

I picked up Subnautica: Below Zero as well. It looks to continue the excellent trend.

Yeah I've got it on Epic but holding off until it's 'done'!

I think Exodus has been compared unfavorably to recent "open world" games and I think the comparison is off the mark.

These days I get pretty annoyed with folk just absolutely missing the point of certain games. I can't imagine how disappointing/stressful for developers it must be. I think it's almost always down to misguided or unfair expectations being brought to the game rather than accepting what it is like, oh hey, this isn't for me. Sometimes I read what folk are saying and think 'you want a different game! Go play something else!' I look back at my Firaxis XCOM rant and that's a good example. I wanted more of the original X-COM and not the abstracted, streamlined XCOM we got. (This is why I've been enjoying Phoenix Point a lot recently with the Year One Edition release.) Wow, that article was 8 years ago, and you commented first! I'll say this though: I'm hugely appreciative of Firaxis reviving the genre and being responsible for so many great 'XCOM-likes', like SteamWorld Heist and Mario + Rabbids. God, I love those two.

Anyway, OUTER WILDS! Man, it's so funny you posted about it last night because it was only last night that my friend told me that he'd tried to play it too, and got frustrated with the controls. I think that's fair because, while I didn't play it on a controller as the game recommends, the keyboard and mouse controls are a little unwieldy and unintuitive too. At least at first. When I was writing about Outer Wilds for my games of the year(s) list, I wrote in a draft that if the game doesn't get you asking a bunch of questions almost the moment you open your eyes; if it doesn't fire up your curiosity enough to eagerly blast off into the sky to find answers, then it might not be the game for you. I took it out because it felt a little too dismissive or, I dunno, 'closed'. My eyes opening and seeing an explosion in the sky and several things whizzing past and a massive planet behind it all was like... Okay, I've got to see what's going on up there! And... the rest is history.

The Hearthians are the only creatures/aliens to be non-binary, and yeah, it confused me too, but after a while I got used to it, and actually thought it was pretty cool. As for the physics: generally speaking you need to be comfortable with targeting other celestial bodies and matching their speed which you can do with a couple of buttons. Not sure what it is on controller but it ensures you don't go flying off and you can land comfortably, orient yourself and explore in relative calm. There's a zero gravity tutorial on Timber Hearth which helps with this. Auto-pilot is great too, but make sure the sun isn't between you and your destination 🙂 It does feel clumsy initially but with time I found it very satisfying and felt that it captured the feeling of piloting a rickety little spacecraft against the wild cosmos.

As for your deaths: I can say for certain that my first death or two was a mystery then later I was like 'Oh, that's what got me!' The thing is: Outer Wilds is wide open once you get off Timber Hearth and as such you can find yourself in the weirdest, most confusing places totally at the mercy of unknown forces. And that's fine. It's all part of the experience and you've just got to roll with it, but sooner or later (probably sooner) you'll get a foothold somewhere, and that's when you start your climb. Your ship's log is a great way of keeping track of things.

It's probably my favourite game so naturally I'm going to say 'stick with it!' but I'm getting mellower these days so... uh, follow your heart Botch! 😀

(Stick with it!)

not being able to move forward when it seems I should be.

Hmm, I'm not sure what you mean. Like invisible walls or steep slopes perhaps? I know there are some unusual landscapes to traverse but unless gravity is against you then you should be able to go pretty much anywhere. I know there are some craters on the Attlerock moon that aren't easy to walk up the edges of, and perhaps the odd incline/cliff on Timber Hearth.

My first two deaths were from exiting my ship on the moon (Attlerock?) without a suit on.

This is natural and I did it tens of hours into my playthrough like a numpty! So eager I was to get out and explore. 'What's happening? I'm dying! ...Oh. I'm an idiot.'

Hey, that knucklehead sitting in his chair can do it, why not me?

I'm sure it mentions it on Timber Hearth before you take off as well, but there's also a note beside the cockpit in your ship that says trees refill your oxygen. If you're wearing your suit you'll notice that when you descend into the Attlerock crater that Esker is rocking and whistling in, it says 'Trees detected - oxygen tanks refilled' followed by a hiss and your heavy breathing apparatus stopping, implying that you don't need to use it. Technically you shouldn't be able to die of asphyxiation in that area! Outside the crater away from the trees though...

Some blue thing got really big in the sky and then I was dead apparently.

This is also fine! And I'm so happy to hear you don't know what it is yet because most folk find out before they even start the game. Can't you tell I love a good mystery?

Yeah, the reviews for Phoenix Point are weird. A lot of them are basically doing what I did with my Firaxis XCOM rant, but they're comparing Phoenix Point to Firaxis' XCOM, and of course, they're going for very different things. Phoenix Point is best compared to the original X-COM because it's a lot more crunchy and simulated.

The Epic exclusivity deal is also something that certain gamers can't seem to stop harping on about, even now. Not having access to the shittiest release version of a game a year before everyone else doesn't sound too bad to me. From what else I've read it sounds like people either missing lines of tech, ability synergies, misunderstanding systems or just getting a bad starting spot. It's one of the reasons I've held back on a Steam review, just in case I was missing some ugly bits.

I backed it on Fig and the Epic release was so rough that I just stopped after an hour and uninstalled it. I was really disappointed and was left hoping (but not hopeful!) that they'd get it sorted. The Year One Edition arrived and I fired it up just to see how it was all looking and... well, I got hooked, big time. I didn't play much else over Christmas!

It definitely has its niggles but pretty much everything that bothered me about the direction the Firaxis games took, Phoenix Point avoids. It's like they read my rant, haha. You get free-aim with no percentages; VATS-style limb/weapon disabling; action points (like time units but simpler), so you can do multiple things per turn if you're careful; fine control overwatch cones (like Frozen Synapse); will points to squeeze more out of your turns; proper hybrid classes which are fun to mess about with; items and inventories for crisis gear swapping mid-mission; faction diplomacy, trading and raiding; multiple bases (still not sure how I feel about this one because it adds a lot of faff); proper base invasions; no alien pods interrupting your turn to disperse and hide; mutating 'terrors from the deep' enemies; more utilitarian menus; geoscape multi-tasking; settlements defending themselves and even attacking nests independently of me!

It feels more like the spiritual successor to X-COM and Apocalypse, but with enough to make it distinctive. It's a little rough compared to the AAA polish of the Firaxis games, and that crunchy, simulated direction means my first playthrough (as a slow bastard too) is taking forever (100 hours so far). I recall X-COM also taking forever and I'm not going to lie: I wish Phoenix Point was more, uh, to the point than that. Still, it's been a really nice surprise to have been enjoying it so much and I think it's in a great place now. They've apparently got a lot more planned for it and a new 'Festering Skies' DLC coming this year so here's hoping it keeps improving.