May was my dead month this year. I've been dabbling lately.
Haven't convinced myself to join in on season 2 of Marathon. Well, I played one Solo round of the new Night Marsh map variant. Didn't see a single Rook, but may have heard one. My heart was hammering as I awaited the final exfil warp to take me away. This game needs a Surgeon General's warning on it. Do not use if you have a heart condition. It's surpassed PUGB as the strongest heart palpitator I've ever played. Adding gambling to a competitive shooter does up the emotional torment.
Did a lengthy session of Wanted: Dead. It makes a poor first impression. But then I started to really dig it once I unlocked a bit of the skill tree. I'm flutter tapping "fire pistol" while sliding on my sneakers to stun-lock quarry on my reckless approach. I'm charging groups of gooners and kneeing them in the face. I'm parrying bullets and blades. I'm sure a subset of players have played this like a third-person shooter, but the game is very generic if you stick to that mode. If you try to act like John Wick, switching tactics every 10 seconds, it's a blast. I often like janky games because they afford the player more control and expression compared to something more refined but on rails. This plays like a cult classic from the PS2 days. I like it a lot so far.
The Artisan of Glimmith seemed similar to The Witness in that it teaches you how to play implicitly, step by step. And the gameplay seemed similar. I'd been wanting to replay TW but I still remember too much about it, so I've been hesitant to start. Artisan has made for a good substitute. It's is more explicit than TW, but it's scratching that itch.
The SW2 Mario tennis release lead me to play some Mario Tennis 64. Likewise, Forza Horizon 6's debut has me compelled to check out Forza Horizon 3. I've been playing with manual transmission + clutch, simulation damage, turned off traction control. I forget my exact settings, but the game was too arcadey and mindless when I started, so I decided to make it harder. Now, I'm having to think a lot more, especially going in to turns. I wish there was a controller with three analog triggers so I could play with an analog clutch. It's extra challenging for me as I've never driven a manual transmission in real life. But you don't seem to have to speed-match (is this what it's called?) your clutch with your engine RPM either, so it's a simplified situation. Hard to cope with at first, but by not caring how I place, it's been a fun challenge. Drifting well with a manual transmission seems impossible, I've no idea how to do it. Not that I can drift well in an automatic....
I watched Black Narcissus recently, and shortly after, Indika popped up in the humble bundle. The cloister ain't gonna take nun of it anymore! The nuns are on the run. Stupid, sexy Mr. Dean's thighs! It's early and the jank in both the game and the story scripting are putting me off a little. Indika also has surprisingly bad stuttering which is taking me out of the moment. But Black Narcissus being on my mind is pushing me to give Indika a generous time in which to grab me.
All paths lead to game of video.
Indika's jank ain't great, Wanted: Dead's jank is welcome.
