I finished the Siege of Dragonspear and even Black Pits expansions of Baldur’s Gate 1, and have now started Baldur’s Gate 2 Shadows of Amn.

I’m not far in yet (chapter two) but already get the feeling this is much deeper and has many more options than the first game - which was already quite good. I think I’m going to like this one.

I've spent more time choosing what games to install than I have actually playing them...

Played Sniper Elite V2. At first i thought it was the first Sniper Elite remade, but it's actually about the V2 missile program. Weird, I know. My best achievement in the game that for some silly reason isn't an achievement has to be randomly hitting an NPC in both testicles. Beats 3 heads in a row by a longshot.

Wonder if one can hit 6 nuts in a row or might it be too much to ask for? ...

Anyway, in Old World, Assyria declared war on me because I was weak and then spent dozens of years doing nothing, which allowed me to build up an army. They had slingers and warriors, I had spearmen. Turns out when your units pierce into the second row, spit roasting your enemies can be an effective strategy, if you manage to position them properly. First time conquering an enemy in this game.

But I'll probably quit soon because just as in the Civilization games, I fail at being the conquering type. Sorry Assyria, the game made me do it.

Looking to go through my library, my next try will probably be Airborne Kingdom. While I lack the imaginative creativity I've seen others achieve, i believe my floating bucket of bolts will nonetheless stick to the skies as i peacefully wander about that weird little world.

Elite Dangerous is back! They are releasing some amazing new content right now.

A new update which allow to colonize systems has been released.

Remove the dust from your copy and join us like so many of us!

Finished Yakuza: Like A Dragon during the weekend. A fantastic fresh start for the series, Ichiban is probably the best protagonist these games ever had, the addition of a party really helps in putting some color in the narrative, and the change to Turn-Based Combat actually made the game feel faster.

Started Core Keeper, and I greatly appreciate a survival/crafting game that holds your hands just enough while also throwing you into a hostile world. The 2D pixel art is a delightful, and I can feel the progression system working its dark magic in my brain. Also played a little bit of Darktide, though so far I ain't feeling it much. The last two online co-op games of the type I played were Aliens: Fireteam Elite and Deep Rock Galactic, which I felt did more to stand out from the genre's expectations, but I'll give a few more missions before laying a final judgement.

They're all on GamePass, though Like A Dragon is leaving in a few days.

Started playing Mindustry. It's $10 on steam but actually pay what you want direct from the dev here.

I started playing this game that popped up in the PSN game library called Arcade Paradise a few days ago. I downloaded it thinking it would be just another "arcade collection" type game, but it ended up being much more in depth than that.

Rather, its a somewhat simple management game where you grow a small arcade in the back of your fathers laundromat, but you can play each of the games you purchase. Further, you have to play the games and complete challenges in them to increase their fame/revenue.

All in all I've really enjoyed it so far. The decision to wrap the arcade games into a broader narrative and attach challenges to them was a really great decision i think. When I've checked out other arcade collection games, i've had a tendency to breeze through the catalog without spending much time in it before I'm bored. In this, you have to take your time with each game, and having challenges to complete does a good job of holding my interest and motivating me to get better at each one.

The games are all reskinned versions of classic games that most fans of the genre would be familiar with. Pong, Galaga, missile command, etc. I will say that the physics based games like Pool (infuriating) and Foosball (basically jmpossible) suck, but they're easily ignored.

Overall, I'd give it a 8/10. It reminds me a lot of something that Devolved Digital would put out, if you like them.

I just finished "Styx: Master of Darkness" after getting it in a deep discount recently. It's a really fun stealth game. Unlike Assassin's Creed or Dishonored you can't just run around and fight everything. You really have to be sneaky and stealth(kill) your way through.

Aliens Dark Descent

Got it for free on the PS Plus and a great game so far.

I also enjoyed Aliens Colonial Marines even if it’s less my style.

I‘m still on Monster Hunter Rise, I finally got gear I‘m satisfied with so now I‘m just trying to do mission by mission that I skipped. I‘ve installed mods and now I can actually find coop lobbies since apparently for some reason they region-locked that game and mods unlock it…

I've been splitting my time this past week. I was originally intending to be playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided now, and I have been... a bit. I've gotten it running, done the tutorial and the first couple quests and side quests and explored Prague a bit. The game is beautiful, especially with DLDSR and the RenoDX mod installed for HDR. I'm really enjoying what I've seen so far, though I've barely scratched the surface in terms of main quest. Prague is a great hub city and the themes of the setting with the segregation and the almost apartheid like conflict are interesting and well realised. The gameplay feels very solid, though still a little too anchored in the "cover-based shooter" era.

However, with the F1 season kicked off I got the urge to play around a bit with F1 Manager 2024. It was free on Epic a few weeks ago so I already had it installed. It's much like the previous iterations of the series - great presentation but a little vapid and shallow underneath. It's a real shame, because there are things about it that are compelling. Having all those real team radios and proper circuits and gorgeous cockpit views during races and all the official branding does make a difference. The presentation really is top notch. In-race management is also pretty damn fun, especially this year where we finally have mechanical failures. Race simulation still has some flaws - it's way too easy to overtake in Monaco for instance - but overall it's pretty good.

I've used the 2025 DLC mod to update the game and grid to the current season, and the Andretti mod to see if Andretti Global can make Logi Sarge a world champion. Hopefully will be an amusing diversion this week, as there's no race.

I didn't have much time to play this week so no as big wall of text this time. I did however find a moment to spend a little bit of time with both Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 and Ace Combat Zero.

Edit: I almost forgot! Following on my last weeks question, I went ahead and created a Pixelfed account. There isn't much there yet (just my Umurangi Generation pics from few weeks ago) but I'll be dropping some more posts about of my adventures soon.