Something I've never been that great at is spontaneous conversation. I'm more than capable of public speaking if I've prepared something in advance. But if someone asks me something out of the blue, I really struggle to engage in deep conversation. Afterwards I'll think to myself damn, why didn't I bring up X or Y?

Half the time I don't know what to add and I struggle to think of what to say. Sometimes words feel like they're on the tip of my tongue and I can't get them out, especially when I'm under pressure. And in group conversations, I find it hard to interject when I do think of a point. By the time a natural break comes along, the conversation has moved on.

I'd love to get better at this. What can I do to improve?

A few years back I tried to play this on PS4 (it was a free PS+ game at one point). I didn't give it much of a chance, and my subscription ended before I got round to finishing it. But boy am I glad I gave it another go! What a great game.

To be clear, I played the HD version on Steam, which is a glammed up port of the 2002 Gamecube remaster. The pre-rendered backgrounds look great, with some nice reflections and lighting effects on top. Having fixed camera angles did take some getting used to, but actually added some additional tension because you didn't always know what would be coming up around the corner. I've previously played RE2 Remake and RE4 (original), and I reckon RE1 is the spookiest of these. The macabre notes you find, the eerily quiet mansion, and the constant fear of death when you have limited saves all contribute to an underlying dread. By the end of the game I knew the mansion layout pretty well (there was a LOT of backtracking required. Especially as I was playing as Chris, who only has 6 inventory slots).

Mercifully the HD version has a new control scheme so I didn't have to worry about tank controls. The gun aiming controls were fine, although I'm not sure how headshots work. I think if you aim upwards at the last minute, you have a % chance to get a critical hit. One thing I'd recommend to new players - if you don't decapitate a regular zombie, make sure you burn the body. Otherwise they'll come back as stronger, faster ones later on which can be very dangerous.

Throughout my playthrough I felt like I was playing an escape room (or, escape house) more than a third person shooter. The zombies are there to build the tension, but the puzzle of the mansion is the actual gameplay for the most part. Most of the puzzles were pretty standard fare, but a few stuck out in my mind:

spoiler

-Using the fireplace to get the 2F map

-Unlocking the chemist's room using the eye symbols from the lounge area. The colours related to the pool balls, which give you the required numbers.

-The second password in the lab involving x-ray images and the afflicted body parts

Surprisingly I felt like this was a good fit for the Steam Deck. Playing it handheld in short bursts was perfect, and it also runs smoothly at 1080p when docked.

If you haven't played this one before it's well worth it! Quite a different experience from the later RE games but you can clearly see how this one set the seed for the rest of the series. Despite my initial aversion to the camera angles and controls, once it clicked I couldn't stop playing. It goes on sale really cheap on Steam so definitely give it a go :)

The other week I played through the original Dead Space, and I've now followed that up with the well-regarded sequel.

Wow - this game really improves on all aspects of the original! Graphically it's a huge step up, with some incredible lighting effects and texture detail. It honestly still looks amazing to this day.

The guns feel a lot tighter to use, and that's coupled with some nice new animations (seeing the used ammo vent on the plasma cutter when you reload is always satisfying) and punchy sound effects. Little things like the ability to reload without having to aim down sight make the game a lot less frustrating than the original. I also found myself using the stasis ability in every fight (unlike the first game); it's now an AOE which is super handy when you don't have much time to react (in particular the enemies that hide behind cover and then rush you when you least expect it). One neat new feature is the ability to rip off enemy arms and use them to skewer others. Extremely satisfying!

I actually found DS2 to be a lot scarier than the original. There were a few jump scare moments, really creepy hallucinations appearing on screens and just some great environmental spookiness. If anyone ever played PT, that's the sort of vibe I felt - picture an old radio playing a recording, windows rattling in the wind and something creaking down the hallway... You're on edge and then an enemy drops down from the ceiling! The fact that the game is so visually dark really added to this effect - it was sometimes hard to see without your flashlight.

The setting was much more varied - shopping centres, apartments, churches and maintenance areas. I didn't find myself getting lost as much as I did in the first game. The zero gravity sections were easier to navigate too as the aerial movement system had been reworked.

Somewhat annoyingly, the PC version is loaded with all the DLC so the shop is flooded with free weapons and armour. These DLC items have icons next to them so they're easy enough to ignore, though I wish you could turn them off. I also found the armour unlocks a bit weird - it seems like most of them were locked behind the doors that required a power node? Bit of an odd design choice.

Overall though I really enjoyed Dead Space 2. It holds up extremely well for a game from 13 years ago, so I'd recommend you give it a go if you haven't already. Playing the original first was well worth it for some of the story points of the second.

Keeping with the spooky theme I've just started playing through the HD version of Resident Evil. Let me know if you'd like a write up once I've finished that :)

I'm really in the mood for a game like Shovel Knight after listening to some chiptune tracks the other day. Something fair, but challenging would be ideal. Must have a good soundtrack!

Along these lines I've already played:

• Shovel Knight
• Celeste
• The Messenger
• Hollow Knight (well, in terms of the difficulty not the music)

Does anyone know of any I've missed? They don't necessarily have to be modern indie games - old NES/SNES games for example. SMB3 and SMW are classics.

So a view I see a lot nowadays is that attention spans are getting shorter, especially when it comes to younger generations. And the growing success of short form content on Tiktok, Youtube and Twitter for example seems to support this claim. I have a friend in their early 20s who regularly checks their phone (sometimes scrolling Tiktok content) as we're watching a film. And an older colleague recently was pleased to see me reading a book, because he felt that anyone my age and younger was less likely to want to invest the time in reading.

But is this actually true on the whole? Does social media like Tiktok really mould our interests and alter our attention? In some respects I can see how it could change our expectations. If we've come to expect a webpage to load in seconds, it can be frustrating when we have to wait minutes. But to someone that was raised with dial-up, perhaps that wouldn't be as much of an issue. In the same way, if a piece of media doesn't capture someone in the first few minutes they may be more inclined to lose focus because they're so used to quick dopamine hits from short form content. Alternatively, maybe this whole argument is just a 'kids these days' fallacy. Obviously there are plenty of young adults that buck this trend.

I eventually got round to playing this! I had the 2008 version on Steam, so I thought I'd give it a go instead of the recent remake. Note: if you're playing on Steam Deck, I'd recommend messing with the joystick deadzones for a smoother experience.

Despite being released 15 years ago, the graphics still look decent! Having no HUD elements is really neat. The gameplay was initially quite stiff and clunky feeling, but it's something you get used to. You may be aware that a unique mechanic for this game is the ability (and requirement) to cut off enemy limbs. I found this to be a very refreshing take on the standard shooter rule of going for the head. As you progress, you'll come across certain enemies that swing their limbs about wildly and this is where the 'stasis' power comes in very handy. Though more often than not I found myself unloading several bullets in panic, before remembering that stasis is a thing.

Ammo is very limited so you have to be conservative with it. In this respect (and perhaps in the claustrophobic nature of the game in general), I felt that there were a lot of similarities to the Resident Evil games. I was constantly running out of ammo for the plasma cutter (ol' reliable) which encouraged me to use the other weapons on offer, all of which were unique and fun.

I did feel like navigation of the ship was flawed. The layout was extremely confusing and same-y, so I usually depended on the guidance system to show me which way to go. If the game was designed from the ground up, I'd love to see a more open map approach with recognisable landmarks (akin to a Metroid Prime map).

The story is told in a similar manner to the first Bioshock game, with the lore explained through video/audio/text logs, and through the occasional NPC interaction from a distance. It was a straightforward story but it took interesting turns that I wasn't expecting.

I think Dead Space (2008) holds up really well, and is definitely worth playing in 2023. I don't know much about the remake, but assuming it improves the graphics and controls I'm guessing it would be the best option.

On to Dead Space 2!

The other month I asked for some help choosing plants for my boyfriend's birthday. Many thanks for all the suggestions! I decided to go for a Philodendron Plowmanii and a Jewel Orchid. They came as unpotted plants, so I just wanted to check that I've potted them correctly.

I put some clay pebbles at the bottom and then filled the rest with multi use compost. I made some little holes in the soil and gently placed the plants in, then covered up their roots.

Will they be ok like that, until next week when I can gift them? How much water should I give them?

Thanks for your help :)

What lightweight, practical flashlights would people recommend?

I want something that I could use while camping, dog walking, and general day-to-day tasks (finding something under the bed for example). Currently I use my phone torch, which isn't particularly practical. My previous (battery powered) torches have died after too short a space of time - I want something that will last.

One with a clip would be handy, so I could attach it to a cap.

I see lots of ones online with insane lumens. 1000 lumens seems like overkill for my purposes!

Not too worried about price (within reason!)

I realised the other day that I've enjoyed lots of murder mystery games and shows, but I've hardly read any mystery novels. The only ones that come to mind are Altered Carbon and some of the Discworld Watch novels (all great!).

Can anyone recommend me some of their favourite books in this genre? I don't really mind the setting, as long as it's a satisfying mystery with a great payoff.

So I'd heard lots of good things about this game and decided to finally give it a go. I picked up the PS3 HD collection, which includes Ico and SOTC.

From the get go, it felt like a frustrating experience. Very little is explained to you about how the mechanics of the game work. I found myself trying to grab ledges on the colossi that weren't intended.

The game clearly wants you to experiment to find out the different ways in which the colussi will react, but it's often such a slow process that it starts to feel like a chore for half of the battles. And often I was so close to a solution but some small thing would be off, so I'd try something else instead. Then it would turn out that I had it right the first time, I just needed to be standing a metre to the right. So many times the solution felt illogical.

And whilst holding on to the head of a colossus and getting that final hit in is extremely satisfying, on some occasions the window would be so small that I'd get shaken off and have to repeat the whole process to slowly chip away at its health. Knowing exactly what I needed to do, but having to do it multiple times soon became quite dull.

About half of the colossi were genuinely fun to fight. The bird one in particular stands out - soaring through the air as you climb along his wings was incredible.

I will say that the atmosphere, music and story were beautiful. It's a great piece of art. But a lot of people claim that this is one of the greatest games ever made, and I feel like the 'game' part is lacking quite a lot.

Is there something I'm missing? I actually enjoyed Ico a lot more.

It's my boyfriend's birthday next month and I wanted to buy him a plant he hasn't yet got. Currently we have:

• Lots of monsteras
• Syngonium
• Pothos
• Jades
• Snake plants
• String of hearts
• Ferns (staghorn, blue star, boston)
• Peace lilies
• Rubber plant
• Tradescantia
• Spider plants

He particularly likes monsteras! But if there are any relatively easy to care for, or 'essential' house plants that it sounds like they'd fit well with what we already have I'd love to hear. Our house is pretty shady but there are certain areas that get a bit more sunlight in the afternoon. Thank you :)