“Whatcha Playin’, Pixels?” – #035
13 min read
A weekly roundup of games enjoyed by the writers of The Pixels
Today marks a huge milestone for this column – my 30th contribution as deputy editor! When Red asked for a deputy editor for this column way back when and I stepped up, I didn’t realize that I had signed up for an adventure. And what an adventure it has been so far! It’s been way past awesome delving into the minds and backlogs of my fellow writers these past few months. I’d like to thank those very writers for their weekly contributions. And you, dear readers, for taking the time to see what we’ve been up to. May the next 30 entries be just as epic as these ones! Speaking of, let’s see what our writers have been up to this week:
After a couple of busy weeks, I’m back! I’ve been playing entirely too many big games for such little time but I’m trying my best to push through the ones that interest me. I’ve recently started playing the remastered version of Mass Effect and I’m actually enjoying my time with it. I do feel a bit overwhelmed at the fact that I have the entire trilogy potentially ahead of me but the story is keeping me invested. I’m also still slowly making my way through The Last of Us Part II, now in the second half of the story. I always enjoy my time with it but also feel like I can’t play that game for long amounts of time before the depressive nature of the subject matter starts to get to me. I also spent a couple of nights a week playing games like Fortnite, Mario Kart 8, and Mario Party Superstars with friends, which has been a blast.
A more recent game I started playing is Returnal, a third-person shooter that is brutally difficult with rogue-like elements. The first run I did was fairly short as I learned the controls and got used to the intense, fast-paced action. On my second run, I managed to defeat the first boss, which unlocked passage to the second biome, though I died almost immediately after. Then, my third run was by far one of the most impressive feats I’ve accomplished in my gaming life. I started by going through as much of the first biome as I could to gather the best loot, then I attempted the second biome once again. Somehow I managed to go through the entire thing and defeat the second boss on my first try. After reaching the third biome I was expecting to die at any moment. It was also very late and I was getting rather tired, but I kept pushing on. I came close to dying a few times but somehow managed to survive just long enough to find more health. Surprisingly, I reached the third boss, and thanks to an item that gives me a second chance at death, I even managed to defeat it on my first try as well!
Three bosses defeated and only two deaths on Returnal is something I’m incredibly proud of! So much so, that I’m thinking of retiring with that victory and moving on to other games. It’s a very fun game but I never had the intention to see it the entire way through. Since my backlog is so significant, I’ve decided that not every game has to be finished and if I’m satisfied with a particular experience, it’s okay to move on to something else. I’ve learned to let go.
Congratulations to our deputy editor and his milestone! This column wouldn’t have continued without him.
I didn’t have much time for gaming this week, and the great irony of creating and maintaining a multi-branching online concept about games and talking about games on a daily basis whilst being unable to actually play games isn’t lost on me. I did however have more time for Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, a middling experience. I’ve noticed it’s an interesting game to discuss. Folk either seem to take the route of “FFMQ is an assault upon the Western world and a personal attack against my character to suggest that we ever needed a game so unremarkably easy!” …or… “FFMQ doesn’t deserve the hate it gets and in light of a perceived underdog narrative let me just say that it’s a blast to play and one of the most fun experiences among RPGs on the Super Nintendo!”
Only problem is, neither of these seems all that true, even on a personal level for those making the assertions. Mystic Quest is neither a dumpster fire or a masterpiece. It is a decent start RPG and it isn’t the most engaging experience, simultaneously. It kind of is just dull while also having notable bouts of personality and innovation. My kingdom for a run button, though!
I’ve been checking out a few demos this week! First of all, the limited demo for Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty had me intrigued. Straight from the very beginning, it had me going “Well this reminds me an awful lot of Nioh… actually, only the good bits of Nioh!” so I’d say that in itself is a recommendation.
It’s pretty much standard Souls-ish fare but with flags instead of bonfires, until you catch sight of the game’s interesting ‘morale’ system. It’s a novel twist on that mechanic where you see red numbers above enemies’ heads to indicate you’re not ready to take them on yet. It’s worth paying attention to as well: I found myself going up against a large winged beastie with way higher numbers above its head than I could cope with. Returning later, it was as though I were playing a completely different game, taking it out in a few swift maneuvers. Also, the final boss of the DLC was a bit of a pain, but with a careful look at my weapons and gear, and a summoned friend, I took him down in around four or five attempts. Interestingly, Wo Long has a very intricate parry system, which the demo did its very best to explain in the worst way possible. There is an excruciatingly tiny window of opportunity in which to push the right button to parry attacks. When it worked it was great, but for the other nine out of ten times, I should probably just have dodge-rolled! All in all, I’m excited for Wo Long provided the developers make the parry a little more forgiving to execute – this could be the next Sekiro when it releases!
Next up, the demo for Valkyrie Elysium had me absolutely hooked. As someone who loved the concept of the earlier Valkyrie Profile titles but found some of the systems a little confusing, I was initially concerned that this new title would follow the same footprints. I’m quite pleased to say that after an initial onslaught of info in the tutorial, Valkyrie Elysium really clicked with me in a lot of ways, coming across as a sort of God of War / Nier hybrid, which is of course something I can get behind! After a fun introduction to the combat and the styles of puzzles that will feature in the game, the demo swooped straight into the first main mission of the game: quite a sizeable castle and church-style area which gave me serious Castlevania: Lords of Shadow vibes in some places. It offered the entire first level, and two sub-quests, taking the better part of an evening to beat. My only criticism really was that some areas felt a little empty.. no treasures or enemies.. just crates to smash for a few gems. This felt like a slightly missed opportunity but all in all, thanks to this demo, Valkyrie Elysium is now one of my most anticipated games of the next few weeks!
And finally, I had the chance for the briefest of looks at the demo for Star Ocean: The Divine Force. I have a lot of love for the Star Ocean series and, much like with Valkyrie Elysium I had my reservations about Square Enix taking yet another turn-based series and trying to make it an action game. From just under an hour with the demo I sadly came away a little underwhelmed with this one. I will go back and give it another go, but my first impressions were that I came away confused by the many seemingly unnecessary functions during battle, and slightly terrified of the main character who looks a bit like a haunted Jon Bon Jovi action figure. Sorry Star Ocean but I’ve been quite spoiled by good demos this week and you didn’t quite hit the mark just yet!
Every once and a while I stumble into a game that just captures me. Having played video games for well over 35 years, my memory of classic and modern titles goes pretty deep. For the longest time, I thought, “there is nothing new and astounding anymore, those days are over!” I’m glad that I am wrong about that. Over the past few weeks, I have been pleasantly surprised as I have trucked through the Square Enix RPG/shooter, Outriders, and I was pretty close to experiencing a “mind-blowing” with that title, but the monotony of grinding through levels and enemies that look and sound very similar to each other started to wear on me. So I hopped back on Xbox Game Pass to see what I could find, and I do believe I found a truly mind-blowing game!
It’s called Metal Hellsinger, and it does a very good job of accurately representing its namesake. In other words, it’s metal AF! The story takes place in the eight realms of Hell where you play as a fallen soul simply called The Unknown. The main demon of these realms, the devil who is known as the Red Judge, has stolen Unknown’s voice, and she will do everything she can to get it back. The game itself is an FPS-Rhythm-Shooter, where the guns are only as strong as their shots are to the beat of the music. The gunplay is really good and has some major Painkiller vibes, but it is the music itself that appears to be the crowning achievement of this title. All the music is professionally recorded exclusively for this game (no DMCA takedowns) by legendary hardcore and symphonic metal artists including Tatiana Shmayluk of Jinjer, Matt Heafy from Trivium, and even Serj Tankian from System of a Down…and that’s just to name a few! Hosting its own metal supergroup and killer game mechanics, this indie-developed title may become a dark horse nominee for GoTY!
I’ve been working my way through the PS5 version of Cyberpunk 2077 for the past month now. My playthrough started off a bit rough but once the world opened up I started to enjoy it a lot more. By the end of my time playing, I was fully sold on the lore, world, and story of Night City. Personally, I really enjoyed the main story of the game. Johnny Silverhand reminded me of The Joker from Batman: Arkham Knight but ended up becoming much more fleshed out. Most of the side missions and content were enjoyable, there were a few bad missions sprinkled throughout. I didn’t enjoy driving the cars in the game but found the motorcycles very fun. If you are planning on trying the game out make sure it’s the next-gen or PC version. Once the Edgerunners update drops, the PS4 and Xbox One versions will not be supported.
Trombone Champ is not your average rhythm game and it has been getting a lot of recognition the past week. I love indie games and finding hidden gems before they become popular is a knack of mine. Trombone Champ plays a lot like other mouse-controlled rhythm games, you click and hold your mouse to play the trombone. Going up and down will change the pitch and you release the mouse click to breathe. There are 20 songs to play and a couple of secrets to uncover. There are some humorous collectible cards to get and an odd obsession with baboons. Trombone Champ wears its goofiness on its sleeves and makes for a quick but fun playthrough. I do wish you could play a sackbut in the game though.
I returned to a childhood favorite of mine this past week, Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WW2 (or just Blazing Angels for short) was one of the first games I bought for the Wii. It’s an arcade plane fighter set during the second world war. You play as the leader of a young squadron of Americans who help out overseas, then journey to the Pacific, and back to the European theater of the war. The PS3 version of the game suffered from terrible framerate drops, especially when flying through smoke or seeing explosions. Other than that, the game is still worth going back to and playing. The soundtrack is great, the gameplay is fun, and the missions are structured well. The story does suffer a bit from being your generic WW2 ragtag group of soldiers but it works. Each member of the squad has a special ability like helping you repair your plane, taking enemy pressure off of you, and attacking your selected target. Blazing Angels may not be the best-looking or most interesting game but it makes up for it with fun gameplay and a great soundtrack. I would recommend trying this one out if you find an Xbox 360 copy!
I haven’t been playing too many games this week; we’re helping my daughter get ready for her Japan trip. She’s leaving tomorrow. Ah!!!
I’ve managed to play a little Fate Arena and Auto Chess. And I may have found an issue inherent with most auto battlers: there are too many options. Yes. There can be such a thing as too many options. How can I build on my combos when there are so many characters in the pool that I’ll seldom find the ones I need? Yikes!
Other than that, I’ve been finishing up on some battle passes. Apex Legends released their first new game mode in almost a year, and it’s not for me.
Gun Run caters to a specific type of Apex player. They’re the ones who like the original Skull Town. I prefer Skull Town’s improved layout. They’re also the ones who love landing in the same four broken buildings on a map as large as Atlanta (we’re talking Fragment East and West on the World’s Edge map). I like a little more variety. And the game mode may have a run-away winner issue.
From what I can gather, if you get further with your guns (killing a player with a gun unlocks a new gun), you gain bonus damage. But that means you get a bonus for being in first place. How can anyone catch up? I’m also unsure how the game mode works exactly because it’s difficult to follow.
The progress tracker is clunky and cluttered. The goal is unclear. Even player/team outline colors are weird. My team color is pink, so that’s my teammate? Oh. That wasn’t the same shade of pink. And I’m dead.
I may need to suffer more Gun Run to figure out what’s going on. Or I may call it good.
-Kyra Kyle
Back to streaming! Sorta! Child illness and work stuff prevented me from doing a full week’s worth of streaming, but I got some in, regardless. Sunday and Monday were dedicated to cleaning up Phantasy Star IV. We’re at the home stretch, baby! Picked up some sweet equipment, including the legendary Elsydeon sword and the Megid technique and we’re ready to take on Jim, AKA The Profound Darkness! Goodness, I’ve loved streaming and playing this game. Between it and Live A Live, I’ve definitely got my fill of classic RPGs in the last little bit.
Tuesday was devoted to Wind Waker. I’ve been on the hunt for the last pearl needed to unlock the Tower of the Gods, but I’ve been sidetracked by chart filling and treasure hunting haha. Nonetheless, I was able to meet with Jabun, increased my wallet to the max by visiting the Great Fairy at Outset and set off to place the pearls on the three Triangle Islands.
After months of neglect, I finally dusted off my PS4 and delved into the Disney Classic Games Collection that I picked up for my kid (who, ironically, is much more into Star Fox than anything Disney-related.). I got through Aladdin (Genesis Version) for the first time ever, despite using the rewind button. Whatever, a win’s a win haha. I might play through the rest of the Classics Collection, or maybe move on to The Afternoon Collection… Or maybe, just maybe, play Final Fantasy VII Remake again. I must be a masochist.
I also finished Ori and The Blind Forest this week. The story is beautiful, heartfelt and tugs on my heartstrings as a parent. Gameplay-wise, however, I was more frustrated than enthralled. Ori is very floaty, and that floaty-ness translated to me missing platforms and hitting (and dying) from hazards quite often. Thankfully, it’s short.
After careful consideration, I decided that my next game to play on my Switch would be a replay of Raji: An Ancient Epic. Yes, I beat this one previously, but that was before the developers released a brand-new Enhanced Edition with QoL improvements to combat and gameplay. Best of all, the story is now fully voiced in HINDI! It’s like playing a Bollywood film and I am all in for it!
So, what were you playing this week?
Ryan Cheddi – our friendly, neighbourhood caffeine addict – is a man of many talents: an engineer, a gaming historian, a fiction writer and a streamer. He is also a self-avowed Sonic the Hedgehog fan. You can check out his cool beans at his site – Games with Coffee – or find him on Twitter as @GameswCoffee, and Instagram as @games_with_coffee. He streams on Twitch, also as GamesWithCoffee.
