“Whatcha Playin’, Pixels?” – #039
11 min read
A weekly roundup of games enjoyed by the writers of The Pixels
Hey, hey, hey, it’s the Well-Red Mage and I’m in charge of the column this time around. It’s time to catch up on everything we’ve been playing recently, and a huge congratulations to Ryan aka Games with Coffee & co. as they welcome a new addition to their family! Congratulations to the Coffee family, a speedy recovery to Mrs. Coffee, and much health and happiness upon the little one!
Sunday was a quiet affair. I streamed my first, true playthrough of NiGHTS into Dreams for Steam. As I played it, I realized I need to return to my streaming roots – namely researching and providing tidbits of trivia about the games I’ve been playing, especially the SEGA titles. I’ve resolved to make that a priority once again, but I’ll probably start that initiative up in the new year.
Tuesday and Thursday marked my return to the Great Sea in Wind Waker! After much hassle (and an arrow capacity upgrade), I finally shot down Cyclos and got the Ballad of the Gales! From there, I picked up the Fire and Ice Arrows and used those to gather the Iron Boots and Power Bracelet in Ice Ring Isle and Fire Mountain respectively. I also started gathering treasure, which will be vital when I start hunting down the Triforce Charts.
Off-stream, I’ve been playing bits and pieces of games here and there. After finishing Shantae and the Seven Sirens, I switched back to CrossCode for the critique I’m writing. It’s such a great game to get lost in. I’m farming for items and EXP to prepare for the final set of dungeons included in the DLC. I should give the Battle Arena in Rhombus Square a try, too. There’s so much to do in that title.
I fired up the PS4 and started replaying Final Fantasy VII Remake! Yes, I am a sadist, thank you for noticing haha. Honestly though, I love the combat system. Playing it on Hard mode presents lots of challenges, the biggest being that I can’t use items. Still, it’s been enjoyable going through the game once more. It’s made me feel more fired up for writing my next book. Staying on the PS4, I also dabbled in a bit of Ducktales via The Disney Afternoon Collection, because why not?
My NES Mini has also been getting a good workout this week. Kid Espresso is trying (and failing so far) to find a game that he can play easily. So far, he’s often playing Super Mario Bros., Excitebike, and The Legend of Zelda. However, he’s also taken a liking to Mega Man 2 – heck, he even beat Flash Man all by himself! Well, OK, I helped him get to Flash Man, but he took care of the Robot Master himself. I’m so proud of him. I ended up playing Mega Man 2 after he went to bed. Metal Blades for the win. I also fit in a little bit of Castlevania and even Simon’s Quest, which is giving me plenty of Zelda II vibes. I’m gonna have to try to finish that one now.
Hi everyone! What have I been up to? Well. I played a game that isn’t DayZ or Cyberpunk 2077 for the first time in ages! Namely Medieval Dynasty, in which you play a poor peasant bloke who has to survive in a cruel world and build a nice village! You can even chuck sharp sticks at foxes!
I’ve also reinstalled Far Cry 5, as I got massively immersed in it the last time and fancy doing it again!
After severely underestimating the end-game portion of The 7th Saga, I managed to actually beat the game on the 7th consecutive occasion of thinking I was going to finish the game. Seriously, I thought I’d reached the end for 7 streams in a row! I limped on for so long folk started saying I’d never finish it. Well nyah nyah I did it, the hardest SNES RPG on the system has been defeated!
Speaking of SNES RPGs… I don’t think the next game I chose is one. Obitus. Haven’t heard of it? Welcome to the club. Nobody has heard of it. Even few people have tried playing it, evidently. Well, I did spend some time with it and did some research and came to the conclusion that it is a hybrid first-person dungeon crawler, 2D side-scroller, action-adventure game. I even edited the Wikipedia. You’re welcome, world.
Mostly casual stuff for me the last week. I felt like some mindless point-and-clickery would hit the spot, so I dove into Knights of Pen & Paper 2. I enjoyed the first game and still remembered the basic gameplay conceits enough to pick KoP&P2 up and run with it. Compared to the first game, I felt like there wasn’t nearly as much content, and it wasn’t as enjoyable either. It felt rushed. Where I got over 20 hours out of +1, 2 only had 9.5 for me. I could get a little more with an additional DLC, but all in all, it’s just not as much there.
With the credits rolled on that, I’ve moved onto the Better Save Soul DLC for Graveyard Keeper. My game file is pretty much as beaten as it’s going to get, so I should be able to just run through the DLC tomorrow. After that, hm, who knows? NaNoWriMo starts next week, so I don’t want to dive into anything that’ll take too much attention away from my writing work. Maybe a good roguelike that I can play a run or two as a reward for hitting goals.
I just sat through the end-credits of Valkyrie Elysium and – wow, I have a lot to talk about! This has been quite literally the only game I’ve played this past fortnight as I’ve slowly recovered from whatever nasty flu I had, and it’s been the perfect mixture of tactical element-switching magic and laid-back button mashy combat. I know I’m usually a bit of a purist when it comes to RPGs that once were turn-based, but I have to admit that the combat here in Valkyrie Elysium was straightforward enough to not become confusing and I’ve appreciated that.
I’ve said on Twitter that this game reminds me a lot less of Valkyrie Profile and more towards the style of Actraiser 2 in that the levels (and side-quests) are self-contained, accessed through a menu and with plenty of respite in a heavenly area to upgrade between action stages. There’s plenty to do, and I still have a couple of endings yet to unlock even at the 25 hour mark. Not sure I’ll be sticking around to re-do it on Hard mode, especially as A Plague Tale: Requiem is next on my ‘to-play’ list, but I am very happy I chose to stick with Valkyrie Elysium to the ending. I very much doubt it’s going to trouble any Game Of The Year lists this year, but it’s a good game that has kept me thoroughly entertained.
I am a pretty big fan of Batman and when I heard that he was dead during the game Gotham Knights I was a bit skeptical. They’re going to kill Batman? I’ve heard that one before! I decided to purchase the game on my PlayStation 5 and I was surprised to see that the first cutscene of the game is his death. I’m still not convinced he’s out of the picture, quite the contrary actually.
For now, I’ll keep my deeper Batman takes to myself. I am enjoying the story so far, even if at times it feels like the developers smashed every Batman character and villain they could into the game. The combat is much more basic than the Arkham games which is a shame. You have a light and heavy attack along with ranged weapons. You do have some special abilities but the bulk of your combat will be tapping the square button over and over. I felt like the combat in the Arkham games felt better and had more weight to it. I also feel like the four characters do not have enough differences in their style.
I’ve spent most of my time with Red Hood but I don’t find myself playing any differently when switching to a different character. Stealth is still a big part of the game even though the lack of a glide ability can prove frustrating. Jumping down from your perch can sometimes put you directly in front of an enemy or on top of something. This will cause the enemy to become hostile and alert nearby enemies. Gotham is beautiful. The city feels alive with pedestrians, cars, and lights filling the streets. Fog covers the taller buildings, illuminating them with blue, purple, and red. I love driving around the city and dealing with random acts of violence while also keeping an eye out for collectibles. Gotham Knights has been a much different Batman experience than we’ve had in recent years.
Is it better? I don’t think so, not so far at least. I am wanting to play more though which is a good thing. If you like Batman and the lore surrounding him you’ll enjoy the game.
I’m playing El Shaddai…again. I had so much fun with this, and I don’t care that many people never liked this title. I’m also playing something else for The Pixels now that my PC is out of RMA hell. A word of warning to our readers: Never EVER buy a pre-built PC from Newegg.com’s outlet “Advanced Battlestations.”
Dota 2’s The International is gearing up for its main tournament and there have already been some amazing plays. With my PC out of commission, I haven’t been able to participate until this weekend (there’s a bonus if you have played 10 games, and it’s not nothing, either!
If there’s time I’ll be working on LoZ: The Minish Cap. I’m really looking forward to God of War Ragnarok, but it’ll be a few weeks before I can sink my teeth into that.
Silksong when?
Howdy! I haven’t played too much this week. I got my flu shot and COVID booster and had a reaction. I wouldn’t recommend getting them in the same arm. Ouch!
I mostly played mobile games, so I’ll cover a few of those.
Apex Legends Mobile
Apex Legends Mobile does a great job of mimicking the original title. This mobile title has gorgeous graphics. These graphics are nowhere near Apex Legends level, but they’re well above average for a phone or tablet. And the movement is almost as slick as the console/PC version. And there are some great additions that the original needs.
Visual audio cues. Footstep and gunfire icons appear onscreen and show where nearby enemies are in relation to you. Fantastic. This helps with Apex’s audio issues. I even play the mobile game with the sound off. And there’s also a perk system. Yes! I can upgrade my characters and make them unique to my play style. That is chef’s kiss good.
Blue Archive
Blue Archive is another gacha game, so it has a lot of the same trappings of that game type. Think of a mobile game with repetitive combat and a business model like Genshin Impact without any men. Not one man. Nexon Games knows what their audience wants. Show us a lot of cute girls. At least that’s honest.
Okay. I just opened up some of the story and oh my. Blue Archive is apparently a dating sim with an odd bend. I’m unsure if I like that aspect. The “stories” or “encounters”–let’s face it they’re dates–have, for the most part, been cringe.
I don’t mind Blue Archive’s chibi aesthetic. The graphics are slightly above average. The music hurts my ears, so I’m playing with no sound. But my favorite aspect is character strengths and weaknesses with various terrain.
Some characters are good at fighting indoors while others love wide open spaces. This wasn’t done to vary gameplay/combat. It’s a marketing tool. The more characters you need for specific missions, the more characters you must collect. But this choice naturally lends itself to more gameplay options and it’s easily my favorite part of this game. More mobile games like this should include terrain weaknesses and strengths.
Marvel Snap
Marvel Snap apes the modern classic tabletop game Smash Up, and that’s not a bad thing. Players deploy up to 4 heroes/villains at three different locations. The player with the most “power” at the end of 6 turns claims the location. Whoever has the most locations at the end of the game (again, 6 turns) wins.
Smash Up is a lot more complicated and deeper than Marvel Snap; Smash Up has a longer playtime, too. So, Marvel Snap may be a better option for folks who want to fill a few moments with a quick and easy game.
I just started playing Marvel Snap the other day, so I can’t speak to the game’s monetization, but I don’t see too many red flags…yet.
Genshin Impact
I said I wasn’t wishing for Nilou last week. I did.
Let me explain. I wanted to finish the battle pass early by making 50 wishes (finishing that mission), so I wished on Nilou’s banner. I ended up getting her within the first 10 wishes. So, I switched to the weapon banner and promptly picked up her weapon—like within the first 20 or so wishes.
I guess I’m playing Nilou.
Now, I must figure out which one of the three Sumeru purple flowers she needs as an ascension material. I’m directionally challenged and can’t tell these flowers apart. Seriously, I spent an hour collecting the wrong flower. Ahh!
Multiversus
I still haven’t finished the battle pass. How long is this thing supposed to last?
Oh well. Black Adam should be released next week after his movie drops this weekend. I’m pumped about playing Dwayne Johnson. I mean, Black Adam. I tend to play tank-class characters, and I’d like to see how Black Adam differs from Superman.
Hopefully, I’ll play more next week and be able to sleep on my left side. Two shots in the same arm, what was I thinking?
What have you been playing recently? Finish any games? That backlog ain’t gonna beat itself.
Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage or Mage Cast.
