#game recommendation

I'm baaack with another game recommendation!

Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon was not on my radar. That is until a friend who is interested in the board game told me about it. Now that it's out of Early Access, I tried it! And it's really good! Since so many of my followers came from Elder Scrolls, it feels like a disservice not to recommend this title. It takes a lot from the bones of Bethesda and Fromsoft RPGs and throws it all in a blender - and I feel like I've played enough now to say that the dev team succeeded in mixing elements of both.

You're consistently rewarded for your curiosity in this game. Almost every time my nosy ass takes a peek in a crevice, there's treasure to be found. Combat has a lot of elements to consider and becomes a blast when you start dabbling with different load-outs. The magic system is VERY fun; complex but not frustrating. You can also re-spec your character so trying new builds isn't a nightmare.

There's a lot of little details in this game that I really did not expect just looking at it. While its little dated in terms of graphic fidelity - the art direction is strong enough that I eventually got over the knee-jerk observation that it looked like "modded Skyrim". Even if the 3D assets can't quite match the concept art, you get the gist well enough to still be impressed. The way the team used the assets they DO have has been nothing short of spectacular.

I love TES, but we all know TES is best when it's "fixed" by the fans and modding community. Things to make it more interesting, more thoughtful, more challenging. This game was clearly built to be that right out of the box. It has a lot of heart and I've gone from being lukewarm to massively charmed by it.

Just found out about Scriptorium on steam and it sounds like a game this fandom would really enjoy!

Still not out, but add to your wishlist!

Endless Ocean 1 and 2 are an awesome duology of Wii games where you scuba dive, learn about fish, and collect treasure. The main gameplay loop consists of exploring vast underwater environments, find hidden treasure, and interact with fish to fill up a fish-dex. Playing it as a kid even encouraged me to try scuba diving!

They look fantastic too, it's like, still the PS2 era graphics, but it's on Wii so it is like, the peak of that. It has that charming low poly look I have seen a lot of people craving.

Most of your time in the game is just exploring and taking in the environment, but there is always something to find. When you interact with fish, you fill up a fish-dex, and you can learn real world facts about them. If you play it, you'll have so many fish facts to share with people. (When they're accurate, the games are old)

They even have a story with pretty good human characters. The environments are fantastical, you visit ancient ruins, ship graveyards, even sunken castles, but the human characters means it always stays grounded and has some pathos.

If you are into older games and you're looking for a shorter length game with low-fi graphics, gameplay that doesn't really resemble anything before or since, and to learn a bunch of cool fish facts, I can't recommend Endless Ocean enough. I think they might be kind of rare these days, but they work great, and are thematically appropriate, on Dolphin, and should work fine with a normal controller, especially Endless Ocean 2 as it had Classic Controller support.

I know people aren't always who we want them to be. I know he wasn't a good friend, so why does it hurt so much?

Available on Steam, PS5, and Xbox. PSA: It's gory, but give it a chance, please!!!!

Look at the delicious, delicious art style (those highlights, the neon, the expressiveness, the hot demons) and you know why I picked up the demo for Possessor(s). Then take a gander at the description of "platformer" "metroidvania" and anyone who knows me understands why I was immediately hooked. I love a platformer. I love a metroidvania. I love punishment. I love hot demons.

But you know what I love even more than that? Platonic frenemies who help each other heal and shit talk each other's exes and believe in each other 110% and encourage each other to be better. And that's what you get with the beautiful, fun story in this game.

The main character, Luca, is caught in the nuclear fallout of demons being unleashed on her world. She's a savvy high schooler, but blind to the suffering that fuels the empire - her home - that's now crumbling around her. She makes a deal with a mortally wounded demon, Rhem, and allows him residence in her head in exchange for healing her own doomed corpse - all in order to exact revenge, and find the ones they love. Maybe not in that order.

The relationship between Rhem and Luca is really endearing. He's grumpy, she's spicy and doesn't take any guff, and they both eventually get under each other's shells and pry open the soft, painful bits. Luca is young and naive; Rhem is impossibly ancient and needs her to open her eyes. But of course, Rhem has something to learn about hope from her, in return. It doesn't feel cheesy. It doesn't feel hamfisted. It doesn't feel cheap. I spent 22 hours with these two and I really believed their partnership-turned-friendship as it grew, to both of their surprises.

The world building was super fun to dig through, environmentally and in the conversations and data logs left behind by the scientists who ran this town and set the plot in motion. I think that the metaphor at the heart of the plot is actually done well, and I've been reading a lot of books where the metaphors are not done well, so that was refreshing. And it's wishful, without being naive, in my opinion; we can't mind-meld with our own people here on earth, but having empathy and an open mind for people and experiences foreign to you.... It's a lesson I never really tire of seeing in media, especially when it's done well and takes me on a fun journey to boot.

Because let me tell you, I had a blast.

GRAPPLING HOOK. POGO. JUGGLING ENEMIES IN THE AIR WITH A KNIFE. Zipping and zapping, puzzling through difficult terrain, nothing feels as satisfying to me as beating that boss who was once a wall I was stuck on - or coming up with a clever use of the physics and mechanics to get on a hard-to-reach ledge, or finding a secret door. These are the simple pleasures of a metroidvaniaplatformer and I think Possessor(s) serves it up in a beautiful, tasty package.

It was well worth the money, and well worth my time. I wish it was longer but also I don't - I feel like the story was told exactly in the amount of time it needed to be told. I just don't want to stop playing. And I don't want to say goodbye to Rhem and Luca.

After finishing Hollow Knight the first time, I wished I could wipe my memory and play it again blind. Not just for the story, but for the joy of playing that kind of difficult game without knowing what's coming, without knowing the puzzle solutions already. I feel the same way for Possessor(s) - I'm not saying it's Hollow Knight, but I am saying it's hella fuckin fun.

U08gRVhDSVRFRCBNWSBQRU5BUiBHTyBCT0lORy1CT0lORw==