Welcome to the weekend (I work saturdays but hey, I'm all about celebrating your successes).

This weeks discussion focuses on those low-key unpopular gaming opinions. We've all got them, and now's the time to get them off your chest. And don't worry, this is a safe space. So if i dunno, maybe you don't like Metroidvania's then it's okay to admit it here...finally.

Oh boi. Bit of context. I've played and completed each of the games in this series. And I've enjoyed all of them.

Trine 5 starts off really well. It looks great, sounds great and plays just like the others in the series. No complaints. And then it keeps going. And going. And going. Now maybe I'm a rare case here as my free time is pretty limited, but by god this game doesn't end. And I think that's where I'm going to jump off.

I've got roughly 1/4 of the game to go, but I've totally lost interest in playing it anymore, to the point where I've youtubed solutions to the last hour or two's puzzles.

Whilst I do think this is more of a 'me' thing than a game thing, I do question the decision to not insignificantly increase the games length. Going from 8-12 hours to a game that's likely gonna take 15 is no mean feat.

So yeah. There's much to enjoy here, but for this tired dad of two, there's probably too much.

Imagine if Sekiro's combat had a baby with Fable's charm and somehow Pirates of the Caribbean were the surrogate, En Garde! would be that game.

You follow? I'm going to assume you do and plow on regardless.

En Garde! is a relatively slight little game where you play as a swashbuckling freedom-fighter type, equipped with snappy one liners, a great outfight and of course, a kick-ass sword. It's set in a delightfully bright world full of breakable pots, fireable cannons and throwable lanterns.

The core of the game however, is it's swordplay. And this is where the game's comparison to Sekiro comes in. You see, the core combat loop is basically the same. Lots of parrying, a little dodging unavoidable attacks and then striking when the enemy is in their dazed state. And much like Sekiro, it's super addictive.

I'm roughly half-way through the game now (it's only about 4 hours long), and I'm having an absolute blast.

I've not seen many people talking about this, which is a shame as I think this may end up in my top 5 year of the year.

Emotions. Messy things aren't they? One minute you're feeling on top of the world, and the next you're at your lowest point. And whilst I don't think (or hope) a video game could ever make you feel those sort of emotions, they're still capable of eliciting some very powerful moments indeed.

So this week's discussion is about just that: Emotional moments in videogames. What moment made you cry? Maybe there was a cut-scene or a side-quest that made you squeal in pure joy? Or perhaps a you and your friends got together and accomplished something that made you feel proud. Whatever it is, let's talk about it here.

Also. If anyone has any ideas for Weekly Discussion topics going forward, don't be afraid to drop me a line. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I started this game on Sunday evening. 8 hours later (across three evenings) and I'm done with it. And I've got to say, it was a pretty interesting ride.

I'll start out by saying that it's a very wordy game; you're going to do a lot of reading. You read. You click a continue button and then you read some more. Occasionally the game will ask you to make a choice based on what you've just read. And sometimes these choices will be locked out, depending on your stats. And those stats change depending on how you play; the choices you make and the paths you choose to go down.

As I said, I've just finished it. It's probably a little too long to advise a second playthrough, but I can see why someone might fancy that as it does seem incredibly deep in terms of plot and story.

Should also say that I absolutely loathe reading in video games, it's usually something I tolerate, but in this instance, with the writing pretty solid, and the story interesting, it was almost a joy.

3/5 = Good.

IIRC Chimera Squad released about a month after Animal Crossing and no game stood a chance against that behemoth, so I quickly forgot about it...until a week ago.

I've been hankering for something tactical for a while now. Advance Wars wasn't it and I'm not really a Fire Emblem guy, which basically leaves XCOM.

Anyway. I'm maybe 4-5 hours in at the time of writing, and the game seems to be about as good as the previous two entries in this more modern series. Runs fine on my 'Deck and whilst the controls can be a bit finicky, I'm just about making it work.

The actual game brings some nice new additions, specifically the ability to breach into new combat encounters. This usually happens 2-3 times per arena and there seems to be some depth to how you go about managing that.

However, where XCOM games usually lose me is in the base management stuff, and I think that's going to be the case here. I just don't want to added stress of having to research new gear, send out field ops and work out the most efficient way to prevent my home city from falling into ruin.

Which is a shame because the combat and the scenarios are so interesting and enjoyable I'd happily play this to completion if I could just focus on that sort of stuff.

Alas, I can't. So I'm going to stick with this for now as, well I've got nothing much else to play right now.

Inspired by THIS article I read earlier in the week. If playing games allowed for the transference of skills from in-game, to real life, what would you be good at, and how could you put that into real world use?

I got the DLC for Outer Wilds yesterday. I wasn't expecting much when I first bought the game, but I was surprised several times by how good it was.

What's your all-time favourite game console and why is it your favourite? Maybe the system was your first console, maybe it had that 'One Game', or maybe you just loved how the little thing looked under your TV.

There's nothing like playing the most up to date games, and this is nothing like an up to date game!

KSP first released in early access way back in 2011! But with some of the mods available it can be made to look like a newly released game.

This game probably isn't for everyone, with it's rather steep learning curve and a lot of un-explained mechanics, but it has one of the most knowledgeable communities there is! So learning is easier now than ever.

Players direct a nascent space program, staffed and crewed by green humanoid aliens known as "Kerbals". The game features a realistic orbital physics engine, allowing for various real-life orbital maneuvers such as Hohmann transfer orbits and orbital rendezvous.

Kerbal Space Program

Hi all,

Whilst I'm on holiday at home, I'm trying to get more gaming time in (my youngest hogs the living room all day long).

I finished The Last of Us: Part 2 for the second time and couldn't decide what to start next as I have two long games sitting in the wings. Those titles are Cyberpunk 2077 and Death Stranding.

Instead, I browsed the sale to if anything caught my eye and discovered Cloudpunk was only £4. I did have thoughts a few months ago of buying this for my Switch Lite but apparently, it has issues such as draw distance and low frame rates.

A quick Google on my phone revealed Cloudpunk has a specific PS5 version which enhances the graphics much like the PC original and what a beautiful game it is too.

It's a voxel-based game which means the world is built from tiny cubes, like Minecraft but allows for greater detail.

Cloudpunk is best described as a cross between BladeRunner and The Fifth Element. It's always night, raining and you're driving a flying taxi amongst the buildings that are impossibly high.

I've only just started and basically taking packages from A to B and there is a narrative that's building up between missions. You fly the taxi between locations, park at dedicated landing pads and then go by foot to the final destination.

The buildings are the general environment are covered in neon signs and lights and it looks beautiful via HDR on my 4K television.

The controls are a little clunky as the right stick control ascends/descends while the triggers (which use haptic feedback) are accelerate/brake. I don't know which game is controlling my subconscious but the triggers would feel more natural to change height while the stick is for direction and speed.

I'll report back once I've finished.

Into the Breach is a simple indie turn-based tactical combat roguelike from the makers of FTL, where you pit giant mechs against giant bugs. Well, simple in the same way chess is simple - the basic mechanics of seeing what the enemies are going to do and using your turn to damage or move them so they don't damage you and your buildings are simple to learn and hard to master.

I've already written a bit about it in this post which talks about how you can play it on mobile as part of a Netflix subscription, if you like games where you can take your time to think of the perfect move then this is probably your cup of tea. Also since I first played it they've added a big free expansion including a difficulty called "unfair", so that's what's keeping me busy at the moment.

Obviously a little late on this one, but wanted it since launch so I picked it up with all the DLC. I've gotten to NG+11 on Dark Souls 3 but haven't beaten any other fromsoft game, so I was very excited to see how I'll fare on this one.

I'm enjoying it so far, have about 20 hours on my save and beat Margit around hour 11 (27 deaths). Currently working my way up to Liurnia academy. Took me a little bit to warm up to the open world + crafting... And honestly I'm still not totally sold on it, I think I'm reaching a point of open world fatigue. I love the freedom it provides in games but I do miss more linear experiences some days.

That's all my thoughts so far. I love FromSoft games even if I've only beaten one, so I'm not surprised that I'm enjoying this.

Okay so I wasn't exactly rushing out to buy this one when it launched, but a few months on and I saw it on sale.

You know what? This isn't half bad. Yes it's not running as well as I'd like on Steamdeck (which is more of a Me problem than anything), but 4-5 hours in and the game is doing a tremendous job of transporting me into the wizarding world.

Wandplay feels great, the cutscenes are beautifully animated and the music takes me right back to 2004 when I went to see Chamber of Secrets at the cinema.

Again. I'm only a few hours in, so maybe it completely falls on it's ass, but right now I'm super impressed with what I'm seeing.

update

Okay so I finished the game last night. And whilst I still really enjoyed the 30+ hours I spent with the game I did start to see some of the cracks towards the end, namely in side mission design. The in-Hogwarts lessons especially felt really underwhelming; almost exclusively just fetch quests that lacked verity.

Still. I enjoyed it significantly more than I thought I would, and the game does an absolutely incredible job of setting up it's world and making you feel right at home.

Hey.

Firstly, I just wanted to say a big thank you for showing some interest in this little community, and the wider feddit.uk instance as a whole. I truly believe that we've got something amazing in the oven here, and with enough support we can do something amazing with lemmy, feddit.uk and maybe even this silly little community.

Secondly, I'd like to take a moment to explain what this community is. Don't worry, I'll keep it short.

Here goes. Currently Playing is a community about the games we're playing. It could be a game that released 10 years ago, or maybe a game that released 10 minutes ago. The only criteria we have is that it's a game you're playing, and have something to say about. Something positive, maybe something negative, heck maybe you're not interested in commenting on the game at all, and just want an excuse to talk about how the game handles the breakdown of workers rights in this late-stage-capitalist-hellscape?

So there we have it.