What are you playing (or have finished)?

[xixxii]

Moonstone Island -
my roommate bought me this because they've been playing it a lot! it's alright; really really pretty, but honestly i find most of the mechanics have just a bit too much friction/inconvenience to them. a bit disappointing, but fun enough that i'll keep playing.
 
That's Not My Neighbor -
a paperspleaselike! papers, please is maybe my favorite video game of all time, so i'm always happy to try games inspired by it - although i usually end up disappointed. this one's good, though! i love looking at documents, i love puzzles, i love horror and horror flavors. the jokes are funny. i don't buy or play games that are in alpha or in development, but a friend thought i'd like it and got it for me and she was sooo right. looking forward to more updates for sure.

Woodworm -
it's really satisfying to find a puzzle game that is simple and tricky and novel, and this one's that. a great difficulty balance i think; not too much going on, just a shape you need to figure out. having an undo button and a reset button makes it low-pressure as well. good stuff.

After the Janazah -
gorgeous, so tight and well put together and precise, this game perfectly encapsulates so many complicated and specific feelings in such a small wordcount (499!!!!!) i was and am really blown away. a lot of the games in the same jam look really interesting, i'm definitely gonna check out more of them.

[JackFrost]

I just finished Flower, Sun, and Rain and now I'm on The Silver Case. I'm also playing Apollo Justice's Ace Attorney, since I finished the first 3.

[BlackMageGaming]

I recently picked up Watchdogs 2 at my local GameStop for really cheap. I've always wanted to get into the games  since I love hacker/programming culture stuff, even if it isn't the most realistic depiction.

I'm really liking the game so far! It's super campy and I like the characters. To me, it feels like the modern Spider-Man games, where there's an open world but the missions feel like they're more-so connected to each other, not really encouraging you to explore too much outside of some side content.

But something I'm LOVING about the game is the soundtrack, both the OST and licensed music. I had no idea there were so many artists in the game that I loved, from M|O|O|N, Aphex Twin, and even Duran Duran, it made me so happy to hear them when I would turn on the radio. The OST has a lot of electronic music, and I like it a lot.

Overall, I'm left wanting to platinum the game. It's been really fun to play before bed or in my downtime. I've put about 9 hours into it so far, so this isn't a complete review and it just my first thoughts.

[schiavona]

I recently played through the 2024 Remake of Riven with a friend of mine, and I was pleasantly surprised with how it was handled, in fact I was pleasantly surprised enough that I ended up reviewing it on my site (spoiler free, of course, a lot's changed, but for the better in my opinion.)

[Zombiethederg]

After writing a review of Darkest Dungeon 2 for my website, I went and started playing Darkest Dungeon (1. Its technically not called that lol) again. The roguelike part of the game has drawn me back in so ive been playing it on and off. And also after hearing (and now seeing) that TF2 has been "fixed" (for now) ive been playing it alot! Ive just finished another tour of Gear Grinder and got a carbonado Scattergun B)

[moonunions]

coming back to this post bc i now have a steam deck so i've been exploring a wider variety of games (i have a mac and not many gaming consoles so i wasn't able to play a lot of things for so many years, or had to jump hoops to install just 1 game :/)

the last campfire: this has been such a delight to play, i highly recommend if you enjoy puzzle games with a cute art style and enjoy plots that are a bit deep and sometimes heavy. i think i'm a little more than halfway done, i kind of got obsessed with powering through it bc of good old hyperfixation haha.

FAR: changing tides: normally this is a game i wouldn't play but my friend got it for me for my bday and i'm surprised at how much i enjoy it! i am however stuck on one part and haven't touched it in a few days... some puzzle games are difficult for me OTL

shape of the world: another title my friend gifted me and something i didn't think would be interesting at first. this game is so atmospheric and dreamy, i love exploring each level's lands and fighting off these squid things that keep trying to destroy my trees. >:(

tales of berseria: this is my first tales game! :D i had to pick it up bc it's only $5 on steam right now haha. i haven't gotten very far, i need to really sit down and put all my focus into rpgs and i've been too busy to dedicate some hours to it. i heard it's a loooong game too so we'll see if i ever finish it.

a date with death: completed this one in about a day, it was very charming, fun, and the artwork is chef kiss. if you're into visual novels and like endearing grim reapers, then boy howdy i recommend this. it's free too!

my dream setup: i loooove this one, it's a room decorating game that mainly focuses on gaming/media setups but you can easily skip that and just create a more casual room. it has a lot of options and i think you can import images that can be used in picture frames? there's also DLC content but i haven't looked into that yet.

[ctrl-shift-esc]

I've been playing The Sims 2 after a while again, because my kid wanted us to play it  We've replicated our own house and own family in the game and play as them/us, it's pretty fun. She likes to watch me play it and takes part (=consensual backseat gaming  ) in things like: what to do in the game and how to dress the characters etc. Why The Sims 2 you ask? The Sims 3 is way too demanding on my poor hardware, The Sims 1 is inferior to 2 in every way (that's right ) and The Sims 4 just feels too... easy and soulless, if that makes any sense..?

When the kiddos are asleep I've been busting out Far Cry 3  A tropical island, komodo dragons, sharks and guns?! I'm SO in!! 

[prismatic]

final fantasy xiv - the most recent expansion, dawntrail, released and while i've finished the story, there's still so much for me to do! i'm leveling gunbreaker to 100 (97 almost 98 at the moment of this post), and after that, i'm thinking of focusing on leveling my crafters and gatherers.

dragon ball fighterz - i'm not so much actively playing this as much but moreso casually. i really need to learn the ins and outs of how fighters works and its systems and whatnot because it feels like it's very... layered and not as simple as it seems on the surface. it needs more time dedicated to it than i have at the moment but it's definitely on the backburner.

[ajazz]

recently finished bomb rush cyberfunk, probably goty for me so far. unbelievable soundtrack, killer aesthetic, and there's a vibrant mod scene that includes one that straight up adds multiplayer and turns it into an mmo where you vibe and skate with the homies. wholeheartedly recommend

[laikachanne]

just finished muv-luv extra, and playing muv-luv unlimited now. its looking to be a very good vn trilogy!! also almost done with p2is, very underrated and awesomesauce jrpg (mostly forgotten due to its famous newer counterparts lol)

[tarraxahum]

I have recently finished a visual novel called Breathless Winds and I WISH I had more free time right now to make proper fanart for it 'cause I adored it to bits, from the art style to the characters to the themes. It's extra special when you consider that I almost never play vns and when I do I rarely play through all the routes but in this case I sure did

[boyrotting]

I've finished Omori but have replayed it like four times :p. Im playing a lot of studio investigate though! I think I've finished all of their games but I keep playing elevator hitch. Speaking of elevators I've also been playing a lot of regretevator!! It's not really a game you can finish but like a puzzle game. I think all the character lore is really cool and enjoy the interactions I get to have with the characters! For a roblox game it's pretty well done ^______________^.

[candycanearter07]

A friend gifted me Factorio so I'm gonna see if I like that? I know almost nothing about it besides its a factory game and their very complicated setups, so.. it's probably going to be interesting.
Also cookie clicker

I've finished Omori but have replayed it like four times :p.

I absolutely love Omori! Great RPG (even if it's not a mario-like), charming world(s), and trauma. What more could you want??

That's Not My Neighbor -
a paperspleaselike! papers, please is maybe my favorite video game of all time, so i'm always happy to try games inspired by it - although i usually end up disappointed. this one's good, though! i love looking at documents, i love puzzles, i love horror and horror flavors. the jokes are funny. i don't buy or play games that are in alpha or in development, but a friend thought i'd like it and got it for me and she was sooo right. looking forward to more updates for sure.

Honestly, I'm surprised there aren't more Papers Please-like games! Probably because it might be difficult to make fun.. I never thought that someone would make PP + Mandela Catalog, but I guess that happened!! I'm gonna see if I can run it.

[ajazz]

been playing kirby air ride a ton and it is legit one of the best games of all time. so simple to play but so satisfying to master - i miss the era when mainstream games would go all-in on one relatively simple set of mechanics rather than try to be the everything-game.