If you’re on pc and liked Jusant then i’d highly recommend checking out Cairn. There’s no release date yet but there’s a demo on steam which i’ve already sunk 11 hours into. It’s another climbing game, but you control each limb individually, and there’s no specific highlighted routes to the top - just here’s a mountain, get to the top however you can/want to. I’m really looking forward to the full release.
6 Likes
I’ve been playing Ghost of Tsushima the past few weeks.
It’s a wonderful, gorgeous game. Very cinematic, probably very romanticized version of ancient Japan and its Samurai culture and codes, but as a video game, it works for what it wants to be/tell.
It does fall into some repetitive collectibles busywork and “go to the question marks” map design that Ubisoft titles do, but it makes up for it in spades with very minimal UI and a focus on in-world guidance markers such as following golden birds to undiscovered locations or foxes to upgrade shrines
(And I’ve been using the “expert” HUD style recently which makes some UI elements smaller/more infrequent and removes text from some button prompts)
Plus, the writing is very good, with quite moving side-missions and stories at times. Not to mention the main plot about Jin’s fall from his rigid Samurai code and into guerilla tactics and shinobi tricks to combat the immense Mongol invasion is good. It’s just very cool, and well-performed by the actors.
(When it comes to some mission “cutscenes” though, a lot of them usually involve two characters standing and talking with camera cuts, some canned animations that flow together nicely, but stand out compared to some of the more impressive clearly-motion-captured scenes. Again, very barebones ubisofty.)
From what I’ve seen of the sequel already, it looks like they really improved the facial capture and animation tech, so hopefully that deepens the immersion for the more simple scenes when that game comes out.
I also really love how the game is chock-full of random encounters with unique dialogue and interactions. Some are really short “tiny stories” that just involve Jin approaching some NPC, something happens or you do one task, then that’s it and you feel something.
Others are like, “Hey, this person is sick, please help track down how this water poisoning happened and stop it” which triggers a whole in-world, non-tracked mini-mission of following environmental details to fulfill the quest and get some bonus XP out of it. It’s cool!
I’m in the middle of Act 2 of the story and just started the IKI ISLAND expansion. Yes, most people probably played this after they’d finished the story, but the devs did let you unlock it by Act 2’s start, and I’ve heard it adjusts a bit based on how far into the Main Story you are…
Though it’s also quite tougher than the main game since enemies can changes stances on the fly like you can, and also have much quicker attacks. But I’m very skilled already, so I can still scrape by.
Opinion varies but I found this cool discussion about how it’s narratively satisfying to play the DLC mid-story. (I decided to go to Iki before I get the Sakai Armour, as the DLC heavily focuses on Jin’s samurai father and legacy.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/ghostoftsushima/s/JJlsH7hiTF
So far, so cool. The main hook of this area is that Jin gets shipwrecked basically, so you’re locked into this area until you can probably get help to get out.
Also, he’s poisoned by a new Mongol tribe called the Eagle Tribe that uses a powerful hallucinogenic poison to control and manipulate their prey.
It’s especially cool since I assume until I finish the Main Missions of the DLC, Jin can encounter tons of random encounter hallucinations or dead bodies that are pretty cool or spooky. It also changes some tasks (like Lighting Lighthouses for XP, where one time I did it, it immediately gave me a hallucination of Jin’s dad appearing and talking about it.) You also get every now and then flashes of Jin’s inner psyche portrayed by The Eagle - evil mongol cult leader, taunting him of his insecurities and faults.
EDIT: Holy shit, I’m playing it right now and I just encountered a vision during a Hot Springs activity (the most chill places in the game for meditation) - the Eagle asking Jin to “take your sword, open your wrists, and slip under the water” 
- And also after saving someone in one random enemy encounter: it referenced a side mission in the main game!! God, they put a lot of work into this main plot hook bleeding into the open-world busywork…! 
And speaking of Detail, I like how the Main Menu changes based on which Act in the story you’re on, plus if you’re in Iki or not!
“New Game” is your basic sword-blowing-in-white-field scene.
Going to Legends Mode changes it red with papers flying in the wind.
And while I am on Iki and also Poisoned, the Continue option turns the screen a tinted purple and has lavender/poison petals(?) blowing in the wind too.
I’m playing the game in English on Normal.
But I’m already thinking of doing a New Game Plus playthrough in Kurosawa Mode (JP+subs, B&W filter, increased wind) on Lethal difficulty lol (both enemies and yourself do more damage/die quickly by the blade)
…and I should also probably watch a Kurosawa movie since they were clearly big inspirations on the team.
Anyway, someone talk to me about this game and what you liked about it, I need to gush about it more haha 
5 Likes
Im also currently replaying it, its one of those games where i sometimes just stop and admire the scenery.
I’m looking forward to Ghost of Yotei.
5 Likes
Also love it. I plan to replay it sometime soon.
And yeah a Kurosawa mode / Lethal playthrough is a must (as is watching his films!)
And the coop mode was surprisingly fun too, although annoying when people dropped out.
3 Likes
I like the idea about the game, the combat was fun and the world was picturesque. However everything else felt extremely dated, like playing a PS3 open world game, empty and extremely scripted.
The story was kinda a dull, with a few emotional highlights that paid off.
I tried to replay it a few months ago, had to give up. I can’t be bothered. For me it’s a 6/10. The combat kept me engaged.
2 Likes
I’m also playing Kiborg, its a Roguelike arena fighter set in a Prison galactic TV show, where inmates fight to death.
Fighting system is reminiscent of Arkham games, but not as smooth, this is a AA-Game and it shows, but its fun so far nonetheless.
5 Likes
I’ve been ill the last few days. On Saturday I got a cold that hit me like a truck, I had a migraine for 18 hours, ended up having to take 2 days off work. I’m feeling a lot better but still rather sickly. Trying to just take it very easy right now.
Playing the Hundred Line, I’ve reached the point now where I’ve started to unlock endings. The game was advertised as having a hundred endings, and those endings all being “proper” endings too, rather than just chepa 5 second game over messages or what have you. I currently have 22 endings thus far, and yeah, I think that claim that they are all “proper” endings is pretty true. I actually got a bit discouraged because the very first ending I got, well… I think it might be the worst possible ending in the game. Or rather, it is so bad, I would be shocked if there is another ending that has a worse outcome. The game has a very handy chapter select function, meaning it is easy to go back and do alternate routes for alternate endings. Not sure if I have the patience to do all 100, but I’d like to try and at least get 50 of them. Will report back on this.
In a nice bit of cross promotion, the directors of Hundred Line and Expedition 33 have each recommended the other team’s game. Sadly though, it’s currently unclear if Hundred Line’s sales are strong enough yet. As stated before the game went on sale, the studio was put in debt to fund the game, and apparently it seems unclear if it has made enough to keep the studio open. No sign of a console port to PS5 or Xbox either in the future sadly. I’ve enjoyed Hundred Line a lot, so I really hope it doesn’t kill the studio, or that maybe they can maybe make a deal with another publisher to get it on more platforms?
6 Likes
i played on lethal, and it’s generally pretty well balanced, but the duels are absolutely horrendous - i powered through most of them by spamming the special attacks, but i had to turn the difficulty down for the very last DLC boss. it seems like they have as much health as they do on normal, but they still one shot you
2 Likes