Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus [Impatient Destruction] is done and dusted. Definitely a fun XCOM style game with some gameplay tweaks and elements specific to the 40K universe. I doubt I’ll devote the time to get the other endings and cheevos, which would take at least one more playthrough and probably two more, but it was an enjoyable experience. I feel like the 15ish hours it took to complete this run was right at the cusp of turning from fun to somewhat tedious, so the length seemed pretty perfect.

So, tweaks. There isn’t RNG in this one. In fact, I also saw one dodge my entire playthrough, which was probably from an ability. You and your enemies actually can’t miss an attack, so what becomes paramount is positioning, planning, equipment, and your skill trees. The skill trees are linear and IMO, it’s best to conclude one before starting new ones for each Tech Priests.

You have two core types of soldiers: Tech Priests, which are your heroes, so to speak; and Skitarii, which are your expendables. Tech Priests can level up, swap gear, and spend currency on skill trees. Skitarii have a wide variety, but each is a specialist, like snipers, grunts, etc…you can also upgrade these via the reward system for completing quests, but they can’t actively be leveled up. The enemies in this game follow a similar pattern with heroes and base soldier types.

How you play is you select a mission from one of several Magus (quest givers), select who us going on the quest and any Canticles you want to bring, and then you explore a nide based map until completing the mission objective. Canticles are basically one use buffs, of which you can equip up to three. Some are individual unit buffs, some are squad buffs. These can really make or break a mission. I generally saved mine for the final battle of each map.

Also, it’s worth noting that the home base UI has a somewhat daunting appearance, but you quickly realize it’s actually very user friendly.

Anyway, fun game and one probably a lot of you own via Humble Choice or a few other bundles. I’d say it’s worth a look. I played on the Steamdeck with no issues beyond my first attempt to open the game, when I realized I needed to run an update on my Deck itself lol.

Dagon is done and dusted. This reminded me a lot of The 39 Steps inasmuch as it’s a narrated point and click graphic novel interpretation of Lovecraft’s short story. However, the developers included snippets about Lovecraft himself throughout the game as well.

The graphics themselves were cool looking and dark and the narration was very well done. Plus, it’s free, making it a no brainer to check out if you’re into Lovecraft at all.

It’s about a half hour commitment all told, maybe a splash more if you look for all the Lovecraft lore hidden in the game. It was also perfectly functional on the Deck, so I imagine it also has standard gamepad support.

One note: on the Steamdeck, I was unable to access The Eldritch Box DLC, which I’m sure a lot of us own from its inclusion in a Humble bundle. Despite the fact that it’s simply a ebook/audiobook version of Dagon and Fishhead plus some wallpapers, I would’ve liked to be able to access it via the Deck, but it was not to be apparently. IDK. Maybe I just need to do something different, but I doubt I’ll invest any more time into figuring it out.

Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is done and dusted. This is a pretty honest Soulsborne experience, albeit a lot more colorful, with a lot more dialogue and a full story, and generally easier gameplay overall. In other words, Souls vets will enjoy it, but people new to the genre will also find it to be very approachable.

Combat is quite fluid, with a fair amount of special moves and such. The areas can definitely be confusing and there is are no maps to consult, so you’ll be going off of memory, which is fine once you unlock fast travel. Until then, you’ll probably feel lost and wander for a bit. The game does reward exploration. There is a bonfire system in the form of teleporters, and there is a central hub where you can upgrade gear, buy stuff, advance quests, get new missions, and so on. Actual leveling can be done anywhere, and includes an ability node system centered around your weapons.

Speaking of weapons, you basically summon them from a magic bracer you wear, and although you can upgrade them in various ways, you get all the weapons in the tutorial section. What you can find or craft/buy are trinkets (buffs), materials and consumables. You also don’t leave “souls” on the ground when you die, although you do pay a souls penalty when you are resurrected.

Anyway, I didn’t do all the side quests and it took me about 24 hours to do what side quests I did finish plus the main story. There are a lot of optional bosses as well. All in all, there is quite a bit of game here, and I expect you could easily add another 10-20 hours if you’re planning to do all the content. You will also have to play twice to get all the cheevos, and my recommendation would be to use a guide for your second run as the eight (out of ten possible) conditions you need to meet to get one of the endings are very specific and easy to mess up.

Btw, I played this exclusively on the Steamdeck. It was a fantastic game for the system. Which reminds me: the graphics were stellar and the voice acting, of which there is a lot, was also very well done. The protagonist, although not voiced by Ashly Burch, sounds a lot like her, and if you’ve played either Horizon game, you could be forgiven for thinking of Aloy as you listen to the dialogue lol.

Highly recommended

Far: Changing Tides is done and dusted. Very pleasant game. Kind of a puzzle game, sort of base management, all adventure. The story is told via the graphics and activities, the music is fairly responsive ala Abzu. It’s a sequel to Far: Lone Sails, but you might be tempted to think it’s strictly a sequel based on the world itself, and the game makes no effort to dissuade you from thinking so…right up until the end, where it all ties together and validates that it is actually a story sequel. Very cool approach that really makes sure the ending the pay off for the journey. Very worthwhile experience. I quite enjoyed it

Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Extended Edition and the Shadows of Hong Kong expansion are done and dusted, and the Shadowrun Trilogy is complete. Hong Kong was my favorite in the trilogy and I think they generally get better from one to the next. The Shadows of Hong Kong was a great way to close out the third game and close out the series.

There is a nearly game breaking bug in Hong Kong featuring the second meeting with a vampire ally, where the game won’t let you progress without altering the camera and Director’s commentary options in the options menu and then racing through the dialogue, but that is the fix for that particular bug, after which you can reset the options back to whatever you prefer. It’s the worst example of a fairly common bug throughout the series, which generally just requires a reload. Speaking of which, save often, lol. My only other issue with the series is how easy it is to get stuck on objects during free roam.

Beyond that, the trilogy was a lot of fun, even on my second playthroughs, with an excellent, still fresh twist on old school iso RPGs, and three unique and engaging stories. Plus, the graphics are really nice. You’ll need to leave Director’s commentary on to 100% the game, and while interesting, they have a lot to say lol and it definitely breaks immersion, so maybe save it for your second or third playthroughs.

Anyway, definitely worth experiencing. Kena is being added to the Plus catalog next month, and I’m interested in checking that out, but for now, I think I might move on to Inscryption on the PS5, and will also fire up Goblins and Coins 2 on the Steamdeck. Or at least, such is the plan ATM lol.

Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director’s Cut is done and dusted. I chose the release option in the end (twice in the game, actually). Much like its predecessor, this entry holds up immaculately. And, there are actual decisions to be made which impact what happens in the story, which is always a nice feature in a RPG.

Anyway, on to Shadowrun: Hong Kong to close out my replay of the trilogy.

Shadowrun Returns is done and dusted. This time I played as basically an elven hybrid shaman/samurai. And I allowed a certain somebody to live in the end. Anyway, still as fun as it was when it released. Good ole isometric turn based RPG game in the underutilized Shadowrun setting. In many ways, Shadowrun is superior to its contemporaries like DnD and the various White Wolf stuff. Maybe about the same coolness as Palladium’s Rifts, another well underutilized sci-fi/fantasy setting. Anyway, on to Shadowrun Dragonfall next.

Generation Zero is done and dusted. Two of the story trophies didn’t unlock, and there is one story trophy left beyond that, so I’ll probably play a bit longer and see if unlocking another trophy triggers the ones that should have already unlocked, but as far as the main story goes, it’s complete. Ends on sort of a cliffhanger, and after the credits it basically tells you that you don’t know exactly what happened, but the war is just beginning lol, after which you are free to keep playing, running around killing robots, unlocking places on the maps, wrapping up unfinished quests, etc…

There is story DLC. I haven’t decided if I want to play that or not quite yet, but I’ll play something else and decide if I want to play the DLC in the future. The game itself released in a broken state with no real story, but it’s much better these days. The gameplay itself is also quite fun, with the exception of base building/defense/assault, which is tedious AF, and an easily skipped part of the game.

Overall I think if you’re curious about the game, already own it, and/or shelved it when it was broken and are curious about it again, it’s worth checking out. 45 hours was my total gametime in this playthrough with three region/story quests and at least two side quests remaining.

Anyway, I think I’m going to replay the Shadowrun Trilogy next.

and unlocking the last mission trophy in GZ did also trigger the other ones to unlock. And now It’s time to move on to Shadowrun

So, I was playing Disjunction, which was fun. A few hours in, after having left the game to go do some stuff and come back to it later, I accidentally clicked ‘new game’ instead of ‘continue’ and wouldn’t you know it, the game only supports one save file and automatically overwrites the previous save when, say, you accidentally click new game. That’s a bad oversight or even worse intentional development decision. Either way, my save was overwritten and I really don’t feel like repeat playing through several hours of the game, so it’s retired.

I then moved on to Untitled Goose Game, in which you play an asshole goose running amok, lol. Fairly cathartic, fun little puzzle game. Anyway, that one is done and dusted. It’s a relatively short game.

Dead Island - Definitive Edition is done and dusted. I’d started this game a couple times over the years, finally decided to actually play it through once. I started with Ryder’s campaign, but didn’t particularly enjoy it and stopped at the point where he first enters the sewers.

I then started the main campaign as Purna. It’s actually a pretty vast and detailed game world with extensive maps, more side quests than you can shake a stick at, a beefy primary campaign, decent cinematics, solid gameplay, fairly good voice acting although also fairly cringe dialogue lol. There is also a very real sense of tension and urgency in this game despite there never really being timers attached to any actions or quests.

I didn’t particularly enjoy melee, but throwing melee weapons OTOH…I pretty much lived by this technique lol. I also made liberal use of firearms since I was playing as Purna. Aiming is a little wonky, but you get used to it. Also, running over zombies in a vehicle never gets old.

One weird detail is that no matter if you’re playing solo or co-op up to the full group, the cutscenes and all relevant dialogue presumes that you are playing with all four main characters active. That can be weird at times since any unused characters do not accompany you in game.

Anyway, as much as my memories of the original were mixed with this game, the Definitive Edition was actually a lot of fun and has the potential to be quite the time sink if you’re diligent in completing all side quests and especially if you are a cheevo completionist. As it stands, being fairly diligent and playing through once was good for a solid 32 hours.

Anyway, holds up perfectly well and is worth at least one playthrough. Definitely one of the better zombie games out there.

In other news, I was looking through my hours played throughout the life of my PSN account since tracking began on the PS4.

Over 100 hours: Witcher 3 I’ve got 366 hours in lol. Rocket League 345. Fallout 4 287. ESO 272. Far Cry 4 234. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla 170. Elden Ring 165. Elex 159. Dragon Age: Inquisition 148. Skyrim 146. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag 144. Watch Dogs 127. Bloodborne 107.

A few games were close to 100 hours: Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Dark Souls 3, Mass Effect Legendary, Horizon Forbidden West, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Lots in the 40+ hours, but you know. That’s a lot of typing lol.

I’ll probably look at my Steam history soon enough.