House Rules for Video Games.

I have previously talked about my No Hit Runs in the Sniper Elite games. I have completed SE5 and SE Resistance (though not the DLC's for that game yet) and I'm currently working on SE4. Being forced to restart a level if I take any damage from any source adds a lot of tension and is really fun, except when you are almost done with a massive level and make a mistake, but such are the rules.

I have also previously posted about the FailRace channel on Youtube and their super cool Survive the Hunt videos in GTA Online, where one person has to remain incognito while doing tasks and all the others are hunting him. Very tense stuff.

The reason why I mention this again is that yesterday I found a Cyberpunk 2077 Geoguessr video. The host has a bunch of screenshots which he posts on Discord and the last player to take an in-game photo of themselves at that location is eliminated. I'll embed that video below.

The video got me thinking about what are essentially house rules but for video games. Anyone who has played Monopoly with their family has probably played with house rules even if they didn't know it. Likewise, most tabletop RPG Gamemasters and their players make use of house rules. If a rule feels dumb or not fun, you can change it, simple as that.

But when it comes to video games, house rules are not quite as easy, as that would require changing the games code which makes it a mod and not a rule. You can of course use mods to make your challenge work, but as the examples I mentioned above show, you can make up new rules for a video game with only a bit of ingenuity. Of course you can't apply any challenge or house rule to any game, that won't work. I don't think it would be possible to play Cyberpunk 2077 as a No Hit Run, you'd get nowhere fast, but the Geoguessr video proves that there are options for even as complex a game as Cyberpunk.

Some games include pre-made challenges like how you can play through Dishonored 2 with no supernatural powers. The achievement list is a great place to start if this sounds like fun to you.

I guess I don't really have much of a point to this, except to point out that a house rule challenge can be a great way to revitalize a well loved game that is starting to feel a bit stale. If you have a game you love but can't really justify playing it yet again, have a think and see if you can't come up with a challenge or house rule for yourself. You might be surprised at how much fun it is. You don't have to worry about being original either, my Sniper Elite No Hit Runs were inspired by a guy (don't remember his name) who played all the Soulsborne games in a row without taking any damage, so happy gaming!

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Sniper Elite Resistance

This week I want to continue the tradition and talk about:

Sniper Elite Resistance.

This game is the latest in the Sniper Elite franchise, and was released in January 2025.

Mechanically it is almost identical to Sniper Elite 5, which isn't strange since it is the same engine, meaning that it is a gorgeous game. The game-play is very similar from the players perspective, but there are some differences.

First off, we have a new protagonist. In Resistance we play as British SOE agent Harry Hawker, but if this feels wrong, there are two free DLC's that add our classic main hero Karl Fairburne as well as Marie Chevalier. These DLC's also add a couple of weapons so grab them even if you want to play as Hawker.

The weapon list is different as well, with some guns returning from SE5 and some being new. There are a few new weapons strewn about the maps that we haven't seen before that can be picked up and used temporarily. There is also a new type of ammo, explosive bullets, that are fun but not terribly useful, at least in my experience.

The perhaps biggest change is with the enemy soldiers, who have much sharper senses than before. Both their eyesight and hearing is considerably better than in SE5, and you will find yourself being spotted much easier. Another change is with enemy helmets that can now tank damage a bit better. Occasionally they will even deflect rifle bullets not to mention pistol ammo, unless you use armor piercing rounds. That said, I find that enemies go down easier than in SE5 so it is a pretty good trade-off.

The maps are perhaps a bit smaller than in SE5, but are by no means small and definitely as devious as before. Dense, detailed and brimming with things to be discovered and collected. There are rooftops, hidden passages, tunnels and small hideouts to help you get through the game. Some players have criticized SE:Resistance for having “empty maps” and I can see where they are coming from even though I don't really agree. In SE5 the maps have an equal distribution of enemies all around, but in Resistance they are more clumped up and often in places you can't see at a distance. There were many times where I shot what I thought was a lone enemy only to have his death alert six or seven enemies at once. Tricky but fun. The flip side is that there are some pretty empty parts of the map as well, which feels odd, mostly because I'm used to the more even spread of foes.

I have as of writing played the main game all the way through once, with my current run being my own invented No Hit Challenge where I have to restart the map if I take any damage from any source. When I wrote about this challenge I intended to restart the whole game, but that is too boring and frustrating in the long run, so I modified the rule set to only restart the map. I know nothing about the mission DLC's but once I get them I will probably drop a line here.

To summarize, if you like Sniper Elite 5, there is no reason to not play Resistance, they are pretty much cousins. Some small differences but nothing too alien. I would say SE5 is the better game but there is a lot to like in Resistance.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

This Housing is just WoW

So Housing has arrived in World of Warcraft in its Early Access stage, if you have pre-ordered the Midnight expansion, which I have. I'm normally not a fan of pre-orders, but I bought it with in-game money, so who cares?

If you're not in the know, Horde and Alliance have their own special islands accessible from their capital city portal rooms that take you to the relevant island. There you can choose a plot of land that you want, pay 1000 gold and the house is yours. Once bought, you can customize your house appearance which is separate from the inside. In fact, there is no correlation between inside and outside at all. A house that is a small and shabby shack on the outside can be a huge and elegant mansion on the inside. The options for how you want the outside of your house to look is incomplete for now, more options are coming in patch 12.0.

The genius of the housing system lies in its free form modularity. Every piece of décor whether it is a shelf, a lamp, a tree etc. can be resized, turned and moved anywhere you want. Do you want a floating bed? A series of tiny statues on a shelf above your stairs? Go for it. You can also combine décor items by placing them inside each other, creating new things. Put a smelting brazier inside a table so the fire shows a little bit and you have an impromptu stove top. Stack three fountains on top of each other to make a big fountain if you want. It is almost to the point of “if you can imagine it, you can do it”. Sure, some items are outside only and vice versa, and outside lighting is currently disabled, but the housing décor system is incredible. It far exceeds what I imagined Blizzard would do.

But with everything positive there are a few negative sides as well. There are several ways of collecting décor, from achievement rewards (added retroactively) to vendors, quest rewards, drops and crafting. The others are fine, although I hope they add more drops to old dungeons. No, the big negative comes from crafting décor.

First off, Blizzard did say that you don't need maxed out crafting per expansion to craft the new décor and it is true, but you do need very high skill. 240/300, 60/75, 85/100 and so on depending on the expansion skill roof. They could have staggered the décor to work as a catch up mechanic, but they sadly elected to put it all at a pretty high level, meaning a blacksmith can craft intricate magical armor before a chandelier.

Then we get to the material components and they are ridiculous. I had hoped we would be able to utilize all the crafting materials in the game, but alas no. With a few exceptions, everything requires top level, rare ingredients, even for mundane items. A bronze banner requires 8 khorium bars, a metal that is very hard to find instead of using bronze which exists in the game! A Gilnean pitchfork requires 12 elementium bars and 6 volatile earth... A pitchfork! This is equivalent of going to IKEA and buying a tungsten frying pan and a set of titanium cutlery. It makes no sense. Where are my copper pots? My silver cutlery? I hope they change this, but I'm not holding my breath.

Blizzard has also added a new crafting material, Lumber, which can be harvested in pretty much every zone as long as your character has bought an axe from a special vendor. This is fine for things like benches, beds, chairs, you know, things that use lumber, but it is a must for all crafted décor like pillows, decorative potions, books, plushies etc. I like the lumber mechanic but please make it make sense.

For being in early access, the Housing system is already a massive success. Besides my complaints above, it is fun, creative and really exciting. I truly hope my concerns are laid to rest when Midnight launches, but even if they aren't, housing is an incredible addition to the game, a real success, and I can't wait to see how it will be developed going forward.

 

All The Pieces Matter

A short while ago, my wife found a free game on Steam that I also had to get. This game is:

Jigsaw Puzzle Dreams

As the name suggests it's a jigsaw puzzle game. I immediately grabbed it as well, and I've been hooked ever since.

As I said, the game is free, but its DLC isn't, they are like 4 euros each. However, if you grab any DLC, which all contain more puzzles and stuff, you also unlock the ability to upload any picture you want and turn that into a jigsaw to solve. This is the part that really grabbed me by the neck and won't let go.

There is a room around you as you play, and you can customize it as well as the table beneath the puzzle. Once you're done, you can hang the completed puzzle on the wall in your room. This feature isn't really necessary, but it is a fun little extra to enjoy.

That's kind of all I got. Jigsaw Puzzle Dreams isn't some revolutionary game, it's just a solid fun jigsaw experience, and if you like that, you should probably get it. With that one DLC purchase, you have an endless amount of jigsaw puzzles to solve, and with the base price of free, it is safe to at least try.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a puzzle to finish.

That's that and all that. Join me again nest time and until then, have a great week!

Prose & Codes.

 It should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I am an avid reader. I've been one my whole life, and that is not likely to change.

I am also a gamer so I was very happy to find the game Prose & Codes on Steam. This is a letter substitution cypher game, based on quotes from classic literature. There are over 400 puzzles in 8 genres to choose from, and the game has super low requirements so that is not an issue either.

The publisher gives a portion of sales to Project Gutenberg in order to support this wonderful library of out of copyright books. They are free and legal to download and come in a variety of formats from .txt to PDF and ePub. 

When you have solved a puzzle, you learn where its from and there is even a direct link to Gutenberg so you don't even need to go looking for the novel yourself if you want to read it. Now that is service! They even recently added more puzzles to the game for free, which is really cool.

There is also a sequel, Poems & Codes, but I'm not done with the first game yet, so can't guarantee its as good, but I assume it is.  

If you like reading, I highly recommend this game. I'll embed the trailer below for your convenience.

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

Cyberpunk 2077

Anyone who's read this blog for a while probably knows that I am a so called patient gamer. It's rare that I jump on a game on release day, though it happens. Instead I prefer to wait, and that usually pays off.

Today I want to talk about:

Cyberpunk 2077.

Created by CD Project Red, or CDPR, the makers of the Witcher games as well as the good folks who operate GOG, the best place to get older video games that actually work.

Cyberpunk 2077 (CP2077) is based on the old tabletop RPG Cyberpunk 2020, both written by Mike Pondsmith. This ensures that the story and lore are accurate, which is awesome.

CP2077 is a first person action RPG, where you play as V. You can't change the name, but you can change most other aspects of the character. Included in character generation is your life path; Nomad, Streetkid or Corpo. This life path explains your background and gives some insights and speech alternatives in the game, but don't have too much overall impact.

The game is basically split between two parts; the main story and everything else. You can run countless smaller gigs, race cars, fight in arenas etc. These smaller gigs pay well and can even unlock iconic weapons and grant you vehicles. Merely exploring Night City is extremely rewarding. CP2077 is ridiculously immersive and detailed, there is always something going on, and on this level alone, CP2077 blows every other game in this vein out of the water.

But lets look at the main story. As usual, I'm not spoiling anything, so bear with me. In V's quest for fame and riches, you go on a mission that turns everything on its head and sends V on a spectacular journey. The main story is emotional, epic, and awesome. It can be heartrending, it is sometimes really funny, but always pulse pounding. It is up there in the top five best stories I have played. But sure, it has a few flaws.

First off, I do think the game throws the Main Story at you too quickly. I would have liked to learn a bit about how the games plays, and figure out what kind of build I want before being thrown in to the deep end. I'd like to say so much more, but alas, spoilers.

Mechanically, CP2077 is great. It had a very rocky launch back in 2020, but since then CDPR has done a ton of work and taken a shaky game and turned it into a masterpiece. Again, there are some things I wish were different, but they are small stuff. My biggest pet peeve is the Journal, or quest log. Every time you exit a gig, it automatically activates whichever mission is next in the main quest, complete with waypoints on the minimap. If you want to do another gig, you have to go and manually change that every time and it is annoying. I also dislike how loud V's footsteps are. But hey if those are my biggest complaints, it's pretty damn good!

One thing that threw me off at first is the fact that CP2077 throws a lot at you in the beginning and it can be hard to try to remember it all. Hacking, fighting, blocking, stealth etc can set your head spinning, but the good news is that you don't actually need to use it all at once. In time you'll start using more and more elements, but until you do, you can get far by just shooting enemies in the face.

Building your character is a bit of a headache at first, but if you read the tooltips, it becomes easier in time. The game even has a free one time use re-spec, if you want to redo your talents. I will say that trying to be a jack-of-all-trades really makes you a master of none, and that is not a good idea.

What else can I say? The games is gorgeous, the voice acting is brilliant, and even the smallest side jobs are incredibly well written. The game can be quite raunchy, but there is a so called streamer mode, which if switched on, eliminates most of the sex, but not all!

I know I'm rambling a bit, but I'm trying to go though this enormous game in my head and remember everything I wanted to talk about. I guess I'll just wrap up and say that if you like well written stories, and cool action RPG's you owe it to yourself to play Cyberpunk 2077. There is a DLC, Phantom Liberty, but I haven't played it yet so I know nothing about it. Of all the games that I have played, Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the few that have left a real mark on me.

Oh, and the soundtrack is spectacular!

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week!

 

Worshippers of Cthulhu.

During Halloween this year, I chose to stream some horror demos on Twitch. One of these demos was:

Worshippers of Cthulhu.

This game is a city builder and cult simulator, set in the Cthulhu Mythos pioneered by H.P. Lovecraft.

Worshippers of Cthulhu is also in Early Access, meaning it is not complete, but you can still buy it. The developers Crazy Goat Games will probably add and/or change some things, so if you don't like that, wait until full release.

Now as I only played the demo, and I didn't have time to finish that, this is purely a first impression, not a review.

The game starts with you, the High Priest, and your small cult crashing your ship on the shores of what could be a part of R'lyeh, the home of Cthulhu itself, or an island somehow connected to R'lyeh. I'm not really sure.

First you have to direct your followers to gather basic materials and start building your settlement. A core mechanic is that your cultists won't work if they don't have a house, so building homes is important. Then they need food, and they need somewhere to store surplus materials. All these buildings need roads and access to the raw materials to farm and gather. So far it is a basic but very competent city builder. New buildings are red until placed in an appropriate area, then they turn green and you can confirm the build. Nothing new here, but I appreciate a developer who doesn't feel the need to reinvent the wheel just to be special. Having played a few city builders in my time, I felt right at home with the controls immediately. At first, I did miss the fact that you can turn the map, making it easier to place things behind large buildings, but it is there.

Then comes the cult part. In order to unlock new buildings, you have to give offerings to your god, which also eats up raw materials. You need to construct religious buildings to boost the fanaticism of your cultists, you can hold rituals and carve symbols into the flesh of your cult, allowing you to essentially re-roll their traits. Every cultist has one job they really like to do and will be better at. The challenge comes from having, say, three cultists who like gathering clams, but you only have need for two. Do you place the third in a job they won't be as capable in, or do you try to re-roll their abilities? That is up to you, you're the High Priest.

Later on, new jobs become available, you can summon horrors to attack ships and (I think) other settlements, I barely had time to get to the horror summoning part.

Besides all this, there are random events that pop up, allowing you to make a choice. Some choices have obvious consequences, others have unknown effects, that can be good or bad. I love these choices, that add so much, and allow you to affect your needs a little bit. If you're up to the ears in cultists, but need more faith, sacrificing some newcomers might be what you want, but if the situation is reversed, new cultist-citizens might be worth more.

I do wish you could rename the cultist-citizens as well as your settlement. This would be useful both for remembering who does what and because as a streamer, it's always good to rename things and people after viewers. That is not an issue for normal gamers though, just something I personally want.

As fist impressions go, Worshippers of Cthulhu is incredibly promising, with a great atmosphere. I had so much fun playing and I can't wait to get my hands on it for a proper playthrough. Worshippers of Cthulhu is a game worth keeping and eye or a tentacle on, if the Mythos and/or city builders are your thing!

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

What I have learned so far.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my No Hit Sniper Elite 5 challenge that I invented. This challenge has consumed me and I have played it as much as my stupid flu has allowed, so I want to share a couple of things I have learned.

I have started seeing the game with new eyes. Since it is so critical to eliminate enemies as safely as possible, I have noticed multiple places where you can in fact snipe soldiers without them being able to retaliate, like inside a cathedral. It has been a huge learning experience.

When enemies are alerted to your presence, they are either in Combat, Enemy Hunting, Investigating or Clear modes. Combat means they know where you are, they can probably see you and bullets are whizzing around. Enemy Hunting means they know you are (or were) nearby and are trying to find you. Investigating is them reacting to a noise or perhaps they saw a glimpse of you, either way they are mobile and alert. When Clear pops up, it means that no enemies are looking for you anymore. This could be because you killed them all, or that they can't be bothered chasing you any further. When Clear hits, they normally go straight back to their patrol area and resume doing what they were doing. But there is a catch. Some enemies won't move when Enemy Hunting is up. Instead they will freeze in place and cover an area. On rare occasions they have even remained so when Clear hits. What this boils down to is that when you are in hiding waiting for things to calm down, do not move just because Clear hits. This is a very dangerous time, since some enemies will travel a surprisingly long distance, and it will take a long time for them to return to where they were. This is when you turn a corner and come face to face with a well armed soldier with his finger on the trigger...

If you know an area is clear, it means you only think it is clear. If you think an area is clear, it isn't. I have lost count of how many times I've been so sure that there can be no remaining enemies in an area, only for some clueless twerp to come along, blissfully unaware that you have just killed a dozen of his friends and your day is ruined. Treat every area as unsafe at all times and the challenge will be a bit easier.

Another thing I have learned is to use more traps. Cut off areas and secure choke points with mines. Of course, you can only carry three mines so I've had to start using shu-mines. They are non lethal, but an unconscious enemy is still out. I also learned that the shu-mine can be set with a timer that makes a noise that lures enemies in. Super useful when you don't want to risk being shot.

Focus mode is your best friend and sometimes your worst enemy. Focus mode lets you see the outline of enemies through walls and is obviously incredibly useful. But it has a shorter range than you might think. Just because you scanned an area and found nothing, doesn't mean no one is there. Trust me...

Finally, use different ammo types. Sniping at a longer distance? Soft point bullets are your friend, as they cause bleeding. This will take out an enemy that you only managed to wing. Is it crucial that you take out an enemy wearing a helmet with the first shot? Armor piercing ammo to the rescue. It is worth the extra time it takes to reload, it really is.

Finally finally, you need to have all the patience. Mark all the targets. Wait for that one enemy to return rather than dealing with him later. When things go wrong (and they will) run away. Don't stick around to be a badass, run! The further away you can go, the safer you are.

As of writing this, I just managed to clear Mission 3 The Spy Academy. I can't believe how cocky I was when I came up with this idea, it has been so much harder than I thought, but at the same time so rewarding. I'm sure there are other games that could work with a similar challenge if you think your favorite games are getting stale.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

What is Warhammer 40.000?

The Warhammer 40.000 IP has seen quite a few successes lately, with the Space Marine 2 game being the latest. 

But what is Warhammer 40.000 or as it's also known, 40K? For those of you who didn't grow up with it as one of your favorite settings, I have the answer. Or rather the Youtuber/live streamer Bricky has the answer. He has a really funny and informative two part video called Every single faction explained as well as a good one that explains the timeline. Keep in mind that the 40K setting was created in the 1980's and has been expanded on, retconned and developed for about 40 years. Bricky's videos can only scratch the surface, but they are so worth watching. 

Faction Part 1

Faction Part 2

Timeline

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!  

Don't get hit.

I have on previous occasions written about the Sniper Elite games series, seeing as I'm a long term fan.

The latest game in the series, Sniper Elite 5 is perhaps my favorite in the main series, and I have played it a lot, so much in fact that I have the weapon master medal. Then I ran into the problem of wanting to play, but needing a challenge. There is of course Authentic difficulty, which I may yet try, but I came up with an alternative:

The No Damage Challenge.

These are my rules.

1. Difficulty is set to Sniper Elite.

2. All objectives must be completed on each map.

3. You can leave enemies alive, it's not a kill everything challenge.

4. If you have alternative starting locations unlocked, you can start maps anywhere.

5. You can use any and all weapons you own.

6. Collectibles are optional. Grab them if you like, but they don't count for the challenge.

7. The challenge only covers the main campaign, include DLC missions if you want.

8. It doesn't matter if you are seen, it's not a ghost challenge.

9. You can save the game in case the game crashes, but you can't save scum.

10. If you take even one point of damage from any source, you must start the entire campaign from the beginning.

The idea came to me after seeing a video about people who play all the Soulsborne games, i.e. Dark Souls, Bloodborne etc. without taking a single hit. That is of course a lot harder than Sniper Elite, but trust me, this challenge is not as easy as it seems.

I have previously completed multiple maps without taking any damage, but for some reason, this is really hard. With multiple attempts behind me, I still haven't passed the second map mission. One reason for this is obviously nerves. Knowing that the run can end at any time really ramps up the tension, which is of course what I wanted. Another reason is the inclusion of random elements in SE5. Traffic is a good example. What “should” be a clear area can suddenly have multiple enemies because a passing truck spotted a dead soldier, and now you're in real trouble.

All it takes is one enemy spotting you and shooting you for the whole thing to end. It's frustrating, but so much fun. And it really breathes new life into a familiar game.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week!

 

The War Within pre-patch part 1.

The pre-patch for the next World of Warcraft expansion, The War Within (TWW) has started and it has been an interesting experience.

To start, the character screen has been changed significantly, with all characters showing up in one long list. Added to this is a section for four characters that when placed, show up around a campfire. You can arrange all your alts as you wish, but there is no sorting mechanism, so however you choose to arrange them, you need to do it manually.

There is a search function which is nice, as you can search for a class, but I hope Blizzard adds a sort by function as well. You can access the server list, but as far as I can tell, it only determines where new characters are placed.

A huge change is the new flying option. It can be found at the top of the screen where you see your mounts. Toggling it (5 second cast) switches your flying between the old system introduced in The Burning Crusade and the new dragon riding that was added in Dragonflight. All but one or two flying mounts are affected by this, allowing you to zoom along at incredible speeds on your favorite mounts. This flying style is unfortunately not chosen per individual mounts, but rather on the character itself. Oh, and it also affects the druid flying form, which is amazing.

The new warband bank, which will allow you to add items and some currencies into it so that any characters can withdraw them is implemented but it is currently disabled. Apparently there is a problem with it, and Blizzard is working to fix it.

What does work, however is the new transmog system. Through the years, many raid bosses have dropped tokens instead of gear. These tokens are grouped by classes and when a character of that class uses it, the token becomes a piece of armor. These tokens can now be mailed to any character you have on any server. Super useful! Armor that is specific to a single class is exempt from this and can only be learned if picked up by the correct class.

But it isn't all roses. As of now, currencies that are sent by mail can disappear, so wait before you do this. Likewise, many achievements have been reset, but Blizzard is aware and are investigating. I myself found that my progress for the Professor title which require 20 rare items found through archaeology has been reset to 1 from 18. Hopefully this will be fixed soon.

The next step of the pre-patch, which is the fight against giant bosses that will let you amazing gear should launch this week. Overall this is really exciting, and I am looking forward to more fun in World of Warcraft.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week!

 

How to be a cultist.

Today we're doing a first impression of a game I have wanted for a while:

Cultist Simulator.

Like many other games on the market, like Darkest Dungeon and Slay the Spire, Cultist Simulator is easy to start but hard to master.

As the name suggests, Cultist Simulator is mostly about starting a cult in a vague 1920's London setting. The game has strong Lovecraft elements, but at 4.5 hours, I haven't seen anything overtly Lovecraftian. Cthulhu has not been mentioned for example.

The game takes place on a table and the story unfolds through verb boxes and cards. Verbs include Dream, Talk, Explore and Study. You can place cards into these verbs, for example you can place a person into Talk and something will happen. You can also put objects or idea cards into talk, which will have their own consequences. The boxes only accept certain cards and learning how it all works is quite satisfying.

Some Verb boxes appear suddenly and can demand specific cards in order to give you a benefit but they can also kill you. Many of my characters have died very suddenly.

Speaking of characters, the game always starts a new save with the Aspirant, but when that person dies, you get to choose a new person. I chose the Detective, and to my surprise and delight, the Detective actually investigated what my Aspirant had done. Likewise, my Doctor studied the case file of my recently deceased Medium. You can name the characters in the lower left corner and I suggest you do in order to recognize them when they appear in the story.

When you first start Cultist Simulator, the game will urge you to explore and experiment. This can be a bit frustrating as you have no idea what you're doing and are supposed to do. But this actually plays well into the central theme. Do you know how to start a cult? I don't, so it makes sense to have to feel your way forward.

Besides the Verbs and Cards there are four resources; Health, Passion, Reason and Money. Health is your life, and this can go down very fast depending on your choices and luck. Reason and Passion are used to fuel different events. Passion can help you create art, but is also used to recruit new people to your cause. If your only Passion card is tied up in painting and you need it for something else, then you are out of luck. Success and failure are all important story elements.

Money is central to it all. You may be a newly minted occultist with big dreams, but you still have to eat. You can earn money through going to work, but that takes time and has its own perils. There is a Verb box called Time, that is constantly ticking, and every time it completes a cycle, it automatically consumes one money. If you run out of money you starve, which consumes Health. If you are out of Health, you die.

This ticking clock brings me to your best friend, the Pause button. As soon as the games starts, PAUSE THE GAME! There is a lovely intro screen for you to read, but beneath it, time is ticking. Some jobs demote you if you don't go to work, even if you're just reading a text box. Pause, pause and pause again, until you know what happens without reading anything. Trust me and take your time or you will never get anywhere.

The reason I didn't pick up this game sooner was because I was intimidated. I love the theme but most screenshots show a full board of cards which look crazy complicated, but it isn't really. You start small and grow slowly with plenty of time to learn. The other reason was the timers. Usually I hate timers but with your lovely, shiny Pause button that is not an issue. Sure, I'm only at the 4.5 hour mark, but I'm learning more all the time and getting better. I look forward to playing more, and I really think this is a fantastic game. If anything I've said seems interesting, check it out! It's even on mobile, if that's your thing.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Starfield May patch beta

During the week, Bethesda released the beta for their upcoming Starfield patch. I took the opportunity to try out the Steam beta and these are my thoughts on the matter.

First off, lets talk difficulty. On release Starfield had a classic difficulty scale going from Very Easy to Very Hard. The patch takes that and breaks it into several distinct pieces.

You can now set you own efficiency in combat, as well as the enemies efficiency, and you can set them separately! The same goes for space combat. If you make the game easier you get less XP and likewise if you make it harder you earn more XP. This means that seasoned FPS players can give themselves a harder challenge on the ground, but make the dog-fighting in space much easier until they get the hang of it.

You can adjust your carry capacity, and at max you can carry over a thousand pounds of stuff. To go along with this, you can adjust how much or little money vendors have, to buy all the things you salvage. Like with combat, these changes modify the amount of XP you get.

There are also options for environmental effects and healing, but I haven't had much time to test those.

The ground map is significantly changed. Gone is the boring field of dots and instead we get a vibrant map that actually shows you things. Cities are also mapped out and I can't tell you how nice that is. To make things even better, if you pull up your scanner in town, you can see all points of interest, and if you have been there at least once, you can quick travel from the scanner. Such a great quality of life improvement!

Next up is ship interior decoration. All ships have a button on the wall that opens a building interface similar to the one you build outposts with, and you can also get there through the scanner. This allows you to decorate your ship any way you want. I haven't had time to properly explore this yet, but it looks very promising. You can also buy habitat modules that are empty from the start to give yourself a clean slate to build on. This makes it so that your ship can be a proper base and not just a vehicle.

A smaller thing is that when you start a New Game + you are given the option to change your character including redoing your traits if you wish.

Finally, they are experimenting with adding ground vehicle to the game, but as far as I know, this isn't in the patch and only in the testing stage at the moment.

The addition of these changes do so much to make Starfield an even better game. I liked it from the start, but this patch gives me great hope that this game will bloom into an even better experience. I'll add a video showing off the changes if you want to learn more.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Starfield, what is it like?

I finally finished the main story in Starfield, so lets talk about it.

Starfield, the latest game from Bethesda Game Studios, the people behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, is a huge space epic. You travel between planets, do quests, explore places and try to find out what the deal is with the Artifacts and the mysterious Starborn.

Now, I should point out that I live-streamed Starfield on Twitch, and only four hours at a time, once a week at that, so that is why it took me six months to get through. Not because it is that enormous or that I didn't like it. All in all, I have 200 hours in Starfield doing lots of side quests as well as the main story.

Back before the game released, speculation was rife about what the game would be and a lot of the speculation fed the hype without being based on anything true. Many visualized that it would be “Skyrim in space”, or “Fallout in space” and neither is true. Yes, the engine is Bethesda's engine so it feels familiar, but Starfield is its own thing, and must be viewed as such.

To be honest, Starfield is a somewhat odd game. After the intro, you are set loose on the galaxy and the only limitations you have is how far your starter ship can grav-jump, the games faster than light system. Every system has a level rating, an indicator of how dangerous the system is. It's up to you if you want to take that on now or later. That said, you can easily come across enemies that are much higher level than you in a low system, and you can run into low level enemies in high level areas. This mix means that combat is always exciting while also letting you feel powerful when crushing weaker enemies.

The gameplay is smooth and plays well, like Bethesda's other games. The new kid on the block is dog fighting in space, which is a bit of a mixed bag. The game has no qualms about dumping three higher level pirate ships on you just as you enter a system, and until I got my ship upgraded together with some good piloting skills, I frequently had to lower the difficulty or I was stuck. That could have been handed differently as it was pretty annoying.

The graphics are really nice, at least on a stronger PC, and there were times when I just stood there and took in the sights. Some people have complained that “It's all gray and boring”, to which I say: untrue! There are many such moons yes, but come on, that is what you will find out there. Lots and lots of dusty rocks. However, there are also so many lush planets, filled with interesting plants and creatures. Saying it's all gray is like going to Winterhold in Skyrim and complaining that the whole game is nothing but snow.

Besides the intersting main quest, which I won't spoil, there is a myriad on minor factions you can work for and they were mostly top notch quests. Interesting storylines with good choices, fun loot to get and lots of trouble to get into. I will say that I don't care much for most of the clothes you can find, they were a bit lackluster in both design and function, but the important part are the space suits, which are many and varied.

Speaking of side missions, Starfield has an almost endless capacity for exploration. Sure, the caves are all similar as are the structures you'll find, but at least that makes some sense. Everything has to be prefabricated and dropped down on the surface, so it makes sense that most structures are the same as others. I did run into a base with a mystery story, and to my surprise I later found the exact same base and story on another planet. This shouldn't happen, but whether it was a bug or an oversight, it's not a deal breaker.

The skill system is a mixed bag for me. Some are clear and easy enough to upgrade, while others are a bit of a pain. I should point out that Starfield has a New Game + system, and if you choose to do a new playthrough with an old character, you retain all your skills, but not gear, ships and money.

You can also build your own bases, which is tricky. Hauling around all the needed raw materiel is not easy and the building system in general could be better. It's not bad, but there is room for improvement. Likewise, you can build ships. For some reason, you can't build a ship totally from scratch, you have to have one to begin with, but soon enough you can go nuts slapping bits on pieces and having a blast.

All in all, Starfield is a rough gem of a game. It has flaws, without a doubt, but I think a lot of people were turned off because of unrealistic hype and unfair comparisons to other games. I had a blast playing Starfield, and if you want a huge and fun game set in space with everything I mentioned above, you might just have fun too.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!

 

Starfield

I wanted to jot down some early thoughts about Starfield. This is in no way a review, just an early impression.

This it the first new IP for Bethesda Game Studios in over 25 years, and as of writing this, I have 25 hours played so I have barely scratched the surface. The numbers are a happy coincidence.

Looking at basic gameplay, BGS has not reinvented the wheel, and why should they? With a few thousand hours in Fallout 3, New Vegas, 4 and Skyrim, I immediately knew how to play. Movement, guns, melee, using items etc are all the same. Some things like the inventory is partially different, but keep an eye on the tooltips, and you'll be fine. This feels and plays like a Bethesda game and I'm very happy about that. I feel comfortable playing, since the character moves and reacts in a way I'm so familiar with. 

The graphics are in my opinion very nice. There have been complaints online, but I wonder if that is just a matter of taste or if the complainers are forced to turn the graphics down due to hardware issues. Starfield is pretty demanding on the PC, needing 16gb RAM and it wants to be installed on an SSD. get all that and it looks phenomenal.

Looking at the not so basic gameplay, it is quite a bit more complicated. Since this is sci-fi and we're in space, there is space flight and space combat. The flying is fine, at least so far. Nothing is too complicated, although it takes time to learn the new controls. Space combat is somewhat mixed for me. At one point I jumped back in to the system where my quest giver was and found her engaged with three other ships who immediately targeted me. After dying seven or eight times, I adjusted the difficulty from Normal to Very Easy and barely survived the fight. My ship is still completely basic so there was no way of surviving that fight unless you are a very accomplished gamer in the area of dog-fighting, which I'm not.

I don't know that much about crafting yet, but it seems fine. You do need to collect a lot of different materials from different planets and that takes time. You have a scanner that helps you do that, and you can even use the scanner to take and edit pictures which will become load screens. A small but awesome idea.

The character generator is good if a bit fiddly. With a bit of trial and error you can make an awesome looking character for you to play with. Unlike Fallout 4, the main character is not voiced, so unless you go looking at them, you won't see your characters faces all that much. A part of me misses the back and forth dialogue, but in Starfield we at least have more speech options, and the role-playing options are back. Loosing the voiced protagonist is a small price to pay for that.

Some players of the 1 million+ that were playing at the same time have experienced bugs, and so have I, but nothing too nasty. A glitching companion and a status effect that won't go away is about it. I'm sure BGS will fix a bunch of them soon enough.

Speaking of companions, they are a mixed bag. Useful to have around, but also prone to charging ahead and engaging enemies that you are not ready for. You also get the small talk which ranges from funny to please-shut-up-already-I'm-going-as-fast-as-I-can. I usually prefer playing without companions, and there are quests where you have to have one along. Somewhat frustrating, but not a deal breaker.

The space map is awesome and looks great, the ground map is terrible and I hope someone develops a mod for that soon.

To end this first impression: If you like Bethesda's open world games and you like sci-fi, then there is no real reason why you wouldn't like this. Some call it Fallout in space, but that is misleading. Starfield feels nothing like Fallout except for the controls. This is a new game and should be judged as such. So far I'm having a blast playing, and beyond some minor things, nothing to complain about. Just make sure you're PC is able to handle this beast of a game.

I may do another post at a later date giving my opinion then, but until then, that's that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

 

Why it's Rude to Suck at World of Warcraft.

Hello!

This week I was planning on talking about the 1974 Giallo, The Girl in Room 2a, so I watched it yesterday. The problem is that it is pretty awful and I don't want to sit here and crap on someone else's hard work. I can be critical, yes, but however I tried, I can't really say anything positive about The Girl in Room 2a.

This left me with a conundrum. I didn't have enough time to watch anything else but I need something, and that's when it struck me. A couple of weeks ago I skimmed a Reddit thread about toxicity in World of Warcraft, and someone linked the following video.

Now, this is 84 minutes long but it's fascinating. The video breaks down how people play WoW, the rise of addons, how Blizzard, unlike many other developers can't make players do anything and how external data affects how the game is played. 

If you have any interest in the subject matter I strongly urge you to watch it.

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKP1I7IocYU

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

 

 

 

Sniper Elite 5

On May 26^th, 2022 Rebellion Studios released Sniper Elite 5. Since I have shared my opinion on Sniper Elite (SE from here on) V2, V2 Remastered, 3 and 4, I thought it is high time I shared what I think about the fifth part of the series. This is perhaps a bit late, but it takes time to fully understand a game this complex.

Once more we step into the boots of commando demigod Karl Fairburne. SE5 is set in France in 1944 from just before D-Day until that fateful day itself, and beyond. This makes it the fifth game in sequence but the third game in chronological order.

Mechanically SE5 is much like the other games. Third person camera, a good choice between rifles, submachine guns and pistols and the standard binoculars. Unlike all but SE4, the maps are enormous. It took me about three hours per map and with nine missions not counting DLC, it takes a while to play through, and that does not factor in replayability.

The game looks gorgeous, plays great and feels smooth. On a few of the levels there are loudspeakers that periodically blare out propaganda and I really wish you could turn them off. It is really loud and annoying, but that is the one mechanical element that frustrates me.

Some things are new however. Rebellion have added a RPG like leveling system that is fine but not great, in essence you become more effective with time. Nothing special, but okay. There is also a new mechanic called Focus that allows you to sense enemies through walls but using it raises your heartbeat, which reduces accuracy. When I played on lower difficulty settings, the Focus system was of questionable use at best since you can see the enemies on the mini-map, but once I got to Sniper Elite (hard) difficulty you can no longer see enemies on the map and Focus became incredibly useful.

As mentioned above, the maps are gigantic and very complex. This allows for a myriad of ways to tackle objectives in whichever way you want to. SE5 got some criticism that it is too stealth focused and not a good sniping game, but as someone who is on his fifth play through, I can confidently say that critique is complete nonsense! The maps allow up close take downs, long range sniping, furious assaults, whatever you want really. It is up to you to figure out how to do what you want to do. You get your objectives, and then you get to decide how to do them and in which order.

Another wonderful element is the addition of extra starting positions that you can unlock on each map. This simple little thing almost makes each level a new experience. On some maps you can even start on the other side of the map and essentially play it in reverse. It sounds simple but is in reality a stroke of genius.

The alternative starting positions combined with the medals really push for extra playthroughs. As I mentioned, I'm on my fifth run, and I'm finding new places and details all the time. The previous games have their achievements as does SE5, but here you can also unlock medals for mastering weapons, playing the game on various difficulties, getting long shot kills and best of all, interesting challenges like taking out three snipers in melee on a map, specific kill challenges and much more.

SE5 has a PVP invasion mode, but not only am I not interested in that, it is full of cheaters despite the so called “easy anti cheat” you have to install if you want to do that. I'll make no further comment on this.

I could keep gushing, but I think you get the point by now. I love this game! I haven't played SE4 for a few years and most SE fans say that the fourth game is the best. I agree but I would say that this installment in the series is almost as good as number 4, if not equal to it. If you've been thinking about giving Sniper Elite a chance go with 4 or 5.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

 

World of Warcraft News

There are some exciting things coming up in World of Warcraft, starting this week.

First up, the WoW 18^th anniversary event has been up and running for about a week and will continue for some time, but with the upcoming elemental invasion pre-patch event, it will probably be very hard, if not impossible to get any help against these world bosses.

Now, starting this week, on November 15^th, the elemental invasion will start. In a nutshell, you kill elementals that spawn in certain places and who drop tokens when defeated. These tokens are a currency for some seriously good gear, and well worth getting. When a hundred elementals or so are killed, a boss will spawn, who drops more tokens and can also drop gear directly. At least, this seems to be t he case, as official info is hard to find.

For a more detailed look, check out this link:

https://www.wowhead.com/guide/primal-storms-dragonflight-pre-patch-event

Also starting this week is the Twitch drop event with Blizzard. Simply connect your Twitch account to your Blizzard account and then watch live streamers play WoW and you can get some cool stuff like a mount.

Here are the dates and some more detailed info including instructions on how to connect your accounts:

https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23873861/updated-nov-1-dragonflight-twitch-drops-earn-rewards-watching-and-supporting-creators

My wife and I will be streaming during these dates on Twitch.tv/Chelidda so why not come on by and watch to grab some cool stuff. If you don't want to chat, it is enough to merely have the stream on for the required amount of time. There are of course lots of streamers to choose from, so find someone you like, sit back and enjoy.

Finally, this week is when those who own Dragonflight already can make and start playing the new Drachtyr race. They start at level 58 but can only be one class, the Evoker. Evokers are either healers or dps casters, and based on my experiences on the Beta, they are a lot of fun to play. They can even fly without a mount, although they use the same mechanic as the new Drakes in Dragonflight. This flying technique takes some getting used to, so it may pay off to get some practice in early.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

 

Dragonflight Beta!

I got into the World of Warcraft Dragonflight Beta and this is a bit of info and a few thoughts in no particular order.

But remember that this is a BETA and all information is subject to potential change. Nothing is written in stone.

First up, the new talent trees. Old players and those who play classic are familiar with how the talent trees used to be; huge and hard to use. Then they changed them to a choice between three options every fifteen levels or so. Now? It is amazing!

Every class has two trees, one generic for the class, and one for the spec. At first glance they look really intimidating, but once you look more closely, it's not that complicated. It pays off to go over all the talents and trace a path down to the higher level talents you want. On top of that, different aspects of the class, like AoE abilities, healing and so on tend to be on one side of the tree. You can even choose to leave abilities that you don't use. So far I'm very impressed with the new system, just be aware that once Dragonflight comes, it is going to take time to go though all your characters, and you need to let it take that time. 

Check them out on Wowhead: https://www.wowhead.com/beta/talent-calc

Lets talk about the new UI next. It is very different, and a lot of the elements are super small. Bags, buttons, character window, all is much smaller than it used to be. On top of that, most of the UI is now customizable. Right click your character portrait and choose edit layout and you can move the action bars, resize them, you have a lot of options. You can even choose where you want your character portrait to be. There is also an option in the game options to re-scale UI, so if you fiddle with that and perhaps shrink the action bars, I'm sure you can get the UI to be what you need it to be. There is also a new bag slot, but that one is for specific crafting bags only.

I haven't had time to check out the new crafting system, so we're skipping that.

I did however try out the new race, the Dracthyr. This new race of dragon people start at level 58 and have their own start zone. I hope Blizzard re-balances some of the mobs in the start area, because I died a lot. That said, it was a very enjoyable journey and they did a credible job teaching you to play this new race. But why do you need to learn how to play a race you ask? Because Dracthyr can only be Evokers, either as mid-range DPS casters or as healers. They can't take any of the normal classes at all, but that is fine because their class really lean into being a winged dragon-person. They also have a humanoid form, and holy hell do they get customization options! No other race comes even close to the amount of choices you get here. Oh, and they can fly! Not just glide like Demonhunters, (they can do that too) but actually take off and fly.

This flight mechanic uses the same mechanic as they new drakes that can only fly in the Dragonflight zones and that is not always easy, but super fun when you get it to work.

From what I have seen of the first zone in the Dragon Isles, it is nice. Nothing too stand out, but after the mess that is Shadowlands, I'm so happy that it feels like Azeroth again. Some of the changes are big and sweeping, but I have high hopes that the new expansion will feel like World of Warcraft again! Rogues can even survive getting an add in a fight again, unlike now...

I don't know when the beta ends, but if possible, I'll bring you more insights at a later date, but this will have to be enough for now. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

 

They paid HOW much?

What a week in gaming this has been. The world of gaming has been rocked by one of, if not the biggest ever story.

Microsoft is buying Activision-Blizzard for $68.7 Billion dollars! That is not a typo, almost 70 BILLION dollars in order to buy up Activision-Blizzard lock, stock and barrel.

This is of course not something that one does easily, it's not a carton of milk and a bag of oranges. It was different when Microsoft bought Zenimax Media with Bethesda Game Studios for $7.5 billion, as Activision-Blizzard is publicly traded. Zenimax was privately owned and even then, there was a lot of scrutiny by regulatory bodies to make sure everything was done right. With Activision-Blizzard being public, there is even more red tape to wade through. The deal is expected to to be finalized during the summer of 2023.

In case you are wondering how they can afford this, Microsoft is loosely valued at over 4 trillion dollars, so even though it is an astronomic amount of money, they have the cash to get the job done.

Of course this has given rise to an enormous amount of questions some of which have been answered.

What does this mean for the disgraced President and CEO of Activision-Blizzard, Bobby Kotick? Well, he will stay in charge until the deal is final after which he “will remain available” in his own words. Phil Spencer the CEO of Microsoft Gaming has said that Activision-Blizzard will answer to him directly, so that probably means Kotick is being booted, probably with a golden parachute. Many insiders agree that Kotick is being let go, particularly since his name is too tarnished, especially with the many scandals that have rocked Activision-Blizzard lately, and his complicity and/or failure to do something about them.

Why are they selling? This is speculation territory, but Kotick did already ask Facebook if they would be interested in buying but got turned down. The most likely answer is that Kotick wants to go out on a high, and a big deal like this looks good on his resume should he choose to go elsewhere. Due to the scandals there has been more talk than usual to kick him out and even Coca-Cola has been talking of removing him from their board. With the scandals in mind, Microsoft probably got a good deal.

How will this affect gaming in general? Impossible to say at this stage. What is known is that Sony, the owners and creators of the Playstation, the biggest rival to Microsoft's Xbox, lost 20 billion in market value in one day. The stock price is climbing already, but it must have been quite a shock to them.

As for games on the Playstation, Spencer has stated that they will honor ongoing deals, which means that games slated for release on the Playstation will still do so, but whether Microsoft will continue to sell their games on the competitors console remains to be seen. This might force Sony to become more PC friendly, but again, it is too early to tell.

So what are they buying for all that money? Well the list is too big for this post, but to skim the surface; Activision-Blizzard, Infinity Ward, King, Treyarch, Sledgehammer Games and more. Concerning games; Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Candy Crush, all the old Sierra Games, Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and much more. The last two are very ironic as both Crash and Spyro were Playstation 1 mascots.

Phil Spencer has expressed a love and interest for many of the older titles included in the buyout, and I for one would welcome remasters of the old Sierra adventure titles. Whatever this mega deal will mean in the future we can't yet say. Will World of Warcraft come to the Xbox? Will it be on their Xbox and/or PC Pass? We don't know. What we do know is that although monopolies are bad, Activision-Blizzard has been in such a sorry state for so long that for them and their titles, this can only be good. The other thing we can say for certain is that this has catapulted Microsoft to the top of the gaming world.

When I learn more I'll let you know, but that's enough for today. Join me again next time, and until then have a great and safe week!