As recently mentioned, I played a little bit of Wuchang and Mortal Shell 2 for a bit. I haven’t continued playing for around a week now, but I might this weekend - not sure yet. I’ll definitely be playing more Slay the Spire 2. There’s been a new update that adds an entirely new character to the game, the Fool, who is a lot of fun and adds new character-specific mechanics that are very unique.

The Fromsoft soulslikes are notorious for many a thing: the difficulty of the game (levels as well as bosses), the lore, the fandom. What stands out to many is the atmosphere, the feeling of being thrown into an (un-)inhabited world that existed prior to your playing and will likely do so after you have finished your playthrough (bar specific endings with world-ending implications).

Is there any piece of media that evokes a similar feeling in you? Maybe a book, or a movie, or even another game?

I am not sure if I can come up with any non-game examples, but even though I am yet to finish the game, Outer Wilds or Subnautica give me a similar feeling. These vast open worlds (even an entire galaxy) exist outside the meddling of third parties (mostly). They have existed before I have entered the world and will likely do so after I am gone. Not a lot is explaiend about these worlds - you just exist and try to figure things out on your own.

The Mass Effect series gives me a similar feeling. You’re all alone with your crew, visiting all kinds of planets and races and whatnot. A lot of things are explained, you have a codex entry for pretty much everything you could imagine, but a lot of the story predates Shepard’s existence - think the Reapers, for example. Pretty astounding stuff.

I’m very curious to hear your thoughts! Have a nice weekend, folks. :) ✨

  • alphabethunter
    2·
    19 hours ago

    No gaming for me this weekend, sadly. Though I have recently finished playing Deep Dish Dungeon (a coop dungeon puzzle game), and the map layout of that game threw me straight back to the first days of me playing Dark Souls 1. It’s all connected, and some of the shortcuts are genuinely mind boggling. You can explore 20 minutes in a direction just to find a staircase or tunnel that’ll lead you right back to the very start of the game, it was amazing. And the game has no map, so you need to memorize everything (or map the game yourself).

    If you like adventure, puzzles, exploration, give it a go! Combat is very basic, and the game has some simple crafting and cooking as well, and you can also make an impromptu little base of your own (no base crafting, just some decor and functional stuff, like chests and cooking pot).