The Backlog Check-in Vol. 325: 3/23/24: Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist/Grandia HD Collection/South Park: Snow Day!

[Phaseknox]

Played: Outriders

Finished: Nothing

Playing: Outriders

Added: Nothing

Outriders makes a really good first impression, it begins like a third person action adventure shooter. Unfortunately it doesn’t take long until it becomes more of a typical co-op third person looter shooter where all that you basically do is clear out waves of enemies in areas.

The levels are linear, you just travel through them with no real interaction until you reach battle areas where waves of enemies come out and you have to kill them all to proceed. The amount of enemies that you have to fight is ridiculous, this is what makes it obvious that it’s meant to be played co-op.

The only way that I survive the enemy encounters is by playing on the story setting which greatly reduces the damage that you receive, and most enemies die within a few shots. It’s admittedly a little on the easy side, but I was finding it too difficult on the easy setting which feels more like normal to hard to me. There’s too big of a gap between the story and easy settings, it’s a little too easy on story and a little too hard on easy.

The shooting combat is kind of fun, but repetitive. The game in general is repetitive as you basically just clear out areas of enemies over and over again without any other gameplay. There’s no stealth, traps, platforming, puzzles, or environmental interaction of any kind. It’s just shooting enemies, and nothing else.

I’m still somewhat enjoying it because the story, characters, combat and graphics are all pretty good, but it would have been nice if there was more to do than just shoot waves of enemies.

Games releasing this week
Acolyte of the Alter
Amairo Chocolate
Ancient Weapon Holly
Ario
AutoForge
Between Horizons
Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles
Cities: Skylines II - Beach Properties
Distant Bloom
Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate
Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist
Farming Simulator Kids
Felix the Cat
Felvidek
Ghost Trick: Phantom detective
Godsworn
Go Fight Fantastic
Grandia HD Collection
Guilty Gear: Strive - A.B.A
Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road
The Inn Sanity
Kadomon: Hyper Auto Battlers
The Last Case of Benedict Fox
The Magical Mixture Mill
Mars 2120
Millennia
Motesolo: No Girlfriend Since Birth
Muv-Luv
Muv-Luv Alternative
Necrosmith 2
Not Tonight 2
nZen
Omega Crafter
One Last Breath
Open Roads
OTXO
Outpost: Infinity Siege
Palia
Pepper Grinder
Planet Zoo
Predecessor
Richman 11
Sentry
Sonzai
South Park: Snow Day!
Spring Dash
Stasis: Bone Totem
Strange Horticulture
Sunny Cafe
Suzerain: Kingdom of Rizia
Terra Memoria
Touch Detective 3 + The Complete Case Files
Valiant Tactics EX

[argyle]

Games added: Dragon's Dogma 2, Park Beyond (both XSX), Cogen: Sword of Rewind, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider (both Switch)

Last week: Mainly Unicorn Overlord, some Lies of P, and a few others here & there

This week: More UO, and who knows what else

Think I'm done with Lies of P. It's OK, but compares poorly to a From Software game. On the other hand, Unicorn Overlord is going to be very hard to beat for my GOTY. I honestly have zero issues with this game. Not a single complaint. As crim would say, it's *chef's kiss*.

[canedaddy]

Played recently: Sea of Stars

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 34


Man, a lot going down in Sea of Stars. What a great game. Am I the only one here who has played it??

[argyle]

Man, a lot going down in Sea of Stars. What a great game. Am I the only one here who has played it??

It's on my list, and I'm hoping to get to it this year, but there are a few ahead of it right now. I've heard nothing but great things about it, and it looks like it's right up my alley.

[isthatallyougot]

I started up a hard run on Guacamelee. I have to say that it really shines with the added challenge. Plenty of changes to rooms/difficulty and it seems platforming, although maybe that's just my imagination. It seems as if there is a more strict timing window for some things as well as additional obstacles in spots. (Maybe I just forgot to git gud this time. ) It's pushed me in a really fun way in spots. It has required me to use "Intenso" sometimes when I pretty much forgot it existed throughout my first run. I love that at the beginning of the hard campaign there's an homage in the form of a

DisplayCollapse view

little message on the ground like in Souls that says the *real* Guacamelee starts here.

, lol. So true. What a stupidly fun game.

[Phaseknox]

Current backlog: 34

My current Backlog is around 1000 games.

Man, a lot going down in Sea of Stars. What a great game. Am I the only one here who has played it??

I guess that you missed this:

in case you're wondering what that game is in my profile below, it's Sea of Stars. Loving it so far.

I bought it on day one and played it for a few hours and was really enjoying it, but stopped when I got Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle. I’ve been wanting to go back to it, but I’ve been playing other games that I’ve been buying. I’ll play it again eventually.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Windbound, unsure

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 42 games

I did not play anything last week, need to get back to Windbound and then figure out what else I want to play.

[isthatallyougot]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Windbound, unsure

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 42 games

I did not play anything last week, need to get back to Windbound and then figure out what else I want to play.

Oh wow, you're still playing that? I guess Yakuza isn't such a brief interlude, ha!

[Phaseknox]

I’ve been having some buyer’s remorse lately due to all of the PS4 digital and indie games that I’ve bought. I have over 700 of them, and I don’t have much of an interest in playing a lot of them. I bought them over the years, and my interests have somewhat changed over the years. I’m not really into fighting games, pixel art games, or sidesplorers that much these days and that’s what most of my PS4 digital and indie games are.

I would rather have a PS5 and all of the games that I currently want for it instead of the 700+ PS4 digital and indie games that I have. I’ve been feeling depressed knowing that I could have bought a PS5 and all of the games that I currently want for it with the money that I spent on all of the PS4 digital and indie games that I have. I’m hoping that it’s just a phase that I’m going through and that I’ll eventually be interested in playing most of the PS4 digital and indie games that I bought, because if not I wasted a ridiculous amount of money on them.

[canedaddy]

I guess that you missed this:

in case you're wondering what that game is in my profile below, it's Sea of Stars. Loving it so far.

I bought it on day one and played it for a few hours and was really enjoying it, but stopped when I got Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle. I’ve been wanting to go back to it, but I’ve been playing other games that I’ve been buying. I’ll play it again eventually.

No, I saw it, I just forgot. My old CTE-ravaged brain strikes again.

I’ve been having some buyer’s remorse lately due to all of the PS4 digital and indie games that I’ve bought. I have over 700 of them, and I don’t have much of an interest in playing a lot of them. I bought them over the years, and my interests have somewhat changed over the years. I’m not really into fighting games, pixel art games, or sidesplorers that much these days and that’s what most of my PS4 digital and indie games are.

I would rather have a PS5 and all of the games that I currently want for it instead of the 700+ PS4 digital and indie games that I have. I’ve been feeling depressed knowing that I could have bought a PS5 and all of the games that I currently want for it with the money that I spent on all of the PS4 digital and indie games that I have. I’m hoping that it’s just a phase that I’m going through and that I’ll eventually be interested in playing most of the PS4 digital and indie games that I bought, because if not I wasted a ridiculous amount of money on them.

No sense in stressing out over things that can't be changed. And hey, those games will be available for you on PS5 if/when your tastes change directions again.