video games

There are 19 posts filed in video games (this is page 1 of 1).

I started playing Umuragni Generation over the weekend – I’d been looking forward to this game coming out on Switch for *ages*.

I’d never played a photography game before, but I love the idea of environmental storytelling used this way.

The above are some photographs I took in-game in the first level.

🎮️ Played : The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt

So I finally completed The Witcher 3, having bought it for the Nintendo Switch back in February. Or at least, I’ve completed the main game – I still have the two DLC packs to play. But I think I’ll take a little break and get to those later.

I know I’ve missed out on a lot of graphical fidelity by playing the Switch version. Though to be honest, I think I’m note as put off by this as some. I grew up on an Amiga 600 with long loading times, inconsistant framerates and the like. Those kinds of flaws are just part of playing a game to me.

I bought the PS4 version ages ago but stopped playing it when I was barely out of the White Orchard tutorial area. I think the learning curve just felt too steep for me at that point. There were lots of things that didn’t click – the janky, momentum based movement; the inventory user interface; the monster weaknesses and so on. I got over (or at least tolerated) these and other minor quibbles, though I still think the inventory user inerface could be improved.

However, overall it’s a great game – certainly the time-sink I needed during lockdown. Not to mention the gameplay of roving around huge vistas of countryside in all kinds of weather, often with gorgeous skies overhead was a decent tonic while stuck inside my flat.

I picked up the Steam version too (it was a tenner) and hope to buy a gaming PC at some point. The cross-save functionality between PC and Switch should mean that I can dip into the game in glorious 1080p or 4K and see what I missed out on graphically.

Revisiting Darwinia

Revisiting Darwinia

I’ve been replaying Darwinia recently, a game I was shocked to see was released in 2005and which I bought soon after launch. I still love it.

Darwinia’s setting feels like a retro, Tron-like world where the subsystems of the computer software provide a whole ecosystem for the inhabitants (“Darwinians”, obvs) to inhabit. Its gameplay feels like the 3D polygon Cannon Fodder sequel we never got.

The framing device of its story is that you have hacked into the computer of an AI researcher, whose advanced world of evolving sentient beings has just been taken over by a virus. Despite this suspension of disbelief, I always feel like I should do my utmost to get my engineer units out as soon as possible, in order to save the souls of the Darwinians in time before they’re lost forever.

Braid Soundtrack

I’ve been replaying ‘Braid’ this week. I originally bought the game on XBox 360 over a decade ago, but playing this again reminded me of what a wee joy of a game it is. Its visuals on my 1080p laptop screen are even more like a living watercolour and the soundtrack is a collection of mellow, thoughful, introspective music that is perfect for listening to late in the evening, with or without the game itself.