Games I've been playing recently
Amy Kay
I'm not sure how many of you know this, but I'm a gamer. I have an array of games from my childhood and adulthood on my overcrowded shelf. I'm also a collector. I've been playing a lot of games recently in my downtime, and I thought I should share them with you.
L.A. Noir (Xbox 360)
This one is a new favorite of mine. I picked it up at a local game store and I immediately fell in love with it. The graphics still hold up decently well, you really feel immersed in it's world and you feel like you're actually in L.A. in 1947.
The game isn't for everyone though, it's a real slow burn. It takes a long for the story to really get started, and the limitations of the 7th generation is apparent with cars popping in nearby. But what the games does offer, in my opinion, outweighs my problems and nitpicks.
Subnautica (Steam, Linux)
I've been following Subnautica for the longest, ever since early-access. I got my hands on it in 2019~. I replayed it a few times since then, but after building my new PC I returned to and I realized how much better it is on PC.
The Xbox One port struggles, pop up, less entities, long load times, bugs for days. But on PC? It's a smooth masterpiece. I most enjoy building my base in the Grassy Platues. Role-playing as a biologist mesmerized by the biology and ecology of this planet.
Capturing all the fish I can and making a lab to house them in is so fun. It's enhanced by the lack of up-front lore you have about the protagonist, so you're easily able to put your own metaphorical face onto of theirs.
DOOM (2016, Steam, Linux)
This one is a blast. DOOM is a weird meditating game for me. I feel the most calm playing it, despite the gore and violence underlined with the industry metal composed by Mick Gordon. I'm definitely getting on physical.
DOOM Eternal (Steam, Linux)
After playing the 2016 entry, I HAD to play it's sequel and... it's not as good. But its still good, just not great. The graphics are better sure, but the story takes a front-seat this time. DOOM never had great lore, it never meant to. It never took itself seriously enough, but when you try to tape together all these games with conflicting lore or things obviously unanswered because they never had an answer to begin with is very prevalent I find in these games.
I still had a blast with this one though, and it's more re-playable thanks to it's collectible system and DLCs.
Resident Evil 4 (2005, Steam, Linux)
You know what? This generation of gaming holds up very well. It's a breath of fresh air from our current situation. RE4 is a nice reminder of our past. Corny dialogue, visually appealing graphics, silly animations with the backdrop of a whimsical (sometimes serious) story. The controls are outdated, sure, movement isn't the best either. But I can't help but feel like I've played this as a kid, it feels familiar.
Near the end it gave me flashbacks to my childhood of playing Conflict Desert Storm II on my brother's GameCube. I miss those days... If only that console sold better. The local store only has a few GameCube games on sale because of how low the hardware sales were then. 22 million is a lot, but not for our world unfortunately.