I didn't pay much attention to gaming news this week. There was a kind of behind the scenes deal I read about Star Citizen that talks of how the game handles it's enormous scale so well. Which was interesting because the devs are actually creating new technology in order to maintain high levels of detail without load screens and minimal texture pop-in. I'll say this though -For as much money that's been sunk into that game, it had better come out blowing people's minds and not just their wallets.
It's #4IF time still and the folks here are still working on their games. I, myself, have given up all hope on playing four titles this month. I have taken to playing Wolcen, which if you haven't heard is a brand spanking new ARPG from Wolcen Studio. It sat in Early Access for something like four years and is proving to be one of those rare titles that actually pulled through the program successfully. For me the game runs beautifully from anywhere in the range 115 FPS to some drops in busy areas in the high 70's with all details on high at 1440p. Load screens are short when there are any and I say that as I do not have the game installed on an SSD. It plays like a good roll-up of Path of Exile and Grim Dawn. It's very detailed, fully voiced, pretty customisable, fun to play and has a decent story so far. There are even a couple of different game modes to choose from to keep things fresh. There's a story mode where you'll fight through the campaign and there's a kind of instant action mode where levels are randomly generated and endless. I will say that I have yet to play online. Launch has been plagued with server issues and creating online games has been, so far, impossible for me. The good news is that there's an Offline mode. Yep, in old school yet refreshing fashion you're allowed to play Wolcen offline. Offline characters do not coexist with online characters though so that could be a problem for some. I've also heard from our own Dr. Strangethumb that his game runs pretty badly at a under 60 FPS in 4k and he was receiving crashes left right and center. So your mileage may vary, as the kids say.
What is games?
AJ: Burnout: Crash and Bayonetta.
Yoda: Well i was gonna take a little life break. But then Warframe put cool stuff in that i want. The bastards. So more WARFRAME!! (And maybe Wolcen, most probably definitely Some Wolcen)
Greywolfe: i'm done with the messenger, so i'm trying darksiders i: warmastered edition. i'm not sure i'm going to stick with it. everything i didn't like from the last time i tried just gets worse the further i play into the game [seriously: aiming long range anything in the game is awful.] - so, may have to put something into it's place. [late edit: i'm not sticking with it. it's a miserable pile of awful.] eastshade continues apace, though and i will probably get that done in the next three or four days.
Scroo: Wolcen for me. I've been trying like hell to make a first impressions video since the day of release but I CANNOT seem to record a video without corrupted audio. And we really need the audio in this. Changed windows settings, sound control settings, matching audio bit rates for speakers and mic, even from surround to stereo... no Joy. I don't think it's the game's fault. I'll keep working on it in any case. The Borderlands 3 Broken Hearts Day event has been fun. Maybe Salt and Sanctuary? I don't know. New game plus hasn't been very challenging and it's making me want to move on.