I mentioned last week that things aren’t great and that’s still the case, leading to a situation I can’t really focus on anything specific and been bouncing between various titles trying to find something to occupy my time. Didn’t have much luck so far but I’m still trying.

Bouncing between a bunch of games

My first idea was to play some Division 2 however that game had other plans. I once again have issues with Easy Anti-Cheat except this time my usual workaround doesn’t work so I can’t even load beyond the main menu.

Next was Assassin’s Creed Unity, which ended in another failure. This time the issue had with the game not reacting to any input from my controller (well, I could press start on the title screen but nothing else). I tried playing directly from UPlay, I tried launching everything through Steam to use Steam Input - still no reaction to the controller, regardless of what I did.
I tried playing with keyboard and mouse but that was a miserable experience so I stopped immedietly after the prologue section. Playing this way is just too stiff and not fun at all.

Alright, my library is pretty big so I can go further - how about Terraria? I had it in my backlog for years but only tried it for less than an hour total. Let’s go with that. Well, I did. Then I went back to Starbound (Glad Giraffe beta specifically). Terraria might be a better game I man do I not vibe with its art style. Not only that, I actually find Starbound to be more intuitive (why can I destroy blocks with a pickaxe but can’t do the same to background walls for example?) and enjoyable to play. It’s one of those cases where a thing doesn’t have to be the best, it just have to be the best “for me”.
So yeah, Terraria was also a bust.

I also tried Heroes of Might and Magic III but as much as I like the game, I’m just not in the right headspace to play titles like this.

Two titles I actually managed to stuck with for now are: Ghost Recon Wildlands and D1AL-ogue.

I have some mixed feelings about GRW. Graphically it looks great (except for characters’ hands, which look like everyone is 80 year old) and the gameplay feels just as good. Gunplay is smooth and satisfying, weapon customisation is simple but does its job well. I also really enjoy its movement system, even if there are some times where it controlled more like The Division (there are also some things I’d from this game I’d love to see in TD).
One thing I wasn’t ready for was how fragile you are in this game - I like it. It forces you to approach missions more tactically instead of running in guns blazing.

Writing is… fine. It does its job but it’s not really my cup of tea. Voice acting (at least for the main character) can also be hit or miss depending on the line. I do however like the approach to in-combat callouts. They are calm, professional and feel perfect for characters who suppose to be an elite combat unit.

Despite all of those things ranging from good to decent, I have a difficult time actually clicking with this game - no idea why. Might be my brain’s fault.

All in all, it’s a decent time waster that should tide me over until I’m ready to go back to Stalker. Probably won’t be something I’ll keep returning to regularly, unlike TD, but it’s enjoyable enough.

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D1AL-ogue is a cyberpunk visual novel with puzzle elements, heavily inspired by VA-11 Hall:A. You play as an android repair man instead of bartender but the vibes, gorgeous visuals and (not as great) music leave no doubt about that inspiration. Puzzle gameplay is simple but fun, and each “stage” for visiting character is followed by a dialogue segments about various topics.

Writing could use a bit more polish (studio is Korean, I think, and there are some weirdly worded parts here and there) but it looks like devs are working on an expanded version of the game and improved English localisation so we can expect that to change in the future.

Game is free on Steam so if anyone’s looking for VA-11 Hall:A vibes, this title is a good choice.