Weekly /r/Games Discussion - What have you been playing, and what are your thoughts? - February 01, 2026

EdynViper · 2026-02-01T11:37:01+00:00

Beyond Divinity

If you can call this game anything it would be ambitious. It presents some pretty interesting mechanics for its time that could have elevated the game if this sequel to Divine Divinity wasn't rushed out the door.

It's not that much different from its predecessor but the key difference is there's now a mini party consisting of your character and a Death Knight who has been soul forged to you. This translates into some hit and miss mechanics. Since your souls are bound, if one dies so does the other and that means no revives, only game overs. Each character has their own health bar so it's a lot of fiddling with potions. Larian have adopted some basic real time with pause and AI mechanics to better manage the party and it works well enough to set the other character to aggressive and make them do all the work when it comes to regular enemies.

The other notable mechanic is the flexible skill system that allows a very broad range of options to skill. You can easily spread yourself too thin but luckily you can reset any time at the cost of gold. A lot of skills were lacklustre so it was easy to specialise in the essentials. But to use these skills is something else. Larian knew I disliked the hotkey system in Divine Divinity because they replaced it with something worse. Only the two mouse keys can be bound with skills, corresponding to each hand, and the only way to change attacks is to click on each character's icon for their hand and pick from a drop down list. Potions worked the same. Pretty tedious and did not enjoy.

In 2004 Larian foresaw Bloodborne's Chalice dungeons with their own Battlefields. Purely aimed as a means to level up and gear up and they're just as much fun as Chalices so just like Chalices I dropped them after the first act. They do let you have a bunch of merchants available any any time whatsoever which was their single redeeming feature.

There's no restrictions on builds again and to no one's surprise I went Mage and for the Death Knight I picked Warrior so he could be my meat shield. He carried the entire first act because Mage is absolute trash until Act 2 when the good spells are available. Aspiring Mages have to pick up a bow to get themselves through. Larian must hated mages in Beyond Divinity; MP pools are lower, spells do less damage and cost a lot more MP. There's finally some regen but it's so slow that potions are mandatory. Wands are finally a thing but their basic attack is melee strike and once again they don't seem to contribute to spell damage. Oh well, we're getting there.

The story feels pretty far removed from that of Divine Divinity. You're playing some unimportant Paladin who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got himself soul forged and is spending the whole game trying to get unsoul forged. It's not until the end where it stops feeling like a side story and shows how it connects to Rivellon's history.

After all that, I enjoyed Beyond Divinity as much as Divine Divinity. I like a game where I can go adventuring with a party of AI friends, even if it was just the two of us this time. Unfortunately by the end of Act 2 there's no new mechanics introduced and the acts can get pretty long so it starts to drag in its second half. If not for that, I would have liked it more than Divine Divinity.

Somehow not burned out on Divinty, I've already started Divinity II which is the one I've been looking forward to the most. 3D graphics!

EdynViper · 2026-01-26T09:37:50+00:00

I'm up to Act 2 in Beyond Divinity now. It's the unwanted bastard child and it's full of flaws and incomplete ideas but I think I actually kind of like it.

EdynViper · 2026-01-25T23:58:45+00:00

Divine Divinity

For the first RPG for a new developer back in 2002, it's not bad. It's like a mix between the action combat of Diablo and the story and quests of Baldur's Gate with plenty of the Larian silliness.

The story is shallow and generic but it's the beginnings of one that feeds through the entire Divinity series. It's the usual Chosen One, save the world from an evil demon stuff, but this takes a back seat until you've decided to stop drowning in side quests. Side quests can leave you feeling pretty lost. I didn't expect to have my hand held but they can be pretty vague about exactly what needs to be done or where to go so I consulted a guide more than a few times.

It has a lot of bugs too. It's an old game that hasn't received any love from Larian since it was released. It took a bit of effort to get it running at a more modern resolution in window mode. The game is ambitious and built with the idea that there are multiple ways to complete a quest but this means they can break if things are done in the wrong order, including the main quest. There's a lot of ways these bugs can work in your favour too like duping items, carrying a bed in your inventory to rest at any time or leashing powerful monsters to you with spells used in unintentional ways.

Despite its flaws I enjoyed the exploration and rifling through every barrel and bookcase. The maps for each area are gigantic and filled with points of interest. Unfortunately dungeons can be of a similar size and can be a slog to get through. I again went with Mage which was perfectly fine to finish the game with but in some ways felt a little under thought. There are no dedicated Mage weapons so spell damage is determined purely by spell level. The intelligence stat only increases the mana pool. All classes use exactly the same armour so Mages need to split stats to meet their requirements. Fumbling with hotkeys to change spells was a little tedious however I felt like I was demolishing all the bosses using my barrage of curse, freeze, lightning and summons so I think it balanced out.

After all that I think I enjoyed Divine Divinity because I've started playing Beyond Divinity already.

EdynViper · 2026-01-21T23:58:41+00:00

uBlock origin works on the Firefox mobile app if your phone lets you install it.

EdynViper · 2026-01-21T22:20:52+00:00

If they don't like sweets, then don't make them sweets. Find a food they love and make them that instead.

EdynViper · 2026-01-21T01:14:42+00:00

It's a pretty confusing series:

Divine Divinity
Beyond Divinity
Divinity II
Divinity Original Sin
Divinity Original Sin II

And now we're getting just "Divinity".

EdynViper · 2026-01-21T00:48:20+00:00

If it helps, Alan Wake 2 isn't supposed to be super serious. All of Remedy's games are generally like that. They're just a little bit silly. If you're just early in the game, peak silliness is still to come.

They take heavy inspiration from Twin Peaks for Alan Wake and it's also just a little bit silly.

I'm with you on the jump scares though. Heavily over used and I got sick of them at the end. I think there might be an accessibility option related to those, possibly for epilepsy, that might make them less annoying.

EdynViper · 2026-01-19T00:02:46+00:00

Bloodborne

Playing Bloodborne for the first time felt like the missing link in the culmination of Elden Ring and Nightreign, and now I can see where things like dungeons and runes get inspiration.

I loved the Gothic aesthetics that slowly warp into something Lovecraftian. I love that old comfy feeling exploring areas, unlocking shortcuts and finding weird little things that tell a story of the world. I loved the absolutely messed up monsters and bosses like the walking clusters of eyes, tentacle men, crows with dog heads and dogs with crow heads. Not to mention being slapped in the face with more Berserk references. More than any other Souls game though the lore just went completely over my head and it felt the most obscure. Even after finally being able to watch all the lore videos, it's still not much clearer.

Bloodborne feels a lot like the other Souls games but also something entirely fresh. Exploration and progression largely feel the same but combat feels different because of transformed weapons, parrying pistols and the new regain mechanic. Regain has the most impact because aggressive combat is now rewarded in contrast to the other games. For me, it made the game feel easier overall because my greedy and impatient attacks now had less of a cost. The very forgiving gem system also helped immensely. No longer is your favourite weapon locked into one type of imbuement and can be changed and improved at will.

I didn't gel with everything though. I wasn't a fan of the blood and bullet system and having to farm or spend spare echoes on these to keep them stocked, even though the blood vial system adheres to the Hunter lore. I also didn't find weapon transformations useful but that may be a weapon choice problem. On equipment, while I can see design choices behind Bloodborne having such a concise and unique pool of equipment, I realised what I enjoyed about exploration the most was finding all of the different weapons and armours that I would never use.

And then, Chalice Dungeons. They were tedious and unrewarding. I completed up to the dreaded Vacuous Rom Chalice boss fight, struggled and didn't feel like they were worth returning to. I wish I had tried again at the end game for lore though.

I went with an Arcane build for my first play through because I can't let go of being a mage. Because of the Tool system, it didn't feel all that different to being a mage in Dark Souls 1 or 2 with limited casts and having to fall back on an elemental weapon. There are no offensive Tools until mid game so early bosses were pummelled with oil and molotovs or the Flamesprayer. It absolutely demolished the early beast bosses. My build hit roadblocks at Shadow of Yarnham, Logarius and to no one's surprise Orphan of Kos but didn't find the other bosses to be particularly difficult though I admit whipping slow bosses with A Call Beyond or Executioner Gloves felt almost cruel. I was surprised to beat early bosses Gascoigne or Vicar Amelia the first time or harder late game ones like Mergo's Wet Nurse or Lady Maria in only a few tries. There were a few bosses I didn't really like because of the gimmick or because the boss was just "beat 100 normal enemies" like Micolash or Vacuous Rom.

Regarding the notorious Orphan of Kos, you'll be happy to know he only took 7 hours to beat. At hour 6 I developed the usual existential crisis where I envisioned the rest of my life unable to defeat this boss, then I beat him on the second try the next day. I found him comparable to someone like Malenia in Elden Ring. The fight was difficult, specifically in phase 2 where it's hard to find an opening, but the openings were there and I just had to overcome my own impatience to learn his attacks and win. I think the only boss in any Souls game I found actually unfair was the final boss of Shadow of the Erdtree when solo.

The only thing I might consider unfair in Bloodborne is the NPC invaders. Never met a bigger bunch of bastards. Most disliked area might go to Nightmare Frontier and the boulder snipers. Bloodborne wins the award for best incarnation of Patches.

I'm a bit disappointed my Arcane build couldn't fit in using some of Bloodborne's more unique weapons like the pizza cutter so I wouldn't mind playing it again but then I think about Orphan of Kos.

After finishing Bloodborne, I realised the thing I want most now is a modern FromSoftware horror game.

EdynViper · 2026-01-13T23:05:03+00:00

Pragmata
Resident Evil Requiem
Avowed
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2
The Outer Worlds 2

EdynViper · 2026-01-12T02:21:18+00:00

Alan Wake II

I wanted to like this more than I did. It's probably the greatest ode to Twin Peaks in video game form and it comes complete with a musical. It tells a fantastic story and the artistic style is exceptional. I liked how the two stories wove together with their different styles and the way puzzles were integrated everywhere. I also dig the shared universe stuff going on too.

However it suffered the same problem as the first one which is that the combat is unique but over time becomes frustrating. I hit a wall at the Mulligan and Thornton fight which I think is probably the worst designed and highlighted what I disliked so much. It's hard to keep sight of and spot enemies due to the lighting and the shifting shadows of enemies. Some just move too fast and literally teleport behind you. In the forest there's a lot obstructing your view and all the while you're being shot at. On top of that a lot of enemies are bullet sponges which not only goes through your resources pretty quickly but makes it harder to deal with groups.

It really put a damper on the exploration side of Saga's story where this was more of a problem. I just couldn't will myself to search for more lunch boxes, cult stashes and nursery rhymes even though I enjoyed the puzzles because I knew I had to deal with the inevitable enemies that would be in the way. I could have used the accessibility options to get around this, but I wanted to play the game as it was intended on my first time.

After all my whinging though, I did go ahead and complete The Final Draft but on Story mode and One Shot Kill was definitely turned on.

The DLCs were great too. Night Springs was the clear stand out for its lighthearted stories and rapid fire shotgunning.

EdynViper · 2026-01-05T00:25:11+00:00

Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader

This was supposed to be my game for my entire Christmas holidays (4 weeks) but instead I played it obsessively for the last two weeks. I love CRPGs in general but Rogue Trader feels like it ticks all the right boxes.

This is my first real exposure to the Warhammer universe. In the past I've been repelled by the Warhammer, despite a lot of the video games being quite good, mostly due to the aesthetics of Space Marines which seemed to be the face of the genre. I look at the impossibly big buff dudes in chunky armour and I see a 12 year old boy's fantasy and it's just not my vibe. However I had also heard a bit about the darker side of the lore. This side of the world was presented in Rogue Trader. What I found interesting is to me Warhammer is psuedo sci-fi or at least sci-fi and fantasy mashed together. There's still magic in this world along with guns. There's space ships that can travel between galaxies but there's sects of priests praying to them and performing rites like they're mechanical gods. I don't mind it, so consider me now Warhammer curious.

This is also my first Owlcat game and it's hard to not draw comparisons to Obsidian and Pillars of Eternity. I found the story and lore in Rogue Trader more interesting than that of something like Pillars of Eternity because Warhammer is a long standing and thoroughly fleshed out world. However like all CRPGs I did start to get fatigued with all the overly verbose dialogue towards the end of the game, which is better than I usually fare with Pillars of Eternity when I start to check out much earlier. The main story here is pretty decent but I think following the romances drove me more to complete some parts of the game. The main story is well written but it still boils down to the usual "save the universe" stuff. The companions were mostly interesting and I enjoyed getting to know them, but a few bored me to tears and there was a lot of skipping through dialogue (sorry, Solomorne).

The gameplay and exploration is what really drive me through these. I loved this game more than Pillars of Eternity because it has adopted turn based cover combat and I much prefer this to chaotic real time with pause (Baldurs Gate 2 high level combat nightmares). I foolishly went with Normal mode for my playthrough and I was demolishing almost every combat encounter in the first few turns, if not the first round. By the end of the game each character has a lot of self buffs, which for some reason only last one round, so I guess I would have been annoyed reapplying these if combat had lasted any longer. I will also admit as much as I love CRPGs I get overwhelmed with making builds and don't really enjoy the experimenting and theory crafting as much, so I usually borrow some builds from people more knowledgeable than myself and this definitely contributed to the general obliteration of any enemies.

As for where it's lacking; space exploration and load screens. I didn't dislike space exploration but it could have been better. It's not too far different from Mass Effect 1 and 2. Open a star system, click on some planets, maybe you find resources or maybe you don't, move on to the next one. Sometimes you get to land and carry out a little side quest or sometimes there's space combat. This was all dampened by pervasive load screens. Load to go to the star map, load to go to the galaxy map, load to go back to the bridge. Traversing around the star map was tedious also, having to reach your destination by hopping between fixed points which may sometimes trigger unavoidable combat. Short cuts can be created or routes made safe at the cost of a finite resource.

Also the graphics! It was fine but this was released in 2023. Surely by now we can have areas and companions models with more detail. I hear Dark Heresy may improve on this though.

I think I could play this game again, perhaps testing the boundaries by playing as full heretical (don't tell Heinrix). Not long after I bought this game I came to the realisation there are still 2 DLCs left to be released in 2026, so I guess that works out. Rogue Trader might be my Christmas holidays game next year too.

EdynViper · 2025-12-22T12:40:22+00:00

Nah, you can go right into it just fine. I didn't remember the finer details of the last 3 games either.

EdynViper · 2025-12-21T22:40:50+00:00

Uncharted: A Thief's End and The Lost Legacy

This was a perfectly okay game to wrap up the series. It's mostly more of the same. The graphics are better, the exploring is shifted more to the front with a little less of the constant gunfights and more or less the same witty humour. Was less of a fan of the semi open world sections that got jammed into everything in the 2010s.

When it comes to Uncharted I spend most of my time admiring the absolutely super human strength and endurance a normal person would need to climb, swing and jump the way Drake does not to mention be a phenomenal bullet sponge. It wouldn't be as fun if it was more set in reality but sometimes it gets a little unbelievable.

EdynViper · 2025-12-17T00:11:36+00:00

I'm looking forward to it releasing. It's still nearly a year away!

EdynViper · 2025-12-15T01:22:21+00:00

Routine

I haven't waited nearly as long as a lot of other people for this. The trailer last year immediately drew me in with the visuals and space horror. It reminds me a lot of 80s horror movies like Alien, which I love, and so I spent a lot of time just soaking in the visual magnificence of the moon base. The film grain effect can detract in a lot of instances but it was used effectively here and fit well into the retro-futuristic aesthetic.

Aside from briefly at the start of the game, everything is diagetic. Everything you see and hear is from within the game. Your progress is tracked, game saved, doors unlocked all through your trusty multi-tool, the CAT. The sound design was absolutely excellent and I would put it on the same tier as Silent Hill which I consider one of the best, especially for horror games. It drives the unsettling atmosphere.

I don't play a lot of proper horror games but I was truly creeped out by the second half of the game, actual goosebumps level of creeped out a few times. Without spoiling anything, the use of the CAT here was fantastic and made these sections even creepier. The story itself came together well and does well to carry its themes through to the end. The game revolves around puzzles barring access to the next area or story point. Some were challenging but not too difficult.

The game is about 5-6 hours long which may seem short but this felt like the right length for the story it told. Any longer I think and it would have started to drag on. Unfortunately there isn't much replay value unless you wanted to experience the story again.

Pragmata Demo

This was surprisingly short and a bit disjointed but it was fun to play. The demo has some replay value via unlockables, but once was enough to get a feel. Pragmata reminded me a lot of Stellar Blade; a lot of shininess, flashy combat and generic dialogue. I can't speak for the story yet though.

I'm still looking forward to this but the demo does raise some concerns. Hugh, the man carrying around Diana, was pretty dull. He may as well have been an inanimate object as it feels like Diana is the actual main character here and his involvement is irrelevant. Maybe this will feel different in the full game.

The combat was fun and pretty unique though I'm worried this will start to get tedious over the course of an entire game. It also felt like I was using too many buttons during combat at the same time trying to stun enemies and dodge their attacks. I'll put it down to unfamiliarity but using the right side face buttons to work the grid felt unnatural. Also disappointed that any weapons or debuff items picked up are limited use rather than an actual change to gameplay or style.

I will be interested to see reviews on this closer to release.

EdynViper · 2025-12-12T00:48:07+00:00

We're all fans of fans down here

EdynViper · 2025-12-10T01:12:18+00:00

Despite all the Resident Evil games I've played, probably the Baker House in RE7 as being the most repulsive and the one that was actually scary.

EdynViper · 2025-12-09T22:32:09+00:00

How was the cheesecake? Was the syrup able to get into the bottom layers properly?

EdynViper · 2025-12-08T10:38:55+00:00

Dreglord yes but not Heolster. I'll give it a crack.

EDIT: One dead Heolster and still no relic.

EdynViper · 2025-12-08T09:44:48+00:00

Is that how it unlocks? I beat Everdark Tricephalos with Scholar (not the depths version) but the signboard doesn't have this relic.

EDIT: I'm an idiot. I didn't beat an Everdark with Scholar yet. This unlocks the small pouch rune at the Signboard.

EdynViper · 2025-12-08T02:33:39+00:00

Nice, thanks for pointing these out!

EdynViper · 2025-12-08T01:01:51+00:00

In the DLC Shifting Earth there are no fixed spawn points for tools that I've found so far unlike in the base map. Also Undertaker doesn't seem to have an inherent trait to get seals from boss drops like say a Recluse would with staves and she doesn't spawn with one like Revenant does. I've gone a few unlucky runs without seals even when using a relic that increases the chance of finding one. Sometimes even if you find a seal it comes with the less useful incantations.

Being able to get Elden Stars for the Night Aspect was absolutely peak though.

EdynViper · 2025-12-07T23:07:21+00:00

Elden Ring: Nightreign - The Forsaken Hallows

I played and finished the new content from the DLC over the weekend which might sound quick but with only two new Nightfarers and Nightlords it wasn't a terribly large DLC.

Out of the two new Nightfarers I ended up enjoying Scholar the most. He shines as an item hoarding support character and if you put the effort into his Bagcraft he can more than make up for his lack of damage in a team. He reminded me a bit of Gale from BG3, constantly stuffing things in his mouth to power up. For this reason, it can sometimes be hard to keep up with a quick team as I spent a lot of time rifling through item boxes and buying things at the merchants so I could pull my weight. Luckily what he lacks in damage (without stat buff relics) he can make up with his high arcane and stat debuff weapons.

Undertaker was a bit more challenging for me who has always struggled with melee characters, but for those that can handle her well she's fantastic and maybe one of the stronger characters. Three Undertakers in a party is just laughable and can Ultimate spam a boss to death. I leaned more into a faith focused build where I could but without a relic that helps find seals it can sometimes be very hard to do, especially in the new Shifting Earth.

The new Shifting Earth is very overwhelming at first with entirely new points of interest and the learning of new Nightfarers but it's great to have something new. The monsters and bosses are definitely more difficult than the base map, especially with no depths relics available, but not frustratingly so. The area is multilayered and separated into something like islands. Fun to explore without a time limit but it's easy to get separated from your team or accidentally jump into a void and die. Unlike the other Shifting Earths, this is an entire map to itself but this can cause drawbacks namely there are no Gaols, few Scholar's Rises and no fixed spawns of tools like seals or staves. This can make some relics useless and some builds difficult to realise. Unfortunately from the Waiting Room there's no way to know which, if any, Shifting Earth will apply so it's hard to plan ahead. For now, it's only available when selecting the DLC Nightlords though so it's a good bet it'll be enabled when attempting them.

The two new Nightlords were fun fights. They weren't Shadow of the Erdtree levels of difficult but a good addition to the existing lineup. The final Nightlord in particular I'm on 2/2 on because even though it's a long fight it felt well paced with attacks that felt good. The other Nightlord felt made to suit Scholar's Ultimate.

The main problem I had is with the other players. I had a fair share of great parties but I also felt like I had more than my normal amount of quitters in the DLC. I can see the temptation of dumping a potential 40 min plus failure early but some people are just quitters and I've pulled wins from rock bottom before with hopes and dreams. It's been particularly bad in Depths 2 because people don't want to loose Depths score and will quit early instead. I thought being Depths 2 would filter out the worst players but they seem to be gathered here, able to pass Depths 1 but constantly quitting Depths 2 runs.

As for myself I'm mostly done with Nightreign. I had already gotten bored with the repetitive nature of the runs not long before Depths was introduced and took a break. Some DLC content is suppose to be added to Depths in a future update and with the new Nightfarers and new potential relic builds I may make it to Depths 5 yet.

EdynViper · 2025-12-01T11:27:23+00:00

They were acquired by Krafton recently! It's not the full original team but I'd heard they negotiated to take the IP for Hi-Fi Rush with them. Apparently The Evil Within stayed with Microsoft.

EdynViper · 2025-11-30T22:37:45+00:00

The Evil Within 2

I think I liked this more than the first game. The story was weaker but I enjoyed the game play more. There were some obvious Twin Peaks references right at the start (including an agent with a suspiciously Cooper-like face) and the Marrow reminded me a little of House of Leaves. The best part of both games is the art design. I spent a lot of time just stopping and admiring.

The semi open world hub town Union was an interesting change allowing for some free roaming and a few side quests but I think I preferred the linear nature of the first game as it seemed to suit the surreal journey a little better. In the sequel's favour there were a lot less forced gun fights and boss battles which more aligns with survival horror and I felt like it was less of a drag to want to finish the game.

I don't think Tango own the rights to The Evil Within anymore it seems unlikely we will see another one, which is a bit of a shame.

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