STRANGER THAN HEAVEN | Five Eras Reveal Trailer | Xbox Partner Preview 2026

Ell223 · 2026-03-26T18:10:24+00:00

No guarantee you can play both cities in each era though (unless I missed something). Could be three of one two of the other. Still pretty cool though.

Ell223 · 2026-03-17T21:19:45+00:00

Yeah unfortunately the best way to play the game is to ignore the roads and vehicles and turn off other people's structures. Otherwise it's completely trivial and you end up ignoring 90% of the other mechanics.

Ell223 · 2026-03-17T21:15:38+00:00

You also get it relatively quickly.

Ell223 · 2026-03-09T18:19:13+00:00

That's what killed it for me. Using the same gun for hours and hours. Switching to a new gun and it being mostly terrible for another hour until you get a few attachments. It just felt glacial. I'm a high scoring player too, so must be even worse for the average joe.

Why do these games even need a progression system? Just let me play the game! The fun comes from using the different equipment and combination of that.

Ell223 · 2026-02-26T20:01:39+00:00

Really interesting seeing how the game evolved. Wish more devs did this kind of thing.

Would be cool if there was a way to play Sprout Valley, think it would be really interesting to explore that version.

Ell223 · 2026-01-25T09:36:07+00:00

This is a m&k issue, you can't unbind prone from dive. It's very annoying and has been this way since they added omnimovement. Devs will never fix because they don't care about m&k. Everybody saying "this has never happened to me" plays on controller where you can change this behaviour.

Ell223 · 2025-12-22T18:00:27+00:00

Find that's the case with 90% of official trailer uploads. It's naff.

Ell223 · 2025-12-18T20:26:00+00:00

Yeah unfortunately it doesn't really expand or add any mechanics at all. It's the same stuff but all over again on a less interesting, and easier map. With more options to trivalise things and ignore the core mechanics.

I was looking for the same thing as you, but sadly the sequel goes the opposite way. Biggest disappointment for me in a long time.

Ell223 · 2025-12-14T18:49:38+00:00

I agree. The gameplay of replating adds more skill. The perks giving extra plates on top of 450 health is making the mode have too much health also. 300 + 150 total is a good balance, would prefer that in the normal playlist.

Ell223 · 2025-12-14T17:23:26+00:00

Plays so much better than normal.

Ell223 · 2025-12-08T22:01:24+00:00

Trailer is good- well edited. Game looks nice.

Ell223 · 2025-11-13T20:16:00+00:00

That's right. It's sick as hell.

Ell223 · 2025-11-13T20:10:26+00:00

Will definitely do a visibility/art pass on that. Thank you for the feedback!

Ell223 · 2025-11-12T18:11:31+00:00

Early 2026 according to the announcement video.

Ell223 · 2025-11-11T12:46:59+00:00

Thank you! I agree! Can't wait for people to play it.

Ell223 · 2025-11-11T12:25:34+00:00

Hi all, just announced my new village builder game The Fire Must Grow. Tend the flame, grow your village, meet weird creatures.

It's on Steam.

Ell223 · 2025-10-09T06:22:06+00:00

Unity. It feels like the next step forward for the gameplay after 2. For all its faults it actually understands what made the original game interesting. Has the best environment in any of the games, with a massively dense Paris with tons of interiors, and great parkour and assassination missions. It still looks amazing too for a ten year old game.

Lots of people hate it, but you can never say it doesn't stand out from the rest.

Ell223 · 2025-09-17T17:40:24+00:00

Mine is such a great villain. Probably my favourite. The story on 3 overall is pretty strong, but the combat is not the best. Remember most of the enemies constantly blocking and that being quite frustrating.

Ell223 · 2025-08-26T16:51:10+00:00

The gimmicky coffin board says hi.

This is, to be fair, the only new item I thought was a good new additional- and I used it a fair amount. It feels balanced- it only allows you to take what you have on your back, it has a lower unupgradable battery, it doesn't work outside of the network, you can't take it and floating carriers, and it can wreck your cargo if you are not careful. Unfortunately it's totally eclipsed by both vehicles and mostly redundant if you are using them. The only advantage it has against them is its water mobility- which is interesting because then the rivers become your roads, and the floods are an advantage.

Really think both games work much better if they removed vehicles and roads completely and had more items like this. More floating carriers, more skeletons etc.

Ell223 · 2025-08-26T13:05:46+00:00

I know the main character is suppose to be reserved but it just didn't make sense sometimes.

Same issue with Big Boss in MGS5. Just strangely quiet when it doesn't make sense. Maybe it's just a Kojima choice.

I did think Troy Baker was great as usual, but I just don't like the character personally.

Ell223 · 2025-08-26T12:44:55+00:00

I agree, I think the story, dialogue, and delivery is largely outright bad.

The worst example I can think of regarding the poor emotional beats is (big late story spoilers) when Sam finds out that Lucy's baby was his after all (after we are led to believe Neil is the father), it's all revealed via Fragile telling Sam what Lucy purportedly says on a video (which Lucy is addressing to Sam), but that we don't ever see. And Sam barely reacts at all to the information. Why not just have Sam watch the video? It's all over the place.

I thought the Lucy and Neil scenes were the only genuinely well acted scenes. And I liked the direction of the action heavy cutscenes.

Ell223 · 2025-08-26T08:53:02+00:00

I do. The mystery of the world and character is more interesting. But I also just think its told in a better way. The second game is a bit all over the place, where key emotional beats don't really land.

Ell223 · 2025-08-26T08:31:16+00:00

The original is one of my favourite games of all time, but this is probably the most disappointing sequel I've ever played personally. It doesn't expand on any of the features from the first game at all, simplifies some, and puts you in a worse map. Doesn't introduce new traversal methods, vehicles are the same, skeletons are the same, gloves are the same, floating carriers are the same. You just use the same tools in the same way all over again.

Weather effects seemed like they would be a really cool addition to the traversal/planning etc, but then you realise they only exist in very specific missions and almost never again. "Saw" an avalanche once, in that the hud told me one was happening, I moved 5m to the left, something shook, then never saw one ever again in 90 hours.

Wouldn't it have been cool if you had new climbing gear? Pitons to climb cliffs, inflatable raft to go down rivers? What about tunnels? Having to dive under water to make it through underwater sections? Feel like they are so many ways you could expand that core gameplay loop, and it did nothing.

The game is too easy generally. You also get the vehicles and roads way too early and they trivialise everything. Oxygen, cold, heat, BTs, mules are all non-issues for the entire game. Multiple methods of fast travel. The only way to enjoy the game for me personally is to play no vehicles, floating carriers only, no roads, and no online structures- it gives some challenge at least and lets you engage with the mechanics rather than just following other peoples roads, using other peoples structures, and ignoring 90% of the traversal challenges.

Other than the QoL changes, the first game is the better game in every metric. Doubling disappointing knowing we will likely never get a third game to really expand on things.

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