What We Played - gamebastion.com

It’s been real chilly, but that’s not the end of the world when your gaming PC can pump out enough waste heat energy to keep your gaming room warm, is it? Or maybe that is a sign of the end times… I don’t rightly know.

My PC’s actually been relatively silent this week, and my gaming in general rather limited. I did try to boot up Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, but foolishly thought that would be possible on launch day, and haven’t managed to get back to it. That’s on my to-do list for the weekend, though, alongside checking out the Gran Turismo 7 PS5 Pro update.

We’ll start with Dom this week, who’s been playing a wide range of games out of Japan. There’s the adorable platforming of Astro Bot, the Persona-like JRPG-ing of Metaphor: ReFantazio, and he’s done a “let’s watch Eastenders from the start” with a fresh Final Fantasy XIV run. But the highlight of the week has been being able to talk about Dynasty Warriors: Origins, which he had a great time previewing ahead of the demo release.

The big release of the week was STALKER 2, with GSC Game Worlds’ journey culminating in a game that Miguel found incredibly immersive and compelling. No, it’s not quite perfect and there’s a menagerie of oddities and bugs, but they didn’t really bother him that much while reviewing, and the devs new adventure is trying to patch as much of the problems out ASAP.

Steve’s had a typically heady blend of different things as well. He’s enjoyed “the philosophically fascinating Threshold, the wonderfully scary Beyond Hanwell , the cosy Flock and cleared the extra trophies and speedrun levels on Astro Bot.” Add some Mario & Luigi: Brothership to that, though he’s found it a bit disappointing so far. Then again, he’s just managed to get some hammers.

Aran’s booted up his PS Vita for a play through of Tearaway, which “is still a fantastic experience that a lot more people should try and revisit.” Nic B might disagree, but he’s a complete reprobate and shouldn’t be listened to.

Not Aran’s hands.

Now