Mustachian video gamers - what are you PLAYING?

[evme]

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes

By far the strangest video game I have ever played, but in a very good way. Think a puzzle box within a puzzle box within a puzzle box, like a giant escape room set in a hotel in the forest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJVCBBMsrf0
https://www.ign.com/articles/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review

[Sanitary Stache]

Skyrim again.
But maybe I’ll try BG3?

[LennStar]

Deity Empires - a Master of Magic with levels. Lot's of them, like 10 levels of roads. Many mechanics that are all quite valid.

[the_gastropod]

My wife was able to exploit a mistaken Black Friday ad Target put up for the Meta Quest 3 last month, and picked one up for me on the cheap. I've since been playing Walkabout Mini Golf like a madman. It's such a fun, low stress game. Highly recommend for anyone with a VR apparatus.

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

The last time I've used a "VR" apparatus was a defend the hill game at a Dave and Buster's about a decade ago, so I have very little experience. Are they worth it?

[farmecologist]

I am looking for PS5 game recommendations.

I just finished Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree expansion which was awesome.

I picked up Deathloop for cheap, plan to try that next. After that, maybe Death Stranding Director's Cut or Baldur's Gate 3?

Just finished Star Wars Outlaws ( PC version ) a few weeks ago.  It was the perfect Star Wars adventure for me ( yes, I am old enough to have played Dark Forces back in the day! ).  In my opinion, Outlaws is vastly underrated.

Currently playing "Horizon Zero Dawn Forbidden West - Complete Edition" on the PC and have been having a blast.  Very impressive, and very large game.  Been taking my time, doing all side quests, etc...

[salt cured]

For those who like puzzle games, the excellent Rise of the Golden Idol is free on mobile with a Netflix subscription.

[AccidentialMustache]

The last time I've used a "VR" apparatus was a defend the hill game at a Dave and Buster's about a decade ago, so I have very little experience. Are they worth it?

Depends, do you enjoy vr games? Go look for a place that does by the hour rentals and book an hour or two and try some games.

If you like rhythm games (ddr, rock band, guitar hero, maybe even crypto of the necrodancer) then beat saber may be your thing. It is probably VR's killer app. I bought a quest 1 early on in the pandemic and bought two things for it since: beat saber and DW's supernatural subscription. Later when I could get a valve index, I did and re-bought beat saber on PC. I think it is better on PC because it is easier to, ahem "add music", to it. Although now that they actually have a passable library you can buy and not just the OST that came with it, maybe that matters less? YMMV.

DW doesn't like beat saber but loves supernatural, which is largely the same thing, although beat saber tends to focus on fast and supernatural wants you to focus on power. Last year with supernatural dropping quest 1 support, DW picked up a quest 2 so she could continue using supernatural.

[evme]

For those who like puzzle games, the excellent Rise of the Golden Idol is free on mobile with a Netflix subscription.

Thanks for the reminder, I hope to check it out. Monument Valley 3 also just released exclusively with Netflix. I really like that series.

[evme]

Just finished Star Wars Outlaws ( PC version ) a few weeks ago.  It was the perfect Star Wars adventure for me ( yes, I am old enough to have played Dark Forces back in the day! ).  In my opinion, Outlaws is vastly underrated.

Ohh, thanks for the tip. I loved the old school Star Wars games from the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight era. Those had long, meandering levels that were fun to get lost in. I'll check out Outlaws.

[zolotiyeruki]

Just finished Star Wars Outlaws ( PC version ) a few weeks ago.  It was the perfect Star Wars adventure for me ( yes, I am old enough to have played Dark Forces back in the day! ).  In my opinion, Outlaws is vastly underrated.

Ohh, thanks for the tip. I loved the old school Star Wars games from the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight era. Those had long, meandering levels that were fun to get lost in. I'll check out Outlaws.

I enjoyed the Kyle Katarn-era games as well, and darn it, now you have me intrigued. Outlaws is still too expensive for my tastes, but Jedi Survivor looks to be in a similar vein as Outcast, and it's cheap now...

[Mr FrugalNL]

For those who like puzzle games, the excellent Rise of the Golden Idol is free on mobile with a Netflix subscription.

Thanks for the reminder, I hope to check it out. Monument Valley 3 also just released exclusively with Netflix. I really like that series.

Speaking of puzzle games, I've been playing Reus 2. It's a puzzle game in which you place animals, plants and minerals on a planet to help humanity develop. The challenge lies in combining different tiles to maximise their yields. For example a stoat gives more gold if it's adjacent to a prey animal. The cute graphics belie a lot of gameplay depth. It's hella fun.

[Scandium]

Just finished Star Wars Outlaws ( PC version ) a few weeks ago.  It was the perfect Star Wars adventure for me ( yes, I am old enough to have played Dark Forces back in the day! ).  In my opinion, Outlaws is vastly underrated.

Ohh, thanks for the tip. I loved the old school Star Wars games from the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight era. Those had long, meandering levels that were fun to get lost in. I'll check out Outlaws.

I enjoyed the Kyle Katarn-era games as well, and darn it, now you have me intrigued. Outlaws is still too expensive for my tastes, but Jedi Survivor looks to be in a similar vein as Outcast, and it's cheap now...

*checks Steam*: $70!!? Absolutely nuts, no way.
But it gets better; Ultimate edition: $130 🤣

[farmecologist]

Just finished Star Wars Outlaws ( PC version ) a few weeks ago.  It was the perfect Star Wars adventure for me ( yes, I am old enough to have played Dark Forces back in the day! ).  In my opinion, Outlaws is vastly underrated.

Ohh, thanks for the tip. I loved the old school Star Wars games from the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight era. Those had long, meandering levels that were fun to get lost in. I'll check out Outlaws.

I enjoyed the Kyle Katarn-era games as well, and darn it, now you have me intrigued. Outlaws is still too expensive for my tastes, but Jedi Survivor looks to be in a similar vein as Outcast, and it's cheap now...

*checks Steam*: $70!!? Absolutely nuts, no way.
But it gets better; Ultimate edition: $130 🤣

Yeah...that is nuts!  I think I paid $30 or so.

Pro tip...check out gg.deals for the best price at any given time.  Outlaws is currently $27.99 via cdkeys.  I have ordered thru them a few times with no issues whatsoever.

[farmecologist]

Just finished Star Wars Outlaws ( PC version ) a few weeks ago.  It was the perfect Star Wars adventure for me ( yes, I am old enough to have played Dark Forces back in the day! ).  In my opinion, Outlaws is vastly underrated.

Ohh, thanks for the tip. I loved the old school Star Wars games from the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight era. Those had long, meandering levels that were fun to get lost in. I'll check out Outlaws.

I enjoyed the Kyle Katarn-era games as well, and darn it, now you have me intrigued. Outlaws is still too expensive for my tastes, but Jedi Survivor looks to be in a similar vein as Outcast, and it's cheap now...

I have played thru Jedi Survivor as well and liked it quite a bit.

However, Outlaws is quite a bit different because there are NO jedi to speak of in the game.  The game "is set between the original series films Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.", and really does have the vibe of the original trilogy.

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/action/when-does-star-wars-outlaws-take-place-timeline
https://www.polygon.com/gaming/446047/star-wars-outlaws-timeline-syndicates-explainer

[AccidentialMustache]

*checks Steam*: $70!!? Absolutely nuts, no way.
But it gets better; Ultimate edition: $130 🤣

If I'm paying that much it'll be civ 7. Twice. Because teen. But I'll be down to cents-per-hour of entertainment most likely (I probably play too much civ, but eh, I enjoy the strategy challenge), and teen and I play together. Civ 6 can take some credit for his interest in history, because I'd stop and read bits of the civolopedia to him when he was younger. "Who's that?" "What's that?" etc.

[41_swish]

I have been playing Deadlock. I used to play League back in the day, so this is a nice twist on the moba genre.

[LennStar]

*checks Steam*: $70!!? Absolutely nuts, no way.
But it gets better; Ultimate edition: $130 🤣

If I'm paying that much it'll be civ 7. Twice. Because teen. But I'll be down to cents-per-hour of entertainment most likely (I probably play too much civ, but eh, I enjoy the strategy challenge), and teen and I play together. Civ 6 can take some credit for his interest in history, because I'd stop and read bits of the civolopedia to him when he was younger. "Who's that?" "What's that?" etc.

Haha, yeah. I wait for a sale for most of my games. Jus because I am a mustachian that can wait for "stuff".
I did get the pre-ordered X4 season pass edition or whatever it was called 6 years ago. Even knowing the game would be buggy as hell at start.
I finally managed to top the 1000 hours this last year, so I paid literally more for the electricity per hour than for the game by now.

[AccidentialMustache]

I'm okay paying full price for a game I expect to get a lot of value out of. I don't buy a lot of things (including games), so I'm okay paying more for the ones I want.

Also, I'm kinda done with civ 6, so I'm ready to move on.

[evme]

Has anyone played Animal Well? If so, do you recommend it?

[daverobev]

Currently playing Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, which is the 'spiritual successor' to Suikoden.

It's... ok. Feels very two dimensional (ha ha) compared to the gold standard, Suikoden 2. I don't care for the main character at all in the way I did for the MC in both Suiko I and II. They seem to have missed what was loved about Suiko II. The voice acting is... ugh. Suffers from 'these characters are supposed to be 18, get some VAs and have them speak nasally or high pitched'. Too many bright colours, not enough actual depth.

I'm the target audience, too. So I'm a bit disappointed. I don't get how they didn't go, oh, let's make this for people who were 17 when the original games came out but aren't now. Too cutesy, too vapid. It's not bad it's just not what I'd hoped for.

My main quandry is: the second part of Final Fantasy VII, Rebirth. It's coming out on Steam soon... but I don't have a GPU that'll do ray tracing. I'm hoping there will be hacks available to enable it to work on older cards, at lower quality. I neither have nor want a PS5 - too much advertising built in to the machine. I probably need to find a second hand nVidia 2060 that isn't too much money, or wait a bit. No rush I suppose.

[41_swish]

Also, just started playing Balatro. I bought it on the recommendation of a couple people and it's very fun!

[deek]

Wife and I just got ourselves a Nintendo Switch. As a new dad, a handheld system is a game changer. I can't just sit on the xbox for 3 hours straight anymore and this is a great alternative. Lately I've been playing Celeste, Lego Jurassic World and Mario Kart!

[41_swish]

Wife and I just got ourselves a Nintendo Switch. As a new dad, a handheld system is a game changer. I can't just sit on the xbox for 3 hours straight anymore and this is a great alternative. Lately I've been playing Celeste, Lego Jurassic World and Mario Kart!

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is my most played switch game! I love a good cart racer.

[evme]

Wife and I just got ourselves a Nintendo Switch. As a new dad, a handheld system is a game changer. I can't just sit on the xbox for 3 hours straight anymore and this is a great alternative. Lately I've been playing Celeste, Lego Jurassic World and Mario Kart!

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is my most played switch game! I love a good cart racer.

Mario Kart Double Dash (Gamecube) has still never been topped in the cart racer genre.

[grantmeaname]

I've been playing a lot of Void Crew on the PC with friends. 1-4 players work together to pilot a spaceship and fight enemies with very asymmetric tasks (pilot, an engineer that plays whack-a-mole as problems pop up around the ship, a gunner, and a spacewalk specialist. It's a roguelike and there's not too much content yet, but all the core gameplay systems are fantastic so it seems like adding more ships, enemies, weapons, etc should be pretty simple and fast development work.

[JLee]

I am looking for PS5 game recommendations.

I just finished Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree expansion which was awesome.

I picked up Deathloop for cheap, plan to try that next. After that, maybe Death Stranding Director's Cut or Baldur's Gate 3?

Just finished Star Wars Outlaws ( PC version ) a few weeks ago.  It was the perfect Star Wars adventure for me ( yes, I am old enough to have played Dark Forces back in the day! ).  In my opinion, Outlaws is vastly underrated.

Currently playing "Horizon Zero Dawn Forbidden West - Complete Edition" on the PC and have been having a blast.  Very impressive, and very large game.  Been taking my time, doing all side quests, etc...

Dark Forces was amazing in its day - thanks for the Outlaws comment! I haven't been paying attention to video games lately so was surprised when the trailer came out, so now I'll have to keep an eye out for a sale.

[Arbitrage]

Been playing Marvel Rivals lately.  I had stints with Overwatch 1 & 2, but don't ever really get the urge to load them up again due to the learning curve of all the new heroes and balance/meta changes.  At least with the new game, most people are on similar footing.

It's not perfect, but amusing enough, and the price (free) is right. 

[Sibley]

I just got a 2nd controller so that I can get 100% on Lego Lord of the Rings. I'm at 98.5%, and have been for years. I think the remaining items require 2 players. I also have a 2nd player who is way better at video games than I am, so whoo!

[sixwings]

Been back on the D4 wagon since the new expansion and I have enjoyed it. It's a nice mindless fun. I'll probably drop it in the next couple of weeks, but I played it over the holidays and enjoyed it al ot, it's been massively improved since launch. Also there's connection issues that blizz seems unable to fix which is annoying.

[41_swish]

I also got Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga for free on the Epic store and holy cow that game is fun. I played it back in the day on the PS2.

[erp]

I have been playing Lies of P lately, and it's just a delightful experience. A bit more linear than Bloodborne (which is a shame) - but it's clever, dark and brooding.

[Vindicated]

It's kind of expensive for what it is($40), but I picked up the early-access Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. 

It's a new take on old-school MMOs (ala Everquest).  It's very social (requires teams for much content), and requires patience (can surprise you with difficulty).  I'm enjoying it a lot.

Again, it's early-access, so not the most polished game.  But it takes me back to simpler times.

[Sibley]

I also got Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga for free on the Epic store and holy cow that game is fun. I played it back in the day on the PS2.

I have a ps3 and am not a regular gamer. Nor am I good. The lego games are perfect for me - easy enough I can do them, not scary (I'm a wimp), not annoying like kids games, and fun.

[41_swish]

The Lego games are awesome! I have also played, and I think these are on PS3, Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones.

[salt cured]

I believe it used to be fairly easy to get a heavily discounted Game Pass subscription. Is that still the case? I'd like to use Ultimate to cloud game on my Macbook Air. Anyone do this?

[Arbitrage]

I believe it used to be fairly easy to get a heavily discounted Game Pass subscription. Is that still the case? I'd like to use Ultimate to cloud game on my Macbook Air. Anyone do this?

They did make it more difficult, and expensive, but you can still do it.  I believe the trick is to get 3 years of Game Pass Core (formerly called Gold), buy a one month Xbox Live Ultimate subscription, and then convert it all to Ultimate.  It won't give you 3 years like before (and the prices are higher), but a quick scan shows me it'll convert to 2 years of GPU.  I see a current deal for 12 months of Core at $42, so that would give you 2 years for less than $100. 

Only works for new or expired subscriptions. 

[41_swish]

Also, just started playing Balatro. I bought it on the recommendation of a couple people and it's very fun!

Update. Don't buy this game it is addicting. I have sunk 20 hours into since posting this. It may look simple on the surface, but holy crap it is addicting once you start figuring out how to play it.

[salt cured]

I believe it used to be fairly easy to get a heavily discounted Game Pass subscription. Is that still the case? I'd like to use Ultimate to cloud game on my Macbook Air. Anyone do this?

They did make it more difficult, and expensive, but you can still do it.  I believe the trick is to get 3 years of Game Pass Core (formerly called Gold), buy a one month Xbox Live Ultimate subscription, and then convert it all to Ultimate.  It won't give you 3 years like before (and the prices are higher), but a quick scan shows me it'll convert to 2 years of GPU.  I see a current deal for 12 months of Core at $42, so that would give you 2 years for less than $100. 

Only works for new or expired subscriptions.

Thanks! I did more reading, and it looks like Core months now convert to Ultimate at a rate of 2:1, so a year of Ultimate is about $90 with the trick vs $120 when buying Ultimate directly.

[E.T.]

It's funny seeing the Balatro recs, my spouse was also addicted for like a month. I'm still trying to finish Red Dead 2 and Outerwilds. I am so so slow at these games. They take so much longer to play when it's only during toddler nap times. XD

[beee]

It's funny seeing the Balatro recs, my spouse was also addicted for like a month. I'm still trying to finish Red Dead 2 and Outerwilds. I am so so slow at these games. They take so much longer to play when it's only during toddler nap times. XD

Red Dead 2 is designed for slow enjoyment, aren't you enjoying watching the same skinning animation for 10000000th time!!!!

[evme]

Craving some more Souls games after finishing Bloodborne and Elden Ring + expansion so went further back to Dark Souls 3 and it still holds up well.

[grantmeaname]

My wife and I are starting Grounded tonight! I'm excited to have a nice cooperative game to play together on.

[AuspiciousEight]

Age of Empires 3.

Yes - this game is really old - but I've been playing it cooperative with my wife and kids over LAN. Fun times.

Super Smash Bros ultimate. A game all six of us can play. Yep - I taught my 4 year old how to play smash Bros. :)

[AccidentialMustache]

As I predicted, I'm playing Civ 7. It is very civ. The UI is very mess. They (or modders) will fix the UI. Then it can be a good, or even great, civ.

[Arbitrage]

Avowed on Xbox Game Pass.  Pretty fun overall; people expecting it to be Skyrim will be disappointed with the relative lack of depth, as it's definitely much more Outer Worlds.  Combat is more fun than Skyrim.

Queued up a replay of Cyberpunk 2077, since there's so much said about all of the improvements since I played it through.  Might buy the expansion if it grabs me.

[markbike528CBX]

Do those of you who play Red Dead, Souls ect. , find the humor in Viva Dirt Leagues videos, *specific to those games,  to be on-point?
The videos seem funny to me, but I have not played those games.
I often find the videos served up to me on Facebook.

* https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCchBatdUMZoMfJ3rIzgV84g

[reeshau]

Picked up Middle Earth: Shadow of War for $7 on Steam.  It's been fun; I see the potential for it to get bogged down in a grind, but I like the enemy personalities, and expect the strategic element to add a lot of interesting things.

I also picked up Robocop for $10.  I played the free demo, and it has come up on not-as-good sales several times.  But the fidelity to the original movie should help make it a blast to play.

[beee]

Do those of you who play Red Dead, Souls ect. , find the humor in Viva Dirt Leagues videos, *specific to those games,  to be on-point?
The videos seem funny to me, but I have not played those games.
I often find the videos served up to me on Facebook.

* https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCchBatdUMZoMfJ3rIzgV84g

yep, one of the best comedy channels on my list

[daverobev]

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on Steam, on Linux, on a fairly old PC.

Too much formulaic open world stuff. Open world? Great. Each region having the exact same set of busywork tasks? Yuck.

I'm feeling pretty conflicted. I don't love the combat (I think I liked it better in Remake, though... it's basically the same, however oddly the game gets 'easier' once you've completed it and go on to hard mode because all the tools are unlocked) - you gain the ability to cast spells, use abilities and items, by doing basic attacks which is just weird. The bar does charge a bit on its own but if you're away from the enemy near death and guarding you basically can't do anything. Trying to recreate ATB but with real time playing... not my cup of tea exactly.

The story's mostly good so far, lots of fleshing out; I'm interested to see where they go with things but I'm not getting my hopes up because of 'multiverse' stuff being there. The main characters are well done, the voice actors are good. But yeah all in all, too much busywork.