WHAT PLAY YOU!? Version 3.0

[Jazzy G]

@waters44 a lot of the Lego games are on Switch, if not all of them, and are very often on sale with deep discounts, so if you wishlist them all you'll get emails telling you when they're on sale, and you often don't have to pay much more than a fiver for them. The first Marvel Superheroes one is good. Lego City Undercover is a great introduction to GTA style sandbox games. There's even one out that's based on the Horizon games which has recently been discounted from £60 to £17.99 in a sale and it's not even been out that long. I think I managed to get the latest Star Wars one with all the DLC for £25 not too long after it came out, and it's usually £75ish. The Lego games are like the Sports Direct of digital stores, plus they're a lot of fun for all the family as they'll usually sneak a few jokes in there that'll fly over the heads of the young ones for the older players to enjoy. 

The only drawback I can see with the switch is that there's a LOT of shovelware in the eShop. I'd definitely keep a phone handy to check a review if you're not sure. 

Animal Crossing New Horizons could be one to look out for, especially with the massive update coming in January. There's a lot to do, but I was certainly feeling like it was trying to appeal more to the "live service" crowd than the Animal Crossing crowd. 

The Katamari games are a lot of fun, but the character and story stuff could be a bit weird for a younger player. 

All the hidden cats/cats hiding stuff can be simple fun. There's a kid based version of Ark: Survival Evolved where you're just walking around the island looking for dinosaurs and doing some bits of fetch quests. Heck, get playing Power Wash Simulator. That flashing light and ping worms its way into your head and hooks you. 

Finally, I'd recommend Little Kitty, Big City. It's like Stray but nowhere near as harrowing. 

[RedTwoster]

4 hours ago, Jazzy G said:

The Katamari games are a lot of fun, but the character and story stuff could be a bit weird for a younger player. 

With Katamari I could see the controls being an issue for a younger player, they’re not particularly intuitive, even in the newest game which tries to simplify things slightly (or at least gives you the option to) doesn’t quite nail it in that respect.

Edited November 29, 2025 by RedTwoster

[Merzbow]

4 hours ago, Jazzy G said:

There's a lot to do, but I was certainly feeling like it was trying to appeal more to the "live service" crowd than the Animal Crossing crowd. 

Yeah that burnt me out on it, I didn't like having to wait for updates and it felt really limited compared to New Leaf which is the best of the series imo when Streetpass was a legit thing. I used to love visiting random strangers houses I'd walked past in real life.. gave you more incentive to make your own more interesting, I had a Twin Peaks themed one.

[FLips]

Been playing Baby Steps round my mate's house and it's a frustrating, infuriating nightmarish hellscape of a game that you'll pick up and immediately become annoyed at, but find yourself still trying to climb the same rock structure 2 hours later, busting a gut laughing.

It's by Bennett Foddy who did "Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy", that game where you're a bloke in a cauldron climbing a mountain with a hammer. In this you're a pathetic mid-thirties manbaby that still lives in his parent's basement and wears a onesie and you have to climb a series of mountains and obstacles using L2 and R2 to control your feet seperately.
As far as these types of individual limb controlling games go, it's one of the least frustrating because it's just your legs and not your arms as well, and you're not required to pick up and work with objects. 

If you get a laugh out of these games, it's one of the better ones and there's some really funny writing in it with NPCs desperately trying to help you as you stubbornly refuse them. Two days in a row we've went on for one quick go and wasted 4-6 hours. Absolute time sink.

[RedTwoster]

29 minutes ago, FLips said:

It's by Bennett Foddy who did "Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy", that game where you're a bloke in a cauldron climbing a mountain with a hammer.

Weirdly, I came on here to post about a different game from Bennett Foddy, Zipper on Playdate.

It’s a one-character tactical RPG. Which sounds terrible I know, but it’s weirdly brilliant. So far at least, it’s one hit kills all the way. You’re told very little, thrown into the heart of action, zipping your way around a castle, killing (or avoiding) enemies. You can move in a straight line, as far as you want, they always move when it’s not your turn. Essentially you have to plan your movements in a way that either avoids them, or kills them before they get the upper hand on you. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever played before, and not like Foddy’s other games. You get it as part of the Playdate season one pass (which you automatically get with a Playdate, be or used). It’s very, very hard so I guess that in itself fits the theme of what he does, but I’m absolutely loving it. Another great game on the Playdate.

[Jazzy G]

I saw this morning that the actual A Game About Digging A Hole, rather than all the shovelware word salad "hole digging simulator shovel pickaxe dig hole game spade 2025" knockoff games on the eShop is out on Tuesday (9th December) and is reduced to under £4 until December 30th.

[RedTwoster]

More from Twoster’s adventures with the Play date…

I completed Dig Dig Dino, probably my favourite Playdate game to date.

It’s a simple but addictive game, basically you dig up fossils using a variety of tools that you either power up or unlock as the game goes on, breaking stones and crystals and digging through the soil as you try to find every fossil and artefact in each level to construct full dinosaurs. 

It’s great fun, and gets a bit mad towards the end which I always appreciate in a game. 

Going by the tastes of many posters on here, I strongly suspect the majority of you would really enjoy the Playdate, I’m very impressed with how fun it is.

Next game for me on this thing will be Mars After Midnight by Lucas Pope if Papers Please/Obra Dinn fame. I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s managed to do with this console.

[FLips]

Ended up with an early copy of Terminator 2D: No Fate.

Due to a number of reasons, including being a semi movie tie-in game, a 2D sidescrolling shooter and being delayed left and right for ages, it hasn’t got much traction on release. Fair play to IGN who have seemed to push it quite hard the last week or two though.

I got the Day One physical edition for £45 and it came with:

Full game on disc (not a download code)
Reversable sleeve
A cloth poster
A collectible coin
A glossy full colour game manual

First off the game comes with it’s own smaller manual so the extra one you get is totally different and quite honestly fantastic. Full of exactly what you want in a retro style manual; enemies, level hints, controls, full colour pictures and tips and gameplay secrets. It’s very well done.

The game itself is exactly what it says on the tin on first playthrough, but gradually reveals there might be more to it as you play through the Story Mode.

You do the T2 story almost beat for beat, but with some more emphasis on future John Connor which is nice. As you get through though you start getting locked options such as when Sarah breaks into Dyson’s house - “Hesitate” and “Kill Dyson” or when Sarah and John have the chance to reprogramme the T-800 now it actually gives you the choice.

It also throws variety in there alongside ranks, times and scores to increase replayability. Some stages are Contra/Metal Slug style run and guns, some are motorbike chases, and there’s a couple of fantastic Sarah vs T-1000 stealth/chase levels. Thankfully the only kinda rubbish level (the one where the nude T-800 assaults a biker bar) is a one-off and doesn’t quite work as the Streets of Rage style beat em up it tries to be.

My first playthrough I finished with a B rank in 44 minutes on Normal Difficulty. Now I can go back and replay it but change those locked options to directly change the outcome and open up new paths, stages and endings. There’s an arcade mode for score chasers, boss rush mode and a few other modes I haven’t looked into yet too.

Everyone looks to have gotten their likeness in except Arnie, so there’s a fantastic authenticity to the whole thing as despite being the biggest star in it, he’s easily replaceable for the sake of a cyborg with a gun. They also got the licensed music too with plenty of new tracks and remixes.

If you want an authetic Terminator 2 classic retro style shooter with plenty of variety, solid controls, excellent soundtrack and tons of modes and replayability then I highly recommend this. There’s an argument to be made whether it’s worth £45 but that’s for the physical edition with all the trimmings so for me personally I’m thrilled with it. Digitally I imagine it’s cheaper.

A lot of love has went into this it seems and you get that vibe through your whole playthrough. It won’t get any nominations at the game awards but for retro lovers this could be a sleeper hit of the year. Sadly I think reviews might expect it to be something it’s not trying to be and lumber it with middling scores but ignore them cos it’s class.

 

Edited December 10, 2025 by FLips

[TildeGuy~!]

Finished the Zero Time Escape trilogy today (The Nonary Games and Zero Time Dilemma) - Basically Visual novels with very enjoyable escape room puzzles inbetween 

Virtues Last Reward is my pick of the bunch, the final game of the series(Zero Time Dilemma) is absolute garbage though unfortunately 

Edited December 10, 2025 by TildeGuy~!

[FLips]

Played through Terminator 2D a bit more and can confirm the various optional paths are as follows:

When you have the option to allow the T-800 to think for itself or to reprogramme it to kill Dyson, the former continues the T2 story as normal but the latter results in

Spoiler

Sarah and the T-800 killing Dyson in his house and Sarah gets arrested. You get a new police station level as Sarah but on the raid on Cyberdyne to destroy the Model-101 arm and chip, because Dyson is dead you can't get to it, so Judgement Day still happens. When you kill the T-1000 in the foundry, John feeling betrayed runs away and the T-800 is never destroyed. 
You then get a fantastic new level where you are now Sarah Connor replaying the first stage of the game you usually do as Future John, but now to rescue John who has been captured as part of the Resistance.
Because you never killed the T-800 in the foundry, he shows up to rescue you and John and you both send him back again with instructions for Sarah not to fuck it up.

If you choose for the T-800 to think for itself, you later get the option for Sarah to kill Dyson. If you don't it still plays out as normal, but if you do it results in:

Spoiler

The same outcome almost as the T-800 doing it, except this time you destroy the T-800 in the foundry as well as John running away. I was worried it was going to feel a bit like a cop-out but actually when you get to the Future Sarah final stage, it's quite harder and when you rescue John there's no T-800 to help stop him being killed, so John dies there and then and it cuts to the bad ending where judgement day happens and John is dead so Sarah can't do anything about it.

I would say having now done them all I'm slightly disappointed that there isn't more options, but the ones that are in there do lead to 2 or 3 new stages and they've put a lot of thought into the various outcomes to keep them lore-accurate which is nice.

On the unlockable modes - Arcade Mode is start to finish in one go, no saves or continues. Mother of the Future Mode is the same except it's just the Sarah Connor levels including all the optional ones. I gave that a try and died on the final boss! Gutted.
Boss Rush Mode is what it says on the tin. You also get Level Training which is nice, as replaying them for Story Mode I've found loads of secret continues, ammo types (spread, laser, homing) and alternate paths and areas so being able to do this on a level by level basis is really helpful.

So essentially what you get is a Story Mode with 3 endings and branching paths, two versions of a purist Arcade Mode, Boss Rush Mode, Practice Mode and Four Difficulties. Optional extras include a nice looking CRT filter and a enemy compendium to view all the spritework and biographies. Without spoiling anything too much too a few of the bosses borrow heavily from fan favourites from Contra and Metal Slug. Dismissing the "modern" sound and graphics, it very well easily could be a Mega Drive or SNES game and a very good one at that, and that's exactly what I wanted from it. If I had to compare it to the Terminator game backlog, it's closest to Robocop vs Terminator.

[Merzbow]

14 hours ago, TildeGuy~! said:

Finished the Zero Time Escape trilogy today (The Nonary Games and Zero Time Dilemma) - Basically Visual novels with very enjoyable escape room puzzles inbetween 

Virtues Last Reward is my pick of the bunch, the final game of the series(Zero Time Dilemma) is absolute garbage though unfortunately 

One of the best science fiction games ever written, a complete headfuck when you're trying to 100% the story and routes but so so worth it. I didn't mind ZTD but it's not a patch on it.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

I am finally back playing MODERN games after exclusively playing old Final Fantasy games for what felt like forever.

My wife took our daughter to Smyths in the middle of the working day the other week. I thought this was a bit odd. It turns out they were collecting a Nintendo Switch 2 for me for my birthday. To be honest, my wife probably just got sick of me saying I might buy one then going "nah...its just too much money" every few weeks.

I got the version that comes with Mario Kart World. 

From what I gather, this game has split opinion somewhat. I'll be honest here and say I have completely ignored 'world' and focused only on the 'Mario Kart'. I spent ages completing all the GP's on 150cc and making sure I got the *** gold trophy (I think you have to finish 1st overall but also 1st in each individual race for this?) and had an absolutely brilliant time. My character of choice is the cowboy Mario on some sort of big hog motorbike. The Italian-American Bad Ass. 

I downloaded the demo of Star Wars Outlaws and was really impressed with how that looks / runs. It passed me by on PS5/Xbox. I picked up a "physical" copy (I dont want to get down in this game key card stuff at all) for £25 and I have been chipping away at that most nights. It does feel exactly like an Assassins Creed game with a Star Wars coat of paint to me but I am fine with that. I enjoy the gameplay in the recent AC games even if I just completely block out the story. As with all Ubisoft / open world type games, there is virtually zero chance of me ever finishing this. I will enjoy it for a while longer though.

I have Metroid Prime 4 waiting for me at Christmas time and look forward to playing that and sharing some thoughts.

I am eying DK Bananza up and will almost surely play that after Metroid. 

[RedTwoster]

12 minutes ago, Ironic Indie Lad said:

From what I gather, this game has split opinion somewhat. I'll be honest here and say I have completely ignored 'world' and focused only on the 'Mario Kart'.

I like exploring the world and doing missions, I’d recommend giving it a go, I’ve enjoyed it and they’ve improved it since launch too. 

Bananza is the best game on the system, and I can’t recommend it enough. Outside of that, I really like Kirby Air Riders, although I’m well aware it won’t be for everyone.

Pokemon Legends ZA is the best Pokemon game in years, and Yooka Replaylee is a surprisingly great platformer. Once Upon a Katamari is great, and if you’ve not played Cyberpunk, the Switch 2 port is spot on.

The Switch 2 version of Breath of the Wild lifts the original game quite significantly, so I’d recommend that too if you feel like revisiting that world (or visiting it for the first time, potentially).

[Cousin Jim Bob]

I enjoyed Star Wars Outlaws, thought it was a good 8 out of 10 game.

It had some issues with stealth on certain missions, but that has been sorted out now. It got jumped on at release by a lot of those YouTube types going "OMG a woman as the main character WOKE!, where are all the light sabers ?...". Those kind of fuckwits. 

I had a lot more fun with it than the EA Jedi games.  

[JLM]

Supergiant put up an absolutely lovely bit of artwork celebrating the nominees for tonight:

 

Hades 2 is my favourite game of the year, but man what a stellar field. 

Edited December 11, 2025 by JLM