materwelonz
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June 2023 Channel Update – Getting My Bearings Back
🕑 Added 2023-06-08 17:55:26 +0000 UTCHi everyoneeee,
I’m back from vacation! I hope you’ve been well!!
I had a nice 2 weeks away from the PC and whew did I need that “detox” lol. In doing the whole channel thing, it’s so easy to fall into the hamster wheel routine and lose sight of all else. However I did find myself constantly thinking about what to play next lol, so I’m glad to get back into it again!
There’ve been about 5 million finished series & first looks since the last update post so this’ll be a long one!
TL;DR
- Finished: Resident Evil 4 Remake, Dragon Age 2, Horizon Burning Shores
- Ongoing: DREDGE
- Upcoming: Miles Morales? Dragon Age Inquisition should be soon-ish too. The rest of the year looks so packed I don’t even know where to start
Finished Stuff Since Last Update
Resident Evil 4 Remake (26 parts): Fantastic beginning to end! The older game design threw me in for a loop at first but by the end it was really fun. One thing I found interesting was how RE4R has some extremely gamey aspects (e.g. stick gems into decorations to sell for money) in a era where we generally hold realism & immersion in high regard, but it didn’t detract from the experience. I’ll be keeping tabs on future RE remakes & older REs I haven’t played for sure. (I think I def enjoyed this because outside of one area it wasn’t really that scary though lol, don’t come asking me about RE7 😂)
Dragon Age 2 (70 parts): Yes it’s obvious many corners have been cut in production, but overall I still found Hawke’s story plenty engaging. TBH it’s a miracle how this game was made in 18 months. More on the timing for Dragon Age Inquisition below!
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores DLC (16 parts): Graphically fantastic as always & it’s a nice chance to get to use more endgame abilities from the base game. Story-wise it was also enjoyable if not a bit by the book. There are some interesting (spoilery) implications for both Aloy’s growth and the overall narrative that probably make this a must-play before Horizon 3.
We also had first looks of:
The Last Case of Benedict Fox: A side-scrolling platformer metroidvania of a detective solving one last murder case. The Tim Burton-esque art style looks great but I think the narrative needs some work. I don’t think the story setup is well conveyed without having read the Steam store blurb beforehand.
The Invincible (demo): A (loose?) adaptation of the novel of the same name by Polish writer Stanisław Lem. We play as an amnesiac astrobiologist, awaking on an alien planet and Really Weird Things are happening with the others in her crew. Kind of like a sci-fi Firewatch! Intriguing although it could use some optimization (the game felt very “heavy” and just not nice to control).
Redfall: A first-person, vampire-themed looter shooter with immersive sim elements. I checked out this to see what all the reviews were on about and yeah it’s unfortunately not very memorable. It feels like an attempt at mass appeal while Arkane’s strengths and talents lie elsewhere. But I also get their signature stuff (Prey, Dishonored) haven’t been commercial hits, and that’s maybe why they needed to change things up. It’s a tough spot to be in and I can only hope they find their footing.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie: DON’T NOD’s newest visual novel-esque title with a woman with the ability to peek into the future, caught between her own world and a dream world called Reverie. This has an interesting branching storyline system that takes a while to get the hang of (and wasn’t shown off completely in my first look) – basically you can see far into the story branches to see what the possible end outcomes of your actions are, but in getting there, you may end up 1) having to take less preferred options for more immediate choices and 2) misunderstanding what you REALLY needed to do to get to where you want to be, and end up down another path entirely.
I’m not 100% sold on this system – I think it’s supposed to convey that despite knowing the possible futures we still can’t predict what’ll really happen. In order to get this effect though, you need to consciously strategize out and commit to your future outcomes, whereas I’m more inclined to just pick my favourite immediate option and take whatever consequences that entails.
System Shock (2023): An odd remake of the 1994 original immersive sim. To be blunt: it’s just come out, but the dated mechanics make it immediately feel old. I’m somewhat interested in continuing this to experience a classic, but the (intentional?) lack of QOL upgrades seems like it’ll get tedious - some have mentioned System Shock not being handholdy with mission objectives, which I’m ok with if it’s part of the experience, but pure mechanical tedium like having to manually sort inventory/vaporize junk seems like it would get frustrating quick.
Shadows of Doubt: A procedurally generated sandbox detective sim. There are A LOT of gameplay mechanics linking together into what is essentially a logic puzzle where we search through surveillance camera footage, emails, fingerprints, shoe sizes, blood types, to fully implicate culprits. AFAIK you really can enter every room in every building on the map which is super impressive. There are some optimization issues in early access right now but the proof of concept is very promising – will be keeping tabs on this!
Amnesia: The Bunker: it’s scary ok byeeeee! (For real though: this time there’s a timed resource management layer which makes the whole thing sooo damn stressful even just playing for an hour 😭)
Current Stuff
DREDGE: A wholesome fishing adventure where absolutely nothing goes wrong 🤡 I can see the gameplay loop getting monotonous because the limited ship space means trips to & from ports need to be veeery frequent, but so far it’s been a fun time with eerie Lovecraftian under (over?) tones.
Upcoming Stuff
I know a lot of people’s first question is gonna be Dragon Age Inquisition. I’m eager to get to it too, but it’s definitely gonna be a 100+ parter so I want to fit in shorter things first. Aside from DREDGE I was thinking of Miles Morales since I’d really like to get to that before Spider-Man 2 in autumn. (I do expect to start DAI sometime this summer, so it won’t be a multiyear wait or anything.)
Other stuff I’m paying attention to in the next bit:
June:
- 22nd - Final Fantasy XVI
- 30th - Ghost Trick
July:
- 12th - Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
- 27th - The Expanse: A Telltale Series
Autumn onward is even more crazy packed – just off the top of my head there’s Alan Wake 2, MGS Master Collection, Spider-Man 2… exciting times, but also wondering when cloning technology is going to catch up so I can play all of these for sure!!!
Feel free to let me know any questions/suggestions/comments/what you’re up to lately (in games, or just real life)!! Thanks for sticking around, and have a great start to your summer ☀️
Welonz
Comments
Materwelonz
I have this on my list somewhere - thanks for the suggestion!
Materwelonz
I haven't started it yet - just looked into the modding! Thanks for the heads up -the looting animations etc are also other mods that have been recommended to me, will definitely be sure to check those ones out!
Phoenix51291
Hi welonz, can you play Call of the Sea sometime? It's a puzzle adventure game that came out two or three years ago, and it has a pretty cool story. It's short and sweet, shouldn't be more than five or six episodes, and the puzzles are fun and creative. I think you'd enjoy and the channel will appreciate
Daniel Hanley
Hey Welonz, good to see you planning to start DA:I soon -- the end of DA2 got me kind of excited to watch it again. Though I might have preferred the main plotlines in the first two over the whole Inquisition thing, DA:I does stand out in many positive ways, and I think you'll enjoy exploring the enormously detailed maps, though many complained about the size of the world Looks like you started already? But this is one game I modded more than the others due to various annoyances. The looting animations were the worst and had to go; my playthrough would have been like twice as long if I had kept them in. I also installed the mod that increases the scanning area for consistency with previous Dragon Ages. Lastly -- and this isn't normally something I do, since I want to respect the artistic vision of the game designers -- I used some Reshade to tone down the saturation and add some sharpness, and I think this greatly improved the look and feel of the game. The art design was way too colorful, cheerful, blurry for the usually dark and edgy setting of Thedas.
Red Kimmie
<3
PsychologicalDream
Oh yeah Alan wake 2 I'll be ready for that I should beat the 1st before I watch the 2nd
Ciri Knockoff
There is a demo for Ghost Trick as well btw! Might be good for a "first look"
Materwelonz
I'm aware of it but the lots of reading makes it pretty prohibitive to record. Maybe during less busy times!
Marek Walkowiak
Was wondering if you had looked at Citizen Sleeper. Around 10h, loots of reading, and a wonderful, immersive atmosphere. Got nominated for a few narrative awards, too.
Materwelonz
Yup I think I'll check out the demo very soon!
Seo Park
What a packed update and I've been eagerly waiting for your thoughts on you're most recent first looks. As for upcoming potential let's plays. While you're already planning on trying out ff16, it seems that the demo just came out and outside of graphical issues it's getting a lot of attention. Maybe you'd be interested to try it out given that it's a prologue that can be continued in the main game on launch. Either way exciting stuff in the horizon and much love for things to come!
Dragonhunter
Really enjoyed your RE4 playthrough! The only thing I'd like to suggest is "there is no game: wrong dimension" how long to beat lists it at 6 hours if you find the time for it. It's a cool little puzzle game with alot of 4th wall breaking stuff.
Ciri Knockoff
Ohhh I cannot wait for Ghost Trick! This will truly be a dream come true lmao. Dredge has been really fun so far, your upload-rate for it is so fast, I'm practically binging the episodes.
diving_cactus
Glad to hear you had a nice vacation! Another entry for the endless list of games: Fall of Porcupine (night in the woods-inspired 2d platformer adventure) is coming out june 15th, might be worth checking out.
Materwelonz
Aww thank you, and I hope you enjoy let's playing too!! 💛
Materwelonz
Aw that's right!! I hope you are keeping warm ❄️ Not inherently against older games, but with the crazy amount of stuff releasing all the time usually I need a reason to go back - usually that would be remaster/remake/a related game is coming out and I want to catch up on everything before.
Materwelonz
Hey that does look pretty cool, I'll make a note of it!!
Materwelonz
Hahah this is one of those ones where whether you're coming in fresh or a returning player really affects how you see it!!
Materwelonz
Ooo I did see the prologue demo thing come out for this, would love to check it out time permitting!
Dave
Oxenfree my beloved, huge thanks for considering it!
Marissa HV
Hi Welonz! I actually started Let's Playing myself recently, and I wanted to tell you that you are one of my biggest inspirations! I got Harmony: The Fall of Reverie as soon as it released and I'm thinking of playing it on my channel - that choice-consequence system does sound overly ambitious to say the least, but I'm still very intrigued by it and am interested to see how it works in practice! (Not to mention music by Lena Raine - I was sold immediately). I'm currently deep in your backlog, having my first ever Final Fantasy experience with your playthrough of the VII Remake - it's a goofier game than I expected but still a very fun time!
C L
Glad you had a good break! We are in winter now (Aus), always great to wind down with some Welonz gameplays. RE7 is still a game I can't even WATCH someone else play. This year is indeed stacked with games, excited for FFXVI, would you ever be interested in playing any of the older ones from PS1/PS2? Also, just caught up/catching up with your Cyberpunk/Death stranding playthroughs.
Blue72
Two weeks off sounds so nice! I'm glad you got to relax and unwind for a bit. I'm loving Dredge so far, and all of these first looks lately have been really fun to watch. The Invincible in particular though really piqued my interest. I just really, really love that art style. I'm hesitant to recommend anything with all you've already got going on, but I think Killer Frequency looks right up your alley.
Rachel Alexander
It's a little funny reading the System Shock impressions there since when I tried the demo I immediately thought they added a ton of QOL compared to the original having played it a few years ago. lol
Suaffle
Geez it’s kind of a blessing that Silksong is getting delayed amidst all the games coming out this year. I’ve been paying attention to the Alone in the Dark game coming out in October, it’s by the writer of Soma and kinda like Resident evil? Idk looks promising!
Berlen Alberto
OMG Ghost trick is there! I am sooo excited!
TCBD
I'm excited to see Ghost Trick getting a PC release. The original is a bit of a forgotten gem made by the same team that made Ace Attorney. It has similar stylized characters and wacky humor.
Ravindu Ratnayake
Hope you had a great holiday and welcome back. Playing through the diablo 4 story would be cool
Jeffrey Hardy Quah
Yeah I’m hesitant to even suggest other games to check out because this year is just STACKED. Too many new games, too little time!
