I recently played through half life 2 again on my Xbox and it is still an excellent game. Visually a little dated now of course but compelling nonetheless.
QLOC and Ninja Theory recently released a next gen update to Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice which I finished yesterday. It looks great on the Xbox Series X with ray tracing etc, and is a really enjoyable story.
I used to love unreal tournament and Quake 3 Arena in my PC gaming days. Now I find myself playing the single player story based games a lot more. I get my butt kicked in online gaming!
+1 on portal, goat games for sure. the cake is a lie.
i’ve made the foray into VR and valve is the place to be… i use both the ecosystem (steam) and the hardware (index). half-life:alyx is an excellent big ticket vr game. it’s a whole new approach to the franchise and well-worth exploring. vr is intense, much more involving than playing on a flat screen. i’ve played several apps/games that have basically blown me away. it’s very immersive and i don’t play much more than 3-4 hours at a time, but that’s a pretty healthy limit anyway! the tech can be overwhelming on a sensory input level, not hurtful, but … you are basically repurposing your ‘input’ devices (read: eyes/ears) for the time you’re in vr. they work the same way, but every pixel is controlled and part of a constructed environment… which is not what we’re used to. it’s… yeah, intense. great. but intense. not the least part of which being the sound, which in some titles is stellar, and on the valve index anyway, reproduced brilliantly.
edit:
during the first year of pandemic i also spent a LARGE amount of time in red dead redemption 2 online (on a normal 2d screen) and i just LOVE this game. the people online can be a pain, but it’s part of the experience. the graphics, the sound, the acting, the WORLD… is incredible. even all these years after release… it still blows me away. sometimes i go in just to walk (ride) around and explore. actually, a LOT of times to be honest. it’s that amazing. the engine, gameplay mechanics, environmental procedurals, lighting… it’s all off the charts good. it’s not exactly photorealistic, but it FEELS very real. very satisfying. i’m sorta done with it now, it takes a back seat development-wise to GTA at rockstar, which i’m not into, so… the gameplay has sort of languished. which is fine. i got to level 130 or so… and… that’s enough. but. i still yearn to be in the world. i recommend a visit for sure.
I feel the same about The Secret World. When released it crushed graphic cards at the highest resolution. So much, detail. For example, there is a book store in the first town, which you can go and read a book cover through the window. Nothing is pointing for a user to do that, I just was fascinated by the level of detail everywhere. Then, in later chapters, you actually meet the author.
I play on Linux so I’m a heavy user of Steam Proton and its forks. I’ve been pretty impressed on what can be run in this fashion - in 2021 I’ve completed Doom Eternal and its DLC alongside Dishonored 2 in preparation for Deathloop (which I’m not convinced will run for me at the moment).
I’m currently partway through Prey which is one of the best games I’ve ever played (I remember System Shock and its a similar experience). I agree that Arkane are one of the best studios on the planet.
I’m also big on strategy games and luckily my two favourites Stellaris and Crusader Kings III have native Linux support so I can stay open source while committing both mediaeval and interstellar atrocities.
I really enjoyed Prey and only finished this year. System Shock 2 was a great game too.
I trying to play on Linux where I can, but I have games installed on Linux and Windows, to cover both eventualities.
I play Civ and total war games, but my most played game is Football Manager, hundreds of hours a year into that series. Although I suppose its a sim really.
I am a more or less casual gamer since the mid 80s. The PC is my main gaming plattform but I also own a PS4. I like RPGs and FPS. Sometimes RTS games catch my attention.
On the PS4 I just finished “God Of War (2018)” which I liked quite much.
On the PC I was playing the Halo Master Chief Collection (played everything except Halo 4 and Halo Reach up to know). I also enjoyed “XCOM - Enemy Unknown” after finally understanding the game mechanics and strategies. Before that I spent a massive amount of time with Witcher 3: Wild Hunt which I consider to be one of the best RPGs ever.
I bought consoles for the kids, chiefly each xBox. I have had all Playstations and enjoyed PS VR for the PS4. I chiefly used them to play movies with very rare gaming.
My son-in-law was hypervigilent and got a PS5 for himself and two for us. We joined PS Plus. Again, not avid gamers but we enjoy Until Dawn, Resident Evil 7, Man from Medan and another is coming this month from the Until Dawn people. We like those branching decision games. We carry an external SSD between the consoles. We are very unskilled, but it is a departure and relaxing.
I am playing through Borderlands 3 on the PS5, pretty good, but I find it quite light-weight. I do keep coming back to the Dark Souls series as they feel like they have more substance, I am currently playing through DS3 again on the PC on Linux, for the umteenth time - different build though.
On a related note, I also snagged a 3080 graphics cards, so I have been enjoying the enhanced version of Metro Exodus (with the RTX bells and whistles), I am playing that on the PC and on Windows. It looks amazing and I like the Metro storyline, I have read the books too.
I am also playing the latest Doom, but, for the first time, I am finding it a bit much - perhaps I am getting old!! Too much effort is required which is pretty difficult after a day at work. It does play well though, in short blasts.
And on a final note, I have recently built a second PC to run HQ Player, I have donated my i7 9700 CPU over to that machine and added a i9 9900 to my gaming machine although I have not noticed much difference if I am honest.
First person shooters are a no,no for me, 15 mins in and I feel like puking, motion sickness.
My most played game is World of Tanks, game count up to to close to 40,000
Playing it since 2013
I already owned the Special Edition which was upgraded automatically to AE. Unfortunately this broke some of the mods… got it up and running after a day of reinstalling everything… didn’t even have time to look into the new content of the AE…
