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Ahoy!
So we’ve been pretty busy with a load of things these days, and not just in work. Steph’s been fueling her Great British Bake Off addiction, Jaime was away touring for a bit and Bean is still planning to tear a hole in the fabric of reality.
But somehow we’ve still managed to find time to play a few things! We totally missed posting our GOTY for 2015 (oops, but it was probably split between Splatoon, Destiny or Fallout 4) and it’s a bit early for 2016’s, so we decided a little “what are we playing just now” post was in order. Because sometimes it’s not the year’s new releases that gives you an insight into people, it’s what they go back to.
Everyone was given 100 words (and some took some more) to write down what they’ve been playing along with the type of pithy comments you can only get with a limited word count. You can read them after the jump!
Adam
It’s 2016. Who still plays video games?
Spent half of my free time improving my art skills, working on never ending projects that I promised to eventually finish. Lies. Lies to myself. The other half I spent on the list below.
Fallout 4 Destiny Deus Ex : Mankind divided Trying to be a functional adult (This one’s really hard Life is Strange Xcom 2 (Also quite hard)
Also tried to get into Overwatch but just can’t quite get into it just yet. Probably because I suck at it. Goddamnit Roadhog; go bother someone else; I’m still trying to learn the controls! Managed to play some Battlefield 1 at E3 this year so I’m pretty excited for that.
Bean
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime: This is a fantastic local co-op game, in which you fly through the galaxy together in your spaceship, juggling control of the various functions of the ship to defeat bizarre aliens, avoid various hazards and save cute little anthropomorphic animals. Recently got back into this to complete the campaign again, using some of the other ship variants.
Obliteracers: Same-screen karting with the fun powerups and game modes. Pretty fun!
TESIV Oblivion: It’s always fun trying to exploit escort quests to obtain an unstoppable army of followers. Especially when one of them is Sean Bean.
Gary
Overwatch: The newest Online Multiplayer FPS game that has really caught my interest. Definitely one to play with friends. This might be the game that could rival my hours played on Left 4 Dead 2! Game Of The Year for me so far.
Civilization V: I’ve had this game for a long time but it is only recently that I bought a PC that can actually run it well. Finally I can play Huge maps!
DOOM: A fast paced gorefest that is just so fun to play. The little throw backs to the original Doom games were a nice touch.
Graham
Gone are the days where I can sit for days at a time investing hundreds of hours into games, so this year I’ve settled for an hour here or there between either League of Legends or Fallout 4. Ever the Koei fan i was also the only person in Dundee to pick up Arslan Warriors of Legend which was a surprisingly good purchase on my part… Good Job Graham!
Grant
Video games are for losers. So as a loser myself, I have been playing a lot of Dark Souls 2 and the original Fallout. I like these games a lot as they have themes of hope in the darkest of times, such as the total collapse of a civilization, which is pretty comforting because…y’know:
Jaime
Axiom Verge: I like Metroid, so this has been great fun and really nails the alien (or even Alien?) atmosphere. Lovely aesthetic. Also lots of nods to other games, like Bionic Commando’s grapple hook!
Megaman and Bass: I also like Megaman, so been replaying this one. Bass is best.
Metroid: Zero Mission: Wasn’t kidding. I’m replaying this again after 100%-ing Fusion. Going for sub 1:45!
Puzzle and Dragons 3DS: It was cheap so yeah. The Mario one is nice with way less padding.
Pokemon Go: *shrugs*
Final Fantasy 6: I bought a Super Famicom recently, so playing this from memory!
Judy
On my list of recent games I like in 2016 are Layers of Fear and Overwatch. Layers of fear has an interesting story and Overwatch has some top notch character design.
However my favourite game I’m playing this year is the old classic Resident Evil 4 for the PS2. Even to this day it still manages to get me scared!
Peter
The Witness: You wake on an island filled with panels. Each panel has a grid. You connect the start sphere to the end to activate the panel. Do this until you reach the end. New symbols with their own rules are added as you progress to make the grids more and more awkward (but rewarding) to solve. You learn more about the island you are on, and the purpose of the game, as you proceed through the areas and solve their associated panels. It’s an excellent game for people who love puzzle solving, secret hunting, or just generally thinking.
Simon
I’m only allowed 100 words so basically: I just liked all of these
TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER As good as regular total war but with camper outfits
Tl;dr:
DIVINITY: ORIGINAL SIN The enhanced edition added extra talking cats
Tl;dr:
INSIDE Puzzles are good, story is a bunch of bollocks.
Tl;dr:
FALLOUT 4 Spent most of my time applying to the council for building permits.
Tl;dr:
THE WITCHER 3 Worth the hype
Tl;dr:
DRAGON AGE INQUISITION: TRESPASSER As a set up for DA: 4 this was amazing.
Tl;dr:
POKEMON GO Best concept, worst execution
Tl:dr:
Steph
Ratchet and Clank (2016): The original series is definitely one of the reasons why I wanted to make games. So as soon as this came out it was all I played. The graphics were stunning and as usual the gameplay mechanics were out of this world!
Overwatch: Quite a lot of us in the office play this together with friends. I’m nowhere near as high a level as a lot of them so when I get a ‘Play of the Game’ as Mercy it brings a tear to my eye! (Please protect your healers guys).
Pokémon GO: It could be 10 at night when the group chat is updated with the news of a Growlithe being ‘nearby’ and we all grab our coats and run outside phone in hand.