Suggest me some video games!
(I don't like first-person shooters, and I don't like photorealistic graphics - the latter is because I actually enjoy letting my imagination do a bit of the work, archaic as that might seem today.)
@datarama Two I've played recently is Tangle Tower and The Mermaid Mask.
Apart from just being good point-and-click mysteries, they sport some of the best character animation work I've ever seen in... I was going to say a point-and-click game, but I think maybe in any game, really?
I think I have to reach for Later Alligator to find anything really comparable.
@datarama I can't help, I just rescued my Pokemon Platinum saves from my dead 3DS and moved them to the regular DS. When I want a modern high def experience I pay Balatro.
This coming from a guy with a giant Shodan tattoo? So, er, I should follow your responses because I'd play something new that wasn't meh.
@datarama I was hooked on Mini Metro. Bit.Trip Runner 2 was challenging.
I also like Lode Runners (emulators, remakes)... I played the original Prince of Persia recently...
Also huge Jeff Minter fan, both emulated and some of his modern stuff is good. (I met him in person last year!!)
One of my favourite recentish games is Research and Destroy. It has a load of one star reviews because it is a first-person shooter, but it doesn’t behave like one. It’s also really fun in couch coop mode (we’ve played it all the way through four or five times now).
You control a squad of three scientists trying to eliminate the supernatural things that have taken over the world (including having to science the remains to learn more and unlock new weapons). Each game starts with a random set of three of the nine available weapons and you have to unlock and upgrade the rest.
Each of the enemies is different. Ghosts can go through walls. The vampire assassin is hard to see and teleports after she attacks you. There’s a demon that sneaks up on one member of the party. Only they can see it, but they can’t hurt it, so you need to work out where it is and have someone else shoot it. There’s a troll that turns to stone after taking damage and you have to kill it by shooting the crystal growths off it when it is in stone form. And so on. Each enemy needs different tactics and different weapons work better against them.
Although it is first person and a shooter, it’s turn based. Time doesn’t elapse unless you’re moving or aiming and elapses within a turn independently for each scientist. You can look around as each person or in a floating camera mode without elapsing time (though you can’t see the vampire assassin in floating camera mode), so you can plan your turn carefully before actually running and shooting. Each scientist gets 30s of time per turn, so you generally take about two minutes per turn (the supernaturals are computer controlled and so move faster in their turn).
All of the reviews say some variant of ‘How dare these people do something original and fun!’
@datarama If you haven’t played Inscryption yet, it’s an incredibly well designed mindfuck of a game.
@david_chisnall @datarama
A turn based supernatural science FPS? Sign me up!
@booksquirrel Gecko Gods is unbeatable for character animation. :P
@datarama I want to mention Jack Jeanne too, still probably my favorite VN. I wouldn't necessarily expect you to play it, if only because it was released for an annoyingly restricted set of platforms: Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS.
But it's interesting to mention in this context, because while it shows almost no character animation, it has some of the best (japanese) voice acting I've ever heard in a VN.
It's a VN about theatre acting, and everything they're struggling with during practice is played out in their voices, and you can hear them change and develop as everything is coming together for the actual plays. And the plays themselves are really good! And all the character development! I don't think I can explain it all well enough to do it justice here.
Also it's a dating sim, so if you ever do play it you can say that you've played a dating sim! Not entirely sure if this is a plus for you :D
@booksquirrel Hey, we played the bizarre subgame in Later Alligator where the game morphed into a dating sim!
@booksquirrel (and it still cracks me up that you played it as Igor Simulator! :D )