Why did no one ever warn me that Hogwarts Legacy was this good? I borrowed this game for PlayStation 5 from my girlfriend (or rather, I stole it from her library since we live together), and it was a title I had always put off because, even though it’s the best video game dedicated to the Wizarding World, the fact that it was a rather typical open-world game held me back. What a mistake!

I’ll start by saying that the open-world genre offers very few titles that have any real originality or a genuine reason to be open-world, so this shouldn’t be seen as a major downside for the experience.

As soon as I started playing, I was immediately amazed by the incredible care the developers (a team that had only made low-impact titles until then) put into creating each environment. The Hogwarts castle is beautiful in every room, but I was truly blown away once I reached Hogsmeade. Every shop is crafted with unique detail, even though they’re mostly static and not very interactive, but who cares!

I’m really curious to explore every nook and cranny of the game map (which seems quite extensive) and to discover the quality of the main story, about which I know absolutely nothing (except that the game is set in the 19th century, well before the events of the Harry Potter saga).

Obviously, it’s a title that offers little to a player who isn’t a fan of the series, but that’s clearly not my case!

I know I have several games in progress, but fortunately, they’re all different from each other, played at different times, or with varying levels of intensity, so I just need to balance all these experiences.



Now Playing: Hogwarts Legacy - PlayStation 5

It's passed almost a week! What've I done in this time? What've I been playing? 

In normal life, nothing in particular; in my videogame journey I'm playing basically Loop Hero, Expeditions and with my girlfriend we're continuing Lego City Undercover. 

The Four Quarter's roguelike it's a really big surprise for me. I don't remember either when I took it freely from EGS, but I just want to give it a try and now I'm completely absorbed. I love the structure and the possibility you have to build your map so you can choose what type of enemies or buildings to put. You can experiment with everything and if the journey turns bad, you can always run away with all the resources when you reach the campfire. And when you have gained experience and you reach to defeat the first boss, the game gives the player more items, more resources and more depth in the gameplay. 



But this is basically the description of every roguelike, and in fact it's a genre I really like (I have countless hours on TBOI and I bought twice FTL just to play it on the iPad). 

Expeditions on the other hand, is a really chill yet challenging game. I like it because it reminds me of Death Stranding (planning the journey and dealing with rough terrain) without the grinding part of SnowRunner. I'm not playing so much because it's a young game and I want to wait for more patch that will add several bugfix or QoLs. 

Last but not least: City Undercover. We really love LEGO games (and sets), and I always want to play this game that is a funny GTA-like. Unfortunately this game really came with the one-player-only gameplay concept structure from the Wii U exclusive, because the post-coop added with the release on the other platform didn't work so well like the other LEGO games (like the absence of the dinamic camera above all). 

And that's all for this week on this endless journey! 

Hello and welcome @CloudCid! 

You are just a couple of years older than me, but the Atari and the Coleco are waaaaaay older, and I see a console army of all respect. Beside, I like your taste in videogame genre! I hope you'll like my future update on this mad journey in the vast video game world. 

Speaking of which: I tried The Callisto Protocol just to realize that my PC is really needing an upgrade. Both my GPU and CPU (gtx 1660 and ryzen 3500) are struggling with the game, and I've got to lower the graphic settings to stabilize the gameplay (to medium/low), but with no doubt this is not my way to play (fortunally I can buy the physical copy on PS5 for 10 euros). 

Just to play something on PC (and to decompress after being deluded with Yakuza 5), I installed Loop Hero (sometimes I really like roguelike games), and just a few moments ago I bought Switch Sports to play it with my girlfriend (which is very competitive, it will be madness).

I tried giving Yakuza 5 another chance, but after continuing the story for a couple of days and finishing Kiryu's part, I found myself abandoning the game once again, this time for good. I much prefer reading the plot online and maybe watching the cutscenes on YouTube.

Unfortunately I was also very disappointed with Saejima's part, which takes us back to a prison yet again. I didn't enjoy the scene where he imagines being in Tsukimino, and I liked even less the following part where the young Baba is framed in another scene that's almost ridiculous. In his confused state, Baba claims he didn't attack a prisoner, even though he's holding the weapon that was used to injure him.

As I mentioned in the previous post, these are narrative devices that I personally find extremely weak because I can't help but see them as completely forced and unrealistic, used just to create plot elements that wouldn't have been possible otherwise (or would have required a different kind of writing, one that's evidently more in-depth and less simplistic).

At this point, I think I'll move on to The Callisto Protocol, a title I know isn't perfect, but it's been available for free on the Epic Game Store since yesterday. I hope it's a game that, despite its flaws, can still offer a good ten hours of atmosphere and action.


Yakuza 5 Remstered - 15h circa - Retired

Ok, maybe the enthusiasm from my previous post has already hit a roadblock. I can't stand it when a video game with such a prominent narrative component shows weaknesses in that very aspect.

I can accept various crazy elements of this series, but I can't tolerate low-quality plot points that do nothing but insult the player.

The episode I'm talking about is the part that culminates at the end of the fourth chapter, where we rush to the Yamagasa family headquarters only to "discover" Aoyama's plan (a character I suspected from his first appearance might play the role of the villain). The part I absolutely couldn't stand is the ridiculously simplistic ploy where the villain plays the victim, which made me immediately stop the game and turn off the console. I couldn't bear the fact that two characters (Kiryu and Aizawa) remained silent when the Yamagasa family thugs intervened, thus being mistaken for the villains and allowing Aoyama to escape.

I can't even say if I'm just being overly critical, but it was a scene that made me simply exclaim "no" and seriously consider dropping the game and reading the plot summary on the relevant wiki instead.

Now Playing: Yakuza 5 Remastered - PS4 (on PS5)

After giving it some thought, I decided to start Yakuza 5. One thing I love when playing a series is seeing its evolution, and in Yakuza 5, you can clearly see a significant step forward compared to 3 and 4. The budget for the production is noticeably higher, which is evident even just from the amount of voiced dialogue compared to the previous titles (in sequences that are also less static).

It’s also nice to see the HUD style starting to resemble what would later be seen in 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2: cleaner and more minimalistic.

I admit that, unlike in the previous two games, I’m actually engaging with the side activities in this one, especially since, for the first time, you can drive vehicles! (I won’t deny that I noticed some inspiration from Initial D, even if the races don’t take place on mountain roads).

However, the downside is the immense slowness of the early stages: yesterday, I almost fell asleep in front of the TV due to the sheer amount of unimportant dialogue (mainly just to introduce you to the new mechanics and the protagonist’s new reality).

Finished this fourth (fifth) chapter as well. 22 hours and about 5% completed.

This chapter also puts a complex, intricate story full of twists and turns in the player's hands (this time with even more connections to the previous games in the series). I really liked how the stories of the four characters were tied together and intertwined in the finale.

Now I'm undecided whether to jump straight into the 5th game or to mix it up with something else, because after the horror wave, I’d like to continue with the Yakuza theme, so I can finally finish the Yakuza Remastered Collection (which I remember picking up on day one in 2019, just to play it exclusively this year, starting with Yakuza 3 in January 2024).

On my profile, I've added a few titles to the Backlog category, and I've also created a collection of titles to buy, which is open to the public. I’ll leave it here in case you want to check it out! (I don't think it includes all the titles yet; I’m updating it as I remember what's on my wishlist).


Yakuza 4 Remastered - 22h 05m - 80%

Now Playing: Yakuza 4 Remastered - PS4 (on PS5)

The Yakuza series never fails to captivate me for specific reasons. It remains a unique video game series, even today, and is the closest thing to the deep legacy of what Shenmue represented, while still maintaining a strong originality. I've been playing the series starting from episode 0, which I played a few years ago, so for me, this is the fifth episode. By now, I’m quite familiar with the key elements of the saga, yet I still can’t help but be amazed with each new chapter! This time, what surprised me was the ensemble nature of the narrative, discovering that in this Yakuza 4, we won’t be playing solely as the undisputed protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, but also as three other characters, some of whom are introduced in this very chapter!

What I always appreciate is the immense care given to the cutscenes, which always feature careful direction inspired by genre cinema, as well as the voice acting, which has few rivals in the world of video games. On top of that, what drives me wild is the plot and its ability to intertwine over the decades (in the game) and across chapters, with events and circumstances that twist together, reference each other, and generate parallel stories that are revisited and explored in depth. The only other video game series with such an interconnected story that comes to mind right now is the Metal Gear series (another saga that I highly appreciate). Are there any others?

So, this beginning (I’ve already finished the first part with Akiyama) has already left me surprised, especially the end of the first act and the direct introduction of the second and its protagonist, and I can’t help but feel an overwhelming desire to know exactly what awaits me in the next three acts and to understand if and how they will connect with each other.

And then, how can you not love the streets of Kamurocho? I adore the fact that the map is always the same because it’s a place I now recognize as a second home, navigating the streets I know like the back of my hand and already knowing how to get around without any trouble (although there are always some differences and new features in each chapter of the series), making me feel even more absorbed in the city's events and the fates of the souls that bring it to life.

Here I am with the end credit scrolling, thinking that it's not easy to talk about Amnesia: Rebirth. I finish the game in almost 9 hours and I re-played the last moments to see the alternative endings the game's offers. 

As I said in the previous post, the first hour was not so exciting: it was boring and confusing. After that the game starts to play its best cards, offering an excellent experience in terms of atmosphere and gameplay. 

This very aspect is typical of the Frictional Games, wanting to offer a survival horror experience based on puzzles instead of fighting monsters. You cannot defeat the enemies, and in several sections you have to hide or run from them in thrilling escaping sequences.

The puzzles are environmental ones, pushing the player to carefully watch the rooms to understand what he's got to do to keep going in the adventure. They're not at the same quality level, resulting in some puzzles being more inspired than others. 

The adventure is full of dangers and different locations, taking the plot on some road I didn't expect at all. I will not tell about the influence of this game to not risk spoiling anything of the plot or where the game will take the player. 

So: boring start but good continuance with scary sessions, good puzzles, and excellent atmosphere. That's all? Unfortunally not. 

The game slips-up at the very end, with three endings not so inspired: two of them are just too stupid, and I will talk about in the spoiler. 

The first ending I saw was that where Tasi kills the Empress with the Shadow, causing the death of herself and her baby. For what? Stopping the Vitae Factory? Wow, so martyr. 

The second was the plot-wrong one: the game starts with a premise that Tasi didn't want to give her newborn to the Empress, causing the event of the game itself. And after all of this and the death of every component of the expedition and of the village? Tasi gave the baby to the Empress and became a ghoul. Oh God, this ending was SO wrong. 

The least worst ending in the game was the third one, where we take away the child and return to Paris with the portal. Ok, I get it, but we know that the child is sick like the previous one, so we know for sure that Tasi will experience another death, resulting in basically hopelessness. 

A sour taste remains: with the Shadow from the first Amnesia game there was the chance to offer a more intricate ending or give the protagonist an ending more proper. 

My opinion anyway is positive, even more of the previous game I played. 

 

Amnesia: Rebirth - 8h 57m - 70%

 
And now what will be the next one? I think it's time to continue the Yakuza series. I've got to star the fourth one, and I think I will play like the third: focusing only on the main quest because I'm not so interested in the crazy secondary missions, even knowing it's a fundamental part of the experience (but again, I just want to play the dramatic main quest and move on). 
 

I'm glad you're giving Amnesia Rebirth a shot. I think that abandoned fortress from your last screenshot was the place that confused me the most. There were too many possible places to go and if you're directionally challenged like me, it can be a bit much. If I remember correctly, it gets better after that. I'm excited for you to see the other places the game takes you.

I thought the fort was the main location of the game because I remember the reviews talked a lot of that, but it’s just the beginning! I get your point because in fact you have to explore several locations to resolve a couple of puzzles and for now I didn’t meet other ones so big to explore.

I’m not making screenshot of the “peculiar” locations because it will be heavy spoilers for those who haven’t played the game and I didn’t imagine either!

Today I continued the game for several hours because I was so excited, and I think I will play soon also the other three Amnesia games!

After disappointment with SWtD I decide to continue to ride the horror wave.

Since Amnesia shows up in this topic I decided to give a chance to Amnesia: Rebirth and I have to confess that despite I knowing Frictional since Penumbra Overture, and I have all Amnesia games, I never finish one of them because they just scare me to the bones till I've got to quit (and I love horror games for this feeling). The only one I finished is SOMA (one of the best experiences I've ever had and a videogame everyone should play at least once).

I have to say that the first impact with Rebirth was not so good: the first hour was sooooooo boring. Too much talk and the first walk in the outer world was so confusing that my thought was to drop the game and pass on.

Fortunatly I gave the game a second chance and I continued until the fort, and here was where the game kicked in. I loved the atmosphere and the puzzles I've got to resolve to continue the adventure (the puzzles aren't too much difficult and it's easy to understand what we've got to do to resolve the situation. It's very satisfying the overall experience, also thanks to the "phisycal" gameplay where you have to move the objects you interact with.). I also love the fact that the game introduce to the enemy gradually step by step: a noise, a rapid glance, until you have to hide first and then run from it (and there's no "death" penality).

Now I'm so curious to know where the plot is taking me, because I'm in a "wtf" moment and I need to know more about where this madness is taking me.

As before here some screen!

Never would've been able to tell English isn't your first language, you're doing pretty amazing as is

As for Still Wakes The Deep, I'm a bit disappointed haha
I had my eye on it for a bit since it sounded like a cool concept with a cool atmosphere, just hoped it had the story to back it up though it still looks cool from the screenshots you provided so I'll give credit to the devs for how great they made it look

Thank you, I really appreciate it (from my side I feel my English is too artificial). 

For SWtD I can suggest playing it thanks to Game Pass or with a strong sale. Visually is very cool and there's nothing bad that can be said, but everything else is just "meh". 

Alright, I managed to beat the whole game in one day with my friend, a rare achievement. My sentiment largely echoes yours unfortunately. The game started strong but there was just so much backtracking. How could there be so much backtracking in a 5 hour game!? You would go back to the same areas over and over again and maybe the set dressing would be different as the story progresses. The controls for the QTEs are weird and would sometimes just fail for no reason. As you said, the voice acting was good but the story was largely forgettable. There were a couple chase sequences I thought were cool, and the main monster itself was great. I felt like most of the budget went towards the monster (modeling and animation mainly). I think 6.5/10 is a fair score for this.

I cannot to disagree with the opinion you share about backtracking (an oil rig is an enormous place: even metal gear solid 2 offers the "same" location without exceeding in backtracking). I feel so regretful and I hope the next TCR game will give the player a better experience. 

Uh oh, I'm starting Still Wakes the Deep with my friend today. Hopefully I have a better experience.

I'll wait for your thoughts!

A bit of a side question: do you know how's the controller support of this game? I own it and it's on my 'soon' backlog, but my gaming PC is currently hooked up to my TV and M&K is not an option for me ATM...

Steam says it has full control support, both Xbox and DualShock/Sense (sony only via usb)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1164940/Trepang2/

I've beaten all four Amnesia games. Rebirth was my favorite in the series and my favorite game I played in 2021. That's probably an unpopular opinion though, I think most people enjoyed the first game the most. If you like linear story-driven horror games, I think you'll like it.

Linear story-driven games are kind of my cozy zone: it's like reading a book or watching a movie, but in an interactive way. If Rebirth is a linear game, it's not a big problem for me, but the game has to keep high the tension and keep pushing me the thrill of being hunted or the thought I'm in danger. 

Talking about Still Wakes the Deep: this is precisely a linear story-driven horror game, but sadly it just disappointed me in what the game should have done to me. The fear, the adrenaline, the horror. None of this exists in this experience because the game is not just linear; it's foregone. 

The oil rig is beautiful, full of details that give the rig a living soul, as are the workers and their stories. But it's just a scheme, a facade that vanishes when trouble occurs, and the horror should appear. You don't empathize with other people because the game doesn't give the player the opportunity to do it, and the level design keeps using a bright yellow tone to indicate where you have to go, killing the sense of bewilderment. 

The voice acting is astonishing, tho: the game is set on the North Sea, and everyone is Scottish with their funny accent. 
The experience in general started very good, only to lose pieces at every progress you made till the very end. 


Still Wakes the Deep: 4h 25m - 65%

I'll leave here some screen made across the game. 









 
PS: English isn't my first language, and despite the fact I can read and listen without any problem, I want to write this blog also to improve my writing, trying not to use IA to write the post (just scribbr to check mistakes). Thanks to everyone for the reading and the patience!

Project_Hel is definitely a DLC worth picking up, it doesn't even really feel like as if you were playing more of the same despite being set in the same universe and the music is just as good, I will also start playing the sequel real soon as I've recently replayed both the first and its DLC. As for The Chinese Room, absolutely adore the universally hated Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs but dislike Everybody's Gone to the Rapture due to its pacing issues and what the story revealed to be about in the end, it's kinda like the Firewatch situation where the game remains consistently brilliant and keeps you on the edge, only to drop the ball with its disappointing conclusion.

If the DLC isn't just more of the same, then I think I'll definitely go back to playing it after SWTD because I really loved the overall atmosphere.

As for the Amnesia games, I admit that I know them and have played a few, but I’ve never finished one (in fact, I wanted to start with Rebirth, which I already have installed on my PC!).

As for the endings of EGTTR and Firewatch, it’s been so many years that I don’t remember them; I should take the opportunity to replay them. However, I remember the criticism of the pacing and the extreme slowness of the character in Rapture very well. If I’m not mistaken, they sped up the movements with the PC release.

Hello! I'm a bit of a lifelong gamer myself too, though obviously younger as I grew up on the Xbox, DS, and Wii. That's quite the shift from Ghostrunner to a Chinese Room game. I've only played Dear Esther from them and I ended up really enjoying it, the strongly narrative focused games are pretty interesting, I view them almost closer to a piece of art. I'm the same way with trying to alternate between different kinds games to switch it up, though I usually play entire series which makes that tough, but I try to stick to that idea as much I as I can. Anyway, I'm looking forward to checking out more of your journey!

Thank you so much and welcome! If you played and enjoyed Dear Esther, I definitely recommend at least Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture since it’s the same type of game! (Moreover, the soundtrack is truly stunning; I still listen to it from time to time today thanks to the official playlist on Spotify).

I also consider not only these narrative experiences but the video game medium itself to be an artistic expression! I really like the concept of seeing an idea or the will of the developers realized in an interactive form (and it’s no coincidence that, unfortunately, the most impactful creative expressions these days come from small teams). I also love how, on older consoles, developers had to adopt creative solutions to work around the technical limitations they faced (like the famous example of Silent Hill’s fog). Anyway, kudos to you if you can play an entire series in a row; I wanted to try that with Yakuza (I've to play the fourth one), but a lot of time always passes between one installment and the next because I need a change of pace!

I start this blog with an ending and a beginning, as I mentioned in the topic about what we're currently playing.

Today, I finished Ghostrunner, a 2020 title by the Polish team One More Level. I believe these high-paced titles are good for me occasionally because they manage to keep my attention constantly. One hit, one death. Typical of hardcore games that leave very little room for player error.

I found it amusing to read about users who approached this title as a wait for Cyberpunk 2077, only to find themselves more entertained by this game compared to CDPRJ's title (at least in its 1.0 release version).

I will definitely have to pick up the second installment that came out recently, perhaps getting the DLC for the first game first to have a more complete experience (even though I haven't played the secondary modes and am not interested in the speedrunning scene, despite the game offering a lot beyond its main adventure).

Personally, though, I don't know if I would have ever played it on console: playing it with mouse and keyboard at over 100 fps was truly adrenaline-pumping, and I think it's the best way to approach this type of game (I also played Doom and Doom: Eternal this way and found them equally exhilarating, fun, and challenging at every moment).

The game I started this afternoon, however, is Still Wakes the Deep by The Chinese Room (known for their linear and narrative experiences with great atmosphere like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and the title that popularized this genre: Dear Esther). I know it seems contradictory after mentioning the thrill of a fast-paced and adrenaline-filled experience like Ghostrunner, but I believe I've found the right balance by alternating between contrasting games and playing titles that are very different in pace and structure to avoid getting tired of similar games.

At the moment, I'm finding the adventure on the oil rig fantastic. The developers have filled every room of the structure with details, making it feel alive both before and after the disastrous events driving the story. The Scottish voice acting is also wonderful, always bringing a smile to my face with their accent. Additionally, I'm a fan of Lovecraftian horror, and this game definitely nods to the writer from Providence with some of its themes and atmospheres. HLTB reports that it takes just a few hours to finish, but that's certainly not a problem since, like with the previous game, I'm not looking for a long experience.







But here's another contradiction, as accompanying these two titles at the moment is the monumental No Man's Sky by Hello Games. Over the years, I've played and replayed it several times without ever going beyond a dozen hours per attempt. This time, I want it to be different, especially because in terms of content and visuals, the game has reached impressive heights, managing to smooth out one of the limitations of sandbox titles. In this case, the 60s and 70s sci-fi artistic direction is the driving force that pushes me forward in this relaxed-paced space adventure that allows you to literally do whatever you want in a vast universe of planets and solar systems. Maybe you focus on your base on your favorite planet, maybe you want to do some missions, go on an adventure discovering structures on the planet, try to become super rich, and much more that I haven't yet reached (like the freighters and frigates, maybe those abandoned to explore with a bit of horror tint).

For now, this is just the beginning, and I really hope to continue consistently sharing my adventures!

A lifelong gamer – that's what I consider myself to be. I've been playing video games for as long as I can remember, and they've been a part of my life through every circumstance. I've played on handheld consoles, home consoles, and computers. And I still do, even at over 33 years old, starting with the magical world of Nintendo through the GameBoy, NES, and SNES.

I'm not here to tell the story of my life, but rather to share my gaming journey through the games I play almost every day. I don't have any particular reason for doing this, I just want to share these adventures with a broad audience like this community I've recently discovered (although I've been using the site for months to keep track of what I'm playing and finishing). I've wanted to keep a diary or an open blog for a long time to share both the positive and negative emotions about the dozens and dozens of games I get my hands on.

Don't feel obligated to post, but if you have any advice, opinions, or comments, they are of course very welcome!

I finished Ghostrunner this morning (I left a review on its page here on HLTB) and now I'm starting Still Wakes the Deep. In the meantime, I restarted No Man's Sky a few days ago, and each time I play, I'm increasingly amazed by what Hello Games' title offers today (and how much I wish I could play it in VR). My backlog remains full of other titles from various genres.