X-Box Developer Direct 2024

This Developer Direct was a nice little surprise so I thought I’d share my thoughts on it. First of all, doing a show that is a combination of gameplay footage alongside dev interviews and insights into the ongoing development process is nice. I like it. We need more stuff like this. Those peeks behind the scenes are neat.

But what about the games shown? Avowed is a game I really want to like but I hate to say it, I thought the overall presentation here wasn’t great. Or, at least, it simply wasn’t as good as the others I’ll be discussing. For one, the gameplay footage seemed low resolution and washed out. But I did later see some other footage that was much sharper and in better quality.

The environments look fantastic – particularly the lighting. The combat seems . . . fine? Is that enough? I’d say yes, if they nail the story and characters. Because for me, Avowed will not live and die on its visuals or its combat, but on how good the story and characters are. Because the last Obsidian game I played – The Outer Worlds – was . . . well, let’s just say I wasn’t a fan.

The problem with this Direct was that it didn’t really give me a good sense of the story, world or characters. I know it’s based in the Pillars of Eternity universe, but I’ve not played those. I think I have them on Epic though, so maybe I should give them a spin if I can find the time. So I’m kind of on the fence with Avowed. I’d guess I’d say I’m cautiously optimistic.

And then we have Hellblade 2 which is one of the best looking games I’ve seen. This presentation was easily the best with a short, but fairly comprehensive look at the game and behind the scenes insights. I thought the first Hellblade was fantastic so I’m really looking forward to the sequel.

I’ve seen some disappointment that it’s not a more ‘expansive’ game and I do get that to a degree, but overall, I think if Hellblade 2 can offer the same level of engaging story the original did, whilst also improving upon the flaws of the original – puzzles, enemy variety and combat depth – then it really could be something very special. I guess my only reservation is that I never really saw Hellblade as a game that needed a sequel, but what I’ve seen so far of Hellblade 2 has won me over.

And finally we have Indiana Jones and the Great Circle which, given the developers, I fully expected to be in first person and yet a lot of other people seem surprised? Disappointed, even? I think it’s because people just think an Indiana Jones game would have to be third person. It would have to be like Tomb Raider or Uncharted because that’s just how those games are so how could it be anything different?

Thank f**k it’s not, is all I can say. I’ve played those games and I want something new. And the trailer for this looked great. I think what really impressed me was the tone. They really captured that classic Indiana Jones tone of adventure, wit, action, danger and excitement. It’s something that the more recent films just didn’t capture at all. I guess I’m still a little wary because I wasn’t a fan of The New Order – I know I’m in the minority on that one – but this looks really good.

Overall, 2024 is shaping up to be a great year for X-Box or Xbox (?) as I keep seeing it written now? When did that happen? Or was it always written like that?! Am I going insane?! I don’t own an X-Box though but thankfully Microsoft put everything on PC day 1 and if these games turn out as good as I hope I’ll be happy to pay.

Now Playing: The Last of Us

What can I say about The Last of Us that hasn’t already been said? Originally released in 2013, The Last of Us has since had two re-releases – a remastered edition in 2014, and the Part 1 edition in 2022, which was then ported to PC in 2023 to coincide with the release of the TV adaptation. There’s been so many reviews, so many forty-seven hour YouTube analysis videos that what more can I add to the discussion?

My opinion, I guess? But my opinion of The Last of Us isn’t really going to buck the general trend. I guess I wouldn’t say the game is a ‘masterpiece’ like some claim. But it is pretty f**king great. I was planning on playing this PC version prior to watching the TV show, but for whatever reason Sony decided to completely botch the port of one of their flagship titles. Good job.

As a result, I watched the TV show before finally picking up and playing the now (somewhat) patched PC version. So can I say that this version is now pretty much fixed? Mostly, I guess. I didn’t have any crashes, and only one bug – when Joel decided to phase through a wall. Performance was okay but I think that was my system brute forcing it and I still encountered some odd stuttering at times.

So – great game, shoddy port. Shame. Fortunately, The Last of Us is such a great game that I’m willing to live with a few rough edges. The story and the characters of TLOU are what make the game so fantastic. I was already fairly familiar with the story purely through video game cultural osmosis or whatever you want to call it before I watched the TV show and having now watched the show (twice – because it’s also really f**king good) I was even more familiar.

And yet, I still thoroughly enjoyed playing the game from beginning to end and genuinely found every story beat and emotional moment just as engaging despite knowing exactly what was coming. That’s a testament to the writing, the acting and the near perfect pacing. I say ‘near perfect’ because the one weak aspect of TLOU is the too frequent ‘carry a ladder/plank, push a pallet/dumpster or boost people up a ledge’ moments.

I must admit, I wasn’t expecting that much from the combat, but it’s actually pretty fun. There’s a real sense of danger to it thanks to the limited supplies. You always feel like you’re just about to run out during every encounter so you’re always trying to make every shot count. You’re always on the edge. The game balances your available resources so well meaning every encounter can be tense and exciting but never unfair.

They’re also surprisingly punishing, even on the default difficulty. If you f**k up you can get killed pretty damn easily. Of course, those moments when you do f**k up and have to improvise on the fly but somehow come out on top are all the more satisfying. There’s a realistic brutality to combat that makes every hit and shot feel impactful.

And I’m also surprised to say that some of the best encounters in the game aren’t against the infected, but the human enemies who actually utilise cover and know how to flank – they caught me napping on numerous occasions.

Between combat you’ll explore the environments and resupply, upgrade your gear and get ready for the next fight. There are also some really fun ‘chase’ sequences with the infected and I wish we had more moments like those in the TV adaptation – the infected don’t feature quite so heavily there.

Visually, this version looks nice enough but clearly there’s a limit to how far you can push a now 10 year old game. The music is great, but you already knew that.

Overall, The Last of Us Part 1 on PC is a shoddy port of a fantastic game but not shoddy enough for me not to recommend it if it’s the only way you can play it. Because you should play it. It’s a fantastic game with engaging gameplay (aside from the ladder stuff) a great story, great characters and I enjoyed it so much I played it through twice in a row. I don’t do that very often. There you go, now you don’t need to watch another seventeen hour YouTube video to tell you what you already know.

9/10

Steam Winter Sale: Damage Report

I feel like I buy less and less each sale every year. It used to be quite exciting when you’d see a game at 50% off, but these days you realise the game is still over 30 quid even with the discount. There also wasn’t too much I was that interested in picking up. So here’s what I bought, and what I got free (or purchased!) over on Epic –

Baldur’s Gate 3 because how could I not play this overwhelmingly praised ‘masterpiece’ even though I’m not typically a fan of turned based or dice roll combat?

Sable is a game I got for free on Epic some time ago and reviewed on this blog – but I loved it so much, I decided to pick it up on Steam to play again.

I replayed Jedi: Fallen Order last year in anticipation of its sequel Jedi: Survivor, but given how poorly rated the PC port was, I didn’t get it at release. And, to be honest, I was still wary of picking it up in this sale because people say it’s still pretty broken. But it’s a game I really want to play so I’ll give it a shot.

Meanwhile, over on Epic I finally purchased my first game – Alan Wake 2. How could I not when the game was 20% off plus another 33% with a voucher. It was too good a deal not to take, especially when the game may never come to Steam.

I also claimed Guardians of the Galaxy, Ghostrunner and Ghostwire Tokyo for free which are all games I’ve thought about picking up but wasn’t totally convinced by. But free? Why not? I also claimed the new Saints Row but I don’t know if I’m actually bothered about playing it, and The Outer Worlds complete edition, which I know I won’t play because I found that game to be so f**king boring. I guess I thought I might want to try it again in the future? Probably not.

Now Playing: Phantom Liberty (DLC)

Phantom Liberty is the first and likely the last expansion for Cyberpunk 2077. It introduces a new area of Night City to explore – Dogtown – in the previously content sparse district of Pacifica. This new area is a fantastic addition, feeling very much like a city within a city. Geographically, the area is actually rather small, but it’s incredibly layered and dense with more verticality and open buildings than in any other area of Night City. There’s a lot to see, discover and explore with the addition of new side quests and gigs.

Although there’s not an abundance of new side content, what’s here is all of excellent quality and the gigs offer far more elaborate missions than those in the base game, with more character interactions and more choices on how they can be resolved. There’s also new ‘radiant’ style content in the form of airdrops and vehicle contracts.

But the heart of Phantom Liberty is a new main quest – a spy thriller involving secret agents, a missing President and a possible new way to save V from the Relic. I’d estimate it takes about 10 hours to complete, although that will depend upon your chosen difficulty and style of play. This new quest integrates into the base game during Act 2 and I’d say it integrates quite well – but certainly not perfectly.

I say ‘not perfectly’ because once you begin PL you’re essentially locked out of all other content for the next few hours, and even once you can travel freely between Dogtown and the rest of Night City, the nature of the quest line and how it’s entirely centred within Dogtown means you’ll likely want to keep everything else on hold until you’ve completed it.

It does result in a kind of separation between the PL content and the rest of the game. There are attempts to connect it through a few quest specific dialogue options related to base game content you may or may not have completed but on the whole, PL does feel pretty disconnected from everything else that’s going on – and even more so if you don’t unlock the new base game ending option.

Overall though, I thought the main quest in PL was pretty damn fantastic. It has its slow moments, but there’s a nice variety of quests, new mechanics, new locations and new characters to love and hate. And if there is one aspect of the base game that is perfectly incorporated into PL, it’s your interactions with Johnny Silverhand which add some welcome new dimensions to your evolving relationship.

Although there is an option to skip straight to Phantom Liberty, I chose to begin a fresh save from the very beginning of 2077 in order to experience the new 2.0 update. And this review is as much about 2.0 as it is PL because of how extensively it alters the base and expansion experience.

First of all – the visuals. With the new path tracing option, 2077 is easily one of the best looking games I’ve ever played. And thanks to the new DLSS 3.5 option, I can run the game at a minimum of 90 FPS at 1440p even in the busiest sections. The only downside to 3.5 right now is the very noticeable ‘ghosting’ effect on character faces at a distance, but I’m sure that’s something that will improve over time, just as it did with earlier DLSS releases.

The game now structures and unlocks its side content and gigs in a fashion that’s much better paced alongside the main content. What 2.0 does best though is revamp the attributes, skills and cyberware systems. I didn’t think these were bad prior to 2.0, but this update makes everything feel far more cohesive. Attributes are now more clearly defined in terms of what kind of play style you want to build. Cyberware is now more of a balancing act that also links more directly to the skills you’ve chosen and the abilities you’ve unlocked.

Previously, the skills in Cyberpunk were more generalised, but now each attribute has specific skill chains for particular weapon types and styles of play. And because skill points can be redistributed at will, you’re free to experiment as you please. Armour is also now linked to cyberware, so clothing options are entirely cosmetic. It’s a good change, but it’s a little weird how the game still rates clothing on a tiered scale. I guess that was kept in for crafting reasons.

Overall, 2.0 is an impressive update that makes Cyberpunk 2077 feel ‘complete’ in a way that it never quite did before. I already thought 2077 was excellent, and now it’s even better. In some ways it’s a shame that Phantom Liberty will likely be the last major piece of content released for the game but I do think it would be hard to integrate yet more ‘main’ style content into what is already a pretty packed experience. PL pulls its off, but only just.

As much as I love the game, by the time I’d wrapped up PL and most of the other core content, I was starting to burn out and had to take a break. You can have too much of a good thing, and PL does bloat the 2077 experience a little more than I’d like. If CDPR tried to add even more into the mix, I think it might prove extremely detrimental to the whole.

So if this is the end for 2077, it’s still a hell of a way to go out with a bang and PL clearly shows the developers have learnt a lot from the critical feedback of 2077 which hopefully means any potential Cyberpunk sequel can really hit the ground running on Day 1.

Phantom Liberty – 8/10

Cyberpunk 2077 (2.0) + Phantom Liberty – 9/10