PS5

After their meeting in Frozen Wilds, I never expected to see Gildun again – but when he appeared again in the first DLC for Horizon Forbidden West, The Burning Shores, what happened shocked even me. Horizon Forbidden West follows Aloy, the outcast hero of the original Horizon Zero Down, from her home in what we know today as Colorado to what we know today as California, tracking down an existential crisis that threatens all life, everywhere. In the respite between apocalypses, Aloy finds a note from Gildun talking about a delve down south, in the Burning Shores. Aloy feels she has no choice but to follow her man down south. ...

The original Tactics Ogre returns, updated and improved for a new generation. Any fan of tactical strategy games like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics should really take a look at the game that inspired them all.

Finished! My PlayStation says I spent 39 hours in the game. I was taking my time at it, too, doing all the optional content, so this isn’t a speed run. Tactics Ogre Reborn came today, though, so I just went straight for the ending, which wasn’t all that far away. I can’t say much of anything about the rest of the plot. Some of the stuff that was telegraphed from the beginning of the game happened. Some stuff that I should have expected to have happen, happened as well. About the only thing that really shocked me was how easy the final battle was. But, I was max level (30), had superior armor and weapons, and most importantly – I had finally mastered Perfect Evade on Batgirl. Having played Elden Ring this past summer, dodging the well-telegraphed attacks here was cake. ...

Gotham Knights is the perfect game for Batman fans who want an open world game with a good story.

PlayStation Plus offered Ark: Survival Evolved last spring, but I only got intrigued enough to give it a try when I saw a friend tweeting about. I just had to see what it was all about – Valheim, but with dinosaurs? The PlayStation 5 version doesn’t seem to let you connect to hosted servers, like the ones G-Portal offers. That’s where we hosted Valheim and V Rising. So I opted to just start a single player world, just to see what sort of excitement Ark held for me. ...

Star Ocean: The Divine Force is an upcoming action RPG with a flying combat drone and a focus on disabling enemies through battle effects. The demo offers a taste of the game’s fast-paced combat and linear storytelling.

For a game where AIs rule the world, I thought it would be fun to ask an AI to interview me about my experiences playing “Stray”…

I’ve finished the main plot to Elden Ring, and gotten one of the six endings. Now it’s time to go back and get my revenge on all the things I didn’t get to along the way. Oh yeah, Millicent is back! Non-Elden Ringers won’t know Millicent. Hers is one of the longest quests in the game. It begins with you finding her suffering from the Scarlet Rot and missing an arm. A nearby sorcerer (who might be a bug in disguise, who knows) calls her his daughter, the last of many, and tells of something that can stall the spread of the disease. You then meet her now and again as you help her discover who she really is, and her connection to the demigod Melania. ...

About three weeks ago, I finished the required fights up to the final fight. I then spent the time between then and now leveling and exploring all the parts I’d missed to that point, always trying to tune my build enough to push it over the edge. That plan was doomed to fail. I was about to quit this game. I told my partner today that I would finish Elden Ring this weekend, or put it away. I have other games I want to play. And then against all odds, I finished. ...

I am on the final boss fight for Elden Ring, learning how to get good enough against Radagon to still have enough resources left over for the Elden Beast. I think it’s one of the best games I’ve played in quite awhile, but I do have some issues with it. Spoilers below. Watching my boyfriend play Elden Ring, I was so very excited to get a chance to play it for myself, once he was done with it. I play a lot of action RPGs – Scarlet Nexus, Horizon Forbidden West, and so on. These aren’t “Souls”-like games that string together elaborate and punishing boss fights with a thin plot, but they do require being generally aware of what’s going on. ...