What I'm Playing

Introduction

Below you'll find an ongoing and ever-growing round-up of what I'm playing, starting from the day I became a PhD student, to the day they chuck me out of the university. There will be a lot of open world RPGs here, so be warned.

Starfield

If you've played any Fallout or Elder Scrolls games, you won't be surprised to hear that Starfield is exactly the same game, using exactly the same game engine, and exactly the same controller buttons. Swap the post-nuclear wasteland or high fantasy settings for outer space, make the main protagonist a 24th century miner on Mars and...well, you know what you're getting with a game made by Bethesda studios.

Knowing what you are going to get with a Bethesda game also includes the standard 'ordinary character is destined to be the saviour of the world / galaxy' main questline, endless loading times, the near-constant worry that the game is going to crash for no reason at all, broken, incompletable side quests, and lazily carbon-copied loadouts, with abandoned bionics factories and communication relay stations replacing toxic junk yards or Disneyesque castles. These are always good places to grind for XP and find loot, but you end up feeling like you're a supporting character in Groundhog Day after clearing out your 257th cryogenics factory in a week.

Having made the game sound tedious, frustrating and completely unplayable, I have been addicted to Starfield since September 2023. It is a truly beautiful game. The narrative is genuinely well-written and interesting, with chapters and quests that have been, in turn, laugh-out-loud funny, heart breaking, tense, and gripping throughout.

I don't want to finish this first playthrough. I know that if I do, it isn't the end of the game, and I can continue roaming space for ever, but I have become so involved in this playthrough of the game, I don't want it to end.

Cyberpunk 2077

An open world RPG set in the near future where cybernetic limbs and digital downloads to the frontal cortex are normal AND we all drive flying cars? And it's got Keanu Reeves in it? Count me in!

I read a lot about Cyberpunk 2077 when it was first released back in 2020, and while I was initially intrigued and keen to play, the sheer volume of negativity around every aspect of the game - from graphics to game play to storyline to Keanu Reeves' voice acting (more on that later). In fact, if the definition of 'a total pig of a game' were to be published, an image from Cyberpunk 2077 would be added to illustrate it. This disappointed me, but with other games to play and new releases to be investigated, I all-but forgot about Cyberpunk until the end of 2022, when was removed from online games stores, given a total overhaul, and, phoenix like, became one of the best open world RPGs of its generation.

This is not a game designed for pottering-about. It's loud, scratchy, neon-bright and hyper-violent. This constant bombardment of the senses means the player cannot relax as such while playing, but on (pathetically) easy setting, they can achieve a nice buzz from wading into a fight knowing they won't need to worry about their health (or needing any of your ample supply of medikits) because they'll be able to slice everything they encounter into pieces in two seconds and two or three button-presses.

Keanu Reeves is TERRIBLE btw. Worst voice acting in a game I've ever heard, but I suspect he has leaned into its straight-to-video, over-the-top-to-shock language, violence and nudity. If he hasn't, then this is absolute cheese. But I am still loving it.

Diablo IV

The Diablo series of games has been one of my go-to franchises since the beginning of time (well, 1996, when the first one came out). Each game is identical in presentation, style, look, sound and feel: there's no freedom to explore, the quest / storylines are pedestrian at best, repetitive and cliched at worst, and each game is little more than a dungeon-crawling loot 'em up. They are loud, pompous, and present an endless array of procedurally-generated dungeons featuring the repetitive, mindless slaughter of monsters by the hundreds. There is no need for the player to consider tactics, to proceed with caution, or to take a diplomatic or stealthy approach. Instead, they simply enter an area, encounter horde after horde of pestilent, zombified creatures, and cut a swathe through them with massively overpowered weapons. The only choice the player makes is at the start of each game, when they choose which weapons these will be, via opting to play as a barbarian, archer, or spellcaster. It's mayhem. It's silly. It's also oddly therapeutic.

Diablo IV is no different, but as it has been made for next gen consoles, it's very pretty when played on an XBox X. And, as always, I play on the easiest setting there is to ensure I don't let my lack of ability prevent me from making progress. It has this odd 'power' to keep bringing me back for more, and I don't know where that pull comes from, or why. I will literally sit in front of my console, not wanting to play Diablo because it's boring and repetitive. And within 2 minutes find myself playing Diablo. Why is that?!

Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand

"Ride the sands of a timeless land and defeat legendary monsters in spectacular Action-RPG combat using devastating powers!" they said. "It's free on GAME Pass!" they said! "I'll give it half an hour and see how I get on!" I said.

Atlas Fallen is a beautiful game, and steering my character as he surfed the sand using his magic power(!) at high speed is a blast. Exploration was fun, puzzles were challenging but satisfying, and I really did try my best to finish this. And for about 20 hours it was loads of fun...until I realised that I had stopped finding it fun, and was now approaching it with dread knowing I'd be frustrated, outclassed by too many foes, and strangely bored.

I don't have the patience to learn how to master combat that requires a lot of thought, tonnes of practise, and precisely-timed pressing of specific button combinations. I like to pile in, press one button repeatedly, then wander off again in 5 seconds flat. I'm lazy, Impatient, and just not very good at lengthy and complex button combinations that have to be delivered at exactly the right moment to have any impact. Each fight is long too, with random encounters lasting a couple of minutes each and boss battles up to half an hour to complete (on the fifteenth attempt). That's my idea of gaming hell, so I gave up and deleted the game about third of the way through, as Atlas Fallen just became a frustrating, depressing, and tedious grind.

Forager

I'm not a fan of 'cosy games', though I can understand their appeal as a form of game-based therapy. I wanted to play something a little different, so gave Forager a go because it was free on Game Pass, looked like fun, and was worth a quick 10 minutes of my time.

I ended up spending about 70 hours with this 2D open world game, which is simply a never-ending blend by exploration, farming and crafting, and very similar to games such as Stardew Valley, Terraria and Zelda. I only stopped playing because I'd explored and built on every square inch of land, maxed out my character, and after those 70 hours, came to a sudden realisation that there was nothing else to do.

I will be honest - Forager has added RPG elements such as weapon crafting and combat with the occasional invading monster, and these were possibly the only things that kept me playing after I'd gathered, crafted and built pretty much everything that could be gathered, crafted and built.

Is it oxymoronic to have violence in a cosy game?

No Man's Sky

When this innovative 'sandbox in space' first came out in 2016 I bought it for my PS4 on the day of release, excited that there was finally a game where I could explore hundreds of planets, take part in interstellar dogfights, race exocraft across alien terrain, build and manage colonies, trade, fight, and learn to survive in harsh alien environments, or do none of this and simply zip around the galaxy cataloguing the local wildlife. I'd been waiting for something like this for EVER!

My first attempt lasted 20 minutes, and it was among one of the biggest disappointments and the worst games I had ever played. It was bland, difficult, infuriating and felt like a rushed release. So I forgot about its existence and provably went back to Skyrim, poorer but wiser.

Seven years on, and I noticed that No Man's Sky was on GAME Pass. Reports on the Internet made made it clear that there had been a lot of improvements and the game's development had come a long way since I first played, so I was curious and keen to look at it again.

I am so glad I did. No Man's Sky is no longer a dismal chore, but a quirky and colourful mix of Starfield and Forager. It's incredibly customisable so players can tailor their experience to their playstyle, turning off combat completely for a more 'cosy' experience, or making combat lead to permadeath. I've tweaked my settings so I am invulnerable but can still engage enemies safe in the knowledge I cannot be damaged. This works well for me, as any combat that is initiated is First Person Shooter (FPS) style only, so no melee! Mon Dieu!

And the planets available to explore and colonise are as weird as they are beautiful. I randomly landed on one planet populated by mechanical four-legged creatures that feed on the metals that form weird plant-like structures around them. One planet I discovered had no colour, so was rendered in a thousand shades of grey. One planet consisted only of glowing lilac and purple bubbles and another hosted cute alien creatures that I could ride like horses and use to carry extra stuff when I became over encumbered. I'll probably never find those planets again, but that's fine, it's part of the game's ethos, as is scanning for minerals, flora and fauna, mining for building and crafting materials or rare archaeological finds, or just wandering about to see what the player can literally or metaphorically stumble across...this is a game that can never be finished, and I have a feeling I will dip in and out of for many years. And I ask again - is it wrong that I have a need for violence in a cosy game?

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Another game I had for the PS4 and first played ten years ago, I bought the XBox One version of The Witcher 3 in CeX for £8 on a whim. I am so glad I did, because I adore this game, and it gave me the opportunity to play it for a second time, making different choices than those made in my first playthrough, so getting a different ending to Geralt of Rivia's story.

I'm not really clued-up when it comes to Witcher lore - I've not read any of the books, and while I did manage to watch three episodes of the Netflix series, and while I can see why it has such appeal (over and above Henry Cavill), it's not really for me. But I love this game. it's ribald and droll, it's great fun to explore the open world in which it's set, the combat is fluid and fun, quests never become repetitive or dull, the storyline is simple to follow and genuinely interesting, movement is fluid, the graphics are gorgeous, and I cannot wait for the newly-announced Witcher 4 to come out in the next year or so. It will be a 'must play' for me.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

Another 'it's free to play on Game Pass, so I'll give it 20 minutes because I used to LOVE watching South Park when I was younger' game, and a genre I usually try to avoid (tactical, turn-based combat), but a game I (almost) completed and really enjoyed playing. That said, now I'm old, some of the humour made me wince a bit.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole (chortle) is like playing an interactive episode of the show, and though it is a RPG, it's one of those tactical 'maps'-like strategy-type RPGs - but thankfully, it's very easy, so I only died once while playing, right near the end of the game, and at the same time as I was starting to get bored with stuffing hamsters up my butthole and using my fart powers to turn back time. South Park humour is toe curlingly funny at first, but soon becomes puerile and repetitive.

But it was fun, it made me laugh out loud (much to the annoyance of my next door neighbour's dog), and I was pleasantly surprised to find the combat quite compelling and fun (maybe because it was so easy), despite my hesitation.

Tales of Arise

On occasion I like to play Japanese RPGs, because they are just...very, very fun but very, very odd. I'm not adverse to the odd Final Fantasy game, and though I'm not generally a fan of Japanese animation, I do like Tales of Arise's anime-style graphics, get immense satisfaction from landing combat-based special moves, and didn't really mind having to practise a number of special moves and button combinations that were the best for my team of 6 avatars. It didn't take long, the learning curve was gentle, and as the game isn't too difficult, I felt none of the frustration that constantly dying and having to reload often leads to.

Tales of Arise, quite simply, is a refreshing change of pace and style for me. It isn't set in an open world so it's nice to play something that feels a little bit more self-contained. It's loud, it's garish, and it's surreal. There are fishing and owl-collecting(!) mini-games, beautifully crafted but totally impractical weapons that would be impossible to pick up let alone use in real life, totally impractical outfits, very bad voice acting, and there is probably a narrative somewhere but I've been skipping the cutscenes because watching them would only confuse me further.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

I have played through the first three Dragon Age games (Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2, and Dragon Age Inquisition) two or three times each because I bloody love them. They are all thematically similar, there is continuation of a core narrative across all three to a lesser or greater degree, and despite all having slightly different play styles and orientations, they will always be a part of one of my favourite franchises.

When the fourth game of the series: Dragon Age: the Veilguard was released at the end of 2024, buying it was, as the young people say, 'a no-brainer'. I purchased it a few days after release, and really loved the first 6 or 7 hours. The graphics are beautiful, the combat is fluid, the story (if you've played the previous games) is heartbreaking. But then I realised that it didn't 'feel' like a Dragon Age game. The blood, guts, gore, adult language and visceral nature that made these games what they were had vanished, replaced with a PG-friendly, almost Disneyfied experience.

I then made the mistake of visiting YouTube, watching a lot of VERY negative reviews, and started to believe that the game really was bad. Trying to remain objective, and in reflection, were this a standalone game, it would actually be pretty good. However, tonally, and as part of a much-beloved series, it was a big disappointment.

I completed the game, but only because I wanted to finish it and delete it from my console. I honestly think that watching those YouTube videos for some weird confirmation bias was a stupid thing to do, and marred the experience for me. From now on, I shall try to avoid these until after playing.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

As an avid fan of Tomb Raider, I was looking forward to playing this - Indiana Jones is basically Lara Croft with a bullwhip, so I was confident I'd be able to beat the game with relative ease.

The first few hours exploring the first couple of locations was some of the best fun I've had gaming in a long time. So much fun in fact, I realised I was belting out the Indiana Jones theme tune as I played, sneaking by Nazis, cracking them on the head with a saucepan or smacking a fly swatter between their legs then punching them in the face as they fell, I had a big grin on my face throughout. Climbing over rooftops, swinging from building to building with a bullwhip, discovering ancient treasures in trap-riddled tombs, solving puzzles and gathering evidence...this was a magnificent experience, with mind-blowing graphics, an interesting narrative, and some great voice acting. It was like taking part in a really good movie.

Then I got to the third level, and it all fell apart. Try as hard as I could, I just could NOT sneak my way into a Nazi-occupied weapons factory in Giza, locate an office key, infiltrate said office, locate vital information therein, and sneak out again. After many (well, 4) attempts, I managed to get the key and find the information...but I just could not get out of the building without being slaughtered by loads of German soldiers with guns. All I had was my trusty bullwhip, bad timing skills, and a candlestick to fight with. The final straw for me was when my friend, who was also playing the game, messaged me to say that the level after Egypt was "bloody hard", even though he had switched his difficulty setting from 'Normal' to 'Easy'. I was already playing at 'Easy' and having problems with the previous level. His closing statement: "There is no difference in difficulty between 'Easy' and 'Normal!'" did it for me, and I deleted the game from my console, though I haven't written off returning to it at some point to try again.

Tomb Raider 1 Remastered

29 years ago, I played and completed my first console game. No-wait a second - I managed to get through Aladdin on the Sega MegaDrive a few years before. Bloody hell. I am really getting rather old...

...Anyway, the second console game I completed was Tomb Raider on the PS1. This, along with Silent Hill, was the franchise that got me hooked on gaming. It was a game that I just sort of 'clicked with' immediately. Indeed, I really do believe that I mastered it, and was able to fly through the game in successive playthroughs like a boss. I had found a game I was genuinely really good at, and I loved every second of every playthrough.

It's now 2024, and Tomb Raider 1-3 have been remastered for next gen consoles. At under £20 for all three, I was obviously going to buy this bundle of retro gaming nostalgia, settle down, and relive the mastery of my youth. Or so I thought. And while I spent my first 20 minutes with Lara Croft running about and leaping from platform to platform with a massive smile on my face, a niggling thought started to cross my mind. Tomb Raider was suddenly a really clunky game to play, and despite remembering where all the secret rooms were, and the buttons I needed to press to make Lara swan dive, perform a handstand from a ledge, and backflip like an olympian while shooting pistols in both hands, making her do any of these was a clunky, haphazard process, and rather than flying through the game I was just running into walls.

Maybe games are just easier to 'drive' nowadays. Playing Tomb Raider in 2024 is like driving a manual car for the first time after years of driving an automatic. Youngsters today don't know how we struggled. In my day, we had to walk 35 miles to school, even if it was snowing, and we all lived on bread and dripping. As a result, after half an hour of clunky, clumsy and frustrating play, and once the initial nostalgia 'high' had worn off I had to stop.

Silent Hill 2 Remastered

Alongside Tomb Raider, the other franchise that captured my heart back when I was a young'un was Silent Hill. I'm a fan of the horror genre, but more into psychological, weird, uncanny, disturbing stuff than the out and out gore provided by slasher and torture porn fare. So I've never been interested in games like Resident Evil, or the thousands of zombie-based games out there, but I do adore the weird, oddly beautiful and unsettling premise of games like Silent Hill. It's also another in a rare series of games that I have completed, and played through again and again. And of all the Silent Hill games, Silent Hill 2 is my favourite.

The narrative that drives the game is heartbreaking, shocking, sad, and sort of horrific, and to reveal it here would ruin the game for those who haven't played it. Suffice to say, it starts with protagonist James Sunderland staring at himself in a public restroom mirror, contemplating a letter he has received from his wife Mary, asking him to join her in their favourite place - the town of Silent Hill. James immediately drives to the town to meet Mary, but the elephant in the room is that Mary died three years ago. And so the game begins as James starts to search for his wife, and I shall go no further so as not to ruin the story.

In October, Silent Hill 2 was reconstructed from the bottom up and for next generation consoles. Well, console. And the console in question is the PS5, which I do not own. Cue months of (ongoing) wanting to buy a PS5 and justify it as necessary as it's 'useful for my research', but I can't really justify spending over £500 on a console and one game, so I'm wrestling with this even as I type. I mean, my elderly Ps4 is on it's last cathodes, and I do have a lot of PS4 games I can play on a PS5, and..nope. Still can't justify it.

So, to save money, I've watched many, many hours of gameplay on YouTube, and this has not helped. In fact, this reimagining of Silent Hill 2 looks bloody magnificent, and has made my longing for a PS5 worse. Taking the "we don't need to buy a MacDonald's because we have burgers at home" approach, I dug out my old XBox 360 version of 2012's Silent Hill 2 and 3 HD Collection, and I played for a good couple of hours...but, as with Tomb Raider before it, found it frustratingly clunky to play, and just made me want to play the shiny new version even more.

The struggle is real.

EDIT: I wrote this post on the morning of the 6th January, 2025. At 8.30pm on the same day, I bought a PS5 and a copy of Silent Hill 2. I have no will power, and apparently, money to burn...

Assassin's Creed Mirage

My experience with the Assassin's Creed franchise has been with the more recent, open world games such as Odyssey and Valhalla. Mirage was promised as a 'return to the basics' game, playing more like the original series of games and less like an OWRPG. That being said, I really enjoyed this smaller, less bloated entry to the franchise.

As this is a deliberate return to the series' roots, Mirage's gameplay emphasises stealth, parkour, and narrative-focused mission; all things I would have avoided like the gaming plague even a few months ago, but I found myself enjoying each of these elements immensely as I played through a dense and vibrant ninth-century Baghdad, experiencing an authentic urban assassin experience.

But here's the thing. Ask me what Mirage was about and I'll be at a loss to tell you. Some bloke who is an assassin goes around...assassinating people. I found the story to be a bit bland and underwritten (if that's a word?), so didn't really engage with the narrative. So this was fun, I was pleased to finish it, but it's not a game I'm itching to replay anytime soon.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

I played the original Final Fantasy VII way back when it as first released, and it was a definitive moment in gaming for me - my first turn-based JRPG, and one of the first video game stories that reeled me in (and spat me out again at a certain point that all FFVII players will be familiar with). That said, I had to play through the first part of this remake trilogy for the same reasons I played Silent Hill 2's new remaster; curiosity, a genral love for all things Final Fantasy-related, and good old fashioned curiosity.

This is not the beat-for-beat repeat performances the Tomb Raider or Silent Hill updates have been (exactly the same games, with better graphics) - this is definitely, recognidsbely Final Fantasy VII, but it's so much more in yterms of gameplay, strryline, and character development. The original is being split into 3 separate remastered games, and while this may feel like a cynical cash-grab at first, this first part of the story is so mch deeper, more indtricate, more pesonal, like the original has some good ideas that these new vwrsions will exapand upon. Cracking stuff, and i''m looking forard to playing parts 2 and 3 (thought not looking forward to *THAT BIT in the story)

FFVII Crisis Core Reunion

I played FFVII Crisis Core on my PSP about 20 years ago, and the PSP and this game are still in my attic somewhere, along with many other dead consoles that I cannot bear to part with. Seeing that this had been remastered along with FFVII (Crisis Core is a prequel, and adds a lot of depth to the character of Cloud Strife, the key protagonist of FFVII), I had to see how this game looked and felt on a next-generation console.

The ending to this game is still the most affecting ending I have ever played through, and it made me cry like a baby for hours after completion. It broke my heart 20 years go, and broke it once again this year. Despite being a beat-for-beat copy of the original with better graphics and the power to run on a PS4, it was still a huge amount of fun to revisit all these years later.

As someone who tends to skip cut scenes and storylines (I'm working on this as I appreciate that I've missed out on a lot of engaging, immersive and emotive storylines over the years thanks to my impatience), I'm still not sure what the story is about, but I know it's set just before FFVII so sets the scene and serves as a sort of prequal, and features real time combat rather than the usual FF turn-based combat system. Anyway, it's not a long, unwieldy or bloated RPG as many of the games I favour tend to be, so was a lot of fun to return to (even if the ending nearly finished me off again!)

Avowed

This was a visually beautiful game, and even though it was mocked by many reviewers as a 'generic and dull action RPG' I absolutely loved it and had a huge amount of fun with this.

Not only did Avowed look gorgeous and play beautifully, the story (which I actually made an effort to engage with) was moving, and the death of one particular character was really profound and upsetting. Why do RPGs do this? It must be game designers' go-to trope for affecting the player's emotions. Develop a genuinely engaging NPC, force the player to feel for them, then kill them off. This happens in just about EVERY SINGLE RPG I've played over the past couple of years!

This game marks my ongoing development as a gamer too. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to play around with different weapon loadouts and move away from my usual tank / melee / giant Warhammer build to a mage-based character using spells as weapons and, for the first time in my years as a gamer, a blunderbus that was so much fun to use that it became my go-to weapon. Becasue I'd made these conscious decisions to broaden my playstyle, I felty really proud of myself after completing the game, so will always remember it fondly.

Ghost of Tsushima

I'm going to stick my neck out here and call this my favourite game of 2025. I don't think many games have affected me as deeply as this, despite it not being the sort of game I usually play. For a start, It's an action adventure, so not my usual genre of choice, and the setting - 13th century Japan - isn't that appealing to me, despite my love of history.

The game features a large open world which can be explored either on foot or on horseback, and is the feature that originally drew me in, as I love a bit of freedom to explore. The player controls Jin Sakai, a samurai on a quest to protect Tsushima Island during the first Mongol invasion of Japan. Jin must choose between following the warrior code to fight honourably, or by using practical but dishonourable methods of repelling the Mongols with minimal casualties. When facing enemies, the player can choose to engage in a direct confrontation using Jin's katana or to use stealth tactics to assassinate opponents. There's also a brilliant 'standoff' mini game that the player can choose to engage with (or not), which requires exacting timing to pull off, and quickly became something that I enjoyed so much, I found myself spending hours galloping around the map, looking for Mongols to assassinate. I also really enjoyed mixing Assassin's Creed-like stealth (a new one for me, as I always proclaim that I am rubbish at doing anything stealthily) with out and out violence, swapping fighting styles and stances mid-battle and feeling exhilarated at the end of every battle.

Here's an unintended consequence for you. Unlike other games, there was no opportunity to skip cutscenes, so I had no choice but to sit through every part of the story, which despite my initial lack of interest, slowly got under my skin, forcing me to realise that I have done every game I've ever played (and myself) a disservice by not engaging. Jin's story had me punching the air with joy and crying like a baby in the same gaming session, and completing the game left me feeling proud of my achievement, but not a little sad and empty - like I was grieving for something or someone I had lost. I now make an effort to engage with stories, cutscenes and narratives in every game I play as I've been missing so much. If Ghost of Tsushima had not made engaging with the story 'mandatory', I would still be skipping all story-based content, and still be missing out on so much.

Atomfall

I have always been a fan of quintessentially British culture. I grew up watching repeats of Quatermass and The Wicker Man, became totally obsessed with Sapphire and Steel when I was about 10 years old, and adored UNIT bumbling-about like a proto-Dad's Army in classic Jon Pertwee-era Doctor Who. Yes, I'm a hair's breath away from retirement and all the joys that will go with being elderly, but I'm also glad I was able to experience all of these classic films and TV shows first hand, as a young'un.

What has this got to do with Atomfall you may ask? Well, the moment I downloaded this and selected 'New Game', I felt like I'd been submerged into a game that took all of the 1970s media I've mentioned above, sprinkled in some nuclear-based Fallout shenanigans, and turned them into a game.

Atomfall is a UK post-apocalyptic survival-adventure set in an alternate 1960s England, five years after the real-life 1957 Windscale nuclear disaster, where the player awakens in a quarantine zone to uncover the truth behind a mutated, fungal threat and government cover-up, interacting with bizarre locals and cults while managing scarce resources and a rising heart rate in a retro-styled world. The game imagines the Windscale fire released something more sinister—an otherworldly organism, dubbed "Oberon," whose spores create zombie-like creatures and glowing fungi, leading to a militarized quarantine. The player is an amnesiac survivor emerging from a bunker, tasked with exploring the irradiated countryside, scavenging, crafting, fighting, and piecing together your own identity and the disaster's origin. It sits adjacently to traditional open world RPGs, but is really an interactive episode of Pertwee-era Doctor Who, with military types very similar to UNIT attempting to keep order. Being aware of this, the makers have even added a TARDIS to the game, which mysteriously dematerialises as soon as you approach it. That's a lovely touch.

So this was a very different genre for me - an action game with a small map and a single mystery to solve, where survival is more important than combat. It felt good to 'cleanse my gaming palate' with a world that isn't bloated, doesn't take 200 hours to explore or complete, and as a direct result of completing Atomfall, I binge watched the entire Jon Perwtwee era of Doccy Who on iPlayer.

'Chap with wings - 6 rounds rapid!'

Hogwarts Legacy

Disclaimer: I am not a fan of Harry Potter. I have never read the books, I have watched 3 of the movies but in the wrong order, and I simply have never had any interest in learning about kids going to magic school. The fact that JK Rowling seems to have turned to the dark side merely makes my desire to avoid all things HP stronger...

...and yet I was bored, looking for something new to play, and stumbled across Hogwart's Legacy in the PS Network catalogue so thought I'd give it a go, based purely around the fact that several of my gaming friends have played and really enjoyed it. And, to be totally honest, so did I for a week or so-the graphics are gorgeous, and it's set before the Harry Potter years, so can be enjoyed as a generic magical boarding school adventure. And I had loads of fun exploring Hogwarts and the vast open world around it, solving puzzles, using my wand as a weapon, conjuring up spell combos, playing Quidditch...until it all became a bit repetitive and boring and I reached the stage where if my avatar (who I just couldn't warm too - she was devoid of any character, warmth, or personality) said 'Expeliamus' once more I was liable to throw my PS5 out of the window. So while it was a nice diversion, and not the type of game I'd usually go for (though I am trying to broaden my gaming horizons), it got very boring very quickly, the fact that it is linked to an author I have no great love for didn't really help, and so unsurprisingly, I didnt finish it.

Oblivion Remastered

Almost 20 years ago, one of the first (if not THE first) open world RPG I played was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I spent many MANY hours exploring Tamriel, closing Oblivion Gates, hacking at Daedroth, and completing side quests by the dozen, only to get stymied quite early on in the main quest, so I gave up and stopped playing.

A few years later, buoyed by my success at finishing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim I decided to try again. This time I made it much further into the main quest, before once again getting stuck and giving up.

This year, Bethesda dropped the remastered version of Oblivion into XBox's Game Pass catalogue without fanfare. Obviously, I had to check it out to allay my nostalgia and curiosity, so relying on the maxim that 'the third time's the charm', I eagerly downloaded and installed it, determined that this time I would complete it. And I did!

This had me grinning throughout. It's always been a fabulous game, and having been given both a visual and auditory makeover, I was totally enraptured when I began the game as I always have: escaping a prison cell with Captain Picard. (Yes, this is what happens. No, I will not elaborate. Play the game yourself!)

Like Ghost of Tsushima and Avowed before it, this game marked a turning point in my gaming habits and abilities. Not only did I play the game on 'Normal' as opposed to the 'Easy', 'Casual' or 'Story' setting I always default to (admittedly, I did start the game in 'Easy' mode, but genuinely found it to be too easy, which was a pleasant surprise to me), I made a conscious effort to make my avatar of a different race (High Elf instead of Redguard), and as a light armour-wearing mage. And when I'd maxed out all of my magic skills, I decided to play with no weapons at all, using only my fists to defeat foes.

I FINALLY completed the main quest feeling slightly ashamed of myself for giving up so easily on my first two attempts (I was able to breeze through the bits that had confounded me in previous playthroughs without any issue, proving I either give up too easily or I've improved as a gamer over the years. It's likely to be a bit of both in all honesty), but really proud of myself for purposely choosing to NOT be a Warhammer-wielding, heavy armour-wearing tank.

This is a game I'm going to return to again and again. It's just gorgeous.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't a game as much as it is a playable work of art. Set in a dark fantasy Belle Époque setting, the game follows the volunteers of Expedition 33 as they set out to destroy the Paintress, a being causing the yearly Gommage, which erases those at or above an ever-decreasing age. In the game, the player controls a party of characters from a third-person perspective, exploring areas and engaging in combat. Its turn-based mechanics feature real-time aspects such as quick time events and timed actions in combat.

The graphics are just breathtaking. The music is gorgeous, and the story is haunting, heartbreaking, and sort of exhilarating at the same time. This is a genre-breaking game, but one that I sadly didn't complete. I made it to the Paintress, thinking that her defeat would mark the end of the game, and to be honest, I was sort of glad it was coming to an end (or so I thought). The turn-based boss battles had become really long and success really does rely on the player having perfect timing to parry and dodge an ever-more balletic and dramatic set of special moves. I developed a little patience as I progressed and was happy to have 3 or 4 attempts at these longer battles, and was really pleased when I stuck at them and won...but as each boss got harder, each attempt took longer, and eventually when I realised the Paintress was NOT the final boss, and there were harder (and longer) battles to come, I felt disheartened and just stopped playing.

So that's something I need to work on - I need to persevere more.

Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon

As a massive fan of The Elder Scrolls series of games, I was really looking forward to this 'Skyrimesque' OWRPG, especially as it's set in a dark fantasy reimagining of Arthurian legend, and as a Cornish woman it is my duty to be fascinated by all things Arthur Pendragon!

To Tainted Grail's story, then. A plague called the Red Death has ravaged the distant Homelands, where Arthur Pendragon led survivors to conquer Avalon, the domain of the Fore-Dwellers, ageless four-armed beings who controlled the Wyrdness, a primordial force capable of creating anything from monsters to entire domains. After many sacrifices, humanity emerged victorious, suppressing the Wyrdness using Menhir totems designed by Merlin, and establishing Kamelot. 600 years later, long after Arthur's death, the Menhirs are fading, the Wyrdness is spreading, and the Red Death returns. Those afflicted are quarantined on an offshore asylum, the game's protagonist among them. Freed by a warrior named Caradoc (that's a proper Cornish name, right there), they become bound to a piece of Arthur's powerful soul, curing their disease and allowing them to traverse the Wyrdness. Caradoc aims to destroy Arthur's soul and end the cycle of destruction, but aids the player in locating the remaining fragments of Arthur bound to his sword Excalibur, his shield, and his crown.

But here's the thing. I remember enjoying this game, I remember seeing the rugged, coastal landscapes and feeling homesick, but I remember very little else about this game. One reviewer claimed the game was 'fun but familiar' - and they couldn't have described it better. It WAS fun. I DID enjoy playing it. But I remember very little about the combat, soundtrack, or even the story. I cannot for the life of me remember the playstyle or weapon set I used, and I think that's because it all felt so much like the dozens of other OWRPGs I've played. Time for a genre change, I think.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden

With the need for a different genre came a long search of the XBox and PlayStation subscription-based gaming catalogues, and I stumbled on this game with no prior knowledge. The premise of Banishers really captured my interest. Set in the year 1695 in the haunted settlement of New Eden, North America, the story follows two protagonists: Red MacRaith, a Scottish mercenary turned ghost hunter (or 'Banisher'), and Antea Duarte: Red’s mentor and lover, a master Banisher who is fatally wounded early in the game and becomes a ghost herself. The central conflict involves the couple's quest to lift a powerful curse from the land while grappling with their own tragedy. Players must decide whether to honour their Banisher's oath and help Antea Ascend (pass on peacefully) or sacrifice living settlers to perform a dark ritual to resurrect her. So it's Ghostbusters, but set at the time of the Pilgrim Fathers. And I've been to New England (on which New Eden is based), so I was curious to see how it was represented in a game.

Ok, so this isnt really a genre change: it's still an action RPG, but unlike Tainted Grail before it, I remember every aspect of this game is glorious detal. It's weird playing a game where you now that at the end, whateve choice you make, there are going to be heartbreaking repercussions. I chose to help Antea Ascend, as the repercussions of bringing her back to life were too large, and even though this is the 'good' ending, it still hurt to see Red lose his partner for ever. So yes - a hauntingly (pun intended) beautiful game, with really well-written and rendered characters, some brilliant voice work, and genuinely fun combat and puzzles to solve. And I persevered with the numerous timed mini games present throughout because I realised I was enjoying them. Enjoying something that's timed? That's new!

Elder Scrolls Online

The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) is a long-running, massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the continent of Tamriel, roughly 1,000 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It's a game that you can play with your mates, with random players or solo (and there's no opportunity to just attack other players for shits and giggles, which is nice. Having a level 1000 tank bludgeon you to death with one hit as you're only at level 3 is horrible). That said, I'm part of a very small Guild that consists entirely of my ex-husband and me, but I usually play solo. It's a lot of fun, and because there are no skill levels (this being a MMORPG) I have been forced to play at 'normal' level, which, to be honest, is often a little bit too easy. I've been playing as a High Elf using a weapon loadout that comprises destruction and restoration staves, and, as yet, have not even been near a suit of heavy armour or my usual go-to melee weapons. Hurrah for me and my new found confidence!

I'll no doubt dip into this repeatedly between other games, so I've not finished this yet (I'm not sure you can technically 'finish' a MMORPG?) but will continue to play, as it's a lot of fun!

The Outer Worlds 2

I bought The first Outer Worlds game for my PS4 a few years ago, and have had enormous fun playing it through to completion a couple of times, so I was really looking forward to playing the follow-up. The Outer Worlds had a lot to say about capitalism, achieving self actualisation against the odds, and finding new ways to fight dissident outworlders and alien creatures, and had a bit of a Douglas Adams feel to it, making it satirical, clever, witty, and a huge amount of fun to play.

The Outer Worlds 2 attempts to continue in this vein, but I think that it falls short of the first game by a considerable distance. Playing it feels like wading through treacle - like a household chore that you've been putting off for ages because it's just so tedious. Flying to a planet and back countless times for countless fetch quests felt repetitive and tedious within a couple of hours, the characters are very one-note, and here we have proof that lightening rarely strikes in the same place twice. And while it looks great, the combat is sort of 'sparse' and limited to guns or melee weapons, and the easy level is so easy I actually had to up the level to 'normal' to make for any challenge / engagement at all.

I haven't finished the Outer Worlds 2, though I feel duty-bound to complete it, but it does feel about as inviting as having to clean windows on a rainy day or sort out the recycling. Maybe I'll leave it for a while and go back to it. Maybe I won't. Whatever I do, I'm not likely to play The Outer Worlds 3 if and when it is released, which is a shame as the first game was just so good.

*A beloved character dies and I assume the creators of Final Fantasy games just want to tear out our hearts and stomp on them, because this has happened in at least 3 of the FF games I've played over the years, and replaying them just makes it even harder. CURSE YOU SQUARE ENIX! CURSE YOU TO HELL!

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