What Ya Playing 03/02/22

What Ya Playing Wednesday??

By: Evan1Sonic. It's Wednesday, which means it's time to talk about the games you and I have played and/or enjoyed this past week. More information about where to send your submissions to be featured in the series can be found at the bottom of this post. This week I've been playing Horizon Forbidden West, Elden Ring, and I finished Triangle Strategy's demo.

Elden Ring is an open-world action-adventure RPG game by From Software. I've played the game for 13 hours so far. Despite hearing great things about some of their other titles, this is my first From Software game. I won't be talking about anything too far into the game, and I'll be keeping this article as spoiler-free as possible. My class of choice is the Samurai. His cool-looking armor and shiny katana caught my eye and made picking that class a no-brainer. Picking my starting item was a tricky choice, and in the end, I settled on the Crimson Amber Medallion. I used this item to increase my health, something that really helped early on. This game is truly a masterclass in open-world design. Everything that I saw in the distance, I could visit, and I have yet to encounter an invisible wall holding me back. The world map, while starting out small, continued to get bigger as I played. Multiple times, I would think "that's it, there can't be more of this world" only to find an entirely new region to explore. When exploring each area, I found minor dungeons, Sites of Lost Grace (checkpoints), minibosses, and far more. Each one of these discoveries rewarded me with new abilities, powers, or items that helped me in the next fight. From Software has a reputation for creating challenging games, and Elden Ring is no exception. I found each of the fights difficult, and some bosses felt downright impossible to defeat. As I progressed, each normal fight became slightly easier, but the bosses rarely gave me a free pass. Margit The Fell Omen was the trickiest boss I faced, and he feels like the first major test of your skills. After learning his patterns and mastering dodging his attacks, he fell to my blade. Defeating Margit was a great test of skill, and I have no doubt that I'll find some trickier bosses as I continue. While I could say much more about the game, I think it's best experienced if you go in somewhat blind. This game feels like a once-in-a-decade experience, and if it keeps up the incredible gameplay and continues to reward me for exploring, it will absolutely make its way into my top five favorite games of all time. Elden Ring is available on the PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Triangle Strategy is a tactical RPG strategy game from Artdink and Square Enix. I finished the free demo for this title, and I’m now much more excited about the full release. This demo begins at the start of the game and continues until the third chapter of the main story. While the game has a slow start that may continue past my stopping point, I'm liking it despite that. You play as Serenoa Wolffort, the soon-to-be lord of the kingdom of Glenbrook. The story in this game is focused on the politics of this world, something that I’m not a huge fan of. The voice acting, however, is wonderful, although sadly, the game isn’t fully voiced. While the story hasn't engaged me so far, the gameplay more than makes up for it. This gameplay appears to be structured into three modes: story mode, exploration mode, and fighting mode. During the story section of the game, you will watch cutscenes and occasionally get to make choices on what you will say next. One choice allowed me to persuade each of my companions before we all voted on where we would go next. In exploration mode, you can collect items, buy products from merchants, and speak freely to people in a small area. I liked this mode at first, but after a few hours, I found it to be too repetitive for my liking. In the fighting part of the game, you get to engage in exciting strategic battles. These battles were my favorite part of the demo, and my only complaint about them was that there weren't enough of them. While the game has a slow start, after the first few fights, I was instantly hooked. I’ve only played a few strategy games, and I’ve yet to enjoy one. Triangle Strategy, however, might just be the title that will turn me into a fan of the genre. I can't wait to play more when Triangle Strategy releases on March 4th, 2022 for the Switch.

Horizon Forbidden West is an open-world RPG action-adventure game from Guerrilla Games. I've played the game for 13 hours, completed five of the main missions, and done a handful of side activities so far. I'm loving Horizon Forbidden West and I think it's a truly incredible sequel. This is the most beautiful game I've ever played, with each area, from the scorching desert to the snow-capped mountains, looking stunning. Aloy even sweats when in a hot climate, as shown on her face. The combat is incredible, with Aloy using her bow and arrow, spear, and other powerful weapons to destroy the machines and human rebels that stand in her way. To grapple to out-of-reach ledges and glide through the skies, you use the new additions, the Pullcaster and the Glider. Both of these are great additions to the excellent exploration. My favorite part of the game is the great deal of control you have over how you play the game. You can tackle side missions, upgrade your gear, explore the open world, or complete some main missions throughout any play session. Even when in combat, you have the freedom to choose how you want to approach each encounter. You can use stealth to clear the battlefield without being seen, set traps for unwary machines, hack enemy machines to turn them friendly, or rush onto the battlefield for a more direct assault. This game is a remarkable sequel that improves on every element of its precursor. The side quests are almost as enjoyable as the main quests, something I can only say about a few games. The combat and exploration are fantastic, and the world is huge. With Elden Ring being released recently and Triangle Strategy coming soon, sadly, I don't think there's any way I'll find time to play more of Horizon Forbidden West anytime soon. If you'd like to read more about this game, you can check out my First Impressions here. Horizon Forbidden West is available on the PS4 and PS5.

I’d love to hear about what games you’ve been playing recently, so please send your submissions either to my email: elevategamesmail@gmail.com or to the What Ya Playing text channel in the Elevate Games' Discord server, which you can join here. You can either tell me just the name of a game you've been playing or a bunch of text explaining what you enjoy (or don't) about that game. I look forward to hearing about what games you've been playing. Thanks.

This has been this week's What Ya Playing Wednesday. I'll see you all in two weeks for another article about what games you and I have recently played and/or enjoyed.

Thanks for reading and Game On!!