What We Played – Atomfall, Assassin’s Creed Shadows & Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

I’m on my travels to play a game today, which I can actually tell you about next week. So with plenty of time while waiting for and while on various modes of transportation, I’ve been playing a bunch of retro stuff on a bunch of retro handhelds, including the Retroid Pocket 5. It’s mostly been Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy 9, both of which I haven’t played for a long time, and I’m enjoying rediscovering the stories of each. Besides that, it’s been more Yakuza: Like a Dragon, some Wanderstop, and I checked out the extremely promising Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Jim has played Assassin’s Creed Shadows this week, which he says, “Definitely adds some cool refined mechanics to the series, but has way too much filler for my liking. It would be easier to overlook if the main story and characters were a lot more interesting – hopefully it’s just a case of Shadows getting off to a slow start. Either way, Ubisoft’s depiction of feudal Japan is stunning in its historical authenticity and natural beauty, supercharged by immersive weather and lighting effects. I also appreciate the various game settings on hand, allowing insta-kills with the hidden blade and switching off the guided exploration.”

Next up, Tuffcub has been playing Destiny 2. Because, of course he has, but Gamoc played Atomfall for our review and enjoyed wrapping up its British flavoured sci-fi mystery. Otherwise, he’s also been playing more AC Shadows, which he says is great! He told us, “I might need to turn the difficulty up though as stealth and combat are a bit too easy. Also played Phasmophobia, where I’m level 100 and about to prestige, it is still perhaps the single biggest surprise I’ve had in games – I didn’t think I’d like it so much at all.”

Aran has had a quieter week, just diving into his favourites in the shape of Witcher 3 and Football Manager. Tef has had more time, greatly enjoying 33 Immortals. He says, “It’s become my mindless chillout game. The playerbase feels like it’s at the stage where it can pretty easily smash through the first level and boss with ease, and I’m making my way through levelling up all the weapons and things. It really is like a bitesized version of farming an MMO raid.”

And we’ll round this week out with Steve who finished Avowed. He says it was, “Decent but felt like it dragged a little by the end. I perhaps made the combat too simple by focusing too much on two handed sword and rifle which made most fights a walkover. Sounds like pistol and grimoire is the most fun way to play.” That wasn’t all he had time for though, continuing, “I also rattled through the very silly old school shooter Slayers X and followed that up with some Mullet Madjack which is a great adrenaline-filled Crank shooter. I have carried on trying to plough through Lego Star Wars Skywalker but there is just so much to do that I’m not sure I can be bothered to 100% it – something I’ve done with every other Lego game (apart from the terrible Lego Movie 2 one). I also finished Dancing Panda and Your House for reviews which should be up next week. I’m installing Atomfall for my next big game.”

What about you? What have you played?