Video Games

[AmareIsGod]

If anyone likes retro games, Shovel Knight is fantastic. Kind of a Super Mario Brothers meets Castlevania meets MegaMan. Despite it being seemingly simple, it is one of my favorite games of the last few years.

Shovel Knight is fantastic! If you're looking for another great platform that is more modern, the Ori games are fantastic and usually are on Xbox Gamepass. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is the latest. Hollow Knight is really good too.

Of course, my favorite game is Dead Cells. Once you get good at it, there's nothing like it. The game becomes an extension of your hands and reflexes when you are dealing methodic death to everything. Last I checked, I've logged about 800 hours into that game.

I never did get into Hollow Knight; I don't like the dark unsaturated art style, and the way every character is drawn with basically the same "white head with black eyes" look. It's just too drab for me. Also something about how the game feels is just off to me where I didn't like the feel of playing it.

I definitely get what you're saying regarding Hollow Knight. I played it for maybe 15 hours or so and got stuck. And many of the environments felt just as you described. Drab, dark. It's truly more of a 'dark souls' type of 2D game. Punishing and dark. I haven't returned in a few years. I shared because it gets tons of love and kudos everywhere but I agree that it's just not my kind of game. Dead Cells is far better!

[Indy]

Don't be upset early on in Dead Cells if you die.. A lot. You are working towards unlocking some of the better weapons and powerups along the way which makes subsequent runs better and easier (a combination of you just getting better and having better tools at your disposal). It's a game where the controls become an extension of your hands. The mistakes you make are totally your own. When I finally decided to try using the shields and learned about parrying, which negates the attack you receive 100% and even deflects ranged attacks, it was an entirely new game for me trying combinations of shields and weapons. That was after about 200 hours of play avoiding shields.

LOL, most of that makes me not want to play it. I want my skill at playing the game to determine if I progress, not if I grind long enough to earn better weapons/defenses.

[AmareIsGod]

Don't be upset early on in Dead Cells if you die.. A lot. You are working towards unlocking some of the better weapons and powerups along the way which makes subsequent runs better and easier (a combination of you just getting better and having better tools at your disposal). It's a game where the controls become an extension of your hands. The mistakes you make are totally your own. When I finally decided to try using the shields and learned about parrying, which negates the attack you receive 100% and even deflects ranged attacks, it was an entirely new game for me trying combinations of shields and weapons. That was after about 200 hours of play avoiding shields.

LOL, most of that makes me not want to play it. I want my skill at playing the game to determine if I progress, not if I grind long enough to earn better weapons/defenses.

That was just me not being good at 2D games initially. I'm sure that if I were to start a new game today, with no unlocks, I'd do far better. I should try that. I rather enjoy it because if it gave you the world to start, you'd be overwhelmed by the number of weapons and powerups. I feel like getting something new every now and then is exciting and incentivizes my next play getting to explore just that one unlockable instead of looking at 25 unlockables and skipping learning 20 or so of them. It kind of allows you the ability to learn and get good at that one new sword. That one new bow and arrow. It's hard to explain but it's really very satisfying to feel like you've started to master something and wreak havoc.

Also, if you enjoy Metroidvania games, it's not really much different. "Damn, I can't go this way yet until I have this ability?". Even modern Zelda games do this to an extent.

[AmareIsGod]

Decided to create a new save so I had nothing to start with. Nothing unlocked. 1st tier of difficulty. I just beat the first 3 levels and took one hit worth of damage thus far. You can definitely get far without unlocking things. I've already got blueprints for 5 unlockable items through 3 levels so they've opened up rewarding those quicker from when I first played the game several years ago.