I’m Rob, and Here’s What I’ve Been Playing – 9/12/18

Well, it’s nearly over. 2018 is practically in the books, and I’ve not played all that many of the big releases. No Red Dead Redemption 2 for me. No God of War either. All the awards are going on, and I’m playing a few games in the run up to deciding what my favourite games of the year are. I have played some games recently, but not as many as I might have liked to seeing as I got very caught up in one game in particular. That game is…

Diablo 3

I suppose buying this on Switch was innevitable. I’ve played it through multiple times on other platforms, but now I can play Diablo 3 on the go. There is literally nothing I don’t like about that fact! So far I’ve levelled a Necromancer and a Wizard to maximum level. The Necromancer, Jim, reached the cap by playing through the campaign on Expert from level 1 due to being ridiculously overpowered compared to other classes. With you skeletons and an AI partner, even playing solo there’s little that can stop you.

I could play this for a very long time…

The Wizard reached 70 through playing Season mode, which is something I’ve really enjoyed. Plenty of challenges, tons of loot, and lots of new areas to explore, as well as the Nephelim Rifts for more content. It’s amazing how much content is in Diablo 3 considering the publishers involved! I managed to squeeze in a little time with one or two other games.

Horizon Chase Turbo

I reviewed this for the lovely Big Boss Battle, so I won’t spoil too much prior to the review being put up live. It’s an arcade racer that’s made the leap from mobile to console that reminds me a lot of Rad Racer on the NES. It’s very fast, really hard, and looks pretty. There’s a pretty good soundtrack in their too. The game is steeped in retro love and has a huge number of cars and tracks for what is a pretty simple game at its heart.

Mutant Year Zero

Apprantly this is based on a tabletop RPG, but I hadn’t heard of it prior to playing this. I’m always impressed at how often Xbox Game Pass comes along with newly released games, and this one caught my attention the moment it mentioned XCOM style combat. I do love me some XCOM.

My duck mutant is hiding on top of that slide, ready to set off an ambush.

Anyway, controlling a team of mutants, you go on an adventure through a post apocalyptic wasteland, fighting monsters and gathering supplies to survive longer. There’s a story here, and the open world exploration and approach to combat are pretty cool. There are some annoyances for me so far though. The camera doesn’t give as much freedom as I’d like, and the fast travel system is evil at times. I spawned into an area that I’d previously visited right in an enemy’s line of sight which immediately initiated combat without time for me to scout the area. Considering these enemies were significantly more powerful than me, I was a little annoyed. Still, I’m going to give this one a chance!

Danganronpa 2

It’s bonkers. Just utterly insane. I can’t say much without spoiling it, but the story in these games is just completely off the rails. I’d been putting off playing this for some time due to Danganronpa being fairly lengthy, but I finally got the sequel finished and I loved it just as much as the first entry in the series. The premise is fairly similar, with 16 school kids trapped in a location, and if one of them can murder another without being found out then they can go free.

Demonic hamster man!

You won’t be doing the murdering though, you’ll be investigating the murders as well as trying to find out why all this is happening in the first place. The trials that take place after each murder are challenging and require you to really think about the clues you’ve found, but I found the sheer number of different mini games put me off at times. Still, I’m looking forward to playing the next two games some time.

That’s pretty much it. At the time of writing I haven’t picked up Smash Bros. Ultimate, but I’m pretty sure I will very soon (I did). There are a lot of games I’ve played this year, even if I did miss some of the big name ones. I’m thinking about which games would be in my top five this year seeing as The Game Awards have got their show out of the way,so expect something like that pretty soon. For now though, what have you been playing? Do you have any ideas for your favourite games of the year? Please tell me, I always love to hear from other gamers!