I know October is already past halfway, but I’ve decided to play one of my old games for the next ten days, until Watchdogs Legion comes out.
I’m a typical gamer: I counted 48 hard copy titles in my collection last night, but always claim I have ‘nothing to play’. I’ve been hooked on GTA Online for around a year, before that six months of Fallout 76 had my delighted and frustrated in equal measure. I like games I can play with my brother and they both fit the bill.
When he isn’t on I’m either levelling up and pretending I’m not bothered about progression, or I’m dipping my toe into other water. I loved Days Gone, but found joy last month in playing through Far Cry 3. I still maintain Vass is the best villain in any game I’ve played and despite the passage of time, that still holds firm.
With Watchdogs, and of course Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (already on pre-order) on the horizon, I want to fill the gap between then and now with something entertaining that I may not have got the most excitement out of first time around. I’ve perused my game collection and come up with four titles that might fit the bill. I’ll put each one below and, if anyone does read this, then I might be swayed by your choices over the next couple of hours.
As an aside, it is odd writing this, knowing that the viewing figures will run into double figures at a push. Mostly, I write football stuff that picks up a few thousand each time, and yet unless it is Lincoln, I feel little attachment to my words. This is the other way around: I’m writing about something I’m really passionate about (gaming) and I’m doing it for me, not for anyone else.
Right, on with the games. Which of these four deserve a playthrough again?
Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Menace
Confession: I never completed this awesome title. I never gelled with MSG on any other console, but when I finally got onto this in early 2019, it blew me away. Sure, it’s weird at times, the mix of supernatural and eighties would be odd enough, but traversing Afghanistan looking for Kim Wilde tapes and avoiding a burning flying man proper twisted my melon. I think I ran out of patience when (spoiler alert) the enemy invaded my oil rig platform and I just couldn’t sneak efficiently enough to complete the mission. I think ten goes was enough, the disc came out and in went something a little easier on my patience. Time to try again?
Dishonored II
Dishonored was one of my favourite last-gen games, and I even played through the remastered version on the PS4. I loved the steampunk themes and the different approach to gameplay, shaking off the open-world approach for something smaller, but more finely crafted. When I played Dishonored II I did so as Corvo, rather than Emily, and due to a backlog of other titles at the time I never revisited it. I wonder, did I miss the chance to use Emily’s powers and approach things differently? Given that it has been around four years since it dropped, is this the game I should drop back into?
Mass Effect Andromeda
This is game I bought on release, genuinely excited after the opening trilogy. I loved it by the way, smashing through it at an exciting rate, mainly with a view to trading it in afterwards. I completed it, took it back to Louth Electronics (which no loner does games, boo) and was told it’s value had plummeted because it had been panned by critics. I refused to take a tenner for is having paid £40 a month earlier and since then, it has sat in my collection, a constant reminder not to buy games on release (a constantly ignored reminder, I might add). Would a second playthrough open old wounds for me?
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
I moved to Louth in June 2015 and passed my evenings sitting in front of our open fire (lit, because I could) playing this. I was also secretly blowing my smoke up the chimney, as I was still a smoker at the time, but that soon stopped when Fe came home a night early one week (long and funny story for another time). I don’t know if I ever completed this either; I know I spent far too long playing Gwent when I should have been questing, and I know I vowed to get better glasses to view the expansive, but tiny crafting and inventory interface. I have tried to play back a couple of times, not least whenever I see an article titled ‘Top PlayStation Titles You Must Revisit’ and this is top, but as yet I haven’t had the chance. Is ten days enough to get back into it?