I wouldn’t really call it a favorite, but I definitely ended up liking Nier: Automata pretty well after bouncing off it really hard when trying it at a friend’s house. That’s because we were trying from the start, and it starts with a section that’s about half an hour long, with only two checkpoints, vastly harder than anything else in the game, and in which the first half isn’t even the same genre as the rest of the game. It’s seriously one of the worst intros I can think of in a video game. The rest of the game is, y’know, a pretty good third-person action RPG.
Doom Eternal
I played on easy mode, over the course of months slogged my way through over half the game getting wrecked and HATING it. And then one day…
Everything clicked. I got into the Fun Zone or Flow State or whatever it’s called. And I have been obsessed ever since. I play at least a few minutes almost every night for years now. I can now comfortably beat it in the hardest difficulty, including the DLC. And it never stops being so much fun and satisfying!
Are the DLC any good? I wanted to do more ripping and tearing but the ratings on Steam are pretty bad.
Yes! I’ve played through all of the DLC many times. Here’s some details:
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There’s “only” six new stages… but these stages are MASSIVE. It did not feel short to me.
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When it was first released, the difficulty was insane. But the developers realized this and shortly released a patch to remove or tone down many of the ridiculous parts. For reference, I don’t consider myself a particularly good player (for example, I can’t do the quick swap move between two weapons) but I can beat the DLC on the hardest difficulty, Nightmare Mode.
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The arenas / fights are the reason I play Doom Eternal, and the DLC gave me exactly what I wanted, more fights! Some of the fights feel like “throw more enemies at the player”, which is what I wanted. Some of the fights feel veeeery gimmicky, but even those grew on me. For example, a room where like 20 Pinky Demons spawn in. It’s surprisingly fun, challenging, and a nice change of pace.
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There’s two new boss fights. The first one is VERY HARD, but I enjoy the concept. It’s very video gamey, and provides some clever new challenges. The second, final boss fight… I was dreading it on Nightmare, but not only was it not too challenging for me, I actually kind of enjoyed it! Many people whine about the final boss fight. To me, it seems obvious the developers were going for a “Super Marauder” type of fight. Like, the regular Marauder battles but MORE. I thought it was clever!
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There’s new suit upgrades. I don’t really use them, but they’re fun to collect.
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The one new weapon, the Hammer, is SO MUCH FUN.
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The new enemies… I love to hate them. Once again, they’re pretty gimmicky, but I enjoy the new challenge. My biggest complaint is any enemies that make you wait to attack them. Like, I’ve got these amazing weapons but the game won’t let me use them on this enemy. 😒😒😒
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I love the new music! I love the music in the main game too, but I find myself humming the music from the DLC more.
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THE ENVIRONMENTS. So, I got the DLC on sale for $10 each, and I was worried about wasting my money. UNTIL I STARTED STAGE ONE, took one look (I hadn’t even moved yet) and immediately thought, this was worth it. Love the new stage themes / environments.
…I think that’s everything. Let me know if you have any more questions! Yes, the DLC was well worth it to me, and I still enjoy replaying it.
Just finished the DLC now and for 12 bucks I think the DLCs are excellent. Not worth 40 bucks but definitely worth it on sale.
The double marauder encounters were incredibly annoying and some platform/puzzle segments were pretty unclear on where you need to go. Having to add lengthy cutscenes so people know where to go sort of should tell them that the level design is not up to spec. But overall very enjoyable, thanks for the recommendation!
Thanks for following up! 🙂
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Death Stranding. As a Metal Gear fanatic, the disappointment I felt on my first attempt at playing it was immense. Only got a few hours in before writing off as just not for me. Tried again in a different frame of mind, different time in my life, and it clicked. One of my fav games of all time.
I just played it through for the first time. What an experience it was! I’ve never played a game like it before. It’s a story that will stick with me for years.
