Unpacking, Activision Blizzard, Star Wars: Eclipse | Episode 24
Join Dave and Dylan in Episode 24 of the Offshore Gamescast as they talk about Unpacking and more games!
They also talk about the Activision Blizzard ongoing allegations, Star Wars: Eclipse, Saints Row getting delayed, and the rest of the breaking news from the week.
Thanks for listening!
Game Log - #111821
Every week Dave and Dylan take some of their thoughts on the games they’ve been playing and write them out in a blog post. If you prefer reading instead of listening then this is perfect for you, enjoy!
Dylan
I’ve managed to beat a couple of games but the reality is starting to sink in: I won’t have every game beaten that I want before Game of the Year in two weeks. I’m starting to prioritize a select few, probably Lost Judgment, Lost in Random, Inscryption, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. These last couple of episodes and blogs before our season finale will end up being on the lighter side as we’re just trying to play catch up and prepare for Game of the Year.
Echo Generation
What an overall fun experience Echo Generation was, even though I think the early and mid game is stronger than the end game. It would have really benefited from having a fast travel system towards the end when you find yourself jumping around between the different areas a decent amount. Paired with the fact that a lot of the solutions to advance in the game aren’t clear means you’ll need a lot of patience or, more likely, a guide to get through to the credits. There’s certainly flaws and nitpicks to be had with Echo Generation but it sparks a hope in me that we’ll see more of these old school adventure games get made. Echo Generation proves that they still have their place in gaming and I can’t wait to see what the studio makes next.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
I got every collectible and beat the main story of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and I really don’t have anything bad to say about it. While some aspects may not have been mind blowing, every piece of the puzzle was solid and made for a fun experience.
One of the things that really stands out to me is how much fun Rift Apart made optional collectibles, especially the gold bolts. Instead of just getting a random collectible to pad out the optional parts of the game, each gold bolt unlocks a whole different thing in the game. Whether it be a new skin for your weapons, a new look for your ship, different sound and visual effects, or cheats to give you infinite health and ammo, it was always exciting to get a gold bolt and see what goodie I got from it.
The other impressive aspect to me is that combat never got boring. All of the chaos on screen while cycling through various weapons against hordes of enemies while not experiencing a single frame dropping was endless fun. The end of the game gets pretty combat heavy and a lot of the time while playing a game, I’ll tolerate it to see the main story through. I never got tired of the combat here. Every big encounter was an exciting chance to continue having fun with the different weapons you get throughout the game. At this point, Insomniac is one of my most trusted studios.
Dave
Unpacking
I’ve had my eye on this one for a decent while. Occasionally you feel the need for a relaxing slower paced experience. An added bonus was that the game was on game pass so Xbox wins another battle. Similar to walking simulators, a game like Unpacking is supposed to explain itself through storytelling and narrative but Unpacking has an interesting way of telling its story. In this game, there isn’t necessarily a story, more-so there are visual landmarks of this person’s life telling of their evolution and changes through their personal possessions. Starting with your childhood bedroom, slowly moving up to your first apartment including a room, bathroom and kitchen, and to a small house/ larger apartment and so on. Following this person’s life journey with the items they decided to take with them. Now I thought that this game allowed for more freedom but rather decided to show another person’s life. I didn’t realize that until I finished the second level I think because at the end of each level they will tell you where you put something wrong. Apparently your character didn’t leave those items there and you can not just do whatever you want to do. The point of the game is to take the items out of the box and put them in their designated overall areas but then be able to place them in the spot of your choosing only inside the designated area. I was going to throw my personal flare into it but video game handhelds are apparently not allowed to be left on the bed like some maniac parent walked into my clean unpacked room and wouldn’t let me grow up and move out without putting my video games away. GET OUT MY ROOM DAD!
The game is only about 3 hours long, I’m probably about a third of the way through and I’m not sure what else they could do to change things up. Maybe make things really sad cause that’s what games like this are good at. We will have to wait and see but as of right now there isn’t really enough to Unpack here.