So despite being unemployed and having extra gaming time, I'm still working on The Witcher after almost two months. The nice part is that I'm on the second playthrough at the highest difficulty. I get to skip at least half the sidequests, but it's nice getting another chance to absorb more of the wonderfully-told Path of Geralt of Rivia. I've since run into discussions about how naïve people are who think this game is the best ever made, but that's just a reminder that we live in a wonderful time that there are so many opinions and valid submissions on what we think are the best gaming experiences. I remain convinced that The Witcher: Wild Hunt is as good as it gets.
I also started Doom: Eternal, which is badass, frantic and more challenging than the sum of its parts. The game plays faster than the 2016 installment, and puzzles and platforming are both not too stressful as you make your way from encounter to encounter. The Slayer gets a great arsenal and several new violent abilities. Graphically, the enemies are a bit more distinct from one another, which is something all the 3d Dooms struggled with. Only a few are challenging 1-on-1. However, you never face anything 1-on-1; each encounter will throw a few dozen enemies at you and you're switching up weapons and counting cooldowns as you whittle down the horde. The well-optimized game keeps a smooth framerate almost the whole time among the chaos, and loading times are low. Doom: Eternal is the ultimate power fantasy by making the one-man-army quite viable against literally 100 demons. There's a story that occasionally just reinforces how badass the Slayer is, and I'm cool with that.
One thing I love about this game is that the levels are easily an hour long and all feel pretty distinct. Half the collectibles are also permanent powerups, and at the end of each level you get the chance to teleport around the map so that you don't need to replay and can find shit in peace. Unfortunately, I missed the prompt about half the time, as the feature would unlock literally 2 steps away from the exit. A minor annoyance, as the setback meant I had to mission select and rip and tear again.
Multiplayer is interesting and stands out from other FPS games. It's three players: one Slayer and two stronger-tier demons that your two opponents get to control that can heal themselves and spawn more monsters. Playing the Slayer is a lot like the campaign, though experienced demons will box you in and kill you quickly. In 25 matches as the Slayer, I might have killed 25 players, but only BOTH of my opponents three times over the 75 matches. Most of the time, they kill me before I've taken either one out. It's really hard. Conversely, as just about any monster, I've usually won at least a round. The problem is that matchmaking only pairs you with someone roughly your level half the time. It takes something like 10 victories to gain a profile level, and I'm getting matched with people that are 100 levels above me. It's pretty fun, but I have one outstanding trophy that is very situational. Once I kill a monster with the BFG, which requires me to win at least one round, whittle an enemy player's health down AND aim the damn slow-moving projectile at said demon. After that, the remaining trophies are cumulative damage and stuff that doesn't require me to win; I'll have a lot more fun with the mode after that point. Update: Got it! The current thing is that a mechanic necessary to beat one of the bosses doesn't work consistently. Absolutely frustrating.
Doom: Eternal's soundtrack is awesome, full of bass and hardcore guitars and synth. Mick Gordon composed his ass off, and connects one of the only dots I thought was missing in Doom 2016. This soundtrack has a lot of musical references to the original Doom 1 and 2, with a whole lot more original tunes. I'm a fan of the idle/non-combat ambient chanting and beats that keep your adrenaline pumping while traversing platforms and walls.
One last point is that I scooped this game off eBay for $28, folks. I'm looking at the digital-only versions of the new consoles and thinking, "No *bleeping* way am I going to miss out on trading games and discount physical media." All the digital store deals are still of course available to the disc drive versions, but that $100 (PS5) or $200 (Xbox S) you're "saving" on the lesser systems could be made up in 5 used/discounted discs.
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