Tomi on 29/8/2025 at 22:39
Quote Posted by henke
Thanks for the Mafia write-up Tomi. I'd imagine that shooting/stealth/driving systems pretty much are the same as in Mafia 3/DE? Also sounds like the campaign structure is that same as in DE where it just cuts between missions instead of being connected by open world bits. Surely there'll be a Free Roam mode unlocked once the story is done tho?
Yeah, it's pretty similar to Mafia 3, although I can't remember stealth being
that overpowered in Mafia 3. The campaign structure is even more compact in The Old Country - there may be like a three minute drive/ride in between missions (and you can even skip it altogether if you like) but that's it. Of course, you
can go for a longer ride if you like, but there's really not much to do.
As for the Free Roam mode, I must say that I'm a bit confused. I thought that there is no such thing
yet, because I saw this announcement by Hangar 13 the other day that said that a Free Ride mode will be arriving in the coming months. But I just found out that there
is supposed to be a Free Roam mode too buried somewhere in the game menus. Apparently there's not much to do in it either, whereas the Free Roam mode should have all sorts of new activities. :)
Tomi on 29/8/2025 at 23:25
I've been playing
The Rogue Prince of Persia that just came out the other day. It's another 2D Prince of Persia game, and I must say that my first impressions of it weren't good at all. I thought that it looked downright ugly and the controls felt clumsy as hell in the beginning. I'm glad that I persisted though and didn't give up, because once I got past that barrier of awkwardness, I got addicted to it. :D It's actually pretty good, and I kinda even like the art style now!
RoguePoP has all the roguelite mechanics that we've seen in a thousand other roguelite games before, but with a nice PoP feel to it. The wall running and dashing and all sorts of acrobatics, plus of course the combat, feel quite smooth once you get the hang of it all. For a roguelite it's a fairly easy game, but I think that's just refreshing for a change. The boss fights in RoguePoP are certainly challenging enough for me - I've died a bunch of times, but I've also managed to beat some bosses on the first try! Imagine that! Compare that to the boss fights in all those other soulslikes and roguelites (etc) where you have to spend an hour just to memorize the basic attack patterns, and when you finally manage to beat the boss, the goddamn thing respawns and comes back at you with a full health bar and even a more annoying set of attacks. I'm happy to report that there's none of that bullshit in RoguePoP - I genuinely felt that I was progressing after every death, and that's why it's one of my favourite action games this year.
Inline Image:
https://img.xboxachievements.com/images/monthly_2024_04/screenshots/11081/rogue_prince_of_persia_1_95177f66-957d-4737-9118-a1b1c33e024f.jpgSulphur on 30/8/2025 at 03:35
I haven't played RoguePoP myself, but I've been paying attention to it, and what I do know is that its soundtrack is a banger. It's Persian trap with a healthy dose of genre-hopping, and some serious vibe. Also the two vocal tracks are standouts, and at least one of them has the perfect title:
[video=youtube;-opoeVEkltA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-opoeVEkltA[/video]
henke on 31/8/2025 at 08:19
That new PoP is in PS+, but I've never been able to get into roguelite platformers, despite liking roguelites and platformers.
Last week I've mostly been playing The Crew: Motorfest. The previous games had good open worlds but weak driving physics, this one is kinda the inverse. The driving model has been significantly improved, but the world is contained to Oahu and Maui. The islands look pretty and are quite varied, but tropical settings don't do much for me. The motorbikes handle nicely too, but planes and boats are a tad... boring. The whole structure of the game has been molded in the shape of the Forza Horizons. Unlocking new cars and expanding your garage is as delicious as in those games. Overall tho, the vehicle handling and just about everything else is a notch below what the Horizons accomplished, so I'd really only recommend this if you've already exhausted those games and are looking for something new.
Also played the first hour of Sifu today. It is cool as heck but also it feels heavy on the parrying and I suck at parrying. After the first chapter I'm age 36. Not sure if I should switch to easy mode or just give up.
Jason Moyer on 31/8/2025 at 09:20
The fact that "Rogue Prince Of Perisa" has "rogue" in its name makes me want to kill myself. Not even kidding, I'm so sick of procedural generation replacing "games designed by game designers who are passionate about the design of games". At this point why have we not just gone full machine learning and let *handjob motions* AI "design" everything for us.
henke on 31/8/2025 at 15:11
Well please don't kill yourself Jason but proc gen still requires a whole lot of game design. A lot of programming, tweaking and testing to make sure it actually turns into a compelling experience, and I can think of lots of games that just wouldn't be the same without it. FTL. Desert Golfing. Worms. Invisible Inc. Minecraft. Tons more. And don't conflate it with AI dammit, that's got nothing to do with it. If I'm getting snippy it's cause my current game uses proc gen for world generation, so I don't wanna hear its good name being besmirched like this!
Jason Moyer on 31/8/2025 at 15:49
Man, now even my favorite Finnish doujin studio is using procgen? I'm done with videogames *forever*
Thirith on 1/9/2025 at 09:44
How close is Rogue Prince of Persia to Dead Cells, the developer's previous game? The videos I've seen make it look quite close - not quite a reskin, but also not miles away from it. However, reading about wall running and acrobatics make it sound like there's definitely more Princely DNA in the game than I thought at first.
Also, my replay of Hollow Knight, which was supposed to be more casual than anything, has now resulted in me putting Dying Light 2 on hold for good while I'm taking my return visit to Hallownest takes precedence. Half-remembering a lot about the game - plot strands, map design, shortcuts - actually makes it easier for me to take these in more consciously than in my first and second playthrough, which I'm enjoying a lot. It's also interesting how well the game splits the difference between guiding the player and giving them freedom: I'm about eight hours into my replay and I've yet to even set foot in Deepnest, which in previous playthroughs I got too much earlier, and to traumatic effect. Shudder.
Aja on 1/9/2025 at 21:40
Yeah, Hollow Knight is so damn good. I'm playing it every chance I get. Somehow it feels easier and less frustrating than before, and I think I'm enjoying it more.
Proc gen is fine as long as the developer's hand is obvious in creating a sense of flow and progress for the player althoughI admit the only proc gen game I ever loved was Hades. I tried to get into Dead Cells but found the level design boring.
Renault on 2/9/2025 at 04:17
Overall I'm not a big fan of proc gen, I like handcrafted places, but it depends on the game and genre. I have hundred of hours in Don't Starve, and I can tell you that game would be really boring if it was the same exact layout every time.
