6th September
Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve been playing. This week, predictably, we’ve been playing Hollow Knight Silksong. How could we not? It’s an historic event in video games. It broke various gaming stores. But that’s not all we’ve been playing, I promise.
What have you been playing?
Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We’ve Been Playing archive.
No Man’s Sky, PC
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Yes, yes, I’m sure Silksong will be wonderful as soon as I’m awake enough to make any meaningful progress, but for now, No Man’s Sky continues to hold me in its grip. Partly, that’s because its recent ship-building update continues to be utterly captivating (even if my creations are still nowhere near as good as this lot), but also because the excavation grind required to amass a good mix of customisation components is exactly the right kind of monotonous for those evenings when you just want to look at something pretty and disengage your brain.
As is fairly typical though, given No Man’s Sky’s absolute heap of distractions, things have taken a bit of an unanticipated turn. Instead of digging up ship bits, I’ve suddenly become obsessed with the palaeontology system I’d largely ignored when it was introduced earlier this year – and I’m now determinedly whizzing around planets unearthing prehistoric bones to add to my increasingly unwieldy collection. The brilliant bit is that acquired fossils can be assembled onto plinths, as your whims take you, meaning you can build an entire museum of strange and exotic creature exhibits to show off to your friends. And if you’ve ever wondered what it is about No Man’s Sky that scratches a particular itch for certain people, it can probably be found somewhere in the fact I’m now seriously considering building a travelling exhibition ship I can take on a cosmic tour.
-Matt
Untitled Goose Game, Switch 2
Picture this: it’s raining, it’s dark outside, and it’s getting chillier, and you’re snuggled down in a blanket while causing havoc as a mischievous goose with no remorse.
Untitled Goose Game is a game I return to periodically simply because it makes me smile. That’s it – I can’t think of a deeper reason other than it brings me sheer, unrestricted joy. Being an agent of chaos, who’s ticking off a checklist of chaos, is a great use of a gloomy night.
-Marie
Bloodborne, PS4
Johnny and Aoife take on Bloodborne.Watch on YouTube
Which is your favourite Soulsborne game? Bloodborne is certainly up there for me, which is why I decided to get the platinum trophy. This may have been an error. Where Elden Ring’s NG+ felt like a victory run that I whipped through in a few hours, Bloodborne’s equivalent is far less of the speedrun I was hoping for. I’ve found it quite frustrating, though that’s more my own impatience than anything else. Still, I’ve been dipping into that notorious Chalice Dungeon for a blood boost. You know the one – I can’t publish the name here.
-Ed
Herdlings, PC
Yes, yes, I have been playing Silksong, but earlier in the week I was playing something else: Herdlings. And I’m glad I did. I’m glad I did because I’m glad games like this exist. Arty, seemingly ungamelike experiences – in that they aren’t designed around catchy gameplay loops – that are more about evoking a feeling rather than occupying your hands.
It’s a super cute and beautiful game – a game about herding strange furry animals out of a city, into the wilderness and up a mountain. But one thought stayed with me especially, and it’s to do with the mental handshake there is between your imagination and a game when you play. If a game gives you a lot of information – if a lot is declared – then your imagination doesn’t have to come out very far to meet it. But if a game withholds a lot of detail, it encourages you to mentally reach out. And Herdlings does this.
There are no words, there’s no overt direction, nor are there any detailed customisation mechanics around managing your beasts. You can name them and clean them and pet them, and feed them, but these are one-button-press kind of things, with no associated gauges to fill. Mostly, these animals, they’re just there – you don’t know what they’re thinking or what they are. So you imagine it. You imagine personalities and stories for them – reasons why you found them in the way you did. Your imagination leaps forward. And together – you and the game – write a story.
It’s, gently, very powerful stuff.
-Bertie
Hollow Knight Silksong, PC
Watch on YouTube
I’m Skonged up to my gills at the moment and will remain with Hornet on the brain until I hit credits or die, or both. The game seems pretty darn good so far – I’ve knocked down plenty of bosses and am currently at that phase where you go back through prior zones and clear out every nook and cranny. Having just got my wall jump, I’ve discovered fresh horrors to throw myself against. Yay!
-Connor
Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express, Switch 2
In anticipation of Silksong, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s DLC, I have been hesitant to start another ‘big game’. Instead I have been dipping into various demos on Switch 2. Most recently I tried the demo for Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express, from Microids Studio Lyon. I’ve always been partial to a murder mystery, and I still enjoy Christie’s books and the David Suchet adaptations that pop up on ITV3 from time to time. So how about playing through one of her most iconic stories?
This was only a demo so I can’t speak for the full game, but it actually wasn’t too bad (I won’t lie: I am surprised to be saying this – I went in with very low expectations). It is a bit boring – the puzzles in the demo were easy to the point where I don’t think you can call them puzzles at all. But visually it was a nice representation of the Orient Express, which I went on for my honeymoon, by the way, so I have fond memories. I’m pleased to say no one was killed when I was on board.
Will I play the full game? No, probably not. But thanks to a warm feeling of nostalgia, Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express was a pleasant enough way to spend an evening.
-Victoria
Football Manager 24, PC
More easy-breazy (read: low effort) stuff from me during another busy week where personal time for gaming’s at a minimum. At the moment I’m running a save called “Amorim’s United but good”, where I restrict myself to the beleaguered Ruben Amorim’s formation, play through a scenario as close to last season as possible (thanks to a few community data mods) but treat the transfer windows and finer points of tactics within the 3-4-2-1 formation as my own. And I’m not saying I’m a genius or anything but we’re seven points clear at the top, with 10 games to go. Call me, Sir Jim. Call me.
-Chris
Hollow Knight Silksong, Xbox
Yes, it’s only been out since Thursday PM, but that night alone I sunk about seven hours into Silksong. It’s a very me game. I love Metroidvanias (and I’m of the controversial opinion that most modern ones are better than the originals – sorry Konami and Nintendo!) and this new Team Cherry effort is so up my street it’s absurd. The musical direction – both aurally and in the fact the whole world seems designed around bells and sound – speaks to me on a level a lot of games fail to. I really hope the next few days of play are as magical as these opening hours.
-Dom
Fantasy Football, real life!
I was once at a World of Tanks event in Russia where the online behemoth announced Dolph Lundgren, Swedish action star, as the new face of its marketing campaign. Even pushing 60, Lundgren was an imposing figure. You can see how he killed Apollo Creed. In an excruciating press conference, one excited fan stood up and asked him if he played The Sims. He didn’t know what The Sims was, so an even more painful 60 seconds passed as it was explained to him what The Sims was. In a very Ivan Drago drawl, Dolph replied, monotone: “I prefer real life.”
Anyway, in the vein of Dolph, it’d be wrong to not acknowledge that the primary thing I’ve been playing over the last week involves no traditional gaming – NFL Fantasy Football. Last week that took the form of our fantasy draft, and this week is the start of the actual season where the real game begins, and I’ll spend Saturday fretting about my team and Sunday evening watching their performance. With all its stats and numbers, playing NFL Fantasy genuinely reminds me of some of my favourite role-playing games – it’s a numbers game, in the end. That’s probably why it appeals so much to my RPG–pilled brain.
– Alex
