Geekly Review #143

Summer is under way and that usually means a drought for games, but not this year! Oh no, we’re just getting started it seems.

We Happy Few

Last week saw the release of We Happy Few on both Xbox One and Windows. It’s a game that has been on my radar for quite a while so I’ve been eagerly waiting to give it a try. It’s released in Early Access right now, which always stirs a little controversy for various reasons.

We Happy Few is a story driven survival game set in a dystopian 1960’s England, where all the residents of Wellington Wells are on Joy – a drug designed to keep everyone happy. At the moment there isn’t much of a story, in fact it’s only the prologue which we’ve already seen demoed at E3. There is also the survival side of the game to play. I’ve played for a couple of hours so far and I have to say that I’m liking what I’ve seen.

The games setting is really interesting and it looks really good. Compulsion have done a great job in creating a dilapidated town. So far it seems like there is a fair bit to do, I’ve stumbled across a number of side quests that involve performing certain tasks like collecting items or crafting items for people. The overall aim of the game is to try and escape Wellington Wells.

One thing that if find really interesting is that the world is procedural, meaning that every play through should feel different. How different though I’m not too sure right now.

I also like the fact that you have an option of choosing a permadeath play through or one where you can respawn, a lot of people don’t like permadeath so giving them the option of not having it is a great addition.

As I’ve said, I’ve not played for too long so it’s hard to really form a solid judgement, but it seems promising although given it’s early access it does feel feature light at the moment. There have been so many games that have done early access and failed but I feel like Compulsion Games will be one of the ones to deliver.

No Man’s Sky

I just want to quickly mention  No Man’s Sky. It seems that a lot of people have been getting copies of the game way, way early – I’m not really sure how, but whatever. As a result there have been multiple leaks about the game which you may or may not want to see. If you do want the check out what it’s like I suggest heading to the No Man’s Sky sub reddit, there is loads over there. If you don’t want it spoilt, then just be aware that there is a lot of stuff leaking online at the moment.

Overwatch

Yup, I’m still loving Overwatch a hell of a lot and a decided to make a video because I have so much footage recorded of it. The video is kind of satire, but mostly just a bit of fun.

 

– Will

7 Days to Die

So apparently I’m addicted to this game now. Another week and plenty more hours put into this underrated and I guess under appreciated PS4 port of the PC game 7 Days to Die. During the week I played on the private joint server that I’ve got with 2 other friends. As mentioned in Geekly Review #141 we’ve now moved to new location close to a water supply. One of our players has taken to building so made a huge extension an existing house we’ve taken as ours. He’s also pretty good at farming, so has created a farm area and started to grow crops. The other player is really high mining level, so the past few in game days we’ve hardly seen him as he’s been digging and mining himself away from our new area. I forgot to screen shot the work he’s done, but it’s a mighty impressive tunnel that’s pretty deep and is starting to run under the river by our house now. I’ve been down there putting lights up for him.

I’ve also been playing on my own single player server. I’ve built myself a house also near a river as it’s ideal having a water supply on your doorstep. I’ve started my own crops patch and have built a bridge to cross the river to the forest area. I’m situated about a 30 second run from a farm that’s got plenty of corn, but I still felt the need to grow my own. I’m also about 30 seconds for a town with a hospital, so have been on plenty of raids there. On a recent raid down south, I found the desert biome but also on track there stumbled across a library. This was the jackpot as I’ve not got schematics for wrench and hunting knife which are incredibly useful. I’ve also built my first 2 guns and now own a hunting rifle and sawn off shotgun. It’s definitely getting fun on my server now.

 

Nintendo NX – Loads of Rumours

Nintendo are due to release their next thing the NX in March. I say thing as we don’t know what to expect. Is it a handheld? Is it a console? Well if rumours are to believed that have surfaced the past week, it’ll be both. Nintendo’s mysterious NX is apparently a hybrid console that you can play on the go, then when at home sit in a docking station and play on your TV. It’s also rumoured to be less powerful than XB1 and will use cartridges. It’s all not confirmed off course, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire and these hybrid rumours have been around for a little while now. This info came from Eurogamer.

– Murr