A few days ago I started Shadow Warrior 2, since they announced the third game recently, and I've been meaning to get around to this one for a while. I was kind of hesitant to try this one, even though I have had it sitting on my GOG account for ages thanks to some giveaway that happened years ago. But I had heard how this one wasn't as well received as the previous game, and had randomly generated levels and Borderlands-like looter-shooter systems. And those things are definitely there, but I'm still enjoying the game a lot regardless. The moment-to-moment is fantastic. It's fast and furious, with fluid movement and a frenetic pace. Swift and stylist, punchy and powerful. Guns feel great, as do swords, both having a visceral feeling of tearing through enemies in an excessively gratifying way. The controls feel really tight, and you have a lot of freedom of movement too. Much like the recent Doom games, it's a high bar for what modern shooters can feel like if they try, and it all works really well on a controller. Visually it's really impressive too, with gorgeously detailed environments, and great lighting and wind effects.
But those randomly generated levels are hard to ignore. Despite looking great, none of the levels are particularly interesting from a gameplay design point of view. They don't feel like they have much logic or direction to them, and there isn't really much point in exploring around. While they work well as arenas for combat, and even have some level of verticality to them, navigating them feels kind of thoughtless. But so far it hasn't really ruined the experience, as the combat and aesthetic is where the real appeal is. Although I am glad it seems the third game is going back to more intentionally designed levels.
I've also been spending a lot of time with Gujian 3 as well. It's an action RPG made by a Chinese developer, and seemingly their attempt at creating their own big budget, AAA game. Or at least as close as they can manage. And I've actually been pretty impressed with it. Aesthetically it is really strong, with great looking environments that have a great use of colour and scene composition, and a nice variety of different areas that explore some cool concepts. The world the game is set in is pretty interesting too, which had me digging around in the lore records to wrap my head around it. Combat is fun, although it's not particularly deep. But it's flashy and responsive, and some of the bosses have been pretty entertaining. It has a lot of rough edges though. Cutscenes can be a bit janky at times, translation can be a bit iffy, and performance is not great. Although thankfully that seems to mostly occur when you're travelling around and streaming in and out the world, and so combat sections tends to fare better.
I've reached a point where a huge crafting system has opened up. It's kind of overwhelming at first, with multiple hours of tutorials on the myriad of things you can craft, and how all the farming systems work. It's pretty crazy. The story is starting to feel a bit meandering right now though, as it's hard to keep track of why I'm doing the stuff I am at the given moment. But at the very least it's taking me on a tour through some really fantastic looking environments. I've also managed to improve the performance somewhat, by using RTSS. It still struggles to reach 60fps a lot of the time, but at least now with this tool the frame pacing is evened out a bit, so it feels much less stuttery.