What We Played #538 – King of Fighters XV, Pokémon Legends: Arceus & Horizon Forbidden West

Games are pretty good aren’t they? While I love reading and watching movies, games allow you a level of involvement you can’t get elsewhere. Unless you happen to be a race car driver, space marine super soldier, or plumber in real life. I’ve been playing Triangle Strategy on its way to review, and also put some serious time into King of Fighters XV which is just brilliant. I’ve also been tinkering with a new gaming laptop which has so far proved perfect for some Forza Horizon 5 and Monster Hunter Rise.

Jason popped by to let us know has been playing something, but that it’s a secret. It is so secret he had to buy a new PC for it, so that’s brought a double dose of excitement.

By contrast, you can probably guess the kinds of games that Nic B has been playing. He managed to get MTG Arena to run, so he’s spent a few hours playing that and says, “It’s better than Yu-Gi-Oh because it’s not Yu-Gi-Oh, but the client was coded by undergrads, I swear to god.”

Aran finally finished Far Cry 6. He said, “It was enjoyable enough though not the strongest villain in the series. Now been bouncing between Aragami 2 and Before We Leave. Neither has really grabbed my attention yet.”

Nick P also finished Far Cry 6, getting the platinum trophy before moving on to platinum Alan Wake Remastered. He told us, “Echoing Aran, Far Cry 6 was fine but the villain could have been better. Alan Wake is just as I remember. I think I enjoyed it more than most, but I have a weird love for Remedy games. I’ve also been playing Martha is Dead for review. More on that next week, but it’s definitely not what I was expecting.”

Ade and his partner have returned to Aegis Defenders, which is a terrific co-op tower defence thingy. Also, he’s also on with Guardians of the Galaxy. He told us, “the combat is pretty pants but I could listen to my teammates banter all day, simply glorious characterisation.”

Steve started off the week strong with the Platinum for Bloodborne alongside a couple of cheap indie platformers. 110 Platinums isn’t too shabby! He’s also gone back into the final build of Infernax to look for secrets and alternate endings, and cleared the latest batch of Vampire Survivors achievements – still one of the most satisfying game loops out there. He also really wants Forbidden West but may just wait as Elden Ring is very close now.

Tuffcub played Destiny 2, but only for half an hour or so after wrapping up our Horizon Forbidden West review over the weekend. He hasn’t had time for much gaming this week as he’s been busy with his jet-set lifestyle doing movie and DJ stuff. Some people are sickeningly talented are they?

Gareth played a game for review. He also completed Horizon Zero Dawn and its DLC, The Frozen Wilds. He says, “It’s one of my favourite games again. I’ve also played an hour of Cyberpunk to check out ray tracing (barely noticeable), completed the DLCs again in Spidey Remastered, 20 minutes of No Man’s Sky before I realised it’s been so long I have no idea what I was meant to be doing. I also started the Investigations sector DLC in Control, which is cool but I’d like it more if I’d played another game in the past, but I haven’t. Finally and most surprisingly, I’ve also played a few games of Apex Legends!”

Despite being initially jazzed to play more, Jim has found that Pokemon Legends: Arceus has dropped off his radar as he’s shifted back to PS5. He tells us, “the strange opening scenes of Resident Evil Village put me off the game at launch and I’m only just getting around to playing it properly. Probably should have given it more than ten minutes to hook me as there’s a brilliantly eerie atmosphere, things only getting weirder the more I immerse myself. Meanwhile, a more uncharacteristic choice has seen me play a fair amount of King of Fighters XV. It’s a superbly stylish entry to the genre that has a great cast with 3-on-3 team battles turning each match into a tense tug of war (unless you get completely battered). I’m hoping to stick with KOF and get some online matches under my belt.”

Miguel has played Rune Factory 5, Atelier Sophie 2, and a bunch of Pokemon Legends Arceus!!Plus some Apex Legends too!

And finally, Tef joined Tuffcub in playing Horizon Forbidden West, supporting his review with a video and a cross-gen comparison video. Aside from that,

What about you? What have you played?