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PaperclipPerfector
7hr ago
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Video-Game Thread
, since people apparently like organizing things that wayI got a new phone last weekend and I got one of those stretching controller grip for it (Gamesir G8), and put some effort into building a nice cosy gaming console with it at the center. I also finally have a phone with a relatively generous amount of storage, so I can stretch my legs. I have installed a few weeks ago a ROMM instance, so emulation roms are shared and downloadable from my phone at the press of a button, I have Gamenative installed with a bunch of PC indie games, my main mobile game I'm playing these days (Arknight Endfield) and a whole lot of game streaming services setup.
When it comes to game streaming, it's become more viable for me than I originally thought it would. In December and January I had to prepare to go to visit my mother-in-law in europe for about a month and obviously I couldn't take my gaming computer or Xbox with me so I gave Nvidia GeForce Now a try and was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked. I obviously wouldn't play fighting games on there, but most everything else worked fine, provided it's supported by the service (the business model for GeForce Now is that you can play games you already own on digital game stores there if they are supported by GeForce Now, with some popular recent games requiring a subscription fee and additional performance, queue priority and gaming session length limit on paid subscriptions). I also have Amazon Prime so I do have some additional games included with Luna, that's nice. On my previous phone I couldn't get a low latency enough connection to Luna to make action games playable but now on my new phone I do, so I might play through the recent-ish Indiana Jones game there, and maybe Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, that's included too. My wife wanted to play some horror games and I have an Xbox but didn't want to pay the extortionate rate for new games, so I got a game pass subscription that was on sale, and honestly the cloud streaming there is solid as well; if someone who didn't have an extensive Steam catalog and had no console wanted to play some games I think they could be quite satisfied by that service.
But the most interesting to me is how much local streaming improved. I put some effort into getting Apollo (Sunshine) setup on my gaming PC and action games are totally playable on there, no problem. Even streaming over the internet, on a VPN (Wiregard) has negligible latency for shooters. Works well with HDR (or as well as Windows ever does), 120hz... Only concession I make is that I play at a ratio of 720p since the way I hold my phone it makes no difference whether it's 720p or QHD and it helps my aging gaming rig. I also tried in the last months streaming from my Xbox Series S, but that had been disappointing, but I think maybe my new phone might be doing better there now too. I have also set up streaming the other way around with the Xbox, from my PC to it, so at least when Microsoft finally gives up on it, it'll still be useful to stream PC games to my TV.
So on the subject of games, since this is the gaming thread, I got Marathon recently; for those unaware it's yet another extraction shooter, but from Bungie. I had played Ark Raiders for a few months before, so it wasn't my first extraction shooter, but Marathon immediately came up with the reputation of being the opposite to Ark Raiders when it comes to player interaction. TBH, it also works for me. I mostly play solo, and there's no additional mental load from interacting with the players since you can pretty much just turn off your mic and treat them all the same as you treat PvE enemies, the only interaction modes seem to be shoot on sight or avoid you, I've yet to see a single interaction that wasn't that. The Rook class is also an interesting mechanic for solo players like me; you can chose to play as a relatively weak class that can only play solo, starts with free kit and are dropped later into an already started team game. There's lower stakes for you, since you don't lose your own loadout, so you run around and pick the bones off the fights that happened earlier in the game, maybe once in a while you can also ambush some players. Since you are a Rook, other players know they are unlikely to find anything worth the fight on you, and you have an ability that allows you to avoid PvE fights. It's a nice way to build your kit.
The shooting feels good, it's Bungie, no surprise that they know what they're doing with that. It's very different in shooting feel from Ark Raiders, the guns all feel very lethal. In Ark Raiders, I felt like if I didn't have my favorite guns I was useless, but in Marathon any gun you pick up feels like it'll do the job just fine. The gear advantage can certainly make a difference, but it's also easily neutralized by just shooting better. The visual language of the game is also gorgeous (again, it's Bungie). I'm not sure yet if and how it slots in with the fever dream that is the existing Marathon lore, but what is there feels mysterious and meaty.
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