joeplus

Query: I saw that the Switch version has changed the Part Unlock system, so you can unlock any bike by completing enough challenges, which was a big improvement. Can anyone tell me if that's also been applied to the other versions? The Switch version also tracks which bike you have completed each trail with - that would have been helpful for me a few months ago too, but I'm not bitter!

"Double dipped" on this, as the kids say. I can't play the PS4 version anymore due to lockdown turning the living room into my landlord's partner's office (!!). Nice to return to it. I'm quite good at this game (detailed above), so I've tasked myself to complete every available challenge with the bog-standard bike before unlocking any others. Mountain 3 down, so I'm 75% through that. After that, all the bike-specific challenges, then using fave bikes to compete for serious speedruns. I'm tweaking my online usernames for boring reasons, so look out for JDMHEXAGON - I hope to be atop your lists very soon. Always love a game that works while listening to a podcast - no text cues or important music. Picross, Tetris 99 are other Switch examples.

Totally agree about the slow unlocking of bikes - it's such a weird choice and my least favourite aspect. Same with unlocking new mountains and trails. When games like Celeste have shown how easy it is to make content accessible for everyone, yet still make challenge rewarding, why wouldn't you copy it?

That's the Platinum trophy then. 0.3% of players, apparently. And as the storm raged this afternoon, I started trying for speed on the late-game challenges - managed #4 in the world on one track, out of the select 50 or so who've posted a time. Folks, I think I'm decent at this game! Been an absolute pleasure the whole way, and I can see myself buying the Switch port too, just for the portability. Boar is best bike. Best trail? Too hard to choose!

Oh god, just completely mind-gamed myself on a challenge. Still loving this, although experiencing framerate drops which are absolutely heart-stopping. Pretty shoddy especially in a game like this!

Picked this up about a week ago, and I'm now sad I missed it for the GOTY voting. It's bloody gorgeous. The big triumph is how it looks, sounds and feels - I haven't been on a mountain bike for 15 years, but the feeling of jumping, braking, bolting down a hill just feels right. @Garwoofoo the rest areas are kind of inconsistently difficult to find, and I only got a few before resorting to Youtube. Exploring sections to find shortcuts is fun: exploring an entire level to find your cleverly hidden rest area is not. My favourite is going for crashless runs - as soon as there are fiddly obstacles like a jump or a log crossing it becomes utterly tense. The speed challenges are fun and I love picking out an insane route that only works if you get lucky, but for me they are interludes to the slow, calm grind of Not Dying On This Bit. Pretty sure I'm gonna go after 100% on this one. Wish me luck!

Here we go then. Pretty clear that I haven't played many new games this year, but some of those I did play really struck me and I wanted to shout them out. I hope Celeste's DLC is OK to count as a major expansion - it's a sprawling extra chapter with new mechanics and story, plus a whole album's worth of soundtrack. Game of the Year A1. Outer Wilds A2. Sayonara Wild Hearts A3. Tetris 99 A4. Celeste - Farewell A5. Untitled Goose Game Honourable Mentions: Dicey Dungeons, Flappy Fighter, Grindstone, Super Mario Maker 2, Link’s Awakening Remaster, Pikuniku Biggest Disappointment of the Year (game, hardware, or anything else) Z1. Poor treatment of talented game-makers by shit execs Z2. Poor treatment of talented game journalists by shit execs Z3. Gamergate is still rumbling quietly on and social platforms are OK with it Z4. I haven’t used my PS4 fightstick in over six months: Street Fighter V just is not going to tempt me back, and I’m sad about that Z5. My continued failure to muster enthusiasm for Red Dead Redemption 2 Sound Design of the Year S1. Sayonara Wild Hearts S2. Outer Wilds S3. Celeste - Farewell Visual Design of the Year V1. Outer Wilds V2. Sayonara Wild Hearts V3. Untitled Goose Game Writing of the Year W1. Outer Wilds W2. Celeste - Farewell W3. Dicey Dungeons Gaming Format (System) of the Year F1. Nintendo Switch Publisher or Developer of the Year P1. Annapurna Interactive Best Supported Game (released pre 2019) of the Year B1. n/a Your game of the year that didn't come out this year (basically what is your favourite game you played this year that came out in 2018 or earlier) X1. What Remains of Edith Finch Best game character of the year C1. Untitled Goose, Untitled Goose Game C2. Capitalist Toadette, Super Mario Maker 2 C3. Baby Squid, Dicey Dungeons Game of the Decade D1. Celeste D2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild D3. Portal 2 D4. Ultra Street Fighter IV D5. The Witness D6. Hollow Knight D7. Super Hexagon D8. Tetris 99 D9. What Remains of Edith Finch D10. Fez Honourable Mentions: VVVVVV, Tetris Effect, Outer Wilds, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Untitled Goose Game, Desert Golfing, Super Mario Odyssey, Her Story, Mario Kart 8, Super Mario Maker 1 & 2, Disco Zoo, One Finger Death Punch, Super Stickman Golf 2 & 3, Cookie Clicker, A Dark Room, Alto's Adventure, Guacamelee 1 & 2, Super Meat Boy, Donut County, that’s enough now this is getting silly

Fully intend to do this over next few days so that's much appreciated!

I got this for Switch last weekend (because of this unarguable tweet) and since then it's occupied about 60% of my brain space at any given moment. What a thing it is. My review: Supremely sad sexy Scandinavian singer soundtracks [Perfect!] candyfloss crack cocaine Casio compositions [Perfect!] following Fool, foxy frightened firebrand, [Perfect!] tethered to terrifying Tarot tormentors, [Perfect!] letting lost love leave lacerations, [Perfect!] and absolutely acing ambitious, audacious adventures against Asmodeus, anti archetype. All aboard! [Gold Rank!]

Amazing, cheers man!

Obviously I have Google and I'll use it, but can you recommend any All Clear tutorials? Thanks!

Been an utter pleasure catching up on this thread - I love how much everyone loves Tetris. Invictus is brutal and fantastic. I have managed precisely one win (it's effort to access the screenshot from my Switch so I hope you trust me). Last night was very frustrating - managed to finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th within the span of 5 games. When I browsed the list of missions, the one that stood out as "oh shit I'll never do that" was 3 all clears in a game, so @bradigor, please accept my hearty applause. The missions are fun, but a terrible slippery slope - I'm curious to know from this thread's hardiest experts, what's the hardest mission in that list?

Total Time: 6h 29m 27s Deaths: 1,832 That last part though. Oof!

Slight warning on the DLC “entry requirements”: there are parts of it that require more than just the 8 main levels. As mentioned, if you’re not into the very late-game stuff it may not be your cup of tea anyway, but it tripped me up - I started a new file because it felt like a nice way to work up to it, and then had to either leave and redo some B-sides before carrying on, or redo the first part of the DLC on my main save. Still been a delight though, bloody fiendish stuff but some excellent twists on the familiar. I think I’m near the end now, but I’ve been wrong about that a few times so far - it’s a beast of a chapter!

I'm finding the Thief's second episode a real stumper, even though it's basically the same as the first. Still experimenting though - I think I just got terribly unlucky on a very good poison-based build, something I've not tried before. Poison Needle+ and things that give you more dice are a happy combination. Also, I hate the Loud Bird so much. An excellently designed annoying enemy.