STILL PLAYING
Games that continue to hold our attention
Vampyr The dark is calling out for Oscar Taylor-Kent
It’s hard for devs to stake the feeling of actually being a bloodsucker. While Dontnod’s attempt isn’t perfect, this Edwardian-set RPG does a great job of making you think about who you feed on. Help Londoners out, and the potency of their blood will improve, but their disappearance may adversely affect others. Whole districts can crumble. And, thanks to tough-as-coffin-wood combat you’ll feel the pressure to cruise the blood buffet. I’d love to see the Life Is Strange developer refine this in a sequel.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt There’s no place like home for Miriam McDonald
Heading to sunny Toussaint in the Blood And Wine DLC has been a welcome relief. Knights! Chivalry! And, of course, lots of monsters to hunt. In return for undertaking the main quest, Geralt’s given a vineyard, complete with a ramshackle house and garden he can restore. It’s not quite Stardew Valley, but deciding what armour to put on the stands and which picture goes where is fun. I hung a half-naked one of the Witcher himself in the bedroom. I may not know much about art, but I know what I like.
Genshin Impact Jess Kinghorn thinks twice about Teyvat
After bouncing off of this free-to-play title back in 2020, I’ve returned to assemble my very own squad of magical girls. I don’t quite enough space to hash out how I feel about the microtransactions. However, I’ve enough freebie team members to appreciate how their abilities overlap and flow into one another. After Kaeya freezes the opposition, Lumine delivers a stunning blow. Lisa charges up with electro attacks before bringing it all to a close by calling me ‘cutie’ – what’s not to love? Go team!
Geralt’s been given a vineyard, complete with a house he can restore.