Topic: PUSH SQUARE GAME CLUB | August | Death’s Door 💀🚪

@AgentCooper I vote for Death’s Door or Outer Wilds. Can we add Tren and Humanity? Have we settled on a way to curate the list for when it becomes too long?

@Mr_B021 Outer Wilds, TREN, Humanity. Those are my picks.

@ralohdibny Really enjoyed you reflecting on Toy Story. It's fun reading someone's impressions who has a more personal connection to the game.
I have a few of thoe game too, that are extraordinary to me, because of memories, that are "just games" to other people.

@AgentCooper Any update on a game for August? I'm looking to start a new game currently, so I could perfectly tie that in with participating here this month. No rush of course if you're busy or anything!

@Kidfried cheers, yeah it was the same for me reading yours and CTs thoughts on it from the perspective of people coming at it without nearly as much of the nostalgia.

Not sure what to do with this information now though 🤪. What is this world I live in if Toy Story 2 isn't unanimously considered the best game ever?! 😂 I am completely kidding of course!

Our game for August is Death’s Door everyone!

I’ll put together a proper post later today.

Thanks all, for your patience 👍

Good day to one and all, I hope you are all well? Summer holidays are something else, I just haven't had the time to stop, you might say i might be on death's door by the conclusion of this 6 week break. Which brings us onto our game for August, Death's Door. I believe it was recently added to the plus service so should be available to most of us. Download and start as you please and I look forward to following the discussion. Let's run this one through Sunday 3rd September 👍

As always find a few details here courtesy of HLTB 👍

Reaping souls of the dead and punching a clock might get monotonous but it's honest work for a Crow. The job gets lively when your assigned soul is stolen and you must track down a desperate thief to a realm untouched by death - where creatures grow far past their expiry.

Main story: 9 Hrs
Main + Sides: 11 1/2 Hrs
Completionist: 15 1/2 Hrs

Now, onto the second order of business. As I mentioned last month and didn't receive a definitive answer from the community, how do we propose amending the shortlist? Shall I replace it with the suggestions from this month?

Thank you all for your participation, positivity around this and excellent discussion in regards to the games we play. I appreciate you all.

One love 👍

@Pizzamorg @Mr_B021 @QualityGeezer @KilloWertz @Th3solution @Ryne-Gaia @crimsontadpoles @RogerRoger @Hallowmoonshadow @R1spam @CaptD @Th3solution @ralphdibny @LobsterJohnson @SillyBoyJudas @kidfried

As always, if your name isn’t here and you want to be added, please let me know! Happy Gaming!

I don't think I'll be joining in for Deaths Door but I will say that I had a bit of a go on the same developer's previous game Titan Souls a few years ago when I was blitzing through PS Plus games.

I remember thinking it was really cool, had a bit of a 2D Shadow of the Colossus feel to it. I never finished it because I didn't think it would turn out to be my cup of tea but I was tempted and I thought it was really cool.

I played the game last year and it’s a wonderful little game. It looks great, is well written, and combat is enjoyable. The end game stuff is pretty obtuse but can be skipped.

If anyone is going to go for the platinum as part of game club, note that you need to use only the umbrella (the first weapon you find) up until the end game stuff. I didn’t find using just that impacted on my play through too much.

Great game, won't be joining as I've already played it. But enjoy everyone.

@Thrillho I played the game twice, once with and without the umbrella as my only weapon. I think the combat is more interesting using only the umbrella, but I can definitely recommend a 'normal' run as well. It is easier. Can't go wrong either way.

The game is pretty tough, but never too tough, so everyone should have a good time. Be patient is my only advice for when the going gets tough!

@Kidfried yeah, I got to try the different weapons in the end game and there is some nice variety there to mix things up.

@Tjuz I’ve only just realised you aren’t on my tag list, sorry. See post above ⬆️

Would you like to be added to future updates?

I finished the game recently so I’m looking forward to everyone else’s thoughts.
I think the balancing is just right. Never even completed any of the health/magic upgrades. It’s a pretty solid game. One of the better additions to PS+.

Betsy I found tough. Unless you get upgrades you can only get hit 4 times & she is super aggressive.
The game had some interesting lore behind it that I wished they explored a bit more.
For example you’re in a world where you can’t die, but you must turn in your ‘assignment/soul’, but we know time passes & characters age (Grey Raven).
Would’ve loved a Sifu-style mechanic were each death aged the character a little.

@AgentCooper Is it an idea to make a top 10 and eliminate any game on the shortlist which doesn’t receive a vote two months in a row?

@AgentCooper No worries! I don't think I ever asked to be added, so you didn't forget me or anything. Would love to be there in the future for sure. I will be participating this month with Death's Door. Not usually the type of game I go for, but I said the same about Hades earlier this year and ended up loving it. Going to give it a shot and see if this might end up the same way!

I know very little of this game so a good game for me and very happy to jump in

I played the game on switch 2021 and really enjoyed it, cracking art style, solid combat and decent writing with a surprising sense of humour. Hope folks enjoy!! @AgentCooper suggestions from this month for the shortlist sounds like a reasonable way forward, cheers for organising!

I’m hoping to start Death’s Door this week, when time allows. Might be the weekend before I can get a trial in.

It’s slightly out of my wheelhouse with the isometric graphical backdrop. I have several of that style in my backlog to try (Disco Elysium, Hades, DOS2, Dead Nation and Alienation, Helldivers, The Ascent…) but for some reason I seem allergic to that visual perspective because I seem to avoid it. Actually, I’m not sure I completely know the difference between isometric graphics and 2.5 D and 3/4 view. It’s probably all semantics. But either way, I am surprised when I look back at my game list and see I hardly ever play games from this viewpoint.

A lot of the reviews also call Death’s Door a “Souls-like” or probably better “Souls-lite” or “Souls inspired.” Of course that’s a whole can of worms that I know we’ve debated on the forums before as to what really constitutes any shared relation to a Souls game. But the general Souls formula is one I’ve grown accustomed to and have played quite a lot of recently.

I’m glad to see the game is around 10 hours. I’m not sure if I’ll push for the platinum yet, so I’ll have to see how I get along with it first.

@AgentCooper As far as which list, I think it’s fine to pull forward only games getting repeat mentions. So whatever new game nominations can be added, and keep any that have been mentioned from the past list. For example, Humanity on the original list is still getting mentions, but then there’s new interest in a game like Tren. Like @Mr_B021 says, perhaps drop a game if there is no vote for it after two cycles. That way it keeps and evolving list with some of the games present that have at least a little interest, but weeds out those which don’t have any support.

@Th3solution @Mr_B021 @R1spam Sound suggestions, thank you. I’ll have a look at the numbers in time for the next vote and update the relevant post 👍

Thanks gang!

I've been playing this game a bit the last few days and just got to the underground part of the Urn Witch's mansion. I'm not sure if I want to continue from here on. I think the game is absolutely gorgeous and the world-building very intriguing, but I have not been able to get into the combat. It feels very bare-bones and, frankly, boring to me. I hoped that as I would continue playing new mechanics might be introduced to make it more exciting, but so far it's just been more of the same.

The dagger was the first weapon I got as I assume is the case for everyone, but it just feels like an objectively worse choice than the sword you start out with. The timing of attacks in fights seems like it pretty much always gives you the chance to get three hits in with the sword and then dodge. If you use the dagger, the timing becomes a lot harder to get right with pretty much zero benefit in terms of damage. I just don't see any reason to use this instead. I was excited when I finally got some of the magic the menus had been teasing and thought this might introduce something new... only to realise it's practically just the bow with a different texture. Sure, you can use it to solve new puzzles and get to new places, but as a weapon it feels indistinct.

When it comes to exploration, it feels largely unrewarding. There's mainly been two different types of loot to gather throughout the first few hours, neither of which bring me much of a feeling of satisfaction. I can barely fit the amount of life seeds I have in my pockets at this point. This would be more useful if I was afraid to die, but even that doesn't really come with any consequence here. Dying is more like a small inconvenience than anything truly meaningful. There's no tension in combat for me, because I know that if I die I'll be back to this place in no time and will have lost nothing but time. Speaking of which, I wish there was a way to traverse through the map quicker. The character feels too slow for me with the amount of backtracking I have to do (which generally I'm already not a fan of). A sprint button or the like would've been appreciated.

So yeah, I think conceptually this game is quite interesting, but the gameplay so far has let it down extremely for me. Anyone else feeling this way? And for anyone who might've gotten further by now, are there any significant new mechanics introduced that make combat more exciting? If so, I might have to push through for a bit. If not, I might have to stop playing.