While we here at Operation Rainfall love covering the latest in gaming news and sharing our reviews of titles new and classic, we also just enjoy playing games in our downtime. So with that, sit back, relax, and check out what the oprainfall gaming crew have been up to this week!
Rise, ye Tarnished, for yet another ass-kicking!
So yeah, I’ve been banging my head against the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Thanks to work and family commitments I haven’t spent nearly as much time as I’d like playing, but what I’ve tackled so far has been both frustratingly difficult and incredibly fun. Jumping back into the Lands Between and the Realm of Shadow is like coming home after a long stint away, and while there’s a lot that’s stayed the same, the changes add up. I don’t think the DLC is actually that much more difficult than the base game, but the addition of the Scadutree blessings means base-game levelling doesn’t account for as much here, so even though I was at end-game, everything in the Realm of Shadow hits like a truck. New enemies have also been thrown into the mix, so I’ve had to relearn a lot of animation tells and fight mechanics. It’s added back a lot of wariness and trepidation while exploring that I was able to forego when trotting around the Lands Between for the most part, and that’s refreshing. It also feels like my INT build isn’t nearly as viable here as it was in the base game, but I’m too stubborn to switch up play styles so I’m either going to beat it this way or die trying.
The Realm of Shadow is stunningly gorgeous. Exploring the map has been an absolute joy, not only thanks to overcoming difficult enemy encounters but because it’s just so gosh-darn pretty. I’ve stopped numerous times to just swing my camera around and take in the sights. The opening area is breathtaking on its own, with endless fields of ghostly graves dotted with broken and writing trees; but the castle keeps are also vast and varied. Several locations in the Lands Between ended up feeling samey, so that possibility remains for my time in the DLC, but so far I haven’t found anything that quite strikes me as the copy-pasted catacombs did in the base game. There have also been some stellar enemy designs (see the above dragon). I love me some grotesque beauty, and Elden Ring has it in spades. I find myself constantly thinking about this game and wanting to get back to it even when it frustrates me to no end. Actually, I think I’m gonna go boot it up right now. See you on the other side, fellow Tarnished. – Leah
This week in gaming I finished up Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. The new route is pretty interesting, and they definitely brought the difficulty late game. I will have a review of this and Sisters: Last Day of Summer later this week.
Other than working on these reviews, I setup The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd on both my laptop and desktop. I want to get back to the series, since I loved the first two games I played a year or so ago. Hopefully I can get up to the Cold Steel games by the end of the summer. – Steve
What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!
You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!
