Nothing completely new on the completed front, but I did see out the Platinum trophy I hinted at last month and brought a game out of retirement.
Games completed this month
Miles Morales: Spider-Man – PS5
After I finished playing the Spider-Man remaster, I went on to play one of the other games further down this list. Unfortunately for that game it wasn’t what I was in the mood for at all, and I came back to Spidey. I’ve now fully completed this one as well, and picked up the Platinum Trophy. I’m not that big on chasing trophies, and this one only brings my total platinums to 12. It is somewhat pleasing that the Spider-Man trilogy now represents 25% of my current total.
Games played during February
Returnal – PS5
I only retired this in January thinking I’d had enough, but a desire to at least try the co-op mode pulled me back in. Didn’t get a lot of time with it in February, but the gameplay has clicked again so I think I’ll stick with it a bit longer if I can start making some progress. You might say I returnaled to it. But don’t, don’t say that.
Balatro – Xbox Series X
This seemed to be all anyone was talking about for a while last year as the new breakthrough addictive indie game. It largely passed me by as the theme and what I’d heard of it didn’t sound like my kind of thing. It dropped on GamePass this month though so I thought I’d give it a go. I’ve played a fair bit, it certainly has a “one more round” hook and some very satisfying gameplay. However, now I’ve cleared a run I’m not sure how much I’ll stick with it. It definitely feels like I should be playing it on a handheld device rather than my lounge TV.
Marvel Rivals – PS5
In feeling the urge for some multiplayer gaming with a couple of friends and in missing Spider-Man since wrapping up Miles Morales, we decided to give this a go. We had a fun evening playing online against bots, I can see why it’s doing so well. I discovered I really liked playing as Adam Warlock, but I’ll be surprised if we play regularly. I expect I’ll keep it installed to see what characters get added before deciding to go back to it.
What’s been on the arcade?
The cabinet itself still hasn’t had a lot of gameplay this month, my retro tinkering has been more with the Sinden lightguns and in setting up the software on the gaming PC I moved into the lounge. I think the longer term aim is for that PC to be built into a future arcade cabinet along with the guns. That’s probably a year or more away though so for now I’ve just been playing around with it.
Games retired in February
The Ascent – PC / SteamDeck
As much as I was enjoying my time with this, it wasn’t properly hooking me in. My friend who was much more engaged with it seemed to have all manner of bugs and problems with his playthrough though and that pretty much put me off. I’d already had a few hard crashes myself and couldn’t be bothered to see more.
The Sinking City – Xbox Series X
The game I tried to play after Miles Morales. I enjoyed myself for a couple of hours, I love the theme and setting. I just couldn’t see me continuing with the pace of the game when all I actually wanted to do was play more Spider-Man. Maybe it’ll also get brought out of retirement at some point.
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