General gaming discussion

Gave Strange Jigsaws (no relation to Strange Antiquities) a go last night after Jason Schreier shouted it out on Triple Click with the recommendation that 'if you like puzzle games, just play it - you don't need to know anything else' (paraphrasing, but not much). And yes, that is indeed a good recommendation! Basically a series of increasingly devious jigsaw-based puzzles that have a lot more layers and tricks to them than initially meets the eye. You start with a screen full of puzzles and just have to go from there, and suffice to say there's some pleasant surprises and oddities as you dig in.

Only a fiver on Steam and I believe around 2-3 hours long - I got through the first layer of puzzles in around an hour. The trailer is six seconds long because really that's all you need to know:

I’ve only played a bit of it so far, but Ninja Gaiden 4 has Revengence vibes. Not as good IMO, but has that Platinum flair for fast sword combat - possibly more Revengence than classic Ninja Gaiden in some ways.

A little bit further into Ninja Gaiden 4 now and it’s good fun. It’s been a long time since I played NG Black, but even then you can tell this is more a Platinum joint than a Team Ninja joint. The gameplay is insanely fast paced, with the main character just zipping around the place. The combat is fun and crunchy, but definitely a whole different pace to classic NG and more akin to classic character action games like DMC and Bayonetta. It’s decidedly a 2000s era game in almost every way.

I do think there is maybe a few too many combat options, that dilutes a little of the core NG appeal. There’s a powerful alternate attack mode that uses a gauge to charge, for example, which is a core part of breaking enemy guards. But there’s also a rage mode with a separate gauge, which also changes the functionality of that alternate attack mode, while also having a rage mode within rage mode ultra attack option. Similar deal with defence - a lot of different dodge, guard and parry options. It’s mostly manageable, but pretty busy, which maybe undermines the flow at times.

Not crazy difficult so far, other than the tough purgatory challenges. Lots of items for healing, and you’re constantly healing as you fight due to dropped energy orbs. Not an easy game, but nowhere near NG1 difficult so far anyway.

Took me ages to get it running properly on PC, as some of the upscale options are hidden away and don’t seem to take effect immediately. Still doesn’t run as smoothly as it should given the way it looks, but a pretty consistent 60 FPS at least.

Has it been confirmed Bluepoint was working on anything beyond their cancelled live service game? Crazy that studio was wasted on such a doomed endeavour. But they're a small team so not sure if they have multi-project capacity.

Still, would be very keen to see how they handle an original project - I think they're an amazing team (their Titanfall 360 port was miraculous) cursed with the task of remaking canonical games.