Topic: PS4 recommendation thread

@KratosMD The main difference is that Dead Cells is a rogue-like and Blasphemous is a straight Metroidvania with Dark Souls influences. It’s kinda hard for me to pick one over the other as I did love both but Dead Cells probably has more content since you play it over and over. That being said, Blasphemous will deliver a tighter package since the level designs aren’t random. And now I regret the wording of ‘tighter package’.

@KratosMD I’ve only played Dead Cells of the two and it’s a fantastic game.

The first hour or so can be frustrating as you struggle to get anywhere but once you’ve got some decent weapons and some upgrades under your belt, you’ll be flying through levels.

A great feeling when you finally beat the final boss (for the first time).

@KratosMD For anyone interested in rogue-likes, I’d always recommend Binding of Isaac since it’s the biggest and best of the lot imo, plus it’s a good way to get used to the overall concepts and risk/reward systems that are in all games of the genre. Dead Cells is definitely more rogue-like than Metroidvania, it mostly takes influences from SotN rather than really being much like those games.

@KratosMD After you beat the boss it’s back to the beginning to do it all on a harder difficulty. I think it can go up five levels but I was happy to leave it there.

@Thrillho @KratosMD I think more has been added from the DLC's in regards to the end game stuff. But yeah loved Dead Cells, the combat is soooooo good.

@KratosMD
There is the chance to do more difficult runs after defeating the final boss, and there are alternate routes to take through the game in order to visit different levels and mini-bosses. The rabid fans of the game run through multiple playthroughs on higher difficulty, getting more and more upgraded weaponry and finding and unlocking more and more skills. It’s a little hard to explain, and I liked it enough to stick with it to defeat the final boss at least once, and that took about 14-16 hrs despite the actual boss-defeating run taking only like 1-2 hrs. There’s a pretty addictive gameplay loop there, but my backlog beckoned and so I just moved on after finally besting the last boss, even though I was still enjoying the game.

If you’d like to see more, I wrote a mini-review of the game a couple months ago. Comment #603 with discussion through #616 or so. The review was a weird one because I did a combo review with Fallen Order, but it has some info that might help you understand why I liked the game.
https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/retro_and_other_gaming/user...

@KratosMD oh yeah - must be on a synced wavelength or something. 😄
I’ll be curious how you like Blasphemous. I really know very little about it.

@KratosMD Good to hear you enjoyed the demo, I loved my time with Blasphemous. The setting is really interesting to me, having gone to Catholic school and being exposed to a fair amount of religious art and iconography. The devs being Spanish also means that they’ve pulled a lot from old religious oil paintings from Spain’s rich artistic history and it makes for a really intriguing art direction. It’s interesting because Mercury Steam are also Spanish and they’ve worked on both Metroid and ‘Vania!

@KratosMD Salt & Sanctuary is another 2D side scroller that plays similar to the soulsborne games. I've not played it so can't comment on the main gameplay loop, but people are always recommending it to me.

I am looking for good 2 person co-op games, played local, and not split screen.

@Hiriqnu LEGO games are always fun but without split screen, your options are a bit limited. Maybe Overcooked as well, that’s great fun together!

@Hiriqnu You’re in luck. Push square put together some lists for just that very question. Check out these links:

Best local multiplayer:

https://www.pushsquare.com/guides/best-ps4-local-multiplayer-...

Best Co-op (both couch co-op and online):

https://www.pushsquare.com/guides/best-ps4-co-op-games

Each list has 25 recommendations (with a lot of overlap of the two lists). You may have to dig a little on any that sound good to make sure which ones aren’t split screen.

@Hiriqnu Any sports game will offer couch co-op. There are also fighting games like Street Fighter V, Mortal Kombat etc which you can play against each other without spilt screen. Always a good way to settle any arguments.

@Hiriqnu Knights and Bikes is a cool indie game which is designed to be played co-op and has no split screen.

A fun story, decent enough “combat”, and a quite cool art style too.

@KratosMD I'm a big fan of the Souls games, I am currently exploring a Guts Cosplay Build in Dark Souls Remastered, I've finished the game already, so it's just for fun. I want to get Blasphemous as well, I'm interested in it for the same reasons as you, and, like you I completed the Souls games (1&3) and Bloodborne mostly due to grinding, except that I've "gotten gud" now and combat is easy for me now, more due to my strategies than anything else, as my character is currently far from OP in my present playthrough. Let me know if Blasphemous is any good when you do get the whole game, and I'd appreciate that.

Are you a fan of Berserk ,the manga as well? Dark Souls draws heavily from that, even though it's influence is not direct it is still apparent in Miyazaki's work. (Guts is the main protagonist in Berserk)

I was browsing the store and stumbled upon the F2P single player game Island Saver.

It's an educational game from Scottish indie dev Stormcloud Games, created with the intention to get younger players acquainted with the basics of some financial concepts like taxes, currency, exchange rates, loans & debt, bank accounts,...

So the base game is free and comes with 3 islands to explore and there is a 4th island that is a paid DLC expansion. Mostly a relaxing collect-a-thon with some simple puzzles and (very) light combat. The art style looks a lot like Slime Rancher and each island should take 2 hours to complete, so you're looking at a 6-8 hour experience. Well worth a try for free, me thinks. There is no platinum, but the trophy list seems pretty fun and straightforward so it should scratch a completionist itch.

A great addition on the game's webpage are activity sheets you can download where they elaborate on the concepts that feature in the game,

Here is the link to the webpage of the game: https://natwest.mymoneysense.com/island-saver/

Has anybody played the Spongebob :Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated game? I hear it's a "cult classic" ,at least that's how it's described in the PS Store. Is it for all ages? Please don't laugh at me.

@Draco_V_Ecliptic I've not played it, but how can it be a cult classic when it has only just come out?

@JohnnyShoulder It’s a remaster of a GameCube game, so I guess the original game’s the cult classic?

@nessisonett Well that makes sense, thanks for the clarification! When you think about it, it is quite amazing that it is still going after all these years.