Victoria has finally reached the conclusion of Split Fiction on Xbox Series X, a journey that required replaying a significant portion of the game due to a corrupted save file. Despite the setback, she found the experience ultimately rewarding, particularly praising the final boss encounters. "I honestly don't think I've ever seen anything like those last few boss sections in a game before," Victoria stated, noting that the game "twisted her senses beyond belief."
Meanwhile, Bertie has been engaging with BioEden on PC, a title that blends the garden management and animal-mating mechanics of Rare's Viva Piñata with the planetary restoration themes of Terra Nil. Players on BioEden are tasked with harvesting resources on alien landscapes, extracting animal DNA, and then cultivating biomes to facilitate the species' reproduction. Bertie described the game as "a bit fussy" and suggested its concepts could be streamlined, but acknowledged its pedigree, being developed by Broken Arms Games, the studio behind Hundred Days. A demo for BioEden is currently available.
Sherif, on the other hand, found his time with the Onimusha: Way of the Sword demo for PC less compelling. He noted the demo’s brevity, completing it in under 45 minutes, which included time spent adjusting settings. The uneven HDR implementation in RE Engine games was also a point of concern. Sherif expressed disappointment with the demo's pacing and combat, citing what he perceived as overly extended animations that obscured player input and a lack of significant challenge. "It was never clear where my inputs ended and the animation began," he observed, expressing hope that the full release will feature more precise combat and challenging encounters.
This weekly feature invites readers to share their own recent gaming experiences, with an archive available for those seeking to recall past playtime. The 'What We've Been Playing' archive aims to document the games played by the team each week.