What we played | Eurogamer.net

September 16, 2022

Good morning! Welcome to our regular column where we write a bit about some of the games we’ve found ourselves playing over the past few days. This time: laundry, guild problems and back to hell.

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We Been Playing, here’s our archive.

Arcade paradise, PS5

Apparently, I’m attracted to mundane things. Maybe I’m inherently boring. I just can’t get enough of putting away, folding someone’s clothes or washing them. Or clean the toilets, and I never thought I’d write that. And I know that’s not really the point of Arcade Paradise – the point is to grow an arcade out back – but it’s the mundane half of the game in the laundromat that really balances me out, and the game, outside. Beautiful monotony – something to gently lock down a restless mind and keep my hands busy.

Also, mundane tasks aren’t really mundane, not like they are in real life. They are gamified. So when you’re picking gum, a small power gauge quickly fills and empties, challenging you to stop it at the optimal time for the highest pulling power. When you take out the trash, something similar happens; when you clean the toilet, something similar. The game permeates everything you do, even washing someone’s underwear. So while this all sounds mundane – and that’s half the charm, I think – it’s secretly the same sort of thing as playing arcade machines out back. Cared for!

bertie

Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus, Android

On Wednesday morning this week, I booted up Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus as usual and almost cried. I had been expelled from my guild.

Those aren’t my words either. The game was actually showing a message saying “you have been kicked from your guild”. I was first shocked, then confused. Why had they done this? I hadn’t spoken to anyone in the guild, called Black Legion, since I arrived a month ago when the game launched (more here, if you’re wondering why I started playing). I had contributed. When other players asked for in-game items, I gave them away. I played every day. I faced all the bosses in guild raid mode. I even joined the discord server that the guild leader had set up.

Discord ! It was surely a mistake. Surely someone had accidentally pressed a button somewhere. All I had to do was go to our guild discord and ask what happened.

I had also been kicked out of discord.

My confusion quickly turned to anger. At least tell me I’m getting fired before I get fired. Cowards!

Was it something I was saying? My only communication in guild chat was to agree that the last PvP event wasn’t great due to a lack of team variety. It doesn’t seem controversial to me. I didn’t speak in discord – why should I? In the dark darkness of the far future, there is only war – no chatter.

Did Black Legion carry me? I suppose. Did they increase the minimum power level? It’s now set to 22 (I looked at my previous guild in game to check them out – maybe they deleted the guild?). I’m at power level 20. All right. Yet tell me first?

I was surprised to feel sad about it all. At the time I was unceremoniously kicked out of Black Legion, we had a guild raid position of 18. There are thousands of guilds in the leaderboard. We were one of the best guilds in the game.

It was quite nice to be in a high-level video game guild. Members raved about the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop and shared photos of their models in our discord. There were occasional tactical discussions – which item is best for this character? How do you defeat this insanely difficult raid boss? That sort of thing. And the rewards were great, as we were strong enough as a group to defeat high level enemies. Now it’s all gone. Just like that. Without explanation.

As of this writing, it has been two days since I was kicked out of the Black Legion. I almost quit the game for what happened, but I ended up coming to terms with it, I think. I joined a new guild called Sons of Sanguinius. Minimum power level one. Maybe starting over as one of the good guys is what I need right now.

Hmm. The Discord invite link is still on the Black Legion in-game guild page. Maybe I’ll take a peek and see if they said why they fired me…

Wesley Yin Poole

Hades, PC

I consider myself a bit like Nintendo. Not because I’m worth billions of dollars (I’m priceless, actually), but because I’m usually slow to jump on anything that’s popular or trending.

That’s why I’m playing Hades for the first time, and I’m having a hell of a good time. It’s the ultimate “just one more race” game for me, and when I check the clock, I’ve spent four hours shoving my way through the underworld and praying I don’t run into Tisiphone.

The gameplay loop is addictive and there are so many different combinations of weapons, trinkets and perks that guarantee experimentation with every run. The art style is wonderful and the music is fantastic too. I’m a sucker for the hot Greek gods and I’m not ashamed of it, okay?

I still have a long way to go with Hades – so far I’ve only managed to get out of Hell on 3 Heat, but I’m not complaining about having to spend more time with this game. So as Zagreus repeats the loop to rise to the surface, I find myself falling more and more in love with Hades.

Liv Ngan

To view this content, please enable targeting cookies.
Manage cookie settings