18th July

Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little about the games we’ve been playing. This week, Connor is expertly trolled by his friend and shares a controversial take on a game some people will love; Chris revisits an all-timer while remembering a time when it didn’t seem so; and Bertie ruins a game for himself.

What have you been playing this week?

Here’s another question: do you remember what you were playing last week? You don’t have to! The What We’ve Been Playing archive has you covered.

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea, PS4

I have a friend – a good friend – who recommends me games I should try. Every now and again, their recommendation will be a booby trap. A game he knows is bad, and he knows I will hate. He takes great joy out of my suffering, and this time around he has done a truly terrific job.

I remember playing Bioshock Infinite when I was… 13? Maybe like 15? Too young to really see the game for what it was, I remember being mostly impressed by grappling around the place, and I thought Song Bird looked cool. That’s about all I took away from it at the time, and it was only when going back and replaying the entirety of the series (for the most part) that I realised it was – in my humble opinion – a narrative nightmare. I also learned Bioshock 2 was brilliant, which I took away as a win overall.

I didn’t, however, play Burial at Sea. A DLC story expansion to the game, Burial at Sea is truly terrible. Shockingly bad in a way I struggle to convey in a shortform piece like this. I’m not even done yet, but I have killed a Big Daddy in a frankly depressing boss fight. Ah well, positive mental attitude. I’m sure things can only get better.

-Connor

The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, PC

I played Morrowind many, many, many years ago, but always bounced off quite early on. In fact the first time I played it almost put me off Elder Scrolls games altogether, as pre-teen Chris found himself swinging his little dagger wildly at some poor villager I found on a trail, being repeatedly called a s’wit and a n’wah and generally getting pummeled into the ground while failing to land a single blow.

Anyway, it’s a slightly different experience now. I’m working on a little side project related to Morrowind, plus Oblivion and Skyrim, and what struck me about its opening as I revisited it is just how extraordinarily complete it is. There’s an entire game contained within the first few yards of your arrival here, a kind of Elder Scrolls diorama, from dungeons to sidequests to weird lore and one of the great video game jokes, in poor Tarhiel and his Scrolls of Icarian Flight. The sheer complexity, in this tiny area around Seyda Neen, is unparalleled.

-Taps

007 First Light, PS5

I thought Chris had written “The Elder Scrolls 6” there. I nearly fell off my chair.

I’m still only a few hours into 007 First Light so in preparation for an interview with the game’s lead writer, I ruined the entire experience for myself and speed-watched someone else’s walkthrough, because I wanted to know what happened so I could talk about it. Usually, doing something like that is a desire-breaker for me to go back to a game (or a book or a TV series or whatever) and actually play it. Without an unknown to discover and know, my brain slacks off, isn’t bothered. But not here.

In fact, it was the opposite. Instead of feeling as though I had to barge through the game to experience it to ‘know’ it, I chilled out a bit, I slowed down. I found myself better enjoying the craft of environments and savouring the banter, and poking around areas I’d otherwise barrel through. I relaxed. And it opened my mind to a whole new way of doing things. Maybe I’ll ruin every game for myself this way.

-Bertie