Some gaming:

• Finishing Aliens: Fireteam Elite. There are spoilers like, "surprise, the final boss is the alien queen".
• A little bit of the Dani/Daddy video game candidate Stardew Valley.
• A few hours of Abiotic Factor with a non-spoiler section and a spoiler section.

Look out behind you!

As you'd expect, the AFE missions progress from normal sci-fi scenery like space stations and excavation sites to the chitinous tunnels that are a franchise hallmark. The gameplay remains largely the same, save for the new equipment and abilities that are unlocked throughout the campaign.


Eventually you reach the queen, triggering an escape sequence (rather than a big fight).

To echo my comments in August, AFE fun for a single run through - maybe a second with a four-squad based on the additional unlockables.



After finishing Sackboy and bailing on LittleBigPlanet 3, Dani was looking for a new PS5 game. I told her that Astro Bot would be the reward for a good soccer game. In the meantime, we gave Stardew Valley a try since it was on PS+. A few brief thoughts:

• It's a bit slow for me, being a farm simulator and all.
• Dani enjoyed it but wasn't as enthusiastic as with the platformers.
• The dungeon crawling was kind of fun.

After Aliens, me and J played some Abiotic Factor while waiting for the BL4 release date. Abiotic Factor is a mysterious survival game with Half-Life vibes and, for that reason, I have no desire to spoil it for anyone who may give it a try. If that's you, don't read past the large text that says "Early game spoilers".


Character creation is pretty normal though you don't often see "bladder of steel" or negative traits that allow you to buy more positive ones. The skill chart is quite extensive and (I think) gets passively filled up as you do stuff (rather than collecting things or spending perks or whatever). This reminds me most of Skyrim where you'd rather reasonably level up lockpicking by... lockpicking.


Like any survival game, crafting (and its close friend, collecting) is a core game mechanic. Story points are sometimes gated by crafting unique items that require unique quest materials.


Crafting materials and cooking materials are found by exploring the Black Mesa-like facility, then bringing things back to home base. My biggest struggle in the early game was not getting the gardening pipeline going. I relied on vending machine snacks, burned through my cash, and starved to death a couple of times.


Basic needs like sleeping and pooping are not as nagging as eating and they come with a fun minigame.


Strange creatures roam the facility. They respawn so its best to avoid them except when necessary.


The robots keep you safe, until you make them angry. Then it's time to build a chopper.

Early-game spoilers

Things start to get weird when a monster-spewing portal opens in camp.


Things get stranger still when you find the portal chamber.


Things remain at the previously-established level of strangeness when you step through the portal and enter Far Garden.


Then you go into another portal and enter Flathill where you catch a momentary glipse of a gigantic, scary alien.


Then you see a man dressed as a normal-sized, scary alien.


Then you need to sneak by the gigantic, scary alien and his friends.


Finally, you watch your buddy (J, not an NPC) get devoured by the giant, scary alien, affirming that fact that it was indeed scary.

	Behold, dog!	�
	From Player messages in Elden Ring (pic unrelated)

Related / internal

Related / external