What videogames are you playing in 2025?

[trappedslider]

51 mods so far for Fallout 4, 310 for skyrim SE and 19 for starfield but that's due to not playing/updating it

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Glad to hear it’s enjoyable; I’ve been eyeing it up for a while. I’m such a fossil I have trouble learning new systems these days - will it tax my tiny brain too much?

If you just follow a build guide for the characters, which you may want to simply because there are so many options, it's pretty straightforward. That's like the only potentially overwhelming bit. In combat and exploration it's fine, especially if you avoid using the fancy Bladedancer class from the DLC (which benefits strongly from very "predictive" thinking, and is kind of overpowered anyway). Depending on how good you are with tactics and how much attention you pay to gear it may actually become too easy on Normal with a build guide, but there are harder settings if so.

It's a really good RPG for a sort of comprehensive "40K Imperial" experience, and you can essentially play it as full-on Imperial loyalist nutcase, full-on Chaos lunatic, or full-on "Sane person in an insane universe" (the three alignments, essentially - but they're points of a triangle rather than a linear spectrum), or almost any point in-between those (though many choices will line up with one of those three).

 

[GMMichael]

51 mods so far for Fallout 4, 310 for skyrim SE and 19 for starfield but that's due to not playing/updating it

Does CPU/GPU load increase after a certain number of Skyrim mods? I think I'm close to 50, which runs fine, but some of my NPC encounters are glitched.

 

[Reynard]

It's going to be a bust summer. Tainted Grail exits early access on May 23.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Does CPU/GPU load increase after a certain number of Skyrim mods? I think I'm close to 50, which runs fine, but some of my NPC encounters are glitched.

It's not a certain number, it's entirely down to what they are (and your load order).

If you have a whole bunch of mods relying on Skyrim Script Extender, and doing stuff like re-routing NPCs or whatever, that's going to have a significant impact on both CPU load and glitchiness - it's likely to increase both by a lot. As does any mod which interacts with NPC AI.

Whereas if you have a ton of mods that just improve/increase model geometry and texture size and lighting, they will likely be largely glitch-free (if installed in the correct order) and have limited CPU impact, but may well massively increase the GPU load.

But if you just have mods that add armour/weapons to the game, they might not really mess with with either very much.

I've had like 80 Skyrim mods before and been just fine, but I've also installed just a few mods and had problems because they were incompatible or heavily used scripts or the like.

 

[Campbell]

Clair Obscur - Expedition 33 might be my favorite of the last 5 years or so. Black Myth - Wukong, Yakuza - Like A Dragon and Sifu are really the only games that come close. The earnest storytelling combined with an insanely fun combat system that rewards dodging and parrying while including fun turn-based resource management. I adore both the beauty in the face of death aesthetics that feel so very French in the best way possible and how it's more about building your team than individual characters.

You can just feel what a labor of love this was for the team. I don't know how a game feels so polished and earnest at the same time.

 

[GMMichael]

It's not a certain number, it's entirely down to what they are (and your load order).

If you have a whole bunch of mods relying on Skyrim Script Extender, and doing stuff like re-routing NPCs or whatever, that's going to have a significant impact on both CPU load and glitchiness - it's likely to increase both by a lot. As does any mod which interacts with NPC AI.

Whereas if you have a ton of mods that just improve/increase model geometry and texture size and lighting, they will likely be largely glitch-free (if installed in the correct order) and have limited CPU impact, but may well massively increase the GPU load.

But if you just have mods that add armour/weapons to the game, they might not really mess with with either very much.

I've had like 80 Skyrim mods before and been just fine, but I've also installed just a few mods and had problems because they were incompatible or heavily used scripts or the like.

Imma save myself the headache and just install one of those mod packages next . . .

Whom am I kidding? I'll be on Oblivion Remastered for the next three years.

 

[GMMichael]

I've been thinking about getting Ghost of Tsushima for a while. Steam rates it highly. Any cons I should know about?

 

[MarkB]

I've been thinking about getting Ghost of Tsushima for a while. Steam rates it highly. Any cons I should know about?

I've only played it on Playstation, but it's one of my favourite titles on there, both on PS4 and PS5. The only downside to playing it on PC might be missing out on the feedback/vibration from the PS5 controller, which was fantastically implemented - feeling how your horse's hoofbeats change when crossing different surfaces while riding was one of the most immersive experiences I've had in an open-world game.

 

[Gradine]

Skyrim run is going well so far. Snagged the free pre-fab homestead from sending that sad Nord lady to Sovngard, which almost feels like cheating. It is a bit out of way which it makes it less ideal for crafting, so I'll probably still buy the house in Whiterun at least. Put off killing the Dragon outside Whiterun until I could get a place to store all the damn bones and scales.

In all the many times I've played this game I've climbed the mountain to meet the Graybeards once and got far enough along to have to interfere with the civil war never, so hopefully this one goes better. I'm going to make a point of at least prioritizing the main questline instead of fully neglecting it forever.

Playing an Orc Paladin (heavy armor, block, war axes, alteration, restoration) and having a lot of fun. Nearly all of my other characters have ended up stealth archer, it's nice how much faster and, at least early on, easier it to just run up and hit things until they fall down. Actually bothering with companions this time around is helping too.