VideoGamer.com Plays, 11th October 2014

Tom Orry, Editorial Director – Bayonetta 2, Wii U

It’s funny how one game can change your view of a console. Bayonetta 2 will be that game for a lot of people on its release later this month, and you’ll find out just how good it is on Monday. Hint: it’s the sequel to the brilliant Bayonetta.

Dave Scammell, News Editor – Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, PS4

While it hasn’t yet clicked with me in quite the same way it did Jim, I just love how grotesquely dark Shadow of Mordor is. The bleakness of its repulsive, muddy world, and the hostility of its inhabitants, killing you and each other simply to work their way up the chain of power.

I’m only 4 missions in so haven’t been able to get a complete grasp on its mechanics, but initial signs point toward a Nemesis System that actually functions as promised, and that puts an excellent spin on an established formula.

Steve Burns, Deputy Editor – The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, PC

Ever a glutton for punishment, straight after playing the awe-inspiring dread-fest that is Alien: Isolation I followed it up with Ethan Carter, a game equally terrifying in its ability to cause horrific frustration. Get past its issues, however, and you’ll find an interesting adventure game that shuns modern convention to good (and sometimes maddening) effect.

Oh, I’ve also been playing an upcoming, heavily-hyped sports game. Return of the king? Find out next week.

Jim Trinca, Video Producer – Styx: Master of Shadows, PC

It’s a prequel to a game I never played, but takes its cues from plenty that I have. Styx: Master of Shadows is a budget release action-stealth sneak-em-up that has just enough charm to make up for its lack of new ideas and distinctly last-gen looks. It feels like a game that would have impressed in 2008, but doesn’t now, and that’s got me thinking about the shelf life of games, and the short windows of opportunity they have to get people on side.

Styx has something to offer, mainly as a stopgap for people who are desperate for the next Dishonoured. A methadone game, of sorts. Expect a proper review soon.

Chris Bratt, Video Producer – Nuclear Throne, PC

There are a lot of bullets to avoid in Nuclear Throne. Big, Vlambeer-styled bullets that will inevitably get you, unless you maybe run into an explosion first, or one of those robot wolf things. You can’t ever ‘beat’ Nuclear Throne, you just keep going for as long as you can, desperately trying to make it to the next stage, the next mutation. Even conquering the throne sees the game reset, but this time with even more of those aforementioned bullets.

It all sounds a bit bloody stressful and well, it is. It’s very stressful. Other than the few brief moments in which you select a new mutation, or hunt down the last enemy, it’s relentless. It can also be incredibly good fun. I haven’t made it all the way to the Nuclear Throne yet, but I’m convinced that I have to eventually. I don’t know how I’ll feel about this game once that goal has been achieved, but I need to see the thing with my own eyes, man. I’ve just got to…

Oh and yeah, I play as Chicken! She’s pretty great. She’s a chicken that uses a sword and her special ability slows down time. #TeamChicken. Eat that in a curry, Steve Burns!