What I'm Playing Vol. 11

The Cafe Archive
What’s up gamers! I’m trying to write more regularly so expect a weekly post from me now, either about something specific or, if I don’t have anything in particular on my mind, what I’m playing lately. Having said that, let’s dive in!

Halo Infinite

The multiplayer for Halo Infinite shadow-dropped this Monday and folks - I’m in heaven. The gaming industry has seen a deluge in Battle Royals and twitch-based shooters, and while those are and have been fun - I’m the resident Apex defender, don’t forget - they can also be exhausting. There’s nothing that can deflate my mood faster than trying to hop into some Apex with Flynn and getting bodied over and over again because of bad drops or poor matchmaking balance.

Halo Infinite doesn’t have any of these problems. It might seem stressful if you’re not a regular multiplayer…uh, player, but compared to the sweat of Respawn’s game, it may as well be a walk through a petting zoo. It has a long TTK, so you have a chance to escape if someone catches sight of you first. And because it’s an Arena game, even if you get knocked, 5-8 seconds later you’ll be back on your merry way.

It’s that low pressure environment that makes Infinite such a blast with friends. And on top of that, even if you’re getting destroyed, Infinite feels like the FPS version of driving a lambo (I think, I can’t exactly afford a sports car lol). Every second of the moment to moment gameplay feels immaculate, I can’t get enough of it and I’ve been playing every day as of late.

It’s good the core loop feels so good, because as everyone on the internet has already been saying, the battle pass and its progress speed are pretty abysmal. I get that this pass is going until May, but some balancing definitely needs to be done so that you can level up more than once in a day, because the grind right now is pretty bad. Luckily adjustments are already on their way, so I’m not too worried! But being honest, even if it never changed, Halo Infinite would still be my go-to for multiplayer for the foreseeable future. It’s really just that good.

Forza Horizon 5

I am not a car guy. I own a Toyota Rav4 because it’s dependable and reliable, but I don’t know its intricacies. Expensive looking cars do not make my engine rev, so to speak, not in the same way a 62 inch monitor does, because I’m a tech weirdo and not a car weirdo.

Despite all this, Forza Horizon 5 is convincing me to, if not outright become a car weirdo, at least understand where those car weirdos are coming from. FH5 feels like a party when you play it. Everyone’s having a good time, good music is always blasting, and the incredibly beautiful vistas of Mexico feel warm and inviting. And that warmth extends into the gameplay as well. It’s an arcade racer for the most part, so it’s pretty easy to jump in and start driving right away. And there are plenty of accessibility options to make that driving easier too. You can get help with drifts, or download car tunings from car weirdos online to maximize the potential of your favorite vehicles while you’re racing, so you don’t have to figure that stuff out yourself.

But the best feature, in my opinion, is the rewind button. A single press, and you can rewind a bad drift, or a crash, or a whiffed jump. There’s no penalty to doing this, which makes sense: Forza wants you to have fun, above all else. So download that Akatsuki paint job for your Corvette and get out there!

Until You Fall

This game came out of nowhere for me. It’s a VR roguelike game where you use two rods (or axes, or daggers) to fight increasingly more challenging enemies with swipes and dodges. Until You Fall is very satisfying. Parrying enemies and slashing back is more fun of a workout for me than my usual boring runs. PLUS! The swords in each of your hands can shhhhk against each other when you sharpen them against one another. This has no effect on gameplay whatsoever, but it lets you do cool Dark Souls-ass poses before you go up against some of the stronger enemies.

What have you been playing? Let me know @mintmakesthings! You can also subscribe to the Mint's Café Newsletter to stay up to date with my stuff!