Close-ish to Reality

I had been tooling around with a few different games but recently felt the weird urge to replay a game that, in a way, has no business being "replayed."  I had invested some time in The Division 2 last year and found myself having a good time despite the fact that it's a shooter (I like shooting things, but shooters aren't generally my go-to).  Since I felt ultra-rusty, I decided that starting a new character would be a better idea than trying to go back to my already max level character.  In reality, that's completely pointless because it's not like there's some variety in the events that happen in the base story.  But, oh well, I got to design a new character and re-experience content that wasn't exactly fresh in my mind.

In restarting TD2, I had forgotten the basis for the story in that game--there's a global pandemic and society has disintegrated.  As I played through the intro I couldn't help internally (and externally, because, let's be real about isolation at this point) chuckling over the story--sort of a combination groan/chuckle.  Maybe it's a bad choice to play a game based in the aftermath of a pandemic during an actual pandemic?  Nah, I'm enjoying shooting all the things!

Ambush looming.

Since I stopped playing there have been some additions to the game--namely the addition of an expansion that takes players out of the ruins of Washington D.C. and into New York City.  I haven't purchased this expansion, but I'm obnoxiously reminded of its existence every time I return to the White House location and an given a virtual verbal command to "GET TO THE CHOPPA!"  Maybe someday when it goes on sale (it's priced at $29.99).  Since I'm not quite max level, I don't know the full extent of the changes to the late game stuff--when I stopped playing there were gear sets that could be acquired, but the system was fairly undeveloped.  I noticed that one of the new staff members I acquired in the White House was responsible for gear "recalibration"--a term that I would equate to "enchantments" in a fantasy leaning game world--players can take a desirable stat from a piece of gear (that piece of gear will be destroyed in the process) and add it to a library where it can be placed onto a future piece of gear.  That's some min/max stuff for late game.

Re-visiting the destroyed world of TD2 reminded me of what I have come to enjoy about Ubisoft's games--there's a high level of detail and accuracy in the world.  The missions take place in major D.C. landmarks and it's fun to play through the set pieces that take place in places like the Lincoln Memorial or the Air and Space Museum.  Roaming through the open world of D.C. I've noticed an increase in the number of apparel related items that I've recovered.  It might sound dumb, but now my character can rock a rotating number of outfits (that's why everyone plays serious shooting games, right?  For the outfits?).

To keep it fresh, I also decided that I would try to accomplish some of the achievements that I missed the first time around--utilizing different abilities, completing certain activities--those kinds of things.  I've learned to love my drone and have been doing some experimenting with the chem launcher.  I also decided to take a sojourn into a dark zone and give it a go (at a very early level, which is undoubtedly a waste of time) and was surprised to survive the encounter.  The dark zones are an intriguing blend of PvE and PvP--players can opt to work together to evac loot or turn on each other to steal loot.  In my instance, the other players were very focused on evac'ing loot and there wasn't any craziness.  I might give the dark zones another go later on.

In other news, the Epic Game Store is currently having a big sale.  As part of this sale, they've been giving away a number of big titles--the biggest and most notable of them was Grand Theft Auto V.  The interwebs were abuzz with GTA V talk and plenty of gawping at this epic offering.  Currently the free game is Civilization VI.  I snapped it up despite the fact that I am decidedly horrible at 4X games.  There are two more games scheduled to be given away as part of the sale--rumors are that they will be Borderlands:  The Handsome Collection (which includes Borderlands 2 and ALL the DLC and Borderlands:  The Pre-Sequel and ALL its DLC!) on May 28th and Ark:  Survival Evolved.  One of the best parts of the Epic giveaways is that you get a $10 off coupon for downloading the free games!  I decided to finally bite the bullet on Red Dead Redemption 2 and am looking forward to some western style goodness (after I get tired of TD2).

Happy Memorial Day weekend!  Check out some games or enjoy some socially distanced outdoor activities.