Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – a true sandbox (pic: Nintendo)

The Wednesday letters page has had it with monopoly investigations in the games industry, as one reader applauds Aperture Desk Job.

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Tears of joy
Loved absolutely everything about the new Zeda: Tears Of The Kingdom video, including the fact that it was just a guy sitting there playing the game for 10 minutes and not some ridiculous theatrical reveal. I also liked that they didn’t really spoil anything while also showing off the game’s main new features. Which, I have to say, seem amazing.

This is why Nintendo will always be the masters. The game may look similar to Breath Of The Wild but these new features completely change it in a way no other sequel from other publishers would ever dare. I can’t wait to start experimenting with the powers and see what other people will do with them. It just seems so flexible and open, I love it. A true sandbox.

I have seen some people saying it was disappointing or the graphics were bad, but I can’t take them seriously. It’s still just the Switch and given the amount of physics calculations going on I’m surprised it looks as good as it does. In fact, I’m surprised Nintendo had the audacity to make such an ambitious game on the lowly Switch.

Tears Of The Kingdom is filled with new ideas and concepts. If your priority for a sequel is how much better the graphics look then, well… you’re not short of alternative options.
Onibee

That Zelda feeling
Man, as soon as the Tears Of The Kingdom gameplay video got to the Fusion mechanic I immediately got that Zelda feeling. You know the one, where you start imagining all the possibilities and permutations of what you’ll be doing once you finally get your hands on the game.

You just know that there are going to be a vast number of combination options, and people are going to be finding odd and unusual ones for years, and using them to do things even the designers hadn’t thought of. I’ve been able to stay fairly calm about the game so far, but we’re not far off now and my excitement levels are starting to rise!
Sparky the Yak

Occasional developer
Aperture Desk Job is such an exceedingly charming and funny game, seemingly built for the express purpose of attuning players to the Steam Deck’s control layout and general ergonomics.

The ‘game’ is essentially a tech demo, so only like 45 minutes long, but in that time Valve manage to cram enough scintillating writing, endearing characterisation and memorable, increasingly madcap events to shame many a game that are 10 to 20 times the length. And there’s nothing remotely hyperbolic about that statement; such is the sky – high quality on display here.

The production values are also stellar and do a grand job of demonstrating the graphical prowess of the handheld. Best of all, the game is absolutely free, therefore one must conclude that this is absolutely essential for anyone thinking of picking up a Steam Deck in the foreseeable future.

The short but ever so sweet experience made me hanker for more modern Valve games – with the exception of Half Life: Alyx, which I’ve yet to play, Inbox magic invoked so that it comes to PlayStation VR2 – because when they’re firing on all cylinders Valve are undoubtedly one of the best developers in the world!
Galvanized Gamer

GC: Valve make video games now?

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Dynamic challenge
Following Galvanised Gamer’s letter and around five hours of my own experience of the Resident Evil 4 remake, I am finding the game much more difficult than the original game (regarding standard difficulty).

Enemies are much more aggressive, taking swipes, grabbing, and flanking me often. A headshot is no longer a guarantee of stunning an enemy, so I can finish them off with a melee attack. Enemies are overcrowding me much more often as well.

I didn’t find out till years later about Resident Evil 4 and it’s featured dynamic difficulty. This meant for me that I always just about managed to get through a section with maybe a few deaths. Now, for me, it’s so many more deaths than in the original and I feel that the exquisite balance has been lost.

I’ll still stick it out a bit longer, but I have to say I’m tempted to drop down to assisted level difficulty. Which is something I didn’t want to do and also once you lower the difficulty level, there is no way to change it back.
Chaosphere616

GC: Are you using the knife parry and playing defensively? We found the game easier than the original.

What’re ya sellin’?
I used to value the classic games of the Resident Evil series, however the graphics of the remake look improved and it looks gloomy. However, I preferred the old Resident Evil 4 Merchant, he was Australian and it was awesome to have his classic voice. However, the new remake version of the Merchant is a huge flop. Don’t like the sudden accent change.

I wish Capcom would make a patch track of old players who like the older voice of Leon, so they can swap voice tracking so then they can see for themselves which they would play. But I doubt they listen to the older fans, that’s why I went back to the original Resident Evil 4 on GameCube, because it had the punchlines and funny script and iconic moments.
Dante

GC: The Merchant has always been a cockney.

Time well spent
Resident Evil 4 done! What a ride that game is. As another reader pointed out, there’s no boring open world to traipse through, no mundane dialogue, no overly long cut scenes… just one thrilling siege or an epic set piece, after the other. Not many games keep me playing until 4am of a weekend, but this did and probably still will for a while yet.
big boy bent
PS: No matter how many times I’ve gone through it, those Regenerators always creep me out, just the way they amble and twitch about, brrrr!

Good-Better-Worst
Like others, I’ve been underwhelmed by the premium offering for PS Plus – even if it is only an additional £1.25 a month (maximum). Extra, on the other hand has been excellent and well worth the asking price.

It struck me that I don’t really understand the decision to adopt a three-tier model. Had they gone for two tiers – Essentials and Extra – and charged £50 and £100, respectively, I really feel most people would find it value for money.

By splitting out the premium content, they’ve drawn attention to the quantity of what’s available within that tier. Which then leads to negative headlines – even when the monthly Extra list has been particularly good it’s overshadowed by the lacklustre Premium offering.

Did they just want to offer something that distinguishes it better from Game Pass? Did they underestimate the required work to add titles quickly to the catalogue? Who knows why.
Petersmiler

GC: It’s probably some variation of the Good-Better-Best pricing concept, but we agree that the extreme difference between Extra’s value for money and Premium’s embarrassing incompetence seems self-defeating.

Rock Lords
In your review of Tchia there was no mention of the Disney film Moana. The way the character changes to an animal is exactly like the way Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s character does it.

The boat is the same as Moana’a. I think the Ubisoft follow-up to Immortals Fenix Rising being set in Polynesian mythology, which is similar to Moana’s story. I am all in favour of different mythologies, being used. We only seem to get Greek and Norse.
Alek Kazam

GC: We haven’t seen Moana, but Polynesia is a neighbour to the game’s fictionalised version of New Caledonia.

Ninten-who?
I’ve tried ever so hard not to bite in relation to the Activision deal, but the sheer nonsense spewed out about Sony’s dominance in Japan is so mind numbingly idiotic it’s almost laughable, were it not so silly. Could we class this as fake news?

Nintendo should almost be outraged that they’re not even seen as a dominant force. They’ve been in the business longer, are adored by millions and sell millions of consoles and games worldwide, yet somehow only Sony and Microsoft are in the competition for global dominance.

If ‘informed experts’ think a company worth $2 trillion is being marginalised (whilst it spends $69 billion to be competitive) then I honestly feel that hope has all but faded when it comes to reading factual data.

As mentioned, it’s the sheer amount of blatant nonsense put forward as evidence that irks me the most. We’ll have talk of Sega and Amstrad being far too dominant in the obsolete console manufacturing market next.

I shall wear my Nintendo hat with pride.
Wonk

GC: Yeah, that was the final straw for us too. Sony has brought some of this on themselves but the whole circus is just embarrassing for everyone now.

Inbox also-rans
Just a short message to say Bayonetta 1 physical edition is in stock on the Nintendo Store now.
Andrew J.

It’s sad to see E3 be slowly killed and dismembered like this, they just need to call it a day and say it’s all over. I wish it wasn’t but at this point it’s just going to be an empty room with no one in it. I hope Sony are proud of themselves.
Doshin

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Tesla, who asks what video game franchise have you played the most entries in?

Many video game franchises have been going for 30 or 40 years at this point, with dozens of sequels and spin-offs, but which one have you played the most entries from? Is it because you’re a fan of the series and you purposefully sought them all out or was it more of an accident?

What put you off the entries you haven’t played and how much of a completionist do you tend to be about series you like? Do you like to keep the games and do you own any merchandise for them?

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The small print
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MORE : Games Inbox: Resident Evil 4 remake fan verdict, the Pawmo controversy, and Untitled Goose Game 2

MORE : Weekend Hot Topic: Dreaming about video games

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The Wednesday letters page has had it with monopoly investigations in the games industry, as one reader applauds Aperture Desk Job.