Us Gaming Respawners are doing our things, playing our games, but it seems to be slim pickings this month with regards to people playing any current/newer games; instead, most of us are revisiting some golden oldies. Check out what games have our attention now in our latest Gaming Respawn Plays!
Will Worrall
Deus Ex and Stardew Valley
This month, I’ve been going on a journey into gaming past by playing the original Deus Ex for PC. I have to admit, my relationship with the game is a bit complicated. My first game in the franchise was Deus Ex: Invisible War on the original Xbox, which many fans of the series will tell you “doesn’t count”. Since then, I tried to get into the original Deus Ex several times without much success. Most of my attempts didn’t even make it past Liberty Island, the first stage, probably because I would set off alarms and then panic, and everything would go horribly wrong. Even after playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution and then bouncing off of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided really hard, I struggled, until this month I finally sat myself down and decided to devote some proper time to something that is often thought of as a classic by the PC gaming masses, and do you know what? It worked this time.
I don’t know what’s been different this time, but I’ve been really clicking with Deus Ex. Once you get past the slight clunk (something you’ll be familiar with if you’ve played other games of the era on PC), it’s an incredibly open and well-written experience. You can genuinely approach almost every problem in a variety of ways, from blowing up everyone/everything you come across to sneaking through vents and hacking security systems to do your dirty work for you. Of course, in many situations, you can also get around things in a non-violent way, but really the biggest appeal of the game is just how much agency you’re given as a player.
Almost anything you can choose to do will have an impact on the game. Go into Detroit guns blazing and slay everything you come across? You bet your ass people will have something to say. Leave a fellow agent behind in an early mission? He’s certainly going to remember that later on. Hell, there’s even a super secret, hard-to-notice clue that can result in one of the main characters literally just dying for seemingly no reason if you’re not paying enough attention. That’s just not the sort of stuff you see out of triple-A devs these days. Honestly, if you can get it on GOG, I’d recommend Deus Ex. Just make sure you get your hands on the laser sword if you want to have a really good time. Tune back in next month when I’ll still have been playing this again (or Stardew Valley, it’s like 50/50 either way).
Peter Keen
A Winter’s Daydream and God of War
What with a skiing holiday and work, I’ve really not been on my consoles that much this month. It’s mainly been trophy hunting in God of War 2018 and then a couple of games on my Switch.
It would be remiss of me not to at least mention, with misty-eyed fondness, that it was God of War’s 20th anniversary on the 22nd of March 2025. My first God of War game was God of War III on the PS3. Words cannot describe how I was literally blown away by the opening sequence, let alone the rest of the game. The highlight for me was Kratos ripping off Helios’s head in my face! Glorious! I then got the God of War HD Collection, which includes God of War I & II. Yet again, those games blew me away.
Skipping forward to now, it’s not lost on me that nearly 15 years to the day (God of War III released March 16th, 2010), here I am, STILL playing and loving the God of War games. In my humble opinion, it’s the greatest gaming series of all time. As the Kevin Butler PlayStation ad (I MISS KEVIN!!) goes, God of War only does EPIC trilogies!
In a COMPLETE contrast to this, I have been winding down from ripping and shredding with a kinetic novel (apparently, it’s a real thing) on my Switch called A Winter’s Daydream. A kinetic novel is a game that has no choices to make, you just sit back, read, and watch the story unfold.
This is a wonderful slice of life, Japanese story game, where the main protagonist goes to visit his grandmother in the middle of nowhere during winter. When he arrives, all is as to be expected, and after catching up, main character Yuu goes to bed ready for the next day. When he awakens, he finds his grandmother has transformed back into a much younger version of herself!
She is quite the mischievous character, and they then go off in search of a kimono for her to wear one last time. I’ve not gotten much further than this so far, but my time with the game has flown by.
The reason for this is that this game is EXTREMELY well written. The slice of life conversations and character building is superb. I’m totally captivated by what’s being said, and I am immensely enjoying this game/story. I already know that once I’m done with this game, I’m going to search out any other games by the same writer.
