Warframe: Xoris and the Steel Path

After completing all the nodes in the original star map you are continuously harrassed invited to attempt "the Steel Path" which basically lets you do all the nodes again, but this time with super powered enemies (+100 level, armor, etc). Since I'm now Mastery Rank 18 (which is the same level as our guild hall in Neverwinter Online) I thought I'd give it a try - and promptly found myself overwhelmed.

I wasn't ready!

Which is great, as it forces you to learn more about weapons and builds to actually handle the increased threat which now includes acolytes of the Stalker invading every five minutes or so. It's still early days but I've found a solution in the Xoris, the frisbee Nef Anyo gives you during the rather early "Deadlock Protocol" quest. Using a heavy build to capitalize on double explosions (because apparently warframe frisbees can explode AND still come back to you) I've Firewalker Loki'd my way through a few of these now, with a Scourge primary to corrode the ones that need some armor reduction before throwing the Xoris at them.

It's good that there are five steel path alerts that take place regularly too, increasing the odds of finding a squad to go with. What I've noticed though is that in all of them I'm the only one using non-prime / non-lich gear. Maybe that will be my thing, to try beat the steel path without any primes. They're a pain to collect / pay for anyway. We'll see how we go. In the meantime, my reward is the Xoris totally obliterates everything in most normal missions now which is pretty sweet. :)

Warframe: Limbo and Mirage

Lore wise there are a few warframes that actually "died" (if not all of them, since you are technically piecing them together again), and these two whose blueprints are dedicated quest rewards definitely fit the bill.

Mirage

Having died because she ran out of energy gives you an idea about the power hungry abilities Mirage has, and they are all super neat. She can make mirror images which still shoot real bombs and bullets based on your own equipped weapons, create traps from item drops and summon a deadly disco ball of laser beams which looks amazingly cool. She is one of the best frames to use in Sanctuary Onslaught and basically is an all around ass kicker. However with low defenses she is the very definition of a glass cannon and will often be the first to go down, especially once she runs out of power. Still a super fun frame but ultimately one I just had to cut loose due to lack of utility.

Limbo

This void walker killed himself by trying to traverse across a few too many planets in one jump. Not to worry, you're not silly enough to try that again. Instead you must keep mental track of what is in the void and what isn't, because that is the main focus of Limbo who can both access and send others into the void and real realms. The only rule is that what is in what realm cannot interact with the other. This makes him ultra powerful and at the same time ultra annoying. Don't want to fight that thing? Send it to the void. Or you go into the void and avoid everything - except for that strong thing you forgot you put in the void! Now I need to type into the console... oh wait, I need to be in the real world to do that. Bleh!

It's a bit worse when you have team mates who aren't used to Limbo powers as they will undoubtedly waste attacks on something in the opposite realm because they accidentally entered one of Limbo's portals or Limbo sent that enemy there, possibly using the gigantic sphere attack which also pulls them out of the void as it shrinks? I never got the hang of it as it wasn't fun for me, and so I let this frame slip back into the void.

Inside

A game about control.

From the makers of Limbo comes another 2.5D platformer which has better graphics, game play and story. There's also a decent Easter egg hunt throughout the this very messed up place and the ending doesn't really fill one with "achievement" but it is better that Limbo's abrupt one.

Well, that can't be hygienic...

Don't let that stop you from trying it though, as there are lots of great bits on the journey there. Scary bits. The underwater sections and blast chamber come to mind. Even if you aren't a platformer player, the puzzles here aren't too hard as your protagonist has a relatively small move set - and using them fully will get you through everything. I give it three and a half water girls out of five.

Insight: Keep an eye open for those yellow cables!

Limbo

Appropriately named for the wrong reason.

This is stylistic/minimalistic(?) black and white puzzle platformer is pretty nifty and despite being on the short side of things has some good head scratching sections, especially if you are aiming to get all the extra easter eggs. For something that doesn't use any text or speech, it starts out pretty decent at teaching the player of their limitations and what things are fatal to your character: pretty much everything. :P

It also does a great job of imbuing dread and fear in the earlier stages, something that is unfortunately lost as you progress where things begin relying more on either prior knowledge or excellent gamer ability. The achievement of making it through with less than five deaths is almost certainly unattainable for a first time player as that method of teaching then practice quickly evaporates later on.

Pretty cool for something just in shades of gray.

I feel that the best bits of it are at the beginning. For some reason it seems to have the most care taken design wise. Towards the end when you are avoiding laser guided bullets and playing with gravity altering buttons it feels more and more like a slower Super Meat Boy experience. Doesn't help that the final bit required me to switch to windowed mode to avoid a game breaking crash and that the actual end is quite sudden. I guess much like the title, it's own spirit was lost in Limbo. Still a fun game but not a great game in my book, and it easily could have been. I give it three terrifying giant spiders out of five.