Topic: What Games Have You Been Playing Recently (Read 388519 times)

de_la_Nae · « **Reply #1500 on:** 10 Sep 2021, 21:26 »

I've gotten stupid-far on Hollow Knight. Radiant level on most of the bosses. Still haven't finished an ending. too bad i think i'm cycling away now >_<

Did most of... well, much of, at least, Celeste. I'm in the ending chapter. and need to do b-sides. and stuff. Most brutal platformer I've ever played.

Got a lot of the way through Going Under. Fun and cute time!

Tried Atomicrops. It's okay. It's got some heart. The core gameplay loop isn't hard, on a basic level. But it's a bit of a rough game, and doesn't explain itself very well. Decent attempt at the very least. I have access to it for free-ish, so I'm gonna give it a bit more time and attention to see if I can find my joy here or not.

Farideh · « **Reply #1501 on:** 10 Sep 2021, 22:34 »

I tried Hollow Knight. Didn't like it. I tried Hades. Didn't like it either. I've come to the conclusion that games like that (rogue lites?) are not for me 🙂

Just bought Skyward Sword HD. See how that one goes.

Tova · « **Reply #1502 on:** 10 Sep 2021, 22:39 »

World of Warcraft has killed any satisfaction I may once have derived from repetitive, grindy games.

LTK · « **Reply #1503 on:** 11 Sep 2021, 03:17 »

Quote from: de_la_Nae on 10 Sep 2021, 21:26

Tried Atomicrops. It's okay. It's got some heart. The core gameplay loop isn't hard, on a basic level. But it's a bit of a rough game, and doesn't explain itself very well. Decent attempt at the very least. I have access to it for free-ish, so I'm gonna give it a bit more time and attention to see if I can find my joy here or not.

I've also been hacking away at Atomicrops. It's definitely got a surplus of complexity, but the core loop is solid enough that I've enjoyed figuring things out for myself. However, it could do with a little less stinginess on the permanent upgrades. It's not that the meta-currency is rare, but the 'merchants' that you have to unlock are ridiculously hard to find. I think I had about 6-8 runs where I defeated the final boss (whose mechanics were utterly confusing the first time I tried) and I've only just found the second merchant yesterday. The wiki tells me there are at least four more! I'm still having fun grinding those upgrades out, but c'mon, throw me a bone here.

Quote from: Farideh on 10 Sep 2021, 22:34

I tried Hollow Knight. Didn't like it. I tried Hades. Didn't like it either. I've come to the conclusion that games like that (rogue lites?) are not for me 🙂

Just bought Skyward Sword HD. See how that one goes.

You... okay, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you, but what games do you like? Hollow Knight and Hades are about as different as two 2D action games can get, and I'd expect someone to find something to like in at least one of them. Hollow Knight isn't a roguelike, or lite, or whatever, it's a conventional metroidvania with a static world that keeps your progress after death, and probably the best one of its kind. Same for Hades, which wraps the modern roguelike formula into a narrative structure where it makes sense to try, die, repeat in a way that honestly, no one has ever done with this level of style and grace.

But if you don't like them, you don't like them... shame.

oddtail · « **Reply #1504 on:** 11 Sep 2021, 16:41 »

Quote from: LTK on 11 Sep 2021, 03:17

Quote from: Farideh on 10 Sep 2021, 22:34
I tried Hollow Knight. Didn't like it. I tried Hades. Didn't like it either. I've come to the conclusion that games like that (rogue lites?) are not for me 🙂

Just bought Skyward Sword HD. See how that one goes.
You... okay, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you, but what games do you like? Hollow Knight and Hades are about as different as two 2D action games can get, and I'd expect someone to find something to like in at least one of them. Hollow Knight isn't a roguelike, or lite, or whatever, it's a conventional metroidvania with a static world that keeps your progress after death, and probably the best one of its kind. Same for Hades, which wraps the modern roguelike formula into a narrative structure where it makes sense to try, die, repeat in a way that honestly, no one has ever done with this level of style and grace.

But if you don't like them, you don't like them... shame.

I do not completely agree, I don't think.

I love Hades, and hate most all Metroidvanias - and my dislike does include Hollow Knight - but the games are not entirely dissimilar.

They're both fighting games based around moving in such a way that you do not get attacked and so that the enemy gets within your attack. Attacking is relatively simple and much of it is melee focused. The crucial skill is dexterity, the crucial concern is timing, and you're more worried about distance from the opponent than you are about them blocking. A large part of the movement is based around rapid dashing. I'd argue the dynamics and "feel" of the movement is in some ways similar.

These are not the same game and they are even in different genres - and yes, what I described can describe a *lot* of other games from vastly different genres. But if someone is indifferent about those things (as I happen to be - I like Hades because it's the best possible version of itself and sort of transcends its own genre, but I didn't really like any other game similar to it in gameplay), they can be off-putting in both games, for similar reasons.

Tova · « **Reply #1505 on:** 12 Sep 2021, 01:05 »

Quote from: LTK on 11 Sep 2021, 03:17

You... okay, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you, but what games do you like?

This is a big, big universe, and there are quite a lot of games out there ...

Farideh · « **Reply #1506 on:** 12 Sep 2021, 14:25 »

I read your response, LTK, and realized that 'Hollow Knight and Hades are similar games' only makes sense to me. Allow me to explain.

Both are games that I tried because other people (like in my friend circle) absolutely RAVED about them and so I thought 'why not?'
Both are games that are hard (for me) and quite unforgiving (HK more so than Hades. 'Boo, you died, now go out and retrieve your soul again!')
Both are games that I probably would have loved 10, 15, 20 years ago, but that I now can't be bothered with.

Which is why, for me, those games are very similar.

I tend to play to relax and have fun, which neither HK nor Hades can do for me. There is much about both of them that I love (graphics, story line) but it doesn't outweigh my frustration.

LTK · « **Reply #1507 on:** 12 Sep 2021, 15:32 »

That makes sense. I generally assume that people check if they themselves would enjoy a game before going off to play it. I've fallen into that trap myself often: I'd read a review of something that completely convinced me of a game being the Best Thing Ever, and when I'd go play it, it turned out not to be the kind of game I enjoy at all. So I've gotten to be very skeptical of friend recommendations for anything outside my preferred genres.

de_la_Nae · « **Reply #1508 on:** 12 Sep 2021, 20:47 »

game Atomicrops a little more time, especially on your word LTK cuz i mean we usually vibe enough on the same wavelengths

yeah okay it's captured me a bit more. still an obtuse bastard. but gonna play with it some more. beat my first year. took me a bit to figure out how that boss worked, but not too long
also met that fucking moon at one point in my year two attempts. holding off actually asking for hints on it, now. dropped a grinder/fertilizer tractor on it, which was interesting if not ultimately effective. makes me wonder how it'll respond to the megatron tractor, lol

also started Control, cuz i'm just.... really fucking stuck right now in the house, extra amount, so a good time to get to things on the Microsoft game pass nonsense. Like it, though im early. and it fucking crashed, sigh

de_la_Nae · « **Reply #1509 on:** 12 Sep 2021, 20:49 »

also i can see how hollow knight and hades can feel similar. they present and in a lot of ways work/handle differently enough that they don't register as the same for me, but on further reflection (especially after so much 'dancing' in doing bosses hitless in HK), well the gist of the ballet isn't so utterly different? the wine sprung from different vines, and yet there are some tastes between the two

de_la_Nae · « **Reply #1510 on:** 13 Sep 2021, 00:14 »

yeah, fuck Control right now. At least the PC version through Xbox Game Pass. i've gotten more than a reasonable amount of locks, for a system that should handle this fine

LTK · « **Reply #1511 on:** 13 Sep 2021, 13:25 »

Quote from: de_la_Nae on 12 Sep 2021, 20:47

game Atomicrops a little more time, especially on your word LTK cuz i mean we usually vibe enough on the same wavelengths

yeah okay it's captured me a bit more. still an obtuse bastard. but gonna play with it some more. beat my first year. took me a bit to figure out how that boss worked, but not too long
also met that fucking moon at one point in my year two attempts. holding off actually asking for hints on it, now. dropped a grinder/fertilizer tractor on it, which was interesting if not ultimately effective. makes me wonder how it'll respond to the megatron tractor, lol

I didn't think I posted here enough to get a sense of my wavelength, but I'm pleasantly surprised my recommendation carries some weight!

I've gotten up to year 5 myself, and I managed to unlock five different merchants, including one who provides a time capsule with some extra starting resources depending on how far I got in my previous run. That's definitely required to get a foot in the door on the higher difficulties: the number of nighttime raiders here is insane and I have to spend a lot more time trying to survive, where I could previously just keep planting and harvesting while dodging the occasional bullet. I'm still not sure if there's a consistent way to find merchants, only that they tend to show up in the distant areas, the ones needing 2 or 3 bridge building kits to unlock.

You'll definitely be seeing more of that moon. I think there's two varieties of that event, one with and one without enemies, but the chompy bastard comes down nonetheless. There's actually a hint in the Steam achievements description if you need it. I haven't destroyed it myself, but I'll probably get the chance sooner or later.

de_la_Nae · « **Reply #1512 on:** 13 Sep 2021, 23:11 »

Started Boyfriend Dungeon.
I like it!

de_la_Nae · « **Reply #1513 on:** 13 Sep 2021, 23:12 »

also SkateBIRD is supposed to come out, like, next week
so just uh
just a heads up
to anyone who wants to be a small skateboarding bird

Veritable_Variable · « **Reply #1514 on:** 17 Sep 2021, 21:24 »

Started playing Deltarune Chapter 2 (after a replay of chapter 1) and so far, it's living up to the hype.

LTK · « **Reply #1515 on:** 19 Sep 2021, 01:29 »

Right, I think I've had my fill of Atomicrops. I've beaten year 5, but fighting enemies in year 6 is getting a lot more arduous. Enemies are tankier and more bullet-spammy, and I'm having less fun fighting them. Farming also hasn't revealed any additional depth or nuance so I don't particularly have good reason to keep doing that either. Plus, I killed the moon, so with that milestone it seems like a good time to call it quits.

I also only just found the cat merchant, who has been back at the house the entire time but I never found him because I didn't realize there was a passage over to the right with all the cat stuff. Oh well.

Great game! There are a single-digit number of games that can approach Vlambeer's Nuclear Throne level of gamefeel and design quality, and I can safely say this is one of them.

LeeC · « **Reply #1516 on:** 19 Sep 2021, 17:20 »

Does anyone know of an open world survival type game (like Conan Exiles or Valheim) but with like a 1760s era style to it? I would love a Conan Exiles style game like that. With Conan exiles you can build different structures, equipment, weapons, etc based on different nations/cultures from the Conan universe. I would love a similar type game but in a fantasy world that resembles 1600-1700 cultures and nations. Make farms, capture animals to domesticate them for food, resources, and mounts. Recruit NPCs to perform different jobs in your town or fight along side you. Fight monsters, explore dungeons/ruins, compete with other players or other NPC groups on the map. I think that would be fun.

oddtail · « **Reply #1517 on:** 26 Sep 2021, 06:50 »

Started playing Deltarune, finished Chapter 1, I'm almost done with Chapter 2.

I'm extremely impressed. It's not quite Undertale, but what is. It still manages to be a great game for what it is. The high point is most definitely the humour - to me personally, it had many, many laugh-out-loud moments and I consider it funnier than Undertale (which also was sometimes comedy gold).

I was dreading disappoinment, but I was very pleasantly surprised. If I had any real complaint, maybe the game leans a bit *too* heavily on nostalgia and references to Undertale, occasionally. But not to obnoxious levels.

de_la_Nae · « **Reply #1518 on:** 27 Sep 2021, 20:40 »

sorry Lee, no idea

so i know i'm, like, decades late, but Quake? pretty good. i can see why people were into it.
i mostly missed this entire genre back in the Doom, Quake, et al era. so the remake/release/whatever of Quake that came out in the last year or whatever is a nice time to go back. and y'know, even on Normal it's ...not exactly *challenging*, but it's certainly satisfying, frenetic, and makes me wonder if I even want to try Hard. For those that know, I've done main campaign and Scourge of Armagon, and am in episode 1 of Dissolution of Eternity

Bloodroots is a Hotline Miami-alike, in the sense that it's a one-hit fast fighter. I have some distinct squabbles with it, and was *very tired* of some segments by the time i beat them. but overall, worthwhile if you're into this sort of thing.

Finished Boyfriend Dungeon some time ago. Not the hardest of its sort by any means. gonna have to replay it at one point and make some different decisions. several interesting stories and cuties of several kinds to date

LTK · « **Reply #1519 on:** 28 Sep 2021, 11:42 »

I'm super glad you're enjoying Quake, it's rather underappreciated I think, at least compared to Doom 1 and 2. Those games have a gigantic number of mods that tend to get the spotlight, but I've always been a Quake and Unreal guy.

No joke, one of the best shooters I've played in years is a Quake mod called Arcane Dimensions, it's a huge collaborative map pack split into different worlds that's got all the best parts of Quake but more Quakey in every way. I highly recommend it.

LeeC · « **Reply #1520 on:** 30 Sep 2021, 06:35 »

So I tried to pick up Cyberpunk 2077 but my computer's OS isn't compatible with it. Anyone able to recommend an alternative cyber-punky style game? I tried Shadowrun Returns but it just didn't immerse me.

oddtail · « **Reply #1521 on:** 30 Sep 2021, 06:42 »

My instinct is to say Shadowrun: Dragonfall, because if it's immersion that's the issue, the game's story is MUCH better (IMO) compared to Returns. It's a very similar game, but Returns I thought was fine, while Dragonfall was thoroughly entertaining for me.

But if the general gameplay of SR Returns didn't spark joy for you either, Dragonfall may or may not appeal to you.

I'm not up to date on video games, so the best I can recommend are old titles. The original Syndicate, System Shock 1 and 2 and Deus Ex being all-time classics, if you can get past the more dated elements of graphics and interface.

LeeC · « **Reply #1522 on:** 30 Sep 2021, 10:52 »

I tried playing Deus Ex: Human Evolution a long time ago but I got to a required stealth mission that was frustrating and ended up quitting. I could give it another try. I've been playing XCOM2 since it has a cyberpunk flair to it (especially on city maps).

edit: I do have Dragon Fall and Boston Lockdown for Shadowrun, I may give Dragon Fall a chance based on your recommendation.

de_la_Nae · « **Reply #1523 on:** 01 Oct 2021, 12:58 »

Observer, starring Rutger Hauer, might be up your alley. it's mostly a first-person explore+investigate story. a few chase/stealth sections that i don't remember being particularly hard, though i admit don't necessarily serve the game the best. but want to put it on your radar

LeeC · « **Reply #1524 on:** 10 Oct 2021, 18:54 »

I really like the atmosphere, story, aliens and setting of X-Com: Enemy Unknown, but love the gameplay, customizations, classes, and modding community of X-COM2.

LeeC · « **Reply #1525 on:** 10 Nov 2021, 16:01 »

I've been playing Stellaris lately... well, not playing so much as creating empires on create custom and then saving them so they can spawn in game as NPC factions. So Far I've made:

From Dune:
The Atreides
The Harkonnen
The Corrino
The Spacing Guild (Mega Corporation)
The Fremen
The Synchronized Worlds

From Warhammer 40K
The Eldar Empire
The T'au Empire
Ork WAAAGH!!! (Barbarian Despoilers)

Star Wars:
The Sith Empire
The Galactic Republic (Clone Armies)
Confederation of Independent States
The Mandalorian Marauders

War of the Worlds:
Martian League

Red Faction:
Red Faction

Mass Effect:
The Geth Consciousness

Wing Commander:
The Kilrathi Empire

Norse Mythology:
Svartalfheim Empire (Dwarves)
Alfheim Alliance (Light Elves)
Dokkalfa Hegemony (Dark Elves)
Galactic Jotunn Sovereignty (Mountain Giants)
Empire of Hel (Helheim, reanimator Necroid empire)

I also made a space French Empire based on Napoleonic France called the Froad Empire and yes I am using frog avatars for them (I got bored of so many human avatar empires). I also created a Megacorporation called RA Tech and they're loosely based on Ancient Egyptian gods and use Falcon humanoids as their avatars. I also made an Angelic looking civilization (they look like goat people but the horns connect in a halo like effect) that lives on a ring world and a Satyr civilization that reveres the Celtic god Cernunnos.

Thrillho · « **Reply #1526 on:** 11 Nov 2021, 12:34 »

Just started the Outer Worlds. It is incredible.

cesium133 · « **Reply #1527 on:** 13 Nov 2021, 10:28 »

I've been playing Freeways. A pretty simple game (you're given a set of highways that need to be connected, and you have to design a junction that won't get jammed with traffic).

LeeC · « **Reply #1528 on:** 09 Jan 2022, 19:52 »

So the "Board Games" thread is 7 years defunct, so I think it may be appropriate to just post here (games and more games) instead of an extreme threadcromancey (mods feel free to move it if it is your desire).

Tonight I played the board game "Alien: Fate of the Nostromo" with my wife. Its a 1-5 player co-op game where you play as the crew members of the Nostromo (each with their own special ability) and deal with the Alien from the film. You run around the ship, collecting scrap, crafting items, and completing objectives while avoiding the Alien and

(click to show/hide)

The alien moves at the end of every player's turn and there are encounter tokens throughout the ship where he can just teleport depending on whats on the other side of the token. After all objectives have been complete, you and your crew have to complete a random "final mission" card to win the game. All objectives and final mission cards are randomly drawn cards, making every game a different experience. If you and your crew lose all your morale (there's a morale counter that ticks down every time you come face to face with the alien, Jonesy the Cat, or the spoiler), or start the ships self destruct and fail to complete the final mission before it ticks down to 0, you lose. My wife and I played as Ripley and Parker (our favorite characters from the film) and beat the game with only 2 morale left so we won by the skin of our teeth, and the final objective was probably the best outcome the crew could have faced in the movie.

(click to show/hide)

We're calling it the "super happy ending" final objective card. It was rather funny, the first objective we tried to complete looked like the easiest and quickest one to complete, until the alien moved around and foiled our plans causing it to be the last of the 3 objectives we had to complete. I also found a video on youtube that explains the game, which we watched before playing to help us set up the board and understand the rules. There were a few times where we still had to consult the rule sheet, and one or two times where we had to interpret the rules, but other than that it was fun and exciting. The rules and video makes it seem a bit complicated, but once you start playing, it moves fairly quickly and is easy to pick up. Set up time, watching the video, and playing the game took us about an hour and a half. I really liked that it was co-op and you have to work as a team rather than something competitive. We'd love to play it again and maybe invite a few other people over to make it more interesting (more layers means more objectives). If you like the movie and/or board games, its worth a look.

How to Play video

Edited for correcting spelling mistakes -LeeC

Farideh · « **Reply #1529 on:** 09 Jan 2022, 22:10 »

Sounds great! If you like tricky cooperative games, have a look at Pandemic.

Thrillho · « **Reply #1530 on:** 10 Jan 2022, 02:43 »

I think it will be a long time before I am remotely willing to play Pandemic again.

Gyrre · « **Reply #1531 on:** 11 Jan 2022, 02:39 »

We completely our first session of Paranoia over Roll20 Sunday. It ended with us launching section AAA of the Alpha Complex into space using a Project Orion style propulsion system. Prematurely. With 90+% of the intended passengers not on board.

It's already been joked in our gaming group that we're now playing Among Us TTRPG. Here's hoping their aren't any shapeshifters.

EDIT: typo correction

hedgie · « **Reply #1532 on:** 11 Jan 2022, 09:50 »

The other players are mutant commie traitors and must be dealt with accordingly.

LeeC · « **Reply #1533 on:** 11 Jan 2022, 10:26 »

Quote from: hedgie on 11 Jan 2022, 09:50

The other players are mutant commie traitors and must be dealt with accordingly.

I too have played Monopoly and have seized the assets of my competitors.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #1534 on:** 11 Jan 2022, 17:26 »

Starting Metroid Dread after getting it for Christmas. I've been killed 3 times by an EMMI

LTK · « **Reply #1535 on:** 11 Jan 2022, 18:17 »

I've been playing a lot of Jupiter Hell. For a while I was really struggling to articulate what I wanted out of a roguelike. The classics like Brogue are great, but extremely punishing. I can't see myself investing enough time in Brogue to ever get a winning run. But the modern roguelikes that are chock-full of meta-progression like Dead Cells also rub me the wrong way, because the game then becomes about unlocking stuff more than about honing your skills, and I don't want to feel like the reason I play something is to go down a checklist.

For those reasons I'm really impressed by how well Jupiter Hell is hitting the balance of having each run be a challenge and having something to work towards while playing. Honestly, if it was just the regular game with nothing to unlock, it would already be a great roguelike. Progression is built for variety and you can end up with vastly different character builds from run to run, just depending on the perks you choose. My first winning run was a dual-wielding pistols build with the ability to teleport behind enemies for a melee attack, and in my second winning run I commanded an army of robots and wielded an all-obliterating BFG. There are always interesting choices to be made in each run, and it's difficult enough that you're not guaranteed victory even if you know what you're doing, so I'd happily play just the standard game mode for another 30 hours.

But on top of that it has a ridiculously huge selection of alternate game modes. One of them gives you a rocket launcher and converts all the ammo that enemies drop into rockets, which I completed, it was tons of fun. There's a melee-only mode, a mode that reduce the number of levels by half, endless mode, arena mode, a mode that puts you in the penultimate world at level 1, and many, many more. These are, in fact, what you unlock by playing, and harder game modes require completing harder challenges like winning a run with 100% kills or winning a run after visiting all optional levels. This is about a thousand times more fun than simply making the game harder, so hat's off to Jupiter Hell for showing how to make a roguelike that doesn't pull punches and also stays fresh by hour 200 of playing it.

Gyrre · « **Reply #1536 on:** 11 Jan 2022, 23:25 »

Quote from: hedgie on 11 Jan 2022, 09:50

The other players are mutant commie traitors and must be dealt with accordingly.

Yep

And LOC-R-ITE definitely can't psychically sense the presence of clones. (I miss my last character's magnetism powers already).

LeeC · « **Reply #1537 on:** 12 Feb 2022, 21:13 »

I finally rolled that damn boulder up the hill!

In HoI4 I was able to defeat Germany and Italy as Democratic France by Nov 1938. After that it was a cake walk all the way to Jan 1948.

Gyrre · « **Reply #1538 on:** 14 Mar 2022, 10:49 »

Quote from: Gyrre on 11 Jan 2022, 02:39

We completely our first session of Paranoia over Roll20 Sunday. It ended with us launching section AAA of the Alpha Complex into space using a Project Orion style propulsion system. Prematurely. With 90+% of the intended passengers not on board.

It's already been joked in our gaming group that we're now playing Among Us TTRPG. Here's hoping their aren't any shapeshifters.

EDIT: typo correction

No, no shapeshifters. But we've got three different horrorshow "wetware viruses" (xenomorphs, tyranids, and something I don't recognize) in the lower decks.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #1539 on:** 15 Mar 2022, 02:25 »

With the Eshops closing for 3DS and WiiU I've picked up some games before they're lost forever:
-Pocket Card Jockey
-Crimson Veil
-Attack of the Friday Monsters

So far I've only played Pocket Card Jockey and it's a lot of fun. I didn't know what to expect from horse racing and solitaire, but Game Freak didn't disappoint.

Thrillho · « **Reply #1540 on:** 15 Mar 2022, 06:22 »

I can't remember how much of this I posted already, so, sorry! I'm having a boring work day and here we are.

I bought the Bioshock HD remastered collection a few months ago and have been slowly working my way through it.

My original plan was to work my way through the games as they came out, finishing with the end of Infinite. In the end, having learned from Guillermo del Toro ('I don't want to do homework in my life'), I decided to bin that order.

I played the first one first, again, and it's still pretty much a masterpiece, but has been somewhat eroded over time with 1. familiarity 2. the fact that whole lot of people love that game and have paid zero attention to any of its ideas.

Being a HD collection, it has all the DLC in it, which was one of the selling points for me. Thank FUCK I didn't pay for the DLCs for the first one when they came out, they're a fucking joke.

I got a few hours into replaying Bioshock 2, the runt of the litter, before hopping to Infinite, which was the one I mainly wanted to play again. Infinite was about exactly as good as I remembered it being, which was a good story trying to get out of a quite disappointing gameplay experience. The DLC was a lot better, although I was extremely aggravated about how incredibly sexed-up Elizabeth was now, given that the character you are playing as is

(click to show/hide)

. The second half of the DLC I found very annoying because you play as her and she has a bunch of non-lethal weapons... that may as well just be lethal because the people you use them on never get up.

So I kinda circled back to Bioshock 2, just because I have playthroughs going on in multiple other games and I find it hard to exist with that as an ongoing state. It has a number of significant story problems, and a few gameplay choices that make it feel much more like a sequel rather than a story full of ideas that needed to be explored, but otherwise I think is actually one which has actually improved this time round if anything.

Then, having finished it, I figured I may as well try the DLC, even though it had been pretty poor for the other two - Minerva's Den, it's called. And to my absolute shock, I'm probably close to the end as I have got the achievement for saving all the Little Sisters, but it is some of the most fun I have ever had in a Bioshock game. The early stages are some of the best levels areas I've played in any of the games - I wanted to explore just for exploration's sake, to see what was around the place, rather than to progress. I had severely limited choices about how to defend myself, and it made it genuinely tense and scary in a way that these games haven't been for me in years. Story-wise, it's still shaking out (although I am pretty sure I've seen the twist a mile off), but after getting past the incredibly tense opening sections, I instead now am massively overpowered, which some folks may not like and yes makes it way less challenging, but basically means that the back half of this DLC is pure pleasure centre stimulation. Destroy everyone using any weapon, bring a Big Sister to her knees. This one DLC has basically all the fun gameplay parts of Bioshock you can ask for in a short space.

Who knows whether the ending will ruin it? But whatever, it's been a fun ride along the way!

LeeC · « **Reply #1541 on:** 04 Apr 2022, 11:44 »

Has anyone ever found a boardgame or table top game and just get hype about it but realize you have no one to play with so you have this longing to get said game but have this guilt that you're not going to be able to play with anyone?

cesium133 · « **Reply #1542 on:** 04 Apr 2022, 12:50 »

That’s pretty much every board game for me.

Farideh · « **Reply #1543 on:** 04 Apr 2022, 15:47 »

Yes. Very often. I have Terraforming Mars still in its shrinkwrap.

Cornelius · « **Reply #1544 on:** 04 Apr 2022, 21:30 »

That, and then sometimes finally get it, only to realise it only comes in languages you don't speak.

LeeC · « **Reply #1545 on:** 05 Apr 2022, 20:37 »

I remember finding a table top wargame of MARS ATTACKS! and it looked really fun. I watched a tutorial playthrough and was hooked, then I saw it was no longer in production. I could find a beginners kit for it on ebay for like $50, but I wouldn't have anyone to play it with. Recently I learned of a sci-fi horror tabletop RPG called Mothership. Critical Role did a one off of it a few months ago, so I watched it and it looks really fun. Think of any sci-fi horror movie/video game that takes place in space or on another planet (Alien, Aliens, Even Horizon, 2001 A Space Oddity, Dead Space, DOOM, etc) and its basically a game where you try to survive those kind of scenarios. Their 0 edition is free and their official 1st edition comes out in November. Honestly, the 0e looks just as fun. I just don't have anyone to play with.

Farideh · « **Reply #1546 on:** 05 Apr 2022, 20:57 »

Have you tried looking for local boardgame groups? I played for years with a group that I found via boardgamegeek.com. Unfortunately I just don't have the time at the moment.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #1547 on:** 08 Apr 2022, 17:57 »

I finally started Gal Metal. It's a little weird that it's a rhythm game that doesn't show you the notes, instead you have to memorize the beats and timing.

LeeC · « **Reply #1548 on:** 27 Apr 2022, 08:48 »

Dune: Spice Wars came out in early access yesterday. I played a bit of it last night and it was pretty fun. I know some of you are familiar with or fans of the old westwood Dune games, this is not that at all. Its a 4x game (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) on the planet Arrakis. Its plays kind of like Stellaris in that its real time and you can stop or speed up time, but its no where near as long to play a game. The art style kind of reminds me of the recent CIV games. You have to manage your resources, tech up, fight off raiders, avoid sand worms, pay your spice tax, conquer villages and build them up, deploy spies and agents and use them to their full effect, fight the other factions, use diplomacy with the other factions, and master the geopolitics of the Landsraad. Sure the military plays an important part of the game, but so does literally everything else. I think each faction gets about 5 military units each (a close combat unit, a ranged unit, a heavy weapons unit, an air unit, and a special unit) so while combat is important, its not the end all be all of the game.

The game takes elements from many different Dune sources including the books, the movies, and even board game. For some reason it reminds me more of the board game but with real time strategy and no heroes. There are 4 factions currently: The Atreides, The Harkonnan, the Fremen, and the Smuggler's guild. I am hoping they add the Emperor (house Corinno) and the Bene Gesserit, but I may just be hoping they include more of the board game factions (the smuggler's guild seems to have taken the Spacing Guild's spot in Sietch Tuek). They should definatley have the Emperor faction at some point in the future. The game just released in early access so its more like an open beta with new content on the horizon and tweaks to the current game before its official release.

LeeC · « **Reply #1549 on:** 18 Sep 2022, 17:45 »

Can anyone recommend a good colony or city sim? Something where I build a city and manage resources, people, and policy? Maybe have to deal with random events/encounters. I'm looking on steam but I am not really finding anything striking my fancy and I may just need a nudge in the right direction.

Rimworld seems like a mobile game in design but at the same time overwhelming.

Frontpunk seems depressing as hell, but other than that it looks alright.

Timberborn looks cute but complicated.

Surviving Mars looks like you need to spend a fortune on DLC to keep/make it fun.

Farthest Frontier looks very complicated.

Sometimes I wish I was a game developer so I could make my own games. $:-\$

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Author Topic: What Games Have You Been Playing Recently (Read 388519 times)