What game is your current addiction?
Pretty much the title. We all play all sorts of games, and they generally are all good games. However, every once in a while you start a game that just hits the right notes and you hate putting your controller or device down, and you can't stop thinking about things you want to do when you get back in front of that game. I figure we could post up our current addicting games so others can search them out as well :)
My current addiction is Frostpunk. Got it on a whim from the Steam Summer sale, and my Lord am I addicted. It's a really good (to me) post civilization survival game where you try to establish and rebuild life with a new world around you. Surprisingly challenging and the scenarios are very fun. I bought it 2 weeks ago and have 63 hours into it.
Against the Storm. It's a tightly designed city builder that takes the best parts of building up a new colony and trims out a lot of the fiddly parts to make for a tight experience where each colony only takes an hour or so, with enough variation in which buildings you unlock in a given run so that you're always working with different supply chains to keep your people happy. It's clever, and cleverly designed, and it's really easy to feel like one more round is a good idea.
Oh no, please don't tell me that. I have it on my wishlist right now and I've been avoiding it precisely because it looks too good at what it does. Now it is going to be harder to resist the temptation
I went back to this recently after waiting a few patches, and it genuinely impresses me how consistent they are at improving things.
Now decision choices have two different sets of requirements for the two outcomes, so even if you really want Outcome A, you may only be able to forfil the requirements for Outcome B, and you really want to clear it ASAP.
The new modifiers on the world map are also great. I haven't seen any new biomes just yet though, I hope more of those come as for me they're by far the most defining part of the embark.
The foxes are great as well, and the rainwater changes + pump automation upgrade is an amazing solution to the 'new' blightrot system's problems.
This game was great when I first played it all that time ago, but the fact that they've constantly been able to single out issues and improve on them without making the game worse in other areas is fantastic. The only real complaint I have is that the prestige difficulty system is very weirldly paced right now, with some step-ups being trivial to handle and others being so impactful that they basically force you down specific choices and strategies (thinking of you, Prestige 5 building construction takes 50% more stuff).
How much of a "roguelike" experience would you say there is? I've heard it mentioned in the same genre a lot.
Well, let me lay out how the game/metagame goes, and you can decide for yourself.
So it's about as random as a city builder can be? Different biomes, tech trees, and colonist needs with every run, challenges for unique runs, metaprogression to give growing ability over time, additional difficulty levels to keep things interesting, and a long term goal to work towards. It's good.
Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
I love being encouraged to do whatever it takes to get somewhere or solve something. Like you think you’re cheesing it and when you finally do it you realize your cheese was the Right Way (TM) or the ONLY way.
My girlfriend and I work on shrines together sometimes and love solving them and then searching to see how they are supposed to be done.
I absolutely hated BOTW and did not care a single bit about TOTK. Until I had a friend who I usually have good luck with his recommendations, recommend TOTK even knowing I hated BOTW.
And oh man I'm so glad I listened to him. I haven't been that absorbed into a game for a long time. At the end I didn't want it to be over so I just stalled the ending. I didn't even do stuff I just stopped playing.
And man beating it eventually was such a huge accomplishment. I almost quit many times over. But I would remind myself that this game is essentially "for kids" (not my kid) and that if a little child can beat it, I should be able to. I was so nervous. And took out the big baddie without dying once. But 20 minutes prior I was adamant that I could not beat it. So it's been a fun game to "challenge" myself on.
While the Zelda games have historically been pretty kid-friendly, BOTW/TOTK have been a very noticeable step up in difficulty. You can save anywhere, and the games have liberal autosave so you never really feel any punishment for dying, but there's much more challenge to the combat etc in these newer games. Not that they're Dark Souls hard or anything, but certainly harder than the rest of the series.
Which is all to say... you should be even prouder of yourself for finishing it. :)
What was the key difference between TOTK and BOTW for you? To me, TOTK is more of the same (which is good in my opinion because I love both)
It could have just been time. I wasn't really in the best place when I played BOTW.
But the main thing I can think of is ascent, and crafting. Being able to take two shitty weapons and glue em together to make one less shitty weapon. And I felt a lot more progression in weapons. As I kept playing I kept getting better weapons. Where it felt like I was still using sticks all the time in BotW because it's all I could find.
I'll probably give it another shot now to see if I've changed my mind about it.
I think I am 150hrs in and mostly been doing the side quests. Usually once I finish the main quest I put the controller down, so I try and get as much out of the way as I can before doing final boss battles.
I love that I can unintentionally compete quests out of order. Just wander around do stuff and find out if was something important.
Trying to avoid spoilers but my little jaunt to the jungle lead me to a place in the sky that started a quest that lead to the depths and a huge discovery that according to folks was something I was supposed to do way later and would have been presented as a quest.
This in turn triggered another main quest which took me to find something I’d been wanting. And it’s all because I went exploring.
Love, love, love the way you can do whatever and how you aren’t forced into a certain order all the time. It really adds to the experience knowing you can stumble onto — and complete! — main story quests by wandering around.
I like the responses you get when you complete a quest that was supposed to be done before another quest.
"Oh looks like you already have the thing I was talking about. Well thanks for the help, see you later!"
I know exactly the quest line you are talking about, i discovered it in a similar way!
My 8 year old daughter and I are kind of tag-teaming it and it's been a lot of fun watching her figure out how to play the game. It was hard at first watching her just kind of ignore the right stick and end up walking off cliffs, but after a couple weeks she's gotten really smooth with camera control.
She tends to just wander around and accumulate new quests, and I come in later and do them.
These days I don't have a lot of spare time or brain cycles for games, but Vampire Survivors has been straight dopamine for me lately. Recently I picked up a Steam Deck and this is the perfect form factor to play this game. I don't want to sit in front of a PC any more than I need to, so I didn't really play VS too much when it first came out last year, even though I liked it. If you want a fairly mindless game you can play with one hand in half hour chunks, VS on Deck is for you.
Highly recommend Brotato for the same reasons. I switch between this and Vampire Survivors on the Steam Deck and they're extremely addicting.
Every time I hear that game I think of Beartato.
My friend gifted me Time Wasters in this same genre. Highly addictive loop.
His exact words were "If it were up to me, it would be illegal to have a Deck without this game."
Oh man, this is exactly what I was looking for. I'm sold!
Adding onto yours and @Spore_Prince’s comments: Have a Nice Death and Dead Cells are fantastic for the same reasons
I'm also a pretty big VS fan although recently I've been playing Halls of Torment. Pretty similar but has some different mechanics and a little more semblance of a story. Seems a little deeper in content although I only have like 15 hours in it so far
VS had me hard until I completed all the achievements. I haven't played the expansions. I'm sure they're great but I just want to spend the time on other games instead right now.
The Binding of Isaac. Has been for a long time but I only recently decided to go for Dead God (which is 100%ing it). I only have tainted Jacob left to do!
Good luck with that! I stopped playing for awhile and then when I went back I realized it was going to be such a pain to get all 4 meat cubes for Super Meat Boy since I didn't do it early on.
That and they've added so much and I don't feel like I have the time to justify getting the new DLC.
Such a great game though! I have 450 hours between the original and rebirth
I'm on that same path kind of. I still haven't bought Repentance. I said that I'd wait until I got platinum god before I purchase Repentance. I have to pick up 4 more items, one of them being broken modem, which I still have to unlock. I have all the marks and have completed all the challenges. I'm so close I can taste it.
I get really into it for a month or so and then I stop playing for multiple months. That game is hard if you're a completionist. I've been playing since flash isaac. Good luck my friend.
Sid Meier: Alpha Centauri was on GoG a few months ago and it's still the thing that calls to me. Just one more turn...
Love the Civ series. I thought this was a new game and I checked wikipedia: Release
February 12, 1999 hehe.
I remember when this came out, my friend convinced his parents to buy it for him and neither of us had broadband, so we did "multiplayer" by trading turns locally lol. Was super fun, I remember everything about it being really different from everything else out then and it just felt so immersive. Fantastic game
Oh man. I played SO MUCH Alpha back in the day. We used to play 20+ hour epic multiplayer games in my student house. Several times I staggered to bed only to continue the game in my dreams.
That it abbreviates to SMAC does seem apposite.
Thank you for this recommendation. Somehow, despite playing video games (including other Civ games) all through the 80s and 90s, I have never heard of this game.
I just bought it, and will play it.
The interface is VERY dated, but if you learn your hotkeys it still moves pretty fast.
For an investment of $5.99 for the entire Planetary Pack on GoG it's an excellent return.
One thing I particularly love is how the technology tree is crucial to long-term investment, but you can still be overwhelmed by a wave of low-level troops from a militaristic player who bet on quantity over quality.
Designing your own units is gloriously fine-grained, and the terraforming rules are important as well.
Enjoy!
I love the interface, probably because I loved the original Dune game as well.
I did buy it on GoG ($8 CAD), and played it all night lol (started a "Quick Play" game).
Honestly I don't know what I'm doing. I just put all the units on Auto, except 2 Hold in each city, and adjust the city production as needed although right now they're almost all secret projects.
I have no idea how to control the tech tree yet. Hopefully I figure it out.
Often cities have no minerals despite me having a massive energy surplus. I suspect Auto deployed them in a bad area.
Edit: the cities that run out are usually in the sea.
The Auto system works badly, but barely well enough for you to not pay attention. It's meant to be a learn-from-your-mistakes kind of game for sure!
Starting out from ground zero, a few tips:
Different factions play vastly differently! Try them out and see which play style you like best.
Your initial starting position can give you a big boost if you're lucky, but the resources necessary for late game aren't the same as early game so it will only carry you so far.
Terraforming is a BIG DEAL and you want to be on top of that as soon as possible, the less fungus around you the easier your life will be.
All the AI factions will try to be your friend, but they all expect you to stab them in the back at some point. If you don't do it to them, they'll do it to you first.
Unit upkeep cost can be crippling! Don't be afraid to destroy units if they outlive their purpose, the city growth you gain in the short term pays off quickly.
Supply crawlers are your friend and a much better investment if you have nothing else to build than the accumulate energy option. They can gather resources outside your city's radius and be consumed into building other items for their full original cost.
I basically haven't stopped playing that game since I bought a copy of it at a Babbage's in 1999. I tell people it's the single greatest game I've ever played because I genuinely believe it is.
Some of the mods that have come out in recent years really fixed a lot of stuff with it and it has sort of felt like playing a brand new game in a number of ways.
What's the mod scene for SMAC look like? I had no idea it was still being worked on.
This is a good place to start:
https://www.reddit.com/r/alphacentauri/comments/m2z958/help_findinginstalling_mods_pracx_scient_etc/
And links to a lot of the helpful stuff around it here:
https://alphacentauri2.info/
...including a mirror of the original game's website!
https://alphacentauri2.info/official/Sid%20Meier%27s%20Alpha%20Centauri.htm
I had a nostalgic kick for runescape last year so I started playing old school runescape. I'm now pretty deep into it. One of the nice things is that there are so many things to do, many of them some level of "afk" (or at least, low-attention) - so you can make progress while doing other things like watching TV or even working. Another nice thing is that the mechanics of the game are mostly straightforward to learn, with a high skill ceiling. Its much easier to get advanced movement and such down compared to more advanced games. It helps that a buddy of mine is also playing, so we can group up to do bosses and things as well.
Beware once you get into Old School RuneScape it nevermind let's go. I got back into it a couple years ago for nostalgia and am now on my second ironman account because I like the idea of finding everything on my own.
Movement starts out very easy but can get quite hectic with the endgame raids. Still not dark souls level but you do have to pay attention not to stand still at all for the final bosses.
Yeah, some of the mechanics can get surprisingly in depth for being so deceptively simple. At the same time, having very clear tiles makes precision movements much more possible than newer games.
I'm getting into lategame stuff - with more bosses and raids. I'm not sure how long I'll keep playing, as the exponential growth for levels is going to start really making the grinds tedious as I have nearly 80+ in every stat. Making new ironman/snowflake accounts is something that I don't see myself getting into, but I could see myself playing indefinitely if I get into those.
My main account was just under base 80s when I decided to start my ironman. Now the iron is the only account I keep membership on and am base 70 (except for rune crafting). It is a very different experience given that quests aren't simply a matter of buying the required item list from the GE.
Also making due with different gear setups due to hard stat requirements with no way to just buy the optimal item. I still don't have a glory or whip although I am close to the req crafting for the glory.
Ironman is the way to play in my eyes! It makes me feel like the game did 20 years ago. I quit in 2008 and came back when mobile launched. Made an ironman straight away and just got the elite Lumby diary done. Staff free fairy rings!!
Pretty much the same. I quit then briefly dipped my toes back in when the released dungeioneering but only at the free to play level. I can't stand the evolution of combat update they did to rs3. My main started out with rs1 and I believe I just finished dragonslayer when rs2 was released. Quit when I went to college but got dragged back into the nostalgia of osrs.
Tunic. It was a game I never really heard talked about a lot, but when it did get mentioned it was always highly praised. I went in mostly blind, which I'd heard was the best way to go. I knew that it looked like old school Zelda, and had heard that it was actually a Souls-like, but I was caught off guard by the realization that's it's just as much (if not moreso) The Witness.
Every mention of the game I'd seen had mentioned that the game uses a made-up language for everything, so a big part of the game is that experience of being a stranger in a foreign land. I expected that would be limited to the plot, lore, objectives, and mechanics. It was all of that, yes, but I was incredibly surprised at the depth of puzzles in the game. In particular, it blew my mind how many puzzles are hidden in plain sight and how deceptively they are integrated into every fiber of the game. There are so many "Oh shit!" realization moments as you begin piecing things together and noticing all the hidden details that were never really hidden; you just glossed over them because you weren't looking. It's like, yeah, a Zelda/Souls-like game is there with sword fights and dungeon exploring and item unlocking and boss battles, and you can enjoy that all for what it is, but it almost feels like the REAL game is an almost conspiracy theory untangling metagame.
If you want an idea of how deep the rabbit hole goes, the community has found a secret link to an ARG website with audio that, when analyzed with a spectrograph, revealed an entire second language that was hidden within the audio throughout the game the whole time.
Thank you very much for mentioning this game to me! I am almost finished my first Zelda game (Ocarina of Time 3D) and the Zelda / Souls aspect sounds really amazing! (or as you mentioned The Witness which I am not as familiar with). I just finished watching the trailer on Steam and I will pick it up some time soon.
I highly recommend this game. It’s not quite as perfect as outer wilds but it shares dna and still blows so many games out of the water.
My fiancé and I played through together swapping off and it’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had getting everything (except the arg stuff)
I've been really getting into Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. It's really satisfying D&D like combat.
I do really suffer from Alt-Syndrome with this game though. There's just always the thought of "is there a cooler class I could be playing?" That's not really a bad thing though, it happens because there are so many Classes (+Subclasses) to pick from!
The only reason I haven't delved deep into that series of Pathfinder games is because I'd need to functionally purge D&D 5e from my brain and refresh my 3.5/PF1 rules knowledge, and that won't work so well with an ongoing 5e campaign in my life.
I find it pretty easy to just go with the flow of the game, it's close enough to general D&D knowledge that it's easy enough to play in Normal difficulty.
If you want to go full on mastery and do the hardest difficulty, yeah, that could take quite a bit of effort.
Fair enough. I've always been the kind of player that will make a full build before I ever start playing. My favorite part of 3.5 was grabbing 4 or 5 or more books and splaying them out in front of me, looking up half-remembered features that I thought I remembered reading over once in order to assemble something weird and dependant on multiple little hidden features.
I still miss my no-spell/no-companion urban Ranger. He was an excellent bounty hunter.
I gave in to the Hype. I bought Battlebit Remastered. Been playing it whenever I have time.
I’ve been sinking all my free time into Battlebit lately. It has been a long time since I’ve played a shooter that feels this good. Excellent gunplay and quick to get back in the action when you die. I also really like the progression
Oh I didn't realise it has progression. What does it entail?
Weapons unlock with levels. Attachments unlock with kills on said weapon.
Big caveat, around level 70 you start to realize the progression is mostly fake, simply the illusion of choice.
Out of lets say ~40 attachments across scopes, barrels, grips, side rail attachments and magazines there are only maybe 2-3 per category that are actually competitive.... Or even just enjoyable. Many attachments do very little, or at worst provide a mediocre benefit for a huge amount of drawbacks.
The guns are similar. There are maybe 5 in total that are competitive, and only slightly more that are usable but may feel better than the meta weapons from a personal standpoint.
Overall it is a very fun game, runs on a potato, but the progression is not super amazing.
This is actually a positive for me. I prefer more equal playing field. I never enjoyed rewarding more experienced players with better weapon advantages. If anything, I think as skill goes up, the need for advantages should go down. Not a big grinding fan, so I like games such as Squad that rewards tactics and teamwork > level advantages.
Ehh, the minor issue right now is that people who have no lifed the game do have access to better weapons and the best attachments for them. After a while when everyone has unlocked everything it wont matter though.
The Kriss Vector is one of the best guns, and doesn't unlock until level 70, then the FAL which has the fastest (or second fastest) TTK at level 100-something. The Scorpion EVO also is in the top five-ish, and doesn't unlock until level 180 or something... It at least has insane vertical recoil to make it a bit harder to use.
The generally agreed upon "best" guns are: Groza, Vector, FAL, Scorpion, and P90. Only the Groza unlocks somewhat early. The last three only after 100+ levels.
The game is still fun, and mostly balanced except for medic self healing and a few outlier weapons though.
The AK15 gets unlocked pretty early and it's pretty strong.
Whenever I get pretty depressed, I plan a ton of the Sims 4. During this last bout I added the High School add-on. Like most Sim expansions its mostly just flavor with some fairly inconsequential gameplay mechanics.
Probably not healthy to say, but getting to control your Sims life and make them super successful is kind of cathartic, because in real life you don't have a lot of control over your own life. But you can make each Sim do what you want with very little pushback, and being successful is as simple as choosing whatever career you want and when they get home from work clicking to perform a task to increase the odds of advancing their career. Its...just...nice.
Anyways, I'm coming out of the depression and I imagine I'll probably shelve the game for another 3-6 months as I usually do.
Been replaying Witcher 3 with the next gen update. Absolutely stunning game and I’m taking my time hunting down every recipe and side mission.
I just finished up Cyberpunk 2077 and I've been watching some Witcher on Netflix, and between the two I really just wish I'd been replaying Witcher 3 instead. It's soooo good. The level of detail in the world and the quests is amazing. There's almost no fluff or grind - everything is fresh.
I am addicted to Football Manager.
There's a decent community of youtubers and players who are testing things using the in-game editor.
I'm planning a test to understand how certain attributes impact player growth over time i.e. given a starting strength in a certain attribute at age 18, does that impact how good a player will grow to be at say age 25?
Planning on conducting a few simulations and then running a linear or other types of regression and other analysis methods to figure things out.
There's lots of data so it's ripe for data science types to play around with.
I also love the tactical side of football so playing around with tactics and players is great!
How long have you been playing FM now? I started on CM00-01, but stopped for a few years every now and then. In 2020 I decided to stop completely. Until 2016-ish I decided to quit doing the same stuff you do with the database and just focus on playing the game with minor challenges like only go with scout reports instead of abusing the Player Search.
First few days after I completely stopped with that game I was just surprised at how much spare time I have. I am never going back to that game!
I usually skip years since the updates are not that massive year to year but I’ve been playing since fm12, currently on fm23.
My main save at the moment is trying to win the champions league with Wrexham, I won promotion from league 2,1,champ, and I won the prem last year (I’m 7-8 seasons in) so I’m pretty close.
Wow, that's crazy fast. The game is too easy for you at the moment.
Been playing Shapez a lot lately. I've put about 70 hours in. I love automation games and factory games where a big part of the game is optimizing and managing efficiency. One of my favs of all time is Infinifactory.
When I first started Shapez I was thinking "is this it?" but as you go through the levels it gets good quick. I think I'm around level 30 right now and while it's not super challenging, you can get pretty involved in optimizing your builds which is a challenge in and of itself.
Shapez is great as a complement to Factorio (the gold standard in this genre). IMO, it simplifies the right things while still being challenging and engaging in the right ways.
I've been stressed lately and so I've rediscovered my love of Hatsune Miku Project Diva. It's a rhythm game, so it has some very good pick-up-and-play gameplay with a lot of music that I find either relaxing or engrossing enough that I can forget my problems for a while. And if you know Japanese, most of the lyrics for those songs have some very uplifting and comforting messages. There's a reason that Black ⭐ Rock Shooter got so popular when it was new.
The series was long-running, but Steam has the last one, Mega Mix+, which contained almost every song on every previous Project Diva releases. It seems you can even mod in the songs that they couldn't include, but frankly there is so much choice with the songs that it came with that I haven't bothered to do so yet. It's also pretty much perfect for the Steam Deck since it doesn't have super demanding graphics and plays buttery smooth - though the positioning of the face buttons might cramp your thumb if you play for a long time.
Project Diva introduced me to one of my favorite producers who is still making music with Hatsune Miku today - Mitchie M. I particularly like Freely Tomorrow, though sadly Project Diva doesn't have my favorite News 39.
Oddly enough, I've been super into Retro Bowl this week. I don't even really care about (American) football, but it's so fun to build up a team and sling the ball around.
It's on Apple Arcade (though I think it's also on the wider app store).
Retro bowl is such a little fun arcadey game, like you said, you don't even need to care much for football. But also as a football fan, its pretty good too.
I'll add that it is also available on Android
Man I was obsessed with retro bowl a couple of summers ago. Great way to pass some extra time
I absolutely second retro bowl. There's something so satisfying throwing a pass over a defenders shoulders and then your guy runs it in. I honestly get more excitement throwing a pass in retro bowl than in the new madden games. (Probably an over exaggeration)
But I'll be honest I get really into it for a month or two. Then drop off. Then forget for a year. Then get re-addicted.
For me it's Genshin Impact. I picked it up figuring I'd just try it out since I got a new phone and didn't have any games on it, and it seemed mind-blowing as a mobile game despite all the gacha elements. I ended up enjoying the play style and grabbing it on desktop, and have sunk hundreds of enjoyable hours into it now catching up with the story.
When I was younger my favorite game was Xenogears, and I credit that game with a lot of my development of critical thinking and being open to studying and comparing different philosophies and religions. It was a game that if my parents had known a fraction of how blasphemous the plot was, it would have been burnt, but it really got me considering the whole concept of religions as literary traditions that mean very different things to different people, can be manipulated for power, and have layers upon layers of consequences.
The story of Genshin Impact strikes a lot of the same notes for me in its questioning of divinity, philosophies, and cultural outlooks and the consequences those can have at an individual and population scale. I love how many different fictionalized cultures the game exposes the player to, and shows how events of the past lead to very different cosmological interpretations and ways of life between those cultures.
I'm not going to say the whole game is deep or even consistently good (it has plenty of filler), but a fair portion of it has considerable substance and solid writing, and it makes me happy that it's so popular. The gacha system is probably abusive, but it is truly optional and there's no reason you'd ever need to spend money to progress. The whole game can be beaten with pretty much any combination of characters and the gacha only really comes into play if you must have a particular character just because you like them.
This was my addiction for a year and a half. I finally took a break to play the new Zelda game (although I am doing the events). Genshin gets a bad rap because it's a gacha, but it's a genuinely great game. I hope when they inevitably shut down the servers, they offer a single player version that lasts afterwards.
I'm looking forward to the new area, but I'm not sure if they can top Sumeru for me. Being in academia, I felt a connection to that place and all the characters from the Akademia. I won't miss the desert exploration though.
One thing I don't like is that some of the best stories are in limited time events. Last year's summer event had a lot of character development for some of the characters but newer players will never get to experience that.
What has been your favorite area/storyline so far?
So far I think my favorite has been Inazuma just because of how ominous it was hearing rumors about it in Liyue (a close contender for favorite), then actually making it there and experiencing the foreboding and unwelcome atmosphere. Inazuma was an absolutely beautiful place but the feeling that you were not wanted there was so overwhelming, the culture was so unapologetically closed to you, and the archon's actions were so seemingly cruel that I think it really best captured the journey for me of being an outsider who doesn't fully understand amidst a culture undergoing changes. I thought it was a really engaging fictionalization of sakoku-era Japan, and it was fun to see the moods and attitudes shift as the region's story progressed. I also thoroughly enjoyed the side quest chains like Seirei and Tsurumi isles, and the unforgettable self-proclaimed provisional head priestess of the Asase shrine.
The death in that chapter really caught me off guard and I could hardly believe that was just that. The video released on Genshin's YouTube channel afterward, A Winter Night's Lazzo, really hit home for me how ambitious the overall story is and just how little we still know.
Really looking forward to Fontaine soon.
That video is so well done and memorable! And it's completely outside of the game! It's amazing to me how much they build the experience outside of the game, as well as within it.
I really loved parts of Inazuma, but parts of the main story fell flat. For me, if they would have cut out the Watasumi Island part of the Archon quest, I would be happy with everything else. Kokomi and crew just didn't click with me. I also felt that Ei's "redemption" was a little unearned. But I love most of the rest of it. Itto's quest was great, the cat shrine was amazing (as well as how they revealed the fate of Hibiki in other content), the fog island story was so dark, with a satisfying ending. I love that era of Japanese history, so it was really interesting to see what they did to adapt it to the Genshin universe.
Seconding Genshin Impact. It and Final Fantasy XIV are my main games. It's easy to drop in and out based on however much time you have, has a worthwhile story and a lot of exploring and leveling things to do.
The gacha angle is completely overblown. You can spend absolutely nothing on the game and do everything you need to do. The content is 100% open. It gives you all of the free characters you need, and the game even constantly gives you the currency used for gacha pulls just for actively playing it. You play the game, occasionally spin the wheel, and maybe get some extra characters you might like. (I occasionally buy the $5 thing that gets you 90 gems per day on log in, for a whole month, if I know certain characters are on the banner.)
I'm currently playing through the Sumeru area and racking up enough gems to do occasional pulls on the current banner.
Between you and the guy you're replying to, I think I might finally give Genshin a shot. FFXIV is my main game but there's definite dead periods, I had downloaded Honkai to play while working at an anime convention this weekend but haven't had time. Seen lots of gorgeous Genshin cosplays and the story sounds pretty interesting. I just know I can struggle with RNG P2W games but maybe now it's been out for like three years I won't feel the pressure lol
Been playing Project Gorgon MMORPG.
Made by some of the people who made Asheron's Call
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLr0egVu2AM - introduction to the game
https://wiki.projectgorgon.com/wiki/Main_Page - All the detailed info about the game
https://projectgorgon.com - The main page
Dev Blog - https://forum.projectgorgon.com/showthread.php?3169-Dev-Blog-July-12-2023
You can get the demo for free off Steam and it only costs $10 For the full game.
The game is fantastic. Great lore and story.
It is a skill based game with skill levels and really fun discovering skills.
No death penalty.
You can swap between classes whenever you want.
Lots of interesting and easy to figure out puzzles.
People are super friendly and helpful.
Been having a blast.
There are some absolutely hilarious mechanics in that game. I can debuff someone by forcing them to tell me about their mother, then transform into a werewolf to maul them after they've shared their deeply personal family history with me.
Go on to level my interpretive dancing and calligraphy skills so I can leave random notes for players to find.
The skill system is amazing.
I loved exploring Dereth in Asheron's Call and really liked the skill system in that so I need to give the wiki a look at least.
I love this game. Currently I'm more addicted to Zelda, but I have sunk over 200 hours into Grounded. I started playing before the pond biome was even introduced!
I had been trying for years to get my buddies to try it out only to get "another survival crafter? meh" in return. But during the summer sale my friends finally got it and we've been playing together and they've been enjoying it quite a bit.
For me it's actually my first time playing multiplayer. I've been playing solo the whole 200 hours, and having friends definitely changes and adds to the experience.
Besides no longer being able to save scum (😅), having friends to help fight big bugs is great. Since I've been playing longest I've been tanking, I'm pretty decent at parrying most attacks.
While playing solo I've made it under the Shed and just past it. I still haven't actually beaten the game. My friends and I have only just explored the hedges, so we have a long way to go. Super Stoked!
Persona 5 Royal on the Switch.
I waited for the Switch release to play it after all these years, and then about a month ago it went on sale for like 50% off so I had to get it.
Before buying the game I had only dabbled in the SMT series, and always found it very interesting but ultimately bounced off due to one thing or another. In the 3DS game, idr the name maybe Devil Saga or something, it was the brutal difficulty and feeling like everywhere I went was the wrong place to be at the time. Then the long awaited SMT5, teased at the launch of the Switch, and it wasn't hard but it was very bare bones story wise so I got very bored after what felt like 20+ hours and I never left the desert zone you start in.
My gf convinced me that I'll never know if I like p5 unless I play it, no YouTube videos about mechanics and lore will suffice. Now I play p5 on my days off from the moment I wake up until I go to bed. I'm at 100hrs in, just finished the Burger palace.
P5R is one of my favorite games - I like JRPGs and thought the gimmick of the SMT series would be interesting, but I just never invested. P5R went on sale so I nabbed it and holy shit did it bite me. The music, the characters, the gameplay, it was so enjoyable. I spent so much time trying to max everything possible out, and making sure I was setting myself up for the true ending without looking anything up to avoid spoilers.
I enjoyed every second I spent in the game, and I still just listen to the soundtrack because it is a certified banger.
This is basically my exact experience. I feel pretty close to the end now and worried I'm not gonna max out all my stats (guts and kindness are still 4/5), but I don't want to miss out on any of my confidants!
Right now I'm excited to do ng+ to see what I missed, but I'm worried that I won't want to start this triple hour long game again.
I'm not going to spoil anything for you, but trust me - you've still got some interesting shit left to do if you're at where I'm thinking you're at.
A new game isn't something I've dared to broach yet, I'm just so pleased with my experience that I genuinely think I can let it lie as the masterpiece it was for me.
Man, I wish I were able to experience P5R for the first time again like you are now! I had so much fun playing it for the first time; I lived much like you did, playing it throughout my waking hours, except that this was during the lockdown in my country so I essentially did nothing but play it for two weeks or so being a university student on holiday.
SMT (excluding the Persona games) tend to have a relatively simple, same-y story that would turn away people who would enjoy more story-based games. I'm a fan of SMT (mainline, various spinoffs, and of course Persona) but it's a hard sell to most people who don't already like the games. Not to mention the brutal, unforgiving difficulty of them, especially the older ones.
It's wild to me just how different SMT5 and P5R are, one bored me so badly since it was just running around and doing basically pokemon battles while the other seems to have all of that PLUS an engrossing story and interesting characters. I don't even see the appeal of SMT now when Persona exists.
The appeal to me is pretty much the fact that it's kinda like Pokemon, but with more complex gameplay. And I like the gotta catch (gotta fuse?) them all aspect too. And I've also played all the modern Persona games including the spinoffs, so I need something else to scratch that itch... But yeah, even though I'm a fan, I do wish they invested more into the story of the SMT games.
By the way, I saw that you have a 3DS in your initial comment. Have you tried Devil Survivor? It's also part of the SMT series, and it's more Persona-like, in the sense that the characters are better developed and there's more story in them too. The second game also has a feature similar to the Confidant mechanic in Persona 5. The big difference is that the gameplay is in the form of a tactical RPG (kinda like Final Fantasy Tactics/Fire Emblem) and that it's waaay shorter than Persona 5. You may want to give it a try!
That might be the one I tried? I bought it used and resold it pretty quick. It was tactical, which I love, but I felt very thrown into it with little guidance and got repeatedly stomped lol. With an understanding of the elemental strengths/weaknesses now and not being as worried about missing key events I might give it another go.
A quick Google leads me to believe it was Devil Survivor Overclocked.
Rain World. I can't stop dying, but I also can't stop playing. It's quite the conundrum.
Rain world is basically the only brutally hard game that I have actually enjoyed playing for any amount of time. Unfortunately I don't have enough patience to keep playing more than roughly the first third of it.
It's a fantastically designed game and I'd recommend you resist the urge to look up hints online. It's better if you discover everything organically.
I'm awful at Rain World but I keep coming back to it every now and then because the world is just so damn interesting. The creature AI is seriously impressive and really cool to watch in action, especially considering how small a project it was.
Rain world is a truly unique game and one of the toughest and most rewarding games I've experienced in my life. I've never seen a game where it truly feels like there is an ecosystem you're apart of in the way this game does. You are definitely near the bottom as a lil slugcat but since you have hands you can use tools to thrive and mostly conquer the ecosystem around you. Exploring the world was incredible and I was always fascinated by new biomes as I journeyed through the world. The ending is something that will be in my brain for a long time. The music is super adaptive and the drum beats go hard in this game. I really can't recommend it enough, especially if you love exploration in cool worlds, as the game has that Metroidvania vibe of discovering the map as you explore a vast interconnected space.
Since starting it in April of last year, I've put about 3700 hours into Final Fantasy XIV (and I still have a ton of stuff to finish!). It's become a sort of second home to me. Never really got too into MMOs before, I used to play School of Dragons when I was younger but I stopped years ago, but one day I just sort of spontaneously fancied starting one.
I'd played a lot of those online chatroom type games like Club Penguin before, but had seriously aged out of them and there really does stop being much of a hook to those after a while, and I guess I sort of wanted to recapture just... the feeling of being there in a space with other players. Tried D&D online first, since it was free, but it didn't click with me much and it's a bit inactive, but after a while I heard about the free trial and Monster Hunter crossover (MH is one of my top games of all time for context) and that all convinced me to give FFXIV a go; why not? If I don't like it I won't have spent anything anyway.
That almost immediately turned into playing hours of it daily and before long I subbed to the full game for access to some of the locked-off features. Haven't gone back since, I think I've only been unsubbed a couple days since first buying the game. Love it to bits. And yes, I did get that Monster Hunter mount.
Me too, been going strong many years now.
What datacenter are you two on?
I'm on Aether, here's my lodestone. - Maybe we can find each other for some Tildesian roulettes every once in a while.
Chaos unfortunately. I hope they introduce cross-region travel at some point because it seems like people are never on the EU data centres!
Here's my lodestone page.
Hey nice glam! Unlucky on the cross region DC travel thing.
Hi, fellow Chaos dweller! I'm on Sagittarius. You're not alone!
https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/38900394/
Awesome, I'll be sure to keep a look out for you in my duties :-)
I'm still totally hooked on Tears of the Kingdom, though I admit that I hit a snag. I got the Master Sword, and was excited to see if Nintendo had changed their ideas about it. I was excited for the possibility of whaling on enemies without my weapon breaking. I charged into some monsters--because if I didn't have to replace my weapon, fighting random monsters would be fun--and, 40 hits later, the Master Sword "ran out of energy." My heart was broken. The thing I'd been working for and looking forward to--a weapon that didn't break--was not in the game.
So I went to look up if there was a way to upgrade the Master Sword's durability or some way to get around the tedium of replacing my weapon. And I found a glitch that would give me an unbreakable Master Sword. I was so excited. I watched that video a few times and gave it a try. Of course, it failed, because Nintendo recently patched that glitch out of the game. Once again, heartbroken (as much as a middle-aged man can be about a videogame, of course). I went through my grief about it but just couldn't quite get over it.
I've decided to hack my system to be able to tinker with the settings. I might not make it 100% unbreakable; I might just increase all of the weapons' durability. I'm not sure yet. But I'm fully committed to hacking it so I can play the rest of the game the way I'd like to. I'm not sure why Nintendo is so against giving people choices about how they play their games, but I'm glad that there are enough people in the world who agree with me about that so as to provide me with easy enough ways to get around it.
I'm still playing and still interested, even as-is. It seems like I've gotten through much of the main story, but as for the various quests and collectible things, I'm only at about 50% or less. I'm pretty motivated to get just about everything (other than all of the Koroks, probably) and explore everywhere because that exploration is just so much fun. Delving into every nook and cranny feels like a continuation of Breath of the Wild and therefore the Zelda series as I experienced it as a child, which was magical. I'm trying to cling to that magical feeling, because as an adult, it is so fleeting. And while I'm experiencing it, I'm enjoying it fully.
Not super interested in TOTK, but I love how you think. I was trying to 100% Crosscode, and there were some puzzles that I just knew I could beat if the slippery ice effect was removed. I'm considering paying someone to make a small mod that removes that from the puzzle areas so I can finally do it. As well with Sunless Seas, I've modded save files before to get back to where I was after a particularly infuriating death. I love doing things like that with games honestly.
I feel like at some point in my life, I've used cheats to in some way cheat myself out of gameplay: getting free coins, items, skipping levels, whatever, that might've been fun if those cheats weren't available. But as an adult, I know what I like in games and how to maximize my enjoyment of them. And if one little change can make a game much more fun, why not?
I also realized how nice it'll be to edit my 5 year-old's save file. He likes to use resources wildly, and suddenly I can give those to him with no trouble!
I play many Tabletop wargames, but recently decided I was going to use the Mechs I already have and get into tabletop Battletech. So, given that I've been on this kick, I've been playing a load of Hairbrain Schemes Battletech from 2018. I already had 190 hours in the game from years ago, but this time I've decided to use some mods to expand the actually available Mech selection.
Funny enough, after reading the rules for Battletech, I feel like playing the computer game can kind of leverage itself into the tabletop with understand the rules.
BEX takes this game from a 9 to a 10 for me. HBS has been awesome, and Battletech is an absolute joy. The base game itself is amazing.
BEX is exactly what I've been running; seems like a nice, mild upgrade over Roguetech and BTA, but I still made try those at some point in the future.
Love that I can psych out pilots though that they'll simply eject and run away.
As a result of my recent PvP survival shooter thread I am now addicted to Hunt: Showdown. I haven't yet made it out with a bounty token, but learning tons and getting into fun PvP situations.
Skyrim. New mods come out for it all the time, fixing bugs and adding quality of life features, useful even if you don't want to add new quests or characters to your game.
Counter-Strike (Global Offensive).
I mean, it's been my addiction for nearly 10 years at this point. But still.
Re-playing GTA 5 on the side.,
Everspace. Bought it during the summer sale and decided to try it out while taking a break from Octopath Traveler 2. Wow. I'm absorbed in it now.
It's a roguelite spacefaring game where you are constantly jumping systems, getting into dogfights, mining resources, and crafting upgrades for your ship. There's missions and npcs you run into that'll chat and trade. I've only made it to sector 4 and the difficulty ramps up there.
Highly recommend this one. Picked up the complete edition for under $8.
Cassette Beasts. I love the battle system, and grinding for bootlegs(the game’s equivalent of shinies) for achievements keeps me happy, even though I’ve completed most of the game already. It’s just easy for me to play when I’m tired or otherwise don’t want to put my full attention into a game.
Nice, im playing temtems cause it was part of the humble choice bundle. Have you played it? How do the two compare if so?
I feel like temtems really leaves the formula unchanged, even in the narrative department it has not tried anything new. A bit disappointing imho and i havent really been intrigued by any creatures yet.
I haven’t played temtem, but it’s on my wishlist(should it not be? 👀)
I feel like cassette beasts honestly changes up enough about battling to keep Pokémon fans interested. I mean it has the reactions system instead of supereffective attacks, stickers and their uncommon/rare variants with extra special effects like damage or accuracy up(or other cool ones that aren’t just number go up), and the fusion system which is simple but does add some strategy. Story wise it’s alright, nothing super special but it has heart.
In regards to creature design, it’s pretty consistently good(ymmv. We all know how divided people can be on the various Pokémon generations). Not the absolute best but it has some memorable designs. The archangel bosses are the absolute standouts I would say(as well as their battle theme imo).
I wouldnt go so far as to not recommend it, especially at the current humble choice price. I really like the addition of stamina, its kind of like pp but its a pool from which all moves take a varying amount from. High damage moves can drain it in one go. You can then wait or use items which does a good job of stopping me from just mashing the same button in fights until its over. The regular 6v6 battles really highlight the whole stamina system though and make it fun.
My problem with it, though im still very early in the game, is that i just have damage attacks on several temtem and havent been offered anything different yet to spice it up. Worse yet i picked the purple starter and ive found that its not very effective against the trainers leading up to (and) the first dojo leader. So its been a bit of a slog. I guess just the pacing has been a bit off for me as well, im very attuned to gamefreak's pacing and some sections in temtem are longer than id like with little incentive to keep going and not just walk back now to heal. But thats kind of what it turns into.
Ok, so basically it's got problems but worth checking out on sale? I might then. That 6v6 battle really piqued my interest, that sounds hectic(and fun)!
Noita is a roguelike platformer based on Finish folklore. It's catch-phrase is "every pixel is simulated" and the end result is a world where everything can be melted, burned, frozed, vaporized, exploded, etc. So it is all less about rigid game mechanics, and more about adapting to how the forces interact, like "jump into water if you set yourself aflame" or "don't jump into water if you electricuted yourself" or "don't jump into water containing an unknown substance, because it may transform your into a glowing skull which gets instantly killed by the water".
Then there's the magic system which is kind of like visual coding, where you combine a row of spells. It's insanely powerful, likely the most versatile magic system in any game.
I started played it avoiding looking up any information, and discovering the world for myself without looking up info. I can highly recommend this, discovering the game world on your own. I'm a bit sad because I have now discovered most of the major parts of the game. Still fun though!
I haven't been able to stop playing this for three years or so. It's frustrating when it gives you nothing, but it's highly addictive even when that's happening. The spell language takes a bit to get used to and you'll blow yourself up with the randomly generated wands at the start, but it's held my attention despite any gripes I might have.
When you get that perfect combination of spell bits and make a wand that can just melt through most enemies you come across you feel powerful. Then you find that one enemy that is immune or otherwise hard counters your build. (Vaihdosmestari vs my Short-range Homing Bloodlust Triple Plasma Beam Crosses... That was a very abrupt and surprising end.)
I just picked this up on the steam sale, since it was $5, I like Roguelikes, and I'd heard it's name before. Glad to hear about all this, I've had 3 runs or so and while I did enjoy it, it hasn't quite hooked me yet. But seeing praise like this is encouraging for me to keep giving it a go
I actually haven't been playing as many games as I used to due to picking up some new hobbies but the one game that remains a constant in my life is Slay The Spire.
I have almost 500 hours on it and still do a few runs every day (I play very quick and very bad so it doesn't take too long). StS is hands down the best card based roguelike to this day, even with others coming out that I've enjoyed none have replaced it.
RIP to Slay By Comment, one of the biggest losses of the Reddit fiasco
Subnautica. It had been rather enthralling, and exploring some parts filled me with a genuine, acute anxiety. Particularly around the crash zone. Fuck the crash zone, all my homies etc.
I've gotten so far in now, that I'm upgrading the submarine to reach the deepest part of the world and the story's conclusion.
Of course, down in the deep, dark depths is where...They live.
Here's an example of one of the less terrible Thems: https://m.soundcloud.com/kamakazi/crabsquid
Videos of this game pop up on my YT feed as I tend to watch game challenge runs. I think the guy I usually see if VR, which I can imagine is terrifying, especially if you are in a dead silent room.
i bought skyrim for the third time because i wanted to use mods only available for the anniversary edition. and i still enjoy it like 11 years ago. damn you, todd, you did it again.
i also have some hopes for starfield, and i will definitely get lost in baldur's gate 3, i already have 300 hrs on the ea version.
Make sure you check out Enderal if you're playing (or own) a version of Skyrim on PC! It's built on Skyrim's bones but ends up having a different feel than a simple clone, and the writing is actually pretty good, at least as far as large plot structures go. Plus, since it's functionally "just" a mod it's also free!
I'm very excited for the next couple of months of gaming between BG3 and Starfield. I just need something to keep me going until BG3's actually out next month! Fortunately, I bought Chained Echoes on the Steam sale and it's got me pretty hooked. It's a very fun Chrono Trigger/Suikoden 2 kind of RPG.
thanks you! i will check this out!
this year is going to be good, so many upcoming exciting titles! starfield, bg3, cyberpunk2077 dlc, remnant 2, sengoku dynasty, the list goes on!
Warsim: The Realm of Aslona
I picked this up on the Steam sale a couple days ago and, I gotta be honest, I never thought such a simple looking game could have so much depth, it's basically the Dwarf Fortress of strategy games. Ok, that's kind of hyperbole, but the game is immense and the procedural generation means you're always seeing something new each playthough, plus the solo developer is constantly updating the game with new stuff. Not to mention it all runs on the command prompt/windows terminal, which is super cool.
It's kind of like if CK2 and DF had a baby, except it's not as esoteric to play as either of those two and you have nice ASCII art as a bonus.
Final Fantasy XIV, doing tank and healer runs for newbies; squeezing in PVP, and playing a GBA Pokémon mod called, "Radical Red" .. It's quite the spike in difficulty compared to normal Pokémon games.
That's about it.
Usually path of exile, but I am holding myself away until 3.22 and poecon, so for now I've been jumping back into gta5 with a couple of friends. It's been fun and I haven't played in 7 or 8 years so it was completely different and I have a lot I can focus on doing to build my wealth.
Pretty much the exact same thing for me, except i started GTA online last year and my break only lasted 6-7 months
It's been fun, started with an mc business and a bunker, now I have my agency, arcade, nightclub with sub-businesses, acid lab, kosatka, a couple of fun cars like a deluxo. I think my next goal is a Benny weevil and tricking out my arcade (looks a bit like a dentist's office in there right now, haha)
Elden Ring kept me addicted for the better part of a year, and I still watch Tarnished Archeologist every time he puts out a new video on YouTube.
Now that I'm mostly done with ER (happy with my build, killed all the optional hard bosses on my terms, and completed the story arc I wanted) and starting to get into Sekiro. The combat is even better imo but I'm not sure about the depth of the story/lore yet. I've only got a few hours into sekiro, but just based on the combat it's likely to become my favorite fromsoft game. I highly suggest giving it a chance.
At The Game Awards last year, Elden Ring was FromSoft's second Game of the Year Award.
Sekiro was the first :) so you're in for a great time!
It’s destiny, but only because I play with some good friends. Don’t recommend if you’re doing it alone.
For the combat for this game, I typically get ships, after doing reading runs, that is crewed by the AI. And just do boarding actions, with the flagship that has more crew quarters, on pirate ships to sell those ships or get better ships for free. I also tend to avoid combat in the early game by taking either the transport of the cargo ships.
Sadly the add-ons that I used are out of date.
I got so addicted to that game. Once I found out about automata, I was hooked. I hung out in Mesuket in my bactrian, scared out of my wits every time a 349 hypered in. Eventually I started using a 16 instead. When I got about 60 256s, I went to Silikatakfar and massed them at the jump-in point at the bottom - I got so many more 256s this way. I alternated between this and hanging out at the jump-in point at Celeborim, then upgraded my 256s with a medium core, for stronger HP. Once I got 160 256s, I captured an Arfecta, and then I started harvesting mesuket, with 40 256s at each jump-in point. I would also add some 53s with all anti-missile turrets, and some 128s with banishers. Later when station storage arrived, I just upgraded all my 256s to have an anti-missile turret. I also took my fleet to Chy'Chra to harvest jump drives from unfettered. You can get lots and lots of jump drives this way.
In this way, I ended up getting like 1200 KIV 349s and 1500 256s, and killing my desire to play the game anymore, at least until MZ finishes the main storyline. I did end up capturing a bunch of those Ka'Het drones though; they are pretty cool. I had this notion of harvesting nullifiers, and making a specialized 349 fleet built around slicers, disrupters, and the nullifier, but it's just too much work.
Incidentally, if you have an android, check out spacerpg3 and spacerpg4. If you're on windows, check out Star Valor.
Ah, got ya. Yeah, early game is definitely a time to avoid combat at all costs. I don't do combat until I have a fleet of ships that is a full tier or half tier higher than anything even the human naval fleets have in service.
Subnautica. It had been rather enthralling, and exploring some parts filled me with a genuine, acute anxiety. Particularly around the crash zone. Fuck the crash zone, all my homies etc.
I've gotten so far in now, that I'm upgrading the submarine to reach the deepest part of the world and the story's conclusion.
Of course, down in the deep, dark depths is where...They live.
Here's an example of one of the less terrible Thems: https://m.soundcloud.com/kamakazi/crabsquid
It's hard to pick one. I don't tend to focus on single games; I rotate a few that I play in mostly short sessions. Some games stay in rotation longer, though. In that sense: maybe Solar Settlers. It's kind of a worker placement solitaire game where you have to colonize star systems. Highly addictive and challenging! I keep coming back to it because a typical round is rather short so it's a stimulating way to burn just a few minutes.
It's either that or MudRunner, the Siberian log hauling simulator.
Thay sounds fun! I might have to look into it. I've got a buddy who loves Mudrunner and the various versions of it from the same company. Enjoy!
Right now, it's Sound Voltex. I stan for rhythm games and it hits all the marks for me - song list, mechanics, speed. I imported a controller for it so I don't have to bother with an arcade and it's all I can play.
Dragonflight has oddly enough been the game of choice for me as of late. RP and PvP tend to be my mainstays in WoW historically, and DF at least delivers plenty of both in spades. The reintroduction of talent trees- even in an early form to be iterated on- has brought back to life the simple pleasure of just tweaking around with builds. I adamantly avoid getting into anything remotely meta though, and have gone to lengths to isolate myself from all that stuff. It just takes all the joy of discovery out of the game, and crosses the line into making it a job.
Monster Sanctuary currently has me invested. I got a Steam Deck during the sale, and decided to throw some smaller games I hadn't tried yet on there, so Monster Sanctuary finally got crossed off the "owned but never played" list.
It's not too dissimilar to Pokemon if it was a Metroidvania - you get in fights with random monsters and using your own team of monsters, battle. You're graded on your performance in the battle (i.e. how well you used type advantages, how quickly you defeated the enemy, how much damage they did to you) and if you do well enough, you increase your chances for rare drops, including the eggs of monsters you defeat.
Through this you can raise your own monsters, and as you level them, you can explore their skill trees to build them out however you'd like. Plus they have in world abilities that you can use to levitate, light up dark rooms, swim, activate switches, break hidden walls, etc.
It's the right amount of mechanics to be interesting but not overwhelming. There's a decent challenge in it since grinding quickly becomes useless, so you usually end up keeping in the range of levels you'd want to fight at anyway. It's not necessarily the best in class in terms of writing, art, or gameplay, but it's far from bad in any way I've experienced, and it's been a great bug to bite me. I feel like I'll end up replaying it as well.
Oh hey, this is great to hear! I also have a deck and tried to play MS on there a few months back and the controls seemed a bit bugged, so I'll revisit it now!
Maniac mansion for nes
Mario Kart. I just only bought a Switch and was hesitant to buy the game at first but I'm so glad I did. There's so much more depth to it than I thought. Still quite hooked on learning the advanced driving techniques and tracks.
Mario Kart 8? I had so much fun playing that. I kind of want to buy a switch just to play that game.
Yep. I couldn't justify buying a Switch for a long time too but now I decided to get something to get me away from my desk lol
Right now it's Splatoon 3. I was always curious about Splatoon, but I didn't have a Wii U when the first game was released, and the I kinda slept on the first few years of Switch, and missed out on Splatoon 2. I decided I was going to go in on Splatoon 3, and I've been hooked ever since launch.
I think what I like the most about it is there are many different kinds of playstyles that are encouraged, and me not being a very confrontational person have gravitated towards backrow weapons such as chargers (sniping weapons) and splatlings (heavy machine guns). I also like how there is less of an emphasis on kill counts, and more about meeting the objects of the match, like inking the most territory, keeping control of a space the longest, running a tower/statue towards the enemies base, or playing Splatoon based rugby.
The constant updates, additions, the free season pass of collectibles and gear, and the occasional events like Big Runs and Splatfest keep me coming back even after taking brakes, and the gameplay loop and mechanics are addicting enough to keep me playing despite the fact I may have already put up to 300 hours into this game. I also love the visuals, setting and the overall vibe of the game.
Right now it's Elden Ring. Currently playing through it with a friend using the Seamless Coop mod which is honestly so much fun!
Warhammer 40k: Boltgun. I know nothing of the franchise or lore but the graphics and gameplay of this game are just too fun. Plays amazing on Steam deck now that they've patched it more.
Same games as ever: Pokémon Go and my solitaire collection (almost always Freecell or Spider-2)
I spent so much money back in the day on Steam sales in the expectation that I'd buy a proper gaming rig and get big into gaming. These days, I'd rather spend that money on travel or musical instruments, not gaming.
I never played Guild Wars 2, so I decided to give it a chance.
Oh, GW2 is great. I'm on a long break, but exploration is just lovely. And nice as co-op.
Right now, 7 Days to Die. It's a survival crafting game with zombies. It's nothing fancy, it's actually pretty buggy and poorly optimized and not that attractive visually, but the gameplay is very fun. Harvesting resources, managing food and water, improving your living situation, all while trying to plan out how you're going to survive this week's horde night, which gets to the point of tower defense.
I've been playing it a lot with some of my friends recently and it's a ton of chaotic fun, especially during horde nights when something goes wrong. The zombies pathfind an unexpected way to us and break through a weak spot in our defenses that we didn't anticipate, trying to shoot them down while patching it, or fleeing to a backup platform and hoping it holds.
Even solo, it's pretty satisfying gameplay. Even better with the Steam Deck's instant suspend and resume, I can easily throw a few minutes at it whenever I have them.
Just completed Cyberpunk 2077 and am on the hunt to find my next game! Any immersive sim/open world type game recommendations?
Not as nice looking but Fallout 4 or 76 (for multi-player experience) is pretty deep if you haven't played them already. Haven't looked for new games in that genre recently so not up on the current options unfortunately.
Playing the seemingly forgotten BioWare game Jade Empire.
I can see why the game didn’t get much attention: pre Mass Effect real-time melee combat that feels janky but serviceable, and a mini game vertical scrolling shooter that feels extremely out of place.
But it’s still classic BioWare and the story and characters are interesting, the RPG mechanics are that nostalgic BioWare style, and a big helping of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon influenced setting make for an interesting RPG.
Hunt: Showdown
I'm not normally into FPS games, especially not battle royale or extraction style FPS games. Fighting games (Guilty Gear: Strive, Street Fighter 6, Blazblue Central Fiction) have been my go-to for quite awhile now, alongside stuff like the recent Age of Wonders 4, Into the Storm, Humankind, etc.
But man, Hunt is fun. I picked it up at the very end of the Steam summer sale. I'm utterly garbage at the game, but for the first time have actually found myself wanting to improve at an FPS.
If you don't know about it, the basic rundown of the game is that it's a PvPvE extraction shooter set in late 19th century Louisiana. The weapons are all from that period (and act like it, so don't think you'll be instantly reloading that revolver in 2 seconds flat), and the PvE enemies include a variety of humanoid forms. A bit cliche there, but the setting is honestly fairly interesting after you dig in a bit and get beyond the surface level "oh boy, another FPS game with zombies. How original." reaction that I had initially.
Your goal in the main game mode is to find clues scattered about the map that will lead you to a boss. Kill the boss, banish it (which basically involves setting up camp to defend yourself while a timer ticks down), then grab a bounty token from it and get to the nearest extraction point ASAP. It's a fairly simple concept, with other AI enemies of various types scattered across the map. Other players are trying to do the same thing, and can be grouped up in teams of 2 or 3, or running solo.
What makes the game special is the sound, though. Sound (and trying to avoid making too much) is incredibly important. Everything in Hunt that is audible to you is audible to other players. Your footsteps. The shrill cry of a flock of crows you spooked who are now flying south across the map and making sure everyone knows where you are. The crack of a rifle from 200+ meters away to the east as someone attempts to take out another player they came across. Sound traps like chains that dangle from the rooftops of buildings that make plenty of noise when a player walks through them as opposed to crouching below them to avoid them.
It definitely isn't everyone's cup of tea, to be sure. The character and equipment system is a permadeath system. Get caught out in the open unexpectedly by someone trying to defend a boss location while it banishes? You just lost the character, all their traits (perks), and all their equipment. This isn't quite as bad as it sounds, though--as you can build up traits on a new Hunter pretty quickly just by running a few games where you focus on PvE stuff. Or you can just keep playing as normal with the basic levered rifle (a Winchester clone) and a pistol, because the cheaper basic weapons are more than capable of holding their own.
It can definitely be a frustrating game, but I think I've had more fun playing Hunt than I have almost any other FPS I've played, and likely most of my usual rotation of games as well. Killing a boss followed by the tension of waiting while it banishes, defending against pushes from other players, is genuinely enjoyable. Unlike many other popular FPS games at the moment, playing solo is completely viable. Sure, it is a bit more challenging... but man does it feel good to successfully ambush a team or sneakily nab a bounty moments after another player banishes the boss the killed before making a break for the nearest extraction point. I play mostly solo, with some duo gameplay with a friend of mine, and honestly I think I enjoy the solo gameplay a bit more!
I've never heard of it, but that sounds amazing. Admittedly it does not sound down my alley, but I'm not against trying new things. The scariest game I've ever played is Left for Dead. The permwdewth character and equipment sounds kind of fun in a 'I like to annoy myself with challenge' kind of way :)
Before I had to leave for my vacation, my obsession was wh40k: Rogue Trader by Owlcat, but alas it didn't run on steamdeck when I tried, so now I'm trying several different games although Super Mega Baseball 3 is grabbing my attention pretty hard (yes, 3 not 4)
What's the Warhammer game like? I've never looked into them, though hilariously I have 4 or so of them in my Steam list duento buying them in a bundle with something else. I picture them being Starcraft 2 meets insane levels of lore?
I only know the WH40K CRPG by Owlcat which isn't released yet (but the beta is available if you pre-order), and it's pretty close to their Pathfinder game so far, except maybe easier (not sure what difficulty I was on though) and turn based only (thank the emperor).
I've also played the Oldhammer Total Wars and they play like Total War.
Monster Hunter. It's always Monster Hunter. I've played maybe 3 hours of a non-MH game in the last year. I used to play a ton of Rocket League and Overwatch but really burnt myself out on PVP and was generally disappointed with the direction Blizzard took Overwatch 2, so the simple pleasure of using big freakin' weapons to hunt big freakin' monsters really drew me in. It just scratches literally every itch for me. Now that Sunbreak has reached its endgame I've been spending more time back in Iceborne and it's just a pleasure to step back into that world.
I put something like 700 hours into MH World. Finished everything I could think of to finish. So far though, I'm "only" 140 hours into Rise. It didn't quite click the same way for me, and I've yet to complete the recent content updates, or grind out anomaly levels.
I mainly used Insect Glaive in World, and Greatsword in Rise. Funny enough, the two felt equally mobile due to the introduction of wirebugs.
I enjoyed Rise but the obsession didn't quite bite me until Sunbreak came out. Once that happened, hoo boy, I put way too many hours in (Sunbreak lance is SO good). I found it much easier to pick up new weapons in that game, so I'm slowly working my way through learning all of them. I do adore the environment in World, though, and I love that it still has such a vibrant player base
MH World is one of my go-to fallback games when I just wanna chill with a game I don't want to put too much mental effort into (not that it's a braindead game, I've just played so much of it that most of the monsters under super tough endgame boss level are cake walks)
Just feels so damn good to play and the environments are all eye candy. I love all the other MH games (except Rise but that's mostly personal taste) but it's always World that I sit down and relax with.
I just cannot grok Monster Hunter. I've played 3, 4U, and World, and they all just feel like impenetrable walls.
I've made it the furthest into 4U, where I've gotten far enough to get a bujabujabu set, but phew.
Despite watching tutorials, reading wikis... is there something I'm missing?
Funny, I found 4U pretty impenetrable because it felt like everything took ages. I started with GU but I much prefer the somewhat faster pace of World and the racecar that is Rise (which was designed for handheld and approaches the game with a different philosophy because of that).
Is there a particular element of the game that seems to cause the hang up? I've always felt like the gameplay is the main focus and the story is mostly there for flavor. It can largely be ignored if you don't love it, but there are some fun interactions and lore bits built into it if you do.
Armor skills can definitely seem excessive at first, but you can start by just focusing on a handful of skills that almost every weapon benefits from (attack, crit eye, weakness exploit, stun resist). Honestly, in low rank you can wear anything and still make good progress. There are a ton of build guides for particular stages of the game after that. New games also don't use the annoying negative armor skill system, so you don't have to be concerned about how each piece interacts.
The hunts are basically just boss fights and center around learning the monster's tells and finding your openings. Jumping into low stakes multiplayer quests really helped me learn and there are tons of MH vets who love to help new players out. I also watch MH youtubers (more for entertainment but sometimes there are learning opportunities).
But, at the end of the day, you like what you like and shouldn't feel bad about spending time on games you prefer
I'm still really enjoying Destiny 2, despite it's flaws. I've also slowly been playing more Street Fighter 6. The more I play Street Fighter 6 and understand what I'm doing the more I enjoy it. It's a very well-made game.
I've been burning through the Bust-A-Move games lately. Very chill puzzling for the most part. I've played some of the oldest ones before but there's a lot to go through I've never touched.
MSG: Battle Operation 2 because I’m a such a degenerate Gundam fan that I’ll play a gatcha game with PS3 graphics in 2023.
Also Warthunder, because I’m also such a degenerate military aircraft enthusiast that I’ll play that monetized dumpster fire to death.
For anyone curious, stay away from GBO2 on Steam, somehow the servers are worse than console and that’s quite a thing coming from someone who only plays on the Japanese client on console.
I've been playing a bit too much of GTA online but I'm kinda starting to feel the burn out. After 450-500 hours there isn't much to work towards anymore, although i've been having some fun with races and public lobby events and pvp which was something i avoided for most of my play time
Fate/Extella Link. Maybe it's in the "guilty pleasure" category.
I played Fate/Extra and Fate/Extella on the Playstation Vita and thought the character development of the Nero-Tamamo-Altera triangle and story was the best.
I bought Link on Steam a long time ago but never got into it, I also built a gaming PC with all the RGB bling. For six months or so I used it exclusively for A.I. development (gamed on an XBOX ONE and bitched about it all the time) but I finally set up Sunlight and Moonshine so I can cast it to my NVIDIA shield and have a lean-back experience and no fighting to get game controllers working.
Of course Link can't have as good story as The Umbral Star but it looks like I'll be playing it obsessively until I get to the end of the post-game.
When playing alone: StarDew Valley.
Otherwise it’s North Guard online with my brother. (Viking strategy)
We don’t even talk with mics, just send chats and laugh in the game. And when we used to use mice, we’d check in every 10-15 min to see if the other person is still connected. It’s so peaceful playing in silence, yet battling side by side with our own tribe against other tribes.
I think it’s a nostalgia thing, as we played Age of Empires 2 in early high school with LAN still. :-)
Genuinely, I've been having so much fun playing Red Alert 2 again in my browser. It's a blast!
Kerbal Space Program. I have logged like 1000 hours since I started playing it over the winter. Its kind of a problem. I'm not even good at it, I am just stubborn and determined to get to Jool before I give up on it.
Probably Lords & Knights or maybe Future Arena. :)
It's been about 2 years in which I'm constantly playing new custom content that comes out for Quake. So I guess that would be it. The player controls are so pleasant and the combat so balanced. Bunny hopping, super quick weapon switching, platforming, people attempting a Lovecraft vibe with limited tools. It has it all.
Robloxes ER:LC is pretty fun. I enjoy private servers. Pretty realistic and private servers are awesome.
Some serious power mods tho so that sucks. Still getting updates 5 years on and while the gamepasses are slightly expensive they are definitely worth it.
MARVEL SNAP
I’m hooked on this game. The fast paced games and wide variety of options to play is just too good to put down. The artwork is awesome and they are given full access to the marvel catalog so there will be TONS of cards that can be played as the months go on.