12 votes

What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them?

What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.

41 comments

  1. [21]
    knocklessmonster
    (edited )
    Link
    Rimworld: It's been "released" for three years, apparently in development for eight, and I've really just found out about it this year. It's sort of like Dwarf Fortress, but harder in some ways,...

    Rimworld: It's been "released" for three years, apparently in development for eight, and I've really just found out about it this year. It's sort of like Dwarf Fortress, but harder in some ways, in that the game seems more hell-bent on screwing you over with its AI storytellers. I haven't been able to keep a colony running for over an hour without losing somebody on Cassandra Classic or Phoebe Chillax on the easiest setting, and Randy Random just terrifies me conceptually, because you can get years of easy living, than be suddenly destroyed. I bought it yesterday and played five hours after watching the Doctors Without Borders Hot Potato event (Twitch streamers are playing 4 hours each on a save and passing it to the next one) and have had as many colonies either collapse, or get into positions I didn't want to work through. Heck, on one the Man in Black showed up (he shows up if your colonists are incapacitated), and my last remaining colonist went berserk and tried to kill him. I like the "Story Generator" angle it leans into, like DF, it becomes more like directing a horrible, deranged sitcom than a game.

    EDIT: Some of it is just knowing about how attributes work, like giving a rifle to your best shooter, how to manually set priorities, and more. I've got a colony up and running with a few issues, but I've been able to recover.

    Graveyard Keeper: It's a good game, but I'm not playing for long when I do. It keeps crashing, and I'm scared to put an hour in just for it to crash on me. I try to go to bed regularly to save progress, but even that crashes the game occasionally. I think it's a Vsync issue, but I can't be sure. I bought the Game of Crone DLC which adds some interesting story elements, but I frankly haven't explored it, as I'm mostly focused on upgrading what I can before I get to a point I start getting bodies to process and bury again.

    That Flipping Mountain: I finally beat it, and the dev just added achievements, so I'm going to try for some of those over time. I hope to get the one where I beat the game under 30 minutes at some point, and maybe less than 100 failed jumps, but it's going to take time and practice. The achievements make it more replayable, in a sense.

    7 votes
    1. [4]
      an_angry_tiger
      Link Parent
      I don't know if it's still like this, but in the past in Rimworld Randy was paradoxically the easiest of them. Tynan (the game designer) made a game where you're gradually losing, your colony...

      I haven't been able to keep a colony running for over an hour without losing somebody on Cassandra Classic or Phoebe Chillax on the easiest setting, and Randy Random just terrifies me conceptually, because you can get years of easy living, than be suddenly destroyed

      I don't know if it's still like this, but in the past in Rimworld Randy was paradoxically the easiest of them. Tynan (the game designer) made a game where you're gradually losing, your colony fighting against the elements and adversaries in a brutal survival, gradually ramping up. The other "storytellers" are supposedly harder because they keep ramping up and expecting you to have to keep up, Randy may be easier because, although it's random and you can get unlucky, it's not pushing you on that path of constantly trying to keep up with what it throws at you.

      3 votes
      1. [3]
        knocklessmonster
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        I've seen recent discussion about Randy that says everything you said, so I'd assume it's still true. I may just do Randy anyway since what he throws on the second easiest setting can't be that...

        I've seen recent discussion about Randy that says everything you said, so I'd assume it's still true. I may just do Randy anyway since what he throws on the second easiest setting can't be that bad, but I may be wrong.

        EDIT: I messed it all up going after a megasloth (it killed *everybody), but yeah, Randy + Basebuilder was surprisingly easy to get somewhat established in. I actually pulled a rice crop and started making (and rapidly consuming) pemmican.

        3 votes
        1. [2]
          Fal
          Link Parent
          Which start are you doing? Lost tribe can be kind of tricky.

          Which start are you doing? Lost tribe can be kind of tricky.

          2 votes
    2. [13]
      JCPhoenix
      Link Parent
      Rimworld is great. It's been a few years since I've played, but I enjoyed it tons. I wasn't very good as it was my first attempt, but it was fun. Recently, a buddy recommended I try the Royalty...

      Rimworld is great. It's been a few years since I've played, but I enjoyed it tons. I wasn't very good as it was my first attempt, but it was fun. Recently, a buddy recommended I try the Royalty DLC, so I bought it. Haven't tried it yet, but I'm excited to get back into the game.

      Interestingly, the better "version" of Rimworld, to me, is Oxygen Not Included. ONI is a sidescroller, while Rimworld is obviously top-down, but they're very similar IMO. Except that ONI feels a lot more polished. Thinking about it now, maybe "easier" is also the right word.

      I recommend giving ONI a try once you're finished with Rimworld; if you ever do finish!

      3 votes
      1. [12]
        knocklessmonster
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        I've actually played ONI for only 70 minutes, but I see the appeal. I think Rimworld does a better job of scratching the itch Dwarf Fortress caused, but I also need more experience with ONI. It...

        I've actually played ONI for only 70 minutes, but I see the appeal. I think Rimworld does a better job of scratching the itch Dwarf Fortress caused, but I also need more experience with ONI. It was fun, but I was still very much in that learning phase I'm in with Rimworld. I'll definitely get back to it, because I'm finding I like these sorts of games.

        5 votes
        1. [12]
          Comment deleted by author
          Link Parent
          1. [11]
            vektor
            (edited )
            Link Parent
            I am in this picture and I don't like it. I wonder what other games are there that are unlike the above, but appeal to the same group. I've found myself greatly enjoying games where I build my own...

            I am in this picture and I don't like it.

            I wonder what other games are there that are unlike the above, but appeal to the same group.

            I've found myself greatly enjoying games where I build my own mobile base. Space Engineers, Empyrion, From the Depths, to name a few. But all of these are somewhat... hollow, ya know? The level of challenge they provide is somewhat off, there's not much to do except mess with the sandbox. Empyrion had us work a while on building a big ship, well armed and armored. Bit of sloppy play, and it's a burning wreck. The previous encounter was trivial by comparison. I could forgive that if the game allowed you to fail faster, but a difficulty spike like that felt quite unfair. And among the three, that's the game with the most "stuff to do".

            1 vote
            1. [9]
              cfabbro
              (edited )
              Link Parent
              Some of Zachtronics' puzzle games, maybe? E.g. SpaceChem, MOLEK-SYNTEZ, Opus Magnum, and Infinifactory all have a similar appeal to them, since they also require constructing of complex automated...

              I wonder what other games are there that are unlike the above, but appeal to the same group.

              Some of Zachtronics' puzzle games, maybe? E.g. SpaceChem, MOLEK-SYNTEZ, Opus Magnum, and Infinifactory all have a similar appeal to them, since they also require constructing of complex automated systems, and focusing on supply chain efficiency/optimization.

              3 votes
              1. [4]
                vektor
                Link Parent
                Ohhh, I "dislike" those, because I can't optimize the fun out of those. If I optimize those, that's the entirety of the experience and it's actually hard work. If I come up with a really good...

                Ohhh, I "dislike" those, because I can't optimize the fun out of those. If I optimize those, that's the entirety of the experience and it's actually hard work. If I come up with a really good solution in factorio, there's a permanence to that factory block sitting there and working away; it feels like I cheesed the game.

                More realistically, I fall less hard for these games because it doesn't feel unintentionally powerful and wicked smart when I beat them. Ya know? The MTG or Slay The Spire effect of finding something that is so unreasonably powerful it oughtta be banned. You feel so smart for breaking out of the game's constraints. Well, Zachtronics doesn't let you do that. You gotta be smart to even play it, so your smart solutions are acknowledged with a "took you long enough. Anyway... Next slide please."

                Good shout though, I bet there's huge overlap. I just don't think those are for me. Or maybe Opus Magnum is not representative.

                6 votes
                1. [3]
                  cfabbro
                  (edited )
                  Link Parent
                  Yeah, I can understand why some people don't/wouldn't enjoy them as much. Zachtronics' games are still puzzle games after all, so even though the way you can go about solving each puzzle is highly...

                  Yeah, I can understand why some people don't/wouldn't enjoy them as much. Zachtronics' games are still puzzle games after all, so even though the way you can go about solving each puzzle is highly variable, the end result still has to conform to what the game expects in order for you to move on to the next. And as a a result of that, unlike the other games mentioned in this thread, there are no real game-breaking combinations, or emergent gameplay moments in them.

                  p.s. I started playing Slay The Spire again (on my Switch this time) after you mentioned it in the previous weekly topic. Even after having unlocked everything on multiple different platforms, and beating it countless times now, it's still so much fun. It's still by far the best deck-building roguelike out there, IMO.

                  3 votes
                  1. [2]
                    vektor
                    Link Parent
                    Yeah, kinda confuses me though: I can enjoy a Cracking The Cryptic puzzle every now and then, but apparently those condition my mind way differently: I know I'm supposed to chase one of a narrow...

                    Yeah, I can understand why some people don't/wouldn't enjoy them as much.

                    Yeah, kinda confuses me though: I can enjoy a Cracking The Cryptic puzzle every now and then, but apparently those condition my mind way differently: I know I'm supposed to chase one of a narrow set of valid paths, and I can enjoy that. But I kind of want my creative freedom when I'm playing Opus Magnum. Which, well, nope.

                    1 vote
                    1. cfabbro
                      Link Parent
                      You could always try throwing optimization out the window, and focus on implementing some wacky, ridiculously overcomplicated solutions instead. That could allow for more creativity and fun.

                      You could always try throwing optimization out the window, and focus on implementing some wacky, ridiculously overcomplicated solutions instead. That could allow for more creativity and fun.

                      1 vote
              2. [4]
                zeda
                Link Parent
                As a Zachtronics fan, I've been enjoying "Turing Complete". It's eaten into all the time I was planning on playing Manufactoria 2022 ^_^ (which admittedly I do wish had a 'classic graphics' mode)

                As a Zachtronics fan, I've been enjoying "Turing Complete". It's eaten into all the time I was planning on playing Manufactoria 2022 ^_^ (which admittedly I do wish had a 'classic graphics' mode)

                1 vote
                1. [3]
                  cfabbro
                  Link Parent
                  Never heard of it before, but it looks interesting! I have always wanted to learn more about logic gates and assembly language, and that looks like a fun way to do it. Do you think it's worth...

                  Never heard of it before, but it looks interesting! I have always wanted to learn more about logic gates and assembly language, and that looks like a fun way to do it. Do you think it's worth buying while still in Early Access though, or would you recommend waiting until it's fully released?

                  p.s. LFTL: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1444480/Turing_Complete/

                  1 vote
                  1. [2]
                    zeda
                    Link Parent
                    good q, I picked it up when it was first on sale (~$14) but if you're good with playing games in early access I'd say it's one of the better ones, especially if you could see yourself enjoying the...

                    good q, I picked it up when it was first on sale (~$14) but if you're good with playing games in early access I'd say it's one of the better ones, especially if you could see yourself enjoying the type of game. I've reached out to the dev a couple times with suggestions and they seem both active and interested in bettering it.

                    Tip though, if you haven't learned a lot about logic/assembly the game doesn't quite walk you through it standalone - it does have a discord who can help point you in the right learning resources, but the game itself is more like a playable version of software such as Logisim. (We used that plenty when learning CS, hehe) iirc the latter's free so if you poke around with it a bit and feel up to taking on the same presented as a series of levels, def check out TC.

                    Gotta get going but I'd be happy to chat more about this space later ^_^

                    1 vote
                    1. cfabbro
                      Link Parent
                      Hmm, if that's the case I may wait until the full release in hopes there will be some more explanations or tutorials added to it. Or at least hold off until I have the time and am in the mood to...

                      Hmm, if that's the case I may wait until the full release in hopes there will be some more explanations or tutorials added to it. Or at least hold off until I have the time and am in the mood to seriously dive into external research while I play. :P

                      1 vote
            2. zeda
              Link Parent
              I kind of get what you mean. I keep bouncing around vague ideas for incrementals/factory sims/etc which go back and forth between being able to 'break the game' and trying to 'optimize' it, seems...

              I kind of get what you mean. I keep bouncing around vague ideas for incrementals/factory sims/etc which go back and forth between being able to 'break the game' and trying to 'optimize' it, seems like a tricky thing to balance.

              2 votes
    3. [2]
      vektor
      Link Parent
      I never knew Man in Black was a thing. Apparently I'm too much of a chicken shit to get myself into truly hairy situations.

      I never knew Man in Black was a thing. Apparently I'm too much of a chicken shit to get myself into truly hairy situations.

      1 vote
      1. knocklessmonster
        Link Parent
        I've been learning by losing, but not by choice. I thought he was robbing the place at first.

        I've been learning by losing, but not by choice.

        I thought he was robbing the place at first.

        2 votes
    4. [2]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. MimicSquid
        Link Parent
        It's a pity that you can't quantify what the issue is, because there's an incredibly robust modding scene available to mold the game to your preferences.

        It's a pity that you can't quantify what the issue is, because there's an incredibly robust modding scene available to mold the game to your preferences.

        5 votes
  2. kfwyre
    Link
    Ori and the Will of the Wisps I’m about to 100% this for the second time. It’s not as magical the second time through, but it’s just as good. The game is a masterpiece. Killing Floor 2 The...

    Ori and the Will of the Wisps

    I’m about to 100% this for the second time. It’s not as magical the second time through, but it’s just as good. The game is a masterpiece.


    Killing Floor 2

    The original Killing Floor is one of my all time favorite games (and, fun fact, the source of my username here (see: KF-Wyre)). I’d put some time into KF2 but didn’t fully give it its due before my friend group moved on from it.

    We recently picked up Back 4 Blood which we enjoyed but which also gave us a hankering for our old favorite zombie shooter, so we went back over to KF2. My friend set up a dedicated server with custom maps, so now we can play on the best map: KF-Block_Fort.


    Final Fantasy VII Remake

    Just when I thought I was going to make a ton of progress on my Timasomo project, my husband surprised me with an early Christmas gift. He got me this game and gave it to me at the start of Thanksgiving break, knowing that I’d want the time off from work to be able to dive into it fully.

    I absolutely love the original, and not just from my rose-colored glasses (I last replayed it only a few years ago), so I was excited to see what changes the remake could bring to the table. I’m surprised at how different it is but not mad about it at all. I can always play the original if I want that experience, so it’s neat that this one wasn’t afraid to go off-script and not be a one-to-one copy.

    7 votes
  3. [2]
    aditya
    Link
    Dead Cells. New to me, and I'm quite liking it. I played a lot of Hades last year, and I think I enjoy roguelite/like games. Also just introduced my girlfriend to papers, please which I love, so...

    Dead Cells. New to me, and I'm quite liking it. I played a lot of Hades last year, and I think I enjoy roguelite/like games. Also just introduced my girlfriend to papers, please which I love, so we've been playing that a bit (one of us shoulder surfs and points out issues).

    Side note: I'm steadily figuring out what games are must-haves for next year when I finally get my hands on a Steam Deck. I don't have many steam games at all (except papers, please and Football Manager), so recommendations for things to go on my wishlist are welcome!

    6 votes
    1. Nivlak
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      I have maybe 300 hours in dead cells and I can tell you this game is challenging but is fair. I am currently on BC2 which is not even close to the highest difficulty in the game. I seem to have...

      I have maybe 300 hours in dead cells and I can tell you this game is challenging but is fair. I am currently on BC2 which is not even close to the highest difficulty in the game. I seem to have hit my skill limit here and have yet to make any real progress. The boss fights are where I get destroyed typically, I’m still working out the best combinations for my play style.

      2 votes
  4. [3]
    eve
    Link
    I've been enjoying the ACNH update and HHD DLC. I really loved HHD as its own game on the DS, so getting to continue that has been fun, and I'm glad it was just an addition to the main game. It...

    I've been enjoying the ACNH update and HHD DLC. I really loved HHD as its own game on the DS, so getting to continue that has been fun, and I'm glad it was just an addition to the main game. It gives me a lot more to do, and the design aspect has always made me so happy. I like the additions overall to the game and it has definitely put a breath of fresh air into it.

    I've also been playing the Halo Infinite multi-player beta a lot! I'm really enjoying the new weapons and game modes. I love the random Playlist right now, because then everyone is forced to play other stuff besides slayer lol. I don't get the appeal of plain slayer that much, but that's also because I'm bad! At! It! Every now and again I'm okay, but more consistently than not, I'm getting trounced lol. It'll be neat to see what they change for release/down the line after player feedback. It'd be nice if games stopped making shitty cosmetics cost 20$, I love character customization, but I'll just leave it be and save up Bing points to get an Xbox gift card and buy something that way.

    6 votes
    1. [2]
      babypuncher
      Link Parent
      Most cosmetics in the game are distributed through the $10 battle pass. If you play a lot, that is an inexpensive way to get lots of customization.

      Most cosmetics in the game are distributed through the $10 battle pass. If you play a lot, that is an inexpensive way to get lots of customization.

      1 vote
      1. eve
        Link Parent
        For sure there's a decent amount, and I do have the battle pass. There's fine stuff there, my comment was just a jab at how much skins/armor cost as a full set. To me it's ridiculous and I don't...

        For sure there's a decent amount, and I do have the battle pass. There's fine stuff there, my comment was just a jab at how much skins/armor cost as a full set. To me it's ridiculous and I don't think it's a reasonable price, but plenty of people buy them so it's clearly just not for me. But like you said, there's definitely a fair amount of armor and colors in the battle pass, I hadn't taken a good look at it at the time of posting my comment but have since checked out all the rewards and it's pretty good.

        1 vote
  5. [10]
    nothis
    Link
    I saw Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour for 2.50 on a Switch sale and bought it spontaneously. And I'm having way too much fun with it! I'm actually a bit too young to have been around...

    I saw Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour for 2.50 on a Switch sale and bought it spontaneously. And I'm having way too much fun with it!

    I'm actually a bit too young to have been around for the 2D-sprite era of FPS games so there's a bit of false nostalgia going on that makes me genuinely curious about experiencing that for the first time. I've even disabled the correct perspective mode to get the look right.

    Now, certainly, Duke Nukem is a parody of 80s action movies from the 90s and what might have been genuinely funny back then is rather becoming funny on almost a meta level, like they didn't even know how cheesy they were, lol. I'm not playing this for the story. What struck me on the gameplay side of things, though, was the surprising amount of creativity and experimentation going on. Simple things like being able to use light switches, working mirrors or destructible environments (scripted, but still) are used for actual gameplay moments that force you to play a little differently. It's clumsy, but there's night vision goggles you actually need here and there, mirrors that alert you about an enemy hiding around a corner, cracks in walls that reveal an entirely new path when you blow them up, Zelda style. The weapons are creative and varied (shrink ray, anyone?). I'm even kinda warming up to the "keycard hunting" mechanic. It requires you to actually get to know the environments.

    Most surprising, though, is how much I enjoy getting... lost. There's a fair bit of hinting where to go next, but it's way less hand-holdy than modern games. A keycard you absolutely need to progress might be hiding in a corner somewhere or the only way to progress after a big fight might be a tiny crack in the wall that opened up. Sometimes I needed to consult the map to look for oddities. Finding these paths feels like I genuinely learned to navigate the space. I'm in the 4th "episode" I think and I never got truly lost, not for longer than 5 minutes. Strangely, in modern AAA games with the screen full of floating quest markers, I've found myself much more frustrated in moments where they failed and environmental clues merged into some high-res background noise.

    So, uh, hail to the king, baby!

    6 votes
    1. [9]
      hook
      Link Parent
      <old_fart_mode> Oh, oldschool FPS games were definitely less hand-holdy than its modern brethren and you didn’t magically regenerate health back by simply staying away from danger for a few...

      <old_fart_mode>
      Oh, oldschool FPS games were definitely less hand-holdy than its modern brethren and you didn’t magically regenerate health back by simply staying away from danger for a few moments. I was never great at FPS games, but the lack of challenge in newer titles just doesn’t do it for me.
      </old_fart_mode>

      That said, I recently finished Bulletstorm: Duke of Switch Edition and had a blast. It’s the Nintendo Switch version with all the DLC as well as Duke Nukem as an optional playable character (it’s hilarious how out of place he is). While it does have all the modern “follow the path, wait to heal” story-heavy feel that I dislike, it makes up for how totally over-the-top everything is. Cursing if of the charts and the dialogue is genuinely stupid fun. But the skill-shot system whereby you earn the more currency (to buy ammo and upgrade weapons) the more gruesome and funny you kill enemies is what make this game truly a gem.

      If you pick up Bulletstorm, I warmly recommend you first play through with the original character Grayson, as not only does the story make more sense, but as hard it is to believe he’s a bigger asshole and potty-mouth than Duke is. And with the ability to unlock unlimited ammo for weapons you preformed all skill-shots for, re-playing the game (or certain chapters) as Duke with all weapons and unlimited ammo unlocked is just a hellish good time.

      If you liked how Duke Nukem 3D played, try Ion Fury – it’s basically a modern reinterpretation using the same engine and everything.

      I’m currently working on finishing (and maybe 100%’ing) StarLink: Battle for Atlas, but already have Call of Juarez: Gunlinger lined up, for when I feel the (modern) FPS itch again.

      3 votes
      1. [8]
        nothis
        Link Parent
        I remember Bulletstorm being a thing a few years ago, didn't know it was on the Switch! I'll check it out! I also had an eye on Ion Fury. In fact, this is the game that put Duke Nukem 3D back on...

        I remember Bulletstorm being a thing a few years ago, didn't know it was on the Switch! I'll check it out!

        I also had an eye on Ion Fury. In fact, this is the game that put Duke Nukem 3D back on my radar. I honestly think it looks beautiful, in a juicy, "pixel aesthetic" kinda way, like some of those top tier indie 8bit games.

        As a side note, playing Duke Nukem 3D made me want to replay the original Half-Life (which stole way more ideas from Duke Nukem than I ever knew). And ultimately, I weep at the lack of indie games that try to pick up where these 90s era shooters left off. There's got to be potential. I'm seeing a few ones pop up that basically revolve around nostalgia (I'd put Ion Fury in that category) but while looking cool, they still seem limited by 90s ideas of what an FPS is "supposed" to be. As a counter-example, we're seeing indie studios do just amazing, creative things with classic 2D platformer games that back in the 90s we could only dream of. Up until maybe the early 00s FPS games seemingly re-invented themselves every other year. Last I remember is Red Faction's destructible environments letting you dig tunnels through solid rock, Far Cry introducing the open world stealth FPS as we know it and Half-Life 2 introducing the gravity gun. Since then it's brown shooters doing "cinematic" gameplay. Few new ideas. There's a trend to bring back some color and over-the-top fun (the new Dooms, for example) but that's barely bringing us back to where we left. All the money is in multiplayer now. That's why I think indies could tackle this.

        2 votes
        1. [4]
          hook
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          The only issue I have with Bulletstorm on the Switch is that it’s missing gyro aiming, so some of the more exact shots are a bit harder to pull of than I would have liked. Oh, yeah, the...

          The only issue I have with Bulletstorm on the Switch is that it’s missing gyro aiming, so some of the more exact shots are a bit harder to pull of than I would have liked.

          Oh, yeah, the game-changing classics: Wolf3D (I actually preferred Catacomb 3-D and Blake Stone), Doom (I liked Hexen and Heretic better), Rise of the Triad, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Unreal Tournament, Half-Life, Red Faction, Serious Sam …sigh.

          I am probably very much a minority here, but the genre lost its sheen with Halo for me. Things started becoming way too predictable and Hollywood-ish. I remember playing Halo for the first time together with my brother (we swapped ever few levels) and we most of the time we could predict exactly which vent enemies would pour out from, what the next new enemy type would be (I seem to remember something in the lines of “wanna bet the next level will introduce some space alien zombies”) etc. It was just not exciting anymore.

          From the retro-inspired titles, Project Warlock seems to be fun. But I haven’t played much yet.

          In the FOSS scene, I’d suggest you look at Unvanquished (somewhat tactical), Xonotic (arena) and Warsow / WarFork (arena + parkour). There is also a lot of innovation in the Doom modding scene.

          3 votes
          1. [3]
            nothis
            Link Parent
            I'm not a Halo person but I still have to give it credit for nailing a particular style of shooter for console controls. But yea, it started to get stale. I'd actually pinpoint the modern shooter...

            I'm not a Halo person but I still have to give it credit for nailing a particular style of shooter for console controls. But yea, it started to get stale.

            I'd actually pinpoint the modern shooter experience to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007). It actually felt fairly fresh back then since no other game had really "nailed" that cinematic experience before. Also the multiplayer was fun with all the perks and upgrades. But then things just kinda... stopped. We got Modern Warfare 2. And Modern Warfare 3. I guess on the multiplayer side, the Battle Royale games were kinda fun simply for introducing that giant scale. But then we got the cartoon version of that. And the CS version of it. And the Modern Warfare version of it. And, and, and.

            There's just got to be something more you can do with shooters.

            It feels weird bringing it up and technically it's not "first person" but: Splatoon! Nintendo came up with their very own brand of competitive multiplayer shooter and it's completely different from anything out there. You have to cover environments with paint, swim in paint of your team's color, points are given for coverage. Honestly, I can barely handle the aesthetics of the game but it's by far the most original shooter mechanic out there. And over the past 5 years or so, I can't think of another shooter that comes even close in terms of originality.

            4 votes
            1. PetitPrince
              Link Parent
              I was going to say that Portal and Left 4 Dead did advance the genre, but then I looked up at the release date and it's 2007 and 2008 respectively. Still, Portal showed that you could have a...

              I was going to say that Portal and Left 4 Dead did advance the genre, but then I looked up at the release date and it's 2007 and 2008 respectively.

              Still, Portal showed that you could have a viable non-violent first person game, and so naturally other first person puzzler followed suit (Talos Principle, Antichamber, Superliminal...). Maybe there's also some filiation starting from Dear Esther and "walking simulators"?

              And maybe that's because I've been enjoying playing Back 4 Blood with friends lately, but I do think the whole principle of a 4 player coop PVE game where you go from A to B is completely novel.

              Doom 2016 also put forth some interesting resource management stuff into this movement-based FPS lineage.

              3 votes
            2. hook
              (edited )
              Link Parent
              TBF, before the Switch, I never had a console, so played solely on the PC. I’m sure Halo (and the rest of the cinematic shooters) were primarily intended for consoles, and credit where credit is...

              TBF, before the Switch, I never had a console, so played solely on the PC. I’m sure Halo (and the rest of the cinematic shooters) were primarily intended for consoles, and credit where credit is due. But at least to my memory, comparing Halo on PC with FPS games that came before it, apart from having a bit more story, it did not feel as an improvement to me. I just remembered, Halo properly introduced vehicles to FPS, right? That was indeed very very cool

              When CoD came out, I already lost interest (and time) for FPS games, but it did bring something fresh to the genre.

              I think a good analogy could be made with Assassins Creed – it was a great innovation back then, but later more and more it just got same-y. (disclaimer: I never played AC, and at this stage I don’t think I will …maaayabeeee Immortals: Fenyx Rising, as I really dig the childish yet pretty deep myth jokes there)

              Hollywood comes to mind here again – look at any (action, romance, …) blockbuster and you pretty much know them all by now. New coat of pain, often not even in the same set-up as before, but the structure, elements, plot and twits in it are basically the same throughout.


              Oh, yeah, I totally get it why Splatoon has such a cult following. It’s immensely fun, creative and polished. Not exactly my cuppa, so for “nintendo e-sports” I tend to stick to ARMS, but Splatoon is absolutely one of the freshest takes on FPS in a looooong time.

              2 votes
        2. [3]
          knocklessmonster
          Link Parent
          Do yourself a favor and search for "boomer shooters" on Steam, you'll find the early FPS renaissance in games like Amid Evil, Dust, and a bunch of stuff 3dRealms has been putting out the past few...

          I weep at the lack of indie games that try to pick up where these 90s era shooters left off

          Do yourself a favor and search for "boomer shooters" on Steam, you'll find the early FPS renaissance in games like Amid Evil, Dust, and a bunch of stuff 3dRealms has been putting out the past few years.

          2 votes
          1. [2]
            TheJorro
            Link Parent
            Yes, it seems like relatively new YouTuber Civvie11 has accidentally kicked off a whole revitalization of the genre. I think he's the one who even coined the term "boomer shooter" as a gag. He...

            Yes, it seems like relatively new YouTuber Civvie11 has accidentally kicked off a whole revitalization of the genre. I think he's the one who even coined the term "boomer shooter" as a gag.

            He covers a ton of these indie FPS games inspired by shooters of old and seems to be a pretty good filter of which ones are building atop their inspirations and which ones are simply more nostalgic derivatives.

            4 votes
            1. knocklessmonster
              Link Parent
              He's how I came into the term, and it's honestly great to see it sort of become its own sort of genre.

              He's how I came into the term, and it's honestly great to see it sort of become its own sort of genre.

              1 vote
  6. Merry
    Link
    Pokémon Volt White Randomized Still plugging away at this. I'm about to take on the second gym leader but in the meantime I'm scouring the nearby field patches to see what Pokémon end up popping...

    Pokémon Volt White Randomized

    Still plugging away at this. I'm about to take on the second gym leader but in the meantime I'm scouring the nearby field patches to see what Pokémon end up popping out. My party consists of Ponyta, Grotle, Larvitar, Swellow, Makuhita, and Marshtomp, with Graveller, Ditto, and Swinub, as backfill. Average level is 21. I have a Pikachu that I'm thinking of using but I may try to find another Electric type to fill that niche. Overall, still enjoying Pokémon for the first in forever. Romhacks seem to be the way to go these days for older Pokémon fans who want something different over the same tired progression/story.


    Halo: Infinite

    I missed out on Halo in the peak 360 days. Tried Halo 4 and 5 but couldn't stand playing with controller. So I'm all in with Halo with the latest iteration, hoping to get decent at it. I will say, the more I play, the more the Battle Pass objectives start to irk me. When I don't focus on those objectives, I play well. When I try to hyper focus on them, I play terrible. I also don't like that I can't choose my gameplay mode when one of the objectives is to play a specific mode a certain amount of times. Hopefully they will come back around and generalize the weekly objectives further or adjust the matchmaking settings so we can tackle them more directly. I haven't seen any cheaters yet on PC but I haven't touched Ranked so that might be why.

    5 votes
  7. MimicSquid
    Link
    Death's Door. It's a fun little isometric adventure game, feeling a lot like one of the earlier Zelda games. The difficulty is nicely balanced, the music is beautiful, highly recommend.

    Death's Door. It's a fun little isometric adventure game, feeling a lot like one of the earlier Zelda games. The difficulty is nicely balanced, the music is beautiful, highly recommend.

    4 votes
  8. JCPhoenix
    Link
    Pokemon Sword (Switch) - I got a huge bout of nostalgia a week or two ago, so I picked it up. I haven't played a Pokemon game since X on 3DS, and before that, I think it was...Black on DS? I...

    Pokemon Sword (Switch) - I got a huge bout of nostalgia a week or two ago, so I picked it up. I haven't played a Pokemon game since X on 3DS, and before that, I think it was...Black on DS? I didn't finish either of those. The only one I've ever finished was Blue on my Gameboy Pocket way back inthe day. But anyway, so far I'm enjoying Sword. I'm taking my time; I'm about to fight the 3rd Gym Leader, which is the fire one. I was a bit hesitant to get latest gen Pokemon since I remember hearing a bunch of criticisms of Sword and Shield...but then I remembered that I'm just a casual Pokemon player. None of it should matter to me. So yeah. It's fun, it's easy, It's Pokemon, and it's definitely satisfying my nostalgia.


    Space Haven (PC) - Amazingly, I'm still playing this game. Quick description: It's a micromanagement single-player space game, where you start with a small crew, barely any resources, and travel to different star systems, attempting to gather resources, gather additional crew, grow your ship, fight and/or trade with other NPC factions and/or aliens, and just try to stay alive. It can be pretty hard.

    But given this is my second attempt and I've learned a lot, my ship now takes up the entire build area and I have nearly 30 crew. I usually have 40-50k gold and have tons of literally everything. I've attacked some pirate ships successfully, even taking some space pirate prisoners and eventually converting them to my cause.

    I think the only thing that's left to do is to build a second ship. The last time I tried to do that, during my first playthrough, I didn't have nearly the resources to support both. I was just tearing through food and fuel, and had to abandon and salvage my newly-created second ship. So I've been a bit hesitant to try again this time. But since I have stockpiles of everything, I think I'm ready. Once I get a second ship, I think I'll start taking on non-pirate NPC factions.

    I also unknowingly convinced a friend to try it. He'd seen me on Steam playing it for hours and hours, and so he pirated it and tried it. He liked it so much that he bought it. That's kinda neat.


    Don't Starve Together (PC) - I'm actually not playing this anymore, but in early November, a friend and I gave this another go. Another friend of ours convinced us and several others to play a couple years ago. It was a disaster since that friend who introduced us to DST was just a horrible teacher. We were constantly starving, dying, and in the end accidentally burned down our own little camp. It was tragic and hilarious.

    Anyway, in this latest go, my friend - who's a huge survival game fanatic - decided to try it with me again. A real attempt.

    Oh. My. God. I think this is the hardest survival game I've ever played. And he thought the same! Over the course of a week, we must've restarted at least 5 times. Even after tweaking our starting conditions, we were still getting screwed left and right. I think the furthest we got was Day 20-ish, before we realized that trying to do this with two people just wasn't working. I get that that name of the game is "Don't Starve," but all we were doing was farming food. And just enough to get by each day. So we really weren't progressing.

    Idk. I'm glad we gave it another try. But we probably won't go back to DST since it was such a frustrating experience.


    Picked up Timberborn and Digimon Cybersleuth in the Steam sale. I'll try these out this week, though I've played a part of the latter on my Vita.

    4 votes
  9. gkmcd
    Link
    Is anyone playing Far Cry 6? I'm a fan of the series and I've played them all, but I've been enjoying them progressively less each release, to the point that I didn't even manage to finish Far Cry...

    Is anyone playing Far Cry 6? I'm a fan of the series and I've played them all, but I've been enjoying them progressively less each release, to the point that I didn't even manage to finish Far Cry 5.

    Right now I'm planning on waiting for a sale before picking it up. Am I missing out?

    3 votes