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8 votes
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Songs of Syx – Early Access | Version 63: Tourism
4 votes -
Kynseed: A life sim RPG
4 votes -
Looking for a very specific kind of submarine video game
Maybe you guys can help me out since I found a lot of games that are kinda like this but not quite. It doesn't need to be a full-blown simulation, but it needs to be convincing. What I want is a...
Maybe you guys can help me out since I found a lot of games that are kinda like this but not quite.
It doesn't need to be a full-blown simulation, but it needs to be convincing.
What I want is a game that puts me inside a submarine, looking at screens full of radar and sensor information, and letting me control the sub in a realistic manner, only with the information provided in the control room. It's okay if the game jumps to an external view just to show the ultimate consequence of conflict, but mostly, I should be in the sub looking at screens.
Is there such a game?
Ideally, I play on the Xbox. My laptop is a potato, so it's only good for very old or otherwise lightweight games (technically speaking, this could easily be a command line game... like naval
htop
). Other kinds of naval simulation are good for this thread.Thanks!
7 votes -
Racing / driving games: What do they get right? What do they miss?
I was playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with my kid the other day and it was a blast. Nintendo have really nailed this game, especially in the balance of accessible enough for beginners to have fun but...
I was playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with my kid the other day and it was a blast. Nintendo have really nailed this game, especially in the balance of accessible enough for beginners to have fun but hard enough for people to have a challenge too.
My other favourite game (although I haven't played it for a while) is Sega Rally Championship on Sega Saturn. This game has 4 tracks (one of which needs to be unlocked) and 3 cars (and again, one of these needs to be unlocked). The tiny number of cars and tracks means that you get to do the same corners over and over. This might sound tedious, but when you hit the corner just right you know it. You can get a sense of mastery over it. I've spent many hours playing games in the Gran Turismo series, and I really enjoy them, but fair play some of the tracks and cars are just shovelled into the game and you don't spend much time with them
In the first Gran Turismo the licensing tests were properly hard. They weren't messing around. Getting bronze requires people to read the manual and understand what the point of the test is. Getting all gold is an actual challenge for experienced players. I feel like the tests (at least, the bronze levels) got easier in later games. The UK soundtrack was small but pretty good.
My final mention is the Burnout series. I loved the crash junctions. I'm not sure the open world of Paradise was fun - it meant spending a lot of time driving across a map to get to the start line of various events. I feel the same way about many games - I'd rather just have a menu of levels and what I need to do to complete them (GoldenEye, SNES PilotWings, BlastCorps are all good examples) than have this stuff obscured by the open world. Burnout on the Nintendo DS was a genuinely awful game. I think Burnout Dominator was my favourite in the series.
So, what do driving games get right? What do they miss? What interesting game mechanics do you enjoy?
7 votes -
RetroAhoy: X-COM
5 votes -
Does anybody have advice for getting better at racing sims? (Both circuit and rally)
I’ve always enjoyed rally games but only recently decided to buy a wheel (just a used Logitech G29) and also decided to give F1 22 a shot. I feel like I’m okay-ish at DiRT Rally 2.0 and WRC 10 but...
I’ve always enjoyed rally games but only recently decided to buy a wheel (just a used Logitech G29) and also decided to give F1 22 a shot. I feel like I’m okay-ish at DiRT Rally 2.0 and WRC 10 but atrocious at F1 22. How do I actually learn to be better instead of constantly making mistakes?
9 votes -
Limit Theory (a cancelled space sim with procedural generation) releases its source code under a open source license
14 votes -
Cities: Skylines is thrilled to celebrate this year's milestone of 12M copies sold and we're proud to be a market leader in the city-building genre
@Cities: Skylines: City Builders! We're thrilled to celebrate this year's milestone of 12M copies sold & we're proud to be a market leader in the city-building genre, and we couldn't have done this without you!A huge thank you to all of our fans for your continual support! pic.twitter.com/qoZLkfCZxF
12 votes -
The Warthog Project - My home flight simulator: An overview
4 votes -
Eve Online fans literally cheer Microsoft Excel features at annual Fanfest
18 votes -
Why medieval city-builder video games are historically inaccurate
20 votes -
Microsoft Flight Simulator adds beautiful Nordic views – update gives new perspectives on Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Finland
8 votes -
Players in uproar over Elite Dangerous: Odyssey's bugs and poor performance
5 votes -
Elite Dangerous | Exo-Biology (Alpha)
6 votes -
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey just sent alpha players onto the surface
16 votes -
Democraciv: Fake government plays Civilization
16 votes -
Both sides claim victory in massive EVE Online battle
17 votes -
I built a 600 meter human cannon that ends all existence (in Satisfactory)
11 votes -
Microsoft Flight Simulator virtual reality update available now
7 votes -
I built an airport of suffering where nobody is safe (SimAirport)
16 votes -
Islanders: The best city builder you've never played
11 votes -
Cyberpunk 2077's dialogue was lip-synced by AI (Technical)
9 votes -
Endless Space 2 review | Jingoist Joy™ Edition
4 votes -
The Digital Antiquarian: Transport Tycoon
4 votes -
Why Microsoft's new Flight Simulator should make Google and Amazon nervous
32 votes -
The pathfinding algorithm in RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 makes it possible to build a simple but "impossible" maze
13 votes -
Microsoft Flight Simulator PC hands-on: A generational leap in graphical realism
16 votes -
Parkasaurus | Launch trailer (leaving Early Access on August 13, 2020)
2 votes -
Microsoft Flight Simulator will launch on August 18 for PC, and will be available through Xbox Game Pass for PC
9 votes -
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a surprisingly polished game that's as immersive and exciting as it is relaxing
7 votes -
Star Wars: Squadrons is a $40 dogfighting game with cross-play, single-player, no microtransactions
9 votes -
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 – Partnership Series: Meteoblue
5 votes -
Noita: A magnificent misfortune simulator
21 votes -
When SimCity got serious: the story of Maxis Business Simulations and SimRefinery
14 votes -
Official F1 2020 game announced: “My Team”, custom season length, local split-screen, Schumacher Edition
4 votes -
Industries of Titan | Early Access announcement trailer (Epic Games Store, April 14)
6 votes -
Prosperous Universe Presence release is live
7 votes -
Kerbal Space Program 2: Episode 1 - Next Gen Tech
8 votes -
Openish-world, Mystery, Walking Simulator recommendations?
My wife and I enjoy playing mystery walking simulators together and have been looking for more-- Steam's recommendation engine is pretty terrible in finding others or lesser-known titles, so I...
My wife and I enjoy playing mystery walking simulators together and have been looking for more-- Steam's recommendation engine is pretty terrible in finding others or lesser-known titles, so I thought I'd ask around for what others play! They don't have to be full-on walking simulators, just games where dying is rare/not a big component of the experience (looking at you, Visage!), and the rest of the game is all about solving a mystery/thriller of some sort. Preferably first-person games with realistic-enough graphics.
Ones we've played so far and have loved are:
- Dead Secret
- Gone Home (loose fit)
- The Painscreek Killings (really loved this one)
- The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Ones I've got in my queue:
- Anna
- Bohemian Killing
- Dead Secret 2
- Return of Obra Dinn
I've also played What Remains of Edith Finch, Dear Esther, Firewatch, and some others-- but those didn't really have a big enough mystery component to them (to be clear I liked them, they just didn’t have a dark/thriller vibe to em).
Any other suggestions?
20 votes -
Designing the simulation of the wild and wonderful Planet Zoo
3 votes -
Prosperous Universe - This deep simulation of space economics is surprisingly compelling
7 votes -
Can't seem to play the games I want to play, considering a forced-march approach
I was wondering if anybody had any tips for muscling through a game. I've got a few games I want to play or go back to, such as Stardew Valley (I completed it before the 1.3 update, wanna play...
I was wondering if anybody had any tips for muscling through a game. I've got a few games I want to play or go back to, such as Stardew Valley (I completed it before the 1.3 update, wanna play 1.4), and Factorio (I bought in a fit of passion, haven't gotten an hour in). There are others, but these are the two I find myself going "I'm going to play this!" and I just never get to, and it's not for time.
I like the concepts of these games, and I've got something like 135 hours on Stardew Valley, but seem to get bored after I've restarted it (I lost some key items and bugs caused me to never get them back, plus the mine completion bug fixed in 1.3). I started Slime Rancher after playing through it in early access, but can't seem to get back into it after it went gold a couple years ago.
I realize I'm sort of asking for a way to force myself to play games, but has anybody done this? I'm thinking for a given game I can set smaller goals to strive for, and work on doing that, but was wondering if anybody has any ideas.
9 votes -
Planet Zoo is, temporarily, a game about mass-producing warthogs
15 votes -
An inside look at Microsoft’s newest flight simulator
10 votes -
Football Manager incorporates various Brexit-related issues into its 2019 version
8 votes -
Please recommend me a video game
I've never really been that into video games. When I was young, I played a lot of RPGs on the SNES and PS1. Within the last couple of years, I dipped my toes back in the water and tried a few out....
I've never really been that into video games. When I was young, I played a lot of RPGs on the SNES and PS1. Within the last couple of years, I dipped my toes back in the water and tried a few out. I tried Skyrim on a friend's recommendation, but it was just a little too involved and open-world for me. I got Cities:Skylines, which I love because I love city builder sims, but that game just does not run well on any of my underpowered computers. And I loved Ori and the Blind Forest, a beautiful platformer, and I'd play it again right now if it wasn't Windows-only.
Here are my requirements. First, it needs to run well on a low-powered machine without making the fan go insane. I've got a MacBook Air 2012 and a ThinkPad x250 (Linux). Neither of these are the ideal gaming experience, I know, but I'm not looking for amazing graphics or bleeding edge technology or something super immersive. Pixel graphics are fine with me. It reminds me of my youth, anyway. I played both Skylines and Ori on my Intel NUC 4th Gen and while it worked, they both really taxed that little machine. I was able to finish Ori, but once a city reaches a certain size in Skylines, it gets unplayable.
I'm not looking for stress. I like RPGs and sims. But it doesn't have to be really hard or frustrating. I don't want to feel chased in a game. I prefer to feel that I'm driving the action and I can go at my pace. I want to feel like if I look away for a moment, I'm not going to lose everything. I'm a casual. I also don't mind if there's no defined ending of a game. For me, I'm more looking for a diversion and a slow build over some kind of constant progression/achievement type scenario.
If it has full controller support, that would be ideal. I've got a Steam controller, and I prefer using a controller to play a game. I've never liked using the keyboard to play. I'm not totally against it, but I guess I just never got into computer gaming. I pretty much always played on consoles in the past.
Linux or macOS only, please. I did have Windows installed once so that I could play games, but I'm not bothering with that anymore. I don't want to have to boot into another operating system just to play a game. I want to be able to hop in and out of a game while using my daily driver computer.
So in my research, I've looked into Terraria and Stardew Valley. These might be what I'm looking for. But I really don't know. Do either of these scratch my itch? Is there another game that I would enjoy based on what I've told you? Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.
EDIT: Thank you everybody for your awesome suggestions. I'm still happy to hear more, as I plan to add the ones that really interest me to my wishlist and revisit later. I ended up getting Hollow Knight yesterday and I spent the whole day playing it. It's very engrossing, and it's the perfect game for me. It's so much like Ori, and that game blew me away. Chilled out, go at your own pace, exploring dungeons, challenging but not impossible (though the first Hornet fight was pretty tough for me). The game runs fine on my ThinkPad x250 (i5-5300U) in Pop!_OS Linux, apart from the initial movie scene stuttering--I just had to skip past it, unfortunately. It's such an awesome game, and I'm glad to see they've already announced a sequel. If you know of any other games that are like Ori and Hollow Knight, let me know.
23 votes -
You can’t beat an unwinnable game, but you can break it! – There is no end to simulators like ‘SimCity’ and ‘Roller Coaster Tycoon’. There is only terrifying perfection
12 votes -
X4's 2.50 update has a ton of interesting additions to the game
5 votes -
The Sims 4 is currently free on Origin
23 votes