What games have you been playing lately?

[Dolfin]

I've been playing through Wildermyth; it's alright so far. It's a strategic turn-based RPG with procedurally generated stories. As events occur, whether generic or specific to a campaign, your party has dialogue based on their personality traits and relationships with each other. Heroes who survive a campaign become Legacy Heroes who can turn up in later campaigns. Of course, these stories aren't anything to write home about - party encountered event #58, the party's poet had flowery dialogue about it, and I picked option 1 as I did the last time. Maybe I'm supposed to unlock more stuff by playing through the series of campaigns, but I'm shocked I'm already getting repeat events without many differences from one playthrough to another. I'm now inclined to take it less seriously and give all my heroes names like "Fistopher."
I'm also hacking away at a couple Stellaris runs, desperately trying to reach late/endgame instead of making a new alien and starting from scratch (again). It's a space 4x from Paradox and, true to form, the game is completely different now than it was on release, with or without expansions. Folks take issue with the Paradox approach to DLC: release a base game that feels like something's missing, then come out with half-baked expansions featuring content that should've always been in the base game, plus release a free (mandatory) patch that makes major adjustments to how the game works whether you bought the pack or not. I play games so late after they're released that I'm fine with waiting a year or two for new content to have some of its flaws ironed out, and I restart so often that breaking old saves on an update doesn't bother me too much.

 

[Chao Tse-Tung]

I've been playing the fuck out of some Ghost of Tsushima, though I know I'm a little late to the party on that one. Got it a while back and did some first little bits, finally got bored and picked it up again, finally worked my way through Act I, and have gotten genuinely good at a style of game that used to daunt me. It's hard for me to commit to a particular playstyle, though, I tend to sneakily take out some stragglers and archers before challenging them like a REAL SAMURAI (dontaskwherehalfyourdudeswent)

 

[Mеченый Яков]

CYBERPUNK CYBERPUNK CYBERPUNK
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Oh and Rimworld

 

[Silence The Mothers Song]

I'm roughly three hours into Dragon's Dogma and am very excited to play some more! Also plan on finishing Drakengard 2 because, shamefully, I never completed it

 

[PizzaW0lf]

I've been playing and focused on GTA 4. I WAS going to play Witcher 3 since I started that recently but then CDPR decided to release a cursed patch that messed everything up now.

Anyways, I've been playing GTA 4 and I could go very deeply into this game but here are my first impressions:
-Driving is fun and idk why people didn't like it.
-Controls well in general
-Shooting mechanics are kind of trash (this might not be as bad later on)
-gameplay is pretty normie-ish but it doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would
-This game does include the infamous rockstar template for missions and worlds where free roam and missions are separate with no in-between. grrrrrrr
-The radio stations are incredible
-The game is really funny and has a lot of funny moments with the characters
-Liberty city is so much fun to explore
-Ultimate 2008 time capsule

 

[vale-aroma]

Polyball: A modern game in the much-neglected "marble platformer" genre. Really precise & rewards satisfying practice.

LASERREIMU: I've played this a lot before, but dipping back into it.

Overgrowth: Really in love with these combat, stealth, platforming - just everything about how this controls is a really solidly put together, fully cohesive work. It's too bad this one is forgotten, it deserves so much love for everything that's put into perfecting the gameplay - all it needs is maps & story.

ECHO: Fun stealth game with a somewhat shallow but enjoyable mechanic regarding the enemies learning from & copying your behaviors.

art of rally: Arcade driving game that takes care to recreate the physics of real world driving. Good for me because I have a bad computer and thus cannot run Dirt or BeamNG.

LOVE 3: Latest Love game. More of the same. Very good!

Sunless Skies: An upgrade in every way to Sunless Seas - the absolute grind of the game's economy is fixed, it's not as overly punishing and so you're more likely to play more experimentally with the story & exploration, more beautiful graphics, much more writing. The diversity in tone is very welcome as well, reminds me of the "dream cycle" era of Lovecraft - always my favorite material of his!

Black Mesa: Experimenting with this game. Might make some mods for it, seems a bit better of a work environment than Half Life 2 offers.

 

[Sketch Relics]

Currently I have a massive backlog of games that I keep ping-ponging through, but some of the main stuff.

-Tiny Tina's Wonderland-
A lootershooter that I've been playing with a friend, it's fun enough I suppose, but it feels like both the item generation and enemy/encounter design could be done better. Either that or i'm too used to Boomer Shooters and just want more of that.

-Front Mission-
The DS and Switch remake, basically the same game. A mecha tactics RPG that's a bit too simple to be really engaging. The game has an inverted difficulty curve as a result, where early stages are way harder than the later ones due to the rocket tag nature of the gameplay. The sequels are way better imo, but such is retrospect. Also the animation in the switch remake looks rather jank. Too much movement I think for what it's suppose to be.

-Gotta Protectors: Cart of Darkness-
A really fun switch exclusive where the goal is to ram you castle into the enemy castle with 8 playable characters in an 8-bit styled beat-em up. supports up to 4 player co-op local or online.
Imma shill this one extra, go buy it, it's really good.
also go buy the 3DS game while you can, it's online exclusive and it also really, really good

-Sonic Frontiers-
HOLY SHIT THEY MADE A GOOD SONIC GAME.
Also super good boss fight music.

-NiGHTS into DREAMS-
Both the Sega Saturn and Wii games, fly around on a 2d-plane completing objectives and fighting bosses, both are examples of peak soul. Kinda a shame the wii game sold as poorly as it did.



-Ultimate Shooting Collection-
Don't let the generic name fool you, it's a collection of 3 vertical shooters for the Wii originally released on Dreamcast and Gamecube, only one of which was localized to english and all are way, way more expensive then this one.

-A bunch of Japanese exclusive Gamecube Games-
I probably spent a bit too much money on these

-Guilty Gear Strive-
HI I'M AN AXL LOW MAIN AND I APPROVE THIS GAME.
It's a fighting game just about in the middle between pure anime and street fighter, good music, excellent animation and gameplay.

-Various Armored Core games-
Mission based Mecha customizing at it's finest, AC6 soon fellow Ravens.

 

[Jade]

Currently I have a massive backlog of games that I keep ping-ponging through, but some of the main stuff.

-Tiny Tina's Wonderland-
A lootershooter that I've been playing with a friend, it's fun enough I suppose, but it feels like both the item generation and enemy/encounter design could be done better. Either that or i'm too used to Boomer Shooters and just want more of that.

-Front Mission-
The DS and Switch remake, basically the same game. A mecha tactics RPG that's a bit too simple to be really engaging. The game has an inverted difficulty curve as a result, where early stages are way harder than the later ones due to the rocket tag nature of the gameplay. The sequels are way better imo, but such is retrospect. Also the animation in the switch remake looks rather jank. Too much movement I think for what it's suppose to be.

-Gotta Protectors: Cart of Darkness-
A really fun switch exclusive where the goal is to ram you castle into the enemy castle with 8 playable characters in an 8-bit styled beat-em up. supports up to 4 player co-op local or online.
Imma shill this one extra, go buy it, it's really good.
also go buy the 3DS game while you can, it's online exclusive and it also really, really good

-Sonic Frontiers-
HOLY SHIT THEY MADE A GOOD SONIC GAME.
Also super good boss fight music.

-NiGHTS into DREAMS-
Both the Sega Saturn and Wii games, fly around on a 2d-plane completing objectives and fighting bosses, both are examples of peak soul. Kinda a shame the wii game sold as poorly as it did.



-Ultimate Shooting Collection-
Don't let the generic name fool you, it's a collection of 3 vertical shooters for the Wii originally released on Dreamcast and Gamecube, only one of which was localized to english and all are way, way more expensive then this one.

-A bunch of Japanese exclusive Gamecube Games-
I probably spent a bit too much money on these

-Guilty Gear Strive-
HI I'M AN AXL LOW MAIN AND I APPROVE THIS GAME.
It's a fighting game just about in the middle between pure anime and street fighter, good music, excellent animation and gameplay.

-Various Armored Core games-
Mission based Mecha customizing at it's finest, AC6 soon fellow Ravens.

I really wanna try out Sonic Frontiers but no way in hell am I paying $60 for it. Gotta wait for a sale.

 

[ThyOde17]

I found this cool visual novel on steam that is called Roadwarden. It has pretty basic pixel graphics to set the scenes and reads a lot like a fantasy choose your own adventure, but it is really cool and I have been enjoying it a ton, partly because the story is pretty engaging.

 

[Lord Adolf Kalki-Wotanson]

Overgrowth: Really in love with these combat, stealth, platforming - just everything about how this controls is a really solidly put together, fully cohesive work. It's too bad this one is forgotten, it deserves so much love for everything that's put into perfecting the gameplay - all it needs is maps & story.

been meaning to play this since it first released in EA in 2013, kept hearing about how good it was and then it seemingly disappeared and i never heard about it again, bought because of your poast, regret not buying it when i first saw it, great game

 

[Sketch Relics]

I really wanna try out Sonic Frontiers but no way in hell am I paying $60 for it. Gotta wait for a sale.

A fair assessment considering how inconsistent the quality of his games are. His last really good one was Sonic Rush Adventure and everything in-between ranged from decent to laughably bad.

 

[PizzaW0lf]

I finally finished GTA 4! What a wild ride. I could do a full review but here are my quick thoughts:
GTA 4 is easily my favorite R* game ever. And this is coming from someone who actually didn't like GTA SA.

However....

Whoever thought the ending sequence was a good thing to implement SHOULD. BE. FIRED. WERE THEY ON CRACK WHEN DESIGNING IT!?!?

Guys I'm actually stuck on the final mission of this game because the QTE is busted and by the time I actually get into the helicopter I lose all control of it. R*, THIS IS NOT FUN YOU ASSHOLES...

So yeah GTA 4. Everything except the final gameplay sequence is simply excellent. But man, that final stretch stings me like crazy.

View: https://youtu.be/PvT8Kx1WC64

 

[Andy Kaufman]

Some good games being played on this page of the thread!

I finally finished GTA 4! What a wild ride. I could do a full review but here are my quick thoughts:
GTA 4 is easily my favorite R* game ever. And this is coming from someone who actually didn't like GTA SA.

However....

Whoever thought the ending sequence was a good thing to implement SHOULD. BE. FIRED. WERE THEY ON CRACK WHEN DESIGNING IT!?!?

Guys I'm actually stuck on the final mission of this game because the QTE is busted and by the time I actually get into the helicopter I lose all control of it. R*, THIS IS NOT FUN YOU ASSHOLES...

So yeah GTA 4. Everything except the final gameplay sequence is simply excellent. But man, that final stretch stings me like crazy.

View: https://youtu.be/PvT8Kx1WC64

View attachment 47990

good observation.
Play the ballad of gay tony next, it's a very good expansion.
The lost and damned is disliked by many fans. I thought it was ok but Im hesitant to recommend it.


___
I'm playing rimworld again because my friend gifted me 2 of the 3 DLCs for Christmas. My colonists can make babies now become mutants and psykers. I also added a few QoL mods and a minor content mod.


When rimworld gets too slow, I'm fighting through Prodeus on Hardmode. I should up the difficulty again (already bumped it up from normal), because I've yet to die . Only time I died was due to gravity.
It's a doom like. Well made and with an apparently famous map maker for doom as a level designer. Levels are very fun. Still unsure about weapon balance though. Maybe they designed everything for Ultra Hard but on Hardmode, there's little reason to use more than 2 weapons.
The shredders (akimbo smgs) for example fill no niche as the minigun does their job better and uses the same ammo type. At close range they deal good DMG but waste way more ammo compared to the super shotgun. At mid range the minigun and plasma rifle outshine it and at long range it's useless.
IDK what I'm supposed to use them for.

The normal pump shotgun which is the 2nd gun you get also has a slug as an alt fire you need to charge up. It basically lets you sniper over long distances. The spread of its normal fire mode also is pretty tight, making it good for midrange.
There's also a common enemy that drops shotgun shells (other ammo types are rare to drop from enemies since they need to carry an according weapon, most are demons that throw fireballs though)
So the basic pump shotgun is kind of a tool for everything and I use it for 80% of encounters. It lacks some burst DMG which is what I break out the super shotgun (quad barrel) or rocket launcher for sometimes but I think - at least on hardmode - you coud win the game by just using the shotgun. ammo efficient and suitable for all ranges.
Still fun hunting for secrets and stuff.

 

[Cobalt]

Persona 4 Golden and Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne. Originally I was just gonna buy one of them but I got a Steam card and a bunch of cash for Christmas so I was like fuck it. I figure that both games should last me through my down time during this next semester of college.

 

[llillilll]

Bless Unleashed.
Some mmorpg with nice combat and a lot of grind. I was going to post screenshots of my characters but the game is under maintanance and thats the third day in a row where the servers are under maintanance. I think it is about to go down indefinitely. The publisher is VALOFE and their business model is buying good games and monetizing them until they die from no maintanance. SS to show how nice the graphics are

 

[Andy Kaufman]

Finally got back into Rainworld again since I saw Steam having an update for it.
I played it last time in 2021 and didn't get into it but now gave it another shot and I wonder how I didn't get hooked the first time I played it.
Now I think I'm about 60% through, just met 5P (if you know, you know).

For anyone still sleeping on this: It's a blend of immersive sim and platformer in my opinion. The game gives you tools and systems to interact with and then leaves you to your own devices to overcome obstacles. There's multiple routes through the world at a macro level and encounters can be resolved very differntly on a micro level.
You play as a Slugcat, one of many inhabitants of Rainworld and are in search of your family. As a slugcat, you are part of an ecosystem. You hunt and forage to survive but are also prey for larger (or more numerous) entities. After enough time has passed, the namesake of the game will come into play: A massive rainfall that will flood and kill everything not in shelter. So you regularly need to hibernate and wait for the rain to stop and beginning the cycle anew but can only do so if you found enough food beforehand. So on your nomadic journey through the world, you need to explore, sneak, fight, scavenge and solve puzzles.

Notable are the physics and AI systems present as well as the procedual animations. Every creatue has its own AI and within that are up to 6 personality types. Creatues interact with and react to each other. Smaller ones are scared of predators. Creatures of the same species might have territorial fights and so on.
It's an unforgiving game. Death can come quick and there are some pretty infuriating sections (Unfortunate Development...) in the game but it's worth getting into.

 

[Natalia Simp]

WAS going to play Witcher 3 since I started that recently but then CDPR decided to release a cursed patch that messed everything up now.

On GOG you can grab the OG installers from extras. On Steam, go into betas, and the old build should still be there.

I've been playing IXION, it's a fun city-builder-survival so far. Although since I'm a filthy cheating casual, I enabled a cheat to freeze my trust level.

The premise is you are a prototype space exploration ark that is testing FTL for the first time, and the first jump you do destroys the moon. Which was Not Good(TM), and when you come back to Earth, everyone's either gone or dead. As far as you know, you're the last of humanity, and it's your job to find a habitable planet for those who were on the test mission. There's the usual survival elements of gathering resources, refining them and building out the space ark. There's also a story which so far is presented well, and it respects the reader too, there's no narrative hand-holding. There are stories hinted at behind-the-scenes and it's up to the player to decipher them from what's presented to you. I'm about a third ways in, and so far it looks as I'll actually finish it.


View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1113120/IXION/


Unfortunately, no GOG release yet.

 

[RisingThumb]

Finally got back into Rainworld again since I saw Steam having an update for it.
I played it last time in 2021 and didn't get into it but now gave it another shot and I wonder how I didn't get hooked the first time I played it.
Now I think I'm about 60% through, just met 5P (if you know, you know).

For anyone still sleeping on this: It's a blend of immersive sim and platformer in my opinion. The game gives you tools and systems to interact with and then leaves you to your own devices to overcome obstacles. There's multiple routes through the world at a macro level and encounters can be resolved very differntly on a micro level.
You play as a Slugcat, one of many inhabitants of Rainworld and are in search of your family. As a slugcat, you are part of an ecosystem. You hunt and forage to survive but are also prey for larger (or more numerous) entities. After enough time has passed, the namesake of the game will come into play: A massive rainfall that will flood and kill everything not in shelter. So you regularly need to hibernate and wait for the rain to stop and beginning the cycle anew but can only do so if you found enough food beforehand. So on your nomadic journey through the world, you need to explore, sneak, fight, scavenge and solve puzzles.

Notable are the physics and AI systems present as well as the procedual animations. Every creatue has its own AI and within that are up to 6 personality types. Creatues interact with and react to each other. Smaller ones are scared of predators. Creatures of the same species might have territorial fights and so on.
It's an unforgiving game. Death can come quick and there are some pretty infuriating sections (Unfortunate Development...) in the game but it's worth getting into.

It's hard to get into because the start leaves you aimless, and the controls aren't very forgiving. Death also feels like it kicks your ass a good 10 minutes back. What you get for pushing through the initial resistance is a lot of joy that only master and exploration provides(the same joy that Dwarf Fortress and Nethack and other such "hard to get into" games provide). I've yet to get into Rainworld, mainly because I need to give it some time to get past that initial resistance I spoke of. I know if I give it time, it's something that I'll really enjoy. Also it got an update and a DLC recently FYI.

Anyway the game I've been playing is Signalis. It's a pretty cool lovecraftian-german-soviet-lofi-lowpoly-pixelart game that I've been digging a lot.

 

[Boxerdog]

Every once in a while i feel like playing NEO scavenger.

Its a Near future post-apoc survival game set in detroit with some cyoa features. Roguelike so you only get one life and a good playthrough might end with you being woke up with a werewolf on top of you shredding you to pieces, drinking untreated water and shitting yourself to death while running away from detroit robocops, or getting you brain blowed out with a 308 sniper by some methhead scavenger so far from you you never had a chance. That is assuming you can avoid getting sick from the rot cultists, swarmed by melonhead mutants or stabbed by some random guy you met and said he wanted to trade items.

One of my favorite games of all time.

 

[Mеченый Яков]

Every once in a while i feel like playing NEO scavenger.

Its a Near future post-apoc survival game set in detroit with some cyoa features. Roguelike so you only get one life and a good playthrough might end with you being woke up with a werewolf on top of you shredding you to pieces, drinking untreated water and shitting yourself to death while running away from detroit robocops, or getting you brain blowed out with a 308 sniper by some methhead scavenger so far from you you never had a chance. That is assuming you can avoid getting sick from the rot cultists, swarmed by melonhead mutants or stabbed by some random guy you met and said he wanted to trade items.

One of my favorite games of all time.

Yeah bro, we all already watched that SSeth video.