PCG Article April 2023 PC Gamer Article Links and Discussion

[ZedClampet]

This is just a suggestion. Instead of some links getting their own threads and others being in the random thoughts thread. What does everyone think?

Ark 2 delayed until 'end of 2024' (PC Gamer article)

"After careful consideration, we have decided to delay the sequel's launch to the end of 2024, when it will still launch exclusively on Xbox, Game Pass, and Windows distribution platforms," the post reads(opens in new tab). "We’ve put much thought into delaying ARK 2 for the betterment of the final product and the team's well-being. This news will be disappointing to many—we feel it too—but we’re confident this heavy decision is the right one."

There go my plans for September through December.

I really wish they'd just do the Early Access thing.. I guess they have enough money now that they can wait to launch the full game.

 

[mainer]

This is just a suggestion. Instead of some links getting their own threads and others being in the random thoughts thread. What does everyone think?

I just asked about this in your April 2023 thread, as I didn't know if there was a change in protocol in how we linked PCG articles.

I think in most cases, a unified thread for most articles would be good, rather than trying to track down a bunch of different article threads. Possibly, some articles might deserve their own thread, or certain articles about a specific game might be better served going into that game's thread (if one exists). Just my thoughts.

There go my plans for September through December.

Starfield. At least that's where my Sept thru Dec gaming hours will be spent.

 

[Brian Boru]

a suggestion. Instead of some links getting their own threads and others being in the random thoughts thread. What does everyone think?

Thanks for the thought I agree with Mainer's view…

some articles might deserve their own thread, or certain articles about a specific game might be better served going into that game's thread (if one exists)

…especially where a game already has a thread.

@SHaines Steve, is there a SEO preference about this for the overall site's benefit.

 

[ZedClampet]

@SHaines Steve, is there a SEO preference about this for the overall site's benefit.

Unless things have changed, it won't matter where on the forums the links are. Adding keywords might be useful, but so many people are bad at that and their writing looks ridiculous when they try to shoehorn keywords in.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Cyberpunk life-sim RPG Citizen Sleeper's third, final free DLC is live

Purge is out now.

www.pcgamer.com

I didnt realize Citizen Sleeper has had 3 free DLCs added to it since launch. Anyone interested in narrative games with choices should take a look. I played it close to launch and liked it quite a bit, so glad to have more reason to go back and try another playthrough.

Kind of wish they had charged a little for them, its a really nice little game and I'd be very happy to support it.

 

[ZedClampet]

The ROG handheld PC is real and Asus announced it in the worst way

This sounds pretty appealing. No word on cost. Supposedly a little more power than the Steam Deck. Comes with Windows (a mixed bag for sure) so it will run anything.

 

[ZedClampet]

It's a great week for city builders: 3 new ones are coming to Steam on Wednesday alone

Whenever Steam has one of their NEXT fests, I go through all the games, and I'm amazed at how many city/colony games are being made. I'm still looking for one that has a creative mode.

Agony spin-off Succubus VR has been banned from Steam

The problem for Madmind Studios is that they have drawn so much attention to themselves from Valve by doing weird things in the past (like putting up various versions of their games and creating an absolute mess). Meanwhile, there are pornographic neo-**** games and questionable at best games like Tyrone Versus the Police and Elden Bling that are allowed to exist on Steam without problems.

 

[ZedClampet]

I saw the first major 'AI game' coming to PC, and it convinced me of its potential for storytelling

Thought it was interesting that they said that it was harder to keep players from going off the rails than it was to keep the AI in line.

Article includes a link to sign up for the beta.

 

[Pifanjr]

I saw the first major 'AI game' coming to PC, and it convinced me of its potential for storytelling

From the article:

A bad outcome for Hidden Door, I think, would be the games feeling like novelties rather than experiences that match the depth and imagination of tabletop roleplaying. Prodding a robot to see what it does is only fun temporarily.

I think this is the most likely outcome for this project honestly. I think it'll lack the game aspect and won't be interesting enough as a sandbox experience to keep people engaged.

Thought it was interesting that they said that it was harder to keep players from going off the rails than it was to keep the AI in line.

When you tell people they can do anything, they'll do the craziest stuff just to see what happens. It happens all the time in TTRPGs as well.

 

[ZedClampet]

I think this is the most likely outcome for this project honestly. I think it'll lack the game aspect and won't be interesting enough as a sandbox experience to keep people engaged.

I'll have to try it to see. People love the interactive story-telling implementations of AI so far. How the game side of it works may not matter to a lot of people.

 

[mainer]

F.E.A.R. inspired shooter Trepang2 blasts onto Steam this June | PC Gamer

I'm mostly an RPG player, but after reading the article and looking at the gameplay videos on the Steam page, I've got to say I'm really interested in Trepang2. It's got the look and feel of an old-school shooter from the early 2000 or 2010 era. Seems to have that eerie Fear vibe (which was one of my favorite shooters years ago) with fast-paced and bloody shootouts. And it's single player only (at least according to the Steam page), something you don't see much anymore in new games of any type.

That's probably a negative to many of you who like to play multiplayer or co-op, but to me I love to see a game developed and focused solely for the single player experience.

There's also a free demo on the store page, though I haven't tried it yet.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1164940/Trepang2/

 

[ZedClampet]

F.E.A.R. inspired shooter Trepang2 blasts onto Steam this June | PC Gamer

I'm mostly an RPG player, but after reading the article and looking at the gameplay videos on the Steam page, I've got to say I'm really interested in Trepang2. It's got the look and feel of an old-school shooter from the early 2000 or 2010 era. Seems to have that eerie Fear vibe (which was one of my favorite shooters years ago) with fast-paced and bloody shootouts. And it's single player only (at least according to the Steam page), something you don't see much anymore in new games of any type.

That's probably a negative to many of you who like to play multiplayer or co-op, but to me I love to see a game developed and focused solely for the single player experience.

There's also a free demo on the store page, though I haven't tried it yet.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1164940/Trepang2/

I might try the demo. Watched the trailer, and I like the atmosphere even if I'm not a fan of corridor shooters.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Yea it looks great, I like a more linear single player FPS campaign and theyre pretty thin on the ground outside of retro aesthetic stuff these days. It really does look like FEAR, down to almost looking like its in a slight fast forward when bullet time isnt engaged.

Not sure if its the catchiest name though.

 

[ZedClampet]

AMD trash talks Nvidia for not giving gamers enough VRAM

Good. Nvidia needs to wake up. Customers need to wake up. Nvidia saving money by not giving you enough VRAM is not okay.

 

[ZedClampet]

9 very long games that are actually worth it

Some of these have been games that people have played here. Some of them, like DoS2 and XCOM2 Long War are games I've meant to play, but haven't gotten around to them, so the only one I actually finished was The Witcher 3

 

[mainer]

From that list, DOS2 & The Witcher 3 for me, especially W3 with all the DLCs. Very long games (100 + hours) that I've played and think are worth it:
Skyrim
Fallout 4 & New Vegas
Baldur's Gate 1 & 2
Elex 1 & 2
Dragon Age Origins & Inquisition

Length of time is going to vary player to player depending upon how you play, but for me, all those games exceeded 200 hours each time. They were all worth it to me.

 

[ZedClampet]

From that list, DOS2 & The Witcher 3 for me, especially W3 with all the DLCs. Very long games (100 + hours) that I've played and think are worth it:
Skyrim
Fallout 4 & New Vegas
Baldur's Gate 1 & 2
Elex 1 & 2
Dragon Age Origins & Inquisition

Length of time is going to vary player to player depending upon how you play, but for me, all those games exceeded 200 hours each time. They were all worth it to me.

I don't think I played Fallout New Vegas right. I only got like 23 hours out of it. I think DA Origins was around 40. Could be off on that one.

 

[Brian Boru]

(100 + hours)

It's cute an' all to have an article for n00bs, but we have some REAL gamers here—so I hope you don't mind if the Muscular Master Race join in?
Omitting games I wouldn't recommend to play today, eg from 90s.

Over 2,000 hours:
Civilization 4

Over 1,000 hours:
Far Cry 3

Over 500 hours:
Far Cry 5
Civilization 6
Far Cry Primal
Civilization 5
Royal Envoy series

Over 250 hours:
Sniper Ghost Warrior 3
Far Cry New Dawn
Command and Conquer Remastered
Crysis
Crysis Warhead

Over 100 hours:
To be continued… by the n00bs 💋

 

[ZedClampet]

It's cute an' all to have an article for n00bs, but we have some REAL gamers here—so I hope you don't mind if the Muscular Master Race join in?
Omitting games I wouldn't recommend to play today, eg from 90s.

Over 2,000 hours:
Civilization 4

Over 1,000 hours:
Far Cry 3

Over 500 hours:
Far Cry 5
Civilization 6
Far Cry Primal
Civilization 5
Royal Envoy series

Over 250 hours:
Sniper Ghost Warrior 3
Far Cry New Dawn
Command and Conquer Remastered
Crysis
Crysis Warhead

Over 100 hours:
To be continued… by the n00bs 💋

Warframe: 3550
Total War Warhammer 2: 1361
Atlas: 877
Forza Horizon 5: 761
Vermintide 2: 732
Ark Survival Evolved: 655
Farming Simulator 19: 609
Total War Warhammer 3: 562
Super Mega Baseball 3: 502

Between 100 and 500 would be a nightmare to compile. There's a bunch...

 

[mainer]

Jagged Alliance 3 is a chaotic action movie homage where all of your plans will go up in flames | PC Gamer

The more I see about JA3, the more excited I am to try it. A turn-based tactics game, but apparently it has a lot of RPG elements (two quotes from the article):

Managing your squads is a lot of work. This is a full-blown RPG as well as a tactics romp, so each character has a distinct personality and backstory, personal inventory, special skills—hacking, healing, repairing—and even demands.

You might expect the fights to be the meat of Jagged Alliance, but the RPG and open exploration elements are just as integral.

I don't know where JA3 is in development, but I've moved it up to #9 on my Steam wish list. It really seems like my kind of game.

I don't think I played Fallout New Vegas right. I only got like 23 hours out of it. I think DA Origins was around 40. Could be off on that one.

It all depends upon how you play. In FONV I explore a lot off the beaten trail, investigate all the vaults hidden throughout the map, do all side quests, finding the different companions and doing their quests. The main quest line is often the last thing I follow. I've even gotten as far as Novac in 23 hours. There's also several DLCs that add new areas and quests.

In DAO, it's much the same for me (though it's not open world). Doing all side quests, talking to all my companions at night and getting to know them well enough to unlock their personal quests, plus all the smaller DLCs, especially Warden's Keep, that add new content and sometimes new weapons or companions.

 

[ZedClampet]

Jagged Alliance 3 is a chaotic action movie homage where all of your plans will go up in flames | PC Gamer

The more I see about JA3, the more excited I am to try it. A turn-based tactics game, but apparently it has a lot of RPG elements (two quotes from the article):

Managing your squads is a lot of work. This is a full-blown RPG as well as a tactics romp, so each character has a distinct personality and backstory, personal inventory, special skills—hacking, healing, repairing—and even demands.

You might expect the fights to be the meat of Jagged Alliance, but the RPG and open exploration elements are just as integral.

I don't know where JA3 is in development, but I've moved it up to #9 on my Steam wish list. It really seems like my kind of game.


It all depends upon how you play. In FONV I explore a lot off the beaten trail, investigate all the vaults hidden throughout the map, do all side quests, finding the different companions and doing their quests. The main quest line is often the last thing I follow. I've even gotten as far as Novac in 23 hours. There's also several DLCs that add new areas and quests.

In DAO, it's much the same for me (though it's not open world). Doing all side quests, talking to all my companions at night and getting to know them well enough to unlock their personal quests, plus all the smaller DLCs, especially Warden's Keep, that add new content and sometimes new weapons or companions.

For FONV, I was a noob at open world games. In DAO, I got worn down doing sidequests and beelined to the end. Enjoyed both games in my own way, though.

 

[Zloth]

Over 2,000 hours:
Civilization 4

So, in the time spent playing Civ 4, you could have finished ~50 games from your backlog?

 

[Brian Boru]

So, in the time spent playing Civ 4, you could have finished ~50 games from your backlog?

Tru dat

Altho in a lot of that time—2005-2010—my backlog was smaller. Mind you, still a LOT more than 50…

 

[Brian Boru]

I like my quiet sheltered gaming life—haven't played any of these. Did any of 'em upset you?

The most controversial PC games of all time

From trainwreck ports to moral panics to lootbox disasters.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Frindis]

I like my quiet sheltered gaming life—haven't played any of these. Did any of 'em upset you?

Cyberpunk 2077 would be the closest one. Developers did not deliver on a lot they promised and I was left with a somewhat broken heart because of what could have been, not to mention they were one of the few AAA companies out there being transparent and cool with their fan base.