August 2024 PC Gaming General Discussion Thread

[Zed Clampet]

After noticing so many of the games I listed turn out to be questionable at best, I've decided on a different strategy: hindsight. So here is a list of the "Popular New Releases" for July that have user review scores of 90 or above.

I was going to do this for all releases, but the number of games is ridiculous and it would have taken me hours.

[Nightmare Files] Clap Clap on Steam

Clap Clap is a short indie horror game that puts you in the shoes of a house sitter, experiencing strange occurrences in a seemingly ordinary home.

store.steampowered.com

Empires of the Undergrowth on Steam

Command swarms of warriors at an unprecedented scale of warfare in this blend of RTS and base-building. Lead ant colonies against the many fearsome threats of the insect world, while building intricate nests, developing pheromone-based tactics, and evolving to meet growing dangers.

store.steampowered.com

100 Aliens Cats on Steam

👽🛸 100 Aliens Cats - 🐾 Join the cutest adventure in the Aliens themed locations full of cats! Explore the charming hand-drawn artwork of aliens places and Cats as you embark on a quest to find 100 adorable cats hidden throughout the game. 🕵️‍♂️❌ Can you find them all? 🕵️‍♂️🐈✅

store.steampowered.com

Grocery Store Simulator on Steam

Run your own grocery store. Scan items, hire employees, place and stock shelves, set prices, order products, manage your warehouse, and customize your store. Play solo or team up with friends in a 4 player co-op mode to expand your business in this first-person game.

store.steampowered.com

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance on Steam

Become a mighty demigod and battle through a decimated Tokyo in a war between angels and demons. Make new allies along your journey, engage in intense, turn-based combat, recruit hundreds of demons and forge your own path to dictate the fate of all existence.

store.steampowered.com

The Powder Toy on Steam

The Powder Toy is a classic physics sandbox game, which simulates air pressure and velocity, heat, gravity and a countless number of interactions between different substances

store.steampowered.com

Emberward on Steam

Build twisting mazes with tetromino blocks and deploy unique towers in this engaging roguelite tower defense game!

store.steampowered.com

Anger Foot on Steam

Anger Foot is a lightning fast action FPS where the only things harder than your ass kicking feet are the ass kicking beats.

store.steampowered.com

Illusion Carnival on Steam

A lost soul wanders through a whimsical, eerie pop-up book like amusement park. Dive into fun-filled stages, encounter unique characters, fend off spirit erosion, and uncover the park's hidden secrets. The enchanting yet dark Illusion Carnival begins now.

store.steampowered.com

Arcanists on Steam

Players take turns in a race against the clock, utilising an array of spells to defeat their opponents in battle! Victory is accomplished by becoming the 'last man standing' (or last team) after all other players have been reduced to zero hitpoints.

store.steampowered.com

Save 50% on Dungeons of Hinterberg on Steam

Discover the magic and lore of the Alps in this acclaimed Action Adventure. Forge relationships with locals to help you solve puzzles, battle monsters and uncover secrets of the legendary Dungeons of Hinterberg!

store.steampowered.com

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess on Steam

A new tale of the Kami awaits... Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a unique Japanese-inspired, single player Kagura Action Strategy game.

store.steampowered.com

Cataclismo on Steam

Design and build fortresses brick by brick to stand against endless hordes of Horrors in this real-time strategy game with resource management, siege defense, and exploration. Lead from the ramparts, push back the darkness, and hold fast against the creatures of the Mist.

store.steampowered.com

Save 20% on The Operator on Steam

Welcome to the FDI. As our newest Operator, your role is to use your detective skills to assist our field agents and investigate mysterious crimes. Use cutting-edge FDI software to dig for clues, solve puzzles, and uncover the truth.

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Save 35% on CONSCRIPT on Steam

During the First World War, a lone French soldier must navigate twisted trenches, scavenge for limited supplies and solve complex puzzles - all whilst fighting for survival in the midst of mankind’s most brutal and horrifying conflict. CONSCRIPT is a new take on classic survival horror.

store.steampowered.com

Mahjong Soul on Steam

Mahjong Soul is an online game that adopted the classic Japanese Mahjong gameplay. Here, you can hone your mahjong skills with players from worldwide or spend leisure time with friends, bond with various charismatic characters, and experience an abundance of unique stories.

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Clank! on Steam

Burgle your way to adventure in the award-winning board game!

store.steampowered.com

Ogu and the Secret Forest on Steam

Explore the wonderful world with baby Ogu! 'Ogu and the Secret Forest' is a 2D adventure game with hand-drawn characters and various types of puzzles. Befriend bouncy characters and defeat strange creatures to unravel the mystery of the charming world.

store.steampowered.com

Age of Defense: Prehistory on Steam

The most addicting tower defense game, packed with monsters and tough defenders, all of which fit perfectly into the cartoonish environment. Prehistory is a prologue for the main story Age of Defense.

store.steampowered.com

Dread Weight on Steam

Trapped in a crumbling mansion, it’s up to you to outsmart and outlast an ancient witch hunting you down. Scavenge for items to set traps, solve puzzles and discover hidden secrets to avoid your demise. Don’t be scared: encounters with ghosts are rewarded in this horror visual novel.

store.steampowered.com

Mini Airways on Steam

Mini Airways is a real-time management game where you play the role of an air traffic controller. Clear your aircraft to takeoff & land, direct them to the destination...and most of all don't let them crash!! London, Tokyo, Shanghai... Test your ATC skills in distinctive maps around the globe!

store.steampowered.com

Minds Beneath Us on Steam

MINDS BENEATH US is an emotional sci-fi narrative game. Through the eyes of a humble individual, experience a mad world where humans are exploited as computing devices for AI. Listen to the concerns of those you meet and offer guidance. Together, face challenges and confront an uncertain destiny.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Zed Clampet]

Last month I bought Grocery Store Simulator as sort of a hectic co-op game. I also bought Cataclismo and The Operator. All 3 are as good as advertised.

Cataclismo is a tower defense game with building and The Operator is sort of like Orwell.

 

[Hveðrungr]

I played the demo of The Operator in the Steam Next Fest and it was good.

August 2024​

No, July only started a few days ago, you must have made a mistake

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I also bought Cataclismo and The Operator. All 3 are as good as advertised.

Cataclismo is a tower defense game with building and The Operator is sort of like Orwell.

I liked the sound of Cataclismo, the way they justify quick saves in universe as Time Anchors I think it was. Will check it out one day, still putting my few available hours into the TW Warhammer 3 Cathay campaign.

 

[Colif]

No, July only started a few days ago, you must have made a mistake

I agree, I want it to roll back to June at end of month so I never get another summer again. I don't mind the cold, its nice.... no storms, no days too hot to turn pc on, no bush fires. Winter is wonderful. That and I generally don't go outside.

 

[Brian Boru]

no days too hot to turn pc on

What, you're telling us now that you turn it off?

Is that in the future, and you turn it on again before we catch up? Sneaky…

 

[Zed Clampet]

@Brian Boru "EA...lose some"

If I'm being fair to indie EA, this is the first one I've bought in a long time that was in bad shape at launch. Compare this to my latest history of AAA games: Darktide. Warhammer 3, Cyberpunk 2077. TW Pharaoh. AAA doesn't fair so well in this comparison.

 

[Colif]

I use hibernate, if the day is already 30c when I wake up, I just don't wake it up. That counts as not turning it on.

Also, in summer, if we have storms, I will turn it off and unplug PC to avoid power surges as its cheaper than replacing parts. Some weeks its easier to just turn PC off as you get a storm every day... I don't miss that.

there are arguments for and against turning pc off every day, the stress of start really isn't that bad on modern hardware.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Decided to buy Emberward from the above list. Cataclismo is great, but I've also been wanting a more traditional tower defense game. In Emberward you create lanes with Tetris pieces then defend them.

 

[Pifanjr]

I played a little bit of Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime with my kid the other day. I didn't realise we would be controlling two characters at the same time, which is a bit much for my kid, but once she has both of them situated it actually works really well. Though we are playing at the easiest difficulty setting, I don't think we would be doing nearly as well if we played on the normal difficulty setting.

 

[Colif]

I am starting to not bother with this combo

I put them down in order... nope... huh. I just restarted that game

Beat my last high score

I almost ran out of room before I ran out of cards
The city area with a few vineyards & country estates:

The forestry farming area

The purely farming area

The oh crap running out of space area.

I should do other things tomorrow.
It was odd, half way through I was tempted to just stop as it didn't feel like it was going anywhere, but the combo I was using takes time to mature. then it went bang.

 

[neogunhero]

So after one day of considering it, I’ve decided to give up on my HTPC dreams (for now). At this moment it would just be best to buy a stronger BT transmitter, because the only issue I’m having is the controller not staying connected to my PC.

Still slowly trudging along in Gloomwood. I’ve not been successful in trying to stay stealthy. I’m too loud, too out in the open, too willing to resort to violence instead of being silent. I think it’s also a bit more fun for me that way. I will attempt to be stealthy, but the moment I get caught I’m pulling out the revolver. Playing on easy mode has given me tons of ammo, but the limited inventory space means you need to be thoughtful about management. Loving it a ton so far, going to try to put a good amount of hours into it this weekend.

 

[BeardyHat]

So after one day of considering it, I’ve decided to give up on my HTPC dreams (for now). At this moment it would just be best to buy a stronger BT transmitter, because the only issue I’m having is the controller not staying connected to my PC.

Still slowly trudging along in Gloomwood. I’ve not been successful in trying to stay stealthy. I’m too loud, too out in the open, too willing to resort to violence instead of being silent. I think it’s also a bit more fun for me that way. I will attempt to be stealthy, but the moment I get caught I’m pulling out the revolver. Playing on easy mode has given me tons of ammo, but the limited inventory space means you need to be thoughtful about management. Loving it a ton so far, going to try to put a good amount of hours into it this weekend.

Never give up! Never surrender!

Only real reason I have one is because I have PC's coming out of my ears. Working in IT for the last 15+ years and being a PC nerd for longer than that, people just give me random bits of hardware, so I try to find uses for them. Speaking of which, if you want to pay shipping, I'll send you an i5-2500k, with motherboard and (I think 8gb) of RAM; it's literally just sitting on a shelf right now, I have zero use for it. Probably work decently for streaming with a Linux distro on it.

Gloomwood is on my short list of Early Access games (along with Shadows of Doubt) that I'm so excited to see release 1.0. It's been tough to resist playing them, but I really want the complete experience when it's fully released.

As for the first post, I looked at Empires of the Undergrowth; this game looked interesting on release and a sale price is enticing, but looking at the top review: No saves mid mission! Are you kidding me? I was mildly intrigued to begin with, but now I've completely lost interest in it.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I picked up Sun Haven on sale and began playing it. I'm a big SDV fan, so I'm familiar with the basic premise, but there are new RPG elements. The art style is different, with an anime feel. Enjoying it but still playing SDV.

 

[Johnway]

Path of exile has distracted me from dark souls 3. But now that i've gotten to end game in POE, i'm going to take a break from it and try and complete DS3 and remove it from the game pile. We're pretty close now; just one last lord of cinder and we will be in end game territory and hopefully cross it off. Whether i can beat the DLC i don't know, its pretty tough.

POE wise, its so far a very promising league and its strangely compelling. that said, its still very grind heavy as you need to complete maps and gather the resources for collection etc. The challenges feel slightly easier, but its all deceptive. I can get the 12 confidently, but the 24-36? not bloody likely. Which is a shame as those are the prizes i really wanted.

 

[Colif]

Nvm, seems I beat it

my score above max level so I guess I finished that... still need to do challenges.

I dislike auto save. Try to reload game and it had saved my mistake... nvm, i still beat it even with one building not working

 

[DXCHASE]

My bday is on sunday, so to celebrate, im gonna be streaming and gaming because its 90f outside and i dont play with that temp. but i will be dining with birria tacos and if you never had them i suggest to order them right now.

I've recently been streaming to see if i can garner anything up over the next few months. Work has shaved a day off my schedule (remember its a big multi-million dollar company with a huge popular ceo and no its not amazon) so to supplement the time lost, trying to stream and i will include the link but dont expect anything fancy or stable lol

https://kick.com/dxchase

im also wondering if anyone else streams here id love to add your channels.

 

[Pifanjr]

I have reached act 3 of Marvel: Midnight Suns. The story missions are still pretty easy, but I had one generic mission I had to restart three times. Again one of the bosses showed up and while they're fairly easy if you encounter them in story missions, getting one during a generic mission is somehow much worse.

I'm still enjoying the game, but I'm also ready for it to be done. It's been well over 1.5 months since I started playing and I really want to start playing something new. I'd really like to start a solo Baldur's Gate 3 campaign, but I'm a bit worried about how I'm going to fit that into my schedule.

Though of course I'll first have to join the monthly challenge once I've finished Marvel: Midnight Suns.

 

[Brian Boru]

I should do other things tomorrow

What's that game again—I forget from last month

No saves mid mission! Are you kidding me?

Yuck. Only time this is acceptable is when the game description makes it clear they don't give a fiddler's about players life situations. I don't recall this tactic being ever more than a 'dirty little secret'.

 

[Hveðrungr]

Though of course I'll first have to join the monthly challenge once I've finished Marvel: Midnight Suns.

Next month's challenge: speedrunning Marvel's Midnight Suns

 

[Zloth]

Still going through Forbidden West here. I'm to the point where I'm not taking a screenshot of EVERY sunrise and sunset.

Next month's challenge: speedrunning Marvel's Midnight Suns

NO DIALOG SKIPS!

I have reached act 3 of Marvel: Midnight Suns. The story missions are still pretty easy, but I had one generic mission I had to restart three times. Again one of the bosses showed up and while they're fairly easy if you encounter them in story missions, getting one during a generic mission is somehow much worse.

Oh look, Sabertooth! What heroes have you been using the most?

 

[Colif]

What's that game again—I forget from last month

Terrascape,,, no, not the Nike Shoes

TerraScape on Steam

Build gorgeous kingdoms on floating islands by strategically placing buildings in this cozy City-Puzzler. Discover secret combinations, take on weekly challenges and explore randomly generated maps in various single- and multiplayer game modes.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Zed Clampet]

@Pifanjr looks like this week's Epic freebie would be perfect for your daughter.

 

[Brian Boru]

Oy Zed, 75% off the perfect looter rooter for you!

Save 75% on Gold Mining Simulator on Steam

Become a gold miner. Work hard, dig deep, explore the world, and you’ll become the wealthiest person in Alaska. Use a variety of specialist machines to find as much gold as you can.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Brian Boru]

Terrascape

Thanks, you've maybe convinced me

I see reviews comparing it to Dorfromantik evolved, and also that it has a procedural generation mode—that latter being the Holy Grail if it's an interesting game.

Penciling Dorf in for 2026, this for ~2028.