August 2025 General Game Discussion

[Zed Clampet]

I should also be getting an NPC that sells something to remove corruption much faster, which should be useful as it's been spreading like crazy underground.

In Conan Exile, to remove corruption, you have to kidnap some dancing girls and wait for Stockholm Syndrome to kick in and then watch them dance. I guess buying something from an NPC could work, but then how would the dancing girls earn a living?

I have Terraria, but I have a mental block about open-world side-scrolling games. Maybe I should try it again.

 

[Pifanjr]

In Conan Exile, to remove corruption, you have to kidnap some dancing girls and wait for Stockholm Syndrome to kick in and then watch them dance. I guess buying something from an NPC could work, but then how would the dancing girls earn a living?

I have Terraria, but I have a mental block about open-world side-scrolling games. Maybe I should try it again.

Terraria is not an open world, you generate a world with clear boundaries on all sides. You can take your character into a new world with all of its equipment, but there's no real need to do so unless you somehow really screw up your existing world (for example if you let everything get covered by corruption/crimson).

Sadly the thing that removes corruption is too expensive for me at the moment, but I have managed to stop the spread of the crimson above ground with some air gaps and a bunch of purification powder, which is cheap but only works on small areas.

I have also defeated all three mechanical bosses now, with the help of my new minigun (though it still took two tries for both of the remaining ones). Sadly they didn't drop enough to get both the new tier armour and the new tier pickaxe, so I'll have to summon and kill one again.

Once I do that I can move on to get the next tier of equipment and kill Plantera, which then also slows down the spread of the Crimson.

 

[Zloth]

In Conan Exile, to remove corruption, you have to kidnap some dancing girls and wait for Stockholm Syndrome to kick in and then watch them dance.

No lamantations!?

 

[Zed Clampet]

No lamantations!?

If they engage in lamentations it would be during their time on the Wheel of Pain while we wait for Stockholm Syndrome to kick in, and I'm not usually around then. I have better things to do like stuffing baby elephants in my pockets so I can bring them back and stick them in our animal nursery. My pockets usually top out at about 6 elephants. Fortunately, they don't slow me down any because I'm usually being chased by multiple mother elephants.

 

[neogunhero]

Stayed home sick from work yesterday. Had a random ulcer flair up and kept me awake all night long. I didn't want to move much or sit upright and put pressure on my stomach, so I hauled my PC to my bedroom and hooked it up to the TV. Thank goodness for Big Picture mode.

Since I've only been playing Skate lately, I decided I need to try something completely different than what I normally play. I wanted a casual racing game, but all I had were some Dirt Rally games and Assetto Corsa for racing games with realistic graphics. I then found Horizon Chase Turbo in my library, and while not exactly what I was looking for, I decided to check it out.

It's style takes a lot of inspiration from arcade classics like Outrun, and it nails it perfectly. The soundtracks, colors, graphics, everything looks like a modern rendition of those old school racing games. Gameplay is very fast paced and requires precision controls. However, it's just not my type of game. It was a lot of fun and I found nothing wrong with it besides the fact that I'm just not into this specific style of racing game. After beating the first set of three races, I decided I was done.

I really should get a game like BeamNG which is much more of a sandbox than an actual racing game. I think that game would scratch this itch I've been having. I see lots of videos of that game absolutely decimating cars, I think that would be a lot of fun.

 

[BeardyHat]

Stayed home sick from work yesterday. Had a random ulcer flair up and kept me awake all night long. I didn't want to move much or sit upright and put pressure on my stomach, so I hauled my PC to my bedroom and hooked it up to the TV. Thank goodness for Big Picture mode.

Since I've only been playing Skate lately, I decided I need to try something completely different than what I normally play. I wanted a casual racing game, but all I had were some Dirt Rally games and Assetto Corsa for racing games with realistic graphics. I then found Horizon Chase Turbo in my library, and while not exactly what I was looking for, I decided to check it out.

It's style takes a lot of inspiration from arcade classics like Outrun, and it nails it perfectly. The soundtracks, colors, graphics, everything looks like a modern rendition of those old school racing games. Gameplay is very fast paced and requires precision controls. However, it's just not my type of game. It was a lot of fun and I found nothing wrong with it besides the fact that I'm just not into this specific style of racing game. After beating the first set of three races, I decided I was done.

I really should get a game like BeamNG which is much more of a sandbox than an actual racing game. I think that game would scratch this itch I've been having. I see lots of videos of that game absolutely decimating cars, I think that would be a lot of fun.

Horizon Chase Turbo has been on my list for awhile. I love classic Outrun, as well as 2006 (there's an open source port of the original called Cannonball, if youre interested) and find myself going back to them semi-frequently. Been meaning to try out HCT on my Android devices, but usually Cannonball or 2006 scratches the itch well enough that I haven't bothered yet.

I finished my game of Civ 6 last night. Around the. 450ish, one of the other Civs cinched the win by Diplomacy points. At one point I was leading in culture, but then something happened and I could never claw it back. It's been obvious I was going to lose for about 100 turns now, but I wanted to see the game through anyway and accomplish my own goals.

One of those goals was bullying Greece. They'd been a thorn in my side since the early game, but around mid-game I lost one of my cities via Loyalty to them (technically two cities, but I had conquered one of theirs in an early war). Then around turn 375 or so, Greece declared war on me for some reason and I saw my opportunity...

So even though Greece was more advanced, I cranked out units and over the course of like 75 turns, marched on the city they took from me and finally took it back, wherein Greece then chose to try and end the war with me. I agreed as long as they gave me the city and that pretty much accomplished my goals, right before the game ended.

Anyway, it was fun, but I think I may have gotten the Civ itch out of my system for awhile, so now I need to find something else to do.

 

[Pifanjr]

I played a bunch more of Terraria. I killed the Destroyer again, got a better pickaxe, mined the new ore, upgraded my armour again, found the Shimmer and got a bunch of permanent buffs, killed Plantera, killed the Golem (after two deaths), killed the Golem 4 more times with the new weapon it dropped, upgraded my armour again and upgraded my accessories.

Then I went back to the Dungeon and promptly died to the new boss at the entrance. When I went back to try again, I instead got an event where I was invaded by Martians, which I managed to beat with only a single death (luckily this event doesn't reset upon death).

Next time I play I'll have to try the Dungeon boss again and bring a bunch of potions, as well as prepare a better arena to fight at as the boss kept teleporting behind walls where I couldn't hit it.

 

[Zloth]

About 25 hours in, and I'm still sticking to the bottom of the Elden Ring map. There's a lot of stuff down here! That southern island is tough, too.

I really need to practice on a troll. I guess those things are going to be all over the place. There's one wandering around near the tutorial exit, I should try on him.

 

[neogunhero]

Still struggling with what game I should dive into next. I have had $15 sitting in my Steam wallet for about a month but I just can't find something to spend it on. Either something under $15 or use it as a bit of a discount towards a more expensive game. Every time I add a game to my cart, I double think it and end up feeling I may not actually play it. There are some games coming out later this year that I'm interested in so I may hold onto it for that occasion. With that being said, I took a long look at my library yesterday and came up with a few candidates.

The one I'm leaning the most towards is picking up Days Gone again and trying to commit more than 7 hours to it. The game was awesome, no idea why I dropped it. The writing and dialogues were a bit cheesy, but everything else from the graphics, setting, character backstories, audio, gameplay, all of it was very good. The writing wasn't as bad as something like Borderlands where I have to stop playing due to getting annoyed constantly at the dialogues. Days Gone got a pretty major update earlier this year, complete with a graphics boost and gameplay QoL changes, so I think it's a great time to jump in. There was also a DLC that came out, but really it seems more for the big fans who have completed the game already, it's just stuff like Permadeath mode, Speedrun mode and a survival horde mode. For only $10 it seems worth it, but I'll check it out after I beat the game (if or when I do).

The other game I'm looking at is Batman Arkham Knight. I played Arkham Asylum a ton back in middle school and loved it, it was one of the first major modern PC games I got on my first gaming rig. Turning on Nvidia PhysX and seeing Batman's cape flow in the air and smoke reacting to physical movement in the world was mindblowing at the time. Arkham City was great too but never beat it. I played Origins a bit, and while I remember liking it, I don't remember much else about it. Then Arkham Knight came to PC in 2015 and was a major disaster, but has since been patched. Players seem to adore Arkham Knight, and I can see why. It really boosted the open world of City, added the Batmobile, and the season pass looks worth it for all the content you get (currently on sale for $5 at Humble, another reason I may play this game).

Finally the last game I'm considering starting is Desperados 3. Not a big cRPG/tactical strategy game fan, but something about this one looks awesome. I have tried my fair share of isometric stealth games, but they never land with me. Since this is already in my library I may as well give it a shot, and it's got great reviews to back it up.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Stayed home sick from work yesterday. Had a random ulcer flair up and kept me awake all night long. I didn't want to move much or sit upright and put pressure on my stomach, so I hauled my PC to my bedroom and hooked it up to the TV. Thank goodness for Big Picture mode.

Since I've only been playing Skate lately, I decided I need to try something completely different than what I normally play. I wanted a casual racing game, but all I had were some Dirt Rally games and Assetto Corsa for racing games with realistic graphics. I then found Horizon Chase Turbo in my library, and while not exactly what I was looking for, I decided to check it out.

It's style takes a lot of inspiration from arcade classics like Outrun, and it nails it perfectly. The soundtracks, colors, graphics, everything looks like a modern rendition of those old school racing games. Gameplay is very fast paced and requires precision controls. However, it's just not my type of game. It was a lot of fun and I found nothing wrong with it besides the fact that I'm just not into this specific style of racing game. After beating the first set of three races, I decided I was done.

I really should get a game like BeamNG which is much more of a sandbox than an actual racing game. I think that game would scratch this itch I've been having. I see lots of videos of that game absolutely decimating cars, I think that would be a lot of fun.

BeamNG is like if a developer just sent you a map and physics engine for a driving game and gave you a link to a mod site. There's probably more to it than that now. I loaded it up the other day, but I didn't really check the current state-of-the-game.

I like that you can get the auto design game Automation and then transfer those into BeamNG.

 

[BeardyHat]

Still struggling with what game I should dive into next. I have had $15 sitting in my Steam wallet for about a month but I just can't find something to spend it on. Either something under $15 or use it as a bit of a discount towards a more expensive game. Every time I add a game to my cart, I double think it and end up feeling I may not actually play it.

I do this constantly these days.

I'm still also plugging at Elden Ring, but only really playing maybe 45 minutes to an hour a day. I enjoy it, but I'm not feeling the pull of playing it like I might when I'm really invested in something.

Otherwise, after finishing my Civ 6 game, I haven't really found anything I want to commit time to. I keep thinking I want to play an RPG like Baldurs Gate or KOTOR 2, firing them up and then not really wanting to go through all the running around and dialogue and the challenging fights, inventory management, etc, etc. Though I have been playing 80 Days around bedtime and that's been nice, pretty much just pure reading, which feels good after finishing my latest book this week.

Think I'm still feeling a strong desire for a game that's mostly gameplay focused, but just haven't figured out what that is yet. Seems like I want something semi-relaxed... Maybe I'll go back to Transport Fever 2.

 

[neogunhero]

I do this constantly these days.

I added a bunch of really cheap games that added up to $15 but then thought... when the hell am I going to play all of these? I barely game much as it is... picking up and starting a brand new game with all new mechanics I need to learn is a bit intimidating at the moment, though I wish I could push myself to do just that.

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I did get around to playing some of the new map on the BF6 beta last night. It's... so small... BF6 lead designer or whatever did promise that there are large maps... but why aren't they in the beta? Lots of speculation that they are trying to appeal to the COD crowd which yeah, good on them, but don't forget the long time BF veterans. I did watch FrankieOnPC play a large map, maybe that was locked to content creators only, not sure. This new map feels 100% like COD, which to be fair made for really intense moments, but not the same kind of intense that BF is known for.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I randomly came across ShardPunk on a list of tactics games and picked it up. Its a RogueLike pixel graphics turn based tactics game, it reminds me of Wasteland 2 a bit except its not an RPG at all. Its fun so far after an hour or two. You have to make it out of each level into a bunker, and enemies keep spawning until you make it out. The rub is that you need to also loot as much upgrade material as you can before you bug out, so you can craft upgrades and gear in the rest phase to power up for the next levels. Enjoying it so far, not sure how much depth it has too it yet.

I also picked up Shogun Showdown which has a demo, but Im dumb and just bought it. This is very much an order of operations game in 2D, you have one character and you can face and move both ways. Its a deck builder where you pick up different moves and attacks as you progress. Every enemy move is predictable and signalled the turn before. Its not my favourite type of tactics but I figured I should try and get out of my box a bit and it seems like it could be fun once I figure out how everything works. Its another RogueLike with an over map similar to Slay The Spire, also didnt get very far yet.

Hopefully one or both of those catches me, Ive also been in a bit of a lull recently.

 

[BeardyHat]

I added a bunch of really cheap games that added up to $15 but then thought... when the hell am I going to play all of these? I barely game much as it is... picking up and starting a brand new game with all new mechanics I need to learn is a bit intimidating at the moment, though I wish I could push myself to do just that.

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I did get around to playing some of the new map on the BF6 beta last night. It's... so small... BF6 lead designer or whatever did promise that there are large maps... but why aren't they in the beta? Lots of speculation that they are trying to appeal to the COD crowd which yeah, good on them, but don't forget the long time BF veterans. I did watch FrankieOnPC play a large map, maybe that was locked to content creators only, not sure. This new map feels 100% like COD, which to be fair made for really intense moments, but not the same kind of intense that BF is known for.

I absolutely keep doing that. Load up my cart with cheap games, the think about it until the games are no longer on sale...

I should probably try BF6, as I used to love it around the time of 2042 (the original one) and BC2. But I'm pretty much out of competitive multiplayer stuff these days.

I'm thinking maybe I'll give Beyond a Steel Sky a go. Owned it for awhile, loved Beneath a Steel Sky and have been wanting to play this one for awhile, seems like maybe a good fit for where my head is at right now?

 

[neogunhero]

I absolutely keep doing that. Load up my cart with cheap games, the think about it until the games are no longer on sale...

I should probably try BF6, as I used to love it around the time of 2042 (the original one) and BC2. But I'm pretty much out of competitive multiplayer stuff these days.

I get pressured by the discount timers as well. "Oh man, only 21 hours left to get this discount? Better act fast..." then I debate it endlessly in my head until I remove it from my cart.

BF6 is definitely one of the sweatiest BF games I've played, but as I mentioned in my post it could be due to the beta maps all being the smallest the game offers. However it's still got enough of the BF formula to allow me to lone-wolf it and skirt across the map away from the main fighting to capture some flags. I like focusing on trying to be stealthy and capture flags rather than focus on kills.

 

[BeardyHat]

I get pressured by the discount timers as well. "Oh man, only 21 hours left to get this discount? Better act fast..." then I debate it endlessly in my head until I remove it from my cart.

BF6 is definitely one of the sweatiest BF games I've played, but as I mentioned in my post it could be due to the beta maps all being the smallest the game offers. However it's still got enough of the BF formula to allow me to lone-wolf it and skirt across the map away from the main fighting to capture some flags. I like focusing on trying to be stealthy and capture flags rather than focus on kills.

Funny that was how I always played too, even with friends. Pick a target and see if I can take it to change the flow of the game and put my team on top.

 

[neogunhero]

Funny that was how I always played too, even with friends. Pick a target and see if I can take it to change the flow of the game and put my team on top.

While the entire server is battling it out over at C, I'm quietly sneaking around the firefights trying to capture A all alone. That's the best way to play

 

[Pifanjr]

I randomly came across ShardPunk on a list of tactics games and picked it up. Its a RogueLike pixel graphics turn based tactics game, it reminds me of Wasteland 2 a bit except its not an RPG at all. Its fun so far after an hour or two. You have to make it out of each level into a bunker, and enemies keep spawning until you make it out. The rub is that you need to also loot as much upgrade material as you can before you bug out, so you can craft upgrades and gear in the rest phase to power up for the next levels. Enjoying it so far, not sure how much depth it has too it yet.

I also picked up Shogun Showdown which has a demo, but Im dumb and just bought it. This is very much an order of operations game in 2D, you have one character and you can face and move both ways. Its a deck builder where you pick up different moves and attacks as you progress. Every enemy move is predictable and signalled the turn before. Its not my favourite type of tactics but I figured I should try and get out of my box a bit and it seems like it could be fun once I figure out how everything works. Its another RogueLike with an over map similar to Slay The Spire, also didnt get very far yet.

Hopefully one or both of those catches me, Ive also been in a bit of a lull recently.

I played an older version of Shogun Showdown that was free on itch.io and really enjoyed it for a couple of hours. Getting enemies to attack each other is really satisfying.

 

[kalton]

Haha, that Bodyworks 5.0 story cracked me up — classic sibling rivalry tactics! I totally forgot about those FMV-style quiz games, but now it’s all coming back. Also, props for getting Windows 3.1 running in Dosbox — that’s some serious retro dedication. Might have to dig up some of those old edu games myself for nostalgia’s sake!

 

[neogunhero]

To all the Windows 10 users out there, let's be honest here: when October comes around, what are we doing? Are we switching to Windows 11, switching to Linux, or extending Windows 10 support for a year free?

I'm conflicted on what I want to do. Windows 11 seems to be the easiest choice. I can easily do a clean install of Windows since it's been a good 2 years after my last clean install, and it's familiar. Linux is the most daunting, since it will be a brand new OS to learn. Although many distros make the user experience very similar to Windows, there is so much more beyond that to consider, like app compatibility and such. It will be an entirely new environment for me, which wouldn't be all that bad, just not as easy to set up and go as Windows would be.

Then, there are a few options for extending Windows 10 support. Most obvious is to pay for it, but you can get a year for free by enabling Windows backup or something like that. This is actually the easiest option since it doesn't require you to do a clean install. However, this is just a temporary solution that I'll have to address again in one year.

Since I'm not looking at doing any more hardware changes anytime soon, perhaps I can go for another year on Windows 10. After all, it's my favorite version of Windows, I've been using it for 10 years straight now and managed to avoid Win11 all this time. I don't need to do anything besides enable a few options, and I can continue to use my PC for another year interruption free. Yeah... I may go with this option.
Here's a link to an ArsTechnica tutorial:

How to get another free year of updates for your Windows 10 PC

Buying Windows 10 a one-year stay of execution doesn’t have to cost anything.

arstechnica.com

 

[Johnway]

been a bit quiet on my front. Still playing Path of exile and just getting my character to end game which should be done by monday. then thats when the real work begins. i hear that the next update is in october so i have plenty of time to work over the game and try and complete at least 28 challenges and get the torso armor.

other then that? still playing headless chicken Doom wad and its still cracking good fun with a wide variety of styles and maps. Recently i've been going through the secret levels where doom guy decides to drink some demonic whisky and goes on a bender before making his way to a shopping mall for a massive slaughterfest map.

 

[BeardyHat]

To all the Windows 10 users out there, let's be honest here: when October comes around, what are we doing? Are we switching to Windows 11, switching to Linux, or extending Windows 10 support for a year free?

I'm conflicted on what I want to do. Windows 11 seems to be the easiest choice. I can easily do a clean install of Windows since it's been a good 2 years after my last clean install, and it's familiar. Linux is the most daunting, since it will be a brand new OS to learn. Although many distros make the user experience very similar to Windows, there is so much more beyond that to consider, like app compatibility and such. It will be an entirely new environment for me, which wouldn't be all that bad, just not as easy to set up and go as Windows would be.

Then, there are a few options for extending Windows 10 support. Most obvious is to pay for it, but you can get a year for free by enabling Windows backup or something like that. This is actually the easiest option since it doesn't require you to do a clean install. However, this is just a temporary solution that I'll have to address again in one year.

Since I'm not looking at doing any more hardware changes anytime soon, perhaps I can go for another year on Windows 10. After all, it's my favorite version of Windows, I've been using it for 10 years straight now and managed to avoid Win11 all this time. I don't need to do anything besides enable a few options, and I can continue to use my PC for another year interruption free. Yeah... I may go with this option.
Here's a link to an ArsTechnica tutorial:

How to get another free year of updates for your Windows 10 PC

Buying Windows 10 a one-year stay of execution doesn’t have to cost anything.

arstechnica.com

Linux on at least two, possibly 3 different PC's.

The two PC's my kids are currently gaming on are old enough that they're not eligible for Windows 11, but they're perfectly fine for the games my kid want to play on them. I'll have to do some finagling to get Minecraft Dungeons working on at least one of them, but I don't foresee it being a huge problem. I also have a Sandy Bridge based gaming machine I built for them (i5-2500k!! That's old), which I installed Linux on for testing and it also works great. That'll replace an old Thinkserver T410 that can't fit a full size graphics card.

As far as Linux in general goes: It's pretty simple and straightforward. Definitely some tweaking to be done here and there, but in my experience on a desktop, it's pretty painless. I run in to countless little issues on my laptop with it, but have had nary a problem in my desktop environments and on my Steam Deck. The version I've used the most and seems to work well for me is Linux Mint.

Games just work, otherwise. Not sure how it is with multiplayer stuff like BF6, since I don't play em, but Elden Ring/Dark Souls works fine on there and so does everything else. Just gotta get used to setting Proton settings, which is pretty easy and maybe figuring out how to install GE-Proton, otherwise, very simple.

 

[neogunhero]

Linux on at least two, possibly 3 different PC's.

Which distro do you use? My wife's laptop is getting pretty old, not sure if it's just the drive dying or what, but I was looking at putting Mint XFCE on it since it seems to be regarded as one of the most lightweight distros out. I'm a Linux noob, I barely know what I'm talking about so correct me if I'm wrong. For my gaming PC, I almost exclusively do nothing on it but game and browse the internet, so I bet Bazzite would be good as that seems to be the one targeted at gamers.

 

[neogunhero]

It would be nice if Steam could add a release date range slider to their search. My wife's laptop is pretty underpowered but it can play non-demanding games just fine, like Minecraft and Roblox. I feel like if Steam just added a release date slider, I could find games we can play together that will run perfectly fine on her laptop. I can always look this stuff online but it would also be nice if Steam could do it for us

 

[BeardyHat]

Which distro do you use? My wife's laptop is getting pretty old, not sure if it's just the drive dying or what, but I was looking at putting Mint XFCE on it since it seems to be regarded as one of the most lightweight distros out. I'm a Linux noob, I barely know what I'm talking about so correct me if I'm wrong. For my gaming PC, I almost exclusively do nothing on it but game and browse the internet, so I bet Bazzite would be good as that seems to be the one targeted at gamers.

Linux Mint, as mentioned. It works well enough. I haven't tried Bazzite at this point, but I appreciate the simple functionality of Mint; it has built-in Nvidia driver downloader, plus the software store is full of all kinds of useful things, so you don't necessarily need to use the command line to grab stuff.

I'm not terribly well versed in Linux myself. I've used it enough, I'm mostly familiar with its file structure and general function now, but I still prefer Windows for general ease of use and it "getting out of the way" so I can just game or whatever.

Also worth noting that in the majority of games I play, I had a performance increase in Linux. This isn't super readable, but these are some benchmarks of mine, Linux performance on the lefthand sides and Windows on the right.

https://imgur.com/a/80phltO