General Game Discussion for February 2026

[Zed Clampet]

\

Pictures by Flux2

GAMES COMING IN FEBRUARY​

I couldn't find the article on "Games We're Most Excited About" for February. They probably haven't posted it yet. Here's a link to the general February 2026 releases page.

MAJOR STEAM EVENTS FOR FEBRUARY​

February 2026 Steam Events Schedule:

• Board Game Fest: Ends Feb 2.
• Typing Fest (Spotlight Fest): Feb 5 - Feb 9.
• PvP Fest: Feb 9 - Feb 16.
• Horse Fest (Spotlight Fest): Feb 19 - Feb 23.
• Steam Next Fest: February 2026 Edition: Feb 23 - Mar 2

And, as a bonus, a list of handy free software that might enhance your gaming experience!​

Open-source and free:

Recording and Screenshots (Other than OBS):​

ShareX
Tool that is pretty good for gifs and screenshots. Has a built-in picture editor and you can upload to sites from inside the app. Captura has stopped being updated, so OBS is still the go-to open source app for capturing full videos.

Simple Screen Recorder (Linux)
Easy to use and powerful video capture tool designed specifically for Linux.

Streamlabs is built on the OBS source code (it's a "fork"), so it is technically open-source, though it is managed by Logitech and includes many "paid" premium features. I haven't tried this.

Audio:​

HeSuVi: The king of spatial sound. Can mimic 7.1 surround sound in your headphones.

Audacity: Audio recording and editing. Not completely sure how you would use this except to add or edit sounds for a game video.

FXSound: Can improve your sound quality and provide some spatial sound, as well.

And a few more for various things:​

Playnite: Game Launching & Library Management
Moonlight: Game Streaming & Remote Play
RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS)
ReShade: Graphics enhancer that works with most games.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Dune Awakening: I've packed up all of the really important stuff and put it in storage. If the game didn't constantly threaten to destroy your base, I'd pop in every few weeks and play. But I've been worried about keeping the base fueled and the taxes paid for about 9 months now, and I'm over it.

 

[BeardyHat]

Dune Awakening: I've packed up all of the really important stuff and put it in storage. If the game didn't constantly threaten to destroy your base, I'd pop in every few weeks and play. But I've been worried about keeping the base fueled and the taxes paid for about 9 months now, and I'm over it.

That sounds super tedious and would also drive me away.

I'm still playing The Case of the Golden Idol. Think I was on "level" 6 last night, the one with a murder in the Salon of a house. It had so many blank spaces for figuring out what happened in the scene, I was absolutely shocked that I figured it out. I was absolutely baffled for the longest time, but steadily put clues together and figured out who each person was and then managed to somehow resolve the puzzle.

Really lovely game to play on a tablet.

I'd like to get back to my Cybermage playthrough and I'm trying to think of what I else I want to play on my Steam Deck. Given I just sold a bunch of things and I'm flush with cash (for me anyway. I'm broke by anyone elses standards), plus I just got a $50 refund check from the power company, I think I'll finally pick-up Humankind for $10. I know it's not supposed to be great, but I loved Endless Legend and I'm finally ready to give Humankind a go for good or ill.

Oh also, I think I may have mentioned that I started playing Blade of Agony. It's really damn good. Only done one level so far, but I'm looking forward to playing some more of it.

Wolfenstein: Blade of Agony – Official Website of the Retro FPS

Welcome to Blade of Agony, a story-driven WWII shooter inspired by Wolfenstein and Doom. Download for free and experience a new kind of retro action.

boa.realm667.com

 

[Pifanjr]

I tried Enderal on my other PC and it got to the main menu, then crashed. I tried again and managed to open the game and play a bit. It's honestly really impressive for a mod, but the "for a mod" part is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

For some reason I decided to put the difficulty on expert and the only things I can reliably kill are mudcrabs river crabs. I could maybe kill a singular wolf, but they always show up in pairs. So when I got a quest to kill a goat person thing, I was worried, but luckily I managed to get some arrows and find a spot where the monster could not reach me, so I could just safely shoot at it until it died.

I probably should turn down the difficulty so I don't have to cheese every fight, if I decide to continue playing. However, the crashes have put me off of the game and I did recently buy Subnautica: Below Zero, so I might just play that instead.

 

[Zloth]

However, the crashes have put me off of the game and I did recently buy Subnautica: Below Zero, so I might just play that instead.

In the winter?? Cold outside. Cold in the video game. All the warmth has left the world.

I'm still blowing everything up in Just Cause 3. Nice, warm explosions!

 

[Zed Clampet]

I feel regret. I'm running training on my PC and can't play anything because it's using all but 1 GB of VRAM.

 

[Johnway]

Oh also, I think I may have mentioned that I started playing Blade of Agony. It's really damn good. Only done one level so far, but I'm looking forward to playing some more of it.

yep played this TC twice and its a cracker. I will say that the dodging mechanic the enemy soldiers have is a bit annoying, but its a minor issue as the rest of the wad is excellently made.

As for other TC space cats has been a real blast. Well made and jolly good fun. Although episode 6 is expected to come out this year. So... maybe wait a bit.

Space Cats Saga+ by Timmy

Ultimate Catgirl Doom

dertimmy.itch.io

path of exile and i'm currently reaching level 40 so 10 more levels and i'll have my prize. So we're well on track reaching our target on act 5. Does skipping much of the side content help speed things up in the long run? perhaps. i've managed to get 2/3s of Act 4.

but this challenge league is brutally tough and my build is not helping whatsoever. Hindsight i should have gone with your basic arc or DOT attack. The keepers of flame league i found that the earthshatter build was a real winner as it could seriously wipe out large number of targets quickly. The minions are too weak individually and with so many enemies its a miss. So in conclusion the SRS build is good as dead for meta imo.


On the hand held front i've finally decided to finish Fire emblem awakening. i finally could drag myself away from just randomly grinding.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Quite annoyed with Pathfinder WOTR today. Attacking a big city with my party at the head of an army, one of my lockpicking/trickery characters has run away for unknown story reasons and the other is making creepy comments and wearing a suspicious 'hide alignment' necklace so I dont like having them in my party right now. No problem right? Its a siege battle, it'll be combat heavy and over fairly quick...

Nope, Ive spent several hours in a very exciting siege battling my way to the centre of the city, and there are several mini dungeons with traps and locks. Theres been some rest points that allowed reloading of spells and health, but absolutely nowhere that allows me to change party members. To cap it all off they've put a very trap heavy dungeon at the end of the place thats full of locked loot chests that I just have to smash breaking the loot inside, locked doors I cant get inside, and traps I just have to send my pet Triceratops walking over because I cant disarm them.

Its making me want to put the game down completely. OwlCat had me for about 50 hours but this is just really poorly designed right now.

 

[neogunhero]

Still kind of in a rut. All the games I've been playing lately are just open world sandbox games where I do nothing but fart around...

RDR2: Run around and try to be as evil as I can. Eventually get the law on me, ends up in a massive gun fight, I die and respawn, rinse and repeat.
GTA V Enhanced: Look at the pretty ray-tracing, race around, mess about with cheat engine, get into fist fights with NPCs.
Watch Dogs 2: Use drone to call gang hits on police officers, police arrests of gang members, watch all-out battle ensue.
Far Cry 5 + 6: Drive around, look at pretty landscape, follow a river from top to bottom in jetski.
Forza Horizon 5: Drive around, do a few races, explore.

While all fun and relaxing, I can't help but feel this sense of boredom and lack of motivation to play something actually worthwhile. Well, not that those games aren't worthwhile, I still value and enjoy the time I spend in them, but there is no real progression going on. I'm not getting better, beating a boss or hard level, working towards the ending of the game, I'm just messing about. This isn't bad, but I feel the want to play something more rewarding. Plus I don't feel the motivation to progress in those games, mainly because I've beaten most of them already.

Whenever I do try to play something a bit "better" than a sandbox game, I don't stick with it. Vital Shell is awesome, but after 1 hour of gameplay I don't feel a desire to continue. Robocop was really neat, but I can't bring myself to launch it again. Disco Elysium sits there staring at me in the face, but my pea-brain couldn't comprehend it. Sandbox games are just easier to pick up, get some instant gratification, then turn off whenever. Maybe my brain is just rotting away.

 

[Rolfil]

path of exile and i'm currently reaching level 40 so 10 more levels and i'll have my prize. So we're well on track reaching our target on act 5. Does skipping much of the side content help speed things up in the long run? perhaps. i've managed to get 2/3s of Act 4.

but this challenge league is brutally tough and my build is not helping whatsoever. Hindsight i should have gone with your basic arc or DOT attack. The keepers of flame league i found that the earthshatter build was a real winner as it could seriously wipe out large number of targets quickly. The minions are too weak individually and with so many enemies its a miss. So in conclusion the SRS build

It get's easier when you get a 4 link setup for your main skill and your first lab done. I've just finished the campaign and managed to end up level 72 on my 2nd day playing. Bit slow for me as I forgot Shield Charge makes the game a lot quicker.

Thankfully I have access to Async trade now and need to spend some Chaos on some better resistance rings.