General Game Discussion for February 2026

[Zed Clampet]

What do these instructions mean?

The bottom under "Attacking" looks to me like "right click" plus "mouse 4" and move the mouse to do the hack thing on the right, but it didn't work.

 

[BeardyHat]

Windows 11 has been giving my oldest hell in the past bit, constantly freezing on this old MSI laptop he's been using. Boot up? Freeze. I swapped the ram, SSD and reformatted it more than once, but once it hits a certain update, there's no helping it.

So I finally installed Linux on it and it's working much better. That said, Linux is so fiddly. Some games work great with an older graphics driver, others don't work at all. But if I install a newer one to get the other games working, the games that ran great now run like crap.

The thing is 11 years old with a 4th Gen i7 and a 970M 3gb, so I think it's time to put it out to pasture. I'm still going to try and sell it and get a little bit of money for it, but I'm going to replace it with a desktop, though an old one.

I've got an old i5-2500k, 16Gb RAM (might actually be 8. I can't remember) and a RX 570 4Gb that came back to me last year. I sold it a long time ago and it was used for awhile then returned to me, which is amusing. Anyway, I'm going to throw in an i7-3770 for a slight performance bump, grab a cheap monitor and some speakers and set it up for him. Should play stuff better than the MSI and I'm hoping Windows will work better on it than the laptop, that way I can finally let him play Fortnite.

 

[Pifanjr]

Played some more Subnautica: Below Zero. I had to find a specific iceberg with only somewhat vague description of where to find it and it somehow took me forever. It doesn't help that it's really hard to see around you at the surface of the water, especially if there's a blizzard or if it's night.

I also had to go back to the ice plains, where I again spent way too long trying to find a specific cave. Turns out that cave can only be entered by a little robot you can craft. I thought those were just for reconnaissance, like the camera drones you use under water, so I never made one before.

I now agree with the complaints that all the stuff above the surface in this game is easily the worst part. I think I'm done entirely with that part though and I'm pretty sure I'm close to finishing the game entirely. I'm looking forward to it.

What do these instructions mean?

The bottom under "Attacking" looks to me like "right click" plus "mouse 4" and move the mouse to do the hack thing on the right, but it didn't work.

Maybe it's supposed to be "mouse 5"?

 

[Zed Clampet]

Played some more Subnautica: Below Zero. I had to find a specific iceberg with only somewhat vague description of where to find it and it somehow took me forever. It doesn't help that it's really hard to see around you at the surface of the water, especially if there's a blizzard or if it's night.

I also had to go back to the ice plains, where I again spent way too long trying to find a specific cave. Turns out that cave can only be entered by a little robot you can craft. I thought those were just for reconnaissance, like the camera drones you use under water, so I never made one before.

I now agree with the complaints that all the stuff above the surface in this game is easily the worst part. I think I'm done entirely with that part though and I'm pretty sure I'm close to finishing the game entirely. I'm looking forward to it.



Maybe it's supposed to be "mouse 5"?

I guess. I've never seen the nearest side button labeled as anything but 4, but it's worth trying. I didn't bother to assign 5. I'm using an mmo mouse, and the side buttons default to numerals. Probably makes sense if you are playing a hotbar MMO like WOW.

 

[Zloth]

What kind of volleyball did you play?

Me?? A little in gym class. My nieces, however, played it a lot.

I now agree with the complaints that all the stuff above the surface in this game is easily the worst part. I think I'm done entirely with that part though and I'm pretty sure I'm close to finishing the game entirely. I'm looking forward to it.

Have you put custom music into the jukebox? Maybe switched some in-game shots to some of your own screenshots? It's fun!

 

[Pifanjr]

Have you put custom music into the jukebox? Maybe switched some in-game shots to some of your own screenshots? It's fun!

All of my bases are purely functional. Well, almost, I did grab a couple of posters and pictures from the Alterra bases.

 

[Pifanjr]

After about 20 hours total playtime, I finished Subnautica: Below Zero. Getting to the end involved a lot of searching for the entrances of the various caves I needed to find and a lot of going back and forth. I can recommend making and using a bunch of beacons if you ever want to play this game as it can be a real pain trying to find your way around, even to places you've been before.

The end itself was really nice. There's not that much of a story, but it was still a satisfying conclusion. Overall however I definitely didn't enjoy this game as much as the first Subnautica. A big part of that is that most of the fun in this game comes from the exploration and it just doesn't have the same kind of impact the second time around, since the gameplay is very similar. The above ground parts of the game are also just strictly worse than the underwater parts since it doesn't give the same sense of exploration.

Still, I don't regret playing the game nor do I regret sticking with it to the end.

 

[Zed Clampet]

After about 20 hours total playtime, I finished Subnautica: Below Zero. Getting to the end involved a lot of searching for the entrances of the various caves I needed to find and a lot of going back and forth. I can recommend making and using a bunch of beacons if you ever want to play this game as it can be a real pain trying to find your way around, even to places you've been before.

The end itself was really nice. There's not that much of a story, but it was still a satisfying conclusion. Overall however I definitely didn't enjoy this game as much as the first Subnautica. A big part of that is that most of the fun in this game comes from the exploration and it just doesn't have the same kind of impact the second time around, since the gameplay is very similar. The above ground parts of the game are also just strictly worse than the underwater parts since it doesn't give the same sense of exploration.

Still, I don't regret playing the game nor do I regret sticking with it to the end.

Your play time seems to indicate this isn't really your type of game. People who really enjoy these survival sandboxes will find a lot more to do and enjoy. I spent 60 hours playing it when it first launched into early access. Glad you mostly liked it, though.

 

[Pifanjr]

Your play time seems to indicate this isn't really your type of game. People who really enjoy these survival sandboxes will find a lot more to do and enjoy. I spent 60 hours playing it when it first launched into early access. Glad you mostly liked it, though.

I disagree that Subnautica is a sandbox game. While you can definitely just exist in the world if you want, there isn't that much to do besides progressing the game. You can build a big base if you really want or collect all of the fishes, but that's hardly enough to count as a sandbox in my opinion,

 

[Zed Clampet]

I disagree that Subnautica is a sandbox game. While you can definitely just exist in the world if you want, there isn't that much to do besides progressing the game. You can build a big base if you really want or collect all of the fishes, but that's hardly enough to count as a sandbox in my opinion,

Your disagreement is incorrect. The definition of a game sandbox is: "provides players with a high degree of creative freedom and agency to explore, interact with, and modify a game world without being restricted by a linear storyline or specific, mandatory goals."

There are certainly better sandboxes, but that doesn't stop Below Zero from being one.

Some random things that I and other people do:

Build a transit network that includes things like garages with unending energy that have recharging stations, docking stations, and food and water production. Kind of like truck stops. "Roads" to all important resources are created with beacons.

These roads can lead to networks of scanning stations and mining outposts, your bases, etc.

Create a transportation center that houses every possible variation of the sea truck.

Mega bases and cities, both floating and underwater and in some cases on land. These can actually be made useful by creating farming centers, creature breeding centers, "public" aquariums-zoos. You can make a water purification plant, etc.

IMO, the alien containment is really the most fun thing in the game.

Create the underwater CIA with spy penglings.

Collect all music discs and open a disco.

Undertake expeditions into the Void, and take on the challenge of creating a Void base.

Kill the leviathans.

etc. Plus there are many mods.

 

[dxchase]

Had a fun time last night dropping Tempest and Volcano 4's (high tier weapons) for my random teammates in Arc Raiders.

Had a run where my teammate and I lost our other teammate. We decided to keep fighting and i had no problem with that because of my loadout (tempest/volcano 4/heavy shield). After wiping 3 1/2 teams we went to extract. My teammate was already excited because some of the bodies had really good stuff (stitcher 4s, torro (shotgun) 4s, heavy shields etc.) and i had revived/clutched shootouts for him to be able to extract (he was complaining he keeps getting guys w/o mics who dont play together).

So, at extract i told him to drop some of his lesser loot and i just gave him everything i had, the tempest, the volcano, shields and bandages i found. He was freaking out and overjoyed. It brought a smile to my face.

Next match i brought a bobcat (pink smg) and a tempest (pink medium ammo AR) and just gave them to my teammates who loaded in with free loadouts, they were excited and all that. That also brought a smile to my face.

Im currently sitting on ~40 "pink" weapons and a bunch of blues/greens so between now and the reset next week, ill be doing this. Towards my last day im going to fully stack my loadout with all pink/blue/green weapons and just either go in and die or go in and just drop all this loot for my teammates near a raider hatch. Im kinda looking forward to how they will react.

 

[BeardyHat]

Tried out the demo for A Bumpy Ride and I have to say, I quite like it.

It's got "cozy" vibes, but there's definitely more friction to it than maybe it initially looks. You need to maintain your boiler levels, so stopping and filling that up periodically, but also managing passengers and getting them to where they need to go on time, as well as obeying the few laws around the tracks which will make passengers happy and get them to pay you more money; including making sure to blow your whistle when required, as well as slow down when required. But also, the passengers don't like it if you stop suddenly or if you're going too fast and the train begins to sway around corners and the like.

One thing I discovered with this demo is that you kind of need to do a little exploration first. You initially don't know where stations are and how to get there, so it's helpful to just kind of drive around and figure out the layout of the map, so when you do have passengers, you can understand the routes to get them to where they want to go.

Runs quite well on my basic laptop with 8th Gen i7 and MX150 2Gb, 1080p Low. Occasionally dips just below 30, but given the pace of the game, I'm not finding that to be an issue.

Another thing I liked is the tactile feel of using the mouse to control the train. That said, it got old fairly quickly and I switched to just using the keyboard, as it was way more comfortable.

A Bumpy Ride on Steam

Take a jaunt into the world of A Bumpy Ride, a casual train-driving and exploration game! Inspired by railroading of the 19th century with a whimsical spin, you'll adventure around the open frontier in your trusty little train, picking up passengers and freight.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Johnway]

more Ghost recon Wildlands, i decided to go to Tier one just to see what to expect and also unlock some loot boxes. its bit of a mixed back at the early stages. i've gotten to level 40 and unlocked some things. progress wise we're down to the last 5 or 6 areas. Hopefully i will be done by mid march.

Bravely default, i'm still plodding around slowly grinding and making small progress floor by floor, using the money gained to buy stuff and grow stronger and progress further.

 

[Zloth]

There are certainly better sandboxes, but that doesn't stop Below Zero from being one.

Self-appointed Judge Zloth to the rescue!

• No quests or story whatsoever: pure sandbox. Just stuff and a place to use them. Any stories come in the form of lore. (E.g. Kenshi? It might have had some small quests, I can't remember for sure.)
• Quests but no over-arching main story: very sandboxy. Still sandboxy enough for lots of "What am I supposed to do next?" topics in the forum. (E.g. X4: Foundations, No Man's Sky)
• Quests and an over-arching main story, but leaves lots of room for screwing around outside of them and doing so won't make the player over-leveled: potentially sandboxy (E.g. Subnautica, Just Cause 3, RPGs where the enemies scale up with your power)
• Lots of direction on what to do. You don't have to stick with the directions, but going off script a lot can throw off game balance. Not Sandboxy. (E.g. most RPGs)
• You will follow the story. At best, you'll get a few optional side-stories, but not enough to even have the potential to throw off game balance. Anti-Sandbox or On Rails. (E.g. FF7 Remake, early Tomb Raider games)

 

[Zed Clampet]

Self-appointed Judge Zloth to the rescue!

• No quests or story whatsoever: pure sandbox. Just stuff and a place to use them. Any stories come in the form of lore. (E.g. Kenshi? It might have had some small quests, I can't remember for sure.)
• Quests but no over-arching main story: very sandboxy. Still sandboxy enough for lots of "What am I supposed to do next?" topics in the forum. (E.g. X4: Foundations, No Man's Sky)
• Quests and an over-arching main story, but leaves lots of room for screwing around outside of them and doing so won't make the player over-leveled: potentially sandboxy (E.g. Subnautica, Just Cause 3, RPGs where the enemies scale up with your power)
• Lots of direction on what to do. You don't have to stick with the directions, but going off script a lot can throw off game balance. Not Sandboxy. (E.g. most RPGs)
• You will follow the story. At best, you'll get a few optional side-stories, but not enough to even have the potential to throw off game balance. Anti-Sandbox or On Rails. (E.g. FF7 Remake, early Tomb Raider games)

Well, Subnautica is a survival sandbox. That is a well known genre. It isn't up for debate. It is what it is. And No Man's Sky has a pretty substantial over-arching main story.

Stories only coming from lore, while not a requirement for survival sandboxes, accurately describes Subnautica.

The absence of quests is also not a requirement, but also accurately describes Subnautica. For the most part quests should not be required to advance the game in a sandbox.

Absence of an over-arching main story is also not a requirement so long as the story isn't required and doesn't limit gameplay in any way. This is an accurate description of Subnautica.

 

[Pifanjr]

Your disagreement is incorrect. The definition of a game sandbox is: "provides players with a high degree of creative freedom and agency to explore, interact with, and modify a game world without being restricted by a linear storyline or specific, mandatory goals."

There are certainly better sandboxes, but that doesn't stop Below Zero from being one.

Some random things that I and other people do:

Build a transit network that includes things like garages with unending energy that have recharging stations, docking stations, and food and water production. Kind of like truck stops. "Roads" to all important resources are created with beacons.

These roads can lead to networks of scanning stations and mining outposts, your bases, etc.

Create a transportation center that houses every possible variation of the sea truck.

Mega bases and cities, both floating and underwater and in some cases on land. These can actually be made useful by creating farming centers, creature breeding centers, "public" aquariums-zoos. You can make a water purification plant, etc.

IMO, the alien containment is really the most fun thing in the game.

Create the underwater CIA with spy penglings.

Collect all music discs and open a disco.

Undertake expeditions into the Void, and take on the challenge of creating a Void base.

Kill the leviathans.

etc. Plus there are many mods.

I'll admit I was wrong. Subnautica can definitely be played as purely a survival adventure game and the developers label it as such, but there wouldn't be a creative mode if it wasn't intended to also be played as a sandbox game.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I'll admit I was wrong. Subnautica can definitely be played as purely a survival adventure game and the developers label it as such, but there wouldn't be a creative mode if it wasn't intended to also be played as a sandbox game.

@Zloth
I believe the basic litmus test for a survival sandbox is "Can I ignore the story/quest system and use game systems/mechanics to just do my own thing for as long as I want?"

Of course, the systems/mechanics have to reach a certain level of basic usefulness, which is where @Pifanjr may disagree. Just because you can pick up a rock in Dying Light and run around the map with it for all eternity doesn't make it a sandbox.

But there are many different types of sandboxes, some with different levels of freedom. Morrowind is considered a master class in making an RPG sandbox, for instance. Dwarf Fortress and Rimworld are usually considered simulation sandboxes. Forza Horizon is a driving sandbox. Satisfactory is an engineering/building sandbox. Among strategy games Total War Warhammer 3 is a sandbox if you choose the Immortal Empires campaign, while I don't believe the Civ games get the designation because you are always on a forced march to the end of the game. "You can do whatever you want until you lose" doesn't seem to be good enough.

 

[Pifanjr]

I played a bit of Flotilla today. It's kind of like Frozen Synapse, but in 3D space. Each turn you give both of your ships an order of where to move to and who to shoot at and when you end your turn you watch your ships and the enemy ships perform those orders.

In between fights you can fly from planet to planet where you get random events, usually giving you one of two options and typically resulting in either a fight or getting an upgrade. Sometimes you even get a third ship.

There is no goal other than to try to get as many points as possible in a limited amount of turns (I'm not entirely sure what gives you points). There are only two types of ships, three types of upgrades and a handful of events, so after a little over an hour I think I've seen pretty much everything the game has to offer, but I had fun while it lasted.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Please stop doing this:

User Review: "Pretty lackluster and uses a very suspicious amount of GPU and CPU, even compared to many other Unreal Engine games."

There is no such thing as a "very suspicious amount of GPU" usage in games.

 

[Zloth]

Death Stranding 2 is coming out in late March! Day 1 wishlist!!

User Review: "Pretty lackluster and uses a very suspicious amount of GPU and CPU, even compared to many other Unreal Engine games."

OK, I'll go back to "the game obviously isn't optimized - Eastshade has prettier graphics with lower requirements." Maybe I'll toss out a "features clearly removed from the game so they can sell them as DLC later on."

Regarding No Man's Sky: it had an overarching story! It's still mostly there, too. However, the game has expanded so much that it has become more of an extended tutorial.

P.S. Correct, it is not up for debate. It's up for decree! MINE!

 

[Pifanjr]

I started two new games today.

First was Metal Gear Solid V, though I initially only got so far as the main menu screen before I had to stop. In most games that would mean the game was on for like 10 seconds, in MGS V you get like 5 minutes of unskippable cutscene first. It also became instantly obvious that this was one of those Japenese ports that doesn't properly support mouse and keyboard, as I couldn't navigate the menu's for language and brightness with the mouse.

I tried again in the evening and discovered the game hadn't saved, so I had to sit through the opening cutscene again. All in all it took me an hour to complete the Prologue, which is basically half cutscene, half walking simulator with a little bit of tutorial sprinkled in. At least the story it set up seems intriguing.


The second game I started today was Dave the Diver. I suspect this game also plays better with a controller, though I haven't tried it yet. I'm having a lot of difficulty doing the QTE's with my left hand, so I keep having to move my right hand off the mouse to do them. I tried switching the keybinds, but then the game threw other QTEs at me that used the movement buttons, so that didn't help.

Other than that I'm having a lot of fun. I manage to die like 3 or 4 times already, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. The game throws new content at me at a high pace, which I really appreciate. I dislike tutorials that drag on for too long.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I started two new games today.

First was Metal Gear Solid V, though I initially only got so far as the main menu screen before I had to stop. In most games that would mean the game was on for like 10 seconds, in MGS V you get like 5 minutes of unskippable cutscene first. It also became instantly obvious that this was one of those Japenese ports that doesn't properly support mouse and keyboard, as I couldn't navigate the menu's for language and brightness with the mouse.

I tried again in the evening and discovered the game hadn't saved, so I had to sit through the opening cutscene again. All in all it took me an hour to complete the Prologue, which is basically half cutscene, half walking simulator with a little bit of tutorial sprinkled in. At least the story it set up seems intriguing.


The second game I started today was Dave the Diver. I suspect this game also plays better with a controller, though I haven't tried it yet. I'm having a lot of difficulty doing the QTE's with my left hand, so I keep having to move my right hand off the mouse to do them. I tried switching the keybinds, but then the game threw other QTEs at me that used the movement buttons, so that didn't help.

Other than that I'm having a lot of fun. I manage to die like 3 or 4 times already, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. The game throws new content at me at a high pace, which I really appreciate. I dislike tutorials that drag on for too long.

It's a Japanese studio, so you'll be lucky if MGS V saved just because you finished the prologue. You'll probably be introduced to saving in Act 3 after flying to Chicago and finding the special, purple phone booth. Sometimes I'm not sure if they realize that we can't just put games into hiatus on PC like you can on consoles.

I need to try Dave the Diver again. I can't remember why I quit.

 

[Zloth]

First was Metal Gear Solid V

Which MGS V? Phantom Pain or Ground Zero? I'm guessing the former, I don't think the latter has enough playtime to fit in an hour-long prologue.

Often times JRPGs make you use the keyboard for the menus, even if the mouse/keyboard works fine in the main game. The Last Remnant ticked me off doing that, but I've since come to expect it. Still annoying, but expected. (Nixxes converted stuff shouldn't do that. I was really glad to see their name on Death Stranding 2.)

 

[Pifanjr]

Which MGS V? Phantom Pain or Ground Zero? I'm guessing the former, I don't think the latter has enough playtime to fit in an hour-long prologue.

Often times JRPGs make you use the keyboard for the menus, even if the mouse/keyboard works fine in the main game. The Last Remnant ticked me off doing that, but I've since come to expect it. Still annoying, but expected. (Nixxes converted stuff shouldn't do that. I was really glad to see their name on Death Stranding 2.)

Yes, The Phantom Pain.

Maybe I'll try the game with mouse and keyboard next time, though I don't really mind playing with a controller either. I'm not planning on having to do a lot of shooting.

 

[Zed Clampet]

$22 trillion. That's how much money the person I visited yesterday in Farm Together 2 had. I can't even begin to comprehend this. I have close to 300 hours in the game, and I have $600 million. It goes without saying that they have to be more efficient than I am. I've never focused on money. But no matter how much I focused on it, I still can't imagine this. If they haven't cheated using Cheat Engine or similar, then I'm just absolutely dumbstruck.

Edit: if I used my calculator correctly, it would take me 1200 years to get to $22 trillion. I smell Cheat Engine.