Happy New Year! General Game Discussion--January 2026

[Zloth]

OK, I'll bow to the peer pressure. Let's see here... about $270 spent last year. I bought Final Fantasy Rebirth plus two big Final Fantasy sound tracks. I got Elden Ring on Jan 1, too, and sales for that aren't common or deep (it costs the same today as it did on Jan 1, 2025). The only games I got that I didn't play yet are Mechwarrior: Clans and Jedi Survivor. I'm planning on doing those after Planet Crafter.

I got a new game for cheap last night:

Save 85% on Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition on Steam

Hyperjump into the dark recesses of space with Genesis Alpha One - a roguelike FPS where you must build, maintain and navigate your ship through a galaxy filled with hostile alien and human threats. Explore, create and survive the militarized space race in order to secure humanity’s future.

store.steampowered.com

It's a roguelite from back when everything wanted to be a rogue-like/lite, which I got as an action game to do between Planet Crafter rounds. It's been OK so far. I didn't get that I was supposed to bring up my PDA to continue the tutorial, so I went around and explored on my own. When I finally did figure out it, the tutorial was smart enough not to have me run back and re-learn the things I learned. The interface is a little confusing, though - I had to look up how to re-assign crew members.

It has an Aliens vibe to it for sure. You are flying around in your ship of clones, gathering stuff to help you advance through the galaxy, but sometimes you pull in aliens along with the stuff. When killed, they leave behind spores that grow, spread more spores, and eventually produce more aliens. If you get killed, another clone on the ship is promoted to captain and you keep playing.

The combat felt nice enough, but I did not like the parry/dodge system because the slow combat animation before mobs attack messed my reaction time up.

They stole that from Elden Ring! Sneaky bosses come at you with a big attack, you roll to the side to dodge and, when your roll is finished, they finally hit you!

 

[BeardyHat]

According to my post this time last year, I spent $433.34 on games in 2024.

My goal for 2025 was to spend less, which I didn't think was going to be successful, given I was still buying games semi-regularly. I was trying to be more generally discerning and buy at cheaper prices and it looks like I was generally successful.

I know I bought a handful of games on third party sites, such as Robocop for $5, Kingdome Come 2, other random stuff. I don't remember exactly where I bought them or exact price, but on Steam alone I spent $185ish and then adding rough prices from memory of the various stuff from third party sites, I think I'm just over $300.

Not exactly where I'd like to be, but still less than 2024, so I'll take it. I'll have to try again this year and see if I can get it even lower, perhaps below $250.

That said, I've already spent some money this year: .93 cents

Save 87% on Z on Steam

“Z”, the classic Real Time Strategy Game by the Bitmap Brothers. Fans of this classic strategy title are in for a real treat. Everything is in here from the terrific comedy cut scenes to the frantic game play making this is the definitive version of Z.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Colif]

They stole that from Elden Ring! Sneaky bosses come at you with a big attack, you roll to the side to dodge and, when your roll is finished, they finally hit you!

So what is the point in rolling then if you can't dodge the attack. Might as well face tank them at that point.
Feels lazy to me.

 

[Pifanjr]

I spent €61.79 on Steam over 2025, which is quite a bit more than in 2024, but not too bad.

So what is the point in rolling then if you can't dodge the attack. Might as well face tank them at that point.
Feels lazy to me.

You can dodge the attack, you just have to wait until the enemy starts swinging instead of when they pull their weapon back. I never got the hang of it.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Is that what your Steam purchases look like??😂

That’s $250 alone on Steam, not including a few games on GOG, Humble Monthly once or twice and a month or two of Game Pass. It really was an expensive year for me comparatively.

This conversation makes me uncomfortable. I'll continue, but before I answer that, I just want to say something. I am very conscious of the fact that I have lived a blessed life. I may well have been the first Registered Moron who was able to charge clients over $300/hour plus expenses.

Now....you actually calculated it by how many points I have. ***moments later**** Okay, I asked Google Gemini, and since Steam added the points system in 2020, I have averaged $200/month on games. However, there are several very worthwhile things that I do with my money that adds up to much more than that, so I'm good with $200/mo.

****

KIDS THESE DAYS!​

I've been playing a very fun Boomer Shooter with Guido. It's called Prodeus. The only time I have died so far was when Guido told me to teleport to him, and he was standing in front of a deadly trap. He dodged, I didn't.

@neogunhero You've mentioned boomer shooters before, you might want to check this one out. It has a full campaign, which so far has been very fun, and there are also a bunch of user made maps.

 

[Pifanjr]

I played through the tutorial of Space Marine 2 yesterday. Turns out that it's way harder than I realised to balance light melee attacks, heavy melee attacks, ranged attacks, parries and dodges.

I'm going to play it in co-op with someone who's already finished the game before, so hopefully they won't mind carrying me, at least in the beginning...

 

[Frindis]

Been playing Gears of War: Reloaded. Janky and with a horrible hitbox, which is very understandable considering the age. They basically did a graphical overhaul with 60 fps and it does look nice. The acts are, for the most part, fun to play through with super cheesy dialogue like it was ripped from some 90's action movie.

The pathing in the game is good enough, but the checkpoint save system is not the best out there, which can be slightly annoying at boss encounters when you have to play through a cinematic sequence again and again. It could have been easily fixed, but again, showing its age, since checkpoint systems work much better these days.

Overall, it is a fun game with some very cool ambient sounds, like distant creature screams making you quickly realise you are going into a not-so-friendly area. Driving an armored car and shooting with an ultraviolet light cannon, calling down airstrikes, or kiting huge berserker mobs into doors to break them are elements where the game shines.

I can understand how this game laid the foundations of a series that has gotten a lot of praise over the years.

 

[Zloth]

Planet Crafter is showing some jankiness. I had some duplicate blueprints, which isn't even possible in the early game, that I decoded. Instead of just telling me "you've already got one," the game just makes the duplicate vanish and leaves you wondering. There have been a few geometry holes, too, that were fairly easy to find. For instance, one happens if you follow the stream feeding a waterfall.

The game has an interesting twist on exploration, though, with the world changing around you. A barren desert may be a jungle the next time you visit, or a lake! It makes going back over what you've already seen far more fun.

 

[Pifanjr]

Planet Crafter is showing some jankiness. I had some duplicate blueprints, which isn't even possible in the early game, that I decoded. Instead of just telling me "you've already got one," the game just makes the duplicate vanish and leaves you wondering. There have been a few geometry holes, too, that were fairly easy to find. For instance, one happens if you follow the stream feeding a waterfall.

The game has an interesting twist on exploration, though, with the world changing around you. A barren desert may be a jungle the next time you visit, or a lake! It makes going back over what you've already seen far more fun.

I didn't have too many problems with jankiness in The Planet Crafter until I got the upgraded jetpack, which can get you on top of the walls separating biomes and the edge of the map in some places. The game obviously didn't really anticipate players doing that.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Planet Crafter is showing some jankiness. I had some duplicate blueprints, which isn't even possible in the early game, that I decoded. Instead of just telling me "you've already got one," the game just makes the duplicate vanish and leaves you wondering. There have been a few geometry holes, too, that were fairly easy to find. For instance, one happens if you follow the stream feeding a waterfall.

The game has an interesting twist on exploration, though, with the world changing around you. A barren desert may be a jungle the next time you visit, or a lake! It makes going back over what you've already seen far more fun.

I don't remember the duplicates problem, but there are a ton of geometry collision issues, and at one point in the very late game, I somehow found myself outside of the map and wandering around looking for the no-collision zone to try to get back into the game. None of that stuff really bothered me though. Except for a little wasted time that one time, it really wasn't significant. The stuff that really needs to work right does.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Wow. Dispatch is on fire. Lots of people were upset, rightfully so, when Telltale closed, but it looks like a group of former Telltale employees have released a game that is far more successful than anything Telltale ever released.

For comparison, The Walking Dead has just over 20,000 lifetime user reviews. Dispatch got that many in the last 30 days alone (it released in early October).

No kidding, looking at the other Telltale games, Dispatch looks like it will outsell all Telltale games combined. It may already have.

 

[neogunhero]

@Zed Clampet Sorry if I had said anything to make you uncomfortable, everything I said was in jest I checked out Prodeus a few years back but didn't give it a proper shot. At that time it was in Early Access available via Game Pass so it was quite janky. The Steam reviews now are very good so that's all been fixed. I did like the visuals and audio a lot, it gave me really great Alien vibes. I'll pick it up if it ever goes on sale deeper.

Been playing Gears of War: Reloaded. Janky and with a horrible hitbox, which is very understandable considering the age. They basically did a graphical overhaul with 60 fps and it does look nice. The acts are, for the most part, fun to play through with super cheesy dialogue like it was ripped from some 90's action movie.

I really loved the Gears series back on Xbox 360, especially the first three. I was disappointed that this version was almost just a straight visual overhaul, not a remaster to fit modern standards. It's good if you like the old Gears games but harder to get into for new players. As you said, the story and dialogue amongst the first three games is very campy and cheesy which is part of why I really liked it. They hit you with a few emotional scenes which kept things interesting. I recommend sticking with the series if you find it enjoyable, though the controls do feel outdated.

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Decided to play some RDR2 and thought I could just crank up settings to absolute max and be on my way. Unfortunately the game barely sits at 60fps on full max settings, but I think part is how it handles MSAA and volumetric lighting especially, they are super heavy on your system. I found a guide called BenchmarKing's optimized settings, and by using that I'm hitting between 100-140fps everywhere in the game. The visuals look maybe 5-10% worse compared to full max apart from some crunchy AA, but most of the time it's very unnoticable. Textures, Shadows and Global Illumination all kept at Ultra which have some of the most significant visual changes so that's great.

I really wish Rockstar would give RDR2 some love. The game still runs FSR 2 and DLSS 2 which is sad for how popular this game is. I get companies like Rockstar don't see the time and effort needed to do an update like that as profitable at all so that's probably why they don't do it. They still haven't released a "next-gen" version for PS5 and XSX, and those consoles are 5 years old at this point. Maybe they could outsource a remastered/enhanced update to a third-party company, but we all know what happened to the GTA Trilogy Definitive Collection...

 

[Zed Clampet]

@Zed Clampet Sorry if I had said anything to make you uncomfortable, everything I said was in jest

Not your fault at all. I'm the one who feels guilty about my game spending and feels the need to explain myself when actually no one cares.

I checked out Prodeus a few years back but didn't give it a proper shot. At that time it was in Early Access available via Game Pass so it was quite janky. The Steam reviews now are very good so that's all been fixed. I did like the visuals and audio a lot, it gave me really great Alien vibes. I'll pick it up if it ever goes on sale deeper.

I'd also recommend Warhammer 40000 Boltgun. Have had a blast with that, although I'm struggling to find secret keys, but that's a me thing

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun on Steam

Load up your Boltgun and unleash the awesome Space Marine arsenal to blast your way through an explosion of sprites, pixels and blood in a perfect blend of Warhammer 40,000, frenetic gameplay and the stylish visuals of 90’s retro shooters.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Frindis]

I really loved the Gears series back on Xbox 360, especially the first three. I was disappointed that this version was almost just a straight visual overhaul, not a remaster to fit modern standards. It's good if you like the old Gears games but harder to get into for new players. As you said, the story and dialogue amongst the first three games is very campy and cheesy which is part of why I really liked it. They hit you with a few emotional scenes which kept things interesting. I recommend sticking with the series if you find it enjoyable, though the controls do feel outdated.

I managed to unsubscribe from Xbox Game Pass, because I did not think that stopping the renewal was enough. A major bummer, and can't say I remember it being like this before. I'll need to make another account, but that means I'll have to start over. So, either I do that, or I'll just watch the last two acts unfold and go for the second one in the series. Or, since It's not a long game, I could just do it as a challenge and also see if I can get all of the battletags hidden around.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Might be done with Dune Awakening. We went to the PvP zone a couple of days ago to a large spice field and got about 50,000 spice. To me that kind of settles it, and I can move on. I felt this way before, so we'll see how it goes, but right now I think I might pick up my base with the new base storage tool and just come back at the next major update.

 

[Frindis]

Might be done with Dune Awakening. We went to the PvP zone a couple of days ago to a large spice field and got about 50,000 spice. To me that kind of settles it, and I can move on. I felt this way before, so we'll see how it goes, but right now I think I might pick up my base with the new base storage tool and just come back at the next major update.

Seems the game need a little slice of....Pazaak!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg26AxBhQZo

 

[Zed Clampet]

Seems the game need a little slice of....Pazaak!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg26AxBhQZo

I've got over 400 hours in it, but I'm a professional goof-arounder. Probably no one has done less with more time. I could always go for a good side game, though. Imagine how much less I could accomplish in 400 hours if there were a fun card game!

 

[Frindis]

I've got over 400 hours in it, but I'm a professional goof-arounder. Probably no one has done less with more time. I could always go for a good side game, though. Imagine how much less I could accomplish in 400 hours if there were a fun card game!

Sounds like me playing Runescape 3. I got 800 hours in it, but I keep telling myself that I don't really play it, I just do events and goof around. My nephews don't believe me, but they play that Hayday phone game, so they've got no say

 

[neogunhero]

My most played game this past weekend has been Insurgency Sandstorm again. Really been on a kick with that game. I only ever play the co-op mode, 8 players vs AI, but it's still very intense and gets my blood pumping. I've also been trying to use a larger variety of weapons so I checked out the SPAS shotgun and man, this thing is so fun to play with. Throw a suppressor on there and I feel straight out of an action movie.

The only thing that sucks is even with the largest ammo carrier that takes up 3 loadout points, you only ever carry around 45 shells total. It's not uncommon to rack up 50-100 kills in a round, so you need to constantly find ammo. In Co-Op outpost, you move from point to point, capturing and defending points against enemy AI, and most buildings you can find ammo boxes. However on Hardcore Outpost, ammo is much scarcer, you can only resupply your loadout at two points rather than at every point, and if you die, you respawn with a bolt-action rifle until you can reach another resupply crate or pick up a weapon off an enemy. Top that off with harder enemy AI, slower movement and less visible HUD icons, it makes playing with a shotgun a more difficult choice, but that adds to the challenge.

I wonder what the future of this series will be. The developers, New World Interactive, were victims of the Embracer slaughtering of 2023, with major layoffs at the studio, just short of a total shutdown. In 2024 Saber picked them up, and in 2025 we had two very minor content updates, a new map and a few new guns, but nothing to really bring new life to the game. I'm very grateful for new content 7 years after release but still, I wish something more could be done. I've loved every game they've made, from the original Source engine mod of Insurgency, the first standalone version, and the WWII shooter Day of Infamy.

I hope they continue making great shooters, but there is nothing publicly announced yet. No new game or major roadmap for this current game. There actually is a roadmap, but they just seem like more minor content additions. With each update recently, it's typically been one new map maybe, usually a few guns, some bugfixes, then a paid cosmetic bundle. I don't expect anything major coming, though they haven't said much. It still averages around 2000 players a day on Steam and has full console crossplay which probably adds another 2000 players, so there is still a dedicated playerbase just not very huge.

 

[Zed Clampet]

A true gaming miracle. I've not been much for shooters because, frankly, I was terrible at them. Some time last year (maybe even earlier) @neogunhero was talking about getting Postal Brain Damaged, which is a boomer shooter. It also has a demo, and since I enjoyed Postal 2, I decided to try it out.

At the beginning of the game you start off in a house. After collecting some things and killing the people, you move outside. It probably takes a couple of minutes to finish the house. So every time I went outside, I got killed almost immediately. I tried a few times and gave up.

This is just speculation, but I think I was bitten by a radioactive spider. Or, maybe I got tired of getting killed in Dune Awakening and holding back Guido, and so I decided to work out a logical plan for improvement. I quickly got better at Dune Awakening. I may not have died since. Then came Warhammer Darktide. I thought about the type of game it was and worked out a plan, and the change was noticeable instantly.

I'm going to skip a couple of games for your benefit.

Now today I decided, as the last purchase for the Winter Sale, to buy Postal Brain Damaged. I haven't played it that long yet, maybe 30 minutes, but I haven't died yet. Feels good. Now I'm installing all my old bullet tossers. All I ever really had to do was think it through.