Happy New Year! General Game Discussion--January 2026

[dxchase]

Been kinda low key since the new year. I play all the time but its mostly just PVP Raider on Raider Arc Raiders action mixed with some Diablo 4.

Had to completely change my schedule through work to work the exact opposite times i was working (overnights at the beginning to days at the end of the week), so its thrown a wrench into my gaming/streaming plans amongst other events...

I also had to replace my sennheiser headphones because one of my cats got to the chord which is weird because they never have in the past done this, and mustve cut the sound to the one speaker. I tried fixing it but i just had them swapped out through the warranty. It took over a week for them to get here because of all the snowstorms.

The mrs. is going in for surgery next week (nothing too serious) and will be on bedrest for about 2 weeks after that, so im going to be able to ramp up gaming/streaming then since i already got approved for FMLA (Family Paid leave from work for emergencies and stuff) and i have a backlog of newer games ive wanted to play.

Hope yall are doing well, i havent really kept up on the convo in this thread so hopefully your rigs and new gpus and stuff are running fine!

 

[Pifanjr]

My Sniper died in FrogComposband. I decided to go back to the (almost) bottom of the dungeon to see if I could nab some good gear. A unique enemy saw me so I teleported away and before I could do anything else I was dead. Apparently teleporting away is ill advised at the lower depths because there are too many enemies that can instakill you at that point.

I still learned a lot and decided to start a new character, this time playing as a ring again. After a couple false starts I got some good luck at the start of the game, then mixed up my dungeons and accidentally wandered into a high level area, where I got killed in a single hit again.

Maybe I should switch to one of the many, many games on my backlog instead...

 

[Johnway]

So i've gotten around to sinking a good amount of time playing Ghost recon wildlands. I've completed the first area (eliminated the HVTs, collected all the upgrades and done some of the side content) and i'm moving onto my next area.

So initlal thoughts? its very meh. The problem is that its very much a sandbox and its clearly made for Online Coop as playing it in SP is pretty mediocre. Its not badly made, just not very inspiring and very repetitive. i think the problem is that there is very few (if at all) orchestrated set pieces like some missions in Far cry or the division. here it feels very cut and paste job. its also somewhat slower especially as i have to set up engagements and plan ahead. Small traffic stop? get out car, recon area, mark targets hit targets. Search bodies and drive onto my destination.

I'll still play the game just to see the end of it, but it looks like PCG was on the ball when it came to the score as i would be giving it somewhere along the 60%-69% mark atm. Not horrible to play, technically well made but really uninspiring in SP.

 

[Zed Clampet]

My Sniper died in FrogComposband. I decided to go back to the (almost) bottom of the dungeon to see if I could nab some good gear. A unique enemy saw me so I teleported away and before I could do anything else I was dead. Apparently teleporting away is ill advised at the lower depths because there are too many enemies that can instakill you at that point.

I still learned a lot and decided to start a new character, this time playing as a ring again. After a couple false starts I got some good luck at the start of the game, then mixed up my dungeons and accidentally wandered into a high level area, where I got killed in a single hit again.

Maybe I should switch to one of the many, many games on my backlog instead...

I was far from home in Hytale and exploring an ice cavern where I had found a decent amount of iron and my first cobalt. Then I accidentally punched a hole in the floor, as you do in Minecraft-type games, and there was a massive open area far below me with a pool of water in the middle with ice all around. I cleared out some more space and there was iron and cobalt everywhere.

That's when I had a sense of impending doom and turned around and went all the way back home so I could drop off all the other crap I'd picked up along the way. I'll head back there tomorrow.

 

[Zloth]

Terra Invicta is tuff stuff. I've restarted multiple times now, but I've finally gotten sway over the USA. Inequality is badly out of control, but I should be able to turn things around. You can't really just go straight at the USA and expect to get anywhere, but you can take Canada without too much trouble and throw in some control points of Mexico. Those neighboring influences, plus some of your own influence, and probably a few weeks in public relations can give you a good shot.

Though now I've got about as many control points as I can handle, so there's not much for all my PR people to do. I guess it's time to let most of them go and hire folks that are better at defending the planet.

P.S. You get more ability to boost things up into space from nations nearer the equator. These guys think of everything!

 

[Pifanjr]

I'm still not in a mood to pick up and learn a new game and all of the games I was playing are on the new PC, which my wife has been using to gear up for the launch of World of Warcraft: Midnight. So more FrogComposband it is.

As the ring race you learn new spells from the magical rings/amulets you absorb, meaning your available spells are dependent on RNG. In my current run I already got three tiers of bolt spells, a fireball spell and the speed buff. I'm not high enough level to cast all of them yet, but these are all essential to have.

You also need a creature to wear you, which is how you move around. The creature also fights independently of you and you use its speed stat, so you want something that's fast, has a ranged attack and is somewhat durable. I found a Druid which can cast spells and do short teleports, which was pretty useful to stay out of melee (though the teleport is random, so sometimes I'd end up interviewing middle of a group of enemies). It has now evolved into a Jade Monk which is faster, can shoot lightning bolts and can stun creatures in melee.

 

[Pifanjr]

Nevermind, I messed up again. I didn't think I would need to use a healing potion because I was kiting the enemies, but I got taken out by a dragon I couldn't even see breathing ice from behind a tree. I should've just used the potion.

New Ring character is currently using Smeagol as its mount, which is kind of funny. I don't think he actually has any attacks, but he's really fast and has a ton of health for a low level character.

 

[Zloth]

New Ring character is currently using Smeagol as its mount, which is kind of funny. I don't think he actually has any attacks, but he's really fast and has a ton of health for a low level character.

Naassssty @Pifanjrss! They RIDEs us, and then they WHIPS us!! Poor Smeagol never hurt nasty Pifanjrs, but they rides us anyway! Well, maybe Smeagol did eat one of its catses, but it was eying Smeagol's fishes!

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I just found the last room in Blue Prince, took me about 30 hours playing mostly with my family.

The resource management part makes the game engaging moment to moment, and as you go on solving puzzles you become better able to manipulate the mansion to guide it towards giving you more of what you need to progress more during a run. It does occasionally mean you get stuck in a run where you need a certain room or item to progress and it wont spawn. That didnt bother me much because it was pretty rare that I didnt discover anything new at all, even if I didnt find the thing I was focused on.

Very good game, Ive seen credits after 30 leisurely hours but theres a lot more lore and other puzzles to solve beyond as well.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Pretty good sale on Space Marine 2, so I went ahead and picked it up.

 

[Zloth]

Well, I got my nations in Terra Invictus - now what? Boost is slowly building up, but I've got nothing to boost. Technology is nowhere near space mining. I can make myself a bother to the other factions and try to make my councilors more useful, I guess, but that isn't at all engaging.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Steam Publisher: rokaplay

At rokaplay, we're all about celebrating the cozy and family-friendly games on Steam.

store.steampowered.com

These guys do cozy and casual (solitaire) games and are having a good sale if anyone is interested.

 

[BeardyHat]

Well, I got my nations in Terra Invictus - now what? Boost is slowly building up, but I've got nothing to boost. Technology is nowhere near space mining. I can make myself a bother to the other factions and try to make my councilors more useful, I guess, but that isn't at all engaging.

Took a look at this this morning and it looks like the kind of game I want to be into, but I really don't think it's for me. I've been wanting to get into Crusader Kings and Europe Universalis for years now, but I end-up taking one look at the interface and noping out.

Guess I'll stick with pleb games like Civ 6 for now!

Speaking of which, I got surprise attacked by my northern neighbor the other day. I did do a little save scumming, because my Settler I had sent out prior just took the stupidest path into danger repeatedly, so I had to micro manage him in order to keep him from being captured.

That said, I had enough money to Levy the military of my neighboring City-State, which was useful given my army was way down South dealing with Barbarians. I sustained some attacks on my Capital for quite awhile, but eventually pushed the invaders back and managed to take their City to my immediate north. I forced them to cede it to me in the Peace negotiatons and I'm still viewed as a Hero by the world, since I was attacked first.

Pretty sweet, I'd say.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Took a look at this this morning and it looks like the kind of game I want to be into, but I really don't think it's for me. I've been wanting to get into Crusader Kings and Europe Universalis for years now, but I end-up taking one look at the interface and noping out.

Guess I'll stick with pleb games like Civ 6 for now!

Speaking of which, I got surprise attacked by my northern neighbor the other day. I did do a little save scumming, because my Settler I had sent out prior just took the stupidest path into danger repeatedly, so I had to micro manage him in order to keep him from being captured.

That said, I had enough money to Levy the military of my neighboring City-State, which was useful given my army was way down South dealing with Barbarians. I sustained some attacks on my Capital for quite awhile, but eventually pushed the invaders back and managed to take their City to my immediate north. I forced them to cede it to me in the Peace negotiatons and I'm still viewed as a Hero by the world, since I was attacked first.

Pretty sweet, I'd say.

One thing I think is interesting with Civ (at least in Civ 5) is that the other civs keep an eye on you. One time I was moving a bunch of units somewhat close to a civ I was getting ready to attack. All of a sudden the leader of that civ popped up a message saying, "I see what you are doing. Declare your intentions." and I had the option of attacking immediately, which would have been very costly, or telling the leader that they were fine for at least 10 years. I decided, poorly, to lie and tell them they were fine, and then I attacked a turn later.

I NEVER heard the end of that. Every unallied civ in the game hated me until the very end.

Civ 5 is my favorite among 4, 5 and 6. Haven't tried 7.

 

[BeardyHat]

One thing I think is interesting with Civ (at least in Civ 5) is that the other civs keep an eye on you. One time I was moving a bunch of units somewhat close to a civ I was getting ready to attack. All of a sudden the leader of that civ popped up a message saying, "I see what you are doing. Declare your intentions." and I had the option of attacking immediately, which would have been very costly, or telling the leader that they were fine for at least 10 years. I decided, poorly, to lie and tell them they were fine, and then I attacked a turn later.

I NEVER heard the end of that. Every unallied civ in the game hated me until the very end.

Civ 5 is my favorite among 4, 5 and 6. Haven't tried 7.

I've played a decent amount of 5 and should actually go back to it, but Civ 6 has captured my attention with a lot of the changes and I actually really like the art style in 6.

Civ 6 isn't much different, but for whatever reason, 5 felt more micro-managey with units for some reason.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I've played a decent amount of 5 and should actually go back to it, but Civ 6 has captured my attention with a lot of the changes and I actually really like the art style in 6.

Civ 6 isn't much different, but for whatever reason, 5 felt more micro-managey with units for some reason.

I like having as many workers as I want. A key part of my strategy is also building roads everywhere. And I have bad art taste, so I don't like Civ 6 art style

 

[Colif]

Generally when I get a new piece of hardware, I have used two sites to just jokingly see what reaction would be
One is Can you run it which I knew should have said I can 99% of all current games, as It did that before I updated GPU.
But when it went to install its tool it uses to check PC, it was blocked by Malwarebytes as a suspect download

No biggy, the site had already turned into a site to sell overly priced PC's or convince everyone that their GPU drivers are old (even if brand new) and they should download Driver Updater.

The other site used to be PC Benchmark but I knew from previous years that the site has also started to offload malware to people trying to use the tool. Or ask them to subscribe to use the tool. There are better tools not linked to biased websites. Their reviews of CPU are a humorous read, and make good April fool videos.

So I guess Google AI is achieving some things. Its destroyed these two sites.


Civ 7 is so different to the other 6 that its essentially a new series. I would wait a few expansions and see if its better then. Most players still play the previous 2 games in series. That is obvious from steam numbers.

 

[Zed Clampet]

But when it went to install its tool it uses to check PC, it was blocked by Malwarebytes as a suspect download

I don't know if that tool is okay or not, but Malwarebytes automatically blocks these types of tools because they do some things that are similar to the way that malware works. Most "check my PC" tools will be flagged by Malwarebytes including the two you listed even if they are perfectly fine.

It also checks for things like Windows signatures, which a lot of non-commercial software don't have.

The best way to be sure is to download them into a sandbox (not the Microsoft version), but legitimate sandboxes are also going to be flagged, most of the time, by Malwarebytes.

 

[Colif]

I am not really concerned about getting either, as I don't really take them seriously anyway.

I haven't bothered setting up a virtual machine on this PC, unlike my last one. I have no use for it anymore.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I am not really concerned about getting either, as I don't really take them seriously anyway.

I haven't bothered setting up a virtual machine on this PC, unlike my last one. I have no use for it anymore.

I knew you didn't care about these programs. I was just talking about PC users in general and wanted to point out that Malwarebytes, a great tool beloved by gamers, is going to have a lot of false positives depending on the type of software you are trying to install. This often puts you in an uncertain situation if you are unsure of the software yourself. At this point, if you really want the software, the best thing to do is to use a sandbox.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I am not really concerned about getting either, as I don't really take them seriously anyway.

I haven't bothered setting up a virtual machine on this PC, unlike my last one. I have no use for it anymore.

By the way, a "virtual machine" and a "sandbox" are two entirely different things.

 

[BeardyHat]

Civ 7 is so different to the other 6 that its essentially a new series. I would wait a few expansions and see if its better then. Most players still play the previous 2 games in series. That is obvious from steam numbers.

I learned my lesson with 6, buying it when it had come out. Haven't even looked at 7 at all, but I'll wait a few years until they whip it into shape, as is tradition.

 

[Pifanjr]

Smeagol cast me aside and could not be convinced to change his mind. Heartbroken by this betrayal, I slew him in a moment of anger... then sold his body to the Bounty Office for a couple of speed potions, which I threw on the pile in my home.

I'm now being carrier by "Pip, the Braver from Another World". I have no idea if that's a reference to something, but he's pretty decent. Not nearly as fast as Smeagol, but about as tough and he shoots fireballs and firebolts.

I've gotten a lot more powerful myself as well, though I still have a long way to go.

 

[Colif]

By the way, a "virtual machine" and a "sandbox" are two entirely different things.

They can be or you can use a VM as a sandbox. I had a program on my win 10 vm that did the same thing as a sandbox, it would create a special environment, and wipe all changes at shut-down and leave VM as it was before. Since I had win 11 installed, a win 10 VM was useful for some things.

What's the Difference Between a Sandbox and a Virtual Machine? - Ask Leo!

Sandboxes and virtual machines share some characteristics, but they are fundamentally different technologies. I'll look at both from a high level.

askleo.com

 

[Zed Clampet]

They can be or you can use a VM as a sandbox. I had a program on my win 10 vm that did the same thing as a sandbox, it would create a special environment, and wipe all changes at shut-down and leave VM as it was before. Since I had win 11 installed, a win 10 VM was useful for some things.

What's the Difference Between a Sandbox and a Virtual Machine? - Ask Leo!

Sandboxes and virtual machines share some characteristics, but they are fundamentally different technologies. I'll look at both from a high level.

askleo.com

As your article says, they are fundamentally different technologies. And VMs are not as reliable as sandboxes. Sophisticated malware can tell if you are running a VM and do bad things. Not to mention they are absolute resource hogs and can introduce latency.