July 2025 General Game Discussion Thread

[Pifanjr]

I played some more of my Rimworld iceberg colony. My plan was to build a comm station and see if I could use it to request a bulk good trader so I could buy more steel. However, when I finally got enough steel, my pawn botched the construction which meant I lost half of the steel.

After a lot more waiting I finally managed to scrounge the steel together, only to find out you need to be allies with a faction to request a trader. But I can't become allies with anyone since there's no one else on the North Pole with me.

I decided to cheat 35 steel so I could built a trade beacon and I spawned an orbital trader so I could sell all of my stuff and buy as much steel as I could. That allowed me to build a tiny grav ship, just large enough for all the required components and 4 shelves.

I deconstructed my entire base, turned every bit of wood and a bunch of food into fuel and learned that my gravship couldn't fly far enough to get me off of the North Pole directly. So I had to cheat a bunch more to do a few jumps in a row to get off of the North Pole and onto a small tundra island, somehow accidentally deleting an entire shelf off of my ship and leaving one of my colonists behind.

So now I have 4 colonists on the brink of a breakdown after flying for hours through the freezing air on a ship without walls, landing on an island where it's still about -40 degrees outside and without any of the comforts they're used to.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I pretty much agree with everyone's posts on content being forced off of systems by the credit card companies. However, I do want to point out that this has been going on for many years, and the credit card companies have, up to this point, always gone after content that involves either incest or children, both of which are illegal in many countries where Visa and Mastercard do business. To my knowledge, they have never gone after any other type of material.

However, the fact that they wield this type of power is concerning and needs to be addressed somehow. But even if we find a way of addressing this, they will still be allowed to refuse service for illegal content, so what they have been doing may not even change. You can't force a company to perform illegal acts, so the situation is more complicated than some of us are seeing.

yeah, the cats sort of out of the bag, if it happens in one situation theres a good chance it will happen in a other scenarios and games like Doom might be targeted. I'm all for banning illegal porn (CP, SA, underage etc, etc) but moral outrage on someones kink might be a step too far.

its scarier how they even managed to pull it off and convince these companies to do it. Perhaps different payment methods are in order. Which might lead to more shady dealings which will have the reverse effect. Case in point prohibition in the 30s. not the same thing admittedly, but its possible.

Unsurprisingly, in the UK the top search since the OSA was implemented was ... VPNs. Will the government now ban vpns? will we see a china style firewall n the UK? will we see restrictions on 18/15 movie trailers? or perhaps on games or even playing multiplayer games?

only time will tell. Right now, i'm going back to playing Orwell and putting my security analyst cap on. Need to stop another bombing on the glorious nation of bonton.

@neogunhero

Collective Shout has tried for years to get Mastercard and Visa to stop paying for games like GTA and Detroit Become Human. And they listed over 500 games on Steam that needed to come down, and Valve took down less than 100 of them, so it's not a situation where they just get everything that they want.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Wow, Dune Awakening can be stressful. I'm worn out.

 

[Colif]

Sees spam for "Real cash gaming" and my immediate thought was... nah, I prefer fake cash in games. I much prefer fake currencies (NOTE: that you cannot buy with real cash) over games where you can just pay to win.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Logged into Dune Awakening and immediately got the "Please find a safe place to log out. The server is restarting in 20 minutes" message. I'm excited to get back in because we left everything running and had about 250 aluminum ingots smelted when I got there. I should be able to craft myself an ornithopter and some nice weapons and such.

 

[Colif]

immediately got the "Please find a safe place to log out. The server is restarting in 20 minutes" message

That reminds me of wow. Tuesday nights used to be maintenance nights. Some days it was only short, others it was a night off. Server maintenance and thunderstorms were about only things that stopped me playing that game... well, until I saw the light and escaped that tunnel.

 

[neogunhero]

Not much gaming news on my front. This weekend I went on a long trip, so only had yesterday to do some stuff. I was able to flash MuOS onto my Anbernic RG28XX handheld which seems to work much better than the OS it came with. I also chucked the SD card it came with, it was crappy and kept giving me errors when trying to read/write to it on Windows, but as soon as I bought a cheap SanDisk SD card it worked flawlessly. Need to get more games on there, all I've really been playing is Tony Hawk, when I've been playing the remasters on PC lol.

 

[BeardyHat]

Not much gaming news on my front. This weekend I went on a long trip, so only had yesterday to do some stuff. I was able to flash MuOS onto my Anbernic RG28XX handheld which seems to work much better than the OS it came with. I also chucked the SD card it came with, it was crappy and kept giving me errors when trying to read/write to it on Windows, but as soon as I bought a cheap SanDisk SD card it worked flawlessly. Need to get more games on there, all I've really been playing is Tony Hawk, when I've been playing the remasters on PC lol.

Definitely gotta toss the SD cards these things come with, they're almost always universally trash and the custom firmware is usually what makes these things!

I finished Might & Magic 4 several days ago on my vacation

Need to jump in to the next portion of the game, but haven't felt motivated yet due to a combination of tiredness, business and then illness.

Caught some sort of stomach bug on our trip and managed to miss most of the wedding we were supposed to go to. Still have it minorly, but it's much better than it was. Hopefully I'll feel up to jumping back in to gaming today, think my cat kept me up most of the night...

 

[DXCHASE]

Definitely gotta toss the SD cards these things come with, they're almost always universally trash and the custom firmware is usually what makes these things!

I finished Might & Magic 4 several days ago on my vacation

I think the next major purchase for me gaming wise is going to be a steam deck or equivalent. My gaming lifestyle allows me to be at a PC a lot if i want to but, tbh im also getting to a point where i dont want to be there as much but can still play games. Its not any inconvenience to not having one like i dont go on a lot of trips or spend much time outside lol but, at this point, i feel like i should be able to have the option. Idk when itll go down, maybe when theres a steamdeck 2?


Currently have about 50 hours in Killing Floor 3 (that includes its beta tests) and im still having a lot of fun for what is there. There are a LOT of issues with the game, mainly, for me anyways, ue5 crashes but the general loop of the game (kill zeds, spend cash, stay alive, level up rinse repeat) is fun and addictive. Its the same loop thats in KF1 and KF2.

I do have to mention that the community is, surprise, pretty toxic. Sitting at Mixed right now on steam, most people complaining at this point are really just rage-baiters imo. Lots of less-than-5-hour reviews stating this and that of completely false problems. That or they are just mad it isnt a 1:1 KF2. Its as if noone played KF1 or KF2 when they first launched. Theres also a lot of misinformation getting spread. People complaining about issues that were address weeks ago by Tripwire stating itd take some time to fix after launch.

I believe the way they (tripwire) have taken it is fine enough graphically and system-wise but there hasnt been a patch yet or any comms in steam over the weekend. I know the director was at SDCC but if a patch doesnt drop this week for any reason, im gonna be worried about their support.

Its not flawless, far from it actually, but its still gory, frantic, heart-pounding fun and couple that with a good amount of time spent playing with my people its for sure worth playing.

Its also a very solid shooter for an FPS. I think a lot of the gun sights need some tweaking, especially on the sniper, but overall guns feel weighty and the gore system they use for slashing is super fun to do.




Changing games, whoever decided that 1-shot mechanics and Immunity stages in bosses in Diablo 4 was a good idea, should go work for ubisoft or something. These 2 features of D4 have me crashing out sometimes. Then there is the constant server stuttering. Idk how people can play HC on this game and actually do all the activities because The Pit is so notorious for stuttering where one second your running and then stutter BOOM your dead, there goes the extra stuff for not dieing. And no, its not me, its a highly known issue with the game.

 

[neogunhero]

Definitely gotta toss the SD cards these things come with, they're almost always universally trash and the custom firmware is usually what makes these things!

It wasn't that bad when it was in the device, but when I plugged it into my PC, it would constantly connect/disconnect and just act all janky. Threw it away immediately. The OS also wasn't terrible, there was a good amount of games preinstalled, and it seemed to work fine overall, but MuOS is so much faster and easier to configure emulator options.

Idk when itll go down, maybe when theres a steamdeck 2?

Kind of how I'm feeling too. I really want a Steam Deck but in a way I feel I missed the purchase timeline to make the purchase feel worth it in my head. The reason is because it's a few years old, new handhelds are coming out every few months with much faster hardware, and all the rumors/leaks around Steam Deck 2 is making me want to wait. The little handheld I have now only plays up to PS1/N64 games, now I just need one to play Steam games.

 

[BeardyHat]

It wasn't that bad when it was in the device, but when I plugged it into my PC, it would constantly connect/disconnect and just act all janky. Threw it away immediately. The OS also wasn't terrible, there was a good amount of games preinstalled, and it seemed to work fine overall, but MuOS is so much faster and easier to configure emulator options.

Kind of how I'm feeling too. I really want a Steam Deck but in a way I feel I missed the purchase timeline to make the purchase feel worth it in my head. The reason is because it's a few years old, new handhelds are coming out every few months with much faster hardware, and all the rumors/leaks around Steam Deck 2 is making me want to wait. The little handheld I have now only plays up to PS1/N64 games, now I just need one to play Steam games.

Yeah, they're just known to fail after not too long and you end up losing all your saves. I picked up a group of 5 of 32gb ones at Microcenter for about $15, just so I wouldn't have to deal with it.

Speaking of Handhelds Anbernic is about to drop the 477m, which is mighty nice and would be an upgrade to my 405m, but I don't think I could justify it. It's far too close in price to my Steam Deck, while being bigger than I'd like and not offering any more capability than what I already have.

As far as Steam Deck goes with you and @DXCHASE , you could always go used on eBay. They seem to be running about $350 US. But I'm a big fan of buying used to first ensure it's something I really want before committing to new. $350 is still a lot, but not nearly as bad as the almost $600 I paid back in 2022 and then the stuff I've done since then ($130 2Tb disk and $50 battery replacement earlier this year).

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

All this talk of handhelds. Next month is tax return and bonus month for me here, thinking about dropping some money on a Retroid Pocket 5, would that Anbernic 477m be competitive?

I have a new phone with an OLED screen and it looks incredible, so I was drooling over the Pocket 5 being able to play up rezzed PS2 games on one of those.

I have the same reservations as @neogunhero about buying a soon to be out of date Steam Deck, and I kind of like the idea of having a non PC handheld. I also dont want to drop a grand on one of the Windows options, but I wouldnt feel terrible about a couple of hundred.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've considered buying a Steam Deck, but I don't think I'd use it all that much. I think the screen would be too small for me and it would just end up collecting dust.

My kid wants to have a Nintendo Switch and with the Switch 2 releasing it should be pretty easy to find a second hand one for cheap. However, I told her she'll have to pay for it herself because it's still way too expensive to just buy one for her.

 

[Johnway]

I've considered buying a Steam Deck, but I don't think I'd use it all that much. I think the screen would be too small for me and it would just end up collecting dust.

My kid wants to have a Nintendo Switch and with the Switch 2 releasing it should be pretty easy to find a second hand one for cheap. However, I told her she'll have to pay for it herself because it's still way too expensive to just buy one for her.

The switch lite second hand (from cex) usually goes for under 200 these days. Some even as low as 105. My bigger problem at the cost of the games. they still go for full RRP in some cases even second hand. Which kills my enthusiasm for the switch these days.

But yeah, make children work for it. They instill hardwork/motivation to get something they want or learn to save up to get what you want and/or pick their battles as to what they want with the limited resources they have.

Certainly whenever i make the decision involving money i get anxious. Like buying my new pc i was wondering whether i was doing the right thing or whether its was necessary. Also felt like i was putting my old war horse down to be replaced with a younger stronger model.

 

[neogunhero]

The switch lite second hand (from cex) usually goes for under 200 these days. Some even as low as 105. My bigger problem at the cost of the games. they still go for full RRP in some cases even second hand. Which kills my enthusiasm for the switch these days.

About two years ago, my local store had the Switch Lite on deep discount for I think $140. I picked one up for my wife to play Animal Crossing, which she loved, but when we went to look for other games, they were still crazy expensive. Call me either a spoiled PC gamer, or call Nintendo greedy, but a 7 year old game should not still cost $60, no matter how good it is. All of their first-party titles are that way and it's insane. They must be trying to sucker in people who are just now getting into the Nintendo ecosystem for the very first time, or people who have lost/damaged their physical copies of these games. No gamer in their right mind would think that's a good value for a video game that old.

 

[BeardyHat]

All this talk of handhelds. Next month is tax return and bonus month for me here, thinking about dropping some money on a Retroid Pocket 5, would that Anbernic 477m be competitive?

I have a new phone with an OLED screen and it looks incredible, so I was drooling over the Pocket 5 being able to play up rezzed PS2 games on one of those.

I have the same reservations as @neogunhero about buying a soon to be out of date Steam Deck, and I kind of like the idea of having a non PC handheld. I also dont want to drop a grand on one of the Windows options, but I wouldnt feel terrible about a couple of hundred.

Honestly, if you've got the phone, why not buy a Bluetooth controller and see how you feel about it? Pretty much any old Android thing can emulate quite well these days; I just recently bought a NXTPaper 11 Plus, a $200 Android tablet and for fun I was mucking around with emulation. It'll do PSP 2x, SOME PS2 (Dragon Quest V is quite easy to emulate), as well as Gamecube (Paper Mario ran well), so I'm assuming PSX and Dreamcast would also be great.

Then you can be sure you really wanna drop the cash.

Now honestly, if I was choosing between the RP5 and the 477m? I'd probably go with the RP5. Mostly because for me, it's important that my handheld be pocketable and the 477m is just pretty damn huge; I bought the predecessor, the 405m because it was smaller than my Vita, so very easy to chuck in my pocket and carry it around with me (though this is a stupid requirement for me, given I rarely to never actually play anything when I'm out and about, but it's like a comfort blanket or something). So if I'm going to have this huge thing with me anyway, I'd rather have the bigger screen of the RP5; though I guess you could argue that the 477m is probably better equipped to just be tossed in a bag without a case, given it's metal.

The other downside of the 477m is that there are fewer compatible Android games for 4:3. One thing I dislike about my 405m is that lots of games might theoretically work, but they won't work on 4:3, so either they don't run at all or they run in 16:9, making them tiny as hell on my 4" screen. Peglin has this issue.

All that said, I feel like in either case you're getting damn close to (used) Steam Deck money, so you need to really consider what you want to play. Honestly, the out of dateness of the Deck is fairly irrelevant, I think. Even in 2022, the Deck wasn't the most amazing thing and struggled with some AAA games; to me you get the Deck because you want to explore older stuff or indies in your library that will run better and sip battery. My favorite things I've played on my Deck has been stuff like Pentiment, Felvidek, Snowrunner and now Might & Magic 4, soon to be more DOS games. Plus, it'll emulate better than an RP5, you're just losing the more portable aspect of it. To my mind, the "low specness" of the Deck puts you in a different frame of mind for what you can and want to play.

That said, it isn't for everyone...

I've considered buying a Steam Deck, but I don't think I'd use it all that much. I think the screen would be too small for me and it would just end up collecting dust.

My kid wants to have a Nintendo Switch and with the Switch 2 releasing it should be pretty easy to find a second hand one for cheap. However, I told her she'll have to pay for it herself because it's still way too expensive to just buy one for her.

Such as my friends. I had two friends that saw my Deck and how much, as well as how I used it and they decided to buy themselves one, which I thought wasn't a great purchase for either of them. They both have plenty of time to sit at their PC's, being unencumbered by family and family obligations. So they bought one, enjoyed it for a bit and then yeah, they pretty much just collect dust. With the Deck, I feel like you really gotta be ready to fully exploit it, playing older stuff or indies, as well as having a real need and want to aggressively use the suspend function.

I do think my oldest would love to have a Switch. I ought to tell him he could buy it for himself if he can save (doubtful), but yeah then you've got the games, as everyone has mentioned. I wonder if He would even end-up playing it all that much, given he may only ever have one or two games, versus the currently dozens on my Steam library that are appropriate, with a catalogue that grows as he ages.

 

[Zloth]

I do think my oldest would love to have a Switch. I ought to tell him he could buy it for himself if he can save (doubtful)...

Maybe he can buy it from your friends - and get them to throw in a dust rag as a bonus.

 

[BeardyHat]

Maybe he can buy it from your friends - and get them to throw in a dust rag as a bonus.

I don't want my son touching any rags my friends have laying around.

There's a reason I never lived with them.

 

[Pifanjr]

About two years ago, my local store had the Switch Lite on deep discount for I think $140. I picked one up for my wife to play Animal Crossing, which she loved, but when we went to look for other games, they were still crazy expensive. Call me either a spoiled PC gamer, or call Nintendo greedy, but a 7 year old game should not still cost $60, no matter how good it is. All of their first-party titles are that way and it's insane. They must be trying to sucker in people who are just now getting into the Nintendo ecosystem for the very first time, or people who have lost/damaged their physical copies of these games. No gamer in their right mind would think that's a good value for a video game that old.

I just checked for second hand Switch games and it seems they're at least €25 for the major titles, at least if you buy them separately. They can be a bit cheaper if you buy a Switch with a bunch of games together, though there's usually a couple games included you don't care for anyway.

Honestly, if you've got the phone, why not buy a Bluetooth controller and see how you feel about it? Pretty much any old Android thing can emulate quite well these days; I just recently bought a NXTPaper 11 Plus, a $200 Android tablet and for fun I was mucking around with emulation. It'll do PSP 2x, SOME PS2 (Dragon Quest V is quite easy to emulate), as well as Gamecube (Paper Mario ran well), so I'm assuming PSX and Dreamcast would also be great.

Then you can be sure you really wanna drop the cash.

I've tried using a bluetooth controller on my phone, but the screen was too small to use comfortably. I've wondered about one of those accessories that adds buttons on the side of your phone, but I doubt that would be significantly better.

Such as my friends. I had two friends that saw my Deck and how much, as well as how I used it and they decided to buy themselves one, which I thought wasn't a great purchase for either of them. They both have plenty of time to sit at their PC's, being unencumbered by family and family obligations. So they bought one, enjoyed it for a bit and then yeah, they pretty much just collect dust. With the Deck, I feel like you really gotta be ready to fully exploit it, playing older stuff or indies, as well as having a real need and want to aggressively use the suspend function.

Yeah, I ended up buying a new second-hand PC instead, which was a much better investment as it was also a major upgrade to what we had before (though also quite a bit more expensive than a Steam Deck).

I do think my oldest would love to have a Switch. I ought to tell him he could buy it for himself if he can save (doubtful), but yeah then you've got the games, as everyone has mentioned. I wonder if He would even end-up playing it all that much, given he may only ever have one or two games, versus the currently dozens on my Steam library that are appropriate, with a catalogue that grows as he ages.

I have my doubts about how much my kid would play on the Switch as well. Whenever she asks to go on the PC she often just watches a video instead of playing a game, despite having quite a few games she can play, including ones she hasn't even tried yet.

 

[Colif]

Whenever she asks to go on the PC she often just watches a video instead of playing a game, despite having quite a few games she can play, including ones she hasn't even tried yet.

big screens easier to watch movies/videos on. Maybe that is more interesting to her than just playing games.

I don't play games on mobiles. Needing to wear my reading glasses to see the screen, does that. Easier to see games/movies/anything on 32inch screen compared to 6.4inch screen. You can see details not even shown on the little screen.

if you had a 138inch monitor she wouldn't let you use it at all

 

[BeardyHat]

I've tried using a bluetooth controller on my phone, but the screen was too small to use comfortably. I've wondered about one of those accessories that adds buttons on the side of your phone, but I doubt that would be significantly better.

Even with the big phone screens? I have a Bluetooth one for my phone, but actually don't use it, because I consider the whole contraption "a little big"

I have my doubts about how much my kid would play on the Switch as well. Whenever she asks to go on the PC she often just watches a video instead of playing a game, despite having quite a few games she can play, including ones she hasn't even tried yet.

Mine go through this periodically, especially when they were younger. Right now they're much more in to gaming, but I'm sure it'll switch back as they get bored with whatever games they're currently playing.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Honestly, if you've got the phone, why not buy a Bluetooth controller and see how you feel about it? Pretty much any old Android thing can emulate quite well these days; I just recently bought a NXTPaper 11 Plus, a $200 Android tablet and for fun I was mucking around with emulation. It'll do PSP 2x, SOME PS2 (Dragon Quest V is quite easy to emulate), as well as Gamecube (Paper Mario ran well), so I'm assuming PSX and Dreamcast would also be great.

Then you can be sure you really wanna drop the cash.

Its a good idea, I even just found my phone has a better GPU than the RP5. But I would like to keep a seperation between my personal phone, and any kind of emulation. I do have some phones laying around but theyre older and the screens are pretty scratched up.

I'm a bit afraid of death by a thousand cuts to the wallet lol. I buy the 8Bit Do controller, then get a Miyoo Mini or similar and then end up buying a more powerful device anyway a year later. It the kind of thing I would do.

Now honestly, if I was choosing between the RP5 and the 477m? I'd probably go with the RP5. Mostly because for me, it's important that my handheld be pocketable and the 477m is just pretty damn huge; I bought the predecessor, the 405m because it was smaller than my Vita, so very easy to chuck in my pocket and carry it around with me (though this is a stupid requirement for me, given I rarely to never actually play anything when I'm out and about, but it's like a comfort blanket or something). So if I'm going to have this huge thing with me anyway, I'd rather have the bigger screen of the RP5; though I guess you could argue that the 477m is probably better equipped to just be tossed in a bag without a case, given it's metal.

Good to know, it wont be travelling much, I dont intend to play on the bus or anything but the screen seems to be really nice on the RP5 and thats whats pushing me there.

All that said, I feel like in either case you're getting damn close to (used) Steam Deck money, so you need to really consider what you want to play. Honestly, the out of dateness of the Deck is fairly irrelevant, I think. Even in 2022, the Deck wasn't the most amazing thing and struggled with some AAA games; to me you get the Deck because you want to explore older stuff or indies in your library that will run better and sip battery. My favorite things I've played on my Deck has been stuff like Pentiment, Felvidek, Snowrunner and now Might & Magic 4, soon to be more DOS games. Plus, it'll emulate better than an RP5, you're just losing the more portable aspect of it. To my mind, the "low specness" of the Deck puts you in a different frame of mind for what you can and want to play.

That said, it isn't for everyone...

I've been burned buying used electronics, so if Im spending a few hundred (the cheapest Steam Deck 256GB on the local market is €350) I'd much rather spend a couple more to get something with a warranty. Also my Switch will still do most Indie games, and I'd like something with a completely different library.

I do appreciate the thoughts, its always good to hear some options!

Speaking of which apparently Ayaneo is releasing something under the brand 'KONKR' to go up against the RP5 in the next few days. Could be interesting, although I dont know how I'd feel about showing people my Konkr.

 

[Pifanjr]

Even with the big phone screens? I have a Bluetooth one for my phone, but actually don't use it, because I consider the whole contraption "a little big"

Maybe if I'd had a handheld as a kid I'd be more used to it, but my brother figured out emulation when I was like 7 or so, so I got used to played games meant for handhelds on a large monitor and a keyboard instead.

 

[neogunhero]

I've refunded some games I purchased on impulse during the summer sale. Just can't see myself getting around to them realistically. I really need to go through my library and make an honest backlog of games I want to play or revisit, but now I have $16 burning a hole in my Steam wallet. I think I'll be strong and hold onto it for now, and maybe something new down the line will catch my eye.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I finished Mouthwashing, its a surprisingly disturbing PS1 styled psychological Scifi horror game. Its pretty much a walking simulator that requires you to do what it tells you to progress, although there are a couple of light puzzles that you need to pay attention to the environment for.

It was interesting, I didnt find it much fun but it asks a couple of thoughtful questions here and there. 7/10, its only 2.5 hours long but got quite uncomfortable to play in places, if you like that kind of thing.

Also finished 1000X Resist. Another Sci Fi walking simulator, theres a bit more too this one that Mouthwashing in every way. Couple of very profound moments, some annoying parts with a bit too much wandering around blindly. Theres not really puzzles here, just dialogue and exploration. Its surreal and dreamlike, the perspectives jump around a lot between levels and scenes and its confusing at times, but its by design and kind of comes together in the end. I say kind of because its not all explicitly explained in detail (or I'm too dumb or impatient to work it out), and maybe thats for the best. I'll give it an 8/10, but halfway through I would have said 6/10. Im glad I played it to completion.