June 2025 General Game Discussion Thread

[Zed Clampet]

I never preorder and wait for reviews and look at walkthrough before buying them. I will buy only games that are stellar like Expedition 33 that provides the most fun for majority of users.

I just read the user reviews on Steam. I almost never preorder, but I preordered Expedition 33 without hesitation. I could tell the moment I watched their announcement trailer that this was going to be an all-timer. The level of brilliance and care that went into that trailer just left no doubt.

 

[BeardyHat]

Without getting into specific spoilers, I'll just tell you that the bosses are the game's weak spot.

The game has some fun and interesting stuff going on after you leave the initial house, but it kind of stops being scary for the most part. It's more like RE4 levels of scary then. But it's still pretty fun.

I love RE, but I've had two games, 5 and 8, where I arrived at the final boss with almost nothing, no consumables and no ammo. In 5, I had to backtrack and farm areas before returning to the boss. In 8, I just fought him over and over until I somehow won. In fairness to 8, there was a merchant out of sight around a corner that I didn't know about. Anyway, you shouldn't have this problem in 7.

Well, that's interesting to know. I actually don't mind that it's not terribly scary anymore; I love the gameplay of the RE series and the third person games don't bother me in the slightest. But I found the first person perspective really gets me tense, so I'm quite alright with things being dialed back.

It's sort of funny in that case about the bosses. It really feels almost... Anticlimactic in that case. I just killed Margarite and I was thinking, that's it? Feels like I didn't get to know her as a villain and she was not even remotely a threat. Felt like surely they'd be coming back given how quickly it all went.

 

[PointnClicker01]

I didn't get creative or silly (for once in my life). I just called it The Sunday Times. How about yours?

I‘ve made two run throughs so far, and I chose different names each time. The first time I wanted to have a old and traditional sounding name, so I called it The Herald. The second time I went with The Morning Bird.

That reminds me: shouldn't we up our game around here and start including bibliographies in our posts?

Can we just do in-text citations?

Example:

This is a fact! (Clampet, 2025, a$$)

Dear God, please no! (PointnClicker01, 2025, every time she has to cite things)

 

[Zed Clampet]

@PointnClicker01

I haven't tried this yet, but this game seems to be along the same lines as News Tower:

Save 20% on Ale Abbey - Monastery Brewery Tycoon on Steam

Build and expand your monastery, craft recipes and brew holy ales in this unique brewery tycoon. No pre-made recipes in Ale Abbey, oh no. It's a canvas for true beer alchemists. It's as simple as: brew, sip, repeat. Welcome to Ale Abbey!

store.steampowered.com

Of course, in my mind, brewing beer isn't as romantic a notion as starting a newspaper in New York, but the game structure is very similar.

 

[PakGamerNerd40s]

I had to cut MindsEye from the list of interested games showcased on GameFest.
The reviews on Steam are mostly negative (60 percent) (Steam, 2025).

Also, here is one of the honest review about this game (LegacyKillaHD, 2025).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC_v8fDTcWM

 

[neogunhero]

One thing that will never stop amazing me is that there are a lot of people who will spend full AAA game prices just so they can play for 15 minutes and leave a bad review, and most of them don't have the "refund" notice on their reviews, which Steam automatically puts there.

That's exactly what I was thinking. So many of the negative reviews don't indicate it was refunded. It makes me wonder, did these people buy the game solely to dunk on it in a review and forgot to refund, or are they holding out hope for improvements? The entire goal with that game is to eventually merge everything they did with Everywhere into MindsEye and give players the ability to fill the world with more missions and activities, which on one hand is cool but on the other seems lazy of the devs. My point being, I don't think that will ever happen, and if it does, there will not be enough people making content for the game to keep it sustainable for the company.

 

[Pifanjr]

I played a bunch more Dune Awakening today. I got to the second area of the game, which also unlocks a bunch of upgrades with the new resource, iron, you can get there.

I made the mistake of trying to set up a base first and crafting a couple extra tools before looking at all the new stuff I could craft now that I had access to iron. My life would have been a lot easier if I had just followed the main quest and unlocked the new generation of tools immediately, instead of trying to make outdated tools and scrounging for copper which wasn't nearly as common in this new area.

 

[Johnway]

Well... Assassins Creed Valhalla is finally finished. i see the end game screen for the main game and only the forgotten saga has not been played yet and a part of me wonders whether i care enough to play it. The other thing is perhaps keeping the game still installed so i can grab more free cosmentics, but i won't use them so maybe no.

update on the typical topic board.


Other then that? not much else. I'm still playing trails of cold steel and got to another boss where i've hit a wall again. The boss is ressistant to attacks and some magic and using magic arts in this game is annoying sometimes as theres a bloody delay and the damage is marginal when the bosses are bloody damage sponges.

 

[Frindis]

I played a bunch more Dune Awakening today. I got to the second area of the game, which also unlocks a bunch of upgrades with the new resource, iron, you can get there.

In case you or others are interested, here are some info about free skins for different buildings parts - https://duneawakening.com/twitch-drops/. You have to watch twitch stream for some hours before getting them all, but you can just mute stream, put it on low res and forget about the stream while doing other stuff. I have gotten some of the skins myself for the future free to play weekend (whenever that happens).

 

[Pifanjr]

I tried out the Galactic Science modpack for Minecraft today. It was recommended by someone on the Blightfall Discord server and after about two hours I can only conclude they were either making a joke or they're insane, because it's one of the worst I've seen.

The concept is fairly interesting, you start with being stuck on the moon and have to make a rocket which you can use to visit other planets.

However, since you're on the moon you only have access to moon blocks, which you can't use to craft anything with. Instead you have to make a sieve, gather a stack of moon dirt and then hold the right mouse button for about 5 minutes sifting this dirt for usable rocks.

Then you can use those rocks to make a stone pickaxe so you can mine moon rock which you then have to manually sift to find iron chunks.

Once you've done that you can make an automatic sieve, so you don't have to put something on your mouse button any more while you wait. The automatic sieve isn't any faster though, so you still have to wait forever and there isn't really anything else you can do in the mean time, especially since night takes forever and the mobs have been made stronger than regular Minecraft while you're stuck with a wooden sword.

 

[BeardyHat]

That's exactly what I was thinking. So many of the negative reviews don't indicate it was refunded. It makes me wonder, did these people buy the game solely to dunk on it in a review and forgot to refund, or are they holding out hope for improvements? The entire goal with that game is to eventually merge everything they did with Everywhere into MindsEye and give players the ability to fill the world with more missions and activities, which on one hand is cool but on the other seems lazy of the devs. My point being, I don't think that will ever happen, and if it does, there will not be enough people making content for the game to keep it sustainable for the company.

Honestly, the refund process is mildly obtuse enough that most people just don't bother. So many people come up against the slightest friction in life and the just give up.

I have quite a few friends like this; they'd never refund something if they don't like it, because it takes that little bit of extra effort to figure it out. I've also worked with countless people like this, who will just throw their hands up the minute they have to use their brains a little bit.

 

[Zloth]

Honestly, the refund process is mildly obtuse enough that most people just don't bother. So many people come up against the slightest friction in life and the just give up.

I was thinking they might be letting the review stay unmarked for a couple of weeks and refunded on the very last day, but your theory sounds far more likely.

P.S. I saw a review a day or two ago specifically asking readers to answer a question. Review didn't allow comments. (I marked it as funny.)

 

[Zed Clampet]

I played a bunch more Dune Awakening today. I got to the second area of the game, which also unlocks a bunch of upgrades with the new resource, iron, you can get there.

I made the mistake of trying to set up a base first and crafting a couple extra tools before looking at all the new stuff I could craft now that I had access to iron. My life would have been a lot easier if I had just followed the main quest and unlocked the new generation of tools immediately, instead of trying to make outdated tools and scrounging for copper which wasn't nearly as common in this new area.

I've come close multiple times in the last 24 hours, but it's 99 percent just because I want to build one of my ugly bases. I'm not sure I care enough about the rest of it to buy it, especially since I'd be playing solo.

I was looking at people's screenshots of what I assumed were their hideous bases that all look like Soviet-era concrete bunkers. And that's what is so appealing to me. I've never seen building pieces look like that.

 

[Colif]

tip of the day:

If on windows 11 and use an SSD or nvme as boot drive

1. search for "control panel"
2. choose System and security
3. click power options
4. in right hand column, click "Choose what the power buttons do"
5. Next to the yellow/blue shield, click "change settings that are currently unavailable"
6. untick Turn on fast start-up (recommended)
7. save changes

Fast start-up only helps hdd, if you have an nvme you are already faster than a hdd and won't see a major benefit having it on. If anything it can cause problems.

With fast start-up on, the PC is never actually turned off. It is another form of hibernation. It saves your current session to disk so when you start PC, its really just waking up. It can have negative effects on your ability to boot at all.

It shouldn't even be on for PC with nvme. It shouldn't be the default for windows 11 at all. If its not smart enough to tell difference between solid state and hdd, it shouldn't be on at all.

I didn't even realise it was on. I only noticed it last night when I wanted to add hibernate to the start menu.

note: same instructions work for 10.

 

[Zed Clampet]

tip of the day:

If on windows 11 and use an SSD or nvme as boot drive

1. search for "control panel"
2. choose System and security
3. click power options
4. in right hand column, click "Choose what the power buttons do"
5. Next to the yellow/blue shield, click "change settings that are currently unavailable"
6. untick Turn on fast start-up (recommended)
7. save changes

Fast start-up only helps hdd, if you have an nvme you are already faster than a hdd and won't see a major benefit having it on. If anything it can cause problems.

With fast start-up on, the PC is never actually turned off. It is another form of hibernation. It saves your current session to disk so when you start PC, its really just waking up. It can have negative effects on your ability to boot at all.

It shouldn't even be on for PC with nvme. It shouldn't be the default for windows 11 at all. If its not smart enough to tell difference between solid state and hdd, it shouldn't be on at all.

I didn't even realise it was on. I only noticed it last night when I wanted to add hibernate to the start menu.

This is such an annoying feature. To make things worse, you can turn it off, but sometimes Windows updates turn it back on again.

Fortunately, it's not supposed to "fast boot" if you just reboot your system. I'm not sure how to tell whether it has or hasn't.

 

[Colif]

The only times the PC is actually off with fast start-up on, are:

1. when its unplugged
2. when you do a restart.

and unplugging pc when fast start up is on can break windows. I have seen it do it before. Not to me, but others. Losing power with a PC with it on can break windows ability to boot

Restarts are it. And it doesn't really turn off, just power cycles. It does at least clear ram and other registers. PC needs a restart occasionally

Most of the year I hibernate PC but in summer, when there are chances of storms, I turn PC off as the PC is likely unplugged during storms. I prefer to not use PC in a storm instead of get a surge and not be able to use PC after the storm clears.

You need to disable hibernation completely to stop windows re enabling it

How to Disable Hibernation (and Remove hiberfil.sys) in Windows 11

Free up your disk space!

www.howtogeek.com

hiberfile.sys is about 12gb on my drive so can save space.
I haven't run into windows turning fast start-up on again.

 

[Zed Clampet]

The only times the PC is actually off with fast start-up on, are:

1. when its unplugged
2. when you do a restart.

and unplugging pc when fast start up is on can break windows. I have seen it do it before. Not to me, but others. Losing power with a PC with it on can break windows ability to boot

Restarts are it. And it doesn't really turn off, just power cycles. It does at least clear ram and other registers. PC needs a restart occasionally

Most of the year I hibernate PC but in summer, when there are chances of storms, I turn PC off as the PC is likely unplugged during storms. I prefer to not use PC in a storm instead of get a surge and not be able to use PC after the storm clears.

You need to disable hibernation completely to stop windows re enabling it

How to Disable Hibernation (and Remove hiberfil.sys) in Windows 11

Free up your disk space!

www.howtogeek.com

hiberfile.sys is about 12gb on my drive so can save space.
I haven't run into windows turning fast start-up on again.

I never use hibernate. If I want more than "sleep", I just turn the PC off. The main reason I started doing this is because my old Sager laptop had serious difficulties waking up from hibernation. But also because something bizarre happened one time when it wouldn't wake up. It was actually trying to install a Windows update without the screen being on. I didn't know it was doing that and after waiting several minutes with the screen black, I forced it to shut down, which ended up with me having to boot from a flash drive and reinstall Windows. After that I haven't let a PC hibernate. I do realize that was just something, probably driver related, strange about that Sager. But the problem was annoying enough to put me off hibernation, at least for now.

 

[DXCHASE]

I never use hibernate. If I want more than "sleep", I just turn the PC off.

Same, never used that feature and i never leave my PC on overnight unknowingly so none of these fast-boot options, power off/on sleep options are ever used not even once since i started using PCs lol



Really just been playing Tainted Grail. If you have been avoiding it but you like games like Oblivion/Skyrim, go and buy it at this point. They have fixed major bugs that brick playthroughs that were rather easy to run into. I was fortunate enough to be a 100%er in this game so by the time i got to those story parts, they were fixed...and i was way overpowered (killed this boss in a couple of swings lol).

Still a fun game. Im digging the whole King Arthur and Kamelot lore, my minions are badasses and if im really feeling funny, i can turn people into cheese and eat them for health . Dont do that to people with good gear though, youll lose it!

The one thing ive noticed though about this game is its very easy to trap enemies in the environment so i can cheese people amongst other little exploits (you can swim UP waterstreams over cliffs!). There was one boss fight where i triggered it, then swam to a near-by rock (the fight was in a cave with water and a little island in the water) and just shot the thing to death with arrows while it stood there on the waterline looking at me lol.

Next up im going to try Mindseye and then a demo of Vindictus: Defying Fate . I havent played a game yet that released in june to start a recommendation thread, so maybe this will make it.

In other news, im saddened to see how much the Switch 2 has sold. If there was ever a company to boycott, itd be nintendo. But nah i see more backlash for a game with pronoun features than an overpriced handheld with equally over-priced games (80 bucks for a switch game which uses half the resources/power/everything than an 80 dollar game on pc/consoles). But it wasnt unexpected im just...disappointed.

 

[Zed Clampet]

In other news, im saddened to see how much the Switch 2 has sold. If there was ever a company to boycott, itd be nintendo. But nah i see more backlash for a game with pronoun features than an overpriced handheld with equally over-priced games (80 bucks for a switch game which uses half the resources/power/everything than an 80 dollar game on pc/consoles). But it wasnt unexpected im just...disappointed.

Nintendo fans are maybe the most relentless fandom in all of gaming.

 

[Colif]

Old drivers have/cause problems with sleep and Fast Startup, since they all use similar approaches. The older my PC gets, the less chance I use them.

 

[neogunhero]

Honestly, the refund process is mildly obtuse enough that most people just don't bother. So many people come up against the slightest friction in life and the just give up.

I have quite a few friends like this; they'd never refund something if they don't like it, because it takes that little bit of extra effort to figure it out. I've also worked with countless people like this, who will just throw their hands up the minute they have to use their brains a little bit.

Definitely not me, I've probably refunded upwards of 50 games due to buyers remorse or genuinely not liking it. I guess once you do it enough times it's not bad.

 

[neogunhero]

Same, never used that feature and i never leave my PC on overnight unknowingly so none of these fast-boot options, power off/on sleep options are ever used not even once since i started using PCs lol

I still have the superstition that your PC will either become slower or bork itself if left on for too long or improperly shut down. Of course improper shutdowns are still not good but not as catastrophic to PCs as it was maybe 20~ years ago. My PC is completely powered down when not used and even unplugged overnight, no idea why I made such a habit of doing this. I even went one step further to disable the power button on my case so it can only be used to power on. As for fast start, I don’t have that turned on, but from power on to desktop it takes less than 30 seconds so I don’t see the need to use it.

 

[BeardyHat]

In other news, im saddened to see how much the Switch 2 has sold. If there was ever a company to boycott, itd be nintendo. But nah i see more backlash for a game with pronoun features than an overpriced handheld with equally over-priced games (80 bucks for a switch game which uses half the resources/power/everything than an 80 dollar game on pc/consoles). But it wasnt unexpected im just...disappointed.

People are ravenous for Nintendo products at any price. On one hand, I get the appeal of having a console that "just works", go to the store, buy a game, pop it in and you're playing. Certainly more streamlined than a Steam Deck or PC. Or even buy something on the digital store and you know it's going to work, no trouble.

But I don't get the appeal of the games? I guess it's a similar mindset to those who buy Call of Duty every year; it's iterative, but comfortable, you don't have to think to think too hard about it.

Otherwise, I agree. Gamers gonna Gamer...

 

[neogunhero]

This pic is making me laugh way harder than it should.

 

[Frindis]

Some free stuff for Path of Exile 2 + a portal effect that you can get through giving away two twitch subs. I already got two really cool portals, so for that reason, I'm out - Shark Taaaaaaank!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1a6ahjmjJE