May 2024 General Game Discussions

[Zloth]

Big storm about 50 miles out and rolling in. I hate having my PC on in a thunderstorm (the Precious could get a power surge!), so I'll keep this short.

Games coming out....

Save 35% on INDIKA on Steam

Play a third-person, story-driven game set in alternative Russia at the turn of the XIX century where religious visions clash with harsh reality. INDIKA tells the story of a young nun who sets off on a journey of self-discovery with the most unusual companion by her side, the devil himself.

store.steampowered.com

V Rising on Steam

Awaken as a Vampire. Hunt for blood in nearby settlements to regain your strength and evade the scorching sun to survive. Raise your castle and thrive in an ever-changing, open world full of mystery. Gain allies online and conquer the land of the living.

store.steampowered.com

(already in Early Access)

Pre-purchase Homeworld 3 on Steam

Tactical, beautiful, and wholly unique, the GOTY-winning sci-fi RTS returns with Homeworld 3. Assume control and battle through fleet combat in dazzling, fully 3D space while the award-winning story unfolds on a galactic scale.

store.steampowered.com

Pre-purchase Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II on Steam

The sequel to the award winning Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Senua returns in a brutal journey of survival through the myth and torment of Viking Iceland. Intent on saving those who have fallen victim to the horrors of tyranny, Senua faces a battle of overcoming the darkness within and without.

store.steampowered.com

Nine Sols on Steam

Nine Sols is a lore rich, hand-drawn 2D action-platformer featuring Sekiro-inspired deflection focused combat. Embark on a journey of eastern fantasy, explore the land once home to an ancient alien race, and follow a vengeful hero’s quest to slay the 9 Sols, formidable rulers of this forsaken realm.

store.steampowered.com

Big thanks to Gamespot for the list!

 

[Brian Boru]

Adding on list from PCG's @Lauren Morton:

• May 2 — Abiotic Factor - Survival crafting a la Half-Life (Steam)
• May 2 — Foundry - Paradox-published take on Satisfactory (Steam)
• May 8 — Indika - Psychological adventure as Russian nun (Steam)
• May 9 — Animal Well - Surreal neon cave Metroidvania (Steam)
• May 9 — Crow Country - 90s nostalgia survival horror (Steam)
• May 10 — Gatekeeper - Top-down Risk-of-Rain-like (Steam)
• May 10 — Songs of Conquest - Turn-based fantasy strategy RPG (Steam)
• May 13 — Homeworld 3 - Sci-fi space RTS classic revival (Steam)
• May 15 — Baladins - Bardic co-op RPG (Steam)
• May 16 — Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut - Sony's samurai port (Steam)
• May 16 — Lorelei and the Laser Eyes - Surreal Annapurna puzzle game (Steam)
• May 16 — Robobeat - Robot bounty hunter rhythm shooter (Steam)
• May 21 — Paper Trail - Puzzles in a foldable world (Steam)
• May 21 — Synergy - Weird scifi city builder (Steam)
• May 21 — Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 - Psychological action sequel (Steam)
• May 23 — Crown Wars: The Black Prince - Medieval tactics (Steam)
• May 23 — Duck Detective: The Secret Salami - Poultry PI adventure (Steam)
• May 23 — Hauntii - Gorgeous twin-stick afterlife adventure (Steam)
• May 23 — Songs of Silence - RTS with turn-based management (Steam)
• May 23 — World of Goo 2 - Slimy physics puzzle sequel (Epic)
• May 28 — Multiversus - WB's platform fighter relaunch (Site)
• May 29 — Capes - turn-based superhero tactics (Steam)
• May 30 — SKALD: Against the Black Priory - Retro party-based RPG (Steam)
• May ?? — Mutant Football League 2 - Arcade football with mutants (Steam)
• May ?? — Sonar Shock - First person horror RPG old school style (Steam)

 

[Brian Boru]

Of interest for my 2030 playing schedule:

May 13 — Homeworld 3 - Sci-fi space RTS classic revival (Steam)

I'm averse to space-based games, but this is a major classic franchise.

• May 23 — Songs of Silence - RTS with turn-based management (Steam)
• May 23 — World of Goo 2 - Slimy physics puzzle sequel (Epic)

I played the SoS demo briefly and have it wishlisted—it's an interesting genre mix.
I had a great time with WoG ~15 years ago, and WoG2 is by the same dev.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Thanks @Zloth

I'll be continuing and mostly failing to Slay the Spire for the forseeable.

 

[Colif]

If mobiles are the future of gaming, I might just have to stop playing

 

[Brian Boru]

If mobiles are the future of gaming

That's a really good video.

 

[Colif]

other makers of casino games see Mobile games as a way to bypass all the regulations. Regulations that stop them feeding whales. They meant to fight against problem gambling, but instead that is where mobile games get all their profits from.
And you wonder why EA and all the other AAA companies want into market.

 

[BeardyHat]

Of interest for my 2030 playing schedule:


I'm averse to space-based games, but this is a major classic franchise.

Did you play either of the originals or the newer Deserts game?

If mobiles are the future of gaming, I might just have to stop playing

They Live references? I'm in!

 

[neogunhero]

The top game I’m interested in getting this month is Animal Well. The game is published by Big Mode, founded by VideoGameDunkey on YouTube. He’s been my favorite YouTuber for well over a decade and this is the first game his new games company is publishing. I share a lot of his thoughts and opinions on what makes a “good game”, and I feel like he really has a gem on his hands with this one. He favors pure fun and enjoyment over anything else in a game, so it makes me believe that Animal Well will be a great game. I’ve read some previews and demos about the game and it’s been nothing but positive news. I’m very excited to see how it turns out, and I may have to get it if it ends up being really good.

 

[neogunhero]

Also these past few days my girlfriend and I have been playing tons of Sea of Thieves. We completed the first chapter of the Monkey Island Tall Tale and so far it is amazing. I absolutely adore the Monkey Island games, and this has everything that makes those games great, now in full 3D and first person. Exploring Melee Island in a totally new perspective is quite mind blowing because it’s all exactly how you remember the 2D games. Although I’m so used to these locations in 2D, it’s like I have been here before and know where everything is even in first person. The voice actors are mostly the same people from the Special Edition of Monkey Island, and that was how I first originally played it, so that was an awesome touch. The humor and comedy is all there, and while some of the jokes are recycled form the original games, it still works just as well as it did there.

This Tall Tale has 3 main “Tales” or scenarios which you have lots of things to do. The first one took us maybe a total of 2-3 hours to complete, and it was spent running around the main part of Melee Island. It involves a lot of the classic adventure game quests, always needing to obtain some item to progress somewhere. There are checkpoints but only at certain spots so for us, we had to redo a few things when we came back to the game yesterday because we didn’t reach the last checkpoint when we logged off the night previously. That’s slightly annoying but not terrible since we knew exactly what to do and completed quickly.

Overall it’s tons of fun and makes the game a bit more accessible than roaming the open world. You have a clear set of missions and objectives, the story and dialogue is in credit funny and entertaining, and you want to know what happens next so you want to get things done. I feel when I roam open world, I’m more likely to wander aimlessly and just explore islands to find treasure. With this Tall Tale, we have a more structured, slightly “linear” goal which makes hopping on and off a lot better IMO. It’s tons of fun and I can’t wait to do the second Tale tonight.

 

[BeardyHat]

If mobiles are the future of gaming, I might just have to stop playing

Finally gave this a watch and it's just a reminder of how small of a subset the people on this forum are.

It's baffling to me that people would ever play this or spend money on it, but I'm also not a gambler either; been to Casinos many times and just find them completely boring.

 

[Colif]

I am lucky, I can't read my mobiles screen without glasses and I don't carry those with me.
Gaming on phone when I have a 32 inch monitor on PC just never grabbed me.

I did once have a slot machine game on my phone but I never wanted to spend actual cash to keep playing so its long gone. I mostly use my phone to listen to music when I am out and about, not watch videos or play games or look on internet. I have a PC for that.

And the music function has been moved to another device so phone might not get a lot of use at all now. 5 days on 1 charge... easy if you don't use it.

I don't gamble, I don't play games that offer loot boxes either.
I don't see point in feeding money into a game that isn't fun to play. I gave up that joke years ago. Long ago the only machine I consistently got money out of was an ATM. Pass.

 

[Johnway]

Back to the indie games again. Right now i'm in need of a vapourwave fix so i'm playing broken reality. A quirky walking simulator as you explore the world(s), solve the odd puzzle here and there and make progress getting the likes you need to progress to the next area. There is an underlying story but so far it hasn't quite materialized. Will give thoughts upon finish.

Will keep blasting through my indie games on steam and maybe turn my attention to my epic/gog collection. its a ballooning in size and i have ignored it. probably enough games to keep me busy for years.

 

[Zloth]

Homeworld 3.... evil game. I remember the demo for the original coming out and I loved it! I must have played it five times through and was really eager for the game. When I played it, though, I kept getting overwhelmed by all the stuff going on at once. I don't think I got even halfway through.

I just did a little searching. I think they original game wouldn't allow you to issue orders while in pause mode, but the remastered version does? That would help a LOT.

So anyway - I finally turned the corner in my terraforming quest in X4. I'm terraforming a planet that used to be a haven for the sea-dwelling Boron. The Xenon turned it into a hellscape. The landscape had oceans of lava, not water. I don't know what happened to the water, but it wasn't even humidity anymore. So, step 1 was to dump a whole lot of ice on the planet. Step 2 was to dump a whole lot of ice on the planet. So was step 3, 4, 5,... you get the idea. It's all pretty easy, though - you set up your headquarters station so it can build the little terraforming drones, then just set a lot of miners to mine ice and deliver it to HQ. As you get more money, you buy more miners so the steps go faster and faster. Once the ice phase is done, you start pulling in some methane (not nearly as much), do something about the radioactivity, jumpstart the ocean currents, and eventually start building houses.

The ice phase finished last night. Suddenly, I've got, oh, maybe 50 mining ships that don't need to be mining ice. I've got uses for a few of them, but the rest... ummm. I'm going to be selling off a whole lot of slightly used mining ships.

 

[BeardyHat]

I downloaded the demo for Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom, which is actually quite fun. Platformers, especially 3d Platformers aren't usually my thing, but this one has cars (even if they're nothing like a real car) and I love cars, so, I guess that's a go? Anyway, it's quite fun. I've put an hour into the demo, which is very generous and I think I'll end-up picking it up, sorry Brian.

However, I did notice while playing my right trigger on my Xbox controller was sticky, which was annoying the hell out of me. I took it partially apart and discovered that the rubberized pad, under the trigger has started getting that weird stickiness to it that that stuff often does. Trying to clean it with some Isopropyl Alcohol just ended-up taking the pad off completely. So I decided to go for broke and take the entire thing off, which resolved the stickiness. Except now the right trigger was very loud and clacky, as the bad apparently softens the sharp noise. Managed to cut some crafting foam into shape and glue it in place, good as new. Works great and still nice and quiet.

https://imgur.com/a/94bAty7

I've also been experimenting with World in Conflict, which is...ok? I picked it up on GoG the other day for $2.50 and it's not quite what I was expecting. It's an RTS and it uses real world vehicles, but it ends-up playing more like Command & Conquer, which just ends-up feeling very weird to me. I was expecting something like Wargame or Men of War, where tanks take different kinds of realistic damage based on hit location, but in WiC they just have health bars. I'll probably still keep cracking away and see if it clicks for me, but so far, I'm a little put off.

 

[BeardyHat]

Homeworld 3.... evil game. I remember the demo for the original coming out and I loved it! I must have played it five times through and was really eager for the game. When I played it, though, I kept getting overwhelmed by all the stuff going on at once. I don't think I got even halfway through.

I just did a little searching. I think they original game wouldn't allow you to issue orders while in pause mode, but the remastered version does? That would help a LOT.

So anyway - I finally turned the corner in my terraforming quest in X4. I'm terraforming a planet that used to be a haven for the sea-dwelling Boron. The Xenon turned it into a hellscape. The landscape had oceans of lava, not water. I don't know what happened to the water, but it wasn't even humidity anymore. So, step 1 was to dump a whole lot of ice on the planet. Step 2 was to dump a whole lot of ice on the planet. So was step 3, 4, 5,... you get the idea. It's all pretty easy, though - you set up your headquarters station so it can build the little terraforming drones, then just set a lot of miners to mine ice and deliver it to HQ. As you get more money, you buy more miners so the steps go faster and faster. Once the ice phase is done, you start pulling in some methane (not nearly as much), do something about the radioactivity, jumpstart the ocean currents, and eventually start building houses.

The ice phase finished last night. Suddenly, I've got, oh, maybe 50 mining ships that don't need to be mining ice. I've got uses for a few of them, but the rest... ummm. I'm going to be selling off a whole lot of slightly used mining ships.

That sounds super cool.

I think I once owned X3 on Disc and it still seems really neat to get into, but somewhat impenetrable to me at this stage in my life.

 

[Colif]

I wonder why Hollywood feels under threat

 

[Zed Clampet]

Just had to comment that today is one of the biggest days ever for indie games.

Highly Anticipated Games Launching Today:

Hades II on Steam

Battle beyond the Underworld using dark sorcery to take on the Titan of Time in this bewitching sequel to the award-winning rogue-like dungeon crawler.

store.steampowered.com

Abiotic Factor on Steam

Abiotic Factor is a survival crafting experience for 1-6 players set in the depths of an underground research facility. Caught between paranormal containment failure, a military crusade, and chaos from a dozen realms, the world’s greatest minds must survive against the universe’s biggest threats.

store.steampowered.com

FOUNDRY on Steam

Build a sophisticated robot factory optimized to perfection in an infinite voxel world. Mine and harvest resources, automate your production lines and manage complex systems while researching your way to become the galaxy’s leading robotics megacorp.

store.steampowered.com

Undead Inc. on Steam

Undead Inc. is a high-risk, high-reward resource management simulator where you establish and manage a local subsidiary of the Endswell Medical Corporation. Build, manage staff, conduct research, and trade in both cutting edge medical treatments and bleeding edge bioweapons.

store.steampowered.com

Save 35% on INDIKA on Steam

Play a third-person, story-driven game set in alternative Russia at the turn of the XIX century where religious visions clash with harsh reality. INDIKA tells the story of a young nun who sets off on a journey of self-discovery with the most unusual companion by her side, the devil himself.

store.steampowered.com

The first three will probably sell their millionth copies in the next 7 days, The last two are more niche, but still have plenty of folks who have been waiting for their launch day.

Two big racing games and one game with driving as a theme release in May:

MotoGP™24 on Steam

Rev up your engines, MotoGP™24 is back! Dive into the heart-pounding action of the 2024 season and immerse yourself in the thrills of unexplored landscapes, all thanks to the revolutionary Riders market!

store.steampowered.com

F1® 24 on Steam

Join the grid and Be One of the 20. Drive like the greatest in EA SPORTS™ F1® 24, the official video game of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship™.

store.steampowered.com

Save 40% on Heading Out on Steam

An immersive driving game that meets a story-rich experience, passionately inspired by cult classic road movies. Each run offers a unique combination of races, chases, difficult decisions, and colorful characters. As you drive across the USA, every decision you make impacts your playthrough.

store.steampowered.com

City Builders/Colony Sims remain big in May with Norland, which could very well be the new Rimworld, and Synergy both releasing.

Norland on Steam

Lead your noble family in this medieval colony sim, facing off against class conflict, religious struggle, and political treachery. Tend to your people’s needs, uncover the lost knowledge of a fallen empire, and engage in nefarious plots against your enemies.

store.steampowered.com

Save 24% on Synergy on Steam

An ecosystem City Builder in a unique world. Build your settlement, manage your workers and optimize your resources. Analyzing your environment, spreading new plants, and harvesting them are key to prosperity.

store.steampowered.com

As usual, the list has something for everyone. There are several RTS and RPG throw-back games releasing along with puzzle games, tactical games, etc.

 

[DXCHASE]

• May 16 — Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut - Sony's samurai port (Steam)

Only one im interested in for May in regards to new releases, even if the game isnt.

Diablo 4 has a new season starting May 14th with an overhauled loot system, making how stuff works in D4 "new"

 

[Johnway]

I've also been experimenting with World in Conflict, which is...ok? I picked it up on GoG the other day for $2.50 and it's not quite what I was expecting. It's an RTS and it uses real world vehicles, but it ends-up playing more like Command & Conquer, which just ends-up feeling very weird to me. I was expecting something like Wargame or Men of War, where tanks take different kinds of realistic damage based on hit location, but in WiC they just have health bars. I'll probably still keep cracking away and see if it clicks for me, but so far, I'm a little put off.

WiC is probably one of my fav all time strategy games, as you're right its an RTS game that did away with the resource building and just gave you a whole load of special abilities. I think the units do take more damage from the rear and there is an accuracy factor to units, as you can reverse without turning around. Some might argue its negliable but when facing off against heavier units or walking into an ambush its a must. But then again, as your units gain exp they are tough and shoot more accurately. its also not a particularly long game and each map takes less then an hour to finish so every time i played it, it didn't outstay its welcome. i also say the story/plot was also quite good as it kept me going and the capture point mechanics was different to your usual "destroy entire base" missions.

i think some people might argue WIC is pretty simplistic. Each of the factions work in the same way and the tanks, choppers, AA guns etc are broken down into light, medium and heavy tiers and the infantry / support given support duties.

Finished broken reality and whilst i had fun i got to say that trippy ending was pretty anticlimatic as it didn't seem to answer all my questions. More in the completed game topic.

So what next? Might go back to AOE , POE or another indie game. we'll see.

 

[BeardyHat]

WiC is probably one of my fav all time strategy games, as you're right its an RTS game that did away with the resource building and just gave you a whole load of special abilities. I think the units do take more damage from the rear and there is an accuracy factor to units, as you can reverse without turning around. Some might argue its negliable but when facing off against heavier units or walking into an ambush its a must. But then again, as your units gain exp they are tough and shoot more accurately. its also not a particularly long game and each map takes less then an hour to finish so every time i played it, it didn't outstay its welcome. i also say the story/plot was also quite good as it kept me going and the capture point mechanics was different to your usual "destroy entire base" missions.

i think some people might argue WIC is pretty simplistic. Each of the factions work in the same way and the tanks, choppers, AA guns etc are broken down into light, medium and heavy tiers and the infantry / support given support duties.

Finished broken reality and whilst i had fun i got to say that trippy ending was pretty anticlimatic as it didn't seem to answer all my questions. More in the completed game topic.

So what next? Might go back to AOE , POE or another indie game. we'll see.

I think I could like it, I just need to recalibrate my expectations, because they were very different going in. I love Command & Conquer (at least, the first two games), so it feels like World in Conflict could be for me, but I just need to keep cracking away at it and see if I can get into it.

The problem is going to be that I just picked-up Napoleon: Total War for $5 on Steam. I have budding interest in the Napoleonic and associated eras, mostly from a wargaming perspective, so this might end-up drawing my attention for a bit.

That said: Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom is really ******* good. I'm closing in on 3 hours with it and while when I first started playing it I could tell it was fun and intriguing, it has now clicked for me and I'm finding it really fantastic. It is absolutely wonderful how much developers can do essentially using only two buttons (plus D-Pad/Thumbstick), the amount of moves you can do and depth of platforming, plus skill and timing required is just, so good. I'm not even a 3d Platformer person; I've dabbled with Mario 64, beat Mario Galaxy...18ish (?) years ago because I felt obligated to and dabbled here and there with others of the genre, but they have never hooked me. Taxi absolutely has its hooks in me and I'm loving playing it and very eager to return for more as I work on mastery of the moveset to get myself around the levels. I don't often find a game where I pump my fist in the air when I accomplish something I've been trying to do, but this is one of those ones for me.

There is a Demo if anyone is interested

 

[Johnway]

I think I could like it, I just need to recalibrate my expectations, because they were very different going in. I love Command & Conquer (at least, the first two games), so it feels like World in Conflict could be for me, but I just need to keep cracking away at it and see if I can get into it.

It's probably better to think of Wic more in common with Ground Control as opposed to C&C.

For the most part you won't have the units to zerg rush your enemy. Instead its skillful selection of units. Personally the medium class's tier units aren't worth it. I pick the light tanks for their anti armor and the heavy tanks to be main line fighters and absorb most damage. Infantry have their uses and can hide in cover and buildings to be a nuisance but I find that most fights were tank ones. Siege I never found any use except breaking defences on a capture point. Even then artillery, laser guided bombs and cluster bombs were better. Demo soldiers aren't worth it as they're easily picked off. Snipers make for good anti infantry, dislodging infantry in buildings and forests hassle free.

 

[Colif]

Actually getting bored of the remade movies in 50's thing, branch out and use other decades.

 

[neogunhero]

Still playing Sea of Thieves. We started the second chapter of the Monkey Island Tall Tales and it’s awesome. You open up more of the island to explore so now we are meeting Stan the used boat salesman, the circus people, and more. It’s following the structure of the main game pretty closely but with a different overarching story. Currently we are doing the Three Trials and finished one so far. Stan is one of my favorite characters from the game, so to see the texture on his jacket staying still as he moves around is such a great touch. I’m probably annoying my girlfriend by nerding out on all these tiny details 😂 It’s a ton of fun even if you’ve never played the original games so I recommend it to anyone who enjoys Sea of Thieves. In classic SoT fashion though, there is no map markers or quest log to show you what to do, you need to talk to people and listen to them closely as they will tell you what you need to do. It’s nice to have a little less hand holding compared to other games I’ve been playing.

I also stared up FO4 again recently. I’m only using mods in the in-game mod manager and so far everything works perfectly smoothly. I haven’t had any crashes or major bugs, so I’m guessing either mods are all updated for the next-gen patch, or it mainly only affected Nexus mods, I’m guessing the mods are updated. Every time I replay FO4 I always forget that the default FOV is like 60, FPS is capped to 60 and mouse smoothness is forced on. I had to spend 15 minutes configuring .ini files to fix all of that. Even though my monitor is 60hz, raising max FPS to 80 generally helps with performance and load times since the game’s engine is so closely tied to the FPS. Going above 90FPS however can break the game, classic Bethesda move.
I also did something quite shameful… I bought $10 worth of Bethesda credits… I had $7 in my Steam Wallet from selling cards and CS items so I thought why the hell not, but purchasing microtransactions in a single player game has been something I’m normally against. I just really wanted some skins and building blueprints!!! Also, I’m going to main melee for the first time ever in this game, so I bought the Skyrim sword and helmet… the sword is very good actually!!! I’m just trying to defend myself spending real money in a single player game lol. I will say this though, just about every week there is at least one thing free in the shop so I still recommend people to check it out even if you don’t wanna spend money. I got a couple of Pip-Boy skins, armor and weapon skins, and a black Labrador companion for free over the years. I’m planning on building a massive base like I always do in this game, but I don’t want to cheat my way to anything besides the few mods I have that make the game slightly easier (weightless junk, 1.5x XP boost, scrap everything, unlimited build limit, etc). I love FO4 so I’m looking forward to playing it all weekend.

 

[DXCHASE]

Am i the only one that doesnt get an itch to go back to a game ive beaten and played a lot because its suddenly popular again? Had no interest to go back to Halo, TLoU nor Fallout after watching their series. Im glad to see the boosts because im sure it brings in new players but still, not interested personally.

Well my only vehicle's transmission went on thursday so ive been pretty much just chilling and playing games (its my weekend now). Trying out the retro shooter and playing The Finals, for the first time.... pretty fun pvpvpve atmosphere. Won the 3-4 games i played before i stopped.

Still trying to get my Diablo 4 character to 100, its just so boring rn, but im hopeful that the new season will bring a lot of great changes, but i wont hold my breathe because blizzard.

Have been playing a lot more Destiny 2. Acquired their "super black" shader which should have been there since 2017 but hey better late than never right ? It took a whole NPC rank system (up to 17) and all the weapon bounties to get it. Im not a huge fan of a shader being the end goal of a lot of grinding, but the grind wasnt terrible because the Onslaught mode is good.

And OF COURSE i still Helldive in Helldivers 2.