November 2024 General Gaming Discussion Thread

[ZedClampet]

Image from Flux Dev diffusion model (AI)

Steam Official November Events​

Cooking Fest - November 11 - 18
Steam Autumn Sale - November 27 - December 4

Note: Valve lets you organize your own unofficial festivals, so there is almost always at least one going on.

Fun Steam Fact​

According to Valve's official marketing material, event banners get 1 trillion impressions per day.

Tis the Season​

Pre-purchase Planet Coaster 2 on Steam

Create a splash with Planet Coaster 2 - sequel to the world’s best coaster park simulator! Pre-purchase Planet Coaster 2 now to receive the Bonus Ride collection, containing three thrilling rides designed to give your guests an extra boost of fun.

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Pre-purchase Farming Simulator 25 on Steam

PRE-ORDER GET FREE McDon Pack! Farming Simulator 25 invites you to join the rewarding farm life, single-handedly or cooperatively in multiplayer. This Farm is Your Farm!

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Save 10% on Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest on Steam

Step into Twinsun's fantastical world in this action-adventure remake! Little Big Adventure - Twinsen's Quest brings brand new visuals, new music by the original composer, and smoother gameplay to the iconic classic released back in 1994.

store.steampowered.com

Pre-purchase LEGO® Horizon Adventures™ on Steam

Join machine hunter Aloy as she leads a colourful crew of heroes on a quest to save the world and learn the secrets of her past. Dive into boundless adventure, customize to your heart’s content, and take on action-packed battles solo or with friends.

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Pre-purchase DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake on Steam

DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake is a stunning reimagining of the beloved masterpiece and narrative beginning to The Erdrick Trilogy.

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Pre-purchase Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on Steam

Explore the world with our largest fleet of aircraft and take simulation to new heights while pursuing your aviation career within Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

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Pre-purchase S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl on Steam

Discover the vast Chornobyl Exclusion Zone full of dangerous enemies, deadly anomalies and powerful artifacts. Unveil your own epic story as you make your way to the Heart of Chornobyl. Make your choices wisely, as they will determine your fate in the end.

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Save 10% on Spirit Mancer on Steam

Slash, Shoot and Break demons. Capture their spirits and summon them out into your battle in the beautiful yet dangerous world of Inferno. Fight against hordes of demons and stop the evil queen with the power of the Spirit Mancer.

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Pre-purchase Empire of the Ants on Steam

Conquer enemy nests and lead your colony through the perils of the forest in this groundbreaking RTS. Empire of the Ants is a photorealistic, third-person real-time strategy game where you command your insect legions in epic battles.

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Pre-purchase Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival on Steam

Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival is a drum-based rhythm game featuring songs from genres such as Anime and VOCALOID™, and also a variety of game modes! Have fun playing solo or online!

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A Few Lesser Known​

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate on Steam

TMNT Splintered Fate - Unleash the Turtles in a rogue-like quest to rescue Splinter from the Foot Clan! Master ninja skills, unite in bodacious co-op gameplay, and conquer iconic NYC locales.

store.steampowered.com

Mirthwood on Steam

Embark on an enchanting journey and brave ferocious creatures in an immersive medieval fantasy world. Will you settle a new homestead to live a life of farming and trade, or pick up the sword and take up the adventurers' path?

store.steampowered.com

Homicipher on Steam

Homicipher is a female-targeted language deciphering and exploration ADV based on the concept of "romance with horror men." The protagonist, who has wandered into another world, interacts with non-human beings to decipher their language while striving to escape.

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Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown on Steam

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown is a complex city builder, where the fate of your kingdom hinges on your every decision. Explore this medieval land alone or with friends, make tough moral choices and conquer your foes in RTS combat. Will you struggle to survive, or find the strength to Thrive?

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Death of the Reprobate on Steam

Explore a world built from the luscious landscapes, turbulent townscapes and preposterous portraits of real Renaissance paintings. Death of the Reprobate is a Rabelaisian adventure game from the creator of Four Last Things and The Procession to Calvary.

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Farmagia on Steam

Command an army of monsters in this all-new action game featuring character designs by famed manga artist Hiro Mashima. Take a stand to free the people of Felicidad as a Farmagia named Ten when monster farming, adventure, and hectic battles come together in an epic tale of rebellion and friendship.

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Chicken Police: Into the HIVE! on Steam

A wild tale of loss, friendship, conspiracy, and... chickens?! Two rooster detectives are about to venture into the insect underworld to uncover a worldwide conspiracy, while also battling their inherent demons in this animal noir adventure satire.

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ZEPHON on Steam

From the developers of Warhammer 40,000: Gladius, ZEPHON is a post-apocalyptic 4X strategy game built on Proxy’s unique tactical combat system. Guide survivors through a turbulent future, navigating unexpected disasters, eldritch horror and cyberpunk monstrosities. What will you do to survive?

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Slitterhead on Steam

"I must eliminate them...ALL..." The bodiless "Hyoki" hunts down the brain-devouring "Slitterheads", lurking in the alleys of a neon-lit city

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Menace from the Deep on Steam

Menace from the Deep is an enthralling Roguelike Deckbuilding card game that unfolds in a dark world, drawing inspiration from Howard Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos.Set against the backdrop of 1920s USA, the narrative revolves around a clandestine occult society.

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Drunken FC on Steam

Ever wanted to get drunk, play football (soccer), and not worry about the medical bill later? Do you hate animation and love physics? Then here's some physics-based sports action for you and your friends. Play locally or remotely. Move your feet, but don't break the sticks on your controller.

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Sea Power : Naval Combat in the Missile Age on Steam

From the lead designer of Cold Waters, Sea Power lets you control NATO and Warsaw Pact forces in modern naval conflict campaigns. Use your advanced naval weaponry and sensors to respect rules of engagement and defeat the enemy forces in a tense fight for initiative and air/naval supremacy.

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The Rise of the Golden Idol on Steam

The Award-winning detective saga returns. Uncover the truth behind 20 strange cases of crime, death and depravity in the 1970s. The world has changed dramatically - the sins of humanity have not.

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Tetris® Forever on Steam

Celebrate 40 years of Tetris® with 15+ games, a new game, and documentary videos

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VED on Steam

VED is a story-driven, hand-drawn RPG with a unique turn-based combat system and roguelite elements. Set in two different worlds, VED tells the story of Cyrus, a young hero who sets out on a quest to become a master of sword and magic, and save everything he knows from destruction.

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Towers of Aghasba on Steam

Explore a stunning open-world filled with majestic creatures and quirky characters. Nurture withered lands into vibrant ecosystems and flex your creativity as you build a thriving island civilization in balance with nature. Invite friends to craft, harvest, and hang on your fantasy island.

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Neon Blood on Steam

Viridis, year 2053. Growing inequality drives Bright City and Blind City further and further apart until idealistic detective Axel McCoin starts a revolution to change the world in this fast-paced cyberpunk adventure.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Brian Boru]

Towers of Aghasba looks amazing! Check out the 7m video on Steam.

 

[ZedClampet]

Towers of Aghasba looks amazing! Check out the 7m video on Steam.

I'd never heard of it before, but it went straight to my wishlist.

 

[Pifanjr]

Save 10% on Little Big Adventure – Twinsen’s Quest on Steam

Step into Twinsun's fantastical world in this action-adventure remake! Little Big Adventure - Twinsen's Quest brings brand new visuals, new music by the original composer, and smoother gameplay to the iconic classic released back in 1994.

store.steampowered.com

I loved Little Big Adventure 2 as a kid, but I've never played the first game. I tried the Android port once, but I didn't like the controls.

 

[ZedClampet]

@Brian

I loved Little Big Adventure 2 as a kid, but I've never played the first game. I tried the Android port once, but I didn't like the controls.

I got Little Big Workshop in a bundle, but haven't tried it yet. It kind of looks like something I would like. though.

 

[ZedClampet]

I got to say, being able to open up a program on my computer and make any picture I can imagine is pretty damn incredible. What a time to be alive. And I've never said that unironically before. AI is improving at a breakneck pace. The coming years are going to be astonishing. I mean, compare the picture above to what I was using a few months ago. Just wow.

This is why my next graphics card will be a 5090. I'm going all in.

 

[Brian Boru]

compare the picture above

I meant to comment on that, dropped my jaw when it loaded!

We are at the earliest stumbling crawl of AI, it will change society immensely once it matures.

 

[ZedClampet]

For anyone who is interested in running AI on their PCs but isn't good with manual installations the free program pinokio will install a ton of AI software. I've heard a goober on reddit say that it has malware attached to it. This is not true. However, the installation scripts are written by users, and it's always recommended to run things in a sandbox if you know how to use one.

I realize I just scared everyone away, but I do recommend pinokio if you have problems installing AI yourself. If you want to install it by yourself, really all you need to know is how to change directories and copy some lines from the installation instructions into your command box, but a lot of people have problems with this. reddit is filled with the corpses of people who tried to install AI and failed Anyone who can use Linux should be alright.

 

[Frindis]

eXo new DemoScene just released! Here is the link https://www.retro-exo.com/demoscene.html and some info about the project from the site:

"This pack includes 1,818 DOS Demos. The focus of the project is to add as many demo's from all across the world, regardless of language. While the project currently does not contain every DOS Demo ever made, it does try to have a large amount of demos from 1987 to early 1997. There are many more demos that will be added to the pack. Including MusicDisks that celebrate tracker music. The demos have already been configured to run in DOSBox."

 

[ZedClampet]

@Brian Boru So thinking about your icon identification problems, I assume it only occurred when the icons were obstructed by webs. Here's the icons by themselves, and they are easy to tell apart:

But here they are covered by webs:

The last two, both candelabras (the last one with a coin beneath it) are very hard to identify. The coins didn't seem to impact the other 4 icons.

But, basically, I know if I can't tell what it is that it's the candelabra. The webs are pretty annoying to have to look at no matter what they are covering, though. It's not enough to make me move on to something else, but the candelabra should have been changed to something else or the candles made something other than white.

By the way, I bought a couple other of their games while they are on sale. Are there any other publishers of these casual type games that you like on Steam? You can't search for casual games because PvP folks label every game without PvP as "casual".

 

[ZedClampet]

@Brian Boru You know what's weird? (I feel like we're having a sleep-over and I'm lying on my back in the family room floor on a sleeping bag). So I really wanted to support Big Fish, but Big Fish has put a ton of games that they published on Steam and they are all cheaper than they are on the Big Fish store. Many of them are $6.99 on Steam, but are $9.99 on Big Fish. Of course, since they are the publisher, buying them on Steam still supports them, but making them cheaper on Steam is just an odd thing to do.

 

[neogunhero]

Far Cry 5 again last night. Just goofed around. Took Grace and Hurk with me on a roadtrip. Grace drove, Hurk and I sat in the back. Started at one end of the map, had her drive all the way to the other. The whole time I was shooting Peggies with a grenade launcher, it was a lot of fun.

That’s one thing that I find oddly fun in games, having NPCs drive you around as you kick back in the passenger seat. In nearly every single player game you could play, you are the one driving the vehicle. Unless it’s a cutscene/scripted moment or a taxi service, rarely are you in a situation in a single player game where an NPC drives you around. So when I find I can exploit a game to make an NPC drive for me, I always take it. The only two games I can think of that allows me to do this is Red Dead 2 and Far Cry 5 but I could be missing others. Red Dead 2 allows you to catch a ride on someone’s buggy but you can’t tell them where to go. Far Cry 5 lets you have your companion in the drivers seat, and you can set a waypoint on the map for them to drive to. Unfortunately in my testing this does not work in boats, and doesn’t work as well in helicopters since you have a point and tag somewhere you can see and command them to move to that point (haven’t tried planes yet).

Anyone know of other games where you can have an NPC drive for you that isn’t a cutscene, taxi, or a fast travel mechanic?

 

[Pifanjr]

Anyone know of other games where you can have an NPC drive for you that isn’t a cutscene, taxi, or a fast travel mechanic?

In Kingdom Come: Deliverance your horse will automatically follow the road.

I think in Just Cause 3 or 4 you can grapple onto a car and just ride on the roof.

 

[ZedClampet]

In Kingdom Come: Deliverance your horse will automatically follow the road.

I think in Just Cause 3 or 4 you can grapple onto a car and just ride on the roof.

I bet those aren't a fraction as hilarious as letting an NPC drive you around in Far Cry 5. Think a blind and drunk 150 year old speed freak who likes to take off-road short cuts and doesn't care to send pedestrians and animals to the great beyond. And that's just in cars. You should really let Hurk fly you around in a helicopter. Just be prepared that you will have to respawn at some point, probably within moments, generally after a nice fireball effect.

****

TODAY on STEAM

So far today, 87 games and 11 demos have been released. We'll top 100 games before the day is over, as it's only 3:30 in Valve time.

There's zero point in making a game these days if you don't have a serious marketing plan. It's depressing to see all these games sit around with no user reviews. You think of all the work and hopes and dreams that went into making these things...

 

[ZedClampet]

Far Cry 5 again last night. Just goofed around. Took Grace and Hurk with me on a roadtrip. Grace drove, Hurk and I sat in the back. Started at one end of the map, had her drive all the way to the other. The whole time I was shooting Peggies with a grenade launcher, it was a lot of fun.

That’s one thing that I find oddly fun in games, having NPCs drive you around as you kick back in the passenger seat. In nearly every single player game you could play, you are the one driving the vehicle. Unless it’s a cutscene/scripted moment or a taxi service, rarely are you in a situation in a single player game where an NPC drives you around. So when I find I can exploit a game to make an NPC drive for me, I always take it. The only two games I can think of that allows me to do this is Red Dead 2 and Far Cry 5 but I could be missing others. Red Dead 2 allows you to catch a ride on someone’s buggy but you can’t tell them where to go. Far Cry 5 lets you have your companion in the drivers seat, and you can set a waypoint on the map for them to drive to. Unfortunately in my testing this does not work in boats, and doesn’t work as well in helicopters since you have a point and tag somewhere you can see and command them to move to that point (haven’t tried planes yet).

Anyone know of other games where you can have an NPC drive for you that isn’t a cutscene, taxi, or a fast travel mechanic?

Hurk killed me multiple times doing this. It was hilarious. Makes me want to play some more and do nothing but ride with Hurk. It was only 3 times. He drove off a cliff once, then once let me out of the car and then ran over me, and then he crashed a helicopter into a river that was 40 feet away from where we took off. I'd gladly do it all over again.

 

[Brian Boru]

Dying Light

I own the first, and my note says it takes a lot of direction from Far Cry—so I guess I should play it sometime

Well that was disappointing. 'Sometime' has come and gone, game has been installed, played, and uninstalled—no, it didn't last long

Notes in my review pages:
Mouse leaves screen
W key stays on
Too much melee and parkour

Reading Steam & Reddit, mouse problem apparently exists also in DL2, that's a bit crappy from the devs. 20+ years ago I put up with switching off my second monitor for some games, but not today. Cursor was bouncing to second screen approx every 5 seconds while looking and moving around—there are 3rd-party solutions, if that was the only issue.

Alt-Tab also gave weird result. In every other game where A-T functions as expected—eg games a decade or more older than this one—the game minimizes to Taskbar and you do your thing. Here no—if there's an app open on second monitor it'll jump to that, but game stays fullscreen on main monitor. If this was only issue, I'd have tried Windowed-Fullscreen or Windowed… but I didn't bother.

W key was bizarre, first time I've ever seen it in a game—I've had temp key sticks before, but tap the key and it stops. Here, no. Again just wandering around and suddenly I'm moving forward whether I want to or not. S doesn't stop it, nothing stops it, can't exit to menu via ESC—had to Task Mgr it

Then I did a bit more reading re game in general, to see if it might be worth while to go chasing mods & scripts. Seems you don't get guns until second half of game, and much of the play involves avoiding the baddies—not what I look for, I want to engage with the baddies at every opportunity when I'm not on a smell-the-roses walkabout.

When you do engage, it's melee melee melee which bores me—even Far Cry Primal, which is now off my Replay list due to too much melee, has ranged options with bow and short-range with throwing spear.

Then the avoid enemy requirement involves a lot of parkour and grappling. Parkour or platforming I'm not into—did more than enough of latter in 90s—and grapple swinging is my least-fav part of FC games.

Anyway, no worries—never been drawn to zombie games, it was only the FC hook that caught my interest in this one. Onwards and upwards—just not via parkour and grappling

 

[Zloth]

I picked up Distant Worlds 2, and I'm having a ball with it so far. I'm not counting on it keeping my interest - the real time 4X games always seem to lose me at some point - but it sure has been fun so far.

Most folks start off comparing it to Stellaris because both games are real time 4X space games, but what I have seen in my first hours reminds me more of Sword of the Stars.

Like the first game, the big feature for the game is automation. You can leave whatever parts of the game you don't enjoy to the AI, whether that's fighting or colonizing or whatever. There are also some options where you don't automate but instead have the AI give you suggestions, which is really handy for beginners.

The start of the game was a bit of a shock. I got the game started and, of course, got a quick(ish) tutorial going over what the various windows did in the UI. Great. Now what? I didn't even know how to move my ships! It took some fiddling, but I eventually figured it out.

Towers of Aghasba looks amazing! Check out the 7m video on Steam.

Wow. Looks Japanese/Asian (especially the hand critters: see also Persona, Elden Ring, and {kinda} Death Stranding) but the devs are pretty international.

Anyone know of other games where you can have an NPC drive for you that isn’t a cutscene, taxi, or a fast travel mechanic?

Dragon's Dogma 2? The carts are some sort of speedy travel system, but I don't think they are outright fast travel.

P.S. Yep, you could ride like that in JC3. And NPCs could right other NPCs cars, too:

View: https://youtu.be/uZJgNmLzThg?si=uXwpaEzvqfe9b06_&t=19

 

[Brian Boru]

installing AI yourself

I haven't looked into it, but I assume you need a top-flight CPU for it, and top-flight GPU for graphics work—yeah?

PvP folks label every game without PvP as "casual".

Well the furtive duckers! [that's how PvP guys use cover] Let's strike back* and tag all PvPs as Horror or Walking Sim or VN—or if we want to be really mean, RPG!

icon identification problems

Thanks for the time and effort I must install it again and have a look—my memory is of 2 purple-colored Halloween-type heads which I found difficult to tell apart… but they're not in your icon set above Lemme get back to you on it.

The webs are pretty annoying

Agreed, they're all over game #2 too, but aren't as difficult to see—I'm enjoying 2, close to Replay grade. Green Sauce [the devs] seem to have the ability to learn from their previous games.

I bought a couple other of their games

Storm Tale? They're the best.

* part of my quest to improve Steam tags

 

[Brian Boru]

any other publishers of these casual type games that you like on Steam?

Just Match 3, or other genres too? Here's the genre list from BFG:

I'll poke deeper once you clarify, but offhand for now:

Adelantado Trilogy. Book Two on Steam

Get ready for new adventures and unexpected twists! The atmosphere is moody and grim but Don Diego tries to keep everybody cheerful. And ever-present rival Commander Rodriguez is more evil than ever.

store.steampowered.com

Loved these 3 years ago, but they annoyed me last year—my notes:
Adelantado 1
Annoying pop-ups, no map
V annoying Cavemen clickers
Long levels, No save, Slow
Building placement v picky
Buildings not differentiated
Can't demolish buildings
Unnecessary hand-holding
Unclear goals
Adelantado 2
Save on exit
Buildings renewed or demolished
Cavemen and Dinosaur clickers
Diego auto-picks items
Try the demo on 2 from BFG if you want to try. I didn't bother with 3 this time around, done with series. If you like them, there's a similar later 'Britons' series featuring Romans.

Amazing Pyramids: Rebirth on Steam

Amazing Pyramids are back! Lead a group of scientists through addicting word adventures! Play now and solve intricate word puzzles to unravel the secrets of an ancient city! Use your wits and vocabulary to survive the blistering sun!

store.steampowered.com

Save 90% on Crazy Machines 3 on Steam

Crazy Machines 3 is the latest, greatest, most amazing and craziest part of the series and fascinates once more with physic-based puzzles. Build your own crazy machines and share your awesomeness across the world thanks to the Steam® Workshop.

store.steampowered.com

Crush the Castle Legacy Collection on Steam

Crush the Castle Legacy Collection is the triumphant return of the classic Armor Games physics destruction game! Let destruction reign by loading up your trusty trebuchet and showing the enemy castle who’s boss.

store.steampowered.com

Inspiration for Angry Birds.

Gone Home on Steam

June 7th, 1995. 1:15 AM. You arrive home after a year abroad. You expect your family to greet you, but the house is empty. Something's not right. Where is everyone? And what's happened here? Unravel the mystery for yourself in Gone Home, a story exploration game from The Fullbright Company.

store.steampowered.com

Hero of the Kingdom Collection on Steam

store.steampowered.com

Jewel Match Match 3 franchise.
I found these very variable, some great, some poor.
Better ones:
Oh weird, not on Steam, only the Solitaire collection??? Anyway, FFR:
Jewel Match Snowscapes [in Hardest mode]
Jewel Match Royale 1 & 2
Jewel Match Origins 2

Picross Touch on Steam

Find the hidden image in this fun and addictive logic puzzle game. All puzzles have unique solutions, ensuring 100% logically solvable puzzle grids.

store.steampowered.com

Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition on Steam

Zombies are invading your home, and the only defense is your arsenal of plants! Armed with an alien nursery-worth of zombie-zapping plants like peashooters and cherry bombs, you'll need to think fast and plant faster to stop dozens of types of zombies dead in their tracks.

store.steampowered.com

Save 50% on Roadwarden on Steam

Roadwarden is an illustrated text-based RPG that uses isometric pixel art and combines mechanics borrowed from RPGs, Visual Novels, adventure games and interactive fiction.

store.steampowered.com

Save 75% on The Book of Unwritten Tales on Steam

In a world torn by war, the aged gremlin archaeologist Mortimer MacGuffin harbors the dark secret of a powerful artifact.

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Save 75% on The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 on Steam

Every world needs its heroes. However unlikely they may seem. Join Wilbur, Ivo, Nate and Critter in another classic point-and-click adventure in the wicked world of Aventásia. Help them fulfill their destiny. A destiny as yet unwritten.

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Save 90% on The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav on Steam

Face your Destiny! In Andergast, whose inhabitants are considered to be superstitious, King Efferdan awaits a state visit from high-ranking dignitaries. For centuries the kingdom has been at odds with neighboring Nostria, but now first steps are being undertaken toward a lasting peace.

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Save 90% on The Dark Eye: Memoria on Steam

In Memoria, players travel through different time periods, following two distinct protagonists: Sadja, a southern princess who wants to be a war hero, and Geron, a bird catcher who wants to lift a curse from his girlfriend.

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Save 51% on The Deed on Steam

A keenly dark twist on the traditional murder mystery setting, The Deed is an Adventure/RPG game about getting away with murder. Arran Bruce, the rightful heir to Dunshiel House, returns home to settle a score with his estranged family.

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Save 90% on The Night of the Rabbit on Steam

Lose yourself in a tale of magic and wonder, where anything is possible and where nothing is quite as it seems: join young Jerry and follow a peculiar white rabbit to the wondrous realm of Mousewood, a land where critters can speak and where mystery abounds.

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These nights in Cairo on Steam

Otome visual novel. Margaret Dawson is girl dreaming to become full-fledged archaeologist. Together with her father she departs to the excavations of mysterious tomb in Egypt, but there she faces some oddities.

store.steampowered.com

I finished it, but meh—might be more your cuppa

Steam Store

Steam is the ultimate destination for playing, discussing, and creating games.

store.steampowered.com

Aw bummer, War Robots Planet Defender has been removed from Steam it seems—I liked it. Don't see it on sale anywhere else, it never got any traction at all, I don't think even 10 Steam reviews.

"I'll poke deeper once you clarify"
I take that back, don't think I have anything else to add

 

[Brian Boru]

Big Fish has put a ton of games that they published on Steam and they are all cheaper than they are on the Big Fish store

Yep, it's ages since I bought on BFG, for this reason and also because they've nixed some good stuff on BFG like forums and 'helpfulness' of reviews & sorting reviews by same. Of course, Devs will have put those on Steam, not BFG—apart from a few BFG make/made themselves.

I was in the BFG club for over a decade @ $7/month—it got you 30% off all games, plus loyalty points towards free games. I'm not sure I trust BFG anymore, they may just be milking the cow.

 

[ZedClampet]

Of course, Devs will have put those on Steam

I'm not sure about that. Elephant Games lists Big Fish as their publisher both on their website and on Steam, and if it is a traditional publisher/developer relationship, then Big Fish had to put them on Steam. There are hundreds of games that are apparently published by Big Fish. Also, I found an announcement from Valve that Big Fish was putting their games on Steam.

There are games that are on both sites that don't list Big Fish as the publisher, but hundreds that do.

Steam Publisher: Hidden Object Games

Big Fish offers immersive, beautifully-rendered content, and is the largest publisher of Hidden Object games.

store.steampowered.com

 

[ZedClampet]

Just Match 3, or other genres too? Here's the genre list from BFG:

I'll poke deeper once you clarify, but offhand for now:

Adelantado Trilogy. Book Two on Steam

Get ready for new adventures and unexpected twists! The atmosphere is moody and grim but Don Diego tries to keep everybody cheerful. And ever-present rival Commander Rodriguez is more evil than ever.

store.steampowered.com

Loved these 3 years ago, but they annoyed me last year—my notes:
Adelantado 1
Annoying pop-ups, no map
V annoying Cavemen clickers
Long levels, No save, Slow
Building placement v picky
Buildings not differentiated
Can't demolish buildings
Unnecessary hand-holding
Unclear goals
Adelantado 2
Save on exit
Buildings renewed or demolished
Cavemen and Dinosaur clickers
Diego auto-picks items
Try the demo on 2 from BFG if you want to try. I didn't bother with 3 this time around, done with series. If you like them, there's a similar later 'Britons' series featuring Romans.

Amazing Pyramids: Rebirth on Steam

Amazing Pyramids are back! Lead a group of scientists through addicting word adventures! Play now and solve intricate word puzzles to unravel the secrets of an ancient city! Use your wits and vocabulary to survive the blistering sun!

store.steampowered.com

Save 90% on Crazy Machines 3 on Steam

Crazy Machines 3 is the latest, greatest, most amazing and craziest part of the series and fascinates once more with physic-based puzzles. Build your own crazy machines and share your awesomeness across the world thanks to the Steam® Workshop.

store.steampowered.com

Crush the Castle Legacy Collection on Steam

Crush the Castle Legacy Collection is the triumphant return of the classic Armor Games physics destruction game! Let destruction reign by loading up your trusty trebuchet and showing the enemy castle who’s boss.

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Inspiration for Angry Birds.

Gone Home on Steam

June 7th, 1995. 1:15 AM. You arrive home after a year abroad. You expect your family to greet you, but the house is empty. Something's not right. Where is everyone? And what's happened here? Unravel the mystery for yourself in Gone Home, a story exploration game from The Fullbright Company.

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Hero of the Kingdom Collection on Steam

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Jewel Match Match 3 franchise.
I found these very variable, some great, some poor.
Better ones:
Oh weird, not on Steam, only the Solitaire collection??? Anyway, FFR:
Jewel Match Snowscapes [in Hardest mode]
Jewel Match Royale 1 & 2
Jewel Match Origins 2

Picross Touch on Steam

Find the hidden image in this fun and addictive logic puzzle game. All puzzles have unique solutions, ensuring 100% logically solvable puzzle grids.

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Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition on Steam

Zombies are invading your home, and the only defense is your arsenal of plants! Armed with an alien nursery-worth of zombie-zapping plants like peashooters and cherry bombs, you'll need to think fast and plant faster to stop dozens of types of zombies dead in their tracks.

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Save 50% on Roadwarden on Steam

Roadwarden is an illustrated text-based RPG that uses isometric pixel art and combines mechanics borrowed from RPGs, Visual Novels, adventure games and interactive fiction.

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Save 75% on The Book of Unwritten Tales on Steam

In a world torn by war, the aged gremlin archaeologist Mortimer MacGuffin harbors the dark secret of a powerful artifact.

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Save 75% on The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 on Steam

Every world needs its heroes. However unlikely they may seem. Join Wilbur, Ivo, Nate and Critter in another classic point-and-click adventure in the wicked world of Aventásia. Help them fulfill their destiny. A destiny as yet unwritten.

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Save 90% on The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav on Steam

Face your Destiny! In Andergast, whose inhabitants are considered to be superstitious, King Efferdan awaits a state visit from high-ranking dignitaries. For centuries the kingdom has been at odds with neighboring Nostria, but now first steps are being undertaken toward a lasting peace.

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Save 90% on The Dark Eye: Memoria on Steam

In Memoria, players travel through different time periods, following two distinct protagonists: Sadja, a southern princess who wants to be a war hero, and Geron, a bird catcher who wants to lift a curse from his girlfriend.

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Save 51% on The Deed on Steam

A keenly dark twist on the traditional murder mystery setting, The Deed is an Adventure/RPG game about getting away with murder. Arran Bruce, the rightful heir to Dunshiel House, returns home to settle a score with his estranged family.

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Save 90% on The Night of the Rabbit on Steam

Lose yourself in a tale of magic and wonder, where anything is possible and where nothing is quite as it seems: join young Jerry and follow a peculiar white rabbit to the wondrous realm of Mousewood, a land where critters can speak and where mystery abounds.

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These nights in Cairo on Steam

Otome visual novel. Margaret Dawson is girl dreaming to become full-fledged archaeologist. Together with her father she departs to the excavations of mysterious tomb in Egypt, but there she faces some oddities.

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I finished it, but meh—might be more your cuppa

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Steam is the ultimate destination for playing, discussing, and creating games.

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Aw bummer, War Robots Planet Defender has been removed from Steam it seems—I liked it. Don't see it on sale anywhere else, it never got any traction at all, I don't think even 10 Steam reviews.

"I'll poke deeper once you clarify"
I take that back, don't think I have anything else to add

Thanks so much for that. I'm getting ready to curl up in bed with my laptop and go through all of it more carefully. I'm not sure what genres I'm interested in other than match 3 and possibly hidden object. The thing is, these games are very different from what I'm used to. Even if they say they are "building a colony" that doesn't mean to them what it means to me because these are basically mobile games. So I think I might pick one out of each category and give it a try and see what I think.

 

[ZedClampet]

I haven't looked into it, but I assume you need a top-flight CPU for it, and top-flight GPU for graphics work—yeah?


* part of my quest to improve Steam tags

Most modern CPUs will be fine, but you need at least an RTX 2060 GPU. I also recommend at least 32 GB of RAM because it will use your entire 16 GB and leave everything else on your PC starving and stuttering.

Intel is now putting an AI part on their CPUs but I doubt their helpfulness. I need to do some research to see what they are capable of. I'm not sure what AMD is doing on the consumer end. They seem to be focusing on servers.

 

[ZedClampet]

Dying Light



Well that was disappointing. 'Sometime' has come and gone, game has been installed, played, and uninstalled—no, it didn't last long

Notes in my review pages:
Mouse leaves screen
W key stays on
Too much melee and parkour

Reading Steam & Reddit, mouse problem apparently exists also in DL2, that's a bit crappy from the devs. 20+ years ago I put up with switching off my second monitor for some games, but not today. Cursor was bouncing to second screen approx every 5 seconds while looking and moving around—there are 3rd-party solutions, if that was the only issue.

Alt-Tab also gave weird result. In every other game where A-T functions as expected—eg games a decade or more older than this one—the game minimizes to Taskbar and you do your thing. Here no—if there's an app open on second monitor it'll jump to that, but game stays fullscreen on main monitor. If this was only issue, I'd have tried Windowed-Fullscreen or Windowed… but I didn't bother.

W key was bizarre, first time I've ever seen it in a game—I've had temp key sticks before, but tap the key and it stops. Here, no. Again just wandering around and suddenly I'm moving forward whether I want to or not. S doesn't stop it, nothing stops it, can't exit to menu via ESC—had to Task Mgr it

Then I did a bit more reading re game in general, to see if it might be worth while to go chasing mods & scripts. Seems you don't get guns until second half of game, and much of the play involves avoiding the baddies—not what I look for, I want to engage with the baddies at every opportunity when I'm not on a smell-the-roses walkabout.

When you do engage, it's melee melee melee which bores me—even Far Cry Primal, which is now off my Replay list due to too much melee, has ranged options with bow and short-range with throwing spear.

Then the avoid enemy requirement involves a lot of parkour and grappling. Parkour or platforming I'm not into—did more than enough of latter in 90s—and grapple swinging is my least-fav part of FC games.

Anyway, no worries—never been drawn to zombie games, it was only the FC hook that caught my interest in this one. Onwards and upwards—just not via parkour and grappling

Sorry, I'm reading the thread backward and responding one at a time for some reason. You should really consider trying Ubisoft's Avatar game if you can get it cheap some day. It uses the FC formula pretty extensively.

As far as Dying Light "W" goes, apparently you were hitting auto-run. I can't remember what key it is, but it's stupid. I've seen it in a couple of other games, and I don't like it at all.

In Dying Light 1, avoiding enemies is the way to go most of the time. In Dying Light 2, killing them is the way to go most of the time. They are mostly hand-to-hand games, though. Even when you get a gun, you basically never have ammo for it. However, in 2, you can get bows, which are awesome and turns it into more of a shooter.

Parkour is basically the point of the games, though. If you don't like that, stay away. There were missions I couldn't complete because I couldn't do the parkour. I had to wait for Guido to get to the top and then fast travel to him. That was only in 2, though. Parkour in the first one wasn't bad at all. But if you aren't good at it, stay away from 2 at all costs. After about the midway point, it will become nothing but pain and suffering. Get me 60 stories in the air and swinging on beams and leaping to tiny ledges and suddenly I can't hit any less than 6 keys at a time. I might as well be slapping my keyboard with a dead fish.

 

[Brian Boru]

I'm not sure about that

I sit corrected! Didn't realize BigFish made the move, ass-u-me-d it was devs

I might pick one out of each category and give it a try and see what I think

They all have demos, so you can try a few in each a try if you like. You'll see a Collector's Edition for many games—usually it's fluff or maybe an extra 15% gameplay for double the price. One of the reviewers may tell what's extra in CE, especially 'penmom'.

consider trying Ubisoft's Avatar game

Oh yeah, that's big on the wishlist.