October 2025 General Games discussion thread

[neogunhero]

I played some more Bannerlord. I made an excellent choice with the kingdom I decided to join, they're absolutely killing it. However, they really like being at war all the time and it's proving to be impossible to safeguard all of my villages by myself, so it seems it's time to give my companions their own units. Hopefully they'll be somewhat competent by themselves.

I've tried so many times to get into Mount and Blade but never could. My friend hyped up Bannerlord so much that I bought it the first week it came out but only have 9 hours total on it. Reading your posts makes me want to consider going back and giving it a stronger try.

I've played a demo of that game, I think during a Steam Next Fest a while ago. It was pretty fun, but it can get pretty hard on later levels.

I was having trouble just starting out, I couldn't make it past the two minute mark. Granted you are the weakest when first starting, and as you play more you can start to unlock permanent buffs and new characters. Also just getting a good loadout can be difficult. One thing that actually helped a lot was just aiming the ball... for the first few runs I didn't move the crosshair at all and just let it go straight up. Moving it around more actually helps a lot more than it would seem.

 

[Johnway]

Had a crack at the Menace demo for nextfest. I'm not entirely sure about it. I know its pretty good and there are some complex mechanics, but its also got things that rub me the wrong way. i suspect that the demo does a poor job easing you into the game, i would have loved a tut to understand the various mechanics and a bit of tips and tricks. i suspect is like brothers in arms where you suppress, flank and kill, but the problem is that most of the maps are very open so i'm not entirely comfortable charging in guns blazing. in fact i tried that with a close assault squad and they were dead in a couple of turns. its not helped that its AP based, so you are unlikely to move and shoot. its either one or the other or half arsed. So its a far away experience from XCOM where i get the chance to move and shoot, see stats to determine hits, adequate cover etc.


Onto other news, i've been window shopping again and i have a pc built in my wish list for around 2k-2.5k with all the bad news about pc parts going up in price, i'm wondering whether to just pull the trigger. its just that my current pc is adequate for the job and the new one will be bigger, run hotter and thirstier for power which in turn means i melt in the summer and higher energy bills. So its the long term costs rather then the immediate ones as i can buy the pc easily, just can't convince or justify it atm.


And we have a spot of Doom news. Well, GZDoom news, apparently there is a schism within the GZDoom dev team. The leader developer is found to be using AI to program/build the next update and there are talks of a split in the fork and branching off to another version of GZDoom. I don't know the implications of using AI and its early days so i'm content to watch and see what happens.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've tried so many times to get into Mount and Blade but never could. My friend hyped up Bannerlord so much that I bought it the first week it came out but only have 9 hours total on it. Reading your posts makes me want to consider going back and giving it a stronger try.

I can recommend ignoring the main quest the game gives you. It doesn't reward you with anything useful and instead starts a timer that forces you into a war with three factions once it runs out. Occasionally it'll spawn some enemies you can defeat to slow the timer, but it's honestly just obnoxious having to stop what you're doing to chase those down.

It's also just a fairly slow and repetitive game. It's great if you have a lot of time and little energy or just want a game where you can turn your brain off for a couple of hours.

I was having trouble just starting out, I couldn't make it past the two minute mark. Granted you are the weakest when first starting, and as you play more you can start to unlock permanent buffs and new characters. Also just getting a good loadout can be difficult. One thing that actually helped a lot was just aiming the ball... for the first few runs I didn't move the crosshair at all and just let it go straight up. Moving it around more actually helps a lot more than it would seem.

It's definitely one of those roguelites where you have to grind the same level a bunch just to buy power ups just so you can make it a bit further.

 

[Johnway]

had a quick crack at Legends of Amberland 3 NEXTfest demo yesterday night. i was interested in original and sequel but wasn't sure what it was like. So the demo was a perfect opportunity to find out. its a fairly basic game both mechanically and visually, but there is a strangely moreish quality to it. I found myself just speeding along hacking away at monsters. there are various dungeons and puzzles but its very old school stuff. Not something that could sustain my interest for long.

I potentially might get the game but it has to be very, very cheap for me to consider it.

 

[Frindis]

The playtest is open and will last throughout the weekend. Not tried it, but downloaded so will soon . It's a Tarkov-type extraction game.

Pre-purchase ARC Raiders on Steam

ARC Raiders is an upcoming multiplayer, extraction adventure, set in a lethal future earth, ravaged by a mysterious mechanized threat known as ARC.

store.steampowered.com

 

[neogunhero]

The playtest is open and will last throughout the weekend. Not tried it, but downloaded so will soon . It's a Tarkov-type extraction game.

Pre-purchase ARC Raiders on Steam

ARC Raiders is an upcoming multiplayer, extraction adventure, set in a lethal future earth, ravaged by a mysterious mechanized threat known as ARC.

store.steampowered.com

It's free so I may as well try it out. I know there seems to be a lot of good hype around it, people are actually excited to play it so that's good. I also like how they call it what it is: a server slam. That's the most accurate description of a limited playtest because the reality is we may all end up in a server queue, so calling it that kind of quells your expectations

 

[Johnway]

It's free so I may as well try it out. I know there seems to be a lot of good hype around it, people are actually excited to play it so that's good. I also like how they call it what it is: a server slam. That's the most accurate description of a limited playtest because the reality is we may all end up in a server queue, so calling it that kind of quells your expectations

Honestly never understood the hype of the game. then again i've seen so little and multiplayer has very little interest. Anywho, how will this impact Battlefield's numbers? hard to say. The problem with so many multiplayer games coming out they'll start eating into each other.

more NEXTfest demos for me, this time i tried Tears of Metal a Dynasty warriors style roguelike set in scotland. Its fun for sure, but i think i've seen everything i want to see and i don't think its going to keep me going that long

Tears of Metal Demo on Steam

Tears of Metal is a medieval hack-and-slash co-op roguelike. Carve through hordes of enemies to reclaim your island with the help of your formidable Scottish battalion. As you advance deeper into the trenches, uncover more about the mysterious Dragon Meteor and the treacherous enemy invasion.

store.steampowered.com

 

[neogunhero]

Honestly never understood the hype of the game. then again i've seen so little and multiplayer has very little interest. Anywho, how will this impact Battlefield's numbers? hard to say. The problem with so many multiplayer games coming out they'll start eating into each other.

I'm not very knowledgeable about the game either, but I would say because it was made by the same studio that did The Finals, that alone is a sign that the game will be of high quality. The art style is really nice too, a bit of a retro-futuristic flair to it that I really enjoy. The only issue that they will face is being a paid PVP game. Seems these days very few franchises can get away with charging for a PVP focused game. BF and COD are the exceptions. If I were someone who just spent $70 on BF6 earlier this month, it would be a much harder sell to get me to buy a $40 game that is uncertain about how long players will stick with it.

 

[Zloth]

The playtest is open and will last throughout the weekend. Not tried it, but downloaded so will soon . It's a Tarkov-type extraction game.

Pre-purchase ARC Raiders on Steam

ARC Raiders is an upcoming multiplayer, extraction adventure, set in a lethal future earth, ravaged by a mysterious mechanized threat known as ARC.

store.steampowered.com

An extraction game? I haven't extracted anything from an .ARC file for a long, long time - but I sure don't remember it being particularly fun. The character switching between / - \ | / - \ | got old really fast.

I think I've seen what I can see in Elden Ring's capital. It's probably time to go through the VERY BIG boss door at the top.

 

[Zloth]

I think I've seen what I can see in Elden Ring's capital. It's probably time to go through the VERY BIG boss door at the top.

SNEAKY Fromsoft!

>> Light spoiler warning<<

The doors into rooms with boss fights are typically filled with a golden fog. You click it, pass through, and can't get back out again until the boss is defeated - which clears the fog. They don't always use the fog. Sometimes there's just a big door and a couple of times there hasn't been any warning, other than heading toward a suspiciously big room with no obstructions. But 8 out of 10 inside bosses have the fog.

This time, there was a big door with the fog on a good sized building, but there didn't seem to be an easy way to get to the door. There was a back way going up and around on giant branches, though. So, I went up that way and found a way into the building. Maybe it's a floor above or below, and I'll go through some other fogged door to get to this fight? Nope. As soon as I get in the building, the boss fades in in front of me and my spirit ashes become available for summoning! I didn't even bother to look behind me, I knew the way in would now be blocked.

I didn't get to buff up my summons as well as I wanted, but I beat the guy. He ALMOST destroyed me just when I got him down to a sliver of health, but I managed to roll out of the way and my summon slapped off its remaining health.

 

[Johnway]

So as NEXTfest is winding down i decided to pick and play a few more demos that caught my eye.

First up, jungle rot - think resident evil but in vietnam. plays pretty well and the homage to Resident evil is unmistakable from using herbs, the statue puzzle and the zombie jumping out of the cupboard. its fun, but i wonder how much content we'll see. I mean, if we spend most of our time in the jungle, in VC underground bases, it might be a bit limited. We need some missions or locations in a city like location.

Jungle Rot on Steam

Jungle Rot is a fixed-camera survival horror game that makes use of pre-rendered graphics to deliver the most cutting edge horror experience possible in 1999. Manage your resources wisely, solve puzzles and fight your way through undead monsters hungry for your flesh!

store.steampowered.com

now for my personal like heaven Does Not Respond - a simulator where you play as a detective tasked with decrypting some videos to solve a murder of a young man. As someone who does IT troubleshooting, i was in my element as i racked my brain to solve the various puzzles and tease information out. Admittedly, its not for most people, the lack of information or hand holding will frustrate people. But i love these types of simulation games with vibe of hypnospace outlaw or retro OS desktops.

i also found the game slightly unnerving at times as the pc starts to malfunction in unsettling ways like the machine is cursed or the pc gets hijacked. Great stuff. didn't take me too long to unlock the first video (about 30 minutes).

Heaven Does Not Respond on Steam

Heaven Does Not Respond is a psychological and analog horror simulation game set in an alternate 2005 timeline. Play as intelligence agent, exploring a retro computer interface to decrypt hidden files, watch mysterious videos, and uncover dark secrets behind a young man’s sudden death.

store.steampowered.com

if i play any more i'll let you guys know. With an aging pc i don't get the opportunity to play some of the more AAA looking games.

 

[dxchase]

I have read everyones replies on this page and im glad you are all doing your thing. I dont want to have a long list of individual replies because i have some but i need to keep reading this thread more often lol.

So... ive been enjoying battlefield 6...

All just straight run-and-gun TDM, 100% solo and with all the little bugs/hit registration problems and campers that have existed. Im sure things like my w/l and k/d ratios will dip when i play conquest/domination/koth etc. but im not really interested in all those modes.

Almost done with the campaign. Its a...modern FPS campaign lol but it looks good, is fun and probably one of the better BF campaigns but its nothing super special. Once you play a modern FPS within the past 5 years, youve seen them all really imho.

And notice anything in this last pic? I went 20 and 0 with a team of console players. Also had 20 "assist as kills" so if the game actually registered me hitting someone enough, that couldve easily been 40-0. I dont know why they even have that stat.

The only match i have somethin like this in though with 0 deaths with straight smg running. I also had like 10 revives that match as assualt, its fun to heal downed teammates though i like doing that. If you get healed, it doesnt count as a death either, so it pays to wait and see if you get a revive.

Im still playing Diablo 4, i think i might reach paragon 300 (max level for your powers) this season but the PTR (Public Test Realm) for next season is going live next tuesday and that might slow me down but reaching 300 isnt really all that important.

Next season too is one of the biggest overhauls the games had since "loot reborn" roughly about 5 or 6 seasons ago and that was smaller than the changes here even if that one was a huge one too. Im not holding my breathe thatll be awesome changes though.

 

[Johnway]

So i got in one final round of NEXTfest demos.

First up: The silent jungle a 3rd person survival horror set once more in vietnam. its a bit too clunky for my liking.

The Silent Jungle on Steam

The Silent Jungle is a classic survival horror game set deep within the haunting jungles of Vietnam. After a brutal ambush, a lost American soldier must survive in a cursed jungle filled with lethal traps and haunting illusions. To escape, he must uncover its dark secrets and break the curse.

store.steampowered.com

The next game. Jackal - a hotline miami style game set in the 70s las vegas with a magic twist. Stylish, entertaining and fun. The generous demo is more then enough to give you a taste of what to expect. nearly a 3rd of the game in fact.

Jackal on Steam

Execute ultra-violent raids in 1970s casino hotels. Become a drug-fueled Vegas hitman that takes down the mob in unforgiving top-down close combat. Betray bosses, rob casinos and steal the dames

store.steampowered.com

 

[Pifanjr]

I still feel a bit under the weather, so I haven't been gaming much by myself, but I have played some with my friends and my kid.

First up, R.E.P.O. with my friends. Turns out I still suck at this game. Also, which architect do these people go to for the buildings and why are they so fond of massive pits filled with acid/lava?
Despite me being bad at the game we were actually doing pretty well. Then all my friends died and my game suddenly went to single digit FPS. It would fix itself after a couple of minutes, then immediately break again, so we just quit for the night.

Then yesterday I played 99 Days in the Forest with my kid. It's a survival-crafting-horror game in Roblox that's surprisingly decent. We've played it a couple of times before, but it's been getting regular updates and they're doing a Halloween event right now, so it was fun to see what was new. We also beat our previous record while clearing all the new content.

After my kid went to bed I continued the Barotrauma campaign with my friends. We only did two missions, but we had no deaths and I'm pretty sure I actually managed to avoid some encounters this time by limiting my use of the sonar.
The only time we actually got into a bit of trouble was when we had to retake an outpost and it turned out to have an enemy sub docked at it that shot at us with explosive ammunition, downing two of us. Luckily the doctor wasn't hit and we had just picked up a unique doctor bot, so we got patched up and easily took care of the sub and the outpost.

 

[neogunhero]

Bounced around a few different games this weekend.

Most played was BALLxPIT. Once you get a flow going, it’s hard to put down, just like Vampire Survivors. The first hour was really difficult but once I started getting some permanent buffs and leveling up characters it began to click with me more. Also finding good fusions of different balls is always satisfying.

Next up was Skin Deep. I’m determined to finish this game but man do I suck at it. Still stuck in the fourth ship, at the end you have to kill the pirates who board on. I thought I could use my last strategy of busting open the window in the spaceship and creating a vacuum that sucks them all into outer space but no… these guys came prepared this time with spacesuits. I immediately got lit up by 7 different pirates all blasting me with guns. For some reason this is a game I can’t play for long sessions so after that I was done, will return to it another time.

Next up was some Serious Sam 2. This game is so goofy but I love it. The graphics look really nice, gameplay is as smooth as ever, but cutscenes are still in very low quality. They did a great job with the update, but they forgot to add an FOV slider! How blasphemous.

Finally did some more Deus Ex Revision. Got past Hells Kitchen and I’m in the subways now. This has always been one of my least favorite levels but there is a ton of good loot to find and I’m getting closer to Hong Kong, my favorite area of the game.

 

[dxchase]

Next up was some Serious Sam 2. This game is so goofy but I love it. The graphics look really nice, gameplay is as smooth as ever, but cutscenes are still in very low quality. They did a great job with the update, but they forgot to add an FOV slider! How blasphemous.

Forgot about the 20th anniversary update! Gonna check that out this week.



For me, also jumped around this weekend between Battlefield 6 and Diablo 4 matches.

Played a little more of Alien: Rogue Incursion Episode 1. Im pretty sure im close to wrapping this game up but i also feel like i might shift characters based on what the game is doing but not sure. Its become my "living room" game that i only really play after chilin on the couch watching tv.



Put a good 10-15 hours in the Arc Raiders "server slam" over the weekend. I am interested in picking this up even if im not a typical extraction-shooter kind of player. The game has a pretty tough AI-enemy and adding in the fact you can be killed by other players adds a good amount, to me, of intensity to the game and it also looks really good for what i was able to play. I managed to go around 10-3 for killing others player-wise, but i died so much more to the arc bots than people lol.

I wish the game would come alongside with a PVE-only type mode. The arc enemies are pretty strong, itd be nice if there was a mode to really only worry about them. It doesnt take all that much away from me appreciating the game, but its a huge pain point in the arc community. I think the devs can do it sometime in the near future but well have to see.

I also feel like its a garbage pickup simulator. Yes, you have quests to fulfill but they range from fetch quests to just killing arc bots. To me, it seems you basically just collect scraps and salvage and try not to die bringing it back to vendors.

Speaking of vendors, the whole safe area aka "Esperanza" is just a menu screen. Theres menus for vendors to buy/trade with, workbenchs, FREE battle pass, character progression etc. but its just basically one menu after another to do stuff before you ready up and head back out.

When you die in the map, you lose everything you have per "extraction shooter" rules, but there is a "safe pocket" where you can store 1 valuable item you wont lose, i like that idea.

The game has a "free loadout" kit with a weapon, shield, some healing items etc. that is always available so if you keep dieing, you dont have to worry about not having a gun or anything when you go back in but i can understand how annoying it would be to have to keep using that kit and then put into matches with people who never die who have gear thats 100x better than the free loadout so you never really have a chance against them.

This wasnt a problem for the server slam because it was only a couple days, but i can imagine it being more of a problem when the game releases.

All-in-all im excited about it. Could use a few tweaks and a pve only mode but, for whats there and the game being 40 bucks, we'll see.

 

[Frindis]

I'm 100000% getting this game just because of the trailer!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knh0HxK_d0Q