September 2025 General Game Discussion Thread

[Pifanjr]

We need a NPC chaos enabling simulator game. I'm not talking about a game like Totally Accurate Battle Simulator which is fun to mess with, but something where you are causing NPCs to react to certain things in order to complete objectives. It could be a mix of that game, WD2 and Hitman. You'd have a lot of freedom on how to complete the objectives, you can be as creative and stealthy or as loud and chaotic as you'd like. Basically an immersive sim with NPCs you can somewhat control and get to do what you want. I'd play the hell out of that game.

That sounds a bit like Scribblenauts, though that's broader than just having NPCs react to stuff.

 

[neogunhero]

Getting bored of my game rotation so decided to try some other things I don’t normally play.

First off was Blocky Planet (Tom’s Hardware article link) which is basically an experiment in making Minecraft spherical. There isn’t much to it now but it was still fun to mess around with for 20 minutes. The whole world is a sphere, so naturally I dug to the center of the earth to find a large open cave with a glowing core in the center, pulling all gravity towards it. I then proceeded to build a house, and at this point my head started to hurt. It was one of the trippiest gaming experiences I’ve had in a while.

Then I downloaded GOG Galaxy and gave the one-click modding a try. So far the only game that I have that supports it is Swat 4, so I downloaded the Swat Elite Force mod with a single click. No need to download the original game, these mods come packaged with it and are available to you as long as you own the base required game. It was extremely simple and before I knew it I was playing Swat 4 in full HD 1080p. Swat 4 is one of those games that I wish I could get into but just never take the game seriously. I ran into the house, forced my team to bumrush the assailant, then killed everyone in the house with a C2 explosive and ended the mission. That’s more fun to me than taking the game seriously.

I also tried to play a bit more Enshrouded but again felt overwhelmed and not motivated to continue. I got nearly 20 hours out of the game so at least I don’t regret my purchase. I’m happy to have it though knowing I will get to play all the future updates and eventual 1.0 launch, but for now I’m a bit bored of it.

 

[Johnway]

So the humble choice for this month is out and.... yeah nothing that i would say is essential or must get for me. Return to monkey island maybe, but meh, that alone isn't enough. another month skipped methinks.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Getting bored of my game rotation so decided to try some other things I don’t normally play.

First off was Blocky Planet (Tom’s Hardware article link) which is basically an experiment in making Minecraft spherical. There isn’t much to it now but it was still fun to mess around with for 20 minutes. The whole world is a sphere, so naturally I dug to the center of the earth to find a large open cave with a glowing core in the center, pulling all gravity towards it. I then proceeded to build a house, and at this point my head started to hurt. It was one of the trippiest gaming experiences I’ve had in a while.

Then I downloaded GOG Galaxy and gave the one-click modding a try. So far the only game that I have that supports it is Swat 4, so I downloaded the Swat Elite Force mod with a single click. No need to download the original game, these mods come packaged with it and are available to you as long as you own the base required game. It was extremely simple and before I knew it I was playing Swat 4 in full HD 1080p. Swat 4 is one of those games that I wish I could get into but just never take the game seriously. I ran into the house, forced my team to bumrush the assailant, then killed everyone in the house with a C2 explosive and ended the mission. That’s more fun to me than taking the game seriously.

I also tried to play a bit more Enshrouded but again felt overwhelmed and not motivated to continue. I got nearly 20 hours out of the game so at least I don’t regret my purchase. I’m happy to have it though knowing I will get to play all the future updates and eventual 1.0 launch, but for now I’m a bit bored of it.

I know the crafters sound like emergencies (I hate it when games act like you are on a time limit but you really aren't), but I just did whatever I wanted, and when, for instance, I got to a spot where I thought, "You know, I really need to be able to grow Flax..." then I just talked to the farmer girl and did her quest to get farming, etc. Just did them as I needed them, basically. Of course, some of them, like the blacksmith. probably need to be done so you can improve your weapons.

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@Johnway The only one I really want is the Warhammer racing game.

@Pifanjr Would you like https://store.steampowered.com/app/1586800/Lil_Gator_Game/

 

[Zed Clampet]

@Pifanjr If you decide you want it, we'll have to find some way of getting it to you because the safety patrol that runs this site has removed the ability to send DMs to anyone but mods. Or, I guess I could just send the key to a mod and they could then send it to you.

 

[Pifanjr]

Then I downloaded GOG Galaxy and gave the one-click modding a try. So far the only game that I have that supports it is Swat 4, so I downloaded the Swat Elite Force mod with a single click. No need to download the original game, these mods come packaged with it and are available to you as long as you own the base required game. It was extremely simple and before I knew it I was playing Swat 4 in full HD 1080p. Swat 4 is one of those games that I wish I could get into but just never take the game seriously. I ran into the house, forced my team to bumrush the assailant, then killed everyone in the house with a C2 explosive and ended the mission. That’s more fun to me than taking the game seriously.

I played a bit of SWAT 4 as a kid with some friends, but we never got very far. Either we were messing around shooting each other with pepper balls or we tried to play seriously and got shot and killed by an enemy hiding in a corner. The game was way too hard for us.

@Pifanjr Would you like https://store.steampowered.com/app/1586800/Lil_Gator_Game/

It reminds me a lot of A Short Hike. Fun, but not worth almost €20.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I played a bit of SWAT 4 as a kid with some friends, but we never got very far. Either we were messing around shooting each other with pepper balls or we tried to play seriously and got shot and killed by an enemy hiding in a corner. The game was way too hard for us.



It reminds me a lot of A Short Hike. Fun, but not worth almost €20.

No, I mean I have a key for it you can have from Humble. It's probably worth $0

 

[Pifanjr]

@Pifanjr If you decide you want it, we'll have to find some way of getting it to you because the safety patrol that runs this site has removed the ability to send DMs to anyone but mods. Or, I guess I could just send the key to a mod and they could then send it to you.

No, I mean I have a key for it you can have from Humble. It's probably worth $0

Ah, I didn't understand that you were offering it to me, I thought you were just asking if it was something my kid would be interested in and I didn't see your other message until after posting.

I appreciate the offer. If you want, you can add me on Steam, my username is the same as it is here. My wife is going away for a couple of days tomorrow, so it might be nice to have something new to occupy my kid with on the weekend.

 

[neogunhero]

I forgot I accepted that free bundle of games GOG was giving out in early August in protest of the whole credit card censoring games thing. I didn't know all that was included, only that Postal 2 and Agony were on there, but it came with a good 10-15 porno games as well. Now my GOG discovery page is full of adult games thinking I'd be interested in them. Let's just hope my wife doesn't get in the mood to play some 90s PC games and accidentally stumbles upon my GOG library. All I wanted was DRM-free Postal 2!

 

[Zed Clampet]

@neogunhero and anyone else possibly interested in goofing around with AI art on their own PC.

When you tried out Flux, all they had were 20 step models. They've gotten that down all the way to 4 steps (someone is actually claiming a one-step, but I haven't tried it). But if a small picture (which you can then blow up to any size) was taking 2 minutes before, it should only take 24 seconds now.

 

[neogunhero]

@neogunhero and anyone else possibly interested in goofing around with AI art on their own PC.

When you tried out Flux, all they had were 20 step models. They've gotten that down all the way to 4 steps (someone is actually claiming a one-step, but I haven't tried it). But if a small picture (which you can then blow up to any size) was taking 2 minutes before, it should only take 24 seconds now.

Haven't redownloaded any of the stuff since I installed Win11, will definitely look into it. The last time I messed with it, it took over 5 minutes to generate a picture that was just a grainy gradient blur. It definitely looked cool though, will have to do some more.

 

[Pifanjr]

I tried out the Aethermancer demo this evening.

It's really promising. The main idea is that you can copy any of the monsters you encounter into your party of three, with each monster starting with one passive and two active abilities and getting more as they level up.

The abilities are fairly complex, with active abilities usually doing at least two things and then typically triggering one or more passives, especially on higher levels. Active abilities also have a so called Aether cost, which comes in 4 different types (water, fire, earth and wind) and needs to be managed as well. Add to that that each enemy has a weakness to a specific element and combat gets quite complex indeed, though even with all that the game wasn't too hard for the bit I played.

The only disappointing aspect is that, while collecting monsters is a cool idea, you cannot swap monsters at will. Instead, at the start of each area you often get a choice to replace one of your monsters with one of the ones you've collected. However, there really isn't much of an incentive to do so since you've probably been picking abilities that fit well with your current composition and the new monster starts at a lower level. So the collected monsters are more like backups for if one of yours dies.

The game is a roguelite, meaning you can unlock upgrades between runs, though from what I saw during the demo the upgrades are fairly small, making the game only slightly easier. So it doesn't seem like grinding would be required to reach the end.

I can recommend anyone interested in more complex turn-based combat to give it a try.

 

[Zed Clampet]

You probably have to be me to really appreciate it...

Spoiler: Helpful

@neogunhero probably gets it as I do this to him all the time, but I think this is some of my better work.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I forgot I accepted that free bundle of games GOG was giving out in early August in protest of the whole credit card censoring games thing. I didn't know all that was included, only that Postal 2 and Agony were on there, but it came with a good 10-15 porno games as well. Now my GOG discovery page is full of adult games thinking I'd be interested in them. Let's just hope my wife doesn't get in the mood to play some 90s PC games and accidentally stumbles upon my GOG library. All I wanted was DRM-free Postal 2!

Speaking of content algorithms, one day on YouTube it recommended a video called something like "These women divorced their husbands and immediately regretted it!" I'm not sure why, but I watched the video. Now half the suggested videos are anti-female videos.

Site's need to have some way you can go into a visual representation of the algorithm as it applies to you and let you remove types of content.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Started playing The Last Express and so far, I'm mostly lost. I have some idea of what's going on, but I mostly feel like I'm wandering the train and waiting for things to happen to me.

I may need to consult a strategy guide.

Also playing more Wargroove 2 to see what my friend sees in it. Still not loving it, but I am at least enjoying it a bit more. But I do still feel like I'd rather be playing Advance Wars.

That looks interesting. Let me know if you figure it out. Is it one of those games where events happen whether you are there to view them or not? For some reason that stresses me out.

 

[Zed Clampet]

You probably have to be me to really appreciate it...

Spoiler: Helpful

@neogunhero probably gets it as I do this to him all the time, but I think this is some of my better work.

Aw, this thread got deleted. I wanted to see his response to my awful, but very standard, Internet reply. If the mods deleted it, I can only imagine what his response must have been.

 

[neogunhero]

Site's need to have some way you can go into a visual representation of the algorithm as it applies to you and let you remove types of content.

Exactly this. Sometimes I want to check something out that I don’t normally watch on YouTube but that doesn’t mean I want my feed to be flooded with that kind of content. I watched a guy solve an intricate puzzle box and now my feed is full of other guys doing similar puzzles.

Most sites don’t give you much say in what you want in your feed. The ones that do limit it quite a lot. Twitter, BlueSky and TikTok have word filters which is helpful to avoid certain topics. TikTok also has a slider thing which you can pick between “none”, “somewhat” and “more” of certain types of content like funny videos, cooking, political, current events, etc.

A visual web with more control would be better and can be beneficial to people. If we had more control over our algorithms and feeds maybe people won’t consume harmful content that is affecting their worldview and mental states.

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Not much gaming news on my end. My wife has been playing her Switch more lately so I decided to give it a spin too. Ended up buying three newer Sherlock Holmes games for under $9. She likes detective mystery games so I thought maybe this would be a good fit. Right off the bat in Crimes and Punishment we got stuck on the first puzzle. I really didn’t want to look up anything so I walked around the whole level constantly clicking stuff until I found the last clue we were missing. This game lets you cheese out the deductions too by triggering every combination of clues without penalty until you find the correct one. It’s a bit strange but we’re gonna stick with it.

 

[Frindis]

I hooked up my Switch to an old Sharp 40 TV and to my surprise I just needed to change the coloring and then it looked pretty great. I don't even feel that it is 30FPS on that TV. I also got something called ChromeCast, so I can stream movies from my PC to my TV, which is neat!

 

[dxchase]

So the humble choice for this month is out and.... yeah nothing that i would say is essential or must get for me. Return to monkey island maybe, but meh, that alone isn't enough. another month skipped methinks.

I see that too and honestly i want to skip but i keep forgetting to then i get a notification that i spent the 16usd. I dont really mind it, i have a big backlog of keys i havent used yet but i also dont mind where the money is going for it (charity) but the selection has gone down hill pretty bad (1 selection is IGN+ and you can only use it ONCE if you are a new member, it keeps popping up but its useless to me since i used 1 already.)

The new selection for September has Destiny 2's legacy collection. That alone is worth the humble bundle price but there are other games there that arent too bad, at least to me so i tend to just let it ride every month.






As for gaming news... i have too much to play right now! So im going to list what i have played over the last 2 weeks and give a first-impression summary..


-Gears of War: Reloaded -Doesn't have split screen coop on PC, looks great visually but its not leaps and bounds better than the 2015 ultimate version (this game is from 2006) Probably wont finish since ive beaten the campaign and refuse to buy it at its price JUST to play its pvp, which im interested in because i was good back in the day lol

-Incision -Boomer Shooter thats pretty fun and violent (bloody). Its difficult too and has some roguelike to it (limited life in maps that are really long that you start over if you lose all of them) but its fun. Boomer Shooter players will enjoy this, currently on sale on steam for ~10usd, its also bundled with another great boomer shooter (Supplice) for 20. If you are a fan of boomer shooters, i highly recommend the bundle.

-Metal Eden (full release) -Cyberpunk/Mirrors Edge meets Doom. Runs pretty well on my PC, very short game (can be beaten in 1 sitting within 4-5 hours) I havent beaten it yet, but its moving fast and its visually pleasing too. Very cyberpunk-y environment that looks gorgeous with 4k cutscenes.

-Lost Soul Aside -Best way to describe it is like Claire Obscure visuals so it looks good and the combat is Ninja Gaiden inspired. Havent gotten too far in it but i like the combat and doesnt feel repetitive yet. Not sure how much further ill go in this due to all this other stuff.

-Hell is Us -This game might be up there with some of you survival/puzzle players. This game is very puzzle-solving and exploration heavy. It has combat but the game is more about puzzles and exploration than fighting. The game tells you that there is no markers, no objective outliners, no in-depth map, nothing like that. You have to explore on your own and figure out where to go. Graphics are really nice too. Probably wont finish this either but the story is pretty good, im just not a puzzle-after-puzzle kind of gamer at least not one to stick to this game until its end.

-Destiny Rising (mobile app but emulated (perfectly with kb/m) on pc) -If you played Destiny 2 you HAVE GOT TO play this. Its better than Destiny 2 and im not kidding at least it has a lot of ideas bungie shouldve used a long time ago. Its very forgiving in the gatcha-sense too. Its also free and emulates on PC. Wont get too attached to this. Just grabbing sign-in bonuses and thats it.

-Helldivers 2 (new BIG update with Halo crossover warbond (guns/armor inspired by Halo) -The new update has us going into huge underground tunnels to kill bugs. Its hard af. The game was also put into a state of bugginess from it. Its annoying but as far as Helldivers 2 goes, we are eating! (sorry that term fits well for me right now). New warbonds (halo one too!) new enemies, new strategems, its a great time to helldive.

My next big game (and purchase) will be Borderlands 4. Im not too hyped for the game personally and its 70 as a base game, but its a game ill be playing cooperatively with my wife and maybe my son so im sure ill get my moneys worth at some point.

So honestly i dont really know what to open right now haha.

 

[BeardyHat]

That looks interesting. Let me know if you figure it out. Is it one of those games where events happen whether you are there to view them or not? For some reason that stresses me out.

It is.

It's an interesting mechanic though because at any point you can rewind time. So right now I'm in this time slot where I can kind of explore some peoples cabins (assuming the conductor is busy and doesn't see me enter) because they're off doing a thing in the back of the train. I've already rewound the game a couple of times during this because I wanted to do a little more thorough looking and reading.

I'm trying not to look too much at the strategy guide for it, as I'd like to discover things for myself, but it is a dated game. Meaning that some of the prompts aren't totally obvious (Someone on a different forum hinted that I'm missing something in one of said cabins, but I couldn't find it until I consulted my guide and realized I was mistaking a LONG ARROW for a SHORT ARROW. I know that doesn't make sense in this context, but basically long arrow means I can look under a thing and short arrow means backout of what I'm looking at completely.) and exploring the train is more like playing Myst than something more modern with free movement, so it can be disorienting at times.

I think it's a pretty neat game, but it's not totally grabbing me yet. However, that could be due to the context of my game time: Last Express is really a game that you need to sit and absorb; listen carefully to conversations, watch peoples movements and actions, etc. That's hard for me right now, because I usually game when there are lots of distractions in my house and I'm often interrupted, so it's hard to focus and I'm definitely missing stuff.

That said, in spite of all that, I've made it about halfway through the trip without a Game Over screen, so I think that means I'm doing something right. Though I do believe there are multiple endings.

One thing I find particularly interesting about it is that it takes place on the Eve of WW1; starting on I think July 24th with WW1 only being about a week away. You can read a newspaper on the train that has actual articles in it from the time, including one detailing the Austo-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia, which was sent on July 24th. Then on subsequent days in the game you can read the responses, analysis, etc on that note, which Serbia had 48-hours to respond to. Just super interesting to me, especially given I'm currently reading the definitive history on the lead-up and first month of WW1 here at the same time.

 

[neogunhero]

-Incision... ...currently on sale on steam for ~10usd, its also bundled with another great boomer shooter (Supplice) for 20. If you are a fan of boomer shooters, i highly recommend the bundle.

Two games I've been eyeing out for bundled together, amazing. Won't get it now though, going to wait for the bundle to get a discount but both look very good. I've heard nothing but great things about Supplice.

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How much importance do you guys put into what development studio or publisher is attached to a game when purchasing? Different studios/publishers get different levels of praise and fanfare, so it's all over the place for most people I would assume. I remember roughly 10 years ago when EA was seen as the antichrist, now I rarely ever see people complaining about them as loudly anymore. Studios like Nightdive and new Blood are pretty reliable for putting out great games/remasters so it's hard to go wrong with purchasing one of their titles. Then there are publishers who focus on slopware as I call it, trendy games that sell for very cheap and rack up a decent amount of sales with minimal development cost.

If it's a studio or publisher that has a good track record with me personally, then I don't mind. If it's one that I haven't heard of, I typically do some research into their previous games. This isn't always the case, but if a company has put out 3 games that were very poor and has a new game out, I'm much more cautious with buying the new game than if it was a reputable company. I don't think there is a specific developer or publisher that I outright refuse to purchase from, it's just that some make me more wary than others.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Informal Survey/Question!​

Real Life Situation: A game has what could be considered a philosophically game-breaking bug. For example, let's say you are playing a decorating game, and you have a 5000 square foot mansion to decorate. There are thousands of decorations, but when you place the 10th, the game gives you a message that says, "Limit reached. You cannot place any more decorations."

The developer says that they are concerned that some people's computers couldn't handle more than 10 decorations, so they are not going to change the 10 item limit. Needless to say, most players are exasperated and want to refund the game.

I tag each player and say, "Send me a friend request," but no one sends me a friend request, so none of them get my "special file".

I know I'm being vague with them, but I don't want to have my software license revoked. I'm having fun because I can put down 1800 "decorations" before my PC starts to slow down. Should I keep trying to get their attention or just drop it? If I should keep trying, what should I say? I really feel bad for the players. The dev is being ridiculous.

 

[neogunhero]

Informal Survey/Question!​

Real Life Situation: A game has what could be considered a philosophically game-breaking bug. For example, let's say you are playing a decorating game, and you have a 5000 square foot mansion to decorate. There are thousands of decorations, but when you place the 10th, the game gives you a message that says, "Limit reached. You cannot place any more decorations."

The developer says that they are concerned that some people's computers couldn't handle more than 10 decorations, so they are not going to change the 10 item limit. Needless to say, most players are exasperated and want to refund the game.

I tag each player and say, "Send me a friend request," but no one sends me a friend request, so none of them get my "special file".

I know I'm being vague with them, but I don't want to have my software license revoked. I'm having fun because I can put down 1800 "decorations" before my PC starts to slow down. Should I keep trying to get their attention or just drop it? If I should keep trying, what should I say? I really feel bad for the players. The dev is being ridiculous.

Maybe you can phrase it in a way like "guys I found a workaround/solution to this issue!" and post a tutorial rather than trying to send people the file. Word it like it's an unintentional bug and not a deliberate choice by the dev. That will sure get the dev upset if he sees that post in the Steam discussions, but you would be helping others out. Modifying game files shouldn't be against the terms for the software license but I'm not 100% certain on that. I see posts like that all the time for other games, though if this is a smaller game ran by one stubborn dev then you may want to be a bit more cautious.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Maybe you can phrase it in a way like "guys I found a workaround/solution to this issue!" and post a tutorial rather than trying to send people the file. Word it like it's an unintentional bug and not a deliberate choice by the dev. That will sure get the dev upset if he sees that post in the Steam discussions, but you would be helping others out. Modifying game files shouldn't be against the terms for the software license but I'm not 100% certain on that. I see posts like that all the time for other games, though if this is a smaller game ran by one stubborn dev then you may want to be a bit more cautious.

The problem is I already talked to the dev about the limit. He and I both know that if I posted instructions that I would be aware that I was going against his wishes. For some reason I can't find a TOS/User Agreement

 

[Pifanjr]

How much importance do you guys put into what development studio or publisher is attached to a game when purchasing?

Not that much. I buy games either after trying the demo, because it's a sequel to a game I like, because my friends recommend it to me or because it is widely recognised as a masterwork in a genre I like.

The only game on my wishlist that I'm interested in mostly because of the developer is Heat Signature, because I really enjoyed Gunpoint.

Informal Survey/Question!​

Real Life Situation: A game has what could be considered a philosophically game-breaking bug. For example, let's say you are playing a decorating game, and you have a 5000 square foot mansion to decorate. There are thousands of decorations, but when you place the 10th, the game gives you a message that says, "Limit reached. You cannot place any more decorations."

The developer says that they are concerned that some people's computers couldn't handle more than 10 decorations, so they are not going to change the 10 item limit. Needless to say, most players are exasperated and want to refund the game.

I tag each player and say, "Send me a friend request," but no one sends me a friend request, so none of them get my "special file".

I know I'm being vague with them, but I don't want to have my software license revoked. I'm having fun because I can put down 1800 "decorations" before my PC starts to slow down. Should I keep trying to get their attention or just drop it? If I should keep trying, what should I say? I really feel bad for the players. The dev is being ridiculous.

I'd probably post the fix on the subreddit for the game. If necessary you can make a throwaway account if you want to try to remain anonymous.

If possible, you could also upload it as a mod to any of the popular modding sites.