September 2025 General Game Discussion Thread

[Zed Clampet]

If we are living inside a simulation, please tell me Playway didn't make it.

She still wasn't interested in the progression though. She just wanted me to break the sub again so she could fix it. Then she asked me how to order the bots around, installed herself as a dictator and banished me outside of the sub and proceeded to have a lot of fun ramming into me and trying to avoid letting me get back inside.

I laughed, I cried. No, seriously, I sort of did. At first I laughed, and then it reminded me so much of young Guido that my eyes watered up a bit.

****

I put the max amount of stuff for sale at the player shop and put outrageous prices on things that no one else was selling hoping to take advantage of the naive free weekend players hahaha

Was going to play some Dune Awakening this morning, but realized I don't have time for cutscenes and character creation, as it'll be all my available playtime this AM.

I'm going to try and give it a go this evening if I feel motivated.

You should definitely go to the player shop. Heard there are some great deals there on game-breaking OP gear.

Honestly, if you had time to get there, I'd tell you my server and base location, and I could load you up on good stuff I no longer use. Actually, I could come pick you up in an ornithopter. You'd probably have more fun just experiencing the game as intended, though

 

[BeardyHat]

You should definitely go to the player shop. Heard there are some great deals there on game-breaking OP gear.

Honestly, if you had time to get there, I'd tell you my server and base location, and I could load you up on good stuff I no longer use. Actually, I could come pick you up in an ornithopter. You'd probably have more fun just experiencing the game as intended, though

We'll see how far I make it when I actually do get a chance to play here. I'm not likely to spend the $40 on it, so I'll just play the free weekend, which I will only have access to for a tiny bit longer.

And honestly, now that I finally have had a chance to sit down, I was thinking about painting anyway...

 

[Zed Clampet]

We'll see how far I make it when I actually do get a chance to play here. I'm not likely to spend the $40 on it, so I'll just play the free weekend, which I will only have access to for a tiny bit longer.

And honestly, now that I finally have had a chance to sit down, I was thinking about painting anyway...

Did you ever play that game by the Subnautica devs where you painted your in-game miniatures?

 

[BeardyHat]

Did you ever play that game by the Subnautica devs where you painted your in-game miniatures?

I have seen it, but didn't see much reason to buy it. I'd play it for 5 minutes and then feel like crap that I was neglecting my actual minis.

 

[Pifanjr]

I played the Digimon demo and they did a great job on the Digimon models and animations. Too bad it's in a JRPG.

The combat system has a ton of complexity, with each Digimon having 7 or 8 stats, a type, elemental weaknesses and resistances, learned moves, swappable moves, two equipment slots, an innate passive ability, a passive ability based off of its personality that can change over time and something about a bond and talent level. They can also digivolve into several different Digimon, each with their own requirements, and de-digivolve so you can re-digivolve, which carries over some of the stat increases.

Yet 95% of all combats are against trash enemies where you spam the attack button on 5x speed. The remaining 5% are against bosses where you spam special attacks and maybe use a healing potion once or twice.

I only played it on the Balanced difficulty, but unless higher difficulties limit the free healing after every fight, the trash fights are still going to be trivial and on harder difficulties might just be more of a drag.

The story seemed somewhat intriguing, though there wasn't enough of it in the demo to really get excited for it. The environments however were just bland, containing mostly corridors of copy-pasted assets.

 

[Pifanjr]

I laughed, I cried. No, seriously, I sort of did. At first I laughed, and then it reminded me so much of young Guido that my eyes watered up a bit.

To be honest, it's how I used to play as well. I distinctly remember playing LEGO Star Wars with a friend and we spend a ton of time running around playing a made-up game of tag or trying to bounce blaster shots back and forth.

 

[Zloth]

If we are living inside a simulation, please tell me Playway didn't make it.

Of course not! Playway is part of the simulation. But then, the twisted entity that came up with Playway did make the simulation. I'm not sure if you're better off.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Of course not! Playway is part of the simulation. But then, the twisted entity that came up with Playway did make the simulation. I'm not sure if you're better off.

Actually, I could tell it wasn't Playway because 5 minutes after waking up this morning I still had things to do.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I have seen it, but didn't see much reason to buy it. I'd play it for 5 minutes and then feel like crap that I was neglecting my actual minis.

That's probably why the game didn't sell well. People who like painting minis want to paint actual minis, and the rest of us don't have the patience for it.

 

[BeardyHat]

That's probably why the game didn't sell well. People who like painting minis want to paint actual minis, and the rest of us don't have the patience for it.

It certainly seemed like a baffling idea for a game. I could perhaps see it being cool or useful if it actually taught you some principles of miniature painting, but based on the footage I've seen, it looks like it basically is very "gamey", but at least there's something else to it other than just "painting" miniatures.

 

[Zed Clampet]

It certainly seemed like a baffling idea for a game. I could perhaps see it being cool or useful if it actually taught you some principles of miniature painting, but based on the footage I've seen, it looks like it basically is very "gamey", but at least there's something else to it other than just "painting" miniatures.

For me it needed to be more "gamey". After working for an hour, I still didn't have one mini fully painted. One problem for me was the controls, which are like you find in 3D modeling programs or game engines, and at that time I wasn't overly adept at it.

 

[Pifanjr]

I tried out Morimens, because the Steam store page described it as "a roguelite card-building game inspired by the Cthulhu mythos, where you craft a versatile and intricate deck tailored to your playstyle" and it is free to play. However, I didn't realise it was a gacha game.

I finished the tutorial and the first mission and got a popup for a "beginner pack" for €5 and immediately uninstalled the game. The gameplay was fine, but this kind of monetisation just sours the experience. Also, while the world-building was interesting, the game was way too wordy. Too much yapping in between actual gameplay.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I tried out Morimens, because the Steam store page described it as "a roguelite card-building game inspired by the Cthulhu mythos, where you craft a versatile and intricate deck tailored to your playstyle" and it is free to play. However, I didn't realise it was a gacha game.

I finished the tutorial and the first mission and got a popup for a "beginner pack" for €5 and immediately uninstalled the game. The gameplay was fine, but this kind of monetisation just sours the experience. Also, while the world-building was interesting, the game was way too wordy. Too much yapping in between actual gameplay.

It has a very good user rating, so I figured it must be okay. Usually those games get terrible ratings.

 

[Pifanjr]

It has a very good user rating, so I figured it must be okay. Usually those games get terrible ratings.

The gameplay was okay, I just don't have any patience for gacha mechanics, especially not on a PC game. There are too many games in my library that don't pester me for money to see more of the game.

I indulge in gacha games on my phone sometimes because starting a new gacha game is like getting a bunch of free quarters for a slot machine. There's a lot of flashy lights and it's fun to see what you get, but it's not worth investing any real money in.

 

[BeardyHat]

For me it needed to be more "gamey". After working for an hour, I still didn't have one mini fully painted. One problem for me was the controls, which are like you find in 3D modeling programs or game engines, and at that time I wasn't overly adept at it.

I ran across this one while looking for that other one. This one at least looks interesting as an idle game.

Save 20% on Mini Painter on Steam

A cozy isometric desktop game about a tiny artisan who paints miniatures. Don’t press him too hard… but don’t let him slack off, either.

store.steampowered.com

 

[neogunhero]

Was really busy this past weekend, so all I played was some Skate. Perfect game for quick 30 minute sessions while you wait for your wife to get ready to leave. The public release comes out tomorrow, and I'm happy with the amount of grinding I've done before then. Don't want to seem like a total noob. Besides that gaming on my end has been a bit dry.

The free game on Epic last week, Battle for Polytopia, seems quite interesting. It's mainly a mobile first game, but with PC-specific features and improvements. The reason why I'm curious about trying it is that it has a very dedicated fanbase which surprised me. At first glance it appears to be a simplified 4X game, complete with city building and turn-based battles, but according to some reviews that have 100+ hours in the game, it's way deeper and more complex than you may think. Still though, gameplay wise it's probably simple, the strategy seems to come from the many different civilizations you can play as that all have unique stats and abilities. I may check it out.

 

[dxchase]

Due for a post because like @neogunhero i was busy all weekend too but mainly playing Borderlands 4 or sleeping lol. Put together a cat tower that none of my cats are using of course and then some kitchen chairs. Super fun.



So starting off, I have dove into Borderlands 4. Its fun and i love it as a borderlands fan. First the movement. They have pretty much re-worked how to move in borderlands and it feels great with a keyboard. You can grapple, glide, hover, double-jump, summon a car anywhere and swim! Swimming is a first for the borderlands series. They also added fishing and its not terrible...so far.

I love looking for new guns again and i love the new abilities AND the game has ran rather perfectly for me. I dont get dips in FPS any where and yes, i do have a good system for it but its not a 5090 and i see people complaining they cant run it on their rigs. Its crazy to me.

I dont like 30fps cutscenes obviously which is a pain point but im not throwing the whole game away for that, but gearbox has released a patch already fixing some stability issues and such and then there are all the "SHiFT" codes they have given out which has gotten me some nice weapons. So it feels like maybe that kind of stuff will change anyways.

There was a little blooper though that kinda annoyed me. So when i first played i had this head/body skin i was able to use, they looked sweet. Then, after the patch dropped, they were gone because apparently they were the 130usd pre-order bonus, not the basic copies. So yes i understand i didnt pre-order it but gearbox shouldve just left it since i had it equipped for a full day, day 1/2. oh well.



Im also playing Cronos: The New Dawn still, i am gonna complete this. Im into the story more than anything. The combats good enough for me to finish, along with how great it looks.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Due for a post because like @neogunhero i was busy all weekend too but mainly playing Borderlands 4 or sleeping lol. Put together a cat tower that none of my cats are using of course and then some kitchen chairs. Super fun.



So starting off, I have dove into Borderlands 4. Its fun and i love it as a borderlands fan. First the movement. They have pretty much re-worked how to move in borderlands and it feels great with a keyboard. You can grapple, glide, hover, double-jump, summon a car anywhere and swim! Swimming is a first for the borderlands series. They also added fishing and its not terrible...so far.

I love looking for new guns again and i love the new abilities AND the game has ran rather perfectly for me. I dont get dips in FPS any where and yes, i do have a good system for it but its not a 5090 and i see people complaining they cant run it on their rigs. Its crazy to me.

I dont like 30fps cutscenes obviously which is a pain point but im not throwing the whole game away for that, but gearbox has released a patch already fixing some stability issues and such and then there are all the "SHiFT" codes they have given out which has gotten me some nice weapons. So it feels like maybe that kind of stuff will change anyways.

There was a little blooper though that kinda annoyed me. So when i first played i had this head/body skin i was able to use, they looked sweet. Then, after the patch dropped, they were gone because apparently they were the 130usd pre-order bonus, not the basic copies. So yes i understand i didnt pre-order it but gearbox shouldve just left it since i had it equipped for a full day, day 1/2. oh well.



Im also playing Cronos: The New Dawn still, i am gonna complete this. Im into the story more than anything. The combats good enough for me to finish, along with how great it looks.

I was getting ready to tag you and ask how Borderlands was running for you. Glad to see it's doing well.

 

[Johnway]

Path of exile and i've finally reached the 20 challenges. Technically i had it in the bag a couple of days ago, but i had a few irons in the fire just working to work towards my next batch of challenges.

So besides maybe1 or 2 challenges, the rest are end game grinds and that will require luck, skill and/or money. Realistically, i can probably do 6 of them. Still 2 short of the target 28. I still think its doable, but i need to think of a reliable solution that isn't just another shot in the dark.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Getting a little frustrated with Monster Train 2. Every final boss I'm fighting is OP with either Sap or Corruption. The bosses move from level to level spreading this stuff. In the last one, he could either one or two shot every monster I had. I still almost won because I had duplicated a couple of room cards that did 50 damage that I could use when I ran out of monsters. The boss starts off with 2800 health though, and I had him down to 300.

Out of frustration, I looked up the best strategies against these guys, and I have none of those cards yet. Awesome.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Things got much better when I finished the next game with that faction. I got the 2nd champion who is much more my style, and I have a couple of new monsters who are pretty good. I got tired and quit after level 5, so we'll see what happens when I get to the final boss on 8. I finally have a couple of healing cards for them. Before when they lost health, it was just gone for good.

I've wasted some things, though. Like I had this guy my champion would eat, and he would spit out a weapon with multistrike. So I wasted resources to make him immortal (his card comes back to my hand after he dies), hoping I could get that weapon for everyone, but he doesn't come back with his weapon.

 

[Pifanjr]

My friends and I continued our Barotrauma campaign yesterday. We entered the third biome and got to encounter some new enemies, among which a really big one that absolutely wrecked us. It had a ranged attack with a range almost outside of the sight range of the turrets and it would shake the sub, causing everyone to ragdoll all over the place. It would also retreat after every attack, making it a pain to shoot it.

Luckily everything is repairable in Barotrauma, so even though our sub was turned into Swiss cheese we could just patch up all the holes and fix all the broken systems and we did eventually manage to kill it. We lost one or two of the bots there, then lost a couple more when we had to clear the next outpost of bandits.

But we made enough money to hire replacements and buy some upgrades, so we're still doing fine. If we manage to keep doing that we should be able to upgrade our sub enough to survive the next two biomes as well.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I wish everyone here could go into Madden 26 for just a few minutes to see what a true hellscape gacha game on steroids looks like (I have the EA subscription). This game costs $69.99 regularly, and when you launch the game for the first time, you can't even figure out how to start a game up because of all the splash screens advertising different things to purchase. It's the most obnoxious free-to-play-type nonsense I can imagine.

And it's 100 percent pay-to-win (for multiplayer) because you have to buy endless numbers of these packs to be able to field a good multiplayer team.

This is why the game sells like trash on Steam. Because your regular PC gamer wouldn't put up with this crap. But there are a lot of people (based on the sports forum I'm on) who only own a console because of Madden. That's all they play and they just think this sort of thing is normal, probably because anything else they've played was on their phones.

FIFA (or whatever it's called now) is pretty similar, though I haven't opened a FIFA game in a few years, and they sell a ton of the FIFA games. Where Madden generally tops out at about 5 to 10 million copies sold, the FIFA games sell something like 20 to 25 million copies a year. Imagine 25 million people spending a few hundred dollars on player packs.

 

[neogunhero]

Skate finally releases to the public today. You guys probably already know how much of a fan of this game I am. I grew up playing all sorts of skateboarding games, with the Skate series being my favorite, so I've been extremely excited for this game. Even though I've been playing the playtest/beta a bunch over the past few months, still excited to see everyone finally get in. I bet the servers are going to crash today.

 

[Pifanjr]

I tried out Dead in Bermuda today. It reminded me of some Flash games I've played, though a bit more complex.

It's pretty decent for when you want to pick up something that doesn't require too much investment. However, I somehow missed the part where work stations needed to be maintained over time. I did notice they were deteriorating, but I thought I would just have to rebuilt them if they reached 0%. I didn't realise their output scales to the amount they had deteriorated until my people were all on the brink of starvation while exhausted and depressed.

The problem is that, while the game is a fun distraction, it's not fun enough to restart, nor to try to slowly claw my way back to having a happy, healthy community.