Dungeons 4 dropped on GamePass and it is delightful.
The writing is atrociously cheesy though.
Heretic's Fork is a good roguelike with a Vampire Survivors mashed with tower defense feeling. Each game, you have cards which you can play each turn (randomly drawn from your set), with an energy limit. The cards either give you a new Tower, or a Garrison, fixed in the center of the map, both of which can be improved by the vast majority of the cards. Cards can also be upgraded by combining them, as can Towers and Garrisons. After each card hand is done, the level progresses a bit, then freezes and a new hand is dealt.
HF is very fun and has some really great music. Thanks for the recommendation!
Curiously, the overall experience reminds me quite a bit of Loop Hero.
Side note: the Search function no longer works here so I can't easily confirm if Game X, Y or Z already has its own catch-all thread.
It does if you click on the box that says "You have to open a new window for this" or similar.
What game are you thinking of?
Yeah, I love the industrial tracks for Heretic's Fork. Some of them remind me of old Front 242 stuff, with technical gibberish overtalking, others of different varieties, all kind of chill.
I finally finished a full "shift" and opened up Endless Mode, which is a no-rewards, go as far as you can with what you have mode. Of course that will be different as I open up more cards by playing the regular mode. Having lots of Roguelike/Roguelite fun with it. 
Side note: the Search function no longer works here so I can't easily confirm if Game X, Y or Z already has its own catch-all thread.
just do a google search for the game and add this site:gamerswithjobs.com.
For example: Horizon Zero Dawn site:gamerswithjobs.com gets you these results
Maclintok wrote:Side note: the Search function no longer works here so I can't easily confirm if Game X, Y or Z already has its own catch-all thread.
just do a google search for the game and add this site:gamerswithjobs.com.
For example: Horizon Zero Dawn site:gamerswithjobs.com gets you these results
Oh. That’s helpful. Thanks.
Word of warning for anyone playing Wartales on Games Pass - Shiro is aware of a major bug where saves desync and you lose all your files to repair Games Pass. There are apparently workaround solutions but I uninstalled Wartales in frustration before digging deeper.
So I've been playing Dune on the Games Pass for the past week or so and getting obliterated by the AI, although last night's match was the longest I lasted so far.
There's something unsatisfying about it? Quite nostalgic heading back to Arrakis but I can't help feeling like some reviewers that the lack of a story/narrative is disappointing; no space witch presence, the Guild was muted, and just overall lacked character to make it stand out.
Yeah you have stuff that feels like a callback to Dune 1 and 2 (spice harvesters, carryalls, wind traps and missile turrets) but it feels like there's a lot of shallow systems that could have been more fully fleshed out. Perhaps this might be resolved with DLC or future patches.
It's not a twitchy 4X/RTS and the pacing kinda feels like Stellaris but on a more compact map.
The AI also cheats a lot. I was capturing their villages and found duplicated buildings (you're only supposed to be able to build one of each).
Anyway, I'll keep going probably for another 20 hours or so? The matches are a few hours each so it's not interminably long per session.
Duplicated buildings? Every time I think I might want to try this, I learn something disheartening...
Yeah, so for example:
Some regions have special minerals that let you build a minerals processor for +20 credits of income. The AI had two of these; the next closest credit producing building makes +4 credits so the difference was substantial i.e. +40 vs +24.
There was a similar issue with a certain kind of military building that ought not to have existed in duplicate.
I mean, Civ6 was well known for the AI failing to develop tiles properly and I recall Stellaris AI has trouble developing its planetary tiles. It doesn't make the game unplayable but it does make it harder if, as in this game, balance is focused around the number of villages and regions under control and the AI is unfairly getting a snowball effect by breaking the rules imposed on the player. I'm playing the default settings and new to the game so any unfair advantage is making it harder than it needs to be.
Honestly it is a bit annoying but anyone who played the C&C/RA/AOE games who saw the absurd cheating used to create a challenge for comp stomp skirmishes will be used to this. I just found it jarring because it meant I had to review the villages I was capturing to demolish duplicate structures. In fairness, one might review them anyway as village optimisation is a thing based on research strategies.
Edit and update: there is a faction that can build duplicate buildings. If they build one copy then they get penalised with double the upkeep fee; if they build the copy then it's the usual 1:1 upkeep fee. So it's not an error, it was a quirk of that faction
Oh! Good to know!
So... You say it's not a twitch RTS? Really? I usually bounce off RTS games, but love RTT games (without the resource gathering). But I wonder...
Oh! Good to know!
So... You say it's not a twitch RTS? Really? I usually bounce off RTS games, but love RTT games (without the resource gathering). But I wonder...
It's not twitch at all. The closest you get to micro is if you want more assurance the AI will send your harvester to safety when a sandworm warning notification pops up. But an eaten harvester is not normally a game ending problem and you can usually avoid losing harvesters by attaching an ornithopter.
Won my first match last night on the default difficulty last night. Maybe there's micro involved in higher difficulty settings? But units have lots of HP, they don't have active abilities, so it's usually throwing one big blob against another big blob. Domination victory is about as slow and soul crushing as it is in Civ; the culture/economic/diplomatic victories are probably far easier to pull off with less effort.
See, I have played two resource-gathering RTS's that I liked - the original Dune, which founded the genre, and Total Annihilation, which... there was so much too it I did not mind getting smoked all the time. I'd love to revisit the Arrakis setting...
Very interesting. Thank you for giving me something to think about.
Robear,
I'd say Dune: Spice Wars is closer to the original Dune game (the Cryo Interactive one with you playing Paul Atreides and the amazing hybrid RPG/RTS elements which were ahead of its time) but without the RPG elements from that old game. Anyone who enjoyed Herbert's titular book or the original Cryo Interactive game will probably enjoy Dune: Spice Wars. I mean, firstly it's basically free on Games Pass, secondly it's a tiny 5GB installation!
In the short time I've played it, I've definitely enjoyed returning to Arrakis. Sure, there's no silly non-canon stuff, like Devastators, Sonic Tanks or House Ordos. I think the combat elements are a bit too simple but they get the job done and the more I reflect on it the game is densely packed with different systems which makes this a far more complex resource management sim than say Stellaris.
I think the average player will find maybe 15-40 hours of fun in it? I'm not a multiplayer person and that might give it more life for a more dedicated RTS player.
If you're time starved as I am, I would suggest it over Lamplighters. Easier to pick up and let go I think, probably because each session is a procedurally generated map.
I'm back playing Noita again, which is half-off on the sale. It's DNA is a pixel simulation like those old flash games where you pour fire pixels on a pool of gasoline pixels and watch it burn. On top is a wonderfully brutal roguelike (not lite) where your frail little wizard must descend into a deadly cave with only a very good kicking foot and a very weak wand. You'll find other wands to replace it or construct your own with a system of interacting spell slots that there's basically a science around wand construction.
The game is super fun and very frustrating. You die, scream, hopefully learn something, reload. Also the rabbit hole goes SUPER deep.
Cue compilation of deaths (This video is from when the game was in early access but it's been past 1.0 for a while, maybe 2 years.)
And there's great mods on the Steam Workshop to make things different, harder, easier, whatever, including fan content nearly as extensive as some of the best Skyrim mods.
I love Noita. I have huge time in it but never completed a run. I should try again.
One of my fav mods for learning more and maybe just having fun dominating in the game for once (to a point) is Wands Reincarnation which lets you pick up 1-4 of your last run's wands when you start a new one.
I have 1 legit win in 300 runs and 1 win with mods. I thought Binding of Isaac was hard learning how not to suck. After that many runs I was getting wins 30-50% of the time.
I've gotten to the last boss maybe... 20 times or less? But never quite sealed the deal. Still, it's tremendous fun.
A new official Tribes game is in the works, there's a Discord open and further playtesting openings coming.
This makes me very happy, I hope it's good!
A new official Tribes game is in the works, there's a Discord open and further playtesting openings coming.
Please be good and similar to the original!!
I wasn’t that interested in Nightingale but the game is looking extremely strong. Fingers crossed it’ll eventually make it to PS5.
I have spent a very long time this past week playing Farthest Frontier. It's still in early access, but I think it might just be the best City Builder with many survival elements I've ever played.
It looks gorgeous, and despite the complexity of the supply chains, it manages - mostly - to keep it clear and straight forward on what you need to do.
It's still very much Early Access and is a bit wobbly around the edges, but my word it's very enjoyable.
I needed something lighter in between BG3 sessions and after bouncing around a few things I think I have settled on The Talos Principle. I am a few hours in and the puzzles are fantastic and will keep me hooked even if the writing is a bit overdone in places. Looking forward to seeing where it takes the mechanics.
I've been play a lot of Time Wasters the last few days. Really good sci fi vampire survivor style game. I definitely prefer it to vampire survivors. 2 major points, unlock reqs are transparent, and most weapons can either be left on auto or aimed when you want/need to. I have about 1/3rd of the weapons unlocked and I like almost every single one.
Fantastic steam deck game.
Cookie Cutter is out 14th December on Consoles. Not sure I’ll have time to play it in December but great to know it’ll be there when I do have time. Hope it’s as good as it looks. Incredible art and animation.
Looks neat. Added to my Steam wishlist for later consideration.
Relatively cheap Wuxia (Chinese cultivation/fantasy martial arts) RPG, Hero Adventure: Road to Passion. English translation is broken but functional, considering it's translated by the community and not the dev.
Squad based SRPG if you want to recruit people (you can lone wolf if you like). Bucket loads of mini systems and crafting.
Seems pretty fun, a light hearted version of cultivation games with as much grinding as you can handle.
Also has choices and trigger events common to the genre. I muddled for over 2 hours (the Steam refund limit) and think I'll probably dwell at least 40 hours here!
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