Quote:
Originally Posted by sabotai
From what I've read, when you sign up for it you essentially get a "virtual PC" that you can connect to Steam or whatever and install your games on. This virtual PC is presumably on a server totally loaded with high-end gear that's running the game as fast as it probably can be run. So the question comes down to is your internet connection + their server faster than your computer's hardware. If your on a PC that's kinda old and you have a really good internet connection, then the answer is probably yes.
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I didn't see this discussion originally, and I think I may have ended up on the high end of hours spent with it.
You pretty much covered how it works I think. Connection quality on your end is really the deciding factor on how well it does / doesn't work. Consistency of connection quality is probably 2nd most important, if your end falters it'll lag, then blur, and then you get a couple cracks at it trying to reconnect at a high enough rate. If that fails, out you go.
One possible downside for those interested in it: you'll be playing vanilla, because while there is apparently a process that let's you use mods with at least some games, it's so unwieldy that it's pretty much unusable (involves reinstalling those mods before every session, doing so in just the right sequence of logging in, etc etc).
Also worth knowing: it has a fairly unforgiving timer for inactivity. Somewhere around 10 minutes or so, it'll end your session & log you out. Particularly problematic if you're playing something with no manual saving.
That said, it's the only reason I've been able to play HOI4, EU4, and most recently Rimworld. I'm north of 300 hours on those so, as you might gather from that, when it works it works great. And it's playable probably 80-90 percent of the time even with my mediocre at best connection. But you will have occasions where it's frustrating. (including HOI4 being "unavailable" from their end for the past week, without any real explanation, and a previous instance where Oxygen Not Required wouldn't run for me because they didn't have a non-DLC version installed on their servers, only a full-DLC version ... meaning I couldn't actually DO anything since I hadn't bought the whole nine yards. I ended up refunding that particular Steam purchase)